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moon-huny · 7 months

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Stole the Moon - Chapter Five

CW: My content is not for anyone under 18. Minors DNI. You're kidnapped, hostage situation, standard pirate stuff. Smut. Like the whole thing. p in v. she her pronouns

Word Count: 3.1K

Summary: After the events of going ashore with Buggy, you demand answers, he gives them ... and then some.

A/N: It's that time ya'll. I think I am getting a bit better at the whole smut writing thing but I still never know how to end these kinds of chapters. I hope it was worth the wait.

I always feel like smut is so hard to write in character so send me some recs you have of Buggy smut I can read for inspiration.

I was a little disappointed in my chapter last week. I had a lot of ideas I wanted to get out and I think having all those ideas lead the chapter to suffer.

Okay, that's all, enjoy.

masterlist ✧˖°

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To experience the feeling of floating, only to come crashing down so hard made you unsteady even in your seat, yet you stood up to leave.

“Ya know,” you began your closing remarks for the temperamental man.

He had turned away from you leaning against his desk, arms crossed. He was so stiff that the muscles in his back flexed through the thin fabric of his billowy linen shirt. Long locks of blue hair cascaded down around him. Even from this angle he was a vision, and for you, in this moment, the idea of leaving him was painful.

“If I didn’t know any better,” you continued. A mix of heartache and frustration and anger. “I’d say you were scared of me.”

He scoffed, his body jolting with the dismissive sound. “Oh baby, you don’t scare me.”

He turned to look his nose down at you. He wanted to make you feel small, unimportant. He wanted to take all the power he knew you had over him and wring it out like wine in a white table cloth.

But the moment he turned to look at you standing there, your beautiful body illuminated in the moonlight, he couldn’t control himself. Your eyes didn’t even attempt to hide the ache you had for him. You looked at him like he was a work of art and Buggy realized that he could die happy if it meant you would always look at him like that.

He was already stained.

“You frighten me, step terrify me, step horrify me, step petrify me.”

He had to stop moving toward you, had to find a way to stop himself in his footsteps as they continued their trajectory to you. He paused, just before he would have been close enough to feel your warmth radiating from you.

“Tell me,” you said. “What is it about me that has you so frightened?”

Your captor stood before you, unable to say anything. All he could do was look at you. For once he was speechless. He would not dare tell you of your power. To do so would be a death sentence especially on the night of a full moon.

“You know what I think? I think you can’t tell me. I think it has something to do with how that man died on the pier and you are too worried about your own safety to tell me.”

As anger rose up in your chest so too did your words rise in volume.

“Are you worried what I’ll do to you, Buggy? What I might be capable of if I found out. Under your control, under your will I could be whatever you wanted me to be, right? I could help you reach the Grand Line. I could be your little weapon.”

He felt his jaw tighten at your accusations. Buggy would rush over to you, he would shut you up, but god … if he were to touch you again, in this room, in your sweet little dress, he wouldn’t be able to stop from falling off the edge. He simply stood, still, face pulled into a scowl.

“You know, I bet you left me alone on purpose. I bet you wanted me to get in some trouble on that roof. You wanted me to have to defend myself. I did that, didn't I? I killed that man, you know it and I know it. I remember watching the light leave his eyes. I do. I remember now. It is only a matter of time Captain that all those memories come flooding back so you better start talking.”

The ship began to rock, lightly at first. It began when you first raised your voice at him. As the captain of a vessel as magnificent as the Big Top, Buggy notices the little things. Now though, at the allegation of him leaving you on purpose, your anger caused the lights to sway, small items began to roll off of the tables.

You didn’t even seem to notice.

“You ungrateful little creature,” he began vollying back just as much anger as you’d sent to him. “I bring you onto my ship–”

“YOU KIDNAPPED ME!” The Big Top lurching as a particularly large wave hit the starboard side.

“I SAVED YOU!” he yelled back, shocking you. “I saved you from a life of inferior pirates, the kind that would tear you to shreds! You were about to spend your entire life being thrown back and forth between the lowest of the low who wouldn’t hesitate to do so much worse to you.”

“And that is an excuse?” you said. While no longer fueled by rage, a different calm anger surrounded you. “That is your excuse for locking me in a hole and keeping all of the secrets you’ve kept?”

He needed to say something, anything. This wasn’t just about making you pliable for him to use, this felt like so much more. It felt like you had held a mirror up to him and he had seen the face of a monster. And he was used to that – by the East Blue was he used to that. But your heat and your sweetness still lingered on his lips and so he needed to say something to mend the heart he could hear breaking in front of him.

“You –” he kept searching for the words he needed, but what to say? I wanted to protect you? I know what you can do? I need you? I’ve wanted you for so long? You’re everything?

All of it was too much, not true – or worse, too true. And then he realized, he could really just tell you the truth. He could soften your gaze, calm the swell of water he knew you were conjuring up.

“You’re just like me,” he said, his hand coming apart from him and floating to your face. “You and I are the same.”

In the warmth of the candlelight, you looked across the distance between the two of you and knew exactly what he meant. Your hand went up to touch his. You still weren’t completely sure of yourself, and it would take some time to learn exactly the kind of power you had, but the only self discovery you wanted to make was in his bed.

“I need you,” you whispered out. “Please.”

His heart felt torn from his chest. How could he say no to you? How could he look into your pleading eyes and turn you away? And yet, how could he do it – bed you, he means. How could he possibly survive being inside of you, hearing you cry out for him, pulling him in?

He decided to just let it all go and to stop asking questions he could answer tomorrow. But, he did have one rule, something that could possibly keep him from falling off the precipice.

“You can have me however you want, gorgeous, just keep those lips to yourself.” He joked, pulling his still disembodied thumb across your lower lip. He couldn’t kiss you again. It would make him drunk, it would poison him but he needed some upper hand, you couldn’t know all that you were capable of.

Sure, now you knew you had a devil fruit power planted inside of you, but he’d like to keep the secret that you had one of the most powerful pirates in the East Blue in the palm of your hand.

“Deal,” you said. His terms were strange, but the last thing you wanted right now was to dive headfirst into the sea that was Buggy the Clown-Pirate of The East Blue. It would be safer this way for you. Tonight wasn’t about falling in love, you just wanted to ease the tension and feed the hunger.

“Good,” he replied. His voice lowered to a growl. His gaze upon you darkened and you felt your heart speed up.

He leaned himself back against the desk. Lifting his left arm to his side, he sent the full appendage over toward you. You turned to watch it push the chair you had previously sat in up against the backs of your knees. With his right hand still hovering near your body, he gripped your throat and forced you down into the chair.

“Relax, baby,” he said, his arm floating back to him. “I just want to watch you. You think you can do that for me? Follow my orders and let me play with you for a little bit?”

You nodded.

“Very good,” he presented his gloved hand out in front of you. “Can you take this off, pretty girl?”

Your own hand reached up to carefully tug at each of the fingers of his glove, loosening the perfectly fitting fabric off of him. Once all of his fingers were free, you pulled the white fabric off of him. All the while he watched you work on your task, letting you explore the sensation of him. He could feel you too, of course. Your hand, smaller by comparison, unwrapping him like a little gift. He thought of all the ways he could toy with you. Your hand pressed into his, your fingertips just barely brushing one another. It could still be so hard to believe that this was his power.

His hand flew behind your neck. Between his thumb and forefinger he rubbed little circles into your tense muscle right at the base of your skull. The sensation was soothing and gentle and he knew just how much pressure to use to make you really feel it but not to cause you pain.

“You're so tense, sweetheart. I really want to make you feel good. Will you take the straps of your dress off? Just slide them down your shoulders baby, I’ll hand-le the rest.” He let out a stupid little chuckle.

His hand moved from its place massaging your aches and pains. His flat palm pushed itself into your hair at the base of your scalp and made gentle little scratching motions that sent you into a total bliss. He knew how to be rough, how to choke and push and shove you, but he could also make you melt.

Your hands came up to lay atop your shoulders and delicately drew the straps of your dress down until they hung limply off of you.

“Good girl, look at how relaxed you are for me. So obedient. It wasn’t too hard to get you like this was it? Daddy just had to be sweet to you, hmm?”

The hand at the back of your head snaked its way down around your neck, his fingers petting their way down your chest until they reached the top of your dress. He pulled it down, unclothing your breasts.

Your arms immediately on instinct went up to shield yourself from his view. Call it insecurity or shame but you suddenly felt nervous at the thought of him seeing you displayed like this.

“Oh come on pretty,” he teased. “Don’t hide from me. It is way too late for that.”

He didn’t need to do anything to you, the tone of his voice was enough to make you drop your modesty. To rebel now, the threat that he might stop after you had already become so wet from his slow teasing and sinful praise.

“Look how beautiful you are,” his eyes burned into you. Your eyes glanced down to see a slowly growing tent forming in his loser outfit.

He spread and flattened his palm. The flexed appendage brushing light little circles into the hard nippple of your left breast. The little teasing movement and position offered enough stimulation to arouse, but not nearly enough for a feeling of relief. Your body arched into his touch.

“Ah ah ah,” he tutted. “You’re getting greedy.”

“Please,” you sighed. “Just a little more … it feels good.”

“Oh gorgeous, I know it feels good.” He could tell by all of the gasps and little hitches in your unsteady breathing since he began his assault on you.

“But you have to let me,” his hand squeezed into the flesh of your tit causing you to moan out. “Take care of you,” he finished, punctuating his sentence by pulling on your sensitive little bud before making his way to your other.

As you writhed against his touch, Buggy felt himself grow more and more impatient. He was already so hard beneath his belt and wanted to quench the flame burning inside of him. But more than that, he wanted to watch you come undone for him.

“Pretty, so so pretty,” his voice sent shivers down your spine as he continued to massage and work the supple flesh of your chest.

You’re not sure what came over you, maybe it was desperation to have him lower, to stop the teasing and to let him finally take you further.

“Captain, I need more … please … it’s so, you’re so,” Captain. You called him captain.

He never felt something go straight to his cock so fast. The way you sit there across from him, gripping the armrests of your chair and begging for him. Your eyes half lidded, lips wet and body keening for more of him.

“My girl, you can have whatever you want.”

His hand moved further down your body and reached under your skirt. Through the thin lacy fabric he could feel you. He let out a groan and the feeling of the small wet patch on his fingertips.

“I have thought about this pussy since the moment we touched, you know that?”

He ripped your underwear down your legs causing you to jump in surprise from the sudden roughness. His hand quickly flew back up to find your soft little button he knew would send you closer to the edge.

You stifled a moan in the back of your throat coming out as more of a whimper. He slyly smiled and continued the little circular motions on your clit. With his other hand, he gripped the desk next to him.

“All I could think about was how you’d feel cuming around my fingers,” he slowly pushed two fingers into your slick cunt. The soft warm walls of you sucking him in.

He was going too slow. The friction you needed just barely out of your control. You began to rock and buck your hips into him.

His eyebrows raised at your eagerness. He began to slow his pumping fingers completely enamored by you chasing and taking your own pleasure from his hand. Using him like your own personal toy.

“Fuck… you feel so good Bugs, oh oh my god.” You moaned out trying to angel your hips to reach further into you. “Please go faster, please you feel so good. Wanna cum, captain.”

There it was again, he was growing painfully hard now. Watching you fuck yourself, bouncing and moving your hips in a motion to find your sweet spot. You kept calling him captain. You were so pretty falling apart in front of him, but that name.

Finally he felt that little rough patch as he curled his fingers and you gasped.

“Right there honey, is that the place?” He took control again, “I want to make you feel good.”

You leaned back in the chair, legs spread wide for him, one up draped on the armrest. The skirt of your dress was pulled up and your panties were wrapped around one of your ankles. Your arms came up over your head to hold the back of your chair. You were so beautiful.

As Buggy continued to hit the spot inside you, he felt an even greater need to fill you with him. He continued to speed the pace of his hand.

“Oh fuck Buggy I– Im– Im oh fuck fuck fuck,” you cried out.

He felt your pussy clench around him as you came. He wanted so badly to feel you around his cock, to feel that tight clench around his length. As you came down from your high you looked up to him, eyes droopy and mind clouded.

“Good girl,” he growled out. “Good girl, cuming for me so sweet like that.”

His hand floated back to him and settled into place. He stalked toward you as he sucked his two fingers – that were moments ago bringing you to climax – into his mouth. Your taste only fueled him. He would have to make a note to spend the rest of the night tasting you. He picked you up and threw you down onto the bed on your back.

“I just need you to lie here and keep making those precious little sounds.”

You nod.

“You keep those eyes on me while I fuck you, yea? That’ll make me feel really good, baby, you keep those eyes on me.”

He pulled himself from his confines. After rolling his purple head through your slick floods and pulling a moan from you, Buggy pushed his tip in. Slowly at first but after getting one inch of seven inside he though might as well skip to the best part.

Shoving himself into you caused you both to cry out. Your head rolled back and eyes closed, gripping the sheets and blankets around you.

“Eyes. Open.” He commanded as he pumped himself into you.

“Holy fuck baby right – look right here. You like how this dick makes you feel? Feels good, yea? You feel so good. This tight pussy is all I want, s’all I think about. Fuck.”

His movements sped up. You were blushing at the way he praised you, the nasty way he spoke to you made you feel even hotter than you were after cuming like this.

“Shit! Okay, baby, shit – Daddy has to come now, your captain has to come where – where do you want – where can I –”

“Wherever you want, you can cum wherever you want,” you cooed, feeling your own second orgasm approaching. You liked the way he became so needy this close to his own high. You made a note to take advantage of that.

After a few more hits to your sensitive spot, your second orgasm rocked through you causing him to feel all of the little flutter of your body as he released into you. The sound he made was a stifled whine and a muddle of curses.

His head fell forward. His long blue hair covering his face. His hand came up to rank his fingers through his locks to look at you, his other arm propping himself up on the mattress hand planted by your head. Your face, blissed by your evening of pleasure, is a vision to him.

“So, captain, huh?” he smirked.

“Oh please,” you said, rolling your eyes and pushing Buggy off of you so you can sit up to pull your dress back up. “I'm going back to Lettie and Marie’s room.” You said, standing up off the bed.

He grabbed your wrist causing you to spin around.

“If those two acrobats think they’re getting you tonight, they have another thing coming.”

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚

taglist: @tokoyamisstuff @mommymilkerfanclub @chaoticqueen33 @tootoomanycats @cefni @ruledbyproblematique @crayolacat-lilybelle @melissahew @hallow1090 @soulkingbimbo @kurinhimenezu

taglist is open.

#stole the moon #buggy the clown #buggy x reader #buggy fanfic #buggy x you #buggy opla #buggy smut #buggy x y/n #captain buggy #buggy d clown

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insertsomthinawesome · 4 months

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I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!! Okay so honestly I have been very very inconsistent over the years with just disappearing for periods of time due to various things 😂 So it probably seemed pretty normal to most people.

But it felt different on my side, so I'm excited to be back in business. I took a month long hiatus! 31 days of not drawing digital art. Its not something I talk about on here? But I've been suffering from some serious long term Art Burnout for.... a really really long time. Long enough that I should've taken a break probably years ago. It finally got so bad that I could barely draw. I was scared to do it (cause it always looked "bad" in my eyes [i'll come back to that]) and doing it was exhausting and disheartening.

I talked it over with somebody and realized that the fear and anger and frustration I felt towards my own artwork was uh. Not Normal or Healthy. And I finally committed to taking a real break for once.

I still drew a little bit by hand? Traditional art has always felt like it has lower stakes for me (i don't often share it online, and sometimes I don't even share it with friends) so I did some of that when I felt like it. But Digital art was completely off the table.

I had put such an immense pressure on myself to make my digital art perfect, to make as much of it as quickly as possible to satisfy something. It wasn't fun anymore. I'm proud of what i've made over the years! But for a long time now the stuff I've been making was made while hating every second of making it. With some rare exceptions.

I hated my art! It was a combination of Perfectionism, taking in too many external expectations, and the burnout. If you hate doing something its kinda hard to love it even when you want too lol. It wasn't "Bad" in the sense that the quality was low and it was ugly! It was "Bad" in the sense that it was unhealthy for me to keep doing it at that point in time.

I'm glad to report though, that with my hiatus officially over as of Wednesday last week: I am once again. In Love. With doing art, and being an artist :)

I put off taking a break for years cause I was scared that taking a break would mean that I would never achieve all the things I wanted to do with art. I was scared it was a stupid and lazy thing to do that would mean I'd never achieve my dreams. And Also even though I kinda hated drawing, I also loved making art. Its a weird duality that I can't even really explain??? I hated it but I also loved it. I wanted it but I also wanted to run from it. It wasn't until I was more mature and had more clarity and insight (and unfortunately also until the problems got worse) that I was finally able to let go of those fears and just do it.

And I'm really really glad I did. It was everything I needed. And I hope to strike a better balance in the future with art. Taking more breaks when I need them, or just when other things have my attention like reading or Video games (Some star rail got played during this time xD)

From the outside things probably aren't going to be that different?? At this point I don't really have any sure plans to post anything I've been drawing since my Hiatus ended. I might or I might not xD I'm still a hobbyist artist taking things at her own pace, but I hope that it shows how much happier I am :)

Whumptober 2023 is being officially put to rest by this post btw! I was in major burnout when that event started, and I'm ready to just, move on from all the past expectations I'd shoved on my shoulders. If I feel like filling any of the prompts or going back to any of the ideas I'd come up for it I will! But I'm not going to worry about doing it unless the desire sets in. Thanks to everybody who's been so kind to me throughout my time on here as an artist! Ya'lls tags and screaming and kind words, the fanfic, the asks and the responses? Its been fantastic :) You guys have made me laugh, smile, and cry tears of joy. I hope from here that things only get better and sweeter! And if I have bad days again, that's okay too.

Here's to 2024 and whatever it may bring ya'll :D 🎉🎉✨✨🧡💜

#isa screams #long post #gif #flashing #i think? Lemme know if I'm incorrect on that one alksdjfLKSJDJDSG #I don't normally talk this much so its kinda strange?#its kinda nice to be more honest about this stuff though #I'm a bit more of a private person so its hard to find the balance between wanting to discuss things openly and honestly #but with the fact that I don't owe the entire world an explanation for everything I do #its a tricky thing #but today I felt like doing this and I think that's okay #if i regret it I just won't do it again alsdjLSDJLFJSGSDG #thanks if you read this! I appreciate it!#I'm a pretty smalltime artist relatively. So sometimes it feels as though it doesn't mater what i say or express.#But hm. I doubt its really that simple or bleak #And if I don't respect myself then well. Who will right?#And I want to learn how to be happy with how little or how much I get #part of the reason I've done so poorly mentally as an artist is chasing numbers and outside praise instead of asking the harder questions #am i happy with what i do? what I make? Who I am #I'm going to probably be working on those questions and problems for the rest of my life.#But thats okay. Thats not a bad thing :)

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obaewankenope · 6 months

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I need some help... Again

As some of ya'll know, I'm being assessed as a connected carer for a family member. That's fine. That's cool. But the legal situation is very... Messy. Which means I don't get financial support from the council like I should. At least, not for a while. Having a baby tho is very expensive and even more with the extra requirements the council services have heaped on top of me caring for a baby.

So, once again, I have to ask for help. Anything ya'll have to spare will be beyond appreciated. If you want art, you can commission me. If you want prints, I can do them. Just... I honestly need the help right now.

Please.

[paypal] [kofi]

#Help #Signal boost #Important #Uk #Disability #Fostering #Support #I just could really do with the help at the moment

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lheslie · 1 year

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Taehoon with a Non Korean S/O

He respects your culture and he needs sometime to adjust to the fact that you're not Korean. You would do things that are very weird to him.

"Ya'll do this?! That's weird man." He said as you continued to do your thing. "It's normal for us." you replied to him.

Wouldn't even ask what you're doing anymore he's letting you be.

If you're a fighter and you do martial arts from your country he would love to have a spar with you.

If you do Taekwondo and they teach it differently from your country he would definitely scold you telling you it's wrong. You tell him sometimes people improvise. And he would tell you. "That's why you're weak"

and Whenever you speak your country's language he'd learn them unconsciously and you were shocked that he even learned how to curse using your language.

Would even mock you using your language. He would also unconsciously adapt some of your culture and he realizes it.

"What have ya done! You infected me! How dare ya I'm a proud Korean!" would get angry that he's unconsciously learning things. And accepts it in the end.

If you cook, and you feed him with your country's specialties. He would ask if thats even food. But once he ate a piece he started to eat it all.

He started to want to know more about your culture to know you more but he would die rather than saying that. He would kick you, whenever you try and teach him weird things.

He became Bilingual which shocked the entire hobin company. He would love to diss hobin or literally everyone using your language. And the hobin company is also shocked he did things that was connected to your culture and they would tease him. He got flustered and he poured his anger out on Hobin and Jiksae again. 😀

Would even interact with his followers using your language or if his followers use that language he'd converse with them using it.

In a middle of a fight he'd probably would even curse in your language by then and whenever he gets back to you he flicks your forehead "Virus"

#how to fight #htf #viral hit #how to fight seong taehoon #how to fight taehoon #how to fight taehoon x reader #how to fight x reader #htf taehoon #viral hit taehoon #viral hit x reader

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damagedintellect · 4 months

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Nakahara Chuuya x Reader

💌 Would this be considered a social suicide? : Chapter 7 💌

Summary: You knew it was dangerous to take walks at night but hearing the water rushing under the bridge was calming to your nerves. You didn’t imagine you’d ever fall into the river and somehow wake up in your favorite anime. The isekai that I’m sure will come back to haunt me. It’s kept me up all night but I might as well get the brainrot out.

Notes: Reader is Isekai’d into BSD, Slow to start, Chuuya is endgame but there’s a fair bit of reader & Dazai moments too okay like a lot of Dazai moments, implied poly but not really

♡ I was in and out of the hospital for the last half of the 2023 but it feels good to finally write again! Updates will be slow but ya'll already knew that ♡

Tags: @celestair

💌 Word count: 2,401 💌 Available Chapters [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

The next day you had been in an extremely chipper mood despite most of your colleagues being burnt out. The agency members were slumped at their desks as Kunikida furiously scribbled away at the stack of papers that Dazai had secretly pushed towards the blonde. For you on the other hand it was hard not to have a skip in your step when Chuuya had walked you home last night after your date. The day had been a breath of fresh air not to mention romantic and sweet. As Atsushi was about to leave on a small errand, a delivery for flowers came to the office. Everyone eyed the elegant display wondering who they could possibly be for but Dazai just rolled his eyes with a huff. He rolled his eyes because he thought Chuuya was doing a victory lap since he already saw the pictures from the day before. It wasn't until the messenger stated they were for an Osamu Dazai, that he looked up in confusion. Ultimately it sent the office into a frenzy. Everyone was in an uproar asking questions that Dazai didn't exactly know the answer to until he read the card attached. He fondly smiled before diverting everyone’s interest elsewhere. He glanced in your direction as you winked to which he shook his head at you. Of course you were the one behind the flowers. He mouthed "You're ridiculous." From across the room as everyone continued to pester him. Mission accomplished.

You had been texting Chuuya whenever you got the chance to, you asked about his day, sent meme’s you thought were funny, you even sent him a picture of the flowers you sent Dazai. Within the hour another delivery arrived causing you to fall out of your chair laughing as you were handed an even bigger display of flowers. This time it made Dazai groan and pretend to barf. The rest of the office wasn't surprised in the slightest that you were given flowers. Half of them could probably guess who sent them anyhow. Atsushi was really the only one who was confused and asking questions.

Since no one was getting any work done with the distractions, and to deflect the lingering attention off of you, you suggested taking a break at everyone’s favorite Cafe. That seemed to do the trick immediately giving you the much needed space you desired. The flowers were beautiful and you thought the arrangement was very thoughtful. Dazai had made the joke that he's surprised that Chuuya didn't send roses which was most people's knee jerk decision when sending flowers for multiple reasons. One of which was to flex how much money they spent on them but also they are classically romantic and who doesn't like roses. Of course, Chuuya opted for red camellias. It made you laugh since that was the flower chosen to represent the redhead in multiple official art pieces. Although looking up the meaning made you blush. Google says, “They're known to symbolize deep desire, so if you're trying to win someone over, then sending a bouquet of red camellias will do the trick.”

It certainly was working, that's for sure. You only wished you could do the same to Chuuya but you couldn't imagine that the mafia would allow a random delivery for flowers to their headquarters. On top of that you didn’t actually know if Chuuya was still at his office or out and about.

Instead you tried to think of other ways to give gifts to the mafioso. The next day, with the help of Dazai, you broke into Chuuya’s apartment to give him flowers too. It's still weird that Dazai is willing to help you like this but you shrugged it off for the most part. It must mean he really did believe your lie about your alternate timeline. That and you were skipping work. You both headed to the cafe after operation “Fluster the slug” was complete since it was most likely where everyone else would be at this hour. Still it was a shame you wouldn't be able to see Chuuya's reaction.

As you and Dazai approached the cafe you noticed the rest of the gang standing just outside the doors. You didn’t have to look inside the cafe to know that it was, that, episode. The whole agency went ballistic. You play along passing off details about the organization responsible for the hit on the cafe. All you knew was they called themselves “The Park” but that was good enough for everyone else to jumpstart an investigation.

Kunikida was still working away by the time everyone was ready for the heist. It wasn’t like you could add anything, naturally being a noncombatant you stayed behind helping file all the papers that Kunikida had been polishing off left and right. They had been gone for roughly a half hour when you heard a firm knock at the door. You looked up from the stack of files laid out on your desk to see Chuuya at the entrance. Standing up in surprise you knock over a stack of papers in the process “Chuuya, What are you doing here?” You had been eager to see him again but this was unexpected.

He smiled at your clumsiness as he crossed the room to help you pick up the papers. “I was in the area so I thought I’d drop by.” As he handed you the last document he offered you his hand, gently helping you off the floor. Taking a glance around the office he noted that it must be a relatively slow day for you, perfect. “I was gonna ask if you’d like to have dinner with me later but maybe you’d prefer to grab lunch?”

You blinked a few times at him letting the words process a little bit. He was asking you out on a date? Realistically you never did grab lunch earlier and you had done more than enough work to warrant leaving early. Still it caught you off guard that Chuuya was actually invested in taking you out. Of course he said the feeling was mutual the other day but you're just not used to people wanting to court you.

“You can say no if now's a bad time. I just figured a real man should ask in person.”

You shook your head trying to get the words to leave your mouth. You could see his confidence diminish with how long of a pause you took in order to respond. “No no it's not that-now's a great time actually. I kinda skipped lunch with all the commotion earlier!”

Chuuya raised an eyebrow in concern “Something happen?” You both start casually making your way out of the office.

When the door clicked behind you Kunikida finally looked up from his work. “Wasn’t that the Port Mafia's gravity manipulator?”

—

You explained your very eventful start to the day to Chuuya as he nodded along in understanding. Ironically the mafia had been keeping tabs on “The Park’s” activity but they were such a minor threat Mori didn’t feel like taking them out. Essentially the Agency was doing them a favor by handling them. What a small world. You both were so enthralled with your conversation it didn’t occur to either of you that you didn't have a game plan for where to eat. To be fair you’d normally eat at the cafe but they were compromised. You didn’t even really know what Chuuya's favorite foods were either. The only thing listed on his likes that was food related was wine and it wasn’t exactly the right hour to be drinking just yet.

You both had been walking around in circles just talking and enjoying each other’s company, food was the last thing on your mind. However a thought did arise given your current circumstance. It made you smile devilishly at the opportunity that had presented itself. You pulled out your phone looking up the current eateries in the area to see if any had a take out menu. Chuuya gave you a quizzical look as you dragged him to some random restaurant. “Are you sure this is where you want to eat?”

“Actually about that,” You didn’t know how to pose the question. This was only the second date and you were already asking to go to his apartment. To be fair he had been over to yours without asking so maybe this way you could call it even. “I was thinking maybe we just get take out and watch a movie at your place.” Your request sounded meek and unsure. In fact Chuuya thought he misheard you all together.

What was so great about going to his apartment? Was it even clean enough for company? Chuuya wasn’t a messy person by any means; he's just busy and leaves things out on occasion. You watched his neutral expression waver as his face darkened. A man and a woman alone together. Oh, that was a possibility. Although he shouldn't assume that to be the reason. He berates himself for thinking like that.

It didn't take much convincing for Chuuya to agree. All you really had to say was you didn't want to be around crowds for a while. After that week with Q’s ability running rampant you were okay if you never left the house again. Plus you brought up that he’s seen your place and that it would only be fair to take you to his. He really has no idea what your true intentions were. You were excited to see his reaction.

As you made your way to his building you had a skip in your step, the anticipation was killing you. He gave you a look before he put his keys into the lock. It was weird seeing you marvel at him this way. He wasn’t used to people looking at him with such admiration. Your face lit up as he motioned for you to step inside. He thought your behavior was cute but he still didn't get why you were so enthralled with the idea of being over at his place.

He went to put the food down on the table and had to do a double take. “What the hell?!” Chuuya nearly dropped the food after seeing the flowers. He was about to search his place to make sure nothing else weird was done while he was out when he saw your face. Your smile beaming wide as you giggled at him. A light dusting of blush on your cheeks.

“So that's why you wanted to come here!” he accused.

Chuuya fiddled with the card for the flowers as he turned away from you. He didn't know what to say. No one has ever given him flowers before. No one other than Dazai also breaks into his apartment. Maybe he should change the locks again. Beside the point, he was baffled and touched.

You stepped in front of him leaning over the edge of the table to smell the flowers. “Guilty! I just wanted to see your face,” you turned to him, winking “It was worth it, oh and before you ask, yes I had Dazai’s help.”

He opened his mouth but you cut him off “I made sure he didn't mess with anything before we left and no I didn't go in your room. This is as far into your place as I got.”

Chuuya clicked his tongue, folding his arms across his chest. He was watching you reach across the table with a soft smile. You really were something else. He shook his head, grabbing a flower to put in your hair. “Well, I guess I should give you a tour then.”

You stare back at him feeling warm. You couldn’t contain your happiness as he ushered you around. It was fairly big for one person and pretty well kept for him not being around all the time. You sat down on the couch as he brought the food over. You were scrolling through movies on his streaming service when one caught the corner of your eye. “The boy and the puppy” You felt Chuuya tense up beside you as you clicked on it. Honestly watching a sad movie with your almost boyfriend seems like a win, win situation. If you cry, Chuuya gets to hold you. If he cries, you get to hold Chuuya. How sad could it really be?

Turns out, extremely sad! Why was it so sad? This was just as bad as “Marley and me” . It was so heartwarming but immensely bittersweet. You both had tears streaming down your faces but he was turned away slightly trying to save his dignity. God look at you, couple of cards you were, both of you completely wrecked by a sad movie. It made you ugly laugh at the situation you put yourself in. His head snapped in your direction furrowing his eyebrows at you. “How can you be laughing at a time like this?!”

“Why did you let me watch that, you knew how sad it was!” You were laughing through your tears as he threw his arms up “The hell! You knew, I knew it was sad and you still clicked on it!” Chuuya was banking on the fact that since he’s seen the film before, knowing would prevent the water works and he would be able to suavely comfort you, but he took one look at you tearing up and then he started tearing up and now you both were a mess.

“Well this backfired!” you wiped your tears before throwing yourself on top of the redhead burying your face in his chest as Chuuya fell backwards on the other side of the couch. You pouted “I thought I was strong enough! I was going to cute cry and lean on you for comfort. This is the worst!”

He laughed shifting to make this position more comfortable. Wrapping one arm around you to make sure you didn’t fall off the edge and the other to pet your head. “Can’t win 'em all I guess.”

“Pffft yeah no kidding.” You nuzzled into his touch listening to his heartbeat. You don’t know how long you stayed like that but it was nice. It made you smile until your face hurt. It reminded you of the night Chuuya came over to your place. You felt your eyes slip shut and you drifted to sleep.

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#the bsd isekai au no one asked for #chuuya nakahara x reader #nakahara chuuya x reader #chuuya x y/n #chuuya x reader #xreader #x reader #bsd imagines #bsd fanfic #bsd x reader

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small-sinclair · 1 year

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I Promise I'll Always Love Ya

A continuation for Take Me Instead. This IS NOT the final part. Please read that before reading this to catch up on what's going on :3

This au is inspired by @ahmnom; check out their art!

Welcomed readers: @lhhsol, @phantomcat394, @nameisrojda (thanks for giving me this idea), @akiranamio, @fluffy-little-demon, @sketchy-rosewitch, @zaras-really-dreamless

Told by Bo's POV

dad!Bo Sinclair x fem!y/n (y'all are married)

Tw: Reader's in the hospital, starting off with angsty right away, religion mentioned, past near death experiences, strong words, reader flat lines, Bo gets sedated

Enjoy! (sorry not sorry for this angst)

That night, Bo didn't sleep, and he swore never left her side. He was scared that he would lose y/n if he turned away just for water or to blink. As night fell over the hospital, some nurses were changing shifts so the night owls took over. Nurse Macy, even though she was supposed to be off, didn't live the delivery wing until Dr. Henrik told her to, and he tried to tell Bo the same thing.

"Ya'll have to kill me," Bo answered, his eyes tired and drain. He didn't eat anything all day, missing breakfast to get extra cuddle time with his wife and kids. He didn't know what went wrong? Did he hug her too tight to make her here in the hospital with their child on a breathing box? Was this his fault?

"Excuse me?"

Bo's blue eyes, drained but still dangerous, glared at the doctor. "I said ya'll have to kill me. If ya wan' me out, then ya'll hav' ta shoot me." he looked back at his wife and brushed her hair back. "Ain't leavin' my girls."

Dr. henrik let out a deep breath. "It's hospital rules--"

"Fuck the rules," Bo snapped. "An' fuck you, too, if ya thin' yer goin' to drag me outta 'er."

Nurse Macy placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder and pulled him back gently. She's dealt with a father like this before; her own son acted the same when his wife was in Mrs. Sinclair's shoes. She stepped forward and sat on the chair next to Bo.

He was kneeling by his wife the whole day, his grandmother's rosary behind her and his hand. The amount of prayers and pleads he sent up was enough to make his voice horsed and strained. He rain out of tears to shed for awhile, but when he heard her heart monitor drop dangerously low, he started crying again. He felt helpless and broken, and he hated this feeling. As long as he lives, he never wants to feel this way. But his prayers never stopped. He hasn't prayed this hard since Lester's truck flipped into the ditch during a Louisiana storm.

He was in the ICU for two days, flat-lining for the first night. Bo wanted to forget how his brother struggled to breath, to say away in his arms as the EMS came to the country road. It was all over some tourist that almost got away, but Vincent took care of them so fast before any flashing lights came. As he waited, he held his brother tightly as he could without hurting him even more, glass cutting into his legs and knees. Bo thought promising his little brother that if he lives he'll do better, be a better big brother for him, to promise to be the best and not be like his father...

"'M tired, Bo," he breathed, his eyes slightly parted. Rain dripped off Bo's curls and hit his face. "'M really tired."

"Stay awake," Bo encrouged as he looked down at his brother. He cradled him in his lap. "I-I promise I'll be betta--"

"'M sorry..." Lester was struggling now. The glass and blood and pain; it was all too much. "... I fail-failed ya."

"Ya didn't fail!"

"Bo?" Lester looked up at the rain filled skied as he breathed out in a sigh, "Do ya believe heaven'll le' me in?"

Lester died in his arms for the first time, and Bo nearly lost it. He doesn't admit to his fears or show it, but his worst fear came through: losing his family, his brothers.

Bo will never forgot how easy Lester's ribs broke as he did CPR in the flashing blue and red lights, the driver running towards Bo while the other got the AFIB from the back. They took over for Bo as police came to pull him away, Vincent taking Bo into his arms to hold him back. When the stretcher came out to put him in the back, Bo went with them, holding Lester's hand as he laid so close to death. Him dying again in the truck then coming back again showed that he was fighting, but Bo knew he was tired... so tied...

Now, Bo feels like he's living that same stormy night again, but it's with his wife and new born daughter. He hated how he couldn't save them from this pain, and he hated how he couldn't take that doctor out back and beat the shit out of him.

"Mr. Sinclair?" Nurse Macy's voice wasn't above a whisper, but it was enough for him to look over his shoulder at her. "How about we take a break?"

"Can't," he breathed, eyes tired. "Won't leave 'em."

"I didn't say anything ;bout leavin, sugar," she said, offering a sad smile. "My husband is waiting for me at the front desk, and I asked if you could come with us to dinner at the Calbur's." She looked back at his wife then at his daughter behind them. "My friends, Jackie and Coby, will be the ones to take over."

"Don't wan' men 'round 'em."

"Jackie's not a man," she reassured. "She's a mother of five. Coby is the only male, but he's, well," she made a face, "fruity... if you know what I mean."

Bo relaxed a little. He felt better if... no, wait. No.

He shakes his head. "Can't leave 'er." He looked back at his wife and squeezed her hand. "Can't live without her."

"Then let her rest," Nurse Macy insisted. "What would she want you to do?"

He clinched his teeth too hard but he left out a shaky breath. "She-she would wan' me ta make sure our kids were safe an' feed."

"And what about yourself?" She hummed.

"Y/n would wan' me to eat." He didn't know why he sounded defeated when he looked back at the old nurse then back at y/n. "She'll be mad."

"That's right," Macy agreed, but she didn't sound mean. She was speaking to him as if he was her own son, and it made him feel comfortable and safe. His mama never talked to him like this. "So, how about you come with me, we get food, and drop you off? Sound like a plan?" He didn't realize that she wasn't from the south... huh. "Afterwards, I'll be back in the morning to take over again."

Bo looked back at his daughter, who was sleeping soundly, then back at his wife. She looked so peaceful and still, her chest rising and falling ever so gently under the covers. Bo swallowed dryly and stood up. His knees were numb and sore from kneeling all day, but he didn't seem to care at this point. If he stood the whole day by her side, his knees would still feel the same. He felt weak, powerless, and he hated it. he brushed her heair back and bent down, kissing her forehead sweetly.

"Be back as soon as I c'n," he whispered by her ear. "Won't be long... I promise, darlin'." He kisses close to her ear to seal it.

Bo closed his eyes before leaving the room, whispering, "Lord, don't take 'em while I'm gone. Don't do it."

*******************

Just like Macy promised, Bo was right back in the hospital, but he had something else in his pocket: a pack of Reds and a green lighter. He needed a hit, something to take the stress away. he stood outside the hospital as he smoked his first cigarette in 15 months, feeling guilty that he broke his promise to y/n of smoking. He promised that once this was all over, he'll go back to quitting again. He needed good-enough lungs if he wanted to play catch with his sons and run after them. If the twins were anything like him and Vincent, they'll be running all over the place. Jasmine, his oldest, didn't run as much, but she's still curious of the outside.

He put the cigarette out in the smoking bin and went inside towards her room. Bo could feel a thunderstorm coming, and he wanted his daughter to feel safe in the room, to know that he wasn't going to let the monsters or demons get her. He'll kill everything first before that happens. But Bo wanted y/n the most. He just wanted to feel his wife in his arms again, to hear her laugh at him for being like this and to be mad that he smoked a cigarette. He wanted to hear her scold him for breaking his promise.

But he was greeted by a familiar face sitting next to her bed, holding his hand, and his body tensed. Why was Vincent here? Why was he hear with her and not with his daughter?

"Hell ya doin'?" Bo asked, his eyes looking between him and her hand. "Le' go an' head home."

Vincent shook his head, and that's when Bo noticed that he wasn't wearing his mask, his face. His free hand lifted, signing, 'You should not be alone.'

"Wha' 'bout my kid?" He took a step closer, ready to hit his brother if he answered wrong.

'Lester is at the house in Ambrose.' Vincent's brow fell as he looked down at y/n. His thumb circled over her knuckles. Vincent didn't say it but he's scared. Terrified. What will happen if he ever lost her? 'Has she waken up?'

As much as Bo didn't want to have this talk, he found himself sitting on the bed, careful not to crush her legs. Bo rested his hand over her knee, giving it a slight squeeze. "Hasn't moved or nothin'." Then he looked over at his daughter. "She's made plenty of noise," the he chuckles, saying, "Reckon she'll be a screamer."

'Oh, no,' Vincent's shoulders fell and playfully signed, 'Not another screamer.' He gave a smile when he heard the baby fuss. 'But she is cute.'

"Cutest thin' ever seen," Bo added. A thought crossed his mind, and he liked the idea. He stood up and went to the sink. He washed his hands good and through, dried, and went to his daughter's crib. She was awake, her little arms wiggling in the cotton candy pink like a cat's tail, when he picked her up. He's been so worried that he hasn't held his daughter yet! He felt like the biggest jerk. "Hey there, little sunshine."

Her eyes melted his heart. Her right eye was a shiny ocean blue, like his, and it was so bright and filled with sparkles. Her left eyes was the brightest pine tree green he's ever seen, and it chest caved in as he looked down at her. "Oh, sweet pea," he breathed as he held her over her bed, careful not to move the wires or her oxygen. "You are so beautiful."

His eyes looked up to see his wife and his soul crushed. "Wish your mama would wake," Bo hummed. "Miss her like heck." He's not going to cuss while he holds his daughter. "But 'm happy I hav' ya, sweet pea." He takes a deep breath as his eyes meet Vincent, who was trying to get a glance of the child. Bo smirked and looked back down at his daughter. "Would ya like to meet yer uncle, Vincent?"

As soon as he mentioned Vincent's name, his brother was standing on the other side of the crib, ready to look down at the baby. If she's like her siblings, she would cry at the sight of his face. All three of them cried when they first aw Vincent, but her bright eyes looked upon him without fear. Instead, her little hands reached up and grasped his hair. She cooed happily, earning a smile from both twins. How could she looked at him without fear?

Vincent didn't tough her; Bo has to tell him that it's okay. "Look at that," Bo hummed, joy filling his eyes. "Seems like she likes ya, Vinny." Vincent nodded in agreement. "Must think yer handsome or somethin'."

"... I think he's handsome."

Their eyes shot up at the new voice, and Bo could cry. He laid his daughter down gently and hurried towards y/n's side. Her eyes were glazed and tired, and Bo knew she was trying to say awake long enough.

"Y/n!" Bo was overfilled with joy as he sat on the bed close to her, leaning down to kiss all over her face and cheeks. "Darlin, yer okay!" He held her face and rested his head against her forehead. "You're okay."

A weak hand reached up and cupped his cheek, and Bo held it there. He leaned into her touch and left hurried kisses along her palm and wrist, kissing up her arm and down again.

Y/n chuckled. "Breathe for me, baby," she whispered. "Deep breaths."

"Shh, shh, honeycomb," he whispered against her skin. "Don't talk. Please--"

"'M tired, Bo," she whispers. From Behind, Vincent eye looked up at the heart monitor. He looked at Bo then back at the machine. He started towards the door to find a nurse. "I'm really tired."

"I know, doll," whispers Bo, brushing her hair back. "I know 'at." He didn't realize that he was shaking. "But I need ya to stay awake."

Her head turns to the crib, a soft smile forming. She wanted to stay long enough to hold her child, but the pain was getting too much all at once. "Take care of them?"

"Don't say that--"

"I love you, Beauregard Sinclair," she breathed out, two nurses coming in the room as Vincent's hands wildly signed for help. "I love you..."

When a relaxed sigh escaped her lips, thunder broke and rain pattered against the wind. Glass might as well exploded on his face when he heard her heart monitor ringing loudly.

"No," he whispers as he felt Vincent pull him away from the bed. "No. No, no, no, no!" He's stronger than Vincent, and Vincent knows this as his grip became deathly hard annd fast as he dragged his brother out of the room. "No! Y/n, don't go! Don't go!" He didn't mean to scream her name as Vincent dragged him away, far enough for two doctors to rush in. "Don't go!" He pushed on his brother's arms. "Let me go! Let me go, Vincent!"

"No," Vincent answered, his voice raspy. "Can't do that."

"She-she needs me!" He shouted, trying like hell to be free. He wanted to run back in there and start her heart himself. He wanted to rip out his own just for hers to beat again. "I-I need her! I need her, God!" Soon, two night shift guards came to Vincent's aid to hold him back. "Let me go, now! Vincent, let me go!" He looked as the scene unfolded, his heart breaking as they wheeled out her of the room and hurried towards a surgery room. Bo wanted to kill. He wanted to taste everyone's blood on his hands, rip out their hearts and throw them away. He wanted blood. He wanted to kill God. he wanted y/n.

He felt like he was losing Lester all over again.

Bo was lowered to the ground as something pricked his neck, warm liquid shooting throughout his body. Sleepiness took over as Vincent hushed him in his arms. He held on to his brother tightly, crying in Bo's hair. Both felt their worlds falling apart over y/n, and who could blame them? She was the world to them and more. She made Ambrose better and showed them what it's like to love and to be loved.

"Don't take her, God," Bo breathed, looking up at the white ceiling. "Don't take y/n! She's mine. She ain't yours! Y/n's mine." He cried as he felt his eyes starting to close, and he begged, "Fuckin' take me! Take me instead! Take me... bastard, take me..."

Thunder rumbled over the hospital as it began to pour. Louisiana never sounded so silent before.

#bo sinclair x y/n #dad bo sinclair #bo sinclair #bo sinclair x reader #bo sinclair x female reader #vincent sinclair x reader #vincent sinclair x y/n #vincent sinclair #vincent and bo #lester sinclair #house of wax fanfic #house of wax 2005 #house of wax #house of wax fanfiction #slasher fanfiction #slashers x reader #slasher

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romanarose · 8 months

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Fic Recs

I'll admit I've been slacking. A lot. It was a high anxiety summer as you know, and I've finally been able to pretty much cut ties with an abusive friend who was causing a LOT of those anxiety and panic attacks. BUT I want to rec some of my fav writers and fav stories.

To keep the presure low on myself I am only linking ONE story per writer, whatever story that speaks to me. I do hope if you like the story you'll check out more from them!

Please remember to reblog their stories if you read them, and if you feel inclinded, leave a kind comment! Big comments are fantastic but even a short "Great story!" Means the world!

Dead Dove Do Not Eat and all dark fics will be in red. Might make a whole other dddne tag list on my dark blog on of these days lmfao

Moon Knight

Fractured Moon by @melodygatesauthor : DDDNE Yandere Moon boys x reader, non con, extreme violence but such good interpretations of the boys

Friendly Favors by @runa-falls best friend steven, friends with benefits??? friends to lovers??? yes plzzz

Rydal Keener

Oxford Comma by @whatthefishh : Collage AU, Rydall is cunty, serves cunt, and eats cunt. What can I say.

TLOU (Most of what I'm reading rn if im being honest)

Linger On by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin : Pre-outbreak!Joel, angst, yummy smut, ft. my boyfriend, Tommy (Angela said I can be Tommy's gf)

Caught by @toxicanonymity : Inspired Keep Cry'n, Joel catches you when you try to run, masterbates onto your face. part 2 has TOMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Maintainence Man series by @gracieispunk : Joel is a, well, Maintenace man in our building! He is married but that doesn't stop him from fucking you

Hungry Hearts @atinylittlepain : If ya'll know me, you know I love Bruce Springsteen. I have 2 fics named after springsteen songs, one joel one javi/santi/reader. I've fallen behind on the series but loved it enough to make fan art! terrible fan art but still! Pre-outbreak, takes place in two timelines- college age and then the 2000'. Joel has Sarah, reader is ellies mom which I think is fun.

Exit Wounds by @strang3lov3 : No fic masterlist so I tagged the main masterlist. Now listen. I love Tommy Y'all know I love tommy... but cheating on tommy? Im so sorry baby. But ur also an asshole lol. Had it coming.

Creep by @theywhowriteandknowthings : I- ugh just read it. darkish but nothing insane like the wrong way lmfao. pretty mild comparatively but use discression but THAT TWISTTTTTTTT

Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line by @millerscoffee Yellow istead of red bc its not like. dark but Joel's pretty mean

Not A Survialist Girl by @tightjeansjavi again yellow bc joel's a dick lol but THE DIRTY TALK?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Miguel O'Hara

Halo by @missdictatorme : Miguel O'Hara goes full Nathan Bateman and fucks his ai. Whore.

Only You Only Me by @astroboots : so im behind on this one too. What about it! Im terrible I know but like Hungry Hearts above I may be a slow reader but I didn't forget and also did stupid fan art of this great fic too. lol. Anyway plz read this, I cant give a great summary bc im only a few chapters in but if youre in the oscar fandon you know cici writes only bangers

No One But Me by @koshkamartell : You try to break things off with Joel and begin spending time with the hot librrian in Jackson. Joel does not like thi

Triple Frontier

Under Neon Lights by @campingwiththecharmings : sexy drunk sex with my baby boi, santi <3

Through the Scope by @ssuperficialspacecadett : Reader works for Benny and falls for frankie. Great relationships with all the boys, reader has sexual trauma so you knoooooooow i eat these fics up!!!! lovely to see all them be appriciated with special focus on FRANKIE my precious lol guy

Shared Breathes by @frenchiereading : DAD FRANKIE x teacher reader. Triple frontier may have forgotten Frankie has a baby (he deserved the money for her) BUT WE DID NOT!!!!!

The Story of Us by @pimosworld : You served in the military with the boys but they made a deal not to sleep with you. Years later after helping you escape abuse, one by one they begin to waver aka you fuck them all. FishBen as a bonus!!

Goddamn have I really only been reading TLOU XD lmfao makes sense bc thats mostly what Im writing. That and the Javier pena x reader x santi and then the will fic but im soooooooooo much of a TLOU whore rn its insane.

Im sure ill remeber some more amazing TF fics soon but for now here we are!

Gonna plug real quick my latest one shot tho bc it's a holiday and I can self promo if I want! Shana Tova, moon boys x non jewish!reader where the moon boys share a part of their jewish identity with you!

THANK YOU TO ALL WRITERS FOR YOUR HARD WORK, I APPRICIATE YOU!

If you ever seen my like and not reblog know its just bc I forgot and im sorry. If you ever tagged me in a tag game and i never responded its bc I forgot and again IM SORRY

If I didnt tag anyone and you think i didt think your fic was worthy THATS NOT IT im simply overwhelmed with how much ive read and how this summer was and i just havnt organized it all. Im sorry!!

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dragonwritersblog · 7 months

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Five Times Jax and Pomni Share Dreams of Their Past Lives (And One Time Where They Remember)

Read on AO3

1/2/3/4/5/6

Here we are, back with another chapter! Thank you so much for the support with this, it really means a lot to me. Especially those in the funnybunny discord server I joined, ya'll have been so welcoming and accepting when I joined so thank you so much.

Also, check out these art that people have made for my fic, I still can't believe people are drawing art of it thank you so much!

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Thank you all again and I hope you enjoy chapter 3!!!

3. Paper Rings

Jax stood with his arms crossed, and a frown printed on his face. Caine had called everyone for the last adventure of the day and Jax already wanted to be finished with it. Ever since his revelation earlier about how he felt about Pomni, his mind had turned into a storming whirlpool. He tried to think of anything else, pranks, centipedes, the existential dread that he was stuck here forever – it might be morbid but it was something at least -, kicking leftover gloinks, breaking Gangle’s comedy mask, Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni…

“Thank you all for coming!” Caine’s abnormally loud voice from him from his daze, thankfully. “I understand that you’ve all been working hard all day with the adventures I’ve given you, but fear not, I have one more and you can all retire for the night!”

“Do we really have to?” Zooble muttered, “Can’t this wait till tomorrow? I’ve got better things to do.”

“I agree,” Gangle whispered, “I wanted to try and fix my comedy mask…again.”

“Don’t you worry Zooble and Gangle, you darling multi-shaped freaks!” Caine bellowed, “This adventure is only for two, so you don’t need to worry about joining anything. I just wanted to gather all of you to see them off before the most exhilarating voyage of a lifetime!”

“Well, whoever it is, I’m glad they’ve got this opportunity to do so,” Ragatha smiled, “It’ll be nice to hear about it when they finish it.”

“Even if it includes insects!” Kinger interjected, “That’s very important.”

“I mean, its just one more adventure,” Pomni shrugged, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Caine gasped dramatically, finally, their new little jester was starting to get the hang of it here. “That’s great to hear Pomni, for you and Jax are going to be paired up for this glorious crusade!”

Said jester and rabbit’s faces blanched, they were still barely processing their sudden dreams two nights in a row and still weren’t able to get today’s earlier events out of their heads! Not only that, the two were still trying to process their sudden budding feelings with one another, now Caine wanted them to pair up?! Could they not have five minutes of temporary sanity before being shoved into another bizarre situation?!

“Woah, woah, hold up there, dentures!” Jax stepped forward.

“I really don’t think-” Pomni was about to continue before Caine interrupted.

“Now, now you two!” Caine waved his finger, “No need to be so shy! By the end of this adventure, you two will be closer than ever! Just think of it as team building, especially for you Jax, I don’t think I’ve seen you be close with anyone other than-”

“Don’t,” Jax bit out, making the AI go silent. A small whimper was heard, everyone turned to look at Kinger, the chest piece was clutching his cloak tighter to himself, trying to look as small as possible.

“I…I believe we should continue on with the details of your adventure!” Caine spluttered, wanting to change the subject as quickly as he could, “After all, there’s no reason to think of the past! Since there’s no ‘past’ for any of you to go back to.”

Pomni’s eyes darted from Caine to Kinger and Jax, curiosity began to bite at her. What happened to make everyone react like that? While she was still learning about the past performers here, she still didn’t know everything. Was there someone that Jax genuinely liked here? Did they abstract like Kaufmo as well? She remembered her first day here, the first time seeing an abstraction. If she didn’t arrive would Kaufmo still be okay? He probably had a family before this realm as well, and now any chance of seeing them again was taken from him.

“Now about your adventure! Both Jax and Pomni have to venture through the winding maze! It will be grovelling, it will be exhausting, it will leave you both wondering when this madness will end! But hey, you will end up the best of buddies the time it’s over, you might even wish you’d have stayed!”

Pomni blinked her brainstorm away, she nearly forgot about the adventure!

“Good luck, and we’ll see you both in the morning!” Before Pomni could ask him what he meant, Caine snapped his fingers and the rest of the tent disappeared before her eyes.

The ground felt different underneath her feet, looking down she realized that she was standing on some sort of pixelated grass. She lifted her head to take in the rest of her surroundings, two tall hedges standing on each side of her.

“Well, this is fantastic,” a sarcastic voice drawled. Oh, right, she was stuck with Jax until this was over, “Thank you so much Caine, this is exactly what I wanted.”

“It’s fine, this is fine!” she didn’t know if she was saying this to both of them or just to herself, “It’s just a maze with long winding paths and tall bushes that you can’t see out of and hey what was that Caine said about this madness not ending!?” She was spiralling, she knew that, but in her defence…it was Pomni. “Oh god! How long are we gonna be in here until we find an exit?! What if we don’t find an exit?!”

“Easy, Pom-Pom,” Jax rolled his eyes, “Caine would lose his entertainment if he kept us in here, now come on, I wanna get out of here as soon as possible.” He started walking a few steps, only to pause when he realised that Pomni wasn’t beside him. He let out a groan when he saw that she was still stuck in the same spot, her red and blue eyes replaced with dark swirls that only appeared when she was too caught up in her mind. He went back over and tapped the back of his hand against her cheek, causing her to gasp and jump. “Come on, the last thing we need is you delaying us because you’re too busy panicking.”

Pomni scoffed, that was unnecessary, “It’s not like I can control my panic attacks, unlike you, you actually choose to be a jerk.”

Jax froze, a smirk curling on his lips. Now this was an interesting development, “Well, well. Looks like the new cat on the block finally found her claws.”

Pomni rolled her eyes, she forgot that Jax could be incredibly annoying, “Let’s just try and find an exit.”

“Whatever you say Pom-pom,” Jax’s smirk fell, returning to his prior grimace as the two continued down the maze.

Their suspicions were corrected when guessing that this maze would last more than a while, each corner they turned was a dead end, each path seemed to lead them back to where they started and when they looked back it seemed like the area where they just were had been blocked off. They didn’t know how long they had been walking, minutes, hours? All they knew was that their feet were aching and that they desperately wanted to leave. Jax was starting to lose his patience. If he were stuck here with anyone else he would have tried to run as far away from them as he could. But for some reason, he had some sort of soft spot for Pomni and he couldn’t stand it. It made things much more frustratingly difficult for him, such as not bearing to leave her behind.

It wasn’t until she tripped for the umpteenth time did he start to lose his patience, he picked her up by the back of her collar, holding her at eye level. He had to bite back a laugh, she really did look like a cat this way, a miserable wet one at that. “I don’t think Zooble has fallen over as much as you have,” he said, “At least he has a reason to be so clumsy.”

“Oh really? And what’s your reason for being such an @SShole?” she challenged him, crossing her arms over her chest, “Or were you just born that way?”

Jax let out a slow breath, dropping Pomni into her feet again, watching her stumble as she regained her balance, “You’re right, I don’t have a reason, as long as I’m watching funny things happen to others I don’t really care.”

“Well that’s definitely a sad way to live,” Pomni mumbled, taking a few steps ahead of him.

“Its better than looking for an exit that isn’t there,” Jax retorted, “I mean, its pretty sad when you think about it."

“At least I didn’t leave you with an abstraction,” Pomni quipped, “Thanks a lot for that! It was so much fun for my first day here. Not!”

“Oh you’re so welcome,” Jax gave her a shit-eating grin, “Always great for the newbie to be traumatized on her first day, it gives ya a great taste of what else is coming.”

Pomni glared at him, oh he was having too much fun with her, “You know Ragatha got really hurt because of you? You could’ve tried to help get Caine but you just ran off to who knows where. Then when I tried to help her my hand started glitching, we could have both died!”

“But you didn’t,” he replied, placing a hand on his hip, “This isn’t my first rodeo with something like this, you would’ve been fine.”

“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t freaked out by it!” Pomni grit her teeth, “Like you said, I’m new, how was I supposed to know that it was gonna be fine?!”

“Look just lay off it already?!” Jax fumed.

“Right, cause nearly getting devoured by a glitchy monstrosity is so easy to forget about,” Pomni walked past him. “God you’re such a pain.”

Jax grumbled under his breath, “What do you want, an apology? That’s not something I do sweetie.”

Pomni growled, whipping back round to face him, “Okay, what is with you?! You say you don’t have a reason to care, yet you defended me earlier today when Caine was yelling at me! What the h%ll was that about?!”

Jax inhaled deeply, now she was starting to get on his nerves, but he seemed to be doing the same to her so at least he had some sort of equal footing, “Like I said, I didn’t want Bubble to destroy the carnival, there’s no deeper meaning.”

“And I don’t believe you,” Pomni frowned, “Otherwise you wouldn’t react that way earlier when Caine was talking about you being close with someone.”

Jax flinched, he spoke in a low tone, “That’s deep water you’re treading there, sweetie. I’d recommend for you to stop while you’re ahead.” He shoved past her, ignoring her scoff.

“At least I’m trying to leave!” she stated, “If I can find a way to do that then I can help the others get out of here too! What have you done other than be a d*)k to everyone here?!”

“You really wanna know Pomni?!” he yelled, turning back and stomping over to her, “I have tried to get out! I’ve tried to collect every single key here and yet none of them has opened an exit! Do you know how it feels, to watch everyone else here slowly give up on finding a way out?! You haven’t been here as long as I have! You haven’t seen what I’ve seen! And it hurts to have everyone tell you that it’s pointless in trying to leave, trying to find a way back to a life you don’t remember! So yes, I’m awful and I shouldn’t act this way! I get it! You don’t think I hate it too?! But for some reason when I’m with you I just-!”

He froze, catching himself before he fell off the edge. Pomni’s eyes were wide and cautious, great, he was scaring her off. This should be a good thing, he wouldn’t have to deal with these stupid butterflies anymore, so why did he feel so upset about it? But instead of her yelling at him to leave her alone, all she said was, “I’m sorry that you went through that, but don’t ever speak to me like that again.” A tear fell from her eye, “And maybe it is pointless for me to find an exit like how you tried to as well, but I wanna go back to a world and see what it can offer me rather than live in a place surrounded by fear and void. Even if the life I had before was bad, at least I’ll know that I’m able to change it into something else…I feel sorry for you Jax, I really do.”

With that, she finally walked away, slowly enough for him to catch up but enough for her to leave some distance between them. He shouldn’t care, he doesn’t care, he won’t care. But, just looking at her, seeing the disappointment in her eyes. There was just no denying the raw heartache he felt after hearing those words from her. He really did fall for her, didn’t he? And he probably messed this up too, just like…no, he doesn’t need to think about that event, not anymore.

The next hour of walking was nothing but awkward filled silence. The whole time, the two just wanted to say something, anything to the other, but the words just couldn’t come to mind, and they were just getting too exhausted to keep going. Though there was no indication of night and day here, the way that their eyes kept drooping and the struggle to keep going was starting to overcome their senses.

“We-um,” Pomni stuttered, Jax’s heart fluttered a bit, was he happy at the fact that she finally said something? “We should probably try and get some sleep. It isn’t a good idea to keep going like this.”

“Yeah, we…we should,” Jax nodded, “It’ll stop you from constantly tripping over your feet, eh?” He meant for it to be a joke, but she didn’t react other than a simple hum, he could understand why though.

They walked over to one of the hedges, sitting and leaning against the back of it. It wasn’t the best bed but there wasn’t anything else that they could do. Pomni shuffled away from him, to give Jax some room. “Well, night,” she said softly.

“It’s not able to be night here,” Jax spoke, “But I get what you mean.”

Like that, they turned away from each other, shutting their eyes. Neither of them aware that they were wondering what their dream would be about tonight.

The coffee table in Amber’s living room was scattered with treats. From the remains of gingerbread men and houses to chocolate chip and sugar cookies, even some sweet mince pies, two mugs of hot chocolate and a can of whipped cream on the side. It definitely wasn’t a healthy breakfast, but this sugary calamity was something special Penny liked to share with her mother since she started homeschooling. When things started to turn around for her, Amber made sure that every single aspect of her life was, while not perfect, something for Penny to look forward to. And thus, dessert for breakfast on Christmas morning was born.

Amber and Penny were lazing on the couch, the TV in front of them playing ‘The Grinch’ while the two stuffed themselves to their hearts content. Amber had squirted some whipped cream into her mouth before automatically doing the same with Penny, not even taking her eyes off the TV to know that her daughter had opened her mouth for some. After placing the can back onto the table, she and Penny leaned back into the cushions, with Amber wrapping her arms around her youngest daughter and holding her close. “I feel like at some point we’re going to become the couch if we keep doing this each year,” Penny giggled.

“Honey, we already have,” Amber smiled, pressing a kiss to Penny’s hair, “We are couch people and always will be couch people. I still can’t believe you used to be scared of this movie when you were a kid.”

“That was until I discovered the magic that was Jim Carrey’s comedic line delivery,” Penny replied, “The man’s a legend.”

“He really is, and you will be too my little costuming star!” Amber nuzzled her daughter’s nose with her nose, laughing at Penny’s groans.

“Mom!” Penny buried her head into Amber’s shoulder, “Stop!” She didn’t mean it and Amber knew that.

“I can’t help it if my daughter is amazingly talented,” Amber grinned, loosening up a bit as she peered down to look at Penny’s face. “You know, you seem a little different after that date with Jack at the Christmas fair.”

“I-what-mom!” Penny spluttered, her face as red as a tomato, “It was not a date!”

“Mmhmm,” Amber was not convinced in the slightest, “Baby, I’m old enough and wise enough to realise what a date looks like.”

“Mom…you, wise?” Penny stated.

“Ah, ah, I’m not finished,” Amber waved a finger in front of her face, “Trust me when I say this, I’ve been watching your sister fall in love with Winter and I’ve seen how they act around each other. You know when they first met it was over carrot cake?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard this story before,” Penny smiled, “There were having lunch at work and Winter got carrot cake because it was her favourite while Riley hated it.”

“And the two debated the whole day about cake flavours that they ended up becoming friends,” Amber continued, “And every time they saw each other Riley always brought Winter carrot cake.”

“What does this have to do with Jack?” Penny asked.

“I’ve seen the way Riley looks at Winter,” Amber told her, “She looks at her as though if she was the only thing that matters in the world. She could be surrounded by all the treasures in the world but she would still choose Winter. I saw how that boy looked at you before he left, in a room full of riches he would choose you.”

Penny blushed, thinking back to Jack kissing her cheek. The way he looked at her back then, it filled her stomach with butterflies and her heart thump hard. She never felt this way about anyone before, but the way he would smile at her, send her winks and always make her feel safe, it was hard not to fall for him. The only question was, did he feel the same way back? Sure he kissed her back but that was only on the forehead, what if it was a friendly kiss? What if she makes him feel awkward once she tells him how she feels? What if he wants nothing to do with her anymore?

“Penny, hey, it’s okay,” Amber pushed her daughter’s hair away from her eyes, taking her cheeks into her hands, “I can hear the cogs in your brain turning, but trust me when I say this, your dad has never looked at me the way Jack looks at you.”

Penny bit her lip, she knew that though her mother loved David in the past, he had hurt and betrayed her in many ways too. It was why they had these sugary breakfasts for Christmas, little things like that as a way for Amber to show how sorry she was for what David did to them. If there was a way Penny could show her that she wasn’t at fault, that she forgave her for everything that happened, that it was David who should be at fault for always gaslighting and manipulating Amber into thinking he was still the same man she married, but he was nothing of the sort.

“Mom,” Penny snuggled further into her mother, providing her with the comfort she needed.

“It’s okay baby, I’ve made my peace with it,” Amber held her tighter, “My only regret is that I didn’t realise he was this way before we were married. He gave me false hope and promises, love-bombed me until I could only see the world in rose tinted glasses and by the time I could finally get them off, he got you into that car crash. Jack isn’t like that. I’ve met him a few times while Winter and Riley were dating, and while he didn’t fully introduce himself, Winter’s mom always spoke about him. What I know of him is that while he’s scared and has been hurt many times before, unlike David, he wants to get better not just for his family, but for himself too. That’s more than David has ever done for me or for us.”

“Hey,” Penny turned her head to look up at her mother, “David fucked us all up. And yes, I’m still really scared with giving others a chance, but you’re one of the reasons why I’m able to get help. You were there for me every single step of my recovery and made sure that I was safe and happy. Parenting is a two-person job and not only did you have to do most of it on your own, but you also had two kids under your belt and raised us no matter what was thrown at you. Even if you didn’t leave David before the crash, you helped shield Riley and I as much as you could so that we had a good childhood. Don’t let your shitty ex-husband make you blame yourself for being a great mom.”

“Oh, babygirl, how did I get so lucky with you and your sister,” Amber pressed kisses over Penny’s face, her daughter’s nose scrunching up as she giggled. Her mother pulled away, smiling at her again.

“And you really think that…that Jack sees me like how you said?” Penny mumbled.

Amber gave her a look, her brow was raised and mouth was agape, “Honey, the guy wanted to wait for the perfect moment to ask for your number and kissed your forehead under the moonlight, the man is wrapped around your finger and you don’t even know it.” Penny blushed, ducking slightly under the blanket she was in. “Pen, I’d say go for it, only if you want to. You seem so much more yourself around him. But if he breaks your heart, I’m sending Riley after him.”

Penny burst out laughing at that, “Riley would send him to an early grave!”

“I know,” Amber stated matter-of-factly, “And I won’t hesitate to let her do it.”

“Mom no!” Penny snorted, “And you wonder where Riley gets these tendencies from.”

“Good,” Amber grinned, “That means I taught her well.”

Amber couldn’t help but join in on the laughter, just hearing her daughter laugh was enough to help her forget that she had even mentioned or thought about David. Penny was just that important to her. If anything happened to her…no, this was a good moment, there was so reason to think about the inevitable.

Penny’s phone dinged from the coffee table, sobering up from her laugh session, she leaned over to see what notification she got. What she saw made her gasp and nearly drop her phone.

“Winter proposed to Riley!” She squealed to Amber, the older woman immediately leaning over to check the recent news, “And she said yes!”

“Oh my god!” Amber screamed with joy, shaking Penny by the shoulders, “My daughter is getting married, I’m so happy!”

“Mom I know you’re excited too but I’m gonna be sick!” Penny warbled, starting to get dizzy.

“I’m sorry baby but it’s just, aaaahhhhh!” Amber got up from the couch, “I’m just so happy for her! Wait here, I’m gonna get my phone and message your sister!”

Penny giggled at her mother’s antics as she ran out the room, turning away to look at the image on her phone again. Riley and Winter’s faces weren’t in the picture, but what she did see was the Winter was behind the camera, holding Riley’s hand as she showed off her new engagement ring. This was without a doubt going to be an interesting Christmas dinner.

Jack straightened up his tie again, before unfolding it and retying it again as he stared at himself in the mirror. This was the first time he and Penny were having their families together for dinner, and after the kiss from the Christmas fair, he wanted to follow up on that. Penny had taken over his mind and senses to the point that he had to see her in person again.

Winter and her 8-year-old sister Nina stood at the corner watching him, with Nina’s twin Alex still upstairs getting ready. “What’s the retying count at now Nina?” Winter asked.

“49, wait, it just got up to 50,” Nina told her.

Winter whistled cooly, “Jeez, that’s a new record.”

“I can hear you both you know!” Jack called to them, “You guys wanna keep standing there or do I need to give Nina’s new toys to the bogeyman.”

“No!” Nina cried, running away back up to her room to check if her new Christmas presents were still intact.

“You don’t need to keep worrying,” Winter walked up to him, shoving his hands away and took his tie into her own, “You were blushing like a tomato after kissing that girl and she was just the same. Just play your cards right, take it slow and things will work out.” She wrapped the tie into a knot.

“That’s easy for the recently engaged lesbian to say,” Jack pointed out, “Which by the way, congratulations again.”

“Thank you,” Winter grinned.

“I just…I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” Jack sighed, “I never thought I deserved someone who could make me this happy. Every time she walks into a room I forget how to breath. I can’t mess this up.”

Winter stopped her hands for a moment, “The only way you’re gonna mess things up is if you let those thoughts win. You’ve been doing great and you told each other what happened when you both were kids and she still wants to see you. Just take a breath, let me fix your tie and just let the night lead itself. I didn’t have much of a plan for proposing to Riley other than doing it on Christmas and she still agreed to marry me. Plans are overrated…sometimes, you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, “I do.” He took a breath as Winter finally finished his tie, checking himself out in the mirror. He flashed himself a grin, “Still as handsome as always.”

“And he’s back,” Winter rolled her eyes.

“Ooooh!” Both Jack and Winter turned to the sound of teasing voices, looking up to the stairs and seeing Nina and Alex with mischievous grins on their faces while chanting, “Jack has a girlfriend! Jack has a girlfriend!”

“Jack is gonna give all your gifts to the bogeyman!” He retorted, making the two scream and rush downstairs into the living room.

Meanwhile, Riley was busy helping carry the plates and cutlery to the table making sure everything was carefully placed on the Christmas-snowflake themed tablemats. Winter’s mother, Laura, came in carrying a hot plate of steamed vegetables, focusing on her attention on the food to make sure it wouldn’t fall before Riley came over to take it from her. “Here, Mrs Alvarez,” she said, “Let me.”

“Oh Riley there’s no need,” Laura patted her back, “I just wanted you to relax with Winter, let me and Marcus manage it.”

“I’m going to become part of your family soon. Please, allow me,” Riley persisted, placing down the pot near the centre of the table.

“Oh you’re a good girl Riley,” Laura took Riley’s hand into hers, “It’s no wonder Winter fell in love with you.”

“Mama!” Winter flushed, entering the dining room with Jack hot on her heels, “Please save the embarrassing stuff for the wedding!”

“No Laura continue,” Jack grinned, “This is karma for teasing me about Penny.”

“Oh, Penny Reed?” Winter’s father Marcus entered the dining room, his smile wide and his eyes crinkling with joy. “Winter told me so much about your date with her at the fair. Tell me more about her!”

Shit Jack cursed internally, with Winter sending him a smug look. “Well, I-”

“Yes, do go on,” Riley’s firm voice chided him, almost threatening him to not slip up. “Tell us more about my sister Jack.”

And now he had to tread carefully, especially talking about the younger sister of a 6-foot redhead with the experience of breaking the bones of criminals and throwing people over her shoulder. Please let whatever luck he had be on his side during this moment. “W-well she’s kind, funny,” He gulped as Riley squinted at him, he really didn’t want to die tonight, “And she one of the best people I’ve ever met in my entire life…whenever I’m with her, she makes me the happiest I’ve ever been. I just hope that I’m making her happy too.”

Riley softened a bit, did that mean she approved of his answer or thinking of plans ranging from A to Z to murder him?! This woman terrified him to no end!

“Well, she must be pretty special if you think that of her,” Laura beamed, “I can’t wait to officially meet my other daughter-in-law! Now if you excuse me, I need to get the pork out of the oven.”

“Hang on, I’ll help!” Marcus called after his wife as he trailed after her.

That was when the doorbell rang, light and quick on his feet, Jack bounded for the door. He straightened his jacket and tie one more time, cleared his throat rolled back his shoulder, he could do this. With a turn of the knob, the door swung open, revealing Penny glowing under the moonlight. Suddenly, his voice was cut in his throat and his palms were sweating despite the chill rolling in from the open door. The only word he managed to say was, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she shyly replied, her hands tightening on a small gift bag she brought.

He shook his head quickly, letting himself reboot as he turned to Amber, her smirk held nothing but the knowledge of a woman who knew all too well about what the two felt for one another. “Amber,” he greeted, holding out his hand for her to shake, “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you Jack,” Amber returned the handshake, letting him lead her and Penny into the house before shutting the door behind them. “I see you’ve cleaned up well.” It was a normal sentence, but her words told a totally different story.

Oh, she knew, she really knew! He was an open book and Amber had flicked through every single page. “I-I always dress this nice for Christmas, ma’am,” he stammered, “It wouldn’t be formal of me to not look this good for the holidays.”

Amber hummed, sure she believed what he said, but what Jack failed to realise was that Amber noticed his suit was the colour blue – Penny’s favourite colour.

“Hey mom,” Riley made a beeline to her mother, wrapping her arms around her, “I hope walking here wasn’t too bad with the snow,”

“Don’t worry baby, it was fine,” Amber pressed a kiss to her hair before pulling back, “But enough about me, let me see the ring!”

Riley blushed, unable to hide the giddy smile as she held up her hand.

“Oh my god, Riley!” Penny squealed, hugging her older sister. “Winter got you a good one! I’m so happy for you!”

“I know,” Riley laughed, “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

“Actually, that would be me,” Winter slid her arms around fiancé’s waist from behind, resting her head on her shoulder, “I’m the one who’s marrying this beautiful woman.”

“Flattery already?” Riley pressed her cheek against Winter’s, “And the marriage hasn’t even begun.”

“Am I not allowed to compliment my soon-to-be-wife?” Winter kissed Riley’s cheek, “Besides, that’s only 20% of my flattery, I’m saving the other 80% for my vows.”

“Dear god,” Riley slapped her palm against her forehead, knowing Winter, she was going to leave Riley as red as a tomato.

Penny stifled a laugh, Jack screamed internally at the sound. How can anyone be this fucking cute?!

“Penny!” Laura came rushing down the hall, her apron stained with some type of sauce, “I’m so happy we can finally meet.”

She opened her arms, ready to bring Penny in for a hug, only for the girl to freeze and back away. Laura faltered, her brows furrowing with concern at Penny’s startled reaction. Winter was quick to step in.

“Mama, remember,” she told her, “Penny is funny with being touched unless it’s by someone she fully knows and trusts or she’s the one going first.”

“Oh goodness,” Laura gasped, “Penny sweetie I’m so sorry I genuinely forgot!”

“It’s fine, really it’s fine,” Penny reassured her, stepping forward, “Honestly I’m able to tell when it’s a simple mistake.”

Jack’s stomach churned, all those years of bullying and her father berating her made Penny so frightened. He just wanted to shield her from everything bad so that she would never have to feel that sort of fear and pain ever again. Out of anyone in this room, he could relate to that type of fear.

“I’ll make sure to let the others know, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable during your first meal here,” Laura informed her.

“Thank you Mrs Alvarez,” Penny smiled, “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s absolutely no problem honey,” Laura emphasized, “Now I’ve gotta get the rest of these plates out, please, make yourselves at home.” With that, she turned to walk back into the kitchen.

“Here, let me take your coats,” Jack offered, holding his arm out.

“What a gentleman!” Amber gave Penny a look, making the girl glare at her mother, “Penny you better snatch him up before anyone else does.”

“Mom!” Penny hissed. Jack was fairly sure his face resembled the red lights flashing on the Christmas tree.

“Mom, why don’t you and Penny just wait in the living room please!” Riley exasperated, desperate for her mother to not spout out whatever she had in mind.

Amber put her hands up in surrender, “Alright, I yield.”

“Don’t worry Amber,” Winter took the woman’s arm into hers and led her into the living room, “She’s been like that with me whenever I point them out as well.”

“Honestly Winter, what it your fiancé like?” she joked, leaving Riley gaping behind them.

“I heard that!” Riley hollered, chasing after them, leaving Jack and Penny alone in the hallway together.

Jack took this moment to take in the garment she was wearing. It was a simple crimson dress with a floor length pleated skirt, long off-the-shoulder bell sleeves and a ruffled neckline. “You look…wow,” he breathed, how was she able to take something so simple and still look so stunning? She truly was remarkable.

“Thanks,” she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, “I wasn’t gonna wear it but I thought that it would be nice for this evening.”

“You’re so beautiful,” he knew what he said, and he wasn’t going to take it back, not when she peered up at him through her long lashes with a gasp.

“Y-you’re ridiculous,” she uttered, handing him her jacket.

“Hey, just telling the truth here,” he replied as he went to hang up her jacket on the wall, “Besides, someone’s gotta point out how pretty you are.”

“Keep the chivalry to yourself sir,” Penny placed a hand on her hip.

“Can’t help it, I’m dreamy,” he was unable to keep the grin off his face at her pout. His face softened, holding out his arm, “Shall we?”

Penny raised a brow at him, grinning. “Mr Jack how thoughtful of you.”

“Well I have to put the wellbeing of our guests first,” He joked back, “Let me introduce you to everyone else.”

Penny nodded and slipped her arm into his, the two unable to fight of the chortles at their current predicament. He led her into the living room, Amber was already sitting down talking to Riley and Winter. On the sofa across from them was another couple around Marcus and Laura’s age. “Penny, this is Winter’s aunt and uncle, Anya and Winston.” he introduced. She gave them a nod before Jack led her to another young woman around her age. “This is their daughter Kiara.”

“It’s really nice to meet you Penny,” Kiara greeted.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Penny returned.

Winston spoke up, “Laura’s been talking nonstop about ‘Jack’s new sweetheart,’ so it’s nice to finally meet the lovely lady in person.”

“Of course Laura’s been talking about us,” Jack groaned, Penny had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“She’s so pretty Jack!” Anya gushed from her seat, “Where did you find this lovely girl?”

Both of them paled, sharing a look. The story about how they met was always going to be an awkward one, wasn’t it? They were saved by the sound of thundering feet descending down the stairs as Nina and Alex came bounding over to Jack and clutched each of his leg.

“Jack!” Nina cheered, “Penny’s here!”

“Yes, I can see that-ah-guys let go!” He stumbled over his feet and words, how much sugar did these two have earlier?

“Jack has a girlfriend! Jack has a girlfriend!” Alex chanted.

Penny and Jack spluttered over their words, at a loss of what they heard. “We’re not-” Penny gasped.

“It’s not like that-!” Jack objected “We’re just-”

“-Friends!” They chorused. Friends yes, that was what they were, but it just didn’t sound like something they wanted to continue being. They were unable to keep the daydreams of each other away anymore, to constantly wonder what the other was doing, what other hobbies they might have, if the other felt the same way.

“Nina, Alex!” Laura came back through again, the apron gone as she took each twin’s arm in her hands and pulled them off Jack, much to his relief. “That’s enough harassing Jack, dinner is ready.”

“I can’t wait to see what you’ve made this year Laura,” Winston clapped his hands together.

“I’ve gotta say I’m pretty excited to eat what you’ve made as well,” Amber got up, “As well as the table gossip as well.” She gestured to Jack and Penny.

“Oh Amber you must sit next to me, I have so much to share,” Laura not-so-subtly gestured to Jack and Penny.

Both mothers grinned, leaving Jack and Penny flustered messes unable to move from their spots.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Jack unlinked his arm, immediately missing Penny’s warmth.

“No, I should be sorry,” Penny objected, “My mom can be a lot sometimes.”

“Well I guess that’s just another thing we have in common,” Jack nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I think so,” Penny’s embarrassment began to slip away, Jack’s seemingly doing so as well.

“Penny!” Riley interjected, taking her sister’s hand, “Sit next to me!”

“But I-woah!” Riley dragged her younger sister into the dining room, plopping her down to the seat on Riley’s left while Winter sat on Riley’s right. Guess she was still a bit protective.

“What are you waiting for over there dude? Come on!” Winter waved a hand over.

Jack let out a slow breath as he walked over, sitting opposite from Penny. At least it would be easier to talk to her face to face without twisting his head. Soon, everyone was loading pork, bread and steamed vegetables onto their plates, Kiara was taking photos of her food with Anya scolding her to put her phone away, Winston was already scooping up spoonful’s into his mouth, Nina and Alex grimaced at the greens on their plates and asking when dessert was, Laura was pouring wine into her and Amber’s glasses before clinking them together, Marcus was listing off each shop he had to visit just to make sure he got every right ingredient for tonight’s meal, Winter and Riley were holding hands and had all their focus on each other instead of the food in front of them, and Penny and Jack kept trading small glances while eating, their eyes holding their own conversation as the drowned everyone else out.

“So Jack,” Anya piped up, “Do you have any plans once you graduate?”

“Uh, what?” he barely registered the question until it finally caught up to him. “Oh, right! Um, I’m trying to apply for an internship at this game company called C&A, they hire a lot of indie and free-lancing creators and help promote their games so I’m hoping to get a place there.”

“I think you’ll get it,” Penny said, “I’ve seen some of the stuff Jack worked on, he’s really talented.”

“And so are you little lady,” he said that mostly to see her cute pout again, “Laura, did you know that Penny is a costume designer?”

“I did,” Laura nodded, “And I’ve seen some of the pictures of her creations that you showed me, Penny you really do have a talent.”

“She’s been designing ever since she was six,” Riley said, “I have no idea where she gets her ideas from, it’s incredible.”

“It meets the bar at least,” Penny objected, “Trust me there’s people in my class that are way better than I am.”

“Don’t sell yourself short Pen, every time you send me a picture of something you’ve made It just shows how creative you are. Someone’s gonna reach out to you one day and say ‘Penny, you are one of the most talented people in the world and I wanna hire you!’ it’ll happen one day, I swear on it, after all I’m never wrong,” Jack said, pointing his fork at her.

“You? Never wrong?” Penny said doubtingly.

“What? I’ll have you know I’m very smart,” he frowned mockingly.

“I’m gonna have to agree with my sister there,” Riley said.

“Oh come on!” Jack cried and turned to Winter, “A little help here?”

“Why, everything they said is true,” she chortled.

Jack moaned as the rest of the table laughed, clearly taking pride in his misery.

Penny’s giggles died down, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye as she faced him again, “Well hopefully someone will take pity on my designs one day.”

“You mean someone will see how exceptional you are,” Jack pointed out.

“Awfully generous but sure, we’ll stick with that,” Penny rolled her eyes fondly.

“Let’s just hope he says what he means instead of talking out of his ass,” Riley quipped.

Penny threw her sister a look, “Riley,”

“What?” Riley shrugged her shoulder, “I’m not saying he’s wrong.”

Amber raised a brow at her daughter. It was a joke, she knew that was going to happen. But she knew Riley long enough to know when her daughter was hiding something, and more importantly, when Riley was hurting.

“Speaking of designs,” Penny said, “Riley, you gotta let me make your dress.”

“What, you don’t need to do that, I just want you to enjoy the wedding,” Riley interjected.

“Can’t hear you, I’m too busy thinking about your dress since I’m the best sister ever,” Penny gave her sister a sly grin.

Riley huffed a laugh, once her sister was inspired nothing could stop her.

“Jack?” Nina piped up.

“What’s up squirt?”

“Can you sing ‘No Girl’s Toy? after dessert?” she pleaded.

“Yeah, “No Girl’s Toy!” Alex cheered with his sister, “Oh please Jack, please sing that!”

Jack flushed, waving his hands in exasperation, “Woah, woah hang on! I’m not singing that!”

“Please Jack, please!” The twins chorused.

“It’s just a little song Jack,” Winter jeered, Jack glared at her.

“Yeah,” Riley joined in on her fiancé’s antics, “What’s so wrong with the Raggedy Andy song Jack?”

“I sung that one time and suddenly whenever it’s brought up I’m forced to sing it!” he told them, “I’m putting my foot down on this one, there’s no way that any of you can convince me too-”

“Raggedy Ann was my favourite movie growing up,” Penny mentioned, “I’d love to hear you sing that song. Please?”

Oh god, Penny’s chocolate brown eyes had such an effective grip on him, how on earth could he say no to those lovely eyes? He sighed, “Fine, one song and that’s it.”

“Yay!” The twins cheered before tucking back into their meal.

“You should bring Penny over more often,” said Alex.

“Yeah she makes you do fun stuff,” Nina agreed.

“It is very interesting how easily swayed you were,” Laura joined in.

Jack wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole, he was being way too obvious with how he felt. “Please, I just want to eat my food without any further humiliation.”

“You know Marcus, he’s acting just like you before you started going out with Laura,” Winston said, “The red face, being easily swayed, the teasing. I’m getting a bit of déjà vu here.”

Jack bit down on his fork hard as Penny began to quietly squeal like a kettle, this night was already too much for the both of them.

After dinner and dessert was finished, Riley was helping Laura wash up the dishes despite the woman requesting Riley to sit down. “Laura, do you mind if I have a word with my daughter?” Amber asked, entering the kitchen.

“Oh, of course,” Laura said before turning back to Riley again, “Remember sweetie, you’re our guest, make sure you relax tonight.”

“Just after I’m finished with this dish Mrs Alvarez,” Riley continued to scrub the plate, “Than I’ll relax.”

Laura patted her back, leaving the mother and daughter in the kitchen alone together. “Is everything okay with you?” Amber asked.

“What do you mean?” Riley didn’t take her eyes off the plate.

“I mean with Jack and Penny,” Amber told her, “I thought you were fine with him back when you started dating Winter.”

“I am,” Winter dried off the plate and put it away, “If this is about Penny, that’s just me being protective.”

“I know that,” Amber walked over to her, “But I also noticed that you seemed a bit aggravated towards him.”

Riley whipped round, “No I wasn’t, I was just looking out for Penny.”

“Penny is a grown adult who can make her own choices,” Amber walked closer to her, “Riley, baby, why are you so worried?”

“Come on mom, you aren’t at least a little bit worried?” Riley argued, “You aren’t worried that he’s like the boys from Penny’s high school. Penny’s got a sensitive heart, what if he breaks it like they did? Those boys didn’t actually like her, they wanted to control her. And once she didn’t give them what they wanted they would just dump her! What if he’s like that, what if he makes her hate herself? What if he makes her so scared to the point she stops talking again? What if we actually lose her? What if-”

“-If he’s like David,” Amber finished for her, “That’s what it is, right?”

Riley froze, part of her knew that this was why she was so scared for her younger sister, but she wanted David out of her mind. He already tried to force himself back into Riley’s life many times to ask for money, and she never forgave him for involving Penny in that car crash. She hated him, she hated him so much that she would never let anyone else hurt Penny like that again, she failed with David, she failed with those stupid high school boys and she won’t make that mistake ever again. “I have to be careful mom,” Riley said to her mother, “I can’t let Penny feel that kind of pain again.”

“I know baby,” Amber said, “When I heard of Jack and Penny seeing each other I got worried as well. It’s always my first instinct. But now, I know that I can’t let David control what could actually be good for Penny, I won’t let him get into my head like that. I’m still scared, baby believe me, but not as much as I used to be.” She cupped her daughter’s cheek, gently lifting her head to meet her eyes, “David hurt you too Riley, I know you hate thinking about him, but you’re allowed to feel betrayed as well. If I ever made you feel that you weren’t allowed to hurt for what he did to you, I’m so sorry. I’m your mother and I’m supposed to protect my babies. Yes, I protected Penny, but don’t think for a second I won’t protect you too, even after you’ve left the nest.”

Amber held her arms out for her daughter. After so much anger and frustrations for her father after so long, Riley all but broke in her mother’s arms, Amber stroking her hair and whispering comforts into her ear. “It’s okay baby, I’m here, mama’s here.”

A soft sniffle made them turn to the doorway, seeing Penny there with a few leaked tears. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she whimpered, “Can I have a hug too?”

Riley and Amber opened their arms for her, letting the youngest daughter cry along with them as their mother squeezed them both. In that moment, Riley wasn’t an engaged woman and Penny wasn’t an aspiring college student. They were just the 10- and 14-year-old girls letting their mother sooth them after so much pain.

After a while, their tears were dried and the three headed back into the living room. Everyone rushed up to them, panicking and asking them if they were all right. They told the rest of the family that they were fine, just a mother and her two daughters picking up a few fallen pieces.

It wasn’t until Penny erupted into a fit of giggles, seeing Jack being the one to pout this time as he held up a microphone and had the TV ready to play ‘No Girl’s Toy.’ Everyone was immediately seated, ready to hear the performance.

“I hope my suffering entertains you monsters,” he mumbled, before pressing play on the music. He gave out one final sigh before he began to sing.

Well, you can push me, shove me, turn me around, but I'm no girl's toy!

You can tie me, toss me, upside or down, but I'm no girl's toy!

I sing my own sweet melody, I go my own sweet way.

I won't beg 'round tomorrow for the kind of affection that was free today!

Oh, you can squeeze me, tease me; say I'm your own but I'm no girl's toy!

You can charm me, chase me, follow me home; I won't be coy!

You may not like it much but I'm my own best boy,

And not some sugar and spicy, lacy and nicey, sissy you're gonna enjoy!

No, I'm no girl's toy!

Everyone applauded and clapped as he continued to sing. He was embarrassed, that was for sure. But seeing Penny so carefree and happy, no worries and stress in those beautiful eyes of hers, just having fun with everyone else, he would sing this song for the rest of his life as long as she was happy. He was unable to stop his pleased smile while he sang.

Riley rested her head on Winter’s shoulder, she didn’t need to say anything for Winter to know when her fiancé needed her. She kept looking between Jack and Penny, just seeing what he would do for her, she knew that he wasn’t a bad person, although her protectiveness would always take over her senses. However she knew that Penny had to do this on her own, but for the first time in a while, she believed that her little sister was safe.

Spring had arrived, the perfect atmosphere for Riley and Winter’s wedding to take place. They had booked a hotel for the night and rented out it’s ballroom for tonight’s event. There was only one thing on everyone’s minds, make sure this wedding went off without a hitch.

Since Christmas, Penny had put all her focus on making the perfect dress for Riley, something that was pristine and bridal while also making sure that this dress was something only Riley would wear. Jack had facetimed her every time she was sewing, making sure she was getting on well with the dress while also making sure she was eating and drinking enough fluids. He had also seen the final result of the dress and he was determined that once Winter saw Riley walking down the isle wearing that, she would promptly burst into tears.

After hours of setting up flowers and decorations, making sure the place was spotless, the meals were delicious, the dance floor was ready, getting changed into their wedding outfits and the chocolate fondue was prepared, everyone could finally breathe until the wedding officially begun.

Jack was currently standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for Winter to walk up with her father. That would be the order, the brides would wait in their dressing rooms, wait for one of them to walk up the aisle first before leaving their own room to walk up as well, in order for neither of them to see their gowns.

He wore a black tux with a simple white blouse underneath, fiddling with his cuffs one more time before resting his hands. Of course Winter had asked him to be her best man, it was expected since he was practically her adopted brother. Alex was beside him, standing proud and taking his job as the ring bearer seriously. He ruffled the boy’s hair, making him laugh before Laura sent a look to the boys, telling them to behave.

Everyone straightened up when the music began. The doors opened, revealing Nina as the flower girl, spreading flowers across the aisle as a few bridesmaids followed, including Kiara, each of them wearing soft silvery grey dresses. There was a swell of pride when he watched Winter walk through the doors and up the aisle, her arm secured in Marcus’s as the man led his daughter up while his eyes welled with tears. Winter wore a snow-white gown with a full-layered skirt while her bodice consisted of a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps. Some would call it simple, Winter called it timeless.

Once she arrived at the top of the aisle, her father kissed her on the cheek and whispered praise into her ear. It was only when she stood at the top and her father sat down, Jack noticed her clutching her bouquet of roses while trembling like a leaf. He leaned over and whispered, “You’re okay. Riley has been head over heals with you ever since you met.”

“What if she changes her mind?” she whispered back, “What if she realises we’re too different and leaves?”

“That’s not possible,” he told her, “You too are proof of the carrot cake theory working.”

“Excuse me?” she asked, baffled.

“The carrot cake theory,” he said, “You love it and Riley hates it, yet she always brought a freshly homemade carrot cake because you it’s your favourite. You too are proof that the theory works, that opposites attract.”

Winter snorted, “You just blatantly ripped off the olive theory.”

“Mine is better,” he sniffed, “Besides, it got you to stop shaking.”

Winter looked down at her hands, he was right, she had stopped shaking. The doors opened and Winter’s breath hitched as she gawked at her bride. Riley’s arm was in her mothers, her dress was an off-the-shoulder mermaid cut with a train, the white fabric adorned with glittered floral embroidery and long sleeves. The dress clung to her, Winter let a few tears fall, she was beautiful.

Jack was taken aback to, not by the bride, but by her maid of honour. Penny’s dress wasn’t as grand, yes, but he couldn’t take her eyes off her as she followed her sister. Her dress consisted of a purplish rouge chiffon fabric, a long A-line skirt, a straight across neckline and long balloon sleeves. He fell in love all over again.

Once Riley reached the end of the aisle, her hands latched onto Winter’s as Jack and Penny took a hold of their bouquets. Both brides were focused on each other, nothing else mattered. Once Amber sat down, did the wedding begin.

“Dearly beloved,” the officiator spoke, “We are gathered here today for the wonderful union of Riley Reed and Amber Alvarez. These two have proven that despite our differences, there is a love that can be found no matter what. Today, we are here to celebrate that love as these lovely ladies become not just married, but soulmates on this day. Winter, your vows.”

Winter took a shaky breath, “Riley, when I first met you, I won’t lie, I was a bit scared of you,” That earned a laugh from the crowd. “But after getting to know you, knowing how much you love your family, what you’ll do to make sure our clients get the justice they deserve, and knowing that despite your front, you are one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Riley began to cry as well, unable to keep all the affection she felt for this woman at bay. With the officiator’s okay, she began her speech. “Winter, every time I look at you I just keep asking myself, how did I get so lucky? How did I deserve the most perfect girl in the world? You look at the world with such positivity and kindness that I couldn’t not fall in love with you. Every time I look at you, you remind me why I became a private investigator, to help amazing people like you make the world a better place. I just…I really fucking love you Winter!”

Winter gave her a wet laugh, God she wanted to kiss her so bad.

“Winter,” the officiator said, “Do you take Riley Reed to be your wife, in sickness and in health, until the day you part, may you be together?”

“I do!” Winter replied immediately.

“And do you Riley-”

“I do, a thousand times I do!” Riley couldn’t stop the tears, not caring if her makeup got ruined.

“May we have the rings?” the officiator asked. Alex puffed his chest and beamed, carrying the rings over to the brides. The women thanked the young boy as the slipped each ring onto each other’s finger before holding hands again. “By the power vested in me, I know pronounce you too married. You may kiss the-”

The two didn’t wait for the officiator to finished before slamming their lips against each other’s, the crowd erupting into applause. Jack’s focus wasn’t on the couple though, his eyes travelled to Penny as she cheered for her older sister. Her eyes met Jack’s, the two of them just staring for a moment before giving each other a smile. It was in the moment that the two decided internally that one day, they wanted to have this moment and say ‘I do’ to one another. Tonight, they decided, would be the night that they would stop being ‘friends.’

The dance floor was empty apart from the newlyweds, holding each other in their arms as they let the music carry their slow steps. They weren’t able to keep their hands off each other since they were married, afraid that if they did then everything would disappear. By the time the first dance ended, the music picked up the pace and everyone was on the dance floor, dancing the night away, congratulating the couple and unafraid to be slightly more than tipsy.

Winter and Riley even threw their bouquets, having their backs turned to make sure it would be a surprise. When they turned round, they saw that Winter’s bouquet was held by one of the bridesmaids, and Riley’s was plopped into Penny’s hands.

“Penny’s gonna marry Jack!” Nina bellowed, she already had too much sugar from the fondue. It didn’t stop everyone whispering knowingly, apart from Riley still giving Jack the evil eye. However, Jack and Penny didn’t mind the teasing this time, after all, even if they didn’t confess yet, their feelings were mutual.

A while later, after dancing, talking and snacking, Jack pulled away from the buzz to get some fresh air on the balcony. He felt his heart take a leap when he saw Penny outside as well, her long hair flowing in the soft spring wind, taking in the quiet. He gently opened the door, trying not to startle her, though it seemed that he didn’t need to worry about that when she turned and noticed him, she must’ve sensed him coming outside.

“Need a break?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, going up to rest his arms on the stone rail, “I was also hoping to see you as well.”

“I guess it’s a win-win situation,” she gently nudged his shoulder with hers. He was glad that he was part of her inner circle of people she was comfortable touching. “So, Riley and Winter are finally married.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t do so sooner,” he reflected the first time Winter brought Riley home, how they would giggle and fawn over each other as Riley was introduced to Winter’s parents, “I felt like I was gonna go insane with how much they made goo-goo eyes at each other.”

“They still do that,” Penny replied, “And I think its gonna amplify now that they’re married.”

“Oh jeez,” he put a hand to his head, listening to Penny’s sweet giggle. He took in the situation at hand, they were on the balcony together talking and having fun with all the space they needed to talk about their feelings. Maybe this was his chance, “Although I will admit, I am a little jealous. It would be pretty nice to have someone to do all that sappy stuff with.”

“O-oh,” Penny was taken aback a little bit, the thought of he and her doing all sorts of couple things rushing through her mind. Wanting to spend all his time with her, holding her hand, whispering sweet nothings when no one was looking. “I wanna do that too, you know, with the right person.”

Jack fiddled with the cuffs on his sleeves, this was it, “And what is the ‘right person’ that you have in mind?”

Penny gulped, okay, now it was getting serious, no turning back. “Well, I’d like him to be funny, kind, respectful to his and my family. Someone who has my back no matter what. Someone who makes sure that I feel like I deserve to be here. Someone who…sees me.”

She said, oh she said it! Did this mean she felt the same, only one way to find out. “Is that so little lady?” he took in her blush and nod, “Well, I bet he’s very handsome, jaw-droppingly if you will.”

Penny’s blush faded as she let out a chortle, “Did I forget to mention he’s full of himself?”

Jack placed his hand dramatically on his chest, “Why Penny how rude! It’s takes guts for someone to admit when they’re good looking.”

“Guts? Or an ego that’s too big to fit his head?” she began to belly laugh at his frown, clutching her sides as she clutched her ribs.

“Oh? Well that’s too bad little lady, I was just about to describe my ‘right’ person,” he chuckled as she straightened back up, “But it you don’t wanna hear it-”

“Alright, you smug bastard,” she sighed fondly, “Tell me, what are they like?”

“Well, let’s see,” he tapped his chin in false thought, “She’s extremely talented, always puts her family first, has one of the cutest laughs in the world.” Taking a chance, he tucked a piece of her hair behind her skin, his skin tingling as he made contact with hers, “Insanely beautiful…who sees me too…and is very short.”

“I will bite you,” Penny snarled, but she held no threat in her tone.

Jack’s face softened, “And, I want to hold her, tell her how much I love her and be with her as long as she lets me.”

Penny’s shivered at his tone, if he were talking about her (and she really hoped he was) then she had to do this next part carefully, “And if you were with this girl right now, how would you tell her about how you feel?”

Jack gulped, time to take the plunge, “I would tell her that I’m not a perfect person, but I am someone who’s always trying. You’ve taken over my mind and have stolen my heart, but I can’t find it in myself to care as long as it’s in your hands.” He took her hands in his at those words, “I just hope that she feels the same way.”

Penny’s heart fluttered, squeezing his hand in return as a swell of joy rushed through her from head to toe, “She does! She really does!”

Jack exhaled sharply, he couldn’t believe it! She likes him back! She wanted to be with him! “I wanna kiss you so badly right now,” he clamped his mouth shut when he realised what came out his mouth. They just confessed and now he was admitting that he wanted to kiss her, and just when he thought he was being smooth.

“Okay,” Penny peered up at him through her lashes.

Jack gaped at her, “Pen, you don’t want to if you don’t want to.”

“Trust me,” she cupped his cheek, “I really want this.” Despite her initial shock, she oh so badly wanted to kiss him back. Ever since the Christmas fair she was unable to spot thinking about his lips on her forehead, or how they would feel on her lips. “Are you gonna keep gawking or do I need to make the first move?” she teased.

Both of his hands were suddenly cupping her cheeks, cutting her off. He gave her one more look, a silent request to do this. When she nodded, he immediately planted his lips on hers. She was so soft, so sweet, so amazing! God he loved her!

She returned the kiss with the same warmth he gave her, with one hand on his cheek she used the other to pull him in closer by the waist. His lips felt the same as they did on her forehead, but somehow so different on her lips. No one ever kissed her like this before, like she really mattered to them. But with Jack, his mouth matched his promise he told to her, and she never wanted him to stop.

They parted for a moment to catch their breaths, grinning as they rested their foreheads together. “So,” she took in another lungful of air, “Does this mean you like me back?”

He smirked, taking her chin between his thumb and finger, “You tell me little lady, or would you rather I show and not tell with another kiss.”

“The second option please,” she grinned back.

He was about to dive back into her lips when a gasp made them both freeze. By the doors, Amber stood with a glass of wine, she was probably out here to get some air as well. “I knew it!” she squealed, “I knew you were gonna confess tonight! Laura owes me ten bucks!”

“Mom!” Penny gasped, clutching herself closer to Jack to save herself from embarrassment.

“Don’t worry baby, I’ll keep this between you and me. Besides, this is something that you’ll want to tell Riley by yourself,” Amber added, making both Penny and Jack pale at the thought of her older sister finding out. “Like I said, I’ll keep this to myself. Oh and Penny? Make sure you use the makeup wipes I gave you before you go back inside, the corner of your lip is smudged.”

Penny all but squealed in mortification into Jack’s chest after her mother went back inside, the man stroking her back as he chuckled. “Well, she does have a point,” he mentioned, “We don’t want the first thing that Riley sees when we go back in is smudged lip gloss.”

“Don’t single yourself out mister,” she poked him in the chest, “You’re wearing it too.”

“Oh really? Is it a good colour on me?” He leant in closer.

Penny mumbled shyly under her breath, God she was just too cute. “Wanna say that again little lady?” he asked.

“I said, how about you kiss me again if you like my lip gloss so much,” she pouted, the blush on his face was worth it though.

Jack huffed a laugh and pulled her in closer, “Now that sweetie, can be arranged.”

And just like that, they dove back into another kiss, enjoying only themselves without anyone else to interrupt their moment. It was just them, the moon and the start of their new relationship. And they couldn’t wait to see what else was in store for them.

Jax stirred lightly, stiff from laying against the ground. He must’ve slid down the hedge and onto the plush grass in his sleep, oh well, the grass was comfier. He could feel his lips burn from where Penny kissed Jack, as though he were the one who kissed her. But that was impossible, wasn’t it? There was no way that actually happened.

He was about to move when he felt a light weight on his chest. Looking down, he saw Pomni curled up next to him, hugging his side as she snored softly while using his upper body as a pillow for her head. Why wasn’t he shoving her off or telling her to get lost? Why was he growing flustered by the second and praying that she couldn’t hear his quickening heart rate? He could feel his tail wagging underneath him, was he actually happy about this predicament? There was no way!

He felt her shift beside him, mumbling gibberish in her sleep before cuddling him closer. Cute…wait, no it’s not! Get yourself together Jax! But there wasn’t any denying it though, no matter how much he wanted to, yesterday’s revelation just proved to him that he felt some sort of attachment to the jester and it was driving him up the wall. Her hat had also slid of her head, revealing short yet soft looking locks. The way it framed her face ever so gently with its wisped strands, oh god she was killing him.

He let his temptation win, reaching his hand out to touch it when she suddenly woke up, barely processing what was happening until she saw that she was firmly cuddling into this side while he was reaching towards her. “You got a loose hair there, sweetie,” he tried to squash down the awkwardness, trying to bring up his charm to save himself.

It seemed that it didn’t work as she squealed and pulled away from him as though he burned her, he wasn’t gonna lie, it kind of stung a bit. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t even know that I was doing that!” she fumbled over her words, grabbing her hat and screaming into it.

“It’s fine,” he sighed, standing up and stretching. “We should keep going, make use of the time we have.”

Pomni looked up, still clutching her hat. She was glad that he wasn’t mad, but why wasn’t he? If it were anyone else she was shore he would have told them to get lost, why did he leave her be? Her dream from last night made this moment even more flustering for her, the memory of Jack kissing Penny with such passion was burned into the back of her mind and the minute she woke up she was cuddling into Jax! The universe had to be out to get her.

“Hey, you awake in there?” he pointed to her forehead, “I said we should keep going.”

“W-what?” oh right, they still had to get out of the maze. The long…long maze, “Yeah, I’m coming.”

It seemed that the awkward silence had carried over from last night during their trek through the winding paths, neither of them not knowing what to say and their dreams invading every single thought they had. But besides the kiss, Jax thought of the family that brought Jack into their home. They shared no blood but treated him as though he were their son, making sure he was fed, happy and safe despite the occasional teasing. His mind drifted to Laura, how she cared for each one of her children, with the care and love that a mother should, it made him think of…

He looked to Pomni, who also seemed to be deep in thought, he made sure that she wouldn’t bump into anything. He felt bad for snapping at her yesterday, and the words she said to him afterwards cut deep. It was the first time in so long that someone called him out in a way that hollowed him to his core, to just step back and really think. Maybe that was what he needed. “Do you remember yesterday when Caine mentioned I used to know someone?” he spoke up.

Pomni’s head snapped up to him, his voice drowning out the deafening silence they stewed in for quite some time. “Y-yeah, why?”

“Well, when I arrived,” he started, “I remember that I didn’t know anything about my past, I was stuck in a body I didn’t know and all I could remember feeling was regret and fear. I acted a lot like a wounded animal, just screaming at people to stay away. It worked on everyone…except for Queenie.”

Pomni gasped, she had heard of Queenie and seen her door crossed off. The unsaid implication of her abstraction was what chilled Pomni’s spine, no one had to say anything to know what happened to her, but she never realised Jack was close to her.

“Well, she was the only one who wasn’t really phased by me,” he continued, “She made sure that I wasn’t alone, told me the stuff to look out for and sometimes Kinger would join her with helping me out, it’s strange to think about, back then he was more sane than he is now. I won’t lie, there were times that I was a little sh77t, but I’m grateful that she was willing to help me out. It helped me feel less scared, and sometimes I wondered if I had a mother in my past life that was like Queenie. But soon, I started seeing less and less of Queenie, everyone was starting to get worried. Any time we would see her she was always talking about an exit. I was also looking for one as well, collecting keys hoping that one of them would lead to an exit. One day, I told her about and maybe she could use on of them so it could help her mission…the next day she abstracted. Kinger was never the same after that, I wasn’t really sure if those two were together or not, but it was obvious how strong their bond was. Ever since then he started rambling about his ‘insect collection,’ I don’t know if it was to distract him from the grief or if it was a factor of him going crazy. All I knew was if I didn’t give Queenie that key, she would still be here. If I didn’t try and escape, Kinger would still have his sanity left. It’s better that everyone hates me, all I am is this a%%hole rabbit who killed their oldest friend. It’s no wonder they hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Pomni said, making him turn to her, “That situation wasn’t your fault, it was just an awful place in time that no one could control. And I don’t think the others hate you too, I mean, did you even ask them?”

Jax sighed, “No, my mind just immediately believed that everyone hated me. Honestly, I wanted them to, it’ll make things a bit easier.”

“Yeah,” Pomni nodded, before paling at her word choice, “Not about everyone hating you, I meant about making things easier. Facing the bad stuff is scary, when I first got here I denied that this was real and that it was a dream. But at the end of it all, I had to accept that this was my reality, even if I didn’t like it. But I’m not gonna let it stop me from trying to leave, don’t let what happened to Queenie stop you from thinking that you deserve to be hated, you don’t. Maybe the others won’t forgive you immediately, but you can at least make a start.”

“We’ll see,” he gave her a soft grin, she was smiling back proudly. It was starting to get a bit too mushy now, so he pushed her hat over her eyes.

“Hey!” she squealed, she didn’t seem to mind that. She readjusted her hat and crossed her arms, “Really?”

“This is me we’re taking about. Besides, it was too easy Pom-pom,” he chuckled as she let out a groan.

“You’re not funny,” she walked up ahead, keeping the banter afloat as they continued to travel.

“No, I’m hilarious,” he retorted, “It’s not my fault you’re so uncultured short stack.”

She whipped back round at him with a pretend offended expression, “I’m not short!”

“Okay,” Jax snickered, “Come back to me about that were you grow 2 inches.”

She groaned dramatically, “You’re the worst!”

“True,” he picked her up as she let out a yip and placed her on his shoulders, “And I also have longer legs, I’ll get us to the exit faster.”

“Hey!” Pomni giggled, holding onto his head, “Put me down you giant!”

“But I need you to be my second pair of eyes short stack,” he patted her leg, “Just point out if you see anything and I’ll be your steering wheel.”

Despite the light teasing, she knew he was right, they would find the exit to the maze quicker if they worked like this, “Fine!...tall ass.”

“Say that again?” he quired.

“Nothing!” Pomni said.

Jax shrugged and continued walking. After a while, it seemed that the awkwardness had finally died down, leaving the two to engage in light conversations while searching for the exit. It was then they realised that they had forgotten about their dreams, not fully but they were so focused on one another, enjoying one another, they didn’t find the time to really think about them.

It still took them a bit of time, but eventually, to both of their relief and slight disappointment, they found the exit, the circus tent just down the path in front of them. Pomni jumped off Jax’s shoulders, there was no need for him to keep carrying down that they were back.

“I guess that marks the end of this adventure,” Pomni rubbed her arm, was she upset that this was over? Or was she upset that she couldn’t spend time with Jax anymore?

“Yeah, the end,” Jax nodded, as much as he didn’t want to be part of this little maze escapade, he’ll admit it, it was better with Pomni being here. In fact, he wouldn’t mind being around her more often. “You know, I’ve noticed that whenever you’re on your own, you’re either hyper focused on every single little thing to the point where it stresses you out of your in your own little world while dissociating. Sometimes you’re so in your head that you fail to notice when someone’s coming right at ya. Whether it be Caine with one of his adventures or one of the others fooling around.”

“That tends to happen a lot,” she confessed, “It’s either one or the either, there’s not an in between. It’s kinda a problem.”

“Well, I have a proposition for you,” he said, she perked up, “Until you feel like you understand this place a little more, I’ll be there to make you don’t have one of your episodes. Whether you’re spiralling or hyper focusing, I’ll be here to ground you in case that happens.”

“Really?” her eyes widened with joy at his offer, “You’d do that for me?”

“Just until you’re more aware of your surroundings,” he told her, “After all, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Ah, right,” she gave him a joking grin, “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to that.”

“See, now you’re getting it,” he agreed, returning her grin.

The way he was leaning in, the way her heart sped up at their newly found teasing of each other, the way that the sense of déjà vu kept creeping in as though they had done this song and dance before. She ready did fall for him, didn’t she? She cleared her throat, “Well, good to know you’ve got my back, thank you again Jax. We should head in so no one’s worrying about us.”

“Works for me,” he nodded, his face suddenly becoming gentler, “And, you’re welcome.”

Don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush. “Race you inside!” she zoomed off, leaving the rabbit to laugh to himself.

“She sure is something else, huh?” he said to himself, his thoughts flooding with her again, he didn’t to anything to spot it, only letting it flow.

Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pomni-Pen-

“Jax! You coming?” Pomni called out to him.

He blinked, what was that? What was his last thought about? He looked towards Pomni, suddenly forgetting that sudden glitch as he raced towards her, wanting to challenge the jester that captured his affections. “Are you sure sweetie?” he ran in her direction, “My longer legs might be more effective than yours short stack!”

“I’ll make you eat those words!” she snickered as he chased after her.

It was just a glitch.

Only a glitch.

#spoilers it was not just a 'glitch'#the amazing digital circus #tadc #pomni #jax #ragatha #zooble #kinger #gangle #caine #pomnijax #funnybunny #my writing #dragon rambles #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #Instagram #pomni x jax

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jungle-angel · 3 months

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The One With Cecelia's Special Brownies (Rhett Abbott x Reader)

Summary: You and Rhett love your cat, Garfield, to death but he gets into everything

Warnings: Pot, cat getting high off of said pot etc.

Tagging: @floydsmuse @attapullman @callmemana @rhettabbotts @sebsxphia @hangmanapologist

"Aw perfect," Cecelia said, inhaling the smell of the fresh brownies that had been pulled from the oven. She set it on the back burner to cool off, grabbing the broom from the kitchen closet to sweep up the small dustings of flour that had gotten on the floor, when a loud meow caught her attention.

"Damnit cat!" she exclaimed. "C'mon get outta here."

She nudged Garfield, the orange tabby cat with the broom but he refused to move, having just plopped himself right on the mess she was about to clean up. No matter how hard she nudged him with the broom, Garfield refused to move and kept meowing at her.

"Rhett!"

"Sup Ma?" he called from the living room.

"Fat ass parked himself in the kitchen again."

Rhett laughed and nudged Garfield with his toe. "Alright dumbass, up.....c'mon, stop botherin Ma when she's gotta clean up."

Garfield gave him a cheeky little meow before he finally moved, slinking off to go and catch whatever house pest was sure to catch his attention.

"Oh he'll listen to you but not me?" Cecelia chuckled. "Thanks I feel so loved."

"You are Ma," Rhett replied, hugging his mother. "Don't worry, (y/n) and I love ya'll and so doesn't Dad."

He made his way back into the living room where you were still laid up on the couch with a bad cold, your nose stuffier than ever and your top lip burning from how much you had been blowing your nose.

"Feelin ok sweetheart?" Rhett asked.

"Still feel like I've got the plague," you croaked. "I think I caught it from one of my fifth graders."

Rhett kissed your forehead and pulled you in so you could rest against him. "Just that time of the year darlin," he said. "Bet ya'll ten to nothin it was......"

"Cody Campbell?"

"Yep," Rhett chuckled. "Came to get your kiddos for the woodworkin class and he was snortin back his snot all the way to the practical arts building."

You cringed at the memory, one hundred percent sure that the ghastly illness would be raging throughout the Amelia County Steiner School like wildfire.

"Um......." you heard Cecelia's voice from the kitchen. "Rhett?"

"Yeah Ma?"

"Who got into the brownies?"

You and Rhett shook your heads. "Wasn't us Ma," he answered. "Why what's wrong?"

"Those weren't supposed to be eaten," she answered, the panic evident in her voice.

"Why?"

"Your father and I were saving those for the Zac Brown concert next week."

You and Rhett gave each other a look, the realization hitting you a split second later. "Uh oh," you squeaked.

"Did Dad eat one?" Rhett asked her.

His question was answered when the door creaked open and Royal came traipsing into the house, wiping his muddy boots on the doormat before sticking them on the boot rack. "Hey what smells good?" he asked.

"So if it wasn't Dad that got into'em then who did?" Rhett wondered aloud.

"What?" Royal asked. "Who got into what?"

Cecelia bit her lower lip, balling her fist as she pressed it to her mouth to keep from speaking another word.

"What'd you do woman?" Royal asked her.

"I didn't do shit Roy."

"Sugar bear, I know that look and it ain't good," he said. "Now what'd ya'll do?"

Garfield came around the corner, stumbling and meowing with the cheekiest grin on his face, his tail swishing in the air as he plopped himself right on the living room rug. Rhett snorted and Royal started laughing.

"Oh my God," Cecelia groaned.

"This remind ya'll of anything?" Royal laughed.

"Yeah reminds me of that time you, me, John and Evelyn went to a Doobie Brothers concert and I had to drive ya'll home because ya'll got blacked out high from the brownies," Cecelia told him.

You and Rhett had a good laugh on the matter, teasing Garfield until his high finally wore off later that night and making a note that should Cecelia ever make her special brownies again, to put them in the back of the fridge.

#rhett abbott #rhett abbott x reader #royal abbott #cecelia abbott #royal x cecelia abbott #outer range

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funficwriter · 3 months

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A Wolf And A Snake (Wriothesley x Reader) Chapter 4: The Snake in Action

A/N: Ya'll, this is waayyyy later than promised. I'm so sorry, it's just that I went through a hell of a burnout and issues within my personal life. At least finishing this chapter was a bit of a getaway. Thank you so much for your patience, and I promise to keep this story going, and make it as beautiful as I can ❤️

Taglist: @yue-caelum, @reyy-chanx, @mis-disaster, @ladyarchiviste, @keigo-hawks-takami-simp

Warnings: Not as much Wriothesley in this because plotting I'm so sorry :( + Corruption, somewhat abrupt ending

He could pretend all he wanted. He could smile, talk jovially about art and principles and how beautiful you looked. But no one seemed to realize that you knew far more than he let on, far more than anyone. Everyone thought you were some stupid little girl, and they were wrong.

Archandelle's voice was shaky. His palms sweated, to the point of leaving a wet mark on the knees of his pants. He switched topics a lot, too. However, there was one theme that he stuck to: Innocence.

The breaking point for him was when your brother brought up politics: "Yeah, you need to be a bit more discreet with your public statements with the commoners these days. They'll bite at anything.".

Your father laughed and clapped a bit. Archandelle, on the other hand, did not seem to enjoy it as much.

"Oh yes, my friend! I've noticed it gets worse when so many of our security forces are commoners. They'll bite too when they're supposed to protect you as a citizen!".

There it is.

Your father and brother's smiles died upon the scary remark. Your suitor was quite sweaty and lowered his eyes onto his knees. No one really knew what to make of his outburst, until your father inquired carefully: "Err... My dear Archandelle, you're going to be family to us. And as such, we confide our worries in each other. Is something bothering you? Perhaps the room too hot?".

He looked up at you, and you feel dumb for not realizing the unusual eyebags on his pale skin. It was even worse than you imagined. Even better for you.

"My Lord Balthazar, I am grateful for this consideration. But my honor could not bear another shattering...".

He reached out to hold your hand.

"And what will my beautiful wife think if I told you all what happened? Oh, I can't have her think less of me before we even officially wed!".

Think less... You sure you're not late to that?

While you wished you could say that, you needed to squeeze out as much information as possible. Both your father and brother seemed to be at a loss of what to say. In that case, here comes the maiden.

"My beloved...".

The room's energy further froze when you called him as such, even more so in your soft voice and while tucking a strand of hair away from his face.

"... I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say we're very worried about you. Like Papa said, we're to be family. And as husband and wife, who can we confide in if not each other?".

Your mother beamed at her speech lessons being fruitful. He took your hand and put it to his cheek: "Oh, my love... How fortunate I am... But are you sure?".

He sure put up a fight when he was upset, another reason why you didn't want to marry him. You loathed these games of unlocking people's hearts to get them to talk, or these performances of a non-judging maiden without a single angry bone in her body; Wouldn't life be much easier if we were all honest and straightforward? But alas, people like Archandelle and your family love to complicate things. So at the end of the day, you just had to play this game a little longer before rejoining Wriothesley.

"I know that the tongue holds life and death. That's why I wouldn't implore you to tell me if I thought I couldn't handle it. (you looked up to your father) And I'm certain that Papa will lend his support if someone is making our life harder than it should be.".

He sat straight again, still looking morose but at least smiling: "Thank you, my dove. And thank you, Lord Balthazar, for blessing me with such a virtuous fiancée.".

Finally.

He took a deep breath and began: "A few days... No, nights ago... When I only wanted to read and think of young Lady Balthazar, I heard a knock at the door. It was... It was the Police Force. They called me in for questioning...".

Your father held his breath. Your mother repressed a gasp. And oh, the power you felt in this instance, being the only one who really knew what was going on.

"I swear, I've always abided by the law, so I've never had any need to interact with them. But they said they had to. Apparently, they were investigating many offenses that have seen a surge in Fontaine, and you know... We can't have that.".

Your father seemed to know what he was talking about: "Wouldn't be the first time that more and more people are being pulled to the side for 'questioning'. Sometimes, not even nobles are safe from that, right, Elisa?".

"Yes, indeed. In particular young nobles. I remember how much they hassled you when we had our first son...".

Even though you hated your parents, you almost wanted to thank them for saying that, even if unsure. It sure gave that nasty man some relief.

There was only one person who matched his uneasiness; Your brother, who was more at risk than his father due to his age: "Duke Archandelle... If you don't me asking, especially as a fellow young noble, do you know what offenses seem to catch the Police's eyes these days?".

He looked like he wanted to spill it. You didn't doubt that he, like many nobles, had some skeletons in the closet, but you had to know what they were. Any information that you could report back was crucial. It could make Wriothesley's investigative efforts more effective, and he had to be caught quicker than your potential wedding date. But as a young maiden, what you could say beyond meek reassurances was limited. If you knew too much about law and politics (beyond the limited repertoire your father allowed), you could get in trouble.

Despite that desire, he stayed silent for a bit, only sneaking a look at you for reassurance. You held his hand, before an idea emerged.

"I will happily be corrected if I'm wrong, but... As far as I know, Papa walked out of that investigation scot-free, didn't he? As do most nobles?".

No one spoke. You wanted some confirmation, anything. Your father only looked at you, and you wondered whether you trespassed a line.

"My daughter is correct. These investigative bouts always happen for no reason, usually over some crime the common people are worried about. We're always the first to whom they point their fingers first, Archandelle. You know that."

A maid walked in to serve some cake. It looked like she was waiting a while before having the courage to walk in. Who could blame her, with all this tension?

"... What they're looking for is money laundering, procuring fabricated evidence, blackmail and hybrid and Melusine discrimination. If they'll find something else on you, even better. Do be careful, my friends-".

Ever himself, your father boomed out: "Peuh! Like every other spike. Back in my day and now, it's still the same. At this rate, you can rule it off as protocol.".

Your mother continued: "Indeed, dear son-in-law. Oh, please have some chocolate cake, it will bring your spirits up again. The trick is to just lay low and be cooperative.".

And so, your suitor thanked your parents before digging into his cake. While the unease was still present, he seemed a little more relieved to get it out of his system.

You? You were singing high and loud on the inside. You exerted your memory hard not to forget the ensuing exchange, so you could note it down later. Indeed, there was much to be done with it, but for now, you had to play nice. Funny how cake tastes a million times better when you feel like you know what you're doing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Was there an ongoing motif in your life? It looked like the day was your family's, Archandelle's, and everyone else's. The night, on the other hand, belonged to you and Wriothesley. He was going to show up any minute now, but it felt like an eternity. Your stomach was churning in excitement at your findings and what you could report back to him.

The moon and candle lit up your father's office, and the documents you pulled out after hours of looking around frantically and saying little prayers that you wouldn't be caught. You almost gasped when a box fell and made a loud thump, but thankfully, you were in the clear. All that was left to distract you was reorganizing your findings, and even then it was pointless. You did the chore three times.

The long awaited knock rang at the door that has been closed to you for much of your life. You knew the drill.

"Password.".

Agatha's voice gave it to you, along with everything else you've endured for: "Wolfhook.".

Your dress swished out as a temporary goodbye to the moonlight as you went to unlock the door. Everything was going to plan.

Agatha wanted to wave at you, but you could barely see it before you felt Wriothesley pounce to hug you. Could you blame him? Your meetings were often sparse and even communicating was becoming more difficult, and letters simply did not cut it like being with him. Your parents were hellbent on taking up all the time you had.

"My love...".

He gave you a quick kiss, before turning to Agatha as if nothing happened: "Thank you very much for leading me up here.".

She chuckled: "But of course. It's my job to assist Lady Y/N as much as I can. (She yawned) Do you two need anything else?".

You felt a little bad for making her stay up as such, even if she was keen on helping you: "No thank you, Agatha. We really appreciate your help. Please get some sleep.".

"Well then! Good night, you two love birds.".

She retreated quick, for sleep was promised now. Before Wriothesley could think of kissing you again (and more), you pulled his hand to the desk. He was quite stunned: "Oh my... You've got quite the tall stacks over here.".

"Yup! There's so much that I think could help you out.".

He took off his coat and set it on the guest table, as he often did before getting down to business. You had to credit whoever sews his clothes; His vest was tailored down to the centimeter, accentuating his figure without going overboard on one feature or another. After seeing so many pot-bellied older nobles who could afford something nicer, but do not because: "I've technically done everything.", the sight Wriothesley gave you was making it hard for you not burn up.

By Focalors, what a perfect man...

"Last time, in the gardens, you told me to look out if Archandelle acts weird, right?".

"Yes. Did he?

"Nope...".

He quirked a brow: "No? Nothing at all?".

You pulled out the first document, a recount of Archandelle and your father's discussion over tea, as well as another about corruption that you have to eavesdrop on.

"He was shaking in his shoes.".

Enticed (and excited that your plan was going well), he grabbed it and read through. With each line, he grew more impressed; You recalled the date, time, context and had what they said almost word-for-word. You risked a lot for the second, shorter recount, and yet you still put much on the line to dig up the dirt:

(This was right before the pompous asshole left. He was having final words with Father. I was behind the corner.)

Father: I'm betting you that every young man of our class gets investigated for money laundering or some sort of discrimination.

A: Between the two of us, my Lord... Wouldn't you say that it happens with reason?

Father: Oh, everyone steps on a few necks to get where we are. Your father did it. Your grandfather did it. Mine did. And my son is finishing off that stage of his youth.

A: (wiping off sweat? maybe I can't see it) How so?

Father: Listen to me. Lay low and if there's 'evidence' (finger quotes) that you've done nothing wrong and can hand to them, definitely do so. Even if they continue doubting you, legally speaking they can't do anything. Just don't get caught red-handed.

A: I see, and this will pass, right?

Father: (laughs) There you go. Come on now, with your fortune and who your future wife is, no wonder someone's going to get jealous enough to call the Force on you!

He was not born a noble. But he was perceptive, quick to learn, and picked up on a lot of how the high class scene worked. He knew every noble had some illegality to them, and unfortunately for his younger self, he knew Fontaine still had corruption and injustice issues. Shit, he knew they got talked about. But so much was under wraps and died within the older members of the family, with the only certain hope of ending said crime was being caught.

You, the maiden of the house, put up such a good job. Maidens were generally barred from such conversations, but he saw that you catalyzed it. You lulled him, comforted him, seduced him as if you were his wife into spilling the beans. And with the other large stacks, he could only wonder what volumes of crime did you find on him.

Of all the possible whistleblowers, the maiden of the house. Amazing.

"You... got all that?".

"It wasn't so hard. Once I told him he was okay, he just went on. I suppose he can't keep some things to himself. Speaking of which...".

You grabbed a stack, relishing in the thunderstruck look on your lover's face. Oh, he did not expect all that, which made it even better. All your efforts in staying up, socializing, and eavesdropping were bearing their fruit.

"You really ought to go to more parties, my dear.".

The documents all had several sources. Many were from your father's office, some from the library, some looked like copies from police reports and even more recounts.

There was a document recording your father's bail-out from irresponsible financial decisions, signed by himself. Another recounted the Archandelle family's problematic history with Natlanese exploitation. A recording of a private trial with your suitor's father being dragged through the mud (funny it was recorded a bit before the asshat was born). Agatha's eavesdrop on whispered gossip of his discriminating canine hybrids. Volumes upon volumes of evidence, tens of reasons to file a motion of marital worry. Higher and higher chances of succeeding. If he focused well, he could hear Neuvillette's gavel bang, sentencing your father and Archandelle to life in Meropide, and perhaps: "Duke Armand Archandelle will never set an eye on Lady Y/N Balthazar.".

"You got all of this from parties?".

"Well, not all of it. But people talk a lot. And so long as there's a hidden spot for you nearby, you can hear it for yourself.".

You grabbed one of your earliest treasures, deciding to discuss things chronologically. Though Wriothesley was certainly paying attention, adding on to your discoveries, there was still a bit of an unnerved quality to his voice, as if he still had trouble believing that all of this information was procured by you.

At some point, you were fixated on a police report, and he asked the question you've been waiting for: "That's not a recount. That's a police report. How in Focalors' name did you manage to get your hands on that?".

Ah, that query. Originally, you were excited to tell him how. But as you recalled your methods, your façon, and randomly remembered that Wriothesley was among the greatest men of the law in Fontaine, a creeping embarrassment made its way through the door. On one hand, he might not be angry about it. But on the other, you felt like it went against his general judicial compass. You still decided to be frank.

"I used some of my allowance to bribe the officer. Waved the cash in his face, told him I've got more in the future, but that wouldn't arrive unless he gave me the documents I wanted. I even told him that it's for greater justice; After all, is it not his job to ensure that former crimes and bribery are brought to light, even if they belong to my father, fiancé and friends?".

He stopped and thought of his own actions, their intentions, and how perfectly aligned they were with yours. He expected to do most, if not all, of the legwork, and here you were surprising him.

"At first, he resisted. Said that I was corrupting him, and that the young Lady Balthazar doing this of all people was shameful. But then I told him that withholding the information I wanted was even more shameful, and I was just acting as the system was set up. So it was either he gets the cash for the info, or he waits years for the promotion needed so he can finally get married and have children.".

It started off as a chuckle, then emerged into a low laugh, still conscious of the importance of not getting caught.

"Unbelievable, my doll. Unbelievable. I'm starting to question whether the adults around you actually noticed this impish streak of yours.".

He got up from his chair, and slowly headed towards your side of the desk. No, your father's desk, but that was easy to forget in the moment: You were sitting there, with all of the information that would not only dismiss this horrid marriage proposal but also incriminate the two hated men.

"Oh? Well if you, a man of the law, can scheme, why can't I? Especially if it concerns my lover?".

He leaned to meet your face, utterly entranced by how beautiful power looked on. From the minute you strode in such an authoritarian manner - one he doubted you learned from the women around you - and how your dress billowed accordingly, to how focused you looked when you discussed your findings and what lawful repercussions might follow... He already disliked classical noble families for many reasons, but among the highest was the lack of authority given to women. Sitting right in front of him was the perfect example of power and beauty, all obtained by breaking that stupid rule.

Despite whose frame towered over whose, he still felt a slight blush tingle his cheeks.

"You... You certainly know more than you let on. You just don't show it. And I must say, nothing looks as gorgeous on you as power. When you become the Duchess of Meropide, you'll get to exercise it more. I'll make sure of it.".

Not wanting to wait more, you leaned up further and kissed him as the moon shone upon you two. Though his vision had an ethereally beautiful glow to it, it paled next to his translucent skin under the light. He liked to hold your waist when you kissed, but tonight it was no longer gentle, demanding permission. His muscular forearm encircled it and erased whatever distance there was between your bodies. If you focused, you could feel his heartbeat because it was even more frenetic than usual.

Too soon, he wanted to kiss your neck but broke away. He was glad to have the same judged ears, for they were useful; he caught on footsteps heading towards the office.

"Darling?".

He looked around for a hiding spot: "Someone is coming. We need to hide now.".

Whatever excitement you felt was replaced with panic, as your father was the most likely visitor. You hastily grabbed the stack and headed for the large closet in the corner of the room.

"Quickly!".

Wriothesley hunched over to fit himself (that wood looked sturdy enough to hurt his head). While he had to painfully cramp himself, he still managed to squeeze in with you, and you closed the doors as shut as they usually were.

"Good stars, I'm so sorry, my dear-".

"It's okay. Don't worry about me.".

The footsteps grew in volume. Having grown up to tell, you knew it was your father.

"What could the bastard possibly want in the ea-!".

Wriothesley didn't like the idea of shutting you up. He agreed with the call, but the door flung open to reveal the bastard in question. His hand was still over your mouth.

He yawned as he made his way to the shelf, followed by your mother.

"I'm telling you, dear, you really ought to see a physician for these bouts of waking up-".

"Yes, yes, but I can't call one in now, can I? In the meantime, the law is boring and complex enough to put me back to sleep.".

He grabbed a large book. Your mother had more to say: "Honey, do you think there's any extra stress in the current time that's... Making the sleep issue worse?".

Though you disliked her, you could never bring yourself to side with your father against her. Despite the obvious worry in her voice, your father sneered at her, as if she were an idiot: "My daughter's to be married soon and the Police force feels like amping up investigations again. What do you think, huh? That I'm having a walk in the park?".

"I'm sorry, dear...".

She looked at the ground and waited until he headed out, then followed him. Wriothesley's nose crinkled in disgust, and his ears twitched.

As you left the closet, he spoke up: "I know arranged marriages aren't the most affectionate, but the way he treats her... That's bad even by noble standards.".

"You know... When I was younger, mother always told me she married him for love. Never made a hint of sense to me, because I saw couples in love. Both in my books and the commoner couples.".

He chuckled: "At least we're not like them, and that's why we're happy. Is what we have not a million times closer to love than any other noble pair?".

He wrapped his hand around yours. You squeezed tight: "I think... I think part of love is how you let me do things.".

"That's a broad term. Like what?".

"So much of my girlhood could be summarized as: 'Y/N, don't do this or that. That's not ladylike. That's not social. That's not fitting of you.'. In fact, I'm sure they'd kill me if they found out about my little investigations. But you... We've been together for months and I have yet to hear anything else than encouragement from you. You let me act boldly, shyly, dramatically, and calmly, without having to fear you like Mother does Father.".

For no reason other than beauty's sake, you took a step and turned, the moonlight reflecting on the flowy fabric.

"Though I will admit, I still feel a little guilty about the bribery. Maybe because I've always condemned it, just like you.".

On most days, he cared about justice. He really did. But in this instance where you - technically at least - broke the rules and used your privilege to strongarm your way into data, he could not reprimand you. Even if he tried, his sense of justice did not flair out. "But that sort of behavior is what keeps corruption going! And corruption fails vulnerable children!", is what he would have thought in most cases. But you were never, not since the moment you looked at each other, a case regulated by rules.

"You gave the answer to the cop, didn't you? You're just playing among the parameters of your surroundings. It just so happens that they're shit.".

"Huh...".

The sun was going to rise soon. Your meeting had to end soon, so you could get some sleep; Eyebags would make you look suspicious.

"Y/N, I think...

What he really reasoning with corruption as such? Within the norm, he'd want someone in Meropide if they bribed (supposedly) one of Fontaine's higher authorities. But after all, your hand was being forced, in many ways: Between a loveless marriage, pre-existing secrets, and corruption... What could the both of you do?

"...I think we're just doing what we can to be together when no one else does. And we shouldn't have to, ideally. But that's life.".

"I suppose so...".

#yandere wriothesley x reader #yandere genshin x reader #wriothesley x reader #yandere reader #yandere fontaine x reader #a wolf and a snake

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