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greyskywrites · 1 year

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Brother of the Moon III.

Falcon Feathers

5.9k | kofi | ao3 | tag

Eadwin

He is a fool, of course. A weak, arrogant fool who stops thinking with his head the moment Margaret smiles at him. She comes down to breakfast the next morning like she’s walking on air, and Sir Laure and Sir Eva greet her ordinarily enough, but both give Eadwin a raised brow over their cups. They know, at the very least. Eadwin can guess from their shared room and begging off evening mass why they might choose to offer him discretion.

It rains, and though the carriage shelters them well enough, Eadwin worries over Margaret’s health in the cool spring air. They are close enough now to Eagletop to take residence in the houses of Lord Wulfric’s friends and kin, today it is his cousin Lady Hild at Barley Hall. The knights take Margaret up to have a hot bath drawn for her, and they sup on beef and fresh bread, spring greens and mushrooms. Lady Hild makes a point of mentioning to Eadwin that the mushrooms were obtained from the order, as he should note by their quality.

He’s almost asleep when Margaret climbs into his bed, not half so frightened as she was the previous night. He can smell the orange peel in Lady Hild’s soap tingeing Margaret’s sandalwood perfume. She straddles his hips to kiss him. “I can’t stop thinking about you,” she breathes, with enough heat that he might almost credit it as truth. “Eadwin, please, I need you.”

And he can’t deny his lady anything.

In the dark, her hands sliding down his sides, she says she’s never had the choice of how she gives herself up before. She’s always belonged to her father and her brothers, and when she arrives at Eagletop she will belong to her husband. “While I have the choice,” she breathes in his ear, “there is nothing I want him to be able to take that I haven’t already given to you.”

She expects Wulfric to take a lot from her, it would seem. She would stay in his bed until dawn if there weren’t the fear of being caught. Not since he was first attending to others during moon mass has he lost this much sleep.

The knights know. Swithin, blessedly, doesn’t seem to.

They spend a day at Barley Hall on Lady Hild’s insistence, and Margaret borrows a bow to show her proficiency—and she is an impressive shot. Meaning it a joke, Lady Hild offers to have her servants toss apples in the air for Margaret to shoot.

Margaret asks for ten. She puts arrows through nine.

Her pride makes her carry herself a little differently, and Eadwin supposes he can see something of what her brothers must be like in the posture she adopts, the way her shoulders pull back and her chin lifts, and she gives an easy smile that makes the posture amiable rather than arrogant. Lady Hild says it’s a pity that Margaret wasn’t born a man, or else Hild might be the one trying to marry her. Something about the sentiment renders Margaret self-conscious, and that swaggering pride disappears. Eadwin grieves its loss.

She should be a man, he thinks. She would be happier.

After midday supper he finds her in the chapel on the other side of the garden, sitting in front of the altar and gazing up at the Queen of Heaven. She looks almost as miserable as she was standing in her father’s hall when he came to ask if Wulfric could have her for a bride. Eadwin sits on the bench opposite, needing the distance of the aisle for some kind of reassurance that he can keep his good sense here.

Margaret doesn’t look at him, but she speaks. “I keep asking myself if this is actually supposed to be the way of things,” she says. “If the Heavenly Mother ever intended for her daughters to be kept like this by their fathers and husbands. If a little bit of blood should really be so fraught.”

Like her cousin, Lady Hild gives her preference to the Order of the Moon, though the representation on her altar is of a slender Queen, long silvery robes falling like water to the stand. Her face is serene, Her eyes hooded and nearly shut. Mother of a Thousand Faces, one poet called her.

“I know my stories as well as anyone else,” Margaret says. “How before the world was made, the Queen and the Lord of Heaven were too preoccupied with each other to create anything else. How the world is only possible because the Lord of Heaven was slain by the Killing Angel, and the Queen transformed his body. None of our stories ever speak of Our Heavenly Mother’s maidenhead.” She says it with contempt.

There is no question in that, so Eadwin thinks it’s better if he remains silent.

“It always used to haunt me,” Margaret murmurs, “the story of the Queen eating Her husband’s eyes to give birth to the sun and the moon. It was the thought of the act I couldn’t stomach. But now what I wonder—the sun and the moon are Her children. Is there anyone who would say they were His?” She looks at Eadwin. “Does it matter to Her whether I’m a maiden or not?”

“The Queen of Heaven is not going to be your husband,” Eadwin says in a low voice. “It will matter enormously to Wulfric.”

“Should I put him before the Mother of Everything?”

“He is the one that would hurt you,” Eadwin replies. Because he does know that—if Wulfric discovers this, neither of them will escape unscathed.

“From the sounds of it, he will hurt me anyway.” Margaret looks back to the altar. “Why are you sitting all the way over there, like I’m some dangerous animal?”

“Because this is a chapel,” Eadwin says, “and it is the middle of the day.” And he can’t refuse her anything.

“I keep wishing for impossible things,” Margaret says. Before he can ask what she means, she says, “Sirs Eva and Laure know.”

“I know.”

“They asked me if I was a maiden before,” she says, “and whose notion it was. I don’t think they were expecting the answer I gave them.”

He doesn’t imagine so. In their position, he would also assume one of two possibilities. He catches himself, sometimes, thinking the scent of her perfume is on his clothes. He isn’t sure if he’s imagining it.

Margaret draws in a breath and sighs through her nose. “How long, do you think, before everything will be ready for a wedding?”

“It will depend on how extravagant Lord Wulfric wants it to be, I suppose,” Eadwin says. “There will be a feast to consider, and guests.” Margaret gives a soft laugh at that. “The church will have to be made ready, and that may take additional time. The spring mushrooms will be coming up, much attention will be turned toward that. His lordship will need to ensure that he has gifts for you, and suitable clothes for his household. It is likely he began preparations as soon as he received my first letter, so—perhaps a month, or a little longer.” That would let it fall squarely between moon masses, so that neither preparations or the work of cleaning up afterward would interfere.

“Will it be trouble if there’s no dowry?”

“Wulfric does not like to feel as though something has been taken from him. After a wedding, a dowry can be fought for in court.” Lose Margaret, and he loses whatever small gain he might have from her father. It won’t be the value that matters, of course—it will only matter that Wulfric won what was owed him.

“How should I greet him? Should I be calm and reserved, or effusive in gratitude, or…” She trails off, watching his face. “It does bother you, doesn’t it?”

It does, but he cannot say that. He has made enough of a mess for the both of them already.

“Smile for him,” he says. “Let him kiss your hand and be flattered when he remarks upon your beauty. Say that I did not prepare you for how beautiful Eagletop is, how grand the house. If he asks what you would like to see first, say the church. If he offers you rest, take it. When he introduces you to his children, remark upon how handsome they are. Do not compare the son to the father, however well you might intend it. And if you can help it—don’t look at me at all. He should think I’m beneath your notice.”

Margaret looks down at her hands, at her prayer beads trailing over her fingers. “I ought to have been a nun,” she murmurs.

“You could take the veil, if you wished,” Eadwin says. “I could not stop you.” Would not.

“No,” she says. “Then I would lose you entirely.” She tucks her beads into a pouch on her belt and stands, making a sign of prayer before the altar. She comes round to Eadwin, and bends to kiss his cheek.

“I keep having the strangest dreams,” she murmurs as she straightens. “In them, I keep finding myself in your clothes.”

At dinner Eadwin gets the sense that Lady Hild is trying to determine what sort of creature Margaret is. She asks about the family, of course, about Grenacre’s size and wealth. Margaret handles these questions deftly enough, seemingly at ease in the knowledge that this marriage looks like ambition. There are worse things to be than ambitious.

“And how did you come to be such a fine archer?” Lady Hild asks, as though she’s looking to pin down something, perhaps a reason for disapproval.

“My brothers liked to have a plaything to teach,” Margaret says. “It was a novelty for them, a girl who hunts.” She gives a thin smile, concealing some old bitterness. “My nurse complained that they were making me half feral. They weren’t quite so indulgent as she imagined—when we playacted they always made me be the princess who was rescued, and never let me be a knight or a thief.”

“Did you come round to playing princess?”

Margaret makes a noncommittal gesture. “I suppose one must.” Hild gives her a strange look.

When all is dark and quiet and Margaret comes to his room she is moody and quiet. She stands at the window and stares out at the waning silvery moon sinking to the western horizon. She looks half a ghost, caught between worlds with her face in shadow and the candlelight on her hair. Half a fiery angel.

“I think sometimes I’m a failure as a woman,” she says. “At least as a lady.”

“I think I’m the wrong person to reassure you.” He’s preparing a message to send ahead to Father Algar, to say he would like to speak privately as soon as possible after he arrives.

Margaret comes to the desk, running her fingers over his hair. He loses the thread of his thought and has to read back to guess what he was saying. “How did you come to be a monk?” she asks.

“That,” Eadwin says, “is a very dull story.”

“Tell me anyway,” she says. “You know more of my life than I know of yours.”

He looks up at her, her anxious eyes searching his face. He lets out a breath and lays down his pen. “My lady,” he says, “I was as good as born in the mud of the Penbreak to a butcher father and a brewster mother. My hands are as at home in the guts of an animal as on a desk. My father liked to fight, so long as he knew the other person couldn’t win.”

Margaret says nothing, but lets her hands come to rest on his shoulder.

“I was their only son,” he says. “I had two younger sisters. One’s since passed.”

“Only son?” she asks, surprised. “And you left?”

“There was nothing left there that I wanted,” Eadwin says. He won’t tell her about Charlie Rees. “I got free of my father and I did what I could to keep myself fed and clothed. The thing I was best at was fighting.”

She gives him the quick once-over he’s become accustomed to when he mentions that part of his past, taking in his lean frame with a skeptical eye.

“I won’t tell you I was ever built better than this,” he says, “but I was fast, and young, and I was angry.”

Margaret nods.

“You get tired of having your eyes blackened for you and waking up the next day feeling worse than when the fight was over,” Eadwin goes on. “I wanted something easier, and I thought I could get by at least for a while claiming I wanted to join the order. Then I went through my first moon mass.”

He falls silent long enough for Margaret to lean forward a little. “Did you see Her?” she asks, her hands tightening on his shoulder. “I’ve heard people do.”

Eadwin nods. “I did. And it…” It isn’t for nothing that they speaking of what you saw in the mass profanes it. Trying to describe an encounter with the Queen makes it small, traps it in words that will never be adequate to explain the experience. “It changed me,” he says. “In ways only the people who knew me before will ever be able to really appreciate.”

Margaret stands in thought for a moment. “Will I be able to go to a moon mass before the wedding?”

“I should think so.” If she’s having second thoughts, he wishes she would commit to them now.

Margaret bends to kiss his temple. “Will you come to bed?” As if they’re something more than illicit lovers. “In a moment.” He takes one of her hands to kiss her fingers. “If my lady can wait for me.”

Margaret lifts his face and kisses him in a way meant to be distracting. “If my devoted priest can bear to make me wait.”

He does not make her wait long.

She sits astride his hips, shifting until she finds what she likes best, her long hair trailing against his chest.

It had long been a popular subject among the clergy, though far less so among the people, to litigate the proper relations between a man and his wife. Eadwin had often found it to be a useful measure for how unbearable the writer would be in dinner conversation. He thinks of it because he had sat dinner with Father Eberhard while a particularly unpleasant brother named Friedrich Reginadora of Berk had been residing in their abbey for a time. Eberhard had made a special project of Eadwin, and said he deemed that Eadwin’s education had come far enough for him to sit with such a learned scholar as Brother Friedrich.

Friedrich was preoccupied with proper marital relations a great deal more than Eadwin thought was reasonable of a man who had forsworn women and doubtless had no trouble keeping that vow, as he was such profoundly unpleasant company. At a dismissive remark from Eadwin, who refused to speak preciously about something so ordinary as a tumble in the sheets, Friedrich had gone scarlet and started off on a tirade about how it was never proper for a woman to lay over a man, as the only time the Queen of Heaven was above Her husband was after the Lord was slain, and thus the act was in its nature necrophilic.

Eadwin still isn’t certain if Father Eberhard had intended for him to laugh in the man’s face and ask how he knew about their Queen’s bedchamber, was he there at the time? Eadwin didn’t know what other reaction a reasonable man could have. He did know that the abbot had not appreciated it when he went on, “Brother Friedrich, I assure you that never once when a woman was on top of me did I give her any reason to think I was dead.”

Margaret lays beside him afterward, tracing loops across his chest and belly. “Is there some punishment for breaking your vows to the order?”

“If you hear any remarks about how often I’ve been given floor scrubbing duties, you’ll know why,” Eadwin says.

Her brows rise. “How often have you been made to scrub floors?”

“Not nearly as often as my reputation would have it.” He traces a hand over the bend of her waist and the swell of her hip. “I couldn’t tell you just how I earned that reputation, though I think my proximity with his lordship might have something to do with it. His brother Aethelric is even worse.”

“You have that reputation and he sent you to find him a wife?”

“Why shouldn’t he?” Eadwin asks. “On most of the occasions my brothers have accused me, Lord Wulfric knew me to be busy teaching his children their prayers, or quietly blessing his bastards. Any dalliances with his servants were brief enough to be overlooked.”

“One wonders how pretty the nursemaid is,” Margaret says dryly.

Eadwin laughs softly. “I think you are overestimating the effect I have on women.”

“And what of the effect women have on you?”

Eadwin gazes at her, and traces a knuckle along her cheek. “I’ve never known anyone like you.”

On her face he can see that she thinks it’s flattery, and that she very much wants to believe it. He leans in to kiss her temple. “Promise me something.”

She looks at him, grey eyes uncertain. “What?”

“Promise me you won’t be reckless on my account.” He strokes her cheek. “Protect yourself, as much as I’ll protect you.”

There’s a shine of pain in her eyes, and she tucks her head under his chin, a tremble going through her. “You should have lied to my father,” she says. “Should have stolen me for yourself. I would have let you.”

“My lady should allow herself more pride.”

Margaret turns her face against his throat, her breath hot. “What is pride to having you between my legs?”

It’s a provocation and he knows it, but he kisses her anyway. “You’re going to be the death of me,” he murmurs.

“Best hope not,” Margaret says, “because I won’t make a world from your body. I’d sooner ride to Paradise and drag you back out like some legendary heathen queen.”

“I’ve often heard about the insatiability of heathen queens,” Eadwin says, kissing her neck. She laughs.

After she leaves this chamber it will take him two days to realize that the dagger he took from her is gone. When he asks, she won’t even pretend at innocence, and neither will she hand it over.

“It was a gift from my brother, and it is mine to keep, for whenever I may need it.”

He just hopes she won’t need it.

Margaret

Sir Laure offers to let Margaret ride in the saddle with her, because the day is bright and clear. Margaret would prefer to ride in her own saddle, but she’s tired of the carriage, and she’s warmed somewhat to the knights now that they keep her secret.

“Can I ask you something, my lady?” Laure asks as they ride just far enough ahead of the carriage to be out of earshot. Sir Eva is riding behind, keeping pace with Swithin. Laure has a deep voice for a woman, and Margaret finds it soothing.

“I won’t promise I’ll answer,” she says, guessing the direction of this query.

“Do you love him? Or is it a pleasant diversion?”

Pleasant is such an underwhelming word for what she has with Eadwin. “When I’m with him, I lose all sense,” Margaret murmurs. “I don’t know that he’s much better.” He didn’t seem to notice at all that she made him no promise.

Sir Laure lets that hang in the air for a moment. “Do you know why there are women in the Knights of the Sun?”

“Because without a Church Father there’s no one to stop you, and you won’t sire bastards on nuns?”

“Well, that too,” Laure says. “But there’s a story of a knight and the lady who loved him so much she disguised herself as one of his brothers for near ten years before she was discovered. By that time, she had become so well respected, so beloved by the men she had led through battle, that they would not stand for her being tossed out in disgrace or otherwise punished. She was instead given the means to train other women. Saint Fernanda, one of the matron saints of our order. Of course the stories also say she was wholly chaste, but I cannot fathom the woman who does what she is said to have done without bedding her lover.”

“Doesn’t seem terribly applicable to me,” Margaret murmurs.

“I mean only to say that there are women who have done it.”

“Do you think I would make an especially convincing man, Sir Laure?”

“Well, I won’t say I haven’t noticed your two most significant impediments,” she says with half a smile. “But you’d be surprised what people miss when your hair is cut.” Sir Laure is quiet for a little while, the birds singing overhead as they ride. “Would you be happier if you were a man?”

“What kind of question is that?” Margaret asks. “Of course I would.”

“What do you mean?” Laure presses.

“No one would own me,” Margaret says. “I could ride and hunt and live as I want and it would be all be ordinary.”

“One can wish to be free without wishing to be a man.”

“One can wish to be a bird, it won’t give you wings,” Margaret replies. “I can wish my mother never died and my father didn’t hate me and the man I love weren’t a monk it won’t make any of it so.”

Laure lets out a breath, one hand on her thigh as the other keeps hold of the reins. “Maybe so. But not everything one might wish for is impossible.” She extends her arm to point to the sky. “Someone’s out with a falcon.”

It takes Margaret a moment to spot it, the slim gray shadow against the blue sky. “My brother Felix once gave me arrows fletched with falcon feathers,” she says. “He said nothing would ever fly so straight and true.”

“And did they?”

“They flew like arrows,” Margaret says. “Their path was up to me and the wind.”

There’s not even a chapel in the village they stop in. The people there keep instead a small shrine, and Margaret can’t work up the enthusiasm to pretend at her prayers when Eadwin takes her there in the fading light. She leans against the old oak tree the shrine is built under and closes her eyes, wishing she could have something like in the stories of the saints—some thunderbolt of clarity, an angel appearing to tell her: this is what you’re meant to do. Some path so obvious once it’s revealed that she couldn’t help but to follow it. Eadwin stands in silence with her for a time as the shadows grow long and deepen into night.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Margaret asks, her head against the tree, face turned up to the dark sky while her eyes are closed against the stars.

Eadwin says nothing, but she can feel his gaze on her.

“I have spent nearly every day of the last—oh, ten years or so—spending my prayers begging the Heavenly Queen to make me into the right sort of woman. To make me fit where I’m supposed to belong, to make me content with my lot, to make me someone my father could be softer to. I pray and I feel like I’m fighting with Her every step of the way, I never feel that sense of awe and wonder and overwhelming love you’re supposed to feel when She’s with you. I never feel the peace you’re supposed to feel after prayer. It’s enough to make me wonder if even She can’t love me.”

“Margaret,” Eadwin murmurs, pained. The first time he’s managed to say her name unprompted.

“The closest I get to feeling the way you’re supposed to feel in worship is when I’m in bed with you,” she says.

Eadwin lets out a breath, and after a moment Margaret hears his footsteps coming across to her. She opens her eyes to shadows, and his fingers meet her jaw, softly drawing her gaze to his.

“Perhaps,” he says, “Our Mother does not want you to be what you’ve been told you should be.”

“Then what should I be?”

“What do you want to be?”

Margaret laughs and shakes her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know.” A falcon. With silvery bright feathers and deadly talons and a ripping beak. A hunting falcon only returns to its master if it’s treated well. “Would you still love me if I weren’t beautiful?” There was an old story of a heathen queen who had a falcon feather cloak, when she put it on she took the falcon’s shape and could fly the length of her kingdom in a day. When her king burned the cloak to keep her imprisoned she killed him, turned his intestines into sinews, and used the cords to stitch a new cloak. Margaret must have read it a thousand times in her father’s library.

It is dark, dark enough to allow Eadwin to stroke her hair, to bend to kiss her jaw. “Even if I lost the sight of my eyes, even in the black of night you will always put the sun to shame.”

She clutches at his habit, aching. “If I had to make this journey,” she whispers, “if I had to go from one cold cage to another, why did I have to taste real warmth with you? I wouldn’t have known better, if it had just been anyone else.”

He kisses her, cradling her head. “I’m sorry,” he whispers against her lips.

It isn’t an alley, but pulling him away from the shrine into the dark trees is almost the same. It’s desperate and animal and Margaret thinks if the Queen of Heaven loved her then she would have been born a man and found her way to Eadwin in the same kind of black wool. Her father wouldn’t have cared to let a fourth-born son into the church.

When they return to the inn, Margaret goes to bed alone, and stifles her tears in her pillow.

They arrive in Eagletop under a misting rain that isn’t quite a fog, though it renders the estate quite grey. Margaret has swallowed down every raw and tender part of herself, emptied herself out so that she can seem pleasant and grateful and unafraid. Before the clouds pulled over the sky like a goose down quilt she saw the moon as a sliver of silver in the morning sky, chasing just barely ahead of the sun like a fox evading the hounds. It will be over a fortnight before it is full and bright again.

Eadwin has left her to sit beside Swithin on the driver’s bench, and Margaret is confined to the dark of the carriage as befits a lady. Swithin has neither looked at nor spoken to her all morning, but as they departed the house they had stayed in she heard him say to Eadwin that he ought to pull that pretty gold hair off of his habit.

Sirs Eva and Laure, once they see Margaret safely delivered, plan to take residence at the abbey for a few days before they return south. Margaret thinks she will miss having them nearby, particularly for how imposing they are in even half armor.

A guardsman is waiting outside, his bow is quick and formal and he never looks her in the face. “My lady. Brother. His lordship will receive you in the great hall.”

Margaret pulls back the hood of her cloak as they step inside the aged oak doors, groaning as they open and shut. On either side the doors are carved in relief of an enormous eagle, split down the middle by their parting.

The ceilings are high and dark, and their footsteps sound loudly in the quiet corridors. Eadwin leads her to the great hall, which is too large to be properly warm unless it is packed with people, which it is not. Margaret steps inside to see three children, and two men which she takes to be Lord Wulfric, and his brother.

Wulfric is of moderate height, dark haired and wearing a trimmed beard. His shoulders are broad and his frame is strong, and he is well dressed in grey silk and gold thread. He looks at her with an evaluating eye for a moment too long before he puts on a pleasant face and tells her, “Welcome, Lady Margaret.”

The brother—Aethelric, she remembers his name—has lighter hair and a clean face. Where Wulfric stands before the fire, Aethelric is lazing over a goblet at the table, perhaps already half drunk. Eadwin has warned her that Aethelric is coarse and rude, but unlikely to be of any real threat to her. He looks Margaret up and down like a sow, and snorts into his cup.

Wulfric comes forward to take her hands, and Margaret gives him a smile and a faint bob of a curtsy. “My lord Wulfric,” she murmurs, “such a pleasure to see your face at last.”

“Not as much as mine at seeing yours,” Wulfric says, lifting her hand to kiss her fingers. “Brother Eadwin did not prepare me for your beauty.”

Margaret laughs softly, her face turning pink for the wrong reasons. It is a lie, she knows. Eadwin has told her nearly everything he wrote in his letters to Wulfric. She resists the urge to glance at Eadwin by focusing her attention momentarily on the golden pin on Wulfric’s breast, an eagle centered with amber. She looks back to his face and fights to hold her smile. “My lord is too kind. I feel wholly out of place, in a house as grand as this.”

“This dusty old tomb?” Aethelric says. “They must keep house terribly in Grenacre if this impresses you.”

Wulfric ignores his brother, and so Margaret takes her cue from him. “You had no further troubles on your journey here?” he asks Eadwin. Margaret’s gaze turns with his, but she aims it past Eadwin’s shoulder, at the window speckled with moisture.

“No, my lord,” Eadwin says. “Have you had any word from Lord Beckett?”

“Oh, yes,” Wulfric says with a false laugh. Margaret knows the sound intimately, and it makes her skin crawl. “He’s accused me of theft and kidnapping. My lady, had he not assented to this when you left?”

“He had, my lord,” Margaret says quietly. “But my father is often fickle, if he thinks I am not suffering enough.”

“And you wish to be here?”

Margaret makes herself look at him, makes herself smile. “I do, my lord.”

Wulfric nods, satisfied. “Father Algar has already been warned of the situation,” he says to Eadwin, “as have my lawyers. Was anyone else there to witness the agreement?”

“Some servants, my lord, but I would not ask Lord Beckett’s own household to testify against him.”

“No, of course not,” Wulfric says with impatience. “His own daughter and a man of the church ought to be adequate.” He puts on that false smile again and rests a hand on Margaret’s shoulder, where her skin begins to itch. “Come, meet my family.”

He introduces the children first. Wulfwyn is a handsome girl, and she looks like her father in everything but her hair, which curls. She stares at Margaret with the cold blankness of a child old enough to both be angry and fear the consequences of making that anger too known. Margaret is courteous to her but (she hopes) not over familiar. This girl’s mother is not even half a year gone, Margaret doesn’t blame her for not wanting her father to take a new wife.

Wulfric introduces Everard naturally enough, but Margaret can hear the disdain. Everard is fidgeting in the way of a boy who would very much like to be clutching something—his dog or his sister’s hand—but has already been warned against. He is too shy to look Margaret in the eye, but he mumbles his hellos. She imagines he must look like his mother, because only in the shade of his hair and eyes does he resemble his father.

Mildred is too young to understand what’s happening, but she takes to Margaret right away, showing off her doll, who wears a dress that matches Mildred’s and has hair made of yellow thread. If Margaret hears correctly, the doll’s name is Cheese.

“And my brother,” Wulfric says with a weary and warning tone, “if you must be acquainted.”

Aethelric gives Margaret a scornful smile. “I hear you’re quite the prayerful woman, Lady Margaret. I’ll be sure to include you in my prayers, since you’ll be calling my brother your husband. I prayed for Anna, too, for all the good it did her.”

Margaret gives him an empty, pleasant smile. “I will pray for you as well.”

Wulfric has a sharp laugh, it makes her jump. “Lady Margaret, you have come such a long way—shall I let you get settled and take some rest?”

��My lord is generous,” Margaret says. “I should like to wash the road off my skin.” Let him think about her body, and while he’s thinking about it let him not notice anything else.

He sends for a maidservant to see her up to the chamber that has been prepared for her, and Margaret digs her fingernails into her palm to keep from looking back at Eadwin as Wulfric asks him, “What kind of lock and key was Beckett keeping her under that I’ve never seen her before?”

She hears, “My lord, I’ve never met a man who so—” and the door falls shut and cuts him off. She feels the loss of his voice like a tear in her skin.

Wulfwyn trails after her, pulling Mildred along impatiently. “Why are you here?” she demands, apparently confident that her father can no longer hear her.

Margaret looks at the girl, twelve years old and full of more grief and rage than she can probably bear. “Because your father sent for me.”

“He doesn’t need a new wife,” Wulfwyn says stubbornly, as if it’s anymore up to Margaret than it is to her. I don’t need a new mother.

“Wulfwyn!” the maid scolds, but Margaret holds up a hand.

She turns to the girl, drawing in a breath. “Tell me about your mother, Lady Anna.”

“Why?” Wulfwyn asks sharply.

“Because you must have loved her very much,” Margaret says softly, “and I am sorry I did not know her. I never even knew my own mother.”

Tears well rapidly in Wulfwyn’s eyes. “He’s putting you in her rooms,” she chokes. “With all her things, except her clothes.”

Queen of Heaven have mercy. Margaret holds out her hand. “Come with me. Anything you want there, you can have.”

Reluctantly, Wulfwyn takes her hand.

#original fiction #prose #brother of the moon #botm

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unwiltingblossom · 2 years

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Hey Naruto fandom, this is just your reminder that Sakura didn't do anything wrong.

It's not her fault - nor is it anyone's fault - that the person she fell in love with had personal traumas that caused him to behave in unpleasant ways. She's not responsible for the actions of the person she loves.

Sakura has always only ever done what she felt was best for either her village or her friends, even when she makes rash mistakes they are with the motivation of doing what is best for those she cares about. She wished to go with Sasuke because she was terrified of him going away with Orochimaru alone, because she believed Sasuke would lose himself if he did so. She tried to kill Sasuke because she believed her old fear had come true and if anyone else killed Sasuke it would trigger a war that would only hurt Naruto, the village (currently destroyed and recovering) and her friends.

It isn't Sakura's fault that she never fell in love with Naruto or Lee, and she isn't obligated to love someone back just because they had feelings for her. She was never intentionally cruel to them simply because they had feelings for her. Her false confession was done only because she thought it would make Naruto happy, not because she was trying to hurt him.

You're not obligated to stop loving someone because they're not a good person anymore. Sakura still tried to kill her feelings for Sasuke out of guilt because she believed it was wrong to still love him, and she couldn't.

In the context of the ninja world, slapping Naruto around once or twice was not considered rude or unacceptable behavior, neither did Naruto ever consider it to be. Despite this, she does it something like twice in the entirety of her association with him. Bear in mind that adults beat a five year old child so hard he was hospitalized, and in that scenario it was the child who was considered to be in the wrong, and when Jiraiya peeped on Tsunade she almost killed him and they remained extremely close until his death. Sakura's punches of Naruto are more akin to dope slaps in-universe than they would be in reality.

Sakura was rude and mean to Naruto in class because everyone was rude and mean to him. The very first moment someone in front of her questioned the validity of this behavior and turned it on her, Sakura realized she was in the wrong and resolved to never do it again (and followed through on it).

Although Sakura started up a rivalry with Ino about Sasuke, it was not with malicious intent but respect. She saw Ino as a genuine rival for Sasuke's attention, and so openly declared her intent to Ino. Their friendship remained, and Ino is the only person for whom she rearranged her headband for as a show of respect.

Sakura worked as a doctor and a medicnin and essentially a single mother to Sarada throughout her child's youth - staying up late until she physically passed out at Sarada's bedside when the child got a fever. She shielded Sarada from the more confusing and dark aspects of her own teenage years, and hid Sasuke's uncertain return from his dangerous mission so that her daughter would grow up happier and feel more secure.

Sakura doesn't just "love people who treat her poorly", she doesn't "bully and attack Naruto relentlessly" or treat her friends "like crap". She isn't selfish and self absorbed or vain, and in fact she's almost shockingly selfless at times.

The old Naruhina vs Narusaku and Sasukarin vs Sasusaku wars have assassinated her character in every way that it can be assassinated, but in the end it's important to remember:

Sakura did nothing wrong.

#sakura haruno #sakura uchiha #naruto #sasusaku #boruto #ooc #long post #meta #if you weren't here before the end of Naruto and didn't see the wars #you'll never know how bad it got #but the character assassination of every romantic target involving team 7 was massive and immense

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dixbolik-lovers · 2 years

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SK Human Au: Character Intros [03]

((Au Masterlist))

Yumi

"Show your respect for the Queen, or face the consequences."

The granddaughter of the former First Blood King. Her parents died when she was a child, so she took the throne after her grandfather passed away. She's well-educated and capable, but being isolated for most of her life left her somewhat naive. Cold, elegant, and serene, she’s soft with her adoptive sisters (humans turned into vampires by her grandfather) but strict and cruel with her prey. She's a level-headed, elegant perfectionist who expects only the best of herself and others, with unmeetable standards. Her specialty is freezing, both creating actual ice and paralyzing her prey with "cold" magic.

Sadism — 6/10

Desire — 3/10

Violence — 6/10

Manipulation — 7/10

Tenderness — 5/10

Murakumo

"Let me see your fear. Don't try to hold back."

A turned vampire. As a human, after her family was killed by burglars, she wound up in a horrible orphanage where she was "used" by nobles. She mutilated her face to try to make them lose interest, and now, always wears an ogre mask to cover it. While it's on, she's level-headed and intense, but she flies into a violent panic when her face is bare. Her normally calm, serious personality becomes erratic, aggressive, and panicked, and she lashes out at anyone who can see her. An artist, she enjoys acting out cruel "scenes" with her prey as inspiration, using their suffering to fuel her creative whims.

Sadism — 8/10

Desire — 4/10

Violence — 9/10

Manipulation — 3/10

Tenderness — 2/10

Yozakura

"Quit your whining. I'm not going to go easy on you."

A turned vampire. As a human, she took care of her many siblings after her mother's death, but they were scattered between orphanages when her father abandoned them. She met three of her adoptive sisters there and now takes care of them instead. Strict, harsh, and demanding perfect obedience, her mothering streak doesn’t stop her from being a terrifying disciplinarian with her prey. Between brutal physical strength and no tolerance for nonsense, her short temper is dangerous for anyone with a rebellious streak. Her punishments are brutal, and her strength is downright terrifying.

Sadism — 5/10

Desire — 6/10

Violence — 10/10

Manipulation — 4/10

Tenderness — 8/10

Shiki

"Aww, you're like, totally cute when you cry!"

A turned vampire. As a human, she was the spoiled daughter of a noble family that was torn down by rebelling peasants. With her parents dead, she wound up in the orphanage where she'd meet her adoptive sisters. While she acts cheerful and ditsy more often than not, her real personality is calculating, highly intelligent, and manipulative. She's jaded and highly cynical, believing that people are tools to use for her own benefit. Acting friendly and a little bit stupid always gets her what she wants from humans, and all she cares about is using them for her personal satisfaction.

Sadism — 6/10

Desire — 8/10

Violence — 4/10

Manipulation — 10/10

Tenderness — 2/10

Minori

"Look into my eyes for a sec. I wanna play with you!"

A turned vampire. Her parents were soldiers in their war-torn country, and after their death, she wound up in a terrible orphanage along with her future adoptive sisters. Because she believes that everyone would be happier if they played instead of fighting, she acts half her age and refuses to take anything seriously. She steamrolls over anyone else's wishes in favor of doing whatever she wants— and her "playing" is a bit too rough for humans. She has a hypnotism ability that puts her victim in an hours-long trance where they'll do whatever she says, and they wake up half-dead from exhaustion.

Sadism — 3/10

Desire — 5/10

Violence — 7/10

Manipulation — 9/10

Tenderness — 7/10

#Senran Kagura #SK Human Au #Info

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hehehoohoohole · 2 years

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Today was a Bregless day, and while that was usually a good day for his obsession, it left Liva bored and cranky. She understood he was a grown man and of course his mate needed so much of his attention but he didn't need to spend all his time following them around, she'd given them a nice quality taser (through Breg) so that they'd be safe! To combat this sort of empty nester feeling she decided to go shopping, heading by the baby section first to see if there was anything cute for her future grandchildren to wear, nothing that suited her taste... Damn.

But! She could look at toys, it would be good to be up on kids trends for when she had her first daughter, though men hadn't really been coaxed into sitting on the bench near her pond yet. As she walked toward the toy isle her tail flicked idly behind her, maybe a big tree with a swing? A single dad would be even mo- she stopped, why were so many toys poop related? This was the sort of thing you had to teach kids not to play with.

Many, MANY toys were toilet themed with slime added to them, frowning to herself, she made a face and went to clearance, seeing yet more poop themed slime "Unicorn poop" no it certifiably was NOT. Still, something came to mind and a smirk slowly split her face.

She had a VERY good idea of what to do today.

The Clergy, disgusting place truely, and not just because of the... Whatever spell the owner has cast on it. The monsters here were the sort that would try to eat or lure away husb.. humans, all humans, not just husbands, and she hated it, but knew better than to try and stand up to whatever owned this place. The witch had her own power but she was nowhere near a god. Heading in,she paused at the door and, since this was a monsters only establishment, freed herself from her bra and shirt, letting her breasts hang free while shoving her clothes into her shopping bag. Much better! Then she began her search ignoring everyone until she found him.

A grin spread on her face and rushing over to him, she was happy to see he was already in a fishbowl...why? Who cares! The not yet puddle of demon eyeing her warily "I don't like the way you're looking at me toots.." The troll sat down, pulled his bowl first and completely ignored the bar tender who was loading up a tray anyway. Setting her bag on the counter her tail thrashed excitedly and she licked her lips. "Just hold still, and I'll buy you a nice big drink after." This clearly did not assage his fears but free booze make him shut up.

At least until she finished opening everything in her canvas bag, and began force feeding him different discount slimes, he had to open his mouth to protest and that simply gave her more room to play her sadistic little game more. Glitter slime, iridescent, glow in the dark, scented, all of the clearance packets had been bought and if he closed his mouth she simply smashed them into his sides to force him full of more.

Eventually the bar tender looked over at them with his one glowing eye, and decided this was not his problem, getting a rag to wipe down the counter and watch from the corner of his eye. Was this one of Fasmas ex wives? She was assaulting him like she was, he did have the "Divorced three times" air about him. If that was the case it was DEFINITELY not Gallons job to deal with.. that.

The little ghost man triggered agression in the troll, and she wasn't exactly sure why that was, but with her sulking today and the idea now happening she was much happier, her tail a blur of motion behind her. At least until someone drew her attention by trying to grab one of her breasts, the little bat creature got a hard kick to the chest for that but little else, no one here was starving, or if they were they deserved it.

That put a thought in her head though, and once she was out of slimes to shove into the now rainbow and very fruity smelling ball of plasma, she looked to the slime behind the bar. "Hello! Who do I speak with about becoming a supplier for this hell hole?"

@eldritch-spouse

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captwraith · 8 days

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She thought they would get tired of her letters, but they never did.

Her father had chosen this woman, a kind and gentle woman who sent her beautiful letters and little gifts sewn by hand. If the seamstress believed Eridani thought her own mother was being replaced and would resent her for it, she couldn't have been more wrong. Eridani's mother had passed years ago, a fact that still brought her grief at times but eventually came with the peace and understanding of adulthood. Eri loved no one more than her own father and it was clear that he hadn't been happier in so long than he was now with this Iskaldrik woman. Eridani bought the seamstress new perfumes and pressed flowers in letters; she told her she would be honored to be her daughter. Her new mother promised that they would have a second wedding in Lysara one day so Eridani could attend.

Dearest Etienne Selland, My deepest gratitude for your letter, it was received with so much happiness. I am Eridani, as you must know by now! Words cannot describe the joy I feel at the news of our mother and father meeting and being in one another's company for the past few months. I haven't seen my father write such words of excitement in years! Your mother seems like the kindest of souls, the most beautiful of women. My father should be so honored. Do not show this letter to him, I fear it would make him quake and blush for days, but I expect there may be a future where we're family. Could you imagine such a thing? But even if there isn't, I would love to know the son of the woman who has captured the heart of Jayesh Maheswari. One of these days I hope to escape my studies, if even just a month and...

It was odder at first with the son. Eridani thought of her sister, Carina, who had never been able to breath even one little breath in this world. A baby sister who died before she could ever live. Eri had ached all her life for a sister or a brother but there was no telling what this man would think of her, especially with both of them old enough to quite safely ignore the other. But she didn't want to, and it seemed that neither did he. Casual, polite letters became entire sheets of paper with stories and jokes, little gifts and pranks hidden between pages to make him laugh. For months, then years, this was their seperate lives entwined.

Dear Etienne, That was a very TERRIBLE picture of your house renovations, you're going to have to draw me a better one!! In fact, our ma has much better taste - have her draw one for me next time ✿ ☺. Speaking of showing, there will be a party The Tower is hosting next months, so I will need your help choosing from one of these three dresses because I cannot, for the life of me, choose. I have attached the photos... But ignore that for now!! You gave me such a great story, so it's my turn. There is this girl, an Apprentice of Vulcan. You would not BELIEVE the...

Being a student of The Tower had it'd perks: the witch enchanted her letters and gifts and had the birds who delivered them be enchanted as well. They would be fast, fast as the wind, and they wouldn't return until her family in Iskaldrik had the chance to use them too. Some months she paid for a caravan to bring them more gifts, sweets and letters, as well as photographs and music. A sweet bard followed Etienne around for a month as a joke.

Even in The Tower, Eri never felt that she had made a truer friend so quickly. Etienne Selland was gentle and curious, kind and modest, and there was no chance for Eridani to use any of the tricks that came to her so easy these days. Within letters, she could not manipulate her voice or body language or anyone else's mind. She had to fully trust him and he had to trust her - to learn one another through words, sentiments and little gestures that spanned across the borders of Lysara and Iskaldrik. By the time the following spring arrived again since their very first letter exchanged, Eridani never would have considered the need or desire to get anything out of her new brother. Her father was safe with their new family, he was happy. She was happy. For years, this happiness endured, for years she thought she would find the time to spare to travel past the borders.

She would see them soon.

Brother, My heart is aching. I haven't heard from you in days. Iskaldrik has fallen and I am traveling back from Astoria to see what there is that I can do... please, please, message me. Please. I can't bear another bare-footed bird coming to my window with no word of our family. I love you, Eri

By the time Iskaldrik had fallen, Eridani had already taken on responsibilities that nearly drowned her but that she would never let overwhelm her. The Agent of Minerva was cunning, quick, and dependable and she would prove her worth to her country. So she did, she did the very best of what was expected of her and then did more. However, months passed and then years, and her family was placed further down her list of priorities. Her ambition had taken the forefront. With all the work she did in the borders of Astoria, there was hardly time to spare to travel all the way to Iskaldrik. She regretted not going directly there after her graduation, and she regretted not postponing her studies for at least a month or two during her time as an Accepted to see them. She had many regrets but none of them changed the fact: her father was dead, the mother she never met was dead, and the only brother she ever had was gone where he didn't want her.

#// i love them and you with my whole hort #mine #with friends

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emmaelix · 1 year

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Disney's Frozen + Its Potential

So, I watched Frozen today with my mom, younger sister, and younger brother. (My sister is sixteen and my brother is nineteen, in case you were wondering)

Frozen had a lot of potential to become a success so huge they couldn't keep it on the shelves. And it was definitely successful, don't get me wrong, but there were things the movie could have done better.

I'm not going to talk about Frozen 2 because I haven't seen it and I don't want to harp on something I don't truly understand and know. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I don't own Frozen. It's Disney's.

Alright, point number one. Anna and Elsa's mother and father were terrible parents. They tried their best, yes, but they trusted mossy rock trolls more than their own daughter's feelings and how it would affect both of their children. They taught Elsa to fear herself, and Anna that love was hard to come by.

What did this result in? Anna thought the first man she saw was her true love, and Elsa let no one in until it was so late into her spiral if she fell the wrong way she would've become the villain.

If nothing else, the king and queen should've taught Anna and Elsa about Elsa's powers, and gotten them and the public accustomed to them.

Now, if point one is taken into consideration it would take a lot more to rile Elsa up, and we wouldn't have Hans as an immediate answer.

This is going to be more of a screenplay like thing than anything else, but bare with me.

So, how about, instead, a man named Kristoff comes to the princess and new queen, asking Elsa for help with his ice business as someone has sabotaged him.

Elsa doesn't want to do that, but Anna doesn't see the harm since Kristoff is about to go under if he doesn't get help somewhere. Hence, the rift between sisters.

Elsa storms off to the mountains where her parents taught her to use her magic, locking herself inside the castle she built at fifteen. Anna and Kristoff head into the mountains, bickering the entire way.

When they arrive at the base, they still find Olaf and Anna still gets hit accidentally by Anna. But now Kristoff feels entirely responsible, so he rushes to his family to seek help.

They try to heal Anna, but it doesn't work, leaving Kristoff feeling useless. He rushes, with Sven and an unconscious Anna, to Elsa's palace, pleading for her to let him in so she can heal Anna.

Kristoff tells Elsa that his family said only true love could save Anna. Elsa responds with, "If that's true, why hasn't she healed by purely traveling with you?"

Kristoff begins to realize his feelings for Anna as Elsa reluctantly ushers them inside, telling Kristoff not to be as stupid as he's been acting up until this point.

As he's talking to the still sleeping Anna, she stirs, making Kristoff jump and run to her side. Time seems to slow down as Kristoff watches Anna breathing, holding her hand in his much larger one.

He presses a light kiss to Anna's hand, then places it, curled, onto her heart, where unbeknownst to him the frost spreading in Anna's body has started to lessen.

Kristoff decides to sleep next to where Anna is, and when she finally does wake up it's the middle of the night. She tries to wake up Kristoff, but ends up scaring him. When he sees Anna is awake he pulls her into a hug, inadvertently pulling her onto his lap.

Elsa walks in just as Anna kisses Kristoff while still on his lap. Elsa giggles slightly, telling them to get out of her house. Anna turns to Elsa, asking her to come with them back to Arendelle.

Elsa agrees, but says that Anna will be a better queen than her if the last week has proved anything.

We end on a much happier note, but with a sinister turn as the Duke of Weaselton (Or whatever it was) comes up to the sisters, asking what the new trade agreements will be.

I think that this version just suits my needs better, and sets up an automatic sequel much like the original Frozen. I'm happy with it, what do y'all think?

*My sister is looking at me very disappointedly right now. She's five years younger than me and acting like my mama.*

#disney #disney's frozen #shitposts

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parvulous-writings · 3 years

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Home // Mother!Dimitrescu x Child!F!Reader

Request: Hi! may i request this scenario: what if lady dimitrescu had a fourth daughter? like child reader stumbles into the castle and lady dimitrescu decides to raise her as her own. thanks love!

Requested by: Anon

Summary: Lady Dimitrescu adopts a new daughter.

Warnings: mentions of death

Words: 1.7K

Notes: My requests are currently open! My pinned post (found here) contains both a list of characters I write for, and a masterlist!

Not my gif

Cold. That was the only thing you could feel. The only thing you had felt for the past several hours, at least. Well, feel in a loose sense of the term. Your limbs were numb, stiff and unable to move. You had been shuffling forward with no real sense of direction for who knows how long now, with no end in sight, no shelter from the elements you were forced to endure. Your home had been attacked by massive monsters- not quite man, not quite human. You parents had ushered you and your siblings out of your home, but now you were the last of your family line. One by one, your family had been picked off by your attackers, but each time you had managed to wriggle your way out of the situation. At one point you had even ducked into the woods to escape the beasts, but now that you had returned to the village you didn’t know what landmarks were what; almost everything you could recognise had been destroyed. You did, however, manage to find the Maiden of War, a statue that was in the centre of a roundabout like pathway that tractors and wagons often used. In normal life at least. Nearby to that, up some stone steps, was a stone door with a carving that frightened most of the children of the village, even with the two reliefs missing. However, this time, the reliefs were there, and the gateway had opened ever so slightly. Void of hope, and with every other option exhausted, you shuffle towards it, slipping through the crack, and starting up the snow-covered pathway to who knows where. Though, by looking up, you assumed that it lead to the massive castle which loomed over the village and it’s surroundings.

The trek up there was probably much shorter than it seemed to be. There was a drawbridge that lay over a small, shallow body of water, and your footsteps echo off of it as you cross into a dark and rocky tunnel. It’s very dimly lit- nothing more than wall mounted torches and the fading remaining light to guide your way. You felt your way along to stone wall, the surface cold to the touch, not that you could tell all that much. Eventually, you came to a door. It was tall, much taller than you, although it was only about average height in reality. You pressed all your weight against it, and slowly- oh so slowly- did it creak open. You scurried inside, pushing the door shut once more behind you. After catching your breath you take a moment to observe your surroundings- you were in a rather lavish room, just large enough to be classed as a hall, with hard, marble floors and a tiny staircase onto a more raised floor. You clamber up them, and notice a rather detailed portrait in front of you, of three beautiful young women, with tied up brown hair, sitting together in what appeared to be a forest or woodland clearing; it was a little bit hard to tell since the women took up most of the picture. You tilted your head slightly as you got lost in the colours and brushstrokes, wondering who these women were and what they did to warrant such a wonderful portrait. Of course, there was a plaque beneath it- most likely holding some of the information you wanted- you couldn’t read it, and it was a little too high for you anyway.

The sound of an opening door somewhere down the hall to your left catches your attention. Without knowing what else to do, you start to walk towards it, staying close to the walls and running your hand slowly along it. You push through a few more doors, before coming to a large hall- occupied with a chair, small table, assorted plants and even a chest of drawers in a corner. Your eyes roam upwards, and this room alone could house the entirety of the village, perhaps two or three times over. You knew the castle was big- it often occupied conversation among the children of the village- but this took your breath away. Not only was it huge, but it was ornate, more ornate than anything you had seen before in your life. One mere trinket from this room alone could have fed your family for at least two months, had they been alive still to see this. You hear another door close behind you, and you spin round to see if who is there. You can only hope that the residents of this castle take pity on you. But, you see nothing. No one. You’re incredibly confused by this, and you have to glance this way and that to make sure that there’s no one around you. All you can find is a few flies. Wait. There’s more than a few. There’s three whole clouds. You give a small shriek and duck to the floor, covering your head and face to try and hide away from the bugs, making sure they didn’t get near your face. If they didn’t get near your face, you could pretend they weren’t there at all.

The only problem was, you could still hear the buzzing of their wings. You felt a few beat against your back, as the sounds began to warp and change. From buzzing and droning to... Laughter? Yes, it was laughter, three different laughs to be exact. Fearfully, you look up from your arms, to see three, rather fearsome looking young women in front of you. In surprise you bury your face into your arms again- if you couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see you, right? The three girls look between one another, slightly confused. Not at your behaviour, but more at how you- a mere child- had managed to get yourself up into the castle. The one standing in the middle, one with red, oddly shaved hair, crouched down in front of you, tilting her head curiously. She glanced over her shoulder at the other two fly women, who shrugged at her; they didn’t know who you were or how you got into the castle either. “Child?” The one in front of you spoke, her voice like silk to your ears, especially after their piercing laughs and the roars of the Lycans. You shakily lift your head up again, looking up at her with tears of fear starting to prick at the corners of your eyes. She holds her hand out to you, trying to give you a smile of reassurance. It works to some extent, though you don’t have too much of a choice other than to take the woman’s hand, so you carefully do so. She helps you to your feet, and you see the other two women staring at you. The blonde women looks to the last one, a brunette wearing a yellow variation of the pendant worn by all three. “Go tell mother.” The blonde said to her, to which the brunette burst into a cloud of flies in reply, swooping off down a hall. You give a yelp of surprise, hiding behind the legs of the woman who’s hand you still clutch to. She looks at you, confused for a second.

She sighs, and starts to tug you along. “Come on.” She urges, rather impatiently, dragging you off down a side hall, where you can hear a couple of voices as you approach another door. The blonde woman pushes the door open, “Mother.” She greets, speaking to someone sitting in a plush, velvety chair. Whoever is sitting down places a crimson glass on a small table in front of her, before getting to her feet. “Well, let’s take a look at the child.” She speaks, and your jaw practically drops at her height. You hardly even reach her knees. You’re not sure whether to remain in awe, or to let the fright and fear set in. She looks down at you, regarding you briefly before starting to smile. “Why... I don’t see why you were so panicked, Cassandra...” She spoke to the brunette stood beside her chair, sent ahead of the other two with you. “Look at her- she poses no threat. It was chance she happened upon us, was it not?” She looked to the woman, who has lowered her head respectfully. “Yes, mother.” She replied, before moving her gaze over to you again. “What are we to do with her? She is human, what if-” “Ah-ah.” The tall woman interrupts. “No what-ifs.” She says sternly, before turning her attention fully to you. “What happened to your family, little one?” She asks, not bothering to get down on your level. You take a moment to answer, which the Lady of the castle allows, considering you are merely a child, and in a strange new environment. She could understand any fear you may have, she has been there herself in the past. “The.. The monsters.” You squeak, and the woman hums softly, looking at her three daughters briefly.

In her mind, you were a child without a family, a child with need of a home and a family. She gave a curt nod to herself, folding her arms over her chest. “Well, then we shall be your new family.” She tells you, and the shock is clear on your face. “What..?” You whisper, your voice hardly audible to any of the other women in the room. “We shall be your new family.” She declares proudly again, “These are your new sisters. Bela.” She gestures to the woman still holding loosely onto your hand, with the shaved red hair. “Daniela.” She gestured to the blonde woman on the other side of you, “And Cassandra.” She placed a hand on the shoulder of the girl closest to her. “And you can call me mother.” She smiled brightly at you, stepping forward slightly, and bending down, opening her arms to you. “Come here, child.” She coos to you, as Bela drops your hand. You shuffle towards her, and as soon as you’re close enough, she scoops you up into her arms, resting you against her shoulder, cradling you with a warm smile. “Come now, let us find you a room...” She whispers, and as she starts walking through the seemingly endless maze of hallways you feel yourself drifting off to sleep in the arms of.. Well, your mother. Despite only just meeting her, you feel safe with her and her daughters, your sisters. You knew you’d be happy here, happier than you would be anywhere else, especially in the ruins of the village you once called home.

------

Part two

#tall vampire lady #lady d #lady dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu x reader #lady dimitrescu x female reader #alcina x reader #lady alcina #alcina dimitrescu

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yuueee · 3 years

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𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 fire lord! zuko x fire lady! reader

authors note: Firstly I just want to apologize for the hiatus, I want to be more active from now on! I’m starting finals next week so I’ll thankfully be done with this semester soon and will also have more time to write. Anyways I hope you enjoy!! I also want to apologize if Zuko is ooc here.

requests:

First of all, your tumblr looks sooooo cool! I’m looking forward to reading all of your future work! Imagine this: Zuko is annoyed by people constantly asking him about a future heir, but when one day his friends also start to ask, and even his uncle and his own mother join the baby fever train, it’s too much for him so he complains about it to his wife who only reassures him with her lovely self and her understanding smiles, not telling him yet that she is in fact pregnant. What do you think ?

Can you write an imagine with zuko who is clearly, utterly and soooo obviously in love with the reader (outgoing, courageous, loving) and maybe with the prompt “So you...well...I mean...I could give you a massage?” Thank you a lot! ^^

As the current Fire Lord and Lady, it wasn’t uncommon for the citizens of the Fire Nation to be deeply invested in your relationship - it was to be expected especially due to the uncommon nature of your union. What you weren’t expecting were Zuko’s close friends and relatives being wrapped up in your business as well. Being outside of team avatar, you were naturally more welcoming to his friend's constant questioning, but Zuko on the other hand was not. He couldn’t understand why they cared so much all of the sudden. They hadn’t been as interested when he was in a relationship with Mai - so why did they care so much now?

It wasn’t as if you weren’t getting along with his friends or family - you got along with them quite well and were very loved by them in fact. Outside of them though, you weren’t always as welcomed, unfortunately, the Fire Nation was still coming to terms with having the daughter of an Earth Kingdom General as their Fire Lady. The arranged marriage was put in place to solve several different ‘problems’. After Zuko broke up with Mai several years ago, he hadn’t begun dating anyone else due to being so busy but he’d eventually be expected to have an heir in the next coming years.

Although they had gotten better, tensions among the Earth Kingdom Colonies were still high and both sides were having difficulty keeping them under control. Eventually, an agreement was made for the daughter of a high-ranking Earth Kingdom General to marry Zuko - that daughter being yourself. Arranged marriages certainly weren’t unheard of in either nation - but a union of this sort was definitely unique.

Though he certainly wasn’t thrilled about it, Zuko understood that it was for the good of the people - and it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it anyway. Even with his position as the recently crowned Fire Lord there still wasn’t much he could do.

On the other hand, you understandably had some issues coming to terms with your new situation at first. Despite being known by those around you as friendly and just a joy, in general, to be around - the woman Zuko had first met was quite the opposite. He could recall it like it was yesterday. Though it was awkward and stressful at the time, he now considered it to be the best day of his life.

“She’s in there.” A female servant whispered to the young man quietly, as if she didn’t want to speak loud enough for you to hear from your place at the balcony.

“Thanks,” he replied with a soft smile, bidding the elderly woman goodbye as she shuffled down the hallway. Turning towards you he was faced with a warm tropical breeze. His advisors had arranged for the two of you to meet a couple of weeks before that dreaded day, and for some reason, they thought Ember Island was the appropriate place. A combination of anxiety and general distaste for being on the island was causing him to be quite stressed - which led him to be more awkward than usual.

“Um, hello?” he spoke up faintly, as if not to startle you. He was sure you heard him come in, but you hadn’t turned around since he entered the small room. You stood several feet away with your hands placed on the railing, your [hair-texture] locks sifting gently with each gust of wind along with your predominantly red clothing. It was against what you had wanted to wear that day but it didn’t seem as if you had much a say in anything going on in your life recently.

You understood that doing this would be for the greater good of the Earth Kingdom and that your situation could technically be worse. You could have been married off to some old creep - but if you were being honest with yourself being married to the Fire Lord sounded just as bad. As you turned around though, you were surprised at the face you were met with.

He had a much younger face than you had expected, but the slight hollowness of his cheeks and the worry lines on his forehead told you that he had experienced things beyond his years. He also happened to be quite handsome - not that you wanted to admit it though. You had been bent on hating him ever since your father told you who you’d be wedding.

He was the leader of the Fire Nation, of course, you would hate him! The country that has had a century-long reign of terror on the world - and now you found yourself engaged to their leader. What had you done so wrong in your life to deserve this?

As much as you wanted to plan on running away the first chance you got, you knew deep inside that it would only cause tensions to increase and more issues to arise. You wanted the best for the residents of the Earth Kingdom, so you agreed to go through with it, but did so resentfully - which you had every right to feel that way.

But as you glared up at the young male next to you and tried to keep your attention off of the scar over his left eye - you couldn’t help but wonder what if this was the man who joined the avatar in defeating the Fire Lord? He wasn’t what you expected at all. Standing in full armor with his hair holding the fire nation insignia in a top knot - he looked awkward and out of place. You almost felt bad for him - keyword is almost.

“What do you need Fire Lord?” you questioned him, turning your gaze back to the rushing waters of the ocean.

“Um,” he faltered slightly, probably not anticipating your response. “I just wanted to introduce myself-“

“I know who you are.” you brushed him off, turning around and walking towards him - grabbing his collar and pulling him to your height. “We might be getting married but if you think for a second I will ever be nice to you, you are sadly mistaken.” you hissed at him before letting him go and walking out of the door.

Zuko couldn’t recall how long he stood there watching your form leave, all he remembered was standing there like an idiot with a red face. He hadn’t expected you to like him of course but he surely wasn’t expecting that.

As he reminisced on memories long ago while sipping his Uncle’s tea, he couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his features. As stated earlier, It may have been an unpleasant memory back then but now he considered the day he met you to be the best day of his life. Though your relationship had surely faired through many complications for a while in the beginning - surprisingly, you became fond of Zuko over the years.

It was certainly a long time coming but that strange friendship you two shared eventually evolved into love against all odds. That didn’t mean you weren’t constantly giving him an ear full (as you should tbh) your first months together. But as time progressed and you learned that he may not have been the evil prince that you had heard so much about, at least not anymore.

He wasn’t that same angsty teenager he had been years ago looking for the avatar, he was now a young adult growing quite well into the position of the Fire Lord - which was no easy feat. Taking another sip of tea, he watched his Uncle and Mother come to take a seat with him.

“How is it, Nephew?” His Uncle asked with a mischievous grin and a raise of two bushy eyebrows - albeit already knowing the answer.

“It’s great as always Uncle,” Zuko responded with a small smile, his Uncle's expression making him just a bit concerned, causing his Mother to chuckle. Though she had gained a few wrinkles over the past couple of years, she was still as radiant as she had been in her youth. She was also much happier being able to live with the family she had been apart from for many years without fearing Ozai’s intervention. It came with a price though - it seemed as if her relationship with her estranged daughter who was now on the run would never be resolved. She never lost hope though.

“Zuko,” his mother began speaking, catching the young Fire Lord’s attention with a raise of his eyebrows. “When are you going to give me a grandchild?” She asked teasingly, eager to see his reaction. In turn, her son had barely kept himself from spitting out the mouthful of tea.

“Why do you ask that?” He choked out in between a series of coughs with Iroh patting his back gently.

“You haven’t?” She asked in between chuckles, noticing how her son got bewildered at the mention of having children of his own. “You know you’ll eventually have to have an heir at some point right?”

“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it... but Y/N and I are just really busy.” He thought aloud, wishing he could run a hand through his hair - but was unable to since it was pinned in a top knot.

“Zuko, you never know when you’ll get this time of peace again. What better time to raise a child?” Iroh reassured, wiggling his eyebrows. Letting out a groan, the young Fire Lord attempted to mentally prepare himself to go through this same conversation every time he visited his family.

Over the next couple of weeks, the constant badgering he received from his friends and close relatives started to frustrate him further, so who could he turn to? You of course.

Being married for several years now, you were more than used to Zuko’s rants, so you simply just reclined on the bed with an eyebrow raised as he paced back and forth.

“I don’t get it! Why is everyone so concerned about when we’re going to have a child or not?” He questioned seemingly no one as you attempted to keep your face from contorting into a smile. It wasn’t as if you didn’t understand his frustrations, it was just funny to watch, especially since you were already pregnant.

You were surprised that he hadn’t noticed honestly, with you staying in for the past few days due to feeling sick. Who could blame him though? It wasn’t as if he wasn’t attentive and loving as a husband, he was extremely busy as of recent-and also just dense at times. After noticing his silence for a few moments as he looked over the balcony, you decided that maybe this could be the perfect time to tell him.

Getting up and sneaking behind him, you snaked your arms around his waist and turned so you could see his face. He let out an audible sigh of what sounded like relief before returning your smile and your hug.

“You want a head massage?” You questioned pulling away, wiggling your fingers playfully.

“Please.”

For the past couple of years, Zuko had been letting his hair grow out so now it rested around his shoulders.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” You started tentatively, but as usual, he was too caught up in the sensation of your fingers raking across his scalp to entirely understand what you were saying, so he just nodded in response. “I’m pregnant.” You stated plainly, ceasing your scratching. Not getting a response for a few moments, you turned to face him with a worried expression.

Much to your surprise he was grinning up at you and placed a warm hand on your cheek. “Really?”

“Yes. I’m sorry it took me so long to tell y-“ you were abruptly cut off by him pulling you into another hug and placing a kiss on the crown of your head. “So you’re happy about it?”

“Couldn’t be happier.” He responded sincerely, leaning into your shoulder so you couldn’t see the redness on his cheeks.

Maybe your family and friends would finally leave the two of you alone now?

taglist: @practicallylivesonline @chewymoustachio

#Zuko imagine #Zuko x reader #Zuko x you #zuko x y/n #avatar x reader #avatar imagine #avatar x you #avatar x y/n #atla #atla x you #atla x reader #atla imagine #atla x y/n #avatar the last airbender #avatar #Zuko

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sukirichi · 3 years

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Like, what happens to Mia? How does Gojo end up picking us? Naoya? How about Naoya? 😭😭😭🙏🏼😔

Omggg if you’re not going to continue reckless, can you please please please tell us how it ends? 😭😭😭 I don’t think I can bear living not knowing how it ends 😭 please? 😔😢🙏🏼😭

okay well here’s how it was gonna go, pls keep in mind my storytelling in asks and in writing are diff so this might be explained crappily HAHAHAHA but basically in reckless...

gojo gets shot in the head by his abusive dad bcos he finally stood up against him, but that backfired. his father is really adamant on control, and gojo loses his memories at the same time y/n gave birth. she decided to keep the baby after deciding that she wants a family after all, but when gojo woke up with mixed and lost memories, he only remembers mia and everything after her accident was gone. gojo becomes distorted and even becomes harsh sometimes, especially when y/n said they had a baby and she was his friend, bcos gojo’s mindset was from way back to six years ago, where he had lots of issues with his family and mia’s that he was wary who to trust.

so,,, they didn’t want gojo to hurt y/n bcos he’s such in an emotional mess that he has no control of himself. eventually, y/n decides to stay away but the baby is adopted by gojo and mia, who gets married for the sake of business and gojo’s current situation. truthfully, mia doesn’t want to marry him bcos it would hurt y/n and she’s not that awful. mia and y/n become friends after realizing they’re pretty similar and actually find genuine friendship with one another. she doesn’t have a choice tho and gojo, mia, along with gojo’s mom who divorced her husband for his abuse move to the states where they raised y/n and gojo’s daughter, sayori, leaving y/n all alone in tokyo who then becomes vice president of kamo enterprises. basically, it shows the repeated history of y/n’s father choosing to hide her from her real parents, and she begins to understand why he did that bcos she also has not really met her own daughter. y/n knows mia and gojo could take care of sayori better than she could, especially with the fact that gojo’s memories are mixed and transfixed on the timeline of him dating mia, mia giving birth to sayori, then them getting married. y/n is not present at all in his memories. gojo thinks he was the one in a car accident, not mia.

sayori is about four years old when gojo decides to come back to tokyo. now that he’s disowned and his mother has also left, gojo becomes a successful model in the states. he comes home bcos he remembers geto and wants to start their own agency (gojo as a model, geto as the photographer.) mia is wary at first for fear gojo might remember everything. she’s not being selfish; the doctors warned that anything that could potentially trigger gojo’s memories that his subconscious has erased could be detrimental to him. mia tries to hold it off but gojo insists, so the gojo/yamazaki family go back and that’s where gojo meets y/n, who he first thought was geto’s new wife.

in the reckless fanart, geto’s photo is like this.

geto’s ring is silver - it’s his dead wife’s ring. the hand caressing him is gold - it’s y/n wearing the ring of gojo’s mother, who by then has already apologized before they all left.

geto and y/n become best friends on the course of four years. missing her daughter, y/n becomes attached to mei (geto’s daughter) and acts more like a mom than an aunt. geto basks in this faux family they’ve built, though he makes sure mei is not too dependent or expecting that y/n would be her mom. he falls in love with y/n and he notices how after gojo left, she becomes softer and a lot sweeter. all the anger and hatred disappeared, all thanks to y/n finding peace with her new life and making up with her mother, Valeria, who once overdosed on drugs after it was exposed to the public that Y/N is a child she abandoned. y/n saved Valeria by rushing her to the hospital, which is also the same time that Y/N saw gojo being wheeled in the emergency room with a bullet in his head.

now that gojo is back, he can’t help but notice that y/n is avoiding him. she feels familiar but he plays it off over her being a close friend and possible lover of geto. meanwhile, y/n’s dedication to pretending he doesn’t exist breaks slowly when she sees sayori, a beautiful little girl who’s growing up, call mia as her “mommy.” it hurts her that she missed her first words, first steps, or that she’s being excluded in the family that is truly hers, but everyone is happy and doing great that she chooses to be the only who isn’t for the sake of everyone else.

in ch2, gojo goes to a carnival/amusement park and takes a polaroid photo with y/n. he finds them in one of the stuff he left behind in the penthouse he used to live in; shocked bcos y/n had been adamant they never met before. that’s when he begins to confront her on who she really is what they really used to be. he feels guilty that he can’t remember, but most of all, gojo is torn inside that y/n had been all alone the whole time when he promised he would be there.

its complicated for them since gojo x mia are already married, and sayori got her mom’s stubborness so its difficult for her to believe someone she never met before is her real mom and mia is...well, mia. mia actually helps sayori accept that she is not the real mom, apologizing to the child for lying to them and it ends up with sayori running away and getting lost for a few hours. sayori is scared since tokyo is alien to her and she doesn’t speak japanese, but when y/n finds her, she comes running to her arms and that is when she begins to soften up around her real mom.

this is where the slowburn with gojo and y/n begins. for them, getting to know each other once more on a clean slate is both refreshing yet scary, especially since one has erased the past in their mind and the other is desperately trying to forget it. the thing about the mia x gojo as a married couple and parents is that gojo deep down feels he does not love mia that way. he can’t explain why there’s just something missing or confusing in his life. he loves mia out of respect and friendship, but he would never admit that he is not in love with his wife. however, he plays it over the fact that its “just the broken memories” and lies to himself that he is very much in love with her. when he meets y/n again, however, it makes sense. he does love y/n and him forgetting her was a defense mechanism of his system to erase the most painful times of his life, and that included his guilt for hurting y/n with the abuse of his parents who controlled the way he acted around her. as for mia, she also does not love gojo and she probably never did, but for the sake of his well being and for sayori’s future (which was entrusted to her by y/n) she stayed with him. now though, mia knows its time to let go.

geto...it is not easy for geto. he loves y/n so much because of her tenacity and kindness, but he also loves her enough to know she is happier with someone else. to him, he’s content knowing that she felt less lonely when he was around and that he helped make her smile. in the end, geto has closure with y/n who apologizes for not returning his feelings.

NAOYAAAAA though...ofc i gave him a good ending 💕 after he was brutally rejected by Mia, y/n cheers him up by setting Naoya up with a law professor around his age, who is Ayame. Ayame is supposed to be named Suki tbh 😋 but I thought the self insert is a little too much so I changed it to Ayame. Ayame is pretty funny and even respects that Naoya is uncomfortable on the first date, telling him that it doesn’t have to be that kind of date and she doesn’t expect anything from him. Ayame’s bubbly yet blunt nature is a breath of fresh air from Mia’s secretive and perfectionist nature and the two become good friends. Naoya and Ayame end up hanging out a lot bcos “thats what friends do” but it doesn’t take long before they go out together. And ofc, Naoya is a little ashamed that Ayame was the first to confess and she beat him to it, but they get married and are happy nonetheless 💕 Mia ends up as a successful doctor who helps her family with the business, divorces Gojo, but she still has no plans to marry and is perfectly happy and content to focus on her career.

Eventually, Gojo and Y/N get married once everything is sorted out. Gojo becomes a well known model in Tokyo as well, and Gojo Group is absorbed by Y/N herself after proving Gojo’s father guilty of attempted murder. Gojo doesn’t want anything more to do with the corporate world though, but Y/N stays and kicks ass as a vice president to all the merged companies.

Y/N and Valeria also makes up after Valeria is indebted to Y/N who saved her life, and Valeria’s parents become more supportive and start to see Valeria more as a person than a child to inherit the business. Albeit being in her 40s, Valeria enjoys the youth she lost only now, but also enjoys being the grandmother to Sayori. Its a little awkward between Valeria and Y/N after everything that happened, but they’re trying and are even dubbed as the iconic motherly duo who is unbeatable in their games.

Gojo’s father is thrown into prison, and his main victim, his own wife, also shows recovery from the years of abuse. Although her obsessive control with Gojo and his sister (the eldest Gojo child) was not right, his mom was left with no choice but to keep them on close watch and control their lives because she was trying to keep them safe from their father’s wrath. In the end, Gojo’s mom makes up by being a better mother, and Gojo and his sister forgives her while also apologizing that both of them left home when they knew their mom always shouldered the abuse to protect her kids.

Overall, its a happy ending for most of the characters! the last chapter is Sayori’s wedding to Naoya and Ayame’s son, Naori, who is a few years younger than his bride. Gojo is grumbling to Y/N about how his little girl is all grown up now, and that their son, Shinichiro, who is 18 in that timeline is also maturing and would be leaving the nest soon. Y/N thinks its adorable and asks Gojo to just enjoy the union because its only one of the many great memories they would still have to make.

That’s how it would end! Gojo Best Dad and Gojo DILF. Everyone is happy!

Basically the theme of Reckless is that sometimes the most unexpected things we do out of character can end up as one of the greatest things to ever happen, which in their case was the suprise baby. They went through a lot and it has a lot of psychological themes, along with heavy family drama, but overall I wanted the series to be a heartwarming one by the end. I really would’ve loved to see it all happen but I am also happy to share it to you guys in this way.

So yeah, happy reading and thanks so much for supporting Reckless !! I was also thinking of doing maybe like a bonus chapter where the characters pretend it was all a movie and they’re actors that you can talk to, but that didn’t happen so :// anyways I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for reading up until here 💕

#asks with naoya's trophy wife #series: reckless #tw: abuse #sorry for the typos i wrote this on my phone without glasses lol

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supercorpkid · 3 years

Text

The price of magic.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader

Word Count: 2210.

Turns out the price of magic was higher than you had anticipated. You’ve been away for more than a year, but for your family it was nothing but a week. Sure they’ve missed you and they were out there looking for you with no clue of where you could have gone. But for you?

A year in Storybrooke was experiencing your life as you’ve always imagined. Being yourself in its totality. No Luthor name hanging over your head, no hiding yourself behind glasses or a red and blue superhero suit. It was being both Kryptonian and human at the same time, with no fear of judgment or dislike.

Storybrooke was like going on a super long vacation; so long it made you forget all of your problems. But that doesn’t mean that your problems went away. They came back as soon as you stepped foot in National City.

The price of magic was feeling guilty for being happier somewhere else. It was walking into your bedroom and feeling at home but also somehow not at all. It was walking around the craziness of National City and feeling suffocated like you’re in a crowded room full of empty faces. It was missing the words ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’ when people were referring to you. It was having a crazy number of options of take-out food but wanting nothing except the food in Granny’s diner.

And you weren’t the only one to pay the price. You can feel how high it was for Kara and Lena too.

“Mom?” You sit up on the bed, looking at Lena standing in your bedroom watching you sleep. “What are you doing creeping over my bed at-” You look at your alarm clock. “3 in the morning?”

“I had to be sure you were still here.” Lena says, sounding small and scared.

“Mom, I’m not going to disappear from my bedroom in the middle of the night.” You say, trying to reassure her, but it backfires you.

“You can’t blame me for thinking that, because you did.” She holds your arm, and you hear the cry in her cracked voice.

“Would you feel better if you stayed here with me?” You make space for her. Lena hum in agreement, lying next to you. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m even more.” She kisses the back of your hand. “A whole year without us. You were probably so scared we weren’t looking for you.”

“I knew you were.”

“You got so tall, and we weren’t even there to see it!” Lena complains and you give her a sad little smile, even though she can’t see your face at all in the darkness of your bedroom.

“Well, I chose a weird age to have a growth spurt .” You joke, but you don’t get a laugh in return. You sort of always knew when you would get taller. It was the same with Kara. You were always very anxious to turn 17, because that was the age she actually grew more. But the weird thing is that you’re not really 17 now. Like Kara is not really 70.

“Come here.” Lena hugs you and you settle back. You’re almost drifting off to sleep when she whispers. “Don’t ever leave again.”

You can’t promise that you won’t. Stranger things have happened in your life, you don’t really feel like you have control over that anymore. And weird as it may seem, you also don’t want to have control over that. Because if you had, if you could have chosen, you probably wouldn’t have met some of the people that you love so much now.

“Hey!” You walk in the kitchen, to both Kara and Lena still having breakfast despite how late already is. “What are you two doing?”

“Having breakfast.” Kara explains, like it isn’t obvious.

You look at the clock. “It’s nine.” You raise an eyebrow at them. “And it’s Monday.”

“Yes.” Lena agrees.

“On Mondays you go to work, and Kara does her usual Kara’ stuff.”

“You were gone for a week. Even if L Corp burned down in flames I wouldn’t leave your side today.” Lena answers you, and you smile softly. You look at Kara next.

“Oh, well, if L Corp was burning up in flames I probably would have to go to put out the fire.” She says but adds in a hurry. “But I would be here five seconds later!”

“Ok.” You chuckle. “I thought I would go see Jamie and Maya on their lunch break, but if you two want me to stay-”

“No! Baby, no. Go see your cousin and your girlfriend. They were missing you too.” Lena hands you your phone. “There’s a lot of texts from them.”

“Oh, a phone! God I haven’t had one in a while.” You smile scrolling through your messages, ignoring your moms questioning looks.

“So, maybe you could tell us how was your life there.” Kara asks, but you’re too distracted with your phone to notice. You haven’t used one in a while, not because there weren’t phones in Storybrooke, but because you didn’t need them. It was a super small city, you could find anyone easily, and because Emma and Charming were sheriffs, you all used radio transmitters to talk. “Hey? Little one, helloooo.”

“Sorry momma.” You put your phone down. “What did you say?”

“We want to know about your life there. I mean, for us it wasn’t that long, but for you it was a whole year. You probably did lots of things.” Kara says and you agree with your head.

“Yeah, I guess.” You shrug. “I used to help mom Emma out with the saving, and oh, mom Regina helped me with my panic attacks. And I’m a lot better at controlling them! Henry and I used to watch this awesome TV show that I probably won’t ever know how it ends now. And grandma taught me archery.”

“Oh, that sounds-” Lena thinks about it for a second. “Fun.”

“Yeah. It was so great. And every night all of us would get together at Granny’s diner and talk about our days, and sometimes I would go hang out with Belle in the library, so I read all the books there. And if I had stayed a little bit longer and turned 18 there, then grandpa would’ve taught me how to use a gun.”

“A little bit? It would’ve been a whole other year!”

“For me, I guess.” You shrug again. “Just another week for you. And I would’ve been cursed anyway, so it wouldn’t feel so bad.”

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Kara stops you, looking confused. “You wanted to stay?”

“No!” You think about it for a second. “Not stay. No. Just-you know-If I had perhaps stayed longer then yeah, it would’ve been fun to learn that.”

“You can learn how to use a gun here!” Kara says, and Lena furrows her brows.

“No, she can’t.” She looks at you. “No, you can’t. Maybe when you’re older.”

“Right. Moms wouldn’t let me touch a gun either.”

“We are your moms.” It’s out of Kara’s mouth like she hadn’t given much thought to it. But you know she has, because she looks stung. You’ve noticed how she flinched every time you referred to Regina and Emma as moms, but it’s out of your mouth before you can stop yourself to think about it. For a year that’s what you’ve been saying every day. It’s hard to call them just anything else. Almost disrespectful even. But you don’t want to make Kara and Lena upset, so you have to watch out for that.

You try to say something after that. But it’s like your mind keeps erasing itself. ‘Ok, fine, sorry, sure you are momma!’ are all things that almost make it out of your mouth. Instead, you settle for, “Can I have some M&M pancakes?”

“Sure, babygirl.” Lena gets up and gets behind the counter. You go back to your phone, too embarrassed to look at Kara again. She doesn’t say anything about it either.

You talk about other things. They tell you how crazy it was to find you, and what they did all week while you were gone. Apparently it was mostly crying and blaming themselves for your disappearance.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To school. To see Jamie and Maya.”

“Where are your glasses?” Kara asks and you touch your face to realize that you haven’t been wearing them at all.

“Ugh.” You grunt and mumble right after. “I hate those stupid glasses. Can’t believe I have to wear them again.”

You run to your bedroom and find an old pair tossed around. Stupid disguise. Stupid glasses. Stupid secret identity.

“Ok. Can I go now?” You ask when you make it back to the living room.

Lena lets out a forced smile out of her lips, and Kara gives you the most awkward thumbs up in history. Well, there’s a lot to unpack there. So maybe leave it for later.

“Hey!”

“No way in hell!” It’s Jamie’s first response when she sees you in front of your old school. “You grew taller in a week?”

“Something like that.” You smile finally looking down on her. Rao, it feels so good to finally be taller than Jamie. You’ve been hearing about it for years! “Hey, babe.”

“Holy fuck, look at you!” Maya says with the biggest smile on her face. “I don’t see you for a week and you show up here looking like a superhero!”

“Well…” You give her a little side flirty smile. “Is that a good thing?”

“You look great, babe.” Maya’s arms go around your neck and she tiptoes to kiss your mouth. You hold her by the waist, making it easier for her to kiss you.

“God, I’ve missed kissing you.” You let out after you part your lips.

“It’s been a week, stop being so melodramatic.” Jamie rolls her eyes, and you smile, letting go of Maya to hug her too.

“I’ve missed you too, dipshit.”

“Oh.” Jamie lets out a surprised sound. “I guess you’re not so dramatic then.”

You want to tell them, right there, about how it was not just a week. About your different life in the past year. But the girls from your school who used to bully you pass right next to you, and your heart beats faster anticipating the teasing.

But they don’t say a thing. In fact, what they say after they pass you, and you catch using your super hearing, is that you must be a new student. You smile, relieved. Getting taller and cutting your hair. You wish you had known it would make your life a lot easier.

“Ice-cream?” You smile at them and get positive responses at that. Two hours with them and it feels like you’ve never left. Feels good to be with them. It makes you remember that even though your life in National City is not always easy, it’s still pretty great. And that you shouldn’t take that for granted.

You and Jamie walk Maya home, and you’re not even scared of her parents' reaction anymore. It’s not like they’ll recognize you, anyway. And later, you fly Jamie back to her house. You say a quick hello to Alex and Kelly, then fly back home.

“Hey.” You throw yourself on the couch between your moms, with a smile on your face. You look at the box of donuts in front of them, just sitting there waiting for you to arrive and your smile grows wider. “Sorry I was gone for a while. But can I make it up to you both with some hugs and forehead kisses?”

“Oh! Me first!” Kara asks and you smile, throwing your arms around her, and resting your chin on her shoulders.

“You’re my mommy. No one will ever take that away from you.” You whisper in her ear, and feel Kara’s body fully relax in your embrace, while she lets out a relieved sigh.

“I love you more than words can explain it, kid.” You smile and let her go a little, just to look into her eyes.

“I know the words.” You rest your forehead against hers and smile. “You’re my heart.”

“You’re my heart, little one.”

“Can I get a sweet moment like this too?” Lena asks and you chuckle, pulling her close for a tight hug.

“You also don’t have to worry about anyone taking your place.” You say softly in her ear. “You carried me inside of you for nine months, and I’ll carry you inside of me for the rest of my life.”

“Oh God.” Lena says, choking up and wetting the back of your t-shirt with her tears. “I swear this is the loveliest thing someone has ever told me.”

“It’s true.” You smile and kiss her forehead right after. “I love you mom.”

“Oh, I love you, babygirl.”

“And we’re stronger together.” You say, and feel their arms go around you at the same time, in a family hug.

Sure you will miss being called ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’, but nothing beats being called ‘little one’ and ‘babygirl’. And nothing ever will. National City may not make you feel as good as Storybrooke did, but the people here surely make up for that.

#supergirl #kara danvers #supercorp #supercorpfamily #lena luthor #supercorp daughter #kara x lena #kara x reader #supercorp fanfic #lena x reader #reader insert

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jaehyunhour · 3 years

Text

BACK 2 U | jung jaehyun

genre + idol → hanahaki au, angst, smut, babydaddy!jaehyun (ft. johnny suh)

word count → 4.9k

warnings → tiniest bit of cursing, protected sex

summary → you and jaehyun have been together for years now and have just had your first child. you couldn’t be happier to be with the man you love, but what happens when jaehyun starts staying late at work, you start coughing up flowers, and you’re left alone with the baby? even worse, what happens when jaehyun comes crawling back years later but you can no longer love him again?

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make you stay. I promise I will tell Jieun good things about you, Yoonoh.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s my fault. I hurt you.”

a/n → have fun with this one, i’m not sure how to feel about the ending but sigh this one really hurt to write..... also please don’t ask me for a part two because i will not write one lol i love y’all but not every story needs a part two

For many people, their worst fears are being buried alive, spiders, something along those lines. But your worst fear had always been falling out of love. Whether you are the one falling out of love with someone, or the other way around, just the thought made you stressed. On one hand, if you fall out of love someone, you cause them irreparable pain, flowers growing in their lungs until they can’t breathe. And on the other hand, if someone falls out of love with you, you’re the one suffering. There’s no winning.

But for the first time in your life, this fear is thrown out of the window. The first time Jaehyun tells you “I love you, I want to be with you forever” you feel the fear leave your body. A weight is lifted off your chest, you can finally breathe again. He sounds so sincere when he says it, it must be true.

And as the years pass, and you spend more and more of your life with him, you know that you never want to love anyone else in this, or any lifetime. He is who you are meant to spend your life with. You and Jaehyun are meant to have children together, grow old together, and be in love for the rest of your life.

One day, Jaehyun stomps into your shared home with his eyebrows furrowed and lips in a pout. You rush to meet him at the door, quickly taking his face in your hands and kissing the pout off his lips.

“Long day?” You ask.

He nods. “You have absolutely no idea. Happy to see your pretty face, though.”

“Could say the same to you, handsome. Go lay down, I’ll make you dinner. I have something to tell you after we eat.”

You skip over to the kitchen, quickly taking ingredients out of the fridge and cabinet to make dinner for you and Jaehyun. The last few weeks, Jaehyun had been leaving in the early morning for work, leaving you alone for most of the day. You’d been waking up with terrible morning sickness, and after going to the doctor earlier in the day, found out you were pregnant. Jaehyun hadn’t asked to marry you yet, and he still had years ahead of him in his career, but you knew this is something you both wanted.

Jaehyun watches as you cook from the kitchen table, feeling his heart inflate with how much love he has for you.

“I can’t wait for the day I get to marry you.”

“Well, we could be planning a wedding right now but you haven’t asked me to marry you yet.” You drop the last few things into the pot, setting the lid on it before crawling into Jaehyun’s lap and wrapping your arms around him.

“I don’t want to have to plan a wedding and go to the courthouse or anything. I just want you to be my wife.”

“Then ask me to be your wife.”

“Y/N,” Jaehyun says, hands gripping onto your hips tightly, eyes flickering from your eyes, to your lips, then back up to your eyes. “Will you— Wait. Wait here.” He pushes you off him and you sit on the chair as you wait for him. He comes back a few moments later, fist closed tightly around something. He gets down on his knees in front of you, grabbing both of your hands with one of his and smiles. “Y/N, will you be my wife?” He opens his palm, revealing the diamond ring you had pointed out over a month ago when you went searching for couple rings.

You nod, and he slips the ring onto your ring finger. He kisses your hand before placing it back down on your lap, admiring the way the ring looks on your finger.

“Alright, I have something for you now.”

“Don’t know if whatever you have planned could be better than you finally becoming my wife.”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh- I- Oh. Oh, that’s definitely better.”

Jaehyun is incredible throughout your pregnancy. He takes time off of work to stay home with you, builds and decorates the nursery, even packs your hospital bag as the days inch closer to your due date. But in the last month of your pregnancy, Jaehyun is quickly pulled back to work and you’re left alone with a swollen belly and complete nursery. You can’t even nest because Jaehyun already did it for you — he didn’t want you to lift a finger until the baby came. The last three weeks have been lonely. Jaehyun comes home in the middle of the night, he spends the weekends away on business trips, is always hunched over his computer in the living room when he is home, and you feel like he’s slipping through your fingertips. You want him home, in bed with you, with your baby, before your attention is completely on her.

The longer Jaehyun is away from you, the more nervous you get. Every time he leaves overnight you’re worried he won’t make it back in time for the baby’s birth. And when he calls you from his trips, and you hear a woman’s voice in the background, your throat begins hurting and your irrational fear of falling out of love resurfaces. You feel something stir in your stomach and you panic.

“Come home, baby. Please,” you say quietly.

“Honey, I’m working, I can’t just—”

“— Please, Yoonoh. I don’t want to have this baby alone.”

You feel selfish. Maybe nothing is actually wrong, but the pain in your throat and the feeling in your stomach is too much to ignore. He rushes home, and within hours is in bed with you, thin fingers placed on the highest point of your belly, fingertips tapping and waiting for the baby to react and kick.

“Do you think there’s a reason she’s not kicking?”

“She’s sleeping. Enjoying her last moment’s in mama’s belly before she’s brought out into the real world. Don’t bother her.”

“You’re funny,” he says. “I have always loved that about you.”

The first few weeks of coughing flowers are uncomfortable, but bearable. Jaehyun isn’t around to see you suffer — staying extra late at work, continuing to go on business trips, attending meetings — and you wonder what his new infatuation is like as you breastfeed your newborn daughter and suppress a cough. She must be one hell of a woman if she can tear a man away from his wife and newborn child. You sit in the nursery Jaehyun insisted on decorating himself, illuminated only by the string lights hanging across the room. Once your daughter is done feeding, you sit her up and begin burping her. You pat her back, listening to her slight hiccups and feel your chest tighten.

She spits up after a few more moments and you clean her up, before setting her back in the crib where she quickly falls asleep. You stare at her sleeping figure and finally let out the cough you’d been holding in, plucking the red petals from your lips and tearing it apart with your fingers. It falls on the floor, and then you hear the front door open and Jaehyun’s footsteps heading into the nursery.

“I just put her down,” you say when he gets to the door. “Let’s go to bed.”

You get into bed quickly, with Jaehyun following shortly behind. Once in bed, you turn your back to him and sink into the sheets. He crawls into bed next to you, wrapping an arm around your waist and pressing a kiss to your shoulder.

“Missed you today, baby,” he mumbles against your skin.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Did you really think you would be able to get away with it?”

Jaehyun tenses for a second, but then relaxes again. “What are you talking about?”

“Jaehyun… We live in a cruel, cruel world,” you whisper. “I can’t even feed my own daughter without feeling like I’m going to choke on the flowers growing inside of me. Did you really think you’d be able to get away with it?”

The room is uncomfortably silent. The baby monitor on the bedside table is on, and you can hear your daughter in the other room making noises as she sleeps. Tears begin to fall down your face and you suppress the sob that is bubbling in your chest.

“I don’t know what to say,” Jaehyun responds.

“When I wake up in the morning, I want you out of my house,” you pick up the baby monitor and reach behind your back, letting it fall between your bodies. “If the baby cries in the night, you tend to her. Enjoy your last moments with her.” His grip on your body tightens.

“Y/N—” Jaehyun starts, but you push him off you and get out of bed.

“I’m going to go sleep on the couch,” you say, grabbing a pillow and a blanket from your closet. Once you get to the door, you stop and look at him laying in your bed. “Goodnight, Jaehyun. I really do love you. I’m sorry I wasn’t enough.”

You lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling and listening to the noises of your house. The refrigerator running, the fan running in your bedroom, Jaehyun’s footsteps as he walks around your shared bedroom.

In the bedroom, Jaehyun paces around the room trying to figure out what to do. Surely he loves you, as the mother of his child, but that wasn’t enough. What if I ask her to start over? he thinks. But that could kill her. If we start from the beginning again, try to fall in love again, try to put back together our already broken relationship and it didn’t work, the flowers would fill her lungs and kill her. And if she got the surgery, she would never love me again.

As he’s packing his things, the baby begins crying and it takes him several moments to process what is happening. By the time he realizes the baby is crying and he heads to the nursery, you’re already in there, holding the baby in your arms and sitting in the rocking chair in the corner.

He watches you with the baby and his chest begins to feel heavy. You look so beautiful holding the baby, rocking back and forth in the chair with your eyes closed. Jaehyun wishes so badly he could continue loving you the way you love him. You clear your throat and bring him out of his trance.

“Jieun-ah,” you whisper quietly, tears falling down your face. “i’m sorry I couldn’t get your appa to continue loving me for you. I promise I will only tell you good things about him when you’re older.”

He lets out a sigh before returning back to the bedroom. He packs all of his things up in his suitcases and watches the sun rise from the balcony of your bedroom. A chill runs down his spine as he watches the sun go higher and higher. After one last check throughout the room to make sure all of his things are packed, he sneaks into the nursery to look at your daughter.

He’s surprised to see you in there, inside the crib, lying in the fetal position next to your daughter. He checks the time on his phone, it’s 7:34 a.m. and he realizes any moment now the baby will wake up and want to eat. He heads into the kitchen, heating up a bottle and as soon as he steps back into the nursery, the baby wakes up and lets out a loud cry. You stir, ready to take her and feed her, but as your eyes open, you see Jaehyun in the rocking chair holding her and leading the bottle into her mouth.

“Sleep,” he says. “I’ll leave after this, I promise. Just want to feed my daughter before I go.”

“You know, you never told me why you wanted to name her Jieun,” you say, pulling the blanket over your body and laying back down.

Jaehyun stares down at your daughter eating, memorizing every inch of her face as if it is the last time he will ever see her. She has his eyes but your nose, your ears but his lips. She’s so perfect he could almost cry. He blinks away the tears that surface.

“My father’s name is Jihoon, and my mother’s name is Eunha. So I took one syllable from each of their names for hers. Ji means purpose, and Eun means kindness. I wanted to give her a name that meant something,” he says. “My parents named me Jaehyun for no reason, so I had to change it to Yoonoh when I was older but no one ever calls me that. I wanted different for my kids.”

“I see… I left your ring for you on the coffee table,” you sit back up and watch as she finishes the last of her bottle. “I can burp her if you want.”

Jaehyun shakes his head no, placing her in his lap and holding her upright. He burps her quickly, cleaning her up and placing her back in the crib next to you. He pulls you into a hug and you break down, sobbing into his chest.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make you stay,” you say, trying not to wake the baby who just knocked back out. “I promise I will tell Jieun good things about you, Yoonoh.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s my fault. I hurt you,” he responds. He pulls back, placing a kiss on your forehead, walking out of the nursery and closing the door behind him.

And with that, Jaehyun walks out of your life.

It’s 3 a.m. on a Tuesday, and you hear the baby begin to cry from the nursery. It’s been 4 months since Jaehyun has left, but you still stir in bed and call out for him.

“Jaehyun — the baby,” you mumble, sinking further into the sheets. She cries harder and you groan. “Yah, Jung Jaehyun, your baby is calling for you.” You sit up in bed annoyed, looking over to the other side of the bed and realize Jaehyun isn’t there. He hasn’t been for months.

“Fuck, I need to stop doing that,” you say, running your hands through your hair, putting your slippers on and running over to the nursery.

You place Jieun into the baby carrier strapped onto your body, slipping a mask on before grabbing your keys and heading towards the door. As you open the door, you’re met with Johnny’s tall body and his hand in mid-air.

“Johnny— oh. I was just about to go on a walk. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to come check on you… Jaehyun doesn’t know I’m here.”

Johnny accompanies you on your walk, offering to take the baby and give you a break.

“How old is she now?”

“Ten months. Every day she looks more and more like Jaehyun and it kills me.”

“She’s getting so big. You ever think of getting a step-dad for her?”

“Surely you didn’t come all the way across town to hit on me, Mr. Suh. I’m still working on trying to get her real dad to come around and see her, haven’t even thought about a step-dad.”

“I’m kidding, you know that,” Johnny stops in his tracks in front of the first coffee shop you see. “Do you want coffee?”

“I’m still breastfeeding, I don’t want to drink any caffeine. But I’ll wait while you get something.”

Johnny enters the shop quickly, coming out in a few minutes with a drink in hand. “Does Jaehyun really not come around?”

You shake your head no. “I called him the other day and he got mad at me for calling.”

You think back to a couple of weeks ago when you called Jaehyun. You were sitting on the living room floor, Jieun in the baby swing as you cooed and tried to get her to talk back to you. Before then, all she had done was babble incoherently and you felt less than the other mothers in your classes whose babies have already said at least a couple of words.

“C’mon, sweet girl, just say mama. Just once, I won’t tell anyone I promise,” you said quietly, finger on her chin and moving her lips.

And before you could even process, the word mama left her lips and you gasped. “Did you just say that? Oh my god, I need to call your dad.”

You grabbed your phone from the couch, dialed Jaehyun’s number and he picked up almost instantly.

“What do you want?” He snarled from the other side of the phone.

You rolled your eyes. “God, I hate you.”

“If you hate me, then why’d you even call?”

“Well, for your information, your daughter just said her first word. I thought you’d want to know.”

“What’d she say?”

“Mama.”

“That’s nice, Y/N. Look, I have to go, I’m working,” He said quickly, hanging up the phone and you groaned.

“I don’t even know why I try with him anymore. You would think he would actually want to hear about his daughter’s milestones at the very least, you know, make sure she’s still alive. But he doesn’t care. I’ll get over it, eventually.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N. You don’t deserve this. How did you, y’know, deal with the flowers?”

“Oh, I got the surgery a few days after he left. I left Jieun with my mom for a weekend and got it done. I wasn’t going to wait around for Jaehyun to maybe come back and start loving me again. I don’t have that kind of time, I have a baby now.”

“Damn. You’re stone-cold, Y/N. Seriously, if you ever want a new daddy, I will gladly help you out.”

“Why do I feel like you aren’t talking about Jieun? Don’t start that kinda talk around my baby, sir.”

“If sir is what you’re into, I can do that too,” He says with a wink.

“Ha-ha, very funny. I’m going to let you spend a weekend with her then you can decide if you want to be her new dad.”

“Oh you’re on, Y/N. Hear that, Jieun-ah?” Johnny says, jumping lightly, Jieun’s body moving with him, a loud fit of giggles leaving her lips. “Johnny’s gonna get a chance to be your new papa.”

You flick him on the forehead and he laughs. “You’re ridiculous. C’mon, walk us home.”

“Mama, wake up,” Jieun says quietly, crawling into your bed and on top of you. She places a flurry of kisses on your face and it stirs you awake. “Mama, come on, Papa is gonna be here soon.”

You wrap your arms around her and let out a sigh before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Who are you calling Papa? Johnny? Did he put you up to this?”

She nods quickly and lets out a giggle. “He said you would laugh.”

“You two are quite the comedians. Alright, go pick out some clothes and I’ll go make breakfast for you before Johnny gets here.”

Johnny isn’t your boyfriend, by any means, but he has stepped up and helped you with Jieun whenever you needed. And now she’s turning six in a few days, and Johnny has offered to take her for a weekend so you can have some time off. In the middle of cooking breakfast, you hear the keypad slide open and moments later, Johnny is walking through the door. He heads into the kitchen and pulls you into a side-hug, kissing you on the forehead and smiling.

“You know, she called you Papa this morning.”

He laughs. “Really? Holy shit, I didn’t think she would actually do it.”

“Dude, you can’t tell her to do that. She’ll get all confused and I don’t want to have that conversation with her.”

“Y/N, when will you finally give up and realize that we’re good for each other? And that I’m worthy of being her dad?”

You sigh. “Johnny—”

“— I’m serious! If you didn’t feel something for me, I would be dead by now. It’s been 5 years.”

“Good luck on your test run as Papa, Mr. Suh,” you say, plating the food for Jieun. “Go tell your daughter to come eat and then pack her bags.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“It’s mama to you, sir.”

The house is eerily quiet without Jieun and Johnny. Their infectious laughter normally fills the house along with the sound of toys clonking and falling, and you’re unsure of what to do to fill the time. What else is there to do with your life if you aren’t fawning over Johnny with your daughter? She might look like Jaehyun, but she’s all Johnny. She’s taken so much of his personality over the years that you barely see yourself in her some days. There’s a knock on the door and you’re quickly taken out of your thoughts — you head over to the door, saying a quick prayer that Johnny and Jieun are behind the door because they missed you, but when you open it, you’re met with Jaehyun.

“What are you doing here?”

“Okay, hello to you too?” He responds, walking past you and into the house. He takes his shoes off, walking into Jieun’s bedroom and walking out moments later, confused. “Where is she?”

“She’s with Johnny for the weekend.”

“Her birthday’s tomorrow, why is she with him?”

You can feel your blood boiling. In the last six years, Jaehyun hasn’t tried once to be a father to her and all of a sudden, he wants to try to be in her life. Having to be a mother, and watch another man have to step up to be her father, hurts beyond belief. You know you shouldn’t want Jaehyun to hurt too, but the words leave your mouth before you can stop yourself from saying them. “She insisted on spending her birthday weekend with her Papa.”

“P-papa? She thinks he’s her dad? You can’t be serious.”

“She knows he isn’t her dad. I promised to her before you even left that I would tell her the good things about you, and I did. I never told her to call him that, she did it on her own. If she feels like Johnny is her papa, what’s it to you?”

Your eyes begin to water and you turn to look anywhere else in the room except at Jaehyun and he lets out a shaky breath. He gets down on his knees in front of you, grabbing your hands and letting his head hang low.

“Y/N, I’m sorry,” he says. “I know I fucked up beyond belief, but we can’t live like this forever. I want a chance to be the father that I haven’t been for the last six years, to be that man for both you and Jieun.”

The tears stream freely down your face. “Jaehyun, get up.”

He gets up frantically, holding your face in his hands and forcing you to look at him. His face is red, tears staining his cheeks, and — call it a moment of weakness, but — his lips look so inviting. You feel like you’re in a trance, it’s been so long since you’ve even seen Jaehyun, especially this close up, and you’re immediately pulled into the time you had your first kiss. It was much too similar to this — you and Jaehyun standing in your living room, his hands on your face, his lips moving in a confession of love. His lips are moving, but you can’t hear any of what he’s saying, and before you know it, you’re leaning forward and pressing your lips onto his.

Neither of you waste any time — in an instant, Jaehyun’s hands travel down your body to the small of your back, and you bury your hands in his hair. His tongue peeks out of his mouth, licking at your lips and you open them for him. He places his hands on your thighs, and you instantly jump into his arms, wrapping your legs around his body. He walks towards your bedroom, his lips never leaving yours, and delicately places you on the bed. Jaehyun pulls away for a second, pulling his shirt over his head and you can feel your panties sticking to you the minute you see his bare torso. He reaches out to you, slipping your shirt over your head and throwing it onto the ground.

You’re not wearing a bra underneath, and in an instant Jaehyun’s lips wrap around one of your nipples, his hand slipping into your leggings and rubbing at your clit through your panties. You let out a content sigh, hand reaching forward to grip his now fully hardened crotch through his pants. He groans, letting go of your nipple and pulling the other one into his mouth.

“Jaehyun, I can’t wait,” you whine.

He pulls back and lets out a laugh. “Still as impatient as ever, I see.”

You roll your eyes, pushing your pants and underwear off, spread your legs, as Jaehyun steps onto the floor to quickly take his pants off.

“Are you on birth control?” He asks.

You shake your head no. “I haven’t gotten back on it.”

“What if Johnny had—”

“What if Johnny had what? Gotten me pregnant? That wouldn’t have been any of your business,” you snap. His eyes widen slightly and you sigh. “There’s condoms in my top drawer.”

He opens the drawer, sees the loose condoms, opens one and rolls it onto himself before getting back on the bed. He pushes your legs open further, balancing his weight on his arms as his tip pokes at your entrance. He looks into your eyes for any sign of regret, and for a second he thinks he sees some, but you nod quickly and he enters in one swift thrust. You gasp as soon as he’s in, clenching around him a few times to get used to the feeling and he groans.

“You feel so good, baby,” Jaehyun says, and for a second it feels like nothing his changed. He still feels the same inside of you, he still looks the same, he’s talking to you just as he always has.

“Move, please.”

He nods and begins thrusting into you slowly, pulling all the way out and slamming back in. You wrap your arms around his neck and he drops his head in the crook of your neck, pressing kisses into your skin as his thrusts pick up speed. Your mouth hangs open, letting out low moans and he groans every time he feels you clench around him. The world around you begins to fade as you feel Jaehyun’s body pressed close to yours, and you close your eyes to memorize the feeling before it’s ripped away from you.

“Say my name,” he says, angling his hips to hit that secret spot inside of you.

“J-jaehyun.”

“My real name.”

He’s thrusting into you at an absolutely inhumane pace, balancing all of his weight on one arm as his other travels to where your bodies meet, fingers pressing into your clit and your hips come up off the bed, chasing your oncoming high.

“Yoonoh, please, I wanna cum.”

Jaehyun’s chest convulses, and you can tell he’s crying into your neck. Tears brim at your eyes, and you can’t tell if it’s from the pleasure you’re receiving or the feeling of Jaehyun’s hot tears hitting your skin.

“Tell me you love me, please,” Jaehyun says quietly. “Lie to me.”

Your hands dig into the sheets, gripping tightly as you’re on the edge of your orgasm. Jaehyun pinches your clit between your fingers and successfully pushes you over the edge. You cum around him, back arching off the bed, and letting out a quiet “Yoonoh, I love you.” At the feeling of you spasming around him, and you telling him you love him, even if it is a lie, Jaehyun finishes into the condom and drops his body on top of you.

Your arms are spread on the bed, not wanting to touch Jaehyun as the guilt begins to consume you. Johnny isn’t your boyfriend yet, but he’s the father to your daughter that Jaehyun never was, and you almost feel like you’ve just cheated on him.

“Hold me,” Jaehyun whispers into your chest.

“Get up, Jaehyun,” you respond, lightly pushing him off your body. He sits up, head hanging low, and you wince at the feeling of him slipping out of you. He slips the condom off, tying it and throwing it into the trash can in your bathroom. When he comes back out into your bedroom, you’ve already redressed.

“This was a mistake, you should go home.”

“Y/N, I was serious earlier. I want to be that man for both you and Jieun.”

“It’s too late now,” you respond, watching as he redresses. As soon as his last article of clothing is back on, you’re pushing him out of the bedroom and towards the front door. You push him out the front door, throwing his shoes out after him. “This never happened.”

“Y/N, can we just talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Yoonoh. We have someone new in our life and he’s going to be the husband and father that you never were. Please don’t love me anymore, Jaehyun. It’ll kill you.”

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