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#whoever gets all the references from the fic gets a prize

cantstoptheimagines · 1 year

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Swan Princess (Prince Friedrich | Bridgerton)

Summary — You and the prince have never gotten along.

Requested by @acupnoodle — hii, if requests are open and if you write for prince Friedrich (bridgerton) could i get a fic where shes a princess and his childhood enemy(enemies to lovers) and they meet at the ball after a long time? and theyre shocked to see each other? obv they have to dance tgt being royalty but they “hate” it, and she starts getting jealous of daphne dancing him. ends in fluff please? Thanks!!!

Warnings & Other Tags ➳ Frenemies to lovers; playful teasing; jealousy from both Reader and Friedrich; the princess gets rather possessive by the end of this.

Notes ➳ Word Count is 1,325. ➳ Reader uses feminine pronouns (she/her), is referred to as ‘Princess’, and wears dresses. ➳ This request immediately made me think of ‘The Swan Princess,’ so that movie provided a lot of inspiration for this!

Another summer meant another social season. Another round of hot weather, in which doting lords and ladies paraded their most eligible sons and daughters around like prized cattle. Another bout of seemingly endless promenade sessions with boring men, all of whom were only interested in the jeweled crown upon your head.

All eyes were on you (or so it felt) as you helped yourself to yet another glass of champagne. A waltz was in full swing on the dance floor. Thankfully, none of the bachelors in attendance had been smart enough to ask questions about your dance card always being full.

In truth, there was only ever one person on your dance card. And it wasn’t by your choice. Because while another summer meant another social season, it also meant you’d be forced to keep up close relations with your worst nightmare.

You scoffed at the thought of his sparkling eyes and golden locks. Whenever he came into view, young women would always straighten their postures while the less appealing (when compared to a prince, at least) bachelors would furrow their eyebrows, unable to hide their envious hearts.

Not to mention that smug smile of his. It always seemed to spread over his lips at the strangest times, usually whenever you appeared to be particularly miserable.

As the orchestra was preparing to play yet another waltz, someone cleared their throat from behind you. You rolled your eyes at the sound. Setting your glass aside, you readied yourself to reject whoever the latest suitor may be.

Turning to greet the pathetic soul, you were quickly cut off, “I suppose even the ugliest of ducklings can become a swan when the time calls for it.”

Your fake smile dropped at Friedrich’s comment. You scoffed, quickly losing all sense of decorum at the sight of the queen’s nephew.

“And it seems that toads can be handsome princes,” you replied, “even if it is for only one night.”

Friedrich’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “You’re sharp this evening, aren’t you?”

You shrugged, taking the opportunity to glance around the room, “Always am.”

“And what of your dance card? Might I write my name?”

Your expression turned sour, “Your name is already on it, you fool. You know that.”

“Yes, I do. It just feels good to hear you say it,” he hummed. “If you’ll excuse me, Princess. Before our dance, there is another person to whom I must attend.”

“Better them than me.”

He gave you a sarcastic smile, complete with narrowed eyes, before turning away. You had half a mind to stick your foot out in order to make him stumble. Sadly, Friedrich made a quick retreat, almost as though he knew what had been running through your mind.

You watched with curious eyes as he made his way through the sea of guests until he came upon the person he had been searching for. The woman was none other than Daphne Bridgerton, who had been recently named the Diamond of the Season.

Friedrich’s gloved hand extended itself as a blush spread over Daphne’s cheeks. You furrowed your eyebrows, wondering why your chest had suddenly started to ache.

The two glided around the dance floor with the other guests. They were a vision of grace and beauty next to one another. With a deep sigh, you quickly approached Friedrich’s aunt, Queen Charlotte. She raised her eyebrows at you expectantly.

“My Queen,” you greeted, offering a curtsy, “I ask that you provide me with an introduction.”

Another ridiculous rule for the social season. Any lady who wished to interact with a potential suitor must first be introduced by another member of her party.

A smirk slowly made its way onto the queen’s face, “To whom?”

You turned to scan over the crowd until your eyes paused on a head of dark hair. With a mischievous glimmer, you pointed to the man, and muttered, “Him.”

The queen’s eyes followed your line of sight. Her gaze trailed over the man you had chosen. She held out a hand, which you quickly took, and began leading you through the crowd of guests. With a glance, you spied Friedrich watching the two of you with a curious expression.

If Friedrich can have a Bridgerton, then so can I.

Violet Bridgerton’s eyes widened at the sight of an approaching queen and princess. Why royalty had suddenly decided to descend upon her family, she wasn’t sure, but she definitely couldn’t complain about her sudden improvement in social standing.

“My Queen,” she smiled, “and Princess! How lovely to see you both—!”

“As you know, Lady Bridgerton, our dear princess is only here for a short while on a visit. Her family is very close to mine,” interrupted Queen Charlotte. “It seems, however, she may soon have a reason to stay.”

You nearly grimaced at her words, but contained yourself so as not to make a spectacle of yourself. You could still feel Friedrich’s eyes burning into you.

“Oh?” stuttered the matriarch. “And why is that, Your Highness?”

“One of your strapping, young sons seems to have caught her attention,” said the queen, before turning to the man in question. “Benedict Bridgerton.”

Benedict froze in surprise. His brothers slowly allowed teasing grins to spread over their faces. The eldest quickly clapped Benedict’s shoulder, shoving him closer to you. Queen Charlotte stood aside, watching as the man took your hand into his own and pressed a gentle kiss against the fabric of your glove.

“Princess,” he said, “would you like to join me for a waltz—?”

“Actually, Lord Bridgerton,” another voice cut in, “I do believe I have the honor of the next dance with Her Grace, though I’m sure there are plenty of other wonderfully kind ladies who would love to join you.”

Each of you turned to find Friedrich with a blank expression. You spotted Daphne on the dance floor, dancing the night away with the Duke of Hastings, smiles on both of their faces.

Friedrich extended his hand. Slowly, Benedict released his grip, knowing he couldn’t compete with the queen’s nephew. He quietly muttered, “Another time perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” huffed Friedrich, quickly leading you to the center of the dance floor.

The ache in your chest was gone. Friedrich placed your free hand on his shoulder before his met your ribcage. The two that were connected remained so as the orchestra began playing another tune. His eyes occasionally glanced over at Benedict with a glimmer of an emotion you had never seen in Friedrich before then.

“What’s wrong?” you asked, lacking your usual teasing tone of voice upon realizing how tense Friedrich was at the moment.

“You are quite annoying, you know?”

You scoffed, “If you dragged me to the floor just to insult me, I’ll happily take my leave—!”

“No. You won’t,” he interrupted. “While you may provoke ire within me, Princess, I must tell you that I do not wish to see you with another.”

Your eyebrows furrowed. Friedrich slowly twirled you beneath his arm before pulling you closer than you had been before. The two of you were so close that even Lady Whistledown would be blushing at the sight.

What a scandal this will be in the morning.

Your proximity left you quietly gasping for breath. Friedrich’s eyes flickered over your features, examining every aspect of you, deep in thought. Finally, he licked his lips and spoke once more.

“I will not see you with another.”

His stern tone sent shivers along your spine. You risked a glance at his lips, swallowing any retort you may have had. Instead, you asked, “What are you saying, toad?”

Friedrich chuckled at your attempt at an insult. It was obvious he was getting to you. He relished in the way you trembled in his arms as he traced shapes into the fabric of your dress. With a smile, he clarified his words, despite believing he had made his intentions very clear.

“That you’re mine, swan princess.”

#2022 #swan princess #bridgerton #bridgerton imagine #bridgerton imagines #bridgerton x reader #prince friedrich imagine #prince friedrich imagines #prince friedrich x reader #requested

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golvio · 1 year

Photo

Here’s an aborted WIP of my attempt at designing a Malice-themed flower to contrast with the Silent Princess. The reference I used was a photo of Fritillaria camschatcensis. It’s called the Kamchatka lily, rice lily, or chocolate lily, but it’s not actually in the lily family, but an evolutionary relative known as the fritillary. One of the key things that distinguish fritillaries from their lily cousins is that their main pollinators are flies and other carrion seeking insects, not bees. To attract pollinators, rather than producing sweet nectar, the flowers give of a scent that smells like decaying meat, tricking the flies into coming to it and covering themselves with pollen while trying to figure out where the yummy food is. This scent is why they’re known colloquially as “stink lilies” or “outhouse lilies.”

However, they’re called “rice lilies” by the indigenous peoples of Alaska because their bulbs, which are made up of multiple “rice grains” that come apart when the mother root is dug up, are edible. In fact, since these flowers bloom in winter, they’re a reliable source of starch and were highly prized by people weathering the harsh winter storms in the areas they grow. These flowers also grow in Hokkaido, and the Ainu people regarded these nourishing plants as a symbol of love, with people trying to help a young couple get together secretly placing these flowers near a young person looking for love. Whoever near that person reached for the flowers first would be that person’s soulmate.

However, the Yamato Japanese regard these flowers in hanakotoba as a symbol for “cursed love,” due to their association with the story of the samurai Sassa Narimasa and his lover, Sayuri, whose name contained the characters for “lily.” According to the legend, Sayuri was Sassa’s concubine, who loved him faithfully but was slandered by the other concubines in the household who were jealous of the attention she received from the master of the house. Sassa, who became convinced by the rumors that Sayuri was being unfaithful, brutally murdered her and her entire extended family in a jealous rage. Outraged by her beloved’s betrayal, her soul lingered by the river where she died and became a frightful apparition called a furaribi. At the moment of her death, the white lilies on the manor grounds all turned black, becoming kuroyuri or “black lilies.” They served as an eternal reminder of Sassa’s crimes and Sayuri’s dying curse, condemning her former love to a life of failure and misery.

The flower’s double-meaning clouded by colonialist incursion, plus its association with both curses and death and life and love persevering in the harshest of climates, suited Ganondorf. Furthermore, it felt fitting to have the foil to Zelda’s signature flower, which resembles a “true lily” that produces nectar, be a so-called “false lily” that doesn’t produce nectar and is associated with less-prized-by-humans but still ecologically important animals like flies. Also, the fact that it’s native to colder climates and blooms in winter makes it feel like you could find this flower around the snowy Gerudo Highlands. It was part of a fic idea born from speculation about his backstory/origins in BotW that I’ve currently got on the backburner.

#long post #my art #legend of zelda #loz thoughts #ganondorf #princess zelda #silent princess #botw #totk #flowers #kamchatka lily #fritillaria

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the-kings-chambers · 1 year

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The King’s Chambers Recs - November 2022

Hello, We are back again with another monthly rec list of some of our favourite fanworks recommended by some of our members! All of the recs are top/dom!Arthur with bottom/sub!Merlin unless stated otherwise. Fic

He and Arthur get stuck inside an elevator.

Both of these things are true, but only one of them is relevant.

Imprint | Fr333bird | Explicit | 2,126w Summary: Arthur is in the military and is home on leave. They only have one precious night together.

Merlin wanted to feel Arthur inside him again. He wanted to be able to feel him tomorrow, the day after… for as long as he could once Arthur was gone. He needed Arthur’s imprint on his skin, the ache of Arthur’s cock in his arse.

Hope of the Immortal | ArtemisPendragon | Teen and Up | 20,028w Summary: After centuries of waiting for Arthur’s return, and the ancient king showing no sign of resurrecting anytime soon, Merlin decides to turn himself into a stone statue and wait out the remaining years in a semi-conscious state. He places a charm upon himself, making it so that he will change back once Arthur returns and finds him. A plaque on the statue’s plinth reads as much: “Whoever holds dominion over this soul of stone / Need only touch it to turn it to flesh and bone.” It becomes something of a must-try in the city, and despite thousands of people interacting with the statue every year, no one succeeds in turning him back into a human. That is, until one day… (First kiss, no sex)

The Dance Floor Tilts Around Us | orphan_account | Explicit | 922w Summary: At the annual Samhain masquerade, Merlin and the dragon prince gravitate towards each other as if linked by invisible strings…

Office romance? | lizlybear | Explicit | 2600w Summary: Merlin wears lingerie to work and Arthur loves it.

Evermore; Still Never Enough | LillaW | Explicit | 3,058w Summary: He’ll live countless lives and find Arthur in every one of them and lose him all over again. But this will always, always be what he lives for…

Leashed | riventhorn | Explicit | 3,058w Summary: Written for the kinkme_merlin prompt: In the fashion described regarding the treatment of Damane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damane) in The Wheel of Time, rather than killing all sorcerers, Uther has select few "leashed" and enslaved to the service of his armies. Merlin is leashed and Arthur is his master.

Art

[Fanart] Collared Merlin | whimsycatcher | Mature | Digital Art Summary: Yes, it’s that recurrent AU where Merlin is enslaved by Uther and used as a prized weapon against his own kind… Arthur decides, fuck that, and then by the end of it all they both decide, let’s fuck. This plot, I like it! I also just really wanted to reference a shot of him from The Laughing King because FRECKLES! ;) (Mature fanart)

My kingdom for your graces | sfintii | Gen | Digital Art Summary: My kingdom for your graces. (Gen fanart) If you enjoyed these recs and want to see more, or talk about top Arthur/bottom Merlin, we would love to welcome you in our discord server. If you’re interested and of age 18 or older, please message us and we will send you an invitation. Also, feel free to send us a message to let us know your fave top Arthur/bottom Merlin fanworks! 💕

#merthur #merlin #merlin fanfic #merlin fanart #the king's chambers #tkc: recs #tkc: monthly recs #tkc: november recs

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acefaun · 1 year

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Zodiac Pirates

Synopsis: Captain Leon of ‘the Golden Wish’ and his first mate, Karno VS Captain Zyglavis of ‘the Black Punisher’ and his first mate, Scorpio. They're both sent by the King of Heavenia to find his treasure... Little do they know the treasure they're looking for is actually a person.

✨Masterlist✨ Female goldfish! (MC is going to be referred to as a he/him through most of this because she's a pirate and female pirates are taboo. I'm saving your life, you're welcome. 😘)

A/n: Happy mermay! There’s no mermaids in here… but ya get some fabulous pirates, so~ If you do want a mermaid fic… hit me with some kind of prompt, because I’m at a loss.

–Word Count: 15,332–

The wind whipped against the ship's sails, the flag of a skull with crossbones flapping high above the mast. Karno loved the sensation of the salty sea air, that's why he relished his position as first mate on board the Golden Wish. His eyes stayed peeled as they sailed nearer the port. They had to find their target as soon as possible.

Karno knew that his Captain absolutely loathed the thought of letting the captain of the Black Punisher get the better of him. But it was honestly tiring that he, Karno, had to take charge of this task because Leon couldn't bother to entertain the King’s senseless commission.

But Karno’s eyes did spot their target… And it was right beside the Black Punisher… Karno sighed in exhaustion, contemplating if, for a moment, he should just pretend to ignore the found vessel.

Whether he liked it or not, they were going to have another fateful meeting. If they retrieved the treasure together, in any case, then they'd have to team up. It wasn't like they'd never done so before. Besides, he knew Leon would be thrilled to be able to have a bigger crew to sail the most prized ship between both crews… The Zodiac.

The reason for the crew being split… Was precisely because of Captain Leon’s and now Captain Zyglavis’ different ways of running a ship. Not that it was a problem. Sometimes two crews were better than one. But Karno had a gut feeling that this particular mission would take all twelve of them. But that was just a hunch.

He suspected getting what they needed from this ship wouldn't be their biggest worry. After all, after studying their target, he grew to understand that this crew was… less than traditional. But their captain also had a treasure that the Zodiac pirates couldn't sit by and let them have—a treasure that rightfully belonged to the King.

***

Ichthys waved eagerly from the peer, gesturing wildly to the big vessel before them. "There it is! But they must have been expecting company. They look ready to bolt at a moment's notice." If the lack of a boarding ramp and the ready-to-go sails were anything to go by, they'd abandon the port the minute the minute Zyglavis’ crew was spotted.

But Zyglavis didn't seem bothered. After all, they'd dealt with worse. He barely scanned the ship with his own eyes before deciding, "That's not a concern. It doesn't look like but a few crew members remained to watch over the ship. We'll board them, find their stolen treasure, and leave without a fight."

"Oh-ho! I see Captain Ponytail thinks he's going to get the treasure before us." Their attention sourly turned to Captain Leon who was overzealously approaching, his boots thumping across the dock as if announcing his notable presence.

They were loud enough for me to take notice of. I peered over the railing of the ship, trying to stay unnoticed while I checked out whoever was making a ruckus. They were being quite loud and obvious in their intentions to board my captain’s ship. How did they plan to succeed like that?

They were certainly strange pirates, but my heart jumped at seeing one of them. Zyglavis... Captain of the Black Punisher. He and his crew were infamous for sinking pirate ships with nary a scratch on their own. He never failed in whatever task he set out to do.

Zyglavis was notably in dark blue, but then who was the dude in orange who looked ready to have a show-down with him? Was he someone important? My eyebrows furrowed.

Still, I wasn't dense; I was the second mate of this ship for a reason. They were talking about boarding our ship for treasure. I wasn't really aware of any major treasure aside from the book that the captain had under lock and key in his quarters. Still, it didn't make sense that the Captain Zyglavis wanted some small-time treasure from us.

It were moments like these that I was grateful for the first mate owning a falcon for a messenger-bird. It became useful for instances like these when flares would catch the attention of enemy pirates. A simple bird was great for passing along messages.

Escaping into the ship, I was swift in releasing the ready falcon, watching it fly from the open window. The mere sight of it would send the captain back to the ship due to the emergency.

Now that my message was out, all I had left to do was defend the ship from those other pirates until the captain returned with the crew; or, at the very least, stall for time.

I grabbed hold of my rapier, marching back up to the deck. But I had to pause and draw back into the nearby kitchen as two unfamiliar pirates walked past. They were clearly a part of either Zygalvis' crew or that other pirate. But how did they get in so quickly and so quietly?

I took a deep breath and thought through what my top priority was. I had to protect the captain's quarters. He would probably reprimand me for being a coward if I ran at the sight of being outnumbered. But one thing I couldn't let them do was take the ship.

Sneaking out of the kitchen, I ran to where the captain’s quarters were, closer to the deck. But as soon as I opened the door to leave the crew's quarters and head back to the deck, I froze. There seemed to be even more pirates gathered there than before and I was at a loss for what I could do to make the situation better.

With Captain Zyglavis among them I knew any kind of fight would be a lost battle. I could hold my own, but the stories spoke for themselves. I was still learning how to master my fighting technique. Going up against a captain was out of my skill set.

Still, my grip tightened on my rapier in preparation for a losing battle. There was always a slim chance for success.

Unfortunately... It didn't seem as though I was going to need to worry about fighting. I tensed up as a dagger was pressed against my throat, someone taking my arm, and pulling it behind me to prevent me from struggling much. He ordered with a threat underlying his tone, "Drop it." Only, I knew he wasn't threatening me… He'd more than willingly slit my throat if I made a wrong move.

The only thing I was able to do was steal a glance from the corner of my eye. He glared at me, his cool gray eyes trained on me like a practiced assassin—well, the one eye that wasn't covered by his dark hair, at least. I had no doubt he would have no qualms about taking me out.

How could this guy have snuck up on me so easily? These guys weren't making any noise at all to clue me to their presence. My weapon made a loud clattering noise as it hit the floor boards, drawing the attention of the other pirates to where we were standing. Now that I wasn't holding a weapon to defend myself, the dagger was removed from my throat and I was shoved forward, forced to stand before the terrifying Captain Zygalvis.

I tilted my head just a bit more to be able to meet his gaze.

His cold eyes trailed over me, not looking at all impressed with the mere sight of me. But his eyes lingered on mine, reading the defiance I held in my gaze. "You wouldn't have succeeded in fighting us. It is better this way."

The man beside him, who I could now recognize as the infamous Captain Leon of the Golden Wish, scoffed with his lips curled into a smirk. "This goldfish wanted to fight us?"

"G- Goldfish?" I was offended by the term, knowing it meant I was seen as nothing but weak to them. Which, I supposed they weren't wrong, but they had no right to call me a goldfish! “Let me go and I'll show you who the goldfish is!"

Leon looked like he wanted to further antagonize me, but Zyglavis was quick to interrupt. "If you won't aid us then you have no reason to be on board this ship."

I glared, wishing I had my rapier, my fear for these captains forgotten in place of raw irritation. "This isn't your ship to command! Besides, you're looking for treasure where there is none. You're wasting your time."

"Is that so? That's not a problem for us." Leon approached me, not at all worried that I might attack him. "We'll just have to keep a goldfish like you around." He stole the pistol off of my belt before he turned quickly, glaring at his underlings. "Enough playing around! Get in there!"

The man behind me had loosened his grip after Leon stole my pistol but knowing that they were going to break into the Captain’s quarters made me act rather than think.

I ducked out of the pirate's arms, stealing the sword off of his belt, before he could grab me and I had the sword against Leon's neck, exactly the same way I was being held before. "Stop! Everyone, stop or your captain is going to pay for it!"

There was a tense silence. No one moved and no one was speaking. The only person that reacted was Captain Leon. He laughed, and surprisingly it wasn't in a mocking way; he was genuinely amused at his predicament.

I glanced in the direction of incoming footsteps and tensed in preparation as yet more pirates joined us. "There's no one else on the ship. If there's any treasure it's going to be in the captain's quarters." The man who was speaking paused, causing those behind him to run into him. Huedhaut's eyes were wide as he looked at the scene in front of him. "Captain...?"

"Well?" Leon questioned, staring at his men, "What are you waiting for?"

"I told you not to move! I'm serious!"

"What are you going to do, goldfish? Kill me?" His voice returned to mocking me, making me feel like cutting him out of spite. "If you kill me, you'll lose your bargaining piece. Do you really think you could handle all eleven of the pirates on board this ship or the wrath of my first mate? But then again, if you don't kill me, what are you going to do? Continue to hold me hostage until the sun goes down? My crew doesn't have to listen to you, because you won’t act."

"What's stopping me from killing you?" I asked, hiding my uncertainty in my decision. He wasn't wrong, as soon as he was dead I'd likely find myself sharing a similar fate without having accomplished anything; but just standing there with a sword to his neck wouldn't accomplish anything either. Still, they were all paused to listen, some of them obviously not wanting me to harm their captain. "I'm a pirate. We kill people like you who get in our way. If I die in the process then we both die. But I die knowing I killed Captain Leon, the great wild lion of the sea. And you die knowing (Name) (Surname), a mere goldfish, killed you."

"You have a lot to learn before you can be a real pirate, goldfish. Let me teach you something." Before I could react, he had his own sword out, shoving mine away from his neck, giving him the space to face me properly. No one moved, but the odds were certainly stacked against me. "First of all, talk less when you're threatening someone's life. Now, why don't you show me what kind of skill you have with that sword?"

He didn't give me the opportunity to respond as he was already ontop of me with his blade. He was fast, almost too fast for me to react and defend myself. But I did take notice that they had broken the door down to the Captain's quarters, bringing my attention back to them. "Hey- AH!" I stumbled back with a hiss, a decent sized cut was across my arm thanks to Leon's blade.

He observed me with bored eyes. "Pay attention to your enemy in a fight. You've dirtied my sword with your blood."

I was worried about what they might find in the Captain's quarters. I'd never been in there myself, but I knew they had things I could never dream of touching. Leon had forced my attention on him but I couldn't help but be fearful of them taking all of our gold and leaving us with nothing. I wouldn't put it past them.

"Why are you backing away? You'll get cornered like that and it would give me the perfect opportunity…" He stopped speaking as he thrusted his sword forward, making me back awkwardly into the railing where he could easily push me overboard if he tried. But instead, he grabbed my wrist, holding my sword over my head as he pressed his sword into my neck, drawing my head up. "You'd never make it as a member on my ship. All of my men know how to fight."

He hummed as he glared down at me. He noted how nervous I looked under him, but there was something else he couldn't quite put his finger on…

"Leon," Karno interrupted as he looked between the two of us. "They didn't find anything. (Name) was either telling the truth or it's hidden. But we don't have the time to look through the entire ship."

"You didn't find what you were looking for because we don't have any treasure! I would know, I’m in charge of that!" I snapped, but I was still awkwardly pressed against the railing, my back arching slightly to keep my throat from being slit open like my arm.

"(Surename)!" My eyes snapped to the other side of the ship where my Captain finally made it. "Release my second mate, Leon."

Leon glanced at Karno, giving him the silent cue to take my sword and keep me still while he turned and faced my captain. "With a second mate like that I'm surprised your ship still sails. This one didn't put up much of a fight."

"What do you want?" He wouldn’t waste time with these pirates and jumped straight to the point of this encounter.

This time, Zygalvis stepped up to answer, "You have a treasure that belongs to us. Or, perhaps you simply know where this treasure is and don't have it on board this ship. Regardless, until you give us this treasure of yours, your second mate is going to remain with us."

"We have no such thing. I will not allow you to use (Name) to gain something I cannot give you."

Both Leon and Zyglavis had valid information that told them otherwise. Knowing that this was a lie, Zyglavis nodded his head once. "We understand your hesitance. Perhaps this treasure is more valuable than your navigator. In any case, we'll be taking him. Should you change your mind we'll be waiting." My eyes widened as I was lifted off of my feet by the larger, white haired member of Zyglavis' crew. They were going to take me and my captain wasn’t doing anything.

I felt helpless in the arms of my captor before a gunshot rang out and everyone fell silent. Turning my head, I swallowed nervously at the horrifyingly enraged look on Zyglavis’ face. He turned slowly, his back now towards me as he faced my captain who held a pistol in his hand, aimed at Zyglavis who now sported a hole in his hat. A shiver went down my spine as I heard his low promise, “You’ve made a grave mistake.”

“You’re not taking that boy!”

I never thought my crew would be so concerned over my well-being… regardless of rank. But inwardly, I knew that wasn’t it. My captain was greedy, above all else. Despite my hate for him, I was in danger on any other pirate ship. My abduction could not happen. I kicked the chest of my captor, who was caught off guard. Gasping for a breath, he knelt down so he wouldn’t lose his balance with me on the boarding ramp.

Finally free, I was prepared to send a second blow to his head and send him overboard if not for the loud explosion that rang out, shaking both ships and nearly sending me tumbling over the side of the ramp. My wide eyes searched frantically where the smoke was coming from. “He’s firing at such a close distance? He’ll sink his ship too!” Captain Zyglavis was crazy…

But maybe he wasn’t as crazy as my crew who were being devastated by these two opposing pirate crews. There were only a handful of my crew mates present; they couldn't fight all of these pirates and save me before I was taken. Was I worth that much? "Captain..." Whatever treasure these guys were looking for might be in their hands soon with the way they were mercilessly attacking.

Steeling myself for battle, I braced myself to return to the damaged ship. But, I wasn’t allowed to make it halfway across the ramp before arms swallowed me yet again and a sword was pressed against my chest. Karno, Leon’s first mate, had been observing this battle very keenly. More so, my inability to do much fighting. Unless I considered that little scuffle with Leon a fight. But he wasn’t going to let me run off when the battle was nearing its end. Holding me firmly against him, he commented, “You must be a valuable little goldfish. I wonder what you could be holding in that head of yours to warrant all this bloodshed. I wonder if we’ve already gotten hold of the treasure map we were looking for.”

I pursed my lips, determined not to speak to him. He was smart… but I wasn’t sure that I was actually what they were looking for. I was more like a bonus tool for future exploits. Noting how I wasn’t going to say more, he made sure that I was tied securely to the mast before leaving me alone to sail the ship per Leon's orders.

All I could do was sit hopelessly and listen to the devastation of my own crew. Zyglavis would leave nothing to salvage. If there was anything or anyone left, they didn’t have a chance at getting me back. But was this even necessary? These pirates could have just left with me. They didn’t need to sink our ship… My captain didn’t need to shoot at Zyglavis. Not only did it spell doom for the crew, but me as well. I was a prisoner to the most infamous pirates in the world.

"Hey..." I looked up as a kind voice quietly spoke to me, the pirate kneeling to my height. "Don't look too frightened. We'll make sure you're taken care of until we let you go. My name's Dui."

His brown eyes were so kind. If this were anything but me being taken captive then I might have considered befriending this kind pirate. Allies never hurt. But things weren't like that and I wasn't talking to these enemies. I looked away with an irked huff.

"Ah, Dui, maybe you shouldn't be so close to him! He’s injured!" Ichthys rushed over, nearly panicking as he tried to usher Dui away.

I didn't really understand the panic over a little cut... until for whatever reason, Dui snapped. It was like a switch flipped in him. His pupils shrunk as he glared down at me. "This goldfish... we haven't taken care of him yet? What are you taking so long for?" He studied me closely for a moment. "Oh. Unless you're just refusing to give us what we want. Pfft. They're a bunch of softies, not being able to handle a pathetic goldfish like you! C'mon! Let's see what we can get out of you! What's your position on that ship of yours?! What kind of secrets are you hiding?!"

I bit back a startled yelp as he pulled out his sword and swung down on me, miraculously only cutting the ropes. But the sword wasn't lowered and stayed trained on me. I stuttered out, "I- I was the second mate, I read maps and navigated and sometimes I helped cook. I don't know anything! What are you-”

"Useless." Without warning, he sheathed his sword and lifted me into his arms.

Ichthys immediately tugged on Dui's arm, momentarily saving me. "Wait, Shadow, put him down! Zyglavis is still using him!"

Without concern, Dui shoved Ichthys into the mast and carried me straight to the railing where the waters raged below the sailing ship. "Still don't know anything?"

I screamed, latching onto his shirt as he pretended like he was going to throw me over into the raging water that was tainted with debris from the recent battle. "There's an island! The captain has maps of an island with a treasure!" I wasn't sure what they were looking for, but I knew that specific island was said to have a treasure that many pirates died trying to find. We'd never really gone because of the frozen waters that made it difficult to get ships through. "There's treasure there that the Captain wants. I swear that's all I know! Put me down!"

"Treasure?" Dui repeated, wanting me to elaborate.

"Shadow, put the goldfish down!" Dui sighed as he turned around, looking up at Zyglavis with a disappointed face now that his fun was ruined. He dropped me to my feet without further prompting and I was left shivering in front of Zyglavis. His cold eyes were glued on me as he finally commanded, "You mentioned an island that held a treasure. Direct us to it."

I crossed my arms indignantly despite how I was still shaken up. He just tore apart my crew like it was nothing. Yet, just like the stories… his ship was undamaged. "Do I look like one of your lackeys? I'm being held captive and I was nearly thrown overboard. Excuse me when I say that I refuse to cooperate with any of you."

"We're not giving you a choice. You either give us what we ask or you can find yourself spending your time in an uncomfortable cell well below deck."

"Oh. Were you trying to be civilized when you destroyed my home?"

There was a tense silence between us and he finally responded to my goading, "We can be uncivilized if that's what you'd prefer. Or," He added, more intent on having my free cooperation. "You could do as we ask and you'll be returned to your crew unharmed. If you had been paying attention, they’re alive and on shore."

Heeding his words, my desperate gaze shifted back to the land that was steadily getting smaller. Even from a distance, I could see the chaos that was still going on. It would take some time for them to recover… but those that survived would band together again.

Zyglavis was clearly threatening me and I was sure what Dui just tried to do to me would pale in comparison to Zyglavis' treatment. I didn't have many choices. I could either wait for my captain to cooperate, resulting in me having an unpleasant stay with Captain Zyglavis and Captain Leon, or I could do what would inevitably happen and just tell them where the supposed treasure was. Either way this ended with them winning. "I don't know if it's what you're looking for… But give me a map of the northern sea. I'll find your treasure and you'll take me home.”

"I'm glad you're being sensible about this," he commented as he turned to his first mate who was wholly glaring at me—the same one who held the dagger up to my neck just a short while ago. "Scorpio, get the map he requested. Tell Krioff to come here. We'll need him."

***

It was a long journey to the island. It would take at least two weeks or more at the rate we were going, not to mention we had to stop, switch to their larger ship, the Zodiac, and resupply before making the long journey across the ocean. But with my cooperation, they surprisingly kept their promise and I was allowed to stay in a room that was adjacent to Captain Zyglavis. It was almost like a guest room of sorts, only it wasn't specifically for my comfort. I was placed so close to the captain's quarters purely so he and Leon could keep an eye on me during the nights.

Still, I was thankful that I didn't have to share a room with anyone, or that they didn't have to have me under surveillance 24/7. It was hard enough being a captive to pirates, but I was well aware that women didn't always get the best treatment. I was lucky enough with my crew to have the favoritism of the captain. But these guys… I had to keep up a manly facade for as long as possible. I didn't want to know what they'd do if they found out… Especially that infamous wild sea lion.

But the crew... they at least seemed to like me. I began to help around in the kitchen as soon as they trusted I wasn't going to skewer anyone with a knife. It was something to do, and they seemed to like my food opposed to the usual spice they got when Karno was their chef.

“Hm… I don't understand,” Karno muttered, his eyes peeled on the fish that I was busy grilling. “How could you possibly make something have flavor if you don't add any flavor to it?”

“I am adding flavor,” I argued, gesturing to the array of spices on the shelf that I doubt he ever even looked at. “There are more kinds of spice than the ones you use. Where the hell do you even get them imported from? I've never had something so horrible before… I swear I wanted to drink the whole ocean after I ate your dishes.”

“I have to disagree,” he hastily argued with me, not looking pleased that I basically said his food was disgusting.

“Your crew mates have to disagree,” I insisted. “Karno, are you the only chef between you guys?”

He wanted to remain silent, but he wasn't the only one to cook meals. “Huedhaut sometimes cooks for the Captain, and Partheno and Tauxolouve will cook when I have other duties. But I don't understand what you're getting at. They've always eaten my food.”

“No complaints?”

“Well…”

His hesitation was enough to answer me and I huffed in amusement. Turning the fork over in my hand, I held out the handle of the fork to Karno. “C’mere. I'll show you how to season your food without poisoning your crew.”

He faltered as my hand wrapped around his wrist, tugging him in front of the stove. Watching my careful motions as I guided him between his familiar spices and seasonings that lined the shelf, he was curious.

“(Name),” he called my name suddenly, making me pause to listen. “Where'd you learn to cook? You seem to know your way around the kitchen.”

I fiddled with the fork I had pulled from the drawer, poking uselessly at the fish. “Just another trade I picked up on the water. I felt useless when I first became a pirate. I only knew a few skills like map reading and using the sky to navigate. So I became a pretty prized navigator over time. But… I like to consider myself a jack of all trades.”

“Well, I sure hope we didn't steal your crew’s only top chef.” He made the joke as a means of making light conversation, but he hadn't intended for me to look so uncomfortable with the topic of my other crew. But when he thought about it, he was the first mate of his crew. It could have been seen as him trying to pry for information. “I hadn't meant to make you uncomfortable. Why don't we just-”

“If you're willing to listen…” I paused, turning over the grilling fish. “Do you think,” I fell silent again. He was just another pirate… I pursed my lips. There's no way he'd keep a secret, even from his captain.

Karno glanced around before sliding the door closed, returning to my side, helping me with the cooking as he followed my motions. “Some things need to be kept quiet, right? I'm willing to give my advice or lend an ear. It's just a few of my personal duties.”

I sighed. He was fairly insightful compared to how dense he was in regards to the tastebuds of the crew. “Then… I just want to compliment this ship and its crew. You value each other and… It's nice. I'm just a captive but even I sort of feel at home here.”

“I see.” Now Karno was getting a better picture of where I was from. From what they found out, my crew didn't have the best reputation. In fact, they were just lucky Zyglavis didn't choose to kill them all and ask questions later. I was seeing what a good crew looked like for the first time. “Your crew doesn't value you as a member, does it?”

He was very insightful. I hadn't even said much regarding my own crew but he connected the dots so easily. No wonder he was the first mate of his crew… Though, he sounded as if he had more duties than usually entailed to a first mate. “I'm Captain's favorite tool… Not much different than now. I'm just a means to an end.” I had vague thoughts of wanting to join this crew, but I knew my gender was the only thing stopping me from requesting to basically jump ship.

“Leon and Zyglavis might seem like they're doing nothing more than using you,” Karno started carefully, his eyes trailing over to check my expression. “But they're going to take care of you. Until we return you, you'll be treated as one of us.”

I hummed, grabbing some plates to start fixing the meals. “Thanks. I'll, uh, do my best…” Maybe if I really impressed them then I wouldn't have to go back…

***

They were more than certainly a lively crew. Meals were always full of food, laughter, and booze, but it seemed that even a seemingly quiet night could turn noisy in an instant.

I was quietly sitting in their meeting room, reviewing the various maps they had provided me with. There were lots of dangerous places to avoid. But if I marked them out then Scorpio and Krioff could easily avoid them and get us to our destination. Their jobs just depended on me getting this right.

I flinched as the door slammed open, rattling the bulletin board on the wall. Ichthys pointed at me with so much conviction in his eyes that I swore I did some unforgivable crime. But before I could ask, he announced, “You! You're going through a rite of passage!”

“A- A what?” I blinked. I was just a captive, what did I need a rite of passage for? It's not like they'd kick me off their ship if I failed… right?

Without having time to question their antics, Teorus pulled the book out of my hands, laying it on top of the various maps I was going over. Ichthys, on the other hand, grabbed my arm, tugging me between the two of them as they took me up onto the deck where there seemed to be quite the commotion. They had benches set up around the center of the deck and a good portion of the crew were gathered around.

I glanced at Ichthys who pulled me away from my studying. "What's going on?"

He grinned at me excitedly, "You're going to battle!”

I faltered, immediately trying to pull away from the set-up sparring ring. The last time I sparred with anyone from their crew… it was their captain. Leon told me himself that I was nothing compared to his crew. “Hold on- Wait, I'm not fighting anyone.”

Teorus tugged my opposite arm along with Ichthys, mercilessly tugging me to the crowd where they shoved a sword in my hands. “Sure you are,” Teorus encouraged carelessly. “It's just for fun. We want to see how you really fight. We didn't get to see your fight with Leo. Besides, you'll never be a man if you don’t win a fight.”

“I’d rather not repeat that, thanks! I’m fine with being a goldfish, in this case.” I tried to shove the sword into Ichthys’ arms, but he just wrapped my hands around it, shoving it back into my chest.

Helplessly, my eyes met Karno’s and he simply laughed at my state. “You don't have to win. They just want to see what you can do.”

“I can't do much, I swear!” Despite how I was pleading to leave, they were quick to usher me in the middle of their man-made circle. “I'm really not a fighter! Is this necessary?”

Aigonorus suggested lazily, “If you're that worried, you can fight Dui. He's not good at fighting either.”

Dui? I was pretty sure I only met him once when he tried to throw me overboard. Are they sure he wasn't a fighter?

Still, just as I was horrified to be shoved in the middle of their circle, Dui didn't seem too thrilled to be the center of attention either. “Krioff, can't you help me out here?”

“No,” Krioff shook his head. “Once you're in the circle, there's no getting out until someone wins.”

“That's not fair,” Dui pouted at being stuck in the fight. “You guys told me I wouldn't have to do this again!”

“Be a good sport,” Ichthys cheered on his best friend. “(Name) needs someone on his level that he can go at! Come on, are you boys or are you men?”

My eyes widened as our gazes locked together. After an awkward moment of silence between us, I offered, “I forfeit. You can win.”

“Heeeey!” Ichthys angrily shouted at me, “No forfeiting! No one's leaving this circle until I need to come in with bandages!”

My wide eyes moved back to Ichthys, hoping I was just hearing things. “Please tell me you're not the medic…”

“Yup! I sure am!”

I groaned in distress, turning back toward Dui who was looking back at me with equal unease. I pleaded quietly, “Please, take it easy on me. I don’t want my life to rest in his hands.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Dui offered with a slight smile of encouragement. “He’s not the head-medic. Huedhaut’s in charge of that.”

My eyes narrowed on Dui who seemed to be adjusting his grip on his sword more seriously. “I guess that’s your way of telling me you won’t take it easy on me… I’ll try not to make it too easy for you then.” Dui was about my size, but I wasn’t sure that they realized being a female left me more nimble than they were. His motions were wider and more open compared to mine. I also wasn’t entirely incompetent with a blade, which gave me the advantage in this case. I slipped past Dui and had my sword beside his neck in one swift motion.

For a moment… I felt like I had an opportunity to get revenge for all my fallen crewmates. But the eager cheers of the pirates around me pulled me out of my thoughts and I nudged the back of his head with the handle to show that I had won the fight. I tossed the blade aside as soon as I had the opportunity of being declared the winner, but Dui regarded my frustration with curiosity. “(Name)...?”

Ignoring him, I ducked out of the rambunctious crowd of pirates who were already setting up for their next match. It seemed like it was going to be a long night of battles for them. Their energy was refreshing, but it wasn’t something I felt that I had any right to enjoy. They weren’t my crew and if any accidents were to occur… Well, they weren't going to catch my secret just yet.

“Tch, what are you doin’ up here?” Scorpio’s voice called out, making my eyes shoot up in panic. There were only a handful of pirates I didn’t want to tick off on this ship and he happened to be one of them. I hadn’t realized I’d walked all the way up into his territory until he started glaring at me with those fierce eyes. It wasn’t a wonder that he was an assassin at one point in his life.

“Sorry,” I instantly apologized. “I didn’t mean to bother you. I was just getting space from…” I glanced back silently at the wild pirates.

Instantly, Scorpio understood what I was wandering about for. “Hey,” he called out, grabbing my attention again. This time, he didn’t seem so hostile. “How long ‘till we get there?”

I hummed. Being one of the navigators for this crew I assumed he’d know something like that. Unless… he was just testing me? “I think… a week at least? That depends on how fast this ship can sail. Just because the course is charted doesn’t mean we’ll get there as fast as I think. The air is only just starting to get cold. So, tell me, how long is this going to take?”

“Smart ass,” he muttered, his eyes staying locked on the dark waters ahead. “This ship’ll get us there in a few days now. She’s fast enough for you.”

I hummed, leaning on the railing as I gazed up at the sky. “I guess she is. The sooner we get in, the sooner we can get out. And the sooner I can go home…”

“You don't sound eager.”

I shrugged. Scorpio was one of the scarier gods on board the ship despite how I had to work with him to set our course for the treasure. Despite how reliable he was, I was hesitant to say much about my situation. I'd had the perfect opportunity to say what was on my mind back when I was cooking with Karno. I certainly wasn't going to say it to this foul-mouthed pirate. “A home is a home.”

His eyes stayed locked onto me for a moment longer. He had a feeling there was more to it than that, but he wasn’t about to push for information. In the end, I was just their captive.

***

I crossed my arms, desperately rubbing the chill from out of my bones. The cutting wind did nothing to help me warm up, but I was stuck out on the deck in this god-forsaken weather thanks to the two captains who thought I needed to be there to help survey and note our surroundings. As things were, the ship could no longer move forward and we’d need to row the rest of the way to the frozen landscape ahead.

I fidgeted, my eyes narrowing as I scanned the freshly fallen snow on a nearby iceberg. I grimaced, half listening to their conversation that suddenly concerned me. Poking my mouth out from behind my warm scarf, I hissed, “You think I’m leaving this ship to go out there with you? Hey, I led you here, but that’s your funeral if you want to go out treasure hunting.”

“We’re trying to avoid unnecessary troubles,” Karno tried to reassure me, adding, “That’s why we need you to go with us. We need someone familiar with the island-”

“I’m not,” I interrupted him without a second thought, causing him to sigh. It wasn’t that I wanted to be difficult with them, I just wanted nothing to do with an island that was nothing but dead trees, snow, and rocks. All of my survival skills were useless in a place like that. “I’ve read about this place, sure, but I don’t know enough to ensure that we all make it out alive. If you’re going then you’re going without me.”

“I disagree,” Leon called out, immediately earning a glare from me. “I’m going to that island and you’re coming with me. We’ll see what a prized navigator you are on land.”

My eyes narrowed, but I knew if I kept arguing with him that it would only lead to them simply tying me up and forcing me along. Griping quietly to myself, I muttered, “You’re ridiculous. We’re going to die.”

Leon still didn’t seem too fazed with my complaints, simply brushing me off by saying, “I think you forget who you’re traveling with, goldfish.” Flicking his wrist in a gesture for me to leave, he ordered, “Tell Teorus to get you more clothes. It’s going to be colder in the snow.” His tone was blunt, warning against any disobedience.

I glared at him, our eyes locked in a heatedly silent war before I broke eye contact and stormed off into the ship. “This is not in my job description,” I muttered to myself as I began the search for Teorus. These Captains were insufferable, though I was sure Leon was the worst when it came to ordering people around like he was some kind of tyrannical king. I was convinced Zyglavis was going to be the rough one to deal with at sea—I was sorely mistaken. The only thing I could do under these conditions was to prepare myself for the frozen hellscape outside.

***

I shivered, trying to rub warmth into my arms as we rowed across the icy waters, leaving behind the large ship. It wasn't that Teorus hadn't given me enough clothes… But that it was just too damn cold.

It was me, Leon, Karno, Dui, and Krioff sailing out to the frozen island. We were separated into two groups. Karno, the first mate, teamed up with two members of Zyglavis’ crew, and Captain Leon teamed up with the unfortunate little me.

Taking notice of my shivering, Karno asked, "Do you need another jacket?"

I glanced at him and noticed that he was prepared to take off his jacket for me. Why couldn't I have been put on Karno’s team? I lamented my loss, but I quickly shook my head. “N- No. It's fine. I'm just a little chilled... You'll be cold if you take your jacket off.” Besides, Leon would only get upset if I made his first mate get sick just because I didn't dress warmly enough like he told me to.

A yelp escaped my lips as something obscured my vision and I was left in the dark. My eyes widened and I looked up as it lifted slightly enough for me to see and settled on my head at an awkward angle. “Wear that to keep your head warm. If you take it off I’ll consider cutting off your hands.”

Taking heed to Leon’s warning, I tried to look up at the warm thing he placed on my head, only to realize his hat was gone from his head, leading me to the conclusion that his hat was on my head. Leon's hat was on my head, his precious pirate cap. I buried my red cheeks into my scarf, whispering a quiet thanks.

He could be rude, he could be commanding, he could be overbearing, but he could be very kind where he didn't need to be. Leon was an enigma that I failed to understand. Or maybe this was just his apology for dragging me off of the ship.

…as if that guy knew what an apology was.

Still, this man never failed to confound me.

***

“Leon, stop,” Leon paused to regard me, taking in my wary expression. “It’s not solid here. One wrong step and we could fall through the ice.” I could feel the subtle vibrations caused by our footsteps. A wrong move could send us to our doom, but the chances of that weren't high. As long as there were no immediate cracks or splintering then we should be fine.

Kneeling down, he tapped the ice realizing that I was right. We were standing over something hollow. He certainly didn't want to find out if there was water beneath us or not. Rising back to his feet, he glanced up and down the path we had been following. “Is there another way around this part?”

It was no use looking at the map they provided me. This island wasn’t something they had much information on. What they did have, proved useless in a moment like this. I had to try and piece this island together from memory. “Hold on…” I dropped my bag by his feet before I began to scale a boulder that was thoroughly covered in frozen ice and snow.

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t sound too impressed with me, watching as I precariously balanced myself on top of the steep surface. “I’m searching. I had a feeling about this island so I made sure to study it. It's hard to map snow and ice but... If this is what I think it is, we should be standing... In the middle of a river. And that,” I pointed to the steep plateau on the other side of the river. “That has to be an inactive supervolcano which must have been flattened out by years of weathering. We’re getting closer to the east side of the island which is where the others should be on route to.”

“You have no concrete idea on where this treasure may be?”

I shook my head while I tried to climb back down without falling into the snow. “The notes said it would be more toward the center of the island, I think. But if we go any more west we’ll be farther over that river, exactly where we don’t want to end up if this ice proves unstable.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed as he commented, “You never mentioned that there was a river here.”

“Well... I didn’t think it would be important. It’s so cold that I thought it would have been frozen solid with layers of ice and snow packed on top.” I huffed as I picked my bag back up and slung it over my shoulder. “I wasn’t expecting the ice to be so shockingly thin for a place that’s so cold. Unless... it froze over and then the water receded. That would just mean that there are caverns beneath us.”

Leon’s eyes pierced into me fiercely as he followed me through the snow, quickly grasping the back of my coat and dragging me to a halt. The sudden stop made his hat fall over my eyes and I pushed it up just in time to find him shooting me an unpleasant gaze. “A good navigator tells their crew everything they know. I have men out there that don't know anything about this terrain.”

“I hadn't considered this!” I snapped, glaring at him as I pulled my arm out of his hand. “And don't consider me your crew! If they die out here that's your fault! I told you it was dangerous! If your navigator, Krioff, is worth anything, he should've noticed!” Refusing to let him blame me for the lives at stake, I turned and stormed away, “Find the stupid treasure on your own! I'm going back to the ship.”

“We’re not finished here!”

“I am! I’ve had it with your stupid treasure hunt! I’ve had it with your crummy attitude! You can stay on this island and die for all I care!” It was silent as I continued to storm away. Usually Leon would tease my anger with some kind of casual retort or yell and threaten me. I didn’t get any of that. I only got the sensation of the ground shaking violently as I tripped into the snow, the pirate cap completely flying from my head and onto the ground. Looking up, I warily glanced back at where Leon was supposed to be. “Leon...?” There was no answer and I quickly stood to my feet, prepared to run back to where I last saw him. “Captain?!”

“Don’t-” I froze at the sudden word. Where was he? “Don’t come closer! You’ll make it worse!” I glanced down at the ice and noticed that it was splintering in my direction. The sudden tremors that shook the island must have loosened the ice beneath him enough to make a decent size hole for him to fall through. But I relaxed slightly as I saw him lifting himself out of the cracked ice. “Don’t just stand there, you stupid goldfish. Get off the ice. Move!”

He didn’t have to tell me twice as the ice shifted beneath me. Running as fast as I could through the snow, I slid to a halt. What would I do if Leon fell through the ice? He would probably drown and die. Would they blame me for his death if I made it back without him? But I just said I didn’t care if he died…

But... If I didn't help him then his death would be on my hands... and he wasn’t a bad captain. He took care of his crew. They were so nice to me. Why did I have to be so rude to them? Leon did a lot to keep me warm and fed and hydrated.

Damn it! Couldn't he have been a bad guy for me to leave for dead?

He may have told me to go, but I wasn’t going anywhere without him. Turning back I noticed he had yet to pull himself out of the crack in the ice. It was too slippery for him to climb out on his own. “Leo!”

Dropping my bag beside his hat, I ran back to him, surprising him by taking his hand.The last thing he was expecting was for me to grab his arm, trying to lift him out. “I thought I told you to leave!”

“Don't worry, I will. But not before you’re safe.” He wasn’t about to argue as it was easier to climb out with me digging my heels into the ice to pull him up. He didn't deserve to die out here in this frozen wasteland. A great captain like Leon had better places to meet his demise.

Successfully lifting him out of the hole, the sudden slack of his body being freed caused me to slide to the ground soon after. I was relieved to feel that the ice wasn't cracking further beneath us, which meant we could safely make our way off of the river.

“You're supposed to listen to a Captain’s orders.” He grumbled as he tried to brush off the snow that was on him, watching me also rise to my feet to get the snow off of me.

“Well,” I tried to excuse myself with a teasing smile despite my labored breaths, “You could make up your mind. I tried to leave and you told me to stay. I tried to come back and you told me to leave. You're a pretty fickle captain.” At one point I would have fought him, I would have left him to die, I would have told him he wasn't even my captain to listen to. But after spending so much time with him, I was getting a feel for his personality and he wasn't nearly as arrogant as he tried to be. Trying to rectify what I said earlier, I suggested, “Do you want to go find them? I know what path they’re taking, so they shouldn’t be getting to the river just yet. Alternatively, we made it this far and could scope out one more place before we move on. Of course, I think Karno-”

“Hold on.” I paused to regard him as he looked contemplative. He didn’t seem worried or even half as emotional as he was before, and he came to a quick decision. “They can take care of each other with Krioff guiding them. You said you had an idea on where the treasure might be. It’s better for us to get this over with and leave so no one’s in further danger.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to understand his motives. It made sense, following my suggestion, but he was letting the other team continue on without warning that the river was splintering. Still, part of me was hoping he’d call this wild-treasure-hunt off. I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah… They can take care of themselves. I think I know where the treasure is, so we can make a quick trip. Though, I thought after almost dying you might have reconsidered keeping us out here in this deadly environment.” I continued to mutter minor complaints to myself as I stormed down the path of the river.

His eyes, however, never left me. If he had any sort of further explanation for me, he kept silent about it. Instead, after snatching his hat off of the ground, it was a quiet journey to the center of the river. It seemed I was correct in assuming where the treasure would be since there was an even smaller island that was situated at its very center—a pretty conspicuous place to hide riches.

It didn’t take long for us to find what treasure there was. It wasn’t much, but it seemed priceless enough. Some unfortunate soul probably thought it’d be safe on the island; that certainly wasn’t the case from these Zodiac pirates.

I was relieved we were finally leaving, as I was only growing more and more agitated being around Leon and his care-free attitude. It was as if he couldn't care less that we were in a life-threatening environment.

But as I was walking and silently griping to myself, I heard a crisp crunching sound, making me pause to listen. Glancing down my eyes widened and I dared not move. Leon was still walking, oblivious to the literal thin ice I was on. I was afraid to even breathe with how splintered the ice had become. This was just my rotten luck to end up in such danger with a heavy load of gold on my shoulders. “L- Leo... The ice.”

He whirled on his heel to take in my situation. His eyes flickered to my feet, unable to see the danger himself from where he stood. “Can I reach you?”

“No…” I glanced around the ice that I was standing on but everything looked the same. “It’s not like what you fell through. The ice is probably too thin to support my weight and the added weight of the treasure. It's going to finish breaking. I'll fall through if I move.”

He assessed the ice I was standing on before seeing how still I was trying to balance the bag of treasure on my shoulder. “Can you give me your bag? You should be able to move without the extra weight.”

I shook my head slowly. “I can't make any sudden movements.” It was taking everything in me to keep myself from shivering from both fear and the chill that was settling in my bones. I bit my lip, but I couldn't think of a single way to get off the ice without falling through. “I can toss you your treasure, but I'm... not getting out of this.”

“That wasn't the deal,” he growled, not consenting to my plan. “We found the treasure, now we're going to send you back to your crew. We promised you as much for your cooperation.”

“You don't have a choice! Either you leave with the treasure or you stay here and die with me!”

“Just reach out your hand.” Leon extended his hand to me. His feet were firmly planted on a thick layer of ice, his eyes imploring me to listen. We were so close to the bank, why did something like this have to happen now? For once, he didn't look like the cruel pirate captain that took me captive. He looked like a pirate captain that was genuinely concerned about my life and keeping his promise. “(Name).” My eyes snapped up at his soft voice. He said my name... He never called me anything other than ‘Goldfish’. His eyes locked with mine as he tried to reach further. “Trust me. Take my hand. I'll catch you.”

I desperately searched his eyes. He was too far; But I had to try with his tempting promise. I reached out slowly, the ice crunching testingly under my movements. The slight shift of weight was putting a strain on the thin ice that was struggling to hold together. My fingers were just about to meet his, but the ground shook. “Leo-” The ice beneath me gave out and I fell forward. I wasn't sure if I blacked out after my head collided with the ice but I felt a sharp pain and then there was darkness.

Was I unconscious or was I just buried under the river? Was this it for me? The end was quite a bleak one, if I was being honest. It was just as dark and cold as my last moments alive were.

Faintly... I heard someone calling my name. Why was everything echoing around me? Was this what the after life was like?

For a moment the world felt like it was spinning. But after that? Stillness. Silence. Throbbing. “Mm- Ow-” Nope. This didn't feel like an after life.

“Idiot, don't touch it. I just bandaged it.” Hands roughly pulled my hands down, pinning them to the ground until I stilled. I waited another few moments before I willed my heavy eyelids to open. It was so cold I almost couldn't bring myself to fully wake up, wanting nothing more than to fall back into the warm embrace of sleep. But finally getting a look at our surroundings, I realized there was a fire ablaze beside me. That explained why that side of me felt warmer than the other. Instinctively, I tried to get closer, but I was chastised yet again, “Don't do that. The last thing I need is for you to catch fire.”

“Captain?”

He hummed before explaining, “We fell through the ice. There was an avalanche after the Earth started shaking. It wasn't bad, but the rest of the ice covering the river collapsed too. You were right about your theory. There are caves where water used to run beneath the island. It was the only place I could start a fire for us. Now that the river is exposed, they'll find us eventually.”

My head was pounding as I lifted myself off of the flat ground and pulled myself against the wall. Leon didn't look much better than I felt. His leg was wrapped up and he had blood on his face and hands. But I realized that there was also something wrapped around my head. I blinked in confusion. Was I bleeding? Did I get hurt? But then... Leon would have had to drag both me and our stuff to this cave to start a fire. “Did you take us here?”

He scoffed, not blessing me with an answer as he spoke, “Don't thank me. I'm just keeping my goldfish in one piece. We can't give you back to your crew if you're not alive.”

“You told me before…” I started awkwardly, feeling bad that Leon went through all this trouble in his injured state, “That I'd never make it as part of your crew. The guys from my crew tell me that all the time, especially when I can’t help out with their pillaging and plundering. I'm not a very good pirate... But the captain has some kind of use for me—that's what I'm always being told. And then you guys came along and it's the same thing. I'll never cut it, but I have use so I'm not expendable. But you have your treasure! You got what you used me for but for some reason you didn't leave me to die, not even after I asked. I don’t think… you’re a bad captain. All of your crew, they don't have a particular use, but you care about their lives.”

“Yeah, you're useful to us.” He huffed but he didn't say anything more for a few moments. But I picked up that, oddly, he wasn't even speaking in past tense. “You're just a goldfish but for some reason you could get both the Wishes and Punisher crew to work together. I've been thinking about this ever since I found you in the ice. I don't think that damned King wanted us to find jewels. I'm starting to think you were the treasure we were tasked to find. That's why you were the only one on that ship. The King wanted our crews to cooperate. Not a stupid plan considering how powerful we are when all twelve of us are sailing. We’re Zodiac pirates and that’s how it should be.”

He wasn't outwardly saying it, but he was practically singing my praises. But... What did that mean for me? “I'm... sorry for the way I acted before. You can only imagine what being abducted feels like.”

He scoffed with an amused smirk. “I guess we could have been softer on a little goldfish like you.”

“Well, you do have a reputation to keep,” I quietly defended for him. Though, I suppose that was just him trying to make me feel better. As I stared into the flickering flames, we fell into a comfortable silence. Still, as much as I didn’t want to actually catch on fire, I was longing to get closer. I felt far too cold to feel the fire’s warmth.

Leon seemed to take notice of my condition as I was being too still and quiet for him. “Come here.”

My dazed eyes met his and I tilted my head in question. “What?” Did he mean… he wanted me to sit next to him? No way. Surely my thought process was just as frozen as the rest of me.

“You're not warm,” he pointed out. “It doesn’t take a scholar to see that. Come here.” He wasn't exactly patient as he glared at me me and questioned, “Are you going to make me crawl over there like this? You’ve got some nerve, boy.”

I quickly shook my head, seeing his grimace as he tried to move over to me. “No, no! You're hurt! Don't move around so much.” My head spun as I did as he asked and moved over to him. Kneeling in front of him, I was surprised when he pulled me against him, removing my jacket in the process. Swatting his hands away, I hissed, “H- Hey! What are you doing?!”

He hissed in pain when my knee dug into his wrapped leg, pausing his movements as he growled, “Stop fighting, goldfish. Damn, that hurt... Do you want to stay warm or not?” He reclined against his bag, glaring at me for fighting him. He obviously wasn't trying to do me any harm. But if I was so intent on putting up a good fight, then he was going to sit there and wait for me to go to him for help.

“Sorry…” I timidly apologized. He was the one giving me the wrong idea… I pouted. “What was I supposed to think? You were suddenly grabbing at my clothes.”

“You need to learn to trust me.” His voice was quiet as he pulled me against him more gently now that I was willing. However… he paused before resting me against him. His eyes lingered on the bright red color that stained my shirt. This time he did grab my shirt and he had to pin me down thanks to my frantic fight against him. This time, it was deliberate to get him off of me. But similar to our first fight, my wrists were captured above my head as he raised my shirt up to my neck. “You were injured?” Well, that was the only reason he could understand bandages. Unless…

“It’s… It’s just old injuries—don’t worry about it.”

Clearly, I was uncomfortable with bringing this up and this was clearly no place to be addressing such a thing. Leon had his suspicions, but he silently agreed with me, something I appreciated. Instead, he loosened his grip, changing the tone of the conversation. “I hadn’t noticed. The ice must have dug into your ribs when you landed. I have spare bandages you can use until we get back to the ship.”

For the moment, at least, my gender was safe. I counted this interaction as something fortunate. There were more important things to worry about and he needed my calm cooperation if we were going to survive. Sitting close by one another, he had me hold my shirt up as he firmly covered my ribs with bandages. “Um… Thanks for helping. I’ll try not to stress you out anymore.”

If he had any suspicions about me being a woman, he didn’t say anything as he offered his hand to me. This time, now that he was sure of my injuries being cared for, he was more confident in his decision to pull me against his chest. Still, I wasn’t sure why he felt the need to excuse his actions, “You’ll be warmer this way, and you can get some rest. I’m sure hitting your head didn’t do you any favors.” He wrapped my jacket around me, putting his arms through the sleeves as he held me snugly against him. “I’ll take care of you.” I could have sworn he said my name, but the warmth radiating from him was pulling me into a comfortable sleep as I nuzzled my face into his chest.

This, Leon realized, was the reason something seemed off when we first met. He had taken me for a boy this entire time… But through our sparse contact, he recognized the gentle curves of a woman. Strange, he couldn’t help but huff in amusement. I fooled ships of men into thinking I was just another pirate boy. He couldn’t fanthom my reasonings for choosing the life I chose, but he had to admit I did a damn good job.

***

Karno was beside himself with worry. He was acting captain of his crew as long as Leon was gone, but he didn't want to be captain forever. Leon and I had been missing for a few days. It was supposed to take at least a day to find the treasure and report back to the ship. But we'd been out there for double that time, prompting a search party shortly after the Earthquakes. Of course, Dui, Krioff, and Karno weren't as affected by the shaking ground since they were a good distance away from the plateau and the river. They were just worried about me and Leon, who hadn't returned at our meeting point and still showed no signs of returning.

“Karno!” Tauxolouve called out from the bank of the dried up river. “I think I found them. There's firelight in that cave. We need rope to get down there.”

Karno nodded his head, hiding the obvious relief he felt as he fired a red flare into the sky. “Good job, Lou. Let’s scope out the safest place for us to get them up.”

It was work getting down into the river bed, but as soon as they made it they were relieved to find us both alive, if not a little worse for wear. But Karno couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight. I was sleeping on Leon's chest while Leon was sleeping on top of our bags, his head hanging back. But he couldn’t miss the way his captain had a protective arm around my waist, something that might seem uncharacteristic were it anyone other than Karno finding him.

Despite how nice it was to see us cooperating, it was time to get us back where we belonged. He knelt beside us and tapped on Leon's shoulder, announcing quietly so he wouldn't disturb me, as I had an obvious head-wound, “Leo, wake up. It's time to get going.”

Leon groaned before he finally shook back into his surroundings, only slightly startled at having someone hovering over the two of us. “Karno…” His relief was short as he got to commanding his second mate, “It took you long enough to get here. Get…” He hesitated to call me by my hidden gender, choosing to momentarily keep my secret. “Get him warm so we can make the trip back to the ship."

Karno's smile never left as Leon harshly addressed him. “Aye, captain. I'm glad to see you're feeling like yourself. The crew will be here in a moment to help carry everything. Have you found the treasure?”

Leon pursed his lips as he glanced down at me. He answered quietly, "I think so..."

***

I was delirious and suffering from occasional hallucinations, but between being awake and falling unconscious the next minute, there were numerous other things Huedhaut and Ichthys had to place their attention on. The most notable thing… being what they found when replacing my bandages to clean my wounds.

Leaving the cleaning to Ichthys, Huedhaut turned his attention to Leon who was also bedridden in the opposite bed in the room. “I have to wonder… were you aware that our guest here is, in fact, a lady?”

“Don’t dwell on it,” Leon muttered, keeping his gaze focused on the wall ahead of him. “She didn’t want to tell me. I have to believe it’s personal. Yet… understandable. A woman her caliber would fetch a nice price, don’t you think?”

“A deplorable thought.”

“But a thought, nonetheless.” Leon finally glanced at Huedhaut from the corner of his eye. “She protected herself well. But we’re not addressing it unless she does. So until then, treat that boy as you would any of us.”

Pursing his lips, Huedhaut nodded tersely. “I’ll do my best to get his vitals stable.” Turning back to where Ichthys was trying to cool my fever, Huedhaut got back to working tirelessly to help me. The wound on my head was definitely something tricky.

Hours passed, some better than others. Some hours were so intense that even Leon was on the verge of leaving his bed just to make sure I lived. But eventually, both pirates were glad to be able to simply sit and watch my progress. Still, with the state my head had been in, even Huedhaut couldn’t say when I would awaken. So, he left me in the capable hands of the overly-concerned captain.

But, now that my fever broke and I was no longer suffering from cold spells, my conscious finally returned to me and I opened my eyes to get a view of where I was. Above me was a blurry ceiling, but it was still a ceiling that wasn’t made of rock and ice. I inhaled sharply, realizing that we were back on a ship, but I exhaled softly. I was glad we were rescued, even if I didn’t remember a single thing. I was just glad we weren’t still out in the ice. It was so warm being wrapped up in so many blankets. I wouldn’t mind if I stayed there forever.

“Are you going to sleep all day?”

I turned my head and found Leon watching me carefully. Him… he was the reason I was still alive and immediately, I had to pay him my respects. “C- Captain.” I sat up, but had to grip the edge of the bed with the wave of dizziness that came over me. “I-”

“What happened to ‘Leo’?” I stared in confusion at his interruption, letting out a quiet noise of confusion. “On the island, you called me Leo. What happened to that? And lay back down. You're not recovered yet. We don’t need you knocking that head of yours around.”

His words were harsh, but I knew he had my best interest at heart. I laid back against my pillows, trying to figure out how to respond. I never meant to be so informal with him, but we were in danger at the time, and I instinctively called him by his nickname. But he didn't seem angry that I called him Leo. Karno called him that all the time, but this was different. I wasn't a part of his crew.

My eyes fell onto his leg which was wrapped and propped up on its own pillows. “You got hurt really bad... Didn't you?”

“Not bad enough,” he immediately responded, his expression turning sour as he vented, “Hue simply refused to let me leave this room. Don’t think too hard on it.” His eyes trailed back to me, and he shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head at my concerned gaze. “There's no need for you to be so panicked. You didn't do this.”

“I can be worried about you, can't I?” I sighed, disappointment seeping into my voice as I averted my guilty gaze. “I can't help but feel like things could have been different if I'd just trusted you like you asked. Maybe we’d have been able to get off the ice in time.”

“Don't give me that ‘what if’ nonsense, goldfish. If you want to apologize for not listening then why don't you listen now?”

My face flushed at his obvious point but I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that he was calling me goldfish again. It was degrading and I was sure he didn't mean it in a kind manner. Well… I suppose it was better than him calling me woman, or some other form of gender degredation. After all, I was sure he’d seen my chest when we were back in that cave. At least, that’s what I thought. But he never brought it up.

A fist rapped on the door before it creaked open before Zyglavis stepped in. His eyes immediately locked onto me, completely disregarding Leon. “You've kept your end of the bargain. We've already located your crew and set course-”

“No,” Leon interrupted suddenly, dragging our attention to him. “We're not done with him. If we show up to that trickster and he says that isn't the treasure we were sent to find then we'll need him.”

“Do not call the king a trickster,” Zyglavis’ eyes narrowed, before taking his words into consideration. “If that is the case then we will need to approach this differently.”

Though they were arguing over whether or not to keep me longer, I was feeling partially relieved that I wasn't going back to my crew right away. Leon was tough, even more so than Zyglavis who was a stickler for rules, but they cared. The entire crew cared and that made me long for this sense of family that I just didn't get with my crew. My crew just wanted to use me, something that I was growing to resent the longer I spent with this protective crew.

“Goldfish. Goldfish!” My eyes snapped to Leon who was watching me harshly, his aggression obviously stemming from his argument with Zyglavis. “Make your choice. We can return you back to your ship whenever you want. We'll leave it up to you.”

If I went back now I knew I'd never get a moments rest upon returning—not that they knew that. All they were doing was giving me a short extension of my visit. As soon as we saw their employer of a King then they’d finish their business with me. But I knew I already had my mind made up. “If it's alright with you... I'll sail with you for a bit longer. You know my crew would probably blame you for all of my injuries. I bet they’d be upset.” I wasn't so sure my crew would care about the condition I was returned in; as long as I was returned.

Leon gave a self-satisfied smirk to Zyglavis. “There. He’s coming with us.”

Zyglavis' eyes stayed trained on me longer as if he could see right through me. But he left without further argument. Leon’s gaze flickered back to me now that we weren't bothered with extra company. “Are you hungry?” Upon quietly shaking my head, Leon argued, “Don't give me that. You haven't eaten since we were in that cave. And even then, cold beans don’t constitute as a meal.”

My eyes widened as he pushed himself off the bed and left the room. I couldn't argue until he walked back in a few minutes later with a plate. “Cap- uh- L- Leo, shouldn't you be staying in bed? Won't Hue be angry?”

“You think I'm going to sit around and take orders from them?” His eyebrows shifted upward. “I’m the captain here.”

I hummed quietly, nodding along. “Right.” He was the captain and as I’d always witnessed since joining them, he took care of his crew above all else.

Wait… How long had it been… that I stopped seeing myself as their captive? When had I started considering them a crew that I joined? Maybe… Maybe a time in the future would come when I would join them. Just maybe.

***

Having the door not fully closed to enjoy the ocean breeze, the papers in the room fluttered quietly. I knew from various conversations that our next destination was a certain kingdom that generously praised the Zodiac Pirates. Through all my conversations, I'd yet to get the name of this Kingdom. I was sure it wasn't meant to be some big secret, but it was like pulling teeth with these guys.

My only reason for wondering… Was because there was a particular Kingdom I was interested in…

“Hm? Oh, well, I suppose I should have expected to run into you here,” Tauxolouve's thoughtful voice addressed me as he walked into the meeting room. “Though, I have to wonder why I'm finding you here. If I'm not mistaken, this is going to be our last voyage together. Unless you're planning on making us another little treasure map as a gift for us taking such good care of you.”

He walked by, glancing over what I was looking at before heading straight for the drawers on the other end of the room. I shrugged him off. His idea wasn't a bad one, in any case. Regardless of if it was our last voyage, I had many maps memorized for treasure hunting. It wouldn't be a sin to mark a few for them.

Shaking my head to readjust my train of thought, I answered, “I'm not against the idea of leaving a little gift, but I was just going over the new maps they pulled out. I wouldn't want to pry in any Zodiac maps and pull out anything I'm not supposed to.”

“Smart,” he hummed. “Staying on Zyglavis’ good side is the reason we live longer.”

I tilted my head and teased, “I thought drinking water is the reason we live longer.”

“That's what Huedhaut would tell you,” Lou shrugged, chuckling as he bounded off with a few papers. Though, reaching the door he paused, turning around to regard me for a moment longer. His eyes narrowed before he asked, “How old might you be?”

I blinked, staring in confusion. Though, I had to wonder… How old was I? Rubbing my head, I finally admitted, “I'm actually not sure. I think I was stolen from my home when I was about… Eight? Was I eight? That's a difficult question.” I might've been able to remember, if my initial start to the pirate life had been under better circumstances. “Why do you want to know my age?”

“You’re young,” he replied with a curious edge to his tone. “Well, you appear youthful, in any case. Your face is beautiful and, take no offense, but not yet matured into one of a man. To be blunt, you appear soft.”

Inhaling sharply, I scanned him up and down but nothing gave me any hint as to what he was going on about. “You might offend me if I don't like your explanation. Why is my appearance so important to you?”

His shoulders jumped, and he quickly covered up a laugh. Still, he couldn't help but wink as he gave his explanation, “Well, I'm not sure if you're aware, but I'm an artist. I'm naturally attracted to beautiful sights. When on a ship full of rugged men, I tend to long for tender beauty such as yours. Ichthys is the youngest of us, yet you seem to challenge him. I wonder which of you is older.” The corners of his lips curled up. “Well, if you're ever inclined to let me immortalize you on paper, let me know.”

***

My heart thrummed the minute I saw the view of the Kingdom ahead. It was something I'd seen only once in my life… A long time ago when I was being stolen away on a ship. Now… I was heading back for the place I hadn't been to in so long. It felt wrong to be returning like this.

“You seem taken,” Partheno commented beside me. He joined me on deck not long ago so he could view our arrival to the dock. “Have you ever been to such a large Kingdom? There's none other like it in the world.”

“Actually,” I hesitated. Should I reveal that I'd been there before? Well, they were bound to find out anyway. Especially if we were going to be seeing their King face to face. “I've been here before. It stole my heart when I first saw the view of the Kingdom from the ocean.”

Partheno considered me curiously before gesturing to the land ahead. “Well then, welcome back.” He paused. “But… I'd advise you to be careful once we arrive. Most things that appear pretty in nature are poisonous under the surface.”

I regarded him with similar curiosity as he fled from my side, eagerly heading to where the boarding ramp was to be placed upon arrival. Shortly, we'd be going into the city with the King’s treasure. I wondered if any of these pirates knew what that was.

Seeing how close we were drawing to shore, I anxiously fled into the safety of what was considered my room. There were lots of options placed out before me now. I could go with them as their loyal navigator and declare myself the finder of the King's treasures. I could… also get into serious trouble if things went the wrong way. I could go with them and make myself as inconspicuous as possible.

On the other hand, I could stay in the ship and wait for everything to blow over and we'd be back on our merry way. I'd be free, charting courses wherever the wind would take us. I wasn't sure I was ready to make this decision for myself…

My eyes flickered up at hearing a knock on my door. Only, Krioff was the one standing outside when I opened it. He glanced at me before gesturing for me to follow him. “C’mon. You're coming with us to meet the King.”

“W- What?! Why me?” I wanted to stay on the ship! Why did I suddenly have to leave? I made my decision. I loved the ocean more than I loved solid land. “I'm not actually a Zodiac Pirate…”

But… Something else called me to return to this Kingdom. My morbid curiosity was what made me follow Krioff who answered, “It's a form of respect for the navigator to be there when presenting the King’s treasure. You're the one who found it. Besides, Zyglavis’ orders.”

Speaking of Zyglavis, he was waiting patiently for Krioff and I to join him. It seemed that the other pirates had already left with Leon, on their way to the palace.

His eyes peeled on me for a moment, Zyglavis made a swift gesture, leading us into the city as he recited his—more than likely—just made up rules. “Stay close. Don't make any noise or draw attention. Do not speak unless spoken to. Most importantly… respect the King.”

I hummed quietly, rubbing the bandages on my head. Though, I was sure the headache that was coming along was because of this upcoming situation and not because of my head injury. Still, I took the time to ask, “If it's that important, couldn't I have stayed on the ship?”

“As Krioff has already told you, your presence is necessary.” Pausing, he added slowly, “The king sometimes will reward the finder of his treasure with a wish. As we're aware, that would be you.”

He might've thought so, but I was sure the only reward I would get was a guarded room in the palace. “Why couldn't any of you take the gift? I'm sure any of the younger pirates would have gladly accepted it.”

“We are not to disrespect the King by lying to his highness's face.” Shooting me a pointed look, we finally caught up to the rest of the pirates, who were waiting for the rest of us before setting forth into the familiar royal palace of Heavenia.

If I had to go in there by all means, I was determined to stay out of sight between the Zodiacs, keeping between them as if someone would lunge out and grab me at any moment.

As nervous as I was, the minute the doors to the throne room opened it was like a sense of nostalgia hit me. The surprised pirates could only watch in surprise—some in horror—as I naturally bolted forward, the familiarity hitting me like a brick. I may have been too scared to return, but my feet moved on their own. The sight of the throne in front of me made me freeze just below the stairs. The sight above me was familiar enough for my eyes to lock into the figure in the golden chair.

“You should not be disrespecting the King in such a manner, you're injured,” Zyglavis reprimanded, a short distance behind me with the other pirates. But his attention didn't stay on me for very long as he looked back at the King. “Your highness, I apologize sincerely. He’s our captive that led us to your treasure. He may be overexcited; I believe this will pardon his behavior.” Gesturing behind him, Aigonorus and Dui had helped to carry the crates of gold.

As the silence pursued, the King finally inclined his head to observe me up and down, his eyes lingering on the bandages around my head. “So, you've finally returned.” His eyes flickered to the pirates that had gathered. “Thank you for returning that which is mine. You will be generously rewarded.”

“Your highness,” Karno started awkwardly, “(Name)’s the one who found your treasure. He's the one who should be accepting your reward.”

The King's eyes flickered toward the priceless artifacts placed before him. But just as soon as his eyes landed on them, he looked away. “I am uninterested in your trinkets. You may keep them.” His gaze landed back on me. “And you… Do you think yourself deserving of a reward?” Averting my gaze, I shook my head silently. “Have you elected to join these seafaring criminals?”

The way he asked that question told me he was severely disapproving of the way I was dressed. “Father…�� I faltered at the negative attention that was placed upon me. Things were not the same as they were when I left and I didn't know what to say. The only thing I knew was the relationship of the man before me. He may not have been present when those pirates stole me from under his nose, but he was my father.

“The King has a son?!” Teorus exclaimed, making Huedhaut smack the back of his head with a forced hush.

But Leon took the moment to correct him, “The King… has a daughter.”

The King recognized me as well, and he didn't seem surprised that his best pirate crew was able to return his treasure as he asked, but he still acted indifferent to this development before his lips curled up. “Welcome home.” The pirates gaped at me but remained silent. “I was unable to do so before. But I'll ensure this never happens again.” With the snap of his fingers guards rushed out, apprehending me as if I were some sort of villain. Per the King’s orders, the bandana was forcefully pulled from my head, my hair cascading out of it’s hold. It might not have been enough to show my femininity, but the pirates were none the less shocked at the revelation that they’d just delivered the King’s daughter to him.

But even more shocking to them was the way I was being treated like any other criminal pirate. The various trinkets I wore from my adventures were also torn from me, discarded on the ground. I was lucky enough they didn't strip me completely naked from my pirate garbs then and there.

But I deserved it, didn't I? All those years ago, the invading pirates would have never found me if I'd listened to my father. I was his treasure, the one those pirates were looking for. Though, at the time I thought it was just a game, one that I wanted to play. It just so happened to be the longest game of ‘pirate’ I'd ever played in my life. It was my fault I was taken away from this oppressive life of being a princess. Did the King know all of what I’d done?

Guiltily, I shouted, “I'm sorry!” But was I apologizing to my father or the Zodiac pirates I’d grown close to?

“That will be enough for now.”

“I was stupid! I didn't know!”

But I was surprised when Scorpio stepped between me and the guards on standby, asking the question on everyone's mind, “What the hell is this?”

The King waved his hand dismissively. “You've completed your task and will be compensated. Return to your duties.” In other words, this was nothing to do with mere pirates like them. I knew that each of them were given their positions by order of the King; they were his personal fleet of pirates. These twelve were the smartest and strongest of them all, able to handle any mission handed to them. It seemed even returning me home was a surprise mission.

Scorpio thought it was going to be the usual funny bull shit the King pulled when they returned from their mission, but this was far from funny. Their goldfish was… a princess. But I wasn't a princess anymore and even Scorpio knew that much. Openly sneering, he hissed, “This is far from over.”

Though I refused to look at him with my watery eyes, his eyes landed on me and stayed on me for a brief moment before brushing past the other pirates. Which, at first no one moved. It wasn’t until I was taken into another part of the palace did they finally see themselves out.

13 notes · View notes

allyouneedisbuck · 3 years

Text

Sole Survivor -> I

[eighteen plus blog and this fic holding eventual eighteen plus scenes mean minors should not interact with this story]

summary -> your first week on the island. alliances are made, rewards are won and tribes fall apart before they can even come together. [bucky barnes x female!reader]

word count -> 4.5k

warnings -> reality tv, some cursing, survivor references (tribe, tribal council, idols) past steve rogers x reader, non-enhanced marvel characters, jeff probst (please don’t sue me) some steve slander (steve i love you i’m sorry it was just so easy to make you the sweetest person alive and therefore a target)

notes -> there are more in-depth notes at the end! just want to say this is all for fun & not meant to be a serious fic!! just some fluff & humor as a break to any serious fics out there that you may be reading!

series masterlist here.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

Chapter I 𓆉 OUTWIT -> NEXT

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

Bucky isn’t sure how he ended up on reality TV.

That’s all he can think about as his hand grips the side of the speedboat and he glances around at his fellow contestants.

His first application to Survivor had been a dare; One of his friends back home had made a drunken joke that Bucky wouldn’t last a day and well- Obviously, Bucky can’t really take a joke.

How was he supposed to know he would actually be selected? How was he supposed to know he would be a fan favorite...villian? Saying yes to this season was a no-brainer.

He wants the million dollars. He came so, so close last time. Runner-up wasn’t good enough.

He had been handed a dark, red buff long before they had even stepped foot on the boat. He had wrapped it around his wrist, just like everybody else on this boat with him. His eyes move around slowly as he studies his new tribe members.

The bright red hair catches his eye first, Natasha Romanoff, was considered the original Black Widow; It’s no shock to Bucky that she had been considered a villain. Her starting point was aligning with the men on her tribe and helping pick who she wanted out. It worked for awhile, she had them under her thumb, until she got a little too abrasive and was voted off shortly after the merge.

Clint Barton who Bucky knew was notorious for promising on his kids then stabbing his allies in the back; In the final tribal he had laughed and said they gave him permission. Somehow he had won. Him and Natasha had worked together, but he had been unable to save her after the merge.

His eyes find Tony Stark next, an original player, meaning had had never played a game with idols or tricks. Tony had won it all on the third season after betraying his number one ally in the vote that decided who he brought to final two. Bucky didn’t need to ask why he was a villain, it was obvious.

Bright red lips catch Bucky’s eyes next as he checks out Darcy Lewis. Bucky wasn’t actually sure if he considered her a villain, but he can see how it played out that way. She had kept her immunity idol secret from her alliance members and had jumped ship when it became clear her alliance wouldn’t win the numbers. She made it all the way to final three after winning puzzle after puzzle in the immunity challenges, she was more impressive than villainous, but sometimes they just needed some people to fill the cast.

Loki was the king of snake gameplay, but even Bucky could admit it got him far. His ability to tell people exactly what they wanted to hear is what handed him the million dollar prize. Bucky wonders if they called Thor too, they had been on the last season, Blood versus Water together.

There’s Stephen Strange who was probably considered a villain for his dry commentary, blunt confessionals and inability to keep his thoughts to himself. He was from the first few seasons too and he had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but Bucky found his blunt delivery humorous.

And then there’s you. You had originally appeared on Brains, Brawns and Beauty. Unshockingly sorted onto the Beauty tribe and gravely underestimated. Bucky thought you were definitely the prettiest he’d seen in that season and early on he could tell you would be a power player. No matter how many confessionals men did saying your charm wouldn’t work, they all fell for it, and you picked them off. Your tribe only lost one immunity challenge and you had controlled who had gone home.

Steve Rogers had fallen in love with you that season and you had taken a page from Natasha’s book. When the merge had happened, you aligned quickly with the few girls left from the other two tribes. Then knocked the men out one by one. Steve, poor Steve, so kind hearted and trusting and it had been his downfall. When you had sobbed to him about the last three girls whispering about voting you out, he had given up his earned individual immunity. The four of you girls had laughed as you wrote his name down and Steve went onto the jury.

That was the moment that coined you one of the most notorious, and your unanimous win later had marked you down in history as one of the best to ever play.

Call Bucky an idiot, but you’re who he wants to work with. He needs to work with people who will make it to the end with him. His original season he had come off too cocky to win. He had made the mistake of taking who he thought was a floater, but apparently had built friendships with everyone, and lost in a three to six vote. Bringing someone who knew how to play the game like him gave him a far better chance at winning.

The heroes tribe are already on their blue mat when the villains disembark and make their way onto the beach. Bucky almost laughs when he sees Steve standing in the back, tall and broad as ever. Of course the fans loved Steve. Sweet, loyal Steve. He nudges your calf with his foot and you spin to look at him in surprise.

“Your lover is here.” He nods over to the mat, where Steve is staring straight ahead at Jeff Probst. You laugh with your head thrown back like it’s genuinely one of the funniest things you’ve heard.

“Didn’t you hear? It was a nasty divorce.” You smile before stopping in front of Bucky on the mat. Bucky snorts and drops his bag by his feet as Jeff calls for everyone’s attention.

“We’ve been doing Survivor for thirty seasons now. Fifteen years. Hundreds of people have played the game, yet the sixteen of you have made your mark as either hero or villain.” His eyes scan over the group before landing on Bucky.

“Bucky. You played this game six years ago. Season 18. How does it feel that even though it’s been that long, you’re still considered one of the most well known villains?”

“I’m a villain?” Bucky asks sarcastically as he looks around the beach. The crowd laughs and you look up at him with amused eyes. Bucky tries to ignore the flutter in his heart, damn you were good. “It’s all in the perspective, Jeff.”

Jeff laughs and nods before his attention shifts to Loki standing a few people away from you. “Loki, you’re our newest villain. Coming out of last season, how does it feel to be here with all these iconic names? Intimidating?”

Loki laughs and nods. “I guess so, yeah. I’m just so happy to actually play with people who love and respect the game the same way I do!” He looks over the group in a far more calculating manner than friendly.

“And heroes! Peter, you’re our newest hero on the tribe. Coming off a win that you got through heart and loyalty.” Jeff explains, like everybody here didn’t already know how much of a blatantly good guy Peter Parker was. Three years ago when given the decision to choose between a floater and his ally who was an equally as strong competitor, he had chosen to bring Ned to the final two. It had won him a million dollars. “You intimidated at all? Or should they be?”

Peter looks around bashfully. “Yeah! No, I’m intimidated, you know? I’m not the only winner here. These are all some strong people, I definitely will have to work hard to stay.” He answers humbly.

Bucky resists the urge to roll his eyes at the answer. “Okay. Anybody think we got it wrong? That you’re on the wrong tribe?” Jeff asks and immediately half the villains raise their hands.

The heroes and Jeff laugh. “What did we do, Jeff?” You call out in a flirtatious tone. “What’d we do that was so bad?” Bucky can’t see your face, but he would bet his life that there’s a pout there.

“Come on, Y/N.” Jeff says your name incredulously. “You are definitely one of the best, but you single handedly led one of the greatest all female alliances in the history of this game and picked off who you wanted one by one.”

You turn your head to look and the heroes tribe and Bucky can see Steve, Sharon and Shuri, all from your season, watching you. Bucky isn’t sure who made the worst move, Steve giving up his immunity and sending you to final three or Shuri for bringing you to final two with her. Loyalty could be your downfall or saving grace in this game, Bucky’s learned, it just depends on your jury. “Steve!” Jeff calls out. “Y/N. Hero or villain?”

“Villain.” Steve answers quickly with a forced laugh. You shrug and turn to look at Jeff. “I outwitted him. Is that being a villain or playing the game of outwit, outplay, outlast?”

Jeff laughs. “Okay, guys. Do you want to get to your first challenge?” The group looks around at each other extremely confused. It was rare a challenge was played the first day on the island, normally tribes were sent to begin working on shelter before it got too dark.

It’s a physical game. There are eight lanes, each lane has one weighted bag buried in it. In pairs of two, each tribe would go out to the selected lane and dig. Whoever brought the bag back to their tribe won a point and it was first to four points to win.

After an hour, it’s tied, three to three and the only pair to have not gone twice is you and Natasha. You’re against Shuri and Carol, Bucky is a little nervous, but he thinks you two can win this. Shuri was known for her agility and Carol for her strength, but Bucky had faith in your ability to play dirty. “Go!” Jeff’s arms drop down and all four women are darting through the sand.

Bucky can’t stop his eyes from trailing over your body, knelt down in the sand as you quickly dig. You had stripped off your shorts and long sleeve now only in your bikini top and bottoms, the red buff wrapped around your wrist.

He knows why it had been so easy for the men of your beauty tribe to fall at your feet. The way your legs look in the sand and sun has him wanting to kneel for you. He just hopes you want to work with him too.

Natasha pulls the bag out. Carol dives for her legs and sends her face first to the ground. Shuri follows soon after and both of them are fighting with Natasha as you stand back.

Good. Bucky thinks. Let them tire themselves out, then you have the strength to get it away and get the point.

Shuri gets the bag in her hands and makes a mad dash down the lanes, but your arm wraps around her waist and yanks her back into your chest as your other hand moves to yank at the bag.

Natasha gets up and holds Carol back with two hands around the waist. “Push, Shuri! Push!” Steve screams out. Bucky rolls his eyes at the nonsensical advice.

“Sweep her feet out!” Bucky’s voice overpowers the rest of his tribe. Your eyes meet his briefly. “She’s tired! She’s burnt out. She won’t get up quick enough!”

Your hands grip at the bag tightly and you swipe a leg underneath Shuri’s feet. Her knees give out and the bag is easily yanked away from her weak grip.

“Yes!” Your tribe screams as you reach the mat and Jeff calls out. “Villains win first immunity!” Bucky’s hand lands on your lower back and you turn to look up at him happily. He hopes you can see the praise in his eyes because that performance? That’s why he wants to work with you.

You - Villain Tribe

“Looking at my tribe, we’re pretty stacked. We’re good. Heroes don’t have a chance.” You throw your head back in a laugh. “Is it awful I’m excited to take a million dollars away from Steve again?”

Steve Rogers - Hero Tribe

“It uh- It sucks to lose. I hate losing. It sucks even more that we lost to the villains. I don’t want to vote any of our people out yet, we all deserve to be here. It just sucks.”

Day Two

You had underestimated how tense camp would be with men who had been used to leading their tribes in the past. Tony wanted to build shelter on flat land and Bucky thought sturdy trees for a sturdy base was more important.

Bucky was right, of course. You knew he was in construction, you had watched his season, and had seen the impressive shelter he had helped build. Tony just couldn’t get over himself, but that was no shock. You would use his pride as a chance to move forward in this game.

“They’re just being idiots.” You say softly as you and Bucky try to start a fire. Nothing is really working and the sun will set soon, defeat settles between you two. “Don’t let them get to you.”

You eye his metal arm. It had been what made him a favorite early on, way before he even got his villain marker. His story of a car crash that had resulted in the lost of his left arm and a generous doctor that had worked to give him this new age prosthetic.

“‘M not.” He mutters angrily as the smoke blows out and chance at a fire slips further and further away. “Just… fuck… Just annoyed at myself for not being able to get this.”

You look over your shoulder. “And at the fact that we’ll be sleeping in a shit hole tonight.” You shake your head. Bucky snorts and nods before falling onto his back and dropping the kindle that he had been attempting to light on fire.

Your eyes trail over his abdomen, put on display by his shirt that has ridden up in his new position. You bite down on your lip as your eyes trail over his thighs before you remember that the camera men are only a few feet away and caught every second of your staring.

You clear your throat and move to sit next to him. “I think we’d work well together.” You say just above a whisper. You glance over your shoulder again, but the rest of the tribe is too busy arguing over the shelter.

Bucky looks up at you hesitantly. “Yeah?” He asks just as softly. “Not gonna break my heart right?” He gives you a teasing smile that makes your breath catch.

You shrug and stand up, offering a hand to him. “No promises. I can’t stop you from falling in love with me.” You giggle, partly for the show of it but also because Bucky’s hand is huge in yours and makes your stomach flip.

He laughs and the two of you turn back and begin walking towards the shelter. Right before you reach it and have to go your separate ways, Bucky taps your back. “I think we would too.”

You - Villain Tribe

“Getting my claws on Bucky first is the best thing for my game. He’ll be loyal to me longer than anybody else.” You smile. “And Bucky is the best guy here. Tony may be an OG but he played like thirteen years ago. Strange is kind of cold. Clint and Natasha played together, he’ll be loyal to her before me. And Loki plays a game too similar to mine.” You shrug like it’s a no brainer.

Bucky Barnes - Villain Tribe

“I came to win this time, okay? No more aligning with underdogs. No more just physicality getting me to the end. I need strategy and she’s the best strategist to ever play this game.” Bucky smirks. “Just ask Steve Rogers.”

Day Three

It’s pouring rain by the time both tribes get to the challenge. Bucky had been right, of course he had. The shelter was weak and the rain was destroying it. It would need to be rebuilt when you returned to camp and he could only hope the rain stops long enough to allow him to build a real shelter.

“Heroes will be with me at tribal council.” Jeff explains. “So, today, you are playing for reward. Wanna see what you’re playing for?”

The entire tribe is huddled together in an attempt to keep warm as Jeff explains the challenge and reward. He lifts a cover to reveal a tarp, blankets, pillows and flint. Bucky almost groans at the sight. They needed this win. “I’ll give you a minute to strategize.” Jeff waves them off.

It’s almost every type of challenge in one. Physical, logical and strategical. Six members would build a boat from the pieces given then sail out to retrieve all the puzzle pieces from where they were clipped on buoys. Then bring them back to the remaining two members who would work on the puzzle. First to solve it wins.

“Darcy and I can work on the puzzle.” You say quickly with Darcy nodding along. Bucky and the rest of the tribe agree and get to their starting places.

It’s a crazy adrenaline rush when Jeff yells for everyone to go. “Heroes take an early lead!” Jeff narrates as they push their boat out onto the water. Bucky can feel his tribemates settle in defeat.

“Let’s fucking go!” He urges, forcing the last piece of the boat into place. He and Clint push the boat out before climbing in beside the rest of the villains. Bucky tries to drown out Jeff’s commentary, but it’s hard when every few seconds he’s pointing out the major lead the heroes are creating. “Nobody panic. They’ve got Steve on the puzzle.”

That gets a small, tense laugh out of the group as the heroes boat reaches shore again and the villains remain collecting puzzle pieces.

Hope fizzles in Bucky’s chest when he hears your’s and Darcy’s cheers and the arguing of Steve and Carol, both placed on puzzle and both having different tactics.

“The villains are coming from behind!” Jeff says in an impressed tone as they finally push their boat to shore. “The heroes just can’t figure out this puzzle and are losing their huge lead.”

“Yeah, thanks!” Shuri calls out annoyed from the sidelines as Bucky hands off the bag of puzzle pieces to you. You dump them out and you and Darcy immediately start to spread them out to look.

“Wow! Heroes just cannot get this puzzle figured out!” Jeff shakes his head. Steve and Carol continue to argue and yank pieces away from one another. “Villains have made a remarkable comeback!” You and Darcy seem to be communicating amazingly and pieces just fall into place.

“Jeff! Jeff!” You scream out excitedly as Darcy stuffs the last piece into place and you two step back. Jeff looks at the puzzle for a moment before throwing his arms up. “Villains win reward!”

Everybody screams in excitement and Bucky immediately turns to you. “Fuck!” He says excitedly as you jump up, legs wrapping around his waist. He wraps an arm under your thighs and tries hard to ignore how good they feel wrapped around him. “Darcy!” He waves her over into a half hug. “Puzzle queens! Puzzle queens!” He cheers, the tribe following in suit.

They’re allowed to celebrate for a few more seconds as the heroes groan until producers force them back onto their designated mats. “Villains. Take your tarp and flint, pillows and blankets will be delivered once the rain stops.” Everybody rushes forward as you take the tarp and flint into your hands.

“Heroes I got nothing for you. Except your trip to tribal right now.” Bucky glances over his shoulder as the heroes stare at Jeff in shock. “Yep! You lost immunity on day one and have had two days to discuss, grab your stuff and follow me.”

Bucky and you laugh with each other as you make your way back to camp.

Shuri - Hero Tribe

“I’m just so… I told them to put me on the puzzle. Put me! Who won three puzzle challenges her season? I’m just so angry. We had such a good lead and we lost it because nobody wanted to listen to each other and everybody wanted to be a leader. Now somebody who deserves to be here has to go home while the villains live lavishly.”

Day Five

Your tribe wins reward again.

After the shocking reveal of Carol being voted out at the first tribal council, villains are perplexed. Carol had been strong, furthest from being the weakest link who was usually voted off first.

You know that’s what being on the wrong side of the numbers will get you.

This time it’s fishing gear. It sends a morale boost throughout the tribe. You grin as you watch Bucky reluctantly walk ahead with Tony.

Tony had latched onto Bucky after Bucky had helped create a better shelter. And once they had secured the tarp and loaded in the blankets and pillows, it was like a five star resort to the already tired and hungry tribe.

You can see Natasha fall in line with you in your peripheral vision and try to hide your smirk. “You’re good.” She murmurs.

You look straight ahead and shrug. “What makes you say that?”

“You and Bucky almost never go off together. Barely talk outside of groups at camp. Really only interact during challenges.” She says quietly. The group is far ahead and most likely couldn't hear if you spoke in normal tones, but you appreciate her caution. “He’s wrapped around your finger though.”

You almost stop, but refuse to let her see you stumble. She was right, you and Bucky were exceedingly cautious when it came to associating with each other at camp. “You think so? He has a crush?” You ask softly. “He’s cute, right? Not too bad.” You feign ignorance.

Natasha smirks. “Yeah.” Her hand wraps around your arm and pulls you to a stop with her. “Listen. It’s Tony and Strange on one side. You and Bucky on the other. We’ve been winning, so nobody is going to admit their alliances, but I’d rather be prepared for our first loss.”

You nod. “What are you saying?” You knew Tony and Stephen would team up. They were both considered original survivors, coming out of the first few seasons and still working on understanding this new version of the game.

“Clint and I can be numbers.” She says steadily. You lick your lips. Clint and Natasha had done Micronesia together. He had been the only one to not write her name down when she was eliminated. She had voted for him to win. It’s not a surprise they had fallen into working together again. “We protect each other. Final Four, after that we’re on our own.”

“I’ll have to speak with Bucky.” You begin to walk again. “But that sounds like a good deal to me.” You give her a small smile.

Natasha Romanoff - Villain Tribe

“I’m not an idiot. I know Y/N plays this game loyal to herself only. But I’m playing a strategic game. Clint and I make it to the merge with her numbers then we can flip of we need to.”

You - Villain Tribe

“Final four?” You scoff. “Please. Two person alliance versus two person alliance in the final four? I’m not trying to draw rocks. Four people is good and then we’ll make the merge and I’ll work my magic.”

“I’m gonna get some firewood.” Your foot knocks against Bucky’s ankle. When he looks up from his spot on the ground, you subtly nod your head in the direction of the jungle.

“I can help. It’s getting dark, better two than one.” He stands up. Nobody acknowledges your exit but Nat, who smirks at you before looking back at the rice cooking over the fire.

You two walk in silence, making sure to be out of earshot before stopping to talk quickly. “Natasha and Clint want to work with us. Final four.”

Bucky looks over his shoulder in the direction of camp before looking back at you. “We can promise them the merge. Final four with a two person alliance as solid as their’s is suicide.”

You look up at Bucky and laugh. Did he think you were dumb? “I know that.” You say slowly. “We should just agree to the final four then get rid of them after the merge.”

Bucky huffs out a breath. “That’s smart, but how do you know we won’t be turned on if we vote them out? How do you know Darcy and Loki aren’t already four with Strange and Tony?” His nerves are reasonable, but they make you want to laugh.

You shake your head instead staring up at him with reassuring eyes. “They won’t be. I’ve talked with Darcy a little bit. Plus, Loki works the swing vote angle as long as he can. You watched him last season, it’s how he made it so far.”

“Okay.” Bucky agrees slowly. “So, we work with Clint and Natasha and work on getting Loki as a swing vote? What if they turn on us? These people’s word means jack.” Bucky’s arm shifts and your eyes immediately trail over it curiously. Did it do that when he was nervous? Was it normal?

“Don’t worry.” You place a gentle hand on his arm, you wondered how the metal didn’t heat in the sun the same way a metal slide would. Questions for a later time. “There are hidden immunity idols, Buck. We just have to find them.”

You walk past him then, picking wood up as you go. The cameras stay on Bucky, who you can feel staring after you.

Men were so easy.

Bucky Barnes - Villain Tribe

“She’s… She’s got it all mapped out. To the end. She’s not playing this bullshit tribe first, individual later game. She’s here to win. It’s hot.” He blushes before his eyes widen in realization. “I could win this.”

Day Six

The immunity challenge is grueling. Large crates in the tribe’s color have to be rolled from one end of the field to the other by two people. Six crates in total and Jeff had evened the teams out so each tribe only had six people playing, meaning each pair would go out twice no matter what.

Tony and Darcy had opted to sit out, and each pair had to go out twice. Bucky knew this would kill everyone, it had looked downright brutal long before Jeff shouted Go.

Bucky can be the first to admit maybe the team didn’t strategize correctly when choosing pairs. While he and Loki were able to bring the first crate back before the heroes, Clint and Stephen slow the group down. Once the heroes build momentum, they’ve got the lead. You and Natasha struggle to catch up.

By the sixth crate, everybody is downright exhausted. Bucky can’t even comprehend how the heroes had gotten through all six crates so fast.

“Villains start your puzzle.” Jeff calls out. Bucky thinks this is worse than the running. These crates are almost as tall as he is and definitely weighed damn near close too.

Setting the first two in place would be fine, the last four? Pure hell. They had to be lifted into place and Bucky wasn’t sure his tribe could do it. Not when Steve was already lifting crates up for the heroes and sticking them in place like it was nothing.

“Heroes with a huge lead!” Jeff narrates excitedly from the sidelines. “Can the villains catch up?”

“Fuck this.” Bucky mutters taking a step back. His back hits something soft - you. You nails trail up his spine and he shivers before turning to look down at you. “That piece then that piece?” You point out and Bucky turns to look.

Loki and Clint have the first piece in place. Natasha and Strange are pushing the second. Two pieces have to be lifted next and you seem to have cracked the code.

“You’re so smart.” He punches your shoulder affectionately before yelling out. He starts calling out directions and suddenly everything seems to have fallen into place. The villains tribe is quiet and works together easily while the heroes fall apart, again.

“Villains win immunity!” Jeff calls out again and the heroes fall into dismay. Yelling and arguing with one another even more. “That means the heroes will once again see me at tribal council. I’ll give you the afternoon to discuss, head on out.”

Bucky carries the immunity trophy back to camp with a bright smile. These first few days couldn’t have gone any better. A winning streak, set alliance, and final two plan?

He was winning this time. No doubt about it.

Peter Parker - Hero Tribe

“It just sucks because… because now they’re talking about sending Steve home instead of like - Sharon. She’s smart, but she’s just not the strongest person here and we obviously need a stronger tribe.”

Steve Rogers - Hero Tribe

“A line was drawn in the sand last tribal. Scott, Wanda and I on one side. Shuri, Peter, Sharon and Thor on the other. Now it’s just who they want to go home and I hope it’s not me.”

Thor Odinson - Hero Tribe

“There’s talk of Steve going home, but I… I don’t know if that’s what will be best for us. We need our strong players and he’s strong! I’m gonna talk to them and see what I can do. We just… We just can’t lose strong people. We’ll get our asses handed to us.”

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

notes // you can probably tell, but until the merge, you won’t get inside on the heroes tribe. the focus of this is bucky & reader on their tribe. the confessionals are really you’re only hint to anybody else’s train of thought! i’m excited to explore this, it’s really just for fun & not meant to be a super serious fic. a break from harsh angst and all that! i hope you enjoy it, even just a little! the next part will have more to it & it will get more interesting! this is meant as an introduction, a season premiere if you will. :))

& if you’ve watched the real heroes vs villains season you’ll notice a lot of this follows after that set up, like the challenges and eliminations, but i’ve written it around these characters and personalities!

my writing is free & will remain free! but if you have the resources and enjoyed it, consider donating to my ko-fi :) & if that’s not possible consider reblogging or leaving comments! spreading my work or letting me know you enjoyed it means the world to me & lets me know i’m not shouting into the void!

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes au #james bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x female reader #survivor au #bucky barnes x fem!reader #steve rogers

86 notes · View notes

calaofnoldor · 3 years

Text

i wanna try something...

UPDATE: there is no more one fic a day requirement! it’s simply whoever reblogs the most hidden gems this year wins!

so it’s come to my attention (through this post and others) that a lot of writers’ note counts have been dwindling as of late, whether on tumblr or ao3.

i wanna try to help remedy this by reblogging as many under-appreciated fics as i can throughout the entire year of 2021 as a way to sort of re-boost writer morale :)

if anyone wants to join me, please do! i'll be using the tag 'hidden gems reblog challenge'. alternatively, you can simply send in fics that you believe to be underrated if you prefer not to take part in the challenge yourself!

huge thanks to @sams-sass for helping me come up with this idea and title! 🤍 there’s more details and some tags below the cut:

WHY hidden gems? there’s just too much good stuff out there that gets lost and, as @girl-next-door-writes so eloquently puts it, “hidden in the tumblr fuckery”, which is both incredibly discouraging for writers and also unfortunate for readers in search of more amazing fics!

WHO can join? anyone! readers, writers, big blogs, small blogs!

WHAT can you reblog? any fic that you believe deserves more love! whatever fandom you like, new or old fics, doesn’t matter. i don’t want to define ‘under-appreciated’ or ‘underrated’ with a set numerical value because it can be different for everyone (a very popular writer can have one fic that does less well than the rest of their work, though it may still have over a hundred notes, some fics only get likes and no feedback, sometimes writers develop a huge following over time but their older fics still lack love, etc.) but as a general cue, i will personally be trying to focus on fics with less than 200 notes, and anything under 100 notes will be tagged ‘underrated af’ lol.

- writers, you may also reblog one of your own fics (what you believe to be your most underrated piece) if you want! please use the tag ‘my own hidden gem’ if you choose to do so, mostly cause i’m super curious 😉

WHEN is this happening? you can choose to join WHENEVER you want this year. the goal is simply to spread more love and discover more fantastic stories and writers!

PRIZES? given that i’m just an obscure, wee little blog, i honestly don’t know if there’ll be any many people joining, but if this catches on and we get enough participants, there will certainly be prizes! i haven’t decided exactly what yet, but i do run a little shop over on redbubble so it’ll probably be something from there!

HOW do you win? let’s say the person who finds and reblogs the most hidden gems in a row this year will be declared our winner! you can compile all of your awesome shiny finds into one masterlist for easy viewing and reference (feel free to use the banner above if you’d like 😊) and make sure to tag me when you’re done! chapters in a multiple-part story count as one.

HOW do you join? if you’d like a chance to win, please send me an ask to let me know you’re signing up! otherwise, feel free to simply use the tag ‘hidden gems reblog challenge’ and go wild, reblog as your heart desires! if you don’t want to participate in the challenge and just wanna help spread the love, you can choose to send in hidden gems to help out your favorite participants (given that they’re ok with it!). this blog will be accepting any under-appreciated winchester fics you might have to offer ;)

ok, that’s it. sorry for being such a wordy motherfu- HAPPY READING/DISCOVERING!!!

i’m gonna tag as many people as i can think of in case y’all wanna signal boost or better yet, tag some more friends and join in!

@girl-next-door-writes (i know you’re hosting a bingo, so you’re kind of already doing this rn but i just wanted to give you a shout out cause you helped inspire this!) @sams-sass (thank you again, babe!) @sammit-janet @carryonmywaywardbucky @beskaradberoya @anaelsbrunette @downanddirtydean @deanwinchesterswitch @swiftlymoniquesblog @mrswhozeewhatsis @thinkinghardhardlythinking @idreamofplaid @becs-bunker @fangirlxwritesx67 @hoboal87 @superbadassnatural @moosewinchester @winchest09 @peridottea91 @idabbleincrazy @firefly-in-darkness @idreamofhazel @imagineteamfreewill @there-must-be-a-lock @kickingitwithkirk @ruined-by-destiel @austin-winchester67 @maxineswritingcenter @my-proof-is-you @flamencodiva @wonder-cole @muchamusedaboutnothing @impala-dreamer @supernaturalfreewill @imhereforbvcky @averil-of-fairlea @fromthedeskoftheraven

#hidden gems reblog challenge #reblog challenge #hidden gems of tumblr #writing is hard #writers supporting writers #reblogs save fics #reblogs save lives #feedback is gold #feedback is fuel #spread the love #fanfiction writer problems #underrated fics #underappreciated fics #underated writers #spn fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #hp fanfiction #text

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everyotherworm · 2 years

Note

adhd is combing through 100 results of masks for a crossover fic that you probably wont share with a soul ONLY TO GET DISTRACTED BY A FIRST PERSON USE IN A DESCRIPTION

MAYBE I DIDNT NOTICE BEFORE BUT OH BOY DO I NOTICE NOW. LOOK AT IT. THIS IMPLIES THAT ALL DESCRIPTIONS ARE WRITTEN BY SOME FOURTH WALL ENTITY, OR AT LEAST WHOEVER SELLS THEM.

IM GOING INSANE <///3

WGAT WHO IS WRITING THEM WAIT. WHAT THE FUCK

hold on ok so I looked through some item descriptions to get an idea of the writing voice of this narrator and it seems like this is actually you speaking? Or at least the description is your knowledge (and lack of knowledge) about the object.

This description in particular I feel like definitely implies it's you the wizard who's the pov of the descriptions, since you're the one carrying them around:

This one is also somewhat telling ( the "I better find them all" is on several dino dig items, so evidently if this is your wizard they have a passion for archeology lol)

And it kind of explains how some descriptions know less about items than others, this is just what YOU know about the object I guess (like these 3, one knows the objects purpose,, one doesn't, and one knows rumor of it)

(Prize ribbon was something used by the wizard, so presumably i wonder what I can use it for would also have been something thought by your wizard about the object)

Also this could kind of give you an idea of the neutral wizards general knowledge of prodigy Island based on things they know without having been told befoee the items acquisitions, and potenially their personality too!

What's interesting though is that the gems, wheel of wonder ticker, and morph marbles specifically (and the old sock I guess but I think that was just turn of phrase, not a seperate entity talking to you the wizard) all use second person referring specifically to you the wizard?

It's a different story with clothes though, some read like ads, "this can be yours" "it suits you" and stuff like that, so presumably descriptions that come with the clothes/were from the seller? I'd guess first person descriptions are your wizards thoughts on things and second person are another entity (the seller, noot, god, who's to say) but it's hard to tell!

#i never noticed the weirdness with the item descriptions! ive never seen a first persob description in the wild #theories #prodigy math game #language

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capcarolsdanver · 3 years

Text

Why Her? (Part 1)

Summary: This fic is based off a request from an anon after some speculations that have been made on my blog.

Brie enlists the help of the reader to get a date with a girl that reader knows from class, only for unexpected feelings to be caught. Drama/angst/fluff to come! Pairing: Brie x Reader A/N: Oops accidentally took another way too long break from posting. I was still writing during this time, trying to structure some kind of schedule, but every time I reread my writing I always end up wanting to rewrite most of what I have, which is exactly what happened with this one. This is part 1 of 4, more of an intro than anything. Part 2 coming very soon!

As always, feedback is always appreciated so please let me know what you think, or even any suggestions you have for future parts! It is all written but I’m open to making some adjustments if people have any good ideas to bring to the story!

Please do not repost my writing anywhere without my permission.

PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4

You take another generous sip from the coffee cup in your hands, practically cradling it as if it’s your most prized possession. Although, that’s what you would be inclined to referred to it as in this moment. You relied on coffee during most of your days at the best of times, but even more so while you’re nursing a hangover like the one you currently have.

You groan quietly to yourself when you realise you’ve reached the last drop of your precious caffeinated drink, placing the cup on the table in front of you and dropping your head into your arms in probably the most dramatic fashion you can muster.

You vaguely acknowledge the sound of footsteps getting louder as they approach you but you quickly dismiss them as yet another student walking passed your table in the campus library and choose to ignore in favour continuing to feel sorry for yourself. You take note to never sit at one of the tables closest to the entrance again. Foot traffic has quickly become your least favourite thing.

It suddenly occurs to you that you can no longer hear the footsteps. How long had you been zoned out for? Surely whoever the footsteps belong to couldn’t have already passed you without any other sound.

“Hey Y/N, how’s it going?”

The voice beside you isn’t over the top loud or anything, but it still doesn’t stop you from jumping in your seat, your head springing up. You instantly wince, warily bringing your fingers to your temples in a useless attempt to ease your pounding headache.

The girl standing by your table, Sarah, scrunches her features in apology.

“Sorry,” she sheepishly apologises. “I did see you at the party last night. Didn’t think you were much of a drinker, though.”

“I’m usually not, especially when I have class the next morning,” you grumble. “Last night was a mistake that will never happen again.”

Sarah laughs quietly, clearly trying to be mindful of your current state. “I figured I’d find you here this morning. I just have one question about class and then I promise I’ll leave you in peace and quiet again.”

“Shoot,” you say in as pleasant a tone as you can manage, deciding to spare her from your complaints about how not at all quiet the library of all places has proven to be so far that morning.

Sarah smiles a grateful smile and sits opposite you before asking a question about some paper you had received in your shared class the previous day. You can barely comprehend what she’s asking you but you answer as best as you can, which seems to be enough because Sarah is again smiling brightly and standing from her seat.

“Thanks, Y/N. I owe you one.”

“How about telling me how the hell you avoid getting a hangover. I saw you last night too. I swear you drank more than everybody else combined.”

Sarah chuckles and turns to leave. “Call it talent,” she says, waving over her shoulder as she retreats.

You wave back and watch her leave.

You wouldn’t necessarily call the two of you “friends”, but you and Sarah share an English class together and you seem to find yourself at the same get togethers and parties frequently, and had always gotten along well enough. You were sure if you actually took the time to hang out together you would probably be easy friends.

You take a heavy breath and release it when you realise you’re alone again, and just barely start feeling sorry for yourself again before a figure is slumping into the chair next to you with absolutely no consideration to your clearly less than ideal state.

You jump even more than when Sarah had startled you and your hand flies to your heart.

“Oh my god!” you exclaim. Your body was so not prepared for these kinds of interactions today.

“Sorry,” the girl says, kindly enough but with much less sincerity than Sarah. You don’t recognise her and you look at her with wide eyes, trying to figure out who she is.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, actually,” she says, apparently missing the bite in your tone, or just choosing to ignore it. “That girl you were just talking to. You’re friends with her, right?”

You instinctively look in the direction of the main entrance, where Sarah had disappeared through just moments go.

“Uh, kinda?” You reply, unsure. “I guess. I mean, we have a class together but-“ you interrupt yourself, remembering that you have no idea who this stranger is or what she wants. “I’m sorry, what exactly do you want from me?”

“I was wondering if you could help me get a date with her.” She says it so matter-of-factly that she doesn’t seem to recognise how entirely strange her words are. All you can do is blink at her in response.

“Excuse me?”

You have never actually considered that Sarah could be interested in women. Sure, she was an attractive girl and she was always nothing but friendly to you, but for whatever reason you just weren’t interested in her in that way. And now that you think about it, you’ve never actually seen her with anyone else, not even at any of the parties you’d attended.

The girl in front of you, however, obviously had considered it, and had somehow come to the conclusion that Sarah was interested in dating women.

“Do you even know her?” You ask.

“Not at all. Why do you think I’m asking for your help?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?” You have to admit that you’re still confused by her request. She seemed confident enough coming here to talk to you. So why would she need any help talking to Sarah?

“Oh, I’m like, notoriously bad at talking to women I’m interested in,” she easily explains. “I can’t flirt for the life of me and I’m way too awkward to try to convince a girl that she definitely wants to leave a party with me.”

You’re left without a response once more, blinking at the girl as she offers you a half smile and watches you. After a long moment, she seems to remember something, sitting up straighter to regard you again.

“Oh! I’m Brie by the way!” She holds out her hand towards you and you drop your eyes to stare at it for a moment, your hungover brain working at half speed before you realise she’s offering to shake your hand.

Your hand grips hers weakly and she shakes it with her own. Her handshake is firm yet gentle, though you don’t really know what to look for in a good handshake. Brie seems to hold back a laugh at the awkwardness of the situation.

“And you are…?” She regards you with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh! I’m Y/N.” You shake your head as if you were clearing the fog inside of it. “Sorry. It’s been a bit of a rough morning.” You force a chuckle. She squints her eyes at you for a moment before a look of recognition flashes across her face.

“Ah, I thought I recognised you. You were at that party last night, right?”

You look at her in surprise. Usually, no one ever seems to recognise or remember you from any of the parties you attend. You’d always been a loner to some level. Not totally socially inept but enough so that you generally flew under the radar quite easily.

You nod. “I’m sorry but I don’t remember seeing you there.”

“Yeah, by the time I showed up you seemed pretty plastered,” she chuckles and your cheeks immediately flush. You hadn’t meant to drink so much the previous night, but what started out as a couple of drinks had very quickly multiplied the more you had allowed yourself to wallow in your own self pity. You uncharacteristically had let the fact that you were at yet another party alone get to you.

Brie seems to notice your discomfort because she thankfully has the decency to move the conversation on fairly quickly.

“So, you think you can help me?”

You’d completely forgotten the reason why she had even started talking to you in the first place, but your brain eventually catches up and your eyebrows lift when you remember her request.

“Oh. Um…”

“Okay, listen,” Brie interrupts, watching you with amusement in her eyes. “I’ve gotta go. But if you decide you might want to help me, here’s my number.”

She grabs the notebook that you forgot you even had open in front of you and slides it across the table towards herself. She quickly scribbles her phone number in the corner of the open page and slides the notebook back towards you.

Brie stands up, considering you for a moment before she reaches into her bag that’s slung over her shoulder. You’re still several steps behind, looking down at the set of numbers she had written in your notebook, when she drops two aspirins in front of you. You startle, looking up at her and finding her smirking down at you.

“Take these, they’ll make you feel better. And maybe they'll convince you to help me, too,” she says, barely giving you a second to respond before she, too, is leaving you alone at the table.

You sit in stunned silence for a few moments until your eyes drift towards the large clock on the wall opposite you and you catch sight of the time. If you don’t leave now, you’ll definitely be late for your first class of the day. You half consider your options, wondering how much you’d really miss if you just skipped one class in favour of going back to your dorm to nap.

Eventually you let out a deep sigh and stand up, knowing you’ll just end up beating yourself up later if you let yourself miss a class because of your poor choices from the previous night. You quickly throw your belonging into your book bag, only pausing to look at the two aspirins Brie had left for you. You pick them up and quickly swallow them down with a gulp of water from your water bottle before you’re rushing out of the library doors and towards your class.

#brie larson x reader #brie larson fic #brie larson imagine #captain marvel #mcu imagine #brie larson #mine #fic

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finiffy · 3 years

Text

Gerald is a leap year child

Cimmerian uses a cane from time to time and will trip/wack people with it

Cimmerian has a fursona which is a chimera

Francis is basically Clef's dead name, do not call him that (well not like he is ever going to tell people his name in the first place)

Every time Crow wants to get off site to get a break or whatever Gears is usually the one who accompanies him

Sometimes they pass by other dogs who (embarrassingly) tries to sniff/play with Crow and Gears is there not helping him at all and just making small talk with the owner trying not to laugh

One time both Crow and Roth went off site together (a bit drunk) without anyone and in the end having the animal control chasing them all over town

((i need a tale/fic where crow and roth pretends to be normal animal/pets in order to infiltrate a goi or something please i would absolutely die for whoever does write something like that))

People thinking that Ice has blue hair because of his anomalous effects but he just dyes it

Clef's and Kondraki's wedding being referred as the Clef-Kondraki incident 2.0

Clef and Draven going to those shooting gallery booths and winning every single prize there (Meri woke up to her room full of stuff animals the next day)

Draven breaking out his two bffs (Meri and Tj) to celebrate eachothers birthdays or honestly just to hang out

Draven, Meri, and Tj are the only people in the world that Kondraki, Clef, and Bright will ever listen to and/or try to behave infront of

It is honestly such a sight seeing those three being scolded by their kids/little sibling

#hey im back only to toss out random scp hcs #headcanon

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joshuas · 3 years

Text

pick-up lines 101

♫ pairing: Lee Felix x Reader

♫ genre: college/university student!au, slice-of-life, crack (the entire concept), fluff

♫ word count: 10.4k

♫ warnings: Nil of note!

♫ summary: A continuation on from the Chan drabble - an utterly ridiculous fic, where Felix and the reader (who unenthusiastically) go to literal extremes to break the two up, whilst falling for each other along the way.

♫ a/n: The second addition to my Christmas oneshots! Enjoy this high-key chaotic fic! I’m sorry that it’s 10k - I think I got a little carried away (╥﹏╥). This drabble is entirely fictional, please do not take any of Felix’s actions to heart (because he’s a sweetheart and we all know it).

♫ fyi: Reader 1 (Chan’s lover) is often referred to as “Mariah Carey/playlist lover” just to be gender neutral!

♫ skz christmas oneshots: 1|2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

“Let me get this straight... you want me to help break up Chan and... what’s their name- Mariah Carey lover, just so that Chan can give you pick-up lines again? Even though you’re the reason they started dating?” You leaned back against your chair, raising your eyebrows at the boy in front of you. “Well. Yes. And... Mariah Carey lover? You seriously don’t remember their name?” Your friend, Felix, raised his eyebrows. “All I care is that the person is now identifiable to me. Names are so arbitrary.” You dismissed nonchalantly. “Okay... but will you help me?” Felix turned to you with puppy dog eyes. “You know puppy dog eyes don’t work on me but whatever. I’ll help.” You got up, placing your books in your bag as Felix swiftly helped you clean up. “Oh, Y/N. You have no idea how much this means to me.” He draped his arm around your shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze before releasing as the two of you exited the library. “Oh, I think I do...” You muttered as Felix excitedly explained his long-winded and elaborate plan to ‘save Chanlix’.

“C‘mon Chan hyung. It’ll be fun!” “I don’t know, Felix... wouldn’t Y/N be third-wheeling?” You observed the situation in front of you, casually eating your fairy floss as Felix looked to you for help in his mission to convince Chan to do a ‘how well do you know your partner?’ challenge at the local Christmas fair. “I don’t think Y/N really cares. Come on, hyung. If you’re not doing it for me, do it for the prize!” Felix pleaded with Chan. “The prize being... a book of ‘pick-up lines to keep your relationship fresh and interesting!’?” Chan raised his eyebrows at you.

You shrugged your shoulders, “He’s been your friend longer than mine.” “See! Y/N’s so unbothered. Please, hyung. I’ll do anything.” Felix pleaded. “...Alright. Let’s line up.” Chan reluctantly followed an excited Felix, as you trudged slowly after them.

The line was ridiculously long. Taking you half an hour to get to the front of the line, you were just about done with Felix’s antics. As Felix handed in the answers to the two questionnaires, Chan’s phone buzzed. Quickly typing a reply, his face lightened up as he waved someone over.

“Hey, Felix, I hope you don’t mind but I think I’ll partner with umm... my beloved on this one. And hey, Y/N’s here, so you can get that awesome prize with them!” Chan patted Felix on the back, his partner *cough cough* beloved approached him, pushing him lightly for being so “cringy”. Felix nodded, slightly devastated, forcing a smile as Chan and his partner walked past him, taking a seat with the other contestants. Mulling over his thoughts, Felix paced the floor as you watched more and more couples sign up for the contest. His features lightened, and as if struck by an amazing idea, he pulled you towards the sign up desk, “Do we really have to do this?” You groaned as Felix signed you up, determined. “Even though this wasn’t supposed to happen, I have just been presented with the perfect way to show Chan that I’m better than his significant other.” You looked at him confusedly, “How... are you going to do that, exactly?” “By winning.” He said, tone as if he were stating the obvious, “So, get your game face on, Y/N. We’re going to wipe the floor with them.” “Totally...”

The game was heated. You were utterly confused as to why people were so fiercely competitive to get a book of pick up lines. Don’t these people have anything better to do? “And now we have Bang Chan! Would you please come to the stage with your partner?” The MC’s voice rang out clearly across the stage, snapping you out of your reverie. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Felix lean forward, anxiously tapping his foot. “So, like all the other contestants have done, I’ll ask a couple of questions and we’ll see if your partner’s answers match with yours on the questionnaire. However, you can only win if both of you are able to answer as many questions about each other correctly.” The MC explained for the billionth time as Chan flashed an encouraging smile towards his partner. “Hey, Felix? Haven’t they been friends since childhood? How do you even expect us to have a chance?” You asked, doubtful. “Don’t worry, Y/N. I have a plan.” Felix reassured you, his eyes glued on the couple on stage. Oh, great. “First question! Ooh this is interesting. If Chan wasn’t studying music currently, what would he be doing?” Before anyone could answer, Felix yelled from his seat, “He’d be an actor or an athlete. He’d also be a kangaroo, if he could be... which I don’t really understand since they’re literally a pest species.” “Correct? Regardless of whoever answered, the points go to you guys.” The MC chuckled, slightly confused, as Chan and his partner tentatively high-fived each other. “Next question! What is Chan’s favourite season?” The MC looked pointedly at Mariah Carey playlist lover. As they opened their mouth to speak, Felix sighed loudly, “This is too easy. It’s Autumn, obviously.” You turned to Felix, embarrassed, as heads turned towards where the two of you were seated. “GeT rEaDy, Y/N. We’Re gOinG tO wiPe tHe fLoOr wiTh tHeM.” You mocked, imitating his earlier statement. “You do realise that if you keep answering the questions, they’ll end up winning. If I remember correctly, you wanted to beat them, not help them.” You hissed, annoyed at his impulsiveness. “Plans can be slightly altered. It’ll work out.” Felix shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. You pinched the bridge of your nose, Honestly, this boy only runs off two brain cells. To think of the lengths he’d go to just be told pick up lines from Chan. You’d think that he was fighting to the death for his beloved... “Haha... another point to the couple. Honestly, you guys won’t have to do anything to win at this point.” The MC pointed out awkwardly. “Let’s move onto the next question. This is easy. What is Chan’s favourite hobby?” The MC’s smile faltered as Felix stood up, everyone directing their attention towards him once again, “He loves to play sport!” You sunk low into your seat, pulling the hood of your hoodie over your head as you avoided the heavy gaze of the other contestants and other onlookers. Tugging Felix back to his seat, he slowly sat down as the MC looked at the two of you and Chan and his partner confusedly, “Ha... maybe the two of you should have partnered up.” He pointed to Chan and Felix who was adamantly glaring at the bewildered couple. “Right, so another point to the two of you. Let’s move on...” The game continued, Felix answering every single question as you cringed at his eagerness... until it came to Mariah Carey person’s turn. From then, he sat in stony silence, glaring at the couple as Chan answered every question correctly.

“Onto our next couple! Y/N and... Felix.” You sat down in the seat opposite Felix on the stage, mentally running through everything you know about him. “First question! Remember, it’s important that the both of you answer correctly, in order to win. What is Felix’s favourite colour?” You exhaled in relief, okay. These questions are kind of reasonable, “Black.” “Correct! Ooh, looks like Chan’s going to have to look out!” Your answer streak continued, with you answering the questions almost immediately. They weren’t too ridiculous (which you hadn’t expected, considering Felix). Eventually came Felix’s turn, “Alright, Felix. Let’s hope you know Y/N as well as you do Chan.” The audience chuckled at the MC’s comment as Felix flushed awkwardly (the boy was finally embarrassed istg). “Looks like the two of you were on the same wavelength! What is Y/N’s favourite colour?” An awkward silence filled the stage as Felix looked at you with utter panic. You shook your head in disappointment. Surely. Surely he kno— “Uhh turquoise?” Turquoise???? This boy. Honestly. “Incorrect! What a shame. Let’s move onto the next question.” As the game went on, awkward silences patterned with the MC’s new favourite response of ‘incorrect!’

“It’s a real shame that you and Chan weren’t partnered together.” The MC patted Felix’s back sympathetically as you headed back to the contestants whilst Chan and his partner collected their prize, Chan cracking the cheesiest of pickup lines on his very much embarrassed significant other, “You know, my shirt’s so soft. Do you know what material it’s made of? Boyfriend material.” “Oh my god, Chan, stoppp.” As the crowd dissipated, you stood, beckoning Felix to walk with you, “I thought you wanted to win.” You said dryly, as Felix turned to you, defensive, “How am I supposed to know the intimate and in-depth details of your life?” “Favourite colours are hardly intimate, and generally friends are supposed to listen to each other, and talk to each other about their interests?” You raised your eyebrows. He sighed in defeat, “You’re right. I’m sorry. How about we grab a hot chocolate and you can tell me all the answers to those questions.” He held out his hand to you. You looked at it questioningly, slowly taking it, interlocking your fingers with his, ignoring the fluttering of your heart, “I know you’re only doing this so that I can help you but I’m far too hungry to care about your motives.” “Of course not. It’s just also the perfect time to talk about our next course of action. Amongst talking about you, obviously.” “Sure...”

Impatiently tapping your foot as you waited in line to ‘confront Chan’, you turned to glare at Felix who was seated in his car just outside the cafe. Taking out your phone, you texted him, [10:38] Remind me again of what I have to do and why I’m doing this? [10:40] (Felix) You really don’t remember?? [10:40] to be fair, it’s an elaborate plan... [10:41] (Felix) fine. Basically you have to approach Chan hyung and give him a pick up line. Then I’ll walk in, and he’ll use it on me, and all order in the world will be restored. As to why you’re doing this... you’re doing it because you looooooooove me 😌 [10:42] More like haaaaaate but whatever. wouldn’t it seem like I was hitting on him?? [10:43] (Felix) 😭 😭 you wound me with your words, y/n. We all know that I’m your favourite person and you’d do anything for me. It should be fine. [10:44] I could leave this cafe and never talk to you again [10:45] (Felix) No!! Y/N pleaseeeee do this for me. I’ll ✨ love ✨ you forever ️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Ignoring the skip of your heart at his text, you rolled your eyes, Get a grip, Y/N. This guy clearly only has eyes for a certain pick-up lines guy. [10:46] nobody wants that. I’ll do it because I’m a good person. Please revoke your hearts. [10:47] (Felix) Neverrrrr ️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ [10:47] (Felix) oh! You’re up in line!! Go! You got this!! Steeling yourself, you smiled as you approached the counter Chan was working at, “Hey, Y/N! How are you?” Chan greeted you cheerfully, dimples on full display. Ahh too bright. My eyes— his smile’s too charming. I kind of understand why the whole playlist thing went well. “Heyyy Chan! I’m good. How do you brew?” You laughed awkwardly, internally cringing. “Oh, I��m brewing good too. Can I get you anything?” He grinned at your pun. “Uh— just a latte for me, thanks.” You panicked, stating the first thing you saw on the menu. “One latte coming right up. So, how’s Felix? I haven’t seen him since the festival. I know he really wanted that pick up line book.” He looked at you, his eyes slightly guilty as he started the espresso machine. You could say that... “Yeah, he’s been taking it... pretty hard. How have you been finding the book?” You asked. “The book’s pretty cool, actually. I’ve come across some pretty great pick up lines. Oh! There’s this one where—“ You cut him off as he poured in two teaspoons of sugar, regurgitating the pick up line Felix had forced you to practice repeatedly in the car beforehand. “I have a better one- hold the sugar, please. You’re sweet enough for me.” Ughhhhhh. Ugh. That was— ugh. I should start apologising. Chan’s eyes widened, his expression similar to a deer caught in headlights, “I— Wow! You’re just full of creativity, Y/N. Look at you, two pick up lines in one morning. I’m going to have to use them on my partner, now.” He laughed awkwardly. “No!” You interjected. “No?” You took a deep breath, “You can only use them on your best friend.” “Is this like one of those ‘repost this chain or you’ll die in 13 days or something like that’ things but in real life?” Chan questioned, confused. You turned around, not-so-subtly beckoning Felix to come into the cafe. “Haha... what??? Oh and just to be clear, I wasn’t hitting on you, so can you please continue putting in the sugar?” “I know. It’s pretty obvious that you have feelings for— Oh hey Felix! I— oof!” He stumbled backwards from the impact of someone— oh it’s his playlist lover, wrapping him into a hug. “Hey. What’s up?” He released them, looking at them concerned. “Nothing. I just missed you today.” “Oh that reminds me. Y/N told me these epic pick up lines. I have to use them on you...” I mean. They are best friends... You looked apologetically at Felix who stood, his jaw clenched, passively fuming as he observed the couple from the door, “Felix, I’m really sorry that your plan failed again.” You patted his back sympathetically. “It’s fine... we just have to come up with something more attention grabbing!” He nodded resolutely, leading you out of the cafe. “Wait— I left my coffee!” “There’s no time to lose, Y/N. I’ve already come up with our next plan.” Oh no.

The next phase of the plan was... extravagant to say the least. Felix hadn’t told you much but seeing the long to-do list he had written out... it was a bit much. Approaching the art department, you knocked on the door of the workshop whilst Felix strode confidently past you. Upon hearing the knock and Felix’s footsteps, a brown-haired boy looked up from what looked like it was supposed to be a sculpture but was really just a blob of clay, “Minho hyung... my man! My bro! What’s up?” Felix clapped the boy’s shoulder. You shook your head in disgust, Why is he so cringy? The boy - Minho, narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, “What do you want, Felix?” “Why do people always assume that I want anything? What if I just wanted to hang out with my dearest friends without any motives except for showing my appreciation for you guys being in my life?” Felix raised his hands in surrender defensively. “Hell would have to freeze over for that to happen.” You hummed, Minho snorting at your comment as Felix clutched his chest in mock offence. “Well, as you can see, no one buys your sentiment, so tell me what you want.” Minho sighed. “You both wound me with your verbal warfare, but... I actually need a favour.” Felix stated tentatively. “A favour?” Minho raised an eyebrow. “I need you to make me a life sized present.” He said seriously. Do you ever look at someone and wonder what on earth is going on in their head? Yeah, there’s no point on doing that for Felix. Nothing can explain what goes on in there. “I need to what? Why?” Minho looked at Felix, incredulous. “That’s on a need-to-know basis and you don’t need to know. Look, all I need you to do is find a human-sized box and decorate it with wrapping paper and whatnot. Just make it look like a present.” Felix explained, slightly impatient. “...why me?” Minho asked, reluctant. “You’re an art major, right? This’ll be in your ballpark. I give you full creative liberty. Just make it look as pretty and realistic as possible.” Felix clapped Minho’s back, waving as he exited the workshop. You gave Minho an apologetic glance before chasing after Felix. “...but I’m an accounting major.” Minho sighed, defeated.

“Y/N, Minho hyung just dropped off the present! Come look at it!” Felix called from the foyer. The two of you were currently “house sitting” Chan’s apartment. Technically Chan didn’t ask you guys to, since he was only going away for a day. However, Felix insisted on it, using the excuse of ‘watering Chan’s plants’ to execute his plan. Chan doesn’t have any plants. Ignoring Felix’s poor attempt at a cover, Chan let Felix do whatever but gave clear instructions to not break or burn anything. Wandering over to Felix, you gaped at the... present in front of you. On the floor, in front of you, was literally just a human-sized cardboard box (that was falling apart, the clear sticky tape holding the corners together by a thread) with random Christmas wrapping adorning the sides of it, alongside a lid (with breathing holes) and a bow on top. Minho must be a modern art student or something, because this is... interesting to say the very least (no offence to modern art students/artists - love y’all). “It’s so beautiful!” Felix fussed over it, his eyes sparkling with excitement and awe. Of course Felix would like it. I guess art truly is in the eye of the beholder. “So, are you going to tell me what you’re going to do with that?” You crossed your arms over your chest staring pointedly at the box. “I’m going to hide in this present until Chan hyung comes back from his hometown tomorrow morning at nine on the dot. Chan hyung will see this mysterious package in the living room and his curiosity will force him to open it, revealing me! I’ll give him a pick-up line, he’ll laugh and we’ll both live happily ever after.” “Not to rain on your Disney princess movie parade but I don’t think you’ve thought any of the logistics through. How are you—“ “Y/N, stop. Let a professional work their work. Don’t worry, I’ve figured everything out.” He waved his hand dismissively, picking up the box and beckoning you to grab the other side. “Don’t come crawling back to me when you need help. Or food.” You warned.

“Just sit still! Stop moving! Otherwise I’ll duct tape your hands together.” You waved the duct tape roll threateningly as Felix fidgeted in the box. On the way to the living room, the box had decided to collapse in on itself as you had expected. Felix, being Felix, was distraught, causing you to be here now fixing the box up with duct tape as Felix sniffed sadly at its unfortunate demise. “I’m sorry, Y/N! Please don’t! How would I be able to eat?” He surrendered, eyes wide. “That’s for you to figure out and for me not to care about. Lucky for you, I’m not that cruel.” You stuck the last piece of tape on the box, dusting your knees as you stood, helping Felix move closer to the Christmas tree in the corner of the room. “Okay, so this is where I leave you.” “You’re leaving already??” Felix pouted, your heartbeat quickening, He really wants to hang out with me? No... He’s probably just worried he’ll be bored. “It wasn’t really at the top of my Christmas wish list to spend Christmas Eve with a man stuck in a life sized present waiting for his friend to come home so that he can give him a pick-up line. I also wouldn’t dare ruin your future moment with Chan. You have your phone, right? Call me if you need me.” You sighed, grabbing your keys as you stuck the lid on Felix, he let out a muffled “bye” as you left the apartment.

“Y/N? Can you pick me up? I’m scared.”

“Y/NNNN I’m bored. Come over.” “Tell me what you think of this pick-up line...” Swiftly deleting the 40 voicemails Felix had left you overnight, you rolled your eyes, a small (but uncontrollable) smile forming on your face at his dramatics. Okay, you were kind of fond of Felix’s theatrics. Not that it matters, though. You sighed, rolling out of bed. It was a bit tiring - having to foster feelings towards someone that doesn’t feel the same way. Just be a good friend, Y/N. That’s all that matters right now. Your phone buzzed, the caller ID showing Felix. You sighed, picking up the phone, “He—“ “Y/N? You need to come. Like now.” Felix whispered hurriedly. “Why?” You raised your eyebrows at his urgency. “Why? Chan hyung was two hours late. He came back at 11 instead of nine. And guess who he came home with?” “Playlist lover.” You answered instantly, getting ready to pick him up. “Exactly. And y’know what they’ve been doing for the past hour and a bit? Making gingerbread and being a ridiculous, annoyingly cute couple. So now I’m hungry and... I really need to go to the bathroom.” He whined. “Can I just say that you really did not figure out the logistics in this plan.” You pointed out. “Logistics don’t matter when it comes to friendship!” He whispered dramatically. “Whatever. Look, I have a plan. You just need to trust me on this one.” You said, pulling a ‘disguise’ out of your closet. “Somehow that doesn’t give me comfort because normally I’m the one who makes the plans in this relationship.” “And look at how that turned out for you. I’ll see you in a bit!” You hung up on him, grabbing your car keys and heading out.

Dressed in the daggiest of outfits (lots and lots of flannel and a low cap), you knocked on the door to Chan’s apartment, revealing a floury Bang Chan and his even more floury significant other, “Y/N, is that you?” “Huh—“ you cleared your throat, deepening your voice, “uh, no. I’m their cousin. Hence, the resemblance.” “Okay... how can I help you, then?” He asked, his tone uncertain. “Oh. Well. I was hoping that I could inspect the place. I’m... your new landlord!” You exclaimed, recalling the notice you had seen around the complex. “Oh? Of course! The notices did say that you were coming for inspections.” He ushered you in, showing you through to the living room. Your eyes landed on the ‘present’ in the corner of the room. I need to get them out of here somehow. “Oh! I think I can smell something burning. You might want to check that out. Could you also point me towards the bathroom?” You asked innocently. “Ah! Of course. It’s the first room to the right in the hallway.” He gestured towards the hall as he and his partner ran to the kitchen. Rushing over to Felix, you grunted, dragging the box as quickly as you can into a room that resembled a studio. Grabbing out a pocket knife, you tore through the duct tape, lifting the lid as Felix scrambled out of the box and to the bathroom, shooting you a relieved smile. This boy. Honestly, why does he do this to himself? Hearing footsteps approaching, you panicked, hopping into the box, closing the lid on you. “Why are you in the box?” Felix approached, drying his hands hurriedly. “I thought you were Chan...” You awkwardly stepped out. “It doesn’t matter anymore! Let’s go!” He whispered hurriedly, heading towards the door as you pulled him back. “Well... you can’t come out the front with me...” you scanned the room, your eyes locking on the window in front of you. Felix followed your gaze, terror filling his eyes, “Y/N! I can’t do that! It’s so high!” He clung to you as you pushed him towards the window. “We’re literally on the ground floor. The height difference between this window and the ground is probably at half your height at most.” You flicked his hands off you, as he slowly sat on the ledge of the window as you opened the window, the cold air greeting you. “No! Y/N, I can’t do it. It’s too—“ His protesting cut off as you lightly pushed him, causing him to stumble off the ledge, tripping and falling to the ground as he landed on the thick snow outside the complex. Instantly, he lay down, yelling incoherent dramatics. Holding back your laughter, you chucked the present box next to him and shut the window, “Merry Christmas!” You re-emerged from the hallway. Somehow Chan and his Mariah Carey playlist lover were looking worse — icing adorned and everything. Oh my gosh. They’re that cliche fanfic couple that make a huge mess when cooking together. How disgusting. “Thank you for allowing me to use your bathroom. I’ll be heading out now.” “Really? What about the inspection?” Chan questioned, eyes wide. “Oh everything’s fine. Okay, bye!” You started towards the front door as Chan blocked your exit. “Wait! We just wanted to give you these gingerbread cookies. You basically saved them and we felt bad that you had to work on Christmas.” He handed the cookies to you, his tone pitiful. “Oh. Well if you insist, who am I to refuse?” You waved at them as you left the complex just as someone dressed in basically the same outfit as you approached their door, “Excuse me! Mr Bang Chan? I’m your new landlord. I came for an inspection?” They yelled, as your eyes widened in horror, bolting as fast as you could out of the complex. “I like your outfit, by the way!” They yelled after you. You caught up to Felix as he waited outside your car. “Now do you have faith in my plans?” You crossed your arms over your chest, still slightly out of breath. You thought back to the narrow escape you had with the actual landlord, Gosh, literally the first time someone compliments me for my fashion sense, it’s when I’m trying to dress up like them unintentionally. “If I say yes, will you give me a cookie?” “Absolutely not.”

“Oh, hey Y/N and Felix. Thanks for taking care of my house whilst we were away. I’m glad to see that nothing broke or burnt.” Chan brought Felix into a bro hug thing as you handed his partner a basket of gingerbread cookies, entering the Christmas-themed household. “It’s not like you weren’t about to burn the house down by yourselves.” You muttered. “Hm?” Chan looked at you expectantly. “Oh! I said... I didn’t burn the gingerbread.” You pointed at the basket of gingerbread. “You know! That’s so funny. We nearly burnt down the house a couple of days ago with our Christmas cookies.” Chan and his partner laughed nervously. “We know.” Felix blurted out. You elbowed Felix, panicked. “I see you still have your decorations up.” You said quickly changing the topic, taking in the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling and the tinsel adorned shelves. “Yeah, well we wanted to have a Christmas party but both of us went home on Christmas and it’s not illegal to have Christmas decorations up two days after Christmas.” Chan explained, handing you both mugs of eggnog. “Actually, it is. But I’ll put up with your offence.” You smirked, sipping at your eggnog. “Thank you for your everlasting generosity, Y/N. Now, you two should go and enjoy the party.” Chan clapped your backs, pushing you and Felix into the party scene. “So... what’s the plan?” You turned to Felix who was observing the couple. “Honestly, Y/N, this is my last shot.” He sighed, exhausted. “Okay... and what are you going to do?” You looked at him, concerned at his sudden dampen in mood. “I’m going to give him a pick up line.” He said triumphantly. “Um. Haven’t you been trying to do that the entire time?” You questioned, confused. “And this is the last time I’m trying that. I’m going to give him one so that he’ll be left with no choice but to fall on his knees, weeping huge tears of regret as he struggles to give me one that matches it’s sheer brilliance.” He explained (dramatically). “Sure. Come find me when you’ve had the happily ever after we’ve all been waiting for.” You shot him a quick smile before moving off to talk to playlist lover.

Soft jazz versions of classic Christmas songs played as people departed from the party.

Walking over to the hallway, you stopped, looking at a dejected Felix leaning against the wall.

“How did it go?” You said, tentatively approaching him.

“What can I say? He’s in love.” He sighed defeatedly.

“Let me guess, he used it on playlist lover?” You asked bluntly.

He nodded dejectedly.

You sighed, steeling yourself, glancing up at the mistletoe between the two of you,

It’s now or never, Y/N.

“I must be a snowflake. Because I’ve fallen for you.”

A shocked silence fell over the two of you as you stumbled to recover your dignity.

“I—“

“Say that again.”

“Huh?”

“The pick up line. Say it again.”

“...I must be a snowflake. Because I’ve fallen for you.” You muttered.

“That... do you mean that?”

“Well. Yes. In a sense because I’m not a snowflake. That’s just weird. Why did I say that? I also don’t think anyone that only liked you as a friend would go to such lengths to help salvage a friendship you don’t really need to salvage. Look, obviously the dynamic between you and Chan has changed since he got a girlfriend. But hey, if you feel the same way, I could be the Chan to your Felix. In a romantic manner, obviously... perhaps as your partner?” You looked nervously at the ground.

“You really like me? After everything I put you through?” He asked, incredulous.

“Although it was extremely ridiculous, it was entertaining... and we got to spend time together.” You quietened your voice for the last part.

“Well, we must both be snowflakes because I’ve fallen for you too.” He lifted your chin, eyes interlocked with yours.

“That was really cheesy.” You murmured.

“Hey, you’re the one that used it on me first.” Felix defended.

“Mmk. Well. For this to work you need to—“ He interrupted you, capturing your lips with his briefly.

“Did that make up for it?” He stepped back, breathless.

“Th-that was cheesy too.” You stuttered, shocked.

“Well, our relationship hasn’t exactly been cliche until now.”

“Ah yes, kissing under the mistletoe. It’s almost like the ending of a Christmas classic movie.” You sighed.

“Almost?” Felix raised an eyebrow.

“Minus the pick up lines.”

“Yeah, well you’re roped into this now. You’ve given me the expectation that you’ll give me a pick up line every time you see me.” He smirked.

“No. I refuse.” You grabbed your bag, waving at Chan and his partner as you exited his apartment, Felix on your heels.

“Three a day?”

“One.”

➳ part three? | masterlist!

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lovethestars1966 · 3 years

Text

STEREK FBI/FALSELY ACCUSED FIC

Chapter three is up from unforgettable!! The one where the Sheriff arrests and charges Derek with multiple murders. Also I have a competition going on the person who can guess the murderer first!! First and second prize. It’s to pay for some ART by a very talented Tumblr artist who we all know and love. Just a bit of fun. Give it a go if you're interested and who knows. Maybe you’ll be the winner. Can’t hurt.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31853854/chapters/79642657#workskin

Excerpt: (Big one today...)

“So you guys work with Stiles?” Isaac asked conversationally as he led Allison and Jackson along the track to where the body had been discovered.

“For a few years now,” Allison answered, assuming she would be the only helpful person for Isaac today. Jackson was forthcoming but anything he had to say seemed less than useful. “You knew him from school?” She asked.

“Yeah, but if you’re from Beacon Hills you pretty much know everyone from school.”

Jackson speaks up, “was he just as annoying back then?”

“Probably more.” Isaac laughs genuinely and it causes Allison to giggle alongside him. “Didn’t stop me from being madly in love with him though.” he admits sadly.

Allison isn’t afraid to admit she stumbled then. Freezing right alongside Jackson at the sudden bombshell Isaac had just dropped. Isaac himself didn’t notice he was walking alone for a few moments but when he did he looked back to find them both standing there gobsmacked.

“Guess Stiles doesn’t talk about me much huh?” he asked just a little bit embarrassed. Allison made a small choking noise while Jackson threw his hands skyward in disbelief.

“Seriously, how did that little weasel get two guys to fall in love with him?” He asked but Isaac skilfully ignored him in favour of Allison.

“Did he know?” She queried.

“Whole town knew.” the deputy answered, shrugging his shoulders and continuing towards their intended destination, “Although I would hope Stiles knew anyway since we dated.”

Allison had just started walking again.

“What the fuck is happening?” Jackson whispered, mostly to himself.

“Wait,” Allison threw a hand out to stop Isaac once more. “I thought Derek was the first and only person Stiles ever dated.” Isaac nodded and hurried them along once more.

“Well yes and no,” He relented to her enquiring eyebrow, “Derek was certainly the first person he dated and I assume he thinks he’ll be Stiles last. Stiles and myself dated for a few months when he and Derek broke up.”

“Stiles and Derek never broke up.” The conflicted agent to Isaac’s right argued which caused the young cop himself to huff quietly with laughter.

“Guess Stiles doesn’t talk about anything from his past much.” he states, “I gotta tell you, that does make me feel a bit better.”

“I’m starting to feel like none of us really know Stiles.” Allison muttered.

“Yeah, well I just learnt two people have actually seen Stiles naked and enjoyed it so now I’m questioning everything I know.” Jackson countered inciting another round of laughter from Isaac.

“Now that I can’t claim,” he admitted, “me and Stiles never had sex, though not from a lack of trying on my part.”

“Surprisingly that didn’t help.” Jackson grumbled and then wheezed out an annoyed breath after having a hand thrown across his chest. “Problem?”

“Not at all, we've just arrived.”

It was like flicking a switch. Allison and Jackson went from confused, and a little sickened in Jackson case, to professional in the blink of an eye. From the corner of her eye she saw Isaac looking mildly impressed.

“You got the file?” Jackson asked Allison who was already nose deep in said paperwork.

“Looks like she was found underneath that tree over there,” she pointed towards a large imposing trunk, and after a quick inspection they discovered specks of remaining blood confirming the assumption.

“wide space,” Jackson noted out loud, “no clear trails, lots of obstacles.”

“What does that mean?” Isaac asked genuinely interested.

“Means whoever did it has to be an experienced hiker.” Allison answered as Jackson wondered off a little. “Probably have an intimate knowledge of the area.”

“A local?”

“Not necessarily, could be anyone who travels here often enough to learn the terrain. Although statistically speaking a local is more likely.” She mumbled examining a photograph.

“Any tire tracks?” Jackson yelled, still out of view, startling the young deputy.

“None that our technicians could find.” He answered anyway as the male agent came stumbling back into the clearing.

“How wide were your search parameters?” he questioned further.

“Had a team of about six go about two miles in all directions.”

“Only two miles?” Allison asked shocked at the same time Jackson screwed up his face.

“Only six people?”

“We’re a small town,” Isaac huffed a little offended, “that’s actually a lot for us,”

Allison had the moral conscience to at least look sheepish while Jackson merely shook his head in judgement.

“Two miles is still pretty far to drag a body.” Isaac moved on smoothly. “At least it is for any normal human being.”

“Well you’re not wrong there, Kolchak.” Jackson retorted unforgivingly. “Maybe she was flown here on a magic carpet.” Isaac was becoming increasingly more put out the longer Jackson was allowed to talk and showed so in the narrowing of his eyes. Allison was going to have to watch that. Her best friends fiancé had a way of pissing people off that was unmatched by others.

“Obscure references to seventies si-fi-crime shows aside,” the deputy forged on, “the point still remains, this guy must be ripped… if it is a guy? Do we know that?” He directed the last part towards her.

“I highly doubt it’s a woman.” She responded, and Isaac looked extremely grateful. “the facts don't add up.”

“Meaning?”

“Statistics show that ninety two percent of all female serial killers know their victims personally. While it is extremely likely, almost definite even, that the unsub in this case knew at least one or two of their victims, considering the fact that they were spread across three states and share extremely similar aesthetics, knowing all thirteen on a personal level is virtually impossible.” Allison explained calmly only for Jackson to tag on the end.

“Pair that with the fact that most female motives are to do with money, and that we just ruled out magic carpet to the dumpsite, seems a bit ridiculous to suggest women doesn't it?” he asked with no small amount of mockery.

“Boy are you going to be sorry if it does turn out to be a woman.” Isaac replied shaking his head in judgment. Jackson’s only response was to roll his eyes.

“Okay,” Allison spoke up completely ignoring the boys little competition, “So if he didn’t drive here, and he didn’t carry her here then how did she get here?” she pondered aloud. Jackson furrowed his own forehead in concentration.

“Maybe she was killed here?” Isaac offered only to receive a scoff from his favourite agent.

“She died from blood loss Deputy,” Allison stepped in before Jackson could mock, “There was nowhere near enough blood near here for it to have been the kill site.”

“I know how she died, I saw her,” Isaac began then paused, looking like he regretted his short tone. He tired again. “Look Doc Deaton told us she had ligature marks around her ankles.”

“she was hung upside down.” Allison confirmed.

“Yeah but I watched this documentary on like war zones and militant extremist and stuff. It said that sometimes they have to take their victims to remote places to, you know, ‘question them’. Often they do it by cutting them and letting them bleed to death slowly hung upside down. To avoid attracting animals with the sent of blood they like, dig a hole, or place them over a bucket or something.”

By the time Isaac had finished he looked a little embarrassed, at his suggestion, but obviously couldn’t bring himself to tame the smirk he sent Jacksons way. Jackson however was just looking back with a seemingly bewildered look on his face.

“You are an idiot.” he stated and Isaac deflated a little. “You think this guy just so happened to watch the same documentary you did? You realise the chances of this are like five million to o-“

“Shut up Jackson!” Allison interrupted suddenly.

“What?”

“Shush, I think Isaac might be right,” she waved off his distress distractedly and Isaacs smile grew back tenfold. “Think about it. This guy is meticulous, methodical, dedicated. All things that can be easily explained with a military background.” She grinned back at the young officer before heading over to the tree and squatting down. She pulled out a glove from her pocket and began fitting it over her hand while continuing her thoughts aloud.

“What if he served overseas. He could have learnt everything he needed from the locals and simply applied it to some of his victims.”

She placed her covered hand to the ground where the body had been discovered and started to dig.

“Now considering he would’ve had to walk her here, tie her to the tree, kill her, get her down, and get the hell out of dodge, I doubt he had time to bring several buckets along with him and then carry them all the way back to wherever he came from without dropping any. No he is way to organised for that. However digging a hole would only require a small shovel. Military grade ones can be attached to a belt, which leaves only his faith that the local sheriffs department would never think to dig…”

Suddenly she stopped pulling up the dirt when she was almost elbow deep. The two boys froze in anticipation as she slowly lifted her gloved hand into view. There was dirt, soft and wet from the damp ground as well as small bits of leaf and bark but in-between all of soil, saturating the no longer white glove was deep red blood.

“To bad he didn’t know we would have a deputy as quick as you hey Isaac,” she spoke smugly looking over to him with an approving nod.

Isaac totally preened.

Jackson merely growled at being proven wrong.

“‘Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance’.” Isaac quotes smugly. She wasn’t sure is he was talking about Jackson or the unsub. Probably both. Either way it sounded familiar.

Allison scrunches her nose up. “What is that? Shakespeare?” She asks curiously. Isaac goes to answer but is cut off by Jackson.

“Call a CSI team already,” he spat before turning around and muttering, “If this backwater town even has one.”

#Sterek #Team Sterek #sterek fanfiction #sterek fic rec #stiles stilinski #derek hale #Stiles/Derek #derek and scott are brothers

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snowdice · 4 years

Text

Folds in Paper (Chapter 7: Not Much Has Changed but They Lived Underwater)[Folds in Time Universe]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Janus/Patton, Remus & Roman, eventual Logan/Virgil (maybe more)

Characters:

Main: Janus, Patton, Remus

Appear: Remy, Emile, Virgil, Logan, Roman

Summary: Janus, a disillusioned senior agent working for the Time Preservation Initiative, struggles to find meaning in a world where time travel could change everything about your life’s history in less than a moment. When time distortions start popping up, threatening the timeline and the fabric of reality as he knows it, it becomes a race against the clock to fix the damage before everything unravels. And the problem with time travel… you never how long you have before the clock strikes 12 and your time is up.

With a partner who has more mysteries in his past than Janus had anticipated and an enigmatic free agent time traveler mucking about time always with a clever pun or a time appropriate pet name on his lips, Janus will need to figure out what went wrong with time, and more importantly, how to fix it.

Chapter Summary:

Stood there with my neighbor called Peter

And a flux capacitor

He told me he built a time machine

Like one in a film I've seen, yeah

He said

“I've been to the year 3000

Not much has changed, but they lived underwater

And your great-great-great-granddaughter

Is doing fine

Doing fine"

-”Year 3000″ by the Jonas Brothers

(Can you spot all of the horrible, horrible puns and references??)

Notes: Time travel AU, mystery, enemies to lovers, alcohol

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted).

AO3 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

“Him,” was the only thing Janus said before taking off after the figure who had just disappeared into the games area.

“What?” Remus’s voice followed after him. “Janus! What?!”

Janus did not pause, continuing to run after Pat and bounding over two barricades as a shortcut to the protest of some of the workers. Janus cursed when he lost sight of the man for just a moment near the prize table filled with colorful goldfish, but he was able to spot him once again walking into one of the game tents. Janus blasted into the tent after him.

The game taking place in the tent was apparently one where they raced rats, and when Janus entered, Pat was cooing at one of said rats. “Who’s a tiny little squishy precious baby?” he was asking while wiggling his pointer finger at it.

“You,” Janus growled stepping up to him.

Pat turned and tilted his head at Janus with a frown. “Um, me?” he asked, pointing to his chest, all sorts of innocent, but Janus could see a spot of hidden amusement in his eyes.

“Where is it?”

His eyebrows drew together, but it was an act. It was clearly an act! “Where is what?”

“The…” he glanced around at the people surrounding them. They were already getting odd looks. “Thing you just took.”

“I didn’t take anything,” Pat said with a frown.

“Oh, no,” Janus said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fooling me twice is not an option.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Pat said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit.”

Just then, the colorful blob of paint that was Remus jogged into the tent. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s him,” Janus said pointing. “He took it. He has it.”

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pat said. He looked over to Remus with a confused frown.

Remus looked at Janus. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “It’s him. It has to be him. He’s the mask guy.”

Remus squinted at Pat. “He is?”

“Whoever you think I am, I’m not. I haven’t worn a mask all night. I just did the face paint,” he pointed to his cheeks.

Remus raised his wrist and his timepiece lit up green. He looked at Janus.

“I lost sight of him for five seconds. He must have stashed it somewhere,” Janus said. He turned on Pat. “Where did you put it?”

“…Are you,” Pat asked, his eyes going back and forth between Janus and Remus, “… the police?”

“We are, actually,” Khalid said as she stepped into the tent. Remus must have called her. She inserted herself between Janus and Pat. “Agent Khalid,” she said, offering a hand with a smile. Pat looked at it in surprise and then smiled back hesitantly as he took it. “Apologizes, one of the big game prizes was stolen by someone matching your description. Would you mind coming down to security for questioning? Just to clear it up.”

“Oh,” Pat said, hesitant. Janus expected him to refuse outright, but then he said. “Uh, sure.”

“Thank you very much, Mr…”

“Jonas,” Pat told her earnestly. “Do I need to be handcuffed?”

“No,” Khalid said. Janus frowned at her, but she ignored him. “It’s just a talk for now.” She gestured to the tent entrance. “Come with us.”

He did without argument, and Remus and Janus followed behind the both of them. Khalid did not lead them back to the base, but to a little spot that said “security” near the center of the event. Remy was already there waiting for them at a desk.

“Remy, would you please take Mr. Jonas to go sit down?” she asked.

“Sure, boss,” Remy said, standing up. He led Pat away.

Khalid turned to Janus and Remus once they were out of earshot. “What is going on?”

“It’s the mask man,” Janus said, “the one from 1923, and my scanner said the time bomb was on the Millenia Bird outside the games entrance, but then it was gone the next second, and I saw him, and then he ran away.”

“So, does he have it on him?”

“No. I lost sight of him, and he must have stored it somewhere, but I know he took it.”

“He’s the man from 1923?” she asked.

“Yes! Remus, that’s him, right? You recognize him.”

“Well,” Remus said thoughtfully. “He was in a mask, and it was dark in the room with the necklace. Other than that, I only really saw his back, and he was wearing pants. Mr. Jonas is wearing a dress, so I can’t really tell if their asses match.”

“Okay, but I was with him for hours. I swear it’s him, and I swear he took it,” Janus just about shouted.

“We’ll question him,” Khalid placated, “and Fred and Lena will keep looking in the meantime.”

“He knows where it is,” Janus insisted. “I swear.”

“Okay,” Khalid said, before leaving to follow where Remy and Pat had gone. She stopped Janus with a hand on his shoulder. “I think Remus and I will do the interrogation.” He opened his mouth to argue. “You know the most about him, so observe from the sidelines and see if he makes any mistakes that indicate you’re right.”

“That’s just to placate me and you know it.”

“Observation’s over there,” she said pointing.

He got a thumbs up from Remus as he walked by, and Janus glared at his back before walking off to the indicated location. He watched as Remus and Khalid entered the room, and Remy left it. Remy joined him in the observation room after leaving and leaned against the wall.

Pat was sitting at a table and watched Remus and Khalid with that same rubbish placid confusion that he had before. “So,” Khalid said, “Mr. Jonas.”

“You can call me Nick,” Pat interrupted.

“Lia,” Khalid replied. He smiled at her happily. “So, are you enjoying your day?” she asked.

“I am!” he replied. “It’s a big day. You only get to see the turn of a millennia once in your life, and so much as changed in the last 1,000 years. I’m a bit disappointed we can’t live under water yet though.”

“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “Doing anything special for it?”

“Um, not really,” he said. “other than the city block party. I’m going to meet up with my roommates after dinner. Kevin doesn’t like this sort of thing, and Joe couldn’t come.”

“Your roommates,” Khalid said, considering him. “Do you live around here?”

“Uh huh,” Pat replied.

“Do you have any ID?”

“I do, want me to get it?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Pat unzipped one of the bubbles on his waist and handed her a chip. “Clockson, would you mind going out and getting the ID scanner?” she asked, even though her timepiece would be able to read it.

“Ah, shit,” Remy said. “Props. What do those things even look like?” As Remy scrambled to find something that would pass for an ID reader so ‘Nick’ didn’t get suspicious of Khalid using her timepiece, Janus watched the two alone in the room like a hawk.

“I see you’re wearing a dress inspired by the 2770s,” Khalid noted, as Remus came to stand next to him.

“Yeah!” Pat replied. “Joe made it for me. He’s really good at fashion design!”

“Can I see?” she asked.

With a happy smile, he reached over the table to let her get a look of the sleeves. Janus saw her subtly scan the fabric, probably to make sure it was from the 2990s and not actually from the 2770s. Considering she didn’t mention it, Janus assumed it checked out.

Remy came back with some sort of device then and handed it to Remus who saluted and wandered back into the interrogation room. Khalid pretended to scan the ID in her hand. She handed it back to him without comment. “So, you said you live with your roommates: Joe and Kevin?” she asked.

“Yep!” he replied. “We’re practically like brothers.”

“Would you mind calling them?”

“Erm,” he titled his head like he was confused by the question. “Well, like I said, Joe is a bit busy, but I could definitely call Kevin.

“Here,” Khalid said, “use my phone.”

“I have my own,” he said with a frown. He took out a phone which checked out as being from 2998.

“Humor me,” she requested shoving her own phone at him.

“Uh, okay,” Pat agreed. He took the offered 2999 phone and dialed a number on it. Khalid reached over to put it on speaker.

“Hello?” a voice asked after a few seconds.

“Um, hey Kevin, it’s Nick.”

There was a sigh on the other end. “Hello Nick, is something wrong? Why are you calling me from someone else’s phone?”

“I’m fine, I think.” He looked up at Khalid. “Why am I calling him exactly?”

“Hello, I’m Officer Khalid,” Khalid said. “I just wanted to confirm that you are Nick Jonas’s roommate, and he does live in Manaus.”

“Yes, we live together with our other roommate,” the man replied flippantly. “Officer? Is something wrong?”

“I believe there was just a case of mistaken identity,” Khalid said.

“Bullshit there was!” Janus hissed, though she could not hear him.

“No need to worry,” Khalid continued.

“I’m good Kevin,” Pat said.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Kevin asked.

“Don’t be Paranoid, Kevin. I’ll see you Tonight for the New Years Celebration. You know I Live to Party.”

“I am hanging up now,” Kevin said.

“No! Comeback.” The line went dead. Pat handed the device back to Khalid.

She took it and smiled at him. “Give us just a couple of minutes,” she requested. He nodded easily, and she and Remus exited the interrogation room. “I… think we’re done here,” Khalid said.

“No, he’s lying,” Janus insisted, and got a dubious look in return. “I know he is! Remus!”

“The alibi is pretty solid…” Remus said, “and he doesn’t have the bomb on him.”

“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “You can’t say there is nothing fishy going on here.”

Khalid and Remus shared a look. “Janus,” Khalid said. “I respect your intuition. It is usually very good, but you have been a bit intense about the man from the 1920s, and I think that may be blinding you a bit...”

“I am not imagining this!” Janus said. “That’s him and he took it.”

“You only met him once while he was wearing a mask,” Khalid pointed out with a frown, “and you didn’t see him take the bomb, did you?”

“No, but he looked at me and I knew,” Janus argued. They both gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s a little weak, Jan,” Remus said.

“Let me talk to him,” Janus requested. “Just give me five minutes to talk with him.”

Khalid raised one eyebrow. “Fine,” she agreed. “You have five minutes, but after that, you have to let it go. We can’t waste any more time.”

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 8 Part 9

#sanders sides #janus sanders #patton sanders #remus sanders #moceit #logan sanders #folds in paper #folds in time universe #adriana writes #virgil sanders #analogical #time travel #bomb mentioned #roman sanders #creativitwins

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orichalcum-ore · 4 years

Text

Starved Lion of the Imperial Arena

A short fic about my character Do’saav and her sentence in the imperial arena and her rocky relationship with the thieves’ guild

cw: hunger, blood, brief reference to drugs

Blood.

Blood was all that she could feel.

Blood pumping through every single one of her veins, blood of her opponent splattering against her fur, wetting her claws. Anything else was numbness, survival instincts of a lesser beast.

As she ripped her hands from the elf she saw their last words stifled by the red icor of life she had become so well acquainted with. Do’Saav had won once again.

Anyone with her track record would be thought to be one of the voluntary competitors, a snobby son of a nobleman testing out a sword meant for twice the armsman, an accomplished mage testing their latest staff of fireballs on a miserable gaggle of prisoners. Anyone with her track record was normally free to go.

She was there because someone finally decided to size up the red fury of the west who had the coin purse to put enough men between her and them. She worked with the thieves’ guild, known for being quiet. Her line of work was not so quiet. She extorted people, scared them into minding their own business and letting things lie. She had seldom taken protection money, that’s not how the guild did things in Cyrodiil, but if they refused to show what little kindness they had in their heart and a broken bone wouldn’t do, she’d yank a prized amulet from their neck, maybe grab a candlestick or two on the way out or smash a vase.

This time she had picked the wrong method. A merchant from Vvardenfell had just enough handshakes and second-cousins in the royal court for someone to actually give a shit when he was left with a couple cracked limbs and a bruised shoulder. She was slapped in irons the next day, and she knew as soon as she saw the look on the warden’s face that her stay would be a little longer than usual.

She skulked back to the bloodworks, wiping the paint of her sins off her nose. No matter if it was spilt a second or a year ago the smell made her face curl up into a snarl. It made what social dynamic that was available to her even more of a chore to deal with. The bloodworks would make an awful guildhall. Anyone with more experience than you would spit in your face and call you a worm and anyone with less experience than you would spend their time figuring out your weaknesses.

“Great fight out there Khajiit, a couple more like that and you’ll be walking free in no time!” Said a redguard, former highwayman whose only remaining possession was a rusty axe.

Do’Saav’s nostrils flared as she sighed, healing her wounds in the putrid, oversized basin at the bottom of the steps, “That’s what the last one said.”

The auburn gladiator didn’t speak much, but tried her best to remain sociable at an arm’s length. After a while she understood that anyone here who wasn’t the grey prince was bound to be dead in a week or two. It almost gave rise to a snicker from her, what great lengths necromancers went to speak with the dead when you could do it right here in the heart of the empire.

“So why don’t you ever fight with weapons? Wouldn’t that be easier than going in bare-handed like that?” A peppy Breton asked while stretching between her exercises. It was always much harder for Do’Saav to look past the inevitable death of someone with such youth.

“Khajiit martial art. It is called Claw-Dancing in the common tongue.” She lied.

The Breton was starry-eyed, too innocent to last two more fights, when she’d be matched against a gaggle of sickly prisoners shipped there from Morrowind. They’d tear her apart like malnourished wolves, and then walk the streets they’d be dying on within the same span of time.

“This one thinks you should leave. Really. Join the fighter’s guild, they are always looking for work.”

The Breton put her hands on her hips, it began to disgust Do’Saav how she wore that rainment with pride.

“Not until I prove myself to my father! If I end up anything like you, he’ll just have to give me his heirloom sword when he passes!”

The Khajiit narrowed her eyes and spoke with as much malice as she could muster for such an energetic young woman.

“Your father is a goblin-fucking pig bastard and that sword’s blade has probably been worn to the edge of a butter knife from all the bones of children half your age it has cut through.”

The Breton was at a loss for words, she simply stood there in shock, starting and stopping the first syllable of her retort, before she simply left.

She stood there, barely on one foot leaning against the cleanest patch of bricks she could find. Her empty stomach continues to bother her, keeping her there stirring, unable to doze off. At one point she considered ripping into opponents with her teeth, swallowing what she bit into. Such thoughts were too vile for her, and she knew such discovery would surely have her put to the axe with both her hands bound that time. Her head began to hurt as she saw a stocky Nord in tattered leathers approach her like a wild animal, her lips couldn’t help but form a grin seeing one of the great children of the sky shaking in his boots at a starving prisoner.

“A-are you Doe-Sawf?” The Nord stammered, reaching to his side but his hand past the hilt of the dagger he had sheathed.

She nodded, “This one is. What do you seek of her, meat?” her words had a bite to them.

The dirty blonde pauper swallowed as a drop of sweat formed at his brow, “I-I-I am with the- the thieves’ guild…” the stout man began to choke on the second half of his sentence.

Do’Saav couldn’t help but laugh. It was hoarse, scratchy, disturbing. Her ears perked up in maniacal sarcasm, “Are you- are you here to have Do’Saav pay the blood price…?” She began to descend back into laughter at her terrible and grim joke about the countless slaughters committed by her hands. She wiped a tear from her eye.

As the man returned from his flinch he slowly handed a burlap sack, quickly pulling away as Do’Saav took it. He finally found the courage to finish speaking. “The grey fox… understands you’re being treated unfairly here, because of your association with the guild. He says that he will do whatever it takes to get you out of here without risking your life or freedom at a later date, that he owes it to you…”

The Khajiit was suddenly overcome with a feeling typically found in the eyes of a skooma addict or a pie thief, she looked inside the bag and found a bit of bread and cheese, and nearly bit her hand shoving a morsel into her mouth before remembering she had a visitor. She chewed, swallowed and cleared her throat.

“This one will believe it when she talks to the grey fox face to face about it. That at least is owed in addition to a ticket out.” She shoved the rest of her meal into her maw, grinding and gulping as fast as her body could allow.

The initiate nodded, looking at the floor a moment, seeing the drops of blood that made it down from the ceiling.

“I’m sorry they do not feed you here enough.” This time he was beginning to collect himself.

“Likewise, northman.”

“I overheard what they say about you after I asked and got nothing, besides a few harsh words about the guild…”

The khajiit wondered why the meat was still speaking.

“They talked about how in the past the arena had a pack of lions they would make competitors fight, how they would… starve them so that they’d be desperate to kill and eat whoever they fought.”

She didn’t know whether to be angry or to see this coming, or maybe lie about how she felt, make it seem like a sick game. She was caught off guard enough to be stricken curious.

The Nord spoke softly, as if someone was interested enough to eavesdrop “Do you know what they were calling you…?”

“A lion…?”

He nodded slowly, the fat of his chin squishing against his neck as he did.

“They didn’t even speak as if you were a person.”

The two of them sat there in silence, Do’Saav casually looking through the sack for crumbs.

“I put the cheese in there, hope you… hope you enjoyed it.”

“That was Do’Saav’s favorite part. Thank you northman.”

He nodded again, this time with a bit more urgency, before quickly leaving the bloodworks.

The cat held a crumb between two fingers, holding it up to the light as a weight began to lift itself off her mind.

“Heh. Lion of the Imperial Arena, quite a title for this one.” She dropped the meager speck onto her rough tongue before swallowing it.

“She likes it.”

#oblivion #hero of kvatch #khajiit #TES OC #elder scrolls oc #oblivion fanfiction #elder scrolls fanfiction #tes fanfiction #fic #do’saav

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agentsnickers · 4 years

Text

what’s that? a Near Miss Bonus Post??

CAN DO.

(nobody asked for this but you’re getting it anyway)

FIRST OF ALL. This is what the Jacobses’ apartment looks like:

very loosely. Spot and Race’s place is mirrored, and has a different living/dining furniture layout, but is mostly the same. They’re at the front of the building, and there are windows along the living/dining room wall.

Other facts and thoughts:

They don’t live in New York.

I do what I want.

I actually wrote certain scenes specifically with Chicago in mind (I was envisioning the Lincoln Park Zoo in chapter 9, for instance)

Most of it is pretty vague though

This is because I don’t know NY at all, but I do know Chicago.

The Jacobs parents live in Skokie, but everybody else is in the city proper. Les goes to school downtown.

I’ve mentioned it before but I used names as a big part of my establishment of character/relationships

Jack’s narration always calls the boys Race, Spot, Crutchie, and Davey

David’s always uses their given names, including for himself.

Spot got to join in on “Daves” as a nickname, which is just Race’s in my other fics. On the flip side, both Spot and Davey call Race “Tones” throughout the fic. Spot is a grump and doesn’t have a nickname.

Davey calls Katherine Kate/Katie, it’s a plot point lol. She used to call him Day, which she uses once in the fic.

The kids’ nicknames are woven into the relationships as well - Jack picks up Bee fairly quickly, but doesn’t start doing the sing-song double nickname or calling her Bean until toward the end, and only family members call Frankie “Cesco,” including Davey and Leah.

In Chapter 10, Davey refers to the reason I called the fic “Near Miss,” which is that the boys have had a lot of them before finally actually meeting

I almost forgot to explain why Elmer wasn’t at Leah’s birthday party.

the real reason is that I didn’t want to juggle 800 characters for the party scene

I have a note from when I was deciding whether or not Spot and Race should have a kid and the note is “sprace kiddo could be besties with davey’s kiddo” and then immediately after that is his name

Two more things: I want to give whoever wrote this in their comment a prize bc you just nailed exactly what I was doing with this fic:

And also:

again, just wow. Thanks everybody for your support, I don’t know how I did this but I know I couldn’t have done it without you.

#near miss au #newsies #javid #finn writes #finn also talks at length about writing #i'm sad to be done but I'm also happy bc you guys get to know what happened!

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jamesashtonisbae · 4 years

Text

She Sets the City on Fire Part 1

Word Count: 1453

Pairing: Logan x MC; Colt x MC

Book: Ride or Die

Rating: M

Warnings: Swearing - J. Cole lyrics

Summary: Aleigha is a good girl gone bad. She’s going to try to keep both parts of herself.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, Pixelberry studios does!

Author’s Note: This flew off my fingers and is one of my favorite ideas I’ve had. I love good girl gone bad Aleigha. Ingrid starts as the narrator briefly, but MC will be the narrator for almost all the rest.

Tagging: @desiree-0816 because she is my ROD encourager. Also @brightpinkpeppercorn and @princessstellaris because 100 years ago (June or July) when I wrote a Logan x MC fic they were so kind to comment and ask to be put on a tag list!

Songs: Middle Child, Miss America, Motiv8 by J. Cole

Ingrid

“Where are you going?” Ingrid asked as Aleigha as she flat-ironed her hair one last time. Ingrid took in her roommate’s zebra Yeezy Boost’s, prison orange pants with a cutout where she could see Aleigha’s black lace panties, black bandeau showing severe underboob, and thick orange choker.

“Out,” Aleigha said as she applied some nude lipstick.

“What on earth are you wearing? You look like a traffic cone,” Ingrid shoved a bite of takeout into her mouth.

“A hot traffic cone?” Aleigha stuck out her tongue as she touched up her mascara.

More like a hot mess, Ingrid thought. Out loud she said, “You’ll have no shortage of guys who want to fuck you, that’s for sure.”

“Good. That means they’ll underestimate me.”

“Aleigha, where are you going?” Ingrid insisted. Who was Aleigha talking about that would underestimate her? Ingrid never knew what Aleigha was talking about, but especially not when she was being so cryptic.

“Out.”

Ingrid blew out an exasperated breath at her roommate. All throughout the summer, Aleigha would take off for hours upon end, and she had no idea where she went. Whenever Ingrid would text her, she would get a ‘Message Not Delivered’ response. But, as long as Aleigha kept her side of the room clean and didn’t wake her up when she came home late, Ingrid didn’t really care where Aleigha was going and what she was doing with her time.

Maybe she should have cared a little more.

Aleigha

Aleigha left her dorm in what she knew was the most revealing outfit she could possibly have worn. It had taken her months to find the underground racing connections in Boston, but with a well-placed bet on the MLB All-Star game, she won one name.

With that one name, she had been able to prove she was a damn good driver. She outsmarted more experienced drivers, outpaced faster cars, and took down whole crews. Tonight was her first night attending an actual sideshow since LA. It was her first night competing as the solo driver ever.

She got into her firetruck red car, and batted, in order, the dice hanging from her rearview window, the sparkplug necklace next to it, and the cactus ornament on her dash. After one last glance, she put LA out of her mind.

Every day she thought about getting a new paint job. She knew it wouldn’t change anything about anyone finding her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She’d dyed her hair blonde, she’d gotten blue-colored contacts, she’d gotten a phoenix sleeve tattoo. But changing her car was something she wasn’t ready to do.

She flicked on her stereo, turning up J. Cole’s The Fall Off album, losing herself in the beat and the poetry. She loved driving in races, the precision, the strategy, the adrenaline all made her feel alive. Aleigha was a student, always studying the best outcomes and the best means to the desire end. And so, she was well-suited to racing. But, she loved letting go and just driving for fun. Like right now.

10 minutes later, she pulled up at the location. As she got out and stood out in front of her car, she knew that all her hard work had paid off. Not to get into Langston, instead, to get into this sideshow. She was finally home.

After a couple hours of interacting with people, talking about her car and her experience in Boston, trying to get anyone to take her on their crew, the races finally started. She had made it into the second to last one, the headliner was some out of towner everyone referred to as “The Troublemaker”. The irony of that being Logan’s nickname for her was not lost on her, but when she asked what he drove, she was told he drove some model she’d never heard of, not a Devore GT.

“Why do you care, Babe? It’s not him you’ll be going home with at the end of the night,” a burly man in a wifebeater said, leaning down toward her.

Internally, she cringed, but externally, she winked and said, “I know I’ll need some consoling if the Troublemaker beats me tonight. You’ll be on the list, big guy.”

He grinned, a big toothless grin, and finally walked away. She shuddered, then got into her car to drive it up to the start. As she fiddled with her radio, trying to get the volume on the right number, her playlist in the right order, and her ornaments in the right position, she heard other cars pull up next to her. Deciding to ignore them, she looked up at the girl holding the flag and wearing the same outfit she was, basically, and waited for the signal.

I’m counting my bullets

I’m loading my clips

I’m writing down names

I’m making a list

I’m checking it twice and I’m getting ‘em hit

The real ones been dyin’

The fake ones is lit

This game is off balance

I’m back on my shit

The Bentley is dirty

My sneakers is dirty

But that’s how I like it

She took in a deep breath, and then the flag went down. In an instant she had thrown her car into gear and jumped to a fast start. She maneuvered out in front of her competitors and was flying down the track.

Even if it was a bit flawed, her strategy was start ahead and stay ahead. She knew her car was not as fast as others, so sometimes she wouldn’t be able to win with that strategy, but if she fooled people into thinking she couldn’t maintain it and she did, she’d be fine. She banked on everyone underestimating her and thinking she was naïve. So she leaned into it a lot.

And the fact that she timed her playlist to the track she was driving required her to start ahead and stay ahead.

A glance in her rearview told her a car was keeping up right behind her. She knew that trying to block out this one car would probably mean that someone else would pass her. So she let him pull alongside her. She didn’t dare look, but she knew it had to be The Troublemaker.

They stayed that way around curves and corners and past the halfway mark and all the way to the final straightaway. She knew he was going to be very precise when he turned on his NOS, so she would have to be on her A game.

She held until she knew she heard her cue to release.

Fuck the man, Uncle Sam I won’t sell your crack

I won’t fight your wars, I won’t wear your hat

I’mma pass your classes, I’mma learn your craft

I’mma fuck your daughters, I’mma burn your flag

As soon as she heard it, she released the valve. She shot out in front of the person next to her and knew he had done it a second too late. She knew she had won. All she had to do was hold her car straight.

When she crossed the line a few moments ahead of the other driver, she sighed in relief. It was nice to have beaten someone who was pretty renowned at her first sideshow. She grinned and cranked her music, listening to her last few bars.

Too many times I swallowed my pride

I'm crackin' a smile, I'm dyin' inside

My demons are close, I'm tryin' to hide

I'm poppin' a pill, I'm feelin' alive

She was lost in the lyrics when she heard a knock on her window. Looking out, she saw the sideshow organizer looking in at her.

“You getting out,” he glanced down at his list and read her name, “Lennon St. James?”

“Yes. One second,” she turned to her glovebox and pulled out an orange hat, just to cover herself a little more and make herself even less recognizable.

She walked over to claim her prize money, getting second looks from all the people who had spoken to her earlier and told her they didn’t have room for her in their crew. A couple of men whistled at her still, but now looked like they had a healthy fear of her.

Aleigha took the cash the organizer held out to her, then turned to head back to her car. She was bumped by whoever the second-place finisher was on his way to get the cash on her way back. It knocked her off center and she fell to the ground, disgusted.

“Hey!” she shouted, glancing up into a familiar pair of chocolate brown eyes.

“You know, there are easier ways to get my attention.”

“Lo…” she breathed out.

“Hey Troublemaker.”

#pixelberry choices #choices ride or die #choices rod #logan x mc #ride or die fanfic #ride or die au #pixelberry rod #pb rod #ride or die a bad boy romance

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