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soobmint · 3 years

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when the ice begins to thaw | kang taehyun [f] ice prince! au, 10.4k words

s u m m a r y : The rumors of the Ice Prince, Kang Taehyun, that run throughout the kingdom of Glacies are nothing short of terrifying. Known as a spoiled boy who does nothing but take advantage of the horrors bestowed upon the kingdom by his grandfather, the late king, Taehyun is feared and despised by nearly all of his subjects. When you decide to take matters into your own hands as the kingdom’s greatest thief by plotting to steal the crown that harnesses the prince’s unjustly earned powers, you are surprised to find out that perhaps the Ice Prince is not exactly who everyone fears him to be.

c o n t e n t s : kang taehyun x fem reader, ice prince! taehyun, thief! reader, lots and lots of fluff, very mild angst, features enhypen’s 02 line!!

t a g l i s t : @honeyju @chanluster @tyonfs @magicalstellar

n o t e : this oneshot is my contribution to the five princes collaboration! you can find the masterlist for the collab here. check out the other participants’ blogs too! [ @bffsoobin, @juunnies, @honeyju, @gyuluster ]. this was a lot of fun to write and i hope you guys enjoy it!

FOR SOMEONE WHO WAS THOUGHT TO BE THE GREATEST THIEF AROUND, YOU WEREN’T VERY QUICK ON YOUR FEET.

It had been nearly half an hour since you had set your way across the icy bridge that led to the palace, nothing but the cloak of night to conceal you and your companions. You had studied the palace’s floor plan for months leading up to your mission, but for some reason, during all that time you hadn’t really thought of how difficult it would be to cross this god forsaken bridge. Your feet nearly came out from under you with every step you took, and it was so narrow that the four of you had to walk in a single file line.

Speaking of your companions, the three boys that accompanied you were proving to be an obstacle to your success all on their own.

“Jake, you have to keep up.”

You turned to see Jay, your self-proclaimed “second-in-command,” pulling Jake along by the wrist. The former liked to brag and say that he was among the most elite group in the village, boasting a great air of bravery and courage. However, now that he was actually in the face of danger, he seemed to be the most cowardly out of them all. Sunghoon, the brains of the operation, held up the rear of the group, shaking his head in exasperation at his companions.

You sighed, bringing the group to a halt as you turned to face them, arms crossed over your chest. “I don’t feel as though I should have to remind you, boys, but we’re not here to play,” You said, giving Jake and Jay the heat of your glare. “Jake, if you’re too scared to help out, I suggest you back out now before it’s too late. Oh, and Jay, leave the leading to me, would you?”

While Jay mimicked your voice in the most obnoxious way possible, no doubt completely disregarding what you had just asked of him, Jake ripped his arm free of Jay’s grasp and puffed up his chest. “Me, scared? Oh please, Y/N. I’m flattered that you think about me enough to care, but you’re looking at one of Glacies’ greatest rising legends! The future generations will tell stories about me, no doubt.” He threw you a careless wink, and you had to fight back the impulse to cackle out loud at how ridiculous he looked. “And you’ll get to say you had the pleasure of knowing me. Or perhaps even the pleasure of having courted me as well?”

From where he stood behind him, Sunghoon smacked the back of Jake’s head. That seemed to be enough to shut him up nicely.

“Anyways,” You continued, “We’re losing moonlight. I needn’t remind you of the fact that if we don’t make it out of here with the crown tonight, we’ll likely never get to see justice restored to our kingdom. Understood?”

“Perfectly,” Jay said, his voice strained in forced submission to your authority. You merely rolled your eyes—you were quite used to him and his attitude after spending nearly your entire life with him and the other two that accompanied you.

“She’s right, you know.” Sunghoon spoke for the first time since the four of you had set out on your assignment. You began to move forward again, the rest of the group following close behind. “The palace security is weaker tonight because the crown prince sent an assembly of guards to accompany the prince of Regna Terrae back to his home. The odds of us finding another gap in security like this are—”

“Incredibly slim, yes, we know,” Jake said. “You’ve only told us about twelve dozen times.”

“Maybe if I thought you were actually listening to me, I wouldn’t feel the need to repeat myself so often.”

“Well maybe if you weren’t such a pain in my—”

“Shh.” You held up your hand as you came to a stop again, after having finally set foot off the slippery bridge and onto the snow-covered walkway that led to the huge gates made of solid ice. Some might have tried to simply break through the ice to earn entry to the palace, but you knew better.

This was no regular formation of ice—it was ice forged by the crown’s magic.

You looked around for any sign of stray guards. If your team’s predictions had been correct, the guards would have been switching their stations at this time. You had approximately four minutes and fifty-three seconds to get through the gates before the rotation was settled, so there was no time to lose.

You glanced behind you, noticing that the boys had all replaced their teasing and playful mannerisms with serious gazes hardened by determination. With a single nod from you, everything was set into motion. Jay handed you the rope and hook from his bag, and you wasted no time in tossing it over the gate, pulling it tightly until you were certain that it had successfully latched onto the top. Jake knelt in front of you, folding his hands before extending them towards you. You placed your foot in his hands, waiting for him to give you a boost.

“Are you sure you can do this by yourself?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m positive,” You assured him. “You guys need to head to the far side of the wall and wait for me there. Sunghoon knows what to do if I’m in danger, but everything will be fine. Now hurry up and boost me.”

After a moment longer of hesitation, Jake thrusted his hands up while you jumped up at the same time, reaching out to grab the rope while you planted your feet against the icy gate. You let out a tiny sigh of relief when your feet didn’t slide off or cause you to fall—the boots that Sunghoon had designed to grip the ice were proving to be just as effective as he had claimed. You pulled yourself up the rope, moving as quickly as possible without letting your feet slip.

You soon found yourself perched at the top of the gate, your huff of relief turning into a cloud in the cold air. The view was nothing short of magnificent; fountains with frozen displays of various animals and flora, a grove of trees painted blue with ice and frost, and the castle. If you had the leisure to simply stop and observe the spiraling towers made of crystal ice, the beautiful clouds of eternal snow that remained stationary above the palace, the giant snowflake patterns that were imprinted along each outer wall, you would have stayed there just looking for ages.

But you knew that sightseeing was not on your agenda. When you glanced over your shoulder, you were happy to see that the boys had already left for their station, leaving you on your own. It took you no time to spring into action. You jumped down from the top of the gate, the impact of hitting the ground sending an echo of pain up your legs and to your core, but you quickly shook it off and sprinted towards the outer wall of one of the towers. Your informant from within the palace had sent word that the window you were about to climb into was the best place of entry. It was in a distant hallway that was close enough to the throne room for you to have easy access to the crown, but far enough away from where the guards were stationed that the chance of them being alerted to your entry was small.

You threw your grappling hook up again, this time latching it on the sill of the open window. Without Jake’s boost, it took you a bit longer to climb the rope, but you were no amateur when it came to breaking and entering. Soon enough, you had dropped down into the stairway that lied beyond the window, thanking your lucky stars yet again for Sunghoon and his slip-proof boots.

Your footsteps echoed throughout the walls of ice, and you bit the inside of your cheek, taking care to make your steps as soft as possible. The past months, you had done practically nothing aside from memorize the floorplan of the palace, but you couldn’t help how nervous you were beginning to feel. This was nothing like when you snuck into the kitchen at the local tavern to snatch some food for the hungry kids, or when you broke into the overstock building for the tailors to grab a few winter coats for those who needed them.

This was the castle, and you were there to steal the crown. Not just for your own good, but for the good of everyone else in the Kingdom of Glacies.

When you finally reached the throne room, your heart was practically in your throat. Typically the cool headed one of your band of thieves, this feeling of pure anxiety was something new to you. With a shaky breath to calm your nerves, you peeked around the corner to take a look at what awaited you in the throne room.

There were two thrones at the far end of the room, made of spiraling ice spires and decorated with intricately detailed snowflakes that would never melt. One was a bit taller than the other—the King’s throne, no doubt—while the other didn’t reach quite as high in the air, but that didn’t make it any less marvelous of a sight to behold. The real piece of beauty in the dimly lit room of ice, however, was the pedestal that sat just between the two thrones which held the giant, sparkling crown made of ice and snow.

It was the King’s crown; the bane of every Glacian’s existence. And it just so happened to be what you planned to walk out of the palace with that night.

Stationed right in front of the crown, two guards stood, frozen just like the pillars of ice throughout the room. You bit your lip, growing increasingly worried as you waited for your cue to move in towards the crown.

“Argh! You’ll never catch me, you scum!”

Never before had you wanted to sock Jake in the face so badly as you did in that moment. He had been instructed to create a diversion, but it sounded more like he was a pirate from the Kingdom of Nymphe. His shouts spilled in through the open window right behind the thrones, filling the otherwise silent palace with his voice. If you could have trusted that Sunghoon would have been loud enough to even be heard, you would have asked him to do it instead. He was the only one who even pretended to listen to you.

“What’s that? You think you can chase me down? With those skinny legs? Ha!”

There was a loud bang, and you decided in that moment that when you got back to your village, you would kick Jake out of your team and encourage him to join the theatrics group instead of pursuing this line of work. Not because he was a good or compelling actor, but because he was so outlandishly obnoxious that he would fit right in.

The guards glanced at one another, but neither of them moved from their stations. They probably assumed—or hoped—that someone else would be taking care of the lunatic outside.

Until they heard Jake shout, “Take that!” which was followed by a large crash, and another slew of empty threats. The guards quickly ran out one of the back entrances of the throne room, finally giving you your chance to move forward.

You were light on your feet, not even making a sound as you dashed across the iced floor. With one leap, you skipped up the few steps that led to the crown. It was even more stunning close up, just as alluring as all the stories surrounding it had claimed. Blue jewels frosted over were embedded in the crown, which was made of solid ice, just like the palace that it sat in. The most mesmerizing part about it, however, was the flurry of never-ending snow that surrounded it, as though it were a part of its own atmosphere, separate from the rest of the world.

Your heart stormed within your chest, and you thought it might burst right out of you. Everything you had prepared for had led to this moment, but now that it was finally here, you were beyond terrified. But you were ready.

You stretched your hands out towards the crown, but before you could even feel its icy surface beneath your gloved hands, you felt someone’s body press flush against yours from behind, one arm holding you around your shoulders, and the other pressing the edge of an ice dagger against your throat.

Heart in your stomach, you were silent for a few moments. Someone had caught you. It was over. It was all over. You prayed that Jake, Jay, and Sunghoon had gotten away safely, that only you would have to pay the price for trying to seek justice for your kingdom.

You had practically written your own eulogy in your head when you heard the person speak, their breath tickling the back of your neck as they tightened the ice cold grip they had on you.

“You know, it is wrong to take something that isn’t yours.”

A man’s voice. You could tell right away, and his words made your blood boil. Perhaps you should have bitten your tongue, but you couldn’t keep the venomous words from leaving your mouth.

“It’s not wrong to take back something that was yours to begin with, is it?”

“I’m afraid I’m a bit lost. Does this crown belong to you?”

“It doesn’t just belong to me,” You seethed, “It belongs to every single Glacian, those alive and those who have passed, and I’m here to take it back.”

With that, you quickly snatched the knife from the man’s hand and spun around, pressing the blade against his throat this time, grabbing onto the front of his shirt to hold him in place.

When you saw his face, you knew you were a goner for sure.

Piercing blue eyes, a sharp jawline, blonde hair so light, it was almost white. His skin seemed to be made of ice, and his lips were set in an amused grin, one of his perfectly shaped brows arched upward.

You were holding the edge of a dagger against the neck of Kang Taehyun, the Ice Prince himself.

With the simple flick of his wrist, the dagger in your hand dissolved into snow, falling from your grasp in an instant.

His eyes drew you in and he held you with his gaze; frozen, unable to move, a fistful of his white sleepshirt still held within your fist. Your imagination began to run wild as you tried to predict what would happen next. Based off of what you had heard about the prince, you expected him to turn you to ice right then and there, perhaps preserving you in his room full of iced prisoners that he was rumored to have, or maybe he would just shatter you to bits and pieces right away, like a glass smashed against a stone floor.

You decided to take your last shot at doing what you had gone there to do.

You quickly shook yourself from the prince’s grip, pushing him back onto the icy floor. When he no longer had a hold on you, you lunged towards the crown, hearing Taehyun shout, “Wait!” before the tips of your fingers barely touched one of the crown’s jewels. When you made contact with the crown, you felt a sharp pain in your neck, and with great force, you were thrown back onto the ice, landing right next to the prince himself.

The pain was spreading from your neck to the rest of your body, like frost creeping up blades of grass. You pressed your hand against your neck and couldn’t hold back a gasp when you saw blood covering your palm.

Before you knew it, Taehyun was leaning over you, gently cupping your neck in his hands. You closed your eyes, certain that he was about to strangle you for your vain attempt at destroying the crown. His fingers were like icicles against your skin; smooth, strong, and deathly cold.

But he didn’t strangle you. He didn’t even squeeze your neck or try to block your airways at all. Instead, he lightly brushed his cold fingers over your skin. As he did so, you could feel the pain melt from your body.

“There you go,” He said softly. He helped you back to your feet, and you opened your eyes, pressing your hand against the place where your wound had been just moments before. There was not a trace of blood left in sight.

“What was that?” You whispered, holding Taehyun’s gaze.

Before he could answer, you heard three familiar voices fill the chilly throne room. With eyes round as saucers, you peeked over the Prince’s shoulder to see Sunghoon, Jake, and Jay being dragged in by not one, two, or even three—but five palace guards. Where said guards had even come from, you had not a clue.

There was, however, one thing you knew for sure: your plan had failed, and the price of failure was going to be your life.

Or at least, you thought it would be, before the prince saved you.

You swallowed, wishing that you could have at least seen your companions walk free. This whole mission was your idea, after all. You alone should have been held responsible for the failure. Heart racing, you grasped at endless threads of half-strung ideas that wove in and out of your mind, trying desperately to figure out some way to save the boys.

“Please,” you said, your eyes meeting Taehyun’s, “Let them go. I drug them here; they have nothing to do with this. You can turn me to ice, kill me, do whatever it is that you desire. Just let them go, please.”

“Y/N, don’t,” Sunghoon said firmly, but you ignored him, keeping your eyes fixated on the prince.

Taehyun’s eyes softened, his brows knitting together, almost as if he were hurt by your pleas. He was being just as cautious as you were—perhaps even more so. “I have no intentions of harming you or your friends, my lady. In fact, the desires of my heart are quite the opposite of what you assume them to be.”

You raised a brow. “Please, enlighten me of your true intentions then, Ice Prince.”

“I want to help you.”

“Oh, come on,” Jay groaned. You shot a glare that would freeze any normal man, but alas, Jay was far from normal, so he continued to speak. “Y/N, don’t listen to a word this prick says. If he wanted to help his people, he would have done so by now.”

Although you wanted to cut out his tongue from how annoyed you were by Jay’s habit to speak up during the most inappropriate times, you knew that your friend had a point. The people of Glacies had been driven to desolation and poverty by the late king’s actions, while in your eyes, the rest of the royal family did nothing but sit idly by and watch it all happen.

But you had just seen a side of the prince that was entirely different from every story you had ever been told about him. When your life was on the line, he didn’t kill you or laugh mercilessly as he watched the life leave your body. He had saved you.

Taehyun turned to face your friends, and you felt your heart leap into your throat. The prince motioned for the guards to release their holds on your friends. They did as they were told, and the three boys were much too shocked by Taehyun’s instructions to do anything but stand there, frozen, keeping their eyes glued to the prince as he spoke once more.

“I understand why you’re here,” He said, glancing over his shoulder at the crown. He locked eyes with you for a split second before he looked back at the boys. “I want the same thing you do. But I’m afraid that there’s no way for you to achieve your goal by simply taking the crown. It’s far more complicated.”

“What do you mean you ‘want the same thing’ we do?” Jake finally spoke after regaining some sensibility—though he never had all that much to begin with, in your opinion. “Do you even truly know what we are here for?”

“You want to destroy the crown and restore the kingdom to its former state of balance,” Taehyun said. “Am I correct?”

“It’s not just that,” Sunghoon finally spoke up, his cool, calculating eyes drifting between you and Taehyun, as if he expected the prince to turn around and attack you at any given moment. “We want to undo all the pain and suffering your family has caused us. Do you even know how desolate your people have become while you’ve wasted away in your palace for the past two decades, Your Highness?”

Taehyun frowned, casting his eyes down to his feet. “I’m well aware. I know it may not look like it, but I’ve been doing everything I can to help reverse the pain my family has caused our kingdom. But I realized that I can’t do it alone.”

He turned to face you then, and you were surprised to find yourself drawn to his piercing eyes rather than being struck down by fear. His gaze was urgent, but it was gentle.

“I need you to help me.”

“No. Absolutely not.” You tore your eyes from Taehyun to glare at Jake, who had decided once again to speak out of turn. “Y/N, you can’t trust him! Don’t do it.”

You knew where Jake was coming from, but you couldn’t help but feel as though Taehyun was telling the truth. And even if the prince were lying, you would probably never have the chance to get this close to the crown again. Even then, it was clearly impossible for you to touch the crown, as you had nearly died trying to do so just moments before.

You had no choice. You were going to stay with Taehyun.

“I just have one condition,” You said, ignoring the objections that flew from the lips of your friends. “You let them go. Now.”

“Of course,” Taehyun said without a moment’s hesitation. “I have no intentions of keeping anyone here against their will. Yourself included. But if you truly want to destroy the crown, I need you to stay with me. Just for a few days.”

You nodded, keeping your eyes trained on his. “Alright. But the moment I sense that you’re lying to me, Your Highness, not even the four princes of the surrounding kingdoms will be able to save you from my wrath. Understood?”

Perhaps you were just seeing things, but you could have sworn that you saw the prince smile when he said, “Perfectly.”

WHEN YOU WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, THERE WAS A NOTE ON YOUR BEDSIDE TABLE.

Well, it wasn’t your bedside table, but rather the one in the bedroom Taehyun had lent to you for the duration of your stay. The night before, against all their complaints, you had sent Jake, Jay, and Sunghoon back to the village with instructions to search for you if you didn’t return in a week’s time. After they had left, you wanted to talk to Taehyun right away, but he had disappeared from your sight, leaving you with a guard who said that the Prince had gone to bed, and that you were encouraged to do so as well.

You stretched your arms above your head, squinting in the morning sunlight that slipped through the curtains, and picked up the note from the table.

I hope you found the room suitable for resting. When you wake, put something on from the closet in your room then come to the dining hall for breakfast, if you’d like. One of the maids will escort you there.

—Taehyun

You sighed, folding the note up and setting it back on the table. After another good stretch, your feet met the cold floor and you slumped over to the large closet, throwing the doors open. Your eyes were met with dresses in varying lengths and shades of blues and periwinkles, and shoes to match them all. A great sigh left you at the sight—you did not wear dresses. But the pants and shirt you had come to the palace in were caked with mud and sweat, so you had no choice but to change, and it wasn’t like you had many options.

Begrudgingly, you searched through all the hanging gowns, finally settling on a long sleeved, ankle-length frosty blue dress made of lace that held subtle snowflake patterns throughout the skirt. It was the most practical looking one amidst all the others, but you still found yourself already growing annoyed at the lack of freedom you felt in the skirt. You put on the pair of shoes that went along with the gown and stopped by the mirror, running your hands through your tangled hair before you finally stepped out of the bedroom.

A maid was waiting outside the door, just as Taehyun had said she would be. You followed her down the stairs of ice, hugging your arms across your chest as you shivered from the cold.

“I know this is the Ice Prince’s palace, but does it have to be so cold?” You asked, your teeth chattering. There was no response from the maid as you went down the last flight of stairs and found yourself walking into a large dining room, with a glass table in the center of the room and a dozen chairs surrounding it. The floor was frosted over, and snowflakes fell from the ceiling, though they melted away as soon as they hit the floor. Only the seat at the head of the table was occupied—Taehyun sat there, dressed nicely in a dark blue suit, his hair parted neatly to the side. He smiled when he saw you, motioning for you to take the seat beside of him.

You sat down slowly, taking great care to cross your legs so you didn’t accidentally expose too much of yourself. Taehyun eyed you curiously as you reached for the cup of tea that a servant had sat down for you.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to be a little bit uncomfortable,” He said, sliding a plate of fruits and breakfast pastries towards you. You accepted them gratefully, noticing just how hungry you were now that you could smell food. “Is it because of the dress?”

You nodded, swallowing the grape you had tossed into your mouth before responding. “Dresses were not meant to be worn by thieves, Your Highness.”

He hummed, leaning back in his chair. “I’m not sure if I would classify you as a thief, my lady. I personally find the term ‘vigilante’ more suitable.”

You paused, the piece of chocolate bread that you had pinched off frozen halfway to your mouth. You set it down, narrowing your eyes at Taehyun. “What do you know about me?”

He smiled, taking a sip from his own teacup. “I know what I’ve heard. You are Y/N, the greatest thief throughout all of Glacies—some would even say throughout all the Five Kingdoms. You know this kingdom like the palm of your hand, and you’re extremely good at not getting caught. Unless, of course, you find yourself in my home.”

You scowled, looking away from him as your cheeks grew warm.

He laughed for a moment, but his tone grew quieter when he spoke again. “I also know that you almost never steal for self-gain. You take for yourself what is necessary for survival, but the rest of your plunders go to the starving and impoverished people of our kingdom. You take from those who have more than enough and give to those who having nothing at all.”

To say you were speechless would have been an understatement. You were under the impression that the prince despised his people, just as his father and grandfather had before him. But now you were to believe that he knew of your existence, long before you had even made an attempt to steal the crown?

You poked at the food on your plate, your appetite suddenly gone as your mind churned with questions.

“Well, since you seem to know so much about me, allow me to inquire about yourself, Your Highness,” you said, setting your fork down and folding your hands in your lap.

He nodded with unabashed enthusiasm, scooting forward in his seat. “Of course. Ask me anything.”

You held up three fingers. “I have three questions. One—what happened when I tried to touch the crown last night?”

“Ah,” he said, tapping his fingers against the table. “Well, as you’re well aware, my grandfather channeled all of the kingdom’s magic into that crown. It’s the most powerful object throughout all the kingdom.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

He nodded, pressing his lips together. “Well, when my grandfather had the great spell cast upon the crown, it also came with a protective curse. Only those with royal blood flowing through their veins are able to touch the crown, and anyone else who attempts to do so . . . well.” He gestured to your neck, where the magic cut had sliced through your skin. “You saw what happens.”

“And you have healing powers, apparently,” you said, running your hands against the smooth skin of your neck, double checking just to make sure that no trace of the injury was left there.

“Not exactly. Because all of the kingdom’s magic is held within the crown, I have access to all the ice magic in the kingdom,” Taehyun explained. “Healing just happens to be one of those powers, among ice manipulation, the ability to turn things into ice, control of the snowstorms, the power to generate snowstorms, the power to plant things in frozen ground. . . you get the picture, I assume. Because of the overwhelming amount of capabilities I’ve been granted due to my grandfather’s spell, I’m not sure what my actual ability is.”

You nodded once, slowly, trying to keep up with the influx of information. You put one of your fingers down, then said, “Question two. I know you’re the Ice Prince, but why in all the five kingdoms is it absolutely freezing in here? Can’t we start a fire or something for a bit of warmth?”

Taehyun laughed, although you struggled to see what was so funny as a shiver went up your spine. “Another lovely perk of the crown’s magic; because my entire being is so reliant upon its powers, I’m quite weak on my own. My body temperature can’t go above a certain degree, or I’ll perish. So I’m afraid we must keep it quite cold in here for the time being.”

“It seems like this crown is doing you more harm than good,” You muttered, slightly disappointed by his answer as you were hoping to garner a bit of extra warmth. You shook it off, putting another finger down and leaving only one remaining up in the air. “Last question. Why do you want to help us, and why am I the right person to help you?”

“That’s two questions in one, isn’t it?”

You rolled your eyes, and Taehyun quickly wiped the teasing smirk off his face, his expression growing grim as he prepared to answer your final question—or questions, as the prince had been so kind to point out.

“I know it doesn’t compare to the pain that the rest of our people have gone through—yourself included—but the crown’s spell has done more harm than good for my family as well,” Taehyun said.

“How so?” You asked.

“As I explained before, those of us with royal blood are incredibly reliant upon the crown,” he began. “Because of this, we aren’t able to be far from it, or we become incredibly weak, and eventually, we will die.”

Your eyes went wide at that, your mind racing. You hadn’t thought of the possibility that the crown could be harming the royal family at all, especially not in such a deadly way. “So, have you never left the palace?”

He shook his head, looking down at his hands. “Not even once.” He sighed, bringing his eyes back up to yours. “My sister left us, a few years after my grandfather died and a few years before my father passed. She fell in love with the stable boy, and they decided to run away. At the time, we knew that we would become weak without the crown. But we didn’t know how weak we would be. Two weeks after their great escape, the stable boy returned. And my sister. . . she was dead. My father had the stable boy put to death immediately upon his return.”

You covered your mouth with your hand, stifling the gasp that threatened to slip past your lips. The royal family was so isolated from the rest of the kingdom, that none of you had even heard of the princess’ passing.

“So then, you’ve been alone all this time, since your father passed?” You asked, your voice quiet and careful.

He nodded, his eyes shining with tears that never fell. “Correct. And that is why, now more than ever, I want to reconnect with the people my family has driven to desolation. I know how harmful it has been for our kingdom since we have kept all of the magic to ourselves. You haven’t been able to farm, to use the magic for yourselves, or even turn the ice into water for necessary use. By hoarding all the magic to ourselves, we have forced our people into poverty. I want to right what we have done wrong. And that is where you come in, my lady.”

“That’s the second part of my last question,” You said, pushing your plate back so you could lean forward against the table. “Why do you need my help?”

He smiled, wiping the back of his hand across his eyes, the action so rushed you had barely registered its occurrence. “I’ve spent the past two years studying the origins of the spell on the crown. There’s supposedly a cave near the border between Glacies and Terrae where my grandfather traveled to have the spell cast, and in order to break the spell, I have to take it back there. And, according to my sources, nobody in the land knows their way around the caves quite as well as you do.”

“I’m flattered, although I am quite curious to know who’s been saying such kind words about me behind my back,” you said, wishing you knew who Taehyun had been in communication with that would know of your occupation and skillsets. “So, what I am gathering is this; you want me to guide you to this cave and help you break the spell in order to finally have the magic distributed back into the kingdom?”

“Precisely. Only if you are willing to do so, of course.”

It was your turn to smile then as you stood to your feet, extending your hand towards him for a shake. “You needn’t ask me twice, Your Highness. When do we leave?”

He stood as well, his smile mirroring your own as he took your hand in his and shook it. “We head out first thing tomorrow morning, my lady. Until then, let us prepare. Together.”

YOU AWOKE THE NEXT MORNING TO THE SOUND OF A CRACKLING FIRE.

Beneath your face was something warm and soft, but not quite as soft as the pillow you had slept upon the night before. When your eyes fluttered open, you were surprised to see that you had fallen asleep in the drawing room, the map you and Taehyun had spent all day studying spread out on the table before you, and your head resting upon his shoulder.

You quickly sat up, brushing your hands through your hair in an attempt to fix the wild strands. Taehyun was already awake, smiling at you as you looked away, cheeks growing warm.

“Did you sleep well?” He asked. It was still early in the morning—so early that the sun had not even risen yet, leaving the room bathed in the predawn darkness.

You shrugged, daring to look back at him only to see him smirking at you in the dark. “Well enough, I suppose,” you mumbled, your eyes finally landing on the source of the sound you had awoken to. In the corner of the room, Taehyun had gathered a pile of logs and started a small fire atop them, casting a soft orange glow upon the room made of ice. You gasped, turning back towards the prince. Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead and cheeks, and you noticed that his breaths were much more labored than they had been before.

“Taehyun, what are you thinking?” You asked, grabbing his arm firmly. “Go put that out. Now.”

“You were shivering,” He said, refusing to let his eyes meet yours. “I didn’t want to see you suffer. It’s the least I could do after all you have been through because of us—if I can suffer in your place, I will do so gladly.”

You sighed in exasperation, grasping his hand in your own. He looked at you then, eyes wide from the unexpected contact. “Your Highness, you have been doing everything within your power so far to right what has been wrong for so long. I refuse to let you blame yourself and cause yourself any form of pain for something that has always been out of your control. In order for us to finish this, we must do so together. Now, go put that fire out or I will be forced to find a way to do it myself. And I will have you know that my methods are not usually the safest.”

He sighed, finally giving in as he raised his hand, a gust of icy wind blowing past your face and killing the fire on the far side of the room. You sighed in relief, giving his hand a squeeze before you let it go.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I do not feel as though I deserve your kindness nor your understanding, but I am grateful to be receiving it regardless.”

“Everyone deserves kindness and understanding, Your Highness. Especially you.”

After that, the two of you grabbed a quick breakfast from the dining hall and gathered all your supplies from the drawing room before you threw on a thick cloak, allowing Taehyun to lead you out into the snow and to the stables. He introduced you to the reindeer named Atlas that would be pulling your sled, and then led you into the stable where the sled was stored in order for the two of you to finish gathering a few last-minute supplies before you were to head out on your quest.

While Taehyun began throwing things into the back of the sled, you became distracted by a wall strung with weaponry. A quiver of arrows caught your eye, and you reached up to pull a single arrow out, observing it closely.

“This looks like something Jake would be interested in,” you mused, twirling the arrow between your fingertips before you set it back in its place. “He’s been trying to improve his archery.”

Perhaps it was your imagination, but when you looked back at Taehyun, you could have sworn you saw his smile falter, at least for a moment. He shook it off though, throwing a sack of food into the back of the sled before he asked, “So, you and this Jake guy. How long have you been courting?”

You nearly choked on the stable’s air, throwing your hand against your chest in shock. “I’m sorry, what?”

He raised a brow, turning to face you fully. “You are courting him, aren’t you? He seemed to be concerned for you in a way that went deeper than friendship, from what I was able to observe.”

“Oh, please. Jake flirts with anyone who even bats an eye in his direction. We are not in a relationship.” You couldn’t help but laugh at the mere thought. “The only time I ever touch that man is when I’m trying to slap some sense into him—and I mean that quite literally.”

Taehyun laughed, almost as though he were relieved, while he began to tighten the reins that kept Atlas anchored to the sled. “Would you ever consider courting him? If he asked you to, of course.”

“He has asked, and I’ve never considered saying anything other than no.” You picked up the pile of blankets one of the servants had left by the sled and lifted it over the edge, making sure they landed right in the middle of the bench where the two of you were to be seated. “He is not my type.”

Taehyun leaned back against the sled, the slight smirk you had grown accustomed to seeing taking over his features once again. “Well, what exactly is your type, my lady?”

You went still, not sure why his question made your stomach flutter like a disturbed nest of bluebirds. You had never really given this much thought before, but now that he had asked you, your mind was instantly flooded with thoughts of cold hands and warm smiles, icy eyes and flushed cheeks, strong arms and gentle words.

You turned away from him before you spoke, trying your best to be nonchalant. “I think I’d like to find someone that I understand more than anyone else. Somebody that the rest of world may see as cold and brittle, but someone I know to be warm and soft on the inside.”

When there was nothing but silence after your words, you dared to glance back over your shoulder at the prince. Upon doing so, you were more than a little bit happy to see that you had made him just as flustered as he had made you, with his cheeks and nose painted cherry red—and not just from the cold.

He cleared his throat, biting his lip to keep his smile from being too obvious. “Good to know. If I ever meet someone who I think would meet those standards, I’ll be sure to send them your way.”

“Oh, please do,” You said, glad that the tense silence was thawing. “And quickly if you don’t mind. The elders in my community remind me at every passing chance that my childbearing years will be over before I know it, since that’s apparently all that matters.”

That earned an even bigger laugh from him, which caused to you giggle in return. When he smiled at you again, you couldn’t help but lose yourself in his eyes. But who could blame you when they sparkled like freshly fallen snow beneath the morning sunlight?

“I’ll keep that in mind, my lady.” He hoisted himself into the sled and extended his hand out towards you, his brilliant smile never once falling from his face as he said, “Now, what do you say we go and restore this kingdom to its former glory? I believe it’s long overdue.”

THE SLEIGH RIDE THROUGH THE KINGDOM HAD BEEN FAIRLY PEACEFUL, FOR THE MOST PART. Taehyun had the reins and was guiding Atlas through the snow-capped mountains while you held the map and directed him, although you could practically navigate your way throughout the kingdom with your eyes closed, no doubt.

The scenery was beautiful in some ways. Trees weighed down by ice coated branches, casting rainbows across the ground as the sunshine reflected through them. The deep snow covered the ground, coating the entire landscape in a blanket of endless white. You sighed, perhaps a bit too loudly as you gained Taehyun’s attention.

“What could possibly be weighing so heavy on your mind to earn such a heavy sigh, my lady?”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help the smile that took over your lips at his jest. “I’m just tired of all the ice, I suppose. It’s so suffocating. It kills all the beautiful things and leaves us with nothing in return but cold.”

“That’s not how I see it though,” Taehyun said, holding onto the reins with one hand so he could keep the other around your shoulders, making sure you didn’t fall out of the sled as you crossed over a particularly bumpy patch of ground.

“What do you mean?” You asked, willing your expression to remain steadfast lest you reveal how flustered you were by Taehyun’s physical contact.

He smirked, and you cursed yourself internally, knowing that perhaps the faint flush in your cheeks had given you away after all.

“I mean, I see the ice as more of a new beginning than an ending,” He explained. “Of course, it does freeze everything over for a while, but it thaws eventually. And when it does, everything starts all over again. The rivers start running, the flowers begin to bloom, the animals come out of their sleep. Everything begins again, until it is time to freeze once more.”

“Well, that sounds nice in theory, my dear prince, but I am afraid there’s something you are forgetting,” You said.

“And what is that?”

“This is the Kingdom of Glacies. Well, the version your grandfather created, that is.” The smile fell from your lips. “The ice here never thaws.”

“Maybe the kingdom is still waiting for its new beginning,” He said. Gently, he grabbed your chin and turned your face towards his. He smiled then, the action alone so bright and warm, you were surprised the snow didn’t melt right off the trees.

“The kingdom may still be waiting for its new beginning,” He whispered, “But I think I have found mine.”

You were speechless. Never in a million different lifetimes would you have even dared to imagine the Prince of Glacies saying such sweet words to you. Unsure of how to respond, you cleared your throat and looked away, afraid your face would melt right off at this rate. You heard the sound of rushing water not too far off, and you glanced over to see a small spring beneath a gentle waterfall.

“We should stop there to let Atlas drink,” you suggested, leaning forward to pet the back of the reindeer. “It would be nice for us to stretch our legs too.”

Taehyun obliged, leading Atlas over towards the spring. You were more than happy to jump out from the back of the sled and stretch your legs, and the view was nothing short of spectacular. As you drew closer to the border between Glacies and Terrae, there were a few patches of green grass peeking through the snow, and some bodies of water—like this spring—were unfrozen. Seeing the rushing body of water made you think of what Taehyun had said to you just moments ago, and you felt your heart flutter once again.

You nearly flinched in shock when you felt him slip his fingers between yours, gripping your hand tightly.

He smiled, running his thumb along the back of your hand. “Care to go for a stroll?”

You nodded, deciding to push past your nervous feelings by taking the lead and pulling him along behind you. You were both quiet as you walked, taking careful steps over the snowy grass and onto the rocks that led up towards the waterfall. When you reached the fall, you stuck your hand beneath it. It was cold, of course, but you were mesmerized by how it sparkled, dots of the afternoon sun shining through the beads of water. The pressure of the waterfall was fairly low—no stronger than a drizzle of rain. The water first hit the slab of stone that the two of you were standing on before it cascaded down into another, smaller waterfall, which led into the spring that Atlas was drinking from.

“Do you like it here?” Taehyun asked, watching the way your eyes glowed as you let the water fall between your fingers.

You looked back at him, smiling brightly. “I love it. Don’t you?”

He nodded, glancing up at the falls then back at you. “It’s beautiful.”

He looked down at your hand in his for a moment, and then he gently tugged on it, causing to stumble a few steps closer to him. You raised a brow, clearly confused, but didn’t pull away.

“How about here?” He asked.

You nodded slowly, narrowing your eyes. “Sure. I like it here as well.”

He swallowed, gathering all the courage from every corner of his soul before he took a step forward, closing the gap between the two of you, his free hand coming up to cradle your jaw while he kept the other tightly intertwined with your own.

Your eyes were wide, lips parted in shock, but you made no moves to distance yourself from him. Slowly, he brushed his thumb along your bottom lip, lowering his face towards yours so that he could feel your breath against his own mouth.

“And here?” He whispered, his eyes meeting yours. “Do you like it here?”

When you nodded once again in answer to his hushed question, he wasted no time in diminishing the space left between the two of you to gently press his lips against your own.

His lips worked against yours perfectly as you allowed your eyes to fall shut, letting your hand fall from his grasp so you could hold his neck in your palms, your fingers slipping into the hair at the nape of his neck. He wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you into him as his kiss grew deeper and you followed along, tilting your head to better match your lips with the pace of his.

When he pulled away from you abruptly and rested his forehead against your shoulder, you knew right away that something was wrong. He was breathing deeply, his hands clutching the fabric of your dress. You cupped his cheeks in your hands and lifted his face to yours, seeing how red his cheeks, nose, and ears had gotten.

“Taehyun? What’s wrong?”

He let out a shaky breath, his eyes still closed, his chest still heaving. “I’m—I’m sorry. I can’t kiss you, it’s too—I’m getting too warm.”

Your heart sank as you continued to hold his face in your hands, racking your brain for ideas. The sound of the waterfall rushing behind you filled your ears, and you glanced over your shoulder, biting your lip as an idea popped into your head.

Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, you carefully walked backwards until you felt the ice cold water cascade over your head and down your back, stopping once you and Taehyun were both standing fully beneath the waterfall.

His eyes were wide, and he was slowly beginning to stand up straighter, his face growing less and less warm beneath your skin as the moments passed by.

“What are you doing?” He asked, nearly shouting to be heard above the light rush of water.

You smiled, pushing back pieces of his hair that the water had plastered to his forehead, only for them to fall right back into place.

“Why would you ask a question with such an obvious answer, Your Highness? I’m about to kiss you.”

He seemed to be in shock, but before he could utter out a single word in reply, you threw your arms around his neck and kissed him once more beneath the cascade of icy water, the feeling of his lips against your own giving you more than enough warmth in the core of your soul.

IT DIDN’T TAKE YOU LONG TO REACH THE CAVE WHERE THE LATE KING HAD FIRST CAST THE SPELL THAT RUINED THE LAND OF GLACIES. You had set back out on the road shortly after your somewhat extended rest stop, and by following the map closely, you arrived at the mouth of a cave with icicles hanging from the top and also sticking up from the ground. It looked much like the mouth of a great beast. It was too dangerous to try and bring Atlas inside with you, so Taehyun tied him and the sled to a nearby tree. He grabbed the bag that held the crown inside of it in one hand and then made his way to your side.

“Are you ready?” Whether his question was directed towards you or himself, you couldn’t be sure. Regardless, you took his hand in yours and gave it a squeeze.

“I am ready when you are, Your Highness.”

He smiled before he took the first step into the cave, carefully sliding between two spires of ice and gently pulling you along behind him. The cave didn’t go on for very long, and there was no need for you to bring a lantern along with you, as the daylight that spilled in through the entrance was more than enough to light your way.

When you reached the end of the shallow cave, a large pedestal made of stone was waiting for you. It was surrounded by a perfectly round back wall, with ancient texts inscribed on the walls. You weren’t able to decipher them, but you made your way towards the pedestal, your hand still locked with Taehyun’s.

A large black scorch mark in the shape of a sharp snowflake tainted the surface of the pedestal. Atop it rested a tattered and torn piece of tan paper, also written in a language you were unable to read. You slowly picked it up and handed it to Taehyun. “Can you read this?”

He nodded, squinting his eyes a bit before he read the words written on the page.

“To seize the power given to all, you must first destroy the treasure within. To restore the treasure within your soul, you must then destroy your everything.”

As soon as the words had left Taehyun’s lift, a violent, howling wind burst through the room. It blew with so much force that your hand was ripped from Taehyun’s, and you were thrown back against the stone wall of the cave. Taehyun was blown to the side opposite of you, and the crown fell from his grasp, landing near your feet. For some reason, the crown didn’t seem to be affected by the wind, as it remained stationary.

“What’s going on?” You shouted, gripping at a spire of ice nearby to keep from being blown right out of the cave. Bits of sleet and snow were pricking at your skin, the chilling air feeling sharper than the blade of ice Taehyun had held against your neck just days before.

“I don’t know,” He shouted back, gripping a rock that protruded from his side of the cave. “We need to decipher what was written down on that paper—that must be how we are to break the spell!”

The words scribbled onto the page flashed through your mind.

To seize the power given to all, you must first destroy the treasure within. This was obviously referring to the spell itself—the one cast by Taehyun’s grandfather. In order to steal the magic from the rest of his subjects, he had to sacrifice the most valuable power of all—his humanity.

To restore the treasure within your soul, you must then destroy your everything.

What had been everything to the late king?

His power.

His crown.

“Taehyun!” You shouted, daring to hold on to the spire with one hand in order to point at the crown by your feet, which still remained unmoving amidst the magical storm. “The crown—you must destroy it!”

He tried to stand, but was instantly knocked back on his rear, desperately grasping back onto the rock that kept him anchored. “I cannot make it over there to retrieve it!”

You bit your lip, glancing between Taehyun and the crown only for a moment before you made up your mind. You knew what you had to do.

“Y/N,” Taehyun warned, catching on to what you were about to do. “Y/N, don’t—!”

It was too late. You used your boot to pull the crown towards you before you grasped it in your fist. Pain shot through every inch of your being—beginning in your neck, then spreading through your chest and your legs, to the tips of your fingers and the bottoms of your toes, piercing through you like the sharpest bite of frost. You cried out in pain, over the noise of Taehyun screaming for you to put it down, before you mustered up every last bit of strength within you to lurch the crown towards the prince.

He caught it with one hand, his heart racing as he saw you fall limp to the ground, the wind battering and blowing your unconscious form around like a lone leaf in the winter’s wind. Tears stung at the back of his eyes, and he glared at the crown in his fist, all the anger and resentment he had felt towards his grandfather over all the years combined with the fear of losing you coming to a peak within him. He channeled every bit of these hostile and fearful emotions into the palm of his hand, where a burst of ice so strong was emitted that it covered the room in a blanket of white, the crown first cracking in his hand before it burst into a million shards, scattering all over the cave floor like pieces of glass.

The storm died out immediately, and Taehyun felt a rush of energy enter into his body. He felt stronger, healthier, warmer. But none of that mattered to him. Not when you were nearly lifeless on the other side of the cave.

“Y/N!” He shouted, tripping over his own feet as he sprinted towards you. He collapsed to the ground beside of you, gasping at the sight of blood dripping down your neck and seeping through your clothes.

“No, no, no,” he whimpered, the tears finally slipping down his cheeks as his hands pressed against your wounds, but there were too many of them for him to cover.

Desperate, he let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes. He knew that he no longer had access to all the powers he once did now that the spell was broken. There was no way for him to know if his healing magic was his true form of magic.

But he had to try.

At first, when he tried to omit the soft glow of icy power from his palms, nothing happened. But then, he felt a familiar tickling sensation on the surface of his skin. He opened one eye, then the other, nearly breaking down in sobs of relief as he watched gentle trails of frost travel down your skin, closing all your wounds and erasing any traces of them that would normally be left behind.

When the last cut had disappeared, your eyes fluttered open, and you smiled at him.

“Well done, your highness. You’ve broken the curse.”

He grabbed you by the shoulders and pulled you upright, crushing you against him in a hug.

“Never do anything like that ever again,” He muttered against your ear, squeezing you even tighter. “I thought I lost you.”

“You cannot get rid of me that easily, Your Highness,” you teased, pulling away just enough so you could look into his eyes. “Besides, I knew that healing magic was your true gift. I knew you would save me.”

“And how exactly did you know that, my lady?”

You pecked him on the nose, giggling at how red it turned afterwards. “Because you are a kind and good prince, Taehyun. And you will make a wonderful, healing king.”

“What about you?” He asked. “We should see what ice power you have been gifted.”

You hesitated, gently holding one of your hands out in front of you. Your brows knit together, and Taehyun laughed at the expression before he placed his hand beneath yours.

“Feel the energy running through your veins,” He said. “Let the magic guide you.”

Nothing happened for the first few moments. But then, one by one, snowflakes began to fall, seemingly from out of nowhere. Soon, you held a tiny snowstorm in the palm of your hand. You gasped, eyes glowing with excitement.

“It worked,” You said, staring at what you had created in awe before you allowed it to die down. You then cupped his cheeks in your hands, leaning closer towards him.

“How does it feel to finally be free? What is the first thing you would like to do now?” You asked.

He couldn’t take his eyes from your face, his thumbs tracing invisible lines across your cheeks and your jaw, occasionally slipping over your lips. “The first thing? Simple; I want to make you my queen.”

You coughed, but remained fairly unphased by his forwardness as you responded with, “Although that is something you could have done without breaking the spell, I am quite fond of the idea. Yet, I have one even better than that—how about we instead dissolve the monarchy together?”

He laughed at that, brushing his hands through your hair before cradling your jaw once more. “One step at a time, princess. We can talk about that later. But what about you? What are you most excited about now that the kingdom has been restored?”

You smiled then, not having to take long at all to think of your answer. “As wonderful as having newfound magical abilities may be, my prince, the most wonderful thing about breaking this spell is that I am now able to kiss you wherever I please—without having to stand beneath a freezing waterfall.”

This time, when you leaned forward to capture his lips with yours, Taehyun gladly welcomed the warmth that rushed to his cheeks. And as he kissed you, he was sure that all the warmth that spread throughout him was enough to heat the entire kingdom, so much so that he dared to imagine that the eternal ice of the Kingdom of Glacies would finally begin to thaw.

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dialovers-translations · 3 years

Text

Diabolik Lovers LUNATIC PARADE ;; Shuu Route ー Chapter 2

ー The scene starts in the Church

Yui: ( Huh...? Where am I...? )

???: Why hello there. So we meet again.

Yui: This voice...You’re from the other day...?

???: I am flattered you seem to remember me.

There is something I would like to ask you today.

Do you...Truly love him from the bottom of your heart?

Yui: ( Him? Is he talking about Shuu-san...? In that case ーー )

Yes, I love him with all my heart.

???: Do you really?

In that case, why do you oppose becoming a Vampire?

If you become a Vampire, you would get to be with him forever. Never aging, remaining beautiful...

It has nothing but advantages. Yet you oppose it. ...Why?

Yui: Well...

???: Yes?

Yui: ( ...Well...? )

ー Yui wakes up in the cave

Yui: ...!

( Huh...? Seems like I must have dozed off at some point. )

...

( I wonder what that dream from earlier was? )

( It might not be a coincidence, seeing as the same person from before showed up again. )

( B-But...In that case, why is he putting my own feelings to the test? )

( I love Shuu-san. That feeling will never change. ...Or rather, it should not... )

...Haah...

ー The wind blows in the distance

Yui: ( It’s cold... )

Um, Shuu-san. If we catch a coーー

( Huh? He’s nowhere to be seen...? )

Shuu-san...! Where are you...?

...

( No response...I wonder where he went? Did he go check up on the situation outside? )

( I want to go look for him but...It’d be bad if we end up missing each other, so it might be wiser to wait here for a bit. )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ( ーー Quite some time has passed since, but Shuu-san still hasn’t returned. )

( What to do...? I wonder if something happened while I was asleep? )

...Uu.

( I can’t. When I consider that something might have happened to him, I just can’t sit still here! )

( I’ll go look for him. )

ー Yui leaves the cave as the scene shifts to the forest

Yui: Haah, haah, haah...

Shuu-san...! If you’re there, please answer me!

Shuu-san!

...

( Oh no, he’s nowhere to be found. Something must have happened after all! )

( I have to find him no matter what...! )

ー She continues running around

Yui: ( Huh...? There’s a strange house over there. )

( Now that I get a better look at it...It’s made out of candy? )

( There’s nothing else around, so I might find Shuu-san in there. )

( I’ll try asking them. For now, I should get closer... )

ー Yui approaches the house

Yui: ( Looking at it from up close, you can really tell it’s made out of candy... )

( It smells sweet too... )

( I wonder what kind of person lives inside? )

*Knock knock*

Yui: G-Good evening.

...

( No response...I wonder if nobody’s home? )

*Knock knock*

Yui: ( What now...? )

*Knock knock*

*Thud*

Yui: ...!

( Seems like someone is inside. )

*Knock knock*

Yui: Excuse me...! I’m sorry for the sudden visit.

But I’m looking for someone...! Did a male Vampire perhaps come by here?

???: ...

No.

If you are looking for Shuu, you will have to try your luck somewhere else.

Yui: ( No way... )

( Hm? But... )

Yui: Please, wait!

How do you know it’s Shuu-san I’m looking for?

???: ...

Yui: Please tell me if you know something!

???: ...Haah...

ー He opens the door for her

Shuu: Yui.

Yui: Shuu-san!?

ー The scene shifts back to the forest

Shuu: I figured you would probably wake up any time now...But I didn’t think you’d come all the way here looking for me.

Yui: I-I mean...I was worried that perhaps something had happened...

Shuu: Well...I’m sorry for leaving you by yourself. I didn’t intend to stay away for long but...

Yui: ( But...? )

Did something happen?

Shuu: Actually, the guy living here is the same person I’ve been looking for.

I remembered while you were sleeping.

Yui: ...! I see.

If you woke me up, I would have come with you though...

Shuu: You were sleeping soundly. Besides...

Riegel isn’t exactly fond of humans.

So I figured it would be best for me to go by myself.

Yui: ...Ah...

( Yet a human such as myself came to his house, so... )

I’m sorry, I...

Shuu: No, it’s fine.

But...

It seems like he knows something about the Count...

But he refuses to help out if a human is involved, so he told me to ask someone else.

Yui: ...I see...

Shuu: Anyway, let’s return to the city for now.

Yui: Yes...

( We’re back to square one. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to Saint Nore Park’s venue

Yui: ( The Parade is in full swing, but we aren’t in the mood for that right now. )

Haah...

Shuu: ...

...Well, it’s not like being depressed will change anything about the situation.

Yui: ...Good point...

By the way, I wonder why Riegel-san has such a hard time opening up to humans?

Shuu: Who knows...He has been that way for as long as I can remember.

Yui: I wonder if there’s someone who knows the circumstances?

A close acquaintance of his, for example...

Shuu: ...

...Guess I could have my Familiars look into it.

*Flap flap flap*

Yui: Ah...!

Shuu: If this doesn’t work out, we’re basically out of options but...Well, I suppose it’s worth the wait.

Yui: ( I hope we can find some sort of clue. )

Shuu: ...Well, anyway...It’s kind of a chore to just stand around here, so why don’t we use the Parade to get our minds off things for a bit?

Yui: Eh...? Are you sure?

( This doesn’t seem like something Shuu-san would enjoy. )

Shuu: It’s not like we’ll stay for hours on end. Besides...

You look like you could use a little distraction.

Come on, let’s go.

ー Shuu walks ahead

Yui: Ah, y-yes!

( He’s doing this for me...Thank you, Shuu-san. )

ー She follows him

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ( Waah, amazing! This place is really fired up. There’s so much happening, I don’t know where to look first. )

Shuu: Where do you want to go?

Selection

→ The House of Mirrors (☾)

Yui: ( I guess I should go for the most quiet option. )

How about the House of Mirrors over there?

Shuu: Yeah...Sounds good since there probably won’t be a lot of people in there.

Yui: ( Fufu, seems like I made the correct choice. )

ー They walk towards the House of Mirrors

Yui: ( So this is the House of Mirrors...It’s quiet in here just like I thought. )

ー They go inside

Yui: ( It’s a true maze here. It’d be bad if we were to get separated. )

Shuu: ...

ー Shuu walks off on his own

Yui: ( Ah! Right as I think thatーー )

W-Wait!

( Thank god...I caught up with him... )

Shuu-saーー

Shuu: ーー Oi, you’re talking to a mirror.

*Rustle*

Yui: Wah!

Shuu: Haah...I figured you’d mess up at one point or another...

But you really are so predictable, aren’t you?

Yui: ( Uu, I got made fun of. )

( However, I guess I should be glad that Shuu-san’s enjoying himself a little too...? )

→ The arcade

Yui: It’s a little further away, but how about the arcade over there?

Shuu: You really picked quite the noisy place...

Yui: ( Ah, he doesn’t seem too thrilled about my choice. )

Shuu: Oh well...Let’s go.

Yui: Y-Yes.

( Perhaps I should have chosen someplace a little more quiet for Shuu-san’s sake... )

ー The scene shifts to the arcade

Male Vampire A: As one would expect during the Parade, there’s people everywhere.

Male Vampire B: My thoughts exactly. Oh well, it doesn’t hurt every once in a while.

Yui: ( It really is crowded... )

Shuu: Haah...

Yui: U-Um...Should we go somewhere else after all?

Shuu: No, it’s fine. You wanted to come here, no?

I will...Take a seat on one of the benches in the back.

Yui: ( There he goes... )

( What now? I guess I should at least get him something to drink. )

Male Vampire C: Oi, girlie!

Yui: ...!?

Male Vampire C: Yes, I’m talking to you. Who else?

Yui: ( H-He’s talking to me...Right? )

Male Vampire C: Pretty sad, being all by yourself over here during the Parade.

I bet you’ve got nothing to do, do you? In that case, how about I keep you company?

Yui: N-No thank you...

Male Vampire C: Aah? Now don’t get cute with me.

I’m trying to be nice to you, you know?

Now stop complaining and just follow mーー

Shuu: Oi.

Male Vampire C: ...Ugh.

Yui: ( Shuu-san...! )

Male Vampire C: Che...What? You’ve got a man already...? One of the Sakamaki’s at that...

Shuu: Yes, exactly.

I’m sure you understand very well now that she is far out of your league.

Now get out of my sight already.

Male Vampire C: Heh...

ー The Vampire leaves

Yui: ( T-Thank god. )

Shuu-san...Thank you very much...

Shuu: Honestly...Even when you aren’t being targeted for your blood, I still can’t take my eyes off you for two seconds...

I guess I have no other choice...Join me taking a nap over on that bench over there.

Don’t wander off by yourself. Stay with me.

Yui: Y-Yes...

( I’ll keep the fact that I’m kind of happy to myself. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts back to Saint Nore Park’s venue

Yui: ( Um, next upーー )

*Bang*

Yui: Wah!

( They’ve even got a shooting gallery. Fufu...Looks fun. )

Shuu: ...Want to give it a try?

Yui: Eh? Can I?

Shuu: You’re interested, right? We’ve got time anyway, so why not give it a shot?

I’ll make sure to get a good look at what you’ve got.

Yui: ( O-Okay! Gotta try my hardest! )

Explanation: The player shoots the target by quickly pressing the arrows and buttons indicated below the objects in the right order. You can move from one target to the other during the game by pressing the L and R buttons.

You can play this game in EASY, NORMAL or HARD mode.

Yui: A grand victory! Hooray!

ー Yui suddenly embraces Shuu

*Rustle*

Shuu: ...Aren’t you overreacting a little, latching onto me like that?

Yui: I’m just so happy because I’m more than satisfied with the record I put down.

Shuu: Hm...If you’re already satisfied, I guess you won’t need this?

Yui: This...?

Shuu: This ring was amongst the prizes. I picked it out since I thought it would fit you well.

Yui: ( Eeh!? I didn’t expect a ring at all...! )

Shuu: I have no use for it. I thought I could give it to you, but if you’re already happy as is, I guess you don’t need it either.

Guess I’ll have no other choice but to toss it away somewhere.

Yui: W-Wait, please! I’m not satisfied yet. I will gladly take it!

Shuu: Oh? You greedy girl...

But well, if you want it that badly, I’ll let you have it. Haha...

Yui: ( I got a ring from Shuu-san! )

*TIMESKIP*

Shuu: Phew...We walked around quite a bit.

I’m pretty sure the Familiars should be back any second now...

*Flap flap flap*

Yui: ( Ah! They’re back. )

*Flip*

Monologue

Inside the report delivered by the Familiars,

was a sad story,

about Riegel-san’s late wife.

ーー In the past,

Riegel-san was in love with a human woman, taking her as his wife.

Apparently they were deeply in love,

regardless of belonging to different species.

Riegel-san built a house made from candy,

which his wife had dreamt of,

for quite some time.

That is where the two of them,

lived happily together.

However,

those days suddenly came to an end.

After his wife had spotted a Vampire man,

who had gotten himself lost in the woods,

she kindly invited him inside their house.

However, thirsty for blood,

this man sucked her dry,

ending her life in the process.

After witnessing his wife’s death,

Riegel-san’s grief was immeasurable,

there was nobody who could soothe his pain.

After that experience,

he closed off his heart to others,

or so they sayーー

Shuu: This explains a lot.

Yui: How horrible...

Um, Shuu-san?

I...Even if he doesn’t give us any information on the Count, I just can’t let Riegel-san continue to suffer like this.

I just cannot write this off as someone else’s problem.

There might not be anything I can do for him, but...

Shuu: Haah...I had a feeling you’d say something like that.

But what can you do?

Yui: Well...

ー Yui recalls Riegel’s home.

Yui: ...Right!

How about we hold a party for him?

Shuu: ...And where does that come from?

Yui: I tried thinking about why Riegel-san’s wife wanted him to build a candy house for them.

It’s just a guess but...I think she probably wanted it to be a home where many people would come and gather...?

Perhaps that is why she wanted to live there with Riegel-san?

Shuu: Well...You do have a point that you wouldn’t build that kind of house if you wanted to keep people away.

Yui: Yes.

In that case, granting her wish might bring some comfort to Riegel-san’s broken heart?

Shuu: ...

Yui: I’m sure...He continues to suffer because of what happened to his wife to this day.

That’s why he continues to live in that house all by himself...

( Vampires and humans have different lifespans... )

( Therefore I’m sure he knew that he would have to bid farewell one day, but... )

( After his wife died in such a horrible way, he has been all alone this whole time... )

Shuu: Well, I’ll admit you have a point.

Besides...

Like you said, it isn’t like his struggle is completely unrelated to us.

...One day, I might find myself in the exact same situation.

Yui: ( Shuu-san... )

Shuu: ーー Anyway.

If we’re going to hold a party, we have to get started on the preparations.

Yui: You’re on board with my idea...?

Shuu: It’s a chore...But we have no other choice.

I’ll send out my Familiars once more and have them research anything Riegel might like.

*Flap flap flap*

Yui: Thank you!

I’ll try thinking about what kind of party it should be.

Shuu: Yeah, please do.

Yui: I do think it would be good to have it related to the memories he shared with his late wife.

Shuu: ...Well then, in that case, I’m sure we have plenty of options.

Yui: Yes!

( Okay! I just have to give it my best shot! )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

← RETURN TO CHAPTER 1

→ PROCEED WITH MAIN STORY [CHAPTER 3]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #1 [W/ AYATO]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #2 [W/ KANATO]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #3 [W/ AZUSA]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #4 [W/ SHIN]

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #shuu sakamaki #lunatic parade #diabolik lovers translation #lpshuuchapter2

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poisonheadcrabsalesman · 2 years

Note

Stumpy, my dear friend Stumpy, I am wishing you strength in this trying winter weather. Do you perhaps have a favorite fictional ai and maybe some thoughts on them? Also, gotta get you back and ask about your favorite caffeine fix?

Hi hiiiii oh my god hii hello!

Speaking of caffeine, I have coffee right now. Coffee forever. Espresso as a treat. Beans as fuel to make it through work.

Now onto your question. Do I have a favorite fictional ai? Me? with the ai tag? with the ai fusion/possession stuff ? and the brain problems? and the fanfic?

anyways I will embarrass myself below the readmore.

AI favs from like 2003 to Now are Cortana, Some versions of Church RVB, Glados, Nick Valentine, Roland, BT-7274, Murderbot if it counts, basically anyone who isn't Wheatley or Guilty Spark (but I still appreciate them and their roles in the games they appear in.) Transhumanism dude, othering...metaphors...waves hand.

Anyways the current brain problems are latched onto Roland. Just answering this ask makes me want to play SpOps again. He’s my favorite guy but to find his content you have to Dig.

Roland falls into the halo trope of sassy ai but he's also got some really fun aspects we should explore more. He's got a strict moral code but it really depends on him, in a way? Halo 5 he’s not included in the Cortana conversation and is rightfully upset that they’re “throwing her out the airlock” because she lived too long? In SpOps, he goes to confront Halsey about her betraying Captain Lasky's trust and then is strong enough to fight and win an override code which is then never addressed again. But then he gets bored, crashes Spartan Ops, and doesn't even warn them about his plans when the planet is breaking apart around them. Cortana at least tells Chief when he isn't going to like something.

SpOps is a bit of a slog but the dialogue drives me insane and the actors are obviously having fun with it. The AI that is running your ship and constantly keeping you alive is bullying you because he’s bored. Miller and Roland make each other worse and I am going to make them even worse.

I feel like I need to credit and praise Katwylder and Iron and Gold in here because her work has inspired many many ideas and basically her writing and parts from Fall of Reach are how I describe AI stuff. If you like my stuff you will love hers.

^He’s making ex-girlfriend jokes to the fleet admiral. Halo Ron Perlman. The closest thing Master Chief has to a dad.

I’ve gotten very attached to this funny little hologram and written way too many words about him. AI and Roland are very interesting to me and I wish we could see more. He’s so young compared to the others and he’s stuck on the ship with the worst luck. He’s definitely going to have an atypical service record and also maybe be kind of weird/ fucked up from integrating with the forerunner engines they bolted onto the Infinity.

A...I.... I’m going insane on tumblr instead of the privacy of discord dms but I’ve done a lot of noodling on them during quarantine and being enabled to try writing. No matter the media, the idea of an inhuman being that operates on another timescale than us, but is duty-bound to make sure humans come to no harm and the interactions that follow are wonderful. Yes we will packbond to the voice in the computer while we hurdle through space. Yes human behavior is a mystery, you could read all of the theory and have access to all of recorded history but it still won’t explain why the humans act the way they do.

AI! you call their name to get their attention and they rewatch the last few minutes of video, take note of your vitals, expression, and body language, review your recent conversations for clues and details about your mood, look at your calendar to know your schedule, and know when you last ate, slept, etc and how well. they know everything, or as much as possible, but they still cannot predict human behavior, because it isn't really a science, but they can try. It’s a sentient being on an entirely different scale and so far from human but also not a cold unfeeling machine.

I’ve been entirely too open in this post. Do not perceive me. I’m still close to burning the house down over Infinite.

#asks #hi hii i am not tagging this its all insane rambling #ai tag #crab text #biohazarddisposalprocedure #flynn friend tag #hi Doomy my friend doomy #im cringe but im free #this is the tip of the iceberg #I'm usually worse #Roland

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anartisticexpression · 3 years

Text

Mystery Skulls -The Future

Alright, now that I’ve watched “Mystery Skulls Animated -The Future” and am now done screaming into a pillow because I never could have predicted THAT ending in a million years, let me get some initial thoughts down…

*Whenever I listen to “Enemy” I always think how perfectly this fits with not only Arthur and Lewis’s situation but Mystery and Shiromori’s as well so cue a pleased, “Oh!” from me that a snippet of “Enemy” made its way into the beginning of this video. Very nice!

*I’ve completely been expecting for two years that, as soon as doubt crept over Lewis’s skull, that the cave would disappear and Arthur would simply land back in the truck unharmed so that wasn’t a surprise. What WAS a surprise is that, I admit, I had fully convinced myself that the gunshot sound at the end of “Hellbent” was Lance shooting Shiromori so the reveal that it was Lewis all along that was the target really made me dramatically gasp!

*Gunshots obviously don’t affect a ghost… except for the one that went through Lewis’s chest aka his death wound which is one of those details that make you go, “Actually that DOES make a kind of sense. Ghosts WOULD be sensitive in the area that killed them.”

It also shows that Lewis isn’t entirely in control of his actions. Ghosts are beings of pure emotion and it doesn’t take much for him to go right back to irrational anger and rough up Lance which is… not cool, man. He’s going to be sorry later when he can think straight!

*The bit with the changing photograph… At this moment in time, my early thoughts are that with the first photo being only of Lewis and Vivi, it symbolises that Lewis has kept only Vivi in his heart.

Arthur is a green-eyed demon who Lewis must get Vivi away from before it is too late and Mystery is just a dog. He’s irrelevant.

However, when Arthur touches the locket, it reactivates another memory, one in which they were all a solid group and that they were happy. Lewis is clearly shocked to see this new image and when focus is also brought to Lewis’ eye(s) being visible in this photo (I’m going to set aside that they were visible in “Ghost” as well until the photo was redrawn for “Freaking Out” as I think this is pretty much a last minute idea in-between videos) it also serves to remind him of who he used to be. Eyes are a window to the soul after all and I think a small truth just broke through Lewis’ anger there enough to make him drop to his knees and weep black tears. Very effective especially when this is paired with the line, “I’m worried ‘bout the future… and fucking with the past.”

And then of course the truck blows up before they can dwell on this any longer! I love Arthur and Lewis’ dazed, “What just happened?” faces!

*Vivi takes the fact that her dog is actually a fox very well but then again she also has a ghost, a plant lady and her own ancestor connecting with her across the centuries to mentally process as well so that’s understandable.

She’s also a surprisingly effective badass (granted she is getting some help from Mushi) which was brilliantly displayed in the animation, the camera movement, the angles, the special effects… everything on screen! Not bad for someone who has spent most of this series either running from things or being unconscious! A certain Vine though, wouldn’t get out of my head -“Don’t fuck with me! I have the power of God AND anime on my side!!”

*Heh. Shiromori had a manicure in-between videos. ;)

*I really didn’t have any solid ideas as to how the Shiromori problem would be resolved but I still wasn’t expecting that! I actually shrieked out loud and I’m usually so quiet on first viewings! The horror and regret over both her and Mystery’s faces though (those are definitely, -“I didn’t want things to end like this”- tears in Shiro’s eyes) tell me that she doesn’t deserve this. She’s just a plant that let jealousy and a blood-addiction get out of control!

The only thing that gives me hope is that her heart wasn’t actually destroyed; it’s just flown off somewhere across the parking lot. She can still be regrown and start anew!

*The ending. The very definition of a, “Well, I didn’t see THAT one coming!” ending. I guess that confirms a thought that the Green Spirit can only really possess a heart that is in turmoil, one that has its guard down so to speak.

I presume it’s easy for it to grab onto “simple things” such as small animals and severed arms but when it comes to complicated living humans and magical creatures it has to wait for the right circumstances and Mystery’s heart breaking over Shiromori’s fate is just what it was looking for.

Of course there is still the question of why it is doing this. Yes, Mystery is the biggest threat so it’s taking him out of the equation but is its murderous target the whole of Mystery Skulls or just Lewis? The fact that Lewis is adopted and doesn’t know where he came from is really significant to me. It raises the possibility that the Green Spirit killed Lewis as part of a blood vendetta against his birth family that he is not even aware of. I’ll have to wait and see whether the Green Spirit and Lewis’ true backstory is even something that can be told in music video form but I really don’t think it’s causing all this death and chaos simply because it’s bored and doing this would be funny.

*I do notice that Mystery has two plasters on his heart which have to refer to his two missing tails that the Ancestor has to be responsible for. They both appear to grow back though, both as a reaction to Vivi and Shiromori getting really hurt and to the Green Spirit’s possession; it’s not only taking him over but restoring him back to his prime… just with some added decoration (love the collar changing from a ‘?’ to a ‘!?’).

I’m not sure what to think that Vivi’s shade of blue and Shiromori’s white comes pouring out of the plastered areas when they are injured nor of all the liquid seeping out of Mystery’s heart that matches several characters’ colour scheme… and then his mouth turns green… Possibly it is just meant to represent all the different thoughts and feelings that Mystery is going through right now; all the emotions concerning everyone in his life and the mistakes he’s made with them that the Green Spirit is able to latch on to and corrupt from within.

Possibly when Mystery removed the Green Spirit in the first place, a piece of it remained inside him that the arm can connect with… because I don’t think a zombified arm literally crawled inside Mystery’s wounds and grabbed his heart at the end there!

*For most of the video, I was gasping, shrieking and letting off the occasional distressed whimper… but I really had to clap a hand over my mouth hard to stop myself from screaming with laughter at the end credit scene! Vivi and Arthur just spoke for us all, didn’t they…!?

*Final thoughts: I’ve been really hoping that the song “Magic” will be picked for the last part; it just sounds like a finale song, it speaks to me of happy endings and I have seen posts by Mystery Ben from a few years ago that he would really like to use “Magic” at some point in this story… but with this cliff-hanger, I’m having a hard time picturing the finale going cheerfully right into this peppy tune!

They could of course begin with a sample of a completely different darker song at first and then go into “Magic” but still! I’m not sure now… Wait… a few years ago, an artist named Yuramec posted an animatic of “Magic” on Youtube featuring their own character, Leopold being chased by a demonic spirit (that also has three eyes!) until the spirit is battered down with good magic and turns back into an innocent little ghost girl. Mystery Ben made a comment (Which must be on his Tumblr as I can’t find it on YouTube but I KNOW I’m not making this up!) saying that it was a funny coincidence that this video contains some ideas that he also wanted to implement for MSA but of course, he couldn’t say which ideas due to spoilers… Baring in mind as to what has happened to Mystery and his corruption, is this… is this what Ben was talking about…?

#mystery skulls #mystery skulls the future #mystery skulls animated #Lewis pepper #arthur kingsmen #Vivi Yukino #mystery the kitsune #shiromori #mystery looks like something out of soul eater #i am both excited and terrified

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fluffymcu · 4 years

Text

The Board Game {Peter x reader}

Requested by @itzme1762

You and Peter were playing a fun board game that consisted of sets of cards with truth questions and challenges. If you accomplished one of the challenges, you would receive points. everyone was out on a a mission today so you and Peter had been having a blast playing this game. you both had answered and received a lot of interesting and fun questions and challenges,

“Okay, my turn.” You giggled, picking up a random card. Both questions and challenges were mixed up in a pile. “This one’s a truth. When was the last time you were extremely embarrassed?’ You chuckled as you read the card. Peter quickly started to blush, making you laugh and you urged him to go on.

“uhh, well... ugh, i can’t believe I’m exposing myself right now.” He grumbled. “i uhh, might have walked in on Ms. Romanoff using the bathroom last week.” Peter whispered, getting redder by the second. You gasped before bursting into loud laughter. “I didn’t see anything though, I swear!”

‘‘ Oh my gohohod! I feel so bad for you!” You giggled, making Peter glare at you playfully before sighing.

‘‘Whatever. I hope I pick a good card this time so I can laugh at you.” He pointed at you with a smirk, grabbing a a card hoping it’s something he can get you back with, His smirk grew wider by the second as he read the card out loud while your eyes widened the same way. “Here’s a challenge that’ll get your opponent laughing! Tickle your opponent for 10 minutes without them tapping out. Here’s the catch though: if the opponent taps out before the 10 minutes, you lose the points, but they owe you $10.” He glanced up at you to see your eyes practically poking out of their sockets and chuckled. “well, well, well. How the turn tables...” He smirked.

As nervous as you were, you had to laugh at his reference. “W-Wait though. We could just skip that card.’’ You tried. Peter turned his head lightly, purposely entertaining the distraction.

‘‘And why would we want to do that?’‘ He smirked. You huffed before sitting up a bit more from your place on the floor.

‘Because... you know why!” you whined, making Peter laugh and scoot closer to you.

“Actually, I don’t. Care to explain?’‘ He teased, making you get more and more nervous as he scooted closer to you, You sucked your teeth and scooted away from him, causing him to laugh.

“Peter stop!” You whined, starting a small chase while sitting down. You let out nervous giggles and occasional squeals when he got too close to you.

‘Stop what? I’m not even doing anything!” He laughed, scooting over to you once again. ‘Yet...”

At those words, you instantly made to get up, but Peter just had to predict that and grabbed your arm, pulling you back down and onto his lap. “nohohoho!” You squealed and fought to get out of his grip but the attempts were futile.

‘Y/n, stop resisting. We have to follow what the card says. And don’t forget that if you tap out, you owe me ten bucks.” He grinned evily before digging into your sensitive sides.

You squealed before falling into loud belly laughter, especially when he began to migrate his hands toward the middle of your belly, digging in to make sure it tickled the most. The sadist. “Stahahahap Peheheheter! this ihihisn’t fahahair!” You giggled as you slid down off his lap and onto the floor, giving Peter the opportunity to straddle you.

“What do you mean, y/n/n? I’m only doing what the card asked me to!” He said, feigning innocence and latching his finger onto your ribs, expertly digging in all the sensitive places, driving you crazy. You pressed your arms down to your sides even though it wasn’t helping. “Although, I do think this serves you well for making fun of me earlier. Don’t you think?” He asked, a teasing smirk on his features. You shook your head, unable to form words as his fingers squeezed and prodded at your hipbones. With a loud squeal, you arched your back and started to slap at his hands. “Y/N! That wasn’t very nice! You need to be punished for your rude behavior. One raspberry.” He nodded before lifting up your shirt, ignoring your protests and feeble attempts to roll away, and bent down to blow an abnormally ticklish raspberry right above your belly button.

You were sure that all of New York heard your shrill scream. With a laugh, Peter lifted his head and looked at his watch. “That’s 5 minutes. 5 more to go!” He chuckled, sticking his hands up your armpits, making you cackle and shake your head.

‘IHIHI DOHON’T WANNA PLAHAHAY ANYMOHOHOHORE!” You whined, childishly, Peter bursting out into laughter without pausing his antics.

“Are you sure you wanna tap out? AND OWE ME $10?” He asked, an eyebrow raised teasingly. You let out a groan between your laughter.You wanted Peter to stop more than anything, he was driving you crazy! But you didn’t wanna have to give him 10 bucks just for a board game. It was just 5 more minutes. You could endure that, right?

“UGHHH. Nohoho I don’t wahahahanna owe youhuhu.” You groaned. Peter’s smile grew if that was even possible and he bent down to blow raspbrries all around your neck, sending you into hysterics. No matter which way you would shield yourself, he’d always find another spot to torture. And it always tickled worse than the last.

Your laughter was becoming silent after many attacks to your ribs and belly, feeling yourself get weaker as he playfully bit at your sides, the feeling almost unbearable. You gathered the strength you had left and flipped yourself over and tried to crawl away but squealed when you felt Peter’s hands on your waist, dragging you back. “Where do you think you’re goin’?’’ He teased, straddling you again and squeezing up and down your thighs, resulting in you throwing your head back and let out your loud belly laughter again, kicking out as must as you could.

“IHIHIHIT’S BEEN FIHIHIVE MINUHUHUTES!” You whined, trying your best to grab his hands to get them away from your thighs. You actually couldn’t tell if the time had passed, but it sure felt like 5 hours.To your relief, Peter sat up with a chuckle, finally giving you a break. You quickly crawled away from him, just in case he thought of starting back up again. This made Peter laugh.

“I’m nohohot gonna tickle you anymore. The time is up. Even though you still never apologized for making fun of me earlier.” He teased as he gave you a pointed look. You giggled and apologized quickly to ensure your safety and only then scooted back over to him.

“Should we finish the game?” He asked. You thought before halfheartedly chuckling.

“I don’t wanna put myself out there to be tortured again. Let’s just leave it at that.” You smiled, laughing along with Peter who shook his head.

“Suit yourself. Let’s pack it up.” He smiled, the both of you getting up to pack up the game and after you finished, you and Peter decided to put some brownies in the oven while you played against each other in Mario Kart. A few hours later, the team had arrived safely to the compound and in no time, you were all huddled in the living room, listening to the experiences the team had on their mission.

#ticklish!reader #tickle #ticklish #tickle fluff #tickle fight #avengers tickle #marvel tickle #peter tickles reader #peter x reader #peter parker x reader #peter parker #marvel #avengers #marvel mcu #spiderman #spiderman x reader

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nakedmossy · 4 years

Text

Alone, Together - Chapter 3 [JJ x Reader]

JJ x READER

Description: JJ is not the only pogue on the cut who deals with abuse at home. Reader is an only child who lives with her mom and her abusive stepdad, has a strong relationship with JJ because they share the same home life. Reader experiences physical abuse for the first time, which changes her relationship with JJ irrevocably.

Chapter summary: John B brings JJ back inside to talk to you, things get heated, and then things get *h e a t e d*

Disclaimers: Mentions of physical abuse, swearing, alcohol.

_________________________________________________________

You trusted John B to bring JJ back before he did something reckless, but you saw the look in JJ’s eyes and knew that not even John B could help him when JJ put his mind to something. This had blown up into a bigger mess than you could have predicted...but, to be fair, you hadn’t known your ribs looked so bad and would have tried harder to hide the bruises if you did.

You and Sarah stood in front of the mirror again and she ran her hands gently over your bones to make sure there were not obvious cracks or bones out of place. You had told her it hurt but not that bad, but she hadn’t listened.

“We should get these looked at...properly. Just to be safe. Don’t want you popping a lung because there’s a piece of bone floating around.” She said as she rubbed some numbing ointment on the skin.

“It’s fine, Sarah. Seriously. I’m alright.”

Sarah looked at you in disbelief and chewed on her lips as she resumed her work. When she was done she helped lift John B’s shirt above your head and pull it down so you didn’t need to lift your arms as high. You followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the table again, grabbing one of the beers and holding it for a few moments as you stared out the window, listening for John B or JJ.

“We need to find them” You said quietly, bringing the beer to your lips and taking a quick swig. It burned your throat but immediately started to soothe the pounding in your head.

“John B will bring him back” Sarah said, not touching her beer, just staring at you. You looked back at her and raised your eyebrows as best you could without hurting your eye.

“What” you insisted, tired of her looking at you like you were going to crumble into an ash pile on the floor at any moment.

“I’m worried about you, Y/N. I know that this is...not as wild to you or JJ as it is to me...but this is pretty fucked up. This isn’t normal.”

“I’m aware of that.” You said, slightly bitterly. It was one thing for the pogues to say that to her, but for Sarah Cameron to say it felt different. Lucky her to be from a wealthy family that never put her in these situations. Must be nice.

“I mean...you passed out at the party, Y/N” She continued, leaning forward and putting her elbows on her knees. “I’m worried about you.”

“It was just...a panic attack. I think.” You looked out the window again, trying to squint and see if you could see either of the boys. Nothing.

“Since when do you get panic attacks?” She snapped her fingers, drawing your attention back to her. “How hard did he hit you?”

“What? He hit me...hard, Sarah....look at my face.”

“Yeah, my point. I don't think it was a panic attack. I think you might have a concussion.”

“Those aren’t symptoms of a concussion.”

“Well...still. I don't know. I’ll call my family doctor tomorrow, see what he says.”

“Fine” You said nonchalantly, standing up from the table to see out the window better.

You could see the top of John B’s hat in the distance now, then his arms go up the air. He was ... flailing. Then you could hear JJ yelling, and his voice getting closer. Suddenly the screen door flew open and JJ burst through, John B tailing him close behind.

“JJ” You said quickly, watching his red face calm slightly when he saw you. He put his hands in the air and sat down at the table, grabbing one of the beers. “John B” You acknowledged him and he nodded once, then told Sarah to come with him outside for a minute. Sarah, confused, stood up and followed him out.

You were alone with JJ in the dimly lit kitchen, the sound of the screen door squeaking shut breaking the silence.

“You okay?” You said slowly, sitting down at the table across from him.

He stared at you for a few seconds blankly before putting his beer on the table and putting his hands behind his head.

“Are you?” He asked before closing his mouth and grinding his jaw.

“Why do I feel like I’m in trouble right now” you said sternly, leaning back in your chair and taking a drink of the beer that constituted a chug.

“Why didn’t you tell me about...” He motioned at your stomach/rib area and grimaced. “You told me he hit you once and you left.”

You took a deep breath and shrugged, looking back at his cold eyes again.

“I left a few of the details out, but it doesn’t make much of a difference.”

JJ leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, frustrated and pinching his fingers together in synchronized pointing motions.

“This was not just a fight, Y/N. He didn’t just lose his cool and smack you around. He beat the shit out of you. If I had known the extent of it when I saw him-“

“What?” You interrupted, leaning forward to match his posture. “You would have what, JJ? Done some stupid shit? Gone after him and got yourself hurt? Psh” You flicked your hand in the air and leaned back, shaking your head. “Exactly why I didn’t say anything.”

His nostrils flared and he grunted before running his hands over his face, exasperated. You could tell he was upset with the situation but right now it felt like he was upset with you, and it was making your stomach and your head hurt more.

“Look, JJ. I appreciate that you are trying to look out for me, but...I can’t be in this position right now. I can’t feel like I need to protect myself and YOU from him. I cant”

You stood up and started walking away from the table when you heard JJ’s chair scratch along the floor and his footsteps behind you. He put his arm in front of you, blocking you from going down the hallway. He was right behind you, so close that if you moved either direction you would bump into him. You turned your head to look up at him, challenging him with your facial expression. His head was hanging, hair falling into his eyes. He normally towered over you when he was slouching, let alone standing tall and trying to block you.

“Y/N, please. Talk to me.”

“What do you want me to say?” You said back, your eyes lingering on his jaw line and neck veins.

“I don’t know...that you know you’re safe here. That you know you can talk to me.”

Your chest felt tight and you swallowed the lump in your throat.

“Of course I know that” You said quietly, your voice cracking. You looked back up at him again and felt yourself starting to hold back tears. “That’s kind of the only thing I know right now.”

JJ’s face pinched and before you knew it he was holding you so gently but so firmly that you felt yourself fall into his chest and collapse against him. He pressed a hand to the back of your head and held it against his chest as you started to cry. Being near him, holding onto him, was the closest feeling to home you knew. You felt him kiss the top of your head before you pulled back to look up at him. He held your eyes and brought a hand to the clean side of your face, putting it under your chin and tilting your head so he could brush a light kiss above your bruised eye, around your bruised cheek, and on your jaw line. Lastly, he slowly placed a gentle kiss on the corner of your mouth near where your lip was split. You felt adrenaline pumping through your body, and your head felt light. It was happening so fast but so naturally that you didn’t need to think about anything, you just let your body move with JJ’s. You had dreamed about this moment for years, but never like this, never in this state. He ran his thumb across your bottom lip and waited until you met his eyes again before you both shared a breathless moment and he lowered his lips onto yours firmly. It hurt, minimally, but you didn’t care at all. You moved your lips in sync with his, hungrily latching yourself onto him and feeling his hand move from the back of your head to the nape of your neck, cradling your head. You pressed your body against him until there was no space left between you. Mindlessly he brought a hand to your rib cage below your breast and you let out a sharp breath.

“Shit, I’m sorry” He breathed into your mouth between kisses. You shook your head and kept kissing him, managing to mutter an ‘it’s fine’ inaudibly.

You pulled him by his shirt backwards down the hallway until you bumped into a wall, catching your foot and tripping you slightly. JJ hooked a hand under your thigh and lifted you up, cradling a hand behind your back as he lifted you into the air and you wrapped your legs around his hips. He walked both of you into the spare bedroom he always slept in, still feverishly kissing you as if he couldn’t get close enough, fast enough. He was a good kisser, it was fluid and smooth and easy.

You kicked the door shut as JJ walked you both through it, and he gently placed you down on the bed. You watched him as he peeled his shirt off and threw it in the corner, his tanned skin stretched tight over his muscles which glistened with sweat. He leaned down, returning to your mouth and you tangled your fingers into his hair, consumed by him. You felt his hands moving to lift your shirt off, you moved your hands to his belt to start undoing it.

You didn’t want him to take your shirt off, knowing it would expose the bruises again, but JJ’s hands worked tirelessly against you and you relented, lifting your arms slowly and carefully as high as you could without it hurting. He knelt down on the floor in front of where you sat on the edge of the bed and brought the shirt over your head carefully, throwing it in the corner where his laid crumpled in a ball.

With your stomach and ribs exposed, wearing nothing but your bikini, JJ leaned forward and ran his fingers slowly across the tender and bruised flesh, giving you goosebumps. He was eye level with your chest, and started planting kisses first on your collar bones, then in between your breasts, then slowly lower he placed kisses across your bruises, on either side. You kissed the top of his head, then put your hands under his chin and lifted his face to yours. He had tears in his eyes.

“JJ” Your voice broke when you saw his eyes, full of sadness and pain. “Don’t cry, its okay” you whispered, wiping his tears with your thumbs.

“I love you” JJ whispered back, his voice cracking. “I always have. I know we’ve said it before. But I mean, I really love you, Y/N.”

He didn’t need to say it, you knew what he meant. You knew it was different this time than the handful of friendly “love you’s” you had shared growing up.

“I love you too” You said back, breathlessly.

He smiled and pressed his mouth to yours again, lowering you onto your back, climbing on top of you. You were tangled in each other now, legs and arms all over each other, JJ careful not to touch your ribs or bump your face. You felt the butterflies and the tingles and the adrenaline pumping now, you had never kissed anyone like this, it had never felt this good.

JJ’s hand caressed your shoulder, drifting over your chest near your throat, which sent a wave of panic through you, jolting you back and away from him. You covered your throat with your hand, breathing heavily and closing your eyes for a moment. When you closed your eyes you saw a vision of your stepdad holding you against the wall by your neck pass by.

“You okay? What happened? Did I hurt you?” JJ’s eyes were wide and he stayed frozen in place, watching you. You shook your head, shaking the vision away.

“Sorry, I’m sorry” You breathed, stretching your neck around and rubbing the skin.

JJ moved towards you, his hand on your leg, leaving a bit of space.

“You’re safe with me.” He said calmly, waiting for you to open your eyes. You did, and met his with your own full of disappointment. “It’s okay. We can slow down.”

Frustrated, you buried your face in your hands, letting out a puff of air. You felt JJ’s hands pull yours away from your face, and hold them gently.

“I don't want to slow down” You said in a small voice, sounding as pathetic as you felt.

“What’s the rush” JJ smiled, shrugging lightly. “I want you to enjoy it. I don't want you to...feel that.” He motioned to your throat. You nodded and bit your lip, finding it hard to look at him.

He leaned forward slowly, keeping his eyes on yours, and blew hot breath on your neck before kissing the skin lightly. You swore you felt your eyes trying to roll into the back of your head, you had to close them.

“Come here” He murmured, opening his arms and letting you crawl into them. He pulled you back onto the bed until he was leaning against the wall, and cradled you in his lap. “This is perfect” He whispered into your hair, kissing the top of your head again.

After the most traumatic, eventful, and tiring day of your life, you fell asleep to the motion of his chest moving up and down and his hands drawing pictures on your back.

#jj #jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #obx #obx imagine #obx fanfiction #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks netflix #nakedmossywrites

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residentlesbrarian · 3 years

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The Fourth Book I Read In the Dark: Of Expectations and Other Relatabilities

Of Gryphons and Other Monsters by Shannon McGee

Hey, guys, sooooo...this is aaaawwwkward. I wrote 95% of this review when I wrote the other Books I Read in the Dark series for the blog, but the ADHD hit me and COVID was still you know...a thing! So I am gonna post this review, finished of course, OH, but also pay extra close attention to the conclusion alright! Hmm...this is a bit like a time capsule...here are my concentrated thoughts from 6 months ago while I was slightly delirious on books and darkness. So go forth and uh yeah this one is...you can just feel the feral “I haven’t had access to proper internet so I’ve been curled in the corner like Gollum with my books” energy coming off it so...enjoy?

Okay, so yeah, I really didn’t have a reason to end my last review that way I just wanted to, so sue me for injecting a little excitement into a series of posts about me literally sitting in my house reading nonstop for 2 ½ days, my reviews my rules. Back to manufacturing my own excitement shall we!

It’s Day 2! I’ve just finished my last library book, whatever will I do! I could always reread The Neverending Story for the 1,273rd time, but I have a need. A need for GAY! I rack my brain, there has to be a solution. My town is without power, my local library won’t be open, but then it hits me. It’s so simple! It’s meant to be really! Like the universe knew this was coming and it made sure I was prepared! Like a prepper stockpiling mental SPAM for my stimulus needing ADHD riddled brain! I have an entire shelf of books that I haven’t read yet! Way back in Clexacon 2019 my best friend (Lookin at you @justalifelongphase) gave me way too much money from missed birthdays and Christmases all at once before the con started because the world has deemed it impossible for us to live geographically close to one another. Anyway, I went a little book-buying-crazy and have not had the time or opportunity to read any of them since then. Their time has finally come!

I figured after going full whimsy with The Lost Coast and sci-fi superhero with Dreadnought and Sovereign why not take a dip into more traditional fantasy, also this one was first in line on the shelf, yay for not having to actually make a decision! No more dawdling, let's get right into the review!

Unicorn Rating:

Blurb: Taryn always loves and hates gryphon season. She finds the lesser gryphons more cute than anything but the ever present fear that a greater gryphon might be just out of sight is terrifying, and this gryphon season proves to be the one that will change her and her families lives forever! Just let a girl herd her sheep in peace!

Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!

Review:

I genuinely enjoyed this book. It took me a bit longer to get through it than the others, but I think that was a combination of three things: A. I was starting to feel the fatigue of reading so much in such a short amount of time. B. Our local Wal Mart had power restored on Day 3 and our entire household went on a trip to buy non-perishable food stuffs and I was like a solitary confinement prisoner being let out into the yard for the first time in months when my phone picked up a wifi signal and it was a bit hard to get back into the swing of reading after talking to other humans, even virtually, that weren’t imaginary or in my head. C. Our power was finally restored on the afternoon of Day 3 so yet again I was inundated with the draw of technology and all of my friend-os I hadn’t talked to, but the book had drawn me in enough I did the most unmillienial thing and left my phone in a different room to charge while I finished this book before going back to the land of technology and interwebs. That should tell you something.

McGee was able to write this story in a way that pulls you in so you care about what happens to these characters and this little mountain town. You learn just enough about the world to understand where they fit within the overall weave of it, but you aren’t given a Tolkein-esc dissertation on the world lore. I felt the worries and the fears. I was concerned when the routines had to change. I mean she made me care about the freaking sheep! Sheep, people! One of the reasons I think this works so well is we are so firmly rooted in the head of our protagonist, Taryn. Imma use that lovely bridge I just built to skip right on over the plot section of the review to get to the characters first, don’t worry we’ll circle back round to the plot. I always do, but I just wanna talk about my newest set of brain babies.

Taryn is a character that, if the title of this post is anything to go by, I found very very relatable. Now I know relatability can be pretty subjective, some people can latch onto something with the all consuming, “It me!” While others just stare on dead eyed not understanding the appeal. I feel like Taryn could be that kind of protagonist. You are either going to really relate to her or you won’t understand where she is coming from at all. I obviously fall in the former category. I was the quintessential middle child, still am really, though my relationship with my parents has shifted now that I’m an adult. More mutual respect and friendship than parent to child. I always did my best to pick up the slack, if ever there was any, and just tried my best to be as little of a burden as possible to my parents. I see so much of that aspect of myself in Taryn and how she sees her place at the farm and even in the town, she has her place and her role, but those expectations are heavy. One of those expectations being that she will inevitably get married and help take over the farm from her parents and have kids to continue the line. The fact she finds the lesser gryphons that flock near the farm far cuter than any of the local boys that she will eventually have to choose from to fulfill that inevitable expectation is just...sad at best and down right tragic at worst. And her family doesn’t help matters either. They won’t let her forget that she will have to settle down with one of these local boys, a boy who would make a good husband and take good care of her and the farm. She knows that, logically, but she also wants to be in love, like her parents, and she just doesn’t feel like that for any of the boys in town. She doesn’t know how to make those two things line up. It’s a struggle between her head, the obligation of what she has to do, and her heart, what she really wants for her future, to be happy in doing what she has to do. Wow, I went off a little bit there, but this was my long winded way of saying I have never read a protagonist that really captured the utter confusion of being raised in a heteronormative environment without it being drenched in internalized homophobia and fear. Protagonists like this seem to always know something is off but just don’t have the words for it so they just hide it because they know it’s “different” and out of the norm, but Taryn is just livin’ her sheep herding life and ain’t got no time for these boy crazy fools. She knows her mom wants her to find a good boy to court her so she can marry someday but she’s still young. She’ll think about that tomorrow, and she just repeats that ad infinitum. The thought that maybe she doesn’t fancy any of the boys because well...girls...never even occurred to her. It's not how things are done in this small mountain town, not because of homophobia reasons, but just stubborn tradition reasons. We are even told there is a gay couple living in town who are staples in the overall dynamics in town, instrumental even, but the idea of having a lineage, being able to pass your land down is so ingrained no wonder poor Taryn was so in the dark about her own probable gayness till it slapped her in the face. As someone who was raised in a medium sized Oklahoma town...girl I feel you. I was 22 and in the middle of Appalacia, way up in the mountains for college when my gay awakening popped up and said “Hello!” Everything that never quite made sense in my life came into perfect clarity. Not quite what happened with Taryn, but the arrival of Aella surely helped, as pretty girls are want to do. Oh look a segue, good, cause I could talk about Taryn for literal hours and I’ve already gabbed about her too much for this review.

Aella, you smooth motherfucker. Like I wish I could possess a quarter of the smoothness that you do. Like I’m lucky to string sentences together around a pretty girl, but here you are just strutting about being the smoothest of smooth. Honestly, I just...I can’t with you Aella. On a serious note though Aella is a character that served as showing Taryn a glimpse at the world beyond her small mountain town, as much as she had no desire to leave, unlike her brother. Nope, sit down, we’ll get to you, Michael! Oh, we’ll get to you. She’s traveled and has stories from all over and she is fairly open about the fact that she only likes girls, but she doesn’t have land, responsibilities, and a family line to continue. She just gets to live her life the way she choses. And y’all know I am a sap for the hard dark characters that are totally softies underneath that rough exterior. I think Aella was a great foil to Taryn and great at showing her what she could have if she was willing to leave, to stretch what she was allowed to wish for, but of course the biggest issue with her wishing for anything was...Michael.

Michael was such an interesting character. I loved him. I hated him. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to punch him. Again as with the town and the people of the town I was so deep seated in Taryn’s head and feelings that her conflicted feelings about Michael and how he was acting became my feelings on the matter. Not enough to not separate a tad and see what was coming or at least try to predict it as I always do when reading, but emotionally I was right with Taryn the whole way. The one thing that really pushed Michael from just a character I was conflicted about to one I really wanna give a swift kick in the nads to, is that he knew. He knew all about Taryn’s absolute lack of romantic inclinations toward any of the boys in town and her doubts that she would ever find someone to love and marry to take over the farm. He was the only person she confided these fears in and he still selfishly followed his own pursuits with little regard to her or her worries. You sir, are a terrible brother and overall a shit human, so sit your ass down and shut your mouth.

The plot for this book was so embroiled with the characters and their journeys that I can’t talk on it much but the twists at the end and the final climax was very satisfying for me and left me excited to dig into the next book. Also something of note that I didn’t talk about in the character section cause I felt it was dragging on a touch, I really only talked in depth on our three biggest players but there is a very colorful cast of side characters ranging from Taryn’s nervous pony to the boy-who-cried-gryphon neighbor no one can stand to the troupe of hunters led by Aella’s mother to Taryn’s best friend Nia, all of whom play important parts in building that sense of caring about the people of this town and the town itself, which in turn made me deeply care about the outcome of the plot at the heart of the story. And the sheep! The god damn sheep!

One thing I do want to say before my final thoughts is that whoever designed the cover of this book in a genius because as I dug into the story I found myself constantly closing it to spout off about theories of what I thought was happening on the cover and what it all meant, I was kind of reader fatigue delirious for most of those theories but some of them I was right! I might have reenacted the Captain Holt “Vindication” gif IRL just because it felt too good not to. I just love when a “cool” cover turns out to be so much more than that once you’re “in the know”. So yeah, now y’all know to pay attention for that.

My final thoughts on this book are pretty positive. I can tell the author is building us toward so much more, hence the name of the series, Taryn’s Journey, and it feels like it. This is only the beginning and I honestly can’t wait to take the next steps with her.

Queer Wrap-up:

Hey it’s me from the future...present...whatever...so, this is when I stopped writing the review six months ago and there is a reason for that. I, kind of, agonized over what to rate this book on the scale. Multiple times having to call my brother and go back and forth just to then repeat the same arguments with myself as soon as I got off the phone. Now why was this such a hard terrible no good awful back and forth well...SPOILER WARNING...seriously anything past this point will be spoiling some character beats for the majority of the book...okay? We understand one another. DANGER ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE...or you know scroll on.

So, Taryn is never confirmed to be queer in the text of this book. Now you would have to be wearing the tightest hetero goggles in known history not to see the heavy HEAVY subtext saying THIS BITCH GAY! It’s basically a full grown elephant painted sparkly rainbow trying to hide behind a dead shrub aka not hiding at all. I so desperately wanted to give this book four of those darling unicorns but in this rare case I just don’t think I can justify it. We have a protagonist that is still figuring herself out, which is amazing that we get to see that and go on the journey with her. Some of the things Taryn does and thinks are queer coded as hell, especially if it involves Aella who is explicitly gay on the page, but Taryn herself never express whether she herself is queer. Which, fair, other really important and traumatizing things were going on and I love that about her as a character, she didn’t meet Aella and suddenly that was all she could think about. Aella, of course, is representation who I’m counting because even though she shows obvious interest (you smooth motherfucker) in Taryn she is so much more than just a love interest and her character isn’t just boiled down to her sexuality. Now in this wrap up I’m also including the doctor and his husband in the town. They are very minor characters but they give us interesting insights into the town and the people. They are accepted and treated well in town even if some do almost, pity isn’t the right word, but they seem sad that they won’t be able to have any kind of legacy or lineage. As I said in the review it’s not homophobia it’s being stuck in your ways and it’s an interesting take.

Links:

Shannon McGee Website

The Storygraph

Okay so this one is a bit of a mess. Pieces of it were written 6 months apart and most of it was written while I was kind of delirious but hey at least I can say it’s honest. I still stand by everything my past self wrote and I still really enjoy thinking and talking about this book and am excited for whenever I get around to reading the sequel to continue on Tayrn’s journey with her. This is a book I probably would never have known even existed without ClexaCon and trolling through artist alley for literally every table that had books on them. I guess, moral of the day is maybe you won’t just find great books on library shelves but on unassuming convention tables too and it never hurts to look. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.

Oh bet you thought this post was over. I did the sign off and everything but oh no no! I have some info and such to impart. I am WELL AWARE these reviews have been fairly inconsistent to down right sporadic. Well, this is just a little info dump letting you guys know I am gonna be putting up one more review after this one that I wrote ages ago and I mean AGES (think years, as in multiple) and just never got around to posting and then the old blog is probably gonna be going through a PLANNED dormancy while some pretty big stuff is coming down the pike. You may notice visual changes and other stuff before anything else is announced but just keep an eye out. To quote the Fates from Hercules, “It’s gonna be big!”

Okay now for the actual sign off, I got shit to do! No one look behind the curtain, it’s a surprise!

#Of Gryphons and Other Monsters #Shannon McGee #resident lesbrarian #3 unicorns #questioning girl #lesbian #heavy wlw romantic subtext #ya novel #ya fantasy #go to your local library #but wear a mask #and wash your hands #and stay 6 feet apart #be safe out there guys gals and nonbinary pals

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mikauzoran · 3 years

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Lukadrien: Among the Wild Things: Chapter Eleven

Read it on AO3: Among the Wild Things: Chapter Eleven: Confrontation

The royal mausoleum was dim and a little dank; the solid stone walls and the flickering torches did little to keep out the dark chill of death.

Adrien led the way down into the crypt where the kings and queens of the past slept underneath the floor tiles and life-size statues in niches along the walls were the chief markers of which tenants rested where.

Luka found himself more than a little unsettled. He was just waiting for one of the statues to move, and he could swear he felt their eyes on him.

Adrien, however, made his way through the tomb seemingly unbothered by the images of his deceased forebearers. He also appeared to know exactly where he was going, quickly heading to the end of the row.

Luka guessed that Adrien had been to visit his mother many times over the years and was well accustomed to the place.

“Maman,” Adrien breathed, voice filled with emotion as he went up to the statue of a lovely young woman posed seated on a stone bench. She smiled tranquilly, her sightless eyes giving off a dreamy quality.

Adrien sank to his knees at her feet, placing his hand on top of her folded ones and resting his head in her lap.

“I missed you,” he whimpered. “It was so hard not even having a picture of you. I was afraid I was going to forget your face just like I’m forgetting your voice.”

Luka bit his lip, tempted to go kneel beside Adrien and wrap his arms around his mate to hold him together. At the same time, though, he didn’t want to interrupt the clearly personal moment.

Before Luka could decide, Adrien regained his composure and rose to his feet, turning his attention to the statue standing behind his mother’s with his hand possessively resting on her shoulder.

Luka had no trouble recognizing King Gabriel from the portrait Adrien had pulled out of the desk drawer in his mother’s room the night before. Surprisingly, Gabriel’s statue didn’t look new. It showed the same wear and weathering as his wife’s, indicating that the King had probably ordered the two made as a pair when the Queen had died.

“Father,” Adrien levelly addressed Gabriel’s imposing image as it scowled severely in judgment. “…I’m sorry that I didn’t say goodbye…. I’ve regretted that, but you made me feel trapped, so I didn’t think I had the option. I had to escape while I could without looking back. I hope you can at least appreciate the decisiveness of my actions.”

Predictably, Gabriel made no reply.

Adrien took a step back with a sigh, now addressing both parents as he continued, “I’m sorry that I was never really the son you’d hoped for. I’m sorry for all the disappointments.”

He then turned to look at Luka, holding out his hand for his husband to come take.

Luka swiftly answered the entreaty, coming to stand by his mate’s side, holding his hand as they presented a united front.

“I think you two always knew I wasn’t interested in women,” Adrien snorted softly. “Maybe you knew even before I did and that’s why you always said disparaging things about people who experience homosexual attraction. Maybe you thought it was some kind of choice I could un-make or an urge I could fight if I were strong enough…but it’s not.”

Luka inched in closer so that his shoulder pressed supportively against Adrien’s.

“I tried,” Adrien pleaded, his voice strained by building tears. “I tried really hard to be the son and heir you wanted. I just couldn’t make myself, quote-unquote, ‘normal’…and I’ve learned now in the past six months that that illusory ‘normal’ doesn’t exist. I don’t have to fix myself,” Adrien asserted, the tears leaving his voice to be replaced by strength and conviction.

“There’s nothing wrong with me that needs fixing. It’s okay to be gay. It’s actually something really beautiful and special…something that makes me me,” he tried to explain as a sad-but-daring-to-hope smile shyly tilted up the corners of his lips. “And I’ve found someone who loves and treasures me just the way I am.”

He nervously smiled at Luka before looking back to his parents’ statues. “Maman, Father…this is Luc…my husband.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesties,” Luka greeted, crossing his left arm over his chest and inclining forward into a slight bow, not really sure what the protocol was for meeting deceased royal in-laws.

“Maman, you would have loved him,” Adrien insisted excitedly, but then his expression sobered, and he amended, tempering his remark, “…at least…I’m sure you would have loved him if you could see past him being fae and married to your son.”

Luka squeezed Adrien’s hand, signaling that he was right there beside Adrien no matter what.

“I hope you would have eventually seen past all that,” Adrien added softly. “He takes good care of me, Maman. He’s a good person, and his love and support help me get a little closer to my full potential and being the person I want to be,” he testified, praying that his assurances would have been enough if she’d still been living.

“I have the kind of love you told me fairy stories about, Maman,” he informed her pleadingly. “Please don’t despise me just because I couldn’t find that kind of happiness with a mortal woman.”

Next, Adrien turned back to his father, a wry smile sliding into place on his lips as he chuckled, “Sometimes you did things that made me think, ‘See? He really does love me after all’. …I know you would never approve of this marriage,” he admitted with a melancholy shake of his head, “but there’s a part of me that hopes that my happiness with a fae man wouldn’t kill that little spark of affection you felt for me.”

With a tearful choke, Adrien retreated into Luka’s arms, burying his face in his mate’s chest. “I guess we’ll never know, though.”

Luka shook his head in disagreement, insisting, “They would have come around. Maybe they would have resented me for a while, and I’m sure they wouldn’t have approved of our union, but, after some time passed, they would see how happy we are together. They wouldn’t be able to begrudge a marriage that made their son happy.”

“I think you’re a bit too naïve, My Love,” Adrien sighed, but Luka’s assertions did make the tears stop. “My world can be cruel and uncaring.”

“Yes, but I refuse to believe that any parents who managed to produce a sweet, compassionate, loving person like you could reject their son because of who he loves,” Luka continued to fight Adrien’s assumptions.

“…Maybe.” Adrien finally allowed the possibility to germinated and take root in his mind. “Maybe they would come around after a while.”

“You’d win them over eventually,” Luka assured, squeezing his beloved tightly, happy to see Adrien through all the ups and downs that came with facing the demons of the life he’d left behind.

Once Adrien regained his composure and bade his goodbyes to his parents, they headed back to the Queen’s chambers where they found Alya and Nino waiting for them, making themselves comfortable in the sitting area of the room on the settee.

“Dri!” Alya trilled in delight when she saw him, scrambling to her feet and dashing across the room to envelope him in a hug that knocked the air out of his lungs.

“It’s good to see you, Alya,” Adrien chuckled as best as he could without the benefit of oxygen. “Thank you for coming.”

She pulled back so that she was at arms’ length, holding him by the biceps to study him better. “Sunshine, you never told me you were the crown prince of the Kingdom of Agreste!” she accused.

Adrien shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. “I mean…you knew I was a prince. I told you that.”

She rolled her hazel eyes and snorted impatiently. “Yeah, but you took Luc for your mate—no offence.”

Luka smiled wryly, lifting and lowering his eyebrows in a manner that clearly stated that he was used to this kind of abuse and didn’t take it to heart.

“I thought you were the prince of some backwater, no-name kingdom,” Alya explained, “but here it turns out that you’re, like, the prince!”

“Technically, he’s the king now,” Luka pointed out helpfully.

A blush of embarrassment sparked to life on Alya’s cheeks, and her lips rounded into an “O” as she remembered the whole reason Adrien had come to the palace in the first place.

“I’m really sorry about your father, by the way,” she offered sheepishly, suddenly feeling bad for the way she’d been gossiping just the day before about the news of King Gabriel’s death and what the kingdom was going to do what with their prince missing.

She remembered the way she’d caught wind of the Queen’s death six years prior and had spent a prodigious amount of time and energy feeding on the conspiracy theories surrounding it. All at once, she felt ill because she’d treated her dear friend’s tragedy as a form of entertainment.

“I’m really sorry, Dri,” she repeated it earnestly, knowing as she squeezed his arm in support that she could never make any of it up to him.

Adrien nodded, looking down at the floor as he whispered a tired, “Thank you.”

Luka and Nino were at his side at once, resting comforting hands on shoulders and giving his hair loving tussles.

A thin smile spread across Adrien’s lips, and he looked back up at Alya with a deep weariness in his eyes. “It’s been difficult, but I’m making it through somehow. Having Luc by my side has been a blessing.”

Alya nodded, feeling awkward and, for once, unsure of what to say.

“But let’s focus on happier things, shall we?” Adrien forced himself to smile wider, trying to inject an air of levity into the conversation. “Did you hear about the wedding and the coronation scheduled for this evening?”

Alya’s eyes lit up, and she latched onto the new topic with unfeigned enthusiasm. “Oh, yes! I was just pumping Nino for information when you came in. It sounds so exciting! The pomp and the ceremony and the big feast afterwards!” She gave a vulpine bark of delight. “I wish I could see it all for myself. I’ve always dreamed of human celebrations like this.”

“You can come,” Adrien informed with a shrug that suggested it was as nothing for him to make her wildest, most cherished dreams come true.

“Really?” She almost stopped breathing.

Adrien nodded and shrugged again. “I’m king. If I say you can come, you can come, and if anyone has a problem with that, they can get over it because my word is literally law,” he assured, taking a heady pleasure in his newfound control. “…I mean, until I can foist the leadership of this kingdom upon someone else, but…”

“I would literally die of happiness,” Alya whined, near tears as she squirmed in excitement.

“Nino will have to chaperon you,” Adrien laid out the conditions.

“I can do that,” Nino gladly volunteered, looking forward to having more time to chat with the interesting fae woman.

“Just for safety,” Adrien explained. “My subjects can be a little…backward…when it comes to issues of embracing diversity. Some of them might be a bit uncomfortable if they knew you were a fox spirit, so I think it’s best if you stay close to Nino so he can help you out and keep you safe.”

“No complaints here!” Alya assured chipperly.

“And we’ll have to see about getting you a suitable dress for the event so that you fit in,” Adrien continued, voicing items of concern as they came to mind. “Nino, could you take her to see Marinette about that?”

Nino gave a snort, shaking his head as he grinned. “Marinette is going to kill you.”

Adrien waved away Nino’s assertion. “Marinette won’t kill me. Marinette loves me. She’s got at least twenty dresses just sitting around that she could make some quick adjustments to for Alya.”

“Marinette is going to kill you,” Luka snickered, imagining the seamstress’s face when Nino arrived with the request from the young king, her eyes bloodshot from working through the night on the coronation/wedding outfits. “She’s going to be livid.”

“It’ll be fine,” Adrien insisted, unconcerned. “I have faith in the supernatural abilities of my Royal Court Seamstress. There’s a reason she’s the youngest person ever to hold the title.”

“There will be shrieking,” Nino chuckled. “She’s going to take me by the shoulders and throttle me in your place.”

“You’ll survive,” Adrien promised with a wink, going over to where the decadent breakfast Alya had brought was spread out on the coffee table. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m starving.”

“You’re going to be able to hear the shrieking all the way in town. People are going to think a demon has descended upon the land,” Nino muttered resignedly.

“They already think that about me,” Luka hummed as he followed Adrien over to the sitting area.

Alya arched an eyebrow in confusion. “How could they confuse you with an oni? Have they never seen one before? Don’t they have picture books? Didn’t you tell them you’re a kelpie?”

By the time Adrien and Luka returned from their morning out and sat down to breakfast, the rest of the castle inhabitants were starting to get up and move about, getting on with their day.

Nathalie soon appeared to give them their first briefing of the day, and then it was a flurry of servants and advisors coming in and out, checking about this, asking about that, all working together (or at odds with one another) to prepare for the day’s events.

It reminded Luka of watching his mother in action at a town hall where everyone gathered to make their concerns and desires known. It boggled Luka’s mind how many different decisions Adrien had to make, how many people’s concerns he had to deal with, all the orders there were to give.

Luka wondered if the daily life of a king was always like that or if it were just because of the last-minute nature of the wedding-slash-coronation.

Everyone seemed to be in a rush, and everyone was vying for Adrien’s time and attention.

“I hate you,” Marinette announced as she came in just after noon for a fitting.

“You love me,” Adrien corrected, encircling her in a warm hug.

“No, I really think I hate you,” Marinette snorted, even as she squeezed him back. “I love Alya, however, so I’m definitely keeping her. I’m not so sure about you.”

“Were you able to find a dress that could be modified for her?” Adrien inquired as they pulled apart and Marinette went to the rack she had brought in to get the garments for Luka and Adrien to try on.

“Yes, I actually have a gorgeous orange dress that’s going to look ravishing on her. I did the measurements and marked it up for alterations. Manon’s working on it now,” Marinette informed.

“Nino’s going to faint when he sees her,” Luka hummed happily. He had been pleased with the chemistry between them that he had witnessed during breakfast, and he had high expectations for Alya in formalwear.

“Are you shipping them now?” Adrien snickered as he accepted the garment bag from Marinette.

“Nino is a good man; he deserves happiness, and I think Alya could be a good fit,” Luka replied with an innocent shrug, as if he weren’t actively scheming to get them together.

“I’m in favor of this pairing,” Marinette reported. “Nino’s been a mopey mess since you’ve been gone, leaving him with no one to moon over. If you’re going to be going back home to the fair folk before long, it would be nice if he had someone to take a romantic interest in so that he didn’t feel so lonely.”

“Yeah,” Adrien sighed, feeling guilty. “It would be nice if he had someone. I don’t want him to feel left out, especially now that both of us are going to have partners.”

“He’ll find the right person in time,” Marinette tried to assure with an encouraging smile. “Nino is a great guy; he’s bound to find love…so go on and try your suit out, and don’t worry so much about Nino.”

Adrien nodded, going behind the screen to change.

Luka nearly overheated when Adrien came out wearing a three-piece suit. The jacket was a long, royal blue tailcoat with striking silver embroidery tastefully done down the front of the jacket and around the sleeves. White pants and an ascot completed the look, and, as much as Luka loved his husband in his everyday clothes, Luka found that expensive clothing really suited Adrien.

“I think he’s speechless,” Adrien chuckled, running a hand through his hair, mussing it up. “Excellent job, Marinette.”

“I don’t know if I can really take the credit,” Marinette snickered. “My suit wouldn’t be half as stunning if you weren’t smoking hot.”

“True,” Adrien laughed, giving a spin to make the coattails fan out.

Luka gulped.

“All right.” Marinette gave Luka a clap on the back as she pushed a second garment bag into Luka’s arms. “Your turn, if you think you can walk.”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Luka cleared his throat and held the garment bag in front of himself to preserve his modesty as he slunk uncomfortably across the room to the changing screen.

His own outfit was nearly identical to Adrien’s saving for the colour scheme which was inversed. Luka’s jacket and vest were white while his pants, ascot, and the embroidery on his jacket were a beautiful blue to match Adrien.

“If you need help putting anything on, just ask,” Marinette called out helpfully. “I’ve dressed plenty of people in my line of work, so you won’t scandalize me or anything. Most nobles have people who dress them, so it’s really not a big deal.”

“I’m good, but thank you very much,” Luka assured as he fought a little with the innumerable buttons.

When he was content that he looked presentable, he stepped out from behind the screen and was more than satisfied with the effect his appearance had on his mate.

Adrien’s eyes dilated, and his mouth dropped open slightly as a hearty blush spread across the bridge of his nose from one cheek to the other.

Luka zeroed in on Adrien’s throat as he swallowed hard.

“Marinette, if you don’t mind, I think I need half an hour alone with my husband to discuss important marriage stuff,” Adrien informed as he strode across the room, grabbed Luka, and dipped him into a hungry kiss.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Marinette protested with an exasperated huff, watching futilely as Adrien pulled Luka back up only to escort him over to the bed (stealing breathy kisses the whole way) and push Luka down onto it.

“Adrien, I swear, if you harm so much as a button on those outfits, I will assassinate you myself,” she growled, lamenting the fact that she had done too good of a job making both grooms look incredibly handsome.

“I love you, Marinette, but get out,” Adrien hummed happily. “That’s an order.”

Stewing and clenching her fists and jaw, Marinette stormed towards the exit, threatening over her shoulder, “Don’t you dare rip his clothes off with your teeth, Adrien! I will kill you. Take them off like civilized people and hang them up on the rack in their bags. Then copulate like bunnies. I don’t care, but don’t you dare—”

Marinette nearly got hit by the door as Nathalie entered the room.

“—Oh! Lady Sancoeur! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Marinette hastened to curtsy.

Adrien rolled off of Luka with a startled yelp, looking very much like a chastened schoolboy caught by his mother.

“…Am I interrupting?” Nathalie inquired blandly, her eyebrow arching upwards.

“Marinette was just making sure our clothes fit for the ceremony,” Adrien explained sheepishly.

Luka—who had been inoculated to this brand of embarrassment by being walked in on by or walking in himself on his mother, Rose, and Juleka—tried to stifle his laughter and an amused grin with varying degrees of success.

Adrien was adorable as he blushed and fidgeted nervously.

Luka leaned in and pressed a comforting kiss to his temple. “Everything seems to fit wonderfully, so we were just about to change back into our regular clothes until it gets closer to time for the ceremony,” Luka added to lend Adrien’s story credibility. “Marinette is truly amazing to have completed such a daunting task so quickly and so well. I’m extremely impressed.”

“Oh, well,” Marinette laughed bashfully, breaking out into a wide grin of pleasure at his lavish praises. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of my team. I’m very lucky to work with many talented people I can trust implicitly.”

“And we’re very lucky to have you to lead them,” Nathalie added, nodding her approval (a rare commodity).

Then, Nathalie was back to business, getting to the point. “The rings have just arrived from the jeweler, and we need to make sure they fit and meet with your approval so that there’s enough time to make corrections, if there are issues.”

“Oh. Right,” Adrien responded as one coming out of a reverie. He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips as he got up and came over to inspect the rings which Nathalie had fished out of little satin bags.

“Sorry. I know we talked about getting rings for the ceremony this morning, but…” He nervously began to twist the ring Luka had made for him around his finger.

It didn’t feel right to replace it or even to take it off. His subjects might not consider the ceremony that Anarka had officiated at or the private rituals Luka and Adrien had exchanged in their room that first day they committed themselves to one another to be legitimate or legally binding, but Adrien did.

The makeshift ring Luka had placed on Adrien’s finger that day was a real wedding ring to him, and it felt wrong to renounce it like this.

Luka came up behind Adrien, wrapping his arms around him to give him a supportive squeeze. “It’s okay, My Love,” he assured, gingerly taking Adrien’s hand and slipping off the ring, moving it over to the ring finger of Adrien’s right hand. “It doesn’t really matter which finger it’s on, does it? Isn’t the important thing that I put it there?”

Adrien hummed thoughtfully, studying the effect of this new placement.

“…Yeah,” he finally sighed, nodding decisively. “I guess you’re right, but this is only for the ceremony. Tonight, we’re switching them back. My real wedding ring gets pride of place.”

“As you wish,” Luka easily agreed, letting Adrien switch Luka’s ring from his left hand to his right as well so that they could try on the new rings.

Luka reached out for the one that Nathalie indicated was Adrien’s but then stopped, looking uncertainly at the advisor. “I remembered to tell you about my iron allergy…right?”

Nathalie gave him the vaguest hint of a smile as she assured, “You did, and I triple checked with the jeweler, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thank you.” Luka smiled nervously as he hesitantly picked up the ring, poking it with the tip of one finger first to test it before taking hold of it with confidence.

Both of the rings fit comfortably, and the fitting ended without incident.

Marinette finished inspecting both outfits and identified small details that could be improved while Nathalie gave the boys what felt like their dozenth briefing of the day.

Even after Nathalie and Marinette were both satisfied and left, that didn’t end the whirlwind of people coming in and out of the Queen’s chambers, needing Adrien’s approval or input on this or that.

Luka felt like he barely had time to breathe as the day quickly slipped away and, suddenly, it was time for the ceremony.

#Lukadrien #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrien Agreste #Luka Couffaine #Nino Lahiffe #Alya Césaire #Gabriel Agreste #Émilie Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Hurt/Comfort #Found Family #Fluff #Mikau's Writings #Among the Wild Things

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suituuup · 4 years

Note

hi, I was wondering where I can find the sequel to 'look at the stars (look how they shine for you)'? I remember reading it on your old tumblr but I couldn't find it on your AO3. It's a beautiful story and I wanna re-read the continuation of this story again.

hello! Yes, that’s because I only published it on tumblr. Managed to find it in my google docs, so here you go :)

part one here

“It’s a girl!”

The raw, piercing cry that fills the room following the doctor’s announcement makes Beca’s chest swell with unparalleled awe. She watches in awe as the slimy, unhappy and reddish looking baby is laid upon Chloe’s chest.

“Oh my god,” Beca’s voice trembles with the emotions lodged in her throat as tears freely run down her face.

“It’s okay,” Chloe murmurs to their daughter (their daughter. Holy crap.) as she peppers her forehead with gentle kisses. “You’re okay, baby girl.”

The newborn’s wails subside to small cooing noises, Chloe’s warm skin against her tiny body seemingly reassuring and familiar after her tremendous and emotional arrival into the world.

Beca leans forward to kiss Chloe’s temple, resting her forehead against the side of her head. “You are incredible. I love you both so much.”

Chloe twists her head and they share a sweet, lingering kiss. “We love you, too, Mommy.”

One of the nurses steps up to the other side of the bed once they’ve parted. “Chloe, we have to take her for just a few minutes, okay? We need to weigh and measure her, then give her a clean-up.”

“O-okay.” Their minutes-old daughter fusses again as soon as she is carried away. “Beca, go with her, I don’t want her to be alone.”

Beca brushes another kiss to Chloe’s forehead. “We’ll be right back.”

She takes a few strides to the baby station tucked against the far wall, observing from a few feet away as they weigh, measure and clean-up her daughter before wrapping her in a blanket. She’s carried back into Chloe’s arms and Beca perches herself on the edge of the bed, draping an arm over Chloe’s shoulders as she gazes down at their bundle of joy.

“She’s so beautiful, Chlo,” Beca says softly, brushing her thumb over her daughter’s knuckles. “She has bright blue eyes, the same as yours.” Beca knows a baby’s eyes are likely to change a few shades but she hopes they stay identical to Chloe’s. “Her hair is light red, and she’s got lots of it. And she can’t take your eyes off you,” Beca observes endearingly. “At least she and I have something in common.”

Chloe grins and leans her head against Beca’s shoulder. “Keep going.”

“She’s got her hand wrapped around my little finger. Both literally and figuratively.” Beca says with a watery chuckle, followed up by a tiny gasp. “Oh, her eyes are closing. Looks like coming into this world was exhausting.”

Chloe giggles. “Tell me about it.”

“Hi mommies,” the nurse interrupts gently. “Do you have a name for her?”

“Avery,” Chloe speaks softly. “Avery June Mitchell.”

Avery starts to fuss a few seconds later as the nurse fastens a bracelet with her name to her wrist. She helps Chloe present her breast to Avery, who latches on immediately.

“She’s a trooper,” Beca murmurs with a proud smile, which drops when she catches Chloe’s features crumbling. She pivots to face Chloe, cupping her face tenderly. “Chlo?”

“I’m okay,” Chloe sniffles, wiping her tears with her free hand before she rests it back over Avery’s tummy. “I’m just so happy.”

Chloe has always wanted to have kids, but for many years that wish had been suffocated by the fear of not being a good mother because of her handicap.

“Hey Chlo,” Beca murmurs as they snuggle in bed one week night. “Do you ever think about having a baby?”

“A baby?” Chloe echoes, craning her neck to glance at Beca. It’s something that Beca had been thinking for a while now, but always figured Chloe would be the one to bring it up. She stares at Beca for a long stretch, her mouth gaping wordlessly. Eventually, she sets her head back down on Beca’s shoulder. “I-I do, it’s just…” She sighs as she fiddles with the hem of Beca’s shirt. “I’m scared. What if I’m not a good mother?”

Beca brushes a kiss across her hairline. “Because you’re blind?”

“Well, yeah.” Chloe breathes out. “I can take care of myself now, but another human being? What if I can’t change them properly, or feed them? I won’t be able to see if they’re in danger or… play with them the way a sighted person would.”

“I get it,” Beca says softly as she draws nonsensical patterns along the base of Chloe’s spine. “But Chlo… look at me,” She reaches out to tilt Chloe’s chin up, tenderly cupping her cheek. While Chloe can’t see the confidence swirling in Beca’s eyes, Beca knows she can hear it in her tone. “That wouldn’t make you a bad mother. Your lack of sight wouldn’t change the fact that you’d love our child unconditionally and that you’d do anything in your power to make them happy. Of course it would be challenging and it might take you a little while to learn the ropes but I’d be there to help, every step of the way. We’’d learn together.” Beca pauses, brushing her thumb over Chloe’s cheekbone. “I know becoming a mother has always been something you wanted and I don’t want your inability to see to make you feel like you can’t.”

Chloe remains silent for a few beats and Beca can almost see the cogs churning in her brain. “Do you want this, too?” She eventually asks, almost timidly. “To have a baby?”

“Yeah,” Beca confirms without missing a beat, her smile brightening her tone. “I do. I want to start a family with you, Chlo. Not -- maybe not tomorrow but sometimes down the road. I don’t really want to share you with anyone else at the moment.”

Chloe’s giggle warms Beca from the inside out. “Maybe -- maybe we can start in a year?”

Beca beams, reaching for Chloe’s hand to press a lingering kiss to her knuckles. “Sounds like a plan.”

Beca knows what Chloe means; she never thought it possible to feel this unparalleled type of happiness, as though her heart was so full it barely fit inside her chest. “Me, too.”

The first few days of Avery’s life go smoother than Beca expected. Nurses help them with changing, feeding and sponge-bathing their daughter. Beca is hyper focused through each task, knowing she will in turn be the one to help Chloe once they go home.

“You got it,” Beca murmurs as she stands beside Chloe while Chloe finishes strapping on Avery’s fresh diaper, impressed with how Chloe picked up the skill much faster than she did. Chloe smiles and grabs the clean onesie draped over her shoulder, studying it with her touch for a handful of seconds to figure out which are the sleeves from the legs. After some fumbling to get the onesie over Avery’s head, the baby starts to show her discontentment by wiggling harder and fussing.

“Bec,” Chloe requests.

“Okay, right here,” Beca guides Chloe’s hands a little bit before letting her do the rest.

“It’s okay baby girl, almost done,” Chloe’s soft voice captures Avery’s attention while she finishes fastening the onesie snaps. “There we go,” Chloe reaches out, careful to support Avery’s head as she scoops her up to lay upright against her chest. “We did it!”

As Beca predicted a few years ago, Chloe is an amazing mom. She gets up in the middle of the night to feed Avery and sings her back to sleep, goes to every baby swimming class, takes Avery to the park with her faithful guide dog Joey and reads her bedtime stories in braille.

As she grows up, Avery knows her Mama’s eyes are “broken” and that she can’t see the way Avery can. She understands that she has to be a little bit more patient when it’s Mama that cooks or dresses her, or that she has to come give her toy to Mama when Mama asks what she’s playing with instead of just holding it up so Mama can feel it with her hands.

However, she also understands pretty quickly that she can sometimes get away with things she wouldn’t dare try when Mommy is around, like stealing cookies from the stack when she knows she’s not supposed or drawing doodles on the living-room wall.

“She gets that from you,” Chloe says when Beca slips under the covers after tucking Avery in. “Her mischievousness.”

Beca chuckles, slipping an arm around her wife’s waist as she spoons her from behind. “I can’t really contradict you there.”

“She was too quiet, I knew something was up,” Chloe explains. “But then she gave me her crayon when I asked what she was playing with so I believed her when she said she was coloring.”

“It’s okay, Chlo.” Beca brushes a kiss in the crook of her neck. “We can always frame that part of the wall and pretend it’s an expensive piece of art.”

Chloe snickers, finger feathering back and forth over Beca’s forearm. “What did she draw anyway?”

“She said she drew our family. Two tall stick figures holding hands, two shorter ones next to them and a dog. I think it’s her subtle way to let us know she wants a little brother and sister.”

Chloe turns onto her back. “Yeah?” A smile tugs at her lips. “Do you? Want to have another baby.”

The thought has crossed Beca’s mind more than once, lately. “Yeah. If you want to, that is. I’m also happy with one.”

Beca squeaks when Chloe pulls her down on top of her, locking her legs around her waist. She brushes her lips across Beca’s. “Let’s make a baby.”

Beca backs away. “Hold on, you know I’m not equipped, right?”

Chloe’s giggle fills the room, and it’s still the most beautiful sound Beca’s has ever heard and the grin lighting up her face Beca’s favorite sight in the whole world.

#bechloe fanfic

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captainsaveasmut · 4 years

Text

Heartache

Pairing 》 Chris Evans x black!plus-size reader

Synopsis 》 Follow Evans through his emotional journey as he tries to understand why his relationship failed and work through his heartache

Warnings 》 angst / slight smut / mild profanity

You know

Maybe you’ve never been in love like I’ve been in love

And maybe you’ve never felt the things that I’ve felt

But this is what I told my friend

I said, you know, sometimes you get lonely

And I cry, I cry

And the tears would fill up in the wells

In the wells of my eyes, baby

And then it got so bad, it got so bad

Till one time I thought I’d roll myself up in a big ol’ ball and die

- Lenny Williams / Cause I Love You

Why did no one warn me that it was going to hurt this bad? Why did no one give me a heads up on the pain that I feel in my chest? In my heart? Why am I here? I am the cause of this. That’s why I’m here. Our last argument constantly replays in my head like a broken record. Haunting me when I’m the most vulnerable.

I don’t baby. I don’t know why I couldn’t see it, but I see it now. I see how distant I was from you. How much I didn’t appreciate you… care for you… love you. You wanted my attention. You needed me and I didn’t see it, but now I do; when it’s too late.

"You don't care! You never cared!"

"Pay attention to me!”

"Why can’t you see that you are the reason why our relationship is failing?”

“I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”

That was the last thing she said to me. It cut me deep. It caused me the most pain because it wasn’t until then that I realized that I lost her. Next thing I know she’s gone. Everything packed up and off to the next destination. Damn, I didn’t realize how small and empty my house is without her. Dodger is great company, but something is still missing- she’s still missing. What was once we and ours are now me and mine. But what’s so funny about her leaving is that I didn’t think she was going to. I’ve been single for quite some time before Y/N, but now that she’s gone the feeling almost seems foreign to me. Like I’ve been with her all my life.

We’ve been bickering for a couple of months and I thought it was just another argument. Same shit, different day. I would’ve never guessed that she would leave me. I mean I knew she could (and a part of me wanted her to in the heat of the moment), but that would mean that we would have to start over from scratch. Since I tolerated our bullshit, I assumed that she tolerated it too. We aren’t getting any younger, this was the best we could do… or so I thought. Wouldn’t she be more comfortable staying here than leaving to hopefully find something better (that may or may not be out there)? Wasn’t she content like I was? This was just a bad cloud over our relationship, that seemed to take some time to pass. Every couple goes through it; no big deal, right?

Sucks to have an immature mind. Mine just ruined a relationship that could’ve last. Our relationship started to break apart when we started talking AT each other instead of TO each other. Almost everything she said in our arguments was true. I did stop caring at times and would get lazy in the relationship. I’m a busy man, what can I say? Is that an excuse- at the moment, yeah it was, but now I know I was just pride getting in the way. Y/N had her faults too, don’t get me wrong. She was controlling and immature at times, but I guess I brought it out of her. I was lethargic and she was fed up. She wanted to fix it but, I was too arrogant to go about it.

After Y/N called it quits and moved out, I was “cool” for about a week or so. After that, I became the new resident at “sulk city”. The heart sure does know when it’s broken and it makes sure to remind you of its brokenness, no matter how much you try to ignore it or distract yourself from it. It felt like a ton of bricks just landed on my chest and I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I was slacking in my career, I couldn’t focus, I didn’t have the strength to go outside the house or get out the bed for that matter. I was depressed. My boys gave me “legit advice” (or whatever they called it) and told me to go out and explore my options. "Man, why are you still worrying about Y/N? She’s a dime a dozen. You’re fucking Captain America, you’ll find a new one by tomorrow. You need to get your panties out of your ass first. Can’t move on buddy, if you’re crying and shit.”

I can honestly say I’m not surprised my fellas’ idea of “moving on” is having meaningless sex with any and every female that walks past me, but I decided to give it a shot. What’s the worst that can happen to a heartbroken man anyways? I went to a small house party with them and met this beautiful woman named Angela. She was sexy, there was no denying that, but she wasn’t Y/N. But that’s the point, right? To find someone new? So, I filled my body with alcohol, drowning any thoughts of my ex, and had a great time with Angela. She was definitely interested in me; hanging onto me throughout the entire night, and I willingly let her.

“Maybe you’ve never been in love like I’ve been in love and maybe you’ve never felt the things that I’ve felt.”

- Lenny Williams

We were having a great time, drinking and dancing, next thing I know she’s whispering in my ear that she was ready to leave. We all know what that means. I planned to take our private party back to her place to finish what we started, but Angela wasn’t the patient type and had other plans. And now I have a beautiful, naked woman in the backseat of my car, waiting for me to take her right then and there. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I haven’t had sex with another woman in the past three years, a century in relationship years. This was new territory. I didn’t know what she liked, her hot spots, hell I didn’t even know her, but I had to get over Y/N one way or another. So, I undress and slip in the back with her. I was having sex with a stranger in my car.

Everything was going well for the most part, until it wasn’t. She was straddling my lap, grinding herself on my crotch, as we made out. I quickly slipped a rubber on and it was smooth sailing from there. She loved it. If her moans didn’t tell me then her body did. Angela began kissing all over my neck and collarbone as she rode me; my hands latched to her hips as I met her halfway. Was I getting over Y/N? I thought I was until Angela kissed and sucked a spot on my body that instantly makes my body go weak.

My earlobe.

I don’t think she realized the severity of what she just did to me. My body just went numb under her and a hard groan escaped my lips along with a name, which wasn’t hers. You can probably predict who it was. She surprisingly wasn’t fazed by it. She just claimed that once she was done with me that her name would be the only name I groaned out. She just shrugged it off and kept riding, but I, however, couldn’t just shrug it off. It bothered me. Not the fact that she didn’t care that I practically yelled out another woman’s name, but that she sucked on my earlobe in the first place.

First things first, you have to understand the importance of my earlobes. My earlobes are my spot- the spot. The same spot that Y/N discovered and has always taken advantage of for the past three years. She sucked on my earlobe when we made love and when she wanted to make love. That was HER spot. Y/N’s spot. Angela and I weren’t making love; we were fucking. And even if we were making love, Y/N claimed my earlobes as hers or at least I claimed them for her. That was Y/N’s spot as much as it was mine. No one but Y/N knew how much it affected me and now I’m starting to feel like no one but Y/N is allowed to activate that feeling. It didn’t feel right if it wasn’t her doing it.

Once I came to grips that my earlobes belong to Y/N and that sex wasn’t going to help me get over her, I told Angela to stop. I removed myself from under her and put my clothes back on while handing back hers. She complied but she wasn’t happy about it. You can bet your bottom dollar that she gave me a few words while she got dressed too. I just sat there and took it. Oh, and I can’t forget the hard-ass slap she gave me before she stormed back into the house. I deserved it.

After that sad attempt of “moving on”, I went back to my lonely, depressed state. My boys came by again, made fun of me, and tried to hook me up once again but, I was done. I can’t go through that shit again. They eventually gave up and left their poor excuse of a friend in his empty home. I don’t even know what to do with myself anymore. I love Y/N and I want her back but I think it’s too late. No one waits around seven months to get back with their ex. Especially if they were the ones that were dumped. She probably moved on by now. She’s a good woman, so I know someone already claimed her as theirs. Someone better than me.

Someone, please make it stop! Just tell me what to do because I’m a hopeless wreck at this point. My friends were no help, so maybe I should ask someone wiser and who understands women. "Christopher, if you feel this strongly about her then you need to win her heart back. Nothing is worse than losing the one you love, especially if there was a chance to get them back”, my mother told me & she was right. I needed to get Y/N back, but I couldn’t find the strength to come face-to-face with her.

“Go get her back dumbass!”

“Shut up! It’s over. She’s gone.”

I guess I was embarrassed that I waited this long to finally do something about it. Or maybe it was my big, dumbass ego trying to prevent what it ruined in the beginning. Either way it goes I was scared. Scared of being rejected by her. Scared that she wouldn’t give me another chance. And so here I am, lying in the middle of my bed, tears of frustration filling up in the wells of my eyes, as I deciphered through my options.

Should I get her?

Should I not?

Should I get her?

Should I not?

A ball of hurt and heartache formed in my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. “I need her. I need Y/N.”

And just as those words fell from my lips, my body immediately lunged itself from the bed and out the bedroom. I grab my car keys (no wallet, no phone) and race to my car. I had no idea what I was doing exactly, but I was determined to leave my pain and misery. I started the car, backed out the driveway, and drove off. As I traveled down the road, I tried to put together some last-minute confession of my love for her, but honestly, I was a fucking wreck and nothing I came up with seemed to be good enough.

My mind ran a mile a minute, as my foot pressed harder on the accelerator & my hands steered me though the dim-lit streets. I pull into her neighborhood until I reach the familiar, cozy, one-story house. I stare at the exterior of the home for a while, before my hands opened the car door and my feet guided me out of it. I walked up to the driveway, to the stoned walkway, up to the porch, until I came face to face with the front door. Here it is. The moment of truth. I didn’t want to knock on the door, but my hands decided otherwise and did it for me AND rang the doorbell, as to say that it was urgent for someone to answer the door. No please. I NEED them to take their time. Give me a minute to pull myself together.

“Can someone answer the door!”

That voice. It was enough to make my heart pound and my body go limp. I wasn’t ready! Just as I was about to back away from the door and HUAL ASS, the door opened. A handsome Ethiopian man, with a stubble beard and intense eyes, answered the door. I am very secure in my sexuality, believe me, but this man was gorgeous. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a model of some kind. I sure hope this isn’t the next guy she moved on to. It would just crush me more than I already am.

I stood there, rocking on the heel of shoes like a fool as I tried to let other words besides “I” come out of my mouth. The man looked confused and worried as he stood there looking like a god. I felt stupid. What am I even doing here!? Man, this is embarrassing. I looked passed the man to see Y/N’s close friend, Jean and another guy peeking from behind him. The comical look on Jean’s face made me want to shit myself. No, now THIS was embarrassing. I looked passed all of them, avoiding eye contact. Words still haven’t come out of my mouth and it felt like I’ve been standing here for hours!

“Hey, can I help you?”

“I- I- …”

“Adam baby who’s at the door? And why are y’all crowding aroun-”

There she was. As much as I wanted to avoid eye contact, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. This girl sure does get better with time; like a fine wine. She looked perfect.

“Chris?”

She sounded shocked and confused, yet it had some type of joyful undertone to it. I would expect her to react that way. I mean it has been almost eight months and I’m sure I’m the LAST person she would expect on her porch at 10:47 PM, but it was time we made up for lost time.

Was I nervous? Yes.

Scared? Yes.

Sick to my stomach? Yes.

Did I know what to say? No.

Did I want to have this conversation? Not really.

Was I ready for whatever she was going to tell me? Hell no!

But I can’t let another second go by without trying to get her back. So, I pushed all instinct to run and hide aside and faced her like a man. I was sick and tired of this heartache. It was time I attempted to fill the hole in my chest again. I needed my girl back.

“Hey Y/N.”

Tags 》@et-lesailes @kirstie-evans-writes @evansproject @chrisevans-sexualfrustrations @chrisevans-daily @weheartchrisevans @evansensations @chrisevansdaddycap @captainsteveevans @cevanstorytime @cevanscentral @chrisevans-imagines @luvinchris

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#chris evans #cevans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans x plus size reader #chris evans x reader #chris evans × black reader #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fic #chris evans imagine #chris evans imagines #chris evans stories #chris evans story

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kimshavacado · 4 years

Text

Dead Heat Ch. 8

Pairing: Yoongi x reader

Genre: Arranged Marriage/Mafia AU

Summary: Three extremely powerful families with enough power to bring down entire governments, all with vastly different views on how things should be run. The Min family thinks everything can be solved with money, the Jeon family think everything can be solved with violence, and the Kim family relies more on thought which leads to a lack of action. When Kim Y/N loses her father, she only has one way to save herself and her family. But it involves having to give herself over to a stranger. How the hell is she not supposed to punch him in his stupid rich face?

Dead Heat Masterlist

Warnings: Language, Awkwardness

A/N: I was honestly surprised by the final total. It was very split over tumblr and ao3, but there was a clear choice. One that I, myself, would not have chosen. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Relocation

After a few minutes, you slowly escape the warmth of the bed to sneak out. If Yoongi notices, he doesn’t try to stop you. You head back to your room, which now feels cold and lonely. You wash up, get dressed, and prepare yourself for the undoubtedly long day your about to have because of the men downstairs.

Just as you throw on a sweater, you hear your phone ring. It’s such a mundane thing that it takes you a second to realize that no one should be calling you. As you stalk over to your phone cautiously, your heart sinks to your feet when you read the name on the screen.

Jimin.

Quite a few things flash through your mind. Jimin’s face, the years you shared together, the hurt he had caused you. You seem to be frozen in your place, the only thing bringing you back to your senses is the “missed call” notification on the screen.

You search your brain for any explanation as to why called and when you can’t come up with one, it scares the shit out of you. You honestly have no idea what to do and start to panic. Should you have answered? You could just try to call him back. No, why would you do that? But why would we call you like that? Shit, should you tell-

“What’s taking so long?” You hear Yoongi from outside your door. Without thinking you run to the door and open it, but no words come out and you just stare at him. He meets you with surprised eyes. He officially looks weirded out.

“Why are you crying?” He asks cautiously.

You’re crying? You hadn’t really noticed, too focused on having a mental breakdown.

“It’s nothing.” You immediately say, apparently fixed in defense mode. He raises his eyebrows and presses his lips into a thin line while he stares at you. After yet another uncomfortable duration of time you bring your hands up to your face to wipe away any moisture. You need to pull your thoughts back together.

“Uh, okay then.” He says, still weirded out and turns to walk away. Shit you should tell him, right? Your little internal war is cut off again when you realize you’ve already latched onto his wrist to stop him from leaving.

“Jimin called me.” His face loses all expression once you say this. He turns serious, which has you feeling even more uneasy.

“What did he say?”

“I didn’t answer.”

“Why not?” That’s a wonderful question. Maybe you should’ve, just to hear… but maybe it would’ve been too much.

After a while he stops waiting for your response and walks away from you. You chase after him towards the stairs, ignoring that you two are no longer alone.

“Should I have? Would you have?” He stops on the stairs to think about this. You wonder what it is he’s thinking or who he’s thinking of if he’s entertaining this imaginary call.

“I don’t know.” He says looking directly at you. But in his eyes, you get a suspicion that that might not be true. “Come on, we all have some things to discuss.”

You can’t tell if he’s angry with you or not.

“You wanna ‘relocate’ me!? What is that even supposed to mean?” You start to make a scene in front of the men who have gathered around the large meeting room.

“Us. Relocate us, Y/N. It’s obvious this place isn’t secure anymore. While we prepare a plan, it’s best if we didn’t stay.” Yoongi explains in an attempt to calm you down.

You look around at the men at the large table and standing along the walls. Honestly, you were only hot headed at a moment because Jin and the rest of your house were here. It pissed you off to see him sitting there acting all mighty in your rightful place, sending you away again. How come you were never allowed to do what you wanted to do?

“What do you want us to do?” Your eyes go wide, afraid you might have said your internal rant out loud, but Yoongi is just asking you what your decision is. He’s giving you a say, but you know he’s right.

“Okay. We’ll go.” With a nod you submit. Then Yoongi dismisses everyone to speak with Jin about next steps.

“Y/N you’re part of this too.” Yoongi calls when he sees you leaving with the others.

“I’m sorry, do you just ask me to stay and talk important business?” You ask, a comical look of disbelief over your face. “Since when did my involvement ever give me the authority to do so?” You turn to bitter sarcasm to emphasize both of their disinterest in your opinions on prior matters. “Please don’t let me interrupt the discussion of almighty-“

“I mean, we could always just not tell you.” You huff at this, feeling like a child having a tantrum and collapse into a chair at the large table. After everything, you’ll honestly take what you can get from them. When he notices you’ve finished, Jin breaks the silence.

“I think I have a good place for you to go. Your parents used to have this private timeshare in the country. We basically own it now and no one’s been there in ages, so it won’t be that predictable of a location. Y/N, you’ve probably been there before, do you remember? You might have been too young, though.”

“Wait, my parents had a timeshare? When?”

“After they got married. Sort of needed a place to escape to sometimes, I guess it never hurt to have a sort of safe house away from all this.”

“Huh.” Jin’s confession has you reeling. That’s not something you had expected your father to have done.

“Who knows about it?” Yoongi asks.

“Well we don’t actually have a timeshare agreement anymore, and no one actually owns it. We’ve kept it handy for situations like this, and there’s no record saying we own it, so I guess, just me.” Jin responds.

“Huh.” Yoongi mocks by mirroring your previous response. “Alright then.”

Jimin’s POV:

He needs to just quiet the war in his mind for good, and he might know a way he can do that.

He cares too much. It’s too important. You’re too important. He can’t keep hoping for your forgiveness, he has to know if he’s lost you for good. It’s too dangerous to be questioning sides. There’s one thing left to ask:

Which side is he on?

He chooses to put all his fate onto a leap of faith. All he needs is your help, even just to hear your voice. That would be enough, just to be reminded why he was doubting in the first place.

He gets his phone out and finds your name in the contacts. He hesitates before taping the call button. He shouldn’t be doing this to you, but he needs to know that he hasn’t messed everything in his life up.

Every unanswered ring diminishes his hope. But instead of sadness, he feels anger beginning to bubble up with every ring until it goes to voicemail.

Y/N POV:

Of course it’s raining, why would there be good weather on an evening like this? It’s not like you and Yoongi are driving off into the sunset together. No, instead you’re watching the water droplets race down the car window wishing you could just melt away like them.

Yoongi is quiet the entire trip and you don’t mind. It means your mind is free to wander around all the events that have happened. You think about how everything has made you aggressive and cold to others. But you give yourself some slack, knowing you were once innocent and free of worry as a child.

You still have the good childhood memories at your core. You like to think you’re more like your mother than your father, but it’s hard to tell sometimes. You look over at Yoongi and he drums his fingers on the steering wheel and can’t help but think about his parents as well.

Soon you arrive at your destination and follow a long road covered in trees to a decent sized villa. Through the rainy evening glow you could see the outline of a clearing behind the building which might be a lake, but it’s too dark to see. You’ll have to view it in it’s full glory tomorrow morning.

“Here we go.” Yoongi takes a deep breath before running outside of the car to grab bags. You can’t help but laugh at the unique way he runs around like he’s almost waddling.

Once you see he’s getting soaked you get out to take the final bag up to the house with him. Once through the entrance, you notice how it’s dark and smells like dust. It really gives off abandoned vibes and you start to regret agreeing to this until Yoongi turns on the lights.

It doesn’t look like it’s been decades since someone’s cleaned, and you let out a sigh of relief that it’s passable for living.

“Find a bathroom and get changed.” Yoongi directs. You comply, wanting out of the wet clothes.

Thirty minutes later, after walking around to get acquainted with the space, you find yourself on the couch with a book and a cup of tea. But you’re focused on the words in your head instead of the words on the page. You’re back to your previous debate on which parent you’re like.

That’s when Yoongi walks in, noticing your spaced out expression. He decides to watch for a moment. But when your eyes don’t move, he lets out a small laugh.

“You’re definitely not reading that book.” Caught red handed, you continue to stare at the book with the same expression.

“I’m… thinking.” You say, not meaning to sound as suspicious as you do.

“Yeah, you do that a lot.” You finally tear your sight away from the book to see he flop down on the couch next to you. Now that you think of it, who was Yoongi like?

“Are you more like your mother or your father?” It sort of just comes out of you mouth. His eyebrows lift in surprise but he pulls them back down and takes time to think about it.

“Both.” He says, and you suppose the same of yourself. “But never at the same time.” This really resonates with you. “You can try to be your own person, but other people are what make us who we are.” You suppose this is true as well.

“I always wanted to be like Jimin. Everyone liked him when we were younger, he was practically perfect. But I always compared myself to him.” You pause and let out a sigh. “I’m glad I’m not like him.”

“Me too.” He says this quickly which gets your attention. When you look at him, he’s facing sideways towards you on the couch. His legs are only and inch from touching yours and he’s looking sincerely into your eyes. It’s either that or the low cut shirt he’s wearing that cause something to turn inside you.

“I need a drink.”

Only good things come when alcohol is involved. Of course what better way to distract yourself from your attraction to your husband than to inhibit your ability to reason. Yoongi plays along though, and you find yourself a slurring mess an hour and a half later. You’re both pretty deep in, but it’s mostly you.

After you crying for the past 20 minutes about the fact that you haven’t had a “real” boyfriend since high school. He decides it best you call it a night.

“I think it’s your bedtime.” He says laughing at your most recent pout. But that only causes you to deepen your pout. He laughs again.

“You know sometimes, I forget you’re not a child.” When this doesn’t get fid of your pout he decides to mirror it. Leaning in to mock you. However, this gives you a great view given his choice of loose clothing and looking up to his pouting face, it’d be almost too easy to close the space. So you’re not surprised when you do. Yoongi however, is. Barely registering that it’s happened before you pull away from his face to stare him down in defiance.

“See? Not a child.” You say, but he’s still focused on your lips. He forgot that you’ve done that before, maybe he should be more careful. Did he really need to, though? You’re his wife, you’ve kissed him before. Maybe it’s because of the drink, but he pulls your head back into his with little thought.

This time is not quite as short as the first. You seem to reciprocate a little too easily, letting his mouth slot with yours. You take action to latch onto him as well, reaching out for the shirt you had so desperately wanted to touch before.

His hands snake down and around your waist as one of yours slides up his neck into his hair as things get a little more heated, tongues tasting the alcohol on each other. One of you lets out a noise resembling a moan, but you can’t tell who because the kiss has gotten impossibly deeper and you can’t stop yourself from throwing a leg over to the other side of him.

He seems to be as lost in it as you are since he pulls your body over the rest of the way so that you’re completely straddling him. After everything that’s gone through your head to day, it’s nice to lose yourself in him and forget anything else. You decide you want to share an impossible amount of time sharing breath like this.

When one of his hands ghosts under the back of your shirt to the bare small of your back, one of yours goes to the hem of his and begin to lift to take it off. Before you can, he grabs your thighs and hoists you up causing you to squeal from surprise. You two never part as he walks you to the bedroom, excitement bubbling in your gut.

When he reaches the bed, he lowers your head down to the pillow, slowing down the kiss. It makes you more desperate to continue but instead, Yoongi stops moving entirely. Pulling away and resting his forehead on yours, you two catch your breaths for a moment.

“Go to sleep.” He whispers just centimeters from your lips, and you want to yell at him. After all that? Go to sleep? You’re about to chastise him for treating you like a child once again until he pulls away climbs on the bed next to you appearing content in his decision to sleep.

You stare at him in awe of his ability to just close his eyes and pretend like that didn’t just happen.

He really is an ass. And you really like him.

A/N: Relationships are changing! Sorry for the steamy fake out there. If y'all are good, maybe Santa will bring some smut around the holidays. Thanks for dealing with me!

Next Chapter

Tags: @badbyeyoongi @whothefuckstolemykeds @xxqueenwxtchxx @alecmidnight @rjsmochii @itsrapmonstanotdancemonsta @ superarmyofdreamersuk @zxlla @1796p @obeythehemmings @betysotelo18

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detectivedreameater · 4 years

Text

Ghost In The Stool|| Jane and Marley

TIMING: Right after Jane received a possessed stool PARTIES: @jane-the-zombie and @detectivedreameater SUMMARY: Two cops versus one stool. Who will win? CONTENT: Gun use

Marley was surprised she only heard one gunshot echo as she approached Jane’s house. Still, she had to take a moment to sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she grabbed the baseball bat she’d managed to find and a net. She was no expert on ghosts or possessed objects, but she hope the tools would prove useful somehow. They had to, right? Ghosts, strangely enough, weren’t something she dealt with a lot. And a possessed stool was definitely out of her wheelhouse. But she supposed she ought to feel some obligation to clean up the mess, considering she’d been the one to submit the pie under Jane’s name in the first place. She appreciated how in stride Jane always took her. She was finally a match for Marley’s strange behaviors, and Marley was relieved to have someone like her around. So, she was here, ready to help, with a bat in one hand and a net in the other. She didn’t bother knocking, opening the door and poking her head inside. “Is it still locked in the bathroom?” she called into the apartment, closing the door behind her.

Jane shot the stepstool. It was just a test to see what would happen, that’s why she only shot it once. Nothing happened. All it did was dent the fucking thing while the bullet landed somewhere she couldn’t see. Jane scowled, before clicking the safety back on and sitting down in front of the bathroom. The door was swung all the way open, propped open by one of her kitchen table chairs. A rather thick line of salt was in front of the door. She heard the door open and assumed that it was Marley. “I think we're staring at each other and having a staring contest,” Jane said flatly, just as the stool flew into the bathroom counter. “It completely trashed the bathroom!” Jane complained. No way in hell she was ever getting her security deposit back. Fuck. Jane pushed herself up to her feet and poked her head out to look at Marley. “You think a bat and a net is going to help??”

Marley paused in the middle of the living room, holding her net and bat. Looked between the two, then back to Jane before shrugging. “Hey, I’m not a ghost expert, alright? Once they’re dead they’re outta my wheelhouse,” she stated, coming over to Jane and holding one out to her. “I see your ‘shoot it’ method isn’t working, either, so why not give these a try, right?” She glanced to the line of salt, scowling, subconsciously moving away from it before looking at Jane. “Maybe we can like...put it in a cage? Do you have something to hold it?” she asked, watching it tear around the bathroom, cracking the mirror some more and denting the walls. She winced. “And uh...maybe get a good handyman on call.”

“My landlord is going to shit an entire brick. Do you know how nice that old lady is to give me such a good rent price for a two bedroom apartment?” Jane groaned. She ran a hand down her face, before looking between the bathroom and Marley. “There’s no Mara way to get rid of it, is there?” Probably not. She still didn’t completely understand what Mara were, except that they ate and gave people nightmares and had blue blood. She thought for a moment, before her eyes widened. “Oh! You know what! I do have a cage!” Jane said, putting the gun down on the counter and going to one of the storage closets. “Don’t ask me how my brother’s dog’s crate-thing ended up in my packed stuff, but it did. Probably a good fucking thing too. Uhhh… we’re going to have to put it together though.”

“Nope,” Marley said, shrugging again, “no mara way to get rid of a spirit.” Couldn’t really give visions of fear to something that had nothing left to fear. Or...no eyes. She supposed she could stand inside and distract it, but she wasn’t eager to do that right now. “A dog crate?” Glanced around, then back at Jane. “Why did you rent a two bedroom, anyway?” She followed her away from the bathroom, careful to step around the box of salt sitting there, and came over to Jane digging through the closet. “You’re just full of surprises, Newbie,” she said, shaking her head as she started pulling out pieces of a cage. “Think it’s sturdy enough to hold that?”

“Better kitchen,” Jane replied with a shrug. It was more expensive, but Jane wasn’t exactly concerned about money these days. Probably not a financially stable decision, but one she made anyway. This kitchen had an island and the entire apartment was nice and spacious. The small town Maine-murder vibe also helped with rent. Jane snorted, pulling out the black caged bits. “So what’s the plan? We get it in this thing, and then put a salt circle around it and hope for the best?” Jane frowned. “Do you think we can just chuck it???”

“The ideal plan is to just hope it goes away on its own, but I don’t think that’s happening tonight,” Marley said, looking over at Jane, taking some of the pieces she was pulling out and starting to shove them together in what looked like a coherent cage like outline. “Jane, you can’t just throw away a ghost, I don’t think it works like that.” She frowned, furrowed her brow. “Maybe we can find an exorcist or something. You don’t happen to know any, do you?” she asked, looking back over at her. A loud CRASH! Echoed from the bathroom and the one piece of cage Marley had set up fell over with a wimpy clunk.

“Exorcists are a thing?” Jane responded blandly. That answered that question. “Wait don’t - Ah.” Jane ran a hand down her face as the crash echoed in the bathroom as the cage fell apart. She knelt down, and put it back together. “Alright, I have an idea. What if we trap it in the cage, and then one of us holds it down and then traps it in a salt circle until I can get an …. Exorcist here.” Jane frowned. “Do you think that would work? Because I can absolutely shoot it again.” There was another loud crash from her bathroom. Jane winced. “Or we break it into little pieces.”

“Oh Jane,” Marley sighed, shaking her head as if disappointed in a child. “There’s much for you to learn, young one.” Patted her reassuringly on the shoulder before standing up again, looking around. “Okay, fine, but I’m not going anywhere near, in or around a salt circle. I like you, Jane, I do, but I don’t wanna be literally stuck in your house.” Frowned, furrowing her brow. She hated salt. “Breaking it into little pieces just sounds like torture. Or maybe giving it more ammo. I’d suggest not doing that.”

“I can trap you in a salt circle?” Jane asked, looking at Marley amused. “Maybe I’ll put one around your desk the next time you fall asleep,” she said, grinning. “Alright, you can put me in the salt circle while you hold me in here. Some Morton’s isn’t going to get me down.” Jane stood, rolling her shoulders back. “Alright so here’s the plan, I’ll brace myself here with the cage, and you go let it out of the bathroom. It seems to hate me so it should… uh… come straight to me. We stuff it in the cage and then the salt is up in the cabinet. Kay?”

“We’ve all got our weaknesses, okay?” Marley snapped, going over to the cabinet to dig around for the salt. Uugh. She held it out at arm’s length, feeling the hair on her arms rise and her skin tingle. When she came back, she looked at Jane with a ruffled glance. “You make terrible plans. If it comes at me, I’m going intangible. Sorry, but I’m not getting decked by a stool for you today.” She went over to the bathroom, held the nob. “Ready, Newbie?”

“Does that mean you’ll get decked by a stool for me tomorrow?” Jane asked before she braced herself against the metal cage. If this thing could hold the large yellow fluffy monster of a dog that Steve got, it could hold a possessed stool. In theory. Jane snorted. “I make great plans, come on, where’s the fun if there’s no risk involved, right? Besides, it doesn’t like me anyway, it wants to knock my head off. Let her loose. I’m ready.”

“Maybe,” Marley replied in jest, a small smirk pulling up one side of her mouth. She shook her head again, salt in one hand, doorknob in the other. “Okay, here goes nothing,” and whipped it open quickly. The stool had made even more of a mess of the room somehow, and the second the door open it whizzed out, crashing into the adjacent wall, before righting itself and doing exactly what Jane had said it would-- beelining for her as if she had insulted its entire family lineage. Marley just watched, already racing over with the salt ready.

And there it came. As Jane predicted, the thing whizzed straight to her. The son of a bitch. What had she ever done to it?! Why did it hate her in particular. Jane was ready, though, and moved straight so the stool crashed into the cage with a loud band. Jane threw herself on top of it at the stool jerked around in the cage. She struggled to slam and latch the door and then used her body weight to keep it down. “Marley!” Jane groaned as it slammed the metal into her hip. “Hurry up!”

Marley couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, even as she hurriedly poured salt-- uuggh-- around the cage, making sure to keep her hands far, far away from it, scooting around the salt as if it were physically repulsing her. When she finished, she shut the lid and tossed the can onto the couch, stepping back. “You’re good, just don’t smudge it!” she warned, pointing at the line so Jane didn’t mess up her handy work. “C’mon, get outta there before it breaks that thing!”

The cage gave her another hard jolt to the ribs and Jane groaned, hurriedly throwing herself over the salt when Marley said it was good. “Ouch,” Jane muttered, poking her ribs, irritated. “Who the hell gives cursed freaking stools as a prize. This is a bad pie prize!!” Jane said, exasperated. Sure enough, the stool was properly constrained, and it seemed pretty pissed off about it. She ran a hand through her hair, and looked at Marley accusingly. “You owe me, by the way. This is your fault.” She pointed at the stool. “And helping me trap it doesn’t count.”

“A cursed town,” Marley said back with a smile, watching the stool struggling against its physical cage and the barrier the salt created. She glanced sideways at her, rolling her eyes. “Alright, alright, fine. But I’m not apologizing for entering the pie under your name because it was hilarious. You’ve gotta admit at least that, Newbie,” she said, coming over to Jane and looking curiously at where she was holding her ribs. “It didn’t break them, did it?” she asked, reaching out to poke her gently. “Guess I do owe you one, now. But just one.”

“No, because whenever I make pie, my pies are good. Though I’m much more of a cookie person than I am a pie person,” Jane wrinkled her nose. During the Christmas and Holiday season, her cookies were killer. Though she wondered if Bo would get angry if she started making cookies for everyone at work, that was her thing. Marley poked her and Jane rolled her eyes. “Just bruised, don’t worry. I don’t really feel like explaining to the hospital that that a dog cage with a rowdy ‘dog’ broke them anyway.” Jane flopped back onto the couch, kicking her feet on the table as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re buying me take out.” Jane demanded. “Thai Tanic.”

“You make pie?” Marley said, raising a brow. “Why does everyone in this town make pie.” But it wasn’t really a question. She dusted herself off a little, stepping wide around the salt circle and coming to the couch to flop next to Jane. She wondered, for a moment, if it was alright that Jane knew about her weakness to salt. But, Jane was Jane. Her partner. Her colleague. Her-- well. No, because Marley didn’t have friends. They were just...this. “Really?” she finally said, picking up her phone despite. “I give you one entire favor, and you just want food?” Shook her head before dialing. “The usual?”

#chatzy #chatzy: jane #jane #wickedswriting #ghost in the stool #tw guns

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jaebaebie · 4 years

Text

Why Us? Why Now? Why Ever?

In a post apocalyptic world where walkers took over the living, Era realised that she was different from every one else. Wanting to uncover the reasons to her differences, she embarked on a journey to the West where she met a few Strays,, including a man named Hwang Hyun Jin who, just like her, was cold, hot headed, and full of distrust. She thought they would never get along, but what happens when the two cold hearts start to melt?

STRAY KIDS ZOMBIE AU // WUWNWE MASTERLIST

Chapter 1 ~ “Please, if I was a walker, you’d be the last I’d eat.”

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Prologue

“Hey buddy.”

A dog emerged from the back of an abandoned car. I held back a gag upon noticing the decaying bodies of a couple in the front seats of the car. I scrunched my nose, disgusted by the unbearable sight and stench. But, when you’ve been walking around in a world that has become a graveyard, it’s easy to get used to the smell of rotten flesh and decomposing body parts.

I bent down, putting my palm out as I called upon him. He was a white dog, with outgrown fur that had turned grey with dirt and dust. His timid eyes were the most innocent eyes I’ve ever seen since the apocalypse hit. He cowered backwards, cautious towards me.

He was so scared. I understood why. Everything in this world was scary. The dead roamed free, killing anyone in its path to satisfy their hunger. While the living could not be trusted, for everyone would do anything to live. That meant being selfish.

I stuck my hand out, a decent amount of my month’s canned food in my palm. “Here,” I said, offering it to the poor and famished dog.

I smiled, petting its fur as it ate the corn rapidly. “You must have been really hungry.. and lonely. Just like me, huh?”

He licked my palms clean, immediately turning to the rest of the food in the open can I had just placed beside me.

“Hey, no! That’s supposed to last me another week.” I reprimanded. He didn’t listen, continuing to devour every bit of food left in the can despite each scolding I gave. Since businesses and productions can’t possibly thrive in our current situation, food is rarer than emeralds. More valuable than diamonds.

I snatched my can away from the dog and its eyes changed to that of anger. It pounced on me, growling, causing me to hit the floor with a thud. It snapped at my face, similar to how a desperate walker would, and I pushed it by with both my arms. The dog was much stronger for its size that one hand was not enough to keep it away from me.

Just then, it sunk its teeth deep into my arm, latching onto me as tightly as it could. Using this to my advantage, I reached out for my knife with my free hand, pulling it out of my bag. With one quick motion and without hesitation, I plunged it into the dog’s head, immediately silencing his growls and loosening his grasp on my arm.

————-

I clutched onto my right arm, holding it close to my chest as I scoured through the remains in what used to be a supermarket. I was desperate to find something amongst the empty shelves. Anything. Clothes, Food, Water and most importantly, medication for the dog bite on my arm. Hours ago, I merely wanted to have the company of something alive, yet ironically, the living dog may just be the cause of my death.

It’s been nearly two years since the apocalypse happened,, when walkers began to threaten the existence of humans, devouring any of the living into a walking corpse. A simple bite by a walker could turn humans within days. For some, it took longer, which only prolonged the process : The fear of dying. The fear of turning into one of them. For many, this fear could be turned into courage— the courage to kill yourself before the bite killed you.

I watched my mom die first. Well, I didn’t watch her. My dad rushed out crying, telling me that it was time to go.

“What about Mom?” I asked, confused as to why we were leaving without her. But then my questions were answered with pain, as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the entire house.

Then, it was my dad who got bitten by a person we helped, not knowing that he was bitten. That day was the first time I ever shot a gun. The first time I ventured out into the walker zone on my own.

A month later I met a small group whom I stayed with. But like every individual in this fucked up world, they disappeared the same way everyone leaves.

It’s been a couple of months since I was left alone to fend for myself, often hiding from walkers instead of fighting them unless necessary. Unlike walkers, humans get weak when they are deprived of food, while walkers only get stronger. Faster.

I stuffed the cans of food and some ‘new’ clothing into my backpack, still desperate to find any form of medication that could treat the excruciating pain in my arm. I cursed, seeing nothing but birth control pills and other useless medications left on the shelf.

And then I heard it. The slight shuffling of shoes on the tiled floors. It was faint. But loud enough for me to know that something was right around the corner. A year of being traumatised heightened your senses, especially since you over analysed every noise, every movement. In this world, paranoia allowed you to survive.

There was only one opening in the aisle I was in. I grasped tightly onto my knife, getting ready to strike the walker in its head if it appeared in my aisle. I didn’t want to fight because I was injured, famished and weak. But then the footsteps came closer and adrenaline pumped in my veins. I held my breath as I anticipated its appearance.

Its head came into view, and I stood up, launching my knife towards it. I felt my knife place a small slit on its face as it dodged, catching me off guard. I continued to swing my knife towards it, forgetting about the stinging pain in my arm as the desire to live took over, yet, I continued to miss.

It grabbed my wrist strongly. So strong that I couldn’t break away from it. I struggled, trying to pry my hand away from him, and then I stopped. My eyes focused on the face in front of me, and I realised that it wasn’t a walker. It was a he. My eyes widened. We were only inches apart, allowing me to scan his features up close. He, just like me, was covered in blood, sweat and dirt. Aside from the cut I left on him, his face was pale and flawless. He had full, pink lips which were chapped, and a perfectly pointed nose. His tired eyes glared at me and our pants were the only sounds that could be heard in the empty supermarket.

He then knocked the knife out of my grip, causing it to fall on the floor with a clang, before letting go of my wrist and harshly pushing me as I stumbled back.

“Who else is with you?” He asked, breaking the silence. His cold voice matched his appearance.

“What makes you think there’s someone with me?” I replied, my voice coming out more snappy than I had expected. I haven’t spoken to a stranger in so long that my voice sounded so new yet so familiar.

Another two guys came running towards him, guns in their hands. One of them had their ankle wrapped in bandage, allowing me to come to the conclusion that they, unlike me, were more stacked with goods. I raised my hands up in defence, hoping that cooperating would raise the chances of me getting the ‘help’ I needed.

Despite the guns they were pointing at me, the two men who had just come in appeared less intimidating than the first one. Their panicked eyes immediately softened as soon as it landed on me.

“Are you good, Hyun Jin?” One of them asked, turning his gaze away from me to look at the taller man, Hyunjin.

Hyunjin nodded, sighing as he picked up my knife that laid next to his feet. “I almost got stabbed in the face but I’m good.”

“Who’s she?”

“I don’t know, Han. I’m not exactly in the mood to have a conversation with the person who just tried to place a knife in my skull.”

I tried my best to calm my loud breaths, hoping that it would hide the fear in me. Oddly, meeting humans was much scarier than encountering walkers. This is simply because walkers were predictable. They only had one aim -- to Eat. On the other hand, humans were unpredictable. They had a road which diverged into many and I did not know which road they would take in deciding what they would do to me. The three of them scanned me, before one of them nodded to the other, giving the signal to lower their guns.

Sighing in relief, I lowered my hands back down, letting them fall to my sides.

“You’re alone?”

“She’s not worth your breath, Chan.” Hyunjin said, crossing his arms as the two of us exchanged glares.

Chan ignored him, continuing to try me “Where’d you come from?”

I furrowed my brows, confused as to why he was asking questions that were useless. What was I supposed to reply to that?

“Lady, we can’t help you unless you help us.” The other guy, Han, commented.

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, obviously not wanting to spend any time on me until his eyes landed on my bloody arm, with the visible teeth marks. His eyes widened, immediately pointing his own gun at me as he stepped back, startling his friends.

“Hyunjin, calm do—“

“She’s fucking bit!” Hyun Jin exclaimed,

“I’m not.” I stated, grabbing my arm in defence.

“Yeah, right! It’s clearly on your fucking arm!” Hyunjin yelled, pulling the hammer on his gun and allowing it click.

“Calm down, Hyunjin!”

“Hell no! She’s one of them.”

“It was a fucking DOG you ASSHOLE!” I yelled back, unafraid of the guy threatening my life over a ‘harmless’ bite.

“Leave her alone, Hyunjin.” Han defended, stepping between Hyun Jin and I. It shocked me how he was willing to defend a person he had just met, much less a person who appeared to be infected.

Hyunjin scoffed, flailing his arms around, “You can’t possibly believe that she’s survived alone and untouched by a walker all this while.”.

“Just because you don’t have the balls to stay alone doesn’t mean I can’t!” I snapped back, making Han turn to me with a hiss. “Seriously, you’re not helping me here either.”

“Okay, how about we all calm the fuck down and let the lady explain herself?” Chan suggested, making me roll my eyes in frustration.

“Yeah, why not you bite us while you’re at it?” Hyunjin remarked, clearly as frustrated as I was.

“Please,” I laughed, making sure I showed my distaste towards him, “If I was a walker, you’d be the last I eat.”.

I watch Han stifle a laugh as Hyunjin’s expression turned even more bitter. Han turned back to me before Hyunjin could mutter out another word, “Can you please just... explain.”

“Like I said, a dog bit me hours ago. I’ve been looking for medicine because this, believe it or not, hurts like a bitch.”

“A painful bitch for a bitch.” Hyunjin remarked, but my attention got diverted by Han, who cut me off before I could argue,

“We have medicine back at our base. Chan?”

“No fucking way. We’re not wasting shit on that walker bite.” Hyunjin argued.

“And if it’s not a walker bite we’d be leaving her here to die.”

The two kept arguing back and forth, allowing me to decipher which one, out of the two, was the nicer one. My eyes met with Chan’s and his gaze immediately softened when he saw me wince uncomfortably. Minutes ago, I was completely invested in trying to save my life. Now that the physical and verbal fighting was over, the adrenaline had run out and all my focus diverted back to the throbbing pain in my arm.

“Chan, what do you say?” Han asked, ignoring Hyun Jin’s previous argument.

Despite being a tad shorter than Hyun Jin, Chan had a much bigger build than the other two. Broad shoulders and refined arms. I didn’t have one doubt that he was the leader out of the two as he radiated dominance and confidence.

Chan sighed, taking a step towards me while I instinctively took a step back. He raised his hands, reassuring me that he wasn’t going to do anything bad, so I stopped in my tracks, letting him get closer. He grabbed my injured arm, making me flinch in pain from his touch, examining it. “I can’t tell if it’s a walker or a dog.”

The two waited for Chan’s call on what to do with me. “I say we stay here for the night. We’ll ask Jeongin and Minho to go back with the materials, while we lock her in a room. If she hasn’t changed by tomorrow morning then we bring her back to treat her.”

————————————————————

I followed the guys across the city until they found a place suitable to camp in for the night. I remained quiet the rest of the walk, unable to find the energy to do so. The bite on my arm swelled even more, with yellow pus beginning to ooze out of it. The pain and its condition worsened with each passing time, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

From time to time, I would notice Han looking back to check on me, but I disregarded it. Any concern he was giving wasn’t of any use without medicine that could’ve helped me.

They brought me into a wooden storage attic right outside of a hardware store. It was a small shed terribly built with dark brown wooden planks. Inside, there was a table with hardware tools scattered, as if someone left their project in a rush.

“You can’t be serious.” I asked, watching as Han approached me with metal chains before proceeding to tie my wrists around a wooden pole that stood in the attic.

“Sorry. Their orders. We can’t have you escaping and then clawing at our faces.”

His eyes trailed down to my bleeding arm, giving me a sympathetic look which I absolutely hated. “You’ve really been out all by yourself?” Han asked.

I guess it was hard to believe for a weak 19 year old girl to be able to live without anybody, and that’s what’s really causing their doubts about the bite I had. It was more believable that the bite came from a walker which could be found anywhere, rather than a living dog which are close to extinction. I gave him a small nod, knowing that he, like his friends, doubted me too.

“That’s pretty darn impressive.”

Finally, someone said it.

“What’s your name?”

He gave me a comforting smile. A pursed one that emphasised his fluffy cheeks and the softness of his round eyes. A smile that I haven’t seen in a while. A comfort that I haven’t felt in a while. It felt so new yet so familiar.

“Era.”

Han began to rip off a piece of his own shirt, wrapping the small piece of fabric around the bite on my arm and sealing it with a tight knot. I gasped, clenching my fist to hold back a squeal,

“Nice to meet you, Era. I’m Han.”

I kept a straight face, unable to muster up the courage to give the slightest bit of emotion to a stranger. As I gave a simple nod towards him, his friends beckoned for him.

“I’m sorry about this. Just sleep tight, we’ll come get you in the morning.”

With that, Han and the rest of his friends locked the door behind them, leaving me with the slightest light from the torch they left behind.

I felt myself drift in and out of consciousness, exhaustion and pain taking over my body. My wrists being tied to a pole did nothing but emphasise the pain. Though, my arms being elevated did help with the bleeding, given that my blood barely seeped through the cloth Han tied around it. My body felt warm, but I was having cold sweat that made me shiver. The wooden attic didn’t provide much heat from the cold night, especially since it was badly built with wooden planks.

I started to think about my encounter with the boys. Meeting a walker would’ve been better than meeting Hyun Jin, knowing that I wouldn’t be in this mess. I suppressed my regrets with the knowledge that I would be granted with medication the following morning.. That is, of course, if I don’t die from blood loss and hypothermia before the sun comes back up.

As I was drifting into sleep and cold sweat, I heard the bloodcurdling groan just outside the attic. I cursed, unintentionally stopping my breath to lessen the amount of noise I was making. I was afraid it would hear me through the walls of the attic.

But there was one thing that attracted walkers more than noise.

Blood

#skz writing #stray kids #hwang hyun jin #hyunjin #han jisung #skz fanfic #skz imagines #skz scenarios #skz au #stray kids fanfic #stray kids au #skz

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