#((i wrote the answers as Lavender because I felt it was best))

[tearsaura]

Until the end and beyond // Bodhi Durran x reader

A/N: Based on this request. I tried my best, I hope you like it!

Word count: 2.2k

Warnings: Angst, obvious Ironflame/ Fourth wing spoilers, possible grammar mistakes (it will be the death of me :()

Picture is from pinterest: torysacrux

Jealousy was an ugly feeling. But it became even uglier when it was over something so nonchalant.

--

Y/N knew the marked riders wouldn't be thrilled with her even before she signed up to become a rider. It would have been odd if they weren't at least a little biased towards her, considering she was King Tauri's niece.

She never resented them for their hostility towards her and was understanding. She would’ve probably hated herself too.

One morning though, she ran into Bodhi Durran. Verbatim. She had forgotten her books in her room and was racing back to her room after breakfast to get to class on time when she bumped into Bodhi, his hand shooting out to keep her from falling.

Of course, she knew him before that, his beauty always embarrassed her, and when he smiled, she melted.

From there, the history wrote itself: they became friendly with each other, then friends, and by the end of their first year, they finally became a couple.

--

She couldn't force his friends to like her. However, it still hurt. They were Bodhi's family and although he was quick to shut down Imogen's or Xaden's snarky comments, he was powerless to do anything when he wasn’t there to witness them.

Violet's arrival didn't make things any better. Y/N knew the others were friendlier to Violet because Xaden's life depended on hers, but she couldn't suppress the jealousy: it was unbearable to see how easy they talked to her when her mother had done just as horrible things as her uncle had done. She envied Violet and felt terrible about it.

-----

''My muscles have been aching all day,'' Violet grumbled as she massaged her left arm. ''You should tell Imogen to ease up on the training.'' Rhiannon replied. The students, both riders and flyers, stood outside the house, all waiting for their respective professors.

She was in the second wing at Basgiath College, but since few of her wing had come with her to Aretia, they were spread out and she ended up in the fourth wing, at least that way she was always close to Bodhi.

However, she earned angry looks not solely by the marked ones now, but by the fliers too.

''You should look out for lavender and make an oil out of it. Rubbing Lavender oil on the sore muscles can help relieve the pain.'' Y/N said in a timid voice and gave her a shy smile.

,,Oh god! I completely forgot about that. Thanks!'' Y/N was about to say something back when Imogen approached them. She grabbed both Rhiannon and Violet and pulled them away by the arms. ''We have work to do''.

-----

That evening, she layed with Bodhi as usual, her head resting on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. He ran a hand through her hair and breathed kisses on her head consistently.

"How was your day, darling?" he whispered. ''Like any other, the best part of my day is when I'm with you.'' She replied, which made him grin. ''Coincidentally, that’s the best part of my day too.'' ''Hm…That is a weird coincidence.’’

He tickled her side and broke into a grin once again when he heard her giggle. He could be having the worst day of his life, but the sound of her laughter would make it a good one. ''Did my friends act like immature little children today?'' he finally asked, and Y/n shrugged. ''I didn't really see them today,'' she answered, and Bodhi nodded thoughtfully. He left it at that and decided for now not to call her out on her obvious lie.

--

The straw that broke the camels back came about two weeks later.

Y/N had just packed a lavender oil mixture in a small bottle and set off in search of Violet. Her feelings of guilt over the jealousy gnawed at her and she decided to help the girl. She spotted Violets distinctive brown and silver hair in the great hall, where she stood by Xaden, Imogen, Garrick and Bodhi. The latter smiled when he spotted her and held out his arm to her.

"There you are, my dear. I missed you.'' she grinned and let him pull her in his arms and he pressed a kiss to her temple. Y/N didn't miss Imogen's eyeroll ''What do you have there?'' ''Lavender oil. Violet? For your sore muscles.'' She said, holding out the small bottle to the younger girl. ''Oh, thank you! You're a savior-'' Before Viole could reach for the bottle, Xaden knocked it out of her hand.

"Xaden!" "What are you doing?" Bodhi and Violet both exclaimed at the same time, one angrier than the other. ''Don't trust her! Who knows what's in there!'' he hissed, and Y/N felt tears welling up in her eyes. They would never change their mind on her, no matter what she did, they would only see her as an enemy. Never an acquaintance and certainly not a friend. She disentangled herself from Bodhi's arms and gave him a forced smile. ''I'll see you later.'' she pressed another kiss to his cheek and with that, she left without waiting for a reply.

''She made me a lavender oil for my aching muscles! "And that doesn't seem strange to you? ''Why should it when I told her myself that I've been having problems lately?'' 'I've been telling you; you can't trust her!''

"What are you implying?" Bodhi interrupted him in a calm voice as he turned back to his cousin. ''You know what I think of her. So you know what I meant, too''

"Are you being serious right now?" Bodhi asked with a humourless laugh. 'I'm sick and tired of you treating her like this. She has never done anything to you and has always treated you with respect, even though none of you deserved it. You should know how shitty it is when people treat you badly because of your family. We all welcomed Violet with open arms when she was General Sorrengail's daughter and not Xaden's girlfriend, but you couldn't do the same for my girlfriend? I love that woman more than anything and I couldn't even protect her from you. I failed as a boyfriend in every way. It's a bloody miracle she didn't break up with me until now! And to be honest I would not blame her if she did: She has every right to,'' Bodhi's voice broke and he turned his head to the side. The last thing he wanted to do was cry in front of those assholes. Xaden paused, Imogen sought Bodhi's gaze, and Garrick stared at the floor. Guilt crept through all three of them, one more than the other. "Honestly I can’t stand to see any of you right now. I'm very disappointed in you guys.''

-----

Was she such a monster? Did they think she had so much hatred that she would deliberately poison someone?

Violet stood outside her room door shortly after the incident and begged her to let her in, apologizing repeatedly, but Y/N pretended not to hear her. Violet had given up and shortly after that, Bodhi arrived, whom she also left standing there.

The embarrassment was running too deep, and the thought that she had put Bodhi in such an awkward situation with his family time and time again made her sick.

Bodhi, being the understanding and wonderful person he was, left too, understanding that she needed to be alone.

When the knock came for the third time, hours later, Y/N was still holding the pillow to her face to stifle her sobs.

"I know you're in there, open up, I want to talk to you." Y/N froze when she recognized Imogen's voice. She still hesitated and swore she heard a sigh from the other side of the door.

''I'm not here to insult you any more than I’ve already done. I'll be nice, I promise.'' Y/N thought about it for a moment, but then decided to go for it. What else did she have to lose that she hadn't already gambled away?

Without worrying about her swollen eyes and red nose, she pulled open the door and stared at Imogen. "Are you going to let me in?’’ she wordlessly stepped aside and gestured for her to come in and closed the door.

Y/N sat back on her bed and looked at Imogen expectantly. The pink-haired rider sat down next to her.

"No matter what I say, it won't make up for the way we've treated you for the past two years, but I'll say it anyway: I'm sorry." She said, looking at Y/N. Even though she would never admit it to anyone, her heart broke at the sight of her shaken form.

''Why the change of heart?"

"Realization. We made Bodhi's life difficult; we made it difficult for you and that only because you guys fell in love. It's no excuse but pretty much all the rest of us follow Xaden's way of thinking. We owe everything to him, and his intuition has rarely let him down. If he sees an enemy in someone, it's usually true.''

'Not all of you follow his way of thinking,' Y/N replied, glancing at Imogen, who gave her a sad smile.

''Liam was a great exception in every way possible. None of us will ever live up to him.''

''I expected even before I started at the quadrant that we wouldn't necessarily be the best of friends. I totally understood where you guys were coming from, but it's one thing to avoid a stranger and another to make your best friend's life a living hell because he fell in love with the wrong person. I don't care how you treated me, but I will never forget what you did to Bodhi. Just as I will never forgive myself for being the cause of his suffering.'' Fresh tears sprang to her eyes and Imogen placed a hesitant hand on hers.

I have never seen Bodhi as happy as he is with you. We all have a long way to go to make it up to you. I'm not good at this emotional stuff, but I want the people who are important to me to survive. And you are now one of those people, which is why I'm expecting you for training tomorrow morning before breakfast. You can never work enough on your fitness and physical strength.'' ''Only if I can give you a crash course on medicinal and toxic plants afterward. I don't want a repeat of the lavender oil incident.'' Y/N countered, and Imogen snorted out a laugh. ''No, you should be bland I can’t actually start to like you! Otherwise, I'll feel even worse than I already do.''

''You're forgiven. I want to put this behind me and concentrate on what's in front of us. My only condition for my forgiveness is that you apologize to Bodhi, too.''

''First thing in the morning-'' Imogen was interrupted by a knock on the door. The girls both looked at each other puzzled, and Y/N went quietly to open the door, only to reveal Bodhi standing behind it. His hair was tousled, he was already in his pyjamas and he had a hopeful look on his face.

"Can we talk? '' ''Yes, yes of course come in.'' When Bodhi stepped into the room and caught sight of Imogen, he raised his eyebrows prompting.

''I came with a white flag and will leave you two alone. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" Imogen asked, heading for the door. ''Well-rested and ready to go. Have Good night.'' ''You too.'' With that, she left, and Bodhi and Y/N were alone in the room. He turned to his girlfriend curiously: ''What was this about?''

''She asked for forgiveness.'' Bodhi couldn't help the grin that spread across his face and Y/N swore she was falling in love all over again.

"Really?" she nodded and swallowed.

''Bodhi, I'm sorry I didn't open the door for you earlier...'' ''Hey, it's all right, you don't have to apologize. You needed time for yourself, and I totally understand that. If anyone must apologize, it's me.''

''Bodhi-''

"I love you and I can see what their behaviour did to you, and I should have done much more about it. I should have stood up for you more. I failed and I am so incredibly sorry...''

'Bodhi, I would never blame you for that. Don't say that you can't even think that, I love you. I'm sorry that our relationship has put you in such a position with your friends in the first place.'' She murmured and Bodhi closed the distance between them with two steps, taking her face in both hands.

'I've never had doubts about our relationship. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and ever will. I thank every god that there is and heaven for you and not a day goes by that my love for you doesn't grow. I want to spend my life with you and never be a day without you.''

''I don't want that either.''

''Good, because I'll be yours for as long as you want me.''

''I want you until the end and beyond that.''

'Until the end and beyond it is then.''

#bodhi durran #bodhi durran x reader #fourth wing #iron flame

[wongyuuu]

crossing the line | one | kmg

pairing: mingyu x fem!reader genre: smut, fluff (ish) word count: 1.6k warnings: smut (18+), minors do not interact, kissing, a little bit of dirty talking, swearing. a/n: this is something new i'm trying so i'm still a little insecure about it. a huge thanks to @ressonancee for putting up with my shit while i wrote this. if you filled the form to get tagged in my fics but was not tagged for this one, it means that you are either a minor or i didn't find your age anywhere in your blog.

part two

this is part of my new series, seventeen as songs from lover (ts)

Mingyu ➝ Paper Rings I hate accidents, except when we went from friends to this ↳ Mingyu had always been your best friend and that line had never been crossed before, then, one day, you woke up naked ion his bed with a vivid memory of the previous night.

Even before opening your eyes, you already knew you weren't in your bed. The mattress was a little too soft, the sheets not all the velvet feeling you were used to, and the smell didn't remind you of lavender like your room did. Above all that, the hand possessively holding onto your thigh was definitely not yours.

Without looking, you knew it was Mingyu by your side. 

Peeking under the covers wasn't necessary but you wanted to make sure. Yep, naked.

You weren't drunk the night before and hadn't gotten even close to it. Although it was true that you couldn’t drink a lot, half a beer wasn’t enough to get you drunk. If anything, you had never been sober. It was a completely conscious choice to have sex with Mingyu.

"Why were you flirting so much with Soonyoung?" Mingyu had asked, while you were looking for your phone.

"We always kind of flirt when he gets drunk" the answer had left your lips mindlessly because it was the truth.

Drunk Soonyoung was cute, sometimes bubbly, sometimes a crying mess. But all times flirty. You never flirted when he was sober, though. 

"Today was a little too much, don't you think?"

Mingyu followed you around his apartment, to his bedroom, arms crossed over his chest, his brows forming a frown. You turned around and walked to him, pulling his arms down to his sides.

"What is it with you today?" you asked softly, running your thumb over his eyebrows until the frown was gone "You've been really grumpy"

Mingyu sighed, his hands on your hips. You became too aware of the height difference between the two of you,  of the way his body leaned down on yours. Mingyu had always been touchy, always. But the way his hands were sitting on your hips, his fingers lightly pressing your skin over the fabric of your dress was different. 

Mingyu dropped his forehead to your shoulder, and your hand naturally went to his neck, caressing his hair. 

"I think I'm going crazy" he whined. 

Laughing you poked at his ribs with your free hand.

"You are a little crazy"

You felt as if your heart was going to combust at any second. Mingyu's touch on your waist became a little tighter, the tips of his fingers digging into your skin. It felt good, way too good.

Like a feather, Mingyu pressed his lips to the skin of your shoulder, where it connected with your neck.

"What are you doing?" you whispered. 

He simply hummed and continued to kiss your shoulder, now lightly sucking on your skin. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but just enough to drive you insane. 

It would be a lie to say that you never thought of Mingyu as more than just your handsome friend. The guy was attractive and he knew that, and capitalized well on the fact. So once, or twice, you allowed your mind to drift to that place, of him kissing you like you had seen him do with other girls. But the reality of it was incomparable to any dream or thought you might have had. Each little kiss from Mingyu gave you sent little tingles through your body.

"Mingyu, we drank today" you finally managed to push out.

Mingyu immediately pulled away from you, his eyes searching yours, both hands now on your face. He wanted to cross many lines with you but not if you were drunk.

"Fuck, I'm sorry" he pressed his forehead to yours for a second, before giving you a quick kiss "Let me drive you back" 

The only reason why Mingyu even thought of initiating something with you was because he didn't see you drink at all. It was sort of an understanding between you two that if Soonyoung and Chan were around neither of you would drink because they could get out of control. 

When Mingyu started to pull away, when you no longer felt his hands on you, a weird sense of emptiness started to spread over you. You held his hand, your eyes never leaving his. You could hardly blame your actions on the half beer you drank five hours before. 

"If we do this," you said carefully, low voice "It's a one-time kind of thing. Tomorrow morning we go back to what we are"

"You just said you're drunk"

"Listen to me" you pulled his face close to yours, the deep red of your nails contrasting with his tanned skin "I drank half a beer before Soonyoung and Chan even got here. This is your only chance, either take it or drive me home"

Mingyu didn't need to be told twice. In a second you pressed against the wall. Your legs wrapped around his waist as he delved back into your neck. Long gone were the soft kisses. The man was pure hunger.

He nibbled your jaw as his hand caressed the side of your breast.

"I always knew you wanted me" he smirked against your skin.

Finally, his lips found yours. All patient Mingyu was a distant memory as he pushed his tongue into your mouth, demanding control. 

You were all too pleased to give it to him.

Mingyu walked back, hands on your ass, never breaking this kiss. He had waited years for a chance with you, there was no way he'd waste a single second of your touch. 

"I'm going to take my sweet time with you," he said, dropping you in his bed.

You smirked, pulling your hair away from your face. 

"I don't think you can" you eyed the bulge in his sweats "I mean, you're hard just from kissing"

Mingyu had always been big but his new obsession with the gym was paying off. His arms had gotten huge and his shoulders larger than before. You didn't look away as he pulled his shirt over his head and his pants down. 

Without a word Mingyu kneeled on the bed, slowly, teasingly, running his fingers over your legs. You whimpered when he finally touched your thighs, making him smile again.

"You talk a big game but I'm sure of what I’ll find”

Mingyu kissed your inner thighs, goosebumps erupting in your skin. He didn’t take his eyes off you for a second. He knew where he was going without needing to look at you. Like he had somehow memorized your body. 

Ever so slowly, he pulled the hem of your dress up. You almost wanted to groan at the fact that you didn’t put on your nice, sexy, lingerie. Instead, you had body shorts on. Mingyu didn’t seem to mind one bit though, as he kissed every bit of skin that was exposed while he pulled your panties down. 

“God, why are you so slow?” you complained, pulling your dress over your head “If you’re going to eat me out, just eat me out”

You couldn’t help but squirm under Mingyu, desperate for him to touch where you needed him the most. It was embarrassing to admit that you were already worked up from the little he had given you. The small gasp that left your lips, followed by a moan, once he finally pressed his fingers against your clit, was the last tug at any self-restraint Mingyu still had.

“Dripping for me,” he said 

Then he reached for the drawer, pulled it open, and took a condom out. 

“All of this teasing and you’re really not gonna suck me?” you complained, sliding down on the bed, rubbing yourself on his thigh desperate for any sort of friction.

“I will, baby” he kissed you, while kicking his boxers off and rolling the condom on “but I think both of us will die if I don’t fuck you already”

Without a warning, Mingyu pushed into you. A mix of a moan and a gasp left your lips as he filled you completely. He nested his head on the crock of your neck, sucking harshly on the skin, at the same time you dug your snail into his back. 

He moved at a steady pace at first, long slow strokes that hit you in all the right places. You pulled his face to yours. There was something in his eyes, completely different but not something you could afford to read into at the moment.

“Mingyu, fuck” you moaned “Harder”

With his lips on yours, one hand on your hip to keep in place, and the other above your head, Mingyu increased his pace. His kisses were frantic, matching the way the rest of his body moved.

“Please, tell me you’re close” he begged against your lips “I need you to cum, baby”

You nodded, eyes shut, as you felt your insides grow tight with the build-up of your orgasm. Mingyu chased his high too, his thrusts getting sloppy.

He held your body to his, painting over your chest as your body shook with pleasure. He never stopped kissing you, you noticed. Even after it was over, both of your bodies covered in sweat, he was still dropping kisses all over you.

“Give me two minutes,” he said once he managed to recover his breath, the most charming smile on his face “and I’ll eat you out.”  

You laughed and pushed his face away.

“You don’t have it in you”

Running a hand through your hair you looked at Mingyu, still deep in his sleep by your side. He kept his promise, more than once actually. 

It was a bad idea, to sleep with Mingyu. You knew that. He was your friend. Had been for years. Mingyu was the one you turned to when things got hard, when you needed comforting, or sometimes just someone to knock some sense into you. 

You didn’t want anything to change between you any further than it had already had.

With that in mind, you pulled his hand from your thigh and got up. You collected your clothes from the floor and left his room, and apartment altogether. 

taglist: @wonwooz1, @mirtaspace, @feat-sun, @wonvsmile, @mhlsymlysn, @immabecreepin, @miriamxsworld

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a/n: i will probably write a part two for this

#k-labels #seventeen imagine #seventeen x reader #seventeen x you #svt x reader #svt imagine #svt x you #mingyu x reader #kim mingyu x reader #mingyu x you #kim mingyu x you #mingyu #seventeen fluff #mingyu imagines #kim mingyu imagines #kim mingyu #mingyu fluff #seventeen smut #mingyu smut #svt smut

[jinxedmuse]

seventeen ot13 reaction + head cannon: if they had a black cat personality type s/o that showed affection (not so) subtly

authors note: hiii! enjoy these quick scenarios i wrote today bcs i realllyyy miss the boys! a lot of these were hard to write but i tried staying true to their personal ideal types + how the members like to receive affection! enjoy :,)

special dt to: @chwecandi mi new amiga! ty 4 being crazy over the boys with me 😭🫂

warnings: none, some kisses here & there but nothing suggestive, should be gender neutral, teeth rotting fluff <3

choi seungcheol: acts of service s/o

scoups knows you aren’t the outwardly affectionate type and respects that but he is such a baby boy :(

as the maknae of his family & yet the eldest + leader of 12 men he NEEDS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF FROM TIME TO TIME (almost all the time) !! he’d be coming home from work exhausted but craving your touch.

you’d give him the quickest peck on the cheek (right on his dimple) before pushing him towards the bathroom.

“why, whyyy, i wanna cuddle!!” he’d complain all pouty :(((

he opens the door and almost cries on the spot. you had prepared him a piping hot water bath with lavender scented epsom salt for any possible soreness and roses for extra hydration. his towel was already hung up as was his robe for when he got out.

he immediately turns back and looks at you like???? why are you the best person ever??? gives you kisses all over your face repeatedly, you tilt your head back trying to dodge some but you secretly loved it.

“okay cheollie get in before it gets cold, choo go away.” you’d complain.

he smiles and starts undressing himself at your order. he gets into the tub and lets out a pleasurable sigh, feeling instantly relaxed. you give a smile at the doorway, happy that your person was content. you’re about to close the door when he suddenly called your name.

“you’re not gonna join me?”

p.s (you joined him ;)

rest of members below!

yoon jeonghan: words of affirmation + acts of service s/o

you and jeonghan enter a new restaurant together. he had been excited, seeing an ad about it a few weeks before it’s opening and wanted to take you but he was too busy to ever make any reservations himself.

so, you had secretly done it yourself to line it up with his free schedule.

“booths or table?” the waiter ask and before jeonghan could answer you spoke up. “table, please.”

jeonghan pouted but followed the lead, heading to your table. “babe, i wanted the booths so i could be closer to you” he said as he sat down on the opposite side of you.

to be honest, you had always found couples who sat in booths up each others asses were frustrating to look at. maybe it’s just because you weren’t the biggest fan of physical touch.

and, today jeonghan had his short black hair styled so that he had slight layers and a bang. he was wearing a black button up with the sleeves rolled up. his black and gold yves saint laurent bracelet fully showing around his slightly veiny arm. you wanted to admire him face to face and the best way to do that was with tables.

so you told him that.

“i wanted you in my direct line of view. you look handsome.” you replied nonchalantly, focusing back on the menu.

he nearly got out his seat to give you a kiss then and there. yoon jeonghan was without a doubt, an insane visual. he was aware of the effect his looks had on people but he was so used to being called: beautiful, pretty etc, especially when he had his longer hair so this felt new. it made his heart flutter.

your words were always so straightforward yet no matter how long you had been dating, they always had an effect on him.

jeonghan put a hand over his heart, making sure it was still beating properly because he could’ve sworn it skipped a beat.

“y/n” he said your name gently, full of love. you looked up, confused at the sudden tone, there was a clear shift in the air that felt way too emotional for you.

“you know how much i love you, right?” he asked. it was a rhetorical question. you knew clear and through, and you had always made sure to let him know as well since too much of physical touch or pda made you slightly uncomfortable.

“i know, i do too.” you replied with a smirk. he was about to speak up once more but the waiter came up to your table, breaking the tension in the air.

hong joshua: gift giving s/o

“ahh babe, this is the third gift you’ve already given me in the last two weeks.” he adorably complained, looking at the new box sitting in front of him.

you pushed his head to the side before pointing at the box. “open it.” you ordered. excited for him to see what would be inside.

he complied, opening up the box and the smile never left his face. it was a perfume making set with customized bottles that had his name on them.

he was practically beaming from ear to ear. eyes almost disappearing as he smiled.

he looked adorable.

you wanted to say it but you always had a problem with cheesy things or just putting your words together in general. so you bought him things, anything he wanted, stuff he looked at for a second; just to see that smile.

joshua turned to embrace you, pulling you into a big hug. you hesitated for a moments before hugging back, hand patting his back slightly awkwardly.

“i really appreciate all this, and you most of all. seriously.”

your heart quite literally skipped a beat but you’d rather eat a 100k scorch level peoper before admitting that.

[a/n: didn’t really mention it but i feel like we all collectively know joshua is 100% the giving type as well >< !!]

wen junhui: quality time s/o

if you were a black cat, wen junhui was an orange one through and through. sure, your boyfriend looked cold but he was a cinnamon role embodied to you and his members.

always finding a new prank to play, new flirting technique he learned on the internet or simply finding any excuse to touch you. it was often overwhelming but you loved him regardless.

jun recently started feeling like he was annoying you, you could tell because whenever he’d be rambling about something he’d cut himself short on his own accord. you’d tell him to continue but he’d simply say it wasn’t important.

it hurt you that he felt that way and you wanted him to know that you didn’t find him annoying. you valued him and his company and didn’t mind if that came along with his constant tricks.

that’s why you called him over your apartment one day after his schedule. he came over, slightly worried because he usually had to make the first move to hang out.

you opened the door and there he was, standing in all his glory. you opened the door wider and he came through, instinctively going in for a hug which you allowed.

“soo..” he started shyly, looking around your apartment.

“what did you plan on doing today?” he asked you, meeting your eyes, searching to see if it would give away what you were scheming.

but you weren’t scheming anything, you simply missed your boyfriend.

“nothing, just missed your presence.” you replied coyly, looking down at your feet before looking back up at him and ohhhh boy was he smiling like a cheshire cat.

you made your way to you living room and flooped down on your couch, he followed behind you and watched you.

you patted the empty seat next to you while looking up at him.

“sit next to me, please.”

that’s all it took for him to practically leap onto the couch, claiming his space next to you. he pulled you into an embrace before settling down and laying his head on your lap.

kwon soonyoung: gift giving + physical touch

you had just left a restaurant with your boyfriend and you were now walking around your favorite secluded park.

you stop in your tracks once you remembered something, “oh right, i have something for you.”

hoshi looks at you, his pink lips forming into a pout. “well this is awkward because i have something for you too.” he’d say.

you pull out the gifs at the same time and you both can’t help but laugh, they were both jewelry boxes.

“ah kwon soonyoung, what am i going to do with you?” you asked teasingly, he’d be so exited like a cute hamster tiger, urging you to open his first.

you open it and sure enough, it’s a ring from the matching couple set the brand had to offer. he’d open yours and it was the necklace/chain version from the same brand.

“i think we’re actually meant to be” he’d say in suchhhh a serious tone it’d make your heart flutter.

“yeah right, as in fate?” you’d say walking away, (after putting on your gifts of course >:( !!), when he’d suddenly tug you back into him.

a warm embrace on a cold winter day, he places a gentle kiss on your head before releasing you and you can’t help but smile.

he truly knew how to make you the shyest person on earth.

jeon wonwoo: words of affirmation? (he talks x you listen) + quality time

jeon wonwoo had a cold and quiet persona but those close to him knew it was all but true.

he was silly, loving when people reacted well to his jokes. he loved learning or reading something new and rushing to tell his loved ones (you) his new learned information, most of all, he loved interactive video games.

he had invited you over about 2 hours ago and you guys were currently sitting on his couch, playing a newly released game side by side.

while you were playing, he had been rambling on about his day. everything from what time he had to wake up, rehearsals, how there was a new makeup artist, comeback concept, and even the last joke hoshi made as they were leaving set.

making sure not to leave anything out even as he concentrated on the game.

it was no longer you turn during the game so while he was wrapping up his story you took a hand and brought it up to his head, petting his hair gently before letting your hand rest at the nape of his neck for a second.

“you’ve been working so hard. you’re doing really well. i’m beyond proud of you woo.” is all you’d say before retreating your hand and picking up your controller once more.

he looked at you, a warm feeling in his stomach. ever since he got with you, he truly learned what (romantic) love was.

“i’m so glad you’re mine.” he’d reply, his cute smile taking over his face before he’d focused back on his game.

[a/n: K!LL ME NOW I WANT HIM SO BAD??\€£\ okay u may continue]

lee jihoon: quality time/physical touch (+ acts of service if u squint)

composer s/o x producer woozi

are you kidding me? this man is head over heels in love with you. and he’s very apparent about that, in his own way.

you guys are both black cats so the whole pda and overally affectionate aspect is out the window but behind closed doors? in the confines of your own houses/studios?

whole different story.

you guys compose and produce music with one or the other on each others lap. gently playing with each others hair, rubbing each others stomach, and sometimes he massages your thigh. nothing inherently sexual about it, he just loves touching you. doesn’t even realize he’s doing it sometimes.

when you’re too busy to see each other he’d ask you to send him a voice note and you would (so confused?) next thing you know he adds it to the beginning or ending of a song he’s working on. adding it to your private mixtape for each other :(

when he’s working too hard, you’d sneak into his studio, keeping him company quietly. you’d place a energy drink and some food by him, patting his hair before giving him a gentle peck on the cheek.

“you’re working hard, take care of yourself as well babe. call me when you’re done, i reserved (seats/tickets/etc) for us around (insert time)”

he’d literally melt???

lee seokmin: acts of service + words of affirmation

you guys are sooooo grumpy x sunshine coded :(((((

oh heavens, he loves u sm like it’s BAD for him??? GET UP DK!

you’d be exiting a restaurant and notice he’s a bit too tall for the walk way door thingy (spare me) so you’d go on your tippy toes and have your hand over it, protecting his head in case he hit himself.

(his heart nearly exploded at the action please let him rest)

it’d be cold outside and he’d have no gloves. you give him one of yours (albeit his hands are wayy bigger) but he’d still be so grateful.

with both your gloveless hands, you’d take them and put them in your pocket. keeping them away from the cold.

(he blushed so bad he litch got warm, give him a warning?)

one day while taking pictures, he didn’t like how any of them turned turned out. you aren’t (really?) on social media so you couldn’t understand the dynamics of the right angle, right lighting and his need to capture the “perfect bf material pic”

whatever that meant??

you let him complain all he wanted but you get annoyed the second he even ATTEMPTS to slander his looks (absolute blasphemy in your books!)

“my (insert body part) makes me look a littl-“ before he can even finish his sentence you cut him off.

“it makes you look too handsome. you’re right, don’t post he pics; i’m not ready to keep sharing my boyfriend with the world.” you’d say in the most seemingly serious tone??? (you were being 100% serious)

he dropped his phone onto the couch, no longer caring about the pictures and pulled you down onto him. the biggest smile on his face as though he won the lottery.

“it hurts how much i love you.” he’d say.

kim mingyu: also acts of service + words of affirmation

husband material gyu 100% loves getting taken care of after (also) having to cook and clean for/after his members who tease him relentlessly (pos i swear!!)

he’d come home sooo tired after a long day of filming content, all he wanted to do was sleep.

you’d be too busy to greet him at the door. in the kitchen, cooking him his favorite comfort meal for the night.

he comes in the kitchen, giving you a back hug as you finished up the last dash.

“i knew i smelled something delicious, my favorite person cooking my favorite meal.”

he attempts to give you a kiss but you had honestly felt stuffy from being in the kitchen so long and your face was kinda sweaty “ahhh gyu noo, at least let me shower first” you’d complain, letting him hug you but pulling your head away.

he’d pout but understand, backing up to give you your space. you’d turn around seeing him pout, God was it adorable but you stood your ground.

“also, the bed is already made and i have some comfortable clothes laid out for you once you’re done eating & your shower.”

he’d smile so lovingly like what did he do to deserve you??? and his heart grows even fonder once you said:

“tell me about your day over dinner, you’ve been doing so much and i’m super proud but i’ve missed you.”

if he worshipped anyone it would 100% be you. you were his knight in shining armoire especially after long days like this.

xu minghao: quality time + acts of service

you guys are adorably in love with each other i’m jealous! he paints you so much (+places you’ve been tg & etc) that he could practically open up a museum of his fondest memories of you.

you weren’t so bad at the art either so one day you decided to surprise him.

you didn’t even hear him once he came home.

“babe?” he’d call out in the cutest voice, looking for you. he needed to recharge and you are 100% his vitamin.

he’d find you in your office working on a painting of??? him??? if his heart could grow any bigger for you it just did.

“wow, i think i’m in love with you?” his voice would startle yo, pulling you out of your train of thoughts while painting.

“oh hey ming” is all you’d say with a timid smile before returning to your work.

“well, i’ll let you finish up” he’d but you almost get whiplash from how fast you turned around.

“no! i have some nido soup i made earlier in the pot. it should be still kinda warm. heat yourself some and pull up a chair next to me.”

(his heart just did a back flip btw)

he smiled ohhhh so beautifully yk that one smile he does when he’s looking at the members fondly? yeah that one ughhh :(

boo seungkwan: words of affirmation

boo is wayyyy more sensitive then he lets on. he needs all the love and support you have to offer because our boy works hard :(

since you can’t see each other often because of all his promotions, you had an idea! a very cheesy one but an idea nonetheless!

you had a heart shaped jar, on it you wrote “for me boo: seungkwan” . inside the jar were 100 exact folded sticky notes filled with things you absolutely adored about him.

small things from how cute he looked when he scrunched up his nose when he laughed to deeper things only the two of you spoke about on late night, reminders that you truly paid attention to him.

now a part of you was physically in pain from this but oh the moment you thought about how happy he would be you didn’t care how sappy it was.

you gave it to his manager to give it to him after one of his shoots. he opened it in the car, reading one was all it took for him to start balling.

he called you right after and immediately planned a date night, suddenly not being able to handle the absence of your presence ;(

(you found out he keeps these with him at all times whenever he needs a pick me up)

chwe vernon hansol: words of affirmation

like big time HELLO SHOWER HIM IN PRAISE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL BOY HE IS ??? (but also don’t overwhelm him!! be the smooooth ass mf ik u are!)

you guys are chilling on his couch, watching his newly released music video. his head on your lap as you played with his ear (which he’s absolutely smitten over but it’s hard for him to admit that)

his part comes up and your heart rate litch goes faster the moment he’s on the screen.

“you look really good in this shot.” you’d say, trying to keep your cool and collected composure.

“oh yeah?” he’d reply. no longer looking at the video but positioning himself to where he’s looking at you.

you continue talking, avoiding eye contact because you know you can’t handle the way he looks up at you with his pretty brown eyes through his long lashes.

“yeah. your voice and your style of rap is cool, it makes me want to constantly rewind just to see it again. i’m proud of all the work you do, i wish you could appreciate yourself the way i do you.”

and ohhhh my?? if you didn’t have his heart before (which you did) you CERTAINLY had it now!

if you picked him up, he’d probably be a pile of mush. to say your words had an effect on him was an understatement.

you as a whole rocked his world. undoubtedly.

lee chan: quality time + acts of service

you entered the practice room quietly, trying not to disturb the younger guy but he immediately turns around. a big smile on his face as soon as he sees you.

“baby, i missed you!” he’d say with the CUTEST face ever might i add???

you smiled and held up both your hands, takeout in one and drinks in the other.

“you’ve been copped up in here almost all day, i got you some stuff.” you’d say. he knew you weren’t trying to baby him although you were older, just worried that you boyfriend hasn’t fed himself properly today.

“i know i know, i have a new choreo i wanna learn for danceology”

you looked at him with fondness, he truly worked so hard. it was nothing but admirable.

“well then don’t mind me, i’ll sit over there” you pointed to in front of the mirror. you wanted a full view of him working his magic.

“you wanna watch me dance?” he’d ask all cutely (yk how when he was a question for one of the older members :(???)

you nodded, small smile on your face and he got sooo excited! he can do something he loves in front of the person he loves and then eat some food he loves???? triple win!

[a/n: he is the cutest ever i Want to bash my head into a wall also thank you so much if you read all i hope i destroyed ur view of parasocial relationships 🙂! stay safe & enjoy ur day/night!!!!! xoxo]

#svt writers #svt fluff #svt x reader #jinxedmuse #svt headcanons #scoups headcanons #jeonghan fluff #vernon svt #dk fluff #svt scenarios #svt x gender neutral reader #minghao fluff #jun svt fluff #seungkwan scenarios #seventeen drabbles #seventeen imagines #wonwoo fluff #svt joshua fluff #woozi fluff #svt fanfic #seventeen ot13 #ot13 x reader #bf svt fluff #svt mingyu #kpop fluff

[addthespaghetti]

The Holiday Blues

shorter than what i normally write because i wrote this quickly to help cope with my dislike for the holiday season.

warnings: family drama, sickeningly sweet fluff, angst (kinda), and flirting

650+ words

The holiday season is hard for you. Having to visit family that you know doesn't support your sexuality, but they act like they do. Not being able to bring your girlfriend to Thanksgiving or Christmas, unlike your brothers, because you know it will cause tension between you and your father. Being forced to listen to your ignorant father talk about politics and complain about the way your life turned out. But at least you have Emily.

Emily Prentiss, your incredible girlfriend, is the only reason you get through the holiday season. She has been there to help you through every moment, even if it was only over the phone. She has helped you when you cry over an argument with your father and holds you when you need someone to ground you.

Emily is the most significant person in your life, and you have had to get used to many things, like her job. While Emily's job is demanding, and her traveling all the time took some time to get used to, you have never had an issue with it. She loves it. Her team is her family, and they are slowly becoming your family, and you couldn't have asked for a better situation.

Whether it's Penelope forcing you on shopping trips to buy new decorations for you and Emily's shared apartment or Dave teaching you how to cook Italian food because you wanted to surprise Emily. The BAU team is the best family you could have asked for.

It had been a long couple of days of staying at your parents' house because of Thanksgiving. You couldn't wait to walk into your and Emily's shared apartment and finally be able to hug your girlfriend after the screaming match you had with your father.

As soon as you opened the door to your apartment, you dropped your luggage and ran up to Emily. You immediately pull Emily into a bone-crushing hug, inhaling the signature lavender scent of your girlfriend.

"I never want to let go of you again." You say against Emily's neck. Still refusing to let go of your tight hold around her waist.

Emily responds, amused by your reaction to being home, "How will I catch serial killers if you are permanently attached to my waist?"

"You're the Unit Chief. Can't you figure it out?" You look up at your girlfriend, tiredness evident in your voice.

"I don't think my bosses will be okay with it, but I will see what I can do," Emily smirks at you, obviously joking.

You roll your eyes, trying to suppress your grin as you pick up your luggage to bring it to you and Emily's shared bedroom. Emily follows you as you drop your luggage on the floor and walk into the closet to grab clothes to get changed.

Emily continues to follow you as you walk out of the closet with your clothes in your hand.

"You just going to continue to follow me and watch me while I change?" You question Emily as you start changing.

Emily looks you up and down before answering without blinking, "Yeah, pretty much."

You felt yourself blush. Embarrassed, you tried to hide your face as you continued to change, but Emily kept her word. She watched you finish changing and followed you as you went into the bathroom.

After you finally finish getting ready to relax. It took you longer than it typically would because Emily kept following you and pulling you into her embrace. You finally sat on the couch and turned on Divorce Court, your favorite show, but if anyone asks, you would never admit to watching.

Emily sat down next to you, pulling you into her arms. You lay your head against Emily's shoulder, scooting closer so you would be entirely in her embrace. Emily kisses the top of your head as you sink further into her.

"I love you," Emily says against your head.

"I love you too," You say softly.

#emily prentiss x reader #emily prentiss #criminal minds #paget brewster #self insert #no y/n #angst #tooth rotting fluff

[whinlatter]

So I am obsessed with Beasts. And specifically I cannot stop thinking about Ginny and Hermione getting ready for the NYE party. It made me start wondering if Hermione has ever felt jealous of Ginny? Like they grew up together and Ginny was the younger girl, who was excluded from the “Harry/Hermione/Ron club” so she’s obviously felt a little jealous and left out there (which you explore so well!! Agh the telling Harry it’s fine, and maybe he’d rather hang out with them than her, and pretending to herself she doesn’t care!! But I digress). But now I’m wondering if Hermione has ever felt the same about Ginny and if you will explore this more in this work or a later one? Because Ginny is cool. She’s Hot, she’s sexy, she’s popular. She pulls off that Union Jack dress perfectly and has got everyone looking at her. She’s many things that Hermione is not (or hasn’t chosen to be). While Ginny has had lines of boys wanting to go out with her, Hermione has had Harry and Ron who are her best friends.. but Harry’s not an option (for either of them) and Ron has been pretty pigheaded and oblivious through a lot of their relationship (and her as well lol). And we don’t see a lot of evidence in canon that she has many other friends. People see her as the know-it-all, kinda awkward, sometimes ruthless (rip Marietta) girl. But i guess my point is, Hermione isn’t seen as hot, sexy, popular, cool like Ginny is. The Yule ball was her one big moment really. So her putting on that little black dress and letting herself be hot… idk it gets me feeling some type of way. Like yes you go girl! And I want to know Hermiones feelings here in regards to Ginny. Like I imagine she’s happy for her, but I wonder did she ever feel sort of left out of that part of girlhood/coming into womanhood that Ginny had just so naturally embraced?

THANK YOU for reading and for the beasts love, you legend 🫶

so i have been thinking about this question a lot! no-one will be surprised to discover that i find hermione and ginny's relationship in canon so so interesting. it's neither the relationship of natural besties, but nor does it seem to be a relationship of pure convenience: there's genuine love and warmth there, the swapping of confidences, meaningful advice, emotional support in moments of distress, and more than a little boy scheming (taylor swift wrote mastermind about hermione and ginny, change my mind). i tend to think of them as sisters, though very much with hermione as the big sister, and ginny as the little.

i say this because i think my answer is no, i don't think hermione would be jealous of ginny as a hot popular girl, in canon or after the war as i imagine it in beasts. but i do think that there might be reasons for different kinds of insecurity and jealousy from hermione towards ginny, especially after the war. full reasoning and minor beasts spoilers below the cut!

one of the funniest things about hermione is that, by her mid-teens, she's reasonably self-assured about her social position and her place on the dreaded teen romance market. after she's made some mates and sorted her teeth out (something she clearly was insecure about), she's pretty content. she doesn't feel especially upset about the absence of a large circle of friends or crave the approval of the other girls in her year, parvati and lavender. she has harry and ron's friendship for a lot of her emotional needs (and, beginning in GoF, ginny, for the one's that they can't meet). when it comes to boys, hermione consistently really backs herself (as she should). when krum's interested in her, she's flattered but not astonished that this international quidditch player would want to ask her out, and the ball's mostly in her court throughout their courtship (ok penpals!) when she wants to make ron jealous, she backs herself to be able to bag both cormac and zacharias and to have her pick of them (icon). she enjoys a nice dress up - the yule ball, the wedding - and knows she scrubs up well. and while she's tapped into the public mood/gossip mill (romilda vane's love potions, harry's growing fanciability, cho's quidditch fortunes), she's not especially interested in popularity herself. she'd rather be thought of as clever than she would hot or popular, for better or worse. i think we should take hermione's encouragement that ginny tap into the growing number of boys who fancy the pants off her to help get over harry in good faith. in her mind, ginny's her little sister, and hermione gets a lot out of trying to steer her towards things that might make her happy. (she disdains fleur for her obsession with appearance and seeming desire for male attention, but she thinks of ginny as her ally in being opposed to such things, not another rival).

(that doesn't mean i think hermione doesn't ever feel insecure or even feel humiliated socially, but that her insecurities are more about her feelings for specific people (read: ronald bilius weasley) than they are about the approval of her peers. when ron takes the piss out of her in HBP, for instance, she's less upset that parvati and lavender laugh at her than she is that ron, who she fancies, is mocking her and the other girl who fancies him, lavender, is laughing at her. for the most part, hermione in canon is happy as she is)

that said... i do think that hermione might have complicated, or even jealous feelings towards ginny in other contexts. in canon, the tensions in hermione and ginny's relationship are the moments where the big sister/little sister dynamic is most visible, or else when ginny tries to reject hermione's big sisterly approach and assert herself as hermione's equal. in OotP, when hermione becomes a prefect and ginny spends the prefect party laughing with tonks and sirius about behaving badly, we see hermione's big sistery approach on display, as well as her teetering with a desire to get involved with the troublemakers while also remaining pretty committed to being well-behaved in her bones. we see elsewhere that while hermione advises ginny, we have no evidence that that happens the other way around, or at least that hermione takes any of ginny's advice (it seems to hard to imagine ginny approving the cormac/zacharias plan, for one). their fight in HBP over sectumsempra isn't ginny calling hermione on not being involved in quidditch because she's not cool enough, it's the suggestion from ginny that hermione is wrong about harry's best interests, doing up i-told-you-so, being too wrapped up in her own ego over the prince's book, and then trying to manipulate ginny by bringing up quidditch in the first place (which causes ginny to go for the jugular and bring hermione's intellect, and lack of understanding on quidditch, into it). hermione's disdain for how much time harry and ginny are spending together during exam szn is also plainly big sistery, and, as it bothers harry, i think we can assume it's also something that ginny would grate against too.

in the post-war world (as i see it in beasts) i think these dynamics would be more visible than ever. ginny's lived a certain kind of war that's made her less happy to be patronised or dismissed as a little sister figure rather than an equal: she's also a symbol of the world hermione feels increasingly lost in. hermione is head girl of a student body she feels extremely removed from, while ginny is widely respected as a resistance leader among the other students, and especially admired within the DA. her conflict with ginny is really an extension of hermione's post-war conflict in general, which is about her place in the wizarding world at large: where does she fit in, in this post-war world that's both so different but also (in lots of troubling ways) very much the same, full of many of the same prejudices and problems that defined wizarding society in the interwar years. another of hermione’s big postwar conflicts, in my mind, and in fanon more generally, is about hermione's relationship with her self - as a former soldier now trying to go back to normal young adulthood - and her relationship with her family. the reason i wanted hermione in that little black dress looking fit was partly to have her try and reach out to her pre-war self who did enjoy getting dolled up and stunting on the hoes (even if maybe not in a dress quite so short, slay), but also to have her play with the idea of being allowed to do something so frivolous like look fit to turn her boyfriend on (real slay), and to have her start to publicly wrestle with a different set of external expectations, not from her peers, but perhaps from a parent she recognises she doesn’t really know:

Hermione tries for a smile, sad eyes tracing the dress’ low neckline. ‘My mum would hate it,’ she mutters. ‘She - ’ She shakes her head, throws up her hands. ‘I don’t know. Maybe she wouldn’t. I don’t know.’

i always think about that scene early in PoA where hermione and ginny are laughing with mrs weasley about love potions. it's such a cute moment - really the first hermione and ginny friendship moment in the series - and i'm very struck that it's a moment of real fun and levity that happens with this mother figure present (especially when hermione has just ditched hers to go hang out with the weasleys for what will be the first of many times). i don’t want to say too much for where things are going in beasts, but just that i think it’s significant that hermione and ginny’s first real girly friendship moment happens in the presence of a warm maternal figure who adores her daughter, imbuing hermione and ginny’s relationship with a sisterly-ness but also bringing into the dynamic the example of mothers and intergenerational female relationships. ginny has a very specific relationship with her mum; i imagine hermione has a very different one with hers, and i think that matters for who hermione is but also her relationship with ginny, just a bit.

loved thinking about this one, thank you so much!

#these girls #love em #thank you!!! #beasts #minor beasts spoilers #hermione granger #female friendship #meta #ginny weasley #romione

[vilandel]

Lavender & Rose

Summary It was strange to smell Vanessas rose water on Nozel. Even stranger to that Nozels subtle lavender scent was now on Vanessa. But Noelle didn't connect the dots before she saw the reason crystal clear in front of her.

A/N I fic I wrote two years ago, because I wanted some interactions between Noelle, Nozel and Vanessa while those two are dating 💜

Ao3 link

♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

“So, were where you?”

Vanessa flinched while putting her broom against the wall, before she turned, smiling brightly and trying to hide how nervous she was.

But Noelle won’t have any of it. She could clearly see that her squadmate was nervous. She knew Vanessa by now, she would always smile and laugh and be as cheerful as possible to hide her nervousness. After being members of the same squad for a long time, of course Noelle knew how Vanessa ticked.

“My, you sound like an older sibling, sweetie, despite being the youngest Black Bull. Trying to impersonate your brother, huh?”

“Not true!” Noelle protested, even though she might have tried to channelled a bit her inner Nozel in order to put some deep in her scolding words. But maybe others would just find that she’s looking cute, sadly.

“That’s not the issue here and you didn’t answered me. Again, were where you?”

Vanessa visibly hesitated, so Noelle continued with a deep sigh, “You were out all night drinking at different bars. Vanessa, you promised me to take your drinking problem seriously! I thought you were already doing better.”

“Noelle, I swear that I wasn’t out getting drunk. And I’m doing better, or did you see me gulping down twenty bottles of wine every evening lately.”

“Fair point, but you know that I suspect you to drink in secret. It won’t be the first time, do you remember the incident in the bathroom?”

“Well… okay, that wasn’t the best idea I had and I’m sorry. But I really didn’t go all night in some bars and get drunk. Or do you smell any wine from me?”

Noelle sighed, feeling a bit stupid. It was true, there wasn’t any wine smell coming from Vanessa. Which meant that she didn’t spend the night to get drunk.

There was still a smell, though. Very subtle, almost invisible. A hint of lavender, Noelle could tell. But she had no idea what to think of it and lavender wasn’t something that would make her think of Vanessa, who preferred roses. But that lavender still felt familiar, somehow.

Deciding to ignore it, she just asked, “But then, where were you?”

“Ah, this is my secret,” Vanessa giggled, her nervousness flying away. Noelle looked suspiciously at her, but of course her squadmate wasn’t impressed. “Just so you know, I found a way to spend my nights that is way more wonderful than getting drunk over twenty times.”

“I hope so. Well, as long as it makes you happy and don’t dangerous…”

“You’re really trying to impersonate your older brother, aren’t you?”

“Don’t start with that again!” Noelle protested, blushing heavily. For once that she wasn’t blushing about Asta, but that didn’t change the fact that she didn’t like getting red like a tomato. It was already embarrassing that she kinda wrongly accused Vanessa, almost as much as her feelings for that idiot. Despite having admitted her feelings to herself during the battle in Spade, Noelle still had difficulties to admit it out loud to anyone,especially Asta. If it took her more than one year to admit those feelings to herself, how long will she take before she would finally admit to him or even anyone?

And then she had other concerns on this topic…

Chasing those unpleasant thoughts away, Noelle said to Vanessa, “Sorry to assume that… well, you know. I’m just worried about you.”

“And trust me, Noelle, I’m grateful for that. You’re clearly one of the rare Bulls who really show their worry. A bit too much in your case, but I guess that’s just typical Silva.”

Noelle had no idea why this kinda sound more like a compliment than teasing.

She couldn’t ask though, because Vanessa came over to hug her. Noelle reluctantly gave in. After all, she accepted her love for hugs, but not with everyone and for now, she refused to say it out loud.

“You’re a real sweetheart, despite your hard shell. Don’t worry too much about me, I just found a better drug than wine.”

This didn’t sounded reassuring at all, but Noelle find herself in a mood to give Vanessa the benefice of doubt. After all, the fact that she smelled not like wine but lavender could be considered a good sign.

That lavender smell, though… Why did it felt so familiar?

♣♣♣

Two days later

Noelle just watched as Nozel put some papers into the chimney fire. Marriage proposals. For him, for Nebra and Solid, even for her. She never would have thought that nobles would ask for her hand in marriage, given her past reputation. But apparently, even back then, before she became a Black Bulls, Nozel received marriage proposals for her.

“How long?” Noelle asked. She didn’t know what else to say. Visiting her older brother still felt a bit awkward. But Noelle refused to miss it. After Nozel told her the truth about their mother, after he told her everything, after they were trying step by step to mend their bond, she couldn’t gave up on what they already achieved.

It still felt like work in progress and considering their story, of course they would need to move forward. But despite the awkwardness, those visits were precious to Noelle. It felt good, fragile but strong at the same time. At first, Nozel and her talked mostly about their mother, but they started recently having discussions on other topics.

“You were barely a few days old,” Nozel answered quietly. “It hasn’t stopped since. They’re most desperate during May, summer or December, it’s when nobles and royals usually get married. Some were even bold enough to tell me that a wedding, an alliance with this House or this family would be the only thing that could make your reputation better… I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, big brother.”

Nozel sighed, putting another proposal in the fire, before he continued, “I just… I couldn’t do that to you. I wanted to protect you and I did it wrong. But marrying you off… I refused to put you through a loveless, arranged marriage, no matter how protected you could have been and no matter how it could have helped our House. Those are things I never could have accepted.”

“The same for Nebra and Solid?” Noelle asked, still fearing the answer. It was reassuring to know that Nozel would never marrying her off. But she knew from experience that it was more complex than that. Just because she won’t be married off didn’t meant that she could marry who she want that easily. Especially a peasant. Especially a magicless peasant. Like Asta was.

Noelle hold back a sigh. Why was she already thinking of marrying that idiot? They weren’t together, he didn’t know about her feelings. Heck, Asta didn’t consider her as a potential romantic partner, only a friend and squadmate! Apparently, he was fixated on marrying that nun who raised him! Sometimes, Noelle asked herself what she even saw in him. Granted, she could answer that question to herself, but he was so oblivious!

Nozel didn’t answered her question immediately, looking at the fire without really seeing it. But in the end, he finally said, “Yes. An arranged marriage is something I refuse to consider for any of you.”

He said you. He didn’t say us.

This was sadly confirming the suspicions Noelle already had since a while. Nozel would most certainly sacrifice himself into a loveless, arranged marriage in order to give Nebra, Solid and her more freedom in the choice of their potential spouses.

That was what Noelle had feared and one of the many reasons why she was still hesitating with Asta. She would never accept that in order to be happy, the happiness of another person has to be sacrificed. Especially if that person would be someone she cared for, especially if it was her older brother, who already had so much pressure upon himself since their mother died.

She didn’t how to bring up that topic. Noelle had no idea if Nozel would confirm what she already knew or deny it, telling her to not be worried about him. Well, she was. And their bond was still a bit fragile, Noelle didn’t want to risk it.

“I don’t want this either,” she said instead. Nozel just looked at her, his face rather unreadable as always, but with some softness in his eyes. Noelle had no idea if he realized the subtle implication in her sentence or not. Maybe it didn’t matter.

It was rather far-fetched, but Noelle knew that she had to talk about Asta to Nozel one day. It was probable that her won’t be too pleased about her with a magicless peasant. But Noelle forced herself to not doubt her brother. It still wasn’t easy, but as captain Yami always urge the Bulls to surpass their limits, she was determined to surpass this limit of hers.

But of course, this was too far-fetched for now. Asta and Noelle weren’t even together yet. Heck, she only admitted her feelings to herself after a long period of time and knowing her, admitting it to him and to anyone in general would take some time. Noelle was rather upset with herself about that. Maybe this was another limit she would need to surpass one day?

Well, she would see due time.

Noelle slowly get closer to her brother, taking his hand. He didn’t back away, he didn’t even get stiff like when they started those visits. She didn’t know if she was trying to comfort Nozel or searching comfort from him, but it felt right.

“Won’t they leave you alone? The nobles…”

“No and I fear I’m going to deal with despicable proposals for too long. I’m Head of House, after all. And… you know that some would love to see me fail, to see our house fall. There’s only four of us Silva. Achilles and Augustus love to remind me that.”

Noelle nodded. She learned a lot of things since her and Nozel worked on mending their bond. And the way the other two royal Heads of House treated him really upset her.

“I wish I could help you somehow, brother.”

Nozel didn’t answered. Probably because he had no idea what to respond to kindness. He only nodded, tightening the hold on her hand.

Taking a deep breath, Noelle slowly hugged him. It had become a habit, to hug her older brother when he was feeling a bit down and Nozel really needed a hug so more often than she ever imagined before.

Their hugs always felt pretty awkward. They were Silvas, after all and none of both had many experiences as huggers. Well, Vanessa would hug Noelle every time she could, but the hugs she shared with Nozel were different.

Still, Noelle loved it. Despite how awkward it was, those hugs were really comforting. So, she went to it and put her arms around Nozel. He just awkwardly rest an arm around her shoulders and his other hand lied softly on top of her head.

Noelle smiled softly. It was still awkward, but it really felt good. Like always when she hugged her brother.

Although… something was different. Normally, Nozel would smell like lavender. Subtle only, a faint scent. She didn’t know if it was perfume, his shampoo or something else, but somehow it suited him. But today, he smelled more like roses.

Strange, it also felt familiar. Thinking about it, Noelle found that it was very similar to the cheap but still nice rose water Vanessa loved to use.

Vanessa… lavender… rose water…

Wait a minute!

♣♣♣

The next day

Alright, Noelle, calm down and don’t panic. There’s a simple explanation to it, of course there’s one.

She thought, while panicking on her bed back at the Black Bulls hideout instead of sleeping.

Why was she so worked out about it anyway? She couldn’t stop thinking about it since her visit to Nozel yesterday. It wasn’t like that Vanessa had Nozels subtle lavender scent and it wasn’t like Nozel smelled like Vanessas usual rose water.

Noelle sighed, frustrated. That sounded too much like denial for her liking.

But maybe it was just a coincidence.

A really big coincidence.

Maybe they just made a mistake when they bought it last time.

That could be an explanation. But that sounded only like Vanessa. Noelle couldn’t imagine her brother, who likes discipline so much, to make a mistake to buy whatever made him smell like lavender.

Not to mention that Vanessas rose water was from the cheap kind and Nozel would buy more like expensive things. Would he even buy them himself?

On the other hand, Noelle didn’t recall that lavender was used in expensive perfumes or shampoos or any of those kind of products. Wasn’t it considered not majestic enough, no fit for nobles and royals? Well, as for now, that was just a detail.

Well, maybe I wasn’t in my right mind when I smelled those scents.

Except that she was. Noelle would never scold Vanessa while feeling off (not anymore, that is) and why would she feel off while visiting her brother?

Okay, somehow none of the most logical explanations made sense, given what kind of people Vanessa and Nozel were. But would a crazy reason made more sense? Noelle highly doubted it.

Noelle sighed in frustration and got up. It was so stupid to deal with a mystery who seemed to have no logic explanation. And no explanation in general. The only reason Noelle couldn’t stop herself from thinking about was that it somehow involved two persons she deeply cared about.

A glance to her window showed her that dawn was already here. Great, now she had spent the whole night thinking about Vanessa and her brother and scents that were somehow on the wrong persons instead of sleeping. Hopefully she would be sent on no mission today.

Noelle walked to her window. She highly doubted that she would fall asleep so soon again. While she’s awake, she could at least check where her room was today, so that she can make herself an image of the hideouts map for the next few hours.

Her window was at the northside today. One of the rare calm sides in this area, because the Bulls never came here very often. It had too much tree to be a proper training ground and it was perfect to sneak in without being seen in most cases. And when, only by the quietest of the Black Bulls.

Noelle decided to not complain. She was actually lucky, maybe if she stays in her room long enough, she might have peace, not be bothered with any upcoming mission for today and so, catching up on her missing sleep.

Just as she was about to go back to bed, Noelle saw Vanessa appear behind the trees.

Great, she probably went out all night again. Noelle sighed, hesitating on scolding her friend later today or to smell if she had her rose water back or still that subtle lavender scent, that was too much like her brothers.

Geez, why can’t I just let go of that already?

Vanessa turned around, visibly talking to someone. So, she wasn’t alone? Well, not that there was anything strange with that. There were some Black Bulls who would get up early. Gordon for example, Nero too. And Asta. But Noelle doubted it was him, it was way too quiet.

Noelle sighed. After so long, she came to know him so well. And still she hesitated.

Another person appeared between the trees. But it wasn’t any of her squadmates…

Nozel?

The silver hair, the braid, the Silva clothes… even the Silver Eagle robe. Logically speaking, this was her brother, undoubtedly.

But Noelle was still unable to process this. Why would her brother come to the Black Bulls hideout? Visit her? But they would usually met at the Silva palace, because they had more privacy there than here.

And why was Nozel talking to Vanessa? Noelle couldn’t hear anything, but it didn’t looked like small talk. As if Nozel would ever do small talk.

It rather looked like old acquaintances, at least.

But how would Nozel and Vanessa be old acquaintances? They at best heard about each other, but they never ever met! Right?

For some reason, she didn’t was as certain about this statement as she normally would have been.

Noelle took a deep breath. There was really no need to panic, it usually never helped her. Maybe there was a pretty simple, logic explanation to it and she just haven’t thought about it because of her panic. If she wanted an answer, all she needed to do was to continue to observe them. Whatever they would do, it would explain what she’s witnessing just fine.

So she observed. It looked like Vanessa was teasing him, but unusually for Nozel, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Then, he actually went to caress Vanessas cheek, which was definitely not something her brother would do with someone who wasn’t family and even then, it was rather rare.

Noelle got even more confused when Vanessa took the hand caressing her and hold it close, closing her eyes in the process. Looking like she was enjoying the touch.

What is going on?

Noelle didn’t had the time to overthinking the gesture of her squadmate, as she saw Nozel leaning down a bit. Kissing Vanessa. Right on the lips. And Vanessa kissed him back.

It started out soft, but it quickly get hotter. Passionate even. And maybe with tongue.

Noelle jumped away from the window, crashed on her bed and hide her more than red face behind a pillow, even though no one would see her.

Alright. She didn’t expect that.

And she had no idea how to properly process those news.

Vanessa… with Nozel.

Her older brother… with one of her best friends.

If someone had just told her this, Noelle would have laughed. Nozel and Vanessa, this was like worlds, even universes coming together, so actually impossible… normally. Luck stopping to love fighting would have been more probable, somehow.

But Luck was still an euphoric fighter, now even more dangerous with ultimate magic. While Nozel, her calm and serious older brother, and Vanessa, her cheery and joyful squadmate, were lovers.

But how? Why?

Well, at least they were both good-looking, Noelle wouldn’t deny that. But still, how and when did that happened. She almost also asked herself why again, but she stopped. That kinda sounded like she didn’t wanted them to be together, to be happy and in love. Well, she surely didn’t hate it, but at the same time, Noelle wasn’t thrilled about it either. Because she was still shocked from what she saw and she was processing it too slowly, so she didn’t really had the energy to be happy.

Noelle was almost tempted to go back to her window, to see if Nozel and Vanessa were still there, snogging with no care in the world. But she decided against it. She didn’t any more confirmation with what she witnessed. And it already demanded her a lot of energy to not deny it. She’d done that too many times with her own feelings for Asta, thank you very much.

Wait a minute!

The lavender scent and the rose water… Noelle had smelled it on them. Vanessas rosy perfume on Nozel and his subtle, faint lavender scent on her squadmate.

This… this was actually a logic explanation, after what she just witnessed.

But since their scents were on each other… that would mean they were really close. Granted, Noelle saw them kissing like there’s now tomorrow. But it was fair to assume that they were already closer than just kisses. That they got really close, intimate even… Was that the reason why Vanessa would only come home at morning? Because she was now spending most of her nights with Nozel, in his arms?

Now Noelle was blushing even more.

But they aren’t even married!

Shut up, Noelle, this is a stupid argument and you know it!

So much for having a quiet morning. Noelle would never find some peace now that she knows that Nozel was dating Vanessa, one of her squadmates!

Noelle gasped. Vanessa was a witch and normally out of his circles! So, would that mean that her brother, who never took any risk to endanger House Silva, basically their mothers legacy, would actually jump into the unknown by loving someone who would never be considered a proper match for a royal, even more a Head of House?

That was so much to process right now. But at least, if Nozel was serious with Vanessa – and it was fair to assume that he was – the risk of him sacrificing himself into a political marriage, in order to let Noelle, as well as Nebra and Solid, to be free from those arranged weddings, was now not that big anymore.

And this small thought was a relief for Noelle. A tiny one, but it helped her to calm down a bit.

Now, what would she do now? Actually, if Noelle was honest with herself, she wanted to understand the relationship between Vanessa and Nozel. Logically, she could just ask.

But she wouldn’t do that. Yes, she was calmer now, but only a bit. Not enough to even considering asking them about their love life. They kept their relationship in secrecy and not without a reason.

Of course not. Everyone would freak out, just like I did. Yami would freak out, almost every Black Bull would freak out, Nebra and Solid would freak out. Nobles and royals, but not only, basically the entire kingdom would freak out and I don’t know how would the reactions be in the Witches Forest. Nozel and Vanessa would not know any peace if their secret would be out in the open.

No, she couldn’t ask them. But maybe she could investigate? Just to understand… and maybe helping them. She had no idea how. But despite her shock, it was something she wanted to.

♣♣♣

A week later

“I think Noelle knows something about us.”

“Hm.”

Vanessa giggled. Nozel seemed rather more interested by diving his nose in her hair rather than Noelle maybe having some suspicions about their relationship. She liked the effect she had on him.

But knowing her boyfriend, she just knew that he won’t wave this away. At least, he won’t be silently panicking. Not while she’s here to calm him down, even a bit.

Looking over at the windows door that lead to Nozels balcony, Vanessa saw that dawn was pointing in a beautiful golden colour. Although, she preferred when dawn was silver, after a rainy night, when light would shine softly through the grey clouds and morning mist.

To witches belief, silver was the only metal that any evil couldn’t corrupt. So, witches considered it as a good sign, even in darkest moment, silver was more a symbol of hope. There had been a silver dawn their first morning as a couple and she liked to think that it was somehow their lucky colour.

Vanessa closed her eyes for a moment, holding Nozels arm to her, breathing his scent. He had a subtle lavender smell, really faint and somehow refreshing. She loved falling asleep with a bit of lavender in her nose.

But it wasn’t night, it was morning and they had something to discuss.

Nozel didn’t answered right away, so Vanessa continued, “She tried to follow me a few days ago, when we had that date in this fancy, noble restaurant. Knowing her, she would have disguised herself as a maid, but she didn’t found the restaurant in the first place. Well, even if she did, you booked a private salon for us, so I doubt she would have been able to spy on us anyway.”

“Knowing her? So, she already did disguise herself as a maid?”

“Yes. But don’t tell her, she would deny it. She always denies it.”

Vanessa giggled as Nozel just sighed deeply. It didn’t sound like a Head of House worrying about members of his House acting out of line. No, this sigh here was the one of a tired older brother and it was utterly adorable.

“I think you’re right, Noelle might know something. She was at the capital yesterday.”

“Yes, it was her day off and she wanted to go shopping. Although she rarely goes alone.”

“Well, we met in front of a florist and she asked if I’m going to buy a bouquet. Noelle tried to ask casually, but… well, I could feel her nervousness. She also asked about some meanings of flowers and what messages it could give when you put these flowers together with those. I admit that it surprised me. Noelle knows about those very well, it is part of our Silva education.”

“You Silvas with your flower language,” Vanessa giggled, which made Nozel frown a bit.

“Do you hate it when I offer you flowers?”

“Of course not, honey. I love it. It’s just funny that language of flowers is part of your royal education. Silva education, so it’s exclusively your family?”

“The Kiras and Vermillions don’t have it, indeed. Well, my cousins learned it as well, but Kirsch and Mimosa have plant based magic.”

“Make sense. But back on topic. Noelle definitely knows something or has suspicions at least. Do you think it is time we tell her about us?”

Nozel sat up in a sigh. He didn’t answered immediately and Vanessa won’t push him. Given their situation and their statuses, it wasn’t the easiest decision to make. In their society, where rumours are able to hurt more than they should and one word could sadly decide the downfall of even a royal, they had to go a stony way if they don’t want to be separated from each other.

Vanessa sighed. Nozel and her decided to go on a stony way. But she never regretted it once, even for a second. What they had made her happy and it was the same for Nozel. She knew who he really was, she saw behind the cold mask and he let her be vulnerable with him. He didn’t back away from the broken side of her. No, he accepted it, he even embraced it.

That love was worth fighting for.

But they couldn’t live in secrecy forever. Neither of them wanted it anyway. Vanessa would prefer to be out in the open and Nozel was tired of secrets, after living and suffering with them for over seventeen years.

They had decided to come out slowly out of their secrecy, step by step. After blissful weeks with just the two of them, telling Noelle would be a good first step.

“You know, honey, Noelle would be actually one the Bulls who would be genuinely happy for us. Granted, after she got over her shock.”

Vanessa loved her squadmates, she really did. But she also loved Nozel deeply. She knew that most Bulls would have big shock learning that she was dating the captain of the Silver Eagles of all people. They would freak out and maybe not all would be happy, at least at the beginning.

But she had no concerns about Noelle for that.

“I know,” Nozel replied. “It… may be a good idea and the right time as well. I just… I have no idea how to tell her.”

He looked away, clearly embarrassed. Vanessa couldn’t help but giggle. He was so adorable when he was flustered.

“Oh, look at you, being all shy to tell your baby sister that you’re in a happy relationship.”

“Stop it, please.”

His cheeks were no as red as rubies and he was still looking away. Did he realize how cute he was when he’s like that? Vanessa grinned as she also sat up to hug him.

“We will tell her together. If I leave you both alone, it might going to be awkward. Cute knowing you and Noelle, but awkward still. And if she already knows something, maybe she won’t get too shocked?”

“Alright.”

Vanessa tightened her hug and smiled in glee when Nozel turned a bit to hug her back.

She would love to tell Noelle. Secrecy was nice and all, no rumours to hurt them, no one judging, no overprotective Bulls spying on them. Vanessa loved that peace. But she would also love to finally be in the open, showing the world how lucky she felt to be loved by Nozel Silva. Telling Noelle would be a first step. It was about time Nozel and her finally moved forward.

A giggle escaped her lips as her boyfriend dived his nose in her hair again, smelling it like it was a drug.

“Just so you know, I haven’t changed my perfume, it’s still the same every day.”

“I know. I just love this sweet scent on you. But I can’t believe that this is a cheap perfume.” Nozel sighed as he inhaled her scent deeply. “I can’t pass and smell roses without thinking about you anymore.”

“Same for me with lavender and you. I never would have thought to even love lavender before you become my amazing boyfriend.”

She heard Nozel chuckle. It sounded muffled, because his face was still in her hair. With a happy sigh, Vanessa leaned against his shoulder, enjoying his subtle lavender scent. It smelled like paradise.

♣♣♣

Two days later

Noelle was calm. Noelle was perfectly calm.

After all, she was just waiting for her brother in the Silva flower garden. At a rather hidden spot. Unlikely seen from the castle. Which would mean that Nozel would have something important to tell her and it was fair to assume that it wasn’t something nice for both of them.

Forget being calm, actually she was freaking out. Inside that is, outside she was perfectly calm. Okay, she was walking around a bush of beautiful pale pink roses, but that was just a detail.

She had no idea why Nozel called for her. It wasn’t the usual visit day and she couldn’t recall anything that could have upset him. Granted, he never scolded her since she knew the truth about their mother, but this was a detail.

Actually, could it have to do with her secret investigation about Nozels relationship with Vanessa. But how could he know, she was being so discreet that no one noticed. Well, to be fair, she had been very unsubtle most of the time, even trying her old maid ruse, from she should have known from experience that it never worked properly.

But again, details. After all, none of the Black Bulls had ever noticed anything. Well, most of them rarely used their brains and those who would usually won’t mentioned it, but well, this was just a detail.

She was contradicting herself a lot, wasn’t she?

Noelle sighed. Maybe she should stop expecting the worst, she had nothing to worry about, after all. But she was a Silva, she couldn’t stop overthinking. It was habit she never really lost, even with the Black Bulls. Maybe she needed a pep talk from Vanessa, but no one had seen her this morning.

Normally, Noelle would assume that Vanessa would be drunk in a bar. But given what she had learned last week about her brother and her squadmate… Hopefully Vanessa had spent the night with Nozel, this was far healthier than drinking all night long.

But now that she thought about that, Noelle was freaking out again. Because in a week, she was still processing the fact that Vanessa and Nozel were a couple.

Just as she was starting another round around the bush of roses, one of the two love birds appeared.

Nozels face was like usual unreadable, but there was something faintly glowing in his eyes. Anticipation? Fear? Excitement? Noelle couldn’t tell.

“Nozel, hi.”

“Good morning, Noelle.”

And they fell silent.

It was so awkward. Way more awkward than their other meeting, who were still comfy. It was like no one knew what to tell the other.

Finally, Nozel coughed a bit, which was definitely the sign that he was embarrassed. Still Noelle was a bit jealous that unlike he didn’t get all of his face red when flustered, only the cheeks.

“I… well, I have something to tell you.”

His cheeks became even more red. Noelle hold in a breath. So was it really, really about his relationship with Vanessa?

“I have the suspicion that you might already have an idea about what it is.”

Now her face was surely perfectly matching Zora’s hair colour.

“You mean… about you… and Vanessa?”

Nozel didn’t answered. He didn’t need to anyway. The way he was looking away, his cheeks colouring a deep red and how he awkwardly coughed were answer enough.

He was clearly as embarrassed as she was. Noelle never ever saw her brother this flustered before. And despite she couldn’t help but find him so cute like that. It was really touching.

“Goodness, you’re both so bad at this. No wonder, you’re siblings after all.”

Noelle actually jumped as Vanessa appeared too, giggling and also flustered, but not as much as Nozel and herself.

Looking at her squadmate, Noelle couldn’t help but notice how happy she looked. Especially when Vanessa looked at Nozel, it was like she was shining. And her brother had a small, but gorgeous smile when she took his hand. She never seen him with that kind of smile. It suited him.

“Well, sweetie. I would love to say surprise, but it seems that you knew already without us telling you, right?”

“Yes, I… saw you once… one morning last week. On the northside of the hideout.”

“Oopsie. And I thought that no one would see us on that side. Guess I was wrong,” Vanessa giggled. Noelle couldn’t tell if she was just as nervous as the two siblings or more enjoying the situation rather than being flustered.

It would have been maybe situation to tease, but Noelle was honestly not in the mood right now. She was still processing – which took really its sweet time – and once this was more or less over, she’d rather want to show her happiness first. Because, her older brother, with whom her bond become really better, with one of her best friends, who helped her a lot with so many things and still was… why wouldn’t she, of all people, not be happy?

“Well and… just so you know… I smelled your scents on each other.”

“And here I thought that this would be less of a problem, compared to other details,” Nozel sighed with a tiny smile. Noelle couldn’t help but frown. Was her brother attempting some humour?

“Seems we weren’t as cautious as we thought, especially you, little Eagle,” Vanessa teased, pocking his cheek gently. Nozel just blushed while looking away.

Noelle smiled. It was a sight to see her brother getting gently teased, even unbothered by it.

“Well, I don’t think that those lavender and rose scents would give you away. Even though it was bothering me, I only connected the dots after I saw you together.” She better kept quiet about how she even saw them kissing, passionately kissing, because that thought still flustered her a lot. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about you. Only when you’re finally ready to come out of secrecy. Even though it might be long and difficult.”

“You’re right.” Nozel let go of Vanessa to come to Noelle, taking her hands in his. “We will need to fight to be together and given how nobles and royals usually views those relationship, it won’t be easy. We will come out of secrecy slowly, step by step. We don’t want to take any unnecessary risks that could separate us.”

“Even you, Vanessa?” Noelle asked her squadmate, rather puzzled. Usually Vanessa wasn’t so cautious when it came to love. But then again, it was her own romance this time and it was with Nozel, a royal captain and a royal Head of House of all people…

“Even me, sweetie. It is a bother, all this complicated things about status and classes and such. Don’t get me wrong, I still think all this crap is unnecessary. But I’m not naïve about all of this anymore. I know now how rumours can hurt more than they should, I know how most nobles would view me at your brothers side. But I don’t want to lose him, I don’t want to lose what we have. He makes me happy and I won’t give our story up without a fight.”

Noelle had rarely seen Vanessa this openly determined. And it was about Nozel! He turned towards her squadmate and the smile he gave was surely something Noelle wanted to see more often on her brothers face.

She would help them. They deserved it and they deserved each other. Noelle was also ready to fight, so that Nozel and Vanessa would got their happiness at the end.

“I’m really happy. Well, it was a lot to process and I still need a bit to get used of you two being, well, lovers. But I’m really happy for you.” Noelle took a deep breath, because there was another thing she wanted to say. “It is also a relief for me.”

“A relief?”

Taking another deep breath, she locked eyes with her older brother. He needed to know. “I was really worried about you, Nozel. Well, I know that you would have been able to sacrifice yourself into an arranged marriage, so that Nebra, Solid and myself would be free. I hated that thought. Of you being unhappy in marriage while I’m free to choose who I want to grow old with… I would never accept a happiness for which yours had to be sacrificed.”

Nozel just looked at her, puzzled. Knowing him, he might have never considered this. Well, now he knows and it was a good thing. He needed to.

“See? I told you that she hates that thought,” Vanessa said. It didn’t sound like teasing. More soft and caring. Actually, she was perfect for Nozel.

“But now you’re with Vanessa. You’re happy and you won’t sacrifice your happiness for ours anymore. That’s why I’m relieved. Nozel, you deserve to be happy and I’m sure mother would agree with me.”

Noelle never would have thought to see gratitude in her brothers eyes one day. But there it was. Gratitude, a little sadness because she mentioned her mother and the most of brotherly affection he ever shown to her. It made Noelle so happy.

Nozel tightened his hold on her hands, sighing softly, before he spoke again, “Thank you, Noelle. It really means a lot to me, to us. But still, I have no intention to marry you, Nebra and Solid away. You’re free to choose who you want to marry, if you want. It’s might be also a difficult road for you, depending what your choice may be. But I swear to you, whoever your partner will be, you will have my support.”

Whoever her partner will be… Did Nozel actually know about her feelings for Asta?

No, that was actually impossible. But his words made Noelle realize something. If, no, as soon as Nozel and Vanessa would win their fight, that would mean that Asta and her would have a chance as well! Okay, she still needed to tell her idiot her feelings, to admit it in general and she was still not ready. But since her brother took that step already with Vanessa, despite knowing her not as long than Noelle had known Asta and since he’ll support her, then she would definitely surpass that limit of hers.

But not today. Today, she would just be happy for Nozel and Vanessa.

“Thank you, big brother.”

Noelle didn’t even hesitated to hug him and she even let out a happy squeal as her brother pulled her tightly against him. It was the first time that hugging each other didn’t felt awkward at all.

They were all silent for a moment, before Vanessa happily sighed. “Ah, right now you are definitely the cutest siblings ever… Can you make some room, please? I want a hug too!”

Nozel chuckled and one of his arms let go of Noelle to pull Vanessa against them.

So here they were, all three, in a hidden corner of the Silva flower garden, hugging each other and being happy.

Being hold by her older brother and her best friend, Noelle was just happy. Happy for Nozel and Vanessa, happy that she will help them with their relationship, happy that there was hope Asta and herself, happy that her brother won’t sacrifice himself into an arranged marriage. Happy that he found love with one of her squadmates. Happy that Vanessa fell in love with her brother.

Well, I have a lot of reasons to be happy, Noelle thought with a smile, as she smelled the mixed scents of lavender and roses

#Black Clover #Black Clover Fanfiction #My Writing ☘️♣️ #Noelle Silva #Nozel Silva #Vanessa Enoteca #Noelle & Vanessa #Noelle & Nozel #Nozel x Vanessa #Nozessa #Noelle & Nozel & Vanessa #Little head canon of mine that Nozel has a slight scent of lavender^^'

[lizbethsletters]

letters | 013

Dear, lavender

When you told me about your poems and how you were thinking about writing a book, I supported you because I knew you were gonna make it. My guilty pleasure that I shouldn't do because it messes up any kind of progress I make about not thinking about you and healing. The one you wrote in december caught my eye and I knew it was about me. I'm gonna pretend I didn't read it but fuck it makes me feel so guilty. Even when I explained to you the reason I cut you off, you don't get it for you it doesn't make sense and I cut you off for no apparent reason. In that poem you said you missed me but knew I wouldn't respond but that's where you're wrong if you would text or call me saying you needed me or you needed help I would answer in a heartbeat. Everything about this poem makes me want to go back to you and give you the biggest hug ever. I know that if I did I would lose someone who is 10x more important even though that sounds really bad you don't mean as much as she does. Regardless about that you still mean so much to me I still miss your hugs and how you made me feel but I never let myself feel those things because it sucks. I cut you off, I shouldn't feel like this but I do. You said you felt an empty space where your ex best friend was but I feel that way worse because if me and her go to shit I cut you off for what seems like no reason. Maybe this will all be worth it in the end.

𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓵𝔂,

𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓮𝔁 𝓫𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭

#blog #about my life #talk #tips #ex best friend #ex bestie #i miss her #love #poem #original poem #words words words

[buried-in-lavender]

Task 001: part one

Personal

1)      Age?

“26.”

2)      Gender?

“Cis female.”

3)      Romantic/Sexual Orientation?

“My fiance is my romantic AND sexual orientation.”

4)      Height?

“Roughly 5′5″.”

5)      Race?

“Caucasian.”

6)     What do they look like? (i.e, hair color, eye color, etc).

“I have wavy blonde hair that takes hours to get done in the mornings; brown eyes; thick eyebrows that also take hours to get looking perfect. I take a lot of pride in my appearance.”

7)      Any disabilities?

“None.”

8)      Is there a meaning to their name?

“My biological mother’s name is Rose, and my fathers knew her well. So, naturally, they decided to name me after another type of flower.”

9)     What makes them, them?

“My passion and drive to get the things that I want.”

10)   What do they want to be when they grow up/what do they want to do with their lives?

“Well, I’m already grown-- but I’d love to become a galaxy-renown fashion designer. Also, I’d like to get married. Just waiting for my fiance to defrost from cryo.”

Family

11)  Do they have parents? What are they like and how do they act with their child(ren)?

“I have two loving fathers back on Earth. They adopted me the minute I was born, basically. I miss them a lot. Luca (dad number 1) used to spoil me rotten, growing up. Fred was more down-to-earth and made sure I always worked to earn things, but he was also a very loving, protective father.”

12)    Do they have siblings? How do they interact with them? If not, do they wish they had siblings?

“I don’t have any siblings, but my fiance has two older sisters who I love very much. They’re basically the sisters I never had.”

13)   Extended family? Do they see them often?

“My dad Luca has a massive family. He has four siblings; one sister and three brothers. I used to see my uncles often because I worked part-time in their restaurants (well, 2 of the establishments were restaurants. One was more of a cupcake store).”

14)   Do they like where they live? (Is it a safe place?)

“I lived in Queens, growing up. It was great. It was safe for me growing up there because my family ensured I was always protected. As for where I live now, I’m sure the Atlas-7 is safe enough.”

15)   Where do they live? Are they wealthy? Poor? Middle-Class?

“An upscale apartment in Queens. My family was wealthy, I have to admit.”

16)   Do they have a lot of expectations/pressure on them from family to do great?

“I always had a lot of positive encouragement to do the best that I could, and was always told I could be whatever I wanted to be.”

17)   Do they have pets?

“I don’t have any pets right now, personally, but growing up we had a Persian cat named Tinkerbell.”

18)   Who do they look up to the most/are the closest to in their family?

“I know ‘my dads’ is such a generic answer, but it’s true.” 

19)   Is there anything special about their family?

“‘Special’ is one word for it. Let’s just say Luca’s side of the family had a lot of power in New York.”

20)   Do they wish they lived in a different family/household?

“No, never.”

Friends

21)   Best Friend(s)?

“My best friend is a girl named Evangeline. She’s on the ship, but she’s still in cryo.”

22)   Who was their first friend?

“Also...Evangeline, actually. We went to the same schools for the longest time. The day we met we started getting along like a house on fire. We’re total friend soulmates.”

23)   What is their friend group like?

“My friend group in school was very supportive and closely knit. We’re all still friends to this day.”

24)   Do they have a love/hate relationship with any of them?

“Funnily enough, my fiance and I used to have a love/hate relationship before we both realized it was more love than anything else.”

25)   Do they consider any of their friends to be like siblings?

“Again, Evangeline is basically a sister to me.”

26)   Have they ever hurt a friend or lost one?

“Unintentionally, yes. I’ve caused some hurt. We’ve all kissed and made up since then, though.”

27)   Do they have a crush on any of their friends?

“I’d say so! I’m engaged to one of them.”

28)   Do they share classes with good friends?

“I did share some high school classes with them, yes.”

29)   Whom do they go to the most when they need a shoulder to cry on?

“My fiance.”

30)   What would this person do without their friends in their lives?

“I could probably eventually go on because I like to think of myself as independent. I’d miss them all terribly, but I’d live on in their honour.”

School

31)   What grade are they in? If they aren’t in school, how come?

“I graduated college about 3 years ago. I studied fashion design.”

32)   Do/Did they like their teachers? Was there a good one? Bad one?

“You know, my education is kind of a blur. I can’t really remember any of my teachers.”

33)   Do/Did they listen to their teachers or are/where they goofing off a lot?

“I never ‘goofed off’, really, but I wasn’t ever afraid to talk back to a teacher.”

34)   Are/Were they a good student grade wise?

“I’d say I was.”

35)   Do/Did they need extra help?

“In high school, I only needed extra help with anything mathematical.”

36)   What is/was their school like?

“My high school was one of those preppy Catholic schools. We had uniforms and everything.”

37)   Do/Did they have bullies in school?

“I’m friends with this guy, Benji- he kind of used to be the bully of the school. He’s since cleaned up his act, though.”

38)   Have they ever gotten into a fight at school?

“Maybe.”

39)   Have they ever done something stupid/embarrassing at school?

“In high school, I used to let boys pretend they were dating me (they’d take Instagram photos with me, etc) if they paid me enough. In hindsight, that was pretty stupid- but, hey, I was earning some of my own money.”

40)   How far do they plan to go with school? If they dropped out, do they want to go back?

“Again, I’ve finished college. And I probably don’t plan on getting a PhD or anything of the sort.”

Other

41)   Are they dating anyone? Do they want to date? Are they married? Divorced?

“I’m engaged, and really excited to get married!”

42)   What is their favorite hobby? Do they keep it a secret?

“Creating clothes is actually my favourite hobby. I’m lucky enough that it’s also my career.”

43)   If they could have one thing in life, what would it be?

“To be famous enough that practically everyone wears clothing made by Lavender Graves.”

44)   Do they work? If so, what is it? If not, are they looking for one or even want one?

“I’m the tailor aboard Atlas-7.”

45)   Do they use social media?

“Back on earth, I was an avid user of Instagram. Because of my online clothing business, I’d also amassed quite the following.”

46)   Have they ever been in the hospital?

“Yes. When I was born, I was premature and was basically in the hospital for months because of my fragile condition. And a couple of years back I was in a car crash, so I was in the hospital for that. But that wasn’t too bad.”

47)   Do they believe in the supernatural, that there is more than the eye can see?

“Not really. I mean, I’d like to maybe believe- but (as my fiance would say) there’s just not enough evidence, and it’s not logical.”

48)   What do they do when they get angry, stressed, or upset?

“Rearrange furniture. Like, completely redecorate an entire room so that it’s unrecognizable. If it’s not that, it’s angry sewing. I’ll go into a blind rage and wake up surrounded by, like, 10 different catsuits.”

49)   Would they consider themselves as a good person, bad person, or morally grey?

“Morally grey seems like the safest answer, here.”

50)   Does this OC have any part of you in them? (I.e, personality traits, similar background, etc)

OOC: Lavender embodies the kind of woman I’d want to step on me, basically.

#task001 #the devils in the details #about #((i wrote the answers as Lavender because I felt it was best)) #part one #long post

[strawwritesfic]

Fred and George Weasley x Female!Reader: Toil and Trouble

Summary: Fred and George’s latest business scheme has unexpected results for them and their irritable friend.

Fic Trade Prompt: When I drink you in, I can’t breathe you out.

Rating/Warnings/Tags: T (sexual references; a definite issue with consent (the reader asks someone to stop doing something and is told she doesn’t really want them to and this is not portrayed as a bad thing in the story); a throw away line implying a very cruel joke toward Ron and Lavender; reference to Umbridge’s Blood Quill; twin threesome fantasy; Katie Bell is in the wrong year; Gryffindor!Reader; set during Order of the Phoenix)

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Notes: This thing is about 8,000 words long, just so you know going in. Also, I wrote it well over a decade ago at this point.

Toil and Trouble

When you walked into the sixth years’ boys’ dormitory that evening, it wasn’t to find what you expected. During all your years at Hogwarts, it was normally the one place you could count on to be full of activity no matter what the hour. From wild laughter to “oohs” and “ahhs”’ from snapping fireworks to the occasional muffled cries of various magical beasts, Fred and George Weasley’s room was definitely never quiet. You could bound in at four o’ clock in the morning and you doubted you’d wake either of them up (their roommates, having learned to sleep through their various noises, were another story entirely).

That night, however, it was so quiet you almost turned around and walked straight back out the door, so certain you were that you’d somehow got the wrong room. It was completely silent and nearly empty. The only movement was coming from a small fire lit in the center, on top of which was a potion spewing copious amounts of silvery smoke. There was no way that Fred and George would send a terrified first year to find you in the common room and drag you up here for this. But over the large simmering cauldron sitting in the middle of the floor were two identical red heads that could belong to no one but your two best friends.

“Um, guys?” you said as the door swung shut behind you. “You wanted to see me?”

Both boys looked up, grinning. The light of the fire caused shadows to dance across their faces, making them look, if anything, all the more devious than they normally did. They spoke at the exact same time. “Good evening, [Name].”

“Right…” You trailed off, cocking your head at the pearly potion bubbling beneath them. Normally they only had you up here for things that were half-finished–like that time their Fever Fudge worked so well they’d nearly flooded the room with sweat. “And you called because…?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” George said in mock-affronted tones. He gestured toward the cauldron. When he spoke again, his voice was low, an excited hiss. “Fred and I–we’ve finally done it!”

“…Done what?”

You wracked your brains, trying to remember if any of the products they’d been discussing lately had anything to do with potions. Nothing came to mind. You could have sworn at last discussion they’d still been trying to iron out their Puking Pastilles.

Thankfully, Fred showed his usual knack for answering any unasked questions you may have had. “You remember that we were going to sneak into Snape’s office last night?”

“You weren’t sneaking. You had detention. Again.”

Fred poked your nose, smirking. “All part of the plan.”

You deadpanned and pushed his hand away, trying all the while to ignore the flush you felt in your cheeks. “What plan?”

“To steal the last few ingredients for our Amortentia,” George said. He patted the side of his cauldron fondly. “Which we managed, no thanks to you.”

“I had detention with McGonagall last night. You know I would have been right there with you if I hadn’t.”

“Lines.” Fred sniffed dismissively. “We had to pickle grindylow fingers.”

“Big deal. I’ve already done that twice.” You were stung that either of the twins would think you wanted to skip out another one of their infamous plans. But you couldn’t show them that or they’d just take the mickey out of you longer.

“Well, Snape said you had to make up your detention tomorrow, so I suppose we’ll forgive you just this once.”

“Thanks…” You squinted at the potion. Something George said was ringing some sort of bell in your head. You listened for a few seconds, and then: “Wait! You’re making a love potion?”

“A little slow on the uptake this evening, aren’t we?” said George. “Ah, well.” He jabbed at the bubbling liquid with his wand and several more curlicues rose from the steam. “You can still help us.”

Your fingers wrapped around your wand. “Help you how?”

George leaned back, an innocent smile playing on his features. “What does this potion smell like to you, [Name]?”

“Should it smell like something?”

“Haven’t you been paying attention in potions at all lately, dear [Name]?” Fred asked.

“No.” You frowned. “And normally neither would you guys. What’s with the sudden interest? Not actually wanting to gain an N.E.W.T. now, are you?”

“Worrying about your grades never hurts,” George said firmly. “Something you might want to take into account. You barely scraped by your O in the subject, didn’t you?”

“You two will be worried about your grades when Umbridge stops crushing on the Minister of Magic,” you muttered as you stuffed your fingers into your armpits, “and that was practically the only O.W.L. you both got.”

“Just answer the question,” Fred said.

“I’ve already told you; it doesn’t smell like anything.”

“Nothing at all?” Fred and George exchanged some sort of look and the latter pushed you so that your face was hovering right above the fumes wafting from the potion.

You sighed. “Still nothing.”

“You mean that this room doesn’t smell any different to you at all?”

You shook your head. “It smells like it does whenever you guys make me come up here. You know, boys. Not that it’s a pleasant smell, really.”

George and Fred caught each other’s eyes again and, for a moment, just stared at each other. You huffed and waited for this "twin moment” to pass. After six years, you were used to their silent communication, but that didn’t mean you had to like it. Finally, a slow smile spread over each of their faces.

“Excellent!” Fred slapped you on the back. “Really excellent!”

“What’s excellent?”

“Never you mind,” George said, with a firm hand against your back as he guided you toward the door. “We got what we wanted.”

“But what did you want? I didn’t–”

“Thank you, [Name]!” Fred said loudly, just as George shoved you out the door so hard that you stumbled several steps and only spun around in time to see each of them, wide smiles plastered on their faces, wave to you before they snapped the door shut.

You scowled at the wood for several moments, then rolled your eyes and shuffled off down stairs to the girls’ tower. “See you in the morning,“ you said to no one.

******

Breakfast the next day was not the usual affair. The twins might not care about getting to class on time, but you still retained some of the educational desires that you’d brought with you to Hogwarts before meeting with them. As it was, it wasn’t like them to not pop up as you were exiting through the portrait hole. You frowned behind yourself the entire way to the Great Hall and paid no attention as you grabbed the first seat available at the Gryffindor table. You arrived just in time to see the great cloud of owls rush in with the morning mail.

“M-Morning, [Name].” You looked up to see Fred and George’s brother yawning at you from across the table. You flashed him a smile before starting the task of finding something to eat for breakfast. A large bowl of porridge caught your eye. You reached for it.

“Good morning, Ron,” you answered absently. “Harry, Hermione.”

“…Hey, aren’t Fred and George normally with you?”

You blinked back toward Ron, who looked half-curious, half-relieved. You spooned some of the porridge into your bowl before responding:

“Usually…I haven’t seen them this morning, though. Do you need me to go back to the common room and see if they’re skiving off?”

“No!” Ron said, a little too hastily.

You glanced at him curiously and his ears turned red as he ducked underneath the table.

“The Quidditch match against Hufflepuff is coming up,” Harry informed you, his face morose.

“Ah,” was all you said to that.

You’d heard enough complaints from Fred and George to get into it with the fifth years. Besides, Umbridge was smirking down from the head table at that moment, and you were sure that, if you joined in complaining about their dismissal, she’d take it as an excuse to ban you from every match for the rest of your life. It didn’t much matter anyway. Almost two seconds later, Ron got up, his cheeks still flaming.

“We’re going to be late for Herbology,” he said.

Hermione and Harry glanced at each other (classes didn’t start for twenty minutes), but shrugged and followed him as he rushed out into the hall. You refused to meet Umbridge’s eyes and instead focused on buttering some toast. If Fred and George really were skiving off without you, it was going to be a long day. Double Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Snape’s detention. You’d see Lee in Umbridge’s class, but some comfort that was. It wasn’t as if you’d be allowed to talk to him.

“Good morning, [Name].”

Suddenly two bodies were on either side of you, pressing very close. You dropped your toast onto your plate and the knife fell onto the table with a clatter. Fred and George, however, did not move. Confused and admittedly slightly worried, you looked from one to other. They were positively beaming. You squirmed in an attempt to get them out of your personal space, but, when nothing happened, you were forced to wrench your arms free just so that you could get back to your toast.

“What took you two?” you asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Fred said faintly, “nothing.

“Uh-huh. Well, good thing you made it. You’re not going want to go to Potions on an empty stomach.”

“We’re not hungry,” said George.

This caught your attention. “Not hungry?” You looked toward George. Despite having been smiling when he first arrived, he was now pale-faced and refusing to meet your eyes. “What’s wrong you guys? Are you sick?”

“No…” This time it was Fred who spoke. As his voice drifted across your shoulder, you distinctly felt him grab a tendril of your hair and rub it between his fingers.

You flipped back around, warming all the way to your hairline. “What are you doing?”

Fred quickly dropped your hair, looking as if he wasn’t sure what he was doing either. As soon as this was done, someone’s finger brushed against the shell of your ear. With your face now resembling a tomato, you turned back to George.

He frowned at your expression and put his hands on the table. “Sorry.”

You said nothing. The three of you ate in silence (well, you ate; Fred and George just poked glumly at some sausages) until Fred broke the silence.

“So, there’s a Hogsmeade trip this weekend,” he twiddled with his fingers, “and we were wondering if…if…” He took a deep breath and said very quickly, “You wanted to go with us.”

You lifted your eyebrows and frowned at him. “I always go with you.”

“Well, yes…” Fred threw a hopeless look at George who gave a small twitch of his head. Fred took yet another deep breath. “But…differently this time.”

“Different how?”

At these words, Fred did something very strange: He blushed. As soon as he did, you realized what was going on. You tossed your second slice of toast onto your plate and balled your hands into fists.

“You’re making fun of me,” you said in a quavering voice. “I already apologized for missing Snape’s detention, but you’re still making fun of me.”

“What? No!” Fred and George looked at each other again, this time clearly saying “Abort, abort!” Still, they were both known to be good actors. You continued to stare at your golden plate as you waited for your furious tears to abate.

“[Name].”

You did not answer.

“[Name]? Come on, [Name], we didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Sure. Right,” you said, and were pleased to find that your voice had returned to its normal, level self.

“You know,” George said as he slung his arms over your shoulders. This time you dropped your toast entirely out of shock, rather than suddenly losing the feeling in your fingers. “You could be a bit more excited to see us.”

“I agree, George.” And now Fred’s arm was around you as well. If your bread wasn’t good and toasted before you got to it, it would be now due to its proximity to your burning face. “After all, we did do it for her.”

“Did what?” A sickly sweet voice from behind you said.

The three you of turned slowly on the spot to see Professor Umbridge, as toad-faced as ever, leering at you.

“None of your business,” Fred answered. His face had changed quite drastically to one of great loathing.

Umbridge did not so much as a flinch. You had to give her credit–you would run away screaming if one of the boys looked at you like that.

“Detention, Mister Weasley,” Umbridge said without looking at him and then continued in one breath. “May I remind you that you are already on thin ice after your little fight last week on the quidditch pitch? Do not press your luck!”

Fred and George looked mutinous, but did not, as you knew they wanted to, retort.

Her grin grew larger.“Now what were you just telling Miss [Last Name] that you did for her? Could this have something to do with all of those horrid illnesses that keep cropping up in my classes? Hm?”

“We don’t have anything to do with those,” George said. “Maybe they should go see Madam Pomphrey. Or you should just leave.”

“Yeah,” Fred agreed. “You said yourself last week our grades were so terrible you were going to expel us first chance you got. How could we make something that did anything that impressive?”

“Detention for you as well, Mister Weasley. And you, Miss [Last Name].”

“What?” Fred and George snapped and pushed you backward so that they were sitting protectively in front of you. You blinked and squirmed, trying to see Umbridge’s expression over the twins’ shoulders. “[Name] didn’t do anything!”

“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Umbridge sang. “After all, whatever the three of you are planning, I’m sure it will be against the rules. And double detention, for correcting me.”

With that she swaggered off. Despite yourself, you could feel angry tears stinging at the back of your eyes again. Snape was going to be livid. Fred and George did not seem to notice your mood as they made several mad grabs for the quickly disappearing breakfast foods. At least the run in with Umbridge had returned their appetites.

“Old cow,” George said.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, [Name], we’ll make sure–[Name]?”

“What?” you asked without looking at either of them. You felt George place his hand on your shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine!” you said, but your tone was too hysterical to fool them.

Normally detention wouldn’t be a big deal, but Fred and George were being horrible and Umbridge’s were always ten times as horrible as anything Snape could dream up–and you’d probably be doing double detention for him now, too. There was no way Umbridge would let you postpone her detention for another teacher’s.

“Are you really upset about detention?” Fred sounded like he was resisting the urge to laugh and failing. “Is it your time of the–”

“I’m going to Potions. You guys better come, too, or you’ll have another detention from Snape and we already have two more for Umbridge.” You stood up and swung your bag over your shoulder a little too forcefully.

Neither Fred nor George stood up. Their eyes flicked toward each other and then away again.

“What?” you asked, working to keep the shrill note out of your voice. “What now?”

“We’re not going to Potions today.”

“Of course you’re going to potions. Snape said if you skipped another he’d visit Dumbledore in person to talk about expelling you.”

“Some things are more important,” Fred said gravely, but he and George got to their feet.

“Like what?” Your blood ran cold. “Please don’t be planning anything. We’re already in so much trouble.”

“What’s life without a little trouble?” Fred asked.

“Exactly. I always say my day doesn’t feel quite complete without another detention under my belt.” George glowered toward the entrance hall. “Especially now that we don’t have quidditch practice.”

“But–”

“No buts, [Name],” Fred said jovially, again poking your nose as he winked. “All will be revealed in time. Mother always says that patience is a virtue.”

“You should talk,” you grumbled, but were too relieved by this sudden return to their normal attitudes that you didn’t press the subject.

Perhaps you celebrated a little too soon, though, because the next thing you knew, each boy had leaned in to plant a kiss on your cheek.

“See you after Potions, [Name],” they chorused, then exited the Great Hall and left you standing, quite alone, at the nearly vacant table.

You didn’t wave goodbye. It was almost as if they’d modified your memory instead of kissing you, your brain had gone so blank. just about everyone had left for class when another person walked over to your side.

“What,” said Katie Bell, her voice hushed with awe, “have you done to Fred and George?”

You opened and closed your mouth several times, then answered, “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

******

You looked for Fred and George your entire way to Potions class. You knew they’d said they wouldn’t be coming, but they’d said as much before so they could get a good scream out of you when they jumped out from behind one of the suits of armor. This suspicion only deepened when you entered the dungeons. The lack of natural light fed your expectation for a good scare. But when you made it to the classroom, neither of the twins was anywhere to be seen.

Who was there to be seen in the flickering torch light was Professor Snape, and you knew from the way his lips curled unpleasantly at the sight of you that you were in serious trouble. The rest of the Gryffindors edged back at your approach, Snape’s aura warning them that today was not a good day to move farther past his bad side.

“Miss [Last Name],” he said in his soft voice.

You looked back at him impassively–Fred and George may have scared you, but Severus Snape certainly did not.

“I heard from Professor Umbridge this morning,” he went on. “What is this I hear about you delaying my detention?”

“I’m not sure, sir.” Your voice quaked with suppressed rage.

“Well, since you will be skipping out on your detention yet again, I think we’ll add a day to mine. We can’t have you thinking that it’s all right to spear frog livers on unicorn horns and offer the class the toasted results, now can we?”

“No. Sir.”

“Hm…yes…” He regarded you calmly with his dark eyes. “And where are your two little cohorts this morning? I assume doing something with my ingredients that they swiped last night?”

You composed your face to look politely disinterested.

“Nothing? Well, let’s add one more day to your detentions and ten points from Gryffindor. Next time when I ask for information, you will give it to me.”

You had to bite your lip to keep from snapping back at him. Three days of detention for what the twins had done? It wasn’t fair!

Snape smirked, apparently able to tell what you were trying so hard not to say. “And you can tell your little friends they have detention further detentions with me as well.” He looked around the hallway. Students still milled about the edges, the Gryffindors looking either nervous or upset, the Slytherins looking highly amused. “Well?” Snape snapped. “What are you all doing out here still? In!”

He whooshed into the classroom and you, as well of the rest of the class, trooped inside and settled into their various tables. Yours, of course, was empty, which only served to remind you who you were angry with. You slammed your cauldron down onto your table (losing ten more points for your House) and listened to the class lecture with your blood boiling all the while.

By the time class was over, the rest of the Gryffindors were livid, not just with Snape, but also with you. You’d lost them nearly fifty points over the course of two hours between your supposed antics with Fred and George and inability to focus while making your Draught of Living Death. The resulting flaming pudding filled the room with dark blue smoke so noxious Snape was forced to end the class fifteen minutes early.

The rest of the class could be heard chattering as they made their way to their next class, but you took the first chance you could to ditch them and head down a passage that led closer to a door you could easily slip out of to make it to Care of Magical Creatures. You didn’t think you could handle anymore of the snarky comments coming from the Slytherins.

“That vile–Fred was right. I should have given the subject up when I had the chance,” you muttered as you stuffed your quill back in your bag before rounding another dark corner.

The way in front of you was pitch black, but you’d traipsed through it enough that your feet knew where they were going. For a few footsteps, it was quiet, but then:

“Normally I am right,” came a voice from behind one of the tapestries. You turned just in time to see Fred emerging from behind a particularly awful one portraying the beheading of a manticore. “But just what is it I’m right about this time?”

“What–but–“ The suddenness of his appearance had rendered you nearly speechless. “I thought you were skipping potions!”

“I did. Potions is over. You’re not being very observant today, [Name].”

“Oh, shut up.” You weren’t in the mood to be made to feel more stupid than you already did. With one last scowl at the boy, you walked briskly in the direction you’d been moving. “I have to get to Care of Magical Creatures.”

“I came to walk you there.” He fell into step beside you.

“Don’t bother.”

“[Name]? What’s wrong?”

“You’re wrong!” you said so fiercely that he took a step backward. “I’ve got four detentions today because of you, and you haven’t even been around!”

“Well–yes…But we didn’t really mean to do that.”

You could see the door pretending to be a wall drawing nearer. “Then what did you mean to do, Fred?”

He didn’t answer this question–verbally, at least. All you knew was that one moment, you nearly had your foot out the door, and the next, Fred had grabbed the back of your cloak and tugged you back into the darkness of the dungeon. You continued to try and move forward despite this, but he was too strong for you. He let go only when he had pressed you up against the cold stone wall.

“What–” you began, but weren’t able to finish before Fred’s lips covered yours.

Your eyes popped open at this, but he did not remove his mouth. What he did do was grab your hips and pull you closer.

Your automatic gasp of surprise did nothing but deepen the kiss. Sure, you got your oxygen, but you also got a tongue that was now wrestling with your own in your mouth. For one strange second, you contemplated protesting, but that was about when instinct kicked in. It was as if no time had passed between then and the moment the Beauxbatons boy had kissed you at the Yule Ball last year. With Fred’s hands still locked firmly around your waist, you lifted your own and tangled them into his hair. He moaned appreciatively at this development.

Two seconds later (or it might have been two years; it was hard to tell), Fred wrenched away. You immediately fell back against the wall, gulping for air and pressing your fingers to your mouth, hoping to find that it was still there. It was–though now rather bruised. For several seconds, the sound of heavy breathing was the only thing that filled the secret passageway. After awhile, Fred stood up and turned back to you.

“Been wanting to do that for awhile,” he said cheerfully.

You nodded faintly, glad that he, at least, couldn’t see the dark patches on your cheeks. The lack of torchlight made the corridor far too dark. A thousand questions flooded your mind–What was that? Why all of a sudden? How did he get to be that good a kisser?–which made it quite impossible for you to formulate a response.

“Have fun in Care of Magical Creatures.” Fred smiled and pointed toward the wall door.

You gulped and found your voice at last. “Um…yeah…”

“And [Name]?” His face appeared dangerously close yours again.

The warm patches on your face turned scorching hot. “…What?”

“If you see George, tell him we have to meet to compare notes this evening.”

“…Okay.”

“Good girl.” He winked once more, patted you on the head, then walked in the opposite direction. There was a distinct spring to his step and you could have sworn you heard him whistling.

If, when you arrived at Professor Hagrid’s hut, Katie was surprised to see you ten minutes late with your uniform rumpled and your hair mussed, she was kind enough not to say.

******

You half-expected one of the twins to pop up on your way back in to the castle for lunch, but neither of them did. Katie said nothing about their obvious absence, but continued to smirk in irritating fashion all the way across the grounds. After hurriedly gulping down some steak and kidney pie, you rushed up to the Tower to clean up. If Fred and George were in Defense Against the Dark Arts, you were still hoping that Fred wouldn’t say anything about your shared kiss and a lack of evidence would certainly help things.

But they weren’t in Umbridge’s class at all, nor were they at dinner. Madam Pince hadn’t seen them all day, which wasn’t too unusual considering the twins’ lack of educational pursuits, but neither had Hermione Granger. When you asked her, all she did was frown and say:

“I hope they aren’t off testing their products on first years again.”

You hurried away before she could ask you where their new base of operations was. But Fred and George weren’t there either, and you were forced to trudge up to Umbridge’s office without them. As you did, your heart sank. Perhaps Fred was so upset by the kiss you’d shared that he no longer wanted to speak to you.

You needn’t have worried. Both boys were lounging around in front of Umbridge’s door. It was amazing the effect that just spotting them had on you. Your heart sped up and your hands began to sweat–definitely not normal. Then again, you seemed to have the same effect on them. As you appeared, they sat up a little straighter, faces brightening immediately. Thankfully you were able to get your rapidly beating heart under control before they bounded to you.

“Hello, [Name].” They grinned identically.

“Hey.”

There must have been something in your tone that betrayed your frustration (disappointment?) because Fred and George frowned at each other. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you sighed. “Just bummed about detention. My hand only just healed up from the last one. Besides, classes were no fun with you. What were you guys doing all day?”

They exchanged that infuriating look that meant they were keeping something from you.

“We were…busy,” Fred said.

“Busy doing what?”

Fred grinned. “That’s sweet, [Name]. Were you worried about me?”

“No,” you said forcefully. “But I know you weren’t busy this morning. You decided to snog me after Potions.”

“You did?” George raised his eyebrows. Fred smiled in response and his brother clapped him on the back. “Congratulations!”

“No, not congratulations. Honestly, I don’t know what’s come over you, but if you don’t figure it out–”

“Hem, hem.”

There was no time to talk after that. Umbridge had you copying lines into your skin for the next two hours, and when finally you were released, you hastily made the excuse of homework to get yourself to the library.

But apparently not hastily enough because no sooner had you placed A Dragon Lover’s Guide to the Care and Keeping of Dangerous Beasts then did George appear by your side, smirking. You tried not to sound too disgruntled when you asked him what he wanted.

“You ran off quickly tonight,” he said.

You glared at him as you started the heading to Professor Hagrid’s paper. “Yeah, well. It’s been a weird day.”

“I know, right? The weirdest part is that you’d decide to let Fred snog you and not let me have a turn.”

“I didn’t decide anything!” you hissed, distinctly aware of the fact that Madam Pince was prowling the shelves behind you. Your protest was cut shot, however, as something sunk through to your fevered brain. “Wait. Since when did you want to kiss me?”

“Oh, it’s been coming for awhile now…” George had one hand propping up his cheek and the other walking across the table to yours. “We were quite jealous when the Beauxbatons boy beat us to you.”

You stared, too stunned to notice that he’d made it to his goal and was now holding your hand as his thumb stroked the top of it.

“You’re mad,” you choked out. “Absolutely mad. You and Fred finally invented something that drove you out of your mind.”

“That’s not very flattering toward you now, is it? Rather disappointing. Fred and I find you very pretty.”

“You’ve never found me pretty and you know it,” you said as you tugged your hand from his grasp. But the words came out as a whisper.

You’d long since given up on either of the twins ever falling for you. This was just great–a miserable end to an altogether miserable day. You stared into your lap and tried to remember what the subject of your essay was supposed to be. Something about chimeras, that was all you knew.

“Let me prove it to you,” George’s voice ghosted in your ear and then his lips met your ear.

You stiffened but surprised yourself by not pushing him away. When he did not receive the response that he wanted, George began to trail kisses down your neck.

“Stop,” you breathed.

He ignored you.

“Stop.”

This time he did as you asked, but when you turned your head to look at him, his face was right there. You swallowed whatever words you had been planning to say.

“I don’t think you want me to,” he whispered.

And then his lips were against yours. Whether it was due to the rather strong sense of déjà vu you were feeling or the general romantic atmosphere the library’s candlelight seemed to inspire in people, you reacted immediately. Your arms went around his neck and George stood, stooping still so that he could continue working his lips against yours. You groaned as his fingers found the edge of your shirt and began to sneak up your stomach.

“What are you doing?!”

The private moment was rudely interrupted when Madam Pince swooped down from above and began beating the pair of you over the head with an enormous book of spells. She did not listen to your stammered excuses (this was fair; you would not have either) and continued to shriek as you attempted to grab each of your things from the table before she rushed you out.

“This! Is! A! Library!” she screamed. “Never–in all my years–Out! OUT!”

She threw George’s book bag out unceremoniously after you with one last wordless cry of rage. It hit you squarely in the head, knocking you to the ground and sending ink bottles, quills, and brightly colored Nosebleed Nougats in every direction.

“Oww…” you moaned from the dusty floor. Something above your eye was stinging very, very badly.

“[Name]! Are you okay?” George was ignoring his scattered belongings entirely. He kneeled down to get a better look at you, and a moment later you wished he hadn’t. His face went white. “You’re bleeding!”

“I am?” Dazedly, you lifted one palm to your forehead. It came away crimson.

George did not answer; he was too busy scrambling through the wreckage around you. When he emerged, he was holding what you recognized to be one of his fake wands. It was now instead a handsome replica of Gryffindor’s sword.

“We should get you to the Hospital Wing.”

“No…I’m fine. I need to finish my homework…more detentions tomorrow…” You were finding it somewhat difficult to maintain your concentration on the conversation.

“Hospital Wing, [Name]. Now. Madam Pomfrey will fix you up right away and you can get back to your paper.”

He sounded so firm that you couldn’t find it in yourself to argue. You waited quietly as he gathered his things and then allowed him to heave you to your feet. You were halfway to the Hospital Wing when it happened. George froze, mid-step, and nearly caused you to fall crashing down the stairs.

“George?” you asked weakly. “What’s wrong?”

“I–I need to get back to the common room.”

“Now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“But–”

“You can make it the rest of the way yourself, can’t you?” He did not wait for an answer. Before you could protest, George ducked underneath your arm and raced back down the way you came. It was several minutes before you could gather your thoughts and remember what you were supposed to be doing.

“…Sure. Why not?”

Odd, how often you spoke to thin air when the twins weren’t around.

******

You arrived in the common room an hour later, after having downed a blood replenisher potion and had Madam Pomfrey heal up your cut. Though you really hadn’t, at this point, expected them to be, your stomach still felt queasy when you noticed that Fred and George were not in their usual corner. It was still early enough in the evening that the common room was abuzz with laughter and conversation, but none of them came from the twins. Even Hermione Granger had gone, apparently feeling she didn’t have to stay up late that night to keep the two of them under control.

“[Name]?” Katie trotted up, looking absolutely aghast. “What happened to you? I thought we were supposed to work on our papers together!”

“Just a cut,” you muttered as you poked the bandage still tied firmly across your eyebrow. “Honestly, this is the least of what has happened to me today. Sorry about skipping out on you. I was trying to avoid…someone.”

”Did it work?”

You shook your head.

Katie pursed her lips together and guided you over to one of the armchairs near the cheerily crackling fire. “But it can’t have all be bad, can it?”

“What do you mean?” You settled into your chair and glanced halfheartedly at your bag. You really didn’t think you had it in you to do anymore homework that night.

“Well…” Katie leaned in, a conspiratorial gleam in her eye. “Fred and George have been awfully friendly today, haven’t they?”

“Yeah, well, they’re evil, aren’t they?” You scowled at the carpet. The stain from George’s first attempt at the Puking Pastilles was still evident in the thread.

“You can’t really think that. They’re your best friends!”

“I don’t think they are anymore, Katie,” you said heavily. “Not after today.”

“What happened? Did they…did one of them kiss you?”

You winced. There was really no harm in telling Katie. She’d always been able to keep your secrets. Still, if the twins were so ashamed they’d kissed you, it probably wasn’t a good idea to spread it around. It was an especially bad idea to tell one of their quidditch teammates. If Umbridge ever left, you’d hate for them to be laughingstock of the team. At last you gave her a hesitant nod, deciding that Katie would be more amused with you than them.

“Both, actually,” you said.

“I knew it!” she squealed, then dropped her voice to a whisper. “All the girls have been wondering how you did it. It was so sudden! Most of them think it was a love potion.”

“As if I’d ever…” you trailed off. A stream of images was running through your mind: a trembling first year, a pink potion, your sudden dismissal last night and George’s instance that you could still be of help, though he never did tell you how. You stood up quite suddenly. “That’s it! A love potion!”

“You mean you really gave them one? But I–”

“No, not me.” Your voice trembled with anger. “Them.”

You marched toward the boys’ stairs without another word. Katie called after you:

“Wait! Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back later, Katie,” you said as you wrenched the door open and started to stomp up the stairs.

You slammed the door to the boys’ dormitory open so hard that the walls shook. Several of Lee’s quidditch posters tore from the walls and drifted gently to the floor. You ignored this entirely; the blood was rushing through your ears so loudly that you could not hear anything but your own in frenzied thoughts.

Fred and George looked horror-struck. They were sitting again by their cauldron, dozens upon dozens of papers laying in piles around them, but they were paying them no heed. Their pale faces were trained directly on you as, breathing heavily, you strode toward them.

“Oh, hello, [Name],” George said in a would-be-causal voice. “What can we help you with?”

“If it’s nothing,” Fred added, “We’ll talk to you in the morning. We’re sort of in the middle of some–”

You interrupted him by ripping his parchment from his hands.

“You gave me a love potion!” you shouted.

Both boys jumped backward, an impressive feat considering they were sitting down.

“You gave me a love potion and you’ve been using me as an experiment all day long!”

Fred and George looked at each other. For one second, they simply stared. Then, as if on cue, they burst into fits of laughter.

“It isn’t funny!” you roared over their guffawing. “I’ve never been more embarrassed! Kissing George in the library–I won’t be allowed in there until after we’ve graduated!”

“Embarrassed!” Fred stopped rolling on the ground and looked indignant. “How could you be? We didn’t give you any love potion!”

“Yes, you did! The proof is right there!” You gestured wildly at what was left of the pearl pink potion sitting in the cauldron. Only a few cold dregs clung to the pewter now.

“We didn’t give you a love potion!” George said.

“We gave it to ourselves,” said Fred.

“Then why did I kiss you?” you demanded. “Why did I suddenly feel all nervous around the two of you? Why did I spend all day wishing you were around?”

“That’s not our fault. We asked you last night if the potion smelled a certain way to you. You said it didn’t, and so we decided to test it. We had to make sure we could make the potion properly before we started marketing it.”

“So you did test it on me!”

“Of course not! We wouldn’t want to embarrass you by making you fall in love with someone ridiculous.”

“Like Ron,” George said darkly. “We would never be able to forgive ourselves.”

“Then–”

”If you’d been paying any attention at all, [Name], you would know that Amortentia smells differently to everyone, according to what attracts them,” said Fred.

“Wait…it didn’t smell any different in here at all last night,” you said slowly.

George motioned for you to get a move on.

“But then…” You gaped at them.

Fred nodded. “You were already in love with us. That’s how we knew it wouldn’t upset you horribly if we started showing an interest.”

“But then…why were you so late coming to breakfast?” you asked. “You seemed fine for part of it.”

“We added some glumbumble essence, you know. To slow the effects. Casts less suspicion on the user,” George answered.

“Seems to make it a tad strong, though.” Fred shook his head as if trying to clear it. “We might have to rethink that.”

“And you said you did something for me,” you said. “If it wasn’t making me fall hopelessly in love with you, what was it? I’m not getting detention for that–you can just go do my second for me.”

“Well…” Fred looked at George, who nodded. Both crept up to you.

“Well, what?” you asked crossly. Your relief that you hadn’t been potion-ed had now faded away to annoyance about being tricked. “I don’t want any Puking Pastilles, so if that was all, you can just stop now.”

“That’s not it at all,” George said. “Remember when we asked you to Hogsmeade this morning?”

“Distinctly. Thank you so much for making fun me.”

“[Name], you dolt!” Fred said. “We were trying to ask you out! That’s what we did for you. We took the potion and got over our nerves so we could! We’ve been trying ever since that boy asked you to ball last year.”

“As nice as that is, I don’t really want to date anyone that is being forced to like me. Thanks bunches, though.”

“[Name], do you even know what that potion smells like to us?”

“Gun powder?” A testy note had grown in your voice. It was late; all you wanted to do was go to bed and forget this day ever happened. As if the twins would ever stop talking about it. “Whatever it is you’ve decided to put in your Skiving Snack Boxes?”

“Close,” said George. He looked to Fred, who continued in a much softer voice:

“But it also smells like you.”

“We actually do like you, [Name],” George said. “A lot.”

“What?” You looked from one to the other. You had never seen them so solemn. “Really?”

“I don’t think she believes us, George.”

“Then I think we’ll have to convince her, Fred.”

They stepped toward you, each taking a hand. “No, wait!” Your protest was stillborn. They tugged you onto their bed. With one wave of a wand, the curtains drew shut and both Fred and George had latched on to your neck.

Twenty minutes later and you were quite certain Amortentia had ever been used to quite as wonderful a purpose ever before. But something was still bothering you:

“But wait…if you were already in love with me, how do you know if the potion actually works?”

“Oh don’t worry about that,” George answered. “We thought of a plan ages ago.”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be worried?”

“Of course,” Fred said. “After all, it’s about time our dear little brother noticed a certain Miss Lavender Brown…”

#fan fic #straw writes #reader insert #second person pov #fic trade #one shot #harry potter #george weasley #fred weasley #fred and george weasley #george weasley x reader #george weasley x you #george weasley x y/n #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley x you #fred weasley x y/n #fred and george weasley x reader #fred and george weasley x you #fred and george weasley x y/n #harry potter x reader #harry potter x you #harry potter x y/n

[fairyoftbz]

lavande | l. hyunjae

🥡 pairing: crush!hyunjae x fem!reader 🥡 wc: 3.2k 🥡 genre: fluff, university au, slice of life 🥡 tw: none? i think? 🥡 synopsis: as you are talking to Chanhee, your crush appears in the lecture room, leaving you with a hammering heart. 🥡 a/n: it's already Monday again, so posting time!! i wrote this because i kinda miss uni without covid, I had such a good time back in 2019 😩 feedback is always appreciated!! <33 🥡 requested: yes, thank you! i hope it's good enough!!

╰☆☆☆☆╮

“Have you done the readings we were supposed to?” Chanhee whispered in your ear as you turned on your computer, the screen remaining black made you frown as you quickly glanced at your friend, hand deep in your backpack to find your charger.

“Wait, let me guess. With the abandoned puppy eyes you're giving me, you want me to summarise what this was about, am I right?"

“Please Y/N, I didn't have time this week, it has been so hectic! I promise I'll buy you a coffee," you waved your hand in front of your face to let him know that he didn't need to, and you leaned your arm under the table to look for a plug while summarising what you had understood to your friend.

He listened intently until his eyes looked over your head, a smirk forming on his mouth. You frowned for a split second but continued your explanation, noticing that the smile didn't want to leave Chanhee's face. You deeply sighed, trying to make your friend pay attention, but it was to no avail. He was busy looking at something else.

“Are you listening to me, or am I talking to my computer?” you asked, and your friend returned your attention to you, his puppy look made you shake your head and roll your eyes. He looked behind you one last time, and you turned around in frustration, your breath getting stuck in your throat as you discovered what was amusing Chanhee so much.

You did a double-take when you noticed the man standing at the entrance, your pulse quickening as your hands became sweaty and hot. Every student around you, including Chanhee holding your arm to hear the rest of your explanation, disappeared from your field of view. You only had eyes for the one who stole your heart without realising it.

Hyunjae pushed the lecture door open and held it out for the group following him, politely nodding at the blushing girl that thanked him. He pursed his lips and scanned the auditorium, trying to find a familiar face to sit next to. The air was stuffy and odorous, the young man cursing the caretakers for not ventilate it more often as he was almost sweating because of his outfit. His white turtleneck and pants, as well as the lavender sweater, were thick enough for him to be warm to walk from his apartment since it was still quite chilly in the morning, but he felt like he was wearing winter clothes in the middle of a heatwave when he entered this room.

“Wow,” you murmured under your breath and looked down on your phone, trying to hide your attraction for him from your friends around you, your right hand holding your head up, hiding your eyes at the same time. You heard Chanhee mockingly exhale through his nose as he noticed you munching on your bottom lip, a habit of yours he had caught a glimpse of you doing when you were stressed or embarrassed. In this current case, you were both.

Tugging on the collar of his white turtleneck, Hyunjae sighed in annoyance as he walked down the first few steps. Cursing himself for arriving so late, he sighed as the only remaining seats were in the first few rows, where he had almost 99% of the chance of getting chosen by the professor to answer a question. He dropped his bag from his shoulder onto the table as he looked at the rows again, his eyes immediately discerning the funny stickers at the back of your computer.

“It won’t hurt anyone if I just check where he is,” you thought, but it was probably the worst idea you’ve ever had because your eyes met his dark, chocolate ones, his eyebrows lifting in relief when he recognised other familiar faces in your row.

“Y/N, you’re drooling, be careful,” your friend Chanhee whispered in your ear, teasing as you looked away from Hyunjae and wiped your mouth as quickly as possible, warmth flooding your veins as you keep your finger pressed on the power button of your computer. Your best friend laughed at your antics, but you turned a blind eye to him and mentally cursed yourself for not being as wary as you thought you were.

“Idiot, how could you be discreet if you made direct eye contact with him?” You shook your head at this thought and took a deep breath, inwardly praying that he would sit far from you as you mindlessly scrolled down through your notes.

“Hyunjae, over here!” Sunwoo stood up and raised his deep voice over all the hubbub of the auditorium, pointing at the empty spot between you and Chanhee. It was reserved for Eric who was running late, but you noticed the vacant seat next to Sunwoo and whined. You swore that the rest of the row was packed when you arrived, but it looked like a spot magically freed itself when Hyunjae appeared. It was as if your friends had planned this behind your back.

“Can I sit here?” A gentle, deep voice said, and you looked up. Much to your dismay, it was Hyunjae. “Uh, s-sure,” you stumbled on your sentence as if it were your first time speaking, closing your eyes and inner face palmed yourself at the mess you had just become in a matter of seconds.

You gathered your belongings and held them against your chest as you stood up and sat next to Chanhee, giving your crush your now empty spot. Placing your bag on the floor, you turned your head to the right and stared at your friends, only to find them laughing and bickering together. Changmin was imitating your bashful answer, and Sunwoo’s smug grin painted on his face as he cheekily winked at you, everything confirming your doubts that this situation was one of their playful plans. You sighed in exasperation and typed the title of your notes on a new document as if the entire situation weren’t bothering you.

“Thanks,” Hyunjae said as he sat down, and your heart skipped a beat when you heard his gorgeous voice that caused the hairs on your arms to stand up. His smile made him ten times more attractive, and your heart seemed to struggle to cope with his beauty.

You tried your best to ignore your crush’s presence on your left as you typed down your notes at high speed, but it was harder than you thought. He was close, too close for you to function properly and pay attention to the lecture, his presence and cologne distracting you. There were times where you could feel his gaze on you when you were typing or taking a sip of water, your hands immediately tensing and jolting under the pressure of his aura.

As the lecture finally finished, you quickly packed up your stuff and zipped your backpack before putting it on your shoulders. You didn’t even bother saying goodbye to your friends as you stood in your seat and jumped on the table of the higher row behind you to escape your group. Kevin tried to hail you by calling your name, but you were quick to pace towards the exit and vanish into the mass of the crowd.

You almost reached the library, your safe area where you always sought comfort and peace when a hand gently caught your wrist, your eyes immediately drawn to the familiar lavender knitted sleeve. You breathed heavily at the warmth of the slender hand, and you turned around to face none other than your crush.

“Gosh, you were walking so fast,” he chuckled as he finally got you, his hold still wrapped around your wrist blasting electricity through your veins. The contact felt pleasant, yet it felt so wrong to be this close to him. “I wanted to ask you something before the lecture ended, but you disappeared,” Hyunjae smiled as his cheeks became the prettiest shade of pink you had ever seen. You shyly smiled, muttering a soft apology, and you frowned, not letting him time to say another word.

He opened his mouth to say something when you drew him behind one of the colossal pillars holding up the second floor as you saw Chanhee’s bleached hair peeking out from an opened auditorium door, spying on you two. Hyunjae looked confused but let you drag him anyway.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” You tried to look unbothered, but your fidgeting hands betrayed you, making your crush smile. “Hum yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me today?” he asked, looking straight into your eyes, a big, bashful smile decorating his face. "I know a good café not too far from college, so I was wondering if-” “S-sure, why not?” you blurted out, and you heard muffled laughs coming from behind Hyunjae.

You both peeked out and noticed your friends piled up on top of each other, trying to listen to the conversation you were having with your crush. You sighed and shook your head in annoyance, tired of the lack of privacy your love life was experiencing every day because of them, Eric laughing even louder for getting caught eavesdropping like that.

A hand landed on your shoulder, and you felt a breath near your ear, making your heart skip a few beats in a row.

“Let’s go before they follow us, okay?” you glanced at Hyunjae, and he looked at you with something in his eyes that made your chest tighten, making the process of breathing troublesome. He grinned at your state and innocently grabbed your clammy hand as you two sped off towards the exit and ran past your friends into the mob.

As you slowed down in the streets, trying to look as civil as possible, you readjusted your backpack strap and caught your breath while laughing, Hyunjae smiling as brightly as you did. He found your laugh so pretty and light-hearted, he felt internally lucky to be part of the reason for it. You went down to the end of the street, still walking close to him, and he paused in front of a takeaway place. Holding the door for you, you shyly thanked him and entered the restaurant, the smell of Chinese food making your stomach grumble in hunger.

“Choose whatever you want, it’s on me,” you turned around and immediately backed up a bit, startled by the proximity of you two. Hyunjae only smiled, and you turned your attention back to the food. “Really?” you asked, and he snickered at your shocked state, nodding with a soft smile on his face. "Gosh, I am so hungry,” you muttered under your breath as your eyes roamed on the menu above your heads, heavily breathing as you were still trying to catch your breath back from the sprint you had just run to escape from your foolish friends.

Relief rushed through your veins when he took the reins and ordered for the two of you, your mouth uttering thank-yous like a mantra, only to have your crush waving it off.

“Y/N, it’s okay, don’t worry about it!” he said, and you stopped to look at him, Hyunjae beaming at you while grabbing the paper bag with your steamy food at the bottom. You quickly seized some napkins and disposable utensils and walked back to Hyunjae, who was already outside, waiting for you. “So, where are we going now?” he said, and you shrugged, looking around you, not knowing anything only outside from the library. “I know a good place, it’s not far from here,” you vaguely pointed to your right, and Hyunjae immediately started walking. “Let’s go before the food gets cold!” he exclaimed and let you take the lead.

It was a small park hidden a few streets away from your university, meeting other students since there was another park inside the campus. Bowing down to pat the grass a few meters away from the artificial pond, you sat down as it was dry, but Hyunjae handed you the food and took out his folded waterproof jacket from his bag. Placing it on the ground, he gestured you to come and sit with him.

“Here, come sit with me, you’ll be more comfortable,” he said, and you obeyed, your knees touching as you set the paper bag down next to you and handed him his food and drink. Your proximity didn’t leave you indifferent, but you tried your best to hide it as much as possible.

Hyunjae noticed your little change of behaviour and found you adorable when you looked away at each of his compliments. Your arms were now touching since his jacket underneath you wasn’t a picnic tablecloth, and you were slowly getting used to his body warmth surrounding you.

As the lunch break went by, you talked about your respective majors, and you joked about the shared lecture of this morning, getting closer and closer to each other. He was kind-hearted and became more comfortable when you were alone, gently nudging you in the elbow when you were about to lift your chopsticks to your mouth, the noodles falling back into your bowl. Wiping your mouth with a napkin, you were quick to nudge him back and laugh, still careful not to stain any of his clothes.

“You… look really nice today. I like those colours on you,” you complimented him, and he smiled at your hesitant voice, taking a sip of soda before answering. “Thank you Y/N, I appreciate it,” you nodded and started chewing on your bottom lip, eyes divagating towards the pond surrounded by plants and flowers. “You look really pretty as well,” he whispered in your ear, and you froze at his words, your heart skipping a beat as he had seized the opportunity of you letting your guard down as you were paying attention to the pond. You offered him a soft smile and took a sip of your drink as well to try and calm your racing heart.

He kept playing with it since he was having fun by making you embarrassed and shy with his compliments and proximity. Hyunjae knew that it was working despite your never-ending tries of hiding it, and he felt proud to have this effect on you. Although it was hard for him to see you chew on your lip like that, he had to force himself not to cup your face and tell you to stop, because he was really tempted to do so. However, when you started scratching your lip with your fingers, that’s when he grabbed your pitiless hand and held it in his.

“Hey, don’t do that,” he said and grabbed a napkin to dab the blood coming out of the little cuts on your bottom lip you had caused out of nervosity.

You guiltily avoided his eyes and searched for your lip balm in your bag before quickly applying some. The temptation of starting again was real when your hand was still cradled in his, your crush not giving a single sign of him being ready to let go of it. Alternatively, he rubbed his thumb over your knuckles as you both observed the pond and the people chilling around you.

Much to your dismay, your little romantic moment was interrupted by the church clock striking thirteen times, announcing 1 PM. You both didn’t pay attention at first, but it was when you couldn’t see a single student around you that you realised something.

“Oh god, Statistics! We have statistics in less than fifteen minutes,” you hurriedly said as you jumped on your feet, placing all your trash in the paper bag. “Oh shit!” Hyunjae imitated you and grabbed the bag from you, jogging to the trash can on the other side of the pond while you grabbed your belongings and quickly folded his jacket. He thanked you, and you left in a rush, under the confused eyes of your neighbours.

Even if it wasn’t too far from your college, you still jumped in the bus that was about to drive off from the stop right outside the park, the doors closing right behind Hyunjae. You sighed in relief as you both made it, and you tightly grabbed the metallic bar as the bus sped uphill.

“I’m glad this bus was here, I don’t think I could’ve walked back up there after our lunch,” you smiled at his words, his hand holding the bar above your heads, his lavender sweater going high enough for you to see his black Gucci belt keeping his turtleneck tucked in his pants. “I don’t know who had this marvellous idea of building the university on top of a hill,” you sarcastically mumbled and pressed the button next to your head as the screen announced the stop.

Hyunjae was the first to jump off the vehicle, grabbing your hand as you were quick to imitate him, the mass of students behind you forcing you out. Your crush followed you like a lost puppy through the different staircases and corridors, your great sense of orientation leading you quickly to the auditorium you were almost late to. You were out of breath when you finally arrived there, right before the clock struck 1:15 PM.

Surprisingly, the rows were practically empty, but you instantly spotted your friends in the middle, some of them still eating while the others were laughing or reading together. Hyunjae grabbed your hand for the nth time today, slowly getting used to this new feeling, and you dragged him towards them, but he resisted.

You looked at him, his eyes scanned the auditorium just like he did this morning and looked back at you with a smile before gesturing over a good spot, a bit higher and further away from your friends. Changmin, with his eagle eye, was quick to notice Hyunjae's lavender sweater and warned your friends, all turning around to observe you and your crush sitting together. Chanhee gasped as he quickly saw you holding hands, gossiping about it to his hyungs. Juyeon just shrugged, unbothered by the situation as he cracked his fingers and neck, getting ready to type.

You noticed your friends smirking at you and hid your head behind your computer screen, Eric leaning back in the vacant seats just enough for him to appear in the corner of your eye, his mouth transforming into a pout to mimic a kiss. You rolled your eyes and groaned, offering him a disapproving look, your antics sending him in a fit of giggles.

Hyunjae smiled at you before looking at your friends, who cooed and loudly gagged when he grabbed your hand and lifted it for them to see. You didn’t know what to do with yourself, embarrassment taking over your body as your friends cheered, drawing attention towards you and your crush, the latter replacing your linked hands on his lap, under the table.

“Why would you do that?” you dared to ask, and you shouldn’t have, your voice breaking mid-sentence made your crush giggle. “Let them be, they’re just happy that their best friend is getting out of their comfort zone. Plus, you look cute when you are flustered,” he said, and the professor started talking, preventing you from answering him.

He just sat there with a satisfied smile on your face, while you were trying not to pass out here and there with your heart beating this fast.

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[ashasmonsters]

The Middle Prince

Male reader x Male Tiefling (Amon)

Citrus rating: Lemon

Content: Detailed wet dreams, alcohol

Words: 8k

Note: Some MLM goodness for Pride Month! This took me longer than I intended, but only because I wrote it way too long and had to break it up into parts! Expect more in this series.

The dreams started assailing you a little over a month ago. During the first week, you couldn't remember anything. You would awake in your bedchamber covered in sweat and panting as if you had just finished a sparring session. These nights, a name danced on the tip of your tongue, escaping just as you attempted to sound it out and make it real. Confused and alone you would promptly go back to sleep after flipping over your pillow. As time passed, the dreams grew both in intensity and clarity. Though still more mysterious than normal dreams, little details here and there coalesced in your waking memory: a soft touch followed by a rough one, the smell of lavender, your fingernails gliding over shallow ridges, the color of aquamarine gemstones. These dreams visited you every night without fail.

The determinations made by the court oneiromancers were limited in scope. After spending the night in the care of one such dream diviner, they found these dreams to be coming from somewhere else. The dreams were not your own, at least not fully. Beyond this, they had no more revelations. Anything more was conjecture; one stated that if magick was involved, it was either massively strong, thus able to conceal its origin, or so fleeting and ephemeral that even the oneiromancers couldn't trace it.

Your father's concern waxed but mostly waned. Perhaps if you were the eldest crown prince instead of the middle one, the answer would have been willed into existence by his command. He simply asked that the oneiromancers track your condition and report any findings to him, but no more than once each week. Though dismayed that little was being done to solve this mystery, you were used to being far from priority. Even years ago when an attempt on your life left one of your legs still and unresponsive, a leg brace allowing you to stand at public appearances was issued and the problem was declared solved. You vividly remembered the look on the assassin's face when he realized he had accidentally struck third in the line of succession rather than first. His reaction was not dissimilar from your father's when you mentioned your dreams: a mildly amused but primarily disappointed visage. The spot where the dagger had pierced your spine no longer ached but your discontent was as raw and fresh as the day the realization struck.

With the oneiromancers essentially told to only report something unquestionably threatening to your life or the family's honor, you shared very little with them. Several times you had dismissed them with little more than a hand wave. None of them ever protested. To their knowledge, no new developments within these dreams came to light. It was just another little curiosity that came with the court.

To their knowledge, anyway. In truth, there had been a quite substantial development that you withheld from them.

The night air was cool and crisp. From your bedchamber's veranda, you let the gentle sound of the garden's fountains below soothe your nerves. This had become your regular nighttime ritual; your last chance to feel relaxed and cool before waking up overheated and frantic. You enjoyed the last of it before sliding under the sheets and waiting for the dream to visit you.

This was the clearest dream to date. The scattered sensations and feelings from prior episodes came into focus: the touches came from smooth, tender hands, the smell of lavender from purple cups of herbal tea. Your fingers played over short, filed horns. That bold aquamarine color like a burning emerald belonged to a pair of eyes, their pupils narrow and catlike. The overall plot of the dream remained unknown to you. What came next, however, was new. Very new.

A pair of hands caressed your body as whatever clothing you had dissolved into the air. Your mind reeled from the realization of what was happening, yet you were relaxed all the same. Though surprised, you didn't wish for it to stop. Even as the tender hands had you at their mercy, one playfully pinching a nipple as the other reached lower in between your legs, you welcomed their touch without knowing why. You just did. It felt right. The hand between your legs started confidently stroking your shaft; making you moan. Their touch was expertly coordinated as if they knew everything about you. Not long after, the building pressure within you was too much to bear, then...

"AMON!" You cried out, the name that had eluded you all those nights finally woven from syllables into a complete utterance. You were no longer dreaming, your own hands reflexively covering your mouth in a futile attempt to take back the exclamation. In the dead of night like this, you most certainly alerted someone.

"My Prince, are you alright?" Your chief courtier, Petra, had burst through your bedchamber door. Guards with polearms at the ready had her back.

"I'm alright," you caught your breath, "it's the dream again. No cause for alarm." As usual, you bore a sheen of sweat and your heart was thundering in your ears.

"You've never called out like that before," Petra noted, not yet dropping her guard.

"I called out?" You lied, wincing as you felt something viscid and slimy on your groin under your dressing gown. Deep embarrassment came to the forefront of your mind, your face helpless to hide it. "Bring me my washbasin, please," you quickly uttered.

"At once, my Prince." Petra left the room as the guards resumed their posts. You peeled back your dressing gown to inspect the damage by moonlight. It was worse than you thought. Undoubtedly this gown would have to be thrown out. You groaned, disappointed in your own body for betraying you like this.

"Your washbasin, Prince." Petra returned and you hurriedly covered yourself up again. The moonlight was too dim, or perhaps she pretended not to see, but she was soon at your bedside without pause, brandishing a sponge and towel.

"I can do this myself," you said, taking the implements from her. She looked at you with intent to interrogate.

"Prince, if there have been changes with your dreams, you must inform the oneiromancers."

"No need," you said, eager to fully clean yourself. "You are dismissed, Petra."

Petra held her tongue. Her eyes told you she only did so because she was eager to return to bed. When she departed your bedchamber and closed the door, you finally discarded the soiled gown and did your best to cleanse yourself of your nocturnal emission. You donned a new gown and welcomed an ordinary slumber.

When morning came, so did Petra and a bevy of assistant courtiers. From the accoutrements they wielded you identified them as the "fashion corps," your nickname for the hairdressers, wardrobers, clothiers, and makeup artists whose arrival portended a formal event you were required to attend. As the squad of aesthetes communicated amongst each other, Petra drew you a bath. While the tub filled, she came to your side and took your shoulder on hers to help you hobble into the bathing chamber.

"What's the occasion, Petra?" You unfolded a privacy screen, dividing your bathing chamber in half. As you stripped and entered the balmy water, you heard Petra pull up a chair on the other side of the screen.

"The biannual alliance gala, Prince."

"The alliance gala?" You asked. Your appearance had not been required at one for quite some time. "Why me?"

"Your father has requested that the entire court attend. From what I've heard, there is quite the number of fiefdoms and baronies joining the kingdom at this one."

"Grand." You sighed and resigned yourself into the water until it met your chin. You imagined the great hall of the palace, teeming with strangers from far-off lands all speaking in such meaningless platitudes that they needed alcohol in hand to tolerate it.

"If it makes you feel any better, Prince, most of the night depends on your elder brother and your father. You have the freedom to do whatever you like once your father's opening speech is concluded," Petra said with a mild tone.

It didn't make you feel better. Your father built a kingdom that, apparently, smaller domains were scrambling to join. Your elder brother was the crown prince with hordes of suitors seeking his heart. Even your elder sister, with no direct claim to the crown, was quite sought after. Then there was you, with permission to get as drunk as you like at the gala. You seriously considered exercising that privilege.

Your ruminations were interrupted by the clatter of hammered metal and leather straps from beyond the screen.

"I've got your brace ready, Prince. Let me know when you're dry," Petra said. You reluctantly finished scrubbing and soaping yourself before heaving your body onto the lip of the bath and toweling off. Sat there, damp with dripping hair and a towel round your waist, you permitted Petra to attach the brace to you. She respectfully averted her eyes as she affixed the contraption to your immobilized leg. With it attached, you traded comfort for the ability to limp and stand unassisted.

Next came the gauntlet of clothing, hair styling, and makeup that the fashion corps employed. Even for today, which was merely a rehearsal for the true event tomorrow, they gave no mercy. They encircled you and passed you around as they worked like a knight being suited by his squires. The process was grueling. Your hair was tugged and the breeches squeezed your brace into your leg. With the freedom to choose your own clothes removed from you, there was no choice but to deal with the feeling of metal biting at your skin.

Bound in the tight, ceremonial clothing, Petra took your arm for the long walk to the great hall. It was full of palace staff and buzzing like a beehive. The ceiling, high as a cathedral's, let in beams of sunlight through its many massive windows. Tables were being arranged with the intent to give each attending guest a view of the stage: the stage where your father and elder brother would be giving their opening speeches tomorrow. The two of them were behind a podium, your brother reading a piece of parchment over your father's shoulder. Behind them towards the back of the stage was a row of ornate seats; not quite thrones but just as uncomfortable. Your elder sister met your gaze as she sat on one. She beckoned you over.

"That will be your seat for the rehearsal, Prince," Petra said.

"Rehearsal for sitting?" You quipped, walking towards your seat anyway. Resistance was futile no matter how silly this all was.

"I'll undo your hair and get you into more comfortable clothes as soon as I can, Prince," Petra said apologetically. "Bear with it. I must attend to the other staff now."

With that, Petra disappeared into the crowd of scrambling staff arranging the great hall into order. You limped to your seat, your brace clicking all the while.

"You look excellent, little brother," your sister said. She was attempting to alleviate your sour mood, but she still hadn't figured out how. Neither had you.

"I look like an idiot. And my leg is killing me," you snapped.

Your sister merely sighed and leaned back in her chair. Her hair, in a high bun, bumped the bejeweled headrest and made her curse.

"You used to love these events when you were smaller. You had perfected waving to the crowd before you learned to talk," she said.

"That was a long time ago. Things were different; I was naive, none of us had official duties, the assassination attempt hadn't happened, I wasn't bedeviled by these dreams... mother was alive." You cast your gaze downward, examining your buckled leather shoes. You heard her sigh.

"Not all change has to be bad. And to be fair, you still don't have any official duties to worry about." She placed a hand on your shoulder.

"That's a polite way of saying I'm useless." You looked up at your father and elder brother. They were discussing something about their speeches, annotating and marking the parchment before them. A small audience of pages stood in front of the stage, listening to them run through portions of their speeches. They hadn't yet paid you any heed.

"It's a blunt way of saying you're free," your sister said firmly. "Every week I'm fielding suitors from all over the world, and not one of them has proven to be anything but repulsive. I'm terrified that one day strategy and diplomacy will land me with someone like them."

Your eyes widened at her open disdain for the matters of the court.

"I'm sorry," you said, reconstructing your vision of who your sister truly was. "I had no idea you felt that way... I thought—"

"You thought I was traipsing about with handsome men from far-off lands every day?" She smirked.

"...yes." You blushed.

"Hah! I wish!" Your sister flinched at her own exclamation, then relaxed when she realized the monarch and the crown prince hadn't noticed. "But you don't have to wish for that. You're free to traipse with whomever you please."

You blushed harder. Turning away from your sister, you saw your brother and father finishing up their speech revisions. On cue, Petra emerged from the throng of staff to conclude this "rehearsal."

"Looks like Petra's coming to get you," your sister noted. "I know you'll be free to retire to your bedchambers as soon as the speeches are over, but I want you to try and enjoy yourself tomorrow night. It's what I would do if I could." She gave you one final smile before getting up from her seat.

"I will," you said, finally cracking a tiny smile in return. Petra had your arm soon after.

"Your presence is no longer required, Prince." Petra helped you up. "Shall I take you back to your chambers?"

"Yes, please," you said, giving your sister a thankful glance. She returned a similar expression as Petra whisked you away.

When you had finally returned to your chambers and changed into less constrictive clothing, you asked Petra to stay awhile to converse. Your sister's advice had forced you to re-evaluate your approach to the gala. Your priorities had shifted just as much as your notions of her personality had.

"You mentioned there were many newcomers to the kingdom? Quite a few tables were being set up in the great hall," you quizzed Petra.

"Yes, from what I've gathered, it's expected to be the largest event we've hosted all year. We're expecting guests from as far as Ankara and Nubia," she answered matter-of-factly. Perhaps she was a little proud, too.

"Are there any specific guests I should know about?" You asked with the grace of a war elephant. Courtship had crossed your mind for the first time mere minutes ago. "Anyone of high repute?"

Petra picked up on your clumsy intent immediately. She knew you too well.

"Prince, it would be quicker to list the attendees not worth approaching than those with stellar accolades. If it were me..." she drew in air through her teeth as if expecting to be reprimanded, "I would consider tomorrow's gala an excellent time to court someone."

"I'll try to take that advice to heart, Petra," you said.

"I'm pleased, Prince. Your matters are your own, but if I may speak unequivocally..."

"Speak your mind." You gave her permission. She hesitated, then sighed.

"You strike me as lonely, Prince. Ever since the Queen passed, your social life has suffered." Petra paused again, considering her words carefully. "You deserve love of that measure once more, whether from a partner or a good friend."

"Thank you," you sighed as if she had given you permission to use your heart. "I appreciate the advice, Petra."

"Of course, Prince." She glanced out the window towards the setting sun. "I recommend you retire early tonight to be invigorated tomorrow, lest the dreams strike again."

You nodded.

"They will." You avoided her eyes as you remembered what happened last time. "Have a washbasin ready. For the, erm, sweat."

"Of course, Prince," Petra said, her face remaining unmoved. You didn't bother trying to discern whether she was oblivious to last night's gown-soiling or if she merely extended you the courtesy of pretending. "I'll leave you be. Get some rest."

You watched her exit your chambers without another word, finally exhaling the breath you held. The idea of having to clean yourself up again was hardly appealing. Standing on the veranda and enjoying the cool night air was only prolonging the inevitable.

The aforementioned inevitable reared its troublesome head as soon as you surrendered to sleep. Your consciousness materialized somewhere, a location unidentifiable but still more detailed than you had ever encountered before. You glimpsed kaleidoscopic carpets, hammered brass, and vines growing freely about the place.

"Welcome back." A man's voice like sweet honey floated through the warm air.

"I missed you." The words left your mouth without you knowing them. You were merely an observer to your own actions. "Amon."

"My sweet prince." Lips on your knuckles. The smell of lavender tea. "Tea?"

"No thanks. We must keep this quick," you uttered again, breathless and surrendering to a desire that was both yours and unknown to you.

"Tut, tut. What's gotten into you, my prince? I've never seen you so impatient," the voice teased. Your head spun.

"I need my energy," you gasped, something warm and wet lapping at your member. "For tomorrow." The ministrations paused.

"Of course. Tomorrow will be very special indeed." The tongue on your shaft resumed, making you squirm. You reached out into the nothingness, your fingers grasping at frayed carpet tassels. Your other hand reached in between your legs and found a head of hair. You grasped a smooth horn that curved neatly behind an ear. It bobbed up and down at a tantalizing pace.

"Amon, I... I shouldn't..."

"Shouldn't what?" Another pause in the pleasure. You caught your breath. Those eyes again, burning into yours with the hue of warm ocean waters. "Say no to me, my prince. I implore you to try."

Caught in the stare you were helpless. You quivered with need, your manhood twitching and drooling. Only a high whine left your lips.

"Thought so."

You shot up in bed, crying out and spasming. Once more you had spilled yourself into your gown, your entire body slick with sweat. As a small victory, your cries remained nondescript rather than referential to this "Amon." In the dream, you had felt a sweet warmth in your breast each time you spoke to him and even warmer when he responded. In your waking memory, this name was empty. There was no connection and no feeling of belonging. If you hadn't heard your own voice leave your mouth in the dream, you would have had no way of knowing those experiences were your own. Your dreaming memory and conscious recollection were severed, at odds with one another. What did he mean when he said tomorrow would be special? Did he know about the gala? You didn't know how much you knew.

"The washbasin, Prince," Petra uttered as she carried it into your chambers. She stowed it at your bedside. "Shall I leave you like before?"

"Yes, please... but would it trouble you to return afterward?"

"Not at all, Prince. I'll return at your word." She slipped out of the room. You took the opportunity to cleanse yourself of the evidence before permitting Petra to return.

“Petra, would it be possible to acquire a guest list for the gala?” You asked.

“Possible, yes. However, it will be quite long without any qualifiers. As I mentioned previously, this is one of the largest events of the year.”

You considered simply asking her if the name Amon was among the attendees, but Petra would likely alert the oneiromancers and in turn, your father. You doubted anything would happen at all if she did, but this was a matter you wanted to confront on your own. Like all other decisions made for you at your father’s behest, your own interests would unquestionably be cast aside if he decided to involve himself.

“I’d like to know the first names of all the male guests scheduled to attend,” you said. Petra raised an eyebrow.

“That doesn’t narrow it down much, Prince,” Petra answered. The sweet, honeyed voice from your dream remained in your mind. It was the voice of a young man, one likely of your age.

“Only the male guests around my age, then,” you specified. Petra raised her other eyebrow, making her expression one of surprise rather than skepticism.

“Ah. That kind of list. I see...” Your cheeks burned; though you didn’t know where this inquiry would take you, you also felt the conclusion Petra came to was not wholly inaccurate. “Shall I make,  erm, other arrangements as well?”

“Arrangements?” you asked. It was Petra’s turn to blush.

“The standard things... extra pillows, oils, skins—”

“Yes, of course, Petra,” you cut her off, not wishing for her to extend the list of amenities any further. Searching for a suitor was a favorable charade. If nothing else, if this search for the mysterious Amon proved fruitless, then you would at least have the means, motive, and opportunity to bed somebody... if you had the audacity. The look on Petra's face said she didn't think so.

"I’ll have the list and the... goods brought in before sun-up,” Petra said. “Is there anything else you need?”

“No, Petra, that will suffice.”

“Good. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Morning arrived and so did Petra's promises; the chief courtier herself was nowhere to be found, but a neatly transcribed list of names and a box tied with a bow sat atop a chaise lounge when you awoke. You already knew what waited inside the box, so you went for the list. Though only containing the names of guests that fit your qualifiers, the parchment was both long and double-sided. Your eyes began to tire just as they fell across what you were looking for:

Amon II - Eparch of Nobatian Lower Makuria and Alodia

You were puzzled. Makuria and Elodia were names you hadn't heard since you were tutored. Even your father's kingdom with its diplomats venturing far and wide rarely mentioned them. You only knew they were small kingdoms far away from this one. There was not one but two oceans between here and there, they spoke a language no tutor in the palace taught, and both titles of "Nobatian" and "Eparch" were unknown to you.

Then the fashion corps arrived. You dropped the parchment and pondered the new information as they manhandled you into the appearance they had crafted for you yesterday. Perhaps due to more practiced hands or being lost in your thoughts, the process seemed to go much faster than previously. You almost didn't believe it when they told you they were finished, but the shifted sun and your appearance in the mirror confirmed that the gala would soon begin. Your hair was fashioned into an unnatural shape, your face was dusted with powder, and your clothes were so form-fitting that you appeared sewn into them. The bulge of the leg brace through your breeches peeked out at the ankle; the leggings were so tight that your overcoat preserved more of your modesty than they did.

With Petra absent and likely scrambling to put last-minute touches on the gala, you walked to the great hall with the assistance of the fashion corps, who likewise made hasty repairs to your appearance as your gait jostled things out of place. When you arrived, the great hall was even busier than at the rehearsal. It seemed there was a member of palace staff for each seat at every table, all of them fastidiously arranging cutlery, plates, decorative vases, placemats, and myriad other things you didn't know the names for.

“Little brother!” You turned your head and spotted your elder sister within a parade of her own fashion corps regiment. She waved at you from one of the great hall’s entrances.

“Sister,” you responded with a nod, your own cavalcade parting to allow her approach.

“Have you given tonight any consideration?” She asked.

“Yes, actually...”

“You’re not going to retreat to your chambers?”

“...not immediately,” you said, noncommittal.

“I’m glad.” She smiled gently. “I’ll likely be busy most of the night, though if you’d like me to send anyone your way, let me know. Who’s on your list?”

“My list?” you sputtered. “Petra told you?”

“Petra? Goodness, no,” she chuckled. “I just figured you’d have one. It’s standard practice for these sorts of things; I’ve a list as well. So... who’s on yours?”

You lowered your head and examined your shoes.

“Well... it’s quite long.”

“How scandalous!” she gasped exaggeratedly.

“I’m just casting a wide net is all! I don’t intend to bed every single male my age!” Your cheeks burned again. You considered dropping the charade if it meant this level of humiliation.

“I expected my mild little brother to have a rebellious phase eventually, but this...” she said, ignoring your cries.

"Sister, please," you pleaded. The tone of your voice convinced her to return to normal. She extended a hand to ruffle your hair but stopped herself when your fashion corps hairstylist glared at her.

"Apologies, little brother. I had to jest a little," she smiled at you, this time without intent to tease. "They're going to start letting in the guests soon. We should take our seats."

You nodded and followed her to the stage. The fashion corps fell away from you and went to help elsewhere. You sat in your uncomfortable pseudo-throne and waited, eventually joined by your other siblings save for your eldest brother. They greeted you as they took position at your side, but there was very little to talk about. This was the first time you had seen them in a while.

Then came the guests: the table-setters had cleared out some minutes before the floodgates burst and more staff escorted groups of people to their tables. The cathedral-like great hall was full in mere moments. Sorted by table, there was a sea of people in colorful finery all conversing amongst themselves and giving you and your siblings the occasional glance. You tried to pick out Amon from the crowd but quickly realized half-remembered fragments from your dreams wouldn't be enough to pick him from a sea of hundreds. Even finding his name on the list took a considerable amount of time.

Then the hall fell silent, or something close to it. A lively conversation between hundreds of people dropped to hushed whispers. Your father and brother had entered the hall and begun their walk to the podium, silencing the crowd with nothing but their appearance. When your father reached the podium, he extended both arms palms up and the previously subdued crowd erupted into cheers. If not for the applause, he would have heard you groan. Your sister said nothing, only giving your hand a gentle squeeze.

When the speeches started you practically willed your ears shut. Perhaps you would have built a tolerance to them if you had appeared at more of these events, but you couldn't bear to listen to your father and elder brother boast of their achievements to a sea of complacent, nodding heads. It was like a reminder that within the kingdom your father built, you served your purpose by distracting that assassin some years ago and now outlived your usefulness. At this gala, you were decoration only a few ranks higher than a potted plant.

You thanked any and all higher powers when the speeches were over. Father and his crown prince had left the stage to begin their targeted commingling with VIPs, prompting you and your siblings to stand from your seats. They all dispersed before you could look to them to follow their lead. When you stumbled off the stage and distanced yourself from it by leaning against the wall as you walked, hardly any attention came your way. Thankfully, the attention you did receive was from Petra.

"Prince, are you alright? You look troubled," she said, sidling up to you.

"What do I do, Petra?" you asked, intimidated by the sheer size of the room and the attendees within it. Each table was like its own little kingdom with strangers you didn't know and faux-pas to stumble over.

"See how each table has an empty chair or two?" She pointed to the tables nearest you, one full of scaly Sāmm-abraṣ emissaries and another with human diplomats bearing the flag of Bavaria. You nodded. "All the guests are expected to stay seated while dinner is served. They won't get up to dance and drink until the meal is concluded. Right now, only people from the host kingdom— like you, me, your siblings, and other members of the court— will be walking around."

"So I just sit at whichever table and introduce myself?"

"If you even need to. The fact you're walking will show them you're hosting. They'll pay you proper respect without you saying anything at all."

"Hm," you mused. That sounded like a lot of work, especially since you weren't aiming to meander. Finding Amon would be immeasurably more difficult once the crowd was disorganized and inebriated, though, so now was your best chance.

"I've a copy of your list, Prince. Shall I help you navigate it?" Petra asked, holding up parchment.

"Yes, let's," you said. The lengthy document threatened to touch the floor. "Let's begin alphabetically."

"Alphabetically, Prince?"

"By first name."

"Of course, Prince. That means we should visit Aariyeh, Sardar of Anatolia, followed by Abdul II, Knez of Smederevo—"

"Any Eparchs on that list?" You winced at your own forwardness. The charade was wearing dangerously thin.

"...Eparchs?"

"I'm in an Eparch mood at the moment," you explained weakly. Petra looked at you as if checking for signs of illness.

"I see. There's one: Amon II of Nobatian Lower Makuria and Alodia."

"He sounds splendid. Take me to him."

Petra, either from exasperation, deference, or both, folded up the list and took your arm without another word. She led you through the clusters of gala attendees. You could feel every one of their eyes watching you as you caught their attention. Just as the scrutiny was starting to become too much, your eyes found a target of their own. A warm shiver ran through your spine, a sensation the French would call déjà rêvé: a dream made real.

His verdigris eyes locked onto yours. They peered at you from behind short, white curls of shiny hair. His skin reminded you of the bluebells in the gardens, and his pert, curled horns were a shade darker. He flashed something between a grin and a smirk at you, revealing pearlescent teeth with canines that could be mistaken for fangs.

Amon was breathtaking and he knew it.

If your arm wasn't in Petra's grasp already, you never would have made it to the chair. She struggled a bit as she plopped you into it, your leg brace protesting with clicks and creaks. The other tieflings at the table, all varying shades of azure, stopped what they were doing to acknowledge your arrival. You gave them a weak nod while you regained your composure.

"Greetings, delegation from Lower Makuria and Elodia. I'd like to introduce you to our Middle Prince," Petra said from over your shoulder, upon which she planted a firm hand. She squeezed hard.

"I'm pleased to meet you all," you managed to get out. Your audience of tieflings nodded and muttered.

"As am I, Middle Prince." Amon set his cutlery down and rested his chin on interlaced fingers. His voice was high and carried a boyish, scheming air; you envisioned him stealing lumps of sugar from a pantry. "I didn't think my kingdom warranted such a visit. What brings you to my little exclave of Nobatia?"

"A whim."

"How quaint," he said, still smirking. His gaze shifted as he eyed his all-tiefling entourage. The intent was to communicate something, though you didn't know what.

"I am the middle prince, after all. I've few obligations. None, actually," you said.

"Hm," Amon said, looking decidedly amused. "We may have more in common than we thought." His retinue nodded along with his observation.

"Surely you are a busy man? You are Eparch of not one, but two territories."

"Do you know what the title 'Eparch' entails, Middle Prince?" Amon said, more as a targeted quip than an actual question.

"I... am not familiar, I admit," you ceded.

"An Eparch is a figurehead. Makuria and Alodia have long been ruled by invaders and rebels, respectively. I'm kept in a symbolic position to preserve what's left of Nobatian culture," Amon sighed. "In fact, I was sent here in place of the true rulers since they thought it so unlikely that you would have anything important to say to us. Anything other than absorbing us into your hegemony, of course."

You averted your gaze. He clearly was not happy with his status, and while his discontent wasn't targeted at you, it hovered about him like a cloud. He picked at the remainder of his meal while the cloud dissipated and you plucked a topic from the clearing air.

"How was your journey here? You've come a long way," you said.

"It was pleasant enough. Your trains and... horseless carriages are quite impressive," Amon said, pausing. "What's your name for them again?"

"Automobiles," you answered.

"Yes, automobiles." He rolled the word in his mouth as if tasting wine. "Though you have such a fine river and only use it for cargo. A felucca would have made my journey quite enjoyable."

"A felucca?"

"Ah, it's my turn to inform you." Amon smiled. "A felucca is a sailboat we use on the Nile. It's built for comfort, with carpets instead of hardwood decks. Some even come with a kitchen, and it's unheard of to sail without finishing a pot of tea."

"It sounds lovely," you said. "Lavender tea, I hope."

Amon raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, my favorite," he looked amused. "How did you know?"

"A whim," you answered. "The same one that brought me over to your table."

"I see." His eyes locked with yours for a lengthy pause. His retinue shifted in their seats at the uncomfortable silence. He was thinking hard about something, but the subject of his thoughts remained unknown to you. If he truly shared the dreams with you, surely you must have gotten the point across by now?

"It was lovely chatting with you, Middle Prince." He broke the silence and straightened his posture. "But I would hate to keep you when you have other guests to see."

"I really don't—"

"Nonsense, my prince," he interrupted, "go on and mingle. Perhaps, if we're lucky, our paths will cross when the festivities begin in earnest."

You couldn't believe your eyes. Did he wink at you?

"Of course..." you said, slowly realizing he was scheming. "Enjoy the gala." He locked eyes with you again.

"Oh, we will."

You had resumed hovering with Petra on the edges of the great hall. More staff had filed in to take away dirty dishes and the remains of the guests' meals. The dance floor had been opened, the musicians were in position, and staff bearing silver trays readied drinks for the merry and hors d'oeuvres for the peckish.

"How was your visit with the Eparch?" Petra asked.

"Enlightening," you answered cryptically. The need for secrecy hadn't passed, but now you were unsure of what charade to uphold. You only knew Amon was in on it as well.

"I trust that means it went well?"

"Yes, I think so." You scanned the crowd of attendees, which had now gotten up from their seats and begun to mix and intermingle. Amon disappeared like an ace into a shuffled deck. Petra flashed you an impatient expression.

"Prince, do you want me to help you get with him or not?" She said with folded arms.

"Petra!" You gasped. "You're rather forward."

"It's quite literally my job to make sure you end up with him if you wish it, Prince," she assumed a stern tone as if you refused your vegetables. "Give me a yes or no."

You stewed under her gaze. It seemed the pressure and time-sensitive nature of the gala had started to affect her as well, though for different reasons to you.

"Yes." You muttered. She didn't ask for confirmation, instead slipping away into the crowd with nothing more than a nod. Was this part of the charade, still? You had no idea what Amon even wanted, or frankly, what you wanted from tonight.

The musicians started and the small groups that had formed on the edge of the dance floor produced couplets of dancers. They were eager to begin the waltz, a somewhat contentious dance that had only recently come into popularity.  You hadn't been practiced in it, instead learning of court dances like the cotillion. As you watched it take place, the dancers seemed awfully close. They were practically pressed against one another!

While you tried to discern the intricacies of this new style of dance before you, that familiar azure face peeked at you from the crowd. Amon smiled and raised his drink in your direction. It was a small gesture but you were helpless to do anything other than join him. Before you knew it, you were at his side in the sea of people and some sort of libation had been thrust into your hand.

"You know, I'm starting to grow partial to this stuff," Amon said, sipping on a duplicate of the drink you held.

"I was under the impression your faith disallowed the consumption of alcohol," you said, watching him finish the glass.

"An easy mistake to make." He handed off the glass to a roving staff member. "Modern Makurians and Alodians don't drink. Nobatians like me do. It's one of the holdovers of my dead culture."

You looked at the glass in hand; it was a clear, cold drink with a slice of lime. As you expected, the taste was bitter and unwelcoming.

"You like gin?" You asked, one taste enough to identify it.

"As I said, it's starting to grow on me," Amon chuckled. "It's not good enough to stop me from missing home, but it'll get me through the night."

"Speaking of home..." you started, looking around. You were unable to spot any other blue-skinned tieflings in the crowd. "where has your retinue gone?"

"I told them to enjoy themselves. As my courtiers, that means they're likely hovering by the exit, waiting to escort me out of here when I leave."

"They seem like a serious bunch."

"They're overprotective," Amon hissed. "As I said, my culture is long dead. They see it as dying. They think they can save it by putting me in a glass case for future generations to study."

"You've given up on Nobatia?"

"Pah! Of course I have!" He deftly procured another drink from a passing waiter. "Nothing will bring the old country back. Nobatia is a minuscule region; I can say with certainty I'm the youngest one left. When I'm old and infirm, Makuria and Alodia will reject the idea of a royal family entirely and I'll finally be allowed to be forgotten."

"That's quite a bleak outlook, Eparch," you gently chided. "Perhaps in war, things would be on a fixed course, but matters of diplomacy are more malleable."

"Perhaps," Amon said, sipping his gin. "But that's enough about me. I'd like to know more about you."

His eyes looked into yours as if he would magick the information he wanted straight out of you. No incantations were uttered, though, and you took a pragmatic sip of gin to fill the pause.

"What would you like to know?" You said.

"I'd like to know about this 'whimsy' you have," Amon probed. "To be frank, my prince, I expected to be out the door by now. Instead, I'm here, conversing with you. It doesn't make sense."

You finished your gin. This was as good a time as any to explain yourself.

"What do you know of oneiromancy?" The question left your lips and slapped Amon across the face. He chuckled.

"The school of magick so vague and unmeasurable it's not even officially recognized?"

"It seems you know the same as most," you said. "Oneiromancy is real. At least, real enough to give me the same dream night after night."

"I see..." Amon was mulling something over.

"In each one of these dreams, though my waking memory is hazy, I remember one thing they all had in common." You took a deep breath. "You."

"We should discuss this in private," Amon interjected, gently brushing your hand against his. You had been so caught up with telling Amon that you forgot you were in the middle of a crowded gala. Concern crept into the corners of his face. "Do you have a place we can go?"

You nodded and grasped his hand in earnest. The spot you took him to was one of the many balconies that overlooked the palace gardens. The sun had set fully at this point, and waltz music lazily floated out of the great hall. A few revelers who had over-indulged caught the fresh air in the hedges below. You and Amon rested on the cool marble balustrade, momentarily admiring the mingling of crickets, music, distant conversation, and the night air.

"I've been having the dreams as well. All of them involving you in some... capacity. I wasn't sure it was you at first. The dreams were so vague..." Amon kept his gaze fixed on the gardens below.

"Were the dreams... um, did you wake up... well..." you stammered. He looked at you knowingly.

"Yes, a few times," Amon answered. He didn't seem nearly as embarrassed as you. "You suspect oneiromancy is at play?"

"The court oneiromancers determined the dreams are being intentionally created. They're not a coincidence."

"Court oneiromancers?" Amon nearly spat out his drink. "My, you do have everything in this kingdom."

"Yes, we have court oneiromancers, but your surprise is beside the point." You had finally found the mysterious Amon, and you didn't want to waste any time on tangents. "Surely you're just as curious as I? Do you know anything about these dreams?" Amon drained the remainder of his gin in response.

"When I was a child..." He paused and shook his head. "When I was a child, my mother told me folk tales. The standard stuff: damsels in distress, slaying horrific beasts, that sort of thing. But she also told me tales of lovers who met in dreams. She said that was how she and father met."

"Something tells me you don't believe in that."

"When I grew too old for fairy tales, I saw it as her way of helping me keep hope that the one would be out there. With Nobatia falling and no suitors left..." he trailed off, setting his empty glass on the balustrade.

"So what if she's right?"

"That's a rather large 'if,' my prince. She was the only one that believed in that stuff... Aside from an uncle who would tell more dreamers-to-lovers tales, but only after drinking too much boukha, and always with a sarcastic tongue. They're just that: tales."

You felt Amon's cloud of discontent precipitate once more. His words were scathing, but not towards you; they spoke to a painful past and familiarity with disappointment. He saw something hopeful, happy, and promising, then cast it down in order to never feel the pain of losing it. You rarely had such clear insights about people, but with Amon it was different. It was as if you had known him for a long time and learned the language spoken by his brow, posture, and eyes. You knew what you had to do.

"Amon," you sighed, placing a hand on his, "even fairy tales originate from some truth, even if only a little. Don't be afraid to entertain the notion that your mother might be right."

You tried to look him in the eyes, but he cast his gaze down to the gardens below. His quick tongue failed him and silence ensued. His hand had reluctantly surrendered itself to your grasp, resting warm and limp.

"Look at me," You commanded with a firmer tone than expected. Reluctantly, he swiveled towards you and his aquamarine eyes found their way to yours. "Think about what you truly want. Don't be afraid to take it."

He swallowed. After a pause of a few heartbeats, his free hand grasped the back of your head, entwined his fingers in your hair, and pressed your lips to his. Your hand that held his grasped even tighter. The two of you were entwined in your own scandalous waltz. You could feel his hunger just as clearly as you felt his discontent when he parted your lips with his tongue. You reciprocated, catching fleeting impressions of his sharp teeth. He tasted like gin and figs. Short, passionate gasps and moans escaped the two of you and joined the chorus of crickets. You pulled away only to catch your breath.

"Amon," you gasped, his name sweet on your tongue. He looked at you with a bewildered expression and flushed navy cheeks. Neither of you could believe what just happened, yet surprise gave way to familiarity. Kissing Amon made your heart race but your shoulders relax. Being breathless and panting in his embrace was as recognizable to you as Petra's morning wake-up calls, or the smell of the gardens, or the feeling of your bedchamber floor on your bare feet. Déjà rêvé.

"I..." Amon sighed, "I shouldn't. I've had too much gin. I've been foolish." He released you from his arms and took several steps backward. Your jaw hung agape as he jogged inside and disappeared from view. Too shocked to try to catch him, you remained outside and alone on the balcony with only the sound of crickets and distant strings to keep you company. Just as silently and perceptively as a cat, Petra crept from the doorway a short while later.

"I saw Amon run away and came to check on you." She looked at your expression and reciprocated with a downtrodden look of her own. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. Probably not." You sighed and buried your face in your elbows until all you could see was the balustrade. You sensed Petra take a few steps towards you.

"What happened?" She asked delicately.

"We kissed, passionately. Then he said he was foolish and ran away," you mumbled into your self-embracing arms. Petra rested a hand on your shoulder.

"Some people just can't handle the fast pace and the pressure at galas like this. I'm sure it wasn't personal."

"I know..." you sighed. To Petra, your attempts at flirting simply failed to land. She didn't see the dreams. She didn't see the look in his eyes. She didn't hear the fear of hope in his voice. There were not enough hours in the night to explain to her the true extent of your sorrows.

"There's always tomorrow, Prince."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tonight is only for the Gala," Petra explained, her tender tone turning slightly optimistic, "anyone attending will be staying at least until tomorrow night for the treaty signing."

"So Amon is still here, then?" you asked, finally pulling your forehead from its resting place on your folded arms.

"He was likely running to the guest wing of the palace, where all the other dignitaries will be. If you truly wish to meet with him again, breakfast tomorrow morning would be an excellent opportunity."

You considered things for a moment. If Amon were to stay one more night, then that was one more dream to share. Tonight, you and Amon would spring awake in bed at the same time after another shared dream, but he would be only a few corridors away.

"Petra, get me an oneiromancer." You commanded.

"An oneiromancer? At this time of night? They're probably attending the gala with the rest of the court."

"Petra, this is important," you said. "I haven't exactly been forthcoming about everything in these recent days, and I'm sorry for that... but I need an oneiromancer before I sleep tonight. If you can do this for me, I promise to explain everything soon."

Petra looked at you silently, deciding whether or not to press you for details now rather than later contingent on your promise. She chose the former, nodding and silently fast-walking inside.

Alone once more on the balcony, you leaned on the balustrade and studied the stars. The moon's halo of illuminated night sky was the same color as Amon's lips. With any luck, you'd be seeing them again soon in tonight's dream.

#exophilia #monster x reader #monster x human #romance #male reader #tiefling #male tiefling x male reader #monster love #mlm #monster romance #monster fic #mlm romance

[siriusblackmakesmesoft]

Soft

Sirius Black X Ravenclaw!Reader

Warnings: Very fluffy, use of she/her pronouns, a few physical descriptions of height and hair, reader being a childhood friend of Sirius and Regulus, use of the nickname bunny, sad Sirius :(

Word Count: 2592

enjoy :)

Sirius was having a bad day.

Usually he was able to move through them with little friction, a little extra quidditch practice, a little harsher joke at Peter's expense. Nothing too bad, just getting it out in little ways all day long, and by the end of the day he felt better. But today started bad. He had a nightmare, and if you asked him he would say that it was less of a nightmare and more of a flashback. He woke up sweaty and sticky and crying. Gasping for air, hands waving frantically towards his sheets and his heart trying to find proof of it being over. The sun wasn't up yet, and even though his brain told him to wake someone up, he just took a cold shower. Put on his favorite sweater and went to the gryffindor common room. The red chair next to the fireplace was calling his name.

On top of not sleeping well, he got a letter dropped in his tea this morning. He knew from the nameless front of the envelope that it was from his mother. The green ink inside only furthered his bad mood. Remus' look of sympathy was met with a tight lipped semblance of a smile, and when James pat him on the back he felt the urge to hurl. Pity is really the last thing Sirius wanted, ever, but right now he couldn't stand it. Mumbling some excuse to leave, he went to the black lake. Alone and quiet, that's what he needed.

Of course, with his luck, it didn't last long. His mood hadn't improved in the half hour he was alone, and he was sure being by himself much longer wouldn't have helped either, but the presence of another person irked him. Looking up and seeing his brother lessened the annoyance, he was positive James venting about Lily would make everything worse.

"I see mummy dearest wrote to you as well?"

The scoff Sirius let out truly was unintentional. He had been trying to reconnect with Regulus, and while it wasn't his idea, he really was trying. Having someone who knew, lived the very same thing that made his day start so awfully, was refreshing. He didn't have to act like it wasn't so bad, especially on days where he needed someone to say that it was.

"Only called me a disgrace 4 times this time around, didn't even mention how I was a traitor."

This time it was Regulus responding, a soft hum of acknowledgement, and a deep sigh.

"I win then, she only said I was a disgrace once."

It got Sirius to chuckle, a deep chuckle that was laced with sadness. The silence that followed was comforting, no expectation for conversation was something Sirius rarely experienced, and he was glad it was happening with Regulus. Laying back so he was flat against the ground, Sirius heaved a large sigh, dramatically flopping his arm over his face. Regulus stretched, tapped his brother's knee three times, and stood up to leave.

"You should visit (Y/N) soon, she wasn't at breakfast."

Sirius' thoughts were flooded with the girl, instantly raising his bad mood. He ignored the part of him that got annoyed when Regulus spoke of her, as if they were close. While she had always been in the lives of the Black boys, she held a tighter grip on Sirius. And he knew, everyone knew. He relished in it.

Regulus started walking away in the middle of his thoughts, and over his shoulder yelled, "If you see her, tell her I say hello!"

The rest of Sirius' day went quite similarly to his morning. He failed a herbology quiz, got a detention in potions, made James upset when he spoke up about his obsession with Lily ("If she said never in a million years, prongs, that usually means she wants you to leave her alone!") and while he felt bad when James face dropped and Peter shook his head, Remus saved him by putting his hand on Sirius' shoulder and said quietly, "It's okay, he knows how your days been."

By the time dinner had come about, Sirius was ready to be eaten by the squid in the black lake. He stopped the facade of his typical self just after his talk with Regulus, and while he knew he should eat, he just pushed his food around his plate. He tried listening to Peter's story, and the summary of the most recently finished book Remus was telling, but his eyes were blank, and so was his head.

He left dinner without a word, going to walk through the halls until he felt good enough to sleep. His feet led him to the Ravenclaw tower door, getting nervous as he approached the eagle knocker. He let his breath out when the riddle was easy enough to solve (to be fair, (Y/N) had once said the eagle adjusted what riddle was used based on the immediate judging of the intelligence of the student, and while Sirius didn't think he was stupid, he appreciated a simple ego boost in the form of an easily solvable riddle.) and he walked in, dragging his feet to the stairs.

The Ravenclaw tower was structured differently than the Gryffindor, but the stairs to the girls dorm were the same. After muttering the simple charm to make sure the stairs didn't slide him straight back down, he walked down the hall to the head girls room, hoping she was there.

When his knock was met with silence he walked in anyways. Thinking maybe even her bed would help him in this moment. And while as desperate as it sounded, he knew she wouldn't mind. Opening the door he was met with the blissful sound of the shower, the light under the door and the light humming coming from the ensuite being the best thing his senses have experienced all day. Sirius walked slowly to the bathroom door, stopping to look at himself in the mirror on her dresser. He looked as tired as he felt, the remnants of a bad day hanging so obviously off of him. A crooked tie, messier than usual hair, dark circles under his eyes. He looked like the physical representation of a bad day.

When he got to the door of the bathroom he paused. This wasn't an unfamiliar routine, yet in this very moment he was anxious. Doubt flooded him. Scared of a rejection that wasn't going to approach him. Opening the door was relieving. Like a thousand pounds were suddenly lifted off his shoulders. Lavender and vanilla took over his senses, the warmth of the steam, the sounds of light music and water hitting tile. He was sure this is what heaven felt like.

"Sirius? Is that you?" He felt even lighter when she said his name. That soft tone, the one she only used for him. The same one she used every single time she spoke to him. It never failed to give him butterflies, even on the worst days. Somehow just her existing made his world a little brighter.

"Yes, 's me, bun." He couldn't find the energy to say much else, and the good part about her was that he didn't have to. The silence he left was welcomed, one she would gladly fill up with the melodies of Beatles songs he showed her.

"Reg said you were having a rough day, that I should expect you after a while." Her tone was questioning, leaving him the space to tell her as much as he needed. She always did that, let him take control in conversations about such things. He admired it truly, wanting to keep her in his pocket forever.

"Hasn't been the best day, no." Sirius took a seat on the counter, next to a few lit candles, and began fiddling with his fingers. Taking deep breaths, inhaling her scent that was stuck to the air all around him.

"D'you want to talk about it? 'Ve only got my hair left." He didn't want to talk about it, not really. He hummed as an answer, and she started singing as if she hadn't ever asked. The room lit up with the scent of her shampoo, a smell Sirius knew quite well. It was lavender, matched her conditioner, and lingered on the pillows he slept on in her bedroom. It was the kind of warm smell that encompassed you in a bubble of safety, and the feeling of home. Sirius began to think about all the times she ever made him feel like that. All the times she ever made him feel safe, content in being who he was. Because she loved who he was. And her own comfortability with that, with him, was enough to make him secure in it himself.

"'M gonna make you close your eyes now, no peeking." She giggled lightly under her breath as she turned the water off, moving the curtain to make sure his eyes were closed. He didn't say anything, and he really didn't peek. With his eyes closed his other senses got stronger. The smell of her shampoo mixing with that of her vanilla lotion, the sound of her brush running through her hair, the ever so quiet hum of the last song that had played. He felt his entire body calm down, being completely soothed by her entirety. All he could sense, all he could smell and hear, was her. And it grounded him.

"You can open your eyes now, Siri, 'm decent." He almost didn't want to. He suddenly felt very sleepy, wanting nothing more than to bury himself in her arms and sleep as long as she let him. Once he did open his eyes, his heart fluttered. She was wearing an old sweater of his, knit by an older Gryffindor and given to him as a Christmas gift the last year he stayed here for the holidays. It was shades of green, woven together to make a chunky knit sweater that fell just past her hips. She was wearing his old pajama pants too, ones from an impromptu sleepover at his childhood home. He wasn't shocked they fit her, considering she hadn't grown since third year, but he was shocked to see she kept them.

She blew out the candles next to him, smoke billowing up and out of the jar they were in. She put lotion on her face and her hands, grabbing his hands and putting the excess on them. She grabbed his chin very lightly with her thumb and forefinger, moving his head around, as if to inspect him, and for a small moment Sirius was afraid of what she would find.

"You haven't been sleeping well. Haven't been eating either." She said it so surely. As if she could see it written on his forehead in black ink. Sirius shook his head softly, not wanting the warmth from her fingers to leave his skin. She smiled nicely up at him, moving her hand to brush his hair out of his face. He reached up to hold her wrist, trapping her hand against his cheek, and she smiled softer. She had to stand on the very tips of her toes to kiss his head, and it made him huff, and almost laugh, and she smiled victoriously.

She pulled him into her room gently. Pushing him softly to sit on her bed while she walked to get him some pajamas. She pulled out a shirt he gave her and some pants he left in her room that Remus had given him for his birthday. He turned to change, facing the bathroom door just as he had when he came here not long ago. Swiftly changed into pajamas he laid down with a content sigh. Being head girl surely had its perks, and one of them was a king sized bed in a dorm with no roommates.

"D'you want some tea, lovey? Could make it with the honey like you like." How she made him blush with such simple words always baffled him. She remembered everything, she always has. Sirius shook his head, and instead opted for holding his arms up and making grabbing motions with his hands towards her. Her giggle made him smile, it made him notice he was in a much better mood, too. She walked over to the other side of the bed, laying right next to him, and pulled his shoulders to make him lay on her stomach. His arms instantly wound around her waist, shoving his face as deep as he could into her body, holding her as close as he possibly could. Her fingers found themselves weaving into his hair, running through the locks like they were strands of silk. The quiet that encased the room was a lovely type of silence. The kind that Sirius wishes he had more often. No matter how loud and obnoxious he got, times like these were where he felt most himself.

After a while of silence, (Y/N) started humming a song again. As sleepy as it made Sirius, he couldn't let himself sleep.

"I love you, bunny." It was mumbled into her shirt, a half-asleep induced speech mess. She hummed at him, running her hands through his hair while she waited for the perfect moment to say it back. It wasn't a long time before she responded, but while she was waiting he moved his head so his chin rested on her stomach, and he looked at her. It was a tired stare, half closed eyes and a dopey sleep smile etched into his features.

"D'ya hear me bun? Said I love you." She giggled at this, his insistence, and leaned down to kiss his hairline.

"Love you too, Siri. More than anythin' in the whole universe." Her voice was just as sleepy as his, and it made Sirius think that the moment meant that much more to him. That even in their vulnerable, tired states, they felt confident in loving each other. A satisfied hum left his throat, and as he was about to nuzzle back into her shirt, she pulled his hair to make him look at her again.

"'Ya gonna kiss me g'night, handsome? Or should I go get Regulus." A half-chuckle half-groan left his mouth, knowing it's a joke, yet not wanting it be said.

"Should know better than t'say that, bun. Gonna kiss you till y'can't breathe." She giggles as he shimmies up to her face, and she giggles even harder as he kisses all over her cheeks. She knows he feels better, can see that she got her Sirius back to normal, and it makes her feel accomplished. And it makes her think about how she'd do it every single day for eternity if he asked.

"Gimme one proper kiss so I can sleep, you big doof." He laughs into her cheek, placing one last kiss on each one, and finally landing on her lips. It was a long kiss, pressing the final bits of his bad mood into her. A few extra short pecks and one long dramatic smack of his lips later and he is back on her stomach, under the quilt she has charmed to stay warm, with her hands in his hair. Sometime in the night, after they've fallen asleep, his hands wind up under her shirt, searching for the warmth subconsciously. And sometime in the night, Sirius has dreams of her wearing his shirt in their bedroom, and he wakes up in a good mood.

#sirius black fluff #sirius black imagine #sirius black one shot #sirius black x reader #sirius black #regulus black

[oneaddishun]

Slow Hands

THIS MIGHT SEEM CONFUSING, SO...

ITALICS- THE STORY OF LAST NIGHT

REGULAR- PRESENT SCENARIO

INDENTED- LYRICS TO SLOW HANDS

You woke up to the smell of fresh coffee. Your eyes flutter open. You look around yourself and realize you were not at your home. Where were you?

You were at Niall's.

How you ended up here was still a mystery to you. Apparently, you were pretty drunk last night and now you have a hangover. Very slowly, you slide out from the plush duvet. Your eyes were wide open when you realized that you were stark naked from your waist down. On the upper half, you were wearing a thin, grey oversized shirt which obviously wasn't yours. You were wearing nothing besides that shirt.

You gasped.

"Please... Jesus Christ... I better not have lost it..." You mumble as you walk out of the room. You said so because you were a virgin.

You went to the living room and sure enough, Niall was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in one hand and a pencil in the other. Some papers rested on his lap.

He looked up and got up when he saw you. He was wearing his boxers. Nothing else. His hair were tousled in a sexy way. This sight alone was enough to make you weak on your knees.

He had a smirk plastered on his face. He stopped walking when he was directly in front of you. Then his face was expressionless. Your mind was swirling with questions. But one question that you really wanted to ask the most was,

"What happened?"

"You were," he replied. "A virgin?"

You look at your feet and nod your head. His intimidating presence could make you faint any time now. The word he said was enough to tell you what happened. He said it- 'were'. Past tense. Not anymore.

"What happened?" you repeat.

In response he shoved the papers into your chest and you put your hand on them to prevent them from falling. He walked away without saying a word. You read the title,

Slow Hands

"What's this Niall?" you yell from your position.

"Proof that you're not as innocent as people tink," he replied in a strong Irish accent. "This is what happened last night."

You read the document and scenarios started flashing in your head. Scenarios of last night. Each line held a story behind it. Niall had written a whole song about last night...

We should take this back to my place

That's what she said right to my face

A very drunk you had called Niall last night. You were at the bar and definitely not aware of what shit you were doing. You called him and started ranting about how irritating he was.

The enmity between you and Niall was very popular amongst your friends.

"Where are you?" he asked after your long lecture was over.

"See? You're so nosy. That's why you're irritating," you reply instead of answering his question.

About an hour later, Niall was on the bar stool beside you with a Guinness in his hand. He had somehow found out where you were and being the nosy person he is, he came over and got tipsy with you.

It first started at flirty arguments. Then it turned into a hot make out session.

"We should take this back to my place," you whispered between the kisses.

"No, mine," he asserted.

You sank down on the dining chair reading the song and remembering the previous night. It was exactly what had happened. You read the next lines and opened your eyes wide in shock.

'Cause I want you bad

Yeah, I want you baby

"Why not mine?" you had questioned.

"Because I want you bad," he replied and kissed you again.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah I want you baby," he planted another kiss. "And my house is closer than yours,"

I've been thinking 'bout it all day

And I hope you feel the same way

Fifteen minutes later, you were completely stripped except for your panties, and lying on his bed. He was kissing you all over your body. You thanked heavens that you were drunk because there was no way you could've done this sober.

He went down south with each kiss until he reached the hem of the only piece of clothing you were wearing. You moaned when he cupped your sex.

He looked up at your face and made eye contact. Then, without losing the contact, he ripped off your panties exposing you completely. You felt a bit shy now but you were more intoxicated. Not just by the alcohol, but also by his presence.

He took a good look at you. "Damn! I've bin tinking 'bout it all day. Yer beautiful," He said before going down on you.

'Cause I want you bad

Yeah I want you baby

"Jesus Christ!" you exclaim. "Did this really happen?!"

"Mmhmm," he replied nonchalantly from the kitchen. "Every nitty gritty detail,"

You went on reading.

Slow, slow hands

Like sweat dripping down our dirty laundry

No, no chance

That I'm leaving here without you on me

He worked his hands slowly on your core, rubbing smoothly. His tongue lapped at your clit as he was gently pushing you to your orgasm. Just when you were about to lose it, he stopped all the movement. He looked at your face. It was then that you realized that despite all the drama, you actually liked Niall. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck towards the collar of his black shirt which was already drenched with his sweat.

Then in a trice, he flipped you over so now you were on the top. You had never been with a man before, let alone sit on his erect hard on.

"Are you sure?" you asked him.

"Der's no chonce yer goin' back widaout being on top of me,"

You hesitantly start unbuckling his belt.

I, I know

Yeah I already know that there ain't no stopping

Your plans and those

Slow hands

You know there was no going back at this point. Only going ahead.

"Yeah babe, there ain't no stopping now," he said.

You had said the last part out loud. Your ears were ringing in anticipation as his belt was fully unbuckled. You opened his button and fly. He was wearing black boxer briefs underneath which came off soon enough.

His length was now fully exposed to you in full glory. While you were working on his lowers, he had managed to take off his shirt. He smelt like lavenders.

His hands trailed on the sides of your body. Wherever his skin came in contact with yours, goosebumps started rising. His hands trailed northwards and plunged his thumb in your mouth. You licked it hungrily.

You swiftly pinned his hands to his sides, preventing them from motion.

"I've got some plans," you smirked.

I just wanna take my time

we could do this baby all night

Yeah, 'cause I want you bad

Yeah I want you baby

One whole hour had passed and you had had three orgasms. None of you showed any trace of stopping. You were bouncing on his cock, ecstatic from the fact that it was Niall who took your virginity tonight. You realized that he had still not climaxed even once.

"I just wanna take me time, love. We can do this all night." he said when you urged him.

Fingertips putting on a show

Got me now when I can't say no

Wanna fuck with you all alone

Take me home

You slithered your hand down to where you were connected. You let out a loud moan while doing so. The pads of your fingers brushed against his balls and you knew where to grip now.

You squeezed his balls gently earning a deep growl from his throat. His back arched up as he squeezed his eyes shut. You knew you hit the right chord.

"Niall James Horan," you declared. "Will you cum or not?"

"Yes - ah - yes I will!!!"

"Good cause I'm so close... Shit!" you went faster. You were on the brink of another climax when-

"Hold it!" he demanded. You knew what he wanted. He wanted you to cum with him. You painfully held it in you till you were sobbing. Even though you were on top, Niall was still the dominant person here.

When you couldn't hold it in, you squeezed his balls again. This time, harshly. Your fingertips put on a great show on his scrotum. This sent him over the edge.

Your eyes rolled back and your toes curled as you felt hot spurts of his seed fill up your contracting walls.

This was the best feeling ever. Your head began to sway as you lost your senses. You collapsed on him. You fainted on his cock.

....

"What do ya think- or remember?" Niall asks, taking the seat beside you.

"Excuse me? You wrote a whole damn song on this?" you ask with confusion.

"Mmhmm... Stayed up all the night. Inspiration can come from anywhere," he gave you a playful grin.

An awkward moment of silence took over on the dining table.

He stood up and without wasting a moment, kissed you on the lips. His tongue swirled in your mouth since you easily allowed him entrance.

He broke away from the kiss. "I wouldn't mind writing another one,"

You kissed him again. "Then let's skip all the small talk and go straight up to your room!"

He smirked sexily.

"Yeah. Small Talk."

#rough daddy niall #niallsmut #here's holy water for you #niallhoransex #niall smut #niall horan sex #niallhoran #niall horan #niall imagine #solo niall #niall pics #nialler #niall james horan #shit i'm dead #holy water #and also the bible #the bible

[dingdonghyvck]

The Only Exception || Lee Haechan x Reader

Summary: You finally realize that Haechan’s the only exception to the one rule you gave yourself.

Genre: Angst and a little bit of Fluff  

Pairing/s: Drummer!Haechan x Lead Vocalist!Reader, Minor College Student!Mark x Reader

Warnings: Explicit content, mentions of suicide, suicidal thoughts, implications of sex, sex jokes, use of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, verbal and physical abuse, divorce, and a few others I probably forgot to mention

Word Count: 5.4k words

So this is part two of the Drummer!Haechan AU I wrote: Still Into You

 Please do give feedback, it’s greatly appreciated! Thank you and enjoy :)

"When I was younger I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind.

He broke his own heart and I watched as he tried to reassemble it.

And my momma swore that she would never let herself forget”

It all started with hushed arguments, hidden whispers of disappointment behind closed doors, afraid of breaking the perfect image your family had, afraid of the neighbors to talk. From hushed arguments to daily endeavors of avoiding each other everyday, it was like a ticking bomb inside your home. A ticking bomb you had tip-toed over each morning past your parents' bedroom, hearing the muffled crying. You knew it was only a matter of time before the bomb would finally explode, imploding your house from inside-out.

You hoped and you prayed to any god willing to listen that the rumors were not true. The neighbors started talking and the news had somehow got out. And that was when everything started breaking down. The hushed arguments turned to wars of screaming and crying, sharp words that cut through you like a knife. That was when the walls of your home began to talk, they spoke to you too, they echoed the hatred your parents had for each other. They made you feel unwanted, unloved and useless, since of course the sole foundation of your life was crumbling. You were the scars, bruises, and pain they brought into the world, you were once proof of their love that turned into a ghost wandering the halls, desperately clawing against the wallpaper to make it all stop.

It didn't end with words, it seemed as if words weren't hurtful enough. You were caught in the crossfire, desperately trying to raise the white flag between the two, but you ended up becoming their stress ball. They would sometimes drown you, lock you up in the basement or straight up hit you. They kept squeezing you and throwing you around like a stress ball bound to burst, the people at school began noticing the bruises and cuts. In the end they left you alone, vacant and ignored since you began bringing your friends over your house.

And for the first time in a while you felt safe, you felt safe in Jeno's comforting smile when he tried to teach you guitar. You felt safe with Hendery's little pranks and teasing during practices. You felt safe in Donghyuck's presence whenever you two would head out after band practice, in his car with no particular destination in mind. The nights were long, but somehow it always ended too quickly for you. You wished you could stay for an eternity inside Donghyuck's car, it was a place where you didn't bother to be someone else except yourself.

It was a space where you weren't either the whore's daughter or the useless excuse of a student. You were just authentically you and Donghyuck openly accepted you, he didn't say it but you knew he did. He didn't talk whenever you didn't feel like it, he opened the car window when you wanted to watch the stoplights and streetlight wiz by. That's what made those nights perfect, it was Donghyuck's soft humming along the mediocre pop song on the radio. His weirdly specific defensive monologue whenever you brought up his tacky lavender car scent. Donghyuck's presence in general as he would sometimes just hold your hand while you thought to yourself.

One of those nights where you thought to yourself that life should always be like this, you didn't know how, but you knew that Donghyuck has to be apart of it. You decided that the world may go to shit, your parents may end up getting a divorce, you may end up living the rest of your life as a deadbeat. But you no longer cared as long as you had this place, in a worn out car seat next to him; well that was what you thought at least.

"And that was the day that I promised,

I'd never sing of love if it does not exist"

Donghyuck's sudden departure from the band shocked both Jeno and Hendery, they took it considerably well in all honesty. They still wanted to continue on with the band, partly because they needed the money from the gigs and mostly because they worried for you as a friend. You tried your best in trying to continue with your life and look for another drummer, for another Donghyuck in your life. As silly as it sounded since you were the one that pushed him away, you would think of him most days. You were only realizing how important Donghyuck was in your life.

He was always the one who took care of you, reminded you to eat and rest whenever you forgot. He would show up at your dorm to bring you breakfast or make you coffee, remind you that some of the books you borrowed from the library was due tomorrow, or even just chat you to check on how your day was going. Now that you had changed your number and avoided him like a plague you were starting to realize how much you lost.

And you had thought of calling him, or maybe reaching out to ask how his day was going, the same way he used to check on you. You were so tempted that you showed up at his place, a second away from buzzing his doorbell, but you remembered. You remembered how awful you were to him, you were reminded of the pain and misery you've caused him all through out your lives so far. You were being selfish yet again, so you stopped yourself. You immediately turned around that day and called up Hendery and Jeno to tell them that the band was over, you didn't have the guts to face them anymore.

The guilt was eating you alive, they had tried to convince you otherwise but you pushed them away too. The only person who you kept in your life was Mark. You still felt happy to be around him, although you didn't feel comfortable since you felt like you had to keep a facade around him. He seemed glad to see you more often, you'd cling onto him like a flee for days. But there came a time when he finally asked why you were so vacant these days, and where were your other friends; it was an argument caused by Mark's growing irritation for being required to see you everyday and almost having to babysit you like child, all the while trying to keep up with other activities going on his life. You had left him without a single word and returned the next day like nothing happened.

He genuinely did like you, he wished things were different but he couldn't handle the nonstop texts and calls that came from you every minute of the hour, he was beginning to get sick of it. And you immediately notice his distaste, the way he would dryly reply to your messages or not talk to you whenever he did have time to see you. You knew you were becoming a bit too much for him, desperate for company that you became too overbearing, a bit too possessive and selfish when it came to his time.

And for the first time, you felt it. You felt how your heart sunk everytime Mark chose to answer a call from a friend when you were talking to him, the way he would look anywhere else but you whenever you tried to start conversations. You were usually on the other end of the stick, careless of other people’s emotions and too busy living in your own world. You finally knew what it felt when Donghyuck dated you, and what horrible thoughts that came with it. In the end, you knew that Mark was too kind to end it with you, he obviously knew you were having issues in your personal life, but he couldn't be bothered anymore; he's tried talking to you about it, but you'd always change the topic.

So you told yourself that it was better if you would be alone for now, this is the tenfold of misery and hurt you've caused everyone around you, especially Donghyuck, your world was falling apart as more and more people left.  You eventually ended things with Mark, and he gave you a simple okay and left.  He didn't seem to notice you anymore, he continued to live his university life unscathed, it was as if you two never spoke in the first place.

He would sometimes smile at you or give you a small nod of his head whenever you saw each other around campus, but that was the most you've gotten from him. You didn't blame him, he didn't have time to waste with people like you. Being alone with your thoughts truly was eating you alive, you were beginning to go insane. Everytime you were about to reach out to anyone, either Jeno, Hendery, or Donghyuck, you'd always stop yourself to remind you that you deserved this.

You deserved to be alone, you cannot be loved. You were a heartless monster just as Donghyuck said and you lived most of your days alone while trying to survive with the little funds your new part time provided. You didn't know how, but you somehow lived as days went by. You watched the leaves and flowers bloom from the branches outside of your dorm till they wilted. It was now winter, and you freely wandered the streets. No other human could be seen outside, everyone was probably spending time with loved ones, since of course it was the holidays.

Days you should be spending with the people you cherish and loved the most, you could see the warm lights from within some of the homes, laughter resonates through the walls, probably the lovers and families enjoying their own company. Playing dumb board games and cuddled up by the fire, watching the grinch movies with eggnog and warm cups of hot choco. You never really understood the joys of the holidays, probably because the only other person you had spent it was with Donghyuck, and there you go thinking of him again.

As if thinking of him in everything you do wasn't enough, he began appearing in your dreams. You didn't know if it was pleasant to revisit old memories or did it hurt to reminisce what was lost between you two. And as much as it hurt you chose to remember him as someone you loved, perhaps not romantically, but he was someone you truly cherished. You thought that he'd comment on how cheesy you've become, so melodramatic that you'd give William Shakespear a run for his money when he's already in his grave.

You bitterly laugh at the thought, the cold makes your throat dry and eyes watery but you look up to the moon while standing next to a lamp post near the frozen river.  You could almost feel his presence, you truly were going insane that you started imagining things he'd say to you at times like this. The snarky comments and cute pet names he'd give you whenever you dragged him along for whatever adventure you had in mind. You remembered how he'd first complain about it to no end, but he always ends up coming with you. He always does, of course, he's Donghyuck, the person who stuck with you through thick and thin; the person you've hurt the most.

You begin humming a small tune, you didn't recognize it at first, but you ended up humming a paramore song. The song you both listened to during class the first day you two met, the same song that you sang here, with tears streaming down you cheeks. You didn't know you were crying until you felt the cold gust of wind brushing against your cheeks, a chill running down your spine as you sniffled.

"I hope you're happy now Hyuck, wherever you are," it felt weird to speak, you couldn't remember the last time you opened your mouth to say anything. it's been months since you've last said a word to anyone, you throat was dry and you could barely recognize your own voice, it was raspier than you last remembered.

"I'm happy enough to know we're looking at the same moon tonight at least." you laughed, your throat hurts like hell, the laugh came as a croak and you tried to gasp in air to try and stop yourself from breaking down.

It felt weird to listen to your own voice, everything felt unreal. These past few months were like a fever dream to you, you even wondered if you were dead and this was some cruel purgatory you served for the shit you pulled back then. You've thought about jumping into the frozen river, maybe the cold would at least wake you up if this was truly some cruel nightmare. If not it could also finally end all the suffering and pain you know you caused yourself, what hurt most was you cannot blame anyone else for what is happening now. You shakily let out a breath, hands gripping the metal railing. You were about to jump over it when the street's fairy lights were suddenly turned on and it reflected off the thin layer of ice of the lake.

You wake up from your daze, what the hell were you thinking? The pretty lights distracted you for a moment, you pace your breathing with the consistent flicker of the warm glow of the tiny lights, trying to calm down.

"And I've always lived like this,

keeping a comfortable distance"

senior year, prom.

You bit your lip while watching the fairy lights flicker, whose idea was it to have tiny light bulbs as decoration for the photo booth, and god you wanted to give them a kiss now. It was such a hazard that you couldn't stop thinking of the endless possible drama it could cause, the prom queen could end up stepping on it and light her dress on fire, that would at least make the night interesting. You blew the tiny patch of fake snow off the table while you grumpily waited for someone, anyone, to step on one of the fairy lights, but you were dragged out of your reverie when you hear Donghyuck's voice behind you.

"Hey ugly,"

"Hey stupid," you replied, eyes shifting away from the photo booth for a second to look at him. He stuck out like a sore thumb, he wasn't wearing a tuxedo like the rest, or even a tie to at least try and be formal. He was sporting his favorite leather jacket with a green untucked button up underneath, he looked underdressed, the only effort he made to his appearance was the way he styled his hair to showcase his forehead.

"That's not a nice way to speak to your boyfriend" Donghyuck faked a gasp, dragging a chair to sit down beside you, you raised an eyebrow at him. The stupid crease on his jacket annoyed you to no end, so you fixed it for him, it was his turn to raise an eyebrow at you.

"Boyfriend? I thought boyfriends put in extra efforts for prom? You know like in the movies, they give the girl a cute corsage and tell them how pretty they look and end up fucking in the bathroom or something?"

"You're beautiful." He says it blatantly, you stop to look him in the eyes, and it seemed genuine. You pursed your lips while trying to hide your smile, boyfriend Donghyuck was different from best friend Donghyuck, he was a lot... sweeter.

"Let's fuck in the bathroom later?" he added, to which you groaned and slapped his thigh. He only laughed at you while gently fitting his hand into yours, gently kissing your knuckles when you swore you were gonna bite his dick someday, just he wait.

Well you'll  give him credit, he at least made an effort to look nice for you. You didn't even bother to blow dry your hair today and you were wearing what you'd usually wear whenever you went out with him, just with a bit more grunge added, like black fishnet stockings. He wasn't complaining at all, he knew that whatever you were wearing tonight would end up ripped anyway, probably somewhere on his bedroom floor. And plus, you two didn't really attend prom, the only reason you bothered to this year was for the battle of the bands.

You were already done with the performance so you were all simply waiting for the announcement of the winner. You knew Jeno was probably out on the dance floor dancing with his date in a proper suit and tie like a gentleman, but you had no idea where Hendery went. One second he said he was going to get you a drink, the next he's disappeared before you into thin air. So you were left with Donghyuck, who was currently playing with your rings. As weird as it felt to have a label between you two, nothing's changed. You thought that you'd feel more awkward towards him, but the only thing that changed was the label, and you were happy in a way.

"Wanna dance?"

You perk up at his question, you finally realize that a slow song was playing. Everyone was paired off in front of you, even some of the teachers were dancing. You almost let out a laugh at the sight of some of couples who were trying their best to keep it in their pants. You thought he was joking until you looked over at him, he was shyly fiddling with his own hands now, not able to look you in the eyes. You would laugh if it weren't for the way he seemed so shy to ask, he looked like he was about to combust.

"I don't dance," you laughed, he looks up at you. You didn't know it was possible but he looked much more embarrassed now, it was cute it in a way.

"Let's get out of here?"

"Now that's more like it" you smirk, taking his hand to lead him outside of the gymnasium and to his car.  He didn't bother to fight it, he just simply let you drag him out to the parking lot.

He opens the car door for you and you played along, deciding to not tease him just this once since, of course, he was already red enough. He turns on the engine and you switch through different channels on the radio, finally settling on one when he pulls out of the driveway.

“And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness.

Because none of it was ever worth the risk.”

The song on the radio hummed in the background as he drove as carefully as he could, the roads were iced and it wasn't very safe to drive right now. He was about to take the turn to his house but you stop him and told him to bring you to the center of town, he was unsure why the sudden request, but he follows your directions anyway. For the moment, you stared at his face. The way the streetlights lit up his skin, you rarely saw his forehead and it did make him look attractive. Well he was already attractive in the first place but you couldn’t help but observe the way he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel to the song’s beat, it looked instinctive and natural to him.

"So are you finally going to murder me and take my intestines to sell on the black market?" he spoke, and you laughed, throwing your head back; he was finally starting to look handsome to you, and he opens that damned mouth of his.

"Kidneys my darling! Your kidneys will be worth a fortune!" you giggled while leaning over the center console to kiss his cheek, he smiled at the sound of your laughter.

He takes you exactly where you asked him, the center of the town. The exact intersection that’s considered as the heart of your buzzing neighborhood. The exact intersection that usually had so many cars, always the cause of traffic and delay, was now completely empty. All the stores near the intersect were closed, no other person in sight but the stoplights continued to operate. The colors red, yellow, and green appearing in an ordered sequence, proportionally timed. Although there wasn't a single car in sight, Donghyuck stopped when the light turned red.

"What are you waiting for?" you asked in confusion, he shrugs.

"Can you tell me why we're here?"

You didn't bother to speak, you simply got out of the car and stood at the center of the intersection. You opened your arms up to him and he watched you curiously, you let out a boisterous laugh, spinning around your heel. You forgot that the road was slippery so you fell flat on your back, still laughing. Donghyuck runs out of his car to kneel beside you, he had a worried look to him but it immediately faded away when you looked at him with joy in your eyes.

He scoffed, not forgetting to comment on how stupid you looked before offering his hand to help you stand up. You take his hand but instead of sitting up, you pull him towards you and he slips, ending up toppled over you. His breathing was uneven as it brushed cooly against your cheek, you close your eyes at the feeling. He gently kissed your cheek after a minute, finally standing up to brush himself off. You were still lying down on the ground, flailing your arms around to try and form a snow angel.

"Are you dumb? Get up before we get run over" Donghyuck tried to sound angry, but he couldn't stop the lilt in his voice, a tiny chuckles escapes his mouth.

"Shut up already and just lie down! Why do you always ruin the moment?” you whined looking up at him, still spread eagle at the center of the intersect, he raised an eyebrow at you, it was becoming a habit to him.

“Don’t you feel it too? The world’s stopped, they’ve finally shut up! So enjoy it and come lie down with me.”

“And if we get run over?”

“Then so be it” You shrugged, Donghyuck lets out a heavy sigh before taking his seat beside you. He doesn’t lie down, so you sit up to lean against his shoulder.

And the world stops, like what you said. For a moment the only thing you two could hear was the sound of your breathing and the beating of your hearts, he held your hand in his while you both watched the stoplight change colors. It felt like you two were the only people on earth, and it was the best. There was nothing but the moon, your thoughts, the stoplight, and him. And as peaceful as it was you couldn’t stop the thought from spilling from your mouth.

“Someday I’ll burn this town to the ground” you comment, and he snorts.

“Gee, it sure sounds like a solid plan” he says it sarcastically, and you turn to look at him.

“I’m serious! You better not get in my way or anything or else I’ll have to set you on fire” you say it with the most serious tone that he’s taken aback, well that was one weird thought he thought.

His face makes you laugh and he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to laugh with you. He shook his head when he realized you were joking, probably. You felt content and happy that you decided to grant him one wish. He once again has the confused face he had earlier, just when he was finally settled you suddenly move. He tries to stand up to follow you, but you told him that you’ll be back.

He watched you open the driver’s side of the car, he thought you were about to drive away and leave him here but he was abruptly stopped mid-thought when the speakers of the radio of his car boomed throughout the empty streets. His eyes widened, he was worried that it might wake the whole street up. Then he remembered that the residential homes were located near the outskirts of town, so it was unlikely that anyone would hear. Most of this area had shops and stores, so the people are probably back at home, you both aren’t technically disturbing anyone hopefully. He relaxes back into his seat to watch you waltz back towards him.

“So?” you asked, the smile on your face was infectious.

“So?” he mimicked dumbly and you rolled your eyes in annoyance, was he always this dumb?

“May I have this dance?” you groaned, turning red yourself. You blamed it on the cold, but he couldn’t help but laugh at you. At first it sounded like he was mocking you, but when you met his eyes to smack him on the head you were only met with eyes filled with so much endearment and affection that you could only pull back your hand.

He takes your hand to stand up, you complain of course, he was heavy. But he hushed you when he placed his fingers to your chapped lips, he smiled so widely that it looked like it hurt. You pursed your lips, wrapping your arms around his neck and he securely holds your waist. Although the atmosphere was supposed to be romantic, your terrible sense of rhythm in dancing ruined it. You would think that you’d be good at following the rhythm when dancing being a couple of musicians, but you both always missed a beat by a second. And he could only laugh while you cursed, finally remembering why you never danced.

You were muttering something under you breath, but your voice hitched when he brushes his fingers against your hair. He placed a sweet kiss to your temple and you freeze, you felt your heart clench at the action. He begins whispering the lyrics to your ear, you swallow thickly. This was one of the rare times he’d sing to you, you tried to tell him countless times that his voice was beautiful, but he had always denied saying yours was better. But hearing him now, whispering softly against your ear while he nuzzled his nose to your neck affectionately made your heart throb. You take in a deep breath, this feeling in your chest, it was your heart clenching. You didn’t know if he was hurting you but you were so overwhelmed that you suddenly pushed him away.

“Did I do something wrong?” his eyes spoke, trying to reach out to you again but you take another step backward.

“This was a stupid idea” You were shocked to hear your voice crack, Donghyuck frowns at your comment.

“What do you mean?”

“Take me home.... now.”

He tried to take a step towards you but you run back towards his car, closing the door to wait for him. You lower the volume of the radio and try to gather your thoughts, what the fuck was that? You watched him walk back towards the car and swore to yourself, whatever the hell you felt earlier, whatever he did to you, he will never be able to do again. It was too much of a risk, and you swore to yourself to never let yourself be that vulnerable again.

He tries to talk to you on the way home, but your replies were dry. You were busy fiddling with your fingers while looking outside the window. He tried his best to make you tell him what he did wrong but he couldn’t get another word out from you the moment he pulled up in front of your house. You were about to leave but you decided to try and turn things around, you tried to get back to what you two were used to.

You kissed him, hauling yourself over the center console to sit on his lap. He tries to pull away but you continued to kiss, hastily lifting his shirt to try and remove it. In the end he was weak to your touch, he could never deny you of anything. He hoped that you two could talk it out in the morning but you were unavailable the next few weeks after that, busy fooling around with Johnny.

“I've got a tight grip on reality but I can't let go of what's in front of me here.

I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up, leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream”

Present day.

The next day you decided to visit your home town. Although you didn’t have any family left to visit, you had volunteered to play at an orphanage, it was the least you could do for the holidays. If you couldn’t be happy, you could at least make others feel it. Who knew that Jeno’s stupid guitar lessons would end up becoming an asset to you, you could at least spread a little joy to the children who didn’t have parents, you somehow understood how they felt, in a weird way.

It was a joy to finally sing with a purpose again, hearing them laugh and sing along with you made your heart sore. Well at least you didn’t feel as useless after playing with a few of the kids and chatting with the caretakers and other volunteers. It felt freeing, to finally do something right. You fucked up this year for the most of it but you felt a bit less burdened when the children asked you to braid their hair or took your hand to dance with them. After serving your purpose at the orphanage you find yourself at the intersection. You don’t know what you wanted to accomplish, but your feet ended up taking you here.

And as expected it was filled with bustling life, people going in and out of shops to buy late christmas presents, children building snowmen and riding the tiny slopes made by the snow. The traffic as usual was heavy, the cars were honking and the streets were so noisy that no one could bearly hear themselves think. You sat by a bench near the park, the intersect still in your sight. You were eating a bagel mindlessly when a little kid sat beside you, he was eyeing your guitar.

“You play?” the little kid asked and you nodded, giving him a small smile to not scare him away, you probably looked like a walking corpse; you can’t remember the last time you slept properly.

“A little bit, like five songs?” you smiled and he instantly asks you to play, there was this urgency in his voice that you couldn’t help but immediately do what he was asking.

You bite into the bagel while tuning your guitar, thinking of a song to play, well out of the five you knew how to play. You began strumming the guitar to Paramore’s The Only Exception, humming the tune as best as you could with the bagel in your mouth. You end your humming after the first chorus to be met with a grimace, the little kid laughed at you.

“You’re no good”

“Hey!” you take out the bagel from your mouth to yell jokingly at him, he scrunches his nose up when you ruffle his hair and you laugh at his annoyed face, he somehow looked familiar, was he one of the kids from the orphanage? Wait were they even allowed to leave the orphanage?

“So what’s your name?” You ask, putting the guitar back into its case. The voice that meets your ears wasn’t the little boy’s, it was a voice you haven’t heard in a long time, a voice you thought you’d never hear again.

“Dongsuk,”

This has to be a dream, it couldn’t be real. You blink a few times before pinching yourself, you were probably hallucinating. Because there is no way, not a chance the Lee Donghyuck was now standing in front of you. That shit only happens in movies, this can’t be real. But you could only rub your eyes so much, he looked real, like real enough that he was getting closer to you. And he finally speaks, and you finally realize it really is him in the flesh.

“Where have you been?” he speaks, you first thought that he was talking to you but he grabs the little boy’s arm. He glances at you and you try to speak and he simply turns his nose away from you, you feel your world crack in half.

To his defense you were the one who moved dorms, changed your number, and avoided him like a plague. So his reaction was expected, you don’t know why you were so surprised. He was about to walk away when you finally speak, he stops cold in his steps when he hears your voice.

“Donghyuck...” He turns to look at you, and his eyes were still the same. It still had the same hurt and sadness you’d usually see when he looked at you, but he looked much more angrier than you remembered.

“Let’s... talk”

“You are the only exception, oh and I'm on my way to believing.”

#nct #nct 127 #nct dream #wayv #neo culture technology #haechan #haechan nct #lee donghyuck #mark nct #mark lee #jeno nct #lee jeno #hendery nct #hendery wayv #haechan angst #haechan smut #haechan fluff #haechan x reader #mark angst #mark smut #mark lee smut #nct x reader #lee donghyuck angst #lee donghyuck smut #nct smut #nct angst #haechan au #kpop #nct fluff #lee haechan

[kirishoshego]

The Other Side Of Sanity//Shinso

!!!MINORS DNI!!! 18+ONL!!!

first part of my Fantasy AU Series! Stay tuned! Part 1: Satan’s son Shinso Part 2: Barbarian Bakugo Part 3: Dragon Dabi Part 4: Knucker Kirishima Part 5: Spirit Shoto Summary: A blossoming love between a priest’s daughter and the devil’s son wasn’t in everyone’s favor Pairing: demon!shinso x virgin!reader Words: 3.4k

TW:nswf: !no mention of a certain religion BUT the devil/satan/lucifer simply because I wanted something with S for Shinso which wasn’t a succubus as I have another idea for that! mention of abuse (slightly), mention of blood and unconscious/dead bodies (not described though), Shinso turning into a sort of demon, having sex with said form, unprotected sex, rough sex, missionary turning into mating press turning into doggy, hair pulling, choking, marking, a tiiiny bit of mind control 

You still remember the day you met the most handsome man you ever laid your eyes upon. He looked like he was build by the gods themselves, almost too perfect to be something as simple as a human. It was the beginning of spring, at dusk, the evening sun tinting the beautiful nature in a warm red, hues of orange, purple, and blue. It was your favorite time to take a walk, most people at home, dining with their family or coming from the field, bags filled with new goods. You were accomplished by your friend as your eyes fell upon him. He didn’t really do much, to be honest, he was simply walking across the street, a book in his hand. the stranger was dressed in all black, a shiny black ring adorning his long fingers, and a few purple strands of hair were falling into his face before he pushed it back. As if he sensed you starring at him his gaze turned to you. His lavender eyes were mesmerizing, making you feel as if you fell into some sort of ban. Something caught his attention and before you knew it he was gone, leaving you longing for something you couldn’t explain. “Who was that?” you asked James. “You don’t know him?” his voice was laced with shock “If I did, would I have to ask you?” you raised your eyebrow at him, a teasing smile on your face. He laughed at your remark, explaining to you that the man you just saw was Hitoshi Shinso. You have heard about him, he was known as the young devil around the kingdom. No one dared to get too close to him, a rumor has spread that anyone trying to harm him would end up with a big misfortune or even dead. It must have been lonely for him, you thought. Maybe your father could do something, considering he was the priest. But when you mentioned his name while having supper he turned angry, shutting you down and telling you to never even think about him ever again. Easier said than done.

The sound of soft splashes of water hitting your window awoke you, all light blocked out by curtains. The purple-haired man has been haunting your dreams for five nights in a row now and you couldn’t get rid of him. You tried, reading your books, drawing something, taking a walk and meeting up with James, helping your father out in church. He stayed. No sight of the sun, you noticed as you looked outside, as it was hiding behind the grey, stormy clouds, lightning illuminating the kingdom now and then. Your father was long gone, his duty for the king and the church giving you plenty of time for yourself. So you pulled out your cloak, the hood hiding your face from anyone who might pass by.

It was hard to find Shinso’s small hut, but not impossible. You felt a small victory when your eye fell onto it, surrounded by tall trees and a small garden at the front. Smoke came out of the chimney, indicating that someone was home. Before you could get closer though, a tiny, pitiful meow caught your attention. To the far right was a small, black cat, even more drenched than you, clinging to the limb of a tree. The small animal seemed to sense the fact that you were no harm, trying its best to get closer to you, but failing miserably, her claws once again digging into the wet wood.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help,” you explained, as if she understood you, you thought, trying to find something you could climb onto. A small table was discovered by you as you walked to the back, taking it with you and putting it below the deepest branch. After taking a deep breath you put all your strength into your body, climbing up, scratching your leg open, but you didn’t even notice that you started to bleed, too concentrated on getting the small thing down. As soon as you reached it, the cat clung to you as if its life depended on it, not letting go even after your feet touched the floor again. A small chain around the neck was held a tiny tag, the same sigil as the one on the wooden door on it. Nobody reacted to your knock and even though you didn’t want to trespass and look like a burglar, you just had to make sure the cat was okay. It was unusually warm inside when you opened the door, making you feel welcomed, even without an invitation. On a wooden chair, you could spot a piece of fabric. Taking it away you tried your best to dry off the now purring ball of fur, not knowing someone was standing in the doorway, watching you.

“Kerbera, what have you done this time?” while the cat’s tail was flicking slightly in excitement you turned around in shock, dropping the makeshift towel to the floor, and started apologizing. Shinso picked up his cat, gently fondling her chin with a small smile on his face. “It’s fine, thank you for getting her down the tree, she loves chasing after squirrels,” he explained, setting her down and walking over to the stove. He extended his hand towards you, pulling you up and flush against him. You noticed that even though he was outside just minutes ago his body was already as warm as the house, his smell filling your lungs. Never would you have thought that a person could smell like a mixture of your most favorite odors. As far as you were concerned you could stay like this forever, feeling the same ban you did when you first met him. “Tea?” he asked you, only now noticing how close your faces were. “I don’t want to bother-” “If you were a bother, would I invite you to drink a tea with me?” Shinso cut you off, pushing you down to sit on the chair and taking off your coat to hang it in front of the fireplace. “So?” he walked up to the stove, taking some water out of a big barrel. “Yes please,” you told him, looking around the room. It was small and didn’t seem to hold many personal things. A book shelf caught your attention and you couldn’t read half of the titles, written in a language you never heard about. Next to it was a ladder, leading up to a small, sort of second floor, a blanket suggesting that his sleeping place was up there. He sat down on the chair in front of you, pulling your leg up onto his lap. You watched him putting something on your wound, causing it to burn for a few seconds, followed by cream and bound with a thin, long cloth. “Next time you climb on a tree try not to injure yourself,” “You can’t tell me what to do,” you said, thanking him for taking care of your wound. He clicked with his tongue, returning to the boiling water on his stove. “Fine by me, but next time I won’t help you,”

The next time you got injured was in his garden, helping him plant new vegetables and cutting your hand open on a sharp stone. Without a second thought, he ran inside, getting everything he needed and nursing your wound. “I thought you didn’t want to help me next time?” you asked, raising your eyebrows at him, a cheeky smile on your face. “Oh shut up you klutz,” he murmured, rolling his eyes.

And he was there to catch you before you could fall, was there to take care of you when you got sick, was there to teach you how to make your own medicine, was there to teach you how to fight. Shinso was used to people being scared of him and to be fair he started to like it. He had his cat and a few other animals visiting him from time to time. But you were the first person to pass his barrier, the first your cat had invited into his home, and even if he was a bit rough with you every now and then you would always return, telling him that even if he was the son’s devil you wouldn’t care because he’s nice to you and that was all that mattered.

When you stopped showing up without an explanation, he was angry. He opened up to you and all of a sudden you had enough of him and left him. But when three days turned into a week and then two he knew something was wrong. If you were sick you would have sent a raven to him with a letter by now, you had done it before. Two months after meeting Shinso your father started inviting men over to your mansion, all trying to court you. Shinso couldn’t deny the fact that it somewhat made him jealous, he could give you so much more than they could even dream about. He had told you about his feelings but before you could answer he told you to forget about it, erasing the last minute from your memory. But even then you would try to find a way to reach him, he just knew you would. So, after dawn he decided to sneak into your mansion, hoping to find some clues about your whereabouts.

Meanwhile, you were chained to the cold, abrasive wall in your chamber, your father taunting you about your feelings for Shinso. Telling you how blind love had made you, that you couldn’t even see that you were dancing with the devil. That you were foolish enough to not hide your little adventures, not noticing that someone was following you the last time you wanted to visit him, snatching you before you could pass the safety of his barrier and bringing you back to your father. “If he cared about you the way you wrote in your little book of sins he would have been here by now! Try to save you, but he didn’t even attempt to find you,” the man whose nose you had broken when he grabbed you was standing at your window, peering through the glass in case the purple-haired man showed up. “Or maybe he knows about this little trap and just is clever enough to stay away,” you told your father, looking at him through your eyelashes. “You're mistaken, the young devil just climbed across the wall,” the guard announced with a wicked smile on his face. Your father proceeded to gag you again, telling his man to hide in the shadows and get ready to attack when he’s close to you.

They didn’t expect him to straight-up walk through the door in his full glory. Black wings adored his back, a pointed tail whipping behind them. His skin was grey, his eyes black and lilac iris’ glowing in the dark. Hands have turned into claws and you could see blood running down them, dripping onto your bedroom floor. His eyes immediately fell onto your small frame, eyes full of hope and fear. Were you scared of him? With two big steps, he stood in front of you, ripping the chains from the wall and cutting your gag with his nails. “It’s a trap,” you croaked, eyes growing wide when you could spot the same guard you attacked with a raised sword. Before he could strike either one of you Shinso turned around, commending him to drop the weapon and sleep. The blade and the body hit the floor at the same time, causing your father to jump out of the shadows, drenching Shinso with holy water. He screamed in pain and your father walked up to him, a cross necklace tightly in his hand. “Depart from us, demon,” he yelled, watching the creature in front of him going down on his knees, raising a small knife drenched in holy water. “Shinso, no!” you sobbed.

Suddenly screams of agony turned into cackling laughter and the man you fell in love with stood up, no sight of a wound on him. “Next time you try to take me down do your research, holy water can’t harm me, I’m still half-human after all,” he told your father before hurling him across the room, knocking him out cold. “Come on Y/N, let’s get out of here,” he held his hand out in front of you, pulling you up and flush against him like he did the first time. “Tea?” he asked you, making you laugh through your tears. “You’re awful you know? I thought he hurt you,” you told him, letting him carry you out of the building. “Are they...” you trailed off, looking down at the small army of guards scattered in your old home. “They are asleep... Mostly,” he added, his wings covering the view so you won’t have to look at the gruesome scene surrounding you.

The moon stood proudly on its highest point when Shinso arrived on his cabin, you still in his arms and Kerbera already awaiting the two of you. Just now you spotted the huge window on top of his bed where he walked into, laying you down on his bed. “So you’re really the devil’s son?” you asked him, hand going through his hair softly, eyes mustering him, trying to take in as much as you could. “He prefers another name,” he told you “but yes, I am,” was added, as he put the blanket on top of you. “You’re beautiful,” slipped out of your mouth, but you didn’t regret it, catching him off guard. “Thanks,” he stuttered, confusing himself. How embarrassing, he thought. As he wanted to climb down the ladder, you grabbed his arm, making him halt. “Yes?” his usual roughness shone through, all he wanted was to take care of you now and you keep distracting him.

Before you could think about what you want to say to him, let him know what you feel for him his hand was at the back of your head, pulling you to him. What was meant to be a simple peck quickly turned into a hot, deep kiss. Your dress was torn apart, much to your dismay, but he promised to get you whatever you wanted once you moved to a nice place called the Kingdom of Italy. His button-up shirt followed quickly after, along with his black, cloth pants. “You’re safe with me,” Shinso whispered into your ear, kissing along your jawline, fangs digging into your delicate skin, marking you as his. You gasped, so many new things coming to you at once, but the way he was handling you made you crave him in ways you never knew before. “More,” you breathed, hand in his hairs to pull his face closer to you. It didn’t need to be said twice, his teeth sinking into you over and over again. Never deep enough to cause serious damage, but enough to show it was him and him alone you gave your body to. Sharp tongue licked across your fresh wounds, flicking over your sensitive nubs, circling around them to hear your breath hitch in your throat. “Be a good girl and open your legs for me,” he ordered, taking control over your body, the tip of his erect shaft tapping your sensitive clit over and over again to watch you squirm. “You can trust me, you know that right?” he asked, hand around your throat. “Yes,” you whispered, feeling a strong tingle between your legs. “Yes, what? Speak in full sentences, you’re not stupid are you?” he teased, dipping into your already wet folds, only to pull out again the same second. “Yes, I trust you,” with that he pushed himself into you, your nails digging into his warm chest at the sudden stretch. “Say my name,” he grunted, his hand going from your neck into your hair, pulling to give him free access to the crotch of it to place open mouth kisses on your marked skin. “Shinso,” you moaned out, feeling pleasure spread through your whole body. “So wet and all for me.” his eyes starred at where the two of you were connected, watching the way your pussy takes him in, gripping him so tightly. At that moment, he knew you were meant to be. You, he could tolerate, could see next to him. You didn’t realize you were calling out his name, like some sort of prayer, never wanting to let go of him ever again, until he gripped your chin between his fingers, forcing you to look up into his dark eyes. ”Tell me, what do you desire?” his voice was low, feeling the ecstasis run through his veins as you laid underneath him, eyes screwed shut at the amount of pleasure only he could give to you. He pinned your hands over your head as you were arching your back to meet his thrusts, craving more of him inside of you. “Please Shinso, I need you inside of me, deeper,” you begged, feeling a knot build up in your stomach, tears formed through the new sensation you were experiencing because of him. Placing your legs over his shoulder pushed his long shaft even deeper inside of you, the new angle sending shocks through you over and over again. “You like that don’t you? Giving your body to me, letting me use you the way I want to? Who would have thought out of everyone on this god-forsaken world, a priest’s daughter would end up being my biggest weakness,” he told you, lips crashing onto yours once again, careful not to scratch you with his fangs. “You’re a wicked little thing, you know that?” the man on top of you didn’t expect an answer, you were a moaning mess by now, trying your best to meet his thrusts. He could feel your cunt start to tighten around him, grinning because he knew you were close. Slipping on off his hands over your chest, pinching your nipples to make you squeal, over your stomach, then dipping lower to your touch starved clit. “What is this?” you moaned, looking at him through your lashes and he could cum right then and there. He was fucking you senseless and you still managed to look so cute, almost helpless in a way. “Just let go for me, show me how I make you feel,” his thrusts turn faster and before you knew it fireworks exploded in your abdomen.

Within seconds he had you flipped over, arm around your waist to push your ass up against his still hard member, the other hand around your neck to push you down, making your back arch nicely. Without warning, he slammed himself back inside of you, eliciting a blissful scream from you. Groans spilled from his lips as he bottomed out inside of you, feeling you puls around him, still coming down from your high, feeling your second already building up again. It won’t be long until he came as well as it was centuries ago he had someone close to him, still, nothing compared to you. He picked up his pace, pounding into you with no mercy. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as his hand around your neck tightened, shutting off the blood flow and making you feel light-headed. The way you squeezed his hard cock told him you were close again and he pulled your back tight against his glistering chest, watching your tits bounce to the rhythm of his thrusts. Your head was pressed against his shoulder, hand around your throat to hold you up. “Look at me when you cum again Y/N,” Shinso compelled you and your body listened, starring into his beautiful lilac eyes as you screamed out his name. He made you ride out your second orgasm, burying himself deep inside of you and filling your cunt up with his cum. He laid down beside you, pulling you into him and watching your passed-out figure breath in softly before falling into a deep slumber himself.

When you woke up the next morning all traces of him were gone, the books disappeared, the flower you collected and dried gone, his pots and pants nowhere in sight. All that was left was a new dress on the single wooden chair, with a note on it. ‘For you’ it read. You cleaned yourself in the river, tears dripping down, flowing down with the water. At first, you didn’t want to wear the dress, too torn apart from the loss of him, but you had no real choice with your previous dress shredded. You crouched down to pick up a lilac flower, the sun suddenly disappearing.

“Hey love, I’ve prepared everything, ready to leave?”

©KirishoShego// do not repost on any plattform

#shinso smut #shinso hitoshi smut #shinsou hitoshi smut #shinso hitoshi x reader #shinso hitoshi x y/n #shinso hitoshi x you #shinsou hiitoshi x reader #hinsou hitoshi x y/n #shinso x y/n #shinso x reader #shinsou x y/n #shinsou x reader #bnha shinso hitoshi #bnha shinsou hitoshi #bnha shinso x reader #bnha shinso smut #bnha shinsou smut #bnha shinsou x reader #bnha shinsou x y/n #bnha shinso x y/n #bnha shinso image #bnha shinsou image #bnha shinso fic #bnha shinsou fic #shinso x reader smut #shinso x you smut #shinso x y/n smut #bnha shinso x reader smut #bnha shinso x you smut #bnha shinso x y/n smut

[mctherofdragons]

Little Black Book | D. M.

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Slytherin!Fem!Reader

Genre: FLUFF! 

Request: “could you write a draco x slytherin!reader where they both have a crush on eachother, but they think the other person is into someone else? like draco with pansy or reader with some other character” from the lovely @minty-malfoy <3 

Trigger Warnings: Cussing

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

Draco Malfoy furrowed his brow at the cauldron in front of him. He added the last ingredient and watched jubilantly as the ivory smoke spiraled upward. You watched as he leaned forward, taking a small whiff of the potion. He gasped quickly, his cheeks beginning turning a ruddish red. You looked over at him and raised a quizzical eyebrow.

He hastily placed the lid onto the Amortentia potion with a loud clang. You sighed, feeling a little twinge in your heart. It no doubt smelled like Pansy Parkinson. “Perfect, pretty, put-together Pansy Parkinson,” you thought to yourself. You knew that the reason Draco was flushed was because the familiar scent of broomsticks, cinnamon gum, and cherry lipgloss had invaded his senses. You secretly desired that he had smelled you instead - lavender shampoo, mint, and a touch of morning coffee.

“Does it smell like Potter?,” you jested. Draco glared at you before cracking a smile.

“Careful, y/l/n.”

You gave him a toothy grin, going back to flipping through your textbook. “What does yours smell like?,” he asked curiously, secretly hoping it smelled like apples, hair product, and vanilla. You leaned over the cauldron, gently taking off the cover. You inhaled deeply, closing your eyes. It felt as though you were bathing in the scent of the boy next to you and you drew back.

“Well?,” Draco asked curiously. You swallowed hard, trying to figure out the best lie to tell in the moment.

“Oh, um, I...it smells like honey...and...grass,” you blurted, turning back around to stare at your book.

Draco felt his heart sink, peaking up at you behind his lashes. You were busy distracting yourself with packing up your bag as he watched you longingly.

“Of course she didn’t smell you, you bloody idiot,” he thought to himself defeatedly, thankful for your professor calling an end to the class.

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That evening, you sat curled up on a green velvet chair in the Sytherin common room. It was always a lucky occasion when the common room was empty. It allowed for time to relax with nothing but the sound of the crackling fire to keep you company. You sipped a cup of peppermint tea and absentmindedly flipped through a copy of Witch Weekly. A yawn washed over you, which allowed you to stretch a bit and settle down more comfortably in your chair. You looked up from the article you were reading about a Beauxbatons’ pastry recipe when you heard the door creak open, disturbing the silence.

Draco and Pansy came stumbling into the common room, chuckling about something Draco must have said in the hallway. Pansy giggled, playfully placing a hand on Draco’s chest. You felt as if you were watching the interaction in slow motion, silently longing to be in Pansy’s place. Her blithesome smile made your eyes fill with jealous tears, although you were too prideful to allow them to spill over.

You quickly gathered up your things, polishing off the rest of your tea. You shuffled past the two, ignoring the way Draco’s head turned on a swivel when you brushed his shoulder. Heading out into the hallway, you rushed as quickly as you could back to your dormitory. “Why am I crying over Draco Malfoy?,” you cursed to yourself, feeling relief once the door slammed behind you. You sniffled a bit before wiping your eyes in annoyance. “He’s just a boy. A stupid boy at that.”

Knowing it would make you feel better, you climbed up onto your bed and pulled out your diary. Your method of getting out your frustration was often through writing letters - of course, letters you’d never dream of sending. You had written angry letters to your professors and even inspirational letters to yourself, all of which you burned immediately in the common room fireplace. You flipped to an empty page and grabbed the quill next to you. The words flowed easily now as you let a few tears drip onto the paper. Your sentences had no real beginning or end, nor did your care about making a whole lot of sense.

‘Dear Draco,

I wish I could tell you what you mean to me....that you’re charming, and handsome, and perfect in every way. I want to tell you that I am captivated by your smile, your eyes, and every last inch of you. My potion smelled like you...Did yours smell like Pansy? I’m sure it did. If I had the chance, I’d kiss you right in front of everyone. I know it’s stupid but I really do fancy you, Malfoy. I just wish you’d fancy me back.’

It was written in the same way your thoughts of Draco often graced across your mind - jumbled and disjointed. You closed the tiny black book and placed it into your backpack, reaching over the shut off your bedside light. You snuggled deeper under your soft, wool blankets, secretly thinking of the Slytherin prince as you drifted off to sleep.

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Draco Malfoy sat at his dormitory desk, sipping slowly on a cup of tea. The sweet drink warmed his insides. He was grateful for this as he was often coldest at night. He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and continued to write, sighing as he felt all of his pent up emotions ease. He wouldn’t admit it aloud to any of his friends, but he kept a diary. It had always served as a way for him to process the difficult parts of his day, protecting him from having to share too much with other people.

Tonight, he wrote unabashedly about how he felt for you. He wrote about your hair, your eyes, and the way his Amortentia carried your scent. He gushed about dreaming of kissing you for hours and hours, leaving very little to the imagination. After seeing you rush out of the common room, he felt an unwavering sense of dread, thinking perhaps you couldn’t even stand to be around him. Thus, he put down in black and white all of the sickeningly sweet ways he thought of you. It occurred to him that maybe if he spilled his heart out on to the parchment, he could stop being so damned enamored with you.

His eyelids started to become heavy, so he slid the small, raven-colored book into his knapsack. Turning off his lamp, he slid beneath his covers, allowing himself to drift into slumber.

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Final exams were fast approaching and the entirety of Hogwarts was in a tizzy. Between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies, there was far too much information to digest and far too little time to do it. You and several others from your house shared a long table in the library, your papers and manuals spread out in front of you. Reading furiously, you had lost track of the time, along with Draco, Pansy, and Blaise.

“Oh bloody hell, we’re going to be late for DADA,” Pansy cussed. She stood up to quickly shove her books into her bag. The remaining three of you jumped up, jostling your belongings into your bags as quickly as possible - which is why neither you nor Draco noticed when two tiny black books got swapped.

You all jogged off down the hallway, your robes flowing behind you as you desperately hoped to not be late to class. Unfortunately, you didn’t make it in time, rushing in through the door just as Snape had begun to speak.

“Nice of you to join us, albeit late. 10 points from Slytherin, each.”

You sulked as you slid into your seat, pulling your parchment and quill out to begin taking notes.

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Later that afternoon, you found yourself sitting on your bed. You had finally finished reviewing for your classes and figured a much needed break was in order. You got up and padded over to your tea kettle, flicking the water on. Just then, you heard a tiny knock at your door.

Unsure who would be coming to visit you, you walked over and stood on the other side. “Who is it?,” you beckoned, not wanting to open the door for just anyone.

“Malfoy,” the voice on the other end replied. Your stomach did an immediate flip. You opened the door, coming face-to-face with a red faced and anxious looking blonde on the other side. He held up something in his hand and you felt like the floor had just given out under your feet.

“Is this yours?,” He asked sheepishly, extending a hand to give it back. You snatched it quickly. The sound of your heart pounding echoed in your ears. A feeling of dread washed over you and you couldn’t stop your hands from beginning to shake.

“Did you r-read it?,” you choked out. You sent a prayer up to Merlin that the answer would be no.

“Yes.”

You let out a tiny gasp and your lips began to tremble.

“Hey, hey,” Draco whispered, allowing himself to walk in the door. He closed it behind him, reaching out to take your hands. “Don’t be upset. Believe me, it’s alright, y\n,”

You pulled away, turning around in embarrassment. “I’m n-not upset! I’m fucking humiliated,” you sniveled. Draco knew about how much you liked - no, at this point he probably assumed loved - him. He had read the inner workings of your heart. Every thing you had penned about the boy was now knowledge he possessed. You wished you could just dissolve into the floor and disappear forever.

Draco sighed, walking over to your backpack. He reached in and pulled out a different journal. You had no idea that his book had been in your bag the entire time, given that you thought it was yours. He sauntered back over to you, pulling you by the hand to sit down on the bed.

You looked at him confused as he opened the journal. He handed it over to you, allowing you to peruse it. You began to read, your jaw falling slack. “Y-you...is this about Pansy?,” you asked sadly, unable to accept that Draco’s feelings might be mutual. Draco’s cyanic eyes twinkled. He took the diary from your hands, placing it out of the way.

He moved a piece of hair from your eyes, tracing his finger along your jaw. Then, he took a finger and traced it down the bridge of your nose and over your lips. He began to speak, repeating a line from one of his diary entries, “Everything about you is flawless.”

He leaned in slowly, planting a kiss to your lips. In that moment, it wouldn’t have shocked you if fireworks began to burst across the ceiling of your room. You scooted closer, gently placing a hand on the back of Draco’s neck. Your fingers played in the tufts of his platinum blonde hair. You pulled him back in for another kiss. Suddenly, you were very, very grateful for finals week - and those 40 missing points from Slytherin mattered not.

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