#they even tried to widen her ‘feet’ and give her a solid base to get her to stand up right but her head is so fucking massive that it fails

[nyaagolor]

Just got the Susie plush and I am genuinely blown away at how hideous it is

#mod vex #no main tags I’m just shouting into the void but like. Holy shit this plush is UGLY #the Taranza one is like endearingly uglycute but THIS? hooooooly shit #She’s got way too much going on proportion wise to really get right in a plush so I do understand but like. I am fascinated at how bad it is #also they like. rounded out her ear-wing thingys so they look incredibly phallic and I hate that #they even tried to widen her ‘feet’ and give her a solid base to get her to stand up right but her head is so fucking massive that it fails #i have yet to balance her she just falls over every time unless leaning against smth #also her body shape is identical to like. a giant pencil grip. squeezable #anyway it should be obvious that she is my absolute favorite in this plush line #what an absolute creature of a woman. A wild beast. a deformed being straight from the earth #when you go to hell its her flat face and soulless eyes staring back #this plushie personally spat in the eyes of god. I love it more than words

[legends-of-apex]

Can I get prompt 12 with ghostrider from the fluff list💀🔥 thx

Of course you can!!! This is a long one lol, here you go ☺️

Prompt 12. “Can I kiss you?”

Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider x Reader (fluff)

Rating: T (mild suggestiveness, injury detail)

Word count: 3,000

Summary: You’re a SHIELD agent tasked with going on an undercover operation with Robbie. Things very quickly spiral out of control and you have to resort to desperate measures to keep cover.

Flicking a switch on the vast navigation console littered with all kinds of buttons and levers, you turned the mic of your comms on, “Quinjet now on autopilot. We’ll be back at base within the hour.”

“Copy that. Don’t have too much fun on your way home.” Came Daisy’s voice in your ear and you shook your head at her antics before turning off your comms for the journey ahead.

You ducked out of the cockpit and headed towards Robbie. He sat, car keys flipping in his hands as he stared off into space. You dumped the bag of medical supplies at his feet and handed him a tissue.

“It’s okay really, give it a couple hours and it’s all good.” He sat with his legs open, bouncing one knee as he sat but you saw the way he winced when he moved too much. He was trying to play it cool, like he hadn’t been shot.

You couldn’t help but smile just a little. What he thought you were asking him to do with the tissue you had no idea, “It’s for the lipstick,” you confirmed, and he let his fingers ghost over his lips seeing the slight pink residue that it left on his fingertips.

“Come on, let’s take a look at that bullet wound,” you said as you snapped on a pair of rubber gloves.

Accelerated healing or not, he still had a bullet lodged in his chest.

That was your lipstick you’d transferred onto his lips less than an hour before and he’d almost entirely forgotten you’d even been wearing lipstick when you kissed. Which was strange given how much the colour caught his eye when first he’d seen it earlier that day before leaving for the mission. But he’d be the first to admit that he could get used to wiping it from his face.

He looked down at the crumpled tissue in his palm and saw that pigment peppering the stark white, eyes unfocused as he thought about the kiss. How your lips felt so nice against his.

He thought about how you still wore that same lipstick right now. And even if it was a little smudged he’d have loved nothing more than to taste it again. He liked seeing you with lipstick on, a sight that hadn’t graced his eyes until today. But he liked it even more when it was smudged, knowing that was because of him.

You got it bad, Reyes.

You crossed your arms over your chest and sighed, waiting for him to snap out of his daze and help address the problem at hand. When he didn’t after a few seconds, worry seeped into your pores. Just how much blood had he lost?

“Robbie?” You called his name softly, almost tasting the sound on your tongue, “You feeling okay? Apart from you know…” the bullet lodged in his chest? A seemingly mild inconvenience to him right now.

He blinked as if shaking some stray thought from his head and apologised before shrugging off his leather jacket and grabbing the hem of his shirt, bunching up the material so you could see the wound on his chest.

Your breath caught. Just not for the reasons it should’ve.

“See?” He asked, and to be fair the wound was healing but the skin was still torn and the bullet was definitely still in there.

You pressed a gloved finger on either side of the wound, “It still hurts?” You asked, trying to see how far in there the bullet was lodged.

“Like hell, but it’ll be healed by morning once I get it out.”

“Sure, let's do it.” You pulled down the seat beside him and slid right in it.

“You don't have to do that-” you cut him off before he could finish.

“You took a fucking bullet for me, Reyes! The least I can do is get it out of you.” You didn’t mean to snap at him, truly you didn’t but seeing someone getting shot for you has a way of shortening tempers, “Sorry, I’m just trying not to freak out right now.”

The mission was a disaster. But at least you managed to retrieve the files you were sent to find, even if they were now stained with Robbie’s blood. And his blood. His blood was everywhere. On his shirt, his chest. Even your palms beneath the rubber gloves.

He took your hand where it rested limply in your lap and gave it a soft squeeze. The look on his face was one of concern, a line drawn between his eyebrows. He didn’t say anything, he never was any good with using his words. But he hoped his actions told you precisely what he wanted to say: It’s alright, you’re okay, I’ll be okay.

He was comforting you. He was the one who’d been shot and he was comforting you.

He arched his brow, silently asking if you were alright and you let out a breath, his warm touch comforting and you remembered then just what you came back here to do, “It’s not me I’m worried about.”

And his stomach lept.

You helped him out of his shirt, carefully tugging it over his head so he wouldn’t have to aggravate the hole in his chest even further. The material now lay in his lap and his chest was once again bared to you. You tried not to let yourself get distracted, truly you did. But he made it very, very hard. His skin was smooth and sweeping. His chest broad and firm.

You dared not look any lower than that, not when you were about to be pulling a bullet out of him.

“So, we gonna talk about it?” He asked as you sterilised some tweezers, eyes catching yours for just a second.

“You mean you getting shot for no reason?” You asked, knowing damn well that wasn’t at all what he was referring to.

“No reason? Chica, I’d much rather be in pain for a few hours than you be dead.” He looked up at you again briefly, frowning at the thought, “But nah, I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about that kiss.”

You swallowed. Hard.

Almost hoping he’d forgotten just so you didn’t have to have some kind of terribly awkward conversation. You dabbed away some of the excess blood from his chest, noticing how he winced slightly at the cold of the alcohol wipe on his inhumanly warm skin, “What is there to talk about? It was just for the mission.”

Oh that was one massive lie and he saw straight through it.

“Was it?” He asked, “Cause you could’ve fooled me.”

Why you were landed with quite possibly the least stealthy of all the team for a stealth mission you had no idea. Instead they sent you with an untrained, unkillable man who’d never been on a mission of any kind before in his life. And he’d just taken a bullet to the chest for you.

That wasn’t quite true. You knew exactly why he was sent on this mission with you. He wasn’t known to anyone outside of his neighbourhood or SHIELD. You were both the least likely or the team to be recognised on an undercover op mixing with civilians.

Yet here you were, running for your lives.

You ran along the hallway, turning right where Daisy in your ear told you to go. As you rounded a corner you felt yourself being shoved forward and before you knew it you were in a closet of some kind, Robbie at your back.

“They were gaining on us, the Rider sensed them coming.”

You nodded, exhaling a breath. Now there were people on either side of that hallway and you were stuck in the middle of them in a closet. With Robbie.

You flung your head back when you sighed, the back of your head colliding with his chest. “Sorry,” you mumbled, not realising how close he was to you. It was a small closet to be fair.

“What do we do?” He asked, his voice a half whisper and sounding even raspier than usual. A detail you absolutely did not need to notice under such sure circumstances.

“The only thing we can do,” you swallowed thickly, “Wait it out.”

You turned around, trying to get a better look around to see if there was anything of note in there that you could use to put pressure on his wound. There was nothing. Just boxes of files and a few bottles of bleach. So you did the only thing you could think of and tried to tear the hem of your dress. But the layers were thick and there was no obvious seam.

“You’ve got enhanced strength right?” You asked, taking the bottom of your dress in your hand and holding it out towards him, “Tear it off.”

“What?” He asked, the whites of his eyes catching the light that streamed in from the hallway.

“Just the underskirt!” So he did, taking the material between his hands and splitting it like it was paper. The perks of being possessed by a demon, you supposed. He got a decent chunk of your underskirt ripped off completely, the back of his hand grazing your thigh as he did. And you knew it was an accident. Of course it was. But god, did you wish it wasn’t.

He handed you the torn material and you folded it quickly before pressing it to his chest, blood already soaking it through. It was warm beneath your fingertips.

“Guys, they’re closing in on your location.” Daisy's voice came through your comms, “You better think of a good reason to be there, fast!”

“Shit…” you cursed under your breath, trying to think but it was hard to with your close proximity to Robbie and the stress of the situation. You couldn’t go out guns blazing. It was too public a setting. You had to keep cover but how?

“Can I kiss you?” He asked.

Your eyes widened, looking up to him in disbelief. It took a second to realise why he thought that was a good idea then it clicked. It was a solid plan. There was a party going on a few rooms over so the two of you could just be a pair of very horny stragglers hiding in a storage closet for some privacy. It was an undercover operation after all, that’s why you wore a dress in the first place.

So you kissed him. Your hands pressed up against his chest as you did. And he let out something resembling a moan at the gesture, posture relaxing as he reciprocated.

Finally. Fucking finally. Weeks of stolen glances and flirting came to a head. Only this was for the mission, it wasn’t real. The release of tension never came, it only built up even more.

But he kissed good. A hand on your cheek cradling it so gently that you could’ve mistaken this for the thousandth time he’d held it. And his lips were so soft. So warm. So very, very warm. He moved against you with such a tenderness, a benevolence like nothing you’d never felt and if it wasn’t for the boots approaching outside you would have let yourself thoroughly melt into his arms. He held you close, the arm around your waist sat gently, just barely ghosting over your form.

You were both getting so caught up in each other that when the door opened and light washed over you, you barely had to pretend to be startled at all.

“Um, excuse me? What are you doing here?”

Thankfully there was no flicker of recognition on the guard’s face. No accusations falling from his mouth . The only one they’d gotten a good look at was Robbie and he’d had his head on fire at the time, the demon’s reaction to him getting shot in the chest when he stepped in front of you as you rummaged through files. You couldn’t make a scene, so against the demon's usual way of doing things, you had convinced him to run.

“Oh we’re so sorry! We were just trying to find somewhere to be alone, you know.” You joked. You made a good show of it too. The collar of Robbie’s jacket gripped firmly between your hands and your dress disheveled like he’d been trying to tug it off. Some of your lipstick was even smeared across his mouth.

The guard sighed and lowered his torch, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” You both agreed, all too happy to oblige him when he suddenly stopped you, an arm shooting out to block the doorway, “Just one thing before you go.”

You could feel Robbie’s grip tightening on your waist, his body tensed and ready to strike. You kept your hands on his chest to make sure the jacket stayed open and hid the distinctive white lines they might have noticed from the previous encounter. Your palm rested directly over the bulletwound he’d sustained just in case.

“Sure!” You answered, happy that Robbie was letting you do all the talking given how on edge he was. This was his first undercover rodeo, you supposed.

“Have you seen a…guy with a flaming head?” The guard huffed and shook his head, realising how crazy it was now that he said it aloud, “Nevermind, just get outta here.”

And so you did, your heels in one hand and Robbie’s hand in the other as you quickly shuffled out of the storage cupboard and past the guards that hunted for you.

Cover: maintained. All it cost was a bullet to the chest and a kiss.

“What do you want me to say?” You asked, catching his eyes for just a second too long.

“Whatever you’d like to say.” He shrugged and then immediately regretted it given the tweezers currently embedded in his chest.

“You kiss good.” You blurted out. There was absolutely no point in denying it. He was a good kisser, a great one even. But maybe that was just hormones talking. The flirting between two of you was getting to the point of borderline hilarity before the mission. Even Coulson had noticed.

He chuckled, “I do, huh? You too.” He smiled then, a faint but genuine smile. And you could’ve sworn that the faintest tinge of red covered his cheeks.

“Yeah, of course you do. No need to be modest, I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of practice.” He looked at you like you were joking, “What? You’re a good looking guy. There’s no way you haven’t had practice.”

“I haven’t. That was my first in a long time actually.”

“Yeah? How long?” You asked. At this point you were keeping him talking to make sure he wasn’t tense or focusing on you pulling the bullet out of his chest, but you were also just a little bit interested in the answer.

“Since before I left high school. If that even counts.” You looked at him shocked and he laughed a little, “Yeah, turns out having a demon inside you doesn’t exactly make it easy to meet people. What about you?”

“Since working at SHIELD? No, none at all. Not really any time for relationships, especially not with civilians.” You finally had a good grip on the slug and slowly tugged it towards you. Robbie winced and groaned in pain so you took his hand and let him squeeze out some of the tension.

“Almost…done!” You slapped the bullet into a metal dish and immediately pressed some gauze to the wound, applying pressure to it to stop the blood from leaking so much.

His hand came to cover yours as he blinked away the pain. Rubbing his shoulder you looked to him for any signs he might faint, “You good?” You asked and he nodded, eyes locking with yours. You kept your hand on his chest and he kept his covering yours, his gaze never faltering until you looked away to rummage in your bag for some painkillers.

“There some rule about fraternising with fellow agents or something?” He asked and you caught on to his meaning immediately.

“Not that I know of, why?” You asked, dropping two pills in his hand.

“Cause I wanna know how much trouble I’m in when I ask if I can kiss you again.”

He popped the pills between his teeth, grabbing a bottle of water to down them with. His eyes never left yours as he did it, glinting with mischief. And you couldn’t help but watch his Adam's apple move so smoothly as he swallowed.

“Oh baby, you’re about to be in all kinds of trouble. Just not with SHIELD.” He liked the sound of that. It was written on his face clear as day as his eyes darkened, “And you can kiss me whenever you like…Just not here,” you jabbed your thumb towards the lense mounted on the wall of the quinjet, red light blinking and all, “Cameras. And the rest of the team can probably hear us too.”

The last thing you needed was a live stream of the two of you making out on a monitor at HQ.

“Oh, we can. Loud and clear.“ Came Coulson’s voice over the intercom. You could practically hear the smile in his voice as he said it.

“Another time then?” He asked with a grin, honestly delighted in the fact that you considered kissing him again at all.

But god did he want you, he wanted you so badly and you knew it. He knew you knew it.

And oh, how fun it was to tease him. To dangle the proverbial carrot right in front of his nose. You wanted him too but it was even more fun making him wait and so beyond worth it to see the way his jaw clenched.

“Another time,” you confirmed

Tagging: @icy-spicy @spring-soldier @theamalgamateplaywright (the horny for ghost rider squad ☺️)

#robbie reyes x reader #robbie reyes #ghost rider x reader #ghost rider #agents of shield #aos #my writing #fic

[marauderundercover]

This Side of Normal Chapter Three

Previous

AO3

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is tired. She’s tired of emotional terrorists and liars and classes with a teacher who cares more about keeping the peace than teaching. She’s also just plain tired. Taking a long swig of coffee, Marinette jumps slightly as someone flounces down next to her. Wearily glancing over, she frowns at the look on her best friend’s face. Her mind runs a million miles a minute as she searches for the reason for the look on his face. The conversation on the roof with Jason flashes in her mind and she frowns, realizing why he looks so sad.

“Adrien-” She starts, but he shakes his head.

“I know, Mari. I know he’s our best suspect but...it doesn’t make it hurt any less.” He says, slouching so that he can lay his head on her shoulder. Marinette sighs in response

“You’re gonna get in trouble sitting back here, kitty.” She mumbles, trying not to laugh at the absolutely adorable pout on his face that forms once she’s done talking.

“It’s worth it. I hate sitting by Lila.” He grumbles, the sad look on his face breaking Marinette’s heart.

“I-Well, maybe Mme. Bustier won’t notice.” She offers with a small smile. The smile falls almost immediately as a loud gasp rings throughout the room.

“Mme. Bustier, isn’t Adrien’s seat in the front row? Has the seating chart changed again?” Lila asks, her voice wobbly with tears. “Do I- do I have to sit by myself?” She adds. Marinette groans and drops her head onto the desk.

“Adrien? Why don’t you come back to your seat. We’re going to start class soon.” Mme. Bustier calls out.

“Sorry, guess I spoke too soon.” Marinette mumbles from her spot against the table. Adrien groans, but drags his bag down to the front row, furrowing his eyebrows as Lila immediately attaches herself to his arm. Marinette rolls her eyes, trying her hardest to pay attention to the lecture when all she wants to do is sleep. Between Ladybug duties, commissions, and homework, Marinette was lucky to get more than a couple hours of sleep each night. Add in the fact that once she could go to sleep her brain wouldn’t shut off, and Marinette was ready to petition her parents for an IV drip for her coffee. Having been completely zoned out for the entire class, Marinette jumps when the telltale sound of an akuma alarm suddenly blares throughout the room. Pulling out her phone, Marinette curses under her breath. Another element based akuma. Quickly grabbing her bag, Marinette follows the rest of the class towards the akuma shelter, silently slipping away and into the bathroom. She wastes no time in transforming, instead swinging herself out the window and to the fight.

----

Glancing down at his computer, Jason frowns. Gabriel Agreste has a kid. A kid Damian’s age, who lives in Paris. If Gabriel Agreste really was Hawkmoth, he was doing it knowing that his kid could get caught in the crossfire. Damn shitty parents. Letting out a shaky breath, Jason tries to think about things that calm him. Breathe. Can’t get pissed off here. Can’t make it harder on those kids than it already is. Deciding enough is enough when it comes to research (especially since he didn’t give Replacement specifics, just told him to look into anything sketchy with Agreste), Jason walks over and glances out the hotel window. A sudden alarm blaring through the hotel makes him sigh in frustration. It was the same alarm from last time, when he watched Paris flood and hundreds of bodies float in the streets. Climbing out onto the fire escape, Jason hurries up to the roof, scanning the horizon in hopes of seeing the akuma.

“Shit.” He says, eyes widening at the sight of flames twenty feet high. Regretting letting Bruce convince him to leave the helmet in Gotham, Jason has no choice but to watch the akuma fight from afar. Even if the two heroes hadn’t recognized him, Jason was in Paris on “official” W.E. business. Being recognized as Bruce Wayne’s adoptive son while fighting a supervillain? Probably not the best idea. He’d do more damage than help, and at least by staying away from the fight, he could help the kids later. And maybe track down the son of a bitch who decided focusing the majority of his attacks on a school was a good idea.

----

Jason grit his teeth as the lights flashed and ladybugs flew around, fixing up the city. This battle took almost three hours, and the smell of burning flesh was lingering, despite all of the corpses being reanimated. Huffing, Jason climbs back off the roof, only thinking one thing. There was no way in hell he was leaving Paris until Hawkmoth was out of commission.

----

Landing softly on the rooftop, Marinette glances over at the strange man. Jason. The man who, for some reason, was willing to train them late at night on top of a roof, just so they could fight out of the suits. Not that he understood everything that the suits could do, but that was for the best. Even though his intentions seemed genuine, Marinette had learned not to trust easily anymore. Ever since Lila came, Marinette was wearier, and more likely to ask questions before accepting someone.

“Here’s your mask, if you wanna go ahead and change and start doing some basic stretches.” Jason instructs, getting right down to business as he passes the black domino mask to her. Marinette nods and flits behind the chimney.

“Spots off.” She says quietly, grinning at Tikki.

“Is this really a good idea?” Tikki asks, her face scrunched up with worry. Marinette sighs at her friend.

“He’s gonna help us find Hawkmoth. And he has a point. What happens if I can’t transform but someone still needs my help? I don’t want to be helpless, Tikki.” Marinette says.

“Just be careful, you don’t have the suit to stop you from being too injured.” Tikki warns before flying to the top of the chimney. Marinette hesitates a second before sliding the domino mask on, blinking to get used to the eye cover. It was...weird, having a mask on that wasn’t magic. With the mask that came with her suit, Marinette couldn’t feel it. It was just there, part of her. The domino mask, though, was solid. She could feel it resting on her face. Taking a breath to steady herself, Marinette walked out from behind the chimney.

“Chat Noir’s changing over there.” Jason says when he notices her, nodding towards an air duct on the opposite side of the roof.

“Thank you, for offering to help us.” Marinette says, Jason nods, a tense smile on his face.

“No problem.” He says.

“Did you happen to look into Gabriel Agreste today?” She asks.

“Yeah, what kind of asshole decides to be an emotional terrorist in a city where his kid lives?” Jason asks, a dark look crossing his face. Marinette flinches, looking at Jason nervously. If he had the means to train them, she really didn’t want to deal with him as an akuma.

“Gabriel Agreste, apparently.” Adrien says, finally joining the two, his arms crossed. Marinette frowns at him. It was much harder to read his face with his eyes hidden.

“So did you guys want me to look more into Agreste?” He asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks between the two. Marinette glances at Adrien, letting out a small breath when she sees his small nod.

“Yeah. Even if it’s not Gabriel, we need to know for sure.” She says. Jason nods.

“Alright. That gives me something to do tomorrow. Now, stretch and warm up. I don’t wanna have to drag your asses off this roof ‘cause you pulled something trying to jump right into things.” Jason says, a teasing grin on his face. Marinette grins back, finally feeling lighter. Maybe training would be a good thing.

----

Training was hell. Okay, maybe not hell, but it was not easy. Gasping for air, Marinette dramatically collapses on the roof.

“Aw come on Pixie, you can do better than that.” Jason teases, still standing in a sparring stance.

“Jay, I swear. We’ve been training for over a week. I’m exhausted. And you’ve already kicked my ass twice. I’m giving up.” She says, throwing her arm over her face to block out the lights from the surrounding street lamps.

“Come on Bug, don’t give up!” Adrien cheers from the side, a smirk on his face. Marinette sits up and narrows her eyes at him, despite knowing the mask wouldn’t let him see her eyes. And the level of done that was visible there.

“Why don’t you try again?” She asks in a taunting tone. Adrien snorts.

“You and I both know that I can’t beat Jason.” He says, shaking his head in amusement.

“Not with that attitude. Come on kid, let’s go.” Jason says, turning to face Adrien instead of Marinette. An idea flashes into Marinette’s head and she smirks, lunging forward and yanking Jason down as his attention is completely on Adrien. Grabbing his wrists as he falls, Marinette manages to twist him around so that his face is against the rooftop and his arms are bent behind him.

“Okay, okay, I tap out.” Jason chuckles, accepting Marinette’s hand when she jumps up and reaches out to help him up.

“I won.” She says with a wide grin.

“You totally cheated.” Jason replies with a snort.

“Nah, Kitty and I just worked together to outsmart you.” Mari says.

“Don’t drag me into this, I had no idea what was happening ‘til Jay was on the ground.” Adrien says, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Traitor.” Marinette huffs, sticking her tongue out at her best friend.

“Hey, you guys are gonna have to go home soon.” Jason says, glancing down at his watch. Marinette frowns.

“What about the Plan?” She asks. “I thought we were gonna work on that tonight so that we have an actual plan to stop Hawkmoth instead of just letting him run around and terrorize people nonstop.”

“Pixie, it’s late. I promise we’ll start with planning tomorrow. But you guys need to go get some sleep. Chat told me you’re already living off of coffee alone. That’s not healthy.” Jason says. Marinette rolls her eyes, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.

“Coffee is my life fuel and I will not apologize.” She says, making both Chat and Jason groan.

“You’re worse than my brother.” Jason says and Mari grins.

“I’m sure we’d get along swimmingly.” She says, and Chat shakes his head.

“Nope. I draw the line at your coffee addicted butt meeting another coffee addict. I’m not about to watch that train wreck.” He says, grabbing Mari’s hand and tugging her behind the chimney so they can transform. Saying their phrases quickly, the two dart back over to Jason.

“Same time?” Marinette asks with a bright smile. Jason nods. Marinette waves, running over to the edge of the building and swinging away, waving at Adrien as he vaults towards his house. As she lands on her balcony, Marinette can't help the wide smile that stretches across her face. Maybe they could finally end this.

Next

#maribat #maribat jason todd #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat adrien agreste #fanfic #ao3fic #maribat fic #platonic jasonette #platonic maribat adrienette #This Side of Normal

[mellow-em]

Bittersweet Temptations

CHAPTER 3

[special dts: @bluewingedangel @siennamariia <3]

Your neighbors, Nathan and Elena, have been friends with your parents for years. Whether it’d be family gatherings or vacations, they were around; they were family. But when you return home from your final years of college, what will happen when you find that it isn't just them living in the house next door anymore?

_____________________________________

I wanted to say something.

I knew based on the long expressions plastered across their faces, that they were waiting impatiently for me to say something too.

But I physically couldn’t.

A knot cemented itself at the back of my throat, suffocating me as I tried to swallow. I could feel my mouth suffer through a drought as I did so.

All I could do was look at the three of them, internally wallowing in embarrassment with a load of questions making my head spin.

How could Nate and Elena keep something like that from me? What were they thinking? No. What was I thinking?

Suddenly, the voices of people scattered amongst the yard became too loud. Though, the stares directed towards me were louder.

“Y/n can you say something?”

Without even thinking, I felt my body turn away from them, and I carried myself away.

“Y/n?” I could hear Elena calling after me.

“I’ll just be a minute” I finally croaked back to her, relieved that I could finally get a word out.

I rushed past the deck towards the side of the house.

I knew in the back of my mind that I was being ridiculous. It wasn’t something to run away from; knowing they probably felt just as awkward telling me.

But I had to get away from Sam.

I couldn’t bear standing there while his smug grin could be seen in the corner of my eye.

It was driving me crazy.

Why does he insist on making this hard on me?

I continued to let my feet travel, not even worried about where I would end up. It felt good to step away from the chaos that my parents organized, for a while anyway.

But I soon found myself at the dead end of the street, in front of the wooded patches that lined the edges of the pavement; sectioning off the neighborhood from the forest.

Without any hesitation, I stepped past the barricading trees, and onto the trail that led to a place of sanctuary.

A small body of water sat on the indented ground, with blooming ferns and bushes fencing it. Farther away from the pond, large rocks collected together, forming makeshift seats to take in the atmosphere.

It looked like it belonged in a cheesy disney movie, or a landscape renaissance painting.

I found this place with Nate when I was little, and since then I would escape here when things become too much to handle.

I sat myself down on one of the largest slabs of rock, almost seeing the memories with Nate passing around me in the form of faded visuals; they were almost ghost-like.

I took myself into these moments one by one; succumbing to the laughter, the playfulness, the smiles, the thrill.

Even though I love my parents more than anything, the bundles of memories Nate and I shared, showed me a glimpse of adventure that my parents couldn’t give me.

The overwhelming feeling of contentment pushed a smile onto my face.

But in an instant, it all faded.

Sam.

That one moment with him feasted on my conscious mind like a ravenous vulture. It made my stomach churn in the worst possible way.

I sunk my head into my hands, huffing in frustration.

That is, until I heard a few raucous cracks of leaves and sticks not too far from me.

I fix my posture while whipping my head towards the direction of the noise, only to be met with guilty eyes.

Nathan stood there, leaning his upper body on the stiff trunk of a tree.

Perfect timing, Nate..

My lips flatlined as I scratched at the corner of my forehead, “Hey.”

He steps closer, leisurely but surely.

“Hey,” he gestures to the vacant space next to me, “can I?”

“Yeah.”

Placing both of his hands on his thighs, he plops down next to me, slightly grunting. We sat there in silence; but it wasn’t peaceful, it was impatient.

The both of us were longing to say something to one another, but neither of us preferred confrontation in the slightest. So we sat there, staring at the grove.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been here.”

I look over to him, noticing the tinge of nostalgia sketched upon his features.

“uh yeah.. yeah it really has,” I release a breath, reverting my eyes back to the pond, “almost 5 years.”

It was two days before I left for college. Screaming echoed throughout the house, and reverberated through my head, overwhelming my senses.

My parents chalked it up to being stressed over ‘my big move,’ which I can believe. But the words said that day pushed its way through me. I finally had enough of the nonsense and hollered back at them.

Big mistake. ‘you’re an absolute failure’ They said, ‘you’re never gonna go far.’

Long story short, I ran out of the house, and into the forest. I sat on this same rock, with tears planting glistening streams down my face.

Nate apparently heard the commotion, which wasn’t too surprising, and he made his way to me.

He didn’t even say a word before wrapping his arms around me; embracing me with a comforting warmth that slowly eased me back to normal.

‘Sic Parvis Magna,’ He said.

I was more than confused with those few words, until he began to speak once more.

‘Greatness from small beginnings. Now this isn’t exactly small, you know, with you leaving me here to go to college and all. But it is a new beginning- your new beginning. Don’t let anyone stop you from moving forward.’

That was the last day I saw this beautiful spot of ours, and the last time I really had a solid conversation with Nate; it made the final memory bittersweet at best.

“It really hasn’t changed a bit though.”

“Probably because change is dining elsewhere,”I tried to whisper under my breath, but unfortunately, he heard me loud and clear.

I look up at him in the corner of my eye, noticing his presence fall into a sea of guilt again.

He runs his hand through his surprisingly neatened hair, letting out a sigh that releases all of his proper posture.

“Look, y/n, I wanted to tell you. I really did. But it’s just-”

“Nate all I gotta ask is why? Why would you keep something that major from me?”

I had my body fully turned to face him now, while he still remained there; slouched with his head bowed to his fidgety hands.

I could tell he was stalling, swallowing his responses with force.

“Nate. Just tell me. Please.”

His eyes closed as he exhaled, “It’s a very long story.”

“I’ve got plenty of time.”

“Not exactly.” Roars of laughter within the distance cause both of us to look at the trail leading out of the woods, “we’ve still got a party going on, which happens to be for you, if I may add-”

“Seriously Nate, you think I care?” I was growing fretful, mentally pleading for him to just give up on excuses.

His hands raised in defense, “Fine, fine, okay..”

———

It didn’t even occur to us how long we’d been out here until the streams of sunlight disappeared from the ruptures in between the trees. The day was just replaced with the beginning of nightfall.

“So you’re telling me that Sam, your brother...who was presumed dead for 15 years, dragged you out across the globe to find Henry Avery’s treasure in 3 months because a drug lord was gonna kill him if you didn’t?”

Nate stifled a low chuckle, nodding along.

“So I take it you found it and gave the son of a bitch his cut? Well, since he’s alive and all-”

“Hey, language missy.” He attempted a scolding tone, but I could see through his thin facade.

I rolled my eyes, shoving him playfully,“Haha very funny. Now answer the question mister.”

“Well, it turns out the son of a bitch was Sam. He uh- lied about the whole thing.”

My eyes widened, “Wait what? So the drug lord- the sole purpose of the treasure hunt..”

“Yep it was all bullshit.”

I averted my wide-eyed gaze from him to the pond that was now lit with the blaring lights of fireflies,“Wow. I’m surprised no one got the chance to kick him in the face.. or balls.”

“Yeah Rafe- he pretty much took care of that one..”

The both of us laughed, causing a few birds to flutter away from the branches closest to us.

I missed this.

“Figured I’d find you two here.”

As our fit died down, we glanced over to a beaming Elena emerging from the trail with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I told your parents that you were comin’ over with us. I assumed you wanted some space from all the chaos.”

I showed my relief in the form of a warm simper, up until the realization punched me in the face.

Sam is gonna be there.

My body tensed, becoming a stiff statue in place. The lack of saliva in my mouth was back, and I felt my breath hitch silently.

I guessed the two of them noticed my change in demeanor.

“Are you okay y/n? You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Elena’s tone was gentle, as her grin faltered slightly.

“No no it’s fine it’s just- it’s nothing don’t worry,”I abruptly stood up, scratching at my forehead again, “lets go, back.”

“You sure?,” I felt Nate’s arm fall over my shoulders, giving me a faint squeeze as the three of us trudged down the path.

I needed to take my mind off of Sam, hopefully I can avoid him.

“Yeah..” my voice trailed off, “as long as I get to play a certain game that I happened to have the highest score of.” walking confidently with my head held high, I could still see Nate rolling his eyes.

“Actually, Elena has since claimed that title for herself.” Nate said frankly.

A dramatic gasp escapes my lips,“Elena, are you kidding me!”

“Hey, don’t get mad at the pregnant lady here,” she looks back at Nate and I as we continue to walk down the trail, “how about this: you two compete to try and beat my high score.”

Nate looks down at me with the same contemplative look I give him.

“And what’s the catch, hun?” Nate asks.

“Loser gets pushed or thrown into the pool.”

Well well well, Elena’s finally getting in on our shenanigans.

I smirked, “This is gonna be light work.”

“Oh really now? I just know you’re secretly afraid that I’m gonna win.”

“Sure, Nate. I’m not gonna lose, you’re all bark and no bite.”

It was his turn to let out a theatrical breath,“How dare you accuse me of such a thing?”

While Nate and I went on with our child like banter, Elena laughed hysterically at our foolishness,“You two are absolutely ridiculous.”

Nate glances back at me, only this time his fist patiently waited in front of me for a fist bump, “you ready to get destroyed?”

I scoff, hitting my fist on his, “You’re on.”

#sam drake x reader #samuel drake x reader #uncharted fanfiction #sam drake #uncharted #uncharted 4 #samuel drake #nathan drake #naughty dog #elena fisher #sam drake fanfiction

[0ghostwriter0]

EXPANSION

Sequel to EXPANDING

MASTERLIST

Pairings: Henry Cavill x reader

Word count: 1,473

Warnings: emotional fluff, sensitive topics

Summary: Henry brought up a big conversation which causes emotional pain

Fighting the urge to fall asleep, you drag yourself down the hallway away from the broken bedroom. The once heart home drooped in the tense atmosphere. The sun mocked your cold body. Shallow and sheer, rays of light etched out the small path to the main bathroom. Once you passed the threshold of the stony bathroom, your legs buckled underneath you. You resembled a bundle against the tiled floor- no purpose to get up. The high ceilings intimidated your fragile form. You wished for the ground to open and swallow you whole. Finally escape the fear and guilt.

Eventually, the deceptive sunlight left shivers down your exposed back. The light silk robe, which had slipped on to your body after your accent from the cold sheets, was now falling off of your broken body. Small clinks on the floorboards caught your sensitive ears. Henry. A wet sniffing nose connected with your neck as soft paws gently nudged your back. The furry bear continued his relentless nudges as your heart sank back into the depths of your stomach.

Grrrrr. A small growl realised from the loveable four-legged animal. Reluctantly dragging yourself to sit up, Kal found a spot to lay with you once again. Carefully, the American akita’s head found a comfortable patch on your stomach to cosy up as you gently stroked the hair behind his ears. Time escaped you as Kal relieved your anxieties.

After what could have been hours, you made your decent with the bear following closely behind. The journey to the kitchen felt harder as you passed each and every big moment in your relationship. Hanging directly in front of the base of the stairs, the happiest day of your life stared back at you.

Inside a small glass frame, you sat comfortably in Henry’s arms as he carried you through the threshold of your first home.

“Ahhh oh seriouSLY, Henry don’t drop mmmmmemeee!” You exclaimed as Henry attempted to open the door while still clutching on to your body. A deep chuckle rose from his chest as the door was pulled open. Your small frame fit perfectly in the arms of your handsome lover. This day was a promise not to leave when it gets hard. No matter what happens, you’d both come home.

“I’ll never let you fall” he whispered before placing a delicate kiss against your flushed forehead. Flash. A white light blinded you both as Henry’s mother captured the innocent exchange between the lovers. Embarrassed, you snuggled deeper into Henry’s arms.

“Welcome home, my love” Henry’s words faded into the happy image which lied encapsulated in the glass frame. Tears fell softly down the side of your face. Grrrr. Looking down slowly, your eyes were met with a hungry dog awaiting his breakfast. Trailing towards the heart of the home, Kal rushed off knowing exactly where his food was kept. As you slipped into the rustic kitchen, your saddened eyes were captured by a lone phone. He left without it. You heart raced at the idea that he’d have to come back for his phone. You’d see him again. Right? The silver bodied phone sat to torment your mind.

After feeding the hungry bear, you sat silently at the kitchen table contemplating how you’d tell Henry that you had already lost his baby. Before you got too lost in though, you rose to make a coffee. Coffee. Another thing you didn’t think about. When you were on set did you drink too much coffee? You’re always told that high caffeine intake can harm a baby. Did that do it? The coffee jar shook rapidly and your hand trembled. Crash.

The glass container slipped from your grasp with a nightly crash against the solid floor boards. Broken glass coated the ground beneath your feet. Without a thought, you dropped down to clear up the mixture of coffee granules and glass shards. You didn’t notice the stabbing pain of glass imbedding into your shins. Red. The glass started to turn red as cuts began to bleed. Your mind was pulled back to the tear staining journey in the back of the ambulance. The young paramedic next to you was star struck but hid it well as you clutched her hand while the pain flooded through your legs. The sirens echoed through your mind like a broken record.

Nudging under your arm, Kal reminded you that the quicker you cleared away the mess, the quicker you could clean away the red substance. Sweeping away the remains, your hand bled more but you were just relieved that the floor was clean and clear. Were you a walking hazard? Carefully, you washed away the blood that coated the palms of your hands as well as the cuts on your legs. After a while, all the glass had been removed and cuts had been lightly covered with antiseptic cream.

Hours had past since your problematic experience with a jar of coffee, you now laid with the furry bear on a cosy sofa. The soft snoring of the four-legged animal made you feel safe as he radiated the same heat as Henry. The thin silk robe hidden lasted after cleaning up the kitchen which meant that you were sat in Henry’s hoodie and a pair of worn leggings. The strong husky radiated off of the hoodie and blessed your senses. Suddenly, the American Akita jumped from his slumber to race to the front door. growling at the door, your heart started racing as you knew, all too well, who had just come home.

Curling into a ball, you didn’t hear the click of the door or the heavy footsteps that echoed through the house to find you. All you could heart was the faint sirens hiding in the creases of your heart. Comfortingly warm, a large hand rested on your shoulder. The predator had found its prey. You jumped at the sudden pressure and tried to scurry away before two warm arms snaked around you. Easing slowly, your heart started to fall out of rhythm.

“I’m sorry” the words wobbled from your mouth as tears threatened to spill from your eyes. Henry tightens his grip on your trembling body, providing the stability you need.

“Love, you have nothing to be sorry for, I lov-“ Henry coos before you cut him off. Henry’s eyes widen but he doesn’t let you go.

“Don’t because after what I have to say, you won’t mean it anymore.” You sniffled. Henry’s grasp around you stiffens as he feels like he’s lost you again. Turning out of his arms, you try your hardest to look at his face but the pain in his posture causes you to look back down to your lap.

“I want - wanted a baby. Your baby. I couldn’t think of anything better but it was too late…” Henry’s face falls into concern as your words are laced with guilt.

“W-we had sperated and I was urmmm bback on set, set for umm” you tried but the conversation was harder than your mind had even fathomed. Noticing that you were struggling, Henry captured your shaking hands in his and begun to draw circles with his thumbs.

“I was busy and that’s no excuse but if I wasn’t busy maybe I would have picked up the signs bbbbbut urm it was too late” Henry caught on to the meaning behind your words and looked up to your tear filled eyes.

“Love, we were going to be parents?” Henry’s eyes watered as realisation hit. He was going to be a dad already. the words escaped your brain which left you with a nod as tears continued to stream.

“Y/N, I still love you. You didn’t have to keep this to yourself. You are enough for me I don’t need anything more. I just need you. I need you to be healthy and happy.” Henrys words touched your heart in a way that only he could.

“Hen-nnry I didn’t want you to think that you had to come back to me after. I wanted you t—to be free. I couldn’t stand it if you came back to me because it was my fault… my fault we ended and my fault that —-we lost our… baby” you stuttered as waves of emotion hit from the inside out.

Tears blurred your vision but you felt the warm arms of your lover wrap around you like a blanket.

“Me and you from now on, we don’t keep anything from each other, we share everything no matter how bad.” Henry whispered into your hair while you trembled.

“I want to give you a baby” you stuttered as you held Henry close.

“Then we try. I will make sure we have a baby. Our baby” Henry spoke softly as you both laid in each others arms for the rest of the evening.

TAGLIST: @325575 @jessiecavill @pamela-stark98 @singhallady @i-should-probably-be-asleep-rn @evrthefanatic @esmmyy @madbaddic7ed @melisssaa @sofiebstar @mali1mugan2 @abb-lan-5sos @bidfv @liajiah

Thank you for requesting for a part two or commenting : @collegesleezy @melisssaa @willkatfanfromasia @mayafatimakhan @seriouslygoodlookinggents @moonfaery @being-worthy @madbaddic7ed @thecavillstache

#imagines #preferences #henry cavill #henry cavill x you #henry cavill one shot #henners #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill smut #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill fanfic #henry #smut #fluff #one shot #henry cavill fluff #hcav #henry william dalgliesh cavill #kal cavill #the cavillry #august walker #superman

[nikki-writes-stuff]

Beauty In the Blood - Part 5

Summary: One day your friend convinces you to join a dating website that matches people based on their search histories, and when you match with Loki Odinson, a handsome, intelligent coroner who’s a fan of your murder mysteries, you’re absolutely thrilled. But there’s something off about Loki, and as your relationship progresses, you discover that his dark side is even darker than you could ever have imagined…

Pairing: Serial Killer!Loki x Writer!Reader

Read part four here! 

A/N: This story is based off of this post! I hope you guys enjoy; this is my first time writing Loki, and this will probably be the darkest thing I’ve ever written. Please let me know what you think as the story progresses!

*Please read to the end for another author’s note!*

A/N: Warning, folks! Here be smut! Nothing too dark in this chapter as far as gore or violence goes, though. Which... I suppose is a plus, considering this story. I hope you guys enjoy!

Too good to be true.

That was the thought that kept plaguing you, even four months later. He’s too good to be true. This relationship is too good to be true. What happens when I figure out that this is too good to possibly be true?

And yet, day after day, Loki continued to prove you wrong. It wasn’t all just the big romantic overtures that you found out he loved to make. (Like the time he had a dozen red roses delivered to your door on your one-months anniversary. Or the brand new matching wireless keyboard and mouse he got to make writing easier for you. Or the time he took you to a quaint, tucked away speak-easy to treat you to a night of drinks and slow dancing.)

It was in the little things, too. How he would come over on days where you felt less-than-good to hold you and watch your favorite movies. Or how he would send you texts throughout the day to tell you about an interesting case at work, or to ask you what you wanted for dinner on date night, or just to tell you that he was thinking about you.

In fact, some would even say that he was too attentive, too perfect, and were it anyone else, alarm bells would be going off in your head. But there was something about him that made you keep coming back for more, and even with months now behind you, you still couldn’t get enough.

And maybe that was why you were so nervous right now. Pacing back and forth across the length of your bedroom, you stared down at your stocking-clad feet as you tried frantically to tamp down the butterflies batting around your rib cage. You knew, consciously, that even if tonight were a disaster, Loki would still care about you. He wouldn’t just up and leave, even if Thor ended up despising you.

But you still really hoped he wouldn’t.

A gasp parted your lips when the tell-tale sound of your doorbell echoed throughout your home, and after one more deep breath, you pulled your heels on and made your way down the stairs. With one last glance in the mirror and a quick, silent prayer to whoever might be listening, you threw your purse over your shoulder and opened your front door.

His smile still caught you off guard sometimes. As you stepped out into the darkness of the evening, you felt heat flood your cheeks as Loki grinned up at you. He was dressed impeccably as always, sporting a dark green suit with a crisp white shirt, and if the way his eyes raked over you was anything to go by, he was more than pleased with how you looked, as well.

“And you must be the woman I’ve heard so much about!”

A loud, booming voice took you off guard, and you watched as annoyance flashed over your boyfriend’s face at the outburst. As he turned to shoot a glare over his shoulder, you caught a flash of the other man waiting at the base of your front steps, and though you already knew that Loki was adopted, you were still briefly taken aback by just how different the two brothers were.

Thor was just as large as Loki had described, and although the two stood at about the same height, his shoulders and build were so broad that he would have been quite intimidating, were it not for the large grin on his face. His long hair was pulled up into a loose bun, showing off a pair of blue eyes that seemed to radiate genuine happiness, and despite your still-present nerves, you couldn’t help but let a matching smile come over your features.

“Hi, Thor. Loki’s told me so much about you.”

“And I’m sure all of it is incredibly flattering, right?” He sent a conspiratorial glance back to Loki, who only raised an eyebrow.

“Whatever could I tell her about you that wouldn’t be flattering, brother?”

“Nothing comes to mind, seeing whereas I’ve never done anything wrong or questionable.”

“Thor Odinson? Perish the thought.”

The man in question let out a bark of laughter before turning back to you and extending his arm for a handshake.

“Well, my brother has nothing but glowing remarks about you,” he remarked, all but crushing your hand in his grip. “And I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally meet the woman who’s stolen Loki’s heart.”

Once more, you felt heat rising in your face, and you let out a nervous chuckle as Thor dropped your hand. From your right, you felt an arm slither around your waist, and you leaned into Loki’s warmth.

“Thank you so much! It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”

“You don’t need to lie for his sake, love,” Loki stage-whispered into your ear. Rolling your eyes, you gave him a nudge with your elbow, though Thor seemed to be used to his brother’s sass. Without a glance in his direction, Thor reached into his pocket and withdrew a set of keys, clicking a button on them until you heard a car beep close by.

“Shall we be off, then?” he asked. “We have about twenty minutes until our reservation.”

“That is if his driving doesn’t kill us along the way,” Loki snarked, guiding you towards the car with a hand on your lower back.

“I didn’t hear you offering to drive earlier, Loki,” Thor commented, sending his brother a look that elicited a scowl in response.

“Only because my car is in the shop. Remember?”

“Excuses, excuses.”

You giggled at the pained look your boyfriend sent you, pecking his cheek as Thor made his way around to the driver’s seat. Loki offered to sit in the back, but after a few moments of deliberation, you ended up sitting in the back with Loki on the passenger side next to Thor. Your seating arrangements ended up working out perfectly, though, because you had the perfect vantage point to watch the two brothers bicker over how to get to the restaurant. Loki was doing his best to navigate, but… Well. You quickly learned that it was of no use with Thor behind the wheel.

“I said take a left at Sycamore, Thor.”

“I heard you. But there’s a shortcut between Sycamore and Highland Street.”

“No, there’s not. Have you even driven through this part of New York before?”

“You forget I used to live here, too, brother. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Oh, just like you did when we were driving through London, yes?”

“That was your fault. If you hadn’t had tried to-“

“WATCH FOR PEDESTRIANS, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!”

Needless to say, the twenty minute drive was eventful to say the least, and you were only mildly traumatized by the way Thor was bobbing and weaving through the thick New York traffic. Even Loki looked a bit green from it, and you’d never seen your boyfriend shaken by anything. When both of you had your feet once again on solid ground, he wrapped an arm around you once again and whispered against your hair.

“I really do apologize for all of that, darling.”

“No, please don’t. It was funny,” you assured him, pecking his cheek as Thor rounded the vehicle towards you. “Usually you’re so…unperturbed. It was nice to see you a little ruffled.”

He sent you a bemused smile, but it vanished as Thor clapped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward a few steps.

“Well, nothing ruffles Loki’s feathers like me. It took an entire month of convincing for him to even agree to me visiting.”

“A decision I’m regretting more and more as the minutes tick by…”

Soon enough, the three of you were sat at a table in one of the nicest restaurants you’d ever been to. Surprisingly enough, Thor had recommended the place, and after your waiter came by to take your drink orders, you rested your hand on top of Loki’s and turned towards the blonde.

“Thank you for the restaurant suggestion, Thor. How’d you hear about this place?”

“My girlfriend actually told me about it. Usually when I’m in New York on business, I just go to local food trucks or pizza parlors. But Jane said that I should take you two somewhere nice. She apologizes for not being able to make the trip, by the way. She was just as curious about you as I was, but she had an important conference to give a lecture at.”

“That sounds amazing! And no worries; I’d love to meet her next time you’re in town. What do the two of you do for a living?”

“Well, Jane is an astronomer – one of the best in the entire world, actually,” he started, his eyes lighting up at the mention of his partner. “She’s lecturing on a new design she’s invented, some sort of spectrometer. Honestly, it all goes way over my head, but that’s why she’s the genius.”

“To be fair, most things go over your head, brother.”

Thor rolled his eyes at Loki’s quip, and when you turned towards your boyfriend, you saw that he had a small smile on his face to match the mischievous glint in his eyes. You knew better than to take him seriously; anyone would be able to see how close the two were, despite their back-and-forth.

“And what about you, Thor? Loki’s never told me what you do for a living.”

“I work for Stark Industries,” he replied, taking a sip of the large pint of beer he’d ordered. “It’s not much, but it keeps me busy.”

“Not much, indeed,” Loki interjected. “You’re only in charge of the entire marketing department, after all.”

Your eyes widened at that; Stark Industries was one of the biggest, most well-known brand names in the world. From appliances to electronics to clean energy, it was right up there with Google and Disney as far as most were concerned, and to think that Thor was in such a high-ranking position, well… From the things Loki had told you about Thor, you hadn’t expected such a career for him.

“Wow. That’s…incredible. So you know Tony Stark?”

“Oh, me and Tony are great friends. But I don’t ‘run’ the marketing department by any means. Just the UK faction of it.”

“’Just’?”

After that, the waiter stopped by to take your respective orders, after which Thor settled his attention on you once more.

“So, Loki has already told me about your writing. It’s funny to think of him dating the author responsible for those books he’s obsessed over for years.”

“I’m not obse-“

“Has he asked you to sign any of his copies yet?”

He had, jokingly, at one point. But you didn’t tell Thor that.

The rest of the evening passed by without incident, and your nerves quickly evaporated as the three of you laughed and talked through the rest of the meal. Loki liked to joke at Thor’s expense, but it was clear that he held his older brother in high regard, and Thor clearly loved Loki very much. More than a few times, you caught him watching you and Loki closely, a discerning, considering look in his eyes that belayed an intelligence you hadn’t expected. He might not be as book smart or as well-spoken as his younger sibling, but Thor obviously was good when it came to reading people. Whatever he was looking at, though, it didn’t disappoint, because any time your eyes met, he would send you a small, encouraging smile that would immediately dissipate any worries you might have had.

In what felt like no time at all, the three of you were piling out of the car at your house again, and you didn’t hesitate to return Thor’s hug as he said his goodbyes.

“It was wonderful to meet you,” he assured you. “Loki’s never let me meet any of his girlfriends before, but I see now that he was just waiting for the right one to come along first.”

Taken off guard by his genuine compliment, you could only blink up at him for a few moments in surprise before your brain kicked back in.

“That’s…so kind of you to say, Thor. Thank you.”

“No, thank you.”

After clapping you on the shoulder, Thor said his goodbye and got back into his car, giving you and Loki some privacy. As soon as his blonde head disappeared into the vehicle, you felt two cold hands cup your cheeks, and before you knew it, you were being pulled into a deep, toe-curling kiss, and you let yourself melt into your boyfriend’s embrace as he held you against him.

“That went well, I would say,” he murmured as the two of you finally parted. “He likes you, if that wasn’t already obvious.”

“I like him, too,” you smiled. “Thank you for letting me meet him.”

“I should be the one thanking you, love.”

He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but you watched as uncertainty began to creep along his features, and after a few moments of considering, his mouth snapped shut once again.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” he replied, shaking his head. “I forgot what I was going to say, is all. I think driving with Thor still has my brains slightly scrambled.”

“Hm.” You didn’t believe him, not for a second, but whatever it was left your mind as soon as his lips came down onto yours once more. This kiss was slower than before, and lingering; his hands slid up over your hips to settle on your waist, and he let out a soft sigh through his nose before pulling away to set his forehead on yours.

“I should probably head home,” he whispered. “But Thor leaves out tomorrow morning. Would you like to come over tomorrow?”

“For dinner?”

“And dessert.”

You grinned, pressing one last kiss to his lips before taking a step towards your door.

“I love you, Loki. Have a good rest of your evening.”

“I will, darling. But only because I’ll be thinking of you.”

_______________

The two men drove in silence back to Loki’s house, leaving him to think back over the evening. It couldn’t have gone better, in his opinion. Thor liked you, but Thor was a bit like a golden retriever in that way. He loved most of the people he met, whereas Loki had always been more comparable to a cat; he needed to trust someone before deciding whether or not he liked them, typically, and his trust was not easily gained. In fact, there were only two people in the world he truly trusted, and now, they’d both finally made the other’s acquaintance.

The silence was finally broken when Thor parked in front of Loki’s home. As they both sat there, illuminated by the dashboard and streetlights, his elder brother turned to face him fully.

“I like her,” he announced, as though Loki couldn’t already tell that. “Does she know?”

Loki arched an eyebrow before getting out of the car and fishing his keys out of his pocket, striding up to his door as his brother scrambled to catch up with him.

“I have no idea what you could be alluding to,” he replied, opening his front door and bending down to scoop up Lovecraft, who had a habit of swiping at Thor anytime he tried to enter the house.

“Oh, I wonder,” Thor countered, shutting the door behind him before peeling off his winter coat. “I suppose I could be talking about your allergy to dogs. Or perhaps your aversion to the color orange. Or, oh, I don’t know, your habit of murdering innocents. Who knows?”

With a roll of his eyes, Loki hung his coat up beside Thor’s and started striding towards his basement stairs, trusting Thor to follow him.

“How many times must I tell you – there’s no such thing as ‘innocent’. Not in today’s world, at least.”

“Try telling that to a jury.”

“Hopefully it’ll never come to that point,” Loki sighed. He bypassed the first room of his basement, not giving a second glance to the old, miscellaneous pieces of furniture and the stacked boxes of keepsakes from childhood. No, instead he focused on the large, dusty bookshelf that covered the far wall of the room, reaching for the thick compendium of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets that hid the keyhole.

“I’ll never get used to being down here…” Thor’s voice was uncharacteristically small in here; usually, his baritone could be heard from several rooms away, but his mood always took a dark turn when he was reminded of Loki’s…’proclivities’.

“You can always wait upstairs, you know,” Loki uttered without a backwards glance, fitting the small key into the lock and twisting until he heard a click.

“I know,” his brother assured him. “But I promised I’d help you, so let’s just get this over with.”

Smirking, Loki pocketed his keys and pulled the hidden door open, watching a section of the bookcase separate from the rest and turn on the hinges he’d installed so long ago. The creaking shriek they elicited made him wince, and he made a mental note to grease them before his next houseguest.

Luckily for Thor, the only beings alive or dead in Loki’s house were the two of them and Lovecraft, who pattered in after them before jumping up onto the chair in the corner. He typically didn’t allow his cat entry to this room, for obvious reasons, but he decided to leave her be as he knelt next to the detached backseat from his car that was sitting in the middle of the room.

“I’ve already replaced the stuffing; you just need to help me reupholster, and then I can do the rest.”

Thor knelt beside him with a grumble, grabbing a staplegun from his wall of power tools and torture instruments as he kept his eyes stubbornly focused on the seat.

“You know, if you used plastic tarps like any self-respecting serial killer would, you wouldn’t have to reupholster anything in the first place,” he groused. Loki knew that he had a point, and he usually did use plastic when transporting his victims.

“…This one was a bit of a last minute decision,” he finally conceded. “But I’m handling it, as you can see.”

Thor’s lips turned white as he pressed them together, pausing in his struggle to roll out more fabric.

“Loki, you can’t afford to make many last minute decisions with this sort of thing,” he muttered, all joking gone from his voice. “You promised me you’d be careful if and when you get these…urges.”

“And I am,” Loki assured his brother. “Truthfully. No one has ever suspected me of anything. Not once, and you know that.”

With a huff, Thor nodded and continued his work, his movements echoing in the concrete chamber. In the back of his mind, Loki knew that his brother was right, though. Five months ago, he never would have been so careless as to get a victim’s blood on his suede car seats. But, now that he had you in his life, all of his passions seemed to be reigniting. For one, he’d never had as much sex in his previous relationships as he was having with you. He also never felt the need to talk to someone as much as he spoke with you; he hadn’t had many girlfriends or boyfriends in the past, but the ones he’d had always complained about him being too distant, too aloof, too ‘unfeeling’. Now, though, he found himself craving you and your company at all times during the day, and his alone time was less and less precious to him as he considered how much better it would be having you by his side.

However, as those passions rose, others did as well. You and your newest novel were a constant source of inspiration to him, and his lust for blood had grown considerably. If he kept up the pace that he was at right now, he knew it would only be a matter of time before he slipped up. But he pushed that thought aside, as he always had. That was a bridge he would cross when he came upon it.

“…Will you ever tell (Y/N)?”

Thor’s question was sudden, and it made his hands still as he reached for the staple gun.

“…Are you suggesting that I do?”

“Of course not.” Thor shook his head, biting back a curse as he tried stretching a length of suede over the car seat’s frame. “At least, not right now. I think both of us know that it wouldn’t end well. But this is a…mammoth secret to keep from a significant other, Loki. And if you weren’t able to hide it from me, there will come a day when you won’t be able to hide it from her, either. Not if you’re going to keep her in your life.”

“You didn’t find out until I was twenty,” he countered. “And you only found out because I got sloppy.”

“I still knew that there was something off. And, if I’m being honest with myself, I suspected the truth for years before I caught you in the act.”

Loki’s eyebrows rose, and he didn’t know what was more surprising to him – the truth, or the fact that his brother was still able to take him off guard, even after all of the years spent together.

“…Truthfully?”

“Of course, Loki. I knew you weren’t sneaking out at night to go clubbing.” He chuckled a bit at the thought, though his laughter died the second he saw the look Loki shot him. “I saw you burning your clothes once, in the field behind our house. We were 17 at the time, I think. And I knew you wouldn’t burn them unless it were to hide…well. Bloodstains. It was the only explanation for why you decided to burn them in the middle of the night, at least.

“But I told myself that I was wrong. People do that, you know; when someone you love hurts you, or when they do something wrong, you know it. But you lie to yourself anyways.”

There was a long, heavy silence before the two brothers got back to work, one that was only broken several minutes later, when they were mostly finished.

“Loki?”

“Mm?”

Loki looked up, catching a solemn expression on Thor’s face that immediately didn’t sit right with him. For all of his sociopathic tendencies towards most people, he didn’t like to see his typically jovial sibling so serious.

“I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to be you,” Thor sighed. “I’ve never fully understood how your mind works, but I know that it’s hard for you to let people in. So I’m happy for you and (Y/N). I am. But I also know that, someday, she’s going to find out. It can either be from you slipping up, or from you telling her outright. But, someday, she’s going to find out.

“I meant what I said – when you find out that someone you love is bad, and that they’ve done bad things, you lie to yourself before accepting the truth. Just…promise me that you’ll look out for when she starts lying to herself about you. Alright?”

Loki swallowed, his throat suddenly dry as he thought about you, about how your face would twist into an expression of fear, of disgust, of hatred, when you finally found out about him. And his heart sank as he pictured the fragile reality you two had been living in all of a sudden crumpling into ash. He couldn’t even bear the thought of losing you, but what other choice would he have if you found him out?

“What are you suggesting I do when she finds out?” he asked, a slight waver making its way through the syllables despite his best interest.

“I’m asking what you’re prepared to do, brother. Think it over, and please, just be careful.”

____________

You woke up the next day to find a text waiting for you from an unknown number, but as soon as you opened it, a wide smile came over your face.

Loki wouldn’t give me your number, so I had to get it out of his phone while he slept. But I wanted to tell you before I fly back to London that it was lovely meeting you, and I’m very happy my brother finally found someone he loves. -Thor

The text was sent at 6:14am, so you knew that Thor was likely already on his plane, but you still tapped out a message before getting up and starting your day.

It was great to meet you, too! Have a safe trip back.

With that, you finally dragged yourself out of bed and went about your morning routine, sending Loki a quick good morning text as you ate breakfast. You were planning on finishing up the last chapter of your coroner story, and you were excited to let him read it that evening when it was done. He’d been so supportive throughout the entire writing process that you were making record time on it; even your editor was surprised at how productive you’d been lately, and you were anxious for his thoughts on the ending.

As you sat down at your computer to type it up, though, you saw that you had an email from your publisher, and your heartrate skyrocketed as you opened it up. You’d sent them the first five edited chapters a few weeks back, and even though you already had several published books, you still got excited anytime you heard back from them.

Your heart only beat faster as you read through their email, and though you’d only just sat down, you were soon leaping out of your chair once you were done. They were going to publish it! At least, they were going to as soon as you had all of the chapters. You’d been concerned that your main character wouldn’t have as much appeal as others of yours had in the past, but as it turned out, they loved Olivia.

Before you even realized what you were doing, your phone was out of your pocket and you were dialing Loki’s number, your fingers trembling in excitement. You tapped your foot anxiously as you waited for him to pick up, and when he finally did, he barely had time to say hello before you were telling him the good news.

“Hello, darling-“

“LOKI I HEARD BACK FROM MY PUBLISHER!” you cried, grinning from ear to ear. “Also hello! Good morning, my love.”

Loki’s velvety laugh only added to your elation, and you quickly ran up to your bedroom to start getting dressed.

“Good morning to you, too. I take it the news was good?”

“It was amazing news! Fantastic news, actually. I was going to finish the final chapter today, but now I’m too excited to focus!”

“Well, love, I’m sure that if you want to just take today to celebrate, it won’t put you too far behind schedule.”

“Speaking of celebrating, can I bring lunch by today on your break? If work isn’t too busy for you, that is.”

“That should be fine, darling; work is actually quite slow.”

“Perfect! I’m going to start getting dressed, but text me which restaurant you’d like, and I’ll pick it up. My treat!”

“Alright, love,” he chuckled. “I’ll see you around noon, then.”

After you two said your goodbyes, you flew through getting ready and ran a few errands before lunch time came around. Loki, as usually, had told you that he was fine with anything and that you should pick the restaurant, so you swung by your favorite bistro before taking a cab to Bellevue Hospital, waving at the front desk staff as you passed by. They all recognized you at this point from your previous visits to see Loki on his break, and they all smiled and waved back as you made your way to the elevators.

“(Y/N)!”

You turned to see one of the receptionists calling you over, and so you shifted the food boxes in your hands and approached the desk.

“Dr. Odinson asked me to tell you that he’s in his office – it’s on the same floor as the morgue, but take a left instead of a right when you get out of the elevators. His is the third office on the left.”

After thanking her for letting you know, you headed down that way, shivering as you stepped out into the cold basement floor. His office had a bronze name placard on it that had Loki’s name on it, and so, after a quiet knock, you walked in to find him sitting behind a tidy desk, tapping away at his laptop furiously.

“I come bearing gifts!” you announced, causing his head to pop up from staring at his screen.

“Come in, love,” he smiled, standing up to help you with the food. “Thank you so much for lunch.”

“Don’t mention it! I wanted to celebrate the latest book, and I can think of no way I’d like to celebrate more than to spend time with the man I love. …And that was incredibly cheesy, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Loki laughed, pulling the chair in front of his desk out for you. “But it was also very sweet, and I appreciate it more than you realize.”

After setting your food down on the desk, you sat down, not realizing that Loki wasn’t going back to his side of the desk until you heard the click of a lock sliding shut behind you. Turning around, you watched as Loki stepped away from the door, approaching you with a conniving glint in his eyes.

“Did…you just lock the door?” you asked, taking a sip of your drink.

“I did,” he confirmed. He didn’t elaborate further before sinking down onto his knees in front of you, and you only caught on to his intent after he gently took the to-go cup out of your hands to rest it on his desk.

“…Am I stuck in here with you, or are you stuck in here with me?” you joked, starting to squirm in your chair as Loki’s hands came down onto your knees.

The only answer you got was a wink before his lips were on yours, and all other thoughts fizzled out as his palms started creeping up your thighs, getting closer and closer to the waistband of your jeans. His tongue tasted like coffee as it glided over your own, and a small moan escaped your lips when his teeth gently nipped at your bottom lip.

“Are you sure about this?” you whispered as he started unbuttoning your pants. “I mean… What if we get caught?”

“We won’t get caught, love,” he assured you, slowly dragging your zipper down before beginning to slide your jeans off. “No one can stop us from having a little celebration. As long as you can keep quiet, that is.”

You lifted your hips as he tugged your trousers down your legs, taking your panties with them, and you shivered when you felt the cold leather chair against your exposed skin. Biting your lip, you slowly nodded your head, spreading your legs wider as Loki stooped down to place open-mouthed kisses along your inner thigh. It was wrong; you knew that there were other doctors in the offices right next to his, and you had no idea how thick or thin the walls were. Could they hear how hard you were suddenly breathing? Would someone passing by be able to hear the low, muffled groans Loki was making as he nipped and sucked hickeys into your skin?

As if sensing your thoughts, Loki glanced upwards as he spread your thighs even further apart, his lips twitching up into a smirk before he suddenly grabbed your hips and pulled, forcing your ass closer to the edge of the chair. In the same instance, he leaned down and buried his face between your legs, his nose just barely brushing against your clit as his tongue started lapping at your entrance. Your eyes rolled back he slipped it inside of you, the vibrations from his voice like bolts of lightning as he let out a guttural growl. He’d commented before on how much he loved eating you out, and you had no reason to doubt him as he thrust his tongue deeper and deeper inside of you.

“Loki…” You kept your voice at a soft whisper, gripping his hair as his tongue started alternating between thrusting into you and tracing patterns into your clit. Your hips jolted every time he swirled his tongue over your swollen bud, and it wasn’t long until they started rocking up against his face of their own accord. If you were at home, you’d already be begging for more or moaning his name over and over again, but now you were acutely conscious of every sound the two of you were making.

The panting of your breath and the obscene, slick noise of his tongue moving against you seemed to echo in the small room. With every shift of your hips, the chair you were in creaked, and you were soon fighting not to move too much for fear that it would be too loud. You were biting your lip so hard that you wouldn’t be surprised if you suddenly tasted blood, but the pleasure Loki was bringing you overshadowed any pain or discomfort.

Just as you felt the edge of your orgasm starting to approach, though, he was pulling away, licking his lips and watching your pussy clench around nothing as you tried to guide him back with the hands you had locked in his hair.

“Please,” you whimpered, “fuck, I was getting close-“

“Don’t worry, love,” he interrupted, leaning up to press a quick kiss to your lips. “I’m far from through with you.”

And that was all the warning you got before he scooped you up, setting you down onto his desk before you could do anything but let out a surprised gasp. At some point while he was eating you out, he must have taken his cock out of his pants, and now he was pushing you to lay on your back as he lined up with your entrance.

You gripped the edge of his desk so hard that your knuckles turned pale, but you still weren’t fully prepared for him to abruptly shove his cock inside of you, so hard that it pushed the air out of your lungs and pried a sharp moan from your lips. His hand came down over your mouth at its sound, and he leaned over you until your face was only inches from his.

“You have to stay quiet,” he panted, pulling out almost entirely before thrusting back into you. “You don’t want us to get caught, do you?”

You hurriedly shook your head no, and he nodded before pulling his hand away and sliding it between your bodies. You nearly moaned again once his fingertips found your clit, though, and you pressed your own hand to your mouth as he began playing with it in time with his thrusts.

“Good girl,” he purred, his own voice fighting back a moan as he started a fast rhythm. “Of course… Maybe you do want us to get caught.”

He punctuated his statement with a hard buck of his hips, and you pressed the back of your hand even harder to your lips as it startled another cry out you. The desk was beginning to creak in time with his movements, and you knew that anyone who walked by outside would be able to hear it. You just hoped that they couldn’t also hear Loki’s raspy breathing, or the way his balls were smacking against your ass with every thrust forward.

“Maybe you do want someone to hear me fucking you. Is that it?” he continued, his voice not once rising above a low growl. “Do you want them all to know that you’re mine? That you’re letting me use you, fuck you, right here in my office? Anyone with a key could get in, love. A janitor, another doctor… Anyone could come in and see what a good little slut you’re being for me. And you love that, don’t you?”

His thumb was moving faster and faster against your clit, and you were rapidly approaching your orgasm; you couldn’t remember the last time a partner had brought you so close so quickly. This was so different from how Loki usually was; typically, he was gentle with you, treating you like you would shatter if he were to grip you too tightly or kiss you too hard. But there were times, you’d found, when something else would peak through the cracks; some nights, his hand found its way around your throat, or his voice dropped into something predatory, threatening.

This was one of those times, evidently. And it always made something else rise up within you – the desire to submit, to bend to him completely, to let him have you and use you however he wanted. And so you did.

With a long, loud moan, you felt yourself cumming around his cock, so hard that it made your eyes roll back and your back arch up off of the desk, bending at an almost unnatural angle as your cunt clenched around him. Through the ringing in your ears, you heard him let out a muffled curse, and his thrusts began getting even harder, even faster, and through it all you laid back and took it. Your body was limp and pliable from your orgasm, and you watched through half-lidded eyes as he took what he wanted from it.

It wasn’t long, though, until he pulled out, stroking his cock a few more times before you felt his cum against your thighs and belly, staining your shirt with his release as he leaned heavily over you, catching his breath. After letting out a deep, heavy sigh, he leaned over, kissing you gently before resting his head on your chest.

“…Wow,” you breathed, settling one of your hands on the back of his head as your other arm drew him closer.

“I agree with that assessment,” he murmured, pressing a kiss over your heart before lazily turning towards you. “You did say you wanted to celebrate, though.”

A giggle escaped your lips at that, and he smiled softly before kissing you once again and slowly drawing himself up to full height.

“I’m…sorry, if I was too rough,” he began, but you sat up and pressed a finger to his lips, shaking your head.

“I liked it. Loki, I know you’d never hurt me,” you assured him. “And I know you don’t really mean it when you do things like call me a slut.”

“Good,” he nodded, his eyes skating over your face. “Because I don’t. And I would never, ever, hurt you.”

“Then don’t apologize for getting a little rough,” you countered, pecking his cheek before starting to stand on wobbly legs. “Because you better believe I enjoyed it.”

“Mm. I could tell.”

You swatted playfully at his arm before straightening your jeans and grabbing a tissue from his desk, dabbing at the cum he’d left on your shirt before giving up on the task entirely and deciding to just keep your coat buttoned up on the ride home.

“…(Y/N)?”

You turned to find Loki staring at you, having already smoothed his appearance back to its usual unrumpled state. The look in his eyes gave you pause, though – it was the same look that he’d had the night before, when he’d looked like he had something to tell you before deciding against it. Unbidden, fear suddenly swept over you, and you had the worst feeling that he was going to break things off, that he was going to tell you that he’d rushed into things and that he didn’t feel the same way as you.

Gulping, you stepped closer, fighting against the trembling in your hands as he took them between his, pressing a kiss to each of your palms before looking up at you once more.

“I’ve…been doing a lot of thinking, and Thor’s visit yesterday made me realize something,” he began.

“I haven’t ever felt this way about anyone before. And, if I’m being honest, sometimes it terrifies me. There are… There are things about me that I haven’t told anyone besides Thor, and even then, there are things he still doesn’t know.

“I came to the realization last night, though, that I want you to know everything about me. I want you to accept me, fully, as I’ve accepted you. And even if I’m not ready to share it all with you, I know that I want us to grow to that point together. I want you to be mine, yes, but I want to be yours, too. Wholly and completely.”

He took a deep breath, then, and your eyes grew wide as he reached into his pocket, taking out a small box and handing it to you.

“I had this made earlier today, after I dropped Thor off at the airport. And I realize that, yes, this is rushing things a bit, and I want you to know that it’s alright if you need to say no or if you need to think it over. But I’m ready to take the next step, whenever you are.”

Feeling as if time was suddenly moving in slow motion, you opened the box, tearing your eyes away from Loki just long enough to look down…

…and see a key waiting for you.

Immediately, your heart soared, and you looked up to see a tiny, hopeful smile on his lips.

“Will you move in with me, my love?”

And even though, yes, it was probably too soon, even though you’d only known Loki for four months, even though all of the logic inside of you was screaming against it, you didn’t hesitate before answering him.

“Yes!”  

____________

A/N: WOW it took forever to write this. I am so sorry! 2020 has really had its way with me, as it has with all of us, and I can’t apologize enough for letting my writing get so far behind. THANK YOU to anyone and everyone reading this, though. I hope you all are having a safe holiday season, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you ever wanna talk! You guys are the best readers in the world, and I appreciate every single one of you! 

#beauty in the blood #loki #Loki Laufeyson #loki x reader #dark!loki #dark!loki x reader #loki imagine #loki fanfic #marvel #marvel fanfic #serial killer #serial killer!loki #serial killer au #reader insert

[dracowars]

hold on | poe dameron

pairing: poe x reader

word count: 1,9k

summary: where poe has to hold on to y/n for dear life

a/n: this is inspired by that one scene in Mulan II (if you know, you know)

warnings: angst, character death, mentions of blood

universe: star wars

It was in that one moment, in that one tiny second, that you were careless. You were not paying enough attention. You have felt safe, a false sense of security. And suddenly the plans with important secret information about the First Order and its troops, that you worked hard for to earn, were snatched away from you.

Leia had entrusted the four of you - Rey, Finn, Poe, and you - with this very important mission and sent you to Vandor to meet up with a spy in the ranks of the First Order who captured said plans. With these plans you could have foreseen their next steps and be prepared for them. You would have had a chance, but now that the plans are gone, the hopelessness keeps increasing.

After you went to Vandor and reached your destination, you were badly surprised on your way back to the base and had to make an emergency landing on Pasaana, a heavily populated desert planet. You immediately thought that something was not right, that something was suspicious since the Millennium Flacon was carefully checked on the basis of the Resistance beforehand and showed no signs of any damages or problems. You should have guessed that the First Order was behind this, chasing you down until they got their precious plans back. And unfortunately, that is exactly what they now succeeded in doing.

Pasaana is known for its colorful festivals and marketplaces and while you were looking for spare parts to repair the Falcon with, you were distracted. You were not paying attention, got distracted, and suddenly the plans were gone, stolen by a creature you would classify as a bounty hunter based on its appearance. They were shrewd and cunning and had probably worked out their deed diligently. One of them distracted you all, talked to you, got you involved in a conversation and offered you all sorts of things, just like a real trader. What none of you noticed, however, was how his companion sneaked up on you from behind and stole your bag with the plans.

The two of them ran away immediately and you followed them as quickly as possible. While doing so, you also drew the attention of a few patrols consisting of stormtroopers of the First Order on you, who are making the pursuit even more difficult now. Rey fends off their shots with her blue lightsaber, Finn shoots his blaster at your chasers in the middle of running, while Poe and you are closely following behind the bounty hunters.

The sand under your feet makes it strenuous for you to move forward quickly, but not only you are affected by it. The bounty hunters as well as the stormtroopers are struggling with it too and since you ran out of the actual city by now, you find yourself completely surrounded by sand.

However, you do not let it stop you and continue to pursue them in the hope of regaining the important plans with the information, not dooming your mission. Poe tries to hit them with his own blaster shots repeatedly, but terribly fails. In return for his attack, you are met with a small ball flying straight towards you; a bomb.

Within seconds, Poe throws himself protectively at you, pulling you to the side and away from the source of danger, ending up in the soft sand when the bomb goes off close to you. Poe shields the swirling sand from you with his body, his strong arms blocking your view.

“Are you alright?”, he asks you worried, his arms wrapped tightly around you, scanning his eyes over your face.

“Y-Yes. Thank you”, you stutter out. You have never been this close to him before as you are at this moment right now. His dark curls fall on his forehead, beautifully framing it, his stunning brown eyes look straight into yours. You lose yourself in the moment, wanting to control and stop the time to forever enjoy this moment. Poe, on the other hand, seems to be stunned as well. By you.

He has had these feelings for you for so long already, but he suppressed them. At first, he tried to deny the fact that he fell for you, but seeing you every day, seeing that gorgeous smile on your face that he wants to touch so bad every time, he accepted his feelings at some point, but was still not ready to confess them. How could he? In the midst of a war raging around you, he felt it was inappropriate and not the right time to put his feelings first. But right now, in this moment, he would like nothing more than to confess his love to you. Kiss you right on the spot, cup your face, softly touch you with his fingers, all that he wishes so dearly still seems so far away, even now when he can literally feel your raging heartbeat against his chest.

No longer able to withstand his loving gaze on you, you avert your gaze and Poe watches how your eyes suddenly widen.

“The plans!”, you shout in shock and bring you both back to the bitter reality. Getting up as fast as possible, Poe helping you, you stomp through the deep sand again, following the bounty hunters who have brought a great distance between you in the meantime.

“What are you two even doing!?”, you hear Rey’s voice behind you as she comes running after you both. Apparently, she and Finn successfully eliminated all stormtroopers.

“They are going to escape!”, Finn adds a little angry, the blaster still ready in his hands before another loud shot is suddenly fired.

Several Tie Fighters have now appeared above you, chasing and shooting you. You are abruptly forced to stop in your tracks when one of their fatal shots lands right in front of you, blocking your path with a violent explosion, whirling the sand through the air again.

“This way!”, Poe calls out, takes you by the hand and leads you into a crevice, closely followed by Rey and Finn. “Their footprints lead this way, come on!”

Not hesitating for long, you stay hunched between the rocks, walking more slowly than before with the Tie Fighters over your head, waiting like vultures for their prey. The footprints lead through the rocky landscape until you reach a large, deep cliff.

Right when you reach it, the bounty hunters run over a narrow, unstable suspension bridge that leads over said gorge. Without thinking any further, Poe and you quickly follow them, the loose pieces of wood creaking dangerously under your feet. And on top of all of this, the Tie Fighters reappear, now that there is enough space above you to shoot at you again. A shot fired by Finn, who has stopped on the solid surface in front of the cliff, passes you, heading straight for the bounty hunters, but missing them by only a few inches. One of them aims his weapon directly at Poe and you on the loose bridge, fires a shot as well and actually lands a hit this time. Poe cries out in pain, whimpering, when his blaster is shot out of his hand with great impact, falling into the abyss.

As soon as the two bounty hunters reach the other safe side of the gorge, a disgusting laugh comes from their mouths as they suddenly start to cut the rotten ropes of the hanging bridge. Immediately the bridge begins to sway dangerously under your feet, nearly knocking you over when you try to keep your balance.

“Watch out!”, you hear Rey’s loud scream behind you, the last thing you hear right before one of the Tie Fighters shots fly through the air again, breaking the rope in half and causing you to fall into the deep depths, screaming.

At the very last moment you manage to hold on to a broken old rope, reach out your arm right away to catch Poe as well. His weight pulls hard on your arm, making you cry out in pain briefly, but you grab his hand as tightly as you can, not letting go of him. You hang helplessly in the air over the gorge, which leads several meters down, not even being able to see the ground from up here. A cold breeze floats through the gorge and not only makes you sway, but also the almost completely destroyed suspension bridge above you.

“Poe! Poe, hold on tight, okay? I got this!”, you scream loudly, hoping to give him and also yourself the strength to get through this, but when you look up to where the bridge was a few seconds ago, another part of it breaks and you fall a few meters deeper. Holding on to the one puny rope with your bare physical strength, tears are already stinging your eyes, the situation seeming hopeless. The rope, which now resembles a thin thread, will not be able to hold you for much longer.

“Y/N. It will not hold us both”, Poe states, his shaky voice full of fear and sadness, saying out loud what you thought.

“No, it will hold us both. It will, I know it will!”, you reply with an equal shaky voice, looking down at him and the infinite depth below him. Bloods runs down his arm, caused by the injury on his hand due to the shot, turning his light brown shirt a deep red. Tears well up in your eyes when you notice the helplessness in his eyes. Shortly after your words, the rope starts to tear a little more and your arms turn sorer every second.

“I should have told you this much earlier, Y/N. But I want you to know that, before we die, I truly love you”, Poe confesses out of nowhere, causing the tears to flow down your cheeks, your hand clasping even more around his wrist.

“I love you too, Poe. With all my heart”, you sob and see a gentle smile on Poe’s lips, which disappears again quickly as his whole facial expression changes after his gaze fell on the thread which is the only thing still saving you from death. “We will not die, do you hear me? We will make it out of here!”

“Y/N. I am sorry”, he whispers and suddenly loosens his grip on your hand. Screaming bitterly, you try to grab him, to hold him, but his hand slips away, and Poe falls down into the abyss, margining with the deep black while you can only scream after him.

“NO!”, you cry out loudly, your hand still outstretched, warm and covered in blood where your hands were still touching seconds before. “POE!”

You are about to let go as well, your grip on the rope, that is currently still rescuing you from the same fatal fate as Poe, is already loosening when you suddenly feel how the gravity gets reversed and you begin to float in the air. Slowly, you slide up out of the deep gorge, still holding the rope in your hand, your gaze fixed on the black below you as you get rescued through the Force by Rey. As soon as you feel solid ground under your feet again, you rush back to the dangerous edge, fall on your knees in front of it while tears flow down your cheeks in streams.

With beeping ears and a throbbing heart, you feel how Rey and Finn put their arms around you, how they talk to you and try to comfort you. But nothing could. Nothing in this universe could relieve you from the absolute pain you are in.

You feel nothing but emptiness. A void that is only filled with the unbearable pain of just having lost the love of your life forever.

#poe dameron #poe dameron imagine #star wars imagine #poe dameron one shot #star wars one shot #poe dameron imagines #poe dameron fic #poe dameron ff #poe dameron fanfiction #poe dameron os #poe dameron x y/n #poe dameron x reader #poe x reader #poe x y/n #poe os #poe one shot #poe imagine #poe imagines #poe fic #poe ff #poe fanfiction #sw imagine #sw imagines #poe dameron fluff #poe dameron angst #poe fluff #poe angst

[cheelduh]

A Liar’s Bait

Pairing: Kaeya x fem!reader

Warnings: Idk fatui abuse? Also Aether gets his braid pulled don’t hate me. Also unedited asf.

Synopsis: There’s a hiccup in the elaborate plan you’ve concocted to rescue your friends, and said hiccup comes in the form of a handsome Cavalry Captain that doesn’t have the foggiest of clues as to what personal space is.

"Ah darling, I didn't know you'd be wondering about this late in the night." The charming cavalry captain, Kaeya, sang from behind you.

For a brief second, you froze in place, but not long enough for him to see through your motives. "Kaeya," You turned to him naturally, and spoke your next words like an actor revising a memorized script. "Have to return a book. You know how Lisa gets."

"At these ungodly hours?" He raised a brow, and you blinked away any remnants of sleep in your eyes at the mention of time.

Barely skipping a beat, you gave him an acknowledging smile. "I have some tasks to do tomorrow. It's better if I return it now." The book that is supposedly due tomorrow is waved hurriedly in the air, as if to exaggerate your point.

"Though it seems like Lisa has went home." He pointed out, cornering you against the brick wall, a knowing look in the deep pools of his eyes.

Of course you knew Lisa wasn't in. That was the entire base of your plan. There were a total of four knights on rotation at the headquarters. It was simple really, sneak into the library with your authority as trusted aide, and if push came to shove, an easy knockout would do.

However, Kaeya's sudden appearance put a hiccup through your plans. It would take more than a sock to the face to put him out of commission.

"Oh really?" You tilted your head in confusion, eyes widening, as you eyed him. "I probably should have came by earlier. Well then, I'll just have to put it on her desk with a note."

"You could trust it with me, and I'll return it tomorrow. Captain's word." He replied innocently, snatching the book from your fingers.

Archons, you absolutely did not have the time for this.

Aether and Paimon were waiting after all.

You decided not to shove a stick up his ass, and instead let your anger blow over silently.

"Your hands are clammy darling," Kaeya went on, flipping through the text just for show. "I can feel it on the book."

'Ew that's gross' You wanted to say, but decided to play his game instead.

"Guess I'm nervous." A forced a blush made its way onto your face. Okay maybe it wasn't forced, but you couldn't blame yourself for letting his subtle teasing get to you.

"Oh?" He feigned curiosity, letting the book close with a soft thud. "My presence often does that to people." The cocky undertone in his voice made you fantasize smacking his face a hundred times over.

"Of course," It was a struggle to not speak in a dry tone. "You are truly..." A small cough escaped your lips, and you tried to stumble upon the words, wishing upon barbatos that the flattering would work. "charming."

Kaeya's grin widened, all cat like, and for a brief moment you felt your heart stutter. He swooped in to cage you against the wall. "I didn't know you were so bold dear."

Before he could utter another flirtatious remark, you pushed yourself close to him, distracting him for a mere moment just to strategically slip the book into the safety of your arms. "Thanks but no thanks. I'll return the book myself."

With a swift duck under his arm, you made your way to HQ before a cold hand grabbed your shoulder. You ceased any movement and glanced over your shoulder, a frown made clear.

Kaeya narrowed his eyes at you, clearly not liking how you weren't becoming a bumbling idiot at his flirty behaviour like you usually did. You'd love to—but you just didn't have the time to deal with him, not when the fatui were breathing down your neck.

"I'll go with you." He said slowly, testing you for any reactions. Shit. He's on to you. "I can't let a pretty lady wander all alone. You might get lost."

Like hell you would. You knew everything about the damn base as if it were the back of your hand. Kaeya understood this as well, but instead, he opted to wake up every morning and choose to be a dickwad.

You swallowed the lump in your throat. "Lead the way."

Kaeya seemed satisfied at your reply, and slid his grip down from your shoulder, straight to your free hand. He walked in front of you, pulling you behind him like you were a clumsy toddler.

His gaze wasn't on you, so you took the chance to examine your surroundings, trying to find the presence that was tailing you.

Kaeya being this close to you wasn't looking good for you at all. The walls had eyes and ears, and the only way to apprehend the risk was by doing as they said. Only then would you get your opening.

Paimon...Aether...hold on a bit longer.

With a nod to the guards, Kaeya and you made your way in, stopping right in front of the library. With a puzzled expression on your face, you were about to question his intentions, until he readjusted his grip so that your fingers were intertwined.

You were sure your face was flushed in all kinds of colours by now.

"Shall we enter?" He asked you, mirth clear in his eyes.

The only signal you managed to give him was a quick nod.

The library smelled of dark oak and silk flowers. You briefly remembered Aether giving her the plant from his adventures back in Liyue. The bookshelves were decorated with intricate designs, filled with countless of books that had all earned their rightful place.

And you were about to steal one, summoning chaos into Lisa's beloved library. It would be you who might deliver an archived book straight into the hands of the very people who sought out violence in order to achieve power.

"I'll check it in for you," Kaeya let go of your hand after dragging you all the way to the front desk, only to outstretch it for the text you were gripping too hard.

"Oh yeah," You handed it to him—willingly this time. "thank you. I'll be looking around."

It was understood what you had to do. Easily finding the locked case from which you would slip the book into your clothes only to make a run for it wouldn't cut it.

The captain would make too much noise and track you down himself before you could get the chance to shove the book up the Fatui's ass, get Aether and Paimon their freedom back. Then once you'd ensure their safety, you'd beat the living shit out of the Fatui agents right after. It's not like you'd have a choice.

The whole reason you were in this whole mess was because you decided to help Aether out with his latest commission, which happened to be clearing out a hilichurl camp smack dab in the middle of a road. The camp blocked all imports and exports, proving to be a stick in the butt for the merchants of Monstadt.

You, oh helpful and kind you, assisted him with the task, seeing as you were walking back from a fishing trip.

Turned out that the hilichurl camp was a cover for a bunch of Knights of Favonious hungry Fatui agents who were hellbent on getting the one and only copy of a book Lisa had tucked away in the library.

While you two could've easily ended every single one of those shady bastards, enemy reinforcements came out of nowhere and dug their claws right into Aether.

At least that was the cover story.

Violà, a hostage situation was born.

They promised to let Aether go on one condition. If you obtained a book they had their eyes on for quite some time. But their promise had as much worth as Venti's word did when he told you that the drinks were on him.

They couldn't risk the Knights finding out. You were just another loose string that would be cut off along your two friends.

Locating the book and hiding it in your outfit undetected was as effortless as it could get. What was coming would not be.

"Darling," Kaeya called out to you, but his voice is different. More darker than usual. You didn't summon your spear just yet.

"I've finished up. Let's get going yeah?" His footsteps are light on the wooden planks of the floor, but his words are solid. Frozen even.

You breathed out, but refused to turn around.

"You know," He continued, halting next to your shoulder, leaning his sweet mouth down to your ear. His hot breath fanned against your neck, but you paid no heed. "A liar is no stranger to a liar."

You lunged to the side, spinning on your heel as your back hit the railing in the middle of the library. The captain reacted quickly by swiping the air, but ultimately failed to grab you as you gracefully tipped yourself over, landing right on your feet.

There was now a floor that separated the two of you. Just as you had intended.

The reflexes you showcased earned you a smooth-voiced chuckle, an amused smirk gracing his lips. He leaned against the ledge with both hands, bending down his upper body.

"Oh my. We've got ourselves a thief. You didn't think I wouldn't notice, right?" He contemplated, weapon materializing right then and there, ready to put on a good show. You could read him like a book just as he could you. "Can't believe you're such a naughty girl."

Despite his teasing tone, his eyes remained cold and calculating.

"Don't flatter yourself." You spoke monotonously, brushing a hand in the air. "The date stamp didn't match up right? Tight time frame, couldn't really think about the logistics."

Kaeya narrowed his eye shrewdly, offended. "I can't let you go you know."

"I don't need you to." You quipped, but then placed a finger on your chin. "On second thought I kind of do. How about a friendly transaction? I really don't want to fight you."

"And I do not wish to fight you, darling." Kaeya's face split into a viscous smile, a far less forgiving gaze meeting you halfway. This was your chance to tell him, he was giving you a generous opening to explain yourself.

You bit your lip, feeling the unknown presence yet again. The walls had eyes and ears. The walls had vengeful teeth that would dig into you the minute you'd let it slip.

"I need you to let me go." You clutched the leather of your gloves desperately, your prior confidence flickering. Begging was the only card you had left.

His hardened gaze on your form softened slightly, but disappeared almost instantly.

You didn't have to wait for him to voice his answer. It was as clear as day.

The captain didn't waste any more time when jumping over the ledge.

By the time Kaeya's feet made impact, your pole arm was already aimed and ready to strike.

"Let's dance."

-

After a tactical withdrawal, you found yourself taking tentative steps on the outskirts of Springvale. It wouldn't have been possible if Kaeya didn't let his guard down momentarily.

The cuts on your shoulder still stung, but it was difficult to spare any time towards the throbbing.

Why were you walking so slow? Did your plan not work? No, it should have. You calculated every risk. But why the hell were you prolonging the inevitable end?

It didn't matter. Either way, you'd get to sink your teeth into some unfortunate fatui agents, injecting them with centuries worth of pain.

The opening was nearby, you noted, the pathway familiar. You always were good with maps, oftentimes lending a hand to the certain young outrider with a bright smile and kind heart.

You allowed yourself to calm your erratic heartbeat, and slow your breathing as to get a clearer sense around you. There were two, but before there had been three. The third one revealed himself when you deployed your "return the book" scheme, flipping through the guidebook carefully to see if you left potential breadcrumbs.

Gnawing at your lip, you followed the trail, the world behind you quieting down to a silent whisper.

It seemed like forever when you reached the destination, halting your movements.

Your ears perked up at their footsteps before you could catch a glimpse of them, but made no sudden movements except for dropping the book on the ground as they had instructed.

It was odd that you felt as calm as you did. It could've been because of your confidence in your abilities, or perhaps, something else entirely.

The pyro agent appeared from one of the bushes, right after shoving a bruised and gagged Aether. Paimon came next, in a cage controlled by a fatui cicin mage who wore a wicked smile on her stupid face.

They managed to shut Paimon up real quick. You wondered what it took, but not for too long.

"Hey now," You grinned, but your fingernails were digging crescents in your palm. "I thought we agreed that no one gets hurt?"

"The traveller here is a real handful." The fatui agent hissed from under his mask, harshly yanking Aether by his braid.

Aether, immobile, scowled in discomfort and continued to struggle through his bounds.

You didn't acknowledge the blond nor the agent's words, alternatively choosing to nod your head to the book instead. "Here as promised."

The agent motioned to the Cicin mage, who walked forward in order to obtain the book safely. She handed it back to him, and he briefly flipped through it, seemingly satisfied.

Just like that, Aether was knocked down on his knees next to your feet, Paimon thrown like a sack of potatoes atop him. They were out of the red. Your signal to strike.

"Unfortunately, promises are beneath our pay grade." The agent placed a finger on his chin, as if in thought. "However, you prove to be a valuable asset."

"Oh really?" You piped, eyes crinkling in mock excitement. "I'm really glad a lowly fatui scum thinks so highly of me. It's truly an honour."

Said fatui agent glared knives straight through his mask.

"Kill them." He ordered, and the Cicin mage hummed a sound of delight, summoning her electro-flies or whatever the hell those things were called.

Your polearm took shape in the clutches of your left hand, a twisted grin plastered on your face.

"I'm gonna have so much fun tearing you apart." The bloodlust you emanated was enough to choke the air out of both the mage and agent.

Pouncing on your prey, you didn't give the mage a chance to scream before you landed a roundhouse kick straight to her ribs. She made a guttural choking sound, moving to clutch herself. You ended the move by twisting your weapon into the air to send a shattering hit straight to her temple.

Your blow successfully knocked her out, the kick back proving to be enough to send the pyro agent flying into a nearby tree.

"I really expected something more challenging." A pout formed on your lips, eyebrows furrowed. "Hopefully you can make up for what your mage lacked. If not, I'll be disappointed."

The agent chuckled painfully. "You won't get the chance. You can't take on all of us."

"All of you?" You questioned, tilting your head, eyes widening innocently. "Oh you mean those pesks that were tailing me? So sorry, but they're gone now."

"W-what?!" He sputtered, quick on his feet as he pulled out his knife, charging it with elemental energy. "How could you have—"

"How unfair," A low tone whistled, and Kaeya finally made an appearance, smiles and everything. "Don't give her all the credit. You're making me feel left out."

The pyro agent scattered around his flames, preparing to shake up the battle—

You lost your patience and picked up a decent sized rock, aimed for his nose, and sent a plunging attack.

The agent lost consciousness before he hit the ground.

"Oh come on!" Kaeya's dejected groan rang in your ears. "Could've let me have a turn."

"You already had your turn." You sent a pointed stare at him, bending down near the mage to wipe the blood of your pole arm with her clothes. "Two times if I recall."

He rolled his eyes playfully, forgetting the banter to go and free the traveller of his bounds.

—

"Let's me get this straight." Jean said with fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. "You two roughed up some fatui agents without informing the knights, and put the traveller at risk." There's this look of disappointment in her face, but you're used to it by now.

Hanging around Kaeya sure had its ups and downs.

"Precisely. The folder on your desk has all the details. Enough proof to have them in our custody.” The cavalry captain nodded along, and it somehow made you feel like you were a kid being scolded after getting caught stealing cookies from the jar.

"It was an operation that the traveller agreed to," You declared so her brewing anger didn't overflow. "The perfect plan to catch them in the act. It was my idea. The captain didn’t really know until later.”

"Although I’m quite hurt you didn’t fill me in any sooner, I must say, watching those ignorant fatui diplomats scramble to try and find an explanation is going to be worth the wait.” He spoke with a hint of a smile.

The both of you fist bumped. Jean wasn't amused.

The acting grand master produced a stern glare. "Y/N, assist Lisa with anything she needs for the rest of the week. And the Cavalry Captain here won't be going out on patrols any time soon."

That was a clear lie, but Jean had to keep up appearances after all. What kind of acting grand master would she be if she didn't at least pretend to have some sort of authority over her two trouble-making subordinates.

With a dramatic sigh, you spun on your heel to leave.

“Hey Y/N,” Jean called out, and you tilted your head, wanting to know if she changed her mind and decided to make your punishment worse. “Good work today. That will be all.” She avoided eye contact, feigning deeper interest in the pileup on her desk.

After the "briefing”, as Kaeya liked to call it, you found yourself outside of HQ with him right on your tail.

"Not too shabby for a day's work." He winked, smoothing out his words. "I must say, I'm quite impressed with how this went. Didn't expect you to put so much faith in me.”

"How did you get my signal anyways?" You snorted. "The entire scheme was off the bat. I had to wink at the traveller like five times to get him to showcase a crappy fight stance and become my fake hostage. Dense little guy.”

There was a momentary pause before Kaeya enlightened you with an answer.

"You hate reading, and you're irresponsible." He pointed out cheekily, poking at your nose. You scrunched your nose and turned away, cheeks warming. "The abyss would freeze over before you ever read a book, let alone steal one. That’s several red flags for me.”

He kept going, finding the topic of this to be quite interesting. “Not to mention returning the “Code of Conduct” handbook.” The relentless teasing was one of the reasons why you dreaded work,

"Gee thanks." You remarked unceremoniously. “I didn’t need your help at all. You just love sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

"Aww don't be so low spirited." He suspended your movements by curling an arm around your waist. "Let me treat you for a job well done darling." His hot breath fanned your ear, lips teasingly close.

Dammit dammit...why does he have to be so close!

"That's unfair." Paimon screeched from thin air, scaring the living daylights out of you. "After all the traveller and I have been through, don't we deserve a treat as well?!"

Kaeya laughed apologetically, cold hand never leaving your hips. "Of course. The honorary knight has been quite the help. Now let’s get moving, we're not frozen in place, after—"

A smack on the arm shut him up real quick.

#kaeya x reader #genshin impact #kaeya alberich #kaeya x y/n #kaeya x you #genshin impact oneshot #aether #Paimon

[groundcontrol21]

A Rainy Day’s Work (M)

So I was listening to my favorite Irish song in honor of St. Patrick’s day, “Whiskey in the Jar” and then this just happened. Based off the song, but this time our protagonist and highwayman is improved (i.e.. has a cold) and his Jenny is more sympathetic to the cause of highway robbery than is her song counterpart.

The wet wind blew the door shut behind me, and just as it rattled in its wooden frame, so too did I rattle in my corporal one. “Heh’ISSHH!” I sniffed back desperately what I could and, by habit, fumbled in my pocket for a kerchief to take care of the rest, only to find, of course, that said piece of cloth was as drenched as the rest of me. Sniffling almost compulsively around a completely and utterly blocked nose, I bit back a groan as I rang out the kerchief, adding to the puddle of wetness from my dripping overcoat already forming at my feet.

There was a scuttering sound and I looked up to see Jenny hurrying toward me, wiping her floury hands on the body of her dress. Though I was chilled to the bone, a miniscule part of me warmed at the tenderness of her expression as she scanned me over with an urgency that suggested that little old me with my ratty clothes and my wretched cold was worth all the concern in the world.

“Oh darling, you shouldn’t have stayed out half as long as you did in this weather.” She clucked her teeth as she removed my sodden coat from around my shoulders to hang it on a chair to dry, and I shivered. “Look at you, you look half drowned.”

“Better half than hah-wholly! Hhh’RSSHH’uhh!”

Between my sniffles (whose wetness, admittedly, lent credence to my state as half-drowned), I heard Jenny murmur a soft oh sound, the sweetness of which, could I have captured it in a jar, would have attracted all the bees in the summertime. Abysmal though I felt, I relished in the depths of care she was showing me. Though not strictly necessary (I had only a bad cold, after all) , it was more than welcome all the same.

Jenny came at me with a cloth from the kitchen and began rubbing furiously at my hair, left damp by the rain that had infiltrated my holely hat. I coughed a bit, and she paused in her ministrations to rest a palm gently against my warm cheek. Her brow furrowed, knitting the lines of her soft brown eyes with concern.

“I knew your sniffling this morning was the start of a headcold brewing,” she said before returning to toweling my hair with fervor.

The tickle was growing in my nose again, but even as I tried to duck away, between Jenny’s hands and the towel I was trapped. As soon as I pulled an inch away, she’d catch me by the hair and pull me back. “Jesus, you’ll pull out all my hair doing that!”

At last, I managed to shove her away from me long enough to jerk to the side with a heavy sneeze. “Hehh’RSHH’uhh! Heh’ISSSHhh’uhh! Hehhh’ISSSH!” The cold had so fully settled in my nose that I barely got a glimpse of respite from my congestion before I was completely bunged up once more.

“Christ almighty!” Jenny winced as I coughed slightly in the aftermath. “Don’t you have any sense in that head of yours? Why didn’t you ride back as soon as you saw the clouds blowing in? You’re doing yourself no favors, poorly as you are.”

“Ah, snf!” I wagged a finger at Jenny before reaching for my purse, undoing it from my belt as deftly as my wet, trembling hands would allow. “But if I had rode off before the storm came in, I wouldn’t have gotten this, would I?”

I poured the purse’s contents onto the rickety wood table at which we took our meals. From the corner of my eye I watched Jenny’s widen as coin after coin came tumbling out, spilling across the tabletop and even clacking to the floor. When I had finished, it was as if the table had been coated in a flood of golden rain.

Jenny’s voice was hushed when she spoke again, her awe nearly tangible. “Who’d you get all this from, then?”

“Fresh young navy captain,” I replied, giving a brief cough behind my fist. “Stopped him about two miles out from the village.”

“Did you--” Jenny began, but I stopped her.

“Didn’t have to,” I said, watching her shoulders relax a little. For all she understood of highway robbery, the idea of taking a life still unsettled her. “He was about ready to give me the clothes off his back when he saw my pistol.”

“Perhaps you should’ve taken him up on that,” Jenny said wryly, giving my sodden overcoat a squeeze. A small downpour came off the coat and to the floor.

I gave her a small smile in return. “Perhaps.” I sneezed again, which sent me into a fit of coughs, barking and deep, that swept me up much quicker than had any earlier in the day. Dimly, I felt Jenny’s hand on the small of my back, and the sensation of her warm hand against the coolness of my shirt and skin made me jolt with a shudder.

“If we’re lucky, all this money will be just enough for your treatment once you get pneumonia!” Jenny shepherded me toward the tiny kitchen stove and pulled up a chair which she promptly pushed me down into. She undid my belt deftly, and placed it and my pistol aside the chair where my overcoat hung. “Stay put here, and I’ll bring you dry clothes and get a fire going.”

Jenny disappeared into the other room, where the bed and clothing were kept. I smiled to myself as I set to unbuttoning my shirt. I had seen the way her eyes glowed as they flitted across the sum I’d taken home; with it we could buy new cloaks and shoes and have plenty left over for pretty things.

My cold snatched me from my reverie. “Hihh’ESSH! Hehh’ihh’KSSHH! Hhh’RSHH’uhh! Unghhh… Sod the dry clothes,” I groaned from behind my hand. “Find me a dry h-h-hah-handkerchief! Ihh’sshhh!”

I opened my eyes to see a white square of cloth floating before me. Jenny’s kerchief, then. I took it anyhow and buried my nose in it, giving a solid blow as I did so. “After wiping my nose on a sopping wet kerchief all day, this is as close as I’ll ever get to heaven.”

“I can’t imagine you were all that frightening today, sniveling and hacking all around as you are,” Jenny hummed, her back to me as she loaded kindling into the stove and ignited a flame. “Lucky thing I had the thought to bring in a bit of wood for the stove and save it from the rain, eh?”

I rose to the bait. “I’d say I was mighty menacing enough, thank you very much, and I’ve got the money to prove it. Do you reckon my cold was the secret? Perhaps I should catch cold more often, scare the daylight out of villagers. Maybe one well-placed cough is all it takes to have them turning out their pockets.”

My speculations proved too much for my sore throat, and I descended into coughing once more. Jenny slipped my wet shirt off my shoulders, her fingers lingering soothingly on my aching chest, before she helped me pull on a fresh nightshirt.

“Even if that were so, I’d rather have you well and all in one piece,” she said, all traces of teasing gone and a warm feeling spread all over me that I knew had nothing to do with the now-crackling fire before me or any budding fever. “You sound miserable. Should I boil up a pot of steam for you, to try and clear out that head of yours?”

I shifted in the chair, feeling slightly ashamed at her coddling. Even two years ago, before I had met my Jenny, I would have spent this kind of night asleep in a barn’s hay, as I always did, and I would have awoken the next morning to a day of stealing, as I always did. Perhaps I would have scrounged up a bottle of liquor if my fever got too high or my throat too raw, but otherwise, so long as I could stand upright I could make my living.

Jenny must have sensed my discomfort, for she merely placed a blanket around my shoulders and withdrew. “You think about it. I’ll be boiling up some stew once I finish this dough, so it wouldn’t be any trouble.”

I watched Jenny’s braid ripple down her back as she returned to kneading the dough. I shivered into the blanket, my head so heavy I felt stupid with the effort of keeping my eyes open tlong enough to focus on her. My body ached and I knew that I would regret having chased down the captain tomorrow, even despite the money I had stolen from him. It had been a long time since I had felt so utterly and completely ill. Perhaps it was the cool autumn rain or perhaps it was Jenny’s coddling or perhaps I was coming down with something worse than a headcold, that made me feel so low. Whatever it was, I was grateful beyond measure that I was ill in a house with a bed, shabby though they were, and not alone in a barn somewhere in the highland. And I resolved to make the most of that fact.

“Jenny, darling,” I said raspily, palming my throat. She turned to me just as I buried my face in the blanket. “Heh’KMPPF! Ihh’KMPCHH!” I remembered her kerchief, and pressed it to my nose. My head felt full of cotton. “That pot of steam sounds wonderful.”

She smiled a knowing little smile and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, leaving a trace of flour on her cheek. “I’ll get started right away.”

#whump #fetishblog #sick #snez #my writing #songfic #but make it more niche and weird #original characters #kind of? #snezkink

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Jairsolas

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Six

A JSE Fanfic

*gasp* A POV change?! For the first time in this story?! How exciting! Yeah short description because I’ve had a long day as of queueing this, but basically we follow Marvin as he tries to track down the King. But instead, along the way, he meets someone new. And that’s all I have to say. Hope you enjoy :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

The noble family Portmota lived on the edge of the Southern Moors, their castle built on the last bit of solid land before the rivers came in and flooded the south of the kingdom. Officially, their claim covered all of the Moors, but everybody knew that the Moors ran on their own, much like the mountain villages to the west and north. But the meagerness of their claim didn’t stop the family from building themselves a solid, grand castle. It sat on top of a small hill, surrounded by a thick stone wall. The castle’s multiple towers reached the sky, and were numerous to require a large staff to keep the place running for the noble family and any visitors they might have.

With such a large body of servants, it was easy to slip in unnoticed. They always accepted help, and as long as you didn’t appear troublesome, they’d immediately snatch you up and put you to work the moment you asked for a position, no interview needed. 

This was something Marvin found out first hand when he decided to infiltrate the castle in preparation for the King’s visit.

Maybe they needed help to clean up for said visit, maybe they were always like this, the result was the same either way. All Marvin had to do was show up on the grounds, dressed in ragged clothes, and he was immediately hired by the head servant. She didn’t even mind when he said he had to keep his cat nearby at all times.

Once he was inside, it only took him a few days to get a scope of things. Normally his sense of direction was terrible, but the servants were always being sent on numerous chores, so the castle’s layout quickly solidified in his mind. The cleaning and cooking was...hard, he had to admit. Unlike Jackie and Schneep, he hadn’t grown up doing chores, and taking care of things was a relatively new skill. He went to bed in the servants’ quarters exhausted. But this was a small price to pay for the opportunity that had presented itself.

He began to notice odd things about the castle. First of all, effort was put into cleaning and clearing every room in every wing, even the ones that had been sealed off so the heat wouldn’t escape into the winter air. Every candlestick was being polished, every tapestry dusted out. Why all the work? Unless...there was something big happening.

There were also a lot more people wandering around the castle. Visitors. Nobility, to be specific. An oddly high amount. Not that the nobility didn’t like to go see each other, especially for parties, but the Portmota claim was currently home to just one person: the Marquess Portmota, the eldest member of the family. Marvin knew all the other Portmotas were either traveling, or had married into other noble families and now lived with them. There were far too many visitors in the castle for one woman to entertain, even for something as important as a Longest Night celebration.

Not to mention the rumors circling through the servants’ ranks. News spread fast through this network, and soon, maids, cooks, and gardeners were muttering to each other about the King himself visiting.

Marvin tried not to get too close to any of these servants. It would just...get in the way. Sure, many of them were friendly to him, offering to share lunches or spend their breaks with him. But...no, it wouldn’t work out. It couldn’t. Besides, he didn’t need them. All he needed was his familiar, Draco.

He’d been in Portmota Castle for a week when the rumors started to buzz. The cleaning suddenly intensified, and the visitors to the keep began strutting about in their finest clothes. One night, to confirm his suspicions, he asked a laundress named Mina what was going on.

“Huh? You mean you haven’t heard? You haven’t seen?” Mina glanced about the laundry room where she was busy working. Seeing nobody else nearby, she leaned close to Marvin and whispered, “They’ve seen the King! Here!”

Marvin’s eyes widened in exaggerated surprise. “Really? Why would he be here?”

“Why would he be here? For the Longest Night celebration!” Mina chuckled. “Elders, Westley, you can be oblivious,” she said, calling him by the fake name he was going by.

“Oh. That makes sense.” Marvin glanced down at the floor. Draco was batting at a loose sleeve dangling from a laundry bin, so he quickly bent over and scooped him up before the cat could knock the whole thing over. “Who saw him? How’d they know it was the King?”

“A couple people. Teresa, Connor, Kelley. They saw a man fitting his description walking around, with the brown hair and slender build, and Teresa pointed out he was walking very purposefully. Dressed finer than all other lords who’ve come to visit.” Mina dumped some of the laundry into a washbasin as she talked. “Kelley got really close to him, too, when they were serving food in the hall. They said he had the royal green eyes.”

“Royal green. Wow.” Marvin pretended to be in awe, and made sure not to show off any of the burning anger smoldering inside him. “If he’s the King, where’s he staying? I don’t think any room here would be noble enough for him.”

Mina shrugged. “Nobody’s said yet. There are a whole bunch of new rooms made up for the visitors, hard to tell. It’s not like he’ll be hanging the royal crest on the door.” She glanced about the room again, then nudged Marvin’s shoulder with some urgency. “Oh no, Ursula is coming. Better get out of sight before she demands you stop standing around and start working.”

“Right.”

That conversation was abruptly cut short, but Marvin got a lot of information from it. Namely, that the King really was here. The detail about the royal green eyes sealed it. Yes, the royal family were once known for their distinctive shade of green eyes, but none of them had actually been born with the color in recent generations. Until the current king. Something like that wouldn’t be forgotten easily. Now the question was how to get close to him.

He spent two days trying to figure out which room the King was staying in, but in the end, the answer fell right into his lap.

It was early morning, and he was in the kitchen, kneading bread for the day. It was a task he often volunteered for; something about the kneading motion was very calming to him. Even if Draco wandered around and tried to get under the feet of every grumbling chef and baker.

With no warning, the door suddenly flew open, and a voice called, “Any of you lot free for a quick delivery?!”

Everyone looked over in unison. It was Ursula, the head servant. “Depending what the delivery is!” answered Everett, the head cook.

“We need a breakfast tray prepared quick!” Ursula demanded. “It’s urgent!”

The chefs and bakers muttered amongst themselves. “How urgent is it?” Everett asked.

Ursula huffed. “Very. One of the lady’s important guests ordered it. And we don’t wanna upset him.”

Marvin’s head shot up. Could it be...?

“Alright, don’t get your skirt twisted, Helendaugh,” Everett muttered, rolling his eyes. “We’ll make one up. But you’ll need someone else to bring it up. We’re all busy here, if you couldn’t tell.”

“No one else can bring it up! They’re all busy too! Sure, I could scout around for someone, but that’ll take too long! Do I need to repeat that he ordered it urgently? Or that we can’t upset him?”

Marvin slowly raised his hand. “Um...sir? If you give me a minute, I’ll be finished. I can do it.”

Everett gave his kneading station a once-over, then nodded, satisfied. “Alright, that’ll be just enough time to make up the tray. See, Ursula? Westley can do it, no problem.”

Judging by the tightness of her face and the way she was wringing her hands, Ursula still thought there was a problem. But she stepped back. “Okay. Westley, you’ll want to head up the central tower, all the way to the top room. Knock on the door, but don’t wait for a reply. Open it and slide the tray right in, then close it and leave.”

“I understand, ma’am.”

“Make sure you do. This is very important, for a very important guest.” Ursula took a few more steps back, right out the door. Then she shut it behind her.

Some time later, Marvin was practically running through the halls of Portmota Castle, Draco at his heels. The central tower was quite far away from the kitchens. Though...a tower room was odd. Most nobility preferred to stay in the keep itself, since towers got drafty, and walking up and down the stairs was rarely worth the view. Maybe the King was different? Eh. It didn’t really matter. The King wouldn’t be around long enough to enjoy that tower room.

Marvin stopped at the base of the central tower, breathing heavily. He quickly glanced around, but luckily, the area was clear of any servants or noble visitors. Good. He needed to be quick. He slid over to the wall and knelt down, putting the tray of food on the floor. There was a floor-length tapestry nearby, and he pulled it over his shoulders, partially hiding him from view.

Then he reached under his shirt and pulled out a pendant on a chain. A beautiful pendant, with its smooth, palm-sized emerald and silver frame looking too expensive for the rusted chain it hung from. Even though wearing it might give him away, he couldn’t bear to part from his magical focus. A wizard without a focus was like a painter without their paint. They couldn’t do anything without it.

Quickly, Marvin pressed two fingers to the surface of the emerald, which immediately started glowing. When he pulled his hand away, the glowing light stuck to his fingertips. He drew a rectangle on the ground with his fingers, leaving light behind like chalk on a board. Once the rectangle was fully formed, the middle of it faded away. Now, Marvin was looking at the inside of a small box. And inside the box were a few things. A small dagger, a bottle of brown glass, a coil of thread, a white handkerchief, and a candle. Marvin plucked the bottle out from the box. He reached for the breakfast tray—swatting Draco away in the process with a “No, not for you”—and pulled it closer. Then he unstopped the bottle, poured a few drops of the liquid inside onto all the food items, and stopped it again, putting it back inside the small box. Once the bottle was back in place, the glowing rectangle disappeared. The floor reappeared as solid stone once more, with no sign of the magical box that had just been there.

“Good,” Marvin said, grinning to himself. He pulled away the tapestry, picked up the food tray, and stood up. “Now for the most difficult part...the stairs.”

That statement was a joke—a joke for no one, really, since Draco was the only one around and he didn’t really understand human humor—but Marvin was definitely winded by the time he reached the room at the tower top. No matter how often he walked up stairs, no matter how frequently he’d done so in the past week, he still hated them. Maybe that said more about how fit he was than the design of the stairs themselves. Which made no sense, he’d spent the past few years running around the kingdom, surely he’d be more fit by now?

He was getting distracted. The room door was in front of him. Wooden. A fine door, but no more fine than literally any other door in the castle. Yet...the King was inside.

Following the instructions, Marvin knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for a reply before easing it open and setting the tray down on the floor inside. Draco almost poked his head through the gap, but Marvin pushed him back, then closed the door.

He waited for a few minutes. Expecting to hear movement inside. But there was nothing. Well...the room must have thick walls, then. With his task accomplished, Marvin turned back and headed back down the stairs, which proved much friendlier on the way down.

That poison worked quickly. By that night, they’d hear news of the King’s assassination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

But that was not the case.

Marvin waited with anticipation, but nothing happened. There was no outcry of poison, no panic as the King’s lackeys were left unsure what to do. Things proceeded as normal. Leaving him confused. He was sure he got the dose right, and he’d made sure to poison all of the food on the tray. Hadn’t he?

The next morning, the exact same thing happened. Ursula barged into the kitchen, demanding a breakfast tray for an important guest. Everett said everyone was busy, and Ursula repeated the urgency. So, Marvin volunteered to deliver it again. Once he was alone, he took the poison from the hidden box and again dosed the food, making sure to add a bit more this time before putting the poison back and delivering the food to the top of the tower. He even had to push Draco back from the door again.

But still, nothing happened.

And when the same thing happened the next morning, Marvin was about ready to shout out “Am I going mad?!” But he didn’t, and instead played it cool. This time, Everett asked him to take the tray up ahead of time, expecting him to be able to. And of course, Marvin agreed, and secretly added even more of the poison. And of course, Draco once again tried to squeeze into the room at the top of the tower. Honestly, Marvin felt he should have more control of his familiar, but given how cats were impossible to order around under normal circumstances, he took Draco even listening to him as a plus.

When nothing happened the fourth day, Marvin began to suspect something unusual was going on. Perhaps someone tampered with the poison? No, that should be impossible. That box was buried in the ground, far away from Portmota Castle. He could only access it because of his magic. But...maybe? If he tried again today and the King still did not die, he’d try a different method.

So once more, he took the breakfast tray when offered, headed to a private area to get the poison out of the box, added yet more of it to the food, and trekked up the stairs to the room at the top of the central tower. He knocked on the door, then without waiting for a response, opened it to slide the tray inside.

And the instant the opening was big enough, Draco leaped through the gap and into the room beyond.

“Draco!” Marvin cried out, dropping the breakfast tray. Without thinking about what to do next, he threw the door open and rushed inside to scoop up his cat.

But of course, there was someone in there. Someone who’d been startled by the sudden appearance of an off-white cat, but was even more surprised to see someone run into the room after it.

Marvin skidded to a halt, looked around, and before he could even think about it, blurted out, “You’re not the King.”

The person inside slowly shook their head.

“Oh.” Marvin took a step back. Now that he wasn’t worried about his familiar jumping into the hands of the King, he gave the stranger inside a once-over.

The person—Marvin now recognized him as a man—looked a bit like the King, at a first glance. He had brown hair, as most people in the kingdom did, and was fairly thin. But he was shorter than the King was said to be, had a distinct, dark mustache, and most importantly, blue eyes. Not green. His clothes were fine, indicating nobility, but the style was a bit old fashioned. Like the black bow he wore around his neck, something that had gone out of style at least ten years ago.

Draco was sitting on a stool next to the man, looking very self-satisfied. Evidently, the strange man had started petting him right before Marvin barged in.

“Well...sorry, then,” Marvin said awkwardly.

The man smiled and shrugged. He gestured to Draco.

“Huh? Yes, sorry about him. And about barging in, I wasn’t thinking.” Marvin glanced around the room. “So...is the King going to be back soon?”

The man tilted his head, puzzled. And shook his head.

“Why do you look so confused?” Marvin took a minute to think. Then a possibility occurred to him. “Wait...is the King...not staying in these rooms?”

And the man shook his head again.

“Damn it,” Marvin whispered, barely audible. 

Honestly, looking around the room, he didn’t think this place was fit for a king, anyway. Certainly, it was noble. There were plush sofas and chairs sitting about, and a desk with a mirror and stool in the corner. The windows had thick blue curtains that one could pull over to cover the glass. And he could see two more doors, both slightly ajar and showing a bedroom and a bathroom. But...it was rather small, in all honesty. The furniture was pushed together, and the blue wallpaper looked a bit old. Not to mention it was cold, as well, with no fireplace. Marvin wished he’d thought to bring a cloak, but the one he owned was too fine, and he had to leave it behind while masquerading as a servant.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” Marvin said politely. “They said someone very important was ordering the breakfast trays so—wait, have you been eating that food?”

The man looked embarrassed, and shook his head again.

“No? Well it couldn’t just disappear.”

Now even more embarrassed, the man pointed towards the bathroom.

“You’ve been...dumping it in the lavatory?” Marvin realized, shocked. “Every day? Well no wonder you look so thin, then, if you’ve been skipping breakfast the whole time.” He then remembered the tray of poisoned food he’d brought, and dropped in the hallway. “Oh. But ah, might have actually been a good idea this time. I mean, the—if I’m being honest, it was all undercooked, anyway,” he lied. “And the one for today is all splattered now. Sorry.”

The stranger smiled good-naturedly. He nodded.

“Um...I’ll just leave now.” Marvin took a few steps backwards towards the door.

Hurriedly, the man shook his head, gesturing for him to stay. Meanwhile, Draco pressed his head against the man’s arm, demanding pets.

“Oh. Right. Draco, come on.”

Ears drooping, disappointed, Draco hopped off the stool and walked out the door. “Sorry about all this,” Marvin muttered, backing fully out of the room and pushing the door closed.

As it shut, he could have sworn the man inside had a very strange expression on his face. Something like disappointment and desperation mixed in one.

How...odd. Marvin hesitated, wondering if he should go back inside. But...maybe he’d misread the man’s face. That was far more likely than...whatever he just saw. Yes. He should turn his mind to more practical matters. Like where the King was actually staying, if not here. And getting someone to come up and clean the tray he’d dropped.

But as he retreated back down the stairs, he felt somehow regretful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The next day, the order for a breakfast tray came in, as usual. Marvin wasn’t sure about delivering it, but by this point, he’d volunteered enough that Everett and Ursula expected him to. After all, it was much easier to have one person do something than to constantly find someone new every day. So Marvin quietly took the tray and headed to the central tower once more. This time, he did not stop to poison the food along the way. Now that he knew the King wasn’t there, it wasn’t much use.

When he knocked on the door, it swung open before he could pull it open himself. The strange man from the day before was standing there, smiling and practically bouncing with excitement. He immediately grabbed Marvin and dragged him into the room.

“Whoa! Watch out, you’ll spill the milk!” Marvin quickly set the breakfast tray down on the nearby desk, making sure nothing had fallen off. He didn’t want to make another mess.

The strange man didn’t respond to that comment. He was kneeling on the floor, petting Draco. Much to the cat’s delight, of course. There was a lot of purring.

“Why’d you do that?” Marvin asked. “Pull me in, I mean. If you want to know if the breakfast’s good to eat this time, it is. I...um, checked. Did you just want to pet my cat?”

The man made a so-so gesture.

Marvin suddenly felt frustrated. “Why don’t you just tell me what you want?!” he snapped.

At that, the man stopped. He looked over at Marvin, then stood up. He was wearing another neck bow today, blue this time, and he silently pulled it down so that his neck was more visible. There, right in the middle of his throat, were two scars, arranged in a + shape. Clearly the result of some sort of surgery.

“Oh.” Marvin’s stomach immediately sank. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t think—”

The man waved away his stammered apology with a small smile. It was clearly a sensitive subject, but since it was an accident, all was forgiven.

“Still, I...I’m very sorry. Ah...do you have something to write with, maybe?” Marvin suggested tentatively.

The man shook his head. He did that a lot, didn’t he?

“...nothing at all? What about in this desk?” Marvin wandered over to said desk, opening the drawers. But the man was right. There weren’t any quills or chalk to be seen. There wasn’t even any stationary, and Marvin knew that nobles were fond of keeping their own personalized paper nearby in case writing was needed. Instead, the desk’s drawers were mostly empty, only containing a few game boards and card decks.

As Marvin looked through the drawers, the man walked over to stand next to him, watching. When Marvin opened the drawer with the cards inside, he reached forward and quickly snatched up one of the decks. He turned to Marvin, grinning, and pointed at him, then at the cards.

“You...want to play cards?” Marvin asked, trying not to sound excited.

The man nodded.

“Well...I’m supposed to have chores, but why not?” Marvin grinned as well. “I have to warn you, I’m very good at Luck of the Deal.”

That only made the man smile wider. He guided Marvin over to the sofas and gestured for him to sit.

A couple hours passed before Marvin remembered he had more to do. Not just chores, but he also had to locate the King before the Longest Night celebration, after which he’d leave and return to Suilthair, the capital, and be untouchable. So Marvin hurriedly excused himself, but found himself leaving with a certain spring in his step. It had been a while since he’d sat down and played a few card games with someone. He...really missed it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next few days, he and the man in the tower developed a routine. Marvin would take a breakfast tray up to the room, and the man would drag him inside for a few games. Cards, mostly, though they pulled out some of the board games, too. The breakfast tray would be mostly ignored, though Marvin tried to insist that the man actually eat it. The stranger was on the thin side, after all, he probably needed a meal. A bit odd to see a skinny noble, actually. They could definitely afford enough to eat. But Marvin wasn’t going to ask, in case it was sensitive, like the voice issue.

There were, however, other questions that he wasn’t afraid to ask. The first one came up on the second day of this routine. They’d finished their first game of cards—Enchanter’s Gambit, a shorter one—and Marvin had asked, slowly, “Can you tell me your name? I understand you can’t speak it, but there has to be something I can call you.”

The man paused in shuffling the cards, thinking. Then he set down the deck, stood up, and walked over into the bedroom. A few moments later, he returned, holding something. He handed it to Marvin.

“A handkerchief?” Marvin asked, turning it over in his hands.

The man pointed to one of the cloth’s corners. Marvin examined it, and saw a small design embroidered in gray thread. A rabbit, curled up and sleeping, surrounded by a circle of thorny plants. It was the sign of a noble family. But not just any family. One Marvin instantly recognized.

“That’s the Jairsolas crest,” he gasped. “But—that’s—a-are you a friend of theirs, or...?” He trailed off, not needing to finish his question. The man’s grim expression confirmed everything. “That’s...impossible,” Marvin whispered. “They’re all dead.”

More specifically, they’d been massacred. By the King and his forces.

The death of the Jairsolas family had been one of the earliest signs of how dangerous the King was. The Count and Countess Jairsolas had ruled over the small family peacefully, loved by the people of their land. When the King began demanding more warriors, when he began taking away royal funds from medicine and farming, they were one of the nobles who protested. Eventually, they refused to enact his royal decrees in their northern territory, saying they would not compromise the welfare of their people. They accused the King of swiftly becoming a tyrant. The King immediately proved them right by forcibly invading their land and killing the entire family.

And yet, even after this clearly unwarranted act, there were still nobles out there who stood by the King. There were still warriors who pledged loyalty to him and believed in his cause. There were even common people who repeated that the King was just and good, though that was usually because they were simply unaware of what was going on. The nobles and warriors, however, had no excuse. They continued to fawn over the King and happily harm innocents. It made Marvin sick just thinking about them.

“I’m...so sorry,” Marvin said quietly.

The man nodded slowly, sadness flashing in his eyes. He must’ve been a more distant relative, to survive the King’s attack. Marvin, unsure what to do, placed a hand on his arm, hoping the gesture would convey the sympathy he felt. The man patted it, and smiled a bit, indicating it was alright.

“Jairsolas is a bit cumbersome,” Marvin said slowly. “Can I call you...Jair? For short?”

The man nodded, eagerly accepting the nickname. He pointed at Marvin, raising an eyebrow.

“Me? I’m M—I’m Westley.” Marvin remembered his pseudonym just in time, and quickly changed the subject. “Want to play another round?”

For someone who couldn’t speak, Jair was very expressive, gesturing widely and exaggerating his facial movements. Marvin assumed that was necessary, to compensate for not being able to say anything. Though it was odd that there were no writing utensils or parchment in his room. That seemed like it would be helpful, and easy to acquire, too. But Marvin didn’t want to push the issue. Maybe it was just a preference. Or maybe Jair assumed Marvin, appearing to be a servant, couldn’t read much.

Despite the issues of communication, Marvin proceeded with his questions. About eight days after the first breakfast tray delivery, he got tired of Jair continually ignoring the breakfast. That was perfectly good food going to waste. “Why do you even order the trays if you don’t want to eat them?”

Jair looked up, a bit surprised to be asked this while the two of them were in the middle of a game of Fidchell. He indicated himself, then shook his head.

“You...you mean you’re not the one ordering them?” Marvin asked, confused.

Jair nodded, confirming this, and looked back down at the board, moving a piece.

“Wh—how’d you do that?!” Marvin spluttered, momentarily distracted. “I was going to move one of the warriors there—you just cut off my path!” He scanned the board. “How did you surround my king again?!”

Jair laughed silently, a breathy sound, clapping his hands in delight at winning another game.

Marvin scowled. Draco promptly jumped onto the sofa and knocked over the board, scattering the pieces. “Yea, take down that game. I’m shit at it, apparently.” He sighed, and grabbed the cat, moving him to the side. “Who’s ordering the breakfast trays, then? Can you tell them to stop? It’s enough work as it is.”

Shaking his head, Jair pointed at Marvin.

“I could find some other way to get up here.” Marvin paused, noticing Jair’s slightly uncomfortable look on his face as he went about collecting the knocked-over game pieces. “Can you...not tell them to stop?” He thought about it for a moment. “It must be someone higher ranking than you, then. That would make sense, and it would explain why they always said someone important ordered the trays. Heh. Is it the King?”

Marvin asked the question jokingly, but for a moment, Jair’s shoulders stiffened. Then he brushed off the question, laughing without sound again.

That...couldn’t be right, could it? Why would the King go out of his way to order breakfast for some random noble? And one related to the Jairsolas family, which he destroyed? It didn’t make sense. There must be some sort of lie or trickery involved. Maybe it wasn’t actually the King. Or the King didn’t know Jair’s true identity. Or Jair didn’t know what happened to the rest of the family. Something like that.

Either way, Jair was quickly putting away the Fidchell pieces and board, clearly wanting to move on. So Marvin dropped the subject for the day.

But he still needed information. The King was somewhere in the castle. Other servants had caught glimpses of him, but Marvin still hadn’t figured out where he was staying, or run into him at all. Longest Night was approaching. He was running out of time. So, he decided to ask Jair a few more questions.

“Have you seen the King around?” he asked one day over a game of Saelan checkers. “Apparently he’s in the castle for the celebration, but I haven’t seen the tail of him. Others have, though. What bad luck, huh?”

Just like the last time he brought the King up, Jair stiffened, and immediately denied anything with a shake of his head. He pointed to the board.

“Right.” Marvin moved one of the small stone balls that served as pieces, getting closer to the end goal at the other side of the board. He wasn’t too good at board games, preferring cards, but he was better at this than he was at Fidchell. “I suppose I shouldn’t assume you’d know, anyway. I was just curious. I’ve never seen him. Does he really have green eyes?”

Jair nodded, distracted by planning out his next move.

“It’s strange that none of us know what room he’s staying in. That’s why I assumed he was staying here, ha.” Marvin watched Jair’s face as he continued to talk. “Is he even staying on the castle grounds? I know it’s traditional and all, but I don’t know if anyone would stop him.”

Jair shrugged. This time, his response didn’t seem like avoiding the question, but genuinely not knowing.

“Do you...I’ve never seen you out in the castle,” Marvin realized. “Do you stay in these rooms the whole time?”

Squirming, Jair didn’t answer, instead focusing on jumping one of his pieces over two of Marvin’s, capturing the last one.

“That’s not good for you. Staying in all the time, I mean. Especially when you don’t have a fireplace here. And it looks like an old room, you’re probably breathing in dust all the time. You don’t have to go out and make conversation with others, or even go outside, but just walk around. Do you even go to the main hall for dinner?”

Jair leaned back and looked away, folding his arms.

“Oh. Sorry, I...didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Marvin said. “I was just...worried, I suppose. You don’t eat breakfast, you don’t go out, you don’t have a fireplace...it’s just...worrying. I’m...worried about...your health.”

Despite the clumsiness of Marvin’s statements, Jair looked touched. He patted Marvin’s hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

“If you’re sure you’re alright,” Marvin said reluctantly. “Try to take care of yourself, though.”

Jair placed his hand over his heart, suddenly emotional. He nodded, smiling. 

Had...no one ever said anything like that to him before? Had no one looked after him? Marvin felt something stirring deep inside his chest. A familiar ache. He’d...he’d never someone he could...well...relate to.

Marvin was supposed to ask more about the King, but he found he couldn’t go through with it today. He would try again tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The next day, Marvin arrived at the tower room a bit later than usual. It took them a bit longer to cook it today, since there was more food than the previous times. He hoped that meant Jair was planning to actually eat it, and not just feed pieces of sausage to Draco the whole time.

He knocked on the door, waited for a few moments for Jair to open, but when he didn’t appear, Marvin pulled open the door himself and walked inside. Huh. Jair wasn’t actually in the room. The bedroom and bathroom doors were closed, so maybe he was doing something in there. “Hello? I’m here,” Marvin called as he set the tray down on the desk. Something brushed against his legs, and he looked down to see Draco curling around his legs. “Hmm? What’s wrong?” Draco didn’t usually stick close to legs, not after too many occasions of people suddenly moving and tripping over him. And his tail was standing straight up, the fur all puffed out.

At that moment, the bedroom door opened, and Jair walked out. He waved at Marvin the moment he saw him.

“Tthere you are. I was wondering why you didn’t open the door.” Marvin glanced back down at Draco, still on edge, then back up. “Is everything alright?”

Jair nodded, waving away the question. He then walked straight over to the desk and started rummaging around the drawers, pausing for a moment to gesture at Marvin.

“Oh, I don’t want to do anything specific today. Maybe more cards?”

Nodding again, Jair pulled out one of the decks. While he walked over to the sofa and began shuffling, Marvin glanced around the room once more. Nothing looked out of place...what had Draco so spooked? He walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains, looking out the glass at the scenery. Clear skies ahead. On the ground below, there were...a lot of people in the surrounding open-air keep. More than he saw on the way over to the tower. That wasn’t too unusual, though. So Marvin closed the curtains again. “What were you doing?” he asked Jair.

Jair looked up at him, confused.

“I mean, you’re usually waiting for me. What was different this time?”

There was a slight pause. Then Jair shrugged. He pulled on the ends of his neck bow, tightening it, and followed it up with a so-so gesture.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean? Something about getting dressed?” Marvin asked. This whole thing felt...odd. Why did it feel odd? Was it just because Draco was still clinging to his legs?

Actually, Draco wasn’t just staying close to his legs. He was also staring at something, ears flat, a warning growl low in his throat. Marvin followed his line of sight...to the door they’d just come through. And...now that he wasn’t speaking, he could hear something underneath the sounds of shuffling cards. Faint, but growing louder.

Footsteps coming up the stairs.

Now why would someone be coming up the stairs? The only thing in the central tower were guest rooms. But most rooms were farther below, and the steps were definitely close enough to be heard. Meaning...someone was coming to this room. Why? Jair wasn’t exactly sociable. It could’ve been Ursula coming to get Marvin for chores, but...Marvin grabbed his amulet through his shirt, and his eyes lit up the smallest amount. No, he could sense more than one living person approaching. Quite a lot more, actually.

“Can I use your lavatory?” Marvin asked. He didn’t wait for Jair to nod before heading over and disappearing inside, closing the door behind him.

Just in time for the room’s entrance door to open, and for all those living people to fill the room. Accompanying the footsteps he’d heard before was the faint sound of metallic clanking, like...like chainmail. Or weapons.

Panic flooded Marvin’s mind. They’d discovered him, hadn’t they?! He had to get out of here! There was a small window in the bathroom, maybe just barely big enough to squeeze through. It was quite a drop to the keep below, but better than nothing. Marvin tried to break the glass with his fist, but only managed to crack it, so he pulled his amulet out and began to focus.

“Open up! We know you’re in there, traitor!” Bang bang bang bang bang!

“Damn!” Marvin cursed. They were knocking on the bathroom door. He didn’t have time to break the window, he needed to go through them! He whirled around—

The bathroom door slammed open, revealing three warriors wearing tunics with the royal crest. Marvin grabbed his now-glowing amulet and made a throwing motion. Light flung from his hands, hardening to stone as it hurled through the air, and three good-sized rocks hit each warrior in the chest, knocking them down. Marvin immediately bolted.

The small room was packed with other warriors, as well. Many were blocking his way to the door, armed with broad-bladed swords. Marvin threw more light to either side of him, and the warriors yelled as they tried to get out of the way of the suddenly-appearing rocks. For the ones in front, he pulled more glow from the amulet, forming it into a long, thin whip made entirely of green flame. He swung it around and many of the warriors scattered. Two stood their ground, acting quickly to pull circular shields from their backs and block the magic fire. But then Marvin was in front of them, his hands ablaze with more flame.

And then pain wrapped around his torso.

He looked down just long enough to register the black thorny vines wrapped across his chest before suddenly being yanked backwards. Pulled off his feet, he landed on his back and was dragged across the floor for some distance before suddenly stopping. He looked up and saw a face looking down at him. Unnaturally blue eyes. Pale blonde hair, stylishly curled around her face. And a few smattering of freckles, almost disappearing beneath a light layer of cosmetics. She looked as surprised to see him as he felt seeing her. “Marvin,” she said.

“Thalia,” Marvin scowled.

“I didn’t think it would be you. They said the servant’s name was Westley. Unless—you lied, didn’t you? Like you always do.”

“You’ve always been the liar.”

“No I haven’t. I’m always honest with everyone.”

“Nope. I know you haven’t told anyone about those secret visits to the mountains, have you?” Marvin laughed at Thalia’s surprised expression. “That was hard to find out, but I immediately recognized your handiwork. Burning the stone? Really? Talk about excessive.”

“Shut up,” Thalia snapped. She reached up and touched a silver-and-ruby broach pinned on her tunic. Her focus. Her eyes lit up. “I’m the one in charge now.”

“No you’re not.” Marvin grabbed his own focus, flicking the light from it up into her face. Thalia yelped as the glow turned into liquid and went into her eyes, and she lost concentration on the vine spell. Marvin shot up and looked around the room again. Now counting, there were ten warriors. One of them was holding his cat-shaped mask. Damn it! They went through his belongings and found it. He could have left it behind, but he brought it in case something happened and he needed it. Clearly that hadn’t been worth the risk.

All of the warriors were strategically blocking his ways out. The window, the door out, the doors to the bathroom and Jair’s bedroom—

Wait, Jair?! Where was he?!

Marvin didn’t have to look far. Jair was sitting in the exact spot he’d last seen him. On the sofa, having not moved a finger since the warriors and Thalia entered. His eyes were fixed downward, his hands clutching the deck of cards tightly in his lap. Marvin blinked. “Jair, what are you—”

Fog suddenly filled the room, unnaturally quickly, blinding him in seconds. Marvin whirled around, lighting up his amulet to try and see through the mist. 

Dark figures lunged out of the fog and grabbed at him. Shouting, Marvin threw the light in a circle, turning it to green flame again. Several people cried out, and the fog lifted as the fire burned through it. Marvin saw the surrounding figures of the warriors, and then someone lunged at him from behind, wrapping legs around his and pulling his hair.

He yelped. “Thalia! Get off me!”

“No, give me that focus!” Thalia demanded, clawing at the chain around his neck.

“Die in freezing!” Marvin tried to grab his amulet, but that was a bit difficult while the chain was strangling him. He had to divert effort to giving himself room to breathe. “Who jumps on someone’s back?! You’re thirty years old!”

“You’re the one acting like a child! You stole that, I recognize it!”

“It was mine, too!”

After a few moments, the combination of struggling and the weight on his back caused Marvin to fall over, bringing Thalia down with him. The moment he was down, five of the ten warriors lunged forward, pinning him. He struggled, but there were just too many. Then Thalia pulled once more on the chain holding his amulet, and it broke. She backed away, holding the amulet upward in triumph.

Out of nowhere, there was a yowling sound. Thalia screamed as a streak of off-white fur ran at her and began clawing at her leg, tearing through her trousers while spitting and hissing. Instinctively, she kicked, and the ball of fur went flying across the room.

“Draco!” Marvin cried, managing to push free of the warriors for long enough to see his cat stand up again. “No! Get out of here!”

Draco wailed, then hissed, ready to attack despite being outnumbered by eleven tall humans.

“No! Out! Run!” Marvin’s magic was quickly fading without his amulet within reach, but he had to get Draco to safety. He looked Draco in the eyes from across the room. His flickered blue for a moment, and Draco’s eyes glowed for a second in the matching shade. Marvin sent the image of a safe place to go through the connection he had with his familiar, and followed it up with instructions on how to get there.

Reluctantly, Draco turned...then bolted, weaving in between the legs of the warriors in a sudden burst of speed. Once he reached the door, an unnatural wave of strength overcame him, and he pushed it open and disappeared. The warriors cried out, but Thalia called, “Let it go! It can’t do much!” She looked down at Marvin. “Really? A cat? Why not bond with something more useful, like a dog?”

“Fuck you!” Marvin shouted, and lunged at her.

Then a warrior brought the hilt of their sword down on the back of his head, and everything went black.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #jacksepticeye au #septic egos au #marvin the magnificent #jameson jackson #brigid writes fanfiction #fantasymasksau

[step-on-me-khun]

Hello there D! I hope my requests don't bore you hehe ❤️ I hope you're doing well. Can I request a nsfw bam x fem reader with mommy kink setting? Like, Bam welcomes the reader home from work wearing a cute apron, calling her mommy and then let himself be dominated by the mommy reader as she treats him like a good boy he is? ❤️ oKAY THIS IS VERY RANDOM HAHA if you have any questions just inbox me ❤️ thank you hehe!

Hello ❤️ None of your requests bore me

And I can do this for you and I'm trying to complete it by a certain date too

I also worry that this may be either too much or not enough 😅

Who wouldn't want a guy like Bam? He was kind, sweet and caring, always considering your feelings first before doing anything with you. And that's what made you fall further in love with him. He was such a precious soul, and you would be a complete mess without his presence.

But Bam wasn't overly dominant with you. Even when you mention it, he tells you how much you mean to him and that if he ever hurt you, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for it.

Any idea you had, even something small, you had to give it a lot of thought. Would Bam be alright with it? And how would he react to it be suggested?

Bam was a switch at the best of times, happily choosing to do whatever you wanted to do as long as you were safe and happy.

He just wanted to be a little different. There was something he wanted to try, to be brave and do something new that he hadn't done before.

--

The click of the door was the one thing that alerted Bam that you were back. His gold eyes fixed on your form as you strolled through the door, usually stressed or tired. That's why he had an idea.

Now, when Bam was in the mood, he could be rough with you. Not in the way that he would leave marks on you, but he was still rough. But it never felt enough.

You, on the other hand, had pegged Bam before, and most of the time, you tried to match his movements on you. Sometimes though, you might've got a little too eager and went overboard with it.

Bam sat patiently on the end of the bed, focusing on staying calm as small waves of nervousness washed through him.

The trust between the two of you was solid and adorable. If there weren't any trust, then Bam wouldn't have thought about doing all this.

"Bam," your voice says, getting louder as you got closer to your room, "where are you?"

The door to the bedroom opens slowly. Before you enter the room, Bam stands up. The only thing he was wearing was an apron, nothing else. Hopefully, you weren't in too bad of a mood.

You walk into the room, greeted by Bam and his barely clothed form standing in front of the bed. Bam's face was red, and his gold eyes turned away from you as you approached him.

Shock ran through you, this was one thing you weren't expecting, but you weren't complaining at all. Eventually, the feeling vanished, leaving you feeling a little mischievous.

"Is there any reason why you decided to dress like this?" You ask playfully, smirking as you walk in front of Bam. Your hand move to cup Bam's chin, tilting his head to look you in the eye.

"I-I just wanted to do this for you," Bam says, stuttering a little from his nervousness. "You know how much I love and adore you,"

"I know you do," you say, cupping Bam's face with your hands. You inch closer to Bam, rubbing your nose on his, making him a little more comfortable. A soft exhale leaves his mouth as you continue to rub your nose against his. "Are you going to be a good boy for me?"

"Yes, mommy," Bam responds. Realising what he's done, he tenses up.

It was a surprise, but it didn't stop you from being closer to him. Your eyes widened for few seconds, a tingle of excitement shot through you. Mommy, you liked it. You wanted him to call you it, to beg and constantly tell you how good you made him feel. The thought of it all got you hot and bothered.

Without wasting any more time, you move your hands to Bam's chest and push him on the bed.

Bam's eyes remain on you as he fell onto the soft fabric of the blanket, waiting for you to do what you wanted.

You moved to the bedside table, removing something and hiding behind your back. But Bam knew what it was and would be patient with you until you decided to use it.

Your feet quickly rushed back over to the end of the bed, kneeling on the ground in between Bam's powerful legs. You could see he was shaky. Even if it was only a little, you could see it. He was so cute like this, all red and needy, waiting for you to do anything.

Bam closes his eyes as he waited, the sound of you removing your clothes and the shaky breaths he made being the only things he could hear.

"Would you like me to take care of you, Bam?" You ask, trying to look cute for him.

"Yes, please," Bam replies.

"Hmm?"

"Sorry. Yes, please, mommy,"

You giggle at his words. They made you all giddy and happy.

"I'm going to remove this for now," you announce, reaching behind Bam to untie the apron around his waist, "it'll get in the way, and we don't want it to get in the way now, do we?"

The way you spoke and how you moved and did everything was intentional, and Bam knew it and was just as excited as you, but some nervousness was still hiding inside him.

You place a kiss on the tip of his length, looking up at him as you did. His face glowed as your soft hands wormed their way onto him.

Bam was a sweetheart and would never flip a situation unless you were both feeling playful enough, or he was serious and wanted to make sure you knew it.

Your mouth continues to leave a trail of kisses down his dick, making sure you never left a single inch of him. He was so good to you, in his way, and you were doing what you, and him, wanted.

After reaching the base of his length, you trailed back up, peppering more and more kisses on him. After you get to his tip again, your mouth sucks on it, swirling your tongue around him.

Desperate groans left Bam's mouth as your tongue slid across him, even reaching his slit and toying with it, tasting the precum that you had abandoned before.

"You've been so good and patient, Bam. Do you want mommy to continue?" You tease as you remove your mouth from him.

"I do want you to continue," he responds. Your eyes glare at him for a second before realising once again what he had missed, "please, mommy,"

You smile sweetly at him, "that's better,"

The bed shifts as the two of you move onto the bed closer to the headboard. Bam's brown hair stuck to his face, the sweat helping it stay in place.

Your hands had picked up the strap-on from earlier, and you were currently putting it on.

A shiver ran down Bam's spine as he watched you. His beautiful angel, treating him like an angel. Well, kind of. Bam would always praise anything and everything about you.

The few minutes were just about bearable to him. Every single movement you made, Bam watched closely. Your hands reached for the lube, spreading it generously over the strap-on.

Then you move over to Bam, leaning over him.

"I love you so much," you say quickly, planting soft kisses all over his face.

Bam didn't answer. You already knew that he felt the same way. The smile he gave you was enough to prove it.

You lined the tip up to Bam's entrance and thrust slowly inside him.

Bam throws his head back against the bed, gripping the blanket below him tightly, making his fists pale.

You continue slowly, making sure that you didn't hurt him. Bam wanted you to treat him well, and so did you. It would be bad for both of you if it went wrong now.

"You're doing so well," you say, lifting one of his legs over your shoulder.

Not like you were expecting anything out of Bam's mouth at the moment. You were more interested in how he felt, and, by the look on his face, how he was reacting to your movements, he looked like he was enjoying himself. Oh, how good it would feel to you to hear him beg, calling you mommy and have him all whiney just for you to do anything to him.

You were out of it, your head thinking up all kinds of situations now that Bam had called you mommy.

"Oh, fuck. You're making me feel so good, mommy," Bam groans, snapping you out of your lewd thoughts.

You had unintentionally sped up. It must've been the reason Bam suddenly became more vocal.

It was boosting your ego a little. You were making Bam feel good, and you could see it, too.

While your hips continued to snap into Bam, causing the strap-on to reach further inside him, your hand reached over to his length and started playing with his head again.

The sight of Bam's face contorting in front of you was quite a sight. It was as if he was trying to keep himself grounded while you were thrusting quickly inside him like this.

Then his arms covered his eyes, and his back arches up. You must've hit his prostate.

All the squirming Bam was doing, the small groans that came out his mouth, and the occasional mommy, it was just so damn precious to you. It was something you wanted to try again.

Bam, the kindest person you knew, looking at you with his eyes the way they were, it was almost too much to you.

"Are you getting close, my cute boy?" You ask.

"Yes. Yes, mommy," Bam responds, his eyes closed under his arms.

Your fingers rubbed all over the head of his dick, helping him to reach his climax.

The breaths that escape Bam's mouth become shakier, his groans and whines growing and become just a little louder. He was so damn close. It was like he was losing his mind, and it was you who made him like this.

Your hand released his length, letting it fall onto his stomach as he came. His sticky liquid spurted into his skin, your speed decreasing now that he had reached his end.

Both of you were panting messes. Your bodies were sweaty and heaving. It wasn't like you had gone too easy on Bam. But you hadn't gone rough on him, either. You couldn't help but wonder if you had left him satisfied.

"Did that feel good, sweety?" You ask, acting as playful as you did before.

Bam laughs a little, watching you again as you remove the strap-on. "Yes, mommy," Bam says sweetly, smiling at you, "and you always will do,"

That was something that he let you know anyway. It was these sweet moments of honesty that meant the most. If you didn't have them, then there would be no relationship. You adored Bam in these moments.

taglist

@unexceptional-h @aoi-turtle

#tower of god #tower of god baam #baam x reader #tog baam #25th baam #twenty fifth baam

[fanficshiddles]

Recovering, Part 1/2

Summary: Two parter. Loki comes across a failed Hydra experiment. A young woman has the mind of a wild animal, but is still a human. Loki rescues her and then has to try and gain her trust and teach her to be a human again. 

Just a little something I can’t get out of my mind so I had to write it out. 

-

Loki had been part of the Avengers for over a year. He had proved to be trustworthy enough of a team member, his past mistakes forgiven.

But he still got up to mischief, which often caused the other Avengers to get annoyed with him. But they were getting used to it. Sometimes they found his pranks funny, if they weren’t directed at them, that was.

Fury sent him on a mission with Bruce and Steve to clear out a Hydra base. To pick up any essential information that might be of use, and take out any Hydra soldiers.

Bruce had Hulked out and was fighting outside with Steve. Loki went inside the old warehouse base, to see what he could find. It seemed to be mostly empty, apart from a few soldiers loitering around that were swiftly dealt with.

But after picking up some documents that looked important, he heard a strange growling sound come from the back corner. There was a large sheet covering it.

Too curious to just leave it, he wandered over and hauled the sheet off. His eyes widened in confusion when he saw a woman in a large cage, wearing nothing but a night gown by the looks of it. Her hair was a mess, matted and pretty long. She was crouched over in the corner, looking terrified.

He could hear some more soldiers coming his way, but he wasn’t about to leave the woman there. She would die otherwise. So he opened the cage with his Seidr, the lock no match for him. When he opened it, she didn’t move.

‘It’s ok, I won’t hurt you. I’ll get you to safety. I work with The Aveng’ He was cut off when she suddenly darted out from the cage on her hands and feet, moving like an animal would do, barrelling past him.

Loki watched in confusion as she ran around the place, looking panicked. Making weird grunting noises. But then two soldiers came bursting into the room, Loki was about to teleport to her to get her to safety, but she launched for the nearest soldier and attacked him like a tiger would. Ripped into his neck with her teeth, killing him quickly.

Then she launched for the other solider.

Loki noticed a file attached to her cage door. He picked it up and realised his mistake.

It said she was a failed experiment, highly dangerous and should never be let out. She had turned half feral, had the mind of a wild animal and half the strength of one, too. But looked just like a human, aside from her brain wasn’t working like it should.

‘Oh dear.’ Loki was now in a bit of a dilemma. But he still didn’t want to just leave her, she was a victim. Part of Hydra’s horrible experimenting.

Steve came across comms. ‘Loki, have you got the information? We are almost finished out here!’

‘Yeah, nearly finished. I’ll meet you back at base.’ He said to Steve.

The girl continued running around the room in a panic, trying to get out. Scrambling at the doors and windows, but Loki had locked them with his Seidr. Not wanting her to escape and get hurt by Hulk or Steve thinking she was part of Hydra.

‘Hey, it’s alright.’ Loki managed to get her into a corner and he put his hands out to try and show he wasn’t a threat.

‘I’m not going to hurt you… I just want to get you to safety.’ He said softly.

She looked at him, wide eyed, panting and snarling. Her teeth looked sharper than the average humans, but not overly so. He couldn’t tell what colour her hair truly was, as she was very dirty. He dreaded to think how long she had been locked up in that cage for, there was no date on the information.

Using his illusions, he made a distraction across the room. Her head whipped round in the direction of the noise, so that’s when Loki striked. He used his cape and covered her with it. She struggled and tried to fight back, snarling like mad.

But Loki was able to pin her down underneath his cape. He waited a moment, glad when she calmed down. She was like a feral cat, but much stronger and obviously bigger. Though Loki was able to scoop her up easily into his arms, still snugly wrapped in the cape.

He didn’t want Steve to freak out, so instead of going back with them in the quinjet, he teleported himself and the girl back to base, straight into his room.

When he put her down, she started struggling again and managed to get out from under the cape. She launched for him, but he was able to fight her off and she realised his strength wasn’t ordinary, so she went running across his room.

In her confusion and panic to get out, she jumped up on his desk and knocked everything flying off. Breaking his lamp in the process.

‘No, no, calm down. Get down from there.’ Loki said as he ran over and tried to get hold of her. But she leaped onto the bed and made a mess of his covers, knocked his pillows flying as she scrambled to get away from him.

‘Not the pillows!’ He groaned.

Then she bolted to the window and tried climbing up the curtains, but instead just pulled them down. The railing too, making a huge racket.

Loki by this point was now just hiding his face behind his hand.

‘What have I done?’ He muttered to himself.

After a bit of a fight, he managed to get her into his bathroom and he closed the door and put a spell over it, to make sure she couldn’t open it and that no one else could go in but him. He leaned back against the door and sighed as he slid down to the floor. Who knew trying to wrestle a human female with the mind of a tiger into a bathroom would be so exhausting?

He looked around his room and his heart sank. It was an absolute mess. But luckily, with a wave of his hand, he managed to get it back in order. The scratches from her scarily sharp nails on his arm healed up quick enough. He was just glad he had managed to avoid her teeth.

The team were a little confused when Loki got a lot of food from the kitchen and went back to his room with it. But they learned not to question Loki and his sometimes odd ways, so left him to it.

Loki knew he was going to have to try and earn her trust. But he knew that wasn’t going to be easy.

Whenever he went into the bathroom, she would either lunge for him or cower in the corner. But he was able to slide food in for her and quickly leave her in peace to eat. Each time he checked in, she had devoured the food.

She was a skinny little thing, he wondered how she still had the strength to remain upright. Never mind attack.

Over the following few weeks, he was able to get into the bathroom with her and not have her attack him. So he would take food and sit with her while she ate.

He also had some snacks with him, mini cookies. She seemed to like them as when he threw her one, she would gobble it up. So he was going to use those as treats.

‘I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help. I know that you’ve been treated badly, I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.’ He spoke softly with her, which seemed to help.

She tilted her head at him often, like she was trying to understand what he was saying. Trying to process it.

He had tried giving her clothes once, but she didn’t know what to do with them and ripped them up. As the simple gown she had on wasn’t much use. But at least she liked the multitude of blankets and pillows he gave her, she snuggled up against them in a pile under the sink.

While she was in there, he had to use the communal bathroom to shower and use the toilet. The team noticed he was using it over time and asked questions, but he just shrugged them off and never gave them a proper answer.

‘I need to think of a name for you, at least until I can learn your real name.’ Loki said one day to the girl while he was sitting with her.

She was lying curled up on her pile of pillows, just watching him carefully.

‘I think you look like an Alice.’ He smiled and threw a cookie to her.

She reached out and she snatched it from the floor, eating it quickly.

‘Alice.’ He said again louder, when she was looking at him. Then he threw her another cookie.

Over the next couple of days, he continued to say her name and gave her a cookie when she seemed to respond to him. By the third day, he would say her name and she would sit up, looking alert and waiting for a cookie.

‘Good girl.’ He praised and threw her a cookie.

Then he decided to try and train her a bit more. So he put a cookie down closer to him. She was wary, keeping a close eye as she moved over on her hands and feet, crouched right down. When she got within reach of the cookie, she grabbed it and moved back to her safety distance to eat.

Loki kept doing it, having the cookie closer and closer to him. Until, eventually, she would sit on her knees and eat it quite close to him, within reach.

But then he made a mistake and reached out towards her when she wasn’t paying attention. So when he touched the side of her head, she freaked. In a bad way. She attacked him, ripping his jacket and scratching his face before she managed to rush back to her pile of blankets.

Loki didn’t want to end it on a bad note, so even though he was slightly startled at her attack, he said her name and got her attention, threw her a cookie then swiftly left the bathroom. A little frazzled.

As he exited the bathroom, Thor and the rest of the team were in his room, glaring at him with their arms folded over their chests.

‘Alright, Loki. Spill the beans. What are you hiding in there?’ Steve asked firmly.

‘Judging by the state of you it must be some wild animal.’ Natasha said, noting the way the stuffing was poking out of his shoulder and his sleeve on his other arm was torn.

The scratches on his face were starting to fade already as he healed. Luckily his favourite green waistcoat and tie was unscathed.

‘We know there’s something, all the food you’ve been sneaking away and using the other bathroom. What are you hiding? I knew there was something, you’ve been far too quiet!’ Tony said.

Loki chuckled and put his arms out to his side. ‘Come on. What did you expect? Of course there’s something in there.’

‘I’ve had enough of this.’ Clint said and went to push past Loki, but Loki quickly moved on front of him to stop him.

‘You don’t want to do that, trust me.’

‘What have you got in there?’ Bruce asked.

‘Ok… So, remember that mission where we raided the Hydra warehouse?’ Loki looked to Steve and Bruce, who both nodded. ‘Well, there was a failed experiment in there. She has been battered and bruised by Hydra agents, the experiment has completely messed her up… She’s a human, but with the mind of a tiger. Or some other, wild animal.’

The team looked between one another, not believing him.

‘You’re lying.’ Thor chuckled. ‘A wild human?’

Loki’s jaw clenched. ‘I am not lying, not this time.’

‘Prove it.’ Said Natasha.

Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Alright, you did ask.’ He reached behind him and opened the door.

Alice was confused when she saw the door open, but Loki didn’t appear. She had heard voices, but was wary about going to take a look. But curiosity quickly got the better of her and she carefully wandered over to the door, into view of the others.

She snarled when she saw a bunch of people behind Loki and she quickly backed away again, running to her bed.

Loki swiftly shut the door to give her privacy. Then he turned to the others, who all looked completely stunned.

‘I did tell you.’ He shrugged with a smirk.

#recovering #Loki #Tom Hiddleston #fan fiction #1/2

[theladyofdeath]

The Manly Man {Manorian}

31 Days of Halloween: Day 12.

All installments co-written with @snelbz​

Based on a prompt sent in by anon: “Haunted House - staged (Manorian - Dorian is the terrified one)”

Warning: Gore. 

Autumn/Halloween 2020 {Collection}

Manon was practically bouncing where she stood.

There were very few things she loved more than being thrilled, and as Halloween was quickly approaching, she found a no better way to spend her Friday night than to take her boyfriend to a haunted house.

She used to work at one, in high school. She was the zombie-surgeon that picked at the intestines of whomever was lying on her table. It had been fun, thrilling. People would come through her room, scream bloody murder, and Manon would applaud herself for her performance every time. 

Yes, she loved haunted houses.

Dorian didn’t look so sure.

His hands were shoved into his pockets as he looked at the front door up ahead. There was creepy music playing, and lights flashing, and Dorian looked like he was nearly ready to vomit. 

“How you doin’, babe?” Manon asked, eyes narrowed as his throat bobbed. 

“Huh? Oh, good,” he said, nodding a little too quickly. “Yeah, no, I’m good. How are you?”

“Great,” she answered, chuckling. 

They took another step forward in line. 

“So, I want to be clear before we go in there,” Dorian began, clearing his throat. 

Manon chuckled. “Yeah?” 

“I’m a manly man, and I want that to be noted,” Dorian began.

Manon nudged him. “I think we’ve been together long enough that I know exactly how manly you are.”

He proved it, nightly, again and again, just how manly he was. 

“Right,” he continued. “So...when we go in here...just...remember that.” 

“You’re scared,” Manon crooned, slipping her fingers through his. “I didn’t think you were the type to get scared.”

The couple had spent every holiday together in the last year, except for Halloween. They’d started dating just before last Thanksgiving, and every holiday had been absolutely perfect. Now, as they fell deeper and deeper in love, the spookiest season was upon them.

And Dorian was not a fan. 

He never understood the appeal of being scared, never understood how peeing your pants was considered a good time, and yet, here he was.

At one of the scariest haunted houses in the city, taking another step forward in line. 

“I’m not scared,” Dorian replied, at last, shaking his head. “I don’t get scared.” 

“You don’t get scared?” Manon asked. “Because it looks like you’d rather be anywhere but here. You know, if you don’t want to go through the haunted house, we can-.”

“No, no,” Dorian protested, quickly. “I don’t… I’d like to go through, yeah. It looks…fun.”

A series of earth-shattering screams echoed from inside the house. 

Manon squeezed his hand as they took another step forward. They were almost near the front of the line, and the energy had Dorian’s hands trembling.

The one that wasn’t squeezing Manon’s, anyway. 

Once they were next in line, Dorian was about ready to puke.

He hated being scared.

Hated it.

Loathed it.

They entered the building. 

The hallway was dark, although flashing lights were going off against the walls. Dorian’s feet had suddenly become heavier, causing him to move slower. 

So, incredibly slow.

“We’re going to hold up the line,” Manon said, dragging him along. 

“I can’t take my time in this hellhole?” he asked, looking around with every step he took.

“With how terrified you look, I figured you’d wanna get through it as quickly as possible,” she said, quickly, with a sly look on her thin lips. 

He shot her an exasperated look. “Be happy that I love you.” 

Her grin only widened.

They continued down the hall, the sound system throwing out loud, terrifying shrieks and rolls of thunder. The lights were blinking. Dorian had always hated strobe lights, had always found them annoying.

In clubs.

In haunted houses.

Strobe lights sucked.

But then the lights went out entirely. And with a quiet click, one lone light came on behind them. Dorian turned around and looked back to where they’d entered, only to find a solid wall there.

“Fuck,” he whispered and Manon squeezed his hand, which she chuckled softly. He turned back to look down the hallway and they moved forward, towards the corner that seemed to get darker and darker with every step they took.

“You want me to go first?” Manon asked, smirking over at him.

“No, I will,” he said, picking up the pace. At least he tried to.

As he got closer and closer to the corner, unable to see a thing around the edge, he remembered that Manon probably knew what was around the bend. Whether from experience of going through it herself or just a knowledge of what haunted houses usually were, she had an idea. He was both literally and figuratively in the dark.

And he hated every second of it.

Once Dorian came around the corner, clinging to Manon’s hand for dear life, the lights came on the moment they stepped around the wall. A young girl was tied to an electric chair, looking like she was getting electrocuted, blood pouring from her lips, smoke filling the room.

Dorian tried not to jump, but failed.

Manon scoffed, quietly. “Amateurs.” 

“Yeah,” Dorian tried to agree, but his voice cracked, and he was quickly pulling Manon into the next room.

Which was so much worse than the first.

The temperature hit him the moment they walked through the door. Dorian’s foot slipped on something slightly and looked down and gasped as he saw a puddle of blood leaking from a dismembered leg. Manon’s hand was an anchor in his and her other hand gripped his forearm. The frigid temperature unsettled him and as she looked around at the body parts hanging from the ceiling, Dorian really thought he might be sick.

“Come on,” Manon said, gently, pulling him through the room.

He really wanted to look down, to let her pull him through, but his eyes couldn’t look away from everything around him. When they ended up at a large metal table, a man holding a large meat cleaver was slowly sectioning meat off of a bone. He seemed to be focused on his task and just as they were about to pass by, his other first slammed against the table and he held the blade out towards Manon, as he laughed maniacally.

She didn’t even flinch, but Dorian wasn’t proud of the noise that left him. He pulled her toward the door on the far side of the room and tried to move as quickly as he could.

“I’m gonna be sick,” he muttered.

They went through an entry way that led them outside, although the area seemed to be fenced in, which Dorian automatically wasn’t a fan of. It was set up like a trailer park, and there were tall trees surrounding a beat-up trailer. There was a series of coffins scattered across the lawn, and Dorian was scared to move.

“Do you hear banjo music?” Manon whispered.

“Shhh!” Dorian begged, careful for every creeping sound. 

“Come on, there’s a door on the opposite end of the wall we go through,” Manon said, pulling Dorian along.

After a second, Dorian became more comfortable. “Well, this doesn’t seem so ba-.” The world's most unsettling scream flew out of Dorian’s lips as the door to the trailer was thrown open and a man with a chainsaw appeared. He was revving it, and hurrying down the trailer stairs.

Dorian’s screams continued as he hauled ass along the wall of the haunted house until he appeared at the door on the opposite end and flung himself inside.

At some point, he had dropped Manon’s hand.

She appeared a moment later, though, in the doorway, grinning uncontrollably.

Dorian’s hand flew to his chest as he huffed and puffed. “I- my heart has legit never beat as quickly as it’s beating right now.”

Manon couldn’t stop her smile as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and rested her chin on his chest and gazed up at him. “You okay?”

He rested his forehead against hers and said, “Please don’t ever ask me to do this again.”

She laughed and leaned up and kissed him. “Come on, scaredy pants.”

Dorian realized he was hearing faint music from down the hall, leading to the next room. They walked closer and it became more and more defined and he slowed down. “Nuhuh. Nope.” He stopped moving. “There’s a fucking clown in there, isn’t there?”

“It’s a haunted house, babe,” she said, dragging him forward. “Of course there’s a clown. There’s a mirror maze, too.”

“Oh, great, so I can’t get lost and it can murder me,” he muttered. “Great.”

“I know the quickest path,” she said, with a comforting squeeze of his hand. “We’ll be through it in no time.”

The walked through the heavy, tattered, velvet curtain and it was worse than Dorian could have ever imagined.

Not only was there a mirror maze, but there were clown paintings, statues, constant laughter from everywhere, disorienting him.

“You better be happy I love you,” he said, terrified to even look at Manon and give someone a chance to jump him.

She just shook her head as she led him through the maze, and with every turn they took, Dorian became more and more convinced that this is the way that he would die. 

And when the clown jumped out from behind a corner and Dorian saw it’s bloody grin in the reflection of the mirror he stood in front of, he was pretty sure he peed his pants, just a little bit.

“Get me the fuck out of here!” he yelled.

Manon’s laughter reverberated throughout the room as she pulled Dorian just a little bit quicker through the maze. 

“The clown has a fucking sledgehammer!” Dorian continued. “My gods, I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to-.”

Manon pulled them out of the maze and instantly into the next room, which once again had Dorian growing queasy. 

Now, he loved Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It was a classic, a beautiful work of literature. 

What he was looking at now, however, was ruining the classic for him, forever.

A mad scientist was laughing, horridly, as he stood above his table, looking down at his monster. There were body parts in jars, ancient, rusty tools everywhere, and eyeballs scattered along the table.

“Please tell me we’re almost out of here,” Dorian muttered.

She rolled her eyes, but squeezed his hand in a comforting gesture and tugged him through the tamest and shortest room yet. When they walked through the door, his senses on red alert, he was surprised to see they were once again outside and the only thing aside from the back half of the creepy house was a corn maze wrapping back around to the front.

“Oh, sweet Mala, thank the gods,” he said, bending over, resting his hands on his knees and gulping down air. “Never again,” he said, repeating his earlier promise. Manon laughed and when he stood upright again, he took her hand and they walked into the corn maze.

It was a chilly night, but that was fine with him. He’d gotten so hot inside that stupid haunted house that the bite in the air was absolutely welcomed. Not to mention, the sky was gorgeous tonight, stars everywhere, not a cloud in sight.

Manon was in the middle of a story about one of her clients earlier that day when Dorian held up a finger and stopped walking. “Do you hear that?”

He wished he hadn’t seen the smile on Manon’s face when she innocently asked, “Hear what?”

He felt the color drain from his face. “I thought it was over, you said it was over. We’re outside!”

Manon kept walking forward, letting her hand stay on the right wall. “I never said anything. You just assumed. Come on.”

She held out her hand and he quickly took it as the sound of a revving chainsaw grew closer and closer.

“Fuck no!” he yelled, and picked up his pace. He didn’t make it far before a bloodied-up zombie jumped out of the corn stalks, making Dorian scream, yet again. 

Manon was laughing maniacally, which only terrified Dorian even more. 

“If you love me, you’ll get me the fuck out- is that chainsaw getting louder?” Dorian knew he sounded like a complete and utter sissy, but he really didn’t care. 

His heart was nearly pounding out of his chest, and his need to pee was unbearable. 

“We’re almost out,” Manon yelled, dodging her way around a ghostly bride that had just popped out at her. “Hang in there, babe.”

“How the hell are you so calm?!” he yelled, thinking his feet couldn’t move fast enough.

The roaring behind him grew and he turned to find the masked man from before running at them.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, please, run!” He cried, pulling Manon’s hand harder as he ran.

She kept laughing as they ran through the maze, Dorian’s breathing becoming heavier and heavier.

He could hear the heavy footsteps pounding right behind them and Manon pulled him around a corner and-.

They were out in the fresh air and there were other people dressed in flannel and jeans and the sound of laughter and excitement.

Dorian groaned as they stopped and he realized that this time it really was over.

“Oh, thank the gods,” he breathed and Manon wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Not that bad, right?” She asked, smirking up at him.

Dorian was still breathing heavily, trying desperately to catch his breath. With a groan, he dropped his face into her shoulder and said, “I'm serious. Be glad that I love you.”

Manon just threw her head back and laughed as she patted her boyfriend’s head and walked him to the safety of her car. 

#manorian #tog #throne of glass #fanfic #fanfiction #oneshot #31 days of halloween

[bluemoonbeam15]

Let's Ride

I can't find any inspiration to write my actual ABL fanfiction for Wattpad so I'll just write short stories.

____________________

Dot watched Flik put the finishing touches on the leaf. Stripped pieces of a stalk formed bone-like structures along its frame, making it solid yet flexible for movement. "I think that should just about do it...," he mumbled and glanced over it a few more times.

The princess jumped up and grabbed a charcoal stick from the table, "Wait! We gotta make it perfect!" She scribbled on the leaf. Satisfied, she sat back and allowed Flik to hold it up proudly.

"Let's go give it to him."

********

"Hey, Hop!" Flik called out as he crossed the clearing. Hopper had pulled down one of the stalks to pick the grain off. "Take a break for a moment, we have something for you."

Hopper kept his hold on the stalk, not able to let go lest it backfire and snap off. "Uh...can it wait?" He fought to not let his grip loosen.

Flik waved his hand, "Nope, this is important." Dot flew up and nudged the stalk. Hopper fumbled to catch it again but it had already rocketed away and broke at the base. He slowly turned to Flik with narrowed eyes. The ant looked at the damage indifferently, "We'll worry about that later. Now! Close your eyes," he could barely conceal the surprise behind his back.

The grasshopper sighed and did as told, "Is it solitude? I've always wanted that."

Dot giggled, "No, silly. It's better than that."

"Can't imagine," he deadpanned. Flik walked behind Hopper with the leaf in hand.

"Okay, now, stay loose--"

"Loose?"

"Yeah, just, don't flinch away." The ant lifted the hardened wing on Hopper's left side, revealing the absence of the clear wing beneath.

When Hopper dared to peek an eye open at the touch, Dot bopped his head lightly, "No peeking!"

"Geez, alright...what are you doing, kid?"

Flik concentrated on lining everything up right, "You'll see." Carefully so as to not hurt him, he snapped the leaf in place with the magnets he'd found in the city. Praying, he took a step back and grinned at Hopper, "You can open your eyes now."

It took a moment, but after staring at the leaf on his back he realized what its purpose was. "Is this...?" Flik just nodded when the sentence couldn't be finished. Hopper stood agape and tentatively took it between his fingers to stretch it out. It had been written on too.

'Isaiah 40:31'

Hopper still couldn't process everything. The inventor nudged him a bit, "Go on, try it out."

He let the leaf fall back into place, surprised when he found it moved according to how he wanted it to. Hopper closed his eyes and jumped in the air, giving himself plenty of space to open his wings up. The action was shaky at first, and he half expected to hit the ground again. But nothing solid reached his feet. The grasshopper slowly blinked and looked down. Flik and Dot beamed at the success.

"Haha! It works!" the inventor shot a fist in the air. "How's it feel to be back in the sky, Hop?"

There weren't even any words. Even if he had wanted to say something, it wouldn't have enveloped the emotion in its entirety. Looking behind him, the leaf blurred in a beautiful hue of orange and brown. He dared to hover forward, finding the action a little off after so long of being grounded. Growing confident, he made small circles above the ants, the joy intensifying higher than he dared to fly.

Shakily, he landed and just as fast tackled the inventor in a hug. Flik smiled, waiting for Hopper to say something. His eyes widened when tremors coursed through the grasshopper's body and something wet landed on his shoulder. "Thank you," Hopper whispered and tightened his hold.

As much as Flik wanted to be happy for him, he found himself in self-loathing for being the one to bring Hopper so low in the first place. "I felt horrible for...well for everything that happened--"

"I told you before, Flik, you did what you had to."

"I know, but there are always multiple solutions to a problem." Flik looked at Dot as she sat beside Hopper, rubbing his back. He hoped she would learn from this, too. Hopefully, she'd find the best solution to her problems, instead of going with the easier route. And if all else failed, the least he wanted to teach her was how to give back what was taken. "This is my official apology for what happened. I miss that little catchphrase you had."

Hopper finally pulled back a bit, sitting on his haunches, "Catchphrase?" he vainly wiped the tears from his eyes.

"You know, the 'Let's Ride!' thing you'd call out to your gang," Flik tried imitating Hopper's voice but it couldn't go to that low an octave.

It was obvious now how unguarded the grasshopper was at this point. He choked on a laugh, still trying to get a handle on the tsunami of emotion overtaking him. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands, staying like that for a moment.

"You really missed it, didn't you?" Flik patted his knee. Hopper just nodded, not trusting his voice.

Hopper took in a deep breath and smiled shakily at Dot, pulling her in for a hug, "And thank you too, Squirt."

"Now we can touch the stars together," she buried her head in his neck.

Stupid emotions. Stupid heart. Hopper couldn't believe these were the things he'd been holding inside all his life. "Yeah--" he cleared his throat a bit when it cracked, "yeah we can."

Dot perked as an idea came to her, "We can be your new gang!"

Flik laughed while Hopper gave her a funny look, "I think I've had my fill of the gang life." Flik found himself pulled in for another hug, "Besides, who needs a gang when you've got family?"

#disney #pixar #a bugs life #flik #hopper #dot #fluff #family #fanfiction #vin diesel moment right here

[imagine-loki]

Recovering, (Part 1/2)

TITLE: Recovering CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Part ½ AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki comes across a failed Hydra experiment. She looks to be an ordinary human, but Loki quickly learns she has the mind of a wild animal. 

RATING: M

Loki had been part of the Avengers for over a year. He had proved to be trustworthy enough of a team member, his past mistakes forgiven.

But he still got up to mischief, which often caused the other Avengers to get annoyed with him. But they were getting used to it. Sometimes they found his pranks funny, if they weren’t directed at them, that was.

Fury sent him on a mission with Bruce and Steve to clear out a Hydra base. To pick up any essential information that might be of use, and take out any Hydra soldiers.

Bruce had Hulked out and was fighting outside with Steve. Loki went inside the old warehouse base, to see what he could find. It seemed to be mostly empty, apart from a few soldiers loitering around that were swiftly dealt with.

But after picking up some documents that looked important, he heard a strange growling sound come from the back corner. There was a large sheet covering it.

Too curious to just leave it, he wandered over and hauled the sheet off. His eyes widened in confusion when he saw a woman in a large cage, wearing nothing but a night gown by the looks of it. Her hair was a mess, matted and pretty long. She was crouched over in the corner, looking terrified.

He could hear some more soldiers coming his way, but he wasn’t about to leave the woman there. She would die otherwise. So he opened the cage with his Seidr, the lock no match for him. When he opened it, she didn’t move.

‘It’s ok, I won’t hurt you. I’ll get you to safety. I work with The Aveng’ He was cut off when she suddenly darted out from the cage on her hands and feet, moving like an animal would do, barrelling past him.

Loki watched in confusion as she ran around the place, looking panicked. Making weird grunting noises. But then two soldiers came bursting into the room, Loki was about to teleport to her to get her to safety, but she launched for the nearest soldier and attacked him like a tiger would. Ripped into his neck with her teeth, killing him quickly.

Then she launched for the other solider.

Loki noticed a file attached to her cage door. He picked it up and realised his mistake.

It said she was a failed experiment, highly dangerous and should never be let out. She had turned half feral, had the mind of a wild animal and half the strength of one, too. But looked just like a human, aside from her brain wasn’t working like it should.

‘Oh dear.’ Loki was now in a bit of a dilemma. But he still didn’t want to just leave her, she was a victim. Part of Hydra’s horrible experimenting.

Steve came across comms. ‘Loki, have you got the information? We are almost finished out here!’

‘Yeah, nearly finished. I’ll meet you back at base.’ He said to Steve.

The girl continued running around the room in a panic, trying to get out. Scrambling at the doors and windows, but Loki had locked them with his Seidr. Not wanting her to escape and get hurt by Hulk or Steve thinking she was part of Hydra.

‘Hey, it’s alright.’ Loki managed to get her into a corner and he put his hands out to try and show he wasn’t a threat.

‘I’m not going to hurt you… I just want to get you to safety.’ He said softly.

She looked at him, wide eyed, panting and snarling. Her teeth looked sharper than the average humans, but not overly so. He couldn’t tell what colour her hair truly was, as she was very dirty. He dreaded to think how long she had been locked up in that cage for, there was no date on the information.

Using his illusions, he made a distraction across the room. Her head whipped round in the direction of the noise, so that’s when Loki striked. He used his cape and covered her with it. She struggled and tried to fight back, snarling like mad.

But Loki was able to pin her down underneath his cape. He waited a moment, glad when she calmed down. She was like a feral cat, but much stronger and obviously bigger. Though Loki was able to scoop her up easily into his arms, still snugly wrapped in the cape.

He didn’t want Steve to freak out, so instead of going back with them in the quinjet, he teleported himself and the girl back to base, straight into his room.

When he put her down, she started struggling again and managed to get out from under the cape. She launched for him, but he was able to fight her off and she realised his strength wasn’t ordinary, so she went running across his room.

In her confusion and panic to get out, she jumped up on his desk and knocked everything flying off. Breaking his lamp in the process.

‘No, no, calm down. Get down from there.’ Loki said as he ran over and tried to get hold of her. But she leaped onto the bed and made a mess of his covers, knocked his pillows flying as she scrambled to get away from him.

‘Not the pillows!’ He groaned.

Then she bolted to the window and tried climbing up the curtains, but instead just pulled them down. The railing too, making a huge racket.

Loki by this point was now just hiding his face behind his hand.

‘What have I done?’ He muttered to himself.

After a bit of a fight, he managed to get her into his bathroom and he closed the door and put a spell over it, to make sure she couldn’t open it and that no one else could go in but him. He leaned back against the door and sighed as he slid down to the floor. Who knew trying to wrestle a human female with the mind of a tiger into a bathroom would be so exhausting?

He looked around his room and his heart sank. It was an absolute mess. But luckily, with a wave of his hand, he managed to get it back in order. The scratches from her scarily sharp nails on his arm healed up quick enough. He was just glad he had managed to avoid her teeth.

The team were a little confused when Loki got a lot of food from the kitchen and went back to his room with it. But they learned not to question Loki and his sometimes odd ways, so left him to it.

Loki knew he was going to have to try and earn her trust. But he knew that wasn’t going to be easy.

Whenever he went into the bathroom, she would either lunge for him or cower in the corner. But he was able to slide food in for her and quickly leave her in peace to eat. Each time he checked in, she had devoured the food.

She was a skinny little thing, he wondered how she still had the strength to remain upright. Never mind attack.

Over the following few weeks, he was able to get into the bathroom with her and not have her attack him. So he would take food and sit with her while she ate.

He also had some snacks with him, mini cookies. She seemed to like them as when he threw her one, she would gobble it up. So he was going to use those as treats.

‘I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help. I know that you’ve been treated badly, I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.’ He spoke softly with her, which seemed to help.

She tilted her head at him often, like she was trying to understand what he was saying. Trying to process it.

He had tried giving her clothes once, but she didn’t know what to do with them and ripped them up. As the simple gown she had on wasn’t much use. But at least she liked the multitude of blankets and pillows he gave her, she snuggled up against them in a pile under the sink.

While she was in there, he had to use the communal bathroom to shower and use the toilet. The team noticed he was using it over time and asked questions, but he just shrugged them off and never gave them a proper answer.

‘I need to think of a name for you, at least until I can learn your real name.’ Loki said one day to the girl while he was sitting with her.

She was lying curled up on her pile of pillows, just watching him carefully.

‘I think you look like an Alice.’ He smiled and threw a cookie to her.

She reached out and she snatched it from the floor, eating it quickly.

‘Alice.’ He said again louder, when she was looking at him. Then he threw her another cookie.

Over the next couple of days, he continued to say her name and gave her a cookie when she seemed to respond to him. By the third day, he would say her name and she would sit up, looking alert and waiting for a cookie.

‘Good girl.’ He praised and threw her a cookie.

Then he decided to try and train her a bit more. So he put a cookie down closer to him. She was wary, keeping a close eye as she moved over on her hands and feet, crouched right down. When she got within reach of the cookie, she grabbed it and moved back to her safety distance to eat.

Loki kept doing it, having the cookie closer and closer to him. Until, eventually, she would sit on her knees and eat it quite close to him, within reach.

But then he made a mistake and reached out towards her when she wasn’t paying attention. So when he touched the side of her head, she freaked. In a bad way. She attacked him, ripping his jacket and scratching his face before she managed to rush back to her pile of blankets.

Loki didn’t want to end it on a bad note, so even though he was slightly startled at her attack, he said her name and got her attention, threw her a cookie then swiftly left the bathroom. A little frazzled.

As he exited the bathroom, Thor and the rest of the team were in his room, glaring at him with their arms folded over their chests.

‘Alright, Loki. Spill the beans. What are you hiding in there?’ Steve asked firmly.

‘Judging by the state of you it must be some wild animal.’ Natasha said, noting the way the stuffing was poking out of his shoulder and his sleeve on his other arm was torn.

The scratches on his face were starting to fade already as he healed. Luckily his favourite green waistcoat and tie was unscathed.

‘We know there’s something, all the food you’ve been sneaking away and using the other bathroom. What are you hiding? I knew there was something, you’ve been far too quiet!’ Tony said.

Loki chuckled and put his arms out to his side. ‘Come on. What did you expect? Of course there’s something in there.’

‘I’ve had enough of this.’ Clint said and went to push past Loki, but Loki quickly moved on front of him to stop him.

‘You don’t want to do that, trust me.’

‘What have you got in there?’ Bruce asked.

‘Ok… So, remember that mission where we raided the Hydra warehouse?’ Loki looked to Steve and Bruce, who both nodded. ‘Well, there was a failed experiment in there. She has been battered and bruised by Hydra agents, the experiment has completely messed her up… She’s a human, but with the mind of a tiger. Or some other, wild animal.’

The team looked between one another, not believing him.

‘You’re lying.’ Thor chuckled. ‘A wild human?’

Loki’s jaw clenched. ‘I am not lying, not this time.’

‘Prove it.’ Said Natasha.

Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Alright, you did ask.’ He reached behind him and opened the door.

Alice was confused when she saw the door open, but Loki didn’t appear. She had heard voices, but was wary about going to take a look. But curiosity quickly got the better of her and she carefully wandered over to the door, into view of the others.

She snarled when she saw a bunch of people behind Loki and she quickly backed away again, running to her bed.

Loki swiftly shut the door to give her privacy. Then he turned to the others, who all looked completely stunned.

‘I did tell you.’ He shrugged with a smirk.

#Loki #God of Mischief #Submitted fic #submission #recovering #chapter 1 #fanfichiddles

[snickiebear]

Hello hello nadia, i’m in a leesaku mood today so pls indulge me with a three-sentence fic for this lil prompt “you are my best friend and I’ve known you platonically for years now but every time you look at me I get fireworks in my chest and butterflies in my stomach” tysm ilyyyy ❤️❤️❤️❤️

haha... this is, two days late. NIASDUKDSK IM SO SORRY THANK YOU FOR THE REQUEST YOURE THE BEST ILY

side note: this is.... kind of what you wanted? AND LMAO ITS NOT THREE SENTENCES AGAIN WHOOPS

side side note: this is now crossposted bc i liked it a lot tbh :")

a cocoon in the heart, a spark in the brain.

It starts with a glance. An innocent, fleeting look. Naruto’s smile is too bright to look at for more than a handful of seconds and Sasuke’s glare is too dark to find anything of interest, so Sakura glances away, as she always does.

She glances away and there is Lee, dirtied and bloodied but he holds Neji’s hand, Tenten tucked under his arm, and is laughing, tears streaming down his face. He must have felt her eyes because he looks over and sends her a beaming smile. 

And. And her heart picks up, her breath catches. 

She quickly looks over to Naruto and Sasuke, being blinded by the light and dark both, and tries her best to not think of why one look from Lee can breed butterflies and moths in her stomach. 

.

.

.

They rebuild the village and everyone endures. Sasuke leaves once more because he is a boy who has never known staying, he has never stayed long enough to put roots in, to know how to stay. So, Naruto and Sakura let him go. 

(If she is being honest, Sakura is more than happy to have him leave. Sasuke will always be a rotten fruit in the tangle of her feelings, something that she will never quite understand, something that will haunt her no matter what she does. If he is not there, she does not have to think about it. He’s like a curse, and it hurts her to think that but it is true.)

Kakashi is the Hokage and Sakura is still laughing at him, clutching her stomach and howling at her friend’s “misfortune” as he calls it.

“Mah,” Kakashi half drawls, half pleads. “Must you laugh at your poor ex-sensei?”

Naruto is losing his absolute shit as they clutch each other to stay standing. “Kaka-sensei you do not look good in white.”

“It,” Sakura gasps, wiping tears from her face, “It-It really washes you out!”

Naruto’s knees give out and they both tumble to the ground, a mess and tangle of laughing limbs and leaking eyes. 

Kakashi sighs heavily from his desk but she knows he’s having just as much fun as they are. Kakashi is her best friend, she knows how he is when he’s drunk out of his mind and when he’s trying to bite back laughter. 

The door swings open and Lee steps in with Team Gai flanking him. Neji recovered incredibly well thanks to Sakura’s magic hands (as Naruto has deemed them) and they’ve been taking low ranking missions since he was deemed fit to return to duty. 

It takes a few moments for Sakura and Naruto’s heaving, snorting laughter to subside as Kakashi clears his throat, his eyes crinkling up in the way Sakura knows he’s really trying not to laugh. 

She looks up and glances at Lee, to find him already watching her, his eyes soft and smile softer. Sakura is a God Slayer along with Naruto and Sasuke, she has faced down hundreds of opponents with only her raw fists and come up victorious, she has dragged people back from the brink of death with a tap. 

Sakura does not blush. Out right refuses to. 

“Hey,” All breathless and raw from laughter.

Lee’s smile widens as he steps forward to offer his hand, she takes it without hesitation and thanks the God whose heart she ripped out that he was wearing gloves. She can feel the heat through them nonetheless. Sakura does her best not to shiver as their eyes meet. 

“You guys heading in or out?” Naruto asks after he hauled himself onto his feet, not hiding the way he eyes Lee and Sakura’s hands. The entire room’s eyes are on them. 

“In,” Tenten says slowly, and Sakura does not blush as she carefully extracts her hand from Lees and does not think about why there are fireworks exploding within her mind, why she misses the heat and the way his hand encompasses hers. 

.

.

.

She sees him everywhere now. 

At the Rusty Kunai, at the training fields, at lunch, sometimes even in the hospital. And every damn time he smiles at her, she feels like she’s coming back to life and being stabbed in the heart. 

Sakura has no idea if this was love or just lust. What she felt for Sasuke was not love, that was obsession and cruelty. She had crushes on civilian boys but they were too soft, unmarred compared to her countless scars, visible or not. 

Ino stares at her as if she’s the stupidest person in the world and Sakura smacks her for it. She hopes it leaves a bruise. The Bitch. “Stop giving me that look, Pig. I’ll hit you again, don’t tempt me.”

Ino glares as she rubs her arm, sticking out her tongue. “It isn’t my fault you aren’t using that big forehead of yours! You’re telling me that you two drink together, train together, you go to lunch together, he even visits you at the hospital because he knows you haven’t eaten or slept. And then you tell me you get all those stupid fluttery feelings and you don’t know what it means?”

And well. When she puts it like that. . .

Sakura pouts and crosses her arms, “It's confusing!”

“You’re a genius. An actual genius, Sakura.” Ino deadpans. “Your IQ is literally right next to Shikamaru’s. Lee has been in love with you since we were twelve! There is no way you don’t know what this means.”

Groaning, Sakura slumps into Ino’s lap, hiding her face in Ino’s thigh. “When did you become so smart?”

“When I made out with Hinata and then fucked her.” Ino says easily and Sakura laughs. “What? Don’t laugh! It's true!” 

Ino cackles when Sakura pinches her calf.

.

.

.

Lee moves with such elegance that Sakura aches with it. 

This boy made man who had known nothing but sweat and hardship, who still cups things with such tender and care, who moves so fluidly and hits so brutally.  

They are both the earth, solid and unyielding, they are the water, the hills, the mountains. They are unbreakable because they have broken themselves apart, pushed themselves past the very limit to reach where they are.

Sakura and Lee are 20 and they have saved the world. 

Now, they tear apart the training grounds just to keep life interesting. 

With every dodged fist her heart quickens because Lee is smiling and laughing, calling friendly taunts as she grins right back. 

This is nothing like Team 7’s spars, all bloodied teeth and snarling as Sasuke underestimates her again and again and again. Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato know better. Naruto is learning slowly. Sasuke never pays attention enough to know.  

No, sparring with Lee is like dancing, is like thriving, and a fresh breath of air at night as fireworks light up the sky and a butterfly lands on your nose. 

She lands a kick to his ribs and spends him flying back as she advances swiftly, pinning him down with a hand on his chest, knees on either side of his hips. 

A long pause as they try to catch their breathes.

They’re both breathing heavily, Sakura cannot tear her eyes away from him as he reaches a hand to tuck loose hair behind her ear.

“Lee,” She breathes, ignoring the way her face burns and the way butterflies have swarmed her insides, how her heart is raging against her ribcage. “Lee I-”

“Sakura.” Lee says, voice deep and rumbly and cracking. “Sakura, will you go out to lunch with me? Forever. Well, hopefully forever- you are so very Youthful, you are incredibly Strong, you do not need my protection, but Sakura, let me protect you anyways, just as you will me. Sakura-”

She channels her inner Ino and leans down to kiss him, all lips, teeth and tongue. His hands settle on her waist and he flips them without breaking contact and if they weren’t in public, well. . .

Sakura pulls back breathless and wide eyes before forcing the words out, “I’ve known you for years Lee, you’re one of my best friends.” Her hand on his chest can feel the way his breath catches, the way his heart is pounding. “Everytime you look at me I get fireworks in my chest and butterflies in my stomach. They’ve bred and infested my very insides, my brain blooms and rots with the thought of you.” 

He is shaking beneath her, staring at her as if she is Divine and Righteous and she cannot think of anything else she would want except his eyes on her. 

“Lunch?” She breathes, hand at the base of his neck. “I would like to have lunch with you. Forever. If the offer still stands.” 

Lee smiles wide and bright as he stands, pulling Sakura up with him, “The offer will always stand, Sakura. For you, there is very little I would not do.”

She kisses him again and hand in hand they go to lunch.

Facts:

The very first day Lee saw Sakura a cocoon formed within his heart, everytime after that more would form, more would crack.

The butterflies and moths have a home in his heart but only come alive when they see her.

They never die, no matter what he does.

He saw her crack the world open with a first, saw her tear open a God’s chest. He was the first thing she looked at after. He thought he would become alight with it all.

Lee loves Sakura. He always has, he always will. His heart has a butterfly garden full of fireworks just for her.

Her laugh makes his skin prickle, makes his muscles loose. He is addicted to it.

She looks at him like she sees the green of the trees and the blue of the sky. Lee revels in it.

Sakura loves Lee and it nearly breaks him.

He will take her out to lunch until the day they die and well after.

The butterflies and moths and fireworks never go away for either of them. It is the beauty of it all.

#leesaku #silly things from silly friends #sakulee #a shared pen