#as always let me know if you want further sourcing on anything/if you spot a typo or something

[likeadevils]

1989 Timeline

This is a very long post that puts all the songs on 1989 in order of Taylor creating them. I’ve also included a few other songs she worked on while writing 1989 and quotes from Taylor and her collaborators talking about her process

Of all the albums in Taylor's discography, I think this is the one that improves the most when you listen to it in order. All of those things Taylor was talking about in the promo for this album-- how this is an album of her coming into her own, figuring out her values, learning to stand on her own two feet-- it all clicks into place. Listening to it in order has made me cry on more than one occasion, and it's also the thing that made me start this whole crazy process of figuring out the dates she wrote each song.

If you don't want to read the whole post, check out this playlist of the album in order or this playlist of her entire discography.

I’ve also added this color coded scale of how sure I am of the date: 

Confirmed: There is some type of official source for the date

Inferring: Nobody has officially said “This is when we wrote it,” but all available evidence points to that date

Speculation: This date is based on guesswork and is highly likely to change, or, all that is known is the general season.

Unknown: All that is known is the year (from the US Copyright Offices)

Without further ado...

Oct 6, 2012: Taylor seems to have been in a studio in London (Note: I have no idea where this photo comes from and I can not find a place that specifies if this is a music studio or radio interview.)

This Love: Oct 17, 2012 (Confirmed)

October 19, 2012: Taylor mentions wanting to work with Imogen Heap, prompting Imogen to get in touch with Taylor

Time Interview: Who’d be your dream collaboration, especially now that you’re taking more musical risks? Let me think. Imogen Heap! She’s amazing. Taylor: Someone asked me in an interview "Who would you like to work with?" and I said Imogen Heap. I get an email to my management, sent like "Imogen just saw that Taylor just said an interview that she would like to work together" She said "Why don't you come out to my studio." Imogen: I got a phone call [in 2014] saying Taylor Swift was in London, she'd love to work with me and the only date she could do (between 4 sold out 02 arenas!) was the day after we got back, Sunday. It was both unexpected and not at the same time as I'd heard Taylor was a fan a while back via this Time magazine piece but somehow didn't think it would actually happen.

Fall 2012: Taylor possibly writes a song with Harry Styles and Jacknife Lee (her producer for The Last Time)

“It was out of my field of expertise and interest, but I was intrigued and my girls were thrilled. Taylor was nice and very professional. She knew what she wanted and there was no fucking about. She was seeing Harry Styles at the time, so he came to Topanga on her recommendation. She wrote a few songs with him, and it was the same thing – quick. But this time it was more directed by the management and label. They were after something specific. I wanted more acoustic and gentle, almost Americana, and they wanted bombast. They got what they wanted, and that was the extent of my foray into teen-pop territory. It was fun.”

All You Had to Do Was Stay: Jan 10, 2013 (Confirmed)

Taylor is photographed outside Conway, and then tweets "Back in the studio. Uh oh..." Later, Taylor confirmed that she was recording All You Had To Do Was Stay. Taylor: I had a dream that my ex showed up at my door, knocked at my door, and I opened it up, and I was about ready to launch into the perfect thing to say [...], Instead, all that would come out of my mouth was that high-pitched chorus of people singing, 'Stay!'...and then you go to say something else, and it's just like 'Stay! Stay! Stay!' And I woke up, I was like 'Oh, that was mortifying. But that's kind of a cool vocal part.'

January 11, 2013: Taylor is photographed outside Conway again

How You Get The Girl: Jan 15, 2013 (Confirmed)

Taylor posts a picture of her playing a guitar in the studio, captioned "Somewhere in LA..". Later, Taylor confirmed that she was recording How You Get The Girl. Given what was going on in her personal life, she likely wrote this sometime in the fall/winter of 2012, but all we know for sure is the date she recorded it.

February 9, 2013: Tweets "Grammy rehearsals last night, studio today, who knows what tonight holds! (I do. Laying around watching TV and eating candy.)"

March 6, 2013: Taylor is photographed outside a studio in LA

March 23, 2013: Posts a picture of her playing guitar captioned "Pre show. Columbia, South Carolina"

I Wish You Would: May 28, 2013 (Inferring)

Taylor is photographed out for lunch in Rhode Island with Lena Dunham (and likely Jack Antonoff, who was Lena's boyfriend but not as famous at the time) on May 27 before leaving for her show in Phoenix, Arizona the next day Jack:  "We were hanging out at her house in Rhode Island and we were talking about John Hughes movies, and a lot of the music that inspired [them], and just this general culture of sound in that time period that was really larger-than-life in an anthemic, positive way. These songs could be at the end of films that were really, really beautiful and said a lot. That actually ended up being a song called 'I Wish You Would' which is going to be on her album. We first worked on that song together and realised we kind of have a good thing. Taylor: “This is a song I did with Jack Antonoff, and Jack is one of my friends and so we were hanging out and he pulled out his phone and goes "I made this amazing track the other day. It's so cool, I love these guitar sounds." And he played it for me and immediately I could hear this finished song in my head, and I just said "Please, please let me have that. Let me play with it, like send it to me" And so he sent it to me and I was on tour and this was me playing the track on my laptop recording me singing the vocal into my phone and it ended up being a song called "I Wish You Would", because Jack wrote back and said "I love that".”

June 7, 2013: At the CMA fest, Taylor is asked if she's started writing for her next album yet

“It's starting, all the anxiety is starting and when the anxiety starts, then the writing happens right afterward, usually. Um, so, yeah, I basically... I like to, I like to write for about two years before I'm finished with an album because I... at this point I kind of know that whenever I write in the first year is going to get thrown away, because, I'm going to like it, but it's going to sound a little bit like the last project I had, and the second year usually ends up sounding like the next project. So I think at this point, at this point I feel like staying the same is the easy way to go but it's not the way that I want to go, creatively. I think you need to challenge yourself, I think you need to change up your influences, I think you need to be inspired by different things that you've been inspired by before, and, uh, y'know, It's harder to call people you don't know, and it's harder to think of topics you haven't covered and think of new ways to say old emotions that everyone feels, but, that's the goal at this point."

June 20-21, 2013: Taylor and Selena Gomez hang out, and Taylor potentially writes Wildest Dreams.

July 15, 2013: Taylor gives a brief interview to Rolling Stone

“The floodgates just opened the last couple weeks,” she says of the songwriting process. “I’m getting to that point where I’m irritating to be around because I’ll be with you for half the conversation and then the second half of the conversation I’m clearly editing the second verse of whatever I’m writing in my head.” “I really loved collaborating [on Red],” she says. “You work with a lot of different people and you find the people you have this dream connection with in the studio. I know those people and I know the ones I want to go back to. But I also have a really long list of the people I admire and I would really love to go and contact. So that’s kind of where that is.” “I think that the idea of having a different approach to every single one of my albums is so exciting to me. I never want to make the same record twice. Why do it? What’s the point? It’s so overwhelming that when you’re starting a project there are such endless possibilities if you’re willing to evolve and experiment. If you’re willing to become a different version of yourself, you can really go anywhere with it. And that’s kind of where I am. The kind of the laboratory experimental stage of really catching onto a new thing that I’m liking.”

July 18, 2013: Taylor unfollows the three backup dancers that left her tour for Katy's, meaning Bad Blood was likely written sometime between July and November 2013.

Sweeter Than Fiction: Summer 2013 (Speculation)

Taylor wrote this one over email, and then it was recorded in New York (partially in Jack's living room, partially in an actual studio)

August 25, 2013: Taylor and Selena Gomez hang out at the VMAs, and Taylor potentially writes Wildest Dreams.

August 25, 2013: Taylor gives a brief interview on the VMAs red carpet

"But I think [songwriting is] about to start to kick into full gear. I'm about to go into the studio. It's about to get really intense."

Out Of The Woods: September 14 2013 (Inferring)

On September 14, Fun cancelled their show. Taylor was likely either flying to or from Charlottesville, where she had a show for the Red Tour. Jack: "When I did the track for Out of the Woods, which is a Taylor song that I'm really proud of, there was some issue at a venue and our show was canceled that night and I didn't have my stuff, I had left it on the bus, so I only had these old samples on what was on my laptop, and caught up that 'oh oh'' thing, and I only had one drum kit on there, and these dumb little things [sometimes turn into a great song]" Jack: "So 'Out Of The Woods' was the third thing we worked on together, and probably the easiest. I sent her the track for it, and she sent back a voice note with the verse and chorus in what felt like five seconds. And it was just perfect. It's eerie how similar it is to what the final product is." Taylor: "This is a track that Jack Antonoff sent me, and I was actually on a plane, I got it and I got on a plane and I'm listening to it, and I'm just like listening to it and mumbling melodies cause the song came to me immediately like, in full [...] I think what I should start by playing you, is when I got the track, what I sent him like an hour later, and it is, me.. um, me singing what came to me, which ended up being the finished version of the song, or at least really close to it."

September 20, 2013: In a brief interview with USA Today, Taylor says she plans to work on her next album between the next few legs of the Red Tour

"I’ll be in the studio, figuring out what comes next. I really like to take two years to make a record, and I’ve been writing and doing stuff for the last year. This is kind of the year that it goes into overdrive, and it’s all I think about and I become obsessive over it and I’m hard to talk to"

September 22, 2013: Taylor gives an interview to New York Magazine where she talks about her plans for TS5

These days, Swift is thinking a lot about her next record. While on the Red tour, she’d been writing songs and stockpiling ideas: reams of lyrics, thousands of voice memos in her iPhone [...] she plans to spend much of 2014 writing and recording the new album, a prospect she finds exhilarating and terrifying. “I worry about everything. Some days I wake up in a mind-set of, like, ‘Okay, it’s been a good run.’ By afternoon, I could have a change of mood and feel like anything is possible and I can’t wait to make this kind of music I’ve never made before. And then by evening, I could be terrified of the whole thing again. And then at night, I’ll write a song before bed.” Swift hopes to collaborate with new songwriters and producers. But she planned to begin, she said, by heading back into the studio with Max Martin and Shellback. “I want to go in with Max and Johan first, just to figure out what the bone structure of this record is going to be. “I have a lot of things to draw from emotionally at the moment. But I have to draw from them with a different perspective than on Red. I can’t say the same things over and over, you know? I mean, I think it’s just all the more important that I don’t ever allow myself to coast. At the same time, there’s a mistake that I see artists make when they’re on their fourth or fifth record, and they think innovation is more important than solid songwriting. The most terrible letdown as a listener for me is when I’m listening to a song and I see what they were trying to do. Like, where there’s a dance break that doesn’t make any sense, there’s a rap that shouldn’t be there, there’s like a beat change that’s, like, the coolest, hippest thing this six months—but it has nothing to do with the feeling, it has nothing to do with the emotion, it has nothing to do with the lyric. I never want to put things in songs just because that might make them popular, like, on the more rhythmic stations or in dance clubs. I really don’t want a compilation of sounds. I just need them to be songs.”

September 28-October 5, 2013: Taylor and Selena Gomez are in the same city, and Taylor potentially writes Wildest Dreams.

October 12, 2013: Taylor gives an interview to the Associated Press

Swift: I think the goal for the next album is to continue to change, and never change in the same way twice [...] How do I write these figurative diary entries in ways that I’ve never written them before and to a sonic backdrop that I’ve never explored before? It’s my fifth album, which is crazy to think about, but I think what I’m noticing about it so far is it’s definitely taking a different turn than anything I’ve done before. AP: You said recently you’ve been working on songs for the new album for about six months. What can you tell us about what you have planned? Swift: It’s too early to tell who are going to be my predominant collaborators, but I do know that my absolute dream collaborators were Shellback and Max Martin on the last project. I’ve never been so challenged as a songwriter. I’ve never learned so much. I’ve never just been so excited to show up to the studio every day, just because you never know what we’re going to put together. I’ll bring in ideas and they’ll take such a different turn than where I thought they were going to go, and that level of unexpected spontaneity is something that really thrills me in the process of making music. ... What if we did this? What if we made it weirder? What if we took it darker? I love people who have endless strange and exciting ideas about where music can go."

October 14, 2013: At the NSAI, Taylor talks about reinventing herself for different albums

"I’m making my 5th record now, so I think you have to change things up, you have to explore different corners of music as much as you can. Cause I really, it’s been a big goal of mine to never make two albums that sounded the same. I really want my fans to be able to be like "Oh that song? Clearly that's from the Fearless album", "No that one, that one was from Red" and so I’m in the process of doing that thing all over again for my 5th album and it’s amazing to be in the studio and to be songwriting again, and be honored for songwriting tonight"

Blank Space: October 26, 2013 (Inferring)

It looks like she’s wearing the same outfit in this behind the scenes footage and these candids Taylor: "I was going into write with Max Martin and Shellback, who are two of the primary collaborators on 1989, and I... was preparing all these things, and I, I think Blank Space was like the third thing I played them, and they just stopped and they were like "NO, this is the first thing we're working on today." [...] I had the idea for the chorus and I had the hook, but a lot of the verse was gibberish." Taylor (On what song took her the least amount of time to write): "Blank space, cause I'd written a lot of the lines down already in the year preceding the session"

October 29, 2013: Tweets "Sitting in the studio writing the next album (!!!!) and wanted to thank you for the American Music Award nominations!"

November 1 : While promoting Keds, Taylor is asked about her next album

"What I go through is going to be the story that I tell. I think lyrically, I always try to tell my fans exactly what’s happened to me in the last two years, and that’s the thing they can expect. Everything else, they won’t be able to expect. Having been in the studio with this one, I’m just like… oh, this is going to be fun"

Bad Blood: Fall 2013 (Speculation)

The backup dancer drama seems to have kicked off in mid-July. Given that it's produced by Max Martin and Shellback, and Taylor was in the studio with them pretty much non-stop from October-November, we can assume that it was recorded sometime in the Fall of 2013

New Romantics: Fall 2013 (Speculation)

Unfortunately, Taylor doesn't really talk about this song. Given that it's produced by Max Martin and Shellback, and Taylor was in the studio with them pretty much non-stop from October-November, we can assume that it was recorded sometime in the Fall of 2013

Wildest Dreams: Fall 2013 (Speculation)

Selena reportedly told a fan she was there when Taylor wrote this, and I've noted above all the times Selena could have been with Taylor in 2013 (Here's my personal ranking of how likely each date is). Given that it's produced by Max Martin and Shellback, and Taylor was in the studio with them pretty much non-stop from October-November, we can assume that it was recorded sometime in the Fall of 2013.

Wonderland: Fall 2013 (Speculation)

Another one Taylor just doesn't talk about all that often. Given that it's produced by Max Martin and Shellback, and Taylor was in the studio with them pretty much non-stop from October-November, we can assume that it was recorded sometime in the Fall of 2013

Nov 20, 2013: Taylor posted "While in the studio, I came to the realization that my bangs are long enough to use as a sleep mask on long flights. Then I remembered I don't ever use sleep masks on flights. So really, I just need a haircut"

November 25, 2013: Taylor and Scott Borchetta have a meeting to talk about her plans for TS5 and are both asked about the next album at the AMAs

Taylor: “We got a lot already. There are probably seven or eight [songs] that I know I want on the record. It’s really ahead of schedule for me. I’m just stoked because it’s already evolved into a new sound, and that’s all I wanted. And I would have taken two years to make that happen, but it just kind of happened naturally, so that’s all I could really ask for.” Scott Borchetta: "Well earlier today we got together and she played me seven new songs, and she’s just on fire. The level of desire and passion that she has just to keep getting better, she’s an artist that just really never wants to just say ‘Well okay this is good enough’. It’s always gotta be better. She’s in amazing creative place right now." By the end of November, Taylor had likely recorded This Love, All You Had To Do Was Stay, How You Get The Girl, I Wish You Would, Out Of The Woods, Blank Space, Bad Blood, New Romantics, Wildest Dreams, and Wonderland. That’s 10 songs total, 5 of which were likely recorded in the past two months, and 7 that had been made since Taylor and Jack had their conversation about 80s music in May.

Dec 21, 2013: Taylor briefly talks to Billboard about TS5

"I’m really loving collaboration right now [...] I see it as a bit of an apprenticeship. I want to be around people who love writing songs and have done it for years. Every time I’m in a studio I’m learning, like how to build a drum track, and getting a new perspective on things. It’s so thrilling to keep learning on your fifth album. As soon as [an album] comes out I’m figuring out what the next one will be. It’s gotten to the point where each one is a reinvention, which is what I like best. I like it when it sounds new and people don’t know where you’re going to go next."

Say Don't Go: Jan 1, 2014 (Confirmed)

Diane Warren: Warren, who typically writes on her own, says the two of them “sat down and wrote the song […] from scratch” during the last few days of 2013. She remembers being impressed with how specific Swift was with her lyricism and how considerate she was about how her fans might receive it. “She was very particular about how she said certain things. It was a really interesting experience. She gets her audience [...] She’s deeply aware of how her fans want to hear something. I can’t explain it, but that’s probably why she’s the biggest fucking star in the world.” Several days after writing the song together, they got into Warren’s office to record a demo, where Swift played it on her acoustic guitar. “We demoed it on New Year’s Day. And I’m a workaholic, and that’s fine for me,” she says. “But I remember being impressed that she did, too. Everybody’s on vacation, but she showed up.”

You Are In Love: Jan 2014 (Inferring)

This song is copyrighted for 2014. Taylor has said a few times that Clean, Shake It Off, and Style were the last songs written for the album, meaning You Are In Love was likely completed in January or early February. Given Taylor's busy schedule in late January and early February, I'd guess this was written at some point in early January. Furthermore, I'd guess it was sometime after the 9th, when she returned from looking at house in New York.

I Know Places: Jan 22, 2014 (Confirmed)

Taylor: "I sent this voice memo to Ryan Tedder because I'd always wanted to work with him, and finally we scheduled some studio time. So I always wanna be prepared, I wanted to send him the idea that I was working on before we went into the studio just in case he wrote back and said "I can't stand that, I wanna work on something else, think of something else" So I just sat down with the piano, put my phone on top of the piano and just kind of explained to him where I wanted to go with the song, how I saw the melody sitting in and we ended up recording the song the next day and it ended up being on the record called "I Know Places" So this was the voice memo that I sent to him the night before we ended up finishing the song"

Welcome To New York: Jan 23, 2014 (Confirmed)

Ryan Tedder: "I thought we were going to walk in and start something from scratch because that's what I was used to. Then she calls me and says, 'Is it cool if I already have an idea?' I said, 'Sure.' She said, 'I have this song, I'm obsessed with New York and I just moved there, I want to write an ode to New York because no one's done it in a long time.' And then she sent me a voice memo. She's like, 'I want it to sound like 1980s.' So the next day I brought in a Juno-106, which is a very 1980s keyboard and I literally programmed that entire song right in front of her. It was very much on the fly, and that song was done in about three hours. And I did the rest of the production I think later that week. I was in Switzerland on a tour bus, and I did four versions of 'Welcome to New York,' one of which I liked personally more, but the thing about artists is they become very obsessed with the demo. She was in love with the demo so no matter how hard I fought, she brought it back to the demo, so really what you hear is what I did on the first day."

January 26 2014: Dianne Warren says that she recently wrote a song with Taylor

"I worked with Taylor Swift on a great song [...] I'm excited about the [song] that we did, it's pretty cool Dianne in 2016: “I know [Swift] likes it, so hopefully it will see the light of day. I know she really likes the song. She didn’t want me to give it away, so hopefully that means she wants it.”

January 26 2014: Taylor loses Album of the Year at the Grammy's to Daft Punk. She tells a few different stories about what the rest of the night looked like for her-- in some she goes home alone, in some she has some friends over-- but in all of them, this is the night where she decides that she's gonna name the album 1989, and she's not going to let her label tell her to put any country songs on it.

Clean: Feb 9, 2014 (Confirmed)

According to Imogen Heap's blog post, Taylor had the first verse and chorus by the time they got into the studio, and then wrote the second verse and bridge during the session. Taylor's part was wrapped up in 9 hours, ending at 8pm, while Imogen stayed up until 4am because she didn't want to stop working on it. Taylor: ""Shake It Off" and "Clean" were the last two things we wrote for the record, so it shows you where I ended up mentally. “Clean” I wrote as I was walking out of Liberty in London. Someone I used to date— it hit me that I’d been in the same city as him for two weeks and I hadn’t thought about it. When it did hit me, it was like, ‘Oh, I hope he’s doing well’. And nothing else. [...] The first thought that came to my mind was – I’m finally clean." Imogen Heap: I was really writing the tiniest amount just to help her do what she does. I put some noises to [“Clean”], played various instruments on it, including drums, and anytime she expressed she liked something I was doing, I did it more. It was a really fun day. She recorded all her vocals [for “Clean”] during that one session. She did two takes, and the second take was it. We always thought she would probably re-record it, because we thought it can’t possibly be that easy. But after we lived with it for a few months, we felt it was great.

February 15, 2014: Taylor posts "It was a studio Valentines Day with Max and Johan!"

Shake It Off: Feb 15, 2014 (Confirmed)

Lover Diaries (From Feb 22): "This week I’ve been in the studio with Max and Johan every day and it has been the most creatively successful and fulfilling time. The first day, Johan just made a really up tempo drum beat because we decided we needed something UP and light. We worked at it for a few hours before I just started singing “shake it off, shake it off.” And then the best way I know how to describe it is that the chorus just fell out of the sky. It ended up being this song about doing your own thing even though haters are gonna hate, and you just have to dance to your own beat. We all went home and I wrote the first and second verses and brought them in the next day. We wrote this chanty cheer leader bridge that I absolutely LOVE. We spent all day doing vocals and the next day recording background vocals. I think it’ll end up being the first single and Max said it’s his favorite song he’s ever been a part of." Taylor: "The problem was, I had all these lyrics, and I didnt have, like... writing session was coming up and I'm just like "I'm not getting a melody, I'm dead, I don't know what I'm gonna do." The thought terrified me, so I just sorta sulked into the studio and I was like "Guys, I have like an idea but its like, lyric, but I... and I know the vibe I want-- I want it to start off and the second the song starts, I want it to be the song where like, if it's played at a wedding, and there's this one girl who hasn't danced all night at the reception, all her friends come over to her and there like "You have to dance, come on, you have to dance on this one!". That's what I wanted. So I was like "Shellback, can you just go to the drum kit and try to play that?" Taylor: "There's one thing that I've always said to Max, is like "I don't like horns" I just always had a thing about it, I was always like weirdly scared of it, or intimidated by horns, I don't know what it was? It's a weird, like, nerdy studio fear of mine. I was like "No, no horns!" and I don't.. I don't even know, I don't have a reason for it, I love songs that have horns on them, I was just like "I don't think I can pull off horns." Strange. But, he goes over to the mellotron and he starts playing this horn sound. I'm like "What are you doing. Don't do that." and he's like, "No, I think this is cool" and I'm like "No it's not cool, and where are your chorus chords, because, that, you're just playing three chords over and over again and I can't make a chorus out of them, why don't you go to like a chorus chord that starts off the chorus, where is the one, like why don't you go--" and then there was this moment, where I thought of the whole chorus, and it's over the chords that I had just told him are not "chorus chords", which is a ridiculous thing to say."

February 18, 2014: Taylor is photographed entering Conway Studios

Style: Feb 19, 2014 (Confirmed)

Niklas Ljungfelt (guitarist): I played on “Style,” a song I started with Ali Payami for ourselves. He was playing it for Max Martin at his studio; Taylor overheard it and loved it. She and Max wrote new lyrics. But I recorded the guitar on it before it was a Taylor song. It was an instrumental. I didn’t have a clue that Taylor would sing on it. The inspiration came from Daft Punk and funky electronic music. Taylor: I'm pretty sure after we finished this one I knew the record was done. Shake It Off and Style were the last two songs to be written for 1989.

March 2014: Taylor's interview with Glamour is published (likely conducted two months beforehand)

TS: Working on this album has been unbelievable [...] I'm already in love with it. It's so different. CL: What's the new sound? TS: On Red I did three songs with Max Martin Shellback [...] I think we'll be doing a lot more than three songs together on the next album [Laughs].

March 26, 2014: Taylor is photographed entering a music studio in New York

May 30, 2014: Taylor writes in her diary:

So a crazy story unfolded in the last 24 hours. Last night, I had this vivid dream where the photo I’d chosen for the album cover wasn’t good enough, intriguing enough, artful enough. It woke me up. I couldn’t shake it and it stayed with me all day. Because that nagging feeling I’d been pushing back for weeks was now confirmed in my gut … It wasn’t good enough. I went to the venue, mind racing, wondering if I’d have to do an entirely new photo shoot … I got to my dressing room with newer versions of the “cover.” I looked at it and felt nothing. The team pulled up this new scanned file of the Polaroids we had taken during the shoot. I saw within 10 seconds. The shot. The cover. It’s a Polaroid of me sitting against a beige wall with a blue seagull swear shirt on. You can see my red lips, but the photo cuts off my eyes. From some reason unknown to me, it’s the most intriguing photo I’ve seen. I think it’s the mystery of not seeing my eyes. Maybe it just looks effortlessly cool. The craziest moment came when something caught my eye. The cover photo is photo 13. I kid you not.

August 23, 2014: Taylor is photographed walking out of a studio in LA (Note: I can not find a place that specifies if this is a recording studio, dance, photography, radio, or television studio.)

Now That We Don't Talk: Summer 2014 (Speculation)

Seeing as Taylor said she didn't have time to figure out the production, I imagine this came fairly late in the process. Taylor has a habit of adding songs right up to the deadline-- with Folklore and Evermore, she added multiple songs a week before the album came out. The latest she added songs to albums while signed to Big Machine was September, though (both Forever & Always and So It Goes...), so I assume that's the absolute latest she could've added a song. Taylor: "Now That We Don’t Talk” is one of my favorite songs that was left behind, it was so hard to leave it behind, but I think we wrote it a little bit towards the end of the process and we couldn’t get the production right at the time. But we had tons of time to perfect the production this time and figure out what we wanted this song to sound like. I think it’s the shortest song I’ve ever had, but I think it packs a punch, I think it really goes in. For the short amount of time we have, I think it makes its point.

And that's all for this timeline! Check out my others:

TIMELINES: debut • fearless • speak now • red • 1989 • rep • lover • folklore • evermore • midnights PLAYLISTS: debut • fearless • speak now • red • 1989 • rep • lover • folklore • evermore • midnights • entire discography GENERAL: tag

#txt* #timeline* #taylor swift #OH MY GOD ITS OUT ITS OUT ITS OUT I'VE BEEN RESEARCHING THIS FOR THREE YEARS AND IT'S DONE #!!!!! #as always let me know if you want further sourcing on anything/if you spot a typo or something

[mrsnancywheeler]

the lakes (12) // finnick odair x f. reader

summary: it's supposed to be over, you and Finnick are supposed to spend the rest of your lives helping each other heal. living as peacefully as possible, but the the third quarter quell throws a wrench in your domestic bliss.

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warnings: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, extreme mental health issues, suicidal ideations, gore/violence/death, self-hate, allusions to trafficking, use of explicit language, more angst, mentions of vomiting, dissociation, terms of endearment, unedited, no use of y/n, a codependent couple with a shared savior complex, paranoia

When you'd realized the monkey mutts had stopped where the beach began you wanted to collapse into the sand in relief. All you could do was stare on as Peeta tried to comfort the Morphling woman who'd sacrificed herself for him before her body was raised from the waters. Even if Plutarch was supposedly in on the plan, it seemed like the arena couldn't wait to kill you all off as soon as possible. The conversation switched to finding food, another thing your brain couldn't care less about. You supposed you should be from all the running, fighting, and sweating, but you just had a huge pit in your stomach as you thought about how Finnick could have died not long ago.

It had always been a possibility that you were very consciously aware of, but the imminent threat wasn't really present. You had no qualms that he would be able to protect himself, yet he hadn't been able to when the fog came rolling in. Well, he would have been able too if hadn't come to Peeta's rescue, but to get out, that was a requirement. Adrenaline has kept you going after that, when the monkeys attacked, but the dread filling you now was like lead.

“Hey," One of Finnick's warm, calloused hands cupped your face, “What's going on, sweet girl?" His face had that endearing always somewhat cocky smirk on it that was a permanent source of comfort in your life. But you just stared at him, at those ocean eyes you would drown in if given the chance. The look in his eyes shifted to one of higher concern, “Are you hurt?" He looked up and down your figure, looking for sounds, tilting your head to see the back, looking for signs of infection and grew more concerned when he found nothing to send off alarms. “Angel, you gotta tell me what's wrong." He urged.

You tried to blink yourself out of your stupor, "Nothing just wanna be with you.”

"You are with me.”

"Yeah I know.” He looked at you suspiciously, but knew better than to push. You grabbed this hand and he squeezed it, pulling you along as he went on his search for oysters. When he was sure he found a spot and began his digging you sat down in the water. Letting the soft waves ripple across your legs, if you closed your eyes you could pretend to be home again, this was so similar.

“I'd never leave you alone, you know?" Finnick's voice brought you back from the fantasy and you looked at him quizzically. He was still digging through different areas, of course the oysters were in such unnatural places, that was a reminder of how fake the fantasy was. "I'd always come back to you. You don't have to worry about me leaving you behind, or making you feel abandoned.” You looked away, staring at the glistening waters once again. There was no words you could think of to say, you wondered if you were still in shock, it felt nothing like how it had been described, but maybe this was all some weird, fucked up trauma response the universe had left you with as further punishment. Your mind was blank of anything other than how he, your amazing, smug, caring, generous, loving Finnick could actually be taken from this world and it would keep on spinning without him. Then his hand grabbed yours once again and he effortlessly pulled you from the water to walk with him back to Katniss and Peeta.

You laid your head on Finnick's shoulder as everyone began to eat. He opened one of the oysters up and offered it to you, but you just shook your head. There was no room for hunger, no room for anything except trepidation.

He shook his head back at you, “You need to eat." Finnick offered it back to you, he was so bossy and it made you love him even more.

“I'm not hungry, Finn." You knew you were exposing yourself with the nickname, which you only used when you felt most vulnerable, but it slid off your tongue so easily in the moment.

“You're gonna talk to me now?" He asked playfully, trying to lighten the load. You scowled at him, lightheartedly elbowing him in his side and he laughed.

“You're so mean to me." You burrowed your head back into his shoulder.

He scoffed, “I just put all my effort into a monologue of my devotion to you and then you decided staring at the waters which are in front of us all the time was more interesting.”

He was right of course even if it was all in jest, but you weren't going to let him win regardless of that fact. “It was hardly a monologue-" He turned to you abruptly, you frowned when your head lost contact with your shoulder but he grabbed your hands in his.

“I don't understand why you have cared about and loved me so deeply, except in the way that I know that's how I feel about you. You being here is the bane of my existence because I know that there isn't a day I could live without seeing your smile or sweet domesticity. You don't understand why I want to protect you so badly, but it's the same way you want to protect me. There isn't a universe where I could leave you when I know you need me, I married you as a promise that I would always return to you, protect you even if you're stubborn and here anyways. Death couldn't part me from a world that you were still in.” His sea green eyes were so serious and it did reverberate within your heart, but you still let yourself laugh.

"You are such a sweet-talker.” You announced with an eye roll, knowing he was right about how you felt. Except maybe selfishly if death parted the two of you, the only assumption you had made was he'd find someone else, some other smarter, braver, prettier partner who only couldn't compare to you in their adoration of him, but maybe that was a stretch as well.

“And you are impossible to please." He quickly packed your lips which left your yearning for his honey-dripping lips for seconds longer, if you suffocated with them on your own it would be the happiest you'd ever be. “Now eat, my love." You could melt into the sand thinking about how this man would pour out a heartfelt monologue just for you to leave your head long enough to eat, he was perfect, there would never be anyone else like him, and there never had been. He was it for you.

Screams interrupted your thoughts and you instantly stood up, “That's new." Peeta said as he rose as well, you all stood, staring across the beach where water seemed to be overflowing a portion of the jungle. Flooding that rushed from the trees and was so tall it was as high as the Cornucopia that bounced against, leaving large waves to rush up your feet. A drone came to pick up a body and it solidified in your brain that regardless of what Plutarch had planned these were never meant to be long Games, nor particularly violent with all the events occuring.

“Someone's here." Katniss said sharply, quickly pulling out an arrow, ready to shoot. You looked at the figures approaching from the jungle, not too far away. The aggressive motions of one of the figures nearly instantly told you who it was.

“Johanna." You whispered out and then Finnick was running forward.

“Johanna!" He shouted, catching her attention. You followed after him as she yelled back at him. Beetee and Wiress instantly run into the water when you realize Johanna’s figure was so obscured because she was covered head to toe in blood.

“Oh my god, what got you?" You asked, there was no way that much was hers or even someone else's. It was clotted in her hair, her skin, each piece of fabric.

“We were all the way, deep into the jungle where I thought it was going to be safe. That's when the rain started, I thought it was water, it turns out to be blood. Hot, thick blood, coming down. It was choking us! We were stumbling around, gagging on it blind.” Johanna signs through her explanation, ignoring Wiress’ mutters of tick, tock, tick, tock. Which you push away as well as just Wiress being Wiress. “That's when Blight hit the forcefield, he wasn't much, but he was from home.”

"What's wrong with her?” Katniss asks about Wiress, still muttering.

“She's in shock." Beetee is washing the blood of his glasses in the sea water. “Dehydration isn't helping, do you have fresh water?"

“We can get some."

Wiress is clinging to Johanna, desperately repeating her mantra. Who's trying to shove the older woman off, for most of you this is just the dynamic that's been accepted. You've each accepted a role to maintain relationships with one another, Wiress the crazy one, and Johanna the aggressive one. Katniss is put off and runs to Johanna, ready to fight.

“Hey what're you doing?" Johanna yells, Finnick trying to pull her away as you try to get between her and Katniss. “I got them out for you!” They're finally ripped apart when Peeta has his arms around a visibly confused Katniss. "Let go of me, Finnick!”

"Let's just go get you cleaned off.” You tilt your head walking with her and Finnick into the water. "I'm sorry about Blight.”

"Yeah.” She says gruffly as she dunked her head into the water, blood instantly beginning to spread into the once clear waters.

"And I didn't really get to thank you for saving me earlier, so thank you, Johanna.”

"Well I'm sure he would've killed me himself if I hadn't.” She nodded her head at Finnick. “Better go make a better impression with the Girl on Fire over there." She rolled her eyes, stalking over in that direction.

“Deep down she appreciates a thank you." Finnick's wrapped his arms around you from behind and you sway in the water. You hummed in agreement, just enjoying the feeling of his arms around you. What you would give for this to be the two of you in your kitchen back home is immeasurable as well as the things you would do to get that back.

“Were you serious though?" You blurt out, forcing yourself to acknowledge your feelings with him. There's a beat which you figure must be confusion as he tries to figure out what you're referring too. Before you have a chance to add on, he'd seemingly figured it out though.

“Of course I was serious. You don't have to worry because you're not gonna get rid of me that easily, angel." He chuckles, his lips pressed to the side of your head. You nod slowly,

“Thank you." You mumbled out, embarrassed that you'd even let the anxiety take over, but also not completely convinced. It felt shameful that no amount of words or actions was seemingly able to convince the deepest parts of your soul of anything but the worst.

“It's a clock!" Katniss yelled out catching everyone's attention, she helped Wiress out of the water where they've been sitting and began walking towards the Cornucopia . “This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock, with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge.” Katniss explains and you all follow her, "It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, fog, monkeys, that's the first four hours. At 10 that big wave points from over there.” She points forward, Wiress stops walking. As if she's cautious of something.

“Wiress, you're a genius." Finnick smiles as you all keep trekking forward.

“The tail points at 12." Peeta observes when you reach the shining Cornucopia.

“That's where the lighting strikes at noon and midnight.” Katniss further explains.

“Strikes where?" Beetee asks, holding his coil of wire close.

“That big tree." She points once more and Beetee seems pleased, Wiress sits down on the edge of the rocks murmuring a nursery rhyme to herself.

"Great job, Wiress. We'll try and listen more next time.” You patted her shoulder before following the rest of the group to where a circle is being drawn out in the sand. Dividing it up in the clock like sectors of the arena. Trying to find out what comes next in each portion of the arena.

“It doesn't matter as long as we steer clear of whichever sect is active, we'll be safe, yeah?”

" Relatively speaking.” Finnick nods along and then Wiress' ambience of nursery rhymes is quiet and she gasps. Your head shoots towards where she would be and there's Gloss, knife in Wiress' chest. Before you'd even had a chance to react Katniss’ arrow had pierced through his chest, you'd no clue where she'd come from, but you could hear a sound of outrage from Cashmere. You followed the sound and saw her lunging forward, blindly trying to avenge her brother. Without a second thought you'd shoved Katniss out of the way and a knife was flying out of your hand into Cashmere's heart. Her head hit the ground and that dreadful buildup of guilt was returning. She'd always been kind to you, there were amicable jokes and small complaints to one another at parties. An understanding that you'd struggled through the same, ever present issues and now you were once again the person cutting that life short after allowing a bond to be created. But you had to keep Katniss safe, to get her out of the arena, regardless of the consequences.

The Career pack had seemingly crept up on all of you, Finnick and Peeta were fighting off the attacks of Brutus and Enobaria. Your next knife barely missed Enobaria as she fled to the other side of the Cornucopia, Katniss’ arrow doing similarly with Brutus. Peeta tried to run after them, even if people talked about him like he was the weaker one, you'd seen from the way he trained with Brutus that it was anything, but true. Finnick knew that regardless of Peeta's strength he needed to be protected, kept alive, so he blocked him from the chase. Katniss; however, did try to follow after them, make sure the two were gone, Johanna followed behind. Under no circumstances could you let the Mockingjay get hurt, Peeta was because of that, but she was the one you'd been instructed to get out.

You looked over at Finnick, trying to communicate with him that you'd be following and he gave a curt nod. Only a few steps in though you were completely thrown off your balance, your brain started buzzing. You weren't sure what was going on except that your hands were desperately searching for crevices in the rocks to hold onto. The force of the wind whipped at your skin so hard it genuinely hurt and your fingers tried not to slip on the wet rocks. It was spinning, the Cornucopia was spinning around at full force, trying to throw you off, you tried to calm down. Focus on seeing if you could spot Finnick through the water sprays and the way it hit your face in harsh droplets. It wasn't that different from being on a boat, crabbing when the weather got difficult, being tossed around. Maybe if you shut your eyes that's what you could imagine this was, but then your hands were slipping and you were trying to force your body to stay still. Fingers blindly searching for another crevice, rocks scratching at them as you tried to dig your fingers into the rock. Body sliding down, it didn't matter that you could swim, if the impact was too harsh you could go unconscious on impact and no amount of experience in the water could save you from that.

Finnick would be okay though, if anyone was fine it would surely be him. He'd know exactly where to place his grip, he'd be strong enough to hold on, he could probably hold onto someone else too. Those thoughts are quickly cut short when you hear yourself screaming as something, something sharp, has lodged itself into your back. Breathe, you tell yourself digging your fingers into the rock deeper. Something is tearing into your back, the pressure of the wind definitely isn't helping, and you're barely able to focus on keeping hold of the slick rocks. Through the wind you can hear more screams, shouts, too obscure to make out who the belong to, but it reminds you that you need to survive long enough to rescue Katniss, you need to keep holding on.

Finally, the movement is slowing down, at least you think it is, maybe your perception of speed has just changed. By the time the Cornucopia comes to a stop you still feel dizzy, like a phantom of the spinning. When your brain stops buzzing the pain in your back is worse than you expected. It's torturous to try and stand, but you bite your lip, trying not to groan as you stand. Your legs are wobbly at first and then you hear Finnick call your name.

“Finnick there's something in my back." He's running towards you, eyes full of concern. Your taking deep breaths to try and move through the pain, “I need you to take it out."

Soon he's behind you and before you can say anything more his hand grabs yours from behind, "This is gonna hurt a lot-”

"Don't tell me, just rip it out, like a bandaid.”

"Angel, I can't do that. I'll do it as fast as I can, but I can't just tear it out without causing more damage." His fingers are rubbing circles on the back of your hand.

You're crying a little and even though it causes more pain you laugh a little, “It's one of those stupid scalpel chains isn't it?"

“Yeah, sweet girl, squeeze my hand as hard as you need too." You're nodding, putting the free arm to your mouth to try and muffle yourself if you scream at all. Trying not to bite when you realize this is just as excruciating as the fog had been, fingernails digging into Finnick's hand as he pulls out each piece of the chain. “I've got you, angel, it's okay." By the time all the pressure from the chain has left your back you feel faint. “There we go, all done, you did such a good job." There's no chance to acknowledge him when you're letting yourself run to the edge so you can hurl into the water.

You force yourself to keep standing, “How bad is it?"

“Just deep enough to stick, but you're gonna be okay.” Finnick helps you steady yourself, avoiding the tender wounds on your back.

"Let's just get what we need and get off this bloody island." Johanna says and everyone complies.

“I can carry you, if you want." Finnick offers, already helping you across the rocks.

“I can walk, Finnick, I'm sure soon enough we'll be hit with something else that gives me enough adrenaline that I won't even feel it." You shrug, trying to force yourself to have good spirits. “And I still think hypothermia was worse so-"

He lets himself laugh, shaking his head, “You say that about everything."

“Because it's true! I was so cold that I felt like I was on fire and I was seeing things, I'm sure my back can take a few hits."

"Okay, angel, whatever you say.”

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

You don't know how long had passed since they stripped you of your wet, muddied, bloodied clothes, or since they injected you with something that made you pass out until you woke with seemingly no injuries to remind you of the past except the stitches in your side. You do know that now they've allowed you rest, before you're thrust back into the Capitol to be seen, to be crowned. The blankets felt like the softest thing to ever grace your skin and the mattress itself is a blessing, but you can't appreciate it when your eyes bore into the wall, guilt infesting your bloodstream.

Light floods into the room and you fear that you've been lost in your head for so long it's already time for them to play dress up with your lifeless body. But his scent is something you've always known instantly, saltwater, sand, the smell of home. You don't even look at him, there's no point, you need the darkness to engulf you and let you have a redo.

“I wish you let me die in that arena." You don't recognize your own voice, so hoarse, so numb.

He took a cautious step into the room, “I know." Finnick sounds like he's already resigned himself to this, to whatever this is. You finally tear your eyes from the walls, briefly having let them pass over his figure, but doing nothing more than scooting over. You hope he got the message you silently urged for and of course he does, he gets you so well. When his body heat is by yours once again, you resent that you're able to have it, that you fought to have it.

‘You don't deserve to cry,’ is what you had begun to tell yourself the moment they grabbed you from that arena. The tears of a murderer do little to those whose blood they've shed. Yet when his hand is cupping your cheek, you feel the tears returning. The longer the silence persists, the better you'll be able to hold back from crying, but eventually you succumb to the uprising of tears and you've probably stained whatever Finnick is wearing.

“He's my best friend Finnick." Was. He was your best friend. Before you dug your talons in, chewed up the parts you needed, and kept the blood on your hands. That bright, beautiful boy that by all means you were supposed to end up with. You'd resisted that ending so much the universe had seemingly decided to make it a tragedy instead. “My best friend." His home was yours, his family was one with you, but you had to be selfish and greedy, so karma took its place.

Finnick's hands cradled your head, and you let yourself push away just to melt right back into them. “And he tried to kill you."

It made you seethe, how dare he be right, "Because I used him, I did that to him. He should have killed me, I'm not meant for this, Finnick.”

"Angel, the Capitol is eating out of your hand, you go out there, you smile and laugh, they love it. And then you walk straight off that stage to me.” You've sat up, trying to stop the hyperventilation that's taken control of your body. You can feel his hands on yours, trying to guide your breathing, but your brain felt too loud to even attempt to follow.

“Why'd you let me do it? You should've told me it was stupid, you should've let him win. He has a family who cares about him, oh my god his family!" Maybe it's not fair to blame Finnick, it had been your idea after all, but it helps because you felt like the insurmountable grief would eat you alive.

He pressed his forehead to yours, “I know, I know, angel, I'm sorry." Later you'll feel more remorse for what you said, but now you could barely breathe.

"You'd said you wanted to keep me safe and now I've screwed it all up because the world is punishing me."

Finnick had gone back to trying to steady your face, for his hands to calm you, which only works to remind you every one in a while to breathe. “Nothing is punishing you, this isn't your fault."

“No, it is, it's all my fault, Finnick! I couldn't just be satisfied with how my life was supposed to be. I wanted you so bad and pushed away my fate and so now the universe has to punish me"

“Stop it." His voice is grounded, caring but stern like the way he's been holding your face. “Don't do that, sweet girl, no one is getting retribution against you for anything.”

"What are the odds? Who does that happen to, Finnick? I just happened to get pulled in the same year as my best friend who everyone knows I'm supposed to end up with and then suddenly you want me again?”

"The odds are never in anyone's favor. And I wanted you anyways.”

You've begun scratching at your chest, which you've never done before, but the newfound anxieties seem to have taken over. But Finnick instantly is pulling your hands away. "I'm not meant for this, I'm just supposed to be the person who gets married and lives in some small house on the beach, who goes to the markets, not this.”

“And you put on a show for them, angel, and then we get to go back home and live that life as much as possible. You only have to keep the act up for them." You didn't have it in you to keep explaining otherwise, you were exhausted, although part of you told yourself you'd be better off without sleep, that you didn't deserve rest. Finnick could of course sense it all and pulled you into his chest. The warmth you'd so missed finally fully surrounding you, protecting you from everything, even your own thoughts for a little while. It was a heat you so desperately craved and the idea you'd never feel it again had haunted you when you'd almost died in the cold. So you nuzzled yourself deeper into his chest, "Get some rest, sweet girl.” His lips pressed to the top of your head.

Your brain refused to rest peacefully, but if you so much as mumbled in your sleep Finnick was there to soothe you until it passed and eventually he was waking you. For a moment, when your eyes had just fluttered open, it was easy to imagine that it was just you and Finnick back home, that none of that had occurred had ever happened. Maybe if you convince yourself of that delusion for long enough it would be an easy enough fantasy to slip into whenever you needed to give the Capitol a facade of joy. You were a victor after all.

“They're just going to do the same process that happened before the parade before your stylist gets whatever she had planned ready. I'll be there when you're done."

"Finnick, I'm sorry.”

"You don't have to apologize to me.” He understood what you'd gone through, he'd been there too and even though you knew that it still felt cruel to have blamed him for anything related to your actions.

"I-” He interrupted you with a kiss, you'd almost forgot what his mouth was like, the taste of honey on his lips.

"I’ll meet you after, angel.” He parted ways with you at the sleek, silver door to a scarily, clinical room. Soon enough you were being surrounded by a flock of your designing team to get your primped to the nines.

“You literally had me on the edge of my seat, it was divine." One of them squawked, making sure your body was completely devoid of any hair they hadn't specially planned to be there. You simply smiled as gratefully as you could, nodding along with each remark they made.

“We need more games like you, I mean they're all interesting, but you brought such a kick to it. One of the most entertaining by far!" One squealed, trimming your nails. Making a small look of disgust when he pulled out the dried mud and blood lodged underneath your fingernails.

“Oh, you'll be a must have at my big birthday gala next month. You will come won't you?” The woman with bright green hair who was powdering something onto your face asked eagerly.

“Of course, you've all done so much for me!" Your face hurt from the forced smiles as you gushed, and they oohh’d and aahh’d at your performance.

“You are the sweetest little thing, I could just burst!" The green haired woman waved her hands around expressively, the others nodding along with her.

“Anyone who doesn't already love you, will have to now!" The man announced, putting down your hand.

“Well we've done the makeup Cambrie requested, so we’ll let her know you're ready for the dress. It's simply divine. You'll wait right in there." You were ushered into a much more comfortable looking room and the smell of food instantly made you salivate. You'd forgotten how long it had been since you'd last eaten, especially something more than small fish, rabbits, berries, and nuts. Instantly you dove into each dish you could, eager to finally fill your stomach that has longed for food for over a week now.

You'd nearly eaten your fill when Cambrie’s bright voice filled the room. “I knew it would be you, I told everyone I could how much of a sweetheart you were! And now everyone wants one of my looks. You are such a blessing!” She kissed both of your cheeks,"You know what they're calling you?” You shook your head, not sure if you really wanted to know. "A Princess!” She squealed, obviously filled with glee."That's amazing to work with."

You smiled as big as you could to match hers, “Oh I'm flattered, but why that?"

“I mean look at you, the sweet, little girl from District 4 with two men pining to have her. Not a slob like some of the victors from past years, perfectly kind and refined." If it was considered kind and refined to manipulate and kill other children, then you guessed you would fit the bill. “So your dress reflects that, the princess style as one would say. I would've loved to incorporate a tiara, but since you'll be crowned at the end of the night we had to forego that."

The dress shimmered like the ocean in sunlight,"It's beautiful.” You said starting at the gown, it felt wrong to dressed in the Capitol's finest as Conway was being shipped in a wooden coffin back home.

“Just like you!" Cambrie clapped her hands together before leading you out of the room to where you'd wait to be presented back in front of Panem. Finnick immediately caught your eye and you resisted running straight to him.

“You look beautiful." He had a twinkle in his eye, that made you want to slip back into the fantasy that all of this wasn't because you'd won the Hunger Games, that it was just a regular day.

“You're not too bad yourself.” You shrugged with a playful smile. Then faster than anticipated it was time to go, Finnick squeezed your hand encouragingly. You let your smile fall for a fraction of a second to take a deep breath before plastering it back on.

“You've got this.” He whispered, kissing your hand before releasing it as you walked towards the steps of the stage.

“You know her, you love her, our very own Capitol Princess and victor of the 69th Annual Hunger Games!" He shouted your name into the microphone to a resounding applause as you walked onto the stage. Making sure to wave to everyone you could each of whom flailed their arms in excitement. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we're very excited to have you back." People cheered in agreement as you let out an airy laugh in response.

“Well Ceaser, I'm glad to be back, everyone is so kind!" You were smiling so hard your nose scrunched up, in hopes that they found it adorable.

“I would ask you what you're most excited for now that you're back, but I think we know the answer to that one." He quirked his eyebrows and the audience murmured in agreement.

You felt your face getting hot and looked down shyly, “Oh Ceaser-" You tried to make yourself seem as much like a hopeful romantic, innocent girl as you could. Maybe it could reverse the effects that manipulating Conway may have had on how you were perceived.

“Am I right? Have you been able to rekindle flames with a certain Capitol Darling?" You hid your face in your hands for a second, kicking your legs, the audience laughed, and you were certain there must be cameras somewhere planted on Finnick to try and capture a reaction. "I think we know what that means.” Caesar shot his blinding smile at the crowd who cheered.

“All I can say is there are many things I'm excited to return to, and people." You'd accepted since your interview that if you did win then your romantic life would be of great interest to the Capitol, so you didn't shy away from playing into it, giving a small, longing look off the side of the stage that the cameras would be sure to pick up.

“And I suppose for now you'll make us settle for that as an answer?"

“For now, Caesar, a woman has to have her secrets." You repeated, alluding back to your original interview, and the audience gave a playful groan.

"Well then, for now, that's an answer we'll have to be happy with. But I know we're all burning to go over these highlights with you.” The highlights, your moment to try and keep up the persona while rewatching the moments already ingrained into your mind. Everyone watching seemed eager with anticipation of the cheers were any indicator.

“I wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting then." Your gaze was purposely wide and as doe-eyed as you could make it be. The Bloodbath was first, your kills, the alliance and you were able to maintain the facade as he pestered you about your abilities with the knife. You distracted your brain with how cold the auditorium seemed to be, how thin the fabric of the dress was which left you trying not to shiver. Then it was conversations with Conway and you tried even harder to play into the act while trying to detach yourself from reality.

“I know some people were definitely rooting for you and Conway in the tragedy of it all, but I have to ask, and I want you to be honest. Did you love him?"

“He was my closest friend in the world, of course I loved him." Not like how he wanted you too, or how you knew logically you should have loved him, but it was love. Your voice was soft, sweet, and trembled with the fear of tears. Which you decided could actually be helpful at some point to keep painting yourself in this light.

You could have sworn you saw audience members crying, not because they cared about you, or him, but because to them this was a tale of tragedy that added a kick to their entertainment. Caesar hummed, “But you loved someone else more?" His voice was softer in the microphone as well.

You looked at him, “Only one of us was going to come out of the arena, it wasn't a matter of who I loved more." What a lie, if it was Finnick you were certain you'd give it all up for him in a split second. Sounds of sobs filled your ears and you pushed down the anger you felt at these people for how they'd ripped your life, Conway's life apart , just to cry over it now. Next was the highlight where you'd almost died and that was much easier to talk about, besides the fact that you could currently feel how cold your nose was getting which made your body want to curl up, you took every muscle to resist that impulse though.

“What were you thinking when that parachute was flying down from the sky?"

“Honestly, Caesar, it's fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating." You forced a nervous laugh which the audience returned in full force and so did Ceased. You turned your body to face them, “However since then all I've wanted to say is thank you, to all of you who sponsored me during the games." The tears about Conway you let spill in full force about this instead, silently hoping it would win even more people over. “I'm just so grateful for all the generosity you've shown me and I will forever be." The crowd gave out noises of approval.

When the coverage of the battle between your allies and the Careers began and all the way up to those you cared about most in those Games, you let your soul float into the clouds. Allowing a smiley, teary eyed autopilot to take over your brain. You don't remember leaving autopilot until you were seated in some sort of throne-like chair, President Snow giving a speech to the citizens of Panem. He turned to you and you rose as he approached you with a crown, a crown that represented how you backstabbed your way to the top.

You bowed your head slightly as he placed the cold metal on your head, “Wonderful job, my dear." He said gruffly with a smile and although you could feel your body shaking, you forced one back.

“Thank you, Mr. President."

Yet he reiterated his statement in a way that gave you chills that you couldn't understand, “A wonderful job, you've really proven what these games are about."

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

"Did we leave the spile in one of the trees?” You ask, dehydration certainly isn't helping how lightheaded you felt.

Peeta nods, “Yeah, impossible to know which one though."

"I'll go find it then.” You volunteered.

"I need to give the beach a good walk around, as well, let my brain finish thinking something up.” Beetee stood up, coil of wire in hand.

“You're not going alone." Finnick objected, ready to go with you.

“I'm not going alone, I have Beetee. We'll be fine, Finnick, it's a circle you'll be able to see us the whole way around." He looked reluctant, but knew there wasn't much he could do unless he followed you around, but he couldn't leave Johanna to take care of both Katniss and Peeta.

He sighed, “Be safe." His tone was even, straight-laced, “Beetee make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

You scoffed, “I'm looking for a spile!" But Beetee nodded to Finnick. “I’ll be fine! If I need you I'll scream." He exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

“I'll send out a search party if you're not back in 20 minutes."

You looked around the arena slowly before looking back at him, “I'm sure there's no way of telling, but I'll be back. I promise." You smiled and he's still frowning, but he kisses your forehead and lets you walk off with Beetee.

“20 minutes!" He shouts after you as you begin walking around the perimeter of the beach, looking around the trees.

“So what's your plan with that?" You nod towards the coil Beetee is fiddling with.

“We've got water, lighting, a conductor, everything we need to electrocute." Beetee responds, you're ducking in and out of the trees. Searching for where the spile could be nestled in. You're far enough that you can't really see the group through all the trees, but that doesn't bother you until you hear a scream. It's far enough away that it's faint, screams of a young girl and then Katniss. You and Beetee are looking around, listening to the noise that's carried only by the breeze, when another voice enters the cacophony. It's familiar to you, but your brain struggles to process the sound. “That's you." Beetee says slowly.

Your brain does; however, instantly register the next scream, calling your name, Finnick. Instantly you'd ran out of the treeline back into the sand, back to where you'd left the group. “Finnick!" You screamed back, heart racing in panic. “Johanna, where's Finnick?" Both him and Katniss are gone, you can hear their shouts on top of the other noises.

“He followed her in." Johanna tilted her head towards the jungle and your legs instantly started moving, to find him, to show him the screams aren't really you. “It's already closed off, you can't go in."

"What do you mean, closed off?” You get your answer instantly when your hands touch the shield surrounding the woods the screams are coming from. You see Katniss running forward screaming and Peeta comes up by you, telling her it's just the birds. What birds? She's being hounded by them as she falls to the ground and you realize the screams are coming from them.

“Jabberjays." Beetee says, coming up behind you. You let your hands trace along the wall as you keep walking.

“What're you doing?" Johanna asks, exasperated.

“I have to find him, if he can at least see me-" Her scoff interrupts you but you keep darting your eyes through the trees in this clear cage, following it.

“He knows by now that it's not really you.”

"I know that!” You don't mean to snap at her, it frustrates you that you even pulled your eyes away from the jungle. "I know him, Johanna, and if he can see me then he'll know for certain that I'm okay." You're about to turn in the jungle as you follow the wall but Johanna grabs your arm, you start to shove her off. “Let go of me!”

"You go in there and it could be the next hour, the moment those stupid mutts are done, whatever is in there you'll be stuck with.”

"I don't care!”

She grabs you again, "But he does!” The frustration makes you want to cry all over again. She's right and that infuriates you, looking back inside the bubble when you catch a glimpse of him. Sitting, knees to his chest, covering his ears as he whispers something to himself, eyes clenched shut as birds flutter around him.

You don't care if he can't hear you when you hit the wall, “Finnick! Finnick!" Johanna mumbles something, but you don't listen. Too busy trying to beg him to look your way, but he doesn't. All you can do is watch him as he talks to himself, the way his fingers dig into the side of his head, how hurt he looks. You hate yourself, for disregarding him to go search for the stupid spike, for letting him be there for you and now not being there for him. "There's gotta be a way to break it.” Your voice cracks.

"I helped design the technology, it's unbreakable." Beetee’s voice is quiet in the clamor going on in your head. You hate him too right now for giving them this, something to stop you from getting to him. Forehead pressed to the wall as you let yourself cry, let the shame take over your body. You've forced yourself to keep your eyes on him, to suffer more, a just punishment for allowing this to happen. If you'd stayed out then the screams wouldn't have ever lured him in deeper. At some point he removed his hands from his ears and began to stare forward numbly. Allowing the birds to screech in his ears with your stolen voice, you resent yourself more for not trying harder, for letting him slip into such a state even if there was nothing more to do. Centuries seem to pass when suddenly there's a silence and your head falls forward, the wall is gone, the birds are lying on the jungle floor.

Instantly you're running forward, you want to scream out in relief that it's finally over, but you're terrified to startle him. You kneel down in front of him, there are streaks on his face from what must have been tears, but now he's just blank. “Finn?" It's whispered, so as not to put him on alert.

Slowly his eyes moved to your face, at first it's somewhat untrusting, like he doesn't believe it's really you. The worry on your face must prove to him otherwise because that look is soon gone.

“Are you okay?" You know the answer is no, but you don't know what else to say, too guilt ridden to think of a way to help.

“Yeah, I'm fine." He mutters and you nod just kneeling by him.

Your stomach is churning, it felt like your blood was full of pure, unfiltered anxiety, so you force your foot not to tap, but you can feel your toes twitching. “I'm sorry.” You croaked out and he shook his head again, "No, I am, I'm sorry Finnick. I should've stayed with you, I should've-"

“Are you hurt?" His hoarse voice asks, it's numb like the way his eyes are.

“No, Finnick, I was fine, I am fine!"

“Then it doesn't matter." He shrugs.

“It matters to me." Finnick looks at you, like your words are finally sinking into him. Cautiously you bring your hands up to his, “Do you wanna go to the beach? We can, we can go there." Besides the fact he always wanted to be at the beach back home, that was especially true when the episodes of not being able to ignore the burden on his shoulders happened. Your own uncertainness made you angry with yourself, he was always putting on a facade to be strong when you needed him too and now when it was your turn, you couldn't even stop your voice from shaking. His head moved ever so slightly, “Yeah? Come on." Slowly you began to rise, keeping your hands on his as he stood as well. As carefully as you could you guided him back to the sands of the beach, to the waters.

He instantly submerged himself in the water as he sat down, letting waves rise on him. You followed suit, wrapping your arms around him and he leaned back into you. “Don't leave me either." Finnick eventually spoke, the setting sun highlighting his face.

You shook your head furiously, “I won't." Maybe you didn't understand what about you he found grounded or endeared him, but you did know you never wanted to see or even think of him the way you just had, again. You also accepted there would never be a day where you didn't think about it, what you did, how he looked, how he acted, how scared he seemed. It would haunt you and you would let it, if only to make sure it never happened again. Part of you wished the seawater would consume the both of you here, forever immortalize you with it and make sure there was never a moment you could be parted from each other's arms. Yet a larger piece of you was more determined than ever to execute the plan the best you could so you could be free of the control and mind games of the Capitol, so you could just live the rest of your life out with Finnick the way you'd both intended. To end it all, no matter what it took, so nobody else would have to live the life of the so-called ‘Victor.’

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

I cannot thank you all enough for reading, this was a longer one and I'm sorry it took so long to get out. feedback, likes, comments, reblogs, are all super appreciated and my ask box is open, I'm slowly getting through requests as well! you're all so amazing and sweet, it's really kept my passion for this series alive and I have so many ideas. again thank you all so much for reading 💋

taglist: @coriolanussnowswife @avoxrising @artsyaquarium @jennaaaaaaaaaaaa @secretsicanthideanymore @darlingsoulbeautifulthoughts @thatonegayloser616 @libertyybellls @meri-soni-meri-tamanna @ravensinthedaylight @innercreationflower @uhnanix @aesthetic0cherryblossom @yourdailymemedelivery @ang3lflor @maxinehufflepuffprincess @prettybiching @miserablebl00d @wowzabowza69 @nomorespahgetti @problematicpastry @abaker74 @nj01 @whens-naptime @sarcasticbooknerd12 @cakes-hq @honethatty12 @s1lngwns

#finnick odair x reader #finnick odair #finnick odair x y/n #finnick odair fluff #finnick odair angst #finnick odair x reader fluff #finnick odair x reader angst #finnick odair x you #thg #finnick imagine #thg finnick #finnick odair fanfic #finnick x you #finnick x reader #the lakes

[world-of-aus]

Hi, Hello and Welcome To Today’s Gym Thought..

Feat. Criminal!Bucky

Momma I’m in love with a criminal???

The warehouse was abandoned, quiet, the only sound was the soft crunch of the occasional broken glass beneath your foot.  

Detective Walker is ahead of you gun drawn high as he makes his way through the warehouse, every corner he turns a silent prayer is on your lips that he’s not here despite the sources that had brought the two of you here. 

“Walker it’s a bust,” you try, “he’s not here, look at the place it’s empty.” 

The blonde turns advancing on you, you don’t back down meeting his glare. “The perfect grounds for vermin like him!” he hisses. “I am not leaving this place till every square inch has been checked, every crate turned over, every office examined, do you understand detective!”  

“I'm not your enemy here walker get your goddamn gun out of my face.” You grit gesturing to the gun he waves around wildly.  “Yeah, well you’re acting like it, why don’t you be useful for once and go check one of the damn offices, I got the floor.” 

You turn without another word, heading your chiefs warning of your partner from earlier, “don’t let him deter you from what the two of you are going in to do, he’s a hothead detective y/l/n – reactive, you need to stay cool, one of you needs to be the brains of this operation.” 

Taking the rusty stairs two at a time you make it up to the lone dusty office that overlooks the warehouse, you spot Walker creeping through the shadows, eyes and gun trained ahead. You lead with your gun as you step into the office, it's quiet, eerily dark. You descend further into the room, looking one way then another. You examine the crooks and crannies for anything, you find nothing, you let out a silent breath, he wasn’t here.  

A curse leaves your breath when you turn and find him. You’ve got your gun raised and pressed against this chest in record time, Walker's growl of your name piercing the stale air.  

The brunette gives you a pointed stare, “Answer him.”  

“I’m fine Walker, nothing up here, just a rat!” you grit, holding the man’s gaze before you the whites of his teeth shine in the moonlight gleaming through the broken glass. 

“Alright I'm heading out to the docks, stop messing around up there!” 

You want to roll your eyes, but they stay trained on the man before you, “What are you doing here!” you hiss when the warehouse falls quiet once more. 

His grin only grows, hands slowly coming up to cradle the gun you have pressed against his chest, he could easily disarm you if he wanted. “They said you were looking for me.” 

Your jaw clenches, “We are, and you’re not supposed to be here.” 

“Worried for me Lisichka?” 

You press the gun harder into his chest, he chuckles, “let’s get one thing straight here Barnes my job is always to get the right guy not a wrongfully convicted one, so no unfortunately I’m not worried for you, I’m worried about locking up the wrong guy.” 

He chuckles again before he does exactly what you knew he would, he’s got you disarmed and in his arms in a second. His front is flush to your back, lips by the hollow of your ear, “you know Lisichka, for someone not worried about me, you sure make my safety your top priority.” 

“Don’t think too much of it Barnes, I’m just doing my job.” 

His laughter ghosts over the skin of your neck, fingers trailing along your clothed skin as he circles you like a predator, he stops in front of you. “It’s endearing how much you care detective, though you know you don’t need too.” 

You roll your eyes, “I refuse to watch the wrong person be incarcerated because of revenge.” 

He touches your cheek, “Lisichka.” 

There’s a bang from downstairs Walker growling your name, “Y/l/n, get down here, we got another lead, bastards moving!” 

Your eyes flicker, from the door back to his, he’s grinning, “Go lisichka, we’ll be seeing each other soon.” 

Walkers screaming your name now, your feet carrying you out the door, and when you look back he’s gone – like a ghost. 

#bucky barnes drabble #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #bucky barnes au #criminal!bucky #bucky barnes fanfic

[sugarandspisces-writes]

could you please write a fic of melissa trying to figure out the reader’s love language? thank u love ur work<3

Speaking From the Heart Pt. I

Pairing: Melissa Schemmenti x reader

Summary: r is having a tough time and Melissa uses her words as a source of comfort

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: Anon, thank you for requesting this! I loved writing it. Also, thank you for the kind words <3 Enjoy!

P.S. I hope you this is what you had in mind. I decided to turn your idea into a series, and I plan on writing a piece for each of the love languages.

Translation: Cuore mio = my heart

Words of Affirmation

It was no surprise to you that Melissa Schemmenti was good with words. She loved to talk, and when she was passionate about something she would let you know. Some would criticize her, saying she was too loud and outspoken, but she had a voice and she wasn’t afraid to use it. This quality is what made her so good at expressing her admiration for you. She would never pass up an opportunity to give you a compliment, encourage you, or tell you how much you were appreciated. 

✦ ✦ ✦

You climbed in bed, letting out a sigh as you sank into the cool sheets. After pulling the comforter up to your chin, you shut your eyes and took a moment to reflect on the day. As the events raced through your mind, you noticed there weren’t many high points. That had been a recurring theme for you lately, but you chalked it up to one simple fact: you win some, you lose some. You knew every day wasn't going to be a good one. Still, you found yourself weighed down by the challenges you were facing. The stress of work and your personal life were taking a toll on you. 

You were released from your thoughts by the sound of Melissa’s voice. The noise was distant, but it became pronounced as you came to your senses.

“Hey, hon,” she called to you. 

Her voice held a gentle lilt, and you would have melted on the spot if you weren’t feeling so far away.

Her eyes were fixed on your posture and she took note of a few things. You were curled up to the edge of the bed, your eyes staring off in space, and your breathing was shallow (not enough for her to worry, but she would keep an eye on it). She knew these behaviors were a recipe for disaster, and she wanted to intervene.

“Hmm,” you hummed, not completely free from your dazed state.

Melissa could tell you weren’t with her due to the lack of eye contact, so she moved closer to the middle of the bed. You listened to the sheets as they crinkled under her, and that seemed to pull you through your brain fog.

“What’s up?” Melissa asked, turning her body toward you as she moved her legs into a crisscrossed position.

“Nothin',” you murmured, wrapping the comforter tighter around you.

For some reason, your vocabulary consisted of short-syllabled words at the moment.

“Look at me.” Melissa prompted, her voice a bit more stern than before. 

You could see her out of the corner of your eye. Her head was tilted in that endearing way she always did, and her face had a look you knew all too well. It was the one she gave you when she was trying to figure you out: Eyes heavy with concern, lips formed into a pout.

You didn’t have to look to paint the picture before you, but you did anyway just to satisfy her. Her gaze held yours, almost like she was daring you to look away. It was the softest threat she ever gave, but still a threat nonetheless.

“Mel, I’m fine.” You assured her.

You wanted to speak before she could utter anything else. You were trying to jump the gun, but you should have known she would be two steps ahead of you.

“I didn't say you weren’t,” she stated. Her voice went back to that soft tone and this time, you were done for.

You turned your body away from her and laid fully on the bed. You had a theory that she couldn’t psychoanalyze you if she couldn’t see you. However, that action just drew her closer. She curled up next to you, further enveloping you in the covers as her arms wrapped around your waist. She placed a kiss on your shoulder before resting her chin on the same spot.

“You were thinking it. That’s what you were gonna ask next.” Even though you had no way of knowing her next move, you were very confident.

“What?” She nestled closer into your side.

“That was gonna be your next question. You were gonna ask if I was okay.” You clarified.

She placed a kiss to the back of your neck before speaking. “How’d you know?”

Your eyes flutter closed at the gentle gesture. “I just know you.”

“Oh yeah?” She said. “Then you should also know that you can tell me anything.”

You nodded your head against her chest. “I know.”

“Okay, so, what’s up?” Melissa urged.

While she was eager to hear worries, she wasn’t going to make you talk about anything. She just wanted to initiate the conversation and make it known that you were in a safe space.

“Do you ever just feel… inadequate?” You asked in a low voice.

“Yeah, sometimes,” she murmured into your neck. “Why?”

“That’s how I’ve been feeling lately. At work and at home.” You released a breath you were subconsciously holding in.

Melissa ran her fingertips along the length of your arm, giving you a gentle reminder to breathe.

Once your breathing was regulated she said, “What's been going on, sweetheart?”

You spent the next hour spilling your heart out. You told her everything that was making you feel subpar, and she soothed all of your doubts with kind words.

“You are far from inadequate,” she said in a hushed tone. “You’re so special, you know?”

“That’s really sweet.” You smiled faintly. You weren't sure where she was going with this, but you liked what you were hearing.

She took your chin between her fingertips and turned your face toward hers “You mean everything to me, and I am so happy that you're mine.”

“Melissa, stop,” you chuckled, though nothing was funny. It was a nervous habit of yours that you couldn’t quite shake.

You tried to turn away from her, but she brought your focus back. 

“I’m serious.” She stroked her thumb along your jaw.

You looked up at her olive eyes to see them dripping with honesty. In this lighting, you could see the flecks of hazel in them.

“I’m happy you're mine too, Mel.” You smiled, sealing your words with a kiss.

“I’m sorry you’re having a hard time at work,” she said sincerely.

“Oh, the joys of having a new job,” you said sarcastically.

“You’re doing great.” She kissed your forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”

Those words entered your ears and shot straight to your heart. Tears filled your eyes as you tried to recall the last time someone said that to you. You moved so you were facing her, then you engulfed her in a big hug.

“Thank you," you said, swallowing the lump that formed in your throat. “That means a lot.”

“It’ll get better. I promise,” she whispered with conviction.

✦ ✦ ✦

The next morning, you were met with a note on the refrigerator door. You almost overlooked the piece of paper in your haste to get out the house. The only thing that caught your eye was the lipstick print on the corner of the sheet. As you read the words, you couldn't help the smile that appeared on your face.

Cuore mio, I hope you're having a good morning. You deserve it. I have a busy day, so I'm leaving this just in case we don't speak until later. I want to remind you that you are so intelligent and capable of handling anything that comes your way. I am rooting for you, and I will always be in your corner. Go kick some ass today. I love you, I love you, I love you. - M

That morning, you left home feeling confident in your abilities to take on the day. You knew her words couldn't fix your situation, but they surely made things better.

Next Chapter

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti #abbott elementary #sugarᥫ᭡writes

[astral--horrorshow]

Around-The-Clock Shadows

Platonic Yandere ROTTMNT x Reader

Info: This will be a full-length fic including multiple ROTTMNT characters, the main storyline revolves around the Mad Dogs.

Fic Summary: You sure are likeable, aren't you?

《Directory》

Chapter 6: A Plan

Characters: Donnie, Mikey, Leo

A/N: So sorry for the short length for such a wait! I was feeling very unmotivated with this chapter, for some reason. Don't worry, though, I have no intention of abandoning this fic! I am going to quit the schedule for it, though. It was an unrealistic standard to hold myself to, and it made me rush the chapters just so I could get them out on time. I'm going to focus on some other writing, but I promise to be better with updating!

If you want to be added to a taglist, just say the word! If you want to draw fanart or make anything based off of this, I would be literally honored. Please don't be shy, I will love whatever you make! If you have any questions about the fic, feel free to ask!

TW: Unhealthy relationships, toxic mindsets, melodrama, unjust frusteration, kidnapping, harsh words

I do not condone any of the behaviors found or done in this fic. This story is purely for entertainment purposes. If you or someone you know is being treated like this, please contact the authorities.

Chapter Summary: Donnie pays you a midnight visit, Mikey and Leo have an argument, and a plan forms in your mind.

Word Count: 899

☆~☆~☆

Your bleary eyes opened, the ceiling swirling around and venturing in and out of your focus. You blinked a few times to see clearly. When the initial drowsiness of a midnight wake-up wore off, you finally noticed how dry your throat and mouth were. The taste of phlegm haunted your every waking millisecond, and so you reached over to the spot on the bedside table where your glass of water was usually kept, where only the fridgid air of the sewer met your outstretched fingers. You looked over in confusion, and sure enough, the glass was missing.

"Don't worry, I have it right here."

You turned towards the voice of Donatello, and sure enough, there he was. He was casually leaning against wall, glass in hand. "It's not good to consume anything old," he said, holding it out towards you. You grabbed it, the sudden chill on your hands almost making your grip loosen. "Be careful, don't spill it," Donnie said. You drank the water, internally sighing in relief as it poured down your dry throat. After lowering it from your lips and placing it on the side table again, Donnie reached towards your face, sitting down on the bed so he could grab your chin and tilt it upwards to stare into your eyes.

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Of course I have!" You hadn't. Believe it or not, being kidnapped by mutants would throw off one's sleep schedule in most cases.

"Lower your voice. It's nighttime. And no, you haven't."

"I have..."

"Don't lie to me. I can always tell."

You averted your gaze to the side, embarassed at his callout of your bluff. Donnie simply pushed at your cheek, forcing you to look at him. "Don't act like that. I only want to help you, the only reason that it's not happening is because you're not letting me."

You refused to answer still, nearly making Donatello's irretation bubble up to the surface, but he controlled his temper. Lashing out would only drive you further. Patience was a virtue, his father said.

"Go back to bed. Sleep deprevation can lead to death."

With that, he left you with you with his hyperbolic warning and a half-empty glass of water.

☆~☆~☆

Mikey rolled towards you on a bright orange hoverboard, which was adorned with stickers like his battleshell was. Just as you turned around to see the source of the noise, Mikey plucked you up from off of the ground and held you from under your armpits, arms wrapped around your chest, akin to how one would hold a cat. He traveled with you like that all the way to the kitchen, where he set you down at a barstool at the kitchen island.

You didn’t react at all, not when he picked you up or the whole time he was carrying you. You had grown used to being picked up or dragged along to wherever one of the turtles wanted to bring you. “What’s up, Mikey?” You asked, resting your cheek on the palm of your hand.

“Nothing much,” he said with a grin, “Have you eaten today? You don’t seem like you’ve eaten today. I’ll make you something.” He rambled without letting you get a single word in, already flitting around the kitchen and gathering ingredients and cooking utensils.

As you watched him chop up chicken, Leo strolled into the kitchen with his trademark casual energy. “Hey, party people, what’s up?”

“Makin’ lunch!” Mikey cheerfully chirped at his brother, who seemed chuffed enough with the answer. “Okie doke, then. Anyways,” Leo didn’t further converse with his brother in favor of talking to you, “Have you ever been tubing, hermanito?”

You shook your head, “No, I don’t know how to swim.”

Leo gasped and held his three-fingered hand up to his chest, “Really? Wow, I didn’t realize that nobody loved you enough to teach you how!”

Your eyes widened in shock, and you opened your mouth slightly, tears welling up.

"Leo!" Mikey had abandoned his cooking pursuits to glare at Leo with his hands on his hips.

"What?!" Leo shot back, "You don't agree?"

Mikey's face fell, and he not-so-slickly jerked his head in your direction.

"Don't say it in front of them! It'll hurt their feeling!"

"But it's the truth! We're the only-"

"Stop!"

As the brothers continued to argue, the tears in your eyes spilled down in your cheeks. You quietly sobbed as Leo and Mikey continued to go at eachothers throats.

The brothers ceased their arguing and glanced in your direction after a noticebly loud sob from you, causing looks of regret and guilt to spread across their faces.

"Awe," Leo cooed as he and Mikey approched you with their arms outstretched, "Don't cry, poor baby."

"That's right, Leo didn't mean it," Mikey chimed in, shooting a dirty look at his brother over your head, "Plently of people love you!"

Mikey wiped away your tears as Leo wrapped his arms around your shoulders, hugging you tight. "Don't fret, hermanito. You know what? I can teach you how to swim sometime."

You perked your head up, "You mean, like, at a beach?"

He laughed, "No, silly head! There's plently of water down here!"

An idea blossomed in your mind.

"Like, the sewers?"

"Yeah, it's not as gross as you think!"

The sewers had manholes. Manholes lead outside.

"Alright."

☆~☆~☆

A/N: I'm going to try to write as much as possible in early-mid-august, because I start my sophomore year in a month, and my piano lessons in the fall, so I can have plenty of content to give to ya'll!

Taglist <3: @ssak-i @yanteetle @averagerottmntsimp @oleander-nin @whyiseveryonesodamnfinetho @writelikenobody @takottai @moths-and-mantids

#yandere #yandere rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #yandere rottmnt #yandere tmnt #yandere donatello #yandere donnie #yandere leo #yandere leonardo #yandere michaelangelo #yandere mikey #platonic yandere rottmnt #platonic yandere

[mc-lukanette]

Luka stopped his walk down the street as the pleasant scent of baked goods hit his nose. He tended to go all over Paris depending on his mood, simply to see if inspiration would strike, and while he'd only taken a trip down this particular road a few times, he knew that he'd never smelled any baked goods there before.

He looked up at the source, noting that there was a new bakery he hadn't seen before. He caught himself smiling at the cursive writing on the awning, reminded of how Marinette would always write that way when she wanted to be "fancy," even to the point of trying to learn how to write cursive back when they were little kids.

Of course, that naturally led him to want to buy something for her. If the bakery didn't have anything she liked then Juleka and Rose would never say "no" to sweets.

He approached and pushed the door open, hearing the bell above announce his presence. There wasn't anyone behind the counter, but he could see an oven open and someone partway inside, probably reaching for something.

"J-just a minute!"

Luka stiffened. The voice sounded off from inside the oven, but was no less recognizable to him. "Marinette?"

"Luka?! AH—!" She rose up quickly in her shock, hitting her head off the ceiling of the oven and letting out a pained hiss.

He rushed over immediately, pulling her out and touching the back of her head to check it. Luckily, it didn't seem serious and he couldn't feel any heat from the oven itself, so she hadn't just rammed her head directly into a hot surface.

"I-I was just checking to make sure there was enough room," she whined, peering up at him while he rubbed the spot that'd gotten hurt. "What are you doing here?"

"I was walking by," he replied. Frowning, he added, "I didn't know you worked in a bakery."

She averted her gaze, ashamed. It puzzled him, wondering why she would be so shy about this when they'd shared and done everything together growing up.

"Mmnn." Marinette toyed with her light blue apron, twisting the fabric in her hands. "I-I...I mean, I just bought it, and I wasn't sure if it would even work out, so—"

"You bought it?" Luka interrupted. Something occurring to him now that she'd said that, he started to scan the room, listening close to see if he could hear anyone else. Looking around the space he could see, there wasn't any sign of another employee working there. "Have you been doing this alone?"

She didn't answer at first, pouting and fidgeting with her apron further. Worrying that she might ruin the apron she'd clearly made herself, Luka reached out and took her hands, letting her fidget with him instead.

She sighed, gripping his hands back and running her thumbs across his fingers. "I didn't know anyone else I could trust? And you already have a job."

"I can quit," he said without missing a beat.

"N-no!" She threw her hands up in front of her, flailing. "I've always been dragging you along for whatever since the day we met! I didn't want to do it again!"

"Dragging me along for..." He trailed off, trying to summon any memories of such a thing. "Wasn't that what I was doing to you?"

"What?" She shook her head. "No. I love doing things with you."

"It's the same for me."

That had simply been their dynamic to him. Fashion was her favorite hobby, as music was for him, but neither were truly interested in making said passions a job. Whenever a new thing or opportunity arose for them to try something new, it was always together. It didn't matter what it was, one of them would bring it up and the other would follow along without a word.

Marinette, unsure of how else to take the admission from him, blushed and played with her bangs. "I...I didn't know what I could do for work, but then I started thinking about when we were kids. Since Papa and Maman had so many ingredients because of the bakery, we always snuck away with some so we could bake too."

Luka chuckled at the memory. His fondest was undoubtedly the time when they'd tried to make croissants; the edges of two of them had baked themselves together. They'd tried to be clever (as clever as kids could be) and called it a "ringssant," but pulling them apart to eat them had felt bittersweet. "We had to cover for each other and make sure we didn't have flour in our hair so we wouldn't get caught."

She giggled. "Yeah." She let out a breath, eyes softening in her reminiscence. "And I thought... if I got my own bakery, then at least I'd be doing something with a lot of good memories attached."

So she wanted to have a bakery because of him; because of their relationship. He started blushing himself, shoving his hands into his pockets while he thought that over. It wasn't just a whim or something she chose on the fly like all of their other temporary interests, but rather a job that she wanted to do that she associated with him.

He'd be kicking himself forever if he wasn't able to become a part of it.

"Do you have another apron?" When she simply blinked at him, he clarified, "I want to work here."

"But—!"She tightened her hands into fists, pouting. "You don't even know if you'd like it! It was just something we did when we were growing up!"

She made a fair enough point, but wasn't considering the bigger picture. Luka supposed that he'd never said it outright, so it was technically his own fault for not being clear.

He bent down to be level with her face, Marinette not moving a centimeter as he leaned in to place a familiar kiss on her cheek. She'd given her own to show affection, but he tended to use his to prove he was serious. Perhaps it was cheating, but he didn't care.

"It was never about what we did, Marinette," he told her as he straightened up again, "but I can wait if you don't have another apron ready."

She pursed her lips, blushing the cute shade of pink she always did when he kissed her cheek, then relented and turned away to head into the back of the bakery. He grinned in victory, walking a few steps away to lean against the counter while he waited.

To his complete lack of surprise, Marinette returned with another apron, this one pink with blue accents to complement her own. Luka had known her for more than long enough to know that she rarely made anything without giving it "a friend," as she used to say when they were younger. Her work often came in pairs because of it and they tended to have matching accessories - despite their differences in style - for the same reason.

He took a step away from the counter, then turned his back to her and raised his arms to get them away from his sides. He could hear the occasional mumble from her about how he might still regret this, but she didn't hesitate to lift the neck strap above his head and slip it onto him. Her hands brushed his sides as she took the waist ties and knotted them together at his back, but he was careful to hold still. It was casual enough for them that he didn't feel any need to be shy about it.

He wanted to spin around afterward to ask her how it looked on him, but two arms went around his waist before he could, Marinette's face pressing into his back as she hugged him from behind. The scent of pastries suddenly became unknown to him as her perfume overpowered his senses.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I felt awful not telling you, but after you got your own job I thought it was a sign that maybe we shouldn't do everything together anymore..."

Ah. So that was it. He wondered if it would be too much to admit that he did it because he wanted to be able to buy her gifts.

Almost unconsciously, he brought a hand up to rest on one of hers. While he couldn't see her well from his current position, he turned his head anyway to make sure she heard him as clearly as possible, assuring, "You don't have to worry about that. I'm not going anywhere."

She squeezed him tighter, as if ensuring that he couldn't even try to go back on the promise. He was fine with that, content to stand there in her arms until she felt at ease again.

She'd see soon enough, he was sure, that he wanted to stay with her just as much as she did with him.

#queuekanette #lukaneventte: No Context November #Flower Arrangement Shipping #Pro LukaMari #Lukanette

[phantomfallacy]

Where are my cat!Roksoo fics. That was not a question, it was a statement. I see ppl compare Rok Soo to a cat and really, I’m digging the idea but y’all giving the food but telling me to cook it myself?

…I’ll contribute seasoning—

He’s not a beast person, he’s a legit cat. No opposable thumbs for this kitty. No deus ex machina to make him do legit work later. Give him the slacker life he deserves. Let him live it easily even though he gets dropped off in Rain City’s slums.

Despite that, On and Hong immediately know that he’s intelligent—or they bother him enough to know it eventually.

As if his resourcefulness and caring nature didn’t make it obvious enough that he has high enough emotional intelligence to share his food with the siblings instead of hissing at them for approaching like other alley cats in the slums—

Does he scrounge for food in the trash? Yeah. But they’re almost never bad. No mold, no rot, no dirt. Of course when the food they manage to find is nothing but waste he does find other sources like hunting in the wild. Maybe eventually he urges the kids to turn human so they can cook it. He doesn’t do this often though bc while cats used to be wild and capable hunters he’s just a house cat now. Most he’ll catch are small birds and rodents.

He teaches the kids how to scam. With the magic of cat. Big eyes, cute meows—next thing you know Hans has brought them into the Henituse Estate. After that they endear themselves to the Henituse kids—Cale included.

Kim Rok Soo wants to stay away from the minor villain but honestly the absolute misery from the guy is bothering his afternoon nap so he makes it his daily mission to trip the redhead until he gets a pat.

One day Cale really does trip in the middle of a drunken act and Rok Soo just sits on him. Cale is resigned bc he is not a Cat, and therefore does not have the Divine Right to command anything, much less a cat off his throne.

Eventually Cale warms up to Kitty Rok Soo bc he gets to further his villain act by petting the cat in his lap with a deviously trashy smile—yes, Rok Soo followed him out to the bar. No, he couldn’t stop Rok Soo.

Cats have nine lives. Anybody trying to hurt KRS would be unlucky enough to suffer divine retribution bc black cats are “bad luck.” Heh.

Obviously Ron would know all three of the cats aren’t normal but seeing the growing affection between the Henituse family and the felines he kinda just accepts it like he does in canon and tries to teach the kiddos assassination techniques.

He tries to teach KRS too even after learning he’s a normal—if abnormally intelligent—cat, but KRS runs to Cale every time. After the first time that Ron almost caught KRS, KRS makes sure there’s always ten escape routes that take him to either Cale or Deruth in a minute or less at any moment in time.

Or you know what, KRS’s favorite Ron-deterrent is Violan bc she doesn’t fool around with him like Deruth. Favorite pastime is watching her sculpt bc the noises are hypnotic and it’s like watching discovery channel in live 4k HD. Deruth is only for when he’s in an emergency where neither Cale nor Violan are around. Or when he wants pats.

He stays away from Beacrox bc hello germaphobe torture expert?? No cats allowed in the kitchen?!?!? Little does he know that Beacrox does have a soft spot for the kittens and leaves snacks outside the kitchen for them and the first time KRS takes the offerings he’s so pleased that Ron pets KRS, who is scared shitless but that’s just how it is.

#trash of the count's family #tcf #lout of the count’s family #lcf #kim rok soo #cale henituse #tcf hong #tcf on #tcf headcanon #tcf au #cat kim rok soo #original cale henituse #cat au #will cat kim rok soo still fight for world peace? yes #by the power invested in his paw pads

[nev3rfound]

just lil ol' me : s.g

you're the one reliable source in Steven's life, and he's afraid he might lose you with everything that is unveiling. (800 words.)

first time writing for moonknight - if I have perceived DID incorrectly please let me know, I mean no offence whatsoever :)

masterlist // taglist

Blissfully lying in a deep sleep, you remain unaware of the torment Steven is enduring whilst standing at the end of his bed, watching you with a small smile crossing his lips.

"But it's Y/n." Steven moves away from his bed, not wanting to risk causing you to stir. "She's my best mate, Marc." Facing a mirror, with slumped shoulders, Marc runs his hands over his face in annoyance.

"She can't know anything, Steven." Marc reminds his counter for the fifth time this evening. "It's not safe for her to know, she'll be in danger because of it."

Yet, it doesn't seem to matter how much Marc drills the point into Steven. The moment his head turns to look back over at you, curled up on top of his bed with your eyes closed and a pillow close to your chest, he just can't help himself.

"I tell her everything, Marc." Steven begins, unaware of Marc rolling his eyes. "She's the only one in the whole world who doesn't think I'm some kind of nutter. She's trying to help me with this sleep disorder, and even when I told her that she didn't leave me."

And then it clicks. Marc shifts in the mirror, catching a glimpse of the expression across Steven's face. His eyes soften, his frown reduces and his shoulders are no longer slumped.

"You're in love with her." Marc resolutes.

A breath leaves Steven's lips. "Yeah, I think I am." He admits. "Which is why I don't want to lie to her, Marc. We can trust Y/n." He presses further, approaching the mirror once more.

"It's just not safe," Marc starts, but Steven cuts him off.

"What? Because of Layla, huh?" Steven retorts sharply, noticing Marc's jaw tensing.

"Don't go there, Steven." Gritting his teeth, Marc can halts, sensing something shifting.

"Steven?" A tired voice calls out, causing Steven to snap out of his thoughts and turn abruptly on his feet, rather clumsily, to face you.

Walking toward you, Steven perches on the edge of his bed, unable to stop his heart from almost leaping out of his chest as you rub your eyes. "You alright?" He asks softly, unsure of his own voice.

Nodding, you sit upright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to nod off. I was listening to you, I swear, it's just Donna really pissed me off today and I," Cutting yourself off with a yawn, you hold your hands up in annoyance. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, love." Steven can't stop himself, it's too late to take it back.

His eyes widen at the realisation. 'Too late to take it back now, buddy.' Marc remarks.

"Is everything okay, Steven?" You ask, swallowing your own heartbeat from his comment. "Have you been able to sleep at all tonight?"

And there it is, one of the reasons he can't help but fall in love with you. You're forever checking on him in a gentle way, always ensuring he's okay and if he's not, you'll try to help in any way you can.

Shaking his head, you shuffle from your spot to sit beside him.

"There's something I've not been honest about," Steven begins, his voice shaking. He glances up to see a reflection of Marc on a framed poster, frowning at him.

Without thinking, you take his hand in yours. "Hey, it's okay, we don't have to talk about it if you're not ready." Your thumb brushes across his hand, soothing as ever.

"No, I am." Steven tells himself more than you. "It's all just too much." He tries to remain confident, but his walls are breaking down.

"Come here," You mutter, helping him to lie down on the bed and into your arms. "let's just try and get some sleep, yeah?" His head remains on your chest, breathing in your scent now mixed with his from the sheets.

Closing his eyes, he can feel Marc's comments subside. "Y/n?" Steven speaks up, opening his eyes to look up at you.

Your soft gaze fixates on him as you lift your hand up to brush his curls away from his forehead. "Yeah?" Whispering back, a tired smile forms on your face, causing your eyes to crinkle slightly.

The words fail Steven. "Thank you." He tells you instead, before lowering his head back down, holding back the tears threatening to fall.

"Any time, Steven." You're unsure if he can hear how fast your heart is beating, and if he can, he might be ignoring it. "That's what mates are for." You remind him, closing your eyes to drift off once more.

'God, they're hopeless.' Marc comments.

t a g l i s t (thank you for the support!) link in my bio and at the top of this piece to add yourself☺️(if your user isn’t tagged, it’s because nothing comes up sorry!)@bissstuff @psychicforest@lourightm@mywinterwolf@justsomedreaming @stanlux17 @smokeandnailz @supermoonchildbroski @xrosegoldwolfx@courtneychicken@marvelsangels@supraveng@tommy-lee-81@smilexcaptainx@fandom-princess-forevermore@sarge-barnes-sir@pleasantlysecretdream @decaffeinated-fangirl @howdyherron @kirby-boo @florencxs@eldahae @handmesomecoffee @hi-my-name-is-riley @dev1lbella @thanossexual @alissaginger @sambucky8@notbrooklynsblog @nikkixostan @cosmiccaptian @adoreyou976@sarcasticallywitty15 @multi-fandom-princess07 @16boyfriends-and-me @courtneychicken @mackevanstan80 @torchwoodoctor @pleasantlysecretdream @yougottalovefandoms @magicalxdaydream@soccer-100000 @tenaciousperfectionunkown @talksoprettyjjx @btsonthedaily @jessyballet @katiaw2 @buckyswildflower@lucrea @weenersoldierr @katiaw2 @lucrea @amelia-song-pond @bluelakeee @dottirose @emilytheukuleleplayer @5-seconds-of-mendes @rudystilinski @bookfrog242@wild-rose-35@fleurlovesbucky@iiclarixa @soldierstucky@twinerd14@lieswithoutfairytales@ateliefloresdaprimavera@teenwonder@weenersoldierr@nobody-will @ilikemypolarbear @rottenstyx @original-in-itself @sebby-staan @bbl32 @lyoongx @iilwjbb @siriuslyslytherin @chazubagi @youngmarveltastypersona @iamninaannaisreading @marry-me-calum-hood @original-in-itself @clownerlyluv @emilyprentisslittlewhore @amelia-song-pond @buckleyx @jesuswasnotawhiteman @hallecarey1 @sleutherclaw @wonderwoman292 @paintballkid711 @leyannrae @blackwidownat2814 @lmao-ethel @fillechatoyante @evanpetersisreallyhot @i-neverasktwice @aconfusedslytherin @kpopnena @ruzannetheseahorse @yelenabelovasgf @harysty @pastelreds @it-is-rebel-owl-ma-dudes @keyanasstuff @marvelatthisone @natblackwidow2 @bucky-stan14 @chiyongberry

#steven grant #steven grant x reader #steven grant angst #steven grant x y/n #steven grant x you #moon knight #moon knight imagines #moon knight imagine #moon knight x reader #moon knight fluff #moon knight angst #marc spector #marc spector x reader #marc spector imagine #marc spector imagines #steven grant fluff #marvel #marvel imagines #marvel imagine #avengers #avengers imagine #avengers x reader

[dulcewrites]

Masterlist

Welcome! You can call me Flower. I am a relatively new writer (fanfic wise). This is my side blog so replies/follows will come from dulcelibra. I write basically anything. Fluff, angst etc. So far the fandoms I’ve written for are: Top Gun Maverick, Outer Range, and House of the Dragon. I am open writing for other fandoms so just let me know if you have any request. My inbox is always open. I try to upload or post regularly, even if it is just posting ideas for feedback. That being said, I would appreciate patience. Also I do have works that are ambiguous readers but as a black woman is important for me to represent that in my writing. Please like, reblog, and follow if you see anything you like 🫶🏽🫶🏽

Ao3

Top Gun Maverick

Good Wife: As their marriage goes through a rough patch, Nia finds her reevaluating her relationship with Bradley, and what she signed up for when she said ‘I Do’. Slight character study based on some lyrics from good wife by Kacey Musgraves (Bradley x oc)

Crush Preview

Outer Range

Despite My Better Judgement: Your eccentric but kind hearted best friend tasks you with the duty of throwing “the best bachelorette party ever” in Wyoming of all places. An unexpected night with a brooding cowboy happens.

New Traditions: As the first holiday season in your new home approaches, Rhett and you start new traditions and make promises

Moodboard*

House of the Dragon

Fool Me Once (multi part - finished): Learning about Aemond’s indiscretions hurts more than you thought it would, and leads you to accepting help from an unlikely source (Aemond x reader)

Finding Common Cause (multi part- on going): A little white lie on Helaena’s part lands both Aemond and Myrah in situation they can’t get out of (Aemond x oc)

Blood in the Water (multi part - on going): Some will say that the deaths of Lady Laena Velaryon and Ser Laenor Velaryon, daughter and son of the Sea Snake and Queen That Never Was, were the first cracks in the long standing alliance between House Velaryon and House Targaryen. But most claim it was sudden union between Ser Vaemond Velaryon's daughter and the King's first born son. (Aegon x oc)

Intrinsically Linked: Love and Pain are two sides of the same coin. Fluid and never ending. Laena and Alicent both know that all too well.

Drowned in Love (multi part): Love in painful and all consuming, and the three of them would not have it any other way. (Aemond x alys x oc)

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (paused): Sometimes Aegon is sure that the Gods like playing tricks on him. Your reintroduction into his life only proves that further (modern hotd au, Aegon centric).

Acquired Taste (paused): Sometimes the hungry grows too strong. Edith and Aegon know that all too well. (Modern au Aegon x oc)

Unnerved: Being at court is a game is a game, and your favorite player is a certain long haired prince (Aemond x reader)

Fire & Desire: Many sacrifices have been made to get Aegon on the throne. Including ones made by you (Aegon x reader x aemond)

Paparazzi: Loving Aemond is cherry pie (modern au Aemond centric)

Gone… But Not Forgotten (request): Aemond and you always had a great relationship. But as the Dance of the Dragons begins and tensions rise, you find yourself on the outside looking in (Aemond x reader)

Promises and Premonitions (request): Since finding out you’re with child, you’ve been having the strangest nights (Aemond x reader)

For You Always: you always knew Aemond had a soft spot for you, but you always just assumed it was him wanting to look out for his brother’s wife. Soon you find out that his devotion knows no bounds (Aemond x reader)

Oc list

#I accidentally deleted my masterlist like an idiot 😭😭😭😭😭😭 #I’m truly sick to my stomach dkwmfkemf #I’m sooo dumb my god #so I had to redo it.. I don’t even know if everything is on here #aemond targaryen #prince aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen x alys rivers #aemond targaryen x reader #modern hotd #aemond targaryen imagine #aegon x reader #aegon targaryen imagine #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon ii angst #aemond imagine #aemond x oc #aegon targaryen x you #aegon ii x oc #top gun maverick #top gun imagine #bradley bradshaw x oc #outer range imagine #outer range #hotd aemond #aemond targaryen x original character #aemond targaryen x fem!oc #aemond targaryen x fem!reader #rhett abbott x female reader #rhett abbott x reader

[eleanorblythe]

Romantic Homicide - Anton Chigurh x Original Female Character - Chapter 1

You can use this as an Anton/reader one shot as well if you like as I haven’t given her a name.

I blame and every one of you whores for making me realise people were as thirsty for Anton as I was. It’s been a very long time since I’ve written anything, but Anton seemed like a challenge so I wanted to have a go.

Enjoy and let me know if you have any feedback or ideas. I’m not sure yet how long I want this series to be!

Title finally decided from the song of the same name by d4vd

Also on Ao3 with author notes and translations - here

It was the scraping of a chair that woke her. Or was it the clinking or smashing of a glass against a dull surface? Either way, it was enough to stir her from her dreamless sleep.

She started to turn over in her bed towards the bedroom door only to freeze part way through the motion, waiting for any further sounds. She heard none. Regardless she shifted over to the nightstand on the opposite side of the bed and took out the pistol that lay there.

There was a small click as she took out the cartridge and check there were bullets to discharge should the need arise. And slowly crept out of bed. She briefly considered if she should wear a cover up over her nightgown, it was, for all intents and purposes, inappropriate for anyone but intimate company, but she rationalised that should she need to run, or even fight, it would offer her the most manoeuvrability.

She took the safety off the gun and opened the door, thankful for the lack of any creaking or groaning. She liked this house. Had spent a small fortune on this house. It was clean and modern. She certainly hoped she wouldn’t have to ruin her carefully curated world with bullet holes or blood and brain matter.

She walked down the darkened hallway, sinking her toes into the lush carpet as a way of grounding herself and enjoying the sensations. Then she spotted it. The faint light coming from the dining room. Her jaw clenched, remembering the sound of the knocked over glass that awoke her. She wasn’t sure of which she was more angry; that someone had the gall to break into her home or someone had the gall to help themselves and then break one of her expensive pieces of glassware.

Steeling herself she peered around the corner and was met with…an odd sight.

The dining room table had various medical supplies spilled out from a brown grocery bag. There was a rocks glass that had indeed been broken next to a decanter that had, not an insignificant, amount of alcohol decanted from it. Sharp medical tools glinted under the light of the small table lamp that had been placed in the middle of the table, acting as the singular surgical spotlight in this makeshift operating theatre. The intruder was hunched over picking something out of another grocery bag at their feet. She could make out the top of a dark bob haircut and as the intruder turned back to the dining table, the shadowed, but unmistakable profile of a man that not many people ever have the chance to live long enough to remember.

She had made up her mind. She pulled the hammer back, which was almost as loud as an actual gunshot in the complete stillness of the house. The intruder’s eyes instantly became more alert and moved to the area in which the sound originated. However having a bright light shining directly into his face had him somewhat at a disadvantage.

“What are you doing here?”

She spotted his posture relax slightly, recognising her voice. She flipped the main light switch on, while maintaining eye contact and more importantly never lowering her gun.

His eyes immediately found hers after adjusting to the change in light sources. He made no move to stand or say anything else other than stare. Perhaps he was aware that her question was not really a question at all and more of a statement of indignation. The corner of his mouth twitched a little, she had always had that fire in her. Although looking at her now…

He took the time to scan over her. Her eyes were cold, almost glacial, in keeping with the rest of her current stern and cool expression and demeanour. This was somewhat unusual, but there was always ice in those veins when there needed to be, to ensure her survival.

He continued his scan over the rest of her. She had changed her hair again. The perfectly manicured fingernails wrapped around his pistol. He had wondered where he had left it. It was then when he finally noticed what she was wearing. Or lack thereof. A chemise. Barely covering that most secret part of her. Indigo. Silk. Expensive. Like everything else in this house.

It certainly answered the question as to whether she was receiving the money he was regularly sending. It was clear she was spending it.

She sighed as he watched her. Her arm must have been aching by now, but he could spot not just in her arms, but everywhere, the subtle definition of muscle peaking out through her skin. Evidently she had kept up with her training. She shifted slightly on her feet and in doing so one of the straps of her nightgown slid off her shoulder coming dangerously close to revealing…

She remained undeterred though and continued to stare him down as he finished scanning, or rather ogling, the rest of her. When he finally met her eye again she tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. An expression that suggested it was time for him to say something.

“That’s my gun.” was the response he finally went for.

She hummed quietly, eyes flitting down to the shining metal in her hands briefly before returning to his gaze. She made no effort to lower the weapon.

“How did you get in?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I would. I had the locks changed, so you must have broken something…else,” Her nostrils flared and her eyes flitted to the broken rocks glass.

“Your bathroom window was open,” He said simply.

“Y-you went through the bathroom window?” She couldn’t help but balk, for he was a very large man and the window; a very small one.

“Yes.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. What else could he have meant by his previous statement?

She hummed again. Her slightly furrowed brow, the only sign she was still processing the possibility of such a feat. With tension eased somewhat, she allowed herself to scan over every inch of him. Or rather she would have had she not spotted something jarring and shockingly white against the darkness of Anton’s shirt.

“What is that?” Already knowing exactly what it was.

“You now understand why I came here?” He responded.

“No. Last I heard you were in Texas.”

“Yes.”

“That’s hours from here. You mean to tell me you drove all the way here to treat your broken arm?”

“Yes.”

This time she did lower the gun. Slightly. She stared incredulously then shook her head.

“Do you expect me to help you?”

“I think we both know the answer to that.”

She nodded and finally set the gun down on the dining room table. She began hastily gathering the pile of medical supplies and stuffing them back into the bag before walking with much purpose towards another room. Anton could only watch her with mild confusion and annoyance. She opened the door to a bathroom, turned on the overhead light and unceremoniously dumped the entire contents of the brown bag into the sink.

“Yes we do. Do your business in here. I will not have you bleeding over my new furniture. You will clean up when you’re finished. Including that.” She made one final glare to the broken glass still resting on the otherwise pristine dining room table before collecting the pistol and hastily retreating back to her bedroom. Leaving Anton exactly where she found him.

As she returned the pistol to the bedside table drawer she could hear the heavy footsteps of Anton in his cowboy boots slowly moving across the living room and eventually the clacking of heels against ceramic tile in the bathroom. She thought she could hear a limp in the movements, she would have to check later. For now all she wanted to do was fall back into her relatively blissful sleep.

It was a nice thought anyway.

After a time, she became aware of a presence in her doorway. She turned around to see Anton, as tall and as imposing as ever, but she could see the weariness had seeped into every pore, his skin was clammy, but at the very least the bone was back inside of his body now. She could admire his strength and resilience, she hadn’t heard so much as a whisper from the bathroom. What incredible pain he must be in.

Pity.

She sat up and once again allowed the straps of her chemise to fall from her shoulders. She, contemplated for a moment…but no.

“Fixed?”

He grunted. He shifted his weight from his left leg to his right. Ah, so that accounts for the limp. A bullet wound, one would assume.

“As much as it can be.”

“You can always call on Andrews tomorrow, he’ll be able to set it properly.” Doing her best to sound unbothered.

He grunts again and makes a move to step into the bedroom.

“I don’t think so.”

He stops dead in his tracks and levels a look at her.

“There’s a spare bedroom down the hall. You’ll go there.”

He opened his mouth to say something more but she had already turned over in her bed, with her back to him and thrown the covers back over herself.

Well. That was as a definitive an answer as there was ever going to be.

Anton slowly made his way to the opposite end of the hall and opened the door to find a half decorated room with sheets draped over most of the furniture and on the bed, a multitude of boxes. Mostly, Anton noted, containing his personal items. It took him a fair amount of time to be able to clear the bed until ultimately he resolved to sleep on top of the covers in his current clothing as he felt the exhaustion and pain finally win out over his body.

He briefly mused on the peculiar expression or saying to do with happy wives or something of that nature, before sleep came to him like a weighted blanket.

#anton chigurh #no country for old men #anton chigurh x reader #Anton Chigurh fanfic

[cinebration]

Come Back To Me (Jack Russell x Reader) [Part 9]

You ask Jack some hard questions.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Epilogue

Tagged: @lucy-sky​, @faeoftheapocalypse​, @theconsultingdoctor10​, @starfirette​, @bitchyglitterfox​, @thefandomqueenbb​, @scarlettsoldier​, @russell-ed​, @xasement​, @stand-with-cap​, @marvelenthusiast10​, @supermarvelgirl15​, @eykismyfav​, @killeromanoff​, @hawkins-2000​, @fangurldayandnight​, @liv-victoriano​, @randomchick546​, @g1m2g3, @gingermous​, @howlingco​, @vynsvision​, @jwjeepers, @rellasnowheenim​, @yelenas-lova​, @ackroxia​, @littlenosoul​, @allthingsvicf​, @emiemiemii​, @n3rdybirdee​, @kl0k​

Warnings: none

Gif Source: timothydalton

“I was just at the grocery store getting more food,” Jack explained as he let himself into the apartment. “I really like cooking, not just for other people, but for myself, too. So I’m at the store all the time.”

“You have quite the appetite,” you muttered, hesitantly following him inside. Every instinct in your body was screaming at you to run as you shut the door.

You left it unlocked just in case.

That you felt the need to made you sick inside.

“I was just going to call you,” Jack continued, a spring in his step as he carried the grocery bags into the kitchen and placed them on the counter. “I wanted to know if there was a type of food you wanted to try specifically. I can cook pretty much anything.”

“Um, I don’t know. I don’t really think about food a lot.”

“No? I’ve heard that happens to some people. I don’t know how, but I guess it does.” He chuckled to himself, flashing teeth as he loaded the fridge with the food.

He paused mid-loading, turned suddenly to you. “Perdón, I should have asked first: How are you today?”

Rooted to the spot by his genuine interest, you swallowed thickly and managed to say, “Last night was really nice.”

His smile turned soft, almost abashed. “Yes, I very much enjoyed it.”

Chest constricting, you forced yourself to turn away and meander around the living room. Jack resumed restocking his fridge and cabinets, the bright energy radiating off him threatening to burn you.

Words lodged in your throat, pushing up even as you fought them. “I quit my job today.”

Jack spun, nearly dropping the head of lettuce in his hands. “You’re kidding!”

“No. I did it. For real.”

“That’s fantastic!” Setting the lettuce down, he emerged from the kitchen and intercepted your path, pulling you into a warm hug. The force of it made your eyes burn. “¡Felicitaciones!”

“Thank you.”

Drawing back, Jack peered into your face, his happiness faltering. “You don’t seem happy.”

Had you always been this transparent? “It’s…complicated.”

He nodded sagely. “I understand. It’s all you have known. Walking away isn’t easy.”

You averted your eyes. “Something like that.”

“Can I help?”

Stomach clenching as you pictured him leaning over the pit, asking the same question, you shook your head and gently disengaged yourself from his embrace. “It’ll pass.”

Nodding again, he frowned but let you have your space as he returned to the kitchen to load up the last of the groceries. You paced around the living room again, making a slow circuit through the orderly mess. He had straightened some since last night, but it still bordered on chaos.

The words lodged in your throat again, making it hard to breathe. Swallowing thickly, you forced yourself to speak them. “H-how did you get me out of the pit? That hole was deep.”

Jack glanced over his shoulder at you, his expression both confused and slightly guarded. “I carried you out.”

“You carried me?”

He turned away to stow the last of the canned goods. “The hole wasn’t even. Some of the wall behind you had eroded. I walked out, basically.”

You frowned, struggling to recall if you could even see the back wall. The pain had been too intense, the idea of rolling your eyes further back to see behind you—upside down, no less—making your stomach heave. You grasped another question.

“What do you remember about that hunter?”

“Who?”

“The man who shot at us.”

“Nothing. He was crazy, shooting at us like that.”

“It was the middle of the night and we probably didn’t look like people.”

Jack shrugged, closed the cabinet door with care. “That’s possible.”

“Didn’t he say something before you left me?”

Turning slowly, Jack cocked his head, scrutinizing you. “Is everything okay?”

Feeling naked beneath his gaze, you glanced away, folded your arms over your chest. “I’m just trying to remember. It’s frustrating not being able to remember.”

“He said something about the monster.”

“Do you remember exactly?”

“No. I was too afraid of getting shot.”

“So you left me.”

Brow furrowing, Jack stepped around the counter and approached you. “I left you to protect you.”

“How’s that?”

“That man was crazy. I thought he was going to shoot us, so I left you to draw his fire.”

“Why would he continue shooting at you?”

“Because he thought I was the monster.”

“Were you?”

Jack blinked, straightening as though slapped across the face. “What?”

Fear choked your throat. “Was he hunting you?”

Silence but for the thundering of your heart in your ears.

Jack stared at you, despair in his kind eyes. Chest constricting, you sucked in a painful breath, then another.

“Yes,” he answered. “Probably.”

You remembered Elsa’s furtive glances at Jack, the suspicion that she was hiding something. Jack’s uneasiness at returning to the manor accompanied it.

The word tore out of you. “Why?”

“Because I’m the werewolf.”

You staggered, turning away from him as the confession slammed into you. Everything was too much, your feelings and thoughts a tangled mess of incoherence. Behind you, Jack was speaking. You heard his voice but not the words, the roaring in your head drowning everything out.

Jaeger had been right.

“I told you,” he said from the open doorway before kicking the door shut behind him.

#Jack Russell x Reader #Jack Russell #Jack Russell imagine #Gael Garcia Bernal x Reader #Gael Garcia Bernal #Gael Garcia Bernal imagine #Werewolf By Night #Marvel #MCU

[sxtvrns]

duo of dreams

🎶 now playing: ordinary – nct dojaejung

P: Hueningkai x Fem!Idol!Reader

S: You were seductive. He was an angel. Two polar opposite concepts come together in ways no one would expect.

C: fluff, comfort, inaccuracy, self indulgence, girlboss reader, downbad hyuka, brainrot, drabbling, kinda long, not proofread

N: i am a baby moa so pls do not slander me if i dont get a millisecond of a certain stage performance correct. this is purely for self indulgence because i am so severely in love with kai and everything that he does. idek where this story went but im hoping it makes sense cuz i was so upset with the ending i changed it multiple times and this is the one i liked the most. this man is so fine and im glad im not the only one that thinks so

view the full perfume collection.

please interact if you enjoy!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

2021

The minute you turned 19, you knew what you wanted. Even before you turned 19, you knew what you were, and you knew what you wanted to make out of it. You were hot. Fierce, confident, and eye catching. Everyone knew it, too. You turned heads every time you went to the headquarters, seeing people stare at you out of the corner of your eye.

Before you were of age, though, you never openly exposed yourself in such a way. It was all a tough girl kind of concept. You tended to stay on the neutral, dark, concepts rather than cuter ones. If you were given an idea, you found a way to design it and stick it to your niche. You always preferred to do what you liked rather than being forced into a box with little room to do anything your way; it demotivated you.

As a solo artist, you had lots of creative freedom, being able to write your own songs and even nitpick at how you wanted them to sound. Sometimes you would just need a kickstart or a hint from another fellow producer to get the ideas flowing, and boy, did your mind flow with ideas.

Sometimes you were labeled as ‘provocative’ or ‘controversial’. Some even said you were acting too mature for your age. But it never hurts to get a head start.

When you weren’t music making, you often dabbled in modeling with your partnered companies or for magazines, really, any source of promotion. You felt even more confident while doing so as well, which further boosted your productivity in the studio. It all came full circle.

You tried to do what you like while also balancing music, and you managed to make it work. People looked up to you. Newer groups admired you, your stage presence, how you gave 100% in every single performance that you did, how you wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfect, how much effort you put into practicing.

You idolized your own fair share of groups as well. BTS, Blackpink, Twice; any group debuting for longer than you have, you admired. When you saw Suga crack a smile at your MAMA performance, you nearly broke character on stage, but held it in by letting your heart race and stopping your face from faltering. When Dahyun talked about you during one of her lives, saying you were cool and how she longed for confidence like yours, you nearly fainted on the spot.

You were still a growing girl with people you looked up to, inspired by everything that they do and how you could apply aspects from their performances to yours. You were truly committed to your craft.

You were invited onto a talk show, along with another group, whose name was not revealed to you. Off camera, you heard the footsteps of multiple people passing by, yet you didn’t know who since it was supposedly a surprise for both you and the other idols.

You adjust your mic, the cameras rolling and the MC and group introducing themselves. Though their voices together are loud, you can’t make out what they are saying, only adding more to the suspense. You’re suddenly given the cue by a staff member, walking out and seeing five men sitting together in their chairs with surprised expressions.

You’re equally as surprised, knowing you’ve seen their faces at previous award shows. “Tomorrow by Together?” You point at them, all of them jumping and freaking out at the fact you knew who they were. “Y/N, meet TXT!” The MC says, letting you sit in your chair as the boys calm down.

“Have you two met formally before?”

“I think once backstage, we were on Inkigayo together.” You answer, the event fully coming back to their memories as you mentioned it. “Do you remember our names?” Taehyun asks innocently, watching as your eyes scan over each of their faces before answering. You point at each respective member as you say their names. “Soobin. Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, Hueningkai.” They all cheer and applaud as you dramatically bow towards them and the camera.

“Is there something in particular you like about each other’s music?” The MC asks.

“TXT has a certain flow in their music that manages to get stuck in my head; No Rules and Frost have been playing on loop for the past few days since those are my favourites. And the rhythm and the way each song plays a role within a story is something I really like.”

They all nod, the MC turning their head towards the boy group. “Hueningkai should answer for us.” Yeonjun ushers, patting the maknae on the back. “Yeah, he has your music on 24/7. Nonstop.” Beomgyu adds, only making Kai even more shy.

“Well, Y/N has a really significant, gritty style to her music and a satisfying edge that balances out throughout her songs, so each song is different in its own way. She really pays attention to the role of each instrument in the background and how well they balance together, and her ballads are really well put together because of this. Of course, all of her songs are good, but her ballads stick out even more to me. They’re usually the ones I listen to the most.”

“He’s good.” You say, all of them laughing. “Frost is actually Hueningkai’s song.” Soobin adds. “Really?” The maknae nods, all redfaced and flustered. “That’s why it’s so good then. You did the laugh at the beginning?” He nods again. “I picked it up from you, a little bit.”

“That’s amazing. I loved it, it gave the song the whole like, badass vibe.” You say, immediately covering your mouth. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if I can say that.” They all laugh it off, going back to the topic at hand.

As the interview progresses, you slowly find yourself getting more comfortable with the boys in front of you, laughing and joking around as the questions go on and on. They treat you like a close friend though you’ve only known each other for an hour, and your heart is filled with a familiar warmth as you even fall out of your chair from laughing so hard.

You compose yourself before the interview ends, and when the cameras cut, it goes silent, all of TXT staring at you, and you staring back. Hueningkai is the first to break, everyone else following right after.

━━━━━

the way he looks at her

hyuka had hearts in his eyes the whole time i swear

Y/N ONE CHANCE PLEASE

she is literally slaying so hard and all she’s doing is sitting in her chair

id freak out too if i was in the presence of y/n

IDK IF I WANNA BE TXT OR Y/N

hueningkai finally formally meeting his celeb crush guys the character development is real

━━━━━

You lurked a lot on social media, having your own personal accounts and such. This also meant you saw all those comments about the tension between you and Hueningkai specifically. They weren’t wrong about it; in fact, there was something there between you two that you couldn’t determine.

It was like a chain operated by a crank that wanted to pull you two closer together. You felt yourself drawn to him, and he felt drawn to you, yet you didn’t know why.

“Hueningkai has the biggest crush on you. He has some of your posters hung up in our room and always stays quiet if your performance is on. He never stays quiet for anything.” Taehyun said, which stuck with you the rest of the interview.

During the recording, you couldn’t help but feel your eyes drawn to him specifically, and how he’d already be staring at you when you looked at him. He could feel it too, the crank wanting to turn. You both were resisting against it, not letting the chain pull you two any closer.

He was cute, for sure. His innocence seemed to radiate off of him, and the way it contrasted with your maturity made you wonder why there was such a significant tension between you two.

So while you sat in HYBE’s cafe on the 19th floor, sipping on an iced chocolate while staring down at the streets below, you tried to take your mind off of him. But it was the most fun you’ve had with another group, and you wanted to relive the laughter in your head over and over again for as long as you could remember it, but Hueningkai was always the first person that came back to your mind when you tried to reminisce. As much as you liked it, it also felt like torture.

The doors of the elevator open with a ding, Hueningkai ordering a lime bachaas at the counter, noticing a familiar figure at one of the window seats. He gets his drink, taking a sip before guessing. “Y/N?” You turn around at the mention of your name, noticing Hueningkai who’s waving at you. You wave back, wondering what to do. It’d be awkward to leave it at this.

You nudge the chair out, letting him sit down next to you. “Are you busy?” You ask, knowing it’s late at night but not late enough until practices usually end. “Just finished. Had some dinner.” He’s usually rambling when he’s asked questions, but maybe today tired him out. You can’t blame him, you were equally as drained. “You watched our episode?”

He huffs with a laugh. “Yeah. I saw the comments too. We’re everywhere.”

“Hope you don’t mind. The internet is crazy.”

“I’m aware of that. I don’t mind at all. Do you?”

You shake your head. “I don’t really care.”

A comfortable silence lingers over the two of you. It isn’t awkward in any way, merely the sounds of the machines behind the counter serving as background noise. “You really picked it up from me?”

“Huh?”

“That laugh. In Frost.”

He awkwardly chuckles. “Ah, well, it’s a bit strange to say it out loud but, when I was recording that part, I tried to envision what it was like in your shoes. All… cool and villain like.”

“You think I’m a villain?”

“Wrong word… more like dominant. When we were sent the sample recording, I could immediately see you doing the song as your own, like I could hear you doing the intro itself. When I imagined your vibe, that’s how it came out. Is that weird?”

“No, I love it. I can understand why you think that way. You did a great job, by the way. Really sweet of you to think of me like that. Your performance for that song too, fuckin’ sexy.” You cover your mouth, looking around and seeing no one else around. “Can I swear?”

He nods with a small laugh. “Sexy?” He asks. “If I’m being honest, you looked really fucking hot up there. Just saying.” His face goes warm, partly at the fact you called their performance ‘sexy’, but mostly at the fact you called him hot right to his face with no shame at all. “Are you flirting with me?”

“Take it how you will, I’m just telling the truth.” Your eyes meet his for the first time during the whole conversation. You break first and finish off your drink, his gaze enough to intimidate yet fluster you at the same time. “I’m gonna go now. Hopefully I run into you again.” You get up, about to leave when you feel a hand tugging on your sleeve, stopping you.

“Um, do you want me to walk you back? We live in the same building and all, I just– it’s dark out.” He rambles, a smile creeping up on your lips. “So you’re cute and you’re a gentleman? I really found the one.” It doesn’t directly answer his question, but the compliment has his heart racing faster than before. “Sure. Let’s go.”

As you walk back to the dorms, you manage to make small talk with Kai, filling in the silent gaps when needed. “I do appreciate your attention to detail.”

“For what?”

“When you were talking about my music. I really like hearing other people’s interpretations on them and what sticks out and such. I’ll be sure to write more ballads for you.” You start off, joking around. “I think it’s a bit funny you view me as someone higher and you’re casually hanging out with them right now. The only difference is that I debuted after you did.”

“You flattered me too much already tonight, Y/N. One more thing and I might just faint from your words alone.”

“Pleased to know I make such an impact on you.”

“You’ve made quite an impact on me for a while now.”

Unlocking your door, you tell Kai to wait outside for a moment, handing him a folded slip of paper. “Thank you for the peace, Kai. Goodnight.” You go to shut the door, opening it slightly again. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” You add, Kai walking back to the elevator after you shut the door. He doesn’t unfold the slip until he reaches his own dorm, numbers written down.

It was your phone number, words written right below it.

I enjoyed talking to you tonight. Text me whenever, and hopefully we can talk like this again.

His mind goes back to your words from earlier. ‘Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.’

Was it because you called him hot and that he was more secluded on the way back? It was only because he didn’t know what to say after. What was he even supposed to say to that? Thank you? You too?

Before he went to bed, he added your number to his contacts, and hid the note in one of his drawers. He realized one thing, though.

You were definitely flirting with him.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The elevator door opens, Hueningkai alerted by the ding and turning around to see who it was. Your hood was on, yet he still recognized you, messing around and simply staring at you the whole time to see how long it would take for you to notice.

You see him out of the corner of your eye as you put your phone away, sheepishly waving at him as he proudly waves back, gesturing for you to sit with him.

“Do you wanna see something?” He asks, which grabs your attention. You nod, Hueningkai taking out his phone and opening his emails, tapping on something else. He fully reveals the screen to you, showing photos of him modelling for a campaign. He scrolls through them, and you simply sit there, admiring how he glows in every single one.

“God, you look so good in all of them.” You mutter, hearing him giggle as he shuts his phone off. “You’re the first person to see them.”

“Really?” He nods, running his hand through his hair. “I feel so special.” You smile, wondering how his silly demeanour could turn into that in front of a camera. “Do you want me to send them to you?”

“Can you really do that? It already feels a bit illegal just looking at them.”

“No one needs to know.”

You huff, accepting his offer. “If you’re encouraging it.” He turns on his phone again, sending the photos to you with a ding. “Have you been busy today?” He asks, putting his phone back in his pocket. “Writing. Dancing. I’m performing for KBS, so I’ve been rehearsing. Speaking of which, I just had an idea.” He leans in closer, intrigued.

“Could you… record a few lines for me? It’s for my festival performance; it isn’t a lot, I swear. Just some dialogue. Whenever you aren’t busy, of course.”

“I’m available tomorrow.”

“Great! Cool, I’ll text you more about it. You’re on the setlist too, right?”

“Yeah. Just our title track.”

“Looking forward to it already.”

“What song are you covering, anyways?”

“U-Go-Girl, then transitioning to my title.” His eyes widen, remembering the dialogue that would have to be voiced over by him. “Oh.” Thinking about it alone is almost embarrassing, but he takes pride in the fact that he’s the first person you thought of to record such… important lines. “If you don’t want to, I can find someone else–“

“No, no! I can do it, yeah, I can. I want to. Sounds fun.” He cuts you off, sounding almost too excited. “You know what you’re getting yourself into and not just doing it because I asked.”

“Really, I’d be honoured. Playing a part in your performance.”

“Good. I’d have a hard time finding someone else then, anyways. Wasn’t planning on asking anybody else.”

“So I was first pick?”

You pause, looking for an answer. “You’d add your own little Hueningkai flair to it. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but you’re gonna help me make it stand out from the rest. And that’s exactly what I want.” You always had a thing for being different. Different in a good and influential way, in a way where you wouldn’t be compared to others, rather others were compared to you.

You yawn, covering your mouth and letting your head hang to the side. “Today must’ve taken a toll on you, huh?” You feel his sleeve briefly brush against your hood. “Dance was… hard today. I couldn’t get the moves right even though it’s the easiest dance to ever exist, my brain was mush, I was failing to comprehend anything– I did great in everything else but the performing, stage presence part of it.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. We all have bad days, and it’s okay to feel horrible about it, but you learn to move on and improve. Trust me, I should know.” Kai advises reassuringly, his hand having a gentle grip on your shoulder. “Thanks, Kai. I just feel like a bit of a lazy ass not being able to do things at the pace I usually do.”

“You haven’t been overworking yourself, have you?”

“Not necessarily.”

“If you need to take a little break, take one. Better to be conscious to perform than not perform at all.” He jokes it off, even making you giggle a little as well. “I’ll take your advice to heart, Kai. Means a lot that you care.”

“You aren’t lazy, by the way. I’ve seen your performances and judging from how you exceed everyone’s expectations, you are far from that. You’re a hard worker, Y/N.”

“You really know how to flatter a woman, do you?” His face flushes on the spot, instantly a flustered mess. “Like you said, I’m just telling the truth.” He says, mostly spitting out words that he isn’t entirely sure of. “And you pay attention! My goodness, I’ll never find another guy like you. I’ll treasure you forever, Hueningkai.”

“Stop that…” He murmurs, still flustered and warm faced.

“Don’t be embarrassed! I mean it. I’ll never regret ever knowing you and being a friend of yours.” He only hides his face deeper into his hoodie, giggling as you take a sip of your drink. “Don’t fall in love yet, Huening, you should take me out on a date first.” You tease, finishing off your drink and tapping on his shoulder as you get up to leave “Don’t make false accusations, you’ll get in trouble for that.” He follows behind you, throwing away his own cup.

“I really did appreciate the advice, though. Maybe I was a bit too harsh on myself. I promise I’ll try to be more self aware.” You look up at him with a nod as the elevator doors close with a ding, and he nods back, giving you a thumbs up.

When you arrive at your dorm, you finally figure out a time. “Are you free at 3 tomorrow?” You ask. “For what?”

“For recording, duh. Was this not the first thing we talked about?”

“It was actually the second thing.”

“Okay, smartass, that was rhetorical.” You laugh it off, waiting for his confirmation. “Yeah, I am. I’ll take some time out of my practice for it.”

“I can do it sometime else if you’re busy, then–“

“Y/N, I’m practicing all week, it’s fine. You won’t get my recording in time if you were to do it when my schedule isn’t actually packed. I’ll let them know, okay? Don’t worry about it.”

“Fine, but if I get a complaint that pulling you out of practice was unprofessional I’m blaming you.”

He chuckles. “Fair enough.”

“See you tomorrow, then?” You peek your head out the door at him, tiredly staring at him. “See you. Get some rest, Y/N.”

“You too, Kai.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hueningkai steps out of his practice, following the directions you gave him through text, seeing a few staff members outside the recording booth. They let him in, shutting the door and putting on the given headphones. “Hi Kai. You ready? Need water or anything?” You’re sitting in the producer’s booth at the computer with another staff member.

“I’m good.”

“I’ll play the sample recording for you. Unless you want to go straight into it?”

“Sample.”

Kai had a way of mimicry that you admired. It stayed true to the original, but his voice made it stand out the exactly how you wanted it to, that he got it only after the second recording. You play it back to him, this time layered on top of your main vocals, the part transitioning to your song being the most prominent section where his voice really stands out. “Do you wanna rerecord anything? Personally I think this is the take.”

“Then I’m good.”

You frown at the way he describes himself, even though he isn’t entirely wrong. “Alright, then that’s it. Thanks for coming in.”

“Should I see you later today?” He asks, the other staff member looking at you. “Yeah, sure. Just get back, I feel I’ve taken you for too long already.” Hueningkai begins to tear bits off the lyric sheet, the sound of it reverberating in the room you’re in. You simply watch as he rolls the bits into tiny crumpled balls, leaving them on the stand.

“At least clean up after yourself. You can walk a girl home but can’t pick up your own trash?” You joke, Kai’s ears going red as he takes the bits with him, muttering a goodbye before leaving the room. “You’re close with him?” The staff asks, finicking with the audio.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Nothing. You two seemed to just click instantly. Do you wanna hear how it sounds now?”

As the sky darkens, you wait for a response from Hueningkai almost too eagerly, checking your phone every time it buzzed in your pocket, hoping it was him. You stopped by your rendezvous, just to take a seat and listen to the recording over and over again; it was that good that you wanted to put it on loop and just admire it as many times as you could.

“Boo!”

Hueningkai pounces on you, his hands grasping your shoulders to make you jump. “Kai– do not do that! If I had a drink in my hand right now, I would’ve thrown it at your face.”

“So mean!”

“Reflexes.”

He sits down next to you, leaning in to see what took up all your attention that you didn’t notice him lurking behind you. “Wanna listen? It’s the backup vocals for my performance.” You offer him an earbud as he accepts, playing up until the transition. “And that’s most of it. For now.”

“Feels a little bit wrong to get early access to this.”

“It was only part of it. And now you know how I felt when I saw those photos of you.”

“They’re up now, so nothing to worry about. I saw your messages but that was during water break, so I didn’t get to respond. Figured I’d find you here.”

“I felt like giving up and going back to the dorms. This was a last resort.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to even text you afterwards. Slipped my mind.”

“It’s fine. This is all I wanted to show you anyways.”

He pauses for a moment, staring at the ground trying to remember what it was about the KBS festival he was going to say. “Oh! Right, I just remembered I was gonna tell you something.”

“What is it?”

He leans in closer and whispers something.

“I’m dying my hair.”

“Really? What colour?”

“Brown. Then after the festival, black.”

“Are you getting a new concept?” He nods excitedly, his grin unable to be contained. “I will keep my mouth shut. But I’m excited to see what’s to come!”

“I think you’ll like it. We’ll be working on recordings after the festival.”

“Oh?” You were intrigued. “I’ll like it?”

“It seems like something you’d enjoy, at least. I’m hoping you will.”

“Now you have me wanting to know more. You know this is very unprofessional of you, speaking about your group’s plans with another colleague.” You poke fun at him, leaning in. “I’m speaking to you as a friend, not a business partner. And with how much unreleased information we’ve been sharing with each other, it’s safe to say that we are more than just business partners.”

“I feel like a schoolgirl sharing secrets with someone.” You giggle, Kai’s smile growing. “I heard somewhere they call you Hyuka, can I call you that?” Why did the name sound so perfect when it rolled off your tongue? He did his best to stop his face from heating up and replied. “Yeah. You can.”

“It’s cute. I like it.”

He doesn’t reply, avoiding eye contact with you and simply replying with a nod. “You really get flustered over the smallest things, don’t you? Nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Maybe it’s because I can’t believe the Y/N keeps flirting with me. Not very professional of you.”

“Oh, the irony! It’s corroding my heart…” You overdramatize, earning a snicker from the boy seated beside you. “If it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop. I hope you know that wasn’t my intention.”

“I know. And it doesn’t. If anything, my heart beats so fast that I just can’t think of anything to say to you because I’m so focused on the fact my heart is racing in my ears.”

“So you like it?”

“I mean, who wouldn’t want to be called cute by the L/N Y/N? If anything, I’m lucky enough to be talking with you like this.”

“Now you’re the one flirting with me?” You laugh, checking your phone. “I have an interview tomorrow. I’m a bit nervous.”

“Why? You’re always great in interviews. You’re comedic, you’re stylish–“

“It’s one where the MC asks questions to get under your skin. Like a hot seat.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not… I’m not very open with my personal life. I don’t usually talk about it. He might go that far.”

“Can you not cancel?”

“Too late now. I was booked for it but didn’t care to ask what it was about since I was too busy with other things.” You feel his hand rub your shoulder reassuringly, giving you a look that said ‘it’s gonna be okay’. You sheepishly smile, his hand not leaving you for as long as you stay with him. “I just don’t want to get into controversy right before that big performance. It’s gonna ruin my confidence and my performance is gonna be shit and when I look back on it I’m gonna hate myself–“

“Y/N, you’re gonna be okay. Your fanbase would understand wholeheartedly if they are really fans of yours. They would defend you until the end of the line. Have you seen what they can do? It’s a bit terrifying.” He says, making you chuckle. “I get why you’re so nervous, but if the episode is that bad, they’d have a reason to not stream it.”

Hueningkai’s words stay with you the entire night leading up to the interview, where you’re seated in the chair and the cameras are rolling. The questions start off innocent at first, typical questions you’d get on any other interview.

“What is it like being a role model for newer idols?”

“What is your favourite performance outfit so far?”

“Is there a specific place you’d like to go to for a world tour or concert?”

Then it slowly started getting more… iffy.

“Do you have a ghost writer?”

“Did Bighit force you into the ‘sexy’ concept when you turned 19?”

“How many times have you cried over your duties as an idol?”

When it got into relationships with others, however, that’s where you drew the line.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend before?” The MC asks with a shameless smile on his face. “No.”

“Is there anyone you have your eyes on right now? A celebrity crush?”

Your face begins to burn red, your heart pounding so loud and fast you can hear it in your ears, and you’re struggling to spit out logical answers.

“Not in particular.”

“Sunghoon from Enhypen? You two are known to be close friends. Is he your type?”

“Please don’t bring my friends into this.”

“P1Harmony, what was his name… Jiung!“

“I don’t–“

“What about Hueningkai, the boy from TXT? Ever since that interview, people have been endorsing you two as a pair.”

“I don’t think you should be dictating someone to fulfill my relationship status. You have absolutely no power over me and my relationships with others, and God knows everything about me and my friends while you don’t, so keep your mouth shut.”

The whole room goes silent. You’re holding back tears and you want to swear at him so bad, but this seemed to be impactful enough already, so your eyes stare daggers into his soul, as if they pierced through his heart to make it stop beating. “Well, you certainly live up to your fiesty trait.” He laughs off, switching to the final cue card.

At the end, in your dressing room, you’re so overwhelmed with humiliation and embarrassment, the tears that couldn’t escape your eyes begin to flood again as you pull out your phone, the first person to come to mind being Hueningkai.

hyuka

are you there?

hiii!!!

how did it go?

horrible

it all went to shit

oh… are you okay?

can i see you later? same place?

sure, ill be there by 9

Your hood is on for the rest of the day, pace relentlessly fast as you walk into the headquarters. The face ID for the elevator can barely recognize you with how much you’re trying to hold back from crying, and you avoid any eye contact with the staff that join you in the small space. You finally look up when you reach the 19th floor, seeing Hueningkai turned around and looking at you, and you begin to break down then and there.

“Woah, Y/N…” He runs over, catching you before you can fall on your knees. “What happened? What did he ask?” You feel like shit knowing Kai is trying to help you, but you aren’t able to say anything because you’re so overwhelmed with tears and how embarrassing you look crying in front of him.

“Do you want to come to my place and we can talk about it? Or do you want to go to yours? The boys are just practicing vocals so it’ll be just us, no need to worry about someone overhearing.” He’s so extremely patient with you, making you cry even more. You point at him, meaning you want to go to his place, because it was the first thing that came to mind. “But what about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m only worried about you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

who does he think he is???

i cannot believe the staff did not notice how uncomfy y/n was even after she yelled at them

the fact he just laughed it off like what?

this was so incredibly disrespectful, i dont even know how this show is still up

who is allowing this to be aired theres clearly something wrong with this

he knew he crossed a line and did not care how stupid can you be

i knew there was something off about this

imagine being scolded by y/n id disappear off the face of the planet forever

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You sat quiet in your waiting room, scrolling through the posts on social media all written about you and that damn interview. You knew you were in the right, and you hoped everyone else knew that too. Luckily, they did. They didn’t bash you for anything, their dissatisfaction going towards the MC and the show.

You received endless support and praise for standing up for yourself and putting the host in his place, and you were so incredibly relieved for that. You watched the show broadcasting patiently on the TV in your room, TXT’s title track beginning to play. You were so fixated on it that you almost forgot you were going on next, the staff calling you backstage.

When their performance ends and they come offstage, you clap and cheer for all of them as they pass by, waving at Hueningkai enthusiastically when you see him. “Hyuka!” Even under the dim light, you see him with a tired smile as he runs over to you. “Wow…” He looks at you, eyes trailing over your outfit. “You look good.”

“I could say the same for you.” Maybe it was the lighting, or how nervous you were, but seeing your friend post-performance trying to catch his breath, sweat dripping down his face, his cheeky smile as his gaze with those tired eyes doesn’t waver from yours, you knew it was wrong to be thinking such things. But he looked hot. Really hot.

“I’ll see you in your room?” You ask, and he nods, head turning away first and eyes last. God, he had a gaze that could kill you.

The metronome begins playing in your earpiece once you’re on stage, and you let your confidence take control. Hyuka’s voice plays in your ear, and if you’re being honest, the one thing that usually runs through your mind is thinking about how cool you are to be on stage and performing for such a large audience. Did it make you seem like you were full of yourself? A little bit. Did you care? No.

When the song changes, so does the mood. The lights change colour and are different brightnesses, and so does your outfit. You discard your jacket and the skirt you’re wearing, adorning a matching pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt, and a fishnet longsleeve underneath. Your title track begins, and the crowd screams so loud you can hear them over your instrumental.

After the rush of adrenaline from being able to make the crowd scream louder than ever, you walk offstage, saying thank you to all the staff as you pass by. You make a quick pitstop to your room, grabbing a few things before trying to find TXT’s. The next performers pass by and give you cheer silently, and you can’t help but smile back despite your exhaustion. You knock on their door, a staff member opening it. “Hi Y/N. How come you aren’t in your room right now?”

“Is it okay if I come in?”

“Is that Y/N?” Someone asks.

“Y/N!?” Another voice asks, who you can recognize as Hueningkai. The staff member moves aside, and there’s Hyuka, standing behind him with that goofy smile on his face. He pulls you in for an unexpected, brief hug, looking at you all thrilled. “Your performance was amazing! You looked so good up there, and the transition and your execution–“ He’s so excited that he just jumps around with glee, and you manage to laugh at his enthusiasm.

You take a seat on the empty couch with a content sigh, Hyuka then sitting next to you. “I loved your performance too. The brown hair suits you.” The colour made him look younger as if he wasn’t already, innocence along with it. “I like it. I wish you’d keep it.”

“You should’ve seen my in my group’s Magic era.”

“Do you have photos? It’s been a while since I’ve last seen it.” He pulls out his phone, photos of him from that time showing up after mere seconds of him typing it in. “You looked so cute! And so much younger…”

“We were both 17 that time, so obviously. I saw your concept during this time too. You looked cute too.”

A part of you wants to believe that he means it. Another part of you is making you think that he’s just saying it to be nice since you do that to him all the time. “So you’re saying that I’m not cute now?” You ask rhetorically, letting him search for his answer. “I’m saying that you’ve always been cute. How’s that?”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do.” He’s looking at you so sternly that you want to believe him, and the fact he hasn’t broken out into laughter probably means that you should. “Soobin, Hueningkai is flirting with Y/N.” Beomgyu says, making you the first to break eye contact with him. “Don’t make her uncomfortable, Hueningkai.” His leader says, lounging in his chair.

“I think she likes it.”

“I do not.”

“Then why is your face so red? You don’t see me all flustered when you call me cute.”

“Actually, I do. We’re even.”

You both sit there in silence, Hueningkai scrolling on his phone mindlessly, lurking on his social media. He opens his camera to check and fix his hair, but notices you in frame, your eyes shut and head on his shoulder. You fell asleep on him.

He’s frozen in place, unsure what to do. He doesn’t move for as long as your rest on him, merely going back on his phone with a quiet chuckle. He snuck a few photos with you, and looking at them he realized that you were still as cute as he called you, even while you were asleep. When he looked up from his phone, he saw Yeonjun with his camera facing the two of you, fingers tapping on the screen.

“What are you doing?” Hyuka asks, Yeonjun immediately putting his phone away. “Nothing.” He lies, going back to using it as normal. You don’t stay asleep for long, being called back to your room by one of the other staff members. When you leave the room, Kai gets a text from Yeonjun, odd being that they were merely across the room from each other. He opens it to reveal a few images and even a video of the two of you together.

“Look at Hueningkai… Y/N is sleeping on his shoulder. Our maknae has really grown up and his crush is resting with him, they’re so cute. Saving this for when they date in the future.”

You nearly doze off in your own waiting room until your phone buzzes in your hand, a text from Hyuka appearing. It’s photos of the two of you, mostly of you sleeping on his shoulder while Hyuka is on his phone or taking selfies with you.

you looked so peaceful i felt bad when i had to wake you up

were you about to sleep in your room? im sorry if i woke you up again :(

ah its okay

who took the other photos?

yeonjun

were you just on your phone the entire time

i didn’t wanna wake you up!

can i come back

im not sure let me ask

👍

no u cant cuz the show is almost over

aw man

we’ll talk tomorrow! its my off day so we have all the time in the world

you’re over exaggerating a little bit

only a little bit

:P

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Y/NS PERFORMANCE MY LORD

SHE LITERALLY ATE THAT UP

she proved that flop of an mc wrong

is that hueningkai’s voice in the background??

GUYS AM I TRIPPING OR IS THAT HYUKA

hueningkai doing the dialogue for y/n’s cover is something i didnt know i needed

r they like best friends off screen because that’d literally be so cute like y/n asking hyuka to do the vocals for her

they sound so good together omg

collab when?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

2022

You were close with Hueningkai. You talked a lot, you hung out a lot, you even did media promotions with him, and you had little inside jokes that no one seemed to get, which made them funnier.

You two also had a tendency to… flirt with each other.

You could never see if he was being serious or not, and he’d never tell you afterwards and just move on. You’d do the same, which was only fair, but you really wanted to know if he meant it. Sometimes you wished he did. Other times you didn’t care.

You did lives together, mostly consisting of gossip and eating snacks, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. You even walked in on him once in the middle of one, and was unofficially invited as a guest.

You did promotional content with each other, and had a lot of pictures together in your camera roll. You almost lost important screenshots and info because of it. But every time you opened your gallery, you smiled, seeing pictures of him and the two of you messing around together reminding that there was more to life than just work.

It’s officially known by everyone, you and Hueningkai were best friends. Two peas in a pod, doing a lot of things together when you both were free. You were being shipped together, and while you were worried it made him uncomfortable, you also kind of liked it. Which begun the spiral of thoughts: did you have a crush on him?

You felt even more like a schoolgirl talking about it with your friends, except you were left alone with your own thoughts. You only flirted with each other about what, hundreds of times? He’d pat your back to calm you down, hold your hand if he noticed you shaking, run his fingers through your hair when you’d ramble, hug you when you need it, wipe off any crumbs that were left at the corner of your mouth…

He had comebacks that made your face go red, snarky replies and comments that made your heart race more than anything else, he looked hot when he was performing, like, really hot, he made sure you were the first person to see his unpublished modeling photos (all of them drove you crazy), he looked really pretty with contact lenses, he was the only person that could leave you stuttering and scrambling for words…

The list went on and on. And the more things you found out you liked about him, the more the answer became clear. You liked him. You liked your best friend.

Sure, he’s told you before that you were his celebrity crush, but that’s different. You liked him on a personal level, a level that could make or break your relationship with each other, and that was what scared you the most. You really liked him, to the point where if he rejected you, you’d go dark for a few days trying to recover.

You wanted to tell him so bad. Every time you tried, your heart would race uncontrollably and you couldn’t choke out a single word. It was almost embarrassing how flustered his simple actions made you, let alone on a livestream.

“I told my sisters about you.” He says, staring up at the clear, starlit sky. “Really?”

“My younger sister is a big fan of you, actually. She debuted this year. Older has plans to, and she says you’re really cool.”

“Tell them I say thank you. What group is your younger sister a part of?”

“Kep1er. Bahiyyih?”

“You did that Tiktok with her, I remember. You guys look scarily alike.”

“We really don’t.” You glare at him, straight faced. Hueningkai looks at you, face illuminated by the lights hidden underneath the plant fixtures. “You look pretty.” He thinks aloud, knowing you heard judging from the expression on your face.

You laugh. “I know.” You expect him to laugh the same, but his face doesn’t seem to change in any way. “Oh, you’re serious.”

“I always have been. You just never see it that way.”

“Oh.” You’re struck with a pang of guilt, cursing yourself internally. “You weren’t just being nice?”

“I meant every word I said. I hope you’re taking me seriously right now.”

It seems like I’m not, but I am. I really am.

“This is awfully bold of you, Hyuka.”

“I really like you, Y/N. How’s that for bold?”

He was being serious, unphased with genuine, meaningful eyes. “You always stayed by my side, even when I was feeling down. You remember the little things about me; my drink orders, the snacks I get, my habits, and merely being able to see you makes my day a whole lot better.”

You’re standing there, mouth slightly hanging, unable to say anything. The words are stuck in your throat, and you want to say something, but you feel like you’re gonna faint if you speak a single word.

“I… I can’t…” You’re too embarrassed to face him, knowing his eyes are on you. “I need to go…” You mutter, hand brushing over his for a second before leaving him unanswered on the silent, dimly lit rooftop.

You’re running down the stairs, mashing the buttons on the elevators, messily typing in your key code, falling to your knees once you step foot in your dorm. You’re coughing so much from your horribly paced breathing, and the pain adds to your tears, slowly trailing down your face.

Why were you crying? You didn’t deserve to cry. You were the one that hurt him, leaving him there because you were a coward. It hurt like hell. You barely managed to clean yourself up, falling asleep the second your head hits your pillow.

Practice the following day was straightforward, but you still felt empty. You would’ve gotten a text from Hyuka already, but the only messages there are the ones from yesterday. It hurts to see it so empty, and you want to talk to him, but what if he already hated you?

Entering the elevator, you run into Taehyun and his hooded mop of black hair. “Hi Y/N.” He greets. You tip your head to greet him, guilty for being able to talk to one of Hyuka’s friends and not him himself. “You should go talk to him. He skipped out on practice today.”

“Does he hate me?”

He scoffs. “Hueningkai could never hate you. You made his life 100 times better, according to him.” He pauses and sighs as the elevator nears the floor to the cafeteria. “Even for a few hours, he really didn’t seem like himself. If anything, he’s wondering if you hate him.”

As the door opens and Taehyun steps off, you get a text from Hueningkai.

im sorry.

forget i said anything.

“Shit.” You mutter, Taehyun eyeing you the entire time until the doors close. It’s one swift ride down to the bottom floor, and again, you run, but this time faster than you did the day before, spamming the buttons on the elevator and going to his floor. You stop in front of his door, knocking on it and ringing the doorbell. “Hueningkai? It’s me.” You say. No answer.

“Hyuka? Please, can we talk?” You plead, not hearing anything from the inside. You spam his messages instead, calling him 10 times before giving up. You then remembered accidentally peeking at him entering his dorm code, but you forced yourself to forget it for the sake of his privacy. Given he wasn’t answering, you forced yourself to remember.

He jokingly scolded you that day before shutting the door, but what did he type before that?

Your faded memory punches in the series of numbers you picked out, the door suddenly unlocking. You look around, seeing an empty hallway before shutting the door and locking it, taking your shoes off and running to his room. “Hyuka?” You call, hearing muffled sniffles from a distance. That had to be him.

You didn’t bother knocking. You opened to door, seeing Hueningkai’s face all messed with tears, puffy red eyes, and his arms clinging tightly to one of his stuffed animals. His eyes widened before he hid his face with a tissue. You walk over to him, helping him wipe his face with the tissues. You quickly get up and rush to his kitchen, refilling the glass of water on the floor beside his bed.

He’s calmed down by the time you get back, accepting the glass and drinking half of it. “How did you get in?” He asks, voice hoarse. “You typed in the code once and I accidentally saw. I took a shot in the dark.” You hold his face in your hands, warming them, wiping away a fallen tear with a stroke of your thumb. He clearly didn’t remember. “I’m sorry–“

“No, don’t be. I’m sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

You sigh, heart pounding in your ears. “I was a coward for running away. It was stupid.” He chuckles. “I don’t even know why I’m crying, I just started thinking of you, and everything I’ve lost, and…” He cuts himself off, knowing he’d start crying again if he said anything else. “I’m right here. You haven’t lost anything.”

You move his hair out of his face, and all you can do is look at him. His post crying face, rosy and glistening, a content smile on his face. “I like you too, Hyuka. Your duality, your laugh, your carefulness, your personality…” You begin to look at the smaller details on his face. “Your eyes, your lashes, your jawline…”

“Your lips.”

The crank holding the two of you finally snaps, and you’re fully drawn to him.

You kiss him, and everything feels just right, sensing his surprise through the noise he made at the sudden action. It’s a first for both of you, so you could be as awkward as you needed to while learning how to kiss each other. But you were fast learners, and you got the hang of it quickly.

He pulls you closer by the waist, holding you close to him as you straddle his hips, kissing you fervently. So fervently that you swear you hear him moan in between a few kisses, and you try not to enjoy it as much as you do. Pulling away for a second to admire him, the way his chest heaves as he’s out of breath, his eyes doing the pleading for him.

You lean in closer. “Do you like being like this?” You ask, forehead against his, lips grazing over his own. “Mhm.” Your hand holds his face again, warm and tempting. “Is this what you’ve wanted?” He nods again. “For how long?”

“Too long.”

His lips are back on yours, dominant and hungry. He was the only one that could restrain you like this, and for once, you didn’t mind not being in control. His kisses move down to your neck, feeling him smirk after eliciting a groan from you.

“You can’t…” You start, feeling him stop and pull away. “People will see. We can’t risk it.”

Being in the industry meant that lying out of hickeys was nonexistent. Dating scandals would come abuzz and the only thing people would ask you for the next few weeks was who gave you that purple mark on your neck.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

The door suddenly opens, and you’re met with a shaken Beomgyu, eyes wide and jaw dropped. You immediately get off of Hueningkai, putting your hood back on and sitting on the side of the bed, gesturing zipped lips to the poor boy. “Soobin! They’re– they’re… Y/N’s here!” Beomgyu rephrases, a better choice of words than what you assumed he’d say.

“I’m sorry. That was a dick move of me.”

“It was. All I wanted was closure, and I got it, so it’s okay.”

His hand rests on top of yours. “Can I be your boyfriend, Y/N?” You blush, face hot as if you weren’t just making out with him a few minutes ago. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that. But what about our label?”

“You’re closer with Bang than I am. Could you talk to him?” You nod, kissing him one last time before leaving, avoiding eye contact with Soobin and Beomgyu on the way out. You bump into Taehyun on the way to the door. He looks at you with a smile, following with an affirmative nod and letting you go.

Taehyun budges through the border of Soobin and Beomgyu at his own bedroom door, Yeonjun peeking over and seeing Hueningkai all red and smiley. “What happened?” The oldest asks, eyes still on the youngest.

“Y/N happened.” Soobin answers, Yeonjun’s gaze locked on the maknae. Maybe it was his older brother genes that he noticed something different than the Hueningkai he saw this morning, but judging from the fact you walked out with your hood on, Hyuka’s shirt being slightly crumpled, his blanket gathered at the footboard, some of his plushies fallen out of place, and slight tinges of pink on and surrounding his mouth, he deduced you two had a little bit of fun.

“Took him long enough.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

2023

Your relationship was smooth sailing as it ever could be with your schedules. A member of your team had to arrange a meeting with Bang discussing the relationship between you and Hueningkai. Keeping it a secret would have been the better option, but knowing Hyuka, he’d still show you off to everyone even if being scolded to keep quiet about it for hours on end.

Bang said he ‘had a hunch’ from the first interview, not showing any objection, but naming the risks and controversies that would come with the publicity of your romance. You two were too lovestruck to care about public opinions, but you still were wary of your interactions with each other, Hueningkai especially, knowing that getting into a scandal only involving himself would bring the group down with him.

You two were content with the way things were, but Hyuka tended to have the mindset of, ‘if it happens, it happens’ despite being so cautious, and you’re sure the staff members at Music Bank saw the two of you being intimate in the halls because your boyfriend just had to kiss your forehead at that time, no sooner or later.

Rumors started to arise, given how close the two of you had become. You were always close, but this time you were much closer. There were a lot of behind the scenes cameras at music shows, sometimes catching the two of you in the background together. Once you were even caught with Hyuka taking a nap on your thighs, and that only further proved the existence of the two of you dating.

The one time you decide not to wear a mask and just your hat, paparazzi caught the two of you holding hands on the way back, those gossip articles really planting all previous evidence as if their life was on the line.

Both of you never confirmed anything to the public. You simply just moved on with your lives as if nothing ever happened. It was brought up in a few interviews, but you managed to avoid answering questions on terms of your relationship, using the excuse of privacy.

It was surprising to everyone when they saw a video uploaded on TXT’s channel titled something along the lines of: ‘Hueningkai’s first date’, you couldn’t remember it off the top of your head. But you did vividly remember officially stating that the two of you were going out, and have been going out for a while.

The feedback was, as far as you knew, positive. Being dubbed as ‘the duo we’ve been waiting for’ or ‘netizens’ favourite couple’, you mostly appreciated the fact that you didn’t receive any threats, and only a loss of some fans. Maybe people just couldn’t handle the fact that you two looked so damn good together.

“What are you watching?” Hueningkai asks from the kitchen, seeing you staring at your phone intensely. “Your interview. You’re throwing away your plushies? But I got you one.”

“I’m keeping yours, of course. I’m getting rid of my hoarding habits, so I don’t really want anymore as gifts. Yours will always have a special place in my heart, and I’m never gonna get rid of it.”

“Can I at least keep one?” He considers it for a moment, then nods. “Sure. Which?” You don’t even have to think about it. “Honey.”

“Really?”

“You let me hold him when you invited me here so I could cry and rant after that shitty interview. So that one will also have a special place in my heart. It was also the first one you offered to me. Maybe when I’m alone and I have it in my arms I’ll think of you.”

“You can have him, since he means that much to you.” The sink turns off, shaking the water off his hands and drying them, going to his room and retrieving his, well, now your stuffed animal. The moment you hold it, your thoughts are flooded with nothing but of Hueningkai, despite the fact he took a seat right next to you, placing an arm around your shoulders.

“Jesus, you look fuckin’ sexy in these photos.” You say, zooming in and saving them to your camera roll shamelessly. “Speak for yourself. Front cover on Vogue? You looked so beautiful in those photos. I’m so incredibly lucky.”

You put your phone down, turning to hear his answer. “How so?”

“That you’re my girlfriend. That I get to be your boyfriend. That I get to see your beautiful face every single day, and that I know little things about you that others don’t.”

You chuckle. “I want to kiss you so bad, but the others are gonna come back soon and God knows we won’t be able to stop.” His hand gracefully holds your jaw, his finger tracing along your jawline to let himself move his face closer to yours. He speaks in a whisper.

“Then don’t.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

if you’re really, really tired, i want to hug you and pat you to sleep. i just miss you, even right now. 🎧

#hueningkai #huening kai #hueningkai x reader #hueningkai x y/n #txt #txt huening kai #hueningkai txt #tomorrow x together #tomorrow by together #huening kai x reader #huening kai x you #txt x reader #fluff #txt fluff #fanfiction #idek im downbad

[sunflower1experiment]

Handkerchief

Shigaraki held the handkerchief in silence, his lips were healing slowly because of the balm given to him while his eyes had a wet warm towel which was the handkerchief given to him. It was strange to have someone care for his wounds but here they are, even after everything: His cruel behavior, his crimes…

“You know I could…”

“Kill me? Harm me? Bring me to ash?”

[Name] Held the male to his chest, “I don’t care…until you’re doing better you’re my patient.”

Those words always hurt. Every moment spent together they were told to stay hidden and right when things took a turn and he was burnt to a crisp. [Name] ran forward to his aid, catching his body to let the waterfall of tears fly while the other villains took them to safety. “That’s…they’re not a villain.”

Deku stares in awe, “How can someone still protect him!? Or even be a bystander in all of this!”

“Because they care for Shigaraki.” Shoto points, Deku and Enji spot them rubbing a balm on Shigaraki and brushing his hair to the side.

Shoto continues to explain. “If anything happens to her his reaction will further explain their relationship.”

As they fought, with vigorous efforts and resilience their eyes widen as they see [Name] holding his hand but he shoved them aside. Their eyes widen, and Deku ran over. Catching them in a quick manner, but as he led them to safety his mind goes to the world of other heroes.

“They’re actually a known source of treatment towards him. They have a quirk yes but…they never knew about Shigaraki until he became a Nomu.” Deku’s eyes soften as he looks to their unconscious teary eyed form.

“Please, if you can…” they sob softly, “Save Shigara..I should’ve kept an eye on him as his friend but I failed and they did this to him.”

More tears start pouring down. “If he dies all my hardwork to heal him will be for nothing.”

“But, [Name] He’s a villain. Why would you waste most of your time and life for a villain!?” They don’t respond, “Because he’s my hero and I’m his civilian…he doesn’t want to be healed yet lets me. Knowing he can use any other means.” Their eyes look down, knowing that even though they’ll go to prison. The least they could do is have the chance to heal their loved one.

The male was gripping the Handkerchief tightly after watching [Name] go into custody, his eyes were sullen from losing them: yet the handkerchief was enough to calm the pain from being chapped….

“I’ll keep it safe [Name].”

#shigaraki tomura #my hero academia #bnha shigaraki #shigaraki x y/n #x black reader #shigaraki x black reader #reader is black

[millenialfanfictionaddiction]

👑Being Seijoh’s Manager 👑

Having a crush on Yahaba Shigeru

Yahaba Shigeru fearing Seijoh x GN! Reader

Warnings: mostly fluff, possessive Yahaba, light Iwaizumi type swearing, Oikawas presence

A/N: I had a thought. This is that thought.

Oof YN 😅

This boy is a little bit of a self absorbed one

But you know what, that’s ok because we all are

He’s an ESFP (like mwah) and I can confirm that, deep down, we are very caring and passionate about the people we admire

Such is the case with Yahaba

Literally the definition of “I don’t care but I really do care you just don’t see it”

*enter YN* 🙌🏻 our magnificent, wonderful and amazing manager 🥰

The team honestly adore you and I do not blame them on bit

You are extremely competent and hardworking, you make practice fun and make all the boys work their hardest

You’re in your second year along with Watari, Yahaba and Kyotani

But of course, you have to deal with your wonderful 🙄 upperclassmen

*cough* OIKAWA *cough*

Now you respect your upperclassman

Let me rephrase that, you respect Iwaizumi, Hanamaki and Matsukawa and sure you’ve noticed how cute they are

But your type was definitely someone else on the team 👀

You see, you’ve had a crush on Yahaba for a while now, since first year really

You always thought he was cute and fun to be around, his drive for school and his favorite support really encouraged you to try your hardest

But you see, Yahaba seemed to never really pay much attention to you

Sure he was nice and sweet but he kind of just, well co-existed with you

It honestly broke your heart a little 🥺

You’d see how he’d act around other managers, saying how cute they were but he never gave you that same energy back

It was always “thanks Yn” or “hey Yn can you do this for me?”

But you see 👀 my precious Angel, that was merely a front to hide our dear Yahaba’s true feelings for you

At first, he was conflicted

You had always been a little shy but sweet, never really making waves or doing anything to rock the boat

His teammates fawned over you and boy did it annoy him 😅

But at the same time, he was in denial of his feelings for you

He just thought he liked you simply because you were cute, funny, kind, amazingly generous, sweet, etc.

It definitely wasn’t because he liked you in any other way, definitely not-

Sure hunny, keep telling yourself that 😏

He watched you intensely as you interacted with his team, avoiding your gaze when your attention turned to him

However there was a certain someone who noticed all of this

One of our favorites, Kyotani 🥰

While he doesn’t particularly like Yahaba, he does have a soft spot for our sweet manager

He sees how you look at Yahaba, how your mood changes when he talks to you and how you deflate when he ignores you

It honestly annoys him how desperate you seem sometimes, so he decides to take action

One day at practice, he walks up to you and says “YN why don’t you tell that idiot how you feel?”

You 👉🏻👁️👄👁️ huh?

“Come on YN, we can all see how much you like him, just to confess,” he says, rolling his eyes

You 👉🏻👀 no idea what you’re talking about-

“Do you want me to tell Oikawa?” He prodded

You 👉🏻😐😳

“Kentaro, please don’t! I know I should confess but he doesn’t like me in that way and I don’t want to get rejected. It will crush me,” you say in return

Kyotani doesn’t probe you any further but he still isn’t satisfied with that answer

So he decides to move onto the main source of the problem

“Yahaba!” He shouts as he walks into the club room

The room goes silent because these idiots are all so nosy

Iwaizumi is on guard because like, it’s Kyotani

He’s on his way to break up the impending fight when Kyotani says something…

“Do you like Yn or not?” He bluntly says as Iwaizumi stops

Mattsun and Makki have their shirts half way over their heads

Watari is just stops and listens 👂

Kunimi and Kindaichi are slowly putting on their knee pads

Yahaba just stands there, eyes narrowing on Kyotani

“Pppffttt, of course I don’t like Yn. At least, not in a romantic way,” he says, turning his nose up at kyotani and adjusting his shirt

Sure bby, keep lying to yourself 🙃

Kyotani 👉🏻😐😑

“Ok then you won’t care if I ask Yn out then?” He says as he turns to walk to his locker

Yahaba 👉🏻😃 whet-

Suddenly the air has become a little more tense

But then it’s ruined when Oikawa enters the chat…

“Hello to my favorite team!” He rejoices as everyone turns to glare at him

“SHITTYKAWA SHUT UP!” Iwaizumi yells as a volleyball is belted in the setters directions

Oikawa 👉🏻😁 🏐💨 = 💀

“Iwa-Chan I just wanted to greet my team!!” He cries as everyone continues to ignore him

“What do you mean you are going to ask Yn out?” Yahaba cuts off Oikawa’s whines

Oikawa now 👉🏻 🤕 😐😳 say what-

“I mean, if you don’t like Yn, then I’m going to ask them out because why shouldn’t I? It’s not like it’s going to interfere with the team,” Kyotani shrugs as Yahaba continues to stare daggers in the back of his skull

Oof Yahaba is big M A D now

“You don’t even like Yn like that, why would you ask them on a date?” He says, coming up next to Kyotani

The rest of the team is all like 👉🏻👀 🍿🍵

“What’s it matter to you always? You don’t like Yn like that remember?” kyotani says, slamming his locker and walking to the gym

Yahaba is seething with anger as he balls his fist and continues to get ready

I’m standing by this fact, all the Seijoh boys are hella possessive

Like literally you do not encroach on what’s theirs

And while Yahaba might THINK he doesn’t like you in that way, he’s starting to feel like maybe he does

At practice, he watches your every move

He tenses every time he see Kyotani looking at you or even coming close to your space

He gets bothered when the other guys do it too but Kyo is the one that really sets him over the edge

During a practice match, Yahaba is up to serve and is slamming them straight into the other teams court

“Dang man, that’s your third service ace,” Mattsun says as he watches Yahaba look between you and the court

His eyes fixate on Kyotani who is on the other side as he slams yet another serve

You watch in awe, clapping and cheering when Yahaba lands yet another serve ace

“Shigeru you are killing it!” You scream as Yahaba looks over at your beaming face

That’s it, he definitely has to do something

So when the match ends and he’s picking up, he notices Kyotani approaching you again

Oh heck no 😡

“Hey!” Yahaba shouts as you immediately turn to face him, “I told you to back off YN!”

You 👉🏻 🧍😳😲 what???

Kyotani 👉🏻😒

Yahaba 👉🏻😠😳

Seijoh 👉🏻🫣

Oikawa 👉🏻 probably laying on the floor with a concussion

“YN don’t listen to him! He’s just trying to ask you out because he knows I like you,” Yahaba says as you continue to stare

“Actually I was just asking Yn for a towel,” Kyotani 🙃

“You like me Shigeru?” You ask 🥹

“Uhh yeah I guess I do,” he says rubbing the back of his neck

You get so excited that you fling yourself into his arms, hugging him so tight

“I like to you too,” you say as Yahaba settles and hugs you back

The team is all smiling and fawning over their sweet bbys

Until someone ruins it 🙄

“Now make sure you treat our little Yn-chan well Yahaba,” Oikawa interrupts

Yahaba just glares at Oikawa as you roll your eyes

Iwaizumi is all like, “just say the word” 🏐 💨

“Oikawa I’m sure Shigeru will treat me just fine,” you say as Yahaba squeezes your waist

“You should probably call me by my first name too Yn, we don’t want to show any favoritism now so we?” oikawa grins

You 👉🏻 😐 Iwa

Iwaizumi 👉🏻 say less 😈

#haikyuu!! #haikyu! #haikyū!! #haikyu #haikyu yahaba #hq yahaba #yahaba shigeru #yahaba x GN! reader #yahaba x you #gn!reader #haikyuu yahaba #yahaba x reader #yahaba shigeru x GN! reader #kyotani kentaro #oikawa toru #iwaizumi hajime #hanamaki takahiro #matsukawa issei #kunimi akira #kindaichi yūtarō #seijoh #aoba johsai #hq Seijoh #hq aoba johsai #hq teams #yahaba headcanons #hq headcanons #haikyu! yahaba #watari shinji #hq fluff

[ficmesideways]

Request for Anonymous

Gif Source: The damn lip bite

Imagine losing your virginity to Dean.

------- Imagine -------

Dean had been so worried about pressuring you given his experience that it actually ended up being you the one trying to convince him that you were more than ready to take the next step physically. You had hinted at it over drinks, during hunts, and brought it up during some really intense foreplay sessions; but Dean had been adamant. If you truly wanted to be with him like that, then you would say so sober, without booze, lust, or anything else fogging your brain. So next time Sam went on a supply run, you did just that. You found Dean in the kitchen and told him in no uncertain terms that you wanted him to “fuck your brains out. “He had almost spit out the whisey he had been dinking at our bluntness, coughing and sputtering before finally coming to himself before asking in a husky whisper. “Yeah?”

“Definitely, yeah.” You said smiling wide and then laughing as Dean grabbed your hand and all but ran to your bedroom with you on tow.

(I was going to stop here but kept going cause...ya know…smut! stop here for the pg13 version)

++

He had taken his sweet fucking time preparing you. You had come on his mouth and fingers multiple times; and you felt wet and needy to the pont to when he went to press his mouth to your core again you gripped at the short hairs on the back of his head as much as you could and pulled. He grunted annoyed but then moaned at the slight sting before crawling slowly up your body at your hand’s insistence. He still stopped to kiss, and suck, and tease certain parts of you despite the grip on his hair growing tighter and your body all but shivering with need. “Ready baby?” He smirked when he finally reached your lips, placing a gentle kiss there as he waited for your answer.

“Yes, yes, please Dean, please.” You didn’t care that you were begging at this point, too turned on to worry how you sounded to his experienced ears. Dean kissed you again and shifted his weight onto his elbows and forearms as he shifted to press his hard cock against your folds. He groaned then, sliding his cock against you for friction and pressing down when he almost reached your pubic bone to put pressure on your clit. Every glide and press caused little high-pitched huffs of air to come out of you at the sensation as he wet his cock on your slick. On one of the times he pulled back he shifted his weight onto one arm and gripped his cock, guiding it to your opening. When the head pressed against you, yu moaned and tried to shift to pull him deeper.

“Slow baby.” He said letting go of his cock to grip your hip to still your movement before he pressed in further. He groaned above you and you moved your hands to grab his lower back, feeling the tension in his muscles from holding back.

“Dean I’m ready, please, please fuck me. Make me yours.” You whimpered pulling at his back and rolling your hips beneath him.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” he yelled thrusting to the hilt, unable to fight against your movements or words anymore.

You exhaled the breath you had been holding in your fight to have him in you; then you shifted. You were so full; it felt odd, and arousing, and different. There was some soreness from the stretch of taking something so big, but he had prepared you well so there was little to no actual stinging pain that you had been told would occur. You shifted again and moaned as his cock pressed tightly against the spot inside you that always has you screaming Dean’s name. “(Y/N), so fucking tight, God.” Dean said, his body quivering above you. You it your lip watching him. His face was flushed, his mouth held open in an ‘O’ while his eyes wre squeezed shut as if in agony. Looking down, you moaned at the sight of his naked body fully pressing against yours. “Tell me…” He said his words interrupting your eyes idle wondering as he took a deep breath ad his own eyes finally opened to meet yours. “Please tell me I can move (Y/N).”

“Yes Dean, yes pllllleeees…” Your words ended on a loud sob as Dean finally withdrew only to quickly thrust back in; never moving too far out or away from you the rest of the night.

#my imagines #gifs not mine #female reader #supernatural imagine #dean winchester imagine #tw: virginity #spicy content

[boundinparchment]

Dream a Little Dream of Me - XXXII

Celestia has a cruel sense of humor. He’s always known this, ever since his days as a student. But a soulmate? Really? Dottore/Female Reader Soulmate AU. Lore speculation, interpretations, etc. Chapter is on AO3 here.

You would never get used to that, you thought.  Perhaps it was easier in time for some but you hoped you would never have to do it again once you left Sumeru.

The structure was much the same as it had been a few days prior.  Sweeping buttresses like the connective tissue that housed seeds inside a pepper, supporting and creating the core at the center of the room.  Everything glowed with an ethereal green that felt just a little unnatural despite its clear link to the greenery of the entire nation.  

Last time you were here, a child slept in a nest on the dais in the middle of the room.  But that space was empty now.

You definitely saw the white radish run through here, though.  Or maybe you were still sleeping and your mind was simply recalling that popular story with a looking glass and a white rabbit and a talking caterpillar.

“You’re not dreaming,” a familiar voice said, soft and full of wonder.  “But that’s a good story.  I like that one.”

Turning in place, you failed to spot the source until you caught a face peeking out from behind one of the pillars.  The child from your dreams, dressed in white and green with a golden hairpiece in the shape of a cluster of leaves, watched you as the moon watched the tide as it licked  the shore.

“I was wondering what took you so long.  You’re not one for hide and seek, are you?  Forgive me for not visiting you again; your dream was not the only one that had been tampered with.  My people, too, have just awoken from a long dream.”

What was it the Segment, the Not-Zandik,  had called her?  Lesser Lord Kusanali?  Then wouldn’t that have made her…

“You’re the Dendro Archon,” you said.

“I’m not quite deserving of the title,” the child replied.  “An Archon would not have let things get this far this quickly.  I am just the Moon, reflecting the sun’s light upon the world.”

The child spoke cryptically in the dream, too, but this felt different; as if she were being obtuse for the sake of it.  A part of you could understand now, between the damaged bond that still tied you to a stranger, and the lack of clarity in her words, why the Doctor thought so lowly of Archons, of Celestia and the Heavenly Principles.  

Not that Fontaine was any better; Focalors’ court was nothing but a farce and if one ever asked a pointed question, it was returned with a smile and a denial.

“The Outcast is…far more than he appears to be.  I will not bring myself to speak for him.  But he has taken advantage of a situation that I can no longer permit to continue.”

“His name is Zandik.”

The words rolled off of your tongue as easily as water.  It was disrespectful to not refer to someone by their name, by a title they did not appreciate nor want.  Your chest tightened as the child stepped out of her hiding spot and towards the nest in the center, gesturing you to step forward.  A frown tugged at your lips but you heeded and stepped further into the Sanctuary and down to the core of the room.

“Your presence, and the dream in which you were placed, were nothing but a side project; an interesting one, but not the main goal.  Dreams are powerful, Composer, full of Jnana energy; knowledge that each person houses, unique to them.  But dreams cannot replace that which is organic, tactile, and grounded.  You have tasted that truth, haven’t you?”

“Unwillingly.”

“But you know it.  You lived an entirely separate existence that was not rooted in reality, given a taste of a different world.  Years in the matter of days.  To return to yourself now is to blur the lines between what you have experienced and what can yet happen and your mind does not know what to make of it.  The Archon put her hand to her chin pensively.  It looked like she was imitating a scholar more than anything, despite being the very Archon of Wisdom.  “He did not plan for you, so it stands to reason that he never expected you to begin with…”

“He didn’t start the dream,” you spat, irritated by the lack of true sleep and the lack of answers.  “Zandik was there when I woke up but it wasn’t him in that dream.”

Your voice cracked, pained at the recollection of things you wanted to forget, things you could not bring yourself to speak of.  This made no sense.  He wasn’t in the dream but he was .  How else could someone wear his face, so closely mirror his expressions and gestures and intonations?  How else did one have a segment of themselves if it did not contain some true parts of their character?

“You would defend him when he has shown himself to be a threat, even to you.” Her tone was factual, tinged with confusion.

Your brain knew that it wasn’t Zandik who caged you, kept you from your passions, did not violate you to own you.  Your heart was a different story, of course.  It could not fathom that a fated bond would be so monstrous.  

When you didn’t reply, the sprout said, “Would you not consider a branch of a tree to still be the tree?”

In order for the branch to exist in such a state, the tree would have passed through the same phase, the same ideas.  Many of the compositions you played over the years took an abstract approach to this, putting into notes what was otherwise esoteric.  You were rationalizing it, you well knew, but nothing in the world was black and white.

“Branches can also be made into entirely separate trees,” you countered.  “You can graft them onto other species, you can tend to them and plant them and start a new cycle.  It just takes patience.”

The Archon nodded, a tiny smile crossing her lips.  Had that been a test?

“Dogs, years after wandering away from home, return to their masters; boomerangs follow their trajectory and find the hand that threw them.  Time will pass, whether or not we wish for it to.  Humans are marvelous in their resilience.  I can see why you bear Morax’s element.”

The Vision still clutched in your hand felt warm, eager to release its energy now.  You had yet to truly master that.  

“There are plans still in motion, ones that I must tend to, like weeds in a garden.  I believe you know that there are few paths before you now.  You do not seem the type to avoid closure.”

You did not need further dismissal; the Archon’s tone and outstretched was enough to remind you that everything was, now, in your court.  It always had been.  After all, soulmates determined their role for one another, no one else.  

Fresh air was welcome when you crossed the threshold back onto the terrace, the morning still crisp with dew and the sun positioned as if it never moved at all.  How strange.  You cast a look back at the doors behind you, curious for a moment about the passage of time across such spaces.  Other than the chatter of birds, the terrace was still and peaceful.

“Many would argue differently but patience is something I have an abundance of.”

#yes that's two updates in two days leave me be #trying to move the plot along #dottore #il dottore #il dottore x reader #dottore x reader #dottore x female reader #il dottore x female reader #genshin impact reader insert #soulmate au