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bingwriterxo · 9 months

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the chase

pairing: vada cavell x reader

summary: in which you and vada play a game of cat and mouse

warnings: none

word count: 4100+

author's note: does this make any sense? great question!

The moment Vada slipped into the passenger’s seat of Nick’s car, words were flying out of his mouth faster than she could comprehend, which was saying a lot considering how often she’d find herself rambling about the most random of things.

“Where were you yesterday?” he started as he shifted the car into drive, beginning their short ride to school. “I called you seven times, and you didn’t answer once. It was Sunday, and you do nothing on Sundays! I was beginning to think you were dead until I texted your mom and--”

Vada shook her head. “Wait, slow down. Back up. You text my mom? When did you get her number?”

He waved her off. “Not important. What is important is you telling me what you were doing yesterday.” He rolled past a stop sign, barely even glancing in its direction as he drove past. “I mean, seven calls, V, and you answered not a single one! So, what were you doing?”

She grinned, giggling in her seat at what she was about to reveal. “I had a date!”

Almost immediately, Nick whipped his head to look at her, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. “With who?!” he practically shouted.

Vada reached out, took his chin between her forefinger and thumb, and turned his head back in the direction of the windshield. “Eyes on the road, stupid. I’m not trying to die today.”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Vada, if you don’t tell me who you went on a date with in the next five seconds, I’ll purposely drive us into oncoming traffic.”

“You’re so dramatic,” she teased with a roll of her eyes. He glared at her quickly before focusing on the road again. She bit her lip, trying to quell the excitement raging in her stomach as she said, “It was with Y/N.”

The car skidded to a stop and Vada was jolted forward, her seatbelt pressing tight against her body.

“Dude, what the fuck--” she began, but she was silenced as Nick twisted in his seat, his eyes hard as they set on her and his frown so defined that it made her uncomfortable.

“What,” he deadpanned.

She rubbed at her chest, right where the seat belt had dug into her. “What?” she asked, confused.

“You went on a date with…Y/N? Popular Y/N? Like, most-popular-girl-in-school Y/N?”

Vada tilted her head. “Uh, yeah?”

“Why the fu--” Nick was interrupted by a car honking at him. He threw his arm up in annoyance before starting to drive again, and Vada gulped as he stewed in his seat. “I can’t believe you went on a date with Y/N!”

“Why are you saying it like that?” Vada asked. She shifted, disliking the tension that was starting to fill the air. “You make it sound like a bad thing. I thought you’d be excited! I finally went on my first date with a girl! You’ve been waiting for this moment since the second I came out to you.”

“First of all, I’ve been waiting for this moment since the second I met you, because, baby, the closet is glass.” He took a hard right. The school loomed up ahead. “Secondly, I wanted you to go on a date with basically anyone other than Y/N.”

Vada furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m not that obviously bisexual.” Silence filled the car and she huffed, crossing her arms. “Fine, maybe I am. But why is going out with Y/N such a bad thing? She’s funny and cute and really smart. Basically, she’s perfect.”

“She’s not perfect, V,” Nick said, sitting up a little straighter as he pulled into the parking lot. “Haven’t you ever noticed that she’s got a new girl hanging off of her every month?” Vada’s stomach dropped, a sudden sense of anxiety flooding through her veins. “I mean, she goes through girls like you go through sugar.”

“No she doesn’t,” Vada tried, but her denial fell on deaf ears.

“She’s the biggest player this school has,” Nick said, leaning forward as he tried to pull into his designated parking spot. “She’s probably the biggest player in the damn county. She chases after a girl, stays with her for a few weeks, gets bored, and then does it all over again.” He turned to her as he shifted the gear into park. “Vada, she’s worse than John Tucker.”

“Are you seriously referencing a movie right now?” She scoffed and unbuckled her seatbelt. “She’s not like that.”

“Fine,” Nick conceded. “But when you get hurt, don’t say I didn’t warn you. She’s just in it for the chase.”

Vada clambered out of the car and pulled her backpack onto her shoulder. “And when we live happily ever after,” she started as she and Nick started to walk into the school, “I’ll say ‘I told you so’.”

He glanced at her before looking forward, his eyes widening. “...I’m not so sure about that one, V.”

She frowned and followed Nick’s line of sight, a sharp pain shooting through her at what she saw. You had your back pressed against your locker, trapped there by Stacey from Vada’s history class, who had her hand flat against the metal and was leaning close to you. Stacey was batting her eyelashes and giggling, and you were smiling along.

“Oh,” Vada said, voice quiet and small. She tore her eyes away and blinked hard, looking back up at Nick. “Well, I guess you were right.”

He offered her a pitiful smile. “I’m sorry, V. But, you should be glad you won’t be another girl stuck in her revolving door of girls.”

“Yeah,” she said, voice low and filled with sorrow. “So happy.”

Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leading her toward his own locker. “Don’t be so sad. It’s for the best.”

Vada glanced away. “I just don’t get it. I mean, if she’s in it for the chase, then why is she flirting with another girl? Was I not good enough to chase?” She frowned. “Am I just too boring? Or do I talk too much?” She looked up at Nick. “Nick, be honest with me, do I talk too much? Could that turn someone off?”

“Yes,” he said simply, nodding his head. Vada huffed. He pulled away as the two reached his locker and focused on putting his combination into the lock. “Don’t think too far into it, though. I don’t think you wanna go through the pain of it anyway.” He shrugged and then hit the metal door when it wouldn’t open. “Stupid, old locker.” He glanced at her. “You’d just end up getting your heart broken.”

Vada sighed and leaned against the locker beside Nick’s, her shoulder pressing against the cool metal. “That’s dumb. And unfair. And not very nice.”

Nick’s locker door finally popped open. “Just ignore her from now on, okay?” He glanced at her and started to put his books into his locker. “Don’t talk to her, don’t text her, don’t even think about her. ‘Y/N Y/L/N who?’ That’s how you should be acting.”

She nodded hesitantly. “Okay. I guess I can do that.”

“Good.” He slammed the door shut. “Now let’s go to class.”

* * *

The first few periods rolled by smoothly. Vada had no classes with you until after lunch, and she didn’t even get a glimpse of you in the hallways. While part of her was still disheartened by your act, she also agreed with Nick’s words: it was probably for the best that she didn’t get tangled up with you.

That is, until she asked to use the bathroom during her science class, and upon walking inside, found you standing by the sinks, fixing your hair in the mirror. Almost immediately, your eyes landed on her figure through the reflection and you grinned, showing all your pearly-white teeth, before turning around to face her. Vada’s breath was practically sucked from her lungs as she stared at you.

“Vada! Hey!” you greeted, voice happy and excited.

It made Vada uncomfortable, how easily you were able to put on that mask. Nick’s voice rang in her head: Don’t talk to her. She bounced on the balls of her feet before promptly making the decision to hide in one of the stalls, slipping away from your field of vision without a word.

“Oh…kay…” she heard you say. There was the shuffling of your feet before she could see your shoes beneath the stall door. “Text me, okay? I had fun yesterday.” You turned and Vada listened as your footsteps receded.

When she knew she was finally alone, she let out the breath she had been holding and leaned forward, her forehead bumping against the metal of the stall.

“C’mon, Vada, get it together,” she mumbled. “She’s a player. She doesn’t want anything from you.” She clamped her eyes shut and shook her head. “She doesn’t want you.”

That was the mantra that repeated in her head for the entire day. It was what she heard when she saw you during lunch, waving at her from across the cafeteria. She reminded herself of it when you sat down beside her during English class and tried to make conversation, to which she entirely ignored you--it did hurt her heart a little when she saw your wide eyes and jutted out bottom lip when you realized she wouldn’t talk to you, but she tried to ignore that, too.

It all came to a head at the end of the day, when Vada was trying to pile as many of her books as she possibly could into her backpack. She was almost done when you sidled up beside her, a gleaming smile on your face and your hands tucked sheepishly in the back pockets of your jeans.

“Hey,” you said softly, like Vada was a scared animal that would run away.

She swallowed, half of her so desperately wanting to talk to you and ask why you would ask her out just to play with her, while the other half of her was set in her stubborn way of not speaking a word to you. The latter half won as she shut her locker door and walked away, but she couldn’t shake you.

You followed beside her, looking down at her as you walked. “I don’t know what happened between yesterday and today, or if you’re just having an off day or something, but I really did have fun on our date, and I’d like to take you on another one.”

She glanced up at you, unable to stop the quickening of her pulse. What if you were telling the truth? She shook her head, Nick’s words in her ear: Don’t even think about her.

Vada managed to lose you in the crowd of students all trying to exit the school at once, but she still heard your voice call over the sound of everyone else.

“I’ll text you then!”

Something about your determination made her want to melt right into your arms, but she stood up a little straighter and continued walking. You didn’t actually want her, she reminded herself. You just liked the chase.

* * *

After a night full of text messages from you that Vada never answered, she sauntered into school the next day with Nick by her side, completely set on avoiding you as much as she could. Unfortunately for both her and Nick, it seemed like you wanted to make that impossible.

The minute she passed through the front doors, you were walking beside her, a bouquet of flowers in hand. Vada glanced at them quickly, feeling butterflies stir in her stomach at the sight, but Nick slapped her on the hand, forcing her to keep her stoic face as she picked up the pace and tried to walk away.

“What, do you not like roses?” you asked, just a step behind the pair. You sounded dejected, defeated--some part of Vada felt bad; the other part thought ‘good. she should feel bad’. After a moment of silence from you, she heard the smallest, “Well, okay,” and when she looked over her shoulder, you were gone, the roses sticking out of the top of the nearest trash can. It was a depressing sight to see.

She sighed. “I feel kind of bad, Nick,” she admitted, and the boy shook his head.

“Don’t,” he said firmly. “She deserves to be humbled for once.” He scoffed. “She can’t just have anyone she wants and then throw them away when she gets bored because she’s pretty and popular. And she most certainly can’t do that to you.”

“But, yesterday she said that she had fun on our date and wants to go on another one. What if she was telling the truth? What if she actually likes me?”

Nick shook his head again. “It’s all part of her sick game. She wants you to fall for her, and then she’ll pull the rug right out from under you.” He patted Vada on the shoulder. “Trust me; she’s bad news.”

Vada glanced back over her shoulder again, and this time she found you in the same position as the day before--leaning back against your locker with Stacey standing in front of you, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.

Your eyes flitted toward her for a split second, wide and forlorn, before they were focusing on Stacey again. You broke out into a grin, throwing your head back as you laughed.

“Right,” Vada grumbled, an ache forming in her chest and radiating throughout the rest of her body. “Bad news.”

* * *

The ‘bad news’ didn’t seem so bad anymore when, in the middle of English class, Vada was tapped on the shoulder by the boy behind her. When she twisted around to see what he wanted, he unceremoniously shoved a folded piece of paper in her direction, a scowl on his face as he waited for her to take it.

With furrowed eyebrows and a frown, Vada grabbed the paper and turned back in her seat, glancing up at her teacher to make sure he wasn’t watching as she unfolded the sheet.

Vada,

Thought I might try the old-fashioned way. Are you free on Friday night? The drive-in is showing The Princess Diaries, and I remember you saying you had a crush on Anne Hathaway. Wanna go together?

Y/N :)

Vada glanced toward the back of the room, where you had found yourself sitting that day, and saw you already looking at her, hope painting your face prettily. She cursed herself internally at the butterflies in her stomach as she looked back at the note you had sent forward. It was cute--she’d give you that--and she was tempted to say yes, but the image of Stacey flirting with you flitted through her mind, and that was enough for her to crumple the paper in her hand.

She didn’t look back at you.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident: you didn’t try to speak to her in the halls, and by the time she went to sleep, Vada hadn’t received a single text from you. Just before she drifted off for the night, she briefly thought that you had given up--perhaps you had grown so used to girls falling into your lap that chasing Vada was just too much energy that you didn’t want to use.

She was proven wrong when she woke up to a voicemail from you in the morning. You had called her late at night--the timestamp reading nearly three o’clock--and when Vada played the message aloud, your voice filling her room, shame bloomed in her stomach.

“Hey,” you started, your voice quiet and scratchy. “It’s me. Or, it’s Y/N. I--I don’t know if you’ve deleted my number or something. I just…Look, I know it hasn’t been long since our date, but…” You sighed, and Vada could hear the faintest sound of a sniffle. “The cold shoulder from you doesn’t feel great. I just wanna know where we stand. I had fun on Sunday. Uh, it’s okay if you didn’t. I just wish you would tell me.” You sniffled again. “I guess if you don’t answer this, that’s my answer. Yeah, okay. I’ll see you in school.”

Vada threw herself back into her pillows with a sigh. She ran a hand down her face, groaning. “Fuck,” she mumbled. “Fuck.” You sounded so sincere in the voicemail, but what if that were just another one of your ploys? What if you did this with every girl? What if—

“Bitch, why the fuck are you still in bed?” Nick asked as he burst into Vada’s bedroom.

She groaned again, throwing her legs up and down like a small toddler not getting their way. Her heart was pulling toward you, but her brain was trying to run away from you as fast as possible. She was torn, and she had no idea what to do.

Luckily for her, she was given more time to think than she had expected. You were absent that day, your missing presence a large hole in her day. There was no one to offer her flowers, or to try to pass her notes during class, or to wave at her in the cafeteria. As much as she hated admitting it to herself, she still liked you, and the lack of you carved a deep pit into her stomach.

That night, when there was still no sign of you--no texts or calls or even posts on any social media--she fell asleep with worry itching beneath her veins and guilt pricking at her chest.

The next morning wasn’t any better. Anxiety sat heavy like a rock in Vada’s stomach as she got ready, while Nick sang some random song in the car, when she walked through the parking lot and into school.

Her eyes immediately flitted toward your locker, a mixture of relief and sorrow surging through her at the sight of you standing there, alone, but with your head hung and your eyes trained on your feet. You were in sweatpants and a baggy hoodie. It was all completely unlike you.

“Nick,” she called, getting the boy’s attention. She subtly pointed at you. “Do you think she’s okay?”

He scoffed. “I’m sure her outfit just didn’t look as good in real life as it did in her head. What else does she have to worry about?”

Vada shrugged, her eyes still locked on you. You didn’t look up once.

* * *

It was at night that Vada’s worry had turned into all-out panic. Throughout the school day, you had avoided her like the plague, making sure to never interact with her. At one point, you had locked eyes with her down the hall and then swiftly spun on your heel and walked back in the direction you came from.

That, combined with getting absolutely no notifications from you, led her to a terribly easy decision as she stood from her bed, grabbed a hoodie, and lied to her mom that she was going to Nick’s house. She slipped out the front door, her pace quick as she rushed the few blocks to your house.

When she arrived, it was almost completely dark, save for the fluorescent light coming from your living room, where Vada had found herself just days before after you had taken her out to dinner.

With a hesitant hand, she knocked on your front door. It took only a few seconds before you appeared, looking completely unsurprised to see her.

“Vada,” you said softly, and she was immediately surrounded by the scent of alcohol on your breath. “What’re you doing here?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you…drunk? On a Thursday night?”

You shrugged. “So what if I am? What’re you doing here?” you repeated.

Pushing aside her concerns about your drinking habits, she asked, “Why did you stop?”

“Stop what?”

“Chasing me,” she said, like you should’ve known.

You forced out a dry laugh, tilting your head to the side. “You know, you’re a confusing girl.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you completely ignored all of my attempts to talk to you, and now you’re upset that I’ve stopped, even though it seemed like that’s what you wanted.” You narrowed your eyes. “Sounds kind of confusing, don’t you think?”

Vada swallowed, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “That’s not fair.”

“Not fair,” you muttered beneath your breath. “Okay. Sure. I was unfair to you.” You leaned back on your heels, your hand gripping the doorknob. “Now, if that’s all, then I’ll see you at school.”

You started to close the door, but something about your indifference made anger rise in Vada. “I just didn’t want to become a girl in your revolving door of girls!” she shouted.

You stilled, your eyes widening before glazing over. “Right. My revolving door of girls. That’s what everyone says, right?” Your voice was hollow, sad. Vada didn’t understand why.

“They say it because it’s true,” she huffed. Your posture fell and you glanced away, clenching your jaw. “You chase, you get, you grow bored.”

“That’s not true.” You looked at her, and faintly, she could see tears glossing your eyes. “That’s not…true. Those girls chase me; they use me; they leave me.” Your volume grew steadily, a sort of rage backing your words. “But since I’m the one factor that stays the same, everyone blames me. And it’s not--” You sighed. “It’s not true.”

You scoffed. “And you know what, I thought you might be the one person that didn’t believe what everyone else said. You seemed real, authentic, like you didn’t really give a shit about the crowd, Vada. That’s why I liked you, why I was trying. I thought you were your own person. But I was wrong. You’re just like the rest of the school.”

With all of the new information thrown at her, confusion and guilt and shame and hurt burning her, the only thing Vada managed to say was, “Oh.”

You nodded, glancing away. “Yeah. ‘Oh’. So, I’ll see you at school.”

When you shut the door, leaving Vada standing alone on your front porch, realization struck her like a tidal wave, and everything from the past few days came crashing down on her.

You didn’t chase. Or, at least, not until her.

“Shit.”

* * *

Vada (11:42pm): need ur help

Vada (11:42pm): 911

Mia (11:43pm): ???

Vada (11:43pm): help me ask Y/N out

Vada (11:43pm): ur her best friend. pls.

Mia (11:45pm): bro u fucked up big time

Mia (11:45pm): shes forgiving and all but…

Vada (11:45pm): mia pls

Mia (11:49pm): fine.

Mia (11:49pm): only b/c i know how much she likes u

Mia (11:49pm): dont fuck up again

Mia (11:50pm): heres what u should do

* * *

You didn’t show up to school again the next day, but it barely registered in Vada’s mind. She had already known beforehand that you wouldn’t be going--Mia had slipped her some ‘secret intel’ that your hangover had you sleeping the day away. Instead, she spent the hours mentally preparing herself, and as soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the day, she set her plan into motion.

At exactly six o’clock at night, Vada was standing at your front door again, a bouquet of flowers in one hand and her (Mia’s) car keys in the other. She knocked on the wood, waited, and when you pulled the door open, her words immediately pushed themselves out of her mouth.

“The drive-in is showing The Princess Diaries tonight, and I know you don’t like Anne Hathaway as much as I do, but I’d like to take you to see it.” She inhaled deeply and continued. “And I’d also like to apologize because I’ve been shitty to you these past few days, and I shouldn’t have listened to the rumors, and I should’ve just talked to you about it all, and I’m really sorry about everything that happened, and I just”--she gasped, her lungs stinging with lack of air, and kept going--“I really do like you, and I did have fun on our initial date, and I’m sorry. Can I take you to the drive-in?”

You blinked once, twice, before you raised a single brow. “What?”

Vada sighed. “The most important thing from all of that is that I’m sorry. I know I hurt you, and I know that can’t just go away, but I’d like the chance to make it up to you, if you’d let me.” She shoved the flowers in your direction. “Want to go see The Princess Diaries?”

You glanced down at the flowers, your bottom lip pulled between your teeth, and then took them from her. With the smallest and softest smile that made Vada’s knees buckles, you nodded.

“Okay.” Your face fell. “But on one condition.”

She nodded fervently. “Anything.”

You grinned. “Let’s get milkshakes after and talk.”

bonus: “like, how could you not have a huge crush on anne hathaway?” vada asked, her eyes glued to the big screen.

you hummed. “i’ve got my eye on someone else.”

when she looked at you, ready to argue about anne hathaway’s attractiveness, you were already staring at her, smiling.

#vada cavell x reader #vada cavell #vada x reader #jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega #jenna x reader #the fallout

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supernovafics · 8 months

Text

your first shift at scoops ahoy with steve harrington

wc: 1.1k words

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

you didn’t know if you’d ever get used to the uniform. the blue and white sailor outfit made you feel like you were seven years old and being forced to be a part of a nautical family photoshoot.

“you’re new, right?”

you stopped adjusting your hat— the final part of the uniform that only made you feel even more ridiculous— and looked at the guy that had just walked into the break room.

“hi, yeah,” you said with a small smile. “you’re steve?”

when he nodded and said a quick “yeah,” you nodded back and then told him your name.

you had expected to work your first real shift with robin. she had been the one training you for the past few days and although she had mentioned that there was another person that worked here, you never saw him so you started wondering if you ever would.

steve simply looked at you for a bit, which reminded you of what you were wearing and you quickly felt ridiculous all over again. your hands went back up to your hat, which had a way too enthusiastic looking “ahoy” written across it, and started adjusting it. “will this uniform ever eventually not feel stupid to wear?”

steve was quick to shake his head. “no, but i’ve ditched the hat and it makes it feel a little less stupid.”

you immediately took yours off your head and left it on the table. “say no more.”

it was slow in the morning, which made sense because who really wanted to have ice cream for breakfast? therefore, to help pass the time you suggested that you two play rock, paper, scissors. and when you both got bored of that, steve grabbed a napkin and a pen from behind the counter and the two of you started playing tic-tac-toe, and then moved onto hangman. the childish games you two played were just that, childish and a bit mindless, but they helped make the first handful of hours of the shift go by fast.

it was when noon rolled around that things finally started to pick up and it almost became too much— the line full of overzealous kids that already seemed as if they had too much ice cream and the handful of people that you recognized from school; and of course, they were the people that you really didn’t want to see.

you quickly found yourself starting to long for the quiet mundanity that the morning part of the shift brought.

“you wanna take your break?” steve asked. you had just finished dealing with a middle aged man who sampled pretty much every flavor of ice cream you had and then proceeded to buy nothing. perhaps the most annoying ten minutes of your life.

“yes. please. thank you. you’re the best,” your words came out rushed as you quickly started making your way toward the small break room.

it was nice to have somewhat of a breather for a bit. you hummed along to a random song that was playing on repeat in your head as you ate the sandwich that you brought from home because you refused to spend money in the food court— money you didn’t have, hence why you got a job in the first place.

“you’re lucky,” steve said when you came back thirty minutes later, once again standing behind the counter with him. “you just missed the horde of moms that just finished their aerobics class and wanted to “treat themselves.””

you were grateful that you missed that rush.

“if you want, you can go on your break now. i’ll handle the next swarm of kids or moms that show up,” you told him and he nodded at that before heading to the break room.

things actually didn’t become too insane when steve left.

a group of kids walked up, but before you could ask them what they would like to get, one that had a “camp know where” hat on said, “hi, we’re friends of steve’s. is he here?”

it slightly confused you that steve would be friends with a group of kids who didn’t look like they were even in high school yet. but ultimately, you didn’t question it and instead shook your head at the kid’s question. “he’s on break right now, but he should be out in a few minutes.”

“how many girls has he flirted with today?” the red-headed girl asked you.

a confused look crossed your face. “um, none… is that something that usually happens?”

she laughed a bit at your question. “uh, literally always.”

“oh, shit, he must like you,” the boy, who had been previously holding hands with the red-headed girl, told you.

it was way too hard to hold back your laugh at that. “i just met him today.”

the boy with the camp hat was the one to speak. “oh, trust us, that’s more than enough time for steve.”

before you could say anything in response to that, steve emerged from the break room. he talked to the kids for a bit before letting them go through the back so that they could sneak into a movie.

“what embarrassing things about me did they say to you?” he asked when he returned next to you.

you held back your laugh as you answered him. “according to them, you like me.”

his eyes widened a bit and the redness that rose to his cheeks was almost immediate; just for a moment you thought that maybe there was actually some truth behind the kids’ words.

he then let out a loud sigh. “i’m never letting them come here again.”

the next few hours actually breezed by, with random rushes here and there but nothing too overwhelming, and before you knew it your first official day at scoops ahoy was done.

you and steve cleaned up everything— wiping down tables, refilling napkin dispensers, etc.— and then started heading to the parking lot. somehow the emptiness of the mall felt weirdly calming.

“where are you parked?” you asked when the two of you exited the mall, immediately getting hit by the cool summer air.

steve gestured to the left side of the parking lot. “over there.”

“i’m this way,” you said, pointing in the opposite direction.

“oh, okay,” he said with a small nod. he then leaned in for what you thought would be a hug, but then he seemed to change his mind last second and instead held out his hand for you to shake, which you did after a brief second of hesitation and confusion. the entire chain of events felt insanely awkward, but you also couldn’t help but find it all a little funny.

“so, um, i’ll… see you later,” steve said, his voice was softer and it sounded a little unsure.

you smiled at him and his sudden nervousness right then. “yeah, see you later, steve.”

#summer's over but i needed to do this<3 #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington headcanon #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x fem!reader #stranger things fluff #steve harrington x you #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfiction

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rottenwriter · 2 months

Note

hi hi! love your stuff <3 we know buck is really good with kids (aka how perfect he is with christopher), so can we get buck falling in love with a reader who has a kid? basically loving them both with his whole heart bc that’s cute as hell man

Evan Buckley x Fem!Mother!Reader

a/n that is cuteee! also this is the longest thing i’ve written in a while so it might just be me waffling nonsense so lmk if it’s readable.. bur hope you like!! might start a series with buck, reader and amelia!

When Buck first met you, he was instantly enamoured. He didn’t really know if he believed in love at first sight exactly, but it didn’t take long for him to fall for you.

You were the sweetest and funniest girl he had ever met, not to mention you were incredibly beautiful, inside and out.

The first time he met your daughter Amelia, and she smiled at him, that bright smile that reminded him so much of your own, he couldn’t help but smile back, kneeling down to talk to her.

Since that moment, you three had somehow become an odd little family. Amelia was a sunshine child, immediately grinning at Buck and introducing him to her favourite teddy that she carried everywhere, Mr Bear.

“What’s his name?” Buck had said, crouching so he was face to face with Amelia as she basically thrust her small plushie into his face.

“Mr Bear!” She grinned. You hid a little laugh as his face twisted into befuddlement.

“Mr Bear, huh! He’s.. so cute! I love him!” He quickly recovered as he looked at the teddy bear. Well not exactly. Mr Bear was a bunny, a pink bunny at that. Not quite so aptly named, but your Amelia always had an odd sense of humour.

Buck had stood up again, before turning to whisper in your ear.

“I’m not going crazy right..?”

“You are not. That is a bunny” You said back, twinkle of amusement in your eye as you looked from him to the little girl standing in front of you both, smiling as she clutched her beloved teddy to her chest.

You couldn’t lie to yourself, seeing buck so caring and sweet with your daughter made your heart flutter in your chest. You already found him quite attractive, but always had the underlying nervousness that he would stop talking to you when he knew you had a kid. But Buck had taken it in his stride, not treating you any differently than before, much to your slight shock but overwhelming appreciation.

As weeks turned into months of knowing you and Amelia, Buck found himself falling deeply in love with you. Everything from your kind eyes, the same confusing yet still hilarious humour as your daughter and the care you had for everyone around you made, however medically inaccurate Hen might say, his heart stop in his chest.

After a week of knowing you, the 118 caught onto his love for you. When Hen asked him about “this new lady friend” in his life, he didn’t even try to hide it. Since then he non-stop gushed about you and little Amelia to his friends. They all pretended to be annoyed by his new cheery attitude, making fun of the pep in his step, but he knew they were happy for him.

“So when are we going to meet them?” Bobby asked, Leaning on the firehouse kitchen island, looking at Buck with his eyebrows raised, questioningly.

“Yeah, I want to meet these lovely ladies you won’t stop chattering our ears off about.” Chimney said teasingly, crossing his arms as he walked over to stand by Hen, who was mirroring the same pose.

Buck looked around and all the expecting faces of his teammates, before chuckling bashfully.

“Yeah- Yeah. I’ll ask them if they want to come round some time soon!”

Buck had immediately drove to yours after work to see you, like he did most days, immediately blurting out “Do you want to come to the firehouse to meet my friends?” The second you opened the door. You were a little shocked at the request, mostly because it had basically been out of nowhere, but you quickly said yes, ushering him into your house so you could ask your little one what she thought about going to the firehouse with Momma and Buck. You weren’t at all surprised when she practically yelled yes, jumping up and down on her little bed in excitement. Buck had laughed at her antics, holding her small hands as she bounced up and down on the bed. You couldn’t help the lovestruck look on your face as you looked at the two of them. Seeing the two people you loved most being happy together, made you more happy than you’d ever been. Loved. You loved Evan Buckley.

It was a random Wednesday when you took Amelia to the firehouse, Buck had texted you to let you know it was a… Q-Word day. You were a little confused when he actually typed Q-Word, instead of… The actual word which you weren’t allowed to say, but it made you laugh. He always made you laugh.

It was a quick walk from your house to the station, Amelia skipping and bouncing the whole way, singing a made up song as she spun around on the pavement. You held her hand as you both walked into the firestation, both of your eyes going wide as you looked at the large fire engines, neither of you having ever seen one so upclose.

Buck was a little embarrassed about it, but since he texted you he had been practically glued to the balcony of the loft, waiting to see you and your girl walking in. When you finally did, he practically jumped up, shouting your names and taking the pole down without a second thought to rush towards you both.

“The pole! Momma look!” Amelia squealed, pointing her little fingers at Buck as he descended from the loft.

“Yeah sweetheart, that’s the fireman’s pole!”

“Can i go down it?” She asked, looking up at you, tugging on your hand. You smiled down at her, before looking up at the grinning face of Evan Buckley as he rushed across the polished floor towards you.

“Why don’t you ask Buck!” Amelia squealed yes as you pointed towards him as you said it and she let go of your hand, running full speed toward him.

He quickly lifted her up in a hug, before placing her back down, a bright grin on his face as she smiled up at him.

“Come with me!” He said, holding her hand. He looked back at you quickly, his smile almost getting brighter, though you might have been imagining it.

“You too! You’re gonna love Cap- Bobby and Hen and Eddie and Chimney!”

Amelia stopped walking.

“Chimney?” She asked, tilting her head, puzzled look on her little features.

You and Buck laughed, and you walked up to her, taking her other hand in yours.

“It’s a nickname! Like Buck!” He quickly explained.

She was silent for a second.

“Your names not Buck!?”

You widened your eyes, looking up at him before you both burst into laughter.

“No, Honey, it’s a nickname! His name is really Evan.”

“Oh.. Can I have a nickname?”

You smiled down at her while Buck smiled at you before crouching next to her.

“What do you want to be your nickname?”

She paused, hand on her chin, in thought, and Buck stifled a giggle at the sight.

“Amy!” She grinned, looking at You then at Buck. You both looked at each other, your expressions softening.

“I love it, sweetheart. My little Amy.”

#evan buckley #evan buckley x reader #9-1-1 #911 fanfiction #911 fandom #911 fanfic

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porschesbabydaddy · 9 months

Text

Kinnporsche Fuck Ranking

As the name suggests, this list is a ranking of which character I think fuck from the least to the most. This is based off vibes alone, with absolutely no regard for cananical evidence. If you disagree with me that’s fine but please remember that I’m far too pretty for arguing online so I will not be accepting criticism, constructive or otherwise.

#10) Kim

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- Kim would rather die than be physically or emotionally vulnerable with someone. He saw Tawan leading Kinn around by his dick and said “yeah no not for me thanks”

#9) Pete

Honestly I think sex and sexuality is so low on Pete’s list of priorities before he met Vegas that the desire to fuck never really struck him. This has changed now that he’s living his best and most freaknasty life, but he’ll have to do quite a bit of fucking to catch up to everyone else

#8) Big

Big only fucks when the loneliness gets too heavy to handle. He either chooses men who look too much like Kinn, or look like his complete opposite. Either way it’s not a healthy choice

#7) Chay

Now this is going to come as a shock to some people, but you can’t tell me that a teenage boy with a frequently empty house and a healthy libido isn’t getting up to funny business. The limited edition Wik merch stays ON during sex

#6) Tankhun

Another controversial one, I know. While Tankhun may not fuck in the traditional sense, he’s got a devoted harem of discord kittens and he’s inventing new ways to have cybersex that should be studied by scientists

#5) Ken

There isn’t much to say here. Ken is a nasty little thotty who died making it clap on Instagram

#4) Kinn

Kinn only ranks so low because he’s a very busy man. He has to pencil his dick appointments into his Google Calendar, it’s a whole thing

#3) Porsche

Little Miss “bartending is my sidegig, fucking rich women for tips is my real job.” He took to gay sex like a duck takes to water, and that’s because sluttery is his calling

#2) Vegas

Vegas fucks like it’s his job, and that is NOT a compliment. Take a vacation day babygirl, the slut factory can afford to go without you for one day. Or at least have some orange slices and water, replenish your energy

#1) Yok

do I even need to give an explanation for this? Just look at her. Assume that whenever Yok isn’t on screen, she’s having incredibly hot and wildly acrobatic sex. Side note: She and Tankhun should have smashed tbh

#kinnporsche #kprewatch2023 #important scientific research

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corruptedcaps · 3 months

Text

You’ll Do

Amy’s boss Mia was as cruel as she was beautiful & made Amy nervous whenever she was around. Despite this somehow Amy found the courage to interview as her replacement. For some reason Mia was leaving the company & hiring her own successor. Needless to say the interview went awful.

Adding insult to injury, Amy had to ride the elevator with Mia directly after the interview and Mia didn’t hold back on her comments.

“You see Amy you lack what I need in a successor, you don’t have the killer attitude needed to succeed. On top of that you have a terrible dress sense and are a 5 at best. Yes I could ‘improve’ you but why put lipstick on a pig when I could pick someone who needs little work at all.” Mia said with a sharpness to every word that plunged Amy into a deeper depression than she already was.

“That’s why I’m giving the job to Kali, she’s so perfect for the role I didn’t even interview her. Im going to meet her right now and by tomorrow she’ll be your new boss, although I’m sure she’ll remind you of me.” Mia continued with a knowingly smile.

Amy knew Kali and was dreading her promotion. She was no where near as bad as Mia but she was certainly only a few steps away. Knowing she would be taking over made Amy want to call in sick for the rest of the year.

However just as they were nearing their floor the elevator suddenly shunted to a halt, stopping dead. Amy just stood there, knowing she couldn’t do anything while Mia rolled her eyes.

“I’ll have the maintenance team hung for this.” Mia snarled as she took out her phone and contacted the elevator technician.

“2 hours? No this is unacceptable! I need to get to my meeting! I’ve already waited too long!” Mia screamed down the phone.

Amy had never seen Mia so agitated, she figured Mia had some sort of fear of tight spaces. Amy let herself have a brief smile knowing that Mia was human like the rest of them.

However as an hour passed without much progress, Amy started to get worried about Mia. She was sweating and pacing like crazy and even seemed to be twitching now and again.

“M-Mia it’s alright, we’ll be out of here soon. Just breathe.” Amy said calmly to her boss.

“Oh shut up you twit, this is beyond your understanding, this body is expiring and I need a new one!” Mia snapped back. She looked at her watch and fear etched her face.

“Oh fucking screw it, you’ll do.” Mia said and surely lunged at Amy who was too quick to react. Mia grabbed Amy’s face in her hands and planted her lips on her lowly employee’s.

Amy’s eyes went wide as she felt something slither from Mia’s mouth to her own and down her throat. Mia’s body went limp and collapsed to the ground. As it hit the ground it immediately turned to dust, leaving Amy to wonder what the hell just happened.

“Ugh I can’t believe I had to take your pathetic body.” Said a voice that sounded like it was coming from inside Amy’s head. It was a deep ethereal voice that sent shivers down her spine.

“W-who said that?” Amy nervously asked.

“Not that it matters but I have gone by many names. Abyzou, Hecate, Morrigan, and most recently, as you can see, Mia but you can call me Lilith, all others will call us Aimee, once I improve you of course.” The voice said with a cackle.

Before Amy could ask a follow up question, she doubled over in pain. Putting her hands on the glass mirrors of the elevator to steady herself, she watched as her nails grew long and sharp, like wicked talons.

Radiating down from there her pale skin turned sun kissed, as if she never spent a day in the office. The tan ran up her arms, making them tingle in pleasure in the process. Her body began to change as the tan ran down her figure. Every inch that it touched she felt a warm sensation that came also with a tightening of skin or modification of fat. Her boobs for instance once a meagre B cup ballooned out into an impressive pair of double d’s.

“Mmmm yesss this never gets old. This feels so fucking good doesn’t it Amy?” Lilith purred in Amy’s head. Amy wanted to plead with her to stop whatever magic she was doing but to her shame she found her pussy getting increasingly wet. It helped that it too changed, becoming tighter and more sensitive.

Staring at her shifting face, she watched as her lips grew into a bitchy pout, her hair became incredibly sleek and straight, and smoky makeup appeared on her eyes. It was now a face that commanded authority, a stern but sexy facade that would have others eating out of the palm of her hand either out of fear or of lust.

“I was going to take Kali’s body but now I’m glad I took yours. It’s been decades since I transformed Mia from the worthless house wife she was into a bitchy and powerful CEO, I forgot how much pleasure it gives me to turn a goodie goodie nobody into a wicked whore. Kali was too like me already but now I can’t wait to make that split bow down and lick our pussy.” Lilith said but this time the voice was starting to change. It was starting to sound eerily like Amy’s.

Amy for her part was feeling increasingly calm about the apparent devouring of her soul and merge with Lilith. As the seconds ticked by her mind was filled with wicked memories of Lilith through the centuries. She had been a witch, a queen, a faux goddess, a homewrecker, a trophy wife, a queenpin, and everything in between. The one constant was she was always in charge. For Amy, as someone who always took a backseat the idea of being on top scratched an itch she never knew she had.

“Oh god! Yessss! Kali will be our little simping slut! Change us more! Make us a hawt fucking bitch! Merge us into one!” Amy moaned loudly as she felt her new bigger tits with her perfectly manicured hands as the magic worked its way to her ass flairing it out. Her stomach crunched as it became slimmer and body toned all over to give her a delightfully flexible and athletic body.

Finally her demure gray work clothes became darker, tighter, and more revealing as they clung to her new body. Her pants hugged her legs as they became intimating leather and 6 inch heels sprang out of her flats lifting her to new heights. As the changes reached their apex, her eyes rolled back into her head as the two minds merged into one new evil persona.

“Mmmm much better. It was about time there was for a change in management.” Amy smirked to herself. As if on cue the elevator shunted to life again and finished its descent to the bottom. Amy picked up Mia’s left over purse and phone beside the pile of dust and took out lipstick from the bag.

Amy just finished applying a shade when the door dinger open and two sweaty maintenance workers stood there. Amy enjoyed their lingering looks at her ass as she capped the lipstick and put it back into her bag. She brushed past their stunned looks.

“Sorry miss but where is the CEO? She called us in a panic.” One blurted out. Stopping in her tracks Amy turned her head back to them.

“That’s me. I’m Aimee, the CEO of this company and if you so if you don’t want to lose your job I suggest you clean up that pile of first that’s in there immediately.” Aimee snarled back at them. The two men quickly jumped to attention.

Aimee however had already forgotten about them, she had her sights on a gorgeous woman sitting in the lobby looking anxiously around. Approaching Kali with all the menace of a predatory lioness, Aimee snuck up on her new lowly employee.

“Kali, what time do you call this?” Aimee said angrily. Kali looked up at was stunned to see who the voice belonged to.

“Amy? You look… wow. I’m waiting for Mia, she wanted to discuss something with me.” Kali said somewhat flabbergasted.

“Mia is no longer your concern. She has put me in charge and my first order of business is to hire you as my assistant. Follow me.” Aimee said strutting off back to the elevator where the men were finishing up. Aimee stood at the elevator door and beckoned Kali in.

“I- I don’t understand, I thought I was getting a promotion or something.” Kali said but Aimee just stared at her without saying a word. Kali felt the new bitch’s eyes burrow deep into her soul and she felt compelled to get into the elevator.

Aimee pressed the button for the executive suite and the doors shut sealing them in. Only once they were alone did Aimee finally speak again.

“This is a promotion, you get to taste the pussy of a goddess from now on. You’re going to be the executive simp. So kneel down like a good little slut.” Aimee said as she towered over Kali.

#female possession #f2f #corruption #bitchification #evil bitch #power transfer #corrupted merge

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hughes86-43 · 1 month

Note

Congratulations on 150<333

Could I request “I can never get back what you took from me,” from your prompt list for Jack Hughes ❤️

“I can’t ever get back what you took from me,”

thank you!!

150-Celly! ⭐️

you had been sitting at the bar most of the night. it was a summer evening in Michigan, and you had followed your best friend and his friends to this quaint bar. honestly, you needed somewhere, anywhere to drown your feelings.

since you two became friends, you always loved Jack more than a friend. however, he never seemed to get the hint. those feelings for him were getting stronger throughout this summer. everybody could tell that you had feelings for him, everybody but him. his brothers always brought it up to you that you should tell him.

tonight was going to be the night that you were just going to get it over with, because it was consuming you entirely. so you stood up from the bar, where you were waiting for your drink, and made your way to Jack in the far back corner, but as soon as you made your way to him, he was busy kissing a girl. your heart shattered.

trying to regain your composure, you attempted to turn around. however, you made eye contact with him as soon as some guy bumped into you and spilled his drink on you.

“Ugh!” You say to the guy.

“I’m sorry, that was on me!”

you knew that Jack had made eye contact with you so you wanted to get out of there. “It’s okay, honest mistake,” you reply to the guy to get him to go away, and he took the hint to leave you alone.

you spin on your heels as you see Jack get up from the booth. “Y/N! Wait up! Are you okay?” You hear from behind you, but your focused on getting out the doors. You spot Luke a few feet away, and he seems to move his lips to say something, but you just shake your head and keep moving.

Making it out the doors, you’re suddenly stopped by someone grabbing your wrist causing you to spin around. “Hey, are you okay?” Jack asks.

“Peachy, just fine actually!”, you yell out.

He lets go of your wrist at your tone. “Woah, I just wanted to make sure you were okay!”

“And I said I was fine! Now if you’ll let me go on my way,” you reply trying to move away from him.

“Wait, before that all happened, it looked like you were on a mission to find me.” Of course, he would sense that.

“I was… until I saw your little date back there.” You mumble out. The hurt in your heart still there.

“Oh, I just met her, she seems nice. What did you want to say?”

“Nothing, nothing! Just forget it, and go back to your date!” You wish he would just go back in there so you could cry. However, you hold it together for right now.

“No! Tell me what you wanted to tell me!” Jack says, moving closer to you.

“Fine, you wanna know what I was going to say! I was finally going to tell you how I really feel, how much I actually love you. But seeing you in there with her, makes me realize no matter how I feel, you’ll never feel the same. You have never once shown you like me more than a friend, when everybody seems to know how much I have shown that I like you more than a friend!”

“Y/N-”

“No! I put so much into our friendship to try and get you to like me more than that. I’ve given you so much comfort and care! I’ve given you so much love over the years! And you haven’t noticed!” You yell out, so frustrated that you don’t even care there is people noticing. “And you know what, jack? I can’t ever get back what you took from me! You’ve taken so much of my love and energy and have given nothing back!”

Jack tries to reach out to you again, but you move away shaking your head. He manages to grab your wrist while you say, “I’m okay, go back inside to your date, and I’ll go home.” You slip your hand out of his grasp and turn to walk away from him, and you don’t turn around when he keeps calling out your name.

#jack hughes #jack hughes blurb #jack hughes fic #jack hughes x reader #jack hughes imagines #hockey imagines #150 celly!#nhl imagines

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brooooswriting · 4 months

Text

Your fault pt. 2

Maria hill x reader, Natasha Romanoff x reader (past)

*knock knock knock* Maria groaned as she opened the door of her quarters, she had just come back from a very exhausting mission and was ready to go to bed. But the constant knocking was too annoying to be ignored forever.

“Y/n? What are you doing here?” She asked as soon as she saw you.

“I have to talk to you. You know how after the whole thing with Nat fury didnt let me back in until I went to therapy? So I went a couple of times while you were on the mission and then this woman has the audacity to tell me that I am suicidal and careless, that I wanted to end up dead on my last mission and that the person who made me feel like that was Nat” you hurried, making it hard for the brunette to understand anything.

“Wait- what did she say about you?” She asked, very unsure if she heard you right.

“Maria! That’s not important right now” you scolded her before continuing “she made me realize that Natasha is pure toxin for me. She also made me realize that I love you. It all made sense when she hinted at the fact that you’re the place I look for comfort. Because I do, you’re the first person I wanna see and the only person I always wanna talk to. I’m in love with you Maria” you told her, a smile on your face. The first real smile she had seen in months.

“I- why don’t you come in? I don’t think I can follow you right now” the door opened further for you to come in. You hurriedly followed her to the kitchen where she poured you a glass of water while you admired her.

“So what was that about you being suicidal?” She asked again as she pushed the glass towards you. Her eyes focusing on you.

“This is what you took in? Maria, I said I am in love with you and I mean it. I’ve been to 12 therapy sessions in the last 6 weeks and in every session all I wanted to talk about was you, how you saved me, how save I felt with you and then I realized it. I let Natasha treat me like shit for so long that I didn’t feel like you’d want me as soon as I realized that I do want you.”

“Y/n, are you sure about this? I don’t want to be a rebound and I don’t want to ruin our friendship” she said, her hand lightly grazing over yours that was placed on the counter. Her smile was a mixture of happiness sadness and uncertainty.

“Maria, I’ve never been surer about anything. You are the most amazing and beautiful person I have met and I wish I would have realized sooner. If you don’t feel the same, just say so and I’ll disappear and leave you alone with this topic. Our friendship can stay the same, I promise” everybody could have heard the sadness in your voice.

“I’ve been in love with you since our first mission but two weeks later you came in with Natasha holding hands. I didn’t wanna do anything if you were happy so I shut up. But now I’m so happy that I at least stayed close” she told you, leaning in carefully. Her eyes started to close as she noticed that you were also coming closer.

You were. At least until your hand suddenly stopped her, pushing her back lightly. “I - I thought” she immediately stumbled out making you smile lightly.

“You thought right but there’s something that I haven’t told you. I haven’t broken up with Natasha yet, I know what that sounds like but I was kinda scared, you know how toxic she can be”

“What?”

“I was scared and you weren’t here so I wouldn’t have had anywhere to go. Not anywhere I felt safe at least. And I don’t want to kiss you before I’m free” your hand carefully caressed her cheek as you explained, your heart feeling lighter as soon as she leaned into your touch.

“It’s okay. I’ll be there for you every second okay?” You nodded and fell into her embrace.

That night you decided to call it quits with the redhead, now that Maria was by your side.

“Natasha, we have to talk” you said as you walked into the kitchen, placing yourself on the other side of the table while Maria waited a couple of seconds before waking to the fridge.

“What about?” She was clearly uninterested in whatever you had to say and you had to hold back an eye roll.

“I think we should break up. No wait, I am breaking up with you. We just don’t fit together anymore and I don’t want to be treated like this anymore” you told her, your voice confident as you felt safe with the shield agent behind you.

“Yeah whatever” she said and walked out of the kitchen leaving you stunned.

“It’s over” you whispered to the woman as you sat on the counter next to where she was cutting some food.

“Finally. Now i can do this” she smiled as she pressed a light kiss to your lips. “And tomorrow I wanna take you out on a real date” she whispered against them before pulling away to plop some fruit into her mouth.

That night you fell asleep in one of Maria’s shield hoodies back in your own room after years and you haven’t felt as free as you did in forever.

Three weeks later

Natasha stood alone at Tony’s party watching Maria push you against a wall to make out with you. Her heart broke as she saw you smile against the brunettes lips. She’d never forgive herself for loosing you but it was too late now.

#reader insert #brooooswriting #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #maria hill x y/n #maria hill x you #maria hill one shot #maria hill x reader #maria hill imagine

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homeofthelonelywriter · 4 months

Text

K.I.A. | Oneshot

(A/N) This one could really hit hard. Please take care of yourself.

Pairing: Simon x Reader (no Y/N)

Warning: lots of angst, death of a loved one, depression, grief, alcohol, comfort in the end

Synopsis: I don't think there is a need for a synopsis. The title says it all.

It was supposed to be fine.

It was supposed to be safe.

“It’s going to be a quick and easy mission, love. I’ll be back in no time.”

That’s what he had said.

That’s what he had promised.

But he lied.

The mission wasn’t quick. It wasn’t easy. He wouldn’t be back in no time.

He was dead.

Killed in action, an honorable death.

To hell with them. To hell with their honorable death. Death isn’t honorable, death is death. And now he’s gone. And I’ll never see him again.

It’s his funeral and I can’t even look at them. The ones that survived. Price, Soap, Gaz. They all came back but he didn’t. He didn’t and he never will.

They hand me a flag, folded into a triangle. If I could, I would throw it at their heads. If I could, I would yell at them. If I could, I would I hit them. But I can’t. I can’t do anything, but stand there, hold that stupid flag and cry while they fire off their shots. I can’t do anything.

Well, I can do something. I can lie in bed. I can cry, a lot. I can ignore my hunger until I almost throw up. I can see his shadow, trick myself into thinking that he’s back. That he’s alive.

And I can think of him. Of all the good memories. How we met. The first time we kissed. How he asked me out. Our first date. The birthday he gave me the puppy.

The puppy…at the though of Riley, I sit up. At least until I realise that my mom took her after the funeral. She was safe, cared for. I was alone. So fucking alone.

I don’t know how much time passed, a week? Maybe a month. Perhaps even two.

I finally get up and take a shower. I smell after all.

The shower feels incredibly small without Simon behind me.

And that’s how I start crying again. I sit under the stream for what feels like hours before I finally find the strength to get out and dry off my body before falling back onto my bed.

But now it’s getting better.

I take showers from time to time.

Sometimes I even eat some food. I don’t cook anything, everything I’ve had, had spoiled by now, but I just order in.

It’s been four months since Price stood at my door and told me he was dead. That Simon would never come back. And I’ve finally found a way to dull the pain.

Alcohol isn’t the answer, of course. But for now it’s the only thing that is making me feel even slightly alive.

I spent most my day at the bar nearby, what else am I supposed to do?

Home makes me think about Simon.

Work makes me think about Simon.

Hanging out with my family or friends make me think of Simon.

We had never gone to this bar together, so I’m safe here. And the alcohol drowns out my thoughts of him. Well, most of them anyway. At least it leaves enough sense to find my way back home.

It’s become some sort of ritual. Get out of bed, get dressed, go to the bar, get shitfaced and go back home.

Today isn’t any different. Why should it be? But why…does it feel different.

I usually spend multiple hours there, but today I just want to get back home. After I pay for the drink I actually had, I make my way home. But I feel watched, the whole way back. At least I’ll feel better as soon as I’m in bed.

I unlock the front door and walk inside, not paying any mind to the big shadow standing in the hallway, or to how similar it looks to Simon. Instead, I lock the door behind me and shrug off the jacket I’m wearing, hanging it up.

I walk past the shadow and to the staircase leading up and to the bedroom I share…shared with Simon. But something stops me. One word.

“Love?”

I freeze not moving a single muscle. It can’t be him. But it sounds like him. But he’s dead. But it looks like him.

Stiff, almost like a robot, I turn around and look at the shadow. And I see Simon.

“You’re not real.”

I shake my head and start walking up the stairs.

“Love, it’s me. I’m sorry, I-”

I cut him off as I spin around and slap him across the face. That used to get rid of the hallucinations, but…he’s still here. His head whips to the right from the impact, but he doesn’t move.

“Simon…”

He looks at me. He is here. So I touch him.

I place my hands against his chest, against his beating heart.

And it is beating. He is alive. He is here.

I move my hands to his shoulder. They are as broad and hard as I remember.

I move them to his neck, feel his pulse. He is here. He is alive.

“Simon.”

I only realise that I’m crying when Simon lifts his hands and carefully wipes them away.

“Simon.”

A sob wracks through me and I let him wrap his arms around me.

Another sob and I let him pull me closer.

My body shakes as he holds it to his.

His body. Firm and warm. Hard, covered in muscles.

He is here. He is alive.

“You were dead.”

He tightens his hold on me.

“I know, love. I know.”

I claw at his jacket, trying to get him closer.

“I cried for you.”

Again, his hold tightens.

“I know. I wish I could’ve done something. All I could do was watch.”

I continue to cry and sob in his arms.

At some point, Simon picks me up and carries me upstairs. But not to the bed. To the bathroom.

Carefully, he sets me down on the edge of the bathtub before he turns on the shower. With hands, as gentle as I remember them, he undresses me, before he undresses himself.

He navigates me into the shower, before he carefully washes me. All the while, holding me close and consoling me whenever I have another break down.

And then, he leaves me there. He leaves the water on and it feels like he’s gone again. Maybe I just imagined him. Him being here. Him consoling me. Him taking care of me.

But I didn’t.

He joins me in the shower again after ten minutes.

“I just changed the sheets real quick. Let’s get you out of here, princess.”

Once again he picks me up and carries me to the edge of the bathtub. He had placed a towel there, so I don’t feel the cold of the metal when he sets me down.

Carefully, as if I were made out of porcelain he dried my body before he pulled one of his old t-shirts over my head. Once he is dry as well, he carries me into the bedroom and places me on the bed, before he gently tugs me in.

“I’ll be right back, my love. I’ll just get you a glass of water.”

He presses a kiss to my forehead and is about to walk away when I catch his wrist.

“Please don’t leave. Don’t leave me again.”

He turns to look at me and opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.

“Simon, please. I…I can’t loose you again.”

Tears are rolling down my cheeks again. And this is what he needed.

He nods and climbs into bed beside me, immediately pulling me close against his chest.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry my love. I’ll never leave you again. I promise. Never again.”

I nod but continue to sob into his chest. And this is how I fall asleep.

I wake up the next morning, alone in bed.

“Simon? Simon!”

Without thinking, I try to rush to the door, but my feet get tangled in the sheets. I fall to the floor, but get up immediately.

Please let him be there. Please let him be alive. Please.

Please please please please please pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseple-

“Love? Are you alright?”

He is here. He is alive.

“You…you are here. You are alive.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself up, wrapping my legs around his waist. His arms immediately wrap around me and support my weight completely.

“Ssh, it’s okay my love. I’m here. I promise you I’m here.”

Like a baby, he started to gently bounce me up and down until I slowly started to calm down. Now I know why that works on babies.

For the rest of the morning, I stay there, wrapped securely in his arms, while he cooks pancakes and cleans the dishes. I even eat in his arms.

And even after that, I’m hesitant to leave them. But I do. I let him set me down on the couch and watch him as he flies through the house and cleaned the messes that had accumulated since his ‘death’.

His ‘death’.

“Why?”

Simon stops in his tracks and turns to look at me.

“Why what, my love?”

I sigh, already feeling bad about asking this question. But I need to know.

“Why did you fake your death? And why didn’t you tell me?”

Now Simon sighs. He puts away the broom and sits down next to me.

“There was a mole in the 141 and we had to flush them out. This was the only way we could think of. I’m so so sorry love. I promise, I tried my best to get them to change their mind. Or to at least let me tell you, but the mole…he had to buy it and…”

“They were afraid I wouldn’t fake it well enough.”

Simon nods, sadness clear in his eyes.

I nod. And I can’t say that I don’t understand. I knew what I was getting into when I started dating him. I just never thought it would go that far.

“Si…please never do that again.”

He shakes his head and picks me up, putting me down on his lap.

“Never, princess. I’ll never leave you again. I swear on my grave.”

At that statement I pull back slightly and look at him. His lips were pulled into a slight smile. And then I start laughing.

“You are such an idiot.”

Simon chuckles and nods before pulling me back onto his chest.

“I’m sorry, love. I just couldn’t help myself.”

I shake my head and cuddle into him and I know this is going to be alright. We are going to be alright.

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Call of Duty - Masterlist

Master-Masterlist

#ghost #ghost x reader #ghost fanfiction #ghost cod #cod #cod fanfiction #cod x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley fanfiction #simon riley #ghost simon riley #simon riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #fanfiction

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funhouse-mirror-barbie · 4 months

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Nuanced and Multifaceted Conflict vs. “Good v. Evil” in fiction

So. This is another thing I’ve wanted to talk about for a while. I promise I won’t always be focusing on Helluva Boss in my critiques, and I actually have quite a few other series I want to talk about.

There’s a big chance that I’ll be saying everything other people have already said, but I can’t help but WANT to talk about this specific character in regard to the story’s conflict. I think that it’s important to recognize when a character is written to be a complex person, and when a character is written to be an enemy to be defeated, and how not following through with your set-up can affect your story.

And HB does that A LOT in my opinion.

So. Let’s get into it. This time I’ll be talking about complex conflict between characters vs. black and white conflict, and I’ll also be touching on story set-ups and audience expectations.

I want to talk about a character who could have really made some of the internal character conflicts have so much more depth and intrigue. I want to talk about Stella Goetia

*as a side note this post is MUCH longer than I intended but I really wanted to get into a lot of the background and reasons for how Stella’s character development has actually completely changed what HB’d story conflict could have looked like. I’ll try and sum up everything in the end in a TLDR for y’all

So. Most of the reviews of her character I see talk about how she’s been “ruined” by the writing team revealing that she’s always been very abusive towards Stolas

I have to start off by saying I actually don’t think that Stella or her portrayal was “ruined” by the writing direction her character has been taken in.

In fact, this critique bothers me, because it doesn’t really get to what I think the actual root of why people are disappointed in Stella’s characterization, and the type of conflict that now exists between her and Stolas.

The main reason I believe people are unsatisfied with Stella is because they believed that her character was being set up for a complex and nuanced conflict between her and Stolas, and then that turned out not to be the case.

A quick disclaimer- I do think it’s possible to subvert audience expectations about story and characters in a satisfying way. But it has to be done in a way that respects the audiences intelligence and willingness to think about the story.

If your plot-twist, unreliable narrator, subversion, or what-have-you is done well, the audience should be able to either figure out what’s going based on the little information you’ve given them, and if they don’t, the change or subversion should still make sense and CLICK in hindsight.

Otherwise, your subversion will end up feeling cheap or confusing. Or worse, like a lie.

And this is one of the MAIN issues I think people have with Stella.

As the audience, we were NOT given enough information on her or her character before it’s revealed that she’s just “evil” and always has been, apparently since she was a literal child.

Again, I don’t think it’s an inherently bad decision to have a flat or pure evil villain. I’m fine with Stella being one, even if it’s less interesting to me personally.

But it’s definitely very different from what was initially implied and set-up, and the audience can pick up on that.

Before S2E1 “The Circus” we see Stella a total of 3 times in person, with one time being a flashback.

I’m going to go over those times to analyze if anything set-up in Stella’s appearances points towards her being. Well, totally and irredeemably awful and abusive I guess.

The very first time we see Stella is in the same bed with Stolas—Octavia calls for her parents, both Stolas AND Stella. Stella grumbles and refuses to get up and tells Stolas to go. This doesn’t immediately strike me as a sign of her being a terrible person. That exact scenario is present in a lot of family comedies, kids’ movies, and sitcoms.

Nothing about this screams that Stella is a terrible parent or an abusive partner to me. It just tells me she’s tired and doesn’t want to get up, which again, is not uncommon.

The next time we see her, she’s yelling at Stolas, and she throws a servant at him in anger.

Now, there’s no excuse for this, her behavior here is not okay, regardless of her feelings. But we understand why she’s acting the way she is--she’s furious with Stolas for cheating on her. At this point with the information we have, it’s also very reasonable to believe her feelings have been hurt.

Later Octavia talks about how her parents didn’t used to hate each other, and the way Stolas’ tries to explain their failing marriage to her comes across like his relationship with Stella is one that’s always had difficulties that they have tried and failed to overcome.

None of this information is enough to really convey or hint that Stella is and has always been abusive or evil. It shows that Stella and Stolas have a very rough relationship, and that Stella most likely has anger management difficulties, but you have to do lot of extra work to come to the conclusion that Stella is completely at fault here.

The next time we see her though, things have clearly escalated, because it’s revealed that she’s one that hired Striker to assassinate Stolas.

Now. Usually. Yeah. That would be a HUGE red flag. And I mean. It still obviously is.

But, and I never thought I’d use this uno reverse card, this is one of the few times where the explanation of “But it’s hell, what did you expect???” actually makes sense to me.

Because yeah, it is hell. It’s the end of episode 5 when we learn this, and our protagonists have killed and assassinated multiple people. Taking a hit out on people really doesn’t seem to be that uncommon of a thing in hell.

Even the next scene after the reveal that Stella is the one who hired Striker makes light of how serious this is, by showing that Stella was basically yelling her assassination plot right to Stolas’ face.

This is played for laughs! I genuinely am not sure if the writers intended for this to be foreshadowing of Stella’s abuse or not because if so, they turned her attempting to kill her husband into a joke!

If you cannot keep your themes or tone consistent, how is the audience supposed to follow your story?

There is subtle storytelling, and then there’s tacking information and character points later on in your writing. And this can have two causes.

Either your audience has to do the work of story-telling for you and make up their own reasons for what’s happening to make the story coherent OR they will be disappointed and dissatisfied by the final product.

I think that’s the main reason why S2E1 of Helluva Boss felt so jarring story-wise, and why Stella, to me at least, suddenly felt like a brand new character.

Like I haven’t been this confused by a character being suddenly evil since Hans from Frozen.

(like seriously why the hell did they put this scene in if not to just trick the audience. This isn’t giving us any plot info it’s only giving us contradictory info on his character. Like I talked about before, Hans’ heel-face-turn doesn’t feel like a twist. It feels like a lie.)

Okay so, how does any of this actually affect anything? Who cares if Stella is evil, that doesn’t automatically make the story bad!

Well. Yeah, of course not. Ironically, having the main conflict your story being a battle between “Good v. Bad” characters is neither good nor bad. It’s just a story decision. And ultimately at the end of the day, the writers of Helluva Boss can choose to tell their story however they’d like.

But, depending on how this is executed, good v evil stories can be a lot less interesting than morally grey or complicated conflicts and characters.

I am more interested in the version of the story where Stella and Stolas are imperfect and messy people. I am more interested in the story where Stolas has an affair to escape being in an arranged marriage, and Stella overreacts by arranging a hit on her husband (unless calling out a hit is normal in hell, but we can’t know b/c there is no baseline for what is considered normal in hell)

I am so much more interested in the story where Stolas and Stella are both depicted as being in the wrong, as being incredibly hurt by each other’s actions, and as not knowing how to repair their broken relationship for the sake of their daughter.

That story feels very real to me. It’s one I want to engage and invest in.

I want to see if these characters can grow to accept their mistakes and learn and change for the sake of Octavia and having to co-exist with each other, or if they’ll slip back into mutual destruction and toxicity.

But that’s not the story we’ll get to see, because it seems like the writers are more interested in keeping Stolas from having to grow as a character. And because of that, Stella has been turned into an evil obstacle that must be defeated, instead of a nuanced and real person.

I also feel like I have to say. I know I would be MUCH less frustrated by this if I hadn’t seen an HB crew member talking about how their show is similar to Bojack Horseman.

Because. It’s just not. I’m sorry, I’m not saying that to be mean, or condescending, or rude, but the way characters are written in Helluva Boss is almost completely black and white at this point.

Regardless of the writer’s intent, the vast majority of the choices they have made in Season 2 come off as explanations to excuse the protagonist’s mistakes, and give them a “get out of being potentially in the wrong” free card.

Compared to the writing decisions in Bojack, which almost always has characters confront their wrongdoings, for better or worse, HB honestly feels like it’s the Anti-Bojack.

It would take a TON of character development and time to make HB’s characters as interesting, fleshed-out, and as real as Bojack’s are, and at this point that’s I don’t think it will ever happen.

Again. Having black and white conflict is FINE. It is a choice in story telling that can be done very effectively. But if you are making a black and white story where one side is always terrible and evil, and one side can do no wrong, you can’t act like you’ve written something that is deeper and more emotionally complex and grey than that.

And the first time the writers gave Stella more than 3 sentences to string together, they made it very clear that any chance of her being a more complex and engaging character was being tossed out the window.

————

TLDR:

The main reason people are upset about Stella being shown as abusive in S2E1 of HB is probably because the initial depictions of her didn’t give us enough information on her character to tell that she was just evil/a terrible person.

The way the story was written in S1 to set up the possibility of a very interesting and complex conflict between Stella and Stolas, and when it was revealed that she’s just. The worst. There were people that were disappointed by this, because they expected more.

Audiences actually aren’t idiots, and when you subtly foreshadow something and then completely change things, that can be frustrating.

It’s MORE than okay to write a straightforward good v evil story, but it depending on the way it’s written and executed, it may not be as interesting to mature audiences as a more morally grey story would be.

If you can’t write characters confronting their flaws and being in the wrong, please don’t compare your writing to Bojack, I mean. C’mon.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #character critique #stella goetia #hb stella #helluva boss stella #media conversation #media critique #media criticism #writing female characters #writing critique #writing #funhouse convo

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spooo00oky · 26 days

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Siren's Spell

Chapter Five.

Pairing: siren!Wooyoung x reader

Genre: fantasy, eventual smut, romance, fluff

Word Count: 8k+

Warnings: swearing, blood, suggestive themes, Thalassophobia.

Author’s Note: N/A Editors note: SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO POST THIS!!!!

༄

To say the rest of the fashion show was awkward was an understatement. I made the decision to act like everything was fine at least for Hongjoong’s sake. Seonghwa and Wooyoung were agreeable enough to my wishes but it didn’t mean they were any less wary of Maggiore. They shot her sharp looks every time she moved, and she seemed to revel in their reactions. Worry pooled in my belly at what this meant for Hongjoong.

He was oblivious to the entire situation, greeting Wooyoung and Seonghwa with a bright smile and a handshake. Hongjoong and Seonghwa talked about fashion for a little bit before he stepped away from him to pull me to the side. “You didn’t tell me that that man you hugged was your mate! When did that happen? And would Seonghwa by any chance be upset if I wanted him as a model for my label?”

I laughed at his hurt expression and rubbed a soothing hand on his shoulder. “It’s a long story, I’ll explain it to you over dinner at a different time,” I told him. “But yes, Wooyoung is my mate, and you’d have to ask Seonghwa about that. He’s still pretty new to most things on the surface.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Wooyoung perk up a bit, having no doubt heard me despite the distance between us and the noise of everyone in the room. I smiled despite myself, the word “mate” was easier to say this time and I didn’t feel any anxiety after doing so. It was almost natural to say I was his mate. It was enough to make the butterflies in my belly flutter.

Hongjoong pouted but nodded. “I’ll hold you to it then. He seems like a good male, he and Seonghwa both do.” He looked around to make sure said males weren’t within earshot before leaning in closer. “I didn’t want to be rude by asking them but what kind of creature are they?”

I giggled when I saw both males stifle their laughter from across the room. “They’re sirens, you don’t have to be so nervous around them, you know. They’re very sweet when you get to know them. They’ve answered all of the questions I had and then some.”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened in shock and he turned to look at the males again who were doing a good job at making it look like they were too deep in conversation to notice us. His eyes scanned over them before turning back to me with a nod. “That makes a lot of sense then. They’re too pretty to be any other kind of creature that I know of. Seonghwa’s voice is almost musical too, is that because of their magic?”

I shrugged. “Maybe? It is certainly more prominent with him compared to the other members of their current. Most of the others sound more normal I guess you could say.” My eyes wandered once more to the woman Hongjoong came with, finding her towards the back of the room and her eyes already on me. If looks could kill I would be six feet under already with the way her dark gaze bore into me. I quickly turned back to him with a smile. He was right, Seonghwa and Wooyoung’s beauty was almost dizzying, as was the rest of the current. I haven’t met any female sirens, but compared to the males I’ve met she almost looked bland. Was this normal for the females or was she an outlier?

“Seonghwa has been wanting to talk to you about fashion though, it’s a passion of his. You two should talk more about it after the show, that way you can ask him about that modeling gig too,” I told my cousin with a smile.

He nodded. “I will, I’ll manage to work up the nerve to do it,” he said with a grin right as the lights dimmed in the room. The lights on stage brightened and I turned to guide my friends to our seats but met Wooyoung’s chest instead. I stumbled back but his hands held me steady, a charming smile on his face.

“Can’t have you falling for me again,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes despite the smile that grew on my face. “Let’s not inflate your ego, alright?” I took his hand and guided him and Seonghwa to our seats in the front row. I went to take my seat but was suddenly swapped by Seonghwa, who scooted me over just as Maggiore took her seat right next to where I was about to sit. I watched her eyes narrow for a moment before they widened again and she looked up and Hongjoong.

“Oh I forgot my purse! Here, sit down Joongie, I’ll be back in a second,” she said with a sweet smile before walking away to go find her purse.

I watched the whole conversation with narrowed eyes. She was good at acting, that much was for sure. It was unnerving to see how fast she was able to switch expressions.

“Which number are you in the lineup, y/n?” Hongjoong asked me.

“I’m third,” I told him just as Maggiore took her seat on the opposite side of Hongjoong. He smiled when she sat down and took her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it.

I watched as she smiled back at him and leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek. Her eyes bored into mine as her lips met his cheek and I turned my attention to the stage just as music began to play. How she managed to make giving someone a kiss on the cheek seem like a threat was a little intimidating.

Someone squeezed my hand and I turned to look at Wooyoung just as the first modelers walked across the stage. He leaned in a little closer towards my ear. “Are you alright?”

I nodded. “I’m fine, just nervous of how everyone will like my designs.” It was a lie and we both knew it. My nervousness stemmed from the other siren that was making it very apparent that she had my cousin wrapped around her finger. I had a million questions and plans on how to get Hongjoong away from her and safe again. Had she known he was my cousin or was it a lucky guess that he would be the way to get closer to me and through me to Wooyoung?

He gave me a reassuring smile before pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. “It’ll be alright, they’ll love your designs.”

I thanked him before turning my attention back to the stage as Seonghwa nudged me. There were sparkles in his eyes as he smiled down at me in excitement. “I’m excited to see what you’ve done,” he told me and I gave him a grateful smile just as the first of the models began to walk down the aisle.

I held my breath as she moved, watching the way the fabric held itself up into the intricate positions I put it in. It flowed effortlessly around her legs and didn’t hinder her at all. I couldn’t stop the smile that curled my lips as the next models followed after her, the bold colors of the clothes they wore creating a color story on the runway. They looked good, and Seonghwa stared in awe of them. His hand tightened around mine and my giggle was swallowed up by the music playing through the speakers. If no one liked my designs I was happy knowing at least Seonghwa loved them.

The last model was making her way down the runway and I watched Wooyoung’s expression out of the corner of my eye. His eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed in confusion and I couldn’t help my smile from becoming bigger at his reaction.

The dress was form fitting and black, rippling under the lights like black water. The black trailed off at about waist level before tapering into a skin colored fabric; splotches of black staining the bodice of the dress in random places like a koi fish. Small crystal beads caught the lighting from above and showed like water droplets after just getting out of the water. Once she came closer to us we could see the subtle swirled pattern hidden in the black of the dress, making Seonghwa ooo and ahh as he took it all in.

Once she walked past us completely and the next round of models began to walk out I felt Wooyoung tug on my hand. I looked up at him and giggled at the expression he had on his face. “Did I inspire you so much that you made a dress that looks like me?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I won’t be telling you though.”

He lightly pinched my leg and I squirmed away from him, laughing as the final model of the show rounded the corner and Annabelle came out onto the runway. She beamed as the crowd applauded and she did a few low bows before she was handed a microphone.

“Thank you all for coming tonight, and I hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves! Please help yourselves to the drinks that are provided and feel free to speak with some of my designers and myself about the things we’ve shown you today,” she said with a bright smile before handing off the microphone and walking off of the stage. I stood up with the crowd, holding onto Wooyoung’s hand as I accepted the congratulations that were given to me by the nearest guests. My cheeks were beginning to hurt from the smile that never left my face, ecstatic that my designs were so well received.

“See? You had nothing to worry about,” Wooyoung said in my ear just as San and Mingi came up to pull me into hugs and congratulate me.

I smiled up at him and gave his hand a squeeze. “Thank you Wooyoung. I’m happy to have you here for this.”

He grinned and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of my head, making my heart flutter in my chest. I didn’t fight the feeling that bubbled up inside of me, it felt more natural now and less intimidating. Maybe it was the rush of a show well done or maybe I was finally starting to accept the bond between us. Either way, I didn’t let those thoughts linger long as Hongjoong and Maggiore walked up to us at that moment.

“You did an amazing job as always, y/n,” Hongjoong said with a smile as he pulled me into a hug. I smiled and hugged him tightly, happy that my cousin was able to enjoy this moment with me as well.

“Thank you, Hongjoong. I was really inspired with these new designs so I’m glad everyone liked it,” I told him as I pulled away enough to look at him.

He nodded in understanding and held out a hand behind him and I watched Maggiore take it and step closer. I hated how my heart dropped a little towards my feet at the sweet smile she gave me. I felt more than I saw Wooyoung move closer to my side.

“Maggiore also loved the designs, isn’t that right darling?” Hongjoong asked her, adoration shining in his eyes as he looked at her.

She nodded, the smile she gave him not quite reaching her eyes. “They were lovely, but I have to be honest. Compared to previous designs you’ve done in the past, these just didn’t capture my attention as much. They almost seemed a little too gaudy.”

My heart sank even lower in my chest at her words and my smile wobbled. I could feel her magic brush against me this time, knowing she was attempting to charm me again. I had a feeling she’d pull something like this so it didn’t bother me as much but when Hongjoong turned to me I felt a lump form in my throat.

“I have to agree with her on this one. You did do an amazing job, but the designs didn’t seem to hit their mark, you know? Perhaps you could’ve reeled it in a little bit. They were eyesores compared to the rest of the designs we saw today,” Hongjoong said and I felt tears prick my eyes. His voice was almost robotic and his eyes had glazed over now that he was under Maggiore’s influence.

“See? Even Hongjoong agrees with me that your designs were horrendous this time. You should really do better,” Maggiore said with a triumphant smirk when she saw the way my expression fell. This was a petty play on her part and sadly it was working.

I watched as another guest turned around to face me, his eyes glazed over as well. He had fallen victim to her power and my eyes widened when I watched a few other people who were in range of her magic turn to me.

“Why’d you even think that those designs were any good?”

“You should’ve sat this one out, we liked San’s designs better anyway.”

“Why even try to prove yourself? You should’ve given up on this dream of yours a long time ago.”

I didn’t realize how tightly I had begun to grip Wooyoung’s hand. The tears were threatening to spill over at their words. They weren’t even that harsh of insults and I knew that they were all under the influence of Maggiore’s influence but my insecurities were getting the best of me right now. The most painful being Hongjoong, who has done nothing but praise me since I started in this industry. I accepted his constructive criticism when I needed it but his words stung. I looked up to him greatly. It was natural his cold words would sting the most.

“This is low even for you.”

I looked up at the sound of Seonghwa’ voice and saw the enraged expression on his face. I’ve never seen him like this, the usually soft spoken siren looked like the monsters that people said they were.

“What do you gain from doing this? Petty manipulation so that these guests would spew insults at y/n? I think you’ve hit rock bottom now, Maggiore.” He turned to the gathered guests. “You all loved those designs, you said as much beforehand. Don’t allow yourselves to be swayed by a lowlife who has nothing better to do than ruin the party.”

I watched as the glazed over look in their eyes faded away as they blinked, almost like they were waking up from a daydream. A few walked away dazedly while a few others nodded with smiles before doing the same.

Maggiore looked furious that her fun had come to a close and she opened her mouth like she was about to entrance more people when a warm, comforting sensation washed over us. The feeling was enough to make my tears stop momentarily and Wooyoung wiped away one that escaped with a gentle swipe of his finger.

“Thank you for de-escalating the situation before I could get here. I wasn’t expecting so many sirens to be at the show tonight,” Annabelle spoke as she walked up, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look this serious before. Her usual joyful expression was devoid of all emotion now. It was like I was seeing an entirely different being before me.

“While I am accepting and accommodating of all manner of beings that attend my shows, I do not tolerate the use of magic that is against the will of my guests. With that being said I will politely ask that you leave the building immediately or else there will be consequences. Don’t try to use your magic again either, I’ve already placed a spell that nullifies the effects of it throughout the entire room. You are powerless now.”

Maggiore’s open mouth closed, curling into an enraged snarl as she shot me a murderous look. Wooyoung tugged me behind him to block me from her sight, but I watched her around his arm. There was no way I wasn’t going to watch her, not with her being so close to Hongjoong.

”I’ll be seeing you again,” was all she said before grabbing Hongjoong’s hand and dragging him towards the exit. He followed after her like a zombie, still very much under her spell.

“Hongjoong no!” I cried, fearing for his well being now more than ever. I ducked under Wooyoung’s arm and bolted after them, hearing both siren’s cry out in alarm at my retreating figure.

I had just reached out to grab Hongjoong’s hand before the world became a blur. It all happened so fast that my brain struggled to comprehend what had happened for a minute when I heard Wooyoung snarl loudly. I was not where I was standing a second ago, instead my arm was in Wooyong’s grip and my body was partially hidden behind his own. Wooyoung looked like he wanted to rip Maggiore apart while she looked bloodthirsty. She held her clawed hand close to her side and that’s when I noticed the blood that dripped from it.

I gasped as I noticed the puddle of blood forming beneath mine and Wooyoung’s hands. I followed the trail upwards and saw the gashes that marred the pretty bronze skin on his arm, some of it flowing onto my hand as well.

“Don’t ever fucking touch her or I will rip you limb from limb,” Wooyoung growled, his threat ringing throughout the air.

Maggiore let out a snarl of her own before rushing to the exit with Hongjoong in tow.

“Wait, give him back!” I cried out, struggling in San’s hold. He wasn’t relenting though, and I watched with tears in my eyes as Hongjoong left with Maggiore for possibly the last time.

༄

The rest of the guests left soon after that. Annabelle assured them that everything was fine but most of them seemed uneasy at the outburst of the sirens in attendance. A few left immediately afterwards while others enjoyed the party for a little longer, trying to lighten the mood after the disturbance. Once San had let me go I had turned to Wooyoung to tend to his wound. The claw marks had already begun to close up in such a short time, but I used my shirt to stop the blood flow until Mingi returned with a first aid kit.

“You didn’t have to do this, it was my stupid decision to chase after them,” I said softly, my voice thick with emotion and my eyes trying to rapidly blink away tears.

“As your mate, yes I did. She would’ve clawed your hand off if I hadn’t,” he explained, giving me a smile to try and ease my worries.

Seonghwa came up to me then, rubbing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry too much, siren’s heal fast.”

“It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less,” I said glumly just as Mingi arrived with a first aid kit. I gratefully took it away from him with thanks, opening it and starting to clean his wound. They were nothing more than thin scratches by now, so I began to clean the blood that had dried around it and make sure it wouldn’t become infected. My shirt was no doubt ruined and I would have to throw it out once I was able to.

Wooyoung gently stopped my hand and made me look up at him with a hum. He gave me a smile and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I assure you I’m fine. I’ve had worse things happen to me. Sirens get a little agitated in Socix when it’s mating season, so a scratch like this is nothing in comparison.”

I nodded and followed along with him as he instructed me to take a deep breath with him. It helped a lot more than I thought it would; clearing my head and steadying my heart.

There was a sigh and I looked up at Annabelle, noticing the last of the guests had left the building. She looked weary and guilt pooled up inside of my belly again. Wooyoung sniffed and gave my hand a comforting squeeze. ”Well, that was a lot more dramatic of an ending to the show than I was expecting. Thank you again for diffusing the situation before I could get over here.” She gave Seonghwa a warm smile. She turned to Wooyoung and I with concern in her gaze. “How are you doing? Do I need to do some healing magic?”

Wooyoung shook his head. “No need, I’m completely fine.” He moved his arm out of my grip to show that the claw marks had closed completely and were faint pink scars. I was a little envious of how fast they were able to heal. “I’m sorry for the disturbance in your show, we had no idea such an unexpected guest would show up.”

Annabelle held up a hand with a shake of her head. “There’s no need to apologize, it isn’t your fault. If it wasn’t a rowdy guest it would’ve been Ming getting too drunk and causing a scene. I’m used to it.”

Mingi sputtered. “I broke the stage one time!”

“Yes and the time before that it was a light.”

He grumbled but didn’t try to fight her words anymore; knowing she had more blackmail. Annabelle smiled before turning to me. “Now how are you?”

I sighed. “Shaken up mostly. That was a lot in a short amount of time.”

She nodded in understanding. “I can imagine so. I know your mate will be ready to answer all of your questions when you get home though.” She gave Wooyoung a pointed look and he chuckled and nodded his agreement. She smiled before turning back to me. “Good. Now after this whole fiasco and as tradition usually goes, the next week is yours to do as you please. I better not see any of you near the office until next week, got it?” Annabelle waited until we all nodded our agreement before bidding all of us a goodnight and safe travels home before she left to go talk with the cleaning crew.

Wooyoung nudged me with a cheeky grin as he took my hand and began to clean the blood off of me. “Look at that, you have an entire week off now. I can think of a few ways we could occupy that time.”

I scrunch my nose up at his words at the same moment Seonghwa made a gagging noise. “I’ll make sure to tell the rest of the current not to come within a mile radius of your den then if you two will be busy.”

“See? Now we’re guaranteed some privacy as well.”

I weakly smacked his chest with my unoccupied hand, making him laugh. “In your dreams.”

“How’d you know?”

I rolled my eyes but there was still a smile present on my face, my mood improving with Wooyoung’s teasing. It wasn’t enough to completely erase my worries for Hongjoong but it was a start. Seonghwa couldn’t hide the chuckle that slipped from him as he messed up Wooyoung’s hair.

Wooyoung quickly finished cleaning his blood off of my arm and throwing the gauze wipe out before returning to my side. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze as he took it before looking between the two of us. “Should we head out then? I don’t know about you two but I could use something to eat right about now.”

I snorted and shook my head. “We can head out and get some food on the way home. I don’t think I’ll eat much of anything.”

“Yes you will,” Wooyoung told me with a teasing grin before turning to Seonghwa before I could even dispute what he said. “I feel like something with meat, what about you?”

“I could go for a meat dish,” he agreed before turning to San and Mingi. “Are you guys joining us as well? My treat.”

My friends looked towards each other before they both nodded in agreement.

”We’ll join you guys, we also have some questions of our own if you don’t mind answering them,” Mingi said. Wooyoung seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding his agreement. It was enough for a small smile to spread across my lips seeing my mate and my friends getting along.

“Also, and I don’t mean this in a rude way, but you still aren’t used to some things on the surface, right? How are you going to pay for dinner?” San asked, his tail swishing nervously behind him. It was cute to see my friend timid around the sirens when he was usually so confident in conversation.

“Oh!” Seonghwa gasped before he began rummaging through his pockets. After a moment he pulled out something that glittered in his hand and my eyes widened in shock when I realized it was a handful of gold coins. Had he gotten all of this from the shipwrecks beneath the water? ”Will this be enough to cover the meal? This is all I have.”

San and Mingi’s expressions were almost as comical as my own. “Is that the currency of Socix? Where did you even get all of that?”

Seonghwa looked perplexed. “No? Socix doesn’t have a currency, we trade goods. This is what you used many years ago, right? Do you not use gold anymore?”

San laughed and shook his head. “We haven’t used gold up here for hundreds of years, unfortunately.” Seonghwa’s expression fell and my heart hurt at the sight of it. Now more than ever I was curious to know just how old Seonghwa was. “But lucky for us I just happen to know a river nymph who’s even older than the switch over from gold coins to drazal and she accepts both forms of payment. She owns a restaurant towards the center of town and her food is pretty good. We can go there if that’s alright with you?”

I agreed to go there at the same moment Wooyoung huffed in irritation. I gave him a questioning look and he grumbled. “Nymphs.”

A face came to mind when said that and I realized where his irritation stemmed from. I rolled my eyes and turned to the rest of the group. “He’s fine, we'll eat there tonight.”

Mingi raised a brow. “Are you sure? We could probably find a different-“

”No it’s fine, he’s just being grumpy because the last nymph he was in contact with was Logan.”

Understanding dawned on the two males’ faces before they nodded in agreement.

As we headed towards the exit of the building I nudged Wooyoung’s arm with my shoulder. “When do I start getting gold coins?” I asked him jokingly.

Wooyoung smirked before pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “If it's treasures you want you should’ve told me.”

I giggled and shook my head. “I’m kidding I don’t need any of that. The courting gifts were more than enough.”

He hummed and went quiet after that, and I didn’t press him on the sudden thoughtful look he got.

Together we began to head towards the restaurant, letting San lead the way. The city was alive at this hour, all manner of beings walking the sidewalks. We passed by many different kinds of food stalls and vendors. A naga selling antiques and shiny trinkets caught my eye for a moment but I didn’t stop walking, quickening my pace to keep up with the rest of the group. There was a sudden cry and I looked in time to see a gryffin take off on the other side of the street, soaring in between the buildings around us.

I watched Seonghwa nudge Mingi to get the male’s attention.

“Is it always like this in the city?”

Mingi smiled and nodded. “Pretty much. It gets more lively the closer to the center of the city you get. You could visit us more often and we’ll show you around.”

It warmed my heart seeing the interaction, and I was so focused on it that I almost didn’t realize we had stopped until Wooyoung was tugging on my hand.

“We’re here,” San said and I looked around in confusion. We had stopped in front of a barren alleyway. I was beginning to question his sense of direction before he looked over his shoulder at us. “Look at the alley and blink six times, no more and no less.”

I looked back at the alley and did as instructed. On the sixth blink I gasped in wonder as a homey styled restaurant suddenly appeared before my eyes. It looked warm and inviting and the mouth watering smell of food now wafted through the air. Wooyoung looked just as mesmerized as I did by the magic that concealed this place.

“This place is a very ‘if you know, you know’ kind of place,” San explained as he opened the door for us to enter. He had a smug look on his face and I rolled my eyes at him.

We entered the building and it was hard not to start drooling at the aromas that wafted over us. It was very warm and inviting inside, and I didn’t see a single patron that didn’t have a smile on their face. A large fire in the hearth warmed the building up and gave the room a warm glow.

“Welcome welcome! Come in, take a seat, I’ll be over with some drinks!” A raspy voice called out and I spotted the owner of it; a tall, willowy nymph with midnight blue hair. She had the beginnings of wrinkles forming and her warm smile showed with pure joy. She was flitting around the room like she wasn’t a day over twenty. She may have been old but she sure didn’t act like it, as was expected of a nymph.

San led us to a large table towards the back, motioning for us to take a seat. I was about to turn back to the nymph on the other side of the room only to nearly jump when she suddenly appeared behind us with a tray and cups. She set a glass in front of each of us, pouring a sparkling liquid into each one in the next second.

“I haven’t seen you in a long while, Sannie! You even brought your friends in tonight as well, the more the merrier! How’d you end up becoming friends with a pair of sirens too? Not that I’m judging, all are welcomed here. It’s been a while is all,” she spoke quickly, but I didn’t mind it. Her voice was interesting to listen to.

San smiled up at her. “Hello Reyna, it’s nice to see you again too. You’ll have to thank y/n here for bringing in new guests, one of the sirens is her mate.” He gestured to Wooyoung and I. I gave the nymph, Reyna, a shy smile as Wooyoung waved to her. “This is Mingi and this is Seonghwa, all very close friends of mine.”

“Well I sure hope they’re close friends of yours or else you wouldn’t have brought them here,” she teased him before me. “Now I have to know what creature you are because I’ve been trying to figure it out since you walked in.”

“I’m human,” I told her.

Her eyes widened before she nearly lunged to grab my cup. “Then this is not for you! The last thing we need is for you needing to be carried out of here or running out of here naked. Sorry about that, I haven’t been able to smell for at least two hundred and forty-six years so I couldn’t tell what you were. Let me go and get you something else to drink, anything you want in particular?”

“I’ll just take some water please,” I told her, still shocked by how quick she was to take my glass away.

She nodded before walking away and I turned to San in confusion. “What even was that stuff?”

“Fairy Dew. It’s a very sweet wine but humans have to be careful if they drink it. I’ve watched a human start dancing in the middle of the room here before stripping naked and bolting out the front door,” he explained. “Poor Wooyoung and Seonghwa would’ve had to carry you out of here.”

Reyna came back with water for me right as San was telling that story. She laughed as she set my drink down, a fond look in her eyes. “I was just telling that story to another guest! Poor Gary had to come back the next day to get his clothes after explaining to his wife how he lost them in the first place. He was as red as a tomato.”

“Does that happen a lot?” Mingi asked.

“Nope! I try to steer humans away from drinking the stuff as much as possible. They’re usually too wary of it to even try it in the first place but there’s always one brave soul who’s willing to take the risk.”

Seonghwa hummed as he sipped his drink. “It’s delicious,” he complimented.

“Why thank you! It’s homemade so I’m glad you enjoy it,” she said with a bright smile. She looked at San again. “Are we getting the usual over here but make it enough for everyone?”

“That’ll work perfectly for all of us.”

Reyna nodded before heading back towards a door on the far wall, no doubt the kitchen. I turned back to the table just as conversations resumed.

“So that woman was your ex, Maggie?” San started, raising a brow at Wooyoung.

“Maggiore,” Wooyoung corrected. “Yes she is. I had given her one courting gift before her favored male died. With no other suitors she came back to me but I had given up at that point after she made it very clear she had no real interest in me.”

San nodded in understanding. “And now she’s mad that y/n’s in the picture?”

He nodded.

“Then why did she have Hongjoong with her? He seemed like he was madly in love with her. Wouldn’t that mean she had moved on too?”

“Not necessarily. Maggiore is a very prideful and selfish creature so tonight was more than likely a step in whatever plan she has and nothing more. Hongjoong was very much under her spell, and has been for a small amount of time. Not too long, his eyes are still fairly clear, but there’s a tiny sheen to them. She’s been using her magic a lot on him,” Seonghwa explained. “Other creatures are more resilient to the after effects of a siren’s magic, but long term exposure for an unmated human could have adverse effects.”

Wooyoung squeezed my hand beneath the table and I squeezed it back. I knew the unspoken question behind the action and I answered. “I’m alright.” I was too, I was doing better than I thought I would with the way this conversation was going. My stomach was in knots over Hongjoong and his safety, but that has been since that whole incident from earlier. A small part of me was glad to have a better understanding of what exactly the situation was.

“So he’s definitely in danger,” Mingi concluded and Seonghwa nodded. He sighed. “Is there anything we can do to get him away from her?”

”We don’t really know what she has planned or where she even is, so as of right now, no.” Wooyoung’s shoulders slumped a bit.”We’ll talk with the rest of the current and see what they know.”

I gave his hand another squeeze, which he returned.

San and Mingi both nodded in understanding. Their eyes glanced at me and I knew what their next question would be before they even said it.

“Is y/n safe with you?” Mingi asked and his words were almost cut off before they even left his mouth by a low growl.

I looked at Wooyoung with wide eyes and he was no longer growling, instead he shook his head in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to growl at you like that. I can assure you both that y/n is safe with me and the current. Maggiore probably thinks our den is above water for her comfort over mine, I doubt she’s realized yet that it’s beneath the Brighbalt.”

“Wouldn’t she follow your scent though? We travel to and from it every day,” I asked, looking up at him with concern.

Wooyoung smirked down at me. “What do you think the monster that lives above our den is for? She covers our scent perfectly.”

San looked impressed. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“I knew she might stir up some trouble for me at some point, I just wasn’t sure when and how she’d do it.”

Just then Reyna came back with two large platters of food with another employee following behind her with another platter. “Alright! Watch out these plates are very hot so be careful everyone,” she warned as she began to set the platters down on our table. The food looked delicious and my mouth began to water at the smell of it. “I hope you all enjoy it, feel free to shout for me if you guys need anything else.” She smiled one last time before walking away to greet another couple that had just walked in.

“All of this is for us?” Seonghwa asked in bewilderment. The platters were filled with beef and vegetables and even some grilled fish. It truly was a lot of food that catered to all of our tastes.

San nodded. “Reyna doesn’t skip out on food, and it’s so delicious that we won’t want to stop eating.”

Wooyoung was already scooping some food out onto my plate, not giving me a choice on if I wanted any or not. Once everyone had dished their own food he reached for a fork and was about to scoop some food to feed me before I stopped him. He raised a brow at me and instead of using words I grabbed my own utensils and began to eat. He seemed pleased when I took a bite and began to eat his own food, not worried that I wouldn’t be eating much this time.

With my thoughts centered around Hongjoong and Maggiore, I wasn’t expecting to eat as much as I did. The food was some of the best I had ever eaten and I would’ve thought it was enchanted as I was unable to put my utensils down. Before I even realized it my plate was clean and I was reaching for more food.

We all seemed to unanimously agree that the conversation of Maggiore and Hongjoong was put on hold for the time being, turning into a brighter one. I let myself get swept up into it, focusing on the present and not on the future for now. For now, I was letting myself enjoy a nice dinner with my friends and my mate.

Before long the platters were cleared of food and Seonghwa had paid for our meal, which greatly pleased Reyna when he pulled out gold coins.

“You can come back anytime if you continue to pay in gold. Makes my heart happy to see the old way of payment,” her raspy voice told him, making him smile wide and nod enthusiastically.

Before long we were on our way home, San and Mingi had split from our group to start heading to their own. It quieted down a little bit once they left, but I didn’t mind it. It was nice to just enjoy the atmosphere of the city at night.

Seonghwa gently grabbed my arm once we had reached our dock, a sad look on his face. “I wanted to apologize for the conversation earlier, y/n,” he said. “I just started talking about the things that are being done to Hongjoong and the danger he’s in and I didn’t even think about how you might feel about it.”

I smiled up at him and gave the hand on my arm a gentle squeeze. “There’s no need to apologize, you were just explaining the situation. San and Mingi have a right to know what’s happening anyway, they’re friends with Hongjoong as well. I feel a little better not being completely kept in the dark anyway.”

His shoulders slumped in relief and I gave him a quick pat on his shoulder before heading over to Wooyoung who had already shifted and was waiting for me in the water. He smiled up at me as I picked up his clothes and lowered myself in the water. He quickly wrapped his arms around me just as I saw a flash of silver scales out of the corner of my eye and then a splash and I knew Seonghwa had hopped in as well.

“I’ll see you two later. Y/n, thank you again for everything today. I’ll remember this forever,” Seonghwa told me. His eyes sparkling with joy as the events of today replayed in his mind.

I smiled at him, my heart warm with knowing he had a fun time despite everything else that also happened today. “It was a pleasure Seonghwa. I’ll bring you to the next show as well.”

“I better be coming too,” Wooyoung pouted.

“You’re coming whether you want to or not,” I told him with a playful grin.

We finished saying our goodbyes before diving beneath the waves. I tucked my head into Wooyoung’s chest just like always, but after a few moments I was feeling a little adventurous. I hesitantly lifted my head from his chest and looked around. I wanted to test how far along I was with the side effects of the bond.

I could see more than I thought I would. It wasn’t like seeing things above land, but I could make out the shapes of fish swimming around us even in the pitch black water. It was a little disorienting at first, like trying to make out shadows in a dark room after just waking up.

There was a loud rumble and I turned my head in time to see an absolutely massive shape swimming in the distance. The distance between us did nothing to hinder the sheer size of the being and I tucked my head in Wooyoung’s chest again, belatedly realizing that this was the monster living above our den.

Wooyoung chuckled when he felt me move. “Want to go say hi?”

I quickly shook my head no and he laughed again but didn’t push the matter. Soon enough our heads were surfacing in the den and I cleared my eyes of water. “Wooyoung?”

“Yes my mate?”

Ignoring the way my heart fluttered at the title I voiced a question that has been eating away at me. “Please don’t be upset with this question, I don’t mean any harm with it, but why does Maggiore just seem so bland compared to you and the rest of the current? And I’ve seen some of the current’s scales but why are their scales so vibrant and pretty and yours is black?”

Wooyoung burst into laughter at my questions, hugging me closer to his chest as his head tipped back. I blushed in embarrassment, suddenly feeling dumb for asking my questions.

“Well Maggiore is less pretty than me because I’m Wooyoung, your amazing mate, and she’s a selfish bitch,” Wooyoung said with a smug smirk. When he saw my less than amused expression he continued to explain. “Maggiore looks less pretty than us because she is a female. Female sirens aren’t as flashy or appealing as male sirens. It’s like beta fish or birds, it’s just our nature. She’s beautiful enough to lure humans and creatures in but compared to a male siren she comes off as boring. As for why my scales are black and less flashy than the rest of the current’s,” he explained, getting a mischievous look on his face, “ would you like a demonstration?”

I looked at him with confusion. “Demonstration? What do you mean?”

“I want to show you why my scales are black and why I might seem a little more dull to the rest of my brothers. We need to go underwater for me to show you,” he told me. “I’ll be holding onto you the whole time, I swear.”

I looked down at the dark water still around us, feeling my stomach drop a little. It wasn’t as bad as it usually is, but the fear was still there. I haven’t been in the water this deep for an extended period of time, and I almost backed out. I would’ve if it weren’t for the warm arms wrapped around my waist, promising me safety during this. Wooyoung had a comforting look in his eye as I looked back up at him, reassuring me without words. I took a calming breath and nodded, tightening my hold on his shoulders.

His answering smile was radiant before he readjusted his hold on me, holding my hands now as we lowered into the water. It was unnerving to be almost swimming freely. I focused on his warm hands holding my own and he smiled at me once we were submerged. He kept us close to the surface and it was enough to ease some of my nerves.

Wooyoung didn’t keep me waiting long for his demonstration, giving my hands a squeeze. He didn’t say anything, only giving me a knowing look and I scanned over his scales for any changes in them. It was such a subtle change that I would’ve missed it at first, but not for long. Small spots on his tail had begun to glow a myriad of blues and purples, lighting up the water around us. They traveled up the small patches of scales on his torso and my breath was taken away by his ethereal beauty. The colors shown like stars in the night sky against his scales and it now made perfect sense why his scales seemed duller than his brothers. His true beauty shone through like this.

I looked back up at him in wonder and my heart squeezed when I saw that the beauty mark beneath his eye and the one on his lip were also glowing. He was beaming proudly at my reaction, twisting a bit so his long tail could wrap around me. “You can touch it you know,” he told me with a playful wink and I rolled my eyes at him.

I didn’t deny myself the satisfaction and I gently brushed my hands over his scales, marveling at how smooth they were beneath my fingers. The lights disappeared as my hand passed over them before illuminating the water again. He truly was beautiful, breathtaking really.

“You can start taking notes for the future when you decide to make a dress inspired by me again. I’m sure it’ll be a huge hit,” he said with a smirk and I smiled despite myself. I lightly hit his shoulder before pulling him for a kiss, wrapping my arms around his shoulders to pull him closer. His arms and tail wrapped around me tighter in answer, and I could feel the way he purred under my palms. I smiled into the kiss, my heart light and warm despite the events of the day we’ve had.

༄

Half of the bed was cold when I awoke the next morning. It was enough to make me sit up and look around for Wooyoung, not hearing any noises of cooking coming from the kitchen. I had fallen asleep curled up in his arms again last night, needing his magic to get me to fall asleep. Has something happened concerning Maggiore?

Fear spiked inside of me at the thought and I was about to get out of bed when a loud thump nearly shook the entire den. It had me scurrying back into bed like a child scared of thunder. My first thought was that the monster living above us finally decided she was hungry for a snack and was trying to break in through the ceiling, but the following splash of water came from inside of the house. Panicked now, I glanced around for anything I could use as a weapon but came up empty handed. I was about to bolt for the bathroom as a last minute hiding spot when a large figure came through the doorway of the room.

I screamed in fright before the lights lit up and I saw it was none other than Wooyoung carrying a large trunk in his arms. He gave me a confused look. “Good morning to you as well. Did you forget that I’ve enchanted the den so only us two and the current can enter?” He reminded me with a cocky smirk before dropping the trunk on the floor with a loud crash. This is when I realized he was naked still and I gasped as I covered my eyes.

“Wooyoung! Why are you naked!?”

“I forgot to set clothes aside for when I came back, it’s no big deal.”

“Please put on clothes,” I groaned. I didn’t need to see him to picture the smug grin on his face.

“Fine fine,” he sighed and I heard a drawer open and then shut. I picked up the rustling of his clothes before he told me I could look. I peeked and only registered a flash of tanned skin before I was covering my eyes again. I felt my face begin to burn up.

“Wooyoung!”

His answering cackle resounded off of the stone walls. After a few moments I felt his presence move closer to me, and he gently pulled my hands away from my face. I glared up at his teasing face but was glad to see that he was fully clothed now. My eyes trailed over to the thing he carried in with him. “What is that?”

He nodded over to it, taking a seat on the bed. “Why don’t you go and see?”

I pouted at him but stood from the bed. “I swear if this is filled with something scary I will turn you into sushi.”

“Why do you think so low of me? I would never!” The mischievous look he gave me said otherwise.

I approached the trunk with caution now, my stomach twisting with nerves at what could potentially be hidden in here. I took a calming breath before lifting the lid. I flinched as it fully opened, prepared for something to jump out of me before my jaw hit the floor with what was actually inside.

“Wooyoung! I said I was only kidding about the gold!” It was obviously something he had found in a sunken ship but to know he had dragged this all the way back here was something I couldn’t comprehend. Even for him it must’ve been heavy.

When I turned back to look at him I had been expecting smugness but instead all I saw was genuine adoration staring back at me. My heart squeezed in my chest at the sight and I was quick to crawl into his lap and pull him into a tight hug. “Thank you so much, but I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with all of this gold?”

He chuckled before pulling away enough to look at me. His thumbs began to trace circles against my hips and it distracted me for a moment. “There isn’t much use for it up on the surface, but gold happens to be something sirens love to use for ornaments and clothing and other things, making it tradeable. There are different kinds of trinkets and clothing embellishments in the Socix market you’d be able to trade it for and you could use them in your designs. They’d certainly be eye-catching and something no one has seen before.”

Tears welled up in my eyes and I pulled him into a quick kiss, wrapping him in my arms once again. “Thank you so much Wooyoung.” My voice was thick with emotion and I was pleased that he didn’t comment on it. Instead he rubbed a hand up and down my back, a soft purr rumbling beneath my chest.

“I’m glad you like it. Once all of this stuff with Maggiore is over, I’ll take you to Socix. I don’t feel comfortable bringing you there right now. I hope you understand, my mate. By then you should be better suited for underwater life as well so we won’t have to worry about you drowning.”

I choked out a laugh at the morbid sense of humor, beaming at him. “I would love to see your home.” And I meant it. ༄

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#atz #jung wooyoung #ateez x reader #spooky’s fic #wooyoung x reader #wooyoung x y/n #ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez wooyoung

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kingdom-by-the-sea · 1 year

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The Not Valentine’s Date

Summary- Mutual pining, an office bet, and baby sitting make for an interesting Valentine’s Day between Spencer and Hotch’s daughter.

Warnings- fluffy fluff

Pairing- Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader Hotch’s daughter

Word Count- 2.7k

A/N- This is something I randomly wrote last year after Valentine’s Day but didn’t post cause I felt like I had missed my window. Who knows maybe I’ll write something later this week that I’ll post in a year.

—————-

“Eww,” Emily complained, scrunching up her face in disgust, “Please tell me that none of those lines actually work on real life girls. I don’t understand why guys had to start going around saying stuff like that and ruin Valentine’s day for the rest of us.”

”Woah,” Prentiss stopped Reid mid-explaining, “You are not actually referring to that,” she gestured vaguely in Morgan’s direction, “as poetry.”

Spencer scrunched his face in consideration, “Not in the traditional sense, I suppose. However, in my opinion, some of the best lines of poetry about love have nothing to do with Valentine’s day so using it as the standard might not properly reflect what you’re looking for.”

“Oh really,” Morgan questioned, “And what exactly would you use to woo the ladies on the fourteenth?”

Reid considered the question seriously his fingers tapping to some indiscernible beat as he thought, “��We loved with a love that was more than love.’”

“What?” Morgan’s reaction was quick and it seemed that everyone else in the group mirrored his sentiment, “Hate to break it to you, pretty boy, but no girl you mention that to is going to have a clue-”

“You quote a man who married his thirteen year-old cousin on love?” Y/N asked suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention.

“They really are a match made in heaven…” Prentiss muttered only loud enough for Morgan to hear, who responded with a chuckle.

Reid’s face darkened several shades of red, “I just mean-”

“It’s fine,” Y/N let out a small laugh, “I’m just teasing. Annabel Lee’s probably my favorite poem. Just sucks that most of the romanticism poets were… just really weird.”

Spencer regained his composure and released an unexpected laugh, “Yeah.”

“Anyone want more coffee, I’m going to get another cup,” Y/N stood and left for the kitchenette after finding there weren’t any takers.

“So close and yet… so far,” Prentiss said once Y/N was out of earshot.

“Seriously, man,” Morgan started, “Just ask her to go to dinner or something already.”

Reid rolled his eyes, “Is this about your bet pool thing again?”

“Not anymore,” Morgan said, “I’ve been out since last month. Somehow I thought New Years would do the trick.”

Prentiss laughed, “You’re doing way better than me. I really thought the hormones would outweigh this nerdy stupidity,” she gestured at Reid’s face, “and said Halloween.”

“Halloween?!” Reid squeaked out before lowering his voice significantly, “There is no way you thought Y/N and I would get together by Halloween of last year.”

The two agents dutifully ignored him and Morgan continued, “Who’s even left at this point? I know Rossi chose St. Patrick’s day for whatever reason.”

“And Hotch said Valentine’s,” Prentiss finished and any air of concern left Reid’s face.

“Well now I know you’re making this up,” he turned back to his work, “There is no way Hotch would bet on his daughter’s love life.”

Prentiss tsked, “Your future father-in-law is going to be very disappointed if you miss this benchmark.”

“Seriously though,” Morgan started again, “Just ask her to hang out. Don’t even call it a date.”

“We hang out all the time though…” Spencer whispered, fiddling with his tie.

“Then it shouldn’t be that big of a deal,” Morgan patted him on the shoulder, “Go get her, lover boy.”

Reluctantly, Reid rose from his seat and made his way to the kitchenette. Y/N was busy filling up her mug with the right amount of sugar- that is as much as can fit in the cup- but smiled when she noticed him.

“Did you change your mind? I can grab another mug.”

“What? Oh- no, I’m good,” he glanced over at her searching for the right words, “I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out on Monday…?”

Y/N’s face lit up at the thought before she scrunched up her nose, “I’d love to but I can’t. I’m actually watching Jack so my dad can go out but maybe this weekend?”

She returned to stirring her coffee not noticing the third person entering the vicinity.

“Or Reid could come over and help you with Jack?” Hotch said, forcing them both to turn suddenly in his direction.

“Oh no,” Y/N began, “You don’t have to do that. I wouldn’t want you to waste your Valentine’s Day.”

“No, no. That sounds great,” Spencer smiled at her and her heart seemed to warm as she mirrored his reaction, “Send me the times over the weekend.”

With that Reid walked back to his desk in semi-victory.

“Did Reid just ask you to hangout with him on Valentine’s Day?” Hotch asked with a mock accusatory glance.

“Yeah,” Y/N said absentmindedly, “I mean no- I mean he did but it's not like that. We are just two single adults who enjoy each other’s company and not having to feel lonely on a day devoted to love.”

“Y/N, what exactly do you call it when two single adults meet up on Valentine’s Day to ‘enjoy each other’s company?’” he could barely manage to suppress the smile growing on his face at the teasing.

Her face turned pink, “I’m not sure- but apparently you call it babysitting.”

~~~

As the evening waned on, Y/N was more and more glad for Spencer’s company. Outside of simply enjoying his presence, it helped to have a second person there to reign in some of Jack’s more energetic behavior. However, her appreciation wasn’t enough to keep her from noticing how her heartstrings tugged seeing the way Jack and Spencer both lit each other up with excitement. Spencer was beyond engaging and Y/N finally understood why Henry always seemed to immediately latch onto Spencer at BAU gatherings. It was intoxicating to watch them together and Y/N easily could have lost herself in the moment if it weren’t for the screaming six-year-old running around the house constantly threatening to knock things over. Luckily for Reid, Y/N, and their respective sanities, this level of energy wasn’t sustainable and an eventual crash was inevitable.

He nodded lazily in response, “Can we watch Encanto?” for a brief moment the sparks returned behind his eyes as he mentioned what was quickly becoming his new favorite movie.

“Sure,” Y/N said with a small laugh. This would have to be close to the twentieth time she had seen the movie but for Jack’s sake, it was all worth it.

Jack headed for the stairs and Spencer was quick to follow after him.

“I’ll help him get ready for bed,” he explained, noticing what was apparently a rather obvious expression of confusion and the slight tilt of her head, “You could set up the movie?”

Having your heart flutter this much had to be medically concerning, but there was nothing Y/N could do to stop it as she watched her best friend take her brother’s small hand.

“Okay,” she whispered and was met with a smile that sent her straight back into heart-fluttering territory. No matter how long she knew Spencer, he never stopped surprising her. Considering the effort and detail he put into every other aspect of his life, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he would be so attentive with her brother. And yet he still managed to strengthen his hold on her heart with every little action that came as some unexpected surprise to her. In truth, she suspected it was a precautionary measure, if she truly let herself recognize how kind and wonderful Spencer was, she’d be done for in an instant.

All the precautions in the world couldn’t have stopped the back of her mind from spinning stories about him though. Spencer was too gentle and pure to keep the less hardened parts of her soul from imagining what it all could be like if she could indulge if she could step over the line she had drawn in the sand for herself.

Upstairs, it seemed Jack had stumbled upon a small reservoir of energy, taking the time to show Spencer his favorite toys and stuffed animals while Spencer attempted to offer him various pajama set options. Eventually, Jack settled on the set covered with small dogs.

Spencer didn’t mind the push and pull Jack, or other children gave him. There was something so strangely fascinating to him about a mind so free from insecurity and a child’s willingness to simply say what was on their mind. Despite his extensive memory, he couldn’t remember a time he truly felt like that and hoped it was merely a result of the fog around his earliest memories. Every decision he made was coated in consideration and accounted for every possible result. He couldn’t help but wish that his hypervigilance would let up from time to time and leave him free to explore the thoughts, and emotions, that remained.

“You work with my sister,” Jack offered up less as a question and more as a statement.

“Yes, I do,” Spencer responded to the not question.

The boy’s head bobbed in as much seriousness as a six-year-old could muster, “Can you still be friends with someone if you work with them?”

Spencer watched as he stepped away from him and began absentmindedly examining the toys around his room.

“Of course,” Spencer answered, not sure where this line of question was headed, “Your sister and I are very good friends then.”

Jack’s attention swiftly returned to Spencer, “So you like her then?”

“I do like her. She’s smart and cool,” Spencer narrowed his eyes slightly on the boy, “Just like you.”

Jack came closer to him and in what he seemed to think was a hushed voice said, “Did you know that sometimes when people really like they get married…?”

“And then….” he scrunched up his face and whispered, “They make a baby.”

Spencer’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened in what Jack considered to be genuine surprise.

“I know, right?” Jack stepped away and began picking up a blanket and stuffed animal to take downstairs with him, without looking up he added, “Do you think you and Y/N will get married?”

Spencer’s mind went completely blank. None of the dozens of courses he had taken over the years would provide him with any sort of answer that would satisfy Jack. Part of him wanted to say yes and not give any of it another thought but reason quickly squashed that idea. And yet…

And yet he couldn’t bring himself to say no either. It was far too permanent and left no room for the small bead of hope he hid away in the back of his mind.

“Maybe…” he answered finally, “I don’t really know though…”

Jack pulled the blanket and toy behind him and giggled, “I hope you do!”

Spencer’s stomach did a somersault and he scooped the small boy and his blanket up into his arms before he could notice the strange smile emerging on his face. I do too.

~~~

“I swear that kid is pure energy,” Y/N said, shutting the door behind them and stepping out into the cool night with Spencer.

Y/N pointed a somewhat accusatory finger at him, “And don’t say something like ‘technically we are all energy since we’re made of mass.’’

He rolled his eyes at her with a smile, “I was going to say that while he may have been more energetic than I expected- I had fun hanging out with you guys.”

She couldn’t help the smile that immediately bubbled up to the surface of her lips, “I had fun too. I’m glad I didn’t completely waste your Valentine’s day.”

“Never,” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you on Monday,” Y/N said when they reached the end of the driveway where Spencer’s car was parked.

His eyes narrowed slightly on her, “What are you doing? How are you getting back to your apartment?”

“Oh I have an uber coming in a little bit. I”m just going to wait here until they get here.”

“You want me to leave you here on the side of the road and drive away?” he questioned.

“No,” Y/N corrected, “I want you to leave me at the end of my dad’s driveway.”

“I’m not leaving you here,” Spencer said definitively, “I’ll drive you or we could go back to my apartment and watch awful romcoms and start working on the mound of candy Rossi and Garcia got us.”

She blinked at him, “Really?”

“Yeah,” his movement suddenly became awkward and choppy, “I mean you obviously don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No, no,” Y/N smiled, “I’m just surprised. You spent the past five hours with me and my hyperactive brother and you want to hang out more?”

“I always want to spend time with you,” he said shyly.

“Sometimes I just forget that you’re you, Spence,” Y/N shook her head slightly and took a step closer to him.

“I hope that’s not a bad thing,” his eyes were slightly wider than usual.

“No, not at all. It’s the best thing actually,” Y/N smiled up at him, “And just so you know, I’d gladly spend every moment of every day with you.”

He looked down at her, not able to suppress the smile growing on his face.

“You know,” Spencer said, clearing his throat slightly, “Jack said something to me earlier and I didn’t know how to respond to him.”

“Oh gosh…” her voice faded into a slight chuckle.

“He was asking me all these questions about you. Like if we were friends and if I thought you were nice,” Spencer watched as Y/N glanced up at him, “I said yes to both of those… but then- then he asked if we were going to get married.”

Y/N’s lips let out a silent “oh.”

She blinked and glanced down at the ground momentarily, “What did you tell him?”

He scratched absently at the side of his head, “Well I wasn’t sure what to say so I told him maybe?”

Y/N’s face broke into a smile and near laugh, “You told him ‘maybe?’”

“I’m sorry I just didn’t know what to say. You’re not mad, are you?”

“No, no,” she let out the rest of the laugh, “I just think we should go on a date before you start promising these kinds of things to my brother.”

Spencer blinked and swallowed before looking down at the ground, “Would you have said yes if I asked you out?”

“Yeah,” a soft smile settled on her lips, “I mean of course. Don’t tell Jack but you’re kind of my favorite person in the world.”

“Really?” his eyes settled on hers.

“What? Did you think I’d say no?” Y/N asked with genuine concern.

“I don’t know I just thought that it would make things difficult since we work together and-”

“Spence, hey, hey, stop it!” she said with a slight laugh.

A beat passed where she just looked at him.

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

Y/N smiled, “I just want to remember the moment right before I kiss you.”

Spencer’s eyes widened slightly.

“Is that okay?”

He nodded not sure if she was referring to the moment or the kiss but it didn’t matter either way. She smiled up at him again, looking into his eyes and her hands moved up till they met behind his neck. After inhaling slightly, Y/N perched on her toes and gently pulled Spencer’s face down until their lips met each other.

#spencer reid smut #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid request #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #comfort fic #criminal minds smut #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid imagines

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butdaddyilovehim-hs · 8 months

Text

Tolerate It II

"What would you do if I break free and leave us in ruins?"

Read Part I here

Quite frankly, Harry isn’t sure how much longer he can take this. He listens to Y/N’s request for space for all of 4 days.

On Sunday, Harry finds the whiskey he put away when Elle was born. He finishes the bottle.

On Monday, he works himself into a frenzy looking at pictures of Y/N at their wedding. The smile on her face sends him spiralling as he realises he hasn’t seen her smile like that in a while.

On Tuesday, Anne calls him and boy does she let him have it. She doesn’t yell but she knocks some sense into him and Harry’s heart breaks. She tells him Y/N has barely said two words since she arrived and if he doesn’t act soon, he’s going to lose the two things that are supposed to be most important to him.

So he breaks out his rock records, blasting the music as loud as he can to drown out the screaming voices in his head telling him that he’s lost his wife forever. Oh and he also drinks himself into oblivion. Again.

On Wednesday afternoon he’s hungover and slightly delirious. And so naturally, he texts her.

Harry: Y/N I’m so sorry my love. I hope you and Elle are ok at mum’s. She told me you were there. I know you might not be ready but I’m here when you want to talk. I’ll be home for the rest of the week love. Come over when you’re ready.

He waits by the phone like a lovesick teenager for 20 minutes, almost falling off the bed when the status of the text changes from delivered to read. He waits for another 20 minutes willing for the three dots to appear and when they don’t, he turns the music back on, quieter this time, ignores the pounding in his head and closes his eyes.

He sleeps the rest of the day away, waking around noon on Thursday, his heart jumping out of his chest when he sees a new message notification. He sighs dejectedly when he realises it’s not Y/N, his eyes widening as he realises the text is from Kendall.

Kendall: We need to talk H. I’m so sorry about the articles. I’m on my way over, hope you’re home.

Harry rubs his faces tiredly before forcing himself out of bed. Kendall is the last person he wants to see right now but he knows there isn’t any point in telling her not to come if she’s on her way.

So he cleans (barely), shaves and showers, in an effort to make it seem like he hasn’t been living on his couch and off takeout for the past few days.

There’s a knock at the door and Harry drags his feet over to the front door.

“Hi…” The woman at the door speaks in an almost whisper, timidly shifting from foot to foot.

Harry thinks his mind is playing a sick joke on him. 4 days of drinking his life away and he’s suddenly seeing visions. But the woman in front of him doesn’t seem to disappear no matter how many times he blinks and so he comes to the conclusion that she must be real.

“Y/N? I... What are you doing here?” Is all he can think to say. As soon as the words are out of his mouth he regrets them. He winces as his wife’s face contorts into a look of hurt and slight annoyance.

“What am I doing here? In my house? Good god Harry I left for space, I didn’t move out. Can I come in or are we going to keep having this conversation in the doorway?”

“I didn’t mean- Of course come in love. I just didn’t expect to see you so soon.” He steps aside to let her through and follows her as she walks to the couch and takes a seat. He sits beside her and the silence is loud.

“So…” Y/N begins, shooting a tentative look at Harry who’s looking at her intently.

“How’s Elle? I miss my little bug. I’ve missed you both.”

“She’s good. Loved the extra grandma time the last few days. I’ve missed you too H. But we need to figure this out before we keep going. I don’t know how many more chances I can give, I don’t know how many nights I can stay up waiting, hoping for you to call. I shouldn’t have to hope you’ll call, you’re my husband you should want to call.” Y/N sighs, wiping her hand over her face quickly to stop the tears from falling. Harry intertwines their fingers squeezing her hand in his. He does it twice more and Y/N gives him a watery smile. It was something they used to do when they were first married; whenever they were in public they would squeeze each others hands three times.

I. Love. You.

He lifts her hand to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to it.

“Y/N, I fucked up. Multiple times. I haven’t been there for you and I wish I could tell you that it’s simply because work was mental but I was overwhelmed and so I looked for distractions. It’s no excuse I know that. But I love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone and sometimes I wish I didn’t love you so much because I need you like oxygen. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’ve been an idiot to take you for granted. I’m going to be home by 5 every day from now on I promise. We’re going to have dinner together every night. We’re going to get a nanny so that you and I can go on dates like we used to. I’m going to-“

“Slow down cowboy.” Y/N grins. A bright smile that reaches all the way to her eyes.

“We’re going to be ok?” It’s supposed to be a statement but it sounds more like a question when it comes out of Y/N’s mouth.

“We’re going to be ok.” Harry affirms. He leans in to kiss her, pulling back at the sound of the door opening.

“Harry? You home? The door was unlocked so I just came in. Oh! Y/N, hi.” Kendall’s stilettos click against the wooden floor as she walks into the living room, taking in the couple sitting on the couch.

“I just wanted to come by to-”

Y/N cuts her off.

“Did you invite her over here Harry? Is that why you were so surprised when I got here? For fucks sakes.” She looks heartbroken.

Harry is silent. It isn’t what it looks like. He knows that, Kendall knows that. Y/N… doesn’t know that. It seems he’s silent for too long because Y/N is suddenly standing and grabbing her bag off the coffee table.

“Kendall, get out. Y/N let me explain. Please love, after all we talked about you have to know I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Kendall leaves, muttering a plethora of apologies as Y/N stares at him with red rimmed eyes, her bag gripped tightly in her hand as though she’s planning her escape.

“Two minutes Harry. You’ve got two minutes to explain yourself before I walk out this door and this time I won’t be coming back.”

Read Part III here

A/N: Thoughts?! All your comments and reblogs are appreciated I love youuuuu ✨🫶

Tags: @lukesaprince @harryspirate @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @lilyrmason12 @styleslover-1994 @stylesfever @kathb59 @indierockgirrl @bxbyysstuff @gills-lounge @lomlhstyles @opheliaofficial07 @behindmygreyeyes @gem1712 @stylesmoonlight12 @babyiamperfectforyou @harrysrockstarsgf

#harry styles #hslot #love on tour #harrystyles #harry styles au #harry styles fics #harry styles fic #harry styles ceo #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles angst #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one shot #one direction #long hair harry #harry styles smut #harry styles x reader #harry styles fluff #harry styles imagine

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queenie-official · 5 months

Text

Chapter Five: ‘A royal wedding’ Bridgerton Au!Anakin

part 1, 2, 3, 4

a/n: sorry this took a while to get out guys😅 i was hanging out with my bestie since she was visiting home from college😋😋 anyways i ended up cutting most dialogue from this chapter just to focus on the emotional aspect- i hope you guys still enjoy 💅✨

a royal wedding was never a small affair for any kingdom. regardless of wether it was public or made private to the people, they would celebrate the conjunction of a happy couple. which seemed ironic considering most royal marriages where strictly out of politics rather than love. you of all people where very aware of the fact considering your situation. so here you are precisely three hours before the wedding pacing in your undergarments as poor Eleanora tries to help get you dressed.

Padme sat on a stool watching you work yourself into a frenzy, she’d already tried to get you to stop but it was futile. in the end you had managed to tune her out entirely to consumed in your own thoughts and worries to process the world around you.

“y/n if you don’t stop moving you’re going to have to show up to your wedding in your underwear” Padme tried once more to garner your attention. slowing to a stop you turn to look at her and then to Eleanora who had quickly seized action the moment you stopped and began putting on your pannier, fearing if she missed the opportunity you’d be a pacing mess again.

“sorry it’s just hard to sit still knowing that i’m going to be a married women in a few hours…” you sigh out still fidgeting slightly as you stood in place but at the very least Eleanora could work with that. Traditionally there would be five to ten bridesmaids with you right now but as much as you got along with your other ladies-in-waiting you didn’t exactly trust them, so it was just the two you knew you could count on most.

“it’s okay to be nervous i was nervous when i got married to my husband” Padme said in a attempt to make you feel less alone. “yes but you did not have the weight of two kingdoms relying on your marriage” you feel the weight of the day pull you down along with what felt like the thousands of layers you where now wearing. yet still Eleanora was not done as she continued to dress you, a wave of fear that you may pass out from how heavy the dress was rushed through you but you pushed it away feeling as if that would be one of the better outcomes of the day rather then some of the other scenarios your brain had come up with.

“i’ve been thinking about it all, what today is going to be like- what the rest of my life is going to be like…” you add running a hand through your hair that still has to be done. you honestly just wished for the day to be over, then you could rest and breath properly once more. free of stress even for just a moment.

“perfectly normal thing to do your majesty” Eleanora said as she finished the final touches of basting on your engageantes. “i just can’t help but feel like something is going to go wrong” you sigh looking down to your hand and staring at the ring that now weighed down your finger, it was a pleasant weight in your opinion. something about it brought a comfort to you, even if the only reason Anakin had given it to you was out of his mothers request. clearly he had thought it worth something to choose a diamond so personal to the place he was from- or maybe you where reading into it too much.

“there’s no sense in worrying about something that has yet to happen.” Padme counters as she and Eleanora both begin to work on your hair once you take a seat in front of your vanity, you were sat at a horrible angle. unable to sit properly with how tight the corset was, you quite literally could not bend. “i feel like i’ll be better prepared if i do” you say with a small pout to your lips that makes padme laugh. “it’s yet to help you thus far” she points out as you nervously twist the ring on your finger, the only thing you could really use to occupy yourself without moving too much. “maybe i just find comfort in worrying, that’s strange isn’t it?”

“i wouldn’t say strange but i also wouldn’t say it’s normal” well you certainly could always count on Padme for being honest. your whole body ached from the position you where in as pin after pin is inserted into your hair, ensuring that everything stay in place. “by the end of today i’m going to be a wife. that doesn’t even sound real”

“the sooner you are a wife the council will schedule the coronation and Alderaan will have a queen and king again” Padme says happily probably thinking that would make you feel better since you’d finally have the control over the council you needed but all it really did was make you cringe inwardly. “No pressure” you mumble as they finish and you can stand again, feeling just a smidge of relief not having the corset dig into you as much. looking over yourself in the mirror you did have to admit for as much as it was a pain the outcome was beautiful. the dress itself was a work of art, each layer having intricate lace detailing as well as pearls and ribbons sewn in- it reminded you of the porcelain dolls you played with as a child.

“you’ll do great y/n, and we’ll be by your side through it all” Padme said with a smile and you felt yourself relax. she was right you could do this, and if something did happen you knew you had people to fall back on.

less then any minute now and you would be walking down the isle of the church. You weren’t to be seen by anybody until then, that did little to help settle your nerves. Padme and Eleanora where now waiting with the rest of the ton inside the walls of the church, you had no one to voice your thoughts to. no one to help ease you, and you found yourself growing increasingly more nauseous. the heat of the day mixed with the weight of your gown did not make it any easier for you, the earlier fear of passing out coming back in a brief wave before you pushed it down.

there you stood in one of the private rooms awaiting for the Chancellor who’d be the one to walk you down the aisle. you hated it, that he’d be the one to walk you. it felt like a cruel joke in a way, he’d been the one to convince the rest of the royal council along with Barclay of the rash decision for Anakin to be the one you marry. and now here he was being the one to hand you off to him, as much as it irked you the thing that bothered you the most was solely the fact it wasn’t your father. honestly you’d finally accepted the fact this was truly happening but now there was a grief that surrounded it. mourning the fact your parents would not be there to see you.

twisting the ring on your finger, round and round. over and over- you had to admit this was much better than pacing. less effort for sure, less dizzying since you weren’t the one going in circles. circles that matched your thoughts, round and round. you take a deep breath the door to the room opening, turning round to face the Chancellor. you felt your throat dry as you nod to him.

now walking along the corridors of the church heading to the Nave. you could hear your heartbeat in your ears, and for a moment you thought you may actually pass out. thankfully the sound of trumpets and a piano rang throughout the building pulling you back down to reality. the doors in front of you now opening, you could only hope you didn’t look as sickly as you felt. “your majesty” Chancellor Valorum called your attention to him, glancing him over slightly confused only to notice his extended arm. right, it was time- you take hold and force a smile hoping you looked happy enough for everyone to believe you.

you look ahead of you as you both begin walking down the aisle, finally meeting the eyes of your soon to be husband. he stood tall, and was probably dressed the best you’d ever seen him so far- though it’s not like you saw him much to begin with. you decided it best to focus solely on him, the smile on your face becoming a bit more genuine. you may not know him personally yet but you could still admire his looks- it felt a bit wrong initially like you weren’t supposed to like how he looked. as if it would diminish the fact you didn’t see him as a lover, though you guessed you should probably change that line of thinking anyway.

he was truly handsome, nice jawline. pretty eyes, curls that you felt added a boyish charm to him. and then there was his smile, you hadn’t even realized you focused in on it as you now stood before him. his hand extended for you to take so the ceremony could begin. his smile was warm and soft, it calmed you. gently taking his hand as you stand side by side now, facing one another head on. you move your gaze up meeting his eyes, soft blues that where already staring down at you. selfishly you allow yourself to get lost in them, tuning out the world around you not even listening to what the Archbishop spoke.

the only thing that reminded you of where you were and what you where doing was the sound of Anakins voice. “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” he recited the vows the archbishop had just told him which meant it was now your turn. half listening to what the archbishop said before he gave you the very same vows to repeat, nodding to let you know to go. “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” you say with a surprising confidence, you turn your face away from Anakin’s for the first time since the ceremony began.

now looking towards the archbishop as he closed the ceremony. a new ring added to both of your fingers, a wedding band.

Warmth and music, that’s all you felt as you danced a waltz with Anakin. you were actually having fun, he made it easy in all honesty. conversation between you both was flowing naturally and he made you laugh- you where pretty sure he enjoyed making you laugh. there was of course the voice in the back of your head that reminded you it was all for show. that you where both only acting like two people in love for the hundreds of eyes on you. part of you could only hope that at the very least a little bit of it was real, something small and budding that might have a chance of flourishing.

you refocus on the man in front of you, not wanting to sour a good moment with your concerns. allowing him to dance you both into a stupor, song after song. paying no one else a mind, regardless of the situation this day was about you two. a joyous occasion, and for once you did not need to think about anyone else but yourself and each other- for once you did not feel the weight of a kingdom on your shoulders. instead you felt like a normal girl from the ton dancing with a man who had simply asked for a dance, a dance that lasted for hours. of course all good things have to come to an end, and eventually your endless dance came to a halt.

you both walk hand in hand outside along the carpet preparing to speak to each guest at the ball and bid them their farewells. it was a little chilly but as it happened Anakin ran warm, and with him alongside you the chill of the night bothered you no longer.

part 6

Tag list: @luvvfromme @gatekeepingirlboss

@bimbo-baggins86 @bby-imasociopath

okay loves🤭 i hope you enjoyed this one, i know the ball scene was a bit short but don’t worry this will not be the only Ball, and the next time there is one it will include a lot more 😋 i just wanted to focus mostly on the wedding portion and didn’t want to draw to far away from that 💋💋 anyways have a great day huns Xx

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