#life story on a walk once when i was like 5 and i memorised the entire thing for some reason | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

life-needs-a-bit-of-headcanons · 3 years

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I have never asked for anything before and I don't know if this where I request. But uh can we have some fluffy yandereiplier x gender neutral reader? Like yandere gets jealous but instead of killing the person, Yandere just like, gets protective in a soft way? I don't know.

This sounds so cute :3 Thank's for the request!!

Fluffy Jealous Yandereiplier x Reader

* (y/n) = your name

*(y/f/n) = your friend's name

A/N: I'm not sure I did it right so if you have any constructive criticism or want it to be fluffier feel free to tell me and you can request something more!

• You two had been friends for a long time, you'd recently moved house and schools so you were new to the area and prepared to make new friends and Yanderipier loved every second of it, he loved you completely.

• Yandereiplier didn't love you at first sight. Looking back on it he thought he did but in all honesty? no • There was no "love-at-first-glance" or romantic music swelling or cherry blossom petals falling around you, none of that.

• Instead, it was a buildup, it was a quiet but undeniable build-up.

• He fell in love with your jokes he'd hear when he was walking by With the way he'd see you handle yourself in front of others while he was across the classroom, with the way you looked at him always so kindly when you spoke to him in class, with the way you were nice to him no matter what. And he began to get infatuated with the way he'd see your smile stretch across your face when you laughed and the corners of your eyes crinkled and he knew it was a real laugh. He fell with the way you were.

• And he fell hard.

• He even started to love how you walked, memorising how you carried yourself on different days feeling different things; Your handwriting, from the notes you'd passed to others during class and he mimicked your writing down to each letter, your 'style', and how he thinks you'd look so cute in one of his sweaters, honestly everything about you that you deemed unimportant, that you may think is nothing specifically tailored for you but since it's you doing it of course he'd love it.

• And this love for you, this infatuation of you, this want-no this need to be with you, to see you happy and make you happy planted seeds in his heart that blossomed in his chest, twining between his ribs and spreading to every fibre of his being. His chest ached every night when he was alone with his thoughts and his shrine of devotion from things he borrowed from you, little things you wouldn't miss, and made in your honour. He loved you. He loves you. He loves you, he loves you, he loves you.

• He watched you whenever he could, seeing your movements, noting who made you happy, what about them made you happy and how he could replicate that in himself. He was desperate for you to feel as good as you made him feel. And he was good at it too! Until you had sneaked up on him to properly introduce yourself, making him jump and drop his notebook adorned in love hearts and glitter.

• Your smile was so warm. Infectious. His face blew up in the deepest red blush you had ever seen, but excusing it as general anxiety you mercifully didn't comment on until later on in your friendship.

• Yandereiplier.EXE has stopped functioning. Systems overheating, blushing too furiously. Shutting down speech ability.

• The heavy aching in his chest from the flower of love you unknowingly nurtured and bloomed instantly lifted when you looked at him. He felt lighter, fuller, so so happy, feeling his rapid heartbeat pounding away. He felt as if you two were the only ones in the school, in the world, in the cosmic universe. He liked that thought.

• You had crouched down to pick up his fallen notebook but he had enough composure to beat you to it, and lo and behold you brushed hands. He wanted to never wash that hand again but knew you would probably like someone with better hygiene.

• You two were good friends from then on, joking about how that moment could have been in "Anime's top 10 most romantic scenes,"

Yandereiplier would always sputter at that.

• By now it had been a few good months, you two were inseparable. He'd always be giving you gifts, things you never knew how he'd know you liked. And sometimes things that he personally liked, like his prized hello-kitty hair clips and sticker packs that only you were allowed to touch beside himself, it was like a trust pact. You'd exchange secrets, stories and gifts, sometimes, to Yan's immense pleasure, even clothes.

• He knew everything about you, from your likes to your perfume, to your tells to your fantasies.

• He thought he knew everything about your life.

• He thought he knew everyone in it.

• But he was proved wrong. So very wrong.

• When you hadn't replied to his good morning text like you do every day he was instantly filled with worry. He knew your routine, that text message went off 5 minutes after your alarm, he always wanted to be on your mind in the morning so always texted you and if the alarm failed then the text tone would wake you.

• He was pacing around wondering if he should go to your house to check on you or if doing so would overstep any boundaries, trembling at the thought you'd finally had enough of him or were in danger.

He could barely be able to survive if you'd had enough of him but he knows he wouldn't be able to live if you were in danger and he wasn't there to protect you, the very thought sinking its claws into his mind and crawling up his skin leaving a trail of frigid goosebumps in its wake. • He grabbed his backpack and ran on out of the house way earlier than usual, sprinting to your house with the toast from breakfast in his mouth since he didn't have the time to spare to eat it at home on his way to yours.

• And when he got to your house, his stomach fell and the blooming flower in his heart burnt with a fire that licked at his skin, scathing his organs and clogging his lungs with thick smoke and reducing his once light and happy heart to cinders. And with the last embers he possessed, he managed to find the will to take the toast out of his mouth and say "Hey (y/n),"

• You turned around to see him, overjoyed as your two best friends will now get to meet each other! "Yan! Hi!" you said still hugging your friend, "This is (y/f/n), they surprise visited me today!"

• Yan gave a meek wave, too enraptured by the biggest smile he'd ever seen on your face, every vein in his body burning with guilt and anger he wasn't able to make you smile like that.

• (y/f/n) turned to see Yan and greeted them happily, still clinging on to you, "So you're Yan? Nice to meet you," they smiled.

• Yandereiplier would have said a curt hello, probably just ignored them completely were it not for the twitch of guilt he knows he'd feel to be seen as rude in front of you.

• "Hello (y/f/n). Nice to meet you too," he strained to smile

• And it was like that for the whole day because your friend not only had to walk you to school instead of Yan, but they furthered their surprise by spending the day at the school for some stupid transfer day and it was ruining everything. They weren't supposed to be able to touch you like that! Yan, as much as he hated the thought of you being uncomfortable, did try to look for any sign you were in discomfort but knew every conclusion was his bias.

• They had their arm around your shoulder. They made you laugh and smile all day but he loves your smile too much to be angry at that but his mind did wander to different ways to torture them should they be the cause of your smile vanishing. He watched, gripping his pen tightly in frustration as he watched from across the classroom how close you two were, how you easily talked fondly of secrets that had taken him months for you to be willing to share, you were joking, teasing each other, sitting closely, swapping stationary, whispering, the pen broke and splattered ink all over his hand and his work.

• What did they have that he didn't? What did they have he couldn't replicate in himself? What did he have to do to get you to love him as much as you obviously love them in whatever way you do.

• You were all sitting together at lunch, Yan quietly eating from his bento box while still, you and your friend talked. The rage still bubbling and blistering inside of him. But he kept quiet. He began shaking, anger coursing through his blood attacking all his thoughts. But he kept quiet. The heavy weight in his chest returning, aching for you once again despite being just a bit away, the crippiling aching. But he tried his best to keep quiet. The need to be the one by your side, to not only see you happy but make you happy, the need to be the one there making you happy because if it's not him then that means he- ... That means you don't need him. If someone else can make you happy just like you deserve to be then.. then it doesn't matter if it's him. If anyone can do it then he isn't needed specifically. You don't need him. Not like how he needs you.

• A shaky breath shook from his lungs, as he placed his chopsticks back in his lunch, the food now making him nauseous.

• His mind iitches to darker thoughts. Of hurting your friend. Of taking you far away so you rely on him; so you need him.

• ...

• No.

• No that isn't right he hates that.

• You'll never love him if he ever did anything like that.

• You deserve so much better than that.

• So, instead of waiting for you to love him as much as you do (y/f/n)

• He'll make you fall for him. No one can be him except himself and in that way, even if it's only in that way, he is irreplaceable. And you deserve someone as devoted as him.

• He marched back on out there pouting heavily as he watched you two sitting so close. He's on a mission.

• He takes all of his courage and he sits beside you, blushing like crazy to the point your friend thinks he's sick but he assures them he's fine as he offers you some of his bento, offering to feed you with his chopsticks so he can lean in close and try feel you blush too.

• Yan touches you more throughout the day, all where you're comfortable and have previously said you're okay being touched, trading books you brush fingers, he says there's a spider on your head so you can get close and "remove it and save you!", he wipes an eyelash from your cheek and smiles, saying for you blow it off his finger to make a wish, sending you notes holding compliments and doodles of hearts during class so you can once again brush fingers little things like that.

• Yan is also constantly offering you things much more than usual, he already got you little gifts, you'd help him overcome most of his anxiety about spending hours, days, even weeks worrying over picking the perfect present for you and instead giving you whatever he thinks you could possibly like, like shiny and pretty rocks, cute pencils, his favourite most prized hello kitty hair-pin, you didn't accept that last one knowing it would destroy him to part with it which hinted about what was going on.

• As much as Yan knew you, you also knew him.

• You knew his breath would get shaky when he wants something but is too scared to ask for it. You knew he was being more clingy, not that you minded in the least, except for he clearly wanted to do more.

• You knew he didn't want to burden you with his problems so he likely wouldn't say what it is, especially with someone he didn't know all too well around.

• (y/f/n) excused themself for a bit while Yan who was currently fawning over. the band you said you liked last week he memorised all their songs just so he could talk about them with you and hear the facts you knew about them that he already knew but loved the way your eyes lit up when you told him what you thought was something new.

• Thanking any gods, demons or supernatural entities for the time alone Yandereiplier engulfed you in a hug from behind, arms securely wrapped around your chest and face nuzzeling against your hair. He would have done this earlier but he didn't know if you were okay with this sort of affection in front of people so as painful as it was, he waited for so long to be alone with you.

• "Hey Yan, are you doing okay?" • "Of course! I'm with you, my darling!" • "Aww, your darling?" you teased him, his face once again exploding in a deep blush as he buried his face in the crook of your neck to hide his shame.

• He really meant his darling. No matter which way you interpreted 'darling' to be, he meant it as so much more.

• This was the last thing that tipped you off to what he was really after,

• When your friend returned, Yan was hyping himself up to be able to leave the warm hug that let you be in his arms, desperately waiting to not tear himself from you but even more desperate to not make you uncomfortable.

• "Heya y/n!" your friend called

• You held Yan's arms in place, leaning back against him, holding him in place. Yan now wasn't the only one with a mission.

• A long drawn out wheeze escaped his throat as you felt his face heat up against your shoulder through your clothes, slightly worried for him, you turned your head to him while (y/f/n) talked about something Yandereiplier couldn't bring himself to pay attention to you as he savoured the moment, memorising every feeling, every touch, every scent, everything he can as if it were his first time ever being near you, locking this memory in place so he can remember it for those cold lonely nights and for the rest of his life.

• The when saw Yan again, you saw his mouth fall open, bobbing open and closed like a fish as he struggled to articulate his thoughts while you stood before him in the sweater he left at yours a while ago. It smells of his cologne and he can smell it on you.

• His sweater. His.

• He was sure he had ascended at the very moment for the angel he saw wearing his sweater, in his clothes, his. His!!!! And he promises to worship you and treat you like the Angel you are, even if you don’t always see it in yourself. You are his Angel. And the flower bloomed in his chest all over again.

• You're his and he is yours. That's how it always will be.

• And he supposes, it's not all bad having (y/f/n) around. He'll do whatever it takes to keep you happy. He'll protect whatever makes you happy too.

• (y/f/n) also has so many good stories on you that Yan adores hearing and he gets to hear more about your life!

• Just don't forget him. Please. He loves you. So much. He'll always love you. No matter what.

#yandere #yanderiplier #soft hcs #yandere fluff #markiplier x reader #yandereiplier #markiplier egoes #mark fischbach #markiplier #I dont think I added anough fluff and I am very sorry for that #I'll try again sometime!#or if you request it again I'll #try again then :'3

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rivers-rambles21 · 3 years

Text

The one with the flipping

Part 10 of The one where Bucky has a cute neigbour series!

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader (f)

Summary | Reader and Bucky become friends after he saves her from a creep in their apartment building. Each chapter explores a different point in their friendship - very slow burn!

Warnings | 18+ only, Smut in later chapters (this is a slow burn), swearing, unprotected sex, oral sex, (later chapters)

We’re starting to see more from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier - there are some bits taken from the show to help shape the story.

We’ll also be seeing Y/N & Bucky texting whilst he’s away

It didn’t feel right with Bucky away. Although he’d only been gone for just over a day you felt the void he left. Over the past few months you’d become inseparable, seeing each other every day - whether it be hitting the gym together, cooking or just hanging out.

After coming home from yet another terrible day at work, you wanted nothing more than to open a bottle of wine and binge watch TV with Bucky who was undoubtedly now your best friend.

You were two glasses in when you heard a banging outside your apartment door.

Stepping out into the hallway you were greeted with two cops hammering away on Bucky’s door, nearly breaking it clean off. “Excuse me, can I help you?”

Both officers quickly spun on the spot and reached for their guns, stopping when they saw you were on your own. “Do you know the man who lives here?”

“Yes, do you?”

“Ma’am do you know where he is?”

“No I don’t” You lied, not trusting the two men infront of you.

One of their radios suddenly turned on “-he’s is now in custody in Baltimore”

Both cops nodded to one another before turning back to you. “Nevermind ma’am”

You watched as they left as quickly as they arrived before running back into your apartment, grabbing your phone and frantically calling Bucky. You tried a few more times before stuffing your wallet into your purse and heading for the door.

Fortunately you managed to catch a last minute flight to Baltimore after confirming with the police precinct they were holding him in . You hadn’t thought twice about going to him, your heart ached at the thought of him being confined to a cell, trapping him like an animal.

After paying the cab driver your fare, you sprinted into the precinct heading straight for the desk.

“Hi, you’re holding my friend Bucky - I mean James Barnes.” You panted, tired from the sprint to the officer behind the desk.

“Who the hell are you?”

Turning around, you came face to face with someone you instantly recognised. “Falcon” You grinned, a little bit star struck at meeting an actual Avenger.

Sure Bucky was one too but to you he wasn’t some superhero on the evening news who fought aliens and terrorists, he was just Bucky - your friend who stole your food and listened to your never ending rants.

Realising you hadn’t answered his question, you continued. “I’m Y/N, a friend of Bucky’s.” You extended your hand out to him which he shook.

“Sam” He replied, releasing your hand from his.

“The one who believes wizards are real” You joked, trying to remove the tension.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told the cyborg, a wizard is a sorcerer without a hat!”

“Uhuh” You laughed, rolling your eyes. “Have they said when they’ll let him out yet?”

Sam gestured you to the seating area and sat down. “Once his therapist arrives they’ll let him out.” You sat in comfortable silence for a few moments as the busy precinct bustled around you, cops and civilians passing through constantly.

Sam was the first to break the silence.

“Do you want to watch a funny video?”

The first time you watched the video of Bucky jumping out of the plane you were worried sick he’d hurt himself with his terrible landing. But by the fifth time watching it you’d found it hysterical as you laughed along with Sam as you watched the video over and over again from different angles to kill the time.

Reluctantly, you left the waiting area and headed to the restroom to relieve yourself. When you came back you were stumped to find Sam wasn’t where you’d left him.

“Excuse me, do you know where the man that was sat there went?” You asked the officer behind the desk.

“Therapy session” She replied, pointing towards the double doors before returning back to furiously typing on her computer.

“Thanks” You muttered before returning back to your seat, patiently waiting.

You didn’t have to wait for long before Sam came back with an annoyed look etched across his face. “He’ll be out in a minute” he said as he passed by you, heading for the exit.

With a sigh of relief you stood from your seat and adjusted your clothing as you watched the door with eager eyes.

The moment you saw him through the small windows you felt all the stress and anxiety of the day seep out of you as you saw he was relatively okay.

Bucky must have been distracted as he didn’t notice you standing in front of him until his eyes landed on you, his mouth hanging open in shock.

“Hey Buck”

“Doll what are you doing here?” He asked as he strode over to you, pulling you into him in a tight hug, your face pressed against his warm chest. Your arms wound around his back, pulling him in closer, his scent overwhelming your senses. He left a kiss upon your head before pulling back slightly to look down at you, searching for answers.

“Cops came to your apartment looking for you, and then I heard they’d got you and I just panicked. Are you okay?” Reaching up, you cupped his face in your hand, your thumb stroking his soft cheek.

His eyes fluttered closed for a moment before he opened them again, suddenly aware of where you were.

“C’mon lets get out of here.” Taking your hand in his, he led you out of the station and into the fresh evening air.

A shiver ran down your spine as the cold air hit your bare arms. In your rush to go after Bucky you’d foolishly foregone a jacket.

Instantly noticing your discomfort, Bucky dropped your hand and shrugged his jacket off and wrapped it around your shoulders, the leather swamping your form.

“Thanks” You said shyly, Bucky merely smiled back at you in response.

“Well I feel better” Sam’s voice broke you out of the moment as he walked up to you both. Bucky opened his mouth to respond before being interrupted by the sound of a siren and flashing lights.

“Gentlemen!” You recognised the voice from the news - the Captain America knock off. “Good to see you again.”

You felt Bucky's hand slide down your arm to grasp your hand once again as he walked towards the imposter, angling you behind him.

“Look, if we divide ourselves, we don’t stand a chance, you guys know that.”

“So what do you got?” Sam asked, rolling his eyes.

“Well the leaders name’s Karli Morgenthau. We’ve been targeting civilians who’ve been helping Karli move from place to place.”

“They geotagged a location then scrambled the signal. But our satellites have found their symbol popping up in various displaced communities all across Central and Eastern Europe.”

“We think she’s taking the medicine she just stole to one of these camps.”

“Well, there are hundreds of those all over the planet since The Blip so I guess you’ll have to look real hard.” If it wasn’t for present company you’d have rolled your eyes at Bucky’s sarcasm.

“Good thing I have 20/20 vision, huh?”

“Where is she now, Walker? Do you know?”

“No we don’t know Bucky. It’s only a matter of time before we find out”

“Things are really intense for you, aren’t they Walker” Your lips twitched as you fought off a smirk.

“Take it easy. Look Walker’s right. It is imperative that we find them and stop them. But you guys have rules of engagement and all kinds of authorisations you have to get. We’re free agents. We’re more flexible. So it wouldn’t make sense for us to work with you.”

You all turned to walk away, Bucky squeezing your hand as you did before fake Captain America stopped you in your tracks. “A word of advice then… stay the hell out of my way.” The two men turned and began to walk before Walker stopped again. “Nice to finally meet you Y/N”

You felt Bucky tense as he turned back to the two men, his eyes glaring at them. Gently, you squeezed his hand and tugged his arm, pulling him back towards Sam, not bothering to respond to dumb and dumber. Looking down at you, he sighed before complying.

With one last glance behind, you raised your hand as though to wave before smirking and flipping them both off instead - earning a chuckle from Sam.

A few blocks later, Sam hung back to give you and Bucky a moment alone.

“I can’t believe you came for me doll” Bucky couldn’t keep his hands off you, he kept switching from rubbing your arms to keep you warm and tucking pieces of hair behind your ears. After the day he’d had you was a welcome sight, reminding him that not everything in his life was terrible.

“Of course I did” You replied, confused as to why he would even doubt it. “I’d do anything for you.” Your confession came as a shock to both of you. You weren’t quite sure as to why you voiced your feelings, maybe it was the day of stress finally getting to you, or the realisation what Bucky and Sam was up to was dangerous and you feared losing him. But regardless of your reasoning, you didn’t regret saying it.

Bucky's breath hitched as his blue eyes searched yours, looking for the moment where you’d crack a smile and make a joke out of it. But that didn’t happen.

Gently, Bucky leant forward and pressed his lips against your forehead, lingering for a moment before pulling back. “I don’t want you getting caught up in this doll.” His right hand cradled the back of your head as his eyes sought yours, trying to memorise every part of your face, committing it to memory.

“I’ll stay out of it, I promise. I just couldn’t bear the thought of you caged up again-” Your voice had become erratic as you processed the days events. Bucky pulled you into another hug, silencing you as he did, his metal hand rubbing up and down your back.

“I’ll be fine y’know that right? But I have to stop these people Y/N, the serum can’t end up in the wrong hands. I need you to trust me, to trust I know what I’m doing.”

You merely nodded in response, too caught up in the feeling of being in his arms.

Bucky pulled away from the hug and stroked your cheek, wiping away the tears you hadn’t realised had fallen. “Cmon, where’s that smile?”

You couldn’t resist his boyish charm and smiled back at him, although weakly.

“Attagirl”

__________________

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@xpurpleglitter

#bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky fanfic #bucky x female reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x reader #bucky x you #tfatws

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talesofphantombandits · 3 years

Text

Zero to Six ~ I’ll Fight to be Apart of this Family - Edited Version. Part 5.

Characters: Four X Zero (OC)

Summary: Zero was the first person to be ‘saved’ by One, she was his first honorary Ghost. Her knowledge in tech meant she got the role of ‘Hacker’ she recruited new team members, looked for missions and locations and made sure every security measure was looked at. You know normal hacker spy stuff. But her tough up bringing meant that if needs be she could fight, she was maybe even better than some people on the team knew. But due to One’s protectiveness over her she had to stay hidden, she was more of an actual ghost than the rest of the team was. This didn’t mean she couldn’t have her fun though, over the months of being with the full team she had formed quite a passionate love/ hate relationship with the handsome Four. Who knows what sparks would fly if they were ever to meet. Warnings: Slight swearing, some suggestive flirting in later chapters.

Tagg list: (I know this is a edit of my original story but if anyone wants to be tagged let me know.) @raylan-c, @angelic-demonss

“Are we just not going to discuss the stranger in the room? why is the bartender here?” Four smirked at Zero. She in turn just raised her eyebrow at the blonde haired beauty, daring him to continue. “And why is Five giving her first aid?”

The room went silent, everyone was looking at Zero like she was the enemy, and in a way she was. This group of people were the closest thing she had to family and yet she was an impostor, an outsider who’s voice was the only thing the team had ever heard that’s the only thing they knew her by. She hoped One would forgive her for what she was about to do.

Zero coughed away any last nervous about coming clean. "You know for what you guys do, you are all so dumb sometimes."

Zero in return heard a hiss, her head snapped to the direction it came from. She was faced with One, his face and neck had gone completely red with how angry he was. A look that told Zero to shut her gob if she knew what was good for her.

"What?!" Was she really that surprised? It was One after all, did she really think he’d just let her spill the beans right here, right now when he’d kept her away for so many years.

"She, she just stumbled in here after the bar fight, and the doctor couldn't resist helping her." Zero looked from One appalled, to Five who was just as taken a back as Zero was. Her eyebrows furrowed as she gave a concerning look between the both of them.

Zero couldn't help but clock onto the suspicious glare that Two was giving her. She definitely knew the truth, she was an incredibly smart woman and Zero wouldn’t be shocked if she didn’t know the moment she walked into the room. She looked back to One who she could tell was getting more and more worried over the glances everyone in the room was giving Zero.

"Your name was Lilly right?" One asked marching up to Zero and grabbing her hand, but Zero shrugged it off "Come on I'll take you home."

Everyone was looking at One like he'd lost his mind, the team was supposed to be a secret so why would he offer to take a stranger home? The air was so thick in the kitchen that even a knife wouldn’t cut it. To make matters worse Four was starring Zero down with such ferocity she thought those ocean blue eyes she’d only seen in photo’s would melt her to the ground. She just raised her eyebrows at the man again, more threatening this time. Zero was brought back by the tug on her arm, she hissed back at One but jumped down off the counter anyway. As she slowly made her way pasted Five she quietly thanked her for being there to help her as best she could for the night.

“Who is she One?” Three pressed on, One looked like he would explode any moment, the man who never seemed to make such stupid mistakes had nearly revealed one of his biggest secrets. “No one, she’s no one. Just a normal bartender.” Zero stopped abruptly which also dragged One to a stop as his hand was still around her arm. When he whipped around she took the opportunity to strike the man straight across his dumb face.

One looked at her shocked, she herself was in shock at what she had just done. Had she actually just assaulted him? The man that had saved her life all those years ago, gave her food and shelter, she owed him everything and she had just straight up assaulted him. She looked at her hand that now slightly stung in shock, as did everyone else in the room. One’s shock only lasted a couple of seconds before his face turned stony cold and once again he latched onto Zero’s arm and headed towards the door.

After everything that just happened Zero couldn’t help but still be memorised as she approached Four, he was breath taking, a beautiful sight to look at. It was almost like looking into the blinding sun that eventually you had to tear your sight away from, in case of damage to the eyes.

She felt a wave of sadness overcome her suddenly, she had been so close to Four actually knowing who she was, she’d been close to the whole team knowing it was her. God even one normal conversation with him probably wouldn't have satisfied her enough but it would have been a start at least. Yet One just had to take even that away from her, while she was grateful for everything One had done for her, he was still in turn hurting her. What she really needed was a real family and she had found that in these guys but One was always in the way. If her only way was to fight to be apart of this family, then so be it.

"Hurry up" One snapped out angrily, there was definitely going to be consequences for hitting him and she knew it. But she was done being alone.

Zero looked back at Five who was still in shock and what looked like awe, she seemed to blink back to a little normality when she caught Zeros eye again. She gave Zero a ‘You’ll be okay’ look and a little nod, Zero was happy to know that she at least had Five to rant to afterwards when everything with One had settled.

As Zero got closer and closer to the little blonde shit leaning on the door frame she swore she could see him smirking at her, she had to also fight the urge to slap him into next week as well, he’d just seen it first hand so he should be scared. But as she crossed the thresh hold of the hotel kitchen his hand that was hanging by his side brushed against hers and it felt like lightning shooting up her arm, across her shoulder and up the side of her neck. She tried not to show the shiver it sent down her spine but the urge was taking over her. She met his eyes again and to her surprise she saw the same reaction but he quickly hid it. A sudden desired to leave struck her so she decided to just keep walking after One, who had steamed ahead of her.

Once outside she felt like the mist in her mind had cleared a little, but as soon as she saw One angrily waiting beside his car she suddenly felt all the anger rush back. "What the actual fuck One?!" She screamed marching her way to the passenger door.

He opened up his side of the car. "Shut up and get in the car." He said calmly which scared her more than if he had shouted it at her, he got in the drivers seat but slammed the door shut which made her jump in turn. Zero just huffed, not wanting to get in more trouble than she was already in.

"Where are you taking me?" She sighed defeated.

"Home." He said shortly.

"Why?, why did you do that?"

"Do what? A better question is why did you hit me?!" He didn't look at her but she could tell with every word he spoke he was getting more angry.

"Okay in my defence, you were being a dick! you make me think I was finally becoming apart of the team, which then you revealed was just a ‘mistake’ I think you’d also feel like punching someone if you thought you were finally getting the family you deserved just to have them ripped away from you in the same moment!" I tried so hard to not to scream my lungs out at him but the more I spoke the harder it got.

"You knew that they weren't suppose to meet you! Why are you suddenly surprised. I told you when we first made the team that this was how it was going to be and you agreed!" One spat back.

"I did agree! but I was still in a bad place at that time and I wasn’t looking for friends let alone a whole family, I didn’t know that I was actually going to find a sense of security in these group of strangers did I!” The tears started to stream down Zeros face, she could taste the saltiness of her tears with every drop. “I want to go back! I want to complete the rest of the mission, I’ve come this far there is no way I’m bailing out now, just to go sit in that apartment manning the coms by myself for the rest of eternity."

"No." He deadpanned, which made Zero even more angry. Had he not listened to anything she had just said to him? Did he not see just how much this mattered to her.

"One I’m not afraid to knock you out and drive there myself, I think I just proved that back in the kitchen." He just raised his eyebrows at her, like it was a challenge. "Come on One! why are you doing this to me? Why are you keeping me hidden? What do you gain from it."

"Because your job is best done in a flat somewhere, anywhere. Where no one can trace you."

"Bullshit!" Zero screamed which made One forcefully pulled the car over to the side of the road, the suddenness of the stop made her surge forward a little but luckily her seat belt prevented her from travelling any further forward.

"Please just tell me the truth." She said quietly, by this point she was drained physically and emotionally. "Why do you keep me away? and I don't want any of your bullshit. You and I both know I can do my work in any environment."

"I just want to keep you safe." One kept his focus straight ahead, staring out of the windscreen into the darkness.

"What do you mean? Since when have you ever cared about anyone's safety on this team?" I asked confused.

One had few rules, but one of the main rules that One lived by was if anyone gets stuck on a mission they are to be left behind. The team can never be exposed, so if one of them gets left behind because of capture or injury then it's just the price the team has to unfortunately pay.

"You were the first person I found." He slowly turned his head to look at Zero, this was the first piece of real emotion she’d ever seen from the man. She just looked at him confused and rightly so.

"Why does it matter who came first? I thought you weren't meant to care about any of us?"

"I’m not." He shrugged now trying to seem like he wasn’t intrested in the conversation anymore, hoping she’d drop the subject. "But you were the first member of the team, You were in a very bad situation when I found you. I do actually have human feelings you know and I guess, In a way I grew fond of you."

Zero didn’t know what to feel, was she actually touched by this? She’d known One for a few years now and this was the most emotion she’d ever seen the man show, although she did think of him as closed off and cold he’d still saved her so in some way she rested him. "So why keep me away?"

"I didn't want you to ever get hurt, It would hurt too much to leave you behind if you got stuck. But it's a price i'd have to pay."

"Then don't, what you’re saying is that deep down, somewhere in that cold heart of yours you do actually care for this team you’ve created. So change the rule. We all need to be there for each other, especially now." I said reaching out to him.

"You know I can't do that. The mission comes first." His voice grew cold again and she knew she’d never see his vulnerable side again, shrugging off her hand he turned away to stare back out into the darkness.

"Then at least take me back to the team. I can work at the base, I don't want to be alone anymore One." He looked at her dead in the eye. "I’m starting to go stark raving mad staying in those apartments by myself not seeing anyone for years on end takes a toll on a person."

"You're hurting me more by keeping me away from them."

They both sat there for a moment in silence as Zero watched the cogs in One’s head turn, she thought if she pushed enough maybe, just maybe she’d get her way for once.

"Fine.” Did he just agree? “But I’m warning you now, if you get left behind on a mission, or injured I’m not coming back for you." He started up the car again, eerily calm It always annoyed her to no end that she could never figure this man out.

"I've known that since day one." He didn’t say another word as he turned the car around and sped off.

When they reached the base she was shocked to see just how many old and broken down planes One had collected over the years. "You’re still collecting them I see"

"Even got one or two that actually work." He mused.

It may have seem like a childish thought given the circumstances but Zero honestly couldn’t wait to explore every single aircraft in the graveyard. One had made it up the long dirt road by the time Zero came back to her senses, the car stopped and she could see a big crate in front of her and standing outside the only door was a great big dog.

"Hey boy it's fine, she's with me." The dog then ran to One’s side and he started to pet him affectionately.

I just scoffed, raising my eyebrows at him. “What?”

“So the dog gets your affection but we don’t?” Zero grabbed her chest, gasping pretending he’d hurt her heart but One just rolled his eyes at her and told her to stop being so dramatic. He then guided her up to an aeroplane that had a cartoon of a ghost with three lightning bolts shooting out of its hand near the entrance.

Zero laughed to herself. "I like that!" Pointing to the symbol.

"It’s in honour of you and your spooky shit." She looked at him shocked. “Don’t say I never do anything for you.”

She let him walk ahead of her so she could get her bearings, what came next was going to be a big shock to her system.

"One, you're back! I’m going to need you to spill, who was the bartender? Come on you’re never nice to anyone! Let alone giving a stranger a ride home." As soon as Zero heard that annoyingly sexy British accent she stopped dead in her tracks.

"I'll let her tell you herself."

Then there was silence. It finally hit her that she was about to meet the only family she’d ever known.

She was mostly scared because all she wanted was for them to like her, which she knew they already did but now, seeing and being with them in the flesh she didn’t want to mess their connection up. Especially with Four. She couldn’t deny that her and Fours connection even just through coms was a strong one, she just didn’t know what that connection meant yet but she was definitely excited to find out, she just hoped her feelings for him aren’t one sided.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, then rounded the corner.

"Hey guys." She smiled at all their awestruck faces, she gave a little awkward waving but internally scolded herself afterwards.

Everyone but Two looked at her in shock, she just had to laugh, that woman was too smart for her own good. "Well darling, the anticipation is killing us." Fours dark eyes were trained on Zero as he leaned on the table, she swore in that moment her legs turned to jelly.

"Well if you'd actually let me speak you'd find out sooner, wouldn’t you monkey boy." Her words seemed to snap something in him as he shot straight.

Everyone else just laughed as the realisation of who they were meeting struck them. She just smirked at them all, finally she could be in on jokes, eat with them and just get to be around the people she cares about most in this cruel world.

"Zero?!" Three said enthusiastically, bounding towards her and scooping her up into a bear hug.

She felt like all the air was being squeezed out of her but she didn’t mind one bit. "Glad to see there are actually some smart people around here.” She chocked out.

“Three can you please release Zero, you’re literally suffocating our only hacker.” One said annoyed while he was fiddling with some magnets.

Three let her down and she just smiled, patting him on the shoulder to let him know she was okay. "Sorry! Sorry, I’m just so excited to finally meet you mami!" He proceeded to kiss both of her cheeks.

She just laughed at how adorable he acted in person, Three had always been one of her favourite ghosts. He wasn’t the smartest and most of the time made the worst decisions but he was sweet and funny and wouldn’t waste a single second if you were in trouble, he’d be by your side.

"Well dam." Four was leaning with his back against the table, arms crossed and staring Zero down. Her eyes travelled to his and she couldn’t bring herself to look away.

Someone in the room, Zero couldn’t tell who coughed awkwardly which snapped both Zero and Four out of their intense staring competition.

“So, the new mission?”

#6 underground #6 underground four #6 underground fanfiction #6 underground billy #6 underground x reader #billy #billy x oc #billy x reader #billy x scout #four #four fanfiction #four x reader #four x zero #four x oc #zero to six edited version

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misdre · 3 years

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misi's beyblade AUs masterpost

i like making AUs, i have many of them, here's a post of them from oldest to newest. (at least approximately) (the ones that got no art of them have photos from unsplash. i just enjoy setting the mood)

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Magical boy AU takao is an ordinary middle schooler who one day gets dragoon the magical spinning top from a cute little azure dragon, seiryuu, and transforms into a magical boy to protect the world from evil for some cosmic reasons that i haven't come up with yet. the rest of the characters have similar powers from their holy beasts and takao needs to gather up his team to fight the evil and. you get the drill is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 is there a fic of it? no note: i originally created this just because i like designing the outfits so i haven't planned the story much (this used to be my main focus but then 4kingdoms happened GJSDHGHSDG) i'd want to though, i'll get back to it eventually...at some point...... one of the charm points of this AU is that the holy beasts are these digimon-like animals that hang out with the characters and each have their own personalities.

Fairy tale monster AU takao and gramps live in a cabin in the middle of a forest full of monsters and takao decides one day to venture out to look for a silver-haired boy he once saw, he meets up with the other BBA characters one by one in the grim woods. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: my oldest halloween fic. the characters are all these different cute spooky creatures and it's intended to sound like a fairy tale.

One day, he determined that the time was ripe: Takao decided to leave for an adventure. For his grandfather was old, it was not at all unusual for him to lay down to bed before sundown. Once the hut had fallen in drowsy silence, Takao packed his one and only bag with what little he felt he needed, took his cap and jacket, and stepped over the doorsill. He had left the safe warmth of the hut behind.

Royal fantasyverse AU (the tale of four kingdoms) takes place in a fantasy universe with four kingdoms (east, west, south & north) created by the four holy beasts, in an era where each kingdom happens to be ruled by an exceptionally young king due to their respective circumstances. when the four meet for the first time, a snowball of events is set in motion that's going to affect all four kingdoms. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 is there a fic of it? yes 1 / 2 note: like a period drama with magic and gay and tons of worldbuilding. probably has way too many mysteries for the boys to solve because i have no self control when it comes to creating twists. this is The one AU that i have crammed every usable canon character into, i need enough people to inhabit four fucking countries

After creating the four lands, the holy beasts created people to inhabit them. Because the beasts were celestial beings and couldn't but guard people and the world they lived in from far above, they needed human vessels to lead the four nations. Thus they created four kings who would rule over other people using the four beast’s powers. The four kings were neither human nor gods, but something between – they were messengers, or icons, of the four holy beasts.

Omegaverse AU a canon divergence AU (i guess??) where genders are replaced by A/B/O and everyone being either canine or feline. max is a late bloomer canine and finds out he's the only alpha of the BBA boys thanks to a certain feline omega. is there art of it? not really but i do have dog boy max and cat boy rei art (which are a bit too cute for this kinkfest. i mean they're obviously aged up for the real thing.) 1 / 2 is there a fic of it? it's been in the works for like, five years but i always shy away from finishing it note: it's omegaverse, it's exactly what you'd expect. the smut is so filthy i've been too embarrassed to even post it. hiromi is also an alpha by the way

Coffee shop AU highschooler rei goes on a venture to hit on a local Hot University Teacher and coffee shop owner judy in a cafe owned by her, ends up receiving a bunch of flirty cups of latte from barista max working there. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: i mean, rei being into blonde MILFs is pretty much canon

Now that Rei looked at the boy more carefully, he realised his hair was just as fair and eyes just as blue as he knew Judy Mizuhara's to be. Maybe they were related? It wasn't that strange if Judy had hired a relative's kid to help out at the shop, right? He certainly looked American, but he had spoken Japanese. And then, all of a sudden, the boy turned to look back to him. Startled, Rei blinked his own golden brown eyes and shifted them back to his now empty cup. God, it was rude to stare at someone, wasn't it? He'd been too deep in thought to even notice doing it. Not that the boy had looked judgmental – he only seemed to wear a smile.

Soulmate AU max keeps having dreams with peculiar scenarios about a boy named rei. one day he borrows a book on soulmates from hiromi and finds a chapter talking about meeting your soulmate in the realm of dreams. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: i don't even care for soulmate AUs, this was my own dare to myself to find a single soulmate trope that interested in me enough to write a thing of it.

Max was walking through a crowded airport, carrying a heavy backpack with him. He had never been to this airport in his life, but somehow he knew exactly where he was, and where he was supposed to go. And he was in a hurry, and Rei had at some point emerged from the crowd, as usual, keeping up with him without bumping into any of the people that should have blocked his way. “I'm sorry, this is probably my fault,” Rei said. “I haven't even travelled in ages anymore, but these dreams just keep coming back to haunt me.”

Chess player AU rei is a young chinese chess champion participating in the world junior championships, ends up falling for the american chess prodigy max somehow in the process and is determined to get to play against him again. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: so this is one of the weirder ones i've done. it was inspired simply by me having a very vivid mental image of a scene of them playing dramatic chess together. this is probably my most underrated AU even by myself, i think the writing is pretty solid for such a short story of a topic i know practically nothing about

As a child, Rei had initially been taught to play xiàngqí, a Chinese game much more popular back in his home country; but chess with its refined, uniquely shaped pieces was love at first sight for the young Rei. He was a fast thinker and had amazing concentration skills once he set his mind on something, and he also had an outstanding memory, making it easy to memorise game patterns he once saw and then use them for his advantage. This all granted him natural talent in chess. But despite his skill, he had a bad habit of easily losing his temper and becoming indecisive once his focus wavered. Also, he was just a tad bit too sentimental. These traits often became his worst enemy in important matches, much worse than the actual opposing player. Keep your cool. Focus. Play well.

Flower shop + fake dating AU yuriy doesn't really know anything about flowers but is working part-time in a flower shop for the easy cash. he keeps getting a pair of weird customers who ask about flower language for hypothetical situations. is there art of it? not by myself and i don’t have a link to the fanart made of it unfortunately is there a fic of it? yes note: did i write this for valentine's day? i feel like i maybe did. this is my only AU (and fic in general) so far that's about a non-BBA character as the main lmao

“So, I need some advice for a particular situation,” the customer then began, idly tapping the counter with his hand. “I mean, not a real situation, of course – hypothetically speaking, if someone was just pretending to be going out with another person, but they weren't really going but it just needed to seem that way to everyone else, what kinda flowers would get the message through?” Possibly an idiot, Yuriy concluded his analysis. “So you need suitable flowers for a date,” he stated, shooting his eyes at his notes about common flower-usage.

Classical music AU (the heart that i love) max is a piano prodigy attending a classical music college that holds annual music competitions for the students. he's got some haters for being the son of a world-known pianist who's one of the teachers, but he also ends up having a budding romance with rei the mysterious chinese violinist. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 is there a fic of it? yes note: the origin of this was my "max and mao are besties" college AU. then it got mixed in with my thirst for classical instruments and max being bullied.

Max isn’t exactly a synesthet, but he has always been able to see music as pictures – as entire sceneries, as great adventures. This tendency of his emerges especially strong whenever he’s learning to play a new piece on the piano; as he moves along the melody, the scenery is also being built around him like a jigsaw puzzle, creating a complete picture piece by piece; and once he has mastered the song, he’s able to freely traverse and immerse himself in the world inside that puzzle. Some pieces have a more relaxed or soothing scenery than others, some are exciting and thrilling – even deliciously sinister in the way that a good horror film can be. Setting himself down in front of a piano is always an invitation to a world of his choice.

Bakeneko AU after moving to a small rural town in japan, max hits his head and starts seeing things, such as a weird white cat following him around. after a while, he's convinced that he's being haunted. is there art of it? yes is there a fic of it? yes note: another halloween AU, a more surreal one where max is human and rei is. well. not

Max kept walking, his eyes still on the narrow road. He hadn't noticed while deep in thought, but it really was quiet that evening. The sun had nearly set by now, leaving the sky striped with the dusk of the approaching nightfall. There was no wind to rustle the treetops, no birds chirping, nothing. Only the sound of Max's own footsteps on the pavement, and the matching sound that followed. Followed. What if someone actually was following him? A sudden, violent chill struck down Max's spine, causing his hair to stand on end. He stopped. After a short delay, the steps also stopped.

Genderbend AU a canon divergence AU where everyone's a different gender from canon (duh). starts off as an alternate version of the g-revolution world championships where the girls meet for the first time and befriend each other. rei is a professional model in addition to being a blader in the baihus, and max from the PPB is delighted to be able to battle her. she has no idea that rei has fallen for her at first sight, though. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 is there a fic of it? it's... in the works. note: i created this because i wanted to design attractive girls, what about it. absolutely partial to maxine's huge badonkadonks.

It wasn’t like Rei hadn’t already taken notice of her before, given that they were participating in the same world championship tournament, but the real turning point was the first time they stood on the opposing sides of a bey stadium. It was the day when the match-up roster signalled the match between the Chinese team and the American team, the Baihus versus the PPB All Starz; and despite both teams consisting of five players, it came down to, to Rei’s immense joy, the tag team of Rai and herself against the two most interesting US players, Rikki Anderson and Mizuhara Maxine.

Vampire & merboy AU rei is a starved vampire just about to end his own life when he meets merboy max at a forest lake. is there art of it? of max yes is there a fic of it? yes note: yet another halloween monster AU, this time they are both monsters though. this one’s a pretty grim one i have to admit

Rei succumbed into deep thought, considering his few options, when something grabbed his unsuspecting hand. Something yanked him forward in one mad splash and forced not only the rest of his arm but also his shoulders and head underwater. Half a second later Rei, so badly startled that he’d come close to slipping into insanity, found himself staring at a pair of bright blue eyes only inches away from his own face. His other hand and lower body still firmly on land, Rei pulled himself back with strength that he didn’t even know his weak body still contained. As he did, he also pulled up whatever was clutching his hand, which turned out to be another hand – a white hand with elongated, dirty fingers, so sharp at the tips that they looked like daggers.

Mafia AU max is the boss of the BBA mafia family, rei is a hitman and max's right hand man, the rest have various roles in the organisation. salima, mariam and some other girls (at least) are reporters doing investigative journalism on organised crime who get interested in covering the story of a group of russian elite detectives doing a thorough investigation of the BBA. is there art of it? of rei and max yes 1 / 2 / 3 is there a fic of it? it's in the works but it's just a gratuitous reimax smut note: this is a story i wish existed but this kind of police investigation action thing is so not my genre of expertise. that's why i'm just doing a PWP of my boys and the rest exists on conceptual level

“Did you know,” Salima said, perfectly peppy about it, “that there are secret underground auctions for stolen artwork that’s sold in the black market? Not just online auctions in the dark web but actual, physical events held somewhere in the city! Isn’t that so intriguing? Can you imagine how an event like that would look like, Max?” Max can – in fact, he doesn’t need to imagine. But he’d rather not think about it; the memories bring the familiar taste of bile in his mouth and make his gut curdle with a mixture of disgust and very particular guilt. The mere thought of it makes him set his coffee aside and bring a hand between his tightly shut eyes.

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the next thing i come up with? who knows............

#bey things #i am only moderately insane #so i'm a person who never reads her own writing #but for this post i did. i read my old oneshots #and i wasn't disgusted by them!! actually i was rather impressed with them!!!#i didn't know such a feeling existed. to read your old writing #and be like how nice! writing of my OTP just the way i want it!#genuinely i was charmed by the soulmate AU because i'd forgotten most of it #bc i was so embarrassed about it for some reason? but it was a very nice story

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flowercrown-bard · 3 years

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If you take prompts. Jaskier dis reincarnation every time he dies. He borns in his own body, but he doesn't remember about his other lives. He only remembers a horse, a daughter, amber eyes and some parts of a song he wrote about his love.

After Jaskier died in his arms Geralt became a wither again. Who doesn't belive he deserve to be happy.

After a long time Geralt and Jaskier's paths cross again. Jaskier remembers the every bit of the song.

Dear nonny, can I just say how much I love this prompt? <3 I know I've taken far too long to write anything for it, but I got so excited that I had to write a multi-chapter fic for this (I hope that's ok. I know it's not really normal to write more than a one shot for prompts. If you're comfortable telling me your URL I could tag you on the next update or you could subscribe to the fic on AO3? Sorry for making this complicated.) Also, I changed it a bit, to make it so Jaskier will get his memories back, when their eyes meet again.

And I just need to tell you about my favourite fic of all time: if I'm good will you come back by @pansexualbuchanan. Based on your prompt I think you'd really like that story.

A new us will begin (1/ 11)

word count: 1k

tw: major character death (old age)

AO3 part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 / part 6

Dol Blathanna was beautiful in spring. Jaskier had written countless of poems about the blossoms and the beginning of a new life as an adventurer that this place had given him.

Geralt had all of them memorised. Every verse, every line, every word. He hadn’t wanted to, it was just something that had happened as the years had turned into decades and Jaskier’s hands had gotten too shaky to write his verses on his own anymore. He had started dictating them to Geralt who had done his best to do Jaskier’s words justice with his spidery handwriting.

He had always known that this was where Jaskier would want to go when the time came. In the very same place where his new life as the travel companion, friend and lover of the White Wolf had begun, he would draw his last breath.

Geralt had known – and yet nothing could have prepared him for the terror that clawed at his chest as he now sat amidst the flowers with his husband.

He hoped Jaskier could at least still see the colours of the flowers. He hoped he could still notice the dandelions around them and make a wish, despite not having enough breath left to make the seeds fly off like birds. He hoped he could still see Geralt and recognise his touch as comforting. But it was impossible to discern whether the crinkles around Jaskier’s eyes were laugh lines or wrinkles painted onto his skin by time.

Gently, Geralt caressed those wrinkles. He had come to love them and even though he wanted to hate them with his entire being, he couldn’t. Even this sign that Jaskier’s time was up, was still a part of Jaskier and there would never be any part of him that Geralt would be unable to love.

Geralt had wanted to protect him. From the very beginning, from the moment Jaskier had followed him to the elves, Geralt had known that he wouldn’t always be able to, but he had never stopped trying. For a lifetime, he had protected Jaskier from people whose ire Jaskier had provoked. From monsters and enemy soldiers. He had sat by his side in sickness and caressed his brow while a healer he had called made sure Jaskier would not embrace death just yet.

But this, time, was the one enemy Geralt couldn’t protect him from. Death had come to claim Jaskier at last and there was nothing for Geralt to plunge his sword into to keep it away from Jaskier.

There was nothing. No saving Jaskier. There was only one thing he could do for him.

The very same thing that Jaskier had done so many times to protect Geralt. When people had hurled stones and insults at Geralt, Jaskier had composed a song to sway their opinion. When coin had been sparse and Geralt could afford neither food nor shelter, Jaskier had sung for their coin. And when Geralt had lain awake at night, haunted by images of pain, fear and hatred, Jaskier had softly sung a lullaby to him.

It had been Jaskier’s gift to him and now it was time that Geralt gave it back.

Years ago, when Jaskier’s mind had still been clear enough to form such thoughts, he had described his life as an old man as being half-asleep, not knowing how much of his being was awake, what parts were walking through a dream and what parts were imprisoned in a nightmare.

Back then, Geralt hadn’t understood. It hadn’t taken long for him to learn exactly what Jaskier had meant. The life they had led had always seemed like a dream to Geralt, something too good to be true, something he would surely wake up from one day to find it gone.

Seeing it disappear right in front of him wasn’t like waking up. It was like a dream slowly turning into a nightmare until there was nothing left but the ache in his chest when Jaskier saw right through him and the fear of losing him to a different kind of sleep, one he wouldn’t wake up from.

Geralt hoped it would be a peaceful sleep once Jaskier drifted off, but now his face still twisted into a grimace at each movement that made him ache and his mind still wasn’t kind to him.

So Geralt did all he could to soothe Jaskier during this nightmare.

His lullaby sounded wrong on Geralt’s lips. Even if he had known how to sing, his voice cracked and his throat was tight with tears Geralt didn’t know how to shed.

His fingers caressed Jaskier’s paper-thin skin and wove through his grey hair. All the while, Jaskier’s eyes didn’t leave Geralt and his heart beat in rhythm with the song.

The hint of a smile danced across Jaskier’s lips, even as his eyes fell shut.

The beat of the song stopped and Geralt’s voice broke off mid-song.

“Jaskier?”

There was no answer. There never would be an answer again. No more banter, no more laughter, no more songs would ever leave Jaskier’s lips.

“Jaskier, look at me!”

He didn’t. His eyes didn’t open, never would again. No more would they look upon flowers, on sunrises, on Geralt.

“Jaskier!” Geralt’s cry was broken. As was he. As was the life Jaskier had made him believe he could have.

“No, no, no, don’t go! I can’t lose you. Don’t make me lose you!” Geralt cradled Jaskier’s body close, pressing his face into the crook of his neck, pressing his chest against Jaskier’s. Jaskier’s breath should have ghosted over Geralt’s skin, but there was nothing. It was too late. He was gone. “No, Jaskier, look at me. Please, let me see your eyes, just one last time. Come back to me, please.”

The last word was whispered, carried off with the dandelion seeds dancing off in the wind.

It was only a figment of Geralt’s cruel mind, but for a brief, beautiful moment, he almost thought he heard a voice in the wind. Birds singing and bees humming in tune to the unfinished lullaby.

Geralt’s grip on Jaskier tightened and his shoulders shook. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.

Geralt was a witcher. He should have been able to save Jaskier. He should have done something to stop this.

Jaskier had told him that he could have happiness, that his story didn’t have to end in blood and agony.

But Geralt was a witcher and Jaskier had always been a dreamer. Witchers didn’t get to keep their happiness and dreamers had to wake up at some point.

Jaskier would never wake up again.

Geralt moved without feeling a thing as he dug the grave. Witchers didn’t feel. They hurt and they killed and they shouldn’t let themselves dream for what they couldn’t have.

As he buried Jaskier, so did he put the dreams Jaskier had brought to life in the ground.

He left Dol Blathanna without a song accompanying him. He left it alone, with a new scar that he knew would never heal and not feeling a single thing.

Jaskier had left Geralt smiling, as a dreamer.

Geralt left Jaskier as a witcher.

#the chapters will get longer #as they always do XD #mcd #geraskier #fic #witcher fic #geralt #old jaskier #reincarnation au #angst #i swear i haven't abandoned my other wips #i just want to get to this prompt first and then write my exams and then i can focus on my wips again #so sorry #my writing #fanfic

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turkisherlockian · 3 years

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A Touch From The Past - The Rainbow 🌈 - Request [Benedict Cumberbatch AU - Teacher x Soulmate Student Reader] (Part Two)

The professor could not wait for the drama class to start. To see her again. To remember where he saw her. His mind was forcing him to remember, he knew when he had someting on his mind he would have trouble focusing on one another. He had to know.

There were some students who took the class because they loved theatre, but it was compulsory for the rest. They seperated into opposite-sex couples as they were asked, Professor Cumberbatch was going to decide which one of them could play Richard Plantagenet and Anne Neville from Shakespeare's "Richard III".

He was on the stage with the playscript in his hands. The students were seated with their partners and his eyes found Y/N's quickly, but his stare only lasted for 3 seconds as he warned himself. He was there to teach.

Being a professional, he managed to focus on educating without any distraction, however he couldn't wait to go home because his head started to ache.

"As you all must know, we're going to perform Anne Neville's story by Shakespeare's Richard III. I believe all of you read the book and not only the script before memorising your lines," he said sarcastically and made his students smile, as always. "But I would like to remind you about her story before we get started."

He took a deep breath, "She is the widow of Prince Edward of Lancaster, whom Richard helped kill."

One of the students raised her hand and asked, "How could she love him after all he's done?"

The professor smiled, "She is the only person to follow her father-in-law Henry VI’s coffin to burial and to mourn him. Suddenly courted by Richard at the height of her grief, she is taken off her guard but finds herself unable to resist his performance as a lover. Despite her quite genuine hatred and mourning, she ends up completely seduced by him. Though this ends up making her Queen, it does not bring her happiness, which she blames on her having cursed Richard’s future wife before taking on that role. Richard’s bad dreams keep her awake at night, and she does not sleep well. She is soon perfectly aware that Richard does not care for her, and grows certain that he will kill her. She grows ill and dies, very likely poisoned by him. Anne is a weak and passive woman, though she attempts to be a good aunt to the various children of her husband’s brothers. Her ghost comes to haunt Richard the night before the battle of Bosworth and to bless Richard’s opponent Richmond."

Y/N felt blessed, he was so enthusiastic! She fell for him once again.

A boy raised his hand now, "But that's not what actually happened, right? I've read that he loved her and she died due to the plague of the time. Can we say that Shakespeare didn't really like the royalties at all?"

"This is where poetry and the benefits of technology takes place. We're lucky to be able to judge his work and compare it to the history." He was happy that some of the students were actually interested in this class.

"Kings are the slaves of history," he quoted Tolstoy with a smile and continued, "Let's get started."

He watched them all and helped them with their lines, but none of them was good enough. He knew they needed to practise but they didn't have much time. While watching them, his mind was also pondering if it would be Y/N's turn before the class ended. He shaked his head slightly and didn't notice that he was tapping his foot.

And it was her turn, now. There were 5 minutes left and he stood up when she came on the stage with her partner.

Y/N was actually good, but his partner was terrible. He just wasn't her match, and it seemed like they didn't even know each other much.

He clapped his hands to draw attention to himself, "You are talking as if someone's forcing you to say it. You're a wicked man, with your own reasons; and you try to seduce her. And you don't need a stage-kiss if you both are okay with it..?" It sounded like a question and Y/N would never say no to anything he suggests. They both nodded and he stepped aside to let them play again.

It was obvious that Y/N studied the character very well and he could see tears forming in her eyes. The young man did try to do better, but it just wasn't his thing. Professor Cumberbatch had this desire to show his students how to do it and he turned to them. "I need you all to watch, now. I'm afraid I'll ask those who want to take part to perform again tomorrow. We're running out of time and we need to be quick. Now..." He turned to Y/N, and blinked a few times when he realized that he had to kiss her. It could cause him to get distracted again, but he had to do it.

He knelt in front of her after taking the knife from the young man, and Y/N could swear that the look in his eyes changed. He raised one of his shoulders because Richard III was misshapen, his eyes were darker now and he tilted his head to the side. "Take up the knife, or take up me."

Y/N who played Lady Anne didn't say anything, and managed to tear up. He was going to kiss her. He was going to kiss her. He was going to kiss her. That was the only thing on her mind now.

He stood up slowly and kissed her. It only lasted for 5 seconds but it felt like forever to them. They didn't see blurry images or memories now, they saw each other. Benedict saw her smiling, crying, laughing, glancing at him, looking at her ring, in a wedding dress, in a rush, in his bed, naked...

Y/N saw him holding her hand at the beach, driving with his sunglasses on, coming home with grocery bags in his hands, holding her, dancing with her, touching her, hugging her, kissing her..

A rush,

A glance,

A touch,

A dance...

It was like thunderstorms at first, but they both knew that after a thunderstorm, comes a rainbow.

She was supposed to pull back and leave him there, but before she could - not that she could at that moment - the bell ringed and the professor forced himself to stop kissing her and she walked away from him.

He kept stuttering while saying his final words to the students who were jealous and muttering to each other about how real that kiss looked. Thankfully, they left quickly.

They were alone on the stage, now. None of them spoke, and Y/N just knew it was her mind toying with her. She went too far, she shouldn't have loved him that much. As tears formed in her eyes for real now, she tried not to look at him and leave the stage but his velvet voice stopped her. "You were pretty good, actually."

She couldn't dare to look at him as she thanked him quietly, and attempted to leave but he spoke once again. "You had them too, didn't you? Did you feel it?" She looked up at him. He couldn't be talking about what she saw, could he?

He walked towards her and turned her to himself by holding her arms gently, "The electricity when our hands touched, a flood of memories that were brought back to our minds-- please tell me you had them too."

He sounded like he was begging her, because otherwise, he would lose her mind. What was it, did he fall in love with her? He knew he could have considering that she was the only thing in his mind all day, which was very unprofessional...

"I did," she spoke excitedly, "I saw you but I thought it was because I lo--"

He kept quiet, waiting for her to finish her sentence but she couldn't. Tears were rolling down her reddened cheeks. "We were married." He spoke quietly and held her face in his hands. "I never thought I would believe in things like that, but I think we are soulmates." He looked into her eyes and felt an overwhelmingly nice feeling in his chest. She seemed like a fairy to him and he suddenly needed to kiss her again. So badly.

"We were together in another life..." Y/N spoke in amazement, "I can say it then."

The professor wiped her tears off her red, hot cheeks, she closed her eyes and finally said it.

"I love you."

He kissed her passionately and all he saw was darkness now. He knew she was the one. They were under each other's spell now... She loved him, and he loved her back. Once again, and forever.

They were smiling when they pulled back, and they spent the rest of the day with getting to know each other.

---

Info source: https://www.playshakespeare.com/richard-iii/characters/lady-anne

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! ❤️ @inner-thoughtsofnelia

#benedict cumberbatch #benedict cumberbatch fanfiction #benedict cumberbatch x reader #benedict cucumber #sherlock #marvel #dr strange #fanfiction #bye

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readerinsertfanfiction · 3 years

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Dear Penpal,

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia

Character: Shigaraki Tomura / Tenko Shimura

Prompt: Childhood friends to enemies

A/N: Gearing up! Also, huh what? I’m a multi-fandom blog?! Why, yes indeed! I still am.

Masterlist

“Helloooooo?” Waving a can of coffee in front of your face you are startled out of your reverie by your colleague, straightening yourself in your seat as you realise that you once more have dozed off at work, the happenings and the revelation of the past weekend still clear in your mind’s eye as you try to make sense of it.

“Shigaraki is on the move again,” your colleague says as they nod towards the television running in the breakroom, “was it in your calculations?” comes the next question and you cringe as the familiar ally comes in view, a journalist explaining how the remains of a small-time thief had been found here just this morning.

“No,” you admit honestly, as you forcefully turn yourself around, not needing a refresher course on what Shigaraki’s quirk was exactly. “We all expected him to lie low for a bit after that announcement and then come back big,” you nervously continue as you twirl your thumbs, realising that last night’s events were perhaps outside of Shigaraki’s plans as well.

“It is going to bog the calculations,” you whisper, more to yourself and your colleague just laughs, an uncomfortable chuckle escaping them as the coffee can is put in front of you.

“Relax, okay? You look terrible. Like you saw a ghost or something.”

You scoff at the irony of their words, clearly clueless on your involvement within the case, or what had even happened afterwards.

Tenko, he let me go. Just like that. Why?

Clicking your ballpointer nervously you wonder what to write down more. What would help ease your mind? Feeling a shadow fall hovering over you quickly cover the note you were writing with your hand as you look up at Endeavour.

“Ah, sir, uuh?”

Losing the ability to speak you pale up at the imposing figure of the number two hero who is hovering over you like a villain, his expression stern and displeased as he takes a seat in front of you, his arm resting on the shrinking table of the teacher’s office.

“You saw the news. Shigaraki is on the move which was out of our calculations,” the man says and you sweatdrop at the repetition of the conversation, your head nodding obediently as you don’t dare to express yourself, or even relax around the man. “Have you started up new calculations yet? Gotten through the past files that the helpers gave you?”

Gulping you take in a deep breath as you face the man as bravely as you can, not wanting to seem incompetent or like a doormat. “I will get to it as soon as possible,” you speak without excuses, knowing that if you were to explain the situation it would only grow worse. After all, who fraternised with the villains and even got saved by them, not to mention by their very boss?

Endeavour’s gaze holds you for a few more moments before he finally unleashes a deep sigh, one of which you can swear a small flame escapes from his lips as he averts his eyes from you. “Tomorrow. I want a new analysis tomorrow,” the man declares before he gets up from his seat, clearly done with talking to you as he walks off, leaving you both a little breathless and infuriated.

Between Endeavour and Shigaraki I’m not really sure who is the bigger villain. Tomorrow? What do I look like to him? A computer? I bet this man can’t even calculate what 1+1 is without a calculator!

Venting off your frustrations on the little note addressed to your friend you pause for a fresh breath of air as you let the earlier adrenaline flow out of you. You knew that you were being petty, just as much as Endeavour was being unreasonable with you, but it came with the job. They had warned you for it beforehand, before you moved to Japan and you had taken it anyway for the sake of Tenko.

Hey Tenko, why did you not tell me that you had given up on your dream of becoming a hero?

It was a question you had asked yourself several times, spurning several theories on what might have happened, speculations, assumptions, even probability calculations. None of them made sense, however and in the end you were still left unsatisfied and guilty of an answer.

The address in which he lived before was gone, the man himself was untraceable, there were no records remaining. Slowly you were starting to expect the worst, something that you rather not think about. But it was a possibility that you may have to address sooner than you wanted.

Not wanting to give up so soon you turn on the laptop given to you by Endeavour’s company, logging in on the secured network provided as you take in a deep breath. With another click you find yourself in the secured files that are part of the investigation along with the VPN access to the databases that you will need to be able to work and collaborate.

You knew that they were able to trace your activity and what files and databases you were accessing. You also knew that the chances of them picking you out specifically for a routine checkup was small and according to probability you figured that you were fine if you kept it to this one time. Especially if you kept your search short and innocuous.

Releasing another breath you typed in the old address you had memorised since childhood, your heart racing as you started to pull up the files of the police investigation involving the family…

Shimura. The name stood stark against the rest of the words, the tragedy barely registering as you couldn’t really make out what the story was, your mind running a mile as you felt your mouth go dry. The whole family gone, presumed burglary, but nothing was stolen. No survivors. The story made little sense, but it was a small case that seemed to have been shut just like that. Without any attention to spare and your best friend gone.

Gulping you feel your eyes burn as you wonder why your friend had to be so unfortunate, a bile of bitterness and blame rising up as you tried not to let your mind wander off too far, not wanting to get into this ugly pattern of blaming all and everyone and shifting responsibility.

Had the family that moved into the newly built house afterwards received your letters? What was their reaction, or had they not cared about some random kid abroad?

Looking at the date of the events you knew that it all lined up perfectly. That Tenko had perhaps died that very day. That he had faced some terrible tragedy in the last moments of his life. What was the probability of such a tragedy striking? You knew that with heroes like All Might around that the probability had diminished, but All Might had been in America back in those days.

Somewhere you clicked through to the next report in the file, gulping audibly as you realised that it was a detailed report on the damages as your eyes went down the detailed description the coroners had made and signed.

‘Turned into dust, absolutely obliterated. As if a raging fire ran past, but there are no traces of gas exploding or actual fire.’

Blinking you felt that the description of the destruction was rather familiar, your breath quickening once more as you think back of that night in the alley, when Shigaraki had saved you.

Tenko, I will avenge you. I promise. I will solve your cold case and tell your story. I will give you a voice like you always wanted to give everyone else a voice and a face. I will catch Shigaraki.

#shigaraki tomura #shigaraki x reader #bnha shigaraki #mha shigaraki #tenko shimura #tenko x reader #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia

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runenc03 · 3 years

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Til the light goes out (and after) - part 2

Writing date: January or February 2021, I can’t remember

Genre: fluff! I figured we deserved that after the insecurity of part 1

Warnings: I guess a make out session? Should I warn for that? I think I should warn you that this is my ‘steamiest content’ (for now) and that is saying very laying because I’m too shy to write steamy stuff, even if i want to try to write it.

Word count: 2.7k words:

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You didn't mean to stare, you really didn't, but your afternoon performance was about to start and you knew that when he wanted to be alone, he always went to the equipment room to play music and order his thoughts, so you came to tell him that he was needed to discuss the latest details before the performance. Standing there, just about to announce your presence, something had stopped you. You watched as he sat there, crossed legged on an old sofa, flute in his hands, his knight armor clearly making it difficult for him to raise his arms to the right angle to be able to play. It almost made you giggle, he had always hated that costume. His eyes studied the sheet in front of him, memorising the last few little notes before playing it during the performance. You loved to watch him when he was like this, so fully himself, so unguarded.

"Hi. Is it time?"

He looked almost sad, and you knew that while he loved playing for people, he wasn't ready to leave his secluded spot yet. You decided extending his time a little wouldn't hurt anyone.

"No, we still have a few more minutes. What part are you playing?"

His mouth formed a smile, and he patted the space beside him on the sofa as an invitation. You giggled as the clattering of his armor costume disturbed the silence. You seated yourself on the sofa, briefly wondering if the old thing could even carry two bodies, and then threw your legs over his crossed ones, creating a mess of intertwined limbs. Then, you kissed his cheek - you couldn't help yourself, really - and enjoyed watching the blush spread over the place you had just placed your lips on.

"After all this time together, I still get you flustered with a kiss on your cheek, without anyone near us?"

He now fully turned his attention to you, carefully placing his flute on its holder next to the sofa, a grin growing on his face.

"I can't help it and you know it. Besides, you wouldn't have it any other way."

You had to agree with that. As much as you loved how other couples go all out on public displays of affection, you weren't sure you'd like that so much.

"Touché. Now kiss me, we need to leave in literally 3 minutes."

You saw his grin broaden, until he was so close that his lips were out of your sight. Not that you minded. Closing your eyes, you felt his smile, and that was your favourite way to experience it anyway. His arm slid around your waist, lightly pulling you closer to him, and your legs decided on their own to untangle from his and just entirely sit on his lap instead. As he felt you snuggle close to him, he hummed in appreciation, and you smiled at the rich sound of it. You continued to share kiss after kiss, the fingers on one of your hands weaving themselves through his hair, while the other slid under his armor, lightly scratching his back. You knew he loved it, and while you still questioned as to why that was, you really didn't mind doing it. After all, he did wonderful things to you as well.

"I love you. So so much, you know that, right?"

You often questioned if other people smiled as much while making out as you did. It was automatic, as opposed to him being so shy in public, he had the habit to mumble all sorts of little things to you while the two of you were alone, and it made it impossible not to smile. He made you so, so happy. You questioned if other couples felt as much love as you did, too. You answered him by covering his jaw in kisses, going from right under his ear to his chin, somewhere in the back of your mind noting that it was still scratchy, and realising that he probably hadn't had the time to shave this morning because you had texted him at 5 am to ask if you could go watch the sunrise together, something he had obviously agreed to, being the incredibly kind human being he was.

"I love you too. I love you, I love you, I love you."

Now it was his time to smile, the effect of your words alternating with your kisses, and your heart warmed a little bit more. Oh, how you loved him. Saying it just wasn't enough. He tilted your head then, gentle as always, and you gladly went once again from kissing his jaw to kissing his lips. You shuffled even closer, deepening the kiss, shifting your hand on his back to his chest, lazily drawing circles there, feeling his warm flesh against your cold hands. He didn't flinch, he never did. He had somehow made you believe in the beauty of your touch, and, in a strange way, because of it, in the beauty of yourself. His fingers now wove themselves through your hair as well, angling your face just a bit differently once again. His other hand went to your upper leg, drawing circles just like you were doing on his chest, so in sync with each other. His lips were warm against yours, but not in a scorching way. You felt welcome, at home.

"Hey, uh, you know I would say sorry for interrupting, but I'm really not that sorry. You have all the time in the world after the show, lovebirds, but for now, you need to come with me."

Your boyfriend's groan would've amused you if you, too, hadn't been so hopelessly embarrassed. Ruby - now Ava - had come to get you, and while you wouldn't have wanted anyone else to walk in on you, you knew the smugness wouldn't leave her voice anytime soon. She did leave the two of you behind then, also understanding that embarrassing you any further wouldn't do right before the show, and you smiled at her thoughtfulness.

"Come on, she was right, we need to get up. From now on, you're the unnamed music guy again, and I am princess Rose."

You carefully pulled yourself away from him, careful not to knock anything over, especially not his precious flute, and straightened your dress once again, making sure there weren't any creaks in it.

"I would call you my princess, but I guess you'd find that a bit too cheesy, wouldn't you?"

Your laughter filled the room, and you took his hand, standing on your tiptoes one last time to give his cheek a kiss.

"You know me so well. Now come on, unnamed music guy, it's time for us to make some magic."

Flute in hand, he gladly followed you. _______________________________________

"Hey, love, I forgot my pocket sized sheet music in the office, can you go get it please? I still need to ask Ava about the music in the third scene."

You nodded, turning around on your heels and quickly jogging to the office, the room in which you all had brainstorm sessions about your shows. It wasn't unusual for your boyfriend to forget his stuff, and you knew that he and Ava were the two most musically talented people in your crew and they liked to make sure they both agreed with whatever music was played, so you weren't suspicious of the situation. That was, until you reached the office, and your feet stopped moving upon laying your eyes on the person that was already seated at your round table, smiling politely as she saw you enter. It was none other than Erica Rodriguez, billionaire, media figure, and basically the owner of the entire movie industry.

"Hello there. I see that you found your way to me. Take a seat please."

Your limbs felt like cooked pasta, your face heating up at her words, and an uneasy feeling settled in your stomach. What in God's name was going on? After being looked at expectantly for at least a few seconds, you broke out of your reverie, stumbling over your own feet, but into the chair opposite of Mrs. Rodriguez.

"Excuse me ma'am, but we're about to play the afternoon show in the northern region of the park, and I'm expected to be-"

"Don't worry, everything is taken care of. One of the women of your group with a very unimportant role in this play is taking over your character for the afternoon, so everyone is notified that you won't join your crew today. In fact, this was their idea, they personally invited me. And I must say, I'm pleased I responded."

Your cluelessness was probably very evident on your face, Mrs. Rodriguez's polite expression morphing into a genuine, but amused smile as she pushed a piece of paper in your direction that you hadn't noticed before.

"A few weeks ago, your friends contacted me, to tell me about this amazingly talented girl in their crew. About a year ago, that girl started allowing the crew to play her own written stories, and she even grew as far as to play the lead role in some of them. They told me that even though she'd always been a good writer, she'd also grown enormously over the last few months, and that the show they were about to play next was the best story she'd ever written, and that I should come take a look."

"So...so you came to look at my play?"

Your throat felt dry, your head foggy with all the unexpected information. Mrs. Rodriguez nodded enthusiastically, and the uneasy feeling inside your stomach swirled, although at this point, you weren't too sure it was uneasiness that was going on in there.

"Yes, yes I did. I took my daughter with me, and together we watched your show this morning. I'm glad you didn't notice me, I wouldn't have been able to judge properly if you had, but it needs to be said, you have an extraordinary gift."

The blush covered your cheeks before her words had any chance to cool off. You looked down, playing with the hem of your princess dress, somewhere in the back of your head noting that you must look utterly ridiculous.

"Thank you, that's really kind, but it's not just me. I wrote the story, but my friends, the crew, they're the ones bringing the story to life, making the magic."

Her smile morphed into a knowing grin.

"Which is exactly the reason that, if you agree to make your play into a movie with my help, I would love for your entire crew to continue to play the roles they play now. I've been looking for something like this for a long time now, something with some classic elements, but with a creative twist. Something kids get excited about, but adults just as much. Something magical, really, and I found it here. Now, it wouldn't be fair for me to pressure you into saying yes immediately, your friends told me that this place is practically sacred for you. Just know that I would treat your story with the utmost care and respect, that making it into a movie wouldn't take away the magic, it would just capture it for eternity."

Your next words were out before you knew it, your heart making little skips. This was huge, and you were surprised you realised that so soon, but in this moment, everything was crystal-clear to you.

"I don't need time, ma'am. I've seen all the movies made under your care, and they're all astoundingly beautiful. I'd be honoured to make my play into a movie. Thank you so much."

Your vision blurred by unshed tears, your smile had barely ever been this wide. You were flying, soaring, wanted to laugh, jump, dance, cry, sing with joy. You also realised that you wanted to share this with the rest of your crew.

"You can keep this copy of the contract, it was a bit ceremonial anyway, I'll send you a copy by mail soon, is that okay?"

You nodded quickly, standing up to shake her hand as she took her coat and her briefcase, once again congratulating you before walking out the door of the office room, leaving you with the most overwhelming wave of gratitude you'd ever felt in your life. _______________________________________

This time around, you found your boyfriend between the park's castle and the 'magic woods', not too far away from where the crowd was still gathered after the play. He was cleaning his flute, silently checking every inch to see if it hadn't been damaged somewhere during the play. It was a ritual for him, and while you'd normally let him have it, you were way too excited now to not engulf him in a hug right this second.

"Woah....what happened?"

But there was a certain edge to the tone of his voice, and you knew that he was perfectly aware of everything that had happened to you these past half an hour.

"Oh, shut up. Was it your idea? Honestly I can't thank all of you enough."

He chuckled, placing a kiss on your temple, and your arms automatically squeezed him a bit tighter.

"Actually, it was Ava's, but I helped actually reaching out to Mrs. Rodriguez. We all did, to be honest."

You wanted to kiss him then and there, engulfed in sunlight, while the excited chatter of visitors could still be heard from not too far away, when a certain little girl's voice broke the moment.

"Princess Rose! Why are you hugging this man? And where is your husband? Do you not love him anymore? But you kissed this morning!?"

You hadn't ever turned around as quickly as you did now, horrified that one of the little ones had caught you full on wrapped around what for them was just another character in the play. But your blood actually turned cold when you saw which little girl stumbled upon you.

"Mummy, look! I found Princess Rose! But she's hugging someone other than Prince Carl!"

And there she was, Mrs. Rodriguez. You relaxed a bit when you realised that she wasn't as horrified as you were, but only slightly. You could only stand there, wide-eyed, for once not knowing what to say. Fortunately, your ever shy boyfriend decided that this was the perfect moment to speak up.

"Hi there! How are you?"

The girl's mouth curved into a cute smile, regardless of the situation charmed that someone in a knight costume was talking to her. She nodded her head, but also leaned against her mum, trying to make herself a bit more comfortable. Your boyfriend, meanwhile, made a ridiculously deep bow for Mrs Rodriguez' daughter. You stifled your laughter.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Knight Ronald, and I am Princess Rose's favourite brother."

The little girl's eyes widened, an excited look on her face.

"Are you? I don't have a brother, although I would love to have one! Then I could dress up as a princess and play princess Rose! And then my brother could play you and we could go on adventures together! I-"

But Mrs. Rodriguez had stopped her daughter's rambling, the biggest grin on her face. Your face probably mirrored hers.

"Okay sweetie, I think it's time you and I go home. Say bye to Princess Rose and Knight Ronald, and then we need to leave, okay?"

The girl ran forward, wrapping her small arms around your waist, as that was the highest she could reach. You hugged her back, mouthing a thank you to your boyfriend, and a sorry to Mrs Rodriguez, who gave you a reassuring wave in return. After the two of them had left, you concentrated all your attention on the wonderful guy next to you again. This time, you checked your surroundings before wrapping your arms around his neck, groaning slightly as you realised just how close you'd come to completely ruining both the little girl's and your own day.

"Please don’t ever say that you're my brother again"

He chuckled, but rubbed your head in a comforting manner anyway.

"I won’t.”

And he sealed his promise with a kiss worthy of being reciprocated by a true princess.

#oneshot #crushxreader #crush x reader #colleagues to lovers #imagines #story #twoshot #parttwo #love #friendstolovers #themepark #acting #actress #princess #movie

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uglypastels · 4 years

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Betrayal at its Finest III (mob!Tom)

(a/n) I’m sorry this is a bit late, the next parts will be probably even more late so this is an apology in advance. I would also like to thank everyone for the support on this story <3 including the amazing @worldoftom for the proofreading and editing, especially since this chapter was a real struggle for me <3

word count: 5,970

warnings through out the series: (mentions of) smut, violence, drugs, alcohol, guns, general mob stuff right?

SERIES MASTERLIST

Chapter Three: New Cherry Lipstick

The meeting with Harrison was on a Wednesday. You were called in for your first day at work the next Monday. Just like that day two weeks ago, you walked down the street. It was raining again. Of course, it was. Why would the earth let you catch a break if you could just as well jump around, avoiding puddles, in a tight pencil skirt and uncomfortable heels?

The iron gate was just as heavy and loud as the first time. This time, however, you didn't meet anyone in front of the door. Though, for a second you felt that feeling again, the same one as in the park. You felt like you were being watched again. Quickly turning around, you expected someone to be standing behind you, but there was no one there. It was when you looked at the windows, however, that it seemed as if you saw one of the heavy curtains move as someone walked away. You quickly shook that thought out of your mind. It was probably just a trick of the light.

You let yourself in and hung up your wet coat and umbrella on the hangers. It was still not clear if you were allowed to do that, but it felt appropriate. The rain, as unpleasant as it was, did help you appreciate the warmth inside since the temperature in the building was set to undeniably hot. It was actually like walking into a pillow… or more like… the pillow was thrown at your face. Very intense.

You were told to meet Mr Holland in his office, so that was where you were headed. Down the hall, up the round staircase, following the path of artworks which were worth more than you would probably ever be. Then came the next hallway, even hotter than downstairs, and a problem. You could not remember which door was his office. Was it left or right? One thing you knew for sure is that, in this place, you couldn't really just barge in through any door you wanted. Who knew what was going on behind these doors. With one move of the handle, you could be witnessing something that might undoubtedly get you killed. That would be something - dead on the first day of the job.

Right as a little bit of panic started to kick in, you heard a whoosh over the carpet, making you turn around.

"Good morning, miss y/l/n/," Tom said with a small smile. You had to admit, he looked handsome. It was irrefutable, he always did. In his dark grey suit that fit to the most modest crease. His shoes were still shiny. You could assume that they were specially bought for the inside of the building. His hair was styled to perfection but not overdone.

"Good morning, Mr Holland." You nodded your head slightly down with a smile imitating his. He stepped aside, letting you pass through the doorway.

"Please, come in." He showed you the way and you, just like last time, followed.

"I would like to thank you again, sir, for the opportunity. It really means a lot to me," you said as you sat down in that same chair.

"The pleasure is all mine, truly. I have to admit that you were one of, if not the best, applicant for the job. To not give you the job would be an offence." He explained as he, too, sat down. It surprised you that listening to his words made you blush. You knew you were great but being recognised in it... It just hit differently.

"On that note, let me explain-" his tone changed. There was no more boyish charm to be detected in his voice. You knew you were sitting opposite one of the most dangerous men in the world. It was quite exciting. "We run a tight ship around here. Everything we do should be done as best and as smoothly as possible. We do not appreciate slip-ups."

"I understand, sir." You nodded, reading the cold certainty in his eyes. It made you uneasy, but you focused on breathing lightly to keep that at bay for now.

"We believe that Holland Enterprise is just like a machine and that trust is the essential part that makes it work so well. It would be a shame for someone to break this machine."

"I understand, sir," you repeated. Next followed a second of you and him looking into each other's eyes. You remembered to breathe calmly and not tense up. You were so close. Almost in. Just one more lie and you'd be in.

"Good, I thought someone as smart as you would." His shoulders suddenly slacked and he leaned back in his large office chair. You followed suit in your seat with a nervous smile. As if on cue, the door behind you opened, and your pal Harrison walked in. He didn't step inside; however, he just stood in the doorway with his arms behind his back. If only he'd had sunglasses on, he would be looking like a sexy bodyguard.

"You already met Mr Osterfield," Holland stood up so you assumed you should do the same. "If you follow him, he will show you to your new office."

"Thank you, sir." You made your way to Harrison and greeted him with a smile and nod. He walked off silently, and you just followed. The hallway that you were in continued for many more doors, all identically black. You counted them. 5… 6… 7. The eighth on the left was where Harrison finally stopped. He opened it to reveal an office. It actually did not hold much difference from the one you had previously been in except for the fact that it was a bit smaller. For the rest, the furniture and setup was the same.

"Well, here you are." Harrison let you inside. "On the desk, you will find your new phone, use it for business only… or emergencies, no personal calls. Next, there should be a com. If someone in the office will need your assistance, you'll hear it there. Mr Holland is on line four." As Harrison explained that, you wondered who was on the first three.

"If you got any questions-"

"I do actually have one," you turned around to look at him. He smiled.

"Then you should find Harry, I was going to say, but yes?"

"Can I redecorate?" You smiled, and he did, as well.

"Do whatever you want."

"Great," you said as you made your way to the grand chair behind the desk. "Another question, will you still follow me around, or was that a one-time thing?"

Harrison chuckled. "I don't plan on it… unless some trouble should come up."

"Of course, of course," you mumbled. Harrison was already getting ready to leave, but you chimed in once more. "One more thing!"

"Yes?"

"Who is this Harry, then?"

Harry turned out to be Harry Holland. Younger brother of the boss-man. He was "the guy that knows a guy". You understood why he was the one who you were supposed to ask all the questions to, since he knew everything about everyone almost anywhere. Not to mention, he was sneaky, that most of the time, the people he knew didn't even know Harry existed.

And of course, like his brother, Harry was very good looking. Considering your pal Harrison too, maybe it was a requirement for a successful mob gang…

But looks aren't forever, that much knows everyone and you would make sure of it. If you had to punch their pretty white teeth out yourself, it's just what you would have to do. They could afford a new pair anyway. They could bear so much shit. That was the annoying part of it all. They had all the money in the world… and that came on the side of the fortune. The fortune they were making by stealing business from your friends and everyone else in the city. The Hollands ran a business empire and they were, without a doubt, great at it. So why did they have to meddle in with the mob life? Nobody knew for sure. Maybe someone got bored of the stock market and decided that narcotics and firearms were more interesting… and who could blame them? It is much more fun.

This fact brought in an entirely new challenge in itself to the plan. Since you had taken a job at Holland Enterprise, you would need time to get close to the family. To properly get into their business.

There was a lot you had to do, but you had to stop thinking about it. It wasn't what mattered now. Obviously, it was a problem, but it was another problem besides the bigger problem. There were, in fact, so many problems that you couldn't really keep track of them even if you tried.

Now, you had to sit.

Just like Harrison told you, there was a phone on your desk. It looked better than any phone you had before. The screen was still shiny and in one piece. No corners were nicked from dozens of drops to the ground. There was no lock on it, so you quickly turned it on and checked the contacts. There were no names, just numbers. Well, that's not annoying at all. Were you expected to memorise them? That wasn't really your thing. You were proud of yourself for being able to remember your own number at a bar when a guy asked you for it and but it didn’t go much further than that.

Also on the desk was the communicator. It really looked like a stationary phone with the receiver ripped out. You could even see the hole on the side of it where the cord should have been, covered in some plaster. Was it a strategy to keep things cheap? Or a memory from the person whose job you took over? You would never know.

Then there were some more things on the desk, a computer screen with a keyboard, a penholder with a few writing utensils in it, nothing out of the ordinary. What caught your eye was the sheet of paper that was lying face down in front of you, so you quickly picked it up. The words were typed in a small font, not even covering half the page. It was a list.

Refile documents (ask H)

H? Harry? Whoever wrote this, really could have been a bit more specific.

Pick up suits.

Walk with Tessa.

And like that the list went on…

You assumed that Tessa was a dog. This was practically a chore list of things to do. Pretty simple and straightforward tasks you could expect from an assistant job. Some of them had little dates scribbled next to them. Feeling they were the deadlines, you thought the rest could take a few days or were things that had to be done several times.

After reading the list a few more times, you looked into the drawers of the desk. The top ones on either side were empty. Then, the middle drawer on the right contained nothing but a hardcover notebook. Almost like a journal. It looked pretty. The cover was made out of black pleather, on it the logo of Holland Enterprise engraved in silver: A geometric spider with what you assumed was an H in the middle of it. You flipped through it. Empty. So it must be for you. The pages itself also had Holland Enterprise stamped on them. Custom paper. Fancy.

Your scavenging was interrupted when there was a knock on the door, making you look up.

"Come in," you said. Your voice was surprisingly stable. As the door opened, you felt the urge to fix a strand of hair that was hanging loosely. In the morning, you had chosen to go with a little more of a casual hairstyle, but now it suddenly didn't feel right anymore.

The door opened and in walked Tom. You didn't expect it to be him, so he was met with a bit of a wide-eyed expression from you. He smiled.

"How's the office?" He walked up to the desk. You were about to stand up, but he was already ahead of you, sitting down in the chair opposite yours. It was like a strange role reversal from five minutes ago. Suddenly you were the big boss in the large chair. You liked it. So, the smile you gave him was very genuine.

"It's wonderful. Though I would like to make a few adjustments... if that's alright," you added on quickly. Yes, Harrison said it was alright, but you still felt better asking him about it. You had to be careful around here. It was the plan to stay around as long as possible. You would be useless if they kicked you out after a day.

"Do whatever you please," he said. The smile on his soft lips looked so kind. He spoke so sophisticated, so sure of himself. Even the most straightforward phrases. They were, in a strange way, perfect.

"I came in because I realised we forgot to bring you one more thing." You watched him unbutton his suit jacket and feel around in his inside pocket. Out he pulled a platinum card.

"Here you go." He placed it on the table and pushed it with two fingers your way. You had to remember to close your mouth. Gently you picked it up. In your hand you held, most likely, more money than you had ever had in your entire life. And it was given to you just like that…

"This is for all the expenses you are most likely to make on the job. Of course, personal payments can be made too." His voice was somewhat tainted with a hint of amusement.

"Oh, no. I wouldn't dare, sir- I mean, it's company money."��

"Believe me, we have plenty of that around here." He got up again. "And I strongly believe that the well-being of the employees is a good investment in itself. Please, treat yourself."

You were actually speechless. Was Holland really allowing you to spend this money on yourself? A part of you was really fucking thrilled, but the other… was fuming at how easily he could waste money. It was bizarre, to say the least.

But hey, he told you to treat yourself, so why the fuck not.

Tom left your office without another word, but you didn't really care much. You were still looking at the little piece of plastic in your hand, tapping your nails over it. Ideas of what you could get were forming in your head, but you couldn't be too rash. You had a job to do. In a sense, even more than one.

Now that you had officially been welcomed into the team, got your own office and supplies, you weren't sure what you were supposed to do. Glancing back at the list, you saw the current date next to "Pick up order at White Diamond".

White Diamond, you recognised that name. It was a luxurious store downtown. Of course, what else could it be when it was named that.

With your new phone and credit card in hand, you headed out of the building. It was still strange to walk through the hallways. They were so empty. It had no corporate feel to it, more like... like it was one of their 10 mansions that they just decided to turn into an office.

As you kept walking to the exit, past all those closed doors, you wondered how many people were in the building with you. You knew that at least Harrison was somewhere around, and Tom was in his office... but there were so many rooms, so many corridors. What were they hiding? You needed to find out.

It was at the middle of the staircase that you heard a strange noise. If you had not been used to it being around Chippy's so often, you would not have been able to recognise it immediately. Gunshots.

The fear in you started to rise as the sound reverberated through the walls. It was astounding how easy it seemed for a business family to hear a shooting early in the morning without a commotion populating the hallways. There wasn't even a single cry of panic in the background, or a yelp of surprise. Was this really this normal for them?

This, for sure, triggered your curiosity. It was always something that got you into trouble. It didn't matter if this time it could get you killed, you wanted to know what was going on.

So, you followed the bellowing echoes of the shots. You went down the stairs, but instead of going straight, you turned left. Really, how did they not get lost around here? All the corridors and doors looked precisely the same... But the shots got louder so knew you were going the right way.

Then you saw it. One door was open. Just the tiniest bit, but it was enough to carry the loud blast through the empty hallways.

Inside you saw Harrison. He had taken off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. You watched as he stretched out his arm, held the gun in front of him and... BANG BANG, shot twice.

You couldn't see what he was shooting at, but from what you could see, the room was empty. It was nothing but concrete walls and flooring. Next to Harrison stood a little table, on it boxes of various ammunition.

"You know, you're not that great of a spy yourself, y/l/n," Harrison said as he reloaded his gun. He hadn't even glanced in your direction. Since your presence had been made known, you stepped inside. This place was much colder than the rest of the building. This was explained as soon as you walked in... since it wasn't much of a room, to begin with. More like an entrance to the large garden behind the house. A whole wall was missing. You looked ahead to see the grass and the cloudy grey sky above a glass ceiling. Some metres away from where Harrison was standing, in the direction he had just been shooting at, were two targets. Both already filled with several gunshot holes.

"Hobby?" you asked as you walked up to him. You looked at the guns that were on the table. There was nothing that caught your eye in particular.

"More like a... mandatory self-defence course." He laughed. "Not that I don't enjoy it."

"Mandatory, you say?" You traced your fingers over a pistol mindlessly. "Why is it so necessary?"

The question seemed to be making Harrison a bit flustered.

"Not that it's necessary... but you never know when you might need it."

"Do I need it?" you asked bluntly, stepping away from the table up to him.

"Maybe, eventually." He saw the way you raised your eyebrow. "If you manage to stick around long enough for a promotion."

You started wondering what kind of promotion needed gun training. Still, you wanted to keep your calm and not show too much intention of prying.

"I sure plan on it."

"Then I will be happy to teach you." He smiled... except the smile didn't reach his eyes. You watched as he unloaded the gun with a simple click. You weren't sure what it was, but something made your knees feel a bit weak, so you decided to look around. Anywhere but at his hands.

"I can't help but feel a bit dumb here, I am a bit new to the whole Fortune 500 thing, does every business have a shooting range?" you clearly joked.

"Well, to start off, you wouldn't believe the things we got around here, and well... there is no business out there like ours," Harrison spoke nonchalantly. You nodded along. The amount of absolute bullshit that was coming out of these people's mouths around here was actually fascinating. Still, you listened as if you cared.

"Not that I need to tell you that," he said with a hint of amusement.

"What do you mean?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I think you know exactly what kind of place this is."

"I do?" you kept questioning him... and you could tell he didn't like it. Still, it was fun, and he kept his cool. Although, the conversation had a tension in it, like a rubber band that was about to snap.

"C'mon, no one would be standing here so calmly after having heard and seen me shoot a Glock in the greenhouse. Not to mention, it was my job to find out everything I could about you. You must know that what we handle with, or at least how it can be risky."

You didn't like where this conversation was going. Not at all. You looked Harrison in the eyes. In the bright artificial light, they were even more striking.

"Honestly, as long as I don't get into trouble and get paid enough, I don't care what is going on here," you stated. Harrison laughed under his breath. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I wasn't so sure about you at first, but now- you got a good attitude, might actually fit right at home here."

"Thanks..." You weren't sure how to react to that. Next followed a moment of silence. Neither of you spoke or looked at each other. It was a bit numbing, to say the least.

Then you remembered you had actually been planning on going somewhere before Harrison had caught your attention. He didn't ask where you were going, but before you left the room, he called out: "Want me to drive you?"

No, not really.

"Sure," you said. You waited in the doorway. Harrison unrolled his sleeves, grabbed his jacket, put the gun in the secret holster he had hanging in the lining... really, how long could a person take. Yet, you kept your proper attitude up.

Finally ready, Harrison led the way to an entirely new part of the building. You paid as much attention as you could to the directions. Not only to remember your way out of this place, but you had promised Chippy a full report. You could tell it was going to be exhausting to try and explain all of this.

Harrison was apparently leading you up to the garage. Just like the makeshift shooting range you had just left, this was also just concrete on concrete. A row of 4 identical shiny black cars was parked in the middle.

Four matching keys were hanging next to the door. Harrison grabbed one of them and walked to the car nearest to you. You followed.

"Where are we going?" he finally asked. You told him the name of the store. For some reason, he smiled to himself. You, however, didn't question it. You already had had too long of a conversation with him. It was bad enough that he was following you everywhere.

The White Diamond was located on the other side of the city. This meant it was a long drive you and Harrison had to take, especially with the heavy traffic that was filling the streets. The first ten minutes of the ride, neither of you said a word. Harrison focused on the road while you directed your eyes on him. You kept your eyes on him without a real intention. When he glanced at you, you didn't look away. There was no reason to hide it.

"I have to say, Harrison," you finally broke the silence, "you have been confusing me a little bit."

"Oh, have I now?" The idea of that clearly made him smile as he made a turn.

"Definitely. I mean, everything about this job is out of the ordinary, but I just can't place you in it. What is it that you do?"

"I can do anything, darling."

"Good to know, but it's just that... you must have a position in this business, don't you?"

"You can call me, in a way, the right-hand man of Mr Holland. I do the dirty jobs he asks me to do." He spoke with a distant tone, as if he had the answer there, prepared, for a long time.

"Ah, so you're an assistant too."

"Call it what you want, but know that when you leave, I'll still be here." He shot you a dirty look. He had one hand on the wheel, and as he held it, his knuckles were slowly turning paler.

"I can tell that you don't like me."

"It's only been a lunch and a day, so don't get me wrong. I think I like you, but you confuse me too, y/l/n. I'm sure you know that our ways are quite unconventional and they have scared more than a few employees off, yet you... you don't even seem to be questioning them. We both know it was my job to figure out if you were safe for our company and believe me, I am not done looking, because I can feel there is something more to you. I just can..." and with that, you had arrived in the parking lot of the boutique.

As you were stepping out, you realised you had just spent an entire car ride with the first, and possibly largest, problem you might have to encounter on your job. Harrison was already suspicious of you, and it hadn't been a day. You had to work on yourself. Being good at the game wasn't everything if the others didn't play fair. It was never your thing, but you could play dirty too...

The store was bustling with customers. From the point of entrance, you could perceive the type of people that walked around. The type to have too much money to spend. What the fuck were you doing here?

Actually... What were you doing here? All you knew was that you had to pick up an order... but where? What even was it? This was becoming a nightmare.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Harrison whispered on your side. You looked over and sent him a look of zero appreciation. There goes your bonding experience. Or maybe it was the opposite. You had slowly been building up an enemy in him, getting it out there, making the problem known.

With no response coming from you, Harrison rolled his eyes.

"Just go to the counter, let me know when you're ready," and just like that, he left. Disappeared into the crowd. While making your way over to the said counter, you had caught a quick glance of him chatting up a lady. He seemed very in his element.

You walked in the direction Harrison had pointed at and, indeed, there was a counter. A girl around your age was standing behind it, visibly bored. She was looking at her long red nails as you walked up to her.

"Hi," you said.

"How can I help you," she said monotonously. You wouldn't have been surprised if it were her parents that owned the place and made her work there.

"I'm here to pick up something for... Holland?" With those words, it was as if a switch had flipped. The girl stood up straight as a pencil and looked directly at you.

"Oh, right. Yes, just- please, give me a second, ma'am," she flustered out before running off to the place where they kept the whatever-it-was you were here for. By her reaction alone, you were sure that the Hollands (or at least Tom) were regulars here.

She soon came back with a small velvet box. It was just a bit too big to have your fingers around it in a grip. The girl opened the case, and there was a shiny, silver watch inside. Was this really what you came here for?

Was this really what your life had become? Going out doing errands for your enemy while basically being tailgated by his little buddy? You were really questioning this entire operation. You agreed to it, thinking it would be exciting, but... if you had to spend the next half a year going around stores shopping for expensive watches... could you really do it?

"Yup, that's it," Harrison said from behind you, completely out of nowhere. In that quick second, you didn't know whether to scream or punch him below the belt. He was uncomfortably close to you, so with a push of the shoulder, you made sure you had some distance. Without looking at him, you asked:

"Wasn't I supposed to be handling this, Osterfield?"

"You didn't even know why you were here. Someone had to make sure we're getting what we came for."

Even without looking at him, you could feel the cold stare he was giving the poor girl behind the counter. There was definitely some tension there. A warning. It made you wonder what happened.

Something about her, made you think the girl should have been shaking, but her hands were steady as she wrapped the watch back up. You took out your pretty and shiny new business credit card, but then your eye caught something. It was a small stack of packages next to the counter. 12 or so, identical black boxes. The name of the brand was written on it in silver letters. Yet, you couldn't accurately read it because whatever material was used for it, was reflecting in the lights of the store. To show off the product, even more, a sample form was standing next to the little box pyramid. It was a classic red lipstick. Just the perfect hint of sweetness mixed with seduction.

"Get it already," Harrison grabbed a box. You thought you had only glanced at it, but maybe it took you a bit longer. Or maybe, he saw you look at it more than once. Either case, he wanted to move on and get out. Of course, that wouldn't happen. Not if it was up to you.

"What? No, I can't. I don't have-"

"Money?" Harrison scoffed and just pushed the credit card towards the girl. You, already feeling embarrassed by him enough, didn't want to fight, so you just let it happen. You thanked her, slightly bitter, and walked away with everything in a small black bag.

You didn't speak to Harrison until you were by the car. The parking lot seemed relatively empty, so you felt comfortable continuing your conversation.

"You know, at first, I thought your little attitude was cute, but now, you should really watch it," he said as he opened the door on his side. You mirrored him. Neither of you stepped inside.

"I'm sorry I don't feel like being walked over. Seriously, what is your problem? I've known you for a day. All I did was get a job and ask you about guns-" Suddenly you could hear footsteps behind you. Both of you turned in the direction to see a man walking by with a few shopping bags. Now more hushed, you continued: "-that you were shooting. Since when is that a crime? What have I done wrong?"

"I'm sure there is plenty of that, but I don't think you want to get into that on the parking lot." And with that, he got into the car. With a slight groan, you got in too. This was going to be a long ride.

Harrison gave you a bare 3 seconds to buckle up before he drove off.

"You didn't do shit wrong, and that's what I don't like," he said, which threw you off quite a bit. "I don't trust people who don't have anything on them."

"I used to shoplift chapsticks when I was 12. Is that good enough for you?"

He chuckled, but only for a brief moment. For that same amount of time, he made you think of Chippy. He held the stirring wheel the same way, and he always confused the fuck out of you too.

"It will do for now," he spoke calmly. Not in the way you would want him to talk to you during this conversation. It was, to put it merely, off-putting.

That also ended the discussion entirely. Neither of you spoke for the rest of the drive back to the office. As you reached more busy streets again, Harrison had to drive slower. You found this to be the perfect opportunity to open up the mirror above the passenger's seat and test out your new lipstick.

As much as Harrison annoyed you, and how weird it might have felt to buy it off of company money, you were glad you did. The shade fit your lips perfectly. Extra bonus was that by being too occupied with that, you had reached the office in no time. You stepped out as quickly as you could and practically ran up to Tom's office and knocked on his door.

"Mr Holland?" you said with a sweet melody covering your voice, "I got your order from White Diamond."

"Great. Thank you, y/n," he said. You walked up to his desk and put the small box in front of him. He didn't show much expression, just a vague hint of a smile in the corner of his mouth poked through. You watched him open the packaging and take the watch in his hands. For such a small and relatively fragile object, it looked really heavy.

"What do you think?" He moved his arm around, showing off all the angles. The sun shining through the large windows behind him made the silver of the watch shine even more.

"It's uhm..." Ugly. Pretentious. Tasteless. "It looks... expensive."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. A bit too much if you ask me." He took it off again, shaking his wrist. "And fucking heavy as well." He sat back down, putting the watch in a lacklustre way back into the box. "I had a better one, but it unfortunately got damaged to no repair. I guess I'll have to keep looking."

You nodded along with his words. A part of you got a bit mad. You just went out and got that stupid, overpriced, piece of metal junk just for him to throw it out? Fucking-

"Do you know someone who might like it?"

"What?" You shook your head, thinking you might have misheard him during your mental anger management session.

"I know it's a bit much," Tom laughed, "but it would be a pity not to make use of it. Here, take it."

He looked at you with a kind smile as you thanked him and took the box back. His eyes lingered on you. More precisely, your lips. You didn't say anything of it though.

He appeared... so natural. It seemed to keep happening to you that there were these moments, glimpses, that made him look like a typical guy. Just a bloke who you would see in a bookstore or a bar. In those tiny moments, you forgot what he actually was, even what you were supposed to do. Not wanting to be there anymore, you excused yourself.

"Of course, I'm sure you have many more important things to be doing than standing around."

And with that send-off, you walked out of the office. To no surprise, Harrison was outside. It almost felt like he was out there waiting for you. He was leaning against the wall, one hand in his pocket.

"Did he like the lipstick?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

And without saying another word, he walked away again. You kept your eyes on him as he disappeared in the hallway. Leaving you all alone and confused. You had no idea what was going on or what he meant, and you didn’t like it one bit. It made your skin prickle with apprehension.

What was Harrison up to?

To be continued...

> Thank you so much for reading!! Please comment or reblog. I would love to hear what you thought of the story :) (and I promise there will be more Tom in the upcoming parts heh)

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chairismaticchair · 3 years

Text

Star Crossed Enemies

Happy Holidays @yellowartistsunshine ! @sanderssidesgiftxchange

Summary: When two rival theatre majors get cast as the leads in "Romeo and Juliet", something blossoms between them. Something beautiful.

This is Roceit, there are some swears. I had lots of fun writing this, especially since this was my first roceit fic!

If Roman despised a single person in the world with all his body and soul, that would be Janus Taylor. He hated how snagging lead roles in plays and musicals always became a fight between them. He hated how smug Janus constantly acted. He hated his stupidly posh accent that was only really obvious when he was on stage performing Shakespeare. He hated how he couldn't have any straight (not that it was possible with Roman any other way) or slightly logical conversation with Janus. He hated him, from the tip of his dumb black beanie, to the soles of his beige loafers. Overall, he hated Janus.

Whenever they passed in the college, there would be a flurry of middle fingers and middle-school-grade insults like "shit head" and "dumbass" thrown about with as much malice as two theatre majors could. They seemed to lose all common sense when in the mere vicinity of each other, instead becoming caricatures of theatre rivals. Arguably, that was exactly what they were.

"Taylor." Roman spat out. "I heard the LGBTQ+ Club's putting up another play soon. Suppose you're going to want the lead role. But it's mine." He declared, as if no one had expected Roman Diaz Santos to want the lead role.

Decei - shit sorry, Janus hissed back. "I heard it's gonna be Shakespeare, and guess who always gets Shakespeare roles? Me. Shithead." He added the “shithead” as an afterthought, as if this was his first rivalry and he had almost forgotten rule #315 of the Rivalry Book of Rivals.

They then tossed each other middle fingers like mutual salutes and marched off, heads held up high and refusing to turn back.

"Man, Janus really is a dick isn't he?" Roman complained to his best friend Virgil Teo, who sighed.

"Yes, Roman. Just like the -" He pulled out a notebook and made a little mark. "534 other times you've told me. This year. I don't even know what's that bad about him."

"Well of course you don't get it. You two dated freshman year. Honestly, I thought you had better taste."

"And I do. That's why we broke up." Virgil slapped Roman's shoulder playfully. "Who are you to insult my dating life? You haven't had a single date since the start of college."

"I've had dates." Roman protested.

"Bad dates, Princey. Those don't count. Maybe you could send it to the Guinness World Records."

Roman gasped in mock annoyance. "How dare you, Virgil.” He gave a wistful sigh. “Anyways, I just want to find my soulmate. They’re out there, I can just feel it. A Juliet or Julien to my Romeo.”

"You're always are full of bullshit, aren't you, Roman?"

---

Patton, a senior, walked up to the front of the leture theatre and tapped the teacher on the shoulder. He whispered something in her ear and the teacher sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose frustratedly. "Hi! The LGBTQ+ Club is putting up two Shakespeare plays for this November! The first one will be a gay Romeo and Juliet, called Romeo and Julien. The other will be a sapphic 'Much Ado about Nothing'. Audition sign ups start next week Monday and end on Friday! Thank you!" Patton was very chirpy for 8 a.m. .

Now, this was when shit hit the fan and our story gets exciting. Roman turned to Virgil enthusiastically. "I'm totally auditioning for Romeo." Meanwhile, all students in the near vicinity who wanted Romeo's role sighed in unison.

Across the lecture theatre, Janus turned to his friend Remus excitedly. "I'm auditioning for Julien! This is gonna be great."

"For fucks sake." Someone in the near vicinity groaned and his friend patted his back sympathetically.

---

Roman sat outside the auditorium, swinging his feet while waiting for his turn to audition. Walking down the corridor, Janus turned to Roman and picked up the chair beside him. He moved 6 feet away and plopped the chair down.

"So, Santos." He started, staring intensely at the auditorium door.

Roman found his shoes absolutely riveting. "Yeah?"

"What role are you auditioning for?"

Tapping the side of his chair, Roman said, "The lead one, obviously."

"Oh." Janus paused and turned to look directly at Roman. Sticking out his hand, he gave him a slight smile. "Well may the best one win."

Roman took the hand hesitantly. "Yeah Janus. Break a leg."

---

The large board outside the auditorium was a crowd favourite among students. It was constantly updated with rehearsal times, casting choices and upcoming performances, you know, the classic cool stuff.

Roman and Janus were the first to arrive at the board and glanced at each other before looking down the corridor with longing.

A boy with big circular wire framed glasses bounded down the corridor, an A4 paper in his hand. He waved excitedly at the two in front of him. "Hi Roman! Hi Janus! Waiting for results?"

The two nodded in synchronisation.

"Oh, well I got them here!" He got out a stapler and stapled the paper to the board, the sleeves of his turquoise hoodie large and dangly.

Romeo: Roman Diaz Santos

Julien: Janus Taylor

The two boys turned to each other in horror.

"Y - you mean -"

"You thought-"

"Julien."

"Romeo."

"WAS THE LEAD ROLE?"

The boy, Patton, looked at them in amusement. "Well, you both got main roles, so congrats! Rehearsals start in two weeks and I'll give you guys your scripts tomorrow. Have fun!"

He patted them both on the back before heading off, skip in his step.

Janus and Roman turned to look at each other in horror once more.

---

There is a moment in one's life, where they will reflect on everything they have done, and wonder what mistakes they had made to lead them down this path. As Roman flipped through the script Patton had handed him, that was exactly what he was doing. "You mean to say, I have to kiss this - this snake 5 times? Outrageous. Unacceptable."

They sat in a circle, everyone who participated in the play knee against knee. It was far too close for comfort and Roman was probably going to vomit onto the rest of the cast.

Virgil, who was in charge of lights and sound and sitting next to him, smirked. "Princey, this is literally a play about you two in love. 5 kisses are the minimum."

"And I am right here, you know." Janus looked slightly offended, leaning over and looking at Roman, who was a Virgil away. "And I'm not that bad at kissing. Ask Virgil. "

Virgil choked.

Before Roman could retort, Patton interrupted them. "Okay guys! Don't forget to practice your lines. Rehearsals start in two weeks so I hope you manage to memorise some of your lines."

As they left the auditorium, Roman whispered to Virgil. "Is Janus actually good at kissing?"

Virgil just shrugged.

Patton called after the leaving group. "Roman? Janus? Please get whatever feud is going on between you two and throw it away. You two need to cooperate so that we can all work together. Go bond over the next few days. Thanks!”

Bond? With Janus? Roman never wanted to hear those words in the same sentence ever again. There was an odd creeping feeling that grew in his stomach and crawled up his throat invasively. It was foreign and weird. Maybe an allergic reaction.

“Oy! Janus! We probably have to - to get to know each other better.” Roman could feel heat spreading from his toes all the way to his cheeks. Why was he blushing? He should not be blushing. “So, do you wanna go grab some food tonight?”

Janus’ eyes widened and he physically stepped back. He pointed at Roman, before pointing back at himself. “You? Offering me? Dinner?”

Roman shot a wink at Janus cheekily, before turning around to hide his blush. What was he doing? He never flirted with his rival. Was that even flirting? Tugging his hair down in a pitiful attempt to hide his burning red ears, he turned to Virgil.

Virgil wiggled his eyebrows mischievously, before elbowing Roman in the side. “Stepping up your game, Santos? Impressive.”

Roman blushed even harder, and looked away.

---

Roman had had his fair share of dates, if that was what you called a dinner like this, and he never knew what to say. He pulled out his best card.

“So...ya like jazz?”

Janus choked on his iced lemon tea. "Fucking Bee Movie?”

“Well, you do wear black and yellow 80% of the time, so you clearly like bees. Ergo, Bee Movie.”

An eyebrow was raised. “Impressive. You almost sound as smart as Logan.”

“I wish. He’s an absolute genius.” Logan was studying law, would probably become the valedictorian, and was dating Patton. Truly a legend.

“What’s your favourite animated movie then?” Janus asked. “Mine certainly is not the Bee Movie. There are loads of better Dreamworks films. I love Megamind."

“Oh, Megamind is really good! Choosing a favourite… that’s so hard though!” Roman bounced in his seat. Another movie lover? Perhaps, Janus wasn't too bad.

Janus laughed and the food must have been tainted or something, because Roman’s heart skipped several beats.

---

“Right! Let’s start at Act 1, Scene 5. You guys are at the party and this is when Romeo meets Julien for the first time. Action.” Patton, perched on the edge of a chair, announced, eyes shining with excitement.

Roman glanced over at Janus, clad in a hoodie and jeans. He was flipping through his script and mumbling lines to himself. It was their first rehearsal so they were still allowed to look at their scripts. It also happened to be their first kiss scene. Pink tinted Roman's cheeks at the thought. Kiss… Janus? The two words seemed so foreign next to each other, yet they felt as though they were meant to be. He couldn't stop his eyes lingering over Janus' light pink lips. He turned away quickly, glancing at his script. Romeo kisses Julien.

Romeo.

Kisses.

Julien.

Shaking his head, he looked up at the people on stage, waiting for his cue. He had to stop thinking so much. Thoughts were dangerous. Who knows where they may lead?

Roman wondered what Janus' lips tasted like.

Oh for fucks sake.

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Roman shoved his face back into the script, mumbling his lines under his breath and waiting for his queue to come on stage.

Stepping onto the stage, he channeled Romeo Shakespearean thoughts. It was a little hard in his button up shirt and jeans, but he was a professional. “What lord is that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” He gestured towards Janus.

A server bowed politely. “I know not, sir.”

“Oh, he doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems he hangs upon the cheek of night. Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear, beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows. As yonder lord o'er his fellows shows. The measure done, I’ll watch his place of stand. And, touching his, make blessèd my rude hand.” He spoke to the audience, but couldn’t help think about how accurate this was. Janus too, was really hot.

Roman spoke some more about how hot Julien was, and the rest of the rehearsal was a blur. He wasn’t Roman anymore. In front of this audience? He was Romeo, a rich lovestruck teenager.

Then suddenly, he found himself staring into Janus’ eyes, and he was Roman all over again.

Janus’ eyes, a deep, rich brown that gave Roman a steady look, pierced into Roman’s heart. He spoke towards the audience, but he sounded so genuine and sincere as he uttered his lines. “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.”

Roman gave Janus a soft smile, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Then move not, while my prayers’ effect I take.”

Closing his eyes, he leaned in and brushed Janus’ lips. It was hesitant, and soft, and he could hear Janus' quiet gasp, as if he wasn't expecting it. It was barely a kiss, more like a peck, but Roman could feel heat rushing into his cheeks. “Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.” He said, loud enough for the audience to hear him.

“Then have my lips the sin that they have took?” Janus cocked his head to the side, looking far more innocent and coy than Roman had ever seen him behave before.

“Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.” This time, Janus stood on tiptoes and kissed him. A proper kiss that made the butterflies in his stomach flutter, and Roman wanted to stay like that forever and ever. The scent of Janus' cologne made him giddy and he took Janus' hands, pulling him closer. On one hand, they were playing parts in a play, and on the other hand, everything felt oh so real, from the hoodie toggles that tickled his button up shirt to Janus' soft fingers gripping his hands tightly.

When they finally pulled away, Roman gazed at Janus' shining brown eyes in what must have been a lovestruck expression. He found his Julien.

---

"You BITCH!" Virgil slapped the study table violently.

"What did I do?"

"1 year. 1 fucking year of you making fun of me falling for a white guy and here you are, falling for the exact same white guy." Virgil looked vaguely irritated. "Even my mom was like," He put his hand at his ear like a phone and did an exaggerated Chinese accent. "Aiyah ah boy, I know you like boys, but an angmoh gao is too too much already. But don't worry lah, 4 months is not long, you still can leave him.” Do you even know what that means, you ass?”

He suddenly burst out in laughter. "This is great, it's my turn to poke fun." He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "What was the kiss like? Was it...spicy?"

"Weren't you there?"

"Yeah, but I want a personal recount. Actually, no. Give me the P.E.E.L. format. Point, evidence, example and link on Janus' kissing skills. Go."

"Oh, er. Janus was a… good kisser?" Roman didn't kiss much. "Um, point. His hair is all fluffy and I feel it brushing against my forehead, which gives me butterflies and this warm tingly sensation that ran through my body and gave me goosebumps. And he makes this noise whenever we kiss that is so cute, he honestly sounds genuinely surprised whenever it happens, even though we're following a script. And his cologne smells so good, oh my god I need to get the brand name, it's like kinda ashy, but not quite and it was a bit light, like a nice stroll in a forest. Holy shit it smelled nice. And-"

Virgil raised an eyebrow and paused Roman's tangent. "He wore cologne? He never wears cologne."

"Oh." Roman's eyes widened.

"Maybe…" Virgil wiggled his eyebrows. "He wore it for the kiss scene."

The heat that decided to congregate on Roman's cheeks was undeniable. "Why - why would he do that?"

"He likes you, ya dumbass. And he wanted to impress you, so he decided that hoodie plus beanie plus cologne was a good combo."

Roman stared at his feet. "It was."

Virgil stood up and patted Roman on the head comfortingly. "There, there, it's alright. White guys aren't all that bad."

"Oh fuck off."

Virgil bowed and shot Roman the finger. Truly a man of eloquence and class. Roman opened a picture on his phone from his date with Janus. Janus was smiling, and Roman could feel himself smiling too as he looked at the picture of Janus. Of his Julien.

#secret santa #sanders sides #janus sanders #roman sanders #ts #thomas sanders

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heyyyharry · 4 years

Text

Chapter 5: Wolves

(from ‘The Conman and the Maid’ Series)

…in which Harry thinks dealing with hungry wolves might be easier than dealing with an angry girl.

Word count: 10.7k 🔥

Warning: SMUT (but y’all already know), lots of fluff (if that’s what you’re afraid of) and angst (?).

AU: princess!y/n, conman!harry, prisoner!harry.

Series description: Y/N is a princess and Harry is a prisoner in her castle. With his help, she escapes from her arranged marriage in search of a happy ending, if there is one.

Wattpad link (original character: Reyna as Y/N)

A/N: Let me know what you think about this chapter and what you expect for the next one! For those who asked me how many chapters there would be in total, I honestly don’t know lmao. I just plan the story as I write and it has changed a lot from the first outline. But I will see your reactions and comments and decide if there should be a second book✌️ Enjoy!

Y/N used to fear the woods. She had heard many creepy tales about it as a child and there was nothing worse than a little girl’s imagination. As she grew up, however, she learned that there were worse fears than imaginary monsters. Real monsters were the ones you saw every day in human forms, and so she always felt safer when she was alone.

It was different with Harry. She had enjoyed his company more than any other, and the trip had been pleasant until he ruined it with a stupid kiss. Her mother had always talked about how magical the first kiss would be if it was given to the right person. “No matter how clumsy, simple, or crazy it is, nothing else would ever compare. And even if you’ve never been kissed before, you’d just know you would never experience something like this again with anyone else.”

Y/N kept replaying those words inside her head when she ran from the house. She could not believe she had lost her first kiss to someone who didn’t even want it. And the worst part was, she had felt exactly how her mother had described.

No, don’t be stupid, she told herself, you barely know this man. He’s still hung up on someone else, possibly the true love of his life. So don’t even think about it.

The howling of the wolves in the distance pulled Y/N out of her thoughts. She slowed her horse, feeling the darkness drawing closer and gradually engulfing the two of them. She and Thunder had gone pretty far from the village and she had no idea where they were now. The silvery moon was obscured by the full branches above and she had to squint in order to see the path they were on.

“I think we’ve gone far enough, boy,” Y/N told Thunder as they stopped to navigate. “If we die today, it’s Harry Styles’ fault.”

Thunder pawed the ground as if to agree and Y/N pulled the reins, turning the gelding around. She’d only run into the woods to be alone and maybe give Harry a good scare. She hoped he felt guilty about what he’d done. Being hurt by someone he loved was not an excuse to hurt someone else who cared about him.

She kicked her horse and followed the same path back to the village, head filled with many different scenarios for when she saw Harry again, what she would say or do to him. Maybe she shouldn’t say or do anything at all. Maybe a silent treatment was exactly what he deserved.

Satisfied with the thought, she raced faster. She could finally see the lights in Stefan’s house, thinking she would get there in no time. But all of a sudden, Thunder reared and neighed loudly. The princess was thrown right off his back. Her body hit the snow. She groaned in pain and struggled to sit up, but the first thing she saw was a big white wolf jumping right at her. She screamed. The beast howled and collapsed right on top of the princess as an arrow went straight into its head.

“Peach!”

“Harry!”

Stefan arrived on Lighting with Harry and shot down another one so Harry could get off and help Y/N. She pushed the animal’s body off her just in time another wolf jumped in. Thunder killed it with a hard kick in the throat, rearing and neighing aggressively to scare off the rest of the pack and protect his rider.

Y/N’s head was still spinning. Somehow she managed to draw out her sword and take down another wolf before Harry grabbed her by the arm and helped her get on Lightning’s back.

“What are you doing?!” she screamed when he let go. Stefan held her tightly as she attempted to jump off while Harry told them to go without him.

“Wait, stop! Stop! We cannot leave Harry!”

Her screaming was pointless. Neither of the men cared about what she said as Stefan kicked Lightning and rode off like the wind.

“Harry will be fine! Lightning is injured, we cannot risk it!”

He sounded so sure that she wanted to believe him. She had to believe him. She looked back over her shoulder, eyes filled with tears and kept telling herself, Harry will be fine. Harry will be fine. Harry will be fine…

Harry watched them go and quickly mounted the black horse. Thunder took a giant leap to free them from the wolves, but one was fast enough to catch up with them. It bounced at Harry. His blade went straight for its head, right as its sharp claws dug into his arm. Its body fell onto the snow, and Thunder kept prancing across the open field, back to the village.

Harry’s arm was covered in blood when he got back to the house, and he immediately went to the stable to rinse his fresh wound. The pain made him want to cry, but it was better to clean it than have it infected. Before going in, he tore a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around his arm. He didn’t want to let Y/N know he was hurt.

To his disappointment, she didn’t seem very concerned when he entered. She and Stefan were sitting by the fireplace. The room was too peaceful compared to the chaotic scene earlier.

Harry took a long moment to watch them from the door. The physical pain was nothing now that he’d seen Y/N shaking in Stefan’s arms. He knew she might not want to hear his apology; still, he owed her one. He just didn’t know where to begin.

“Were you hurt?” Stefan looked up at him.

“No,” he lied and quickly hid his wounded arm behind his back.

Stefan only gave a nod before turning back to Y/N. “You’re okay now,” he whispered. “I got you.”

She let go of a shaky breath, holding Harry’s gaze for no more than a second before looking away. “Can you get the cloak in my satchel for me? I’m cold.”

Harry assumed she was talking to him, so he walked over to the table and took her leather satchel. As he pulled out the cloak, something else fell out, causing them to freeze altogether. Y/N and Harry blanched as Stefan widened his eyes at the shiny object now lying on the floor.

“Is that...a crown?” He swallowed, gawking at his friend and then Y/N, but neither could give him a response. He let go of the girl and bent down to pick it up. After taking one long look at it to make sure it was real, he shot Harry a glare. “What have you done?”

“That was--”

“Mine,” Harry interrupted Y/N and ignored the look on her face as he told Stefan, “I stole it from Willem’s castle.”

“What?!” Stefan’s mouth fell open. “You fucking stole a king’s crown?!”

“It belongs to the princess, actually,” Y/N mumbled, eyes on Harry, who was studying Stefan’s expression to decide if he should go on.

“I stole from them and they had me locked up,” he said. “I was going to be executed but Peach helped me escape and in return, I promised to take her back to Theros.”

“Does it mean Willem’s men are after you two?!”

Harry replied with a nod. That was clearly not the answer Stefan was hoping for.

“We’re so sorry we didn’t tell you sooner,” Y/N said as the colours drained out of Stefan’s face. “But we’ll leave tomorrow. We won’t trouble you anymore.”

“You can’t. Lightning needs at least two more days to heal,” Stefan said, looking at Y/N and then Harry. “Don’t worry. I won’t abandon you two.”

“Thank you, brother. I owe you this once.” Harry smiled. He put the crown back into the satchel and handed Y/N her cloak, but it seemed like she didn’t need it anymore.

She wrapped both arms around Stefan’s neck, mumbling “thank you” as he chuckled and hugged her back tightly. Harry stood there awkwardly. He felt like he was interrupting their moment, so he left the cloak on a chair and quietly left. He didn’t think they noticed that he was gone, and he tried not to be upset, but he was. He was bitter, too.

He went back to the stable to check on Thunder and Lightning. He didn’t really have to though. They were doing much better than him, and at least they had each other. He was alone. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about what could’ve been if he hadn’t kissed her. He could’ve lost her tonight. He felt so fucking stupid.

After a moment of self-reflection, Harry returned to the house and stayed outside until the cold became unbearable and he had to come back in, only to find Y/N and Stefan cuddling on the mattress on the floor. They were fast asleep. Watching them triggered something in him, though he wasn’t sure what it was, it wasn’t something he was supposed to feel. So he tried to shut it down by pretending he was fine and decided to go to sleep.

He came to lie down on his side next to Y/N. He lay still while staring at her face, mostly her lips, where his lips had been, and then recalled the feelings he’d been dying to shake off.

By the time his eyelids grew heavy, he had memorised every feature on her lovely face. The rhythm of her breathing eased his mind, slowly and easily sending him to sleep.

Harry was so exhausted he slept until noon. When he woke up, Y/N and Stefan were gone. Stefan had left him some food on the table but he didn’t bother to touch it. He wasn’t hungry. He was worried.

He wasn’t a team player, but suddenly he hated how they had excluded him from whatever they were doing at the moment. Neither had bothered to wake him up so he could join them, even though he had literally saved their arses last night in the woods.

Not knowing what else to do or where else to go, he sat at the door and waited for them like a sad puppy. A few hours later, Stefan returned with a cart full of wood.

“Sleep well?” he asked, but Harry didn’t bother to answer.

“Where’s Peach?”

“I don’t know.” Stefan gave a shrug. “She was here when I left the house.”

“What?!” Harry was about to run when Stefan held him back by the arm.

“Don’t worry. She left her stuff here so she probably went for a walk or something.”

Harry gave a nod as his brows furrowed but he actually felt relieved.

“I’ll be staying with my cousin tonight,” Stefan said as Harry helped him unload the cart. “She’s pregnant and she needs someone to look after her and the baby while her husband is away.”

“Oh, it’s all right. Peach and I will be fine on our own,” Harry said.

“My cousin owned an alehouse,” Stefan added. “Rain said she had never been to one so I’m going to take her there. You could come with us if you want.”

Harry stopped as soon as he heard. ‘You could come with us if you want’? Since when did they become an ‘us’ and he became someone who just ‘came along’?

Inside, he was fuming, but he covered it up with a smile and said, “I’d love to come,” and didn’t forget to add, “just so you know, Peach cannot drink.”

“We’ll make sure she won’t.” Stefan smiled, completely ignorant of Harry’s attitude. “Watch the cart for me.”

“Okay,” Harry said as he ran his hands over his face.

As Stefan carried some wood inside, Harry took the chance to pull up his sleeve to check the wound. It didn’t look any better, especially in the daylight. The blood had dried but it was redder and aching more than last night. He didn’t know how long it would take for such a wound to heal, but he might not be able to hide it until then.

“How’s your wound?”

“Fuck, Stefan! You scared me!” Harry gasped as he tucked down his sleeve but it was no use as Stefan had already seen it.

Stefan arched an eyebrow at nodded his head toward Harry’s arm. “It looks bad. I’ll get you some herbs to put on it and it’ll heal faster.”

“Thank you.”

“I think if Peach knew—”

“It’s Rain for you.” Harry picked up his sword and strapped it to his waist, glaring at the poor fellow who had to correct himself.

“Sorry. Rain.” He smiled. “If Rain knew you got wounded, she wouldn’t be mad at you anymore.”

“No.” Harry shook his head as he put up a finger. “If you tell her, I would literally kick your arse.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want her to think I’m this...this weak bastard who cannot protect her,” Harry blurted as his eyes fell to the floor and his cheeks turned pink. It wasn’t like him to admit something like this aloud, but Stefan only chuckled.

“From what I saw last night, she doesn’t need anyone’s protection.”

“That’s what she wants you to think,” Harry said and turned to head for the stable.

Stefan quickly followed. “What were you two fighting about anyway? It seemed serious.”

“It’s none of your business.” Harry rolled his eyes.

Stefan didn’t give up. He rushed forward to stand in front of Harry and both men stopped before reaching the stable doors.

“I’m going to court her.”

“What?” Harry scoffed. “No, you’re not.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

“Neither was I.”

Confused and a little bit offended, Stefan followed Harry as he kept on walking. He didn’t wait for Stefan to ask and just continued, “I don’t think Peach is interested in romantic bullshit at the moment, brother. She’s going to Theros with me to reunite with her uncle. That’s where her heart’s at.”

“I can give her a good life here,” Stefan insisted. “It’s not safe for her in Theros nor Isolde. I’ll take good care of her.”

“You barely know her.”

“And you do?”

“Better than you ever will.” Harry exhaled sharply as he walked into the stable, towards Lightning’s stall.

The horse neighed happily when she saw him. Risking their lives for the same girl had really helped them bond, even though they didn’t receive the same treatment for it. Harry supposed Y/N had come to check on Lightning earlier that morning, but she didn’t even want to look him in the eye or bother to ask him if he’d been hurt too. Though he believed he deserved that, he was heavy-hearted still.

“She’ll have a family, Harry,” Stefan spoke after Harry had stopped giving him attention.

Without looking at him, Harry lowered his voice, “she has a family in Theros. She’ll be happy there.”

“What if her uncle is dead? Have you thought of that?”

The question froze Harry to the spot. He stopped petting Lightning and looked over his shoulder to meet Stefan’s worrying eyes.

“She hasn’t met him in so many years. He could’ve died in the war like my whole family, Harry. She’d be risking her life for nothing.”

Harry’s eyes fell to the ground. He was quiet for a moment and then squeezed his eyes shut.

“I said no,” he said. “A marriage doesn’t always bring a woman comfort and happiness. Peach grew up in Willem’s court so she knows that better than anyone.”

“Just because it didn’t work out between you and Kenny it doesn’t mean it’d be the same for everyone else.”

Stefan’s face went pallid as soon as he realised what he’d just said. He expected Harry to draw out his sword and stab him right in the guts. But surprisingly, Harry didn’t say a word. He already knew him being against Stefan courting Y/N had nothing to do with Kenny. And maybe it had never been about Kenny...

“Hey.”

The soft voice pulled their attention back to the entrance. Y/N stood there with her eyes wide, but she didn’t look at Harry for more than a second before turning back to their friend. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

“Where were you, Peach?” Harry asked, but she completely ignored him.

“Is it far from here?” she asked Stefan, who awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he saw the irritation on Harry’s face.

“No, we can go on foot,” he said and repeated the same question, “where were you?”

“I went to the market.” She smiled. “Everyone was so nice to me even though they don’t know me. I wish I could stay here forever.”

When Y/N walked out, Stefan hurriedly followed. He was grinning from ear to ear but Harry couldn’t even move his lips. What did she mean by that? Would she even consider staying here with Stefan if he asked? After all, family and love were two things she’d been searching for, and she could have both if she stayed.

He exchanged looks with Lightning who seemed to understand the situation he was in. She snorted and shook her head, making him chuckle.

“This is not about me. This is about Peach reuniting with her uncle,” he told the horse and rolled his eyes when she turned away. Maybe even she could tell he was just lying to himself.

“Are these people friends? What are they laughing about?”

“They’re drunk, genius,” Harry scoffed, making Y/N glare at him.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you’d never gone to a place like this.” Stefan chuckled as he took them to an empty table in the corner.

Harry rolled his eyes, pushing his way through the crowded room as he followed Stefan and got annoyed by almost everything he saw. He had always loved this kind of atmosphere, but he wasn’t in the mood to have fun tonight, not when Y/N wasn’t talking to him, and Stefan could pop the ‘big question’ any minute.

Why did he even care though? It would save him so much trouble if she agreed to stay here? He would make it home faster on his own, and once he’d crossed the South’s border, he’d be safe. Willem had no authority in Theros and, therefore, had no right to arrest him. That would be the perfect picture, and yet, one big puzzle piece was still missing.

He looked at the girl -- the burden he’d been wanting to get rid of since they met outside his cell. Now given a chance, why did he hesitate? If he’d been so sure it was simply lust that drove him to kiss her, then how should he explain this -- the way his heart started racing and him forgetting to breathe whenever their eyes met?

He had felt something similar with Kenny, but definitely not the same, never as intense. And suddenly he feared that he might never get to feel it again if they ever parted.

“I’m getting an ale.” He quickly got up. “You two want some?”

“I’ll have one, please,” Stefan happily said.

“Is it good?” Y/N asked Stefan, her eyes went round, making him laugh.

“It is. Do you want to try? Bet you’d love it.”

“Oh, then I’ll have one as well!”

Harry scrunched up his nose as he looked at her. “Peach, you cannot drink.”

“You know what?” She smiled at Stefan and stood up instantly. “I’ll get it myself.”

As Y/N made her way towards the bar, Harry and Stefan exchanged looks with each other. Stefan was rather confused whereas Harry was frustrated. He combed his fingers through his hair and flopped back down onto his chair.

“You should go after her,” he told Stefan, not even looking at him. “You want to court her, right? The least you could do is keep an eye on her.”

“Right!” Stefan plastered a smile on his face and patted Harry on the back. “Thanks, brother. I’ll be right back.”

Harry was finally left alone at the table to regret the things he’d just said. He should’ve come with her, and now Stefan was going to have a chance to shoot his shot.

“Fuck, I don’t care,” he murmured and crossed his arms in front of his chest, pouting like a little boy.

“Hey, handsome.” As a shadow towered over him, he looked up and wasn’t too surprised to see a familiar face.

“Hey,” he said in an indifferent tone, thinking the girl would take it as a sign to leave him alone. But she didn’t. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, resting her chin on her knuckles as she studied his hardened expression.

“Where’s Stefan?” she asked.

“Don’t know,” he answered, sounding rather bored, but she wasn’t offended.

“When did you get back?”

He stayed quiet this time. Honestly, he didn’t even remember her name. He had only met her once when he was here the last time. Stefan had said she was the most attractive girl in the village and he must admit it was true. Still, he’d turned her down for he’d been loyal to Kenny back then. Now? He didn’t really know...

“I’m so sorry about your girl.”

This time, she’d got his full attention. He turned to see her arrogant smirk and released a slight laugh. “Did Stefan tell you?”

“He couldn’t help it,” she said in a seductive tone while circling the back of his hand with her finger. “I have my ways with men.”

“Not all men.”

“Wanna bet?”

He could. After all, he was single now. He could take her to the back, bend her over and fucked her good. He hadn’t been with anyone in so long, so a night with this girl didn’t sound like a bad idea. But after thinking for a second or two, he said, “how about we talk for a bit?”

“Talking isn’t my thing,” she said, “but whatever pleases you, love. We’ve got all night.”

She kissed him on the cheek, got up and told him she’d be back with some ales. This is good, he thought, I’m going to have a great night, and nothing can stop me from having fun. But then his eyes travelled across the room to where Stefan and Y/N were, and suddenly it didn’t feel as good anymore.

The girl returned with drinks for both of them. They talked about random things and he had to beat around the bush whenever she came close to asking him questions about Kenny or his family. He had never been comfortable talking about them to someone he barely knew. Y/N had been an exception. He didn’t understand why, but it was always different with her.

“Who was the girl that came here with you?”

“A friend,” he said, wanting to turn around to check on Y/N and Stefan, but the voice inside his head told him not to.

“She’s really pretty,” said the girl, who was slightly tipsy now. “Is Stefan courting her?”

“No. Does it look like it to you?”

“Well, yeah? Why are you so offended?” She laughed and poked his dimple with her finger. “Are you jealous, handsome?”

“Not.”

“You soooo are.”

“Whatever.” He snorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m not having a debate with a drunk lady.”

“I’m not drunk. She is drunk.”

“Huh?”

The girl gave a shrug and Harry snapped his head to where her finger was pointing at. Stefan and Y/N were laughing loudly with a bunch of middle-aged men. Her face was bright red and Harry had seen her blush too often to mistake her being drunk for her usual shyness.

“I fucking told him not to let her drink!” He slammed his hand on the table, making the girl flinch. He was sure she commented something on his reaction, but he didn’t hear it as his jaw dropped and his eyes popped out.

Y/N was listening to Stefan’s story when one of the men took advantage of her distraction and groped her breast. She instantly snatched his wrist, bending his arm backwards until he started shouting in pain.

“I’ll finish your ale then!” said the girl as Harry got up, but he couldn’t care to reply. He swiftly made his way to Y/N before something worse happened like he knew it would.

“Touch me again and I’d break your arm!”

“This little bitch!”

Y/N caught the man’s other wrist before he could slap her, and before anyone could react, she thrust her knee right into his crotch and he collapsed onto the floor, grunting while holding his balls. Another fat guy stepped up but Harry was fast enough to take his hunting knife and put it to his throat.

“You lay a finger on the lady and I’ll slaughter you and your friends like pigs, ya hear me?” he murmured into the man’s ear, pressing the blade harder until he begged him to stop.

“Ay!” shouted the big lady behind the counter, “no fighting in my house! Take it outside!”

“I’m sorry, Harry—”

“It’s okay, Stefan.” Harry sighed as he shoved the man out of the way. He was angry at Stefan for being careless but he knew it wasn’t entirely his fault.

“You stay here with your cousin,” he told Stefan. “I’ll take Peach back to your house.”

“What are you doing?” the princess cried out when Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. “No! I’m having fun! Stop making me go! I don’t want—”

She let out a high-pitched scream when he picked her up and tossed her on his shoulder.

“Let. Me. Go!” She hit him with each word but he was unfazed.

“There’s nothing to see here, folks! Enjoy your ale!” he told everyone, carrying her on his shoulder and heading for the entrance.

Once they had left, the big lady, who was Stefan’s cousin, turned to him and said, “give them another month into marriage and they’ll eat each other alive.”

“What is wrong with you?!”

Y/N shoved Harry away as soon as he put her down on the bed. He sat down on the edge of it, eyebrows knitted together as he looked at her.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked. “You knew you couldn’t drink and still—”

“I was fine!”

“You caused a scene! We’re supposed to lay low!”

“A man touched me without my consent and it was my fault?!”

“No, it’s not,” he breathed, reaching out to touch her knee, but she turned her back to him. “Peach…”

“Leave me alone.”

“You know I didn’t mean that. That man clearly deserved it,” he said and placed his hand on the mattress right beside her. “I just...I just didn’t want you to get hurt. If anyone knew why we’re here—”

“I know, okay?” She slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder, holding his gaze. He didn’t know what he should expect her to say, but he was surprised when she told him, “I just wanted to feel like a normal person for once.”

And that was when it hit him. He was wrong. She hadn’t done those things to pay him back for stealing her first kiss. She just wanted to feel ‘normal’.

He wouldn’t understand what it was like to spend his childhood within high walls, but he knew it wasn’t pleasant. She had never got to do the things he and Stefan and the people in that alehouse had been doing their whole life. And now he felt like shit for thinking everything was about him.

He wanted to tell her there was no such thing called ‘normal’ in this world, and there was nothing wrong with her, but he stayed silent and gave a nod before moving his hand back to his knee.

“Can you get Stefan for me?” she asked.

He didn’t know why that question made him sad, but he managed to keep a straight face. “Stefan’s not coming home tonight. He’s staying with his cousin.”

“Oh…”

“I can stay here with you.”

“I don’t want you here,” she blurted, her forehead creased. “In fact, I don’t think I want to go back to Theros with you.”

“Peach—”

“I’ve thought about it. Either I stay here or I go alone. We can’t be around each other anymore.”

“You’re saying this because you’re drunk.”

“No, I’m saying this because you fucking used me!”

Harry’s mouth clamped shut as his eyes shifted to his lap. He already could have guessed that was how she’d been feeling since last night, but to hear her say it aloud really made him feel worse.

“You kissed me because you needed to get over another girl,” Y/N said, her voice was taut. “You stole my first kiss and called it a mistake, so you’re just as bad as the other men. Maybe Stefan is the same too. I don’t know him that well and I’m too afraid to find out.”

“Are you falling for him?” The question escaped Harry’s lips before he could hold it back. He looked up and saw her eyes widened at him.

“Why does it matter?” she asked. “So what if I am?”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t fall for him...please.”

Harry pressed his lips together, taking a moment to rearrange his thoughts but they were all over the place, and if he opened his mouth, he might say something stupid again.

“Why? What’s wrong with Stefan?” This time, her voice was low and unhurried. She was cautious, which made him mad, for she should never be cautious around him.

“No, he’s a nice guy. There’s nothing wrong with him,” he finally uttered as his eyes fell to the floor.

Y/N shifted and tilted her head to look at his face. “Then why?”

“Because…” Harry breathed. He had no idea what was in the ale, but he couldn’t seem to stop blurting out everything that was on his mind. “Because I don’t want you to.”

As she stared at him with the biggest frown on her face, he guessed it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

“You don’t want me, and you don’t want me to want someone else,” she said, her forehead puckered. “Why are you so selfish?”

“You’re drunk. We’ll talk when you’re sober.”

“I’m not drunk.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m not! Don’t believe me?”

Quickly, she got off the bed and picked up their swords from the table. He watched in confusion as she placed them on the floor to make a straight line and stood up, spread her arms and started walking on them.

“Can a drunk person do this?” she asked, walking back and forth about four times without losing her balance. “Watch. Can a drunk person do this?”

Harry let out a suppressed chuckled which stopped her in her tracks.

“Oh, you think this is funny?”

“Peach.”

“Stop it.” She shrugged her arm away as he attempted to grab her elbow. “I don’t like that name. You’re not allowed to call me that anymore.”

“All right. Would you prefer sweet Peach or grouchy Peach, because you could be both?”

She opened her mouth but was unable to utter a word as he closed the distance between them and cupped her face.

“If you don’t want to, don’t do it,” she warned him as he leaned in. He hesitated as if to think before running his thumb across her bottom lip.

“I want to,” he said. “Do you...do you want me to?”

She was blushing harder than before, not knowing what the right answer should be, but eventually, she gave in to temptation. She granted him permission with a nod, and he wasted no time to press his mouth against hers.

Their second kiss started off slow and became more eager as he ran his hands up her back and she had her fingers tightened in his hair. They moved backwards until he plopped back down on the edge of the bed. He held her hips as she straddled his waist, hands at the nape of his neck. Her body tensed when he put his tongue into her mouth, and he had to pull back and ask, “was that all right?”

She nodded, licking her lip. “Sorry...I’ve never—”

“It’s okay. You’re doing great.” He beamed and kissed her again.

It took a lot of courage for him to bring his hand between them and touch her breast. After what had happened tonight, he wasn’t sure if it was okay, but when she reacted with a moan, he went ahead and squeezed it gently, brushing his thumb over her nipple as it went hard under her poet shirt.

He was already sweating, as if there was a fire starting from the pit of his stomach and spreading across his entire body. He could blame it on all those months he’d been alone, but he was well aware that this was something he’d never felt before. When he touched Kenny like this for the first time, it had been sweet and tender, but this felt like all the best emotions converged at once and exploded like fireworks inside his chest.

“Harry…” Y/N tossed her head back as he started kissing her neck. Their skin was hot and slick. The fire painted the whole room red and orange, but he could see her whole face and her chest flush as if she’d spent a whole day in the sun.

When he moaned into her throat and bucked his hips, he didn’t even realise he was doing it. She had to place a hand on his chest to stop him.

“What’s wrong?” He freaked out, his eyelids fluttered as he brushed her hair out of her face. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head, her chest rising and falling against his as she sucked in a breath and pointed between them. It was only then that he noticed the bulge in his pants firmly pressing up against her centre.

“Fuck…” he cursed, resting his forehead on her chest. He could feel her body stiffen and knew this had freaked her out quite a bit. He was well aware that he was massive, and she had never experienced this with a man before.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

He cleared his throat, trying not to laugh so she wouldn’t feel bad for her innocence.

“A little, but it’s a good thing.” She still seemed confused, so he elaborated, “it only gets like this because...because I...um...because I want...”

Normally he wasn’t afraid to talk dirty to a girl who was literally sitting on his dick, but this one had never kissed anyone beside him, and he didn’t want to scare her by being too straightforward.

“Because you want me?”

The way she said those words while batting her long lashes made his cock bloat and twitch in his pants. Fuck, he wanted her. He wanted her so bad. He already imagined tearing off her clothes and fucking into her, but he knew he couldn’t have her that way. She was a virgin and they couldn’t go further than this.

“I’m sorry, love,” he said, taking her hips and shifting her away from his cock. Both of them were still blushing and catching their breath. “We can stop. It’s okay.”

“What if I don’t want to stop?” She bit her bottom lip, staring attentively at his mouth. “What if...what if I want you, too?”

Harry was tongue-tied. He felt like he couldn’t move a single muscle in his body so he honestly didn’t know what to do next. He didn’t expect her to be so bold, and he assumed it was the ale that had turned her into this.

What the fuck did they put into that thing?!

“What are you doing?” He caught her hands as she reached for his belt.

“I want to make you feel good,” she said quietly. He was still in shock to hear her say that, but she didn’t wait for him to speak and went on, “I’ve never done this before but--but they taught me how so I want to try.”

“Who taught you?”

Seeing the surprised look on his face, she gave a lopsided grin and nibbled on her bottom lip. “The ladies in the castle.”

“Fuck, they teach women this stuff?” He held her arms as they both dissolved into laughter.

She arched her neck for him to mouth at her throat. Her fingers were in his hair, her eyes were closed but she kept on talking, “they said every lady must know how to please her man, but I’ve never taken those lessons seriously so I might be awful at it.”

‘Her man.’ The words made him shudder, in a good way, and he didn’t know how to feel about that.

“But what were you learning that stuff for?” he asked, disgusted by the first thought that popped up in his head, “don’t tell me you have to please that bastard Egon--”

“Eww, God, no!” She snorted, shaking her head fast. “For when I’m married. If my husband is happy, then I’m happy, right?”

“You don’t have to be married to be happy,” he said.

“It depends on who you’re marrying.” She smiled.

Harry said nothing else as he caressed her cheeks. He thought about what Stefan had said earlier in the stable and felt a lump in his throat as he imagined attending their wedding one day. It was unlikely that she would say yes, but he didn’t know for sure.

“What is it?” Her voice brought him back to reality.

“Nothing,” he said, bringing their foreheads together and meeting her lips. He kissed her harder with more passion as if he feared he could never do it again, and only stopped when she reached for his belt again.

She was disappointed when he pulled her hands away and brought them to his lips. He looked up and gave her a grin. “You have no idea how much I want you. But I can’t make you do this.”

“Can we still kiss though?” she asked shyly. “I like kissing you. It feels good.”

“I like kissing you, too.” He nudged her jaw with his nose and put his lips against her throat. “Does this feel good?”

“Hmm.” She urgently nodded. “Harry…I’m so wet.”

“Fuck.” He buried his face into her neck, one hand squeezing her arse, the other resting below her ear. “Say it again.”

“I’m so wet, Harry, please...”

“Why are you wet?”

“You know why,” she whimpered, holding his shoulders tighter.

Harry flipped them over to get on top while she was lying on her back. Before she could speak, he asked, “do you trust me?”

She answered with a nod and he pushed his lips to hers again. She put both hands on her chest as he removed her skirt and tugged down her underwear. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

When she nodded again, he kept his eyes steady on hers and lowered his lips to kiss the skin under her belly button. Her first instinct was to grab his hair as her stomach tightened and she chewed on the corner of her lip. He held one of her hands and waited until she finally loosened her grip on his hair to move further down, draping her knee over his shoulder.

He put one palm flat against her stomach and dragged it down, allowing his middle finger to graze across her slit slightly. She gasped, her eyes rolled back in pleasure. Harry watched her expression tighten as he slipped his middle finger into her and she gripped his hand, her other hand still in his hair. His fingers curled so he could push in deeper.

“How did you get this wet?” he breathed.

Y/N was panting, her lips sucked into her mouth and he smirked before sliding his tongue slowly against her, never breaking eye contact as he tasted her for the first time. She smelled so sweet, like everything he’d fantasized about and even more, and now that he’d had a taste, he didn’t know he could ever stop.

She fisted his hair tighter and breathed through an open mouth as he closed his lips around her clit and sucked before slipping in a second finger. He closed his eyes, letting himself get lost in his actions. He fucked her with his fingers while working his tongue enthusiastically, slurping up her wetness. She tilted her head and arched her back, calling out his name.

His mouth froze as she flexed around his fingers. He cursed against her clit, his warm breath tickling her wet core and nearly sending her over the edge. He knew she was close when she started squirming and bucking her hips against his face.

“Harry!”

Her thighs clamped around his head as she cried out, lifting her back off the mattress. She held fistfuls of his long locks while he rode it out with her, emptying her before pushing himself up between her legs and crashing his lips against hers. When she moaned against his tongue, he knew she could taste herself on his lips, and the thought had him going crazy.

“How are you feeling?” he asked with a tender smile.

“I’m so embarrassed.” She laughed and covered her face, but he quickly removed her hand so he could kiss the tip of her nose.

“Why are you embarrassed, love?”

“I was loud.”

The way her nose crinkled made his heart flutter.

“Well, I loved how loud you were.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he said, brushing his lips against hers until she started smiling again.

They lay face to face for a long moment, until the comfortable silence became overwhelmed and Y/N was the first to speak.

“Why did you come to Isolde?”

If another person had asked that question, Harry would’ve refused to answer, but since it was her, he spent a second thinking.

“My family was poor, very poor. My mother was sick, and we didn’t have enough money to get her a good doctor. I tried working as a blacksmith like my father, but it didn’t really help us, so I had to find a faster but riskier way to get money. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m good at it. I flirted with the ladies and stole their jewellery, fed the men’s egos for their shiny coins. I ended up getting a bad reputation back home so I had to leave Theros and go somewhere nobody knew who I was, where I could do what I do best. I wanted to return as a rich man and help my family.”

“That’s very sweet.” Y/N’s face lit up with a smile as she brushed his hair away from his eyes. “Don’t worry. With all the gold I’ve stolen, you’ll be the richest in your village when you get back.”

“Wow, look at us. Two sexy thieves,” he joked and they laughed together.

He really wanted to tell her he didn’t want her gold. She could keep everything she’d stolen once they’d arrived in Theros. He just wanted to take her home so she could reunite with her uncle, and maybe keep her around, if she let him.

He wasn’t sure about it. It was too soon to say anything, but all he knew was that he was happy at the moment, and he didn’t want it to be over just yet.

“What?” She lifted one eyebrow when his eyes bored into her.

“No, I’m just--” He snorted. “I’m just thinking of your face when you—”

“Stop it!” She cackled and swatted his arm, making him hiss and wince in pain.

“Are you okay?!” She hurriedly sat up as he did.

“It’s fine.”

“Let me see.”

“No,” Harry protested, but she’d already taken his hand and pulled up his sleeve. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw his swollen wound. And Harry knew there was nothing he could say now that would convince her he hadn’t got it from last night.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“It’s nothing.”

“How could you say that?! Look at it!”

“I am. It’s fine.” He chuckled but his eyes stayed on her. He thought her reaction was funny and adorable at the same time, but he wasn’t going to say it as she might hit him again.

“What were you thinking?” Y/N grumbled. Harry said nothing as he pressed his mouth gently to her frown, trying to distract her but it didn’t work. “I was so fucking scared last night! You could have died! I knew at least you’d get hurt.”

“I thought it was heroic.” He popped his dimples, amused by how much it annoyed her. “Come on, Rain. Don’t be mad.”

“What did you call me?”

“Rain.” He gave a toothy grin. “You don’t like being called Peach, right?”

“Well...I changed my mind.” She crossed her arms and stuck up her nose, making him chuckle as he took her hand and kissed it once.

“Forgive me, Lady Peach.”

She rolled her eyes, smirking and scooting closer to take a better look at his wound.

“I wanted to ask if you were all right last night, but I was too proud to let you know I was worried,” she whispered and looked up into his eyes, “I thought you might not make it back and I was so scared.”

“I was scared too,” he admitted.

He guessed she might assume he was talking about being eaten by the wolves. But maybe it was for the best if she didn’t know he was scared of losing her.

When Y/N woke up the next morning, she was alone in bed. She wondered where Harry had gone, but then she heard his voice outside talking to someone and decided to go see who it was.

She stepped out into the sun, eyes squinted as she leaned against the door and saw him chatting with two girls outside the stable.

“Hey.”

“Stefan!” She flinched and turned around as Stefan gave a smile and apologised for scaring her.

“When did you get back?”

“Not so long before you woke up,” he said. “How are you feeling? Did you and Harry make up already?”

“Um...yeah…” The princess shyly tucked a strand behind her ear as she stuttered, “you could...you could say that.”

“Good. It felt weird that you two didn’t talk to each other,” Stefan said, but Y/N didn’t pay attention to reply.

“Who are they?” She furrowed her eyebrows, pointing to the girls Harry was talking to.

“Oh, those girls? They work for my cousin.”

“At the alehouse?”

“Yeah.” Stefan shrugged. “After Harry had left with you, they kept gushing about how ‘sexy’ he was when he threatened those men. I’m not surprised they came to see him first thing in the morning.”

“They both think he’s...sexy?” She tilted her head, pouting a little as she watched the three of them laugh together. It was obvious that those girls wanted Harry, and Y/N had never felt jealous until now.

“Harry gets that a lot from the ladies,” Stefan said. “He’s been with many women, but Kenny was the only one he’d ever loved. Poor Harry. He must be devastated.”

Y/N crossed her arms over her chest and grounded her jaw. “So...he’d never cared about the other girls he’d been with?”

“Of course not. But I’m sure they didn’t mind.” Stefan scoffed as he lifted his shoulders. “It’s probably different where you’re from, but it’s normal for most of us to lust after someone and not want to commit to that person. Harry can always separate romantic feelings from sexual pleasure, and Kenny was the only woman he’d slept with and had feelings for.”

“Oh...” Y/N muttered, feeling her heart gradually shrinking.

She used to think sex was something special between two people and only men like Egon would treat it as insignificant. Now that she knew most people were like that, it hurt more than she was willing to admit. She couldn’t risk falling for someone who might not ever feel the same. She had never tried, but she knew she couldn’t separate love from lust. With her life at risk, she didn’t want to deal with another heartbreak.

Nervously, she waited for the girls to kiss Harry goodbye to approach him. His smile grew twice as big the moment he saw her.

“Good morning!” he said happily. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, did you?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Yeah. I woke up before sunrise but I didn’t want to wake ya.”

Y/N pressed her lips together as Harry took a deep breath. He waited for her to speak, but she didn’t, so he reached out to touch her hair, and she reacted quickly by stepping back, leaving him dumbfounded.

“Let’s talk about last night.”

His face fell instantly. “Oh, shit! I’m so sorry if--”

“No, no, don’t be.” She gave a timid smile. “I enjoyed it.”

Though he was smiling back, she could tell he was impatiently waiting for what came after, so she took a deep breath and went straight to the point. “I think we should both agree that it shouldn’t happen again.”

Harry blinked fast, he didn’t know what to say. It must have been as awkward for him as it was for her, so she was reluctant to go on.

“Yeah, it’s--” Y/N inhaled while fidgeting with her own fingers. “I know that people tend to separate romantic feelings from sexual feelings, but...I don’t think I can. And I--” She paused suddenly, looking up and meeting his worrying eyes. It was crazy how she could take some time to acknowledge how handsome he was, but she had to keep herself together and remember what was right for her. It was certainly not him.

“I don’t want to fall in love with you.”

Harry was taken aback, and so was Y/N herself. She didn’t think she could say it aloud, but now that she had, she didn’t regret it. She hid her trembling hands behind her back and continued, “this could get complicated if we took it any further, so maybe we should stay friends, because I really enjoy having you around.”

Harry pursed his lips as his forehead puckered. She didn’t know what was going through his mind right now, but the look he was giving her was so intense she could hear her heart beating in her ears.

“Okay,” he said at last, “let’s stay friends.”

He took it better than she’d expected. And for some reason, she was relieved and irritated at the same time.

Harry seemed to notice the way she kept chewing on her lip, so he joked, “did you mean you could fall in love with me?”

“Just take it as a compliment,” she said and gave his shoulder a nudge.

The corners of his mouth quirked up as he kept staring at her.

“What?” She chuckled.

“Can we still kiss?”

The question left her speechless, but she managed to keep her composure and cleared her throat. “No. But we can cuddle, like last night.”

“That works for me,” he said, flashing her a grin.

When silence had taken over, Y/N was so glad Stefan decided to interrupt. He came up to them with some flowers, and before Harry or Y/N could ask him what they were for, he gave them to her.

“I went to the woods this morning and got you these.”

“Oh my, these are beautiful!” Y/N sighed happily and clutched them with both hands. “Thank you, Stefan. I love them.”

Harry watched Y/N admire those flowers and felt his stomach tighten. Something didn’t feel right, especially when he saw how happy Stefan was with this little achievement. Although he’d agreed with her that they should only be friends, he hated to see Stefan showing her affection and her liking it.

Last night had been the happiest he’d been in a long time. And even though they had been tipsy and so unable to control themselves, he didn’t regret the things they had done. If they took it further, however, things might get complicated. He couldn’t do complicated. So this is for the best, he told himself.

But still, he couldn’t help but wonder if she remembered what he’d said about not wanting her to fall for Stefan. He assumed she didn’t, and it bothered him more than it should.

“Where are my flowers?” Harry jokingly asked Stefan. He hoped humour would cover up the fact that he was in a bad mood, and somehow it worked as Y/N took a flower and put it behind his ear.

“Here you go,” she said, smiling. “So pretty.”

The way she bit her lip and gently fixed his hair made his heart flutter and he didn’t even realise he was grinning like a fool. He watched her walk back to the house, thinking to himself, maybe this could work. Maybe they could be friends.

The wound on Lightning’s leg had healed and it was time for them to continue their journey to the South. They woke up at dawn the next day to prepare the horses and gather their things.

Stefan offered to take them to the next village, for he also had to go there to deliver wood and pick up a few other things. Y/N expected that they would spend the night at a friend’s house or at least in an inn, but Stefan told her straight away that they would stay in a brothel.

The princess had never thought one day she would have to visit a brothel. But consider the fact that she had lost her first kiss and let the same man who’d kissed her eat her out, anything could happen at this point.

“But is there no other option?” Y/N asked as she rode Thunder side by side with Harry.

Stefan rode his cart ahead of them as he turned his head and told the girl, “trust me, Willem’s men won’t be looking for you in a brothel.”

“Why?”

“Why would a maid go to a brothel?” Stefan scoffed.

“Peach would,” Harry joked and Y/N immediately kicked his leg as he broke into laughter.

They travelled for an entire day without stopping and managed to get there before sunset. They left their horses outside and followed Stefan into the two-storey house which looked decent on the outside, but dark and filthy on the inside.

Y/N walked close to Harry, hugging his arm and burying her nose into his coat. The foul smell of the place made her want to throw up, and she wondered how some men could spend every night at a place like this instead of home with their wives.

“How am I going to get laid if you keep holding me like this, Peach?” Harry joked, smirking as Y/N punched his shoulder and shoved him away. She knew a joke was just a joke, but the thought of him with one of those women, or anyone other women for that matter, made her skin crawl.

She walked faster to catch up with Stefan. He headed to the long counter where sat a big lady whose breasts were so large and clothes were so tight, Y/N wondered how she could even breathe. This woman must be the madam.

“Russo! Styles!”

“Wait, she knows you two?”

“Of course I know them, dear,” the madam told Y/N while sizing her up. “Are you one of my new girls?”

“She’s my friend. Her name is Rain,” Stefan said. “Rain, this is Leslie, the owner of the place.”

“Nice to meet you.” Y/N gave a small smile, but Leslie was too busy eyeing her up and down to return a smile.

“Oh, well. If you change your mind, Rain, we’d be glad to welcome you to our family,” Leslie said, making Harry snort and Y/N smacked him again.

“Is this your first time in a whorehouse, love?”

Y/N nodded, already blushing.

“Aww, look at that puppy dog face.” Leslie puckered up her thick lips and pressed her palms against her chest. “I like this girl. She’s so shy.”

“Not always,” Harry said, causing Y/N to shoot him a glare and he quickly locked his lips with an invisible key and tossed it over his shoulder.

“These boys used to come here all the time. They basically lived here for a while when they were fifteen, sixteen.” As Leslie proudly patted the men on the back, they both groaned and begged her to stop, but she didn’t. “Well, not here here. I used to own a brothel in Theros but I had to move away because of the war. It was bad for business. I’m telling ya, men would rather kill then pay to get fucked and I feel sorry for them.”

Leslie rolled her eyes and leaned forward, her breasts nearly spilling out of her tiny corset. “Thank God, my boy Russo still visits me once in a while. Styles, on the other hand, chose the boring life and stayed loyal to one girl. What was her name again? Candy?”

“Kenny.”

“Whatever.” She gave Stefan a wave. “Can you imagine? Sticking your dick in one hole for the rest of your life? Yuck.”

Seeing how frightened Y/N was, Harry stepped closer to her.

“Leslie is actually very nice,” he whispered into her ear while stroking her back.

But then Stefan spoke, “Harry and Kenny are not together anymore.”

“Stefan!” Harry cried out. “You need to stop telling everyone about my business!”

Despite Harry’s reaction, Leslie was overjoyed. She clapped her hands and shook her fists in excitement. “Perfect! There’s no heartbreak a threesome cannot solve! I’ll get you two best whores for tonight!”

“Actually, I--”

“Gerta! May!” Leslie shouted to the back and two beautiful women rushed out to meet their new potential customer.

“That’s very kind of you but I’m not here for this,” Harry said as the girls pulled him away from Y/N, running their hands all over his body.

Y/N freaked out when one of them pushed Harry onto a chair and straddled his waist as the other got down on her knees by his side to kiss his neck.

“Woah, woah, ladies!” he hissed when the girls removed his belt. The memories from two nights ago flashed before Y/N’s eyes and she turned away, fuming with jealousy.

“What about you two?” Leslie asked, switching her fingers back and forth between Y/N and Stefan. “I’m not sure if any of my girls is into ladies but--”

“No, no, no, we just want to rent two rooms for tonight,” Stefan said, giving Y/N a small smile as she seemed a bit terrified.

“No whore, just room?” Leslie asked.

“No whore, just room,” Stefan confirmed, laughing nervously.

“Well, we only have one room so--”

“We’ll take it,” Y/N said and snatched the key from Leslie’s hand before she could put it on the counter. “Thank you. And just to be clear, Harry is paying for those girls. We have nothing to do with that.”

“Oh...okay.” Leslie widened her eyes as she lifted her shoulders in a half shrug and got up from her chair. “Come on, sweets, I’ll show you the room.”

It was late, almost past midnight, and they still hadn’t heard from Harry.

“Rain, go to sleep,” Stefan said as he propped up on his elbow and found Y/N sitting on the bed, eyes fixed on the door.

The room was rather small and there was just enough space on the bed for one so he’d given that spot to her. She felt bad that he had to sleep on the floor while she got the bed and didn’t even want to use it. But it wasn’t her fault, it was Harry’s. It was all his fault for making her wait.

“What’s taking him so long?” she asked while fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

Stefan lay back down, closing his eyes again. “Can’t you blame him though? He hadn’t slept with a woman in so long. Now he’s got two.”

“Well, I think he won’t spend the night with them,” Y/N said, but there was no response, and five seconds later she heard Stefan snoring softly.

She hugged her knees to her chest, still watching the door. Her eyelids felt heavier and heavier, and just before she was about to drift off, she heard footsteps ascending in the hallway.

That must be Harry, she thought and quickly climbed off the bed and lay down on the floor next to Stefan. She snuggled up to his side and pretended to sleep. Though she knew it was childish and stupid, and if Harry found out, she’d be so ashamed, she just had to know how he would react to her falling asleep with Stefan. She wanted him to be jealous, just like she had been.

She stilled as the handle shook gently and the door finally creaked open. Harry stepped in. She closed her eyes before he noticed that she was awake and heard the door shut and his footsteps stop right beside her.

She tried to steady her breathing, but her heart was pounding as she didn’t know what he was going to do. Surprisingly, Harry bent down and picked her up. She kept pretending to sleep as he carried her in his arms to the bed and gently laid her down on her side. She thought he would leave her there and sleep on the floor with Stefan. But then he lay down behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his chest.

“I know you’re awake,” he suddenly spoke.

Y/N froze at once. Though she couldn’t see his face, she knew he was smirking with his eyes closed. And dear God, she had never been more embarrassed.

She took a moment to calm down and finally broke her silence, “you smell like those girls. Did they let you use their perfume?”

Harry responded with a quiet laugh. Why was he laughing? Was it because she sounded bitter? Did he think she was stupid? A thousand questions popped up in her head in that one split second before he answered, “that’s why I need to cuddle you, so I could smell like you.”

She could feel a smile in his voice and she tried to keep her composure by biting her bottom lip.

“I didn’t sleep with them,” he added. “I was drinking with Leslie.”

“I don’t care.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you were waiting for me to come and cuddle you or anything.”

“I wasn’t!” Y/N’s mouth fell agape as Harry released a low chuckle.

“Whatever you say.” He sighed, holding her tighter. “Go to sleep, Peach.”

While his chest was rising and falling steadily against her back, Y/N could feel his heart beating in sync with her own. She bit her lip to hold back a grin and turned her head slightly to look at his face, their lips were just an inch apart. She almost betrayed her own words and asked him to kiss her again.

“Good night,” she murmured.

Harry peeked with one eye, his dimples popped as he saw her face. “Good night, love.”

In her dream that night, Y/N saw her and Harry sitting in front of the fireplace, surrounded by complete darkness, no ceiling or walls or even a floor. It looked like they were just floating, and yet she felt warm and safe with his arm around her shoulders and him reassuring her that it would be all right.

When he kissed her, it felt so real, as if it was real. She didn’t know it was a dream until she couldn’t feel his lips nor his touch anymore.

“Harry?” she asked, pulling back to look at his face as it suddenly twisted, fear darkened his eyes.

“Wake up, Peach,” he said, his voice echoing. “Wake up! They’ve found us.”

“Who?”

“They’ve found us. They’re here.”

Her eyes shot open, and the first things she saw were the dark grey ceiling and Harry’s face looking the same as it had been in her dream.

“They’re here, Peach. We have to leave.”

“Who’s here?” she asked when he pulled her up and hurriedly gathered their things.

“Willem’s men. They’re searching every room for us.”

Y/N blanched at her father’s name and suddenly someone banged on the door. She and Harry froze, holding their breath as the banging got louder and more violent.

“Open the door! Prince Egon’s order!”

#tctm series #harry styles smut #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #princess!y/n #conman!harry #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfics #harry styles fanfictio #harry styles fanfictions #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles wr #harry styles writing #harry styles series #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst

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auroraemoon · 4 years

Text

How to Nurture the Fledgling Aesthetic-Vintage Soul in you:

(** I am continually adding to this list **)

1. Explore secondhand bookstores for old, pretty editions of novels you may or may not have heard of.

2. Light candles in your bedroom/bathroom, and read by candlelight.

3. Write during a thunderstorm, and why not make it extravagant, even a little flowery, and if it is poetry, scribble it on parchment.

4. Dress in turtlenecks, plaid coats, and occasional bright socks (but keep the socks hidden-yes, be a mystery, in real life and on social media).

5. Go on, make yourself tea in pretty teacups (you can find plenty in secondhand stores!)6. Listen to classical and/or mediaeval music (with a lute and possibly a hurdy-gurdy) as you sleep/read/study.

7. Button up shirts are a must (and if they have a high collar, all the better.)

8. Stay late at a university library studying topics that no one else would. Delve into the realm of philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, poetry—broadening ones mind is never to be frowned upon.

9. Avoid the pretension and arrogance that can often accompany academia — it hurts no one to be kind, gracious, mindful, and humble.

10. Elegance and confidence walk hand-in-hand, and if mingled with the right amount of nonchalance, mystery, and whimsey, then you are halfway to wherever you want to go.

11. Certainly, you can debate metaphysical theories, spiritual oddities, theological conundrums. Be kind though.

12. One day go and pick wild flowers and sketch leaves as the honeyed glow of the sun kisses their tender skin—memorise all the colours of the forest.

13. Watch dawn arrive, tis the colour of a dark purple-red wine, a starless sky, adore her quiet arrival—give thanks.

14. I know you just want to wander a thorn-covered castle by candlelight, write a letter as a storm thunders outside, and drink red wine as you read poetry by a crackling fire. If you can, why not.

15. Sometimes you might need to be coy or charming - it can all add to the mystery.

16. Remember how you craved knowledge when you were young, you once dreamed of adventures, of 'slaying dragons', of mystery, of overcoming mortal peril.

17. Buy an expensive journal and write in it the things that set your soul alight, all those existential suspicions that there is something more waiting out there for you to find it; all those spiritual questions you would dare not ask anyone.

18. Yes, the nights are marvelous. The full moon, with her burning white embers and the gathering of her velvet darkness. This also is to be a place of contemplative beauty.

19. That awkward smile you give your friends, yeah, I know, they don't really understand you, do they. Big libraries, big forest, big ideas, big dreams, big words and messy handwriting that tries to capture some of it alive.

20. "Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most." - F. Dostoevsky. You may not have been this way before, have no fear...the angels are cheering you onward.

21. One of the skills you have is called daydreaming. From that psychotic state all good things flow.

22. Read some gothic literature, by candlelight.

23. The sound of wind and rain is calling you to leave your warm and cozy inside, and venture out into the wild and dark—and even there lies a metaphor for a light shining in a dark place.

24. On earth we are briefly gorgeous. Literature, ancient and modern, reveals it so like no other—surround yourself with books and words and poetry, all the fierce passions of the world bound in ink and vellum. They are eternal conversations with anguish and desire.

25. You long for the gentle strokes of your pen hitting the page as imaginations subtle hues rush through your mind. Your heart swells at the library of ideas now outlined in the mists, a bonfire of words, skyward ember fly , flickering thoughts on seraphim wings at the final push - and look at you - you've written a single sentence, you've conquered an Everest.

26. Delicate fairy lights wind their way along your bookshelves, an enchanting bouquet of light to draw your eyes to a thousand ideas.

27. In the morning you're still tying your shoelaces, it is a ritual, an act of faith, you often ask yourself: "Where are you even going?"

29. You like fonts, late nights you are sprawled in front of two monitors researching the aesthetic qualities of the dips and curves in a modified serif.

30. You are a combination of dark and light, a rain stained window, a poem tapping out some internal crisis—the vintage soul finds solace here among the soul's quieter, more desperate hymns.

31. Reading books in the shade of trees with the melody of a harp in the distance would be exquisite. The keeper of the flame lingers in such moments.

32. Perhaps you would like to go on little night picnics—bring fairy lights, imaginations, dreams, stories. The moon would love to hear your conversations, and she might just come down and tell you a story or two (Moon is like that).

33. Every day I wonder why I'm not living in a dark castle with secret passageways and rooms filled with books. Finance is one issue, howbeit a small one #sigh

34. "Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world." - Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. But you already knew that, didn't you.

35. You're upset, I understand. You cannot go to sleep and wake up fluent in Latin, Elvish, or with an Irish accent.

36. Freshly baked lavender and lemon cake are necessary at times.

37. Folklore, legends, mysteries, secret poetry hidden behind castle stones, quiet on the outside, but filled with enough seismic activity that you might just create a new planet, complex theories about many things that never come out quite right, renaissance murals line the walls of your soul, spilling your deepest secrets to a bird at your windowsill. Sleep deprived, but still conscious. A mix of Clair de Lune and In the Hall of the Mountain King.

38. Pinpricks of stars on a velvet night, glints of dust floating on a ribbon of sun-streak, droplets of rain weaving down a windowsill. All of this, and you, are the same. Behind your eyes and coffee stained pages lies a whisper and an ache of what you may become.

39. Buying that new special pen.

40. Buying that new special notebook.

41. Trapped inside is a wild inner celt staring over the cliffs of moher, waiting for a ghostly lover to return from the sea.

** This is apparently a work in progress...

Current mood: aesthetic, bookish, nostalgic - LOL aesbookic (Some were gleaned from various blogs, bust mostly my own)

#dark acadamia aesthetic #light academia #dark academia #vintage #bookworm #library #literature #poetry

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anxiouslyfred · 4 years

Text

The Abandoned Path

today while walking the dog we went through a tiny wood near us that well, I’m blaming Remus for and here’s the story of how.

Summary: Remus goes to a wood from his childhood on a short stay in his hometown for nefarious unspecified purposes. Finding it overgrown he starts clearing it.

/\/\/\/\

Roman and Remus had spent many days playing in the woods near them. They'd raced through on their way home from school or gone on quests together throughout their childhoods.

Times change though and as they grew the brothers argued more and visited the woods less until Remus was visiting their home years later having little to no contact with his brother.

If Janus had asked him then Remus would be trying to find the druggies that his parents always claimed operated from the woods. He'd have said something about how they might aid in their current scheme and then thrown in the reports of a dead body having been found in those woods a few months ago. All reasons that the people who knew him now would believe could take Remus to a tiny bit of woodland near a shopping centre.

Really though he just wanted to walk the route he still had memorised and remember those days. Days before Roman decided that playing the villain would always be the wrong choice after listening to his friends talking about their church. Days where they would make potions and be witches and learning what would poison them was simply for their safety while playing rather than nefarious knowledge to hold.

None of that mattered after Remus got to the woods though. He'd slipped away while they were shopping to the well worn entrance he remembered, only to find it completely overgrown. The only sign that there had ever been a pathway were the wooden poles that had always indicated it.

A short walk around the woods, debating over just pushing through the overgrowth and letting his feet form the path and Remus found the route the path now took through the woods. The presence of it only settled Remus's determination to follow his and Roman's original path through, straight to the park they could always explore further.

There was a thrill in batting back the thistles and branches of bushes grown too high, and delight in shaking off the stinging nettles that clung to his trousers, even the sting of ones where he'd left tears in his clothes couldn't put him off. That only lasted for about 5 minutes of the walk and it was a thrill equal to the heists his days were now filled with.

There was a familiar clearing then, filled with a lot more rubbish than there had been in his childhood, but definitely a landmark they'd called everything from a castle to battlement to even a monastery occasionally. To properly follow the route he remembered from there was another overgrown path although sense would have taken the cleared route away from it. Sense always did sound too much like Janus for Remus to actually listen to it.

Off he went again, pushing through bushes and branches, laughing with joy over barely knowing if there was a path that he was following beyond his remembered one now. It felt like the kind of madness everyone says you should leave in childhood or your teenage years but Remus spent half of his days chasing that feeling now.

By the time he was tumbling out to the exit of the woods, thankfully still kept clear and usable Remus had decided he wished the path was used more often, as well worn as when he grew up so perhaps the nieces his parents said he had could have adventures like he had with Roman at some point. All he needed to do was work out a way for that to start as any path that fell out of use would become overgrown again and again no matter who clears it, especially when Remus wasn't likely to be in the city for more than a month.

/\/\/\

“Why, may I ask, have you been sneaking away to clear a path through the woods?” Janus's voice cut through the silence as Remus worked on trimming the bushes near the entrance to his path.

He paused looking up and around for a moment before replying. “Heard there are some snakes in this wood and thought you might like a pet.”

The glance through the cleared space was enough for his explanation to be disbelieved but he wasn't in the mood for psychoanalysis today. “I got sidetracked after that playing with the nettles. Then I got bored and decided to tear things up instead.”

“Spirits save us from your boredom. Did you just decide to make a path after tearing everything up?” Janus rolling his eyes had Remus cackling.

“Nope, I just wondered how far I could get before this heist is over. If I go a little further in it might be enough to have randomers trying to walk through a path overgrown with nettles. My sneaky trap to hassle the people around here even more after I leave than while I'm here!” Remus threw out. He'd already realised that even with their team taking the time to failsafe every part of the plan he wouldn't get the old path fully cleared before they left. “They'll get stung so many times, can you imagine?”

He's ignored for a moment as Janus pushes past to actually see how far the cleared path went since the entrance still looked over grown except where Remus had been cutting. “Delightful, you are once again causing chaos in the least profitable way imaginable. It wouldn't even be frowned upon by society as this appears to be improving the access to wild spaces. Regardless of your rather pointless task, a decision has been made over when our plan will be enacted. Do I need to remind you of the actual reason we're in this town if this collection of trees has claimed your focus? Is it even big enough to be called a wood, I wonder?”

Remus decided to just carry on working as all the information over their heist was repeated, now with added time frames.

/\/\/\

“Why do I have my triplets insisting that I clear a path through our old wood Remus? Especially since there's already a perfectly usable one?” Roman's voice was not the one Remus had expected to hear when answering his phone, but it did make him laugh.

It took a few moments for him to calm enough to speak. “How would I know Brother Dearest? I've ne'er e'en met the wee things?” Curse Janus for listening to Shakespeare audio performances on their drive to their current location. Remus always did pick up amusing accents far too easily.

“Because Dad said you'd been in town and somehow an entrance everyone hear had forgotten once existing has miraculously started to be cleared before ceasing for no known reason? Or how about because Logan, if you remember him from school, honestly was surprised that I hadn't already been doing so before querying whether I had bleached the front of my hair?” Roman at least was sounding amused by the situation as seriously as he had tried to begin the call.

“Dull, boring, barely any room for adventure on the new path. Why not let your children enjoy the wild adventures we revelled in? I bet you could even get their help in clearing the old path with those stories you love telling.” Remus countered. There could have been hundreds of changes in his brothers life since the fell out of touch but he'd be damned to heaven before believing Roman could ever stop re-enacting his favourite stories as he tells them.

Roman finally chuckled along with him, “I suppose it is a Prince's duty to care for the adventurous youth.” He declared. “Although if you fancy coming home to help you are more than welcome to stay with my family for a while.”

The offer was a surprise that Remus didn't know how to react to in the moment, ending the call after a few more moments reminiscing over past adventures. His brother had yelled at him once that he'd never meeting his kids because he'd be a bad influence but apparently Roman's views were changing.

Perhaps he would soon find a way to accept the offer of a visit to stay with his family.

#remus sanders #remus centric #roman sanders #Janus Sanders #creativitwins

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09yards · 5 years

Text

Don’t Call Me Angel / NCT secret agent au | read on ao3 here

pairings: Kun x Ten, Johnny x Taeyong, Doyoung x Jaehyun, Mark x Donghyuck, Lucas x Renjun and small Hendery x Yangyang

note: I changed the pairings from the original ones slightly and apologies for that but I think the story will work a lot better now. Anyways, enjoy (:

“I do not need some six-foot, macho-man, babysitter, Kun. I think I’ve made it perfectly clear I can take care of myself and we both know I work better alone.”

“Ten, when I came over last night I found you crying on the sofa with an almost empty bottle of expensive white wine over Grey’s Anatomy. You cannot take care of yourself.”

“Derek died Kun, gone , dead , never coming back! He left Meredith alone, and she’s pregnant! Think of the babies! Anyone with a heart would find that upsetting.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t have a heart then,” Kun tisked, “And seriously, what is your obsession with babies? Can you move on from that soon—you keep mentioning them around Taeyong and he keeps whining about how cute they are too. Babies are weird, squishy things, they are not cute . They cry and scream and you can’t just leave them to their own devices. It’s so irritating .”

“Jesus, you’re such a bitch. You’re my best friend and I love you but god Kun, you can be so mean . But we’re getting off topic—I don’t need a damn bodyguard!”

“He’s not some bodyguard or babysitter Ten, he’s going to be your partner —your equal, if you will.” Kun stood up from his seat and walked around his desk to lean against it, gaze firm and business face on. “The two of you will be working together . He happens to be extremely skilled in the combat side of things and yes, he is much taller than you and appearance-wise he seems more fitting to the role. And his looks match your work a little more than yours do. He’s ex-military, his file says a Navy SEAL if I recall correctly. He will make sure you stay out of trouble while you charm and flirt your way through missions. He will allow me to guarantee—or at least somewhat reassure—your safety.”

“I sincerely apologise that I’m disrupting your usual conduct Ten, but I won’t apologise for wanting to make sure you’re safe. After what happened with Sicheng, neither me nor Taeyong are willing to take any risks when it comes to the safety of our agents. Even Doyoung is being assigned a partner for his field work. Taeyong is letting him know later, and so I give it—” Kun paused to give a quick glance to his watch and then the clock ticking against the wall. “—about forty minutes until the coffee table in the reception is smashed into several hundred thousand pieces, again . Remind me to ask Jungwoo to order a new one when we’re finished.”

Ten let out a soft chuckle, “I’m sorry too, by the way.” Ten took a deep breath, his voice was much quieter than normal, almost as if he was embarrassed. “I get where you’re coming from, I’m just not used to working with any other people aside from Doyoungie or Hendery in my ear, let alone working with anyone in the flesh. The only person I ever had as a partner was you, way back when we were still rookies.” Kun flashed him a small smile in return, an acknowledgement of some sorts of their rookie days. The days before Kun left.

“It’s going to be an adjustment, but I think it’s a good thing. Frankly, even though you probably won’t see it at first, you and Youngho will get along great. He’s coming from a placement in Berlin. He was originally part of the European branch actually, and he’s also bringing three other agents with him—Jung Yoonoh, Lee Donghyuck and Liu Yangyang. I’m not sure what code names they’re being assigned as of yet. Youngho is fluent in both Korean and English, and apparently his Mandarin isn’t terrible so you can pick what you like but keep in mind who your in-ear is. Don’t speak in a language they don't understand. That will remain the rule.”

“You mean if my in-ear is, for some reason, not Hendery or even Mark. You do know that there’s been only one case out of the four hundred and ninety-six missions I’ve worked where my in-ear hasn’t been one of them? And while we’re on that, please never assign Jeno to me again—he was awful but , in all fairness, I think he was just scared of telling me what to do.” Kun rolled his eyes at the fact Ten has memorised his exact number of missions and watches as Ten had visibly relaxed once again, kicking his feet up onto the arm of the sofa he was lounging on. His eyes widened as he tried to remember the information Kun had told him. “Wait, European? Kun did you finally find me the hot British agent of my dreams? I’m ready for my romancing. Okay, that’s a lie, but who knows.” He shrugged.

“No. I don’t know the logistics of how he ended up in Europe but he’s American, from Chicago—the place that, according to him and a quick google search, has really good pizza and is always windy. I wasn’t really interested in his life story, I was more interested in his stats on his transfer application. If it’s any consolation, Irene and Seulgi swear by him—gave him glowing references from their time in Paris and said he’s easy on the eyes, whatever that means.”

“Ah, Kun dearest ,” his voice dripping with sarcasm at the added endearment, “How would you rate his attractiveness?”

“I don’t know, Ten, I don’t pay attention to these things. Besides, I’ve yet to meet him in the flesh. I’ve only seen the pictures from his profile that were provided.”

“Bullshit! Just because you’re all work-focussed and don’t spend time on tinder doesn’t mean you can’t objectively determine if someone is attractive or not. What do our years of friendship get me if you can’t even tell me whether or not he’s ‘future partner with mutually beneficial relations material?’”

The apples of Kun’s cheeks turned rosy at that, a light blush washing over him as he visibly stiffened slightly. Ten always found it amusing that even with their years of friendship and his own distinct lack of a filter, when it came to most discussions—particularly his nonchalant approach to sex and the attractiveness of someone—Kun would flush instantly like you’d just caught him with his pants down. Unfortunately, Ten knew exactly how Kun reacted to being seen with his pants down, a price that comes with having been friends for many years and Ten’s old habit of showing up at Kun’s apartment unannounced. It’s safe to say Ten avoided him for several weeks after the incident, and now he always makes sure to knock or text.

“He—” Kun faltered, “—I guess, objectively speaking of course, I might agree that he’s attractive. Although he seems like a romantic so don’t get your hopes up. God , I need a drink before I talk about this with you and the tantrum Doyoung is going to throw—oh dear.”

“No worries, I can help you with that!” Ten jumped up from his seat, walking over to the large bookshelf filling the length of one of the walls of Kun’s office. He rummaged behind several boxes of files before yelling, “Found it!” and returning with a bottle of soju. Kun doesn’t want to know how or when it ended up in his office, but Ten seems to have gained psychic abilities because he counters that, “It’s a need-to-know basis and you don’t need to know. But you never know when you might need a bottle. It’s handy to keep one around.”

“Have you got glasses hidden somewhere too?”

“’Fraid not. We do, however, have mugs so that’ll do. Shot glasses are a pain anyway. You have to keep refilling them and with a mug you don’t.” Ten promptly poured the soju, filling the two mugs and whispering “It’s our little secret,” before sitting down once again (with his feet up on the arm rest again, Kun couldn’t help sneer a little—he was a fan of the no shoes on the furniture policy, but Ten doesn’t agree to it at home, so why would Kun expect him to at the office?).

“Stop glaring at me, Kun. I’m not putting my feet down. Now , finish what you were saying about my partner .”

“I really don’t know much else about him,” Kun sighed, “he requested that two of the other agents also received a transfer and the third was given a non-negotiable transfer. He got into some trouble while in Berlin so they had to pull him immediately, but even I wasn’t given the details. I do know that he speaks Mandarin, so you can have someone else to practice with when you feel like, and I’m sure Xiaojun will be roping him into the Chinese-only nights in no time.”

“Kun, you’re supposed to be the source of all information. How do you know so little? Oh quit it, I know you only know what the profile tells you blah blah blah.”

“You can tease Doyoung about this partner, if that makes you feel any better. I don’t know much about him either but he’s another ex-military poster boy, Yoonoh could pass as a high-end model too. According to Seulgi they call him ‘everyone’s first love’. He has dimples that are apparently ‘ to die for ’ and if the photos on his profile are anything to go by, he has some rather... prominent abs. Taeyong described them as washboard,” when Kun had asked him to explain, Taeyong had patted the younger’s head and told him that it was late and he was going to head home. “I practically had to wipe the drool off of his face after he spent far too long looking at the pictures attached to the profile. Who even attaches multiple shirtless pictures to their profile? We only need one for identification, not multiple for Taeyong to fawn over. Jesus , pass the bottle, would you?”

“Kun it’s not even 5 pm, I think one mug of soju is enough daytime drinking while at work, especially if the new people are arriving today.”

“Need I remind you that I’m your superior, pass the bottle so I can drown out that picture. He kept making jokes about how I never date. I was young and hot once you know? I had fun, I got around, I wasn’t old and boring like I am now.”

“Kun I do not need or want to know how your sex life has deteriorated. I lived next-door to you in college—that’s all I need to know. You’ll find someone when you’re ready. Who knows, maybe you’ve already met them.”

“Have you thought about my offer to live with me or on-base yet? I don’t like the thought of you living alone… not after everything.”

Ten raised his eyebrow at the comment. “I haven’t yet but I’ll think about it. Now , tell me about Yoonoh.”

“The only other thing I was told is that he’s supposedly quite the charmer and sweet talker, however he’s always declined any advances made towards him according to Irene. He seems to have a naturally flirtatious personality, though.”

“Ahh, brilliant! Poor Doie is going to fall in love with him so quickly, I can’t wait . I hope Yoonoh’s going to flirt with him. He isn’t going to have a clue what to do.”

“What you’re saying would sound sympathetic or supportive coming from anyone else's mouth, but from yours it just sounds downright sadistic.”

If Kun hadn’t known Ten as long as he had, the eerie smile Ten is currently adorning would’ve been alarming but alas, once you’d known someone long enough, and you’d risked death together and saved one another’s lives more than a handful of times, and a large part of your job involves killing other people, it takes a lot to creep Kun out these days.

“Hey, your forty minutes are up now and no smashed coffee table yet—“

As if someone of a higher power was listening in, the sound of glass shattering echoed through the ground floor of the building along with several screeches from whoever was milling around at the time. This wouldn’t be the last time Doyoung would throw whatever piece of furniture he could get his hands on off the balcony, launching it to the floor below and consistently nailing the coffee table in particular.

“As you were saying Ten?”

Ten pouted and mumbled, “Never mind.”

There was a sheepish knock on the door and Kun yelled a quick come in as a response.

“Sorry to bother you guys, just thought I’d let you know, Kun, but I’m putting the order for a new coffee table in now and a new office chair. Is there anything else you need?”

“No that’s all, thanks Jungwoo.”

“Wait? An office chair too?” Ten sat up a little, waiting for a response.

“Yes, Ten,” Jungwoo sighed, “That’s what Doyoung threw off the balcony—may need to bring a contractor in to fix the dent in the floor, but I think a new table will cover it enough that it doesn’t need to be done anytime soon.”

“I forgot you’ve never actually witnessed Doyoung throwing various belongings off the balcony. The money he costs me is ridiculous.”

“I’ll leave the two of you to it. I doubt it’ll be long before they make their way down. You know what Doyoung’s like.”

“No worries, thanks Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo had only just made it back to his desk where Xiaojun was waiting with a fresh cup of coffee when Doyoung flung Kun’s office door open, bypassing the now sheepish looking Jungwoo and closely followed by an exasperated looking Taeyong.

“For the last time, Taeyong, no! It’s not happening! I work alone, alone ! Do I need to spell it out for you? It’s a five-letter word, of which the meaning is to be by oneself, or shall we take the definition from the Oxford Dictionary where they define alone to be: one, without any other people or two, without the help of other people or things.” Doyoung took a second to catch his breath in between sentences, “I don’t need someone looking out for me, I look out for me. I’m the quartermaster, I head up our entire technology department.”

He jabbed a finger in Taeyong’s direction, “I’m regarded as one of the best amongst all the branches of NCT. Yes, I hacked my profile again to look. You really should get someone to make it less easy—oh wait, you can’t because I’m the only one who can because it’s my job. I am not some newbie field agent who doesn’t know how to reload a handgun in less than ten seconds. You made me go through the training just like everyone else, I can tell you that I did not engage in hand to hand combat on a daily basis with Lucas for shits and giggles. No one trains with Lucas for fun aside from Renjun but its Renjun. That kid scares me, he may be pint-sized but if Ten has taught me anything, the short ones can bite and they usually have high pain thresholds but not-so high patience and I’m not ready to die just yet. Honestly, I’m getting a tad concerned at the number of people we employ that appear very cute but just happen to be capable of snapping your neck or blowing your head off.”

“Are you done yet?” Taeyong sighed, impatiently tapping his foot against the floor. He was fully aware that Doyoung wasn’t actually angry, he wasn’t death glaring either Taeyong or Kun, and aside from the coffee table no major damage had been caused. It was typical Doyoung, whine until someone gives in.

“No. No, I am not finished. Thank you, Taeyong.”

“Oh my, please continue, Doyoung. Everyone here wants to hear your pathetic complaints.” Ten’s trademark sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Oh Ten, don’t act like you weren’t whining to Kun about this less than an hour ago.”

“At least I haven’t been bitching to Taeyong for an hour and thrown a fucking chair. You can be so dramatic Doyoungie.”

“Dramatic? Me? Have you met yourself?”

“Both of you, be quiet!” It was rare of Kun to yell at someone, to be angry with them—let alone full-fledged shouting in the confines of his office. “Taeyong, please may you check with Jungwoo on when the new agents will be here? Ten and Doyoung can join the meeting as well if they stop insisting on acting like children . Apparently, they seem to have forgotten that we may all be friends here, but while we’re at work, I am their superior and what I say is final.”

“Sorry to interrupt again Kun, but the new agents are here. Xiaojun is with them in the conference room and asked me to get you as soon as possible. He seems to find them rather intimidating.”

“Right, nevermind Taeyong and thank you Jungwoo, we’ll be right there. You and Xiaojun can feel free to head home. I’ll need just one of you to round up whoever’s still hovering and point them in the direction of the dorms—I don’t want to be interrupted when we give them the tour. Have a nice evening, and I will see you tomorrow.”

“Will do, thank you. I’ll be in for the conference with Japan first thing in the morning. See you then!” With a meek half-smile, he hurried out of the office once again. Jungwoo wasn’t a stranger to the tension of the office, so he knew very well that Kun rarely shouted, and he wasn’t for testing his patience.

“Okay then. Do you two still want to act like toddlers with your whining? Or can we all go and introduce ourselves to the new agents with the manners and respect we would expect to receive from anyone else?”

“Yes, Kun. Sorry, Kun.” They both mumbled simultaneously, standing up and straightening their clothes.

“Ready, Yong?”

“After you.”

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