Tumgik
#but he also would stop at NOTHING to keep the people of his lands alive and healthy
dmclemblems · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
“our fine leaders” look i love me a good dimitri and lorenz friendship and hearing him call dimitri a fine leader is a high honor from lorenz i am blessed by this
#Three Hopes#Three Hopes Spoilers#Lorenz#Dimitri#one of my big azure moon headcanons is that when the war ends dimitri appoints lorenz as being in charge of#all the old alliance lands bc dimitri can't be everywhere at once so he needs other people to take care of those places#he wants to help with change but he can only make a big difference more immediately in his own area#so the areas surrounding fhirdiad would get the best results fastest but nowhere else would see quick change#but if he has leaders in leicester and adrestia who know the place and people very well he can stay in contact with them#and make sure what he wants to do for the people and nobility will reach those areas just as quickly#so he has lorenz in charge of the former leicester territories and ferdinand in charge of the former adrestia territories#bc all three of them prioritize the wellbeing of the people over everything and i think he'd trust them the most to keep things in line#lorenz and ferdinand have very particular ideals for the nobility but they're more or less the same things dimitri feels#they all want the best for their people first and foremost and have solid goals to keep their people safe and happy#like for lorenz it's not a matter of just ''you're a commoner so we're above you''#it's that he thinks yeah they deserve respect for what they do since they do all the heavy lifting for governing#and that's the stuff that's supposed to help with laws that keeps everything civilized#but he also would stop at NOTHING to keep the people of his lands alive and healthy#to him it's his duty to ensure those things for his people and he believes it's a noble's purpose basically to provide for commoners#dimitri thinks of it in a less nobility versus commoners specific way but he wants the same things and i think#he would trust lorenz more than probably anyone else when it came to the safety of the common folk#like he would trust yuri with that but he also understands yuri can sometimes be involved in shady things#but lorenz doesn't have a shady bone in his body and any distrust he feels for anyone he's up front about#and when he's wrong abt something he'll admit it and apologize and not many of the nobility behave like that#im super sad that they didn't get supports in either game bc they would have an amazing friendship imo#and between the two of them would be able to really bring about a new era for fodlan that really made it a great place#not to say I think ferdinand would help less just that this post is more abt lorenz and dimi specifically#they're my golden leaders trio and im so heartbroken that ferdinand can't join dimi in this game bc they're all#such good leaders and rulers and i want them to be close friends who always contact each other for politics and change
20 notes · View notes
larluce · 3 months
Text
Merlin traveling back in time to save Arthur AU but with a twist!!
Merlin makes it to the sidhes, bringing a barely breathing Arthur with him. As expected, they ask for a price and Merlin offers his life, ignoring Arthur's protests.
Sidhe1: You're inmortal you can't die
Sidhe2: And even if you could, killing you would mean killing magic itself, therefore killing the earth itself.
Merlin: (crying desperate) I don't care! Take what you need! My blood, my magic, anything! Just save him!
Sidhe1: (smiling evily) I might know just the thing.
They never tell him what are they going to take from him, but he agrees. The sidhes start the ritual, while Arthur just keeps pleading weakely
Merlin: (smiling) If I somehow don't come back-
Arthur: (crying) Stop! Merlin don't do this. Please!
Merlin: I just want you to know that I love you.
Before Arthur can answer the ritual ends and Merlin blacks out.
When he wakes up he is in his way to Camelot in his old clothes and 10 years younger. He soon discovers he's been brought back to the very first day he met Arthur. He's confused. Have the Sidhes taken from him years of his life as a price? It doesn't make sense to him, but he decides to take advantage of this to prevent some things from happening.
Time goes by and while, in general, all events are repeating, not everything is happening as he remembers. Some people arrive in his live early, like Lancelot or Gawain. And Arthur treats him better? Like he says thank you to him more often and listens to him more. Merlin thinks it’s weird, but brushes it off thinking it’s due to the changes he's been making that some things are not quite the same.
Then the day comes when he finally reveals his magic to Arthur. He cries and Arthur hugs him telling everything its okey. Nothing its going to happen to him. Shortly after however Arthur also has a confession.
Arthur: I already knew.
Merlin: What?! Since when?
Arthur: the very start.
Merlin: How? I've been careful! More careful than before!
Arthur: Because you told me before. Well, not really before, but in the future. It’s complicated.
Merlin: Wait... you are from the future too?!
They are both surprised. They thought they were alone in this and it turns out they never were. Merlin cries all over again, apologazing for everything, for failing him, for not being able to save him, but-
Arthur: You did.
Merlin: ... What?
Arthur: You did save me.
Merlin: No, the sidhes tricked me. They sent us back in time-
Arthur: It was not them who did that. It was me.
Merlin: What... what are you saying?
Turns out what the ritual really did was turn Merlin into a small tree in exchange for saving Arthur’s life. A magic tree that would grow taller and taller and never die and whose ruts would expand making magic florish in the earth forever. Arthur of course was really upset after that. He demanded the sidhes to turn Merlin back but they only told him "what's done it's done" and that all he could do was pick the tree up before the roots growed if he wanted to move it elsewhere.
Arthur put the tree in a pot and brought it back to Camelot. Everyone was devasted with the news but they were also glad their king was alive and safe. No one blamed him, but Arthur always blamed himself. He repealed the ban as soon as he could and made sure everyone knew Merlin's involvement in the battle and later the other things he find out Merlin did for Camelot through Gaius. He made an anual event and a statue in Merlin's honor. Camelot slowly but surely welcomed magic again and became the most prosperous kingdom in the land.
Merlin: Oh...I don't remember being a tree.
Arthur: Yeah, I figured.
Merlin: But you repealed the ban! That's great! Magic was free again in the-wait... so why did you do all this if everything was fine? And how did you do it?
Arthur: Everything was NOT fine Merlin. You weren't there!
Merlin: (utterly confused) I was. As a tree.
Arthur: You know what I mean! You were there but you weren't. We mourned you but you were still alive. I kept you in that pot for longer that I should have because I wanted to keep you close all the time, yet looking at you was so painful... Gwen had to scold me into finally plant you in the garden so you could grow properly. I was broken inside, while trying to rule a kingdom. I kingdom we should have ruled together from the start!
Merlin: ...
Merlin: You're telling me you somehow traveled us back in time and throw away the golden age, your dream of uniting all Albion and all you worked hard for... just because you missed me?
Arthur: And because I couldn't say it back.
Merlin: What?
Arthur: That I love you too.
NEXT PART OF THIS AU HERE -> PART 2
983 notes · View notes
mediumgayitalian · 1 month
Text
Will would like to say, at risk of perjuring himself, that he did not intend to fall asleep.
Like, he wanted to.
And he did.
But it was not his original intent.
His original intent was to stabilize his patients (success), climb out the back window of the infirmary (success), stick the landing (failure is good for growth), meet Nico behind the Big House (success), and shadow travel to his cabin without throwing up (fifty percent is a pass). The secondary intent was to sprawl on his boyfriend’s lap, taking up as much space as possible in his massive, against-camp-regulations bed (how it is possible to be Dionysus’ nepo baby without actually being a child of Dionysus, Will shall never know), turn off his brain, and watch him play video games for a while.
The issue is that Nico is so comfortable.
Yeah, he’s bony. And yeah, sometimes he gets really into the game and forgets that Will is there, elbowing him in the face as he cusses at the screen in what sounds like ancient Latin. And yeah, the sound of a CoD lobby is the opposite of a sleep-conductive environment. However.
However.
While he may spend hours of his week standing on tables, lecturing on healthy eating habits and regular circadian rhythms via sonnet, and enforcing said habits via taser (rip Leo Valdez, you would’ve loved watching Will taser people for stress relief, come back alive soon), Will is what his friends and family call a ‘big fat hypocrite’.
He wouldn’t know healthy habits if they painted themselves bright neon blue (the easiest colour for him to see), stood ten feet tall, dressed in Malvolio’s outfit from Twelfth Night, and roundhouse kicked him in the teeth his mother spent thousands of dollars on (braces suck). He has not slept through the night even once his whole life. Yesterday, his two meals were 1) twizzlers and 2) audacity. He once measured how much liquid he had in his system on any given time and then drank approximately two point seven litres of RedBull to become, by volume, one half percent caffeine. (His heart did indeed stop. But it started back up again when Jason shocked him, so it was fine. Plus, he wrote it all down, so in reality it was science.)
Also, his dumbfuck peers keep getting themselves maimed, and he was informed unfortunately by Chiron that he cannot strike and leave them to suffer. (Accusing him of violating his First Amendment Right To Petition got him nothing but stable duty.) As of ten minutes before Nico picked him up, he was on his thirty-ninth consecutive hour of being awake. Probably. (He’s reasonably certain that climbing a tree on Friday morning and belting himself to the trunk, Katniss Everdeen style, for a quick catnap was not a fever dream, but one can never be too certain.)
Regardless. Point is, Will had cute boys to cuddle and Thoughts to Think. He had no intention of falling asleep.
And, yet.
He wakes up warm — the perfect kind of warm, wherein you feel akin to a soupified caterpillar in a chrysalis — or like a croissant lovingly shaped by the hands of an elderly chef in Paris and baked with care in a regulated oven — or like a wonderfully blubbery elephant seal baking on a slick rock — or like a space rock hurtling through the —
“Morning, Sunshine,” murmurs a very familiar voice. Following the very gentle murmur is a very gentle smooch on the forehead. Will, still mostly asleep, thinks he would sign off his soul without a second thought to ensure it happens again. “Or evening, rather.”
“Has anyone ever offered you their soul?” Will asks, fuzzy and disoriented. He tries and fails to blink the grogginess away, but the world around him stays dark, and the hand in his hair remains where it is, and he is so, so sleepy.
“Not yet,” Nico says. Will can hear the amused smile in his voice. “Why?”
Will yawns. “No reason. Timizzit?”
“Late, tesoro. Past curfew.”
Will groans, knocking his head gently back into Nico’s hold.
Of course his dumb ass slept through the evening. Of course he now has to drag himself awake and walk, in the blistering, nose-numbing frost (it’s sixty degrees, Solace) across camp, dodging feral harpy attacks (Apollo kids have harpy immunity, William), and trudging into his sad, small, lonely bed (gods above you are your father’s son) where he will of course be fully awake by the time he gets there. God really does give his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. (You’re an atheist, William Andrew.)
“Why me,” he laments, refusing to move from his boyfriend’s lap. Perhaps he will simply wither here, warm, satisfied, and more importantly away from little siblings who will not stop squabbling even when their long-suffering older brother looks longingly and pointedly at a bottle of cyanide.
Nico snorts. “Because the gods are punishing you for your crimes.”
“I have committed no crimes! This is unjust! Partisan! I am Hester Prynne and she is me —”
“Your mother is going to hell for teaching you literacy.”
“Defamation and libel!”
“Shut up, Will, gods —”
But he softens the blow of his words by leaning down, hands on either side of Will’s face, and kissing him like he’s trying to breathe him back to life. Or keep him quiet, honestly, but he smells like woodsmoke and citrus and old leather so Will doesn’t really mind. Even if he did, the chapped skin of Nico’s lips serves as a very good distraction, as does the brush of his thumb over Will’s cheekbone and the cool press of his ring against Will’s heated skin.
“Stay over,” he whispers, shifting his lips to Will’s chin, his jaw, his neck. He scratches his teeth lightly against Will’s adam’s apple and his hemoglobin briefly forget how important their job is. “You don’t have a shift tomorrow and everyone at camp owes you, like, twelve favours each.”
“That’s very convincing,” Will mumbles, unsure if he’s referring to Nico’s sound logic or the breath he blows on the shell of Will’s ear, which makes his arrector pili muscles go crazy. (He could make a more convincing case for the logic if all the blood had not abandoned his brain. Alas.)
“I’m a very convincing person.”
He slides a hand under Will’s shirt and his already very weak resolve pulls out a suitcase, packs its things, and abandons its family to pursue a career in competitive shoemaking. Or something. Nico’s hands are very very cold and it feels really really good for some reason and Will is just one man, okay. He may have been named after willpower but that does not mean he possesses any. And Nico is a convincing person. He out-stubborned Death.
“Okay,” he gasps out, arching into the nail Nico scratches over the intensely sensitive skin of his hip, “I’m staying, I’m staying, please take all your wiles and ship them out into the sea in a wine crate ala Danaë and her newborn.”
“…You are such a deeply strange person.”
“And yet you love me so.”
Nico presses his smile to Will’s forehead. “Indeed, I do.”
535 notes · View notes
adonis-koo · 5 months
Text
wicked • 17
Tumblr media
↳ Summary: In a desperate hope to stop war from breaking you are a serviced to wed the most vile man alive, the one who has committed atrocities and war crimes beyond comprehension, he who is responsible for the fall of many nations, the wicked prince who’s heart is made of stone. You are to marry a man who challenges every belief and moral you stand for, all while being faced in a foreign land with nobody but yourself too trust…But are you both truly that different? Or is hate not too far from love?
↳ Pairing: Jungkook/reader
↳ Genre: arranged marriage AU, enemies to lovers, it’s kind of a period AU??? Historical but also technically not? prince!AU, eventual smut
Word Count: 8k
Previous | Next | Masterlist
Note: it’s actually difficult to believe it’s been eight months since I’ve updated, went through two jobs, a friend group and a boyfriend who gaslit the absolute fuck out of me and made me experience female hysteria 😍 I wrote this chapter the night he broke up with me so it just has that nice little extra touch of ✨ intensity ✨ enjoy lovies and I will be back hopefully sooner then last time with another update
Tumblr media
It felt wrong, packing a small case of clothes while so many things at the castle had yet to play out, and Wheein’s life was hanging in the balance of it.
You had no intentions to trudge your way to the barracks but here you were; early morning where all of the guards were training and the person you were looking for was watching them, hands on his hips as he called out to one of them to tighten their guard.
You hadn’t planned on talking to him today, but leaving without so much as saying a word felt wrong, and perhaps after everything that had happened you were searching for sober reassurance.
“Jungkook.”
Everybody froze at the sound of your voice, you ignored all the eyes on you, after having lived in Penumbra for almost a year, you had somewhere along the way gotten used to all of the eyes that constantly followed you.
The guards exchanged awkward glances with one another, Jungkook looked surprised by your appearance, eyes glancing over you as if you were a hallucination, but after a moment it was evident you weren’t going to disappear upon blinking.
He glanced between you and the guards before he waved them off, “Keep going.”
You couldn’t stand the hopeful look in his eyes, almost a bit bashful as you walked in line with him further away from the barracks, “How can you expect me to leave the castle when Wheein is in a dungeon? And furthermore sending your aunt to try and reconcile with me?”
Jungkook frowned, “Well I doubted you wanted to see me after my drunk display- which truth be told I hardly remember anything I said, and It’s probably for the best that I don’t, Y/n…” He sighed as he stopped, “It was only a suggestion, it crossed my mind about the estate because truthfully I think you would like it there, and it would be safe,” His hands tenderly grabbed your shoulders as your lips curled in anger but you said nothing, “And I think it would be good for you to put all of this out of your head for a few days. I’ll continue to handle things here and if things change with Wheein trust that I’ll be able to take care of it.”
Your expression didn’t change as Jungkook frowned, “I would also like to remind you that she’s been one of my closest friends since I was a child. You’re not the only one who cares for her.”
You begrudgingly looked away from him but your expression softened, a stab of guilt surging through your stomach at the realization that he was very much right, “I know, I’m sorry I just-”
“Don’t be,” Jungkook replied, “You have a mean bite but I can appreciate your loyalty. I can’t undo the past but I want to make things right. I…” Jungkook paused, looking hesitant his eyes darting away from you and then back to you once more.
You offered no words forcing him to sigh, as if it was difficult for him to admit, “I want to be with you Y/n, not as two people amicable due to marriage or friends on uneasy terms…” He bit down on his cheek, unable to hold your steely gaze as his hand hesitantly reached out, tenderly stroking along your jawline, “I want more than that with you, I want all of the fire and all of the rage, I want the pain, the hardships. I want you, all of you, every flaw that makes you, you.”
You hadn’t even realized your eyes had blurred until his thumbs were tenderly pushing your tears away, “Is this a declaration?”
“It’s a promise.” Jungkook’s eyes held such a softness in them filled with something you still felt uncertain to assume, “You told me that you wanted to bear the deepest parts of yourself to me, all of your insecurities, the parts you don’t like about yourself, the parts you may even hate, so I am standing here to tell you to show me, show me all of it, and I will still take you as you are.”
He was saying many overwhelming words to you, but you knew he was dancing around the most important word, you could see it in his eyes, how it lingered on the tip of his tongue.
But something was stopping him from truly confessing it.
Perhaps even after all of these months, it was still too soon.
Evidently so given your circumstances.
“I don’t want you away from me,” Jungkook admitted, a frown slowly forming on his lips, “But if that’s what it takes, I would wait a lifetime if it meant your forgiveness, if it meant a second chance to be with you.”
“Is that why you’re willing to send me away?” You sniffled, “Otherwise you’ll continue to drink and wake me up in the middle of the night?”
“It wasn’t my finest moment,” Jungkook gave a weak smile, “But you can’t deny it got my point across didn’t it?”
Just his smile made something in you crumble, a vast desire to embrace him here and to forgive him, surely you could put this all behind you…?
But a bigger part of you didn’t want to rush this, you didn’t want to be complacent anymore, that was how you got into this situation, how you immediately jumped to Claudin’s offer rather than confide in the person you were married to.
It was such a raw feeling, you could feel it licking at your very soul, trying to tame your desire to throw all caution to the wind once more.
And for a brief moment you could feel Jungkook have the same reaction as you, as if it took every fiber in his being to not beg you to stay, you don’t know if you could stand your ground against him again if he came on as strong as he had last night.
“Just for a few days.” You whispered out as he frowned, giving you an understanding nod.
“You’ll love it there.” His hands finally let go of you, somewhat reluctantly.
And then it was silent for a long moment, tension still lingering in the air and both of you clearly hesitant.
“Then…I’ll see you in a few days.” You mumbled and Jungkook nodded once more. It felt like the ground was trying to engulf your feet as you turned around, feeling oddly empty at your goodbye, waiting for something that wouldn’t come.
What was it you had hoped for? A hug…?
Maybe a kiss…?
But then again, it felt as though you were no longer deserving of those things, Jungkook may have done things to hurt you but you had also done things to hurt him, how could you both love one another if you couldn’t trust one another first?
You wished Jungkook had reached out for you, to at least give you some form of affection before leaving, but he also knew this was true, and let you leave with no grief.
It left you feeling empty inside, but this was for the best.
Tumblr media
You journeyed over horseback for the day, trying to leave your fretting heart behind as you nervously glanced back at the far away sight of the castle, what if something developed with Wheein?
You felt as though you were betraying her just by leaving, more than anything you were desperate to get her back, perhaps that was why Jungkook was sending you away, as if he sensed your desperation would only heighten the longer this went on.
Dare you say, he feared the worst might happen if you stayed.
Your grip tightened on your reigns, once more trying to put it out of your mind, taking a deep breath you took in the heady scent of the pine tree’s the surrounded you, the Estate was much closer to the mountains then you had anticipated, by midday you had journeyed far enough that snow had already reached the ground.
“Are you nervous?” Yoongi had slowed his horse down to ride next to you, his eyes however still scoured ahead for possible danger.
“What do you mean?” You frowned as you glanced at his back, hearing a branch snap as your eyes darted towards the left of him.
Your faithful companion Fenrir having accidentally broke the branch he had been carrying in his mouth the past hour he had grown fond of, a whine leaving him in disappointment as he picked up the bigger side.
“Journeying away from the castle during these trying times…” Yoongi glanced back at you, a frown of his own, “It can’t be easy leaving with everything that’s happened.”
You didn’t reply for a long moment, Yoongi slowed down to ride beside you as he curiously took in your expression.
It was silent for a long moment before you finally relented, “It is difficult, but…After a long night, I figured this was probably best. It seems like my involvement in things only tends to make them worse. And truthfully there's no telling what lengths I’d go to at this point to get Wheein back.”
“Oh?” Yoongi looked curiosity once more, “I didn’t realize you had such a taste for danger.”
His joke made a smile finally tug on your lips, “Neither did I before coming to Penumbra. It seems this kingdom has a way of bringing out the primitive nature in me. But then again, it seems people have always looked down on me when I think of it.”
“On you?” Yoongi scoffed in amusement, “Dryad Matron of Eunoia? It’s difficult to believe, you’re like a pillar of light to the commonwealth of Penumbra, it used to drive the Prince nuts during your engagement.”
“It did…?” You peered somewhat hesitantly at him.
This made Yoongi grin, “Oh yes, when news of your engagement first broke out it had the people ecstatic, it had him gagging every second he heard good things of you.”
“This is hardly making me feel better…” You winced, though a small part of you was amused to hear this, though you wish you could say the same.
It always seemed to you that people in Penumbra didn’t fully grasp just how much people feared them on the outside world, instead poking fun at the titles they had earned as if it was a little joke.
The whole two years of your engagement are two years you’d rather die then live through again, the anxiety that kept you up at night, the endless amounts of tears you cried, the emptiness it left inside you how no one even tried to comfort you.
Looking back you understood, nobody wanted to feed you lies to comfort you, but at the time, you didn’t understand, it felt cruel.
“Not everyone feels that way about me, evidently from what I saw in the Underside.” You replied, somewhat reminiscing on the horrendous memory of the mock version of you.
“You shouldn’t pay that any mind,” Yoongi scoffed, “The humor is juvenile there, everything it stands for is juvenile, even it’s name; the Underside was a joke, a mockery meant for every royal that has to say it’s name with seriousness, point being- they don’t respect anyone who won’t give them money.”
You only shook your head, “It’s not just that though, there has always been a small part of people and court alike who haven’t liked me, even long before I was engaged to Jungkook. I was known for having a temper,” It made you smile wryly, “-The Bitch of Eunoia, that’s what they ran around calling me behind my back. It was horrendous in Kimhae.”
“Was it now?” Yoongi looked amused by this, “That in some ways does, and doesn’t surprise me.”
“The court ladies in Eunoia often liked to call me that as well. But it was very pronounced by Kimhae court men. When I was younger, I used to wear traditional Eunoian attire when i’d visit. Apparently shoulders and knee’s used to drive them crazy. I had one of the aristocrats boldly ask me if I was an exotic woman of the night, willing to pay for me.”
Yoongi’s jaw had dropped making you laugh as he gestured you on, “What did you say?”
“Something along the lines of calling him a perverted old man whom ought to have his loins cut off for making such a comment to a women- let alone a Princess.” The memory made you smile as you shook your head, “The Bitch of Eunoia…why is it men are allowed to be angry Yoongi? Why is it women are shamed so?”
Yoongi let out a hum, “This is indeed a good question, but perhap it’s because they know a woman's scorn could even bring heaven out of the sky. I’m not all too surprised about Kimhae- but you said Eunoians called you this as well?”
Your smile became saddened, “By many court ladies yes,” You scratched your cheek in thought, “I was always lonely as a child…the war took a toll on me, I was temperamental and childish. But the court ladies as children, also liked to mock me and egg me on. As we grew older they grew closer and I still stayed a distance away. They’d find any reason to pick me apart or give me more work to do. They were practically leaping for joy when the news broke that I was engaged.”
“Why do you think that was though?” Yoongi asked, “That they didn’t like you?”
You shrugged, you had never really thought about it much, rather you preferred to keep the past where it was rather then dwell on it, “I suppose it had a lot to do with the fact that while we were all training to be healers I excelled more at it, it came naturally to me and they ended up putting me in the tents before the others. They all assumed it was from favoritism…Maybe it was,” You pondered on this briefly, “I just remember thinking it wasn’t fair.”
“Fair?”
You didn’t elaborate on the word for a long moment, feeling something akin to guilt bubble in your stomach.
You glanced off into the distance where the mountains towered high, it made you feel so tiny in comparison to its greatness, and briefly you felt awe.
You always admired nature, how vast it was compared to you and all your humanly troubles, you turned to it and it’s kin when you needed comfort and in these moments you could turn to it when you were also troubled with words.
It was difficult to adequately explain to people the rage you had felt since you were a child, anger had always been in your bones, from the moment you were born. Your mother used to tell you, that when she gave birth, you had come out of her womb with a roaring cry.
You craved to be vulnerable, to be soft and tender, to be all the things you were not, and you were many things, just not those.
Many people people heard you, they just never listened, didn’t understand.
“I had a lot of resentment as a child, to everything, the war, my parents, our country. I didn’t want to be a healer, I didn’t want to have to watch people in my care die, I didn’t want to attend the burnings or hear the whales of agony and pain, the cries of mourning, the people who blamed me for not being able to save their loved ones.”
You would be lying if you said you didn’t feel haunted by those memories, watching the lifeforce leave someone's body as you tried to stop the bleeding, the maimed limbs and mangled bodies that were beyond your skill or help.
“I didn’t want to be made to go past our lesson times to keep studying, or made to go back in to practice when all the other girls were allowed to play. Or put in a tent over night while they all slept. It wasn’t fair.”You mumbled, perhaps still a lingering tone of resentment.
The past was the past, it couldn’t be changed, you had come to terms with this, but if you stopped and really thought about it, old feelings old eventually begin to resurface, it was why you tried so desperately to just forget about it.
At one time you blamed Penumbra, you hated it’s people for what they did, what they caused.
But then you married Jungkook and you journeyed here yourself, and saw with your own eyes, that these people, were simply people, who were also victims of their own royalty.
You felt the soft grip of a hand on your shoulder, “I am sorry, for what it’s worth,” Yoongi held a face of sympathy, “We all felt the same, or…I suppose a mutual feeling on the opposite side of things. Children being forced to enlist into a war we didn’t want to wage with little choice…”
You gently grabbed his hand giving it a small squeeze, a weak smile on your face, “It wasn’t fair for any of us. We’re all a bi-product of our parents' sins. It’s up to us now to break that cycle.”
You had arrived to the estate by nightfall and it was shrouded in tall pine and fir trees, the aroma had you closing your eyes for a moment to savor it, just as Jungkook said, it truly was beautiful.
Snow covered the ground in a few inches, and a chill was left in your bones, but you settled in rather nicely, Yoongi had managed to get a fire going rather quickly and it was quiet in the solitude of the estate.
For once, it was nice to be able to breathe without being watched.
Tumblr media
The first two days had went by surprisingly quick, but you had found a natural rhythm in nature, you went on long peaceful walks, kept yourself wrapped in a blanket while sitting on the terrace taking in the crisp cool air.
You had even spent the evening watching the snowfall outside, enchanted at how it came in big fluttering puffy balls, you had heard of snow before, but you had never actually seen it fall from the sky, like a thousand little gifts from the heavens.
It was dull and gray out today, the same as it had been for the last week now, at the estate was unsurprisingly no different.
Today however you had Yoongi set up some haybales in the pit area where guards would typically be trained, it was run down now, old boxes used as storage had been broken down and were hazardously strewn everywhere, long nine inch rusty nails sticking out of wooden pieces at razor sharp jagged angles.
But with Yoongi’s help you both had piled it up safely away and got a decent bit of space ready for training.
“Too stiff-”
“Ah!”
It was a second too late, you had already released the string, sending the arrow flying, it had veered off target as the string slapped your forearm with a sharp snap causing you to drop it.
Fenrir suddenly popped up from the ground where he had been laid out the last half hour, head cocked in concern at the noise that escaped you.
“How many times do I have to tell you,” Yoongi groaned, “You can’t hold it with a stiff arm! Look at this!” He got up from his spot as he held up your arm by the wrist, “It looks like somebody gave you a lashing! Jungkook will have my head if it isn’t heal by tomorrow.”
Your lips twisted into a sulky pout, “I am trying!”
“Not hard enough that’s the fifth time within the hour,” Yoongi whistled out as he let you go, Fenrir walking up to you as he sniffed your hand, giving it a lick before nudging it.
You rubbed your forearm, that was undeniably sore and throbbing with pain before placing your hand on Fenrir’s head to give it a nice long rub.
He had grown remarkably big in the last month, almost as big as you now, just a five or six inches shorter, it made you give a sad frown, at how big he was and soon he’d become a monstrous size…
You’d simply have to build a bigger stable you supposed.
“Aim comes naturally but holding a weapon does not,” You sighed as you placed both your hands on Fenrir’s head, now giving him generous rubs and pats that had him giving a toothy puppy grin that made you smile, “I’ve practiced here and there with a bow but with everything going on, I just haven’t made it a priority.”
Yoongi sighed, “Natural ability will only get you so far, discipline if a far greater advantage Princess, thankfully we can start working on this daily, I think it’d be good for you to have a hobby.”
“I have hobbies.” You frowned as crossed your arms.
“Such as…?” Yoongi gestured.
“Well…” You could think of several as a matter of fact, but you had given them all up once you had moved to Penumbra, the thought made you frown in realization, you had been so caught up in all the highs and lows of your new life that it was true.
You had hobbies, you just never participated in any of them.
“I suppose it would do me some good to work on it,” You sighed as you relented, “I still feel a tad guilty though, shouldn’t I be honing my skill in swordsmanship? Jungkook once told me that it’s expected the Crowned Prince and Princess are supposed to be the best at it.”
“Well…” Yoongi stretched the word, “This is true but, I don’t think somebody is going to fault you for not being the best at it. I’d like to think it’s an expectation from those born in Penumbra, not those who marry in. Not only this but if you are inclined to another form of weaponry, then it’s as simple as that.
“As long as you have some form of sword training then it’ll do,” Yoongi shrugged, “What matters is personal protection, some training is better then none, but having a form of training you’re good at is even better.”
“You Penumbrian’s certainly like taking precautions.” You sighed wistfully as you picked up your bow once more.
“The more the better,” Yoongi said, “Guards are great, but what happens when you’re caught without any? Learning to defend yourself is vital.”
You glanced down at your bow, “I understand but…”
“But?” Yoongi asked.
“Well, I suppose a part of me just feels odd,” You replied, “I grew up being taught to save lives, not take them,” You rubbed your neck in uncertainty, “When I took the Dryad’s oath, it was a promise to myself and my ancestors that I would abstain from our carnal nature. That I would never take a life nor would I consume its flesh. Animal or human. Even though the chances of me having to defend myself in such a way are so low, it’s odd to train for it, after taking that oath and living by it my whole life.”
Yoongi let out a small smile, “Then don’t view it as such.”
“What do you mean?” You tilted your head.
“Sword play is considered an art form in Penumbra, you can view a bow in the same light. It’s quite a beautiful thing really, it’s not just aiming and shooting, it’s how you hold it, the type of arrow you use, the weight of your feet. A lot goes into it.”
You thought on this for a while before nodding, “I suppose you are right.”
“Min Yoongi! I’m looking for a Min Yoongi?”
A voice called out that had you both glancing around the courtyard before seeing the courier at the gates glancing around before meeting his gaze.
“Yes?” Yoongi called out, walking up to meet him.
“I have a letter for you sire! It was urgent from the court” The courier dug through his bag before handing it to him, giving a short bow to you and then departing.
You glanced at it anxiously as you exchanged a look with Yoongi, was this about Wheein?
Yoongi opened the letter, reading it before he sighed,
“What, what is it?” You asked, anxiety in your voice.
“It’s not about Wheein,” You let out a breath in relief as Yoongi continued, “But it is a request for help.”
“What do you mean?” You asked.
Yoongi sighed, “There’s a watchtower just east of here, about an hour away give or take on horseback, apparently they’ve been dealing with a gang of bandits up there. Supposedly they’re going to siege the tower.”
“They can do that?” You asked in surprise.
Yoongi shrugged, “I suppose so, I don’t know what they think I can do about it.”
“Well you said you were an assassin before you became a knight? So surely that counts for something.” You said, setting down your bow on a lonely bale of hay.
Yoongi sighed as he folded the letter back up, “Even so, I won’t just leave you here by yourself.”
You frowned, “It’s only us here, and it’s secluded so I won’t be in any real danger, and you said it was only an hour away. I doubt you’d take long in taking them down.”
“Are you just trying to get rid of me?” Yoongi asked in mild amusement.
“I would never!” You said, “But I’d hate to see something unfortunate happen that could be prevented, you’re far closer then someone is to the castle. It would make the most sense for you to go.”
Yoongi sighed, “Even if I’m over cautious, it doesn’t sit right leaving you here all by yourself.”
“I wouldn’t be alone!” You replied, grinning as you gave Fenrir a solid pat, “Fenrir will defend me! Jungkook and I have been working on commands. Sit!”
Fenrir immediately complied.
“Very fierce.” Yoongi said dryly.
You held up a finger, grabbing a piece of wooden box that was free of any nails off the ground, “Fenrir,” He perked up at his name, “Attack!” You threw it causing his gaze to follow it with a loud snarling howl, his jaws crunching the board in half immediately grabbing the smaller end.
Running back to you before dropping down on his front paws, tail wagging as he tried to get you to chase him.
Yoongi looked a bit more startled at the thick board of wood that had been crushed as he nodded, “Okay, a little more fierce than before…” Yoongi thought about it for a long moment, “I suppose if I left now I would make it back by supper….Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
You gave him a small smile, “It’s only a few hours, I think I’ll be able to manage.”
Yoongi still seemed hesitant but he nodded, “I’ll go gather a few things then and be off. The sooner I leave the sooner I’ll be back.”
“It’s one night,” You smiled, “And then we’ll be back at the castle tomorrow.”
You had waved Yoongi off before you continued on with your day.
Spending another few hours training with your bow you had eventually given up once the string of your bow hit a particularly sensitive spot on your forearm.
The rest of your day had been spent taking walks along the trail’s with Fenrir before eventually settling inside, roaming the halls and exploring empty rooms.
And eventually the afternoon came.
But slowly the sun began to set and a vague feeling of dread followed along with it.
Yoongi…would’ve been back by now, right?
Or perhaps it took him longer to clear out the bandits.
You nodded at this as you stayed curled up in your large chair, Fenrir curled up beneath your feet as he let out a sigh, as if sensing your discomfort and unsatisfied with it.
Continuing to read, time went on and soon the sun had set.
You had managed to get a fire going on your own and had lit the candles in the hall, making the estate feel less consuming then it had before but it didn’t quell your anxiousness as the hour went on later.
Yoongi would certainly be back by now…
You were certain you’d manage the commute back to the castle if you had too but…You wouldn’t feel right just leaving without him, but you also had no way of sending a message to the castle for help without going back yourself.
You felt at a loss for what to do, as you roamed the main hall, pausing at the sound of the gate opening. Opening the doorway you hurried out to the courtyard.
“Yoongi, I’ve been waiting all day, you worried me sick!” You stopped short at the sight ahead of you.
“Not who you were expecting?”
Di Jin’s smug smile was the last thing you saw before the sudden blow to your head caused your vision to go dark.
Tumblr media
“You look lost.” Jimin commented as he plopped in a seat right next to his dearest friend, both sat out for breakfast on the terrace.
“Was it a good idea sending her to the Estate?” Jungkook stared down in hard contemplation, his food untouched, “If something happens I won’t be able too…!”
He inhaled sharply as he forced himself to lean back in his chair, but despite the motion his body refused to relax.
You had left two days ago and he felt a void ever since.
Jungkook didn’t realize how much your presence had filled every inch of the castle until you had left, and now, he felt utterly useless, it was one thing for you to be mad at him, it was another for you to be gone.
Jimin looked amused but felt bad for him nonetheless, “Nothing is going to happen to her, the estate is nice and tucked away, the entire court has forgotten about it anyways, it hasn’t been used in years. You did a good thing.”
“Did I?” Jungkook finally slumped.
He had been constantly replaying his last memory of you, the conversation you both had before you left, the memory of you looking up at him for a long moment as if silently yearning for some form of affection.
It left Jungkook’s hands twitching and an unfamiliar ache in his chest, he couldn’t even describe how it felt. And he was honest when he spoke with you the night before, true he didn’t remember much, but what he did remember was straight from his heart, he thought he knew many things.
But after meeting you he found out quickly that he knew nothing at all.
Tomorrow, surely you’d be back tomorrow. You hadn’t given him an exact timeframe, but surely when you said a few days, you had meant no more then three?
“What if I-”
“No.” Jimin cut him off, “The whole point of her going was to get out of the castle and by default away from you. Not only that but what if something happened to Wheein while you were gone?”
Jungkook sunk back in his chair, that was right…He had promised you he would take care of anything that might possibly happen.
He wouldn’t let you down.
“Have you found any evidence yet?” Jungkook lowered his voice, his gaze lingering on the far side of the table where Claudin had been dining with a group of court ladies.
Jimin frowned, “Yes but the problem is getting it open,” He huffed, “I was able to slip into his room last night, it was empty but he has a lock box beneath a hollowed broken floorboard piece, seems he was in a hurry when he left, otherwise it wouldn’t have been left afar.
“Regardless I haven’t been able to crack the lock. Whatever is in there, it has a master’s lock on it. I’ll need at least another dozen picks before I even come close to cracking it.”
Jungkook sighed as he shook his head in disdain, “Of course when we need Yoongi he’s gone.”
Their elder would be able to open it within the hour if he was here.
Jimin frowned as well, “I’ll try again this afternoon.”
Jungkook’s eyes narrowed, “That’s early for you.”
“We’re running out of time Jungkook,” Jimin sighed, sinking back into his chair as well, eyeing Claudin with a certain wryness, “I keep hearing stirrings from the guards about how they’ve narrowed their search, but they’re hellbent on saying it was Wheein.”
“Sire,”
They both paused at the sight of Taehyun, a frown on his face as he glanced between them both, an anxious look as he bowed slightly, “It’s the council…they’ve summoned you. It doesn’t sound good, you should come as well Jimin.”
Jungkook glanced at his friend but said nothing as he stood up, not liking this one bit.
The walk to the throne room was swift and Jungkook wasted no time in arriving, the other council members had just arrived as well.
Clearly he wasn’t the only one uncertain of what was going on, other members had started hushing whispers to one another, all glancing in Jungkook’s direction occasionally as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed as he glanced at the empty throne the seats on its left occupied by his aunt and uncle whispering to one another.
They both glanced at him once before quickly looking away.
The tension felt suffocating and the longer it lasted the more anxious Jungkook felt, seconds turned into minutes and the whispers began to get louder.
And all within a moment, the doors open and a sweepingly silence took over the room save for the sound of boots against the ground. Dae Seong walked with confience in every step before standing before everyone on the throne.
“It is with confidence I have come to announce something of the utmost importance,” His voice boomed, “The attempted assassination on our Crowned Princess, was indeed committed by her maid Jung Wheein, we have reason enough to believe it was her as all the evidence points as such. Her form of punishment will be burning at the stake, tonight at the height of the moon. I ask you all join me on this divine distribution of punishment,”
Tumblr media
Groaning softly your vision was blurry at first, and the first person to appear in your vision was not who you expected.
“Not so quick witted now are you Eunoian Bitch,” Seohyun sneered, her smirking figure beneath you as your vision of her doubled.
Your mind was confused as you only remembered Di Jin being here, your eyes closed briefly only for a sharp pain to spread through your side that you recognized as being kicked in the side by her.
Groaning your eyes opened and her eyes beaded, sneering at you as another voice spoke, “Come along now Seohyun, why don’t you go see if that insufferable knight has managed to come back yet, I will finish our business here.”
She eyed you warily but said no more as she left and soon Di Jin stood in front of you, “You have truly been a pain in my ass since I was enlisted to kill you, I only hope you realize that.”
There was no remorse in his eyes as he pulled the wickedly curved knife from it’s sheath and a sadistic smile curled on his face, “Don’t worry Princess, i’ll make sure you have a slow miserable death.”
Despite your sluggish movements, adrenaline had shot in your veins as you realized you were about to die, you had too much to live for still. You needed to see what would come of Eunoia, you needed to make sure Wheein was okay, that you would keep your promise to Jungkook.
You couldn’t die, and you would fight if it meant living to see it.
Your mind was slowly coming out of it’s haze as Di Jin stepped closer to you, realizing you were in the courtyard near the hay bales, the pile you had cleaned early next to you, your arm reached over to grab one of the planks, three long rusted nails sticking out of it.
You swung it with as much force as you could towards his legs, it made contact, the nail piercing his skin with a wet noise as he cried out in pain, falling back on the ground as he growled out. “You dumb bitch, a pain until the end!”
You attempted to crawl away, heart pounding in your ears as you scurried but he was still too mobile, yanking the plank out of his leg with a growl of pain as he managed to get on top of you, you caught his wrists as he attempted to plunge the knife in your throat, “I’ll enjoy watching the life leave your eyes. I’ll be sure to bring your head back for your little husband to see one last time.”
Your strength was already failing as you winced out, the knife slowly coming closer to your skin as you whimpered out as it pierced the first layer of your flesh.
It was an indescrible pain that had you yelping in pain,
“I’ll make these last few moments the most excruciating and perhaps if you beg me enough, I might just end your pathetic little life girl,” Di Jin grinned leaning in closer, “Maybe if you beg me more i’ll give you a little more than just a long death.”
He pushed the knife a little deeper as blood spilled from your skin making you cry out, his body weighing heavier on yours and his lips suddenly pressing to your ear, “Something tells me you’d prefer that over this.”
Something about his lips pressing against your skin lit something primal inside of you, every sense heightened inside you as your lips parted taking a wide bite into his neck, you could taste it first, the metallic flavor of blood running across your tongue and dripping down your throat and then his skin was next, uncomfortably soft and tender and next was the cartilage, it was rubbery and had hard bits in it, next was the sensation of something warm and wet against your face.
Di Jin could no longer properly speak, his grip suddenly loosened on the knife as you yanked the large chunk of flesh straight from his neck, grabbing the knife as you yanked it away shoving him down as you managed to get on top of him.
The chunk missing from his neck was ghastly, blood pooling on the ground, oozing everywhere and squirting from various places and he was gagging loudly, choking on his own blood.
Anger trembled in your body, it wasn’t enough, even with chunks of flesh missing and blood covering your face, skin hanging and cartilage visible it still wasn’t enough, before you could even think you plunged the knife into his neck, eyes blurring as you watched him gurgle, choking on his own blood as the life left his eyes.
Your hands were shaking as you waited for him to jump back to life to kill you, and then you slowly realized your vision was blurred from tears, your heart pounding as you took a shaky breath yanking the knife out of his neck before you let out blood curdling scream slamming it back in his neck again.
Jungkook’s betrayal.
Wheein being taken.
Exiled from your own kingdom.
Being forced to wed.
Made into a healer as a child.
Bone.
Blood.
Ash.
The mourning bells rang in your head and you could vividly taste the metallic on your tongue stronger than ever as the taste of raw flesh lingered in your throat.
Blood splattered upward as you stabbed the spot over again, all of the rage searing in your veins as Di Jin’s form became disfigured, his neck nearly separating his head from his body as you shoved the knife in deeper.
Hearing the wet gurgling noise as you heaved a breath, staring at his cold dead eyes staring back at you, the next scream was not your own, but it came closer within seconds before the door to the estate opened.
Seohyun was heavily bleeding from her left thigh, sporting a large bite as a loud snarl came from inside the door, shakily you stood up, “Fenrir, wait.”
The large wolf paused, and that's when you noticed the large gash on his leg, causing him to limp, rage quelled in your veins again as you limped over, Seohyun looked pale a ghost at the sight of you.
From the moment this woman met you, she had given you nothing but grief, attempted to humiliate you, belittle you, try to win a lost battle, attempt to kill you, and now she had hurt your precious companion.
Even with a mangled body behind you, it still wasn’t enough.
Tripping over her own two feet she fell down as you walked over, “We can talk about this Y/n!” Her eyes were as big as saucers, “Please! I’ll leave Penumbra and- and never come back.”
You felt nothing for her as you stood above her, watching pathetic tears drip down her face for a long moment, finally you knelt down, “If Penumbra has taught me anything Seohyun, It’s that some people do not deserve my forgiveness, nor my kindness.”
Her lips parted rapidly, her throat scratchy, and for the first time, you saw genuine fear in her eyes, “B-but you’re a Eunoian,”
Her words were pointed, bargaining, pleading even- if you listened close enough, “Eunoian’s don’t kill.”
Your lips slowly lifted into a joyless smile as you let out an uneasy laugh, “Well,” Your smile dropped, your hands were still shaky, unbridled rage still taunt in your veins.
The primal urge of need to prove her wrong, prove all of them wrong, that you would never again be looked down upon as weak or underestimated.
Your hand grabbed her neck, causing her to let out a choked sob as you squeezed it tight enough to choke her airway, yanking her nearly nose to nose with you.
“We’re not in Eunoia, are we?” Your nails dug into her neck, not stopping until you felt the blood from her skin oozing, you shoved her back before you stood up, ignoring her blubbering, tears trickling down her face as you walked away, “Fenrir.”
“Please!”
He let out a growl, “Attack.”
Her cries of agony were left of deaf ears as you walked back over to the corpse of Di Jin grabbing the knife from his neck and yanking it out before taking the sheath that went with it, adjusting it on your waist.
Collapsing on the ground away from him you noticed your hands for the first time, shaking, trembling as your vision blurred once more, scarred and covered in blood, just what had you done?
Fenrir’s mouth was covered in blood, but the whine didn’t escape your ears as he tenderly tried to sit down in front of you.
“I’m sorry.” You ushered, grief strong in your voice though uncertain of who it was for, yourself, your country, your companion, you reached out for him, gently rubbing your hand down his neck, “But we have a long journey ahead of us Fenrir.”
Tumblr media
The bells were ringing and a somber air had taken over, Jungkook had nearly lost his entire wits, his father had banished him from the room, not wanting to hear another word from him about this.
Being told he was too sentimental fell on deaf ears, he didn’t care, it was his friend, it was injustice, it was corrupt. He hated it, he hated that despite being the crowned prince, his son, his father simply didn’t care.
All Jungkook could do was wait for Jimin to unlock this damn box. But it felt as though it was too late, he was banned from so much as leaving his room, guards at his door there to keep him boxed in but this wouldn’t stop him.
pulling the cloak over his head, he opened the window, the bricks were jagged and uneven enough that he could easily climb down, he did it often when he was younger, much to the blindness of his father.
Scaling the wall, Jungkook got down, feet planted firmly on the ground as he kept the hood over his head tight as he made his way to the courtyard. A crowd had gathered, all wanting to witness the supposed assassin.
Nobody paid mind to him with his identity concealed, it would be soon now. If he couldn’t get evidence to get Wheein out, then Jungkook would take matters into his own hand. He didn’t want to have Wheein leave Penumbra, but if this is what it took to keep her safe until her innocence was proven, this is what he would do.
He owed so much of his existence to her, he couldn’t let this happen.
He wasn’t going to let this happen.
The bells stopped as Dae Seong stood up from his throne on the wooden stage they had set up, “We have all gathered here to see the execution of the assassin who tried to kill our crowned princess! Her very own handmaid, this is the killer, our own flesh and blood, and the punishment for a traitorous woman is fitting, burning of the steak!”
Wheein was brought out, her hands tied behind her back, her eyes had dark circles and she was crying as she shook her head, “Please! I would never do that to Penumbra! To Y/n! Please you have to believe me!”
But her cries were in vein as the crowd boo’d her, all shouting vile words her way as they dragged her down to the large wooden steak pyre that had been set up.
Jungkook shifted in his spot as he watched them begin to tie her up.
“Are there any last words you would like to impart to us traitor?” Dae Seong looked at her with pure disgust.
Wheein’s lips quivered as she parted them.
A loud bloodcurdling scream interrupted her before she could speak, the crowd tensed and everyone seemed alert, Jungkook was towards the front, having intended on getting her off there the right moment, but he quickly turned around to see people quickly departing and creating a path.
And the next thing he saw was hardly comprehensible.
You, covered in blood, your face was a horrific sight with it’s dried crimson color covering your mouth all the way down your neck, but what was even more horrifying was what was next to you, Fenrir limping beside you, a corpse held in his mouth.
Women screamed and men gasped in horror as they all moved.
The looks on the royals faces were indescribable, Dae Seong most of all, “What is the meaning of this?”
You stopped in front of the throne, Fenrir as if knowing this was the destination, dropped the body from his jaws, it smacked the ground with a wet echo, the head finally detaching from the body as it rolled towards Dae Seong.
You don’t think you had ever seen an expression quite like what Dae Seong had, and you were sure this would be the only time.
It was silent for a long moment before you finally spoke, your throat raw and scratchy, “That’s your assassin, he tried to kill me again just hours ago.”
Dae Seong’s look of shock slowly twisted into one of rage, “Where is your proof of this!” He stood up from his throne towering over you with a growl, “What does a girl like you have meddling in business you don’t understand and taking the lives of those who were helping!”
“Am I standing in front of you not proof enough?” You snarled back, “From the moment I have come to this kingdom I have been nothing but disrespected, disregarded, used, and seen as nothing more than a tool to further someone’s agenda. And i’m sick of it.”
“Even when it comes to my own life, you stand in front of me questioning it!”
“Why I ought too!-”
“I have it!” A voice cried out, Jimin was running from the side entrance of the courtyard, a notebook in his hand as he panted, his eyes widening when they set on you, ‘Y/n!? Are you okay? I have it, I have proof that Di Jin was the assassin! Here, your majesty.”
Dae Seong snatched it with a certain level of venom as he looked through the book, but slowly as his eyes read through, an unreadable look took over his face.
Exhaustion began to take over, your body beginning to sway.
Dae Seong closed the book with a sense of finality, “Very well,” He aid with gritted teeth, anger still simmering in his eyes, “Perhaps, you do have the grit to survive here princess.”
You didn’t hear his words though, your gaze had went down to the body of Di Jin, and swaying backwards you collapsed into an abyss of darkness, nothing more then multiple people calling your name.
793 notes · View notes
leascorner · 29 days
Text
j.s. | Welcome home
Summary: After a mission, Jake gets some well deserved break at home. However the week might not turn out how he had planned.
Pairing:  Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x childhood bff!f!reader
Warnings: Angst, mention of death and near death experience, mention of break-up, probably inexact american army facts, ever most likely inexact description of Texas, mention of food, two idiots in love, happy ending
Word Count: 9.2k
A/N: I've said it before, I will say it again. The only trope that I can write/read about Jake is a childhood/best friends to lovers, don't fight me. I also see Jake as an older brother to two half-sisters his mother had with a very good man, after his father abandonned them. This is my canon.
Anyway, this is way too long and way too chaotic but I just couldn't stop writting so enjoy!
Masterlist
Tumblr media
Y/N was literally hopping up and down with impatience - or perhaps was it the three cups of coffees she had drunk to be able to keep up with the 2-hour-long drive to the airport in the middle of the night. She was standing on the arrival floors, on her tiptoes, trying to locate the person she was picking up. The flow of travellers coming through the arrival doors was continuous, so many blond heads coming through and none of them was his.
Her childhood best friend’s flight had landed a dozen of minutes prior; 3:28 a.m. was the time she received a “be right there, see you soon” text. Ever since then, the seconds had been going past very - very - slowly and with every second passing, Y/N chest had got narrower from anticipation to the point she felt like she couldn’t breathe. It hadn’t been more than a year and a half now that they had seen each other in the flesh. Of course, there were the texts, the emails and the FaceTime calls, but it was never the same.
“Jake!”
The sea of people in front of them seemed to split in half to let them collide in one another. The said Jake let his bag fall to his feet to catch a flying Y/N, lifting her from the ground as if she weighted nothing. Her hands found the back of his neck and her head found the crook of his neck, reuniting their bodies as if they were only one mind.
“Hey sweetheart,” he sniffed her hair, intoxicating himself from her perfume.
Jake let her down reluctantly when he realized they were in the way of other people reunions. After swinging his bag over his shoulder and dragging her near a row of seats, he finally took a good look at her, dark circles under puffy red eyes and hair all other the place. He dried her tears softly and kissed the top of her head, something he was sure he hadn’t done since they were in high school and that fucker of Chad had broken up her heart - thinking of it now, it seemed like it was a lifetime away. However, he knew that in this moment there was no sadness in her tears. She was crying probably a little happiness to seeing him again, but most certainly a lot of relief to have him alive in front of her.
He took another step back to have an even greater look at her. Y/N was exactly how he last saw her one year or so ago, and exactly how she looked like even all the other times he had to leave. She did not seem to age, and he was sure that the fine smile lines she was now wearing had always been there. It brought comfort to his heart to know that whatever would happen, she would always be waiting for him. He knew it was also selfish, but he had made peace with those thoughts a long time ago. These were moments that he was collecting in his mind for when he was somewhere overseas, fighting for his life.
“My my, did you grow up a few inches?”
“Oh, shut up!” Y/N laughed and tried to nudge him in the ribs. Jake easily grabbed her right elbow to bring her closer in another embrace, so very glad to be home, even only for a little while.
Tumblr media
Ventilation was swinging litters of hot air into the car's cabin as it was a rather chilly night for October in Texas. The full moon was lighting up all the roads in front of them, just as if it was making sure they would get home safely.
During the drive, the main discussion turned around how excited everyone would be to have him there. Y/N and her parents were the only ones to know about Jake’s surprise visit; they had only known for about three days before his flight landed that he unexpectedly got a week of leave. They would surprise his family later that day for lunch - only after they both had a rather long nap to make up for the sleepless night.
Jake had seen his family a couple more times than Y/N this past year and a half. Even if he considered Y/N to be family, this wasn’t exactly the rule of the administration. Blood family had some more privileges, like sometimes visiting for the holidays. His mother and one of his little sisters also visited him in Singapore when he was stationed there for an exercise in the Taiwan Strait; they had booked a vacation to be able to see him there. Y/N, at that time, had been unavailable - she had her own life after all.
It was what Jake found the more difficult; to keep up with her life. Most of her friends were common friends from high school. With her going to a different university and later with her different jobs, some of her friends were total strangers to him. However, they all seemed to come and go into her life, leaving more or less damage.
“I am sorry about you and Nick.”
Y/N finished getting back to the right line of the highway and removing the blinker, before glancing quickly in Jake’s direction. He was looking at her, with an expression she couldn’t quite read, but that she understood as some kind of gladness. She sighed while turning her focus back on the road.
“You can lie better than that, Jake.”
“Well, didn’t like the guy so…”
It had been a couple of months now than her longtime boyfriend Nick and she had broken up. What confused Jake the most was how this was not a topic for discussion. She hadn’t called crying; she did not seem to be angry. She just announced it to him like it was nothing and directly switched subject. He hadn’t found a way to bring it back on the table, so he asked their friends and family. They all had the same answer; she was doing fine. She seemed to have continued her life just like nothing had happened.
“Was it him-”
“It was me,” Y/N cut him off quickly abruptly, leaving Jake with an uneasy feeling. She sighed again, probably realizing how harsh her tone had been. “This wasn’t working out anyway.”
Though she could not see him, Jake nodded back acknowledging her response. He still felt like there were more to it, but he understood that now wasn’t the time to discuss it. Ever since they had known each other - and it went back to kindergarten, they hadn’t had many secrets for one another. And if they had, it was never anything major.
So, he shook off this feeling and gently grabbed her hand resting on the gearshift to squeeze it softly.
“I do am sorry, though.”
“I know.”
Tumblr media
It was nearly six in the morning when Y/N pulled up in her parents’ driveway.
The porch light was on, welcoming them, making sure Jake knew he was expected, and it made him smile fondly. It still felt surreal somehow; after everything, he was home. Getting out of the car, he breathed the fresh air of Texas like he hadn’t breathed in years.
Y/N was already opening her trunk, getting out a duffel bag that seemed to contain some clothes for today. Jake jogged toward her before she was able to get his own khaki bag out. She rolled her eyes, smiling, when he gently slapped her hands away to take care of it.
“Mom set up a spare bed in my room,” Y/N informed him while walking to the front door. “Just like the old days.”
And nothing in the house had changed either.
The hallway was still a drive along memories with all sorts of pictures hanged upon the wall. Y/N’s parents wedding portrait. Y/N’s baby pictures. Y/N on the day of the start of her first kindergarten year - just before they met each other. A couple more of first day of school pictures - this time with him in it as well. A couple of family vacation pictures. And along with them, a couple of pictures of events he wasn’t even there to attend. Y/N’s university graduation, her parents’ thirty-year anniversary celebration party, her first promotion celebration dinner…
The kitchen was still on the right, the living room on the left and straight ahead the stairs to the bedrooms. Y/N’s bedroom still had Justin Timberlake poster hung up on the walls along with some pictures of friends and family. The teddy bear he won for her at the funfair when they were not even ten stood on her bed. Jake swore that if he opened the dresser, he would still find the shelf that was for his stuff back then.
Without many words, both of them got ready for bed. Y/N took the en-suite bathroom first and when Jake got back in his sweatpants, she was already in bed, cuddling Mister B the teddy bear. His chuckle made her look up to him with sleepy eyes and quickly look away when she realized he didn’t wear a shirt. He kissed her on her forehead before tugging her more tightly in her sheets and turning off the bedside lamp.
“Do you remember when I couldn’t sleep unless someone was holding my hand?”
Jake only hummed in answer, and even in the darkness of her room, his hand found hers instinctively. Their fingers intertwining immediately, he did just as he had promised when he was only just a kid; he never let it go.
Tumblr media
“Son,” Y/N’s father spoke from the other side of the kitchen, “don’t worry about it.”
Jake shook his head, smiling, before proceeding with what he was already doing: loading the cup he had used to drink coffee in the dishwasher. Ever since he had been up earlier that morning, Y/N’s parents had pampered him with all their attention while also being busy preparing lunch. Every time he asked if they needed help, they would assure him he just needed to stay put in his seat.
It had always been like this, for as long as he had remembered. Whenever he had gone over when Y/N and he were still in middle school, her parents had always taken good care of him, making sure the crust of his PB&J sandwiches were cut off, putting on his favourite beddings when they were having a sleepover, drying his clothes in the air dryer when they came home soaking wet from the park. He felt loved in a different way than he did at home, where he had a hard time adjusting to his new family dynamics with his two younger step-sitters. Growing up, they continued on listening to him and caring for him. Y/N’s father was the one he went to for advice before he enrolled. Ever since, and with the little time he had with them every time he came home, it still hit him in the face how much they loved him like he was their own son.
“Do you need help with anything?” He asked once more.
This time, they did not have time to answer. Y/N appeared on the doorstep, changed out of her pyjamas, hair still wet. “The shower is all yours, Jake.”
She watched him go as if she had to make sure he remembered the way to her room. She hadn’t really realized yet that he was really here, with them, and feared that he would just disappear at any minute or that she would just wake up from whatever dream she was having. Somehow this also seemed to be all too familiar, like a play they had rehearsed a hundred time before. It broke her heart a little to know this was most likely not going to happen again before a very long time, that it could actually never happen again.
Y/N got this thought out of her head as soon as it came. She didn’t need to think about this. Not now. Not ever. She just needed to enjoy whatever time she had with him at home.
“He looks good,” her mum stated once Jake had made it to the top of the stairs.
“Yeah, he does,” Y/N spoke softly, eyes lingering to where Jake had been only a couple of seconds before, suddenly wondering if he was really as good as they thought.
When Jake got back to the kitchen the entrance clock had just struck eleven. Only sixty minutes until he would be reunited with his family. It never felt more real, but he couldn’t quite realize it. He was so used of being far away from them, totally disconnected from their realities, hearing their news after everyone else. Yet, he had always found them as he had left them, eyes watering to see him home or gone.
He joined Y/N on the vegetable preparation. Washing, peeling, cutting kept him busy while the anticipation started to build up. All while Y/N’s father asked him about what new manoeuvres he had learned. Being an aviator himself, they could talk about flying for hours to Y/N’s greatest damn; she had the biggest fear of flying - and perhaps the fact that Jake nearly crashed them while flying an old aircraft he had restored with her father when they were teenagers had something to do with it.
“These boys,” Y/N’s mother sighed playfully as Jake and Y/F/N were debating whatever solar planes were the future of aviation. Y/N smiled as she shared a knowing look with her mother, who was getting ready to lay the table in the dining room.
“Mom, hold on,” Y/N called before reaching inside the cupboard next to her, “you are missing a plate.”
“Why? Is Mark coming after all?”
Y/M/N’s face went white in only a second as she realized what she had just said. Not knowing what to do else, Y/N handed her the white plate. Looking sideways to Jake, she hoped he hadn’t heard - she didn’t want him to find out like this, when his whole family was going to be here in the next thirty minutes.
It was already too late though; Jake’s attention had of course switched to their awkward interaction. Her father was quick to step in, wiping his hands on a cloth and moving towards his wife.
“Of course he is, darling. Let me help you bring those into the dining room.”
Y/N watched them disappear before quickly turning back to the carrots she was now cutting in a Julienne, praying Jake would just drop the subject. Ever since she had learned that Jake was having a leave, she had planned their reunion to be perfect. She had purposely lied to his family, pretending to have a very big news to share with them so they all agreed to gather even if the atmosphere was not good. She had made them promise to bury the hatchet, for “her” and most absolutely for Jack. Whatever touchy topics they would have to talk about, they could do it after.
“Why wouldn’t he come?” Jake still asked and, at that moment, she knew that whatever she would tell him would never be sufficient to not draw his suspicion any further. She couldn’t lie to him even if she tried.
“Just been busing with work lately, you know how it is.”
Without letting him time to ask more questions, Y/N went for the stoves to make sure the sauce was still reducing as it should have. She could feel Jake’s eyes burning holes on her back and could only hope he would drop the subject.
“Jake, son,” Y/F/N had just gotten back from the dining room, “would you mind giving me a hand with the roast?”
After taking a last look at Y/N, still very focused on stirring the sauce, Jake turned to her father. It wasn’t until she didn’t feel his eyes on her that she turned to look at him. She watched as her father made him took out the turkey so he could put some more butter on it. Out of the corner of his eye his father gives him a reassuring wink signalling her he had got this.
The bell rang at the exact same moment Y/N put the last plate of hors d’oeuvres at the centre of the table. Shooting a look across the piece, she saw her father squeezing Jake’s shoulder in what seemed to comfort him. She smiled shyly, trying to hide her own nervousness. Thanks to her father, Jake had nearly forgotten about the earlier incident about Mark and the reason he wouldn’t have been able to make it. He hadn’t asked any other questions, and they hadn’t given away other secrets. All was well in the best of all words, or so she still tried to convince herself. It was all that mattered.
“Just like we said, you both stay here, and we’ll bring them for you.”
Y/N watched as her parents disappeared in the hall. She turned to Jake who she now realized he was close at her side - she knew from the way his lips were set in a tight smile that he was somehow nervous. When noises started coming from the hall, Y/N grabbed Jake’s hand without thinking. She needed him to know she was there, that she would always be there, just like they promised when they were younger. It would take much more than a thousand of miles and a few hiccups to take them apart. As if he was thinking the exact same thing, Jake squeezed her hand back.
Jake’s step-dad was the first to enter the dining room. Y/N saw his eyes go from herself to Jake right next to her side, his eyes lighting up in realization. Yet, he didn’t say anything, holding a finger to his lips to let them know he would stay silent while moving further into the room as if nothing had happened. He and Jake had never been particularly close; he was a good man, a good husband, and a good father to his daughters, but Jake’s fatherly figure had always been Y/N’s father.
Next to enter the room was Jake’s youngest step-sister, Sophia. She immediately spotted him, letting out a cry and running into his arms. He crushed his sister in one of those same hugs he gave Y/N when she picked him up from the airport. It warmed her heart to see them like that. Sophia was still very young when Jake had enrolled; she was only just a kid and had grown up with the lack of his older brother. She was looking up to him so much that Y/N had sometimes to remind her that he didn’t have only qualities. He was her hero in so many ways…
Sophia’s reaction got the rest of the family - his mother, Olivia, his other step-sister, and his step-brother, Mark - in the dining room quite quickly. There were a lot of “Jake!” shouted from across the room and loads of tears, happy smiles, and hugs.
“I can’t believe he is here.” Sophia cried again; this time she was in Y/N’s arms. “And I can’t believe you lied to us.”
“Sorry not sorry,” Y/N smiled, tugging a string of her hair behind her ears before bringing her in an even closer hug if it was possible. She wasn’t sure she had seen her this happy in her life, she realized.
Y/N was an only child with a very little family. Over the years, Jake’s family had grown to be her own as well. As children first, as they were always all together at either one’s house or the others. As teenagers when his step-sisters weren’t babies anymore and they had started to be able to play more with them. She remembered helping his mom getting both of his sisters ready for school, all of them celebrating Christmas at her parents or going dress shopping for Olivia’s first prom.
Ever since Jake had been deployed on the West Coast and later overseas, they had grown even closer. There were brunches on Sundays, just the three of them, where Sophia would file them up on her latest dating adventures. There were lunches at Olivia’s office after they had taken a midday yoga class. There were breakfasts with Sophia before her classes began. Y/N had always made sure they were alright, as if she had to do it for Jake.
So far, the lunch had turned out great.
Jake had told them all about his last position and this group of pilots he had been joining overseas. Everyone had started feeding him bits and pieces of what had occurred ever since the last time he’s been home. Olivia and Mark had managed not to fight, which was a miracle in itself, per Y/N’s opinion. Jake’s mom had finally stopped crying. And Sophia seemed to have forgotten about those hard choices she would have to make once she graduated from college at the end of the year.
At least, that was the case until Jake asked about it.
“So, any thoughts yet about what you’ll do next year?”
“No, not really.”
Y/N had already seen that look on Sophia’s face. It was the same one she made when she was hesitating between an avocado toast and pancakes at the place they were used to going to brunch; every time she had been making this face, she had ended up with ordering both. Sophia eyed her tentatively and Y/N immediately shook her head no, silently pleading her not to do whatever she was thinking.
Today was not the day. Jake had only gotten back from abroad hours ago, they would have enough time to discuss it in the next couple of days.
“I am thinking of enrolling,” Sophia stated abruptly.
Boom.
The bomb had landed.
Y/N sighed, mentally cursing Sophia for needing whatever validation from him. They all had talked about this extensively for months on now. Decide to enrol was one thing, accept that one of your relative would do the same was another. She knew how Jake was; he didn’t look like it at first sight, but his family was his everything. He had made the selfish decision that could result in them losing him forever, yet he wouldn’t accept that she’d do the same.
From the deathly silence that came after Sophia’s statement, Y/N rested the cutlery on the side of her plate, bracing herself for whatever had to come. Her attitude made Jake immediately turned to her. She had never seen the wrinkle between his eyebrows this deep before. She didn’t know if it was from dread, disappointment, or anger.
“You knew?”
Jaw tight, Y/N didn’t answer, and Jake huffed - of course, she knew. How could she not? She was here, with his own family, when he was thousands of miles away fighting for his country. She was here, only a ride away, when he couldn’t even remember the last time he had enough telephone network to FaceTime them. She was there, physically with them, when he was just a ghost, present for a few days a year before disappearing for months on hand.
Y/N tried to reach out for his left arm to try and calm the whole situation down, but he moved ever so slightly she couldn’t touch him. The fire in Jake’s green eyes was incandescent. He was angry, with Sophia, with her, with everyone. And to know he didn’t even know half of it…
“Let’s not start now,” his older step-sister stepped in to try and reason him.
“Why?” Jake retorted immediately. “Wanna updates me on what is going on with Mark as well?”
Olivia opened her mouth to answer and as she couldn’t seem to find something to say, she then closed it and lowered her head. She and Mark had officially announced a few weeks before Jake returned that they were going to take some time apart. They had been married for nearly three years and they were having a rough path. They had started couple therapy, trying to make things work. Y/N couldn’t count the hours Olivia had spent on her couch, crying and eating ice-creams.
Y/N knew exactly how she felt like. The deception of thinking she had found the love of her life only to realize it was more complex than this. The sadness of loving someone and it still not being enough for the two of them to be happy. The paralyzing fear of being alone, of never being well enough.
She needed a shoulder to cry onto and a lot of love, and not to be reminded of what a failure she thought she was.
“I am sorry,” Sophia mumbled. Y/N wasn’t sure to whom she was apologizing. Jake? Them?
“You can’t seriously be thinking about it?” Jake half-shouted, pointing her finger at her like he was accusing her of the worst betrayal.
“Don’t say anything you’d regret, son.”
Y/N’s father word seemed to put some sense into him as he leaned his back against his chair, folding his arms against his chest. The distress on Sophia’s face was now palpable and she was on the verge of crying from Jake’s quite violent reaction. Though she didn’t expect Jake to be totally supportive, Y/N had not expected him to reject the idea that much either. She had thought that he would’ve still listen to her reasons, maybe try to talk her out of it, but finally make peace with the idea. Just like they had. Just like they all had when he was in her shoes.
Olivia had regained her composure and wrapped an arm around her sister’ shoulders. The look she sent Jake probably refrained him from attacking again his little sister. Instead, he chose another target for his anger.
“How can anybody be cool with this?”
Before Jake’s mom could speak, Y/N called him out. “Why could you do it and not her, Jake, huh?” She wants to be like you so bad, don’t you see?
“That’s not the same thing.”
Y/N huffed and rolled her eyes.
It made her even bitter. For all the things he hadn’t told her when he had no reason to hide it from her. For him being hurt that they didn’t want to discuss as such important topics over the phone. She would have liked to be sorry to hide all this from him, yet his reaction had only comfort her on her choice.
“You’re being unfair.”
“Am I now?” he laughed. “Excuse me for putting my life at sake and not wishing for me sister to do the same.”
“Did anybody ask you to? If anything, we would all have loved to keep you by our side.”
“Oh, I see. So, this is all my fault, right?”
The daring look he offered her made her heart jump in her chest. Her stomach was in fire; consuming her from the inside. She was tired from the sleepless nights she had for the last few months. And sad about the outcome of this lunch. And disappointed in him. And quite frankly done with his attitude.
Sighing, she gave in and looked away, throwing her napkin on her plate at the same time. Whatever this was, it was too much for her to handle. “If you’d excuse me,” she announced as she moved her chair back. “I am not hungry anymore.”
“Y/N-” he called after her, grabbing her arm to make her stay. She gave him a pained look before abruptly pulling away from his grip.
“Welcome home, Jake.”
Tumblr media
Jake’s face appeared once again on her phone screen.
Big bright smile, sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, forehead sun-kissed by the first rays of sunshine of spring. The picture had been taken one of the few times she had fly out to California to visit him. They had such a good time that Y/N used to hold all those memories close to her heart. Now, she couldn’t even look at it.
She couldn’t count the number of texts Jake had sent nor the number of messages he had left on her voice mail. She hadn’t read nor listened to any of them and had even decided to turn off her phone at some point during the night. She needed some time alone to take a breath and to swallow the disappointment that was forming a lump in her throat.
Despite the emotional roller coaster this day had been, she hadn't fallen asleep until late in the night, turning over in the sheet nonstop while thinking of all the comebacks she could have said to his face. And like every other night for months now, when she had finally managed to get some sleep, her worst nightmare had woken her up a couple of hours later.
It only made her feel worse and she cried all the tears in her body. It was like whatever emotion she had retained in the last year had come back to her like a wrecking ball. She was angry for all sorts of reasons all linked to Jake one way or another. She was also very sad of the situation she found herself into, of Jake having spoiled their reunion, of the spectacle she had given in front of her loved ones.
So, when she turned on her phone a few hours later, eyes still puffy and red from the lack of sleep and the crying, she didn’t hesitate to turn down his call when his smiley face appeared on her phone screen. At that time, she discovered the multiple texts and missed calls of her parents and Jake’s sisters. She sent them a quick group message, letting them know she was fine and that she would catch up later. Leaving her phone on the kitchen counter, she got ready for her day.
Her phone rang four more times while she was getting ready. She was now determined to let him know to leave her alone. She was still pissed, and she needed to compose herself. This was without counting on the doorbell ringing when she was about to answer her phone.
Stopping whatever she was doing, she made the few steps from the kitchen counter to her apartment door, opening it without even thinking who she would find behind. Much to her surprise it was the only person she didn’t want to see. Jake. Standing there, phone in his hand.
“Oh, come on!” he exclaimed when she nearly shut the door in his face.
He stopped it before it was fully closed and after a deep sigh, Y/N let him in without even giving him a look. She closed the door behind him, passing him - still without looking at him - and went to the living room. She leaned against the kitchen counter, crossing her arms on her chest much like he had done during lunch just the day before.
Jake stood in the middle of the room, watching around him. It was the first time he was in her new place, the one she started rented after she broke up with her long-term boyfriend. It wasn’t much, only a one-bedroom apartment with a sanitized decor - she hadn’t had the heart to make it her own. It was close to her work and not a too long drive from her parents; it was all she really needed.
Y/N studied him in silence. He must not have had the memo about the Texas weather at that time of the year as he was only wearing a beige sweater, sleeves rolled up. It wasn’t much of a surprise he had forgotten how it was; he had spent so little time home in the last ten years.
When her eyes finally got to his face, she realized he was now staring at her. She tried reading him like she could before, but what she found in his eyes, she couldn’t interpret. Perhaps something had been broken between them. Perhaps there were only so much absence someone could handle. Perhaps they had let the miles come in between them for real this time.
She couldn’t tell how long they stayed like this before he finally spoke.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Long gone was the hope she had that he would apologize.
Jake had never been one to be wrong; he was probably even the most stubborn person she had ever met. Though she liked this confidence in him, she also knew it was hiding something much deeper. His trauma of being abandoned by his father when he was still a toddler. The fear of his loved ones realizing what a failure he was, despite everything he had already accomplished. The fear of never being enough.
He had assured her it wasn’t one of the reasons he had enrolled, and she knew he was lying to her just as much he was lying to himself. But she wasn’t her twenty-something-self; she wasn’t going to protect his feelings anymore. Now that they didn’t have an audience, she could lay her cards on the table.
“Do you mean, just like you didn’t tell us about the ejection seat accident that you had six months ago?”
She saw his face drop ever so slightly before he regained his composure back. She wasn’t the only one keeping things from him, yet contrary to him, the things she was keeping a secret weren’t really hers anyway.
“How would you know?”
“Javy called me that time,” she stated dryly, memories of the call she got in the middle of the night flowing to her head. She still had nightmares about it most nights. “He wanted me to know in case your brain injury worsened, and they had to call your family.”
This secret, she had never told anyone and had carried the weight of it on her own until now. She had smiled and assured everyone that all was fine for the days - sixteen in total - they didn’t hear from him; how could he, he had been literally in a 24h surveillance at the hospital. She had had Javy on the phone to report every little detail he had of Jake’s evolution. She hadn’t had sleep for weeks straight and had nearly cried when Jake had called him after a very busy and unexpected mission he took part in - another way for putting he had just got cleared from the hospital.
“It was nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing, Jake! You got banned from flying for six weeks. Six fucking weeks!”
“And yet, it wasn’t the first time I ended up in the hospital, nor was it the last time. You know that’s part of the job.”
Y/N snorted.
Like hell she knew. The job description went with never being in the same time zone as your loved ones, missing every single milestone in their life, putting his very own safety at risk so they could all be free and safe, and omitting all details of the national security missions to which he was taking part. She was pretty sure though there was no line in his contract about lying about his health, especially when he could have died, to his family.
For some reason, this whole situation had made his absence even worse. She realized he didn’t feel safe to let them know when things had gone bad; if this time she had known, she couldn’t even imagine all those other times Javy hadn’t been there to inform her. It had awakened a visceral (and most likely also irrational) fear in her. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him and she still wasn’t ready to accept it.
“Why is this such a big deal when you knew what was going in here and didn’t even tell me?”
If she hadn’t been this tired, Y/N would have probably walked to him to slap him. How could he compare his near-death experience to his sisters’ decisions? How could any of it be equivalent?
“This was not my truth to tell,” she only replied blankly.
Yes, she wasn’t very proud of hiding things from Jake and lying on purpose. But she wasn’t thirteen any longer and when people confided in her - when she promised she wouldn’t tell him anything - she wasn’t going to go running to her best friend to spill all the tea.
“Will you then tell me the truth about what really happened between you and the other dickhead?”
“I already told you everything,” she answered dryly, a little bit too quickly for it not to be suspicious.
“I don’t believe you.”
Y/N knew from the sound of his voice it was pure provocation. He gave her the same daring look she had just seen the day before - the same consuming flame was in his eyes - and she could see his infamous smirk dawning on his lips. She wondered why he wanted to prove just how right he was - how he was always right - so bad. It made her skin scramble how infuriating he was.
She didn’t answer right away and stared at him, arms crossed on her chest a little bit tighter to protect herself. Everything that was happening was only making her angrier towards him. He had ruined everything, and he had just decided to continue on doing so.
She had dreamt about him coming home for months and months, to have him by her side and now, she could only wish for him to go away. The anger, the pain, the animosity; it was all too much. She couldn’t keep up anymore.
“What do you want me to tell you, huh? How much of a great boyfriend and man he was, but that it still wasn’t enough? How much a horrible person I am for not being able to fall in love with a person that would devote his own life to try and make me happy?”
Jake opened his mouth to respond, but closed it as the words sank in. It all made sense to him suddenly. Why she seemed to be relieved it was all over. Why she didn’t call him after he broke her heart. Why, on the rare occasion he had discussed the break-up with his sisters, they had never talked badly about her ex-boyfriend. He didn’t break her heart. He never did.
She was the one breaking his.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” he asked, this time his voice much softer.
How could she? When it all started with his accident - that she wasn’t even supposed to know of. When it took her five years of a stable relationship to realize her longtime boyfriend had never have been the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. When it took her half of her adult life to understand she had been lying to herself for almost all her life and that even now, she didn’t know her truth from her lies any more.
Knowing the truth, Jake didn’t know what to say. He wanted to feel sorry, he wanted to tell her he was. But was he really? It would be lying to say he didn’t exult when he had heard of the break-up... On the day she introduced him to Nick, they he had discussed - quite vividly - about the country actions in Afghanistan - one of the campaigns he had just come home from - and from that day, Jake had just decided he wouldn’t like the man. He hadn’t been very subtle about disliking him, but in his opinion, Nick had paid him back in his own coin: monopolizing Y/N whenever Jake had her on the phone, making her choose between the two of them when he had had the opportunity to fly her oversea. He still felt nauseous to recall how Y/N had seemed to only look at him every time Nick was in the room with them.
He made a few steps in her direction, going to comfort her, but Y/N only shook her head. She wouldn’t let any of this go so easily. It wasn’t because she had confided in him, that he now knew all the truth from her part, that everything else would be forgotten. There were still a lot of unspoken truth to uncover.
“Why are you really here, Jake?”
“What do you mean?”
“The reason you got this leave, what is it?”
They stood less than a metre away, eyes in eyes. Jake never felt so vulnerable as every time she looked at him as if she could read his soul. He knew she was looking for something. Something he couldn’t give her.
Looking away, he answered, “It’s nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Y/N slipped away before he could even react. He watched as she turned back towards the front door. She opened it without a word and looked into his eyes as she stood leaned against it.
“Goodbye, Jake.”
And this time, he didn’t even try to fight.
Tumblr media
Javy: Hey, got Hangman on the phone today. You okay?
Y/N: Did he vent at you for calling me that one time?
Javy: Almost.
Javy: He wasn’t really angry though. Just frustrated I guess.
Y/N: I bet. Wasn’t really the nice little break he must have planned.
Javy: If there is anything to learn from all this it is that truth is better spoken from the person they apply to.
Javy: You should talk to him.
Y/N: Yeah well I’ll see about that.
Tumblr media
Jake was very nervous, and he wasn’t very nervous a lot.
In fact, he was pretty sure the last time he was that nervous was when he had picked Y/N up for their senior prom. Just like every year since starting high school, she had been his date - though Chad nearly had taken her away from him, but this dumbass had broken up with her only a couple of weeks before prom. That year, for some reason, everything felt different. High school years were coming to an end, they were both going to different universities. Everything was about to change, and it would never be the same. Jake had dreaded taking their relationship to the next level. If only he had known that despite going to different universities, Jake enrolling and basically the two of them living their life in parallel, their relationship had made it.
More or less so... It had been three days now since the lunch at her parents, two since their other discussion - if he would call this an argument, he was still unsure - and today was the first time he was seeing her since then.
After spending time with his family, he was on his way to meet with some of their childhood friends. Normally, Y/N was one of them and she had been invited. But with the recent events, he didn’t know if she would be here. He had had time to reflect on what had been said and finally had apologized to her voice mail as she wouldn’t let his calls through. He had given her plenty of time and space, sending in only a couple of good mornings and good nights texts, just like he was used to. Yet he didn’t know what to expect.
When he spotted her already sat at the table he had booked, his heart started pounding furiously. It gave him hope not everything between them had been broken.
“Hey,” Jake greeted Y/N softly when he had gotten at her level.
Y/N only nodded, barely looking at him, before continuing her discussion with their friend, Monica, like nothing had happened. Jake swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing to greet everyone around the table.
In all those diners they had had with their friends when he had been home, she would have been sat next to him, so close but merely touching. He would have had his arm resting nonchalantly on the back of her chair. He would have whispered all sorts of things in her ears, and she would have laughed open light-heartedly at every single one of his jokes.
That night, she was sat as far as possible from him and he had difficulty focusing on the group discussion, his mind going back to her every time. He probably went the whole evening looking at her not so subtly in the hope she would like to give him a look. She did not.
“You good?” Matt, sat at his side, asked him after the main course.
“Yeah,” Jake answered though the little tremor in his voice didn’t reflect confidence.
“Just give her a little time. It’s just a lot, y’know.”
Jake only nodded.
The problem was indeed just that: time. His flight back was in two days now and she was supposed to be his ride. He knew she would be able to drop him off without speaking a word, while he sat there in the agonizing silence. He was sure he was not able to do it for a couple of hours, he couldn’t imagine what it would be to not have her speak to him every again. He couldn’t get back to combat with Y/N still mad at him. He needed to fix things. He had been able to do it with his sisters; he had to do it with Y/N.
Indeed, the lunch had finished soon after Y/N’s dramatic departure. His sisters hadn’t spoken another word to him, and Y/N’s parents had tried to maintain some semblance of a conversation. Jake had taken a quick walk to clear his mind before going to his parents.
He had sat down with Olivia first and then Sophia, so they could tell him everything that had been going on. He sat there listening to what they had to say until they were done. There had been a lot of crying on their side (only a tiny little bit on his side - most likely because he had a dust in the eye, he would say). In the end, they had hugged and laughed and remembered that they loved each other and that nothing could be more important than that.
He had realized Olivia seemed much more at peace, somehow differently but also similarly to Y/N’s. She had so many plans on her side - buying a house, planning a trip to Europe, getting a puppy – as if she had just discovered she could be a unique person outside her marriage and she genuinely was happier.
The talk with Sophia had been a little bit more sensitive. The idea of her enrolling made his blood boiling, but he had remained calm – or at least tried to - and listened to her reasons. If he was afraid to see himself in her, her reasons were solely different than his. She didn’t want this only to do like him; it was more that he had paved the way for her. He had made her promise to think some more about it - at least, graduate from college before deciding anything - and he had promised to be supportive. He would have some work on himself, but he would cross that bridge when he’d get there.
They had of course talked about Y/N and how she was carrying the whole family on her shoulders. She always made sure everyone was alright, answering her phone at 3 a.m. to pick up Sophia from a frat party gone wild, welcoming Olivia in her tiny apartment - giving her the only bed to sleep on the couch, despite her protest - the time she turned things round after Mark and she had decided to take some time apart. She even made sure their mother was alright when his step-dad was away for business, bringing her homemade meals that she only had to heat up and keeping her company.
If he always knew what an amazingly caring person she was, it only proved him right. He would be forever grateful she was the first person to have talked to him on his first day of kindergarten. He would be forever grateful for the woman she was. If he was honest with himself, it all made him love her even more.
He wasn’t ready to watch her from afar - well, from much far away than his current position - but he would do it (or at least try), should she ask him to…
After what seemed to be an eternity, the evening finally came to an end.
Jake didn’t get the opportunity to speak to Y/N though he hesitated multiple times to just call her out or walk to her and demand that they had a chat. She was currently bidding goodbye to everyone in front of the restaurant, and Jake was watching her attentively to ambush her just as soon as she was finished. He didn’t care if he would be rude to anyone by not saying thank you for coming and goodbye; he needed to talk to her.
After she hugged Monica and promised to let her know when she got home safely, she reached for her car key in her bag and made her way to her car without even looking at him. Jake took his luck and followed her. He called after her, but she refused to acknowledge him.
“Can we not?”
“Why?” she turned around suddenly. “Want me to tell you anything else?”
“Y/N, please.”
She only raised an eyebrow before turning back and continuing walking. Too bad for her, Jake wasn’t one to give up this easily. He followed her lead up to her car that she started to unlock to get in. A wave of panic got through him as he could feel her slip away from his fingers and he didn’t want that. If they didn’t have this talk now, he was not sure they would have it at all.
“I only have two days left,” he said, interposing himself between the closed door and her. “Please.”
Y/N froze at only a few centimetres away from him. She seemed to think about what options she had. Unfortunately for her, there just wasn’t much as she couldn’t make Jake move even if she wanted to. So, she chose the reasonable choice. She crossed her arms over her chest and listened.
“I-” he sighed, passing a hand on his face, frustration clearly visible on his face now. “There has been an incident. We lost two men.”
Y/N’s arms immediately dropped to her side; the mask she wore on her face cracked. She could have been angry he lied to her, yet again, but this time, it was too serious. People died. The command had given them time off because of it. It only reminded her it could end at any time. She really could lose him.
“Jake,” she sighed.
“I-”
His voice broke and Y/N didn’t hesitate to go in for a hug. Out of habits, his arms found her waist and he buried his face in her hair. He breathed her perfume in, trying to ground himself and not totally lose it. She was his rock. There were no ways he would still be here if it wasn’t for her waiting for him at home.
He couldn’t lose her.
“I can only imagine the worry I cause you all,” he muttered in her hair. “I didn’t want to add anything to it.”
Y/N grabbed his face with both her hands and forced him to look at her. She wore a small frown on her eyebrows and determination in her eyes. While she was touched he wanted to spare their feelings, not knowing what was going on was even worse. She couldn’t count the number of times she had thought he was dead when an unknown number had called her phone. In order to support him the best way they could, they needed to know.
“Getting you back in one piece is our priority,” she started, voice bold as if she wanted him to engrave her words in his head. “That’s why we are keeping things to ourselves. We don’t want you to worry about us when you should be solely focused on staying alive.”
Jake half-smiled in return, which made Y/N relax a bit. Her hands fall on his shoulder as he kept her close to him, so close that there was no space between their two bodies. They had realized they wanted the exact same thing for one another: for them to be safe and sound.
“I worry about you all, all the time. I worry about you, all the time,” he confessed, his voice still low.
Jake reached out to tuck a loose string of hair behind her ear and Y/N instinctively leaned in his touch. It was like this between them, easy and pure. It always had. Sometimes - like these last past days, they were so caught up in life they seemed to forget what they had was so unique. Every time they had found their way back to each other.
“I left you alone while I am off, living my dream.”
“Don’t say it like you could have made any other choice, Jake.”
“I don’t regret it,” he answered right back. “Yet if I had to do it all over again, there are a lot of things about you that I would do a whole lot differently.”
Y/N nodded slowly, her heart rate slightly going up. If they often shared I-love-you’s more out of habits than anything else - though they were always genuine, Jake had never really expressed out loud how he felt about her, and from the electricity in the air - totally different from the explosive tension that had built up until now, she could feel there were more to it.
“It’s never too late, they say,” he smiled softly, his hand making it to the back of her neck.
Y/N hold her breath, searching in his eyes if he was being serious and if he was really wanting to finish the conversation they had started the night of their senior prom. If he wanted to do it right here, right now in a parking lot. It was a conversation that could have totally changed their life if they had it. A conversation for which they every so often imagined what they would have said if fear hadn’t stopped them.
If there were much younger back then, nothing now had changed at all.
“I’ve always been yours,” Y/N whispered. It would be lying if relief hadn’t wash over Jake. Of course he had known - he had always known - yet, hearing it was another thing.
“I know.”
Y/N’s bright eyes saw his eyes dove down to her lips, only a dozen of centimetres away she realized now, then back to her eyes. Her cheeks were burning up from the anticipation of what was to come. Yet, lost in each other’s eyes, none of them moved.
At that moment, the world could have stopped that they wouldn’t have noticed. Nothing else but them mattered.
“Well, kiss me then.”
323 notes · View notes
pawnshopbleus · 3 months
Text
Miller's Girl - Part One
Professor!Joel Miller x Fem!College Student!Reader Very Loosely based off of the new movie, Miller's Girl, starring Jenna Ortega and Martin Freeman
Summary - Your landlord decides to raise the rent in your studio apartment the day you are fired from your job. In need of money, you sign up for a babysitting service your friend suggested. You didn’t expect to get an offer so quickly, and you also didn’t expect to come from your professor.
Series contains - cursing, mature language, teacher x student relationship, age gap, smut, fluff, angst, non beta read chapters and everything else I forgot to mention
College, no outbreak, and modern AU
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
The record store in downtown Austin was filled to the brim with people excited to have their items signed by their favorite band. The crowd was a mix of teen girls with their dads and middle-aged men on their lonesome. The band in question was some underground band from the eighties that you had never heard of. 
Your co-worker, Emma, was in charge of keeping the crowd in check while you were manning the register. This wasn’t the first time you had done these signings. In the two years that you have worked here, hundreds of artists have come in and out of those doors. They attract their loyal fans to the store which can give it more publicity and customers. 
Your eyes scan the crowd. It was still pretty full, but the line had stopped trickling out of the doors and onto the sidewalk. You look over at Emma to see her standing with her weight on her left hip and her arms crossed. If you didn’t know her, you would have thought she looked like a bitch, but in all actuality, she is the nicest girl you know. 
The doors open and the bell above it rings. Your boss comes in and surveys the store. His bald head nods as he skims it. Nothing had been stolen and the customers looked happy. When his eyes land on you, your heart drops. You know that look. It was the same look he gave your other co-worker that look right before he fired him. You cross your fingers under the counter and plaster a fake smile on your face. 
Your entire world looks like it’s in slow motion. Your boss steps closer. Each step he takes makes your heart thump in your chest. The sound his thousand-dollar shoes make on the floor sounds like the bombs used on the battlefield. 
You don’t know if you either blacked out or passed out, but the next thing you knew, you were in the staff room gathering your things. This would be the last time you would ever step foot in this record store as an employee, but that should have been the least of your worries. You needed this job. Without it, you won’t be able to afford rent. Luckily, you were smart enough to get a full-ride scholarship for the university you attended, but there were still other expenses that needed to be paid. 
The hallway of your apartment building seemed colder than it usually is. The usual shushing of dogs who aren’t supposed to be in the apartment is replaced with static. The crickets weren’t even chirping. The sound of your breathing brought you out of your tiny rut. At least you were still alive.
The pink paper in front of your door made you stop in your tracks. You could read what it said from where you stood. ‘Rent will be increased to a thousand dollars a month’ was typed out in Times New Roman. Only pretentious bitches type in Times New Roman. 
You were sure that this was the work of the couple that bought the building six months ago. They promised the residents who lived there that the rent would stay the same, but the promise had just been broken. You were worried for yourself, sure, but you were also worried about the elderly people who couldn’t afford to go anywhere else. 
You wish nothing but the worst for the new landlords and make your way into your studio apartment. It’s a mess, just the way you left it this morning. Your cat, Bill, lays outstretched on your couch as if he were the one who just worked eight hours only to get fired at the end of it. 
You flop on your couch and sigh. For the first time in a while, you don’t know what to do. You just got fired and your rent got increased. If you can’t pay rent then you’ll become another homeless college student. Just another statistic to the state and a burden to the university. 
Your phone chimes and you almost cry with joy as you see your best friend’s caller ID flash across the screen. 
You pick up the phone and she begins talking immediately. She goes on and on about some boy she saw a the mall. He had icy blonde hair, but his roots were showing which meant that he wasn’t a natural blonde. This was a good distraction for about a few minutes until you realized that you wouldn’t be able to afford to go to the mall anymore. 
Your hot tears dribbled down your cheeks and fell onto your chest. 
“Are you okay?” 
“Cherry, I just got fired from my fucking job because my boss wants to buy more fucking shoes and my rent just got fucking increased because my landlords are fucking bastards!” You say through tears. “I think I just heard you say ‘fucking’ in that one sentence more times than I have heard you say it in your entire life,” Cherry laughs. 
“It’s not funny, Cherry. I'm going to be homeless!”
“Stop being dramatic. Sign up for flowers for one dot com. It’s a babysitting website where single parents find a babysitter for their children. My cousin did it for about a year and made more money than she does at her regular job.” 
For the first time in a very long time, Cherry gave you actual good advice. She gave you a solution to all of your problems. 
“Thanks, Cher, bye.” You hang up before Cherry has a chance to say goodbye. 
Your phone drops onto the couch and bounces off, falling on the floor. You suck in air through your teeth and grab your phone off the floor. You should be more gentle with it because you can’t afford to get a new one if it breaks. 
Flowers for one dot com was a simple website. It got straight to the point. No fancy explanation of ‘who are we’ or ‘why do we do this.’  You include the fact that you are certified by the Red Cross in CPR and that you are a senior at The University of Texas at Austin. You also add that you are majoring in architecture and the fact that you want to become an interior designer. 
Your profile is up and running in an hour. You look over it again and close your laptop. Your life is falling apart piece by piece, but maybe you should clean up a bit. 
The dirty clothes that were being neglected in the corner of your room are now in your hamper. You can see the hardwood floor that you’ll be paying a thousand dollars a month for. 
Your phone chimes once again, but this time it’s an email from the website. You almost drop your phone again as you read who it’s from. 
Joel Miller, Professor of Architectural Studies at The University of Texas at Austin.
Tumblr media
I'm the pretentious bitch that writes in Times New Roman 🙋🏿‍♀️
168 notes · View notes
Text
Godless
Tumblr media
moodboard not meant to be a physical description of reader, just her vibes/clothes
western au! dark!outlaw!Joel Miller x f!prostitute!reader playlist
My contribution to dead dove December hehehe. I love dead doves so I'm very happy to participate! @romana-after-dark
Summary: You work at a brothel that operates above a saloon in your town. Joel is the leader of a group of outlaws that come periodically to collect payment and wreak havoc. One visit, you catch Joel’s eye and he decides he has to have you.
word count: ~5.6k
DARK, dead dove: minors dni!! rough smut, prostitution, reader gets called a whore, sexual slavery, being bought/sold, angst, being owned and considered property, descriptions of men being violent with each other, Joel is possessive and very dominant, reader is very submissive, stockholm syndrome. dubcon, reader obeys but she doesn't have a choice. It's only gonna get darker from here mamas. Unprotected sex, STDs don’t exist in this universe, yeehaw. No use of y/n
A/N: Prepare for light old timey language. Yeehaw shit, in my heart I am a wild west man. Also I have no fucking idea what kind of money they used in the wild west so I just wrote gold coins lmao. Reader doesn't necessarily have a specific accent but she talks like an old timey western person, reader is just a girl in the world, god bless her. set in old west California LAWLESS LAND CALI WAS CRAZY BACK THEN BRUH
-
You tried to even your breathing as you hurriedly did your makeup, slapping your powder onto your face frantically. The other girls scurried around you, the collective energy was tense and you all shared a feeling of anxiety that was rising as the minutes ticked on.
The bar always went into a frenzy whenever Joel Miller and his men rode through town. You hadn’t been working here for that long but you’d already been here long enough for their visits. His men were animals, every girl dreaded it when they came to the brothel.
Joel and his men are shameless, getting drunk in the saloon and picking fights, riding through town and plundering all the folks living there, demanding "payments" in the form of money, food, jewelry, anything they could find that was worth taking. Payments that the people of your town made so that he would let them keep living there. He made it clear that we could wipe out the whole town if he wanted to, leaving you a people without anything. And that's if he left you all alive.
-
You hadn’t been living in the town that long. After your father died, you set off west with a man who you thought had loved you. Things had fallen out with him when you finally reached California, and he had left you all alone in this scary new world.
Luckily the people of the town had taken you in, but your shelter and safety came at a price. When you arrived, you had nowhere to live, no money, nothing.
The town brothel seemed like the only solution. You had a place to live, a job, a community. You made peace with having to let men defile you. Most of them were nice enough and your pimp took good care of all of you.
This world was cruel, you did what you needed to do to get by.
-
You adjusted your breasts where they sat in your low cut dress, pushed up by your corset. You fixed your hair and adjusted the garter on your stockings.
“Well at least we look nice.” A voice snapped you out of your deep thoughts.
You turned and tried to muster a smile for your friend, Anna-Leigh, who was pinning up her blonde curls.
She clocked your fear and reached out her hand to take yours. You couldn’t look at her because if you did you’d cry, and you couldn’t afford to smudge the black pigment you’d put on your eyelashes.
“I know you don’t want to, honey.” She said softly, “But we’ve gone through this before.” Her southern accent never failed to soothe you.
You nodded,
“Yeah.” You sniffled.
“They’re gonna do what they always do, we just gotta deal with it and then they leave.” She said firmly.
“And if they really give us trouble, Mr. Polk will put a stop to it right quick.” 
You nodded a little more confidently, remembering that your pimp, Mr. Polk kept a gun on his hip every hour of the day.
No longer able to delay the inevitable, you took a deep breath, and followed your friend and the other girls out of the vanity area and down to the saloon.
-
Walking down the stairs, you analyze the chaotic scene. You’ve managed to understand how to navigate it so as to not cause any trouble. Keep your head down, be a good girl, let them do what they want and then they leave. Your pimp paid you all extra whenever Joel's men came through. Sometimes he’d give you all new dresses, it does make you feel better but it does little to ease the aching between your legs that persists whenever he and his men visit.
You all disperse and walk among the crowd. Usually most girls will immediately go and talk a man up but now you all just stand around awkwardly, letting men approach you and take you upstairs, or just take you right down here.
You’re taken upstairs a few times by a few different men. And later on, you’re sitting in a very drunk man’s lap down in the saloon with your breasts out, smoking a cigarette. He's playing a poker game and slowly losing everything.
Your eyes scan your surroundings: men brawling, naked women bent over, their legs splayed open. The usual.
Through the clamor around you, you can feel his eyes on you.
Joel Miller.
You'd seen him before, and his cold gaze had made your skin crawl.
You knew he was dangerous and you’d heard the stories about him. You’d never talked to him, only seen him when he came by. After making his rounds through the town, he’d just sit at the bar and drink as his men ran wild. To your knowledge, he didn’t even have sex with any of the girls.
You tried to avoid his gaze but you could feel his eyes on you through the thick haze of smoke. It wasn't fair that he was so handsome, weathered from the desert sun. His soft brown hair was laced with gray, just like his short scruffy beard. He looked like could've been a man that was kind, if it wasn't for the dead stare in his eyes. Meeting his eyes you could see how cold blooded he was, how merciless.
After a while, Joel instructed his men to gather everything up. The barkeep and your pimp seemed like they couldn’t wait to get rid of them, their regulars bloodied and slumped over, the bar a mess.
You were pulling the top of your dress back over your breasts when you spotted Joel speaking to your pimp, who was looking distressed. Your stomach churned. That couldn’t be good.
You were on your way up the stairs when you heard your name being called, panic flooded your system.
You turned, frozen. Your heart was pounding as the other girls ran by you.
Anna-Leigh tugged your arm, "C'mon!"
You turned and the only thing you could do was shake your head.
"What's wrong?" She asked, confused.
Your pimp, growing impatient, walked up the stairs and grabbed your elbow, dragging you down.
"I know y'don't want to." He grumbled, "But I'm not bein' given much of'a choice."
Your feet dragged on the wood as you struggled to catch your footing. Did Joel suddenly decide he wanted to fuck you? Mr. Polk yanked you over to him.
Joel's broad form towered over you as you approached. You felt small under his gaze, you'd never been this close to him before. You took in his scent of desert dirt and sweat. His broad shoulders, hulking biceps and soft stomach stretched his stained white button down. The fringe on his cowhide jacket swayed as he took his hat off his head and ran a hand through his graying curls.
You stood looking up at him, eyes wide. He looked down at you without a hint of warmth and grabbed your arm roughly, spinning you around.
You gasped at his touch and anticipated to be bent over and have your skirt hiked up. Instead he just looked at you and turned you back to face him. He made an approving grunt and nodded his head.
"Yeah." His voice was deep and gruff, "This one."
He reached into his bag on the bar and pulled out a sack that he let fall open, gold coins falling out all over the counter.
You started to feel sick.
"Give you this for her." He said casually.
A spike of fear bolted through you.
"W-what?"
Your pimp sighed and turned to you,
"Go get y'things honey."
"What?" That felt like all you could say, "N-no."
You turned to see Anna-Leigh and the other girls staring at you. Your friend looked just as terrified as you felt. Tears freed themselves from your eyes.
"God damnit girl I said go get your fucking things." Mr. Polk yelled and gave you a shake. You looked at Joel who simply nodded his head up, as if telling you to go upstairs.
You sniffled and ran up the stairs, your sobs breaking through as you graced the landing and echoing as you flung yourself into your room.
-
You hiccuped as you threw your few belongings into a suitcase, everything blurred as you cried.
You were only able to get a few items packed before you broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.
You suddenly felt the arms of your friend wrapping around you as other girls gathered around you, all stroking and hugging you.
You blinked back tears and tried to speak but you couldn’t. They just held you as you all cried. There wasn’t really anything they could say to make things better anyway.
You gasped and shuddered, trying to catch your breath. Anna-Leigh took your face in her hands,
“It’s okay, baby, breathe.” She said, tears falling down her face as well. You shook your head and kept crying.
Your pimp appeared in the doorway, looking mournful as he held his hat in his hands.
“How dare you!” Anna-Leigh screamed at him from where she held you.
“I’m sorry.” He said, looking down, “It’s either her or they take all a’you. Destroy the bar, hell maybe even the whole town.”
You cried harder, realizing that there was truly no way out of this. If you didn’t go with Joel, you’d be damning your sisters. You let out a final anguished cry before you got up shakily and continued to pack your things. You went down to the bar which was quiet, the men all watching with bated breath.
Mr. Polk escorted you down and you walked over to Joel again, whose smirk made you nauseous. You looked down at the floor as one of his men took your bag from you.
“Alright sweetheart.” Your pimp murmured, “You be good for Mr. Miller now.”
You nodded as tears ran down your face silently.
“Move out.” Joel addressed his men.
It hit you again that you were really leaving and you started sobbing again.
“No please!” You begged your pimp, “Don’t let him take me please!”
Joel reached out and grabbed your arm,
“I ain’t got time for this girl!” He sneered and ripped you away.
“No…” you cried as he dragged you along.
Anna-Leigh ran up and hugged you one last time. Joel let her, but made an irritated noise and squeezed you painfully when she took too long.
She pulled away and grabbed your face in her hands.
“You can do this.” She said, her voice breaking, “You’re gonna be strong.”
You hiccuped and shook your head,
“Be strong ok?” She nodded at you as Joel finally wrenched you away.
“That’s enough!” He barked, “I’ve already been mighty patient with you folks. Stop fuckin’ testing me!”
Everyone stared at him, silent and full of fear.
You could only cry harder as he dragged you outside. He picked you up and set you on his horse, untying its reigns from the post. 
“Hey!” You heard a voice call out and turned on the horse to see one of your drunken regulars, stumbling towards you,
“Thas’ my favorite whore!” He slurred, “My favorite fuckin’ whore, y’can’t-“ he hiccuped and stumbled. The people of the town shuffled out of their houses to watch the action.
Joel smiled at the man coldly,
“That’s your favorite whore, huh?” He asked, standing over him. He rolled him over with the toe of his boot.
“M-my whore.” The man warbled.
Joel didn’t really know why but white hot rage shot through him. He inhaled sharply and stomped on the man’s face, hard. He heard you gasp from the back of his horse which only ignited him further.
“She’s my fuckin’ whore now!” He yelled and spat in his face.
Fueled by rage and power, he turned to his right hand with an idea.
“Get me the rope, John.”
The man writhed on the ground, moaning and clutching his face. Joel approached the back of his horse with the rope, making you shuffle back in fear.
“Relax darlin’ this ain’t for you.” He breathed and tied the end of it to the saddle. Then, he turned to the man and bent down, tying the rope around his hands above his head.
You watched in shock and heard people around you, whispering.
“Alright!” Joel said after he was done. He got up onto the horse in front of you.
“Hold on baby.” He said softly and you reluctantly wrapped your arms around his middle.
Adrenaline coursed through him at the thought of the freedom of the mountains, of riding out of this stupid town with a pretty girl on his horse and a worthless drunk at his mercy. He turned to see John, who was giving him a knowing smile, the one he always gave him before they rode.
“Let’s ride.” Joel said, his voice gravelly like the desert sand. Before you could blink, they urged their horses onward and took off at high speed. You couldn’t help but let out a little scream as you startled and grabbed at him.
Your noise of shock was substituted by the agonized screams of the man being pulled by Joel’s horse. Begging and crying just like you had earlier.
You turned and watched the town get smaller, Anna-Leigh stood at the front of the crowd and gave you a pitiful wave. You looked down and saw the bloody body of the man.
You squeezed your eyes shut and turned back around, whimpering as you buried your face in Joel’s broad back.
Your tears stained his jacket as you rode away from the place that you had made your home. Towards a terrifying, shackled future.
-
As you journeyed on, you sat behind Joel on his horse, your hands clinging to his weathered leather jacket. His silence only made you more uneasy.
You feared for what the future held, gone was the stability of the brothel, the protection of your pimp. You were in a lawless land with a man who answered to no one. You’d heard the stories about Joel Miller, about the things he’d done.
You didn’t know how he’d treat a woman, if he’d be rough or gentle. Or if he’d throw you to his men. That was what you were the most afraid of.
You traveled for hours, eventually setting up camp as the sun began to set. As the air grew colder, Joel passed you a thick blanket to wrap around yourself. You sat in front of the fire with him as his men kept themselves occupied.
You brooded as you stared into the fire. You were still kind of in shock. This man had taken you away from everything, your life was gone. You didn't know if you were ever going to see your friends again.
You didn't realize, when you'd started spreading your legs for men, that this could happen. That you could be bought and sold like cattle.
You were scared for life with this godless outlaw. You didn't even know where you'd be living. Would you just sleep out in the desert like this? Would you spend the rest of your days being pounded by vicious men into the hard, dry earth?
"Want ‘sum meat?" Joel's gruff voice broke you from your thoughts. You turned to him apprehensively. He held out a piece of dried meat, offering it to you.
"Go on."
You slowly took it from him and took a bite like a scared wild animal. It was pretty good.
"Thank you." You said softly.
Joel looked satisfied with your response, you were both quiet for a while longer until you finally couldn't help yourself.
“Is this uh…” You spoke and he looked over to you, the fire casting sharp shadows across his handsome features.
“Is this how you normally live?” You finally asked, hoping you weren’t being disrespectful.
Joel shook his head after a moment.
“We’re travelin’ now.” He said, “but we got a place, nice and comfortable for a lady.”
You smiled a little bit at that last part.
“Thank you sir.” You wished you didn’t sound so scared, “I was just curious.”
“S’alright.” He grumbled out and began focusing on whittling a piece of wood.
-
The journey was hard but you tried your best to keep up. Joel never raised his voice at you, he didn’t really talk to you all that much in general. He hadn’t even touched you yet either. It seemed he was focused on getting everyone home.
His strength and capability drew you to him, but he still scared you.
After days of traveling, you finally reached where he and his men lived; a small grouping of cabins a mile or so away from a small village. It was just as well, since the sun was beginning to set over the horizon.
You still weren't sure what to think. Joel has been gentlemanly towards you so far. He still scared you though. His smoldering silence made you more uneasy than any unsavory man you'd ever encountered. He kept all his cards concealed, barely spoke, only when he needed to. His calm felt like that which preceded a storm, he commanded respect.
You didn't know what to expect from him.
You entered one of the larger cabins with Joel. It was nice, modest, and smelled of carpentry and tobacco. He set down his lantern on one of the wooden tables and dropped your things down with a slight groan.
His men unloaded everything, then they all nodded at each other and all left, closing the door and leaving you with Joel.
He moved purposefully, picking up wood from a corner and moving to the fireplace.
"Need to get a fire goin'." You heard his deep voice in the near darkness. The shadows thrown on his broad back made him seem even larger than he already was.
You didn't move, unsure of what to do, not wanting to make him mad.
After a fire was crackling he moved towards you silently, the wood creaking under his heavy footsteps. You resisted the urge to shrink away from him.
He was so close to you now, right in front of you.
"You were a real good girl on that trip." He said, his gravelly voice soft, the sound immediately went to your cunt and you were shocked at how aroused you suddenly became. 
You weren't sure what to say, you kept your eyes down, your hands behind your back.
He held your jaw and tilted your face up to look at him.
"You need to keep bein' good." He said, his tone a warning, "You don't cause any fuckin' trouble, you do what I say."
You felt breathless, the feeling of his hand on your face setting you on fire.
"Yes sir." You said quickly.
He smiled softly, "Good girl." He said gently and, to your shock, leaned forward and kissed your forehead. You gasped a little.
"Remember," His voice was still soft and velvety, "I own you now." He gripped the back of your neck tightly, "That means you're mine and I decide what to do with you."
You swallowed the dry lump in your throat. You wanted to cry. You never liked being a prostitute, but at least at the brothel you were free, not a man's property. At least, you thought you'd been.
But Joel had paid for you fair and square. You were his now.
You whimpered a little at the thought and he grabbed your hair, yanking your head back,
"Answer me when I talk to you girl." He spat.
"Yes sir, I'm sorry!" you choked out.
Seeming satisfied, he let go and patted your cheek, then moved away. It felt like you could finally breathe.
"I'm gonna get us some supper ," He said, "You stay here, make yourself at home."
With that he was gone. You stood in the single room cabin, your heart rate finally slowing down.
You looked around, the place was big enough, it felt cozy. There were some old chairs by the fire with a small handcrafted table in front of them.
The other side of the room had a big soft looking bed, then there was an area to the right with pots, pans and other things for cooking. Besides a small room off to the side with a basin of water and a cracked mirror, that was it.
It wasn't much, but it was nice. It felt normal. There were blankets everywhere. Cotton, knitted, animal hide, what have you.
It all made you feel a little better, but not by that much.
Joel came back in and gathered fixings for dinner. He had you both sit in front of the fire outside along with his other men. You all sat on logs gathered round. His men were boisterous and shameless as usual, but they only did so much as leer at you.
The food was pretty good, and you appreciated the hot meal.
When you shivered a little bit, Joel slipped off his fringe jacket and put it around your shoulders. You looked up at him and couldn't help but smile a little. How sweet, how...considerate.
He looked down at you, and smiled back. The wrinkles around his brown eyes became more pronounced, making his normally dead piercing gaze softer, kinder. A warmth bloomed in your chest.
-
After dinner was done, you both returned to his cabin. He cleaned up as you got comfortable, changing into a long, off the shoulder white cotton dress that held your breasts nicely.
You settled into his bed. It smelled like wood, tobacco, whiskey, him. The blankets and pillows were soft and you tucked your legs up, opening your diary. Beginning a new entry, you didn't even know where to start. Your entries were definitely going to get more interesting.
You wrote for a while before you heard a man enter the cabin. Looking up, you saw Joel and began to stand up but he put up a hand, stopping you.
You watched him walk over to the fire, his knees creaking a little as he bent down and threw a fresh log in. 
He sighed and slumped back in one of the chairs, kicking off his boots, unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his shirt.
You observed him for a while, his beautiful hooked nose illuminated by the firelight, his hair looked soft, his tough expression relaxed a bit.
You finally lost interest and returned to your diary, desperately trying to explain to it how you came to be in this situation.
Joel took swigs from his flask and worked on his whittling as you wrote. He liked the peacefulness, he liked that there was a pretty girl in his bed. You had come with him so easily, been so obedient. Sure, you'd been upset initially, but he hadn’t expected you not to be.
You'd been good, so far. You followed his orders and you were thankful for all the things that he gave you.
Compliant little thing.
He suddenly got an idea.
-
You had already covered two pages in writing when he called your name.
You sat up quickly and set your diary on his bed, slid off and walked across the wooden floor until you were in front of him.
“Yes sir?” You asked, your heart pounding slightly.
“Take off your dress.” He said quietly.
The command caught you off guard and you froze for a moment.
“I-what?”
“Take off. Your dress.” He repeated flatly, “Wanna take a look at what’s mine.”
His words both made your stomach hurt and your pussy ache. It felt like your feet and hands were going numb.
You took him in, his hard stare, the yearning and darkness in his eyes. You realized you had been fooled earlier tonight by his chivalry.
You swallowed and nodded, you were used to this business. You took a deep breath and untied the top of your dress, letting the bodice fall loosely around your chest. You gathered the fabric and pulled it over your head. You weren't wearing any undergarments so as your white dress billowed to the ground, you were left completely naked for him.
You heard him make a noise of approval and he nodded, smiling.
"Knew you were a good girl."
He eyed you up and down. His gaze made goosebumps erupt on your skin, causing your nipples to harden as he examined you. He stayed in his chair, his legs spread. You could see his bulge straining against his jeans.
You could feel your heartbeat pounding in your cunt...maybe Joel Miller would be gentle with you?
He finally stood up. Looming over you, he ran his large, rough hands over your arms, then your stomach and finally, up to cup and squeeze your breasts.
You couldn't help but let out a soft moan, Joel chuckled softly,
"I know baby," He rasped, "You've been waitin’ so long, been so patient."
You nodded quickly, your eyes wide as you looked up at him. Your complete submissiveness to him was due to his power, but you couldn't help but feel a little excited for this strong, terrifying man to take you.
"Go get on the bed for me."
"Yes sir." You said softly and he let out an almost inaudible groan. You walked over to the bed and laid on your back, immediately spreading your legs.
Joel laughed a little and shook his head as though in disbelief,
"Damn, I picked the right fuckin’ girl didn't I?"
-
He sat on the bed beside you as you lay, your pussy still on display for him, your arms on either side of your head.
Completely his, ready to be taken by him. It kind of shocked you that you had surrendered and accepted this role so quickly. But then again, you didn't have much of a choice, this was the easy way.
"Damn." He sighed as he let his eyes fall over you. He took his time touching you, slowly playing with you. You let your eyes flutter shut as you let him explore you, taking in his newest possession.
He touched you everywhere, except where you needed him most. You squirmed and whimpered, moving your hips to get his fingers anywhere near your wet cunt.
Joel quickly landed a harsh spank on your pussy and you cried out.
"Cut that shit out." He growled, "You're gonn' take what I give you and be a grateful little whore."
You nodded quickly.
"Say it."
"I'm-I'm gonna be a grateful little whore."
"Thas' right."
His thick fingers dragged through your dripping cunt and you let out a moan. He drew closer to you, inhaling the dizzying scent of your arousal and spreading your slickness up to your clit.
"Joel..." You whined and rolled your hips against his fingers.
"Good girl," He said huskily, "Jus like that."
He moved his fingers faster and you moaned and arched your back. No man had ever taken his time with you in this way.
You felt the pleasure wash over you and you let your moans echo around the cabin freely. You'd learned it wasn't a bad thing to be loud, your old pimp had always told you it was good advertising.
After taking in your reaction to that, Joel shifted his focus and curiously buried two thick fingers into your cunt. You moaned and gasped at the way he stretched you, it felt fucking amazing.
"Joel!" You cried out and rocked your hips in time with his hand. Following his movements and somehow doing exactly what he wanted.
He liked how responsive you were, how obedient.
He pulled his fingers out of you without warning and you whined at the sudden emptiness.
Joel got on his knees on the bed, towering over you. He pulled his shirt off and undid his jeans, pulling them down just enough to free his cock.
You audibly gasped when you took in the sight of it and he laughed a little.
"What? Not expectin’ me to be this big?"
"I-no-sir I didn't-I mean-" You stuttered.
"S'alright sweetheart." He murmured, "You wanna touch me?"
You stared at his thick manhood. You had no idea how fucking big it was, you reached your hand out and wrapped it around him, your fingers just meeting each other around his girth.
Oh fuck.
You whined and pumped his length, spitting on it and letting it spread over him.
His cock was beautiful, powerful and imposing, resting rock hard and heavy between his strong thighs. His balls hung heavy, his dark hair running wild up to his round stomach.
You sighed, contentedly.
Joel smirked, his large hand resting on the side of your head, cradling you as your hand worked him.
You looked up at him submissively, your eyelashes fluttering. Joel moaned at the way you pleaded for him without even saying anything. You were like a siren. He'd known you were the one the minute he saw you down in that saloon.
He suddenly pushed you back, roughly. Making you yelp out in surprise as your head hit the soft pillows. He looked at you hungrily and grabbed your hips, flipping you over so you landed on your stomach, bouncing up off the bed a little.
He yanked your hips up so you were on your knees, grunting and breathing heavily. You moaned and arched your back, spreading yourself for him.
You felt the head of his cock swipe through your folds and your heart raced with anticipation. He took a sharp inhale before slamming into your cunt with a snarl.
"FUCK!" You cried out, not expecting the sudden burn or stretch. Even with how wet you were, his massive cock split you open.
You gasped and whined as Joel kept himself buried in your pussy, groaning as he rocked his hips, getting harder and more forceful.
You let yourself become undone by him and he started sliding out and slamming into you more, getting faster and more enthusiastic.
He grunted and breathed heavily through gritted teeth as he pounded into you. He threw his head back, using his grip on your hips to move you and fuck your pussy. The way you moaned and screamed for him only spurred him further, abusing your cunt.
He was in control. He bought you, he owned you, you were his whore. Forever.
"Oh fuck!" He groaned, gasping as those thoughts brought him even closer, along with the squeeze of your cunt.
You couldn't even speak, your face was pressed into the pillow as you cried and drooled. You'd lost track of how many times you'd come, just letting yourself be used by him at this point. You couldn't deny that it felt amazing.
Joel leaned over and put a paw-like hand over the back of your head, crushing your face into the bed as he leaned over. Putting his weight on you, he used that to fuck you even harder.
Your cries were muffled and you almost couldn't breathe. Joel's thrusts became sloppier and you heard his breathing turn into desperate moaning. He finally came, thick ropes of cum shooting directly into you making you gasp and moan. The men at the brothel were never allowed to cum in you. If a girl got pregnant, she either got it taken care of or she was out.
But you were Joel's now. And Joel was the one who decided what happened to you.
He fucked his cum into you more, causing it to spurt out. Then he pulled back, you took a deep breath and relaxed onto the bed, his cock still keeping you plugged up.
"That's right baby." He murmured, "Good girl."
You let out a beautiful whine, your cunt tightening around his cock as he stroked your hair away from your face.
He sighed as he knelt over your limp form, his cock still keeping his seed in you.
You didn't move, When he finally eased out of you gently, you winced and cried out at the loss.
"I know, I know." He said softly, petting your hair.
He grabbed a cloth and wiped at your cunt, getting most of the mess cleaned up. When he decided that was good, he eased your hips down and turned you over.
You wriggled into a comfortable position, tucking your hair behind your ear and smiling up at him shyly.
He smiled at you again, the same one he'd given you at dinner. His normally cold eyes looked warm and safe.
You slipped your hands up around his neck, your eyes falling down to his lips under his scruffy beard.
He ran the rough pad of his thumb over your cheekbone,
"Such a good little whore." He said softly, then he leaned down and kissed you.
His lips weren't pressed against yours for that long but it still sparked electricity through you.
He pulled away and breathed out a laugh, "Alright, let's try an' get some sleep now."
"Yes sir." You said softly.
He put out the fire and the lantern and stripped off his pants before getting under the covers with you. His strong arms wrapped around you, pulling you into him, his softening cock pressing against your ass.
He buried his nose in your hair, each hand covering your tits, keeping them warm.
You nuzzled into his hold, you couldn't remember the last time you'd been held like this. You turned around and buried your face in his hairy chest. 
You had…liked that. You really liked it. You knew how wrong this all was. You knew that to him you were just a whore, his property, but…maybe you could make peace with that? Maybe Joel Miller would be a good owner.
You hated that you were even thinking that.
His large hand rested on your back, holding you close to him as your exhausted mind finally succumbed to sleep.
-
THANK YOU FOR READING I LOVE YOU
This is my first Joel fic AND my first dead dove fic which I didn’t think I’d be able to write but I had sm fun writing this!! Thank you to @toxicanonymity and @romana-after-dark and all the girlies with their scary Joels who inspired me🖤
YEEHAW LETS RIDE🐎🐎🐎
351 notes · View notes
nebulablakemurphy · 1 year
Text
Moves & Countermoves (Part 9)
Summary: No one ever wins the games, even fourteen years later, Y/N is still playing. Warning: this chapter contains heavy subject matter and a steamy making out sess, proceed with caution.
Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Tumblr media
“Effie and I wrote these speeches together.” Y/N assures Katniss and Peeta as Effie doles them out. “Don’t be nervous, nothing crazy.”
Katniss nods.
“Just a few words for the fallen tributes of the district. For eleven that is Thresh and Rue,” Effie says, hoping to put their minds at ease.
At present, they are crammed into one vehicle, transporting them to the justice building. Arista is sat between Katniss and Peeta, a doll in hand. Peeta allows the doll to walk along his leg, occasionally dropping it to one side or the other; causing the little girl to giggle. She shouldn’t be here.
People of the Capitol have sent them gifts from the moment they were born, things much too lavish for district twelve. Such items are sold to peacekeepers and the money funnels back through twelve. Keeping them afloat. Very few offerings they keep, like the doll. A tablet for Everest, just like his mother’s. He taps away at it, almost as if he’s playing a game.
“Can I see?” Katniss asks.
The boy nods, holding it across the isle. It’s an agenda…no, a journal. She realizes. ‘Day one, district eleven. Agriculture. The train is five hours from home.’
Katniss blinks rapidly at the screen before handing it back. He shouldn’t be here. “Thought you were playing a game.”
“I have games.” Everest tells her, “you can pick one to play.”
“Show me your favorite.” Don’t worry about all of this. You’re just a kid.
He smiles. “I like this one. You have to dodge the logs and get the dot from one side to the other.”
“I won’t be very good.” Katniss confesses as he hands it back to her.
“It’s for fun, Katniss.” The boy shrugs, “you don’t have to be good.”
Y/N passes an affectionate hand over her son’s hair.
“When I married Haymitch, there was an understanding. Whatever we had to do to stay alive, we would do. But between him and I was also an understanding; that he loved me and that love is unconditional. He wouldn’t leave me if I was scared, he would be patient. He would wait for me. When there were time restrictions, if we couldn’t wait, he would get me through. I think Peeta could be that person for you, Katniss.”
“You think I should marry Peeta?”
“I think you should be his friend.” Y/N corrects her. “All of this pretending to be in love stuff will come easier, I promise. Do it on your terms, take your time.” While you still have time.
Katniss takes this into consideration. She doesn’t dislike the idea of being with Peeta. But the idea of being with anyone seems impossible to her now. Even out of the arena she no longer feels safe…maybe if they make it back home. After they’ve convinced Snow and the districts. Even then, she doesn’t think she can love anyone the way Y/N loves Haymitch; or be loved the way Haymitch loves her.
What Y/N doesn’t tell her is that their toasting, the one Haymitch asked for when she was ready, did not come until two years after their Capitol wedding. After they’d celebrated two ‘anniversaries’ and Everest’s first birthday. She doesn’t tell her how verbalizing ‘I love you’ is painful for Haymitch… how he cried after telling her for the first time. Because he lost every other person he’s ever loved. How his tears broke her heart, how much they still do.
The vehicle comes to a harsh stop before the engine cuts out.
“Crash landing,” Haymitch remarks.
They are ushered out in a single file line. Y/N, Haymitch and the children are left in the viewing room with Effie and Cinna to watch Katniss and Peeta on stage from the projector.
Nothing can go wrong. Katniss repeats the mantra over and over. Nothing can go wrong.
Peeta does most of the talking, he offered and she couldn’t say no.
Arista pays little attention to what’s happening, too preoccupied with chatting up one of the peacekeepers who is trying to keep a hard exterior.
Everest is slightly more involved, watching the adults around him; gauging their reactions. His mother is anxious, twisting her fingers around the fabric at the back of his father’s jacket.
Cinna catches him staring and smiles. “Can you see?”
Everest nods as all eyes fall on him.
Y/N whispers something to her husband that the little boy can’t make out. Haymitch reaches a hand back then, bringing his son up beside Effie.
The peacekeeper sends Arista back to her parents with a gift. “I got candy.”
“What kind of candy?” Y/N leans down.
“From him,” the girl tells her mother, pointing toward the man in the white suit.
“Did you thank him?”
“Mhm.”
“Good,” Y/N boops her little nose. “This is actually one of my favorites, do you think we could trade?”
“Well, what do you have?” Arista arches a brow.
Y/N surrenders her shoulder bag. “Anything you want.”
Arista’s eyes light up, “really?”
“Mhm.”
“Thank you, Mommy. Here’s your candy.”
“Thank you.” Y/N accepts the tiny wrapped object. Sliding it into her pocket.
“Both Rue and Thresh were so young. But our lives are not measured in minutes, they’re measured by the lives of those we touch around us. For myself, and for Katniss; we know that without Thresh and without Rue we wouldn’t be standing here today.” Peeta speaks from his heart.
Though their speeches were approved by both mentors and their Capitol escort, they do not have the intended effect. A whistle is heard, three fingers in the air, the nearest peacekeepers drawing batons.
“Get the kids away from the door.” Haymitch bites out.
“What about Katniss and Peeta?” They’re still out there.
“I’ve got them,” he promises.
The audience grows to a distraught holler.
“What’s happening?” Everest turns to his mother.
“Come with me,” Y/N tries to keep calm as she takes his hand, moving quickly towards her daughter. Her bag all but forgotten.
“Mommy, why are they doing that?” Arista asks, seeing the older man being forced up onto the stage by peacekeepers.
“Shh,” Y/N turns her away. Hurrying both children up the stairs.
Hearing Katniss protest from the lower level, “no, please leave him alone.” The doors open and she is removed from the stage.
Y/N sits her babies down on the floor, “cover your ears.” They do as they’re told, looking to their mother for comfort. She kneels, keeping them distracted as best she can; from the screams, from the gun shot, from the cruel world whirling around them.
Haymitch carries Katniss, kicking and screaming, toward the stairs. “What did I do?”
“Shhh,” he hushes her as Peeta follows.
“No, Haymitch! What did I do wrong?”
“Shut up. Get in here.” He closes the door behind them.
“I did everything I was supposed to do.” Katniss says, tears flooding her face.
“Katniss,” Peeta runs his knuckles along her arm; hoping to soothe her.
She steals Peeta’s hand, latching on for comfort. “Just help us get through this trip.”
“This trip?” Haymitch snaps two fingers in front of her, “wake up, girl. This trip doesn’t end when you get home. You never get off this train.”
Katniss’ heart sinks at the realization. They’re still stuck on this train.
“You two are mentors now, which means every year they’re gonna drag you out and broadcast the details of your romance. Your personal life becomes theirs. From now on, your job is to be a distraction so that people forget what the real problems are.”
Peeta’s free hand balls into a fist at his side. “So what do we do?”
“You’re gonna smile, continue reading the cards that Effie gives you and you’re gonna live happily ever after. Think you can do that?” His eyes flicker between the pair.
Peeta nods. Katniss follows reluctantly, after Haymitch pats her cheek. Just like he did before she stepped onto the hovercraft for the games.
“Good,” Haymitch says, with a sad smile. “Come here.”
Still in a state of shock, Katniss steps into his arms, resting her head against his shoulder. She watches through the window as the man from eleven’s lifeless body is removed.
“You’re gonna be ok, I promise.”
Katniss knows that her mentors will protect her…and Peeta. Anything she does is a collective loss or gain. Anything she does.
————————————————————————
Y/N manages to get through dinner on the train, choking down her meal after consoling Katniss, who refuses to leave her room. Peeta stays with her, opting for in room dining tonight.
Effie isn’t thrilled, but she understands and the younger children keep her plenty entertained.
Y/N and Haymitch break off before it gets late, tucking Everest and Arista into bed. Then Haymitch wanders down to the bar car, returning with a bottle. Seeing mayhem on the monitors of the control room as he passes.
“How the hell are we gonna fix this, Haymitch?” Y/N demands, the second he returns.
He uncorks the liquor, chugging a bit to get through this round of questioning. “There are ten other districts before the Capitol, they still have a chance to calm things down.”
She nods, swiping at traitorous tears. “How bad is it?”
Riots in the streets. “If all else fails, we have the show with Caesar before Snow’s party.” Setting the bottle aside, he pulls her in, “we’ll fix it.”
Y/N melts into him.
Haymitch tips her chin up. She is beautiful…and broken. Glossy eyes soften at the sight of him, lips parted and flushed from tears. “I love you.” The words claw their way from his throat; more painful to keep in than let out.
She kisses him then. Hot and hard, a little sloppy.
Haymitch cups the base of her neck, surrendering to the unrelenting force that is Y/N. The push and pull of her, the need for her.
Falling onto the mattress, lost in the heat of it. Something drops from Y/N’s dress as it’s discarded. The candy.
“You saving this for later?” Haymitch chuckles, holding it between them.
“Traded Arista for it.” Y/N admits, tossing the candy aside. “She got it off a peacekeeper. I’m sure it’s fine but…”
“Can’t risk it,” Haymitch agrees.
“Didn’t want to make a scene either, Everest is watching like a hawk.” She rolls off of him, onto her back.
“These kids,” Haymitch sighs. A gentle hand finds her bump, tracing patterns over the skin there.
————————————————————————
“We want to share with you the sorrows of your losses.” Katniss reads directly from the cards. In districts nine and ten, the crowd was calm. Now in district eight, two members of the crowd raise three fingers into the air. “The tributes of this district-” she breaks off as peacekeepers remove them from the scene; looking to Haymitch and Y/N.
They are no longer left in the viewing room, able to jump in and corral their victors if need be. Showing face to the masses to help calm them. Katniss wonders what kind of deals they had to make to be standing here with them.
Haymitch nods, encouraging her to continue. Y/N follows suit when Peeta’s eyes fall to her, jaw clenched. This is what we have to do. This is what they make us do.
Katniss picks up where she left off. “Were brave and noble warriors, who brought honor to their families and pride to their people. We are all of us united, both victors and vanquished, in serving a common purpose. The power and glory of the Capitol. Panem today, Panem tomorrow, Panem forever.”
People from districts three through seven are outraged with this speech, this falsehood, this injustice to the girl they saw in the arena. The Capitol won’t eat your soul, that is a fate much too kind for a victor. They break your connections, they make you theirs.
Districts one and two are more easily swayed, buying into the notion that the games are something to celebrate. The little girl who presents Katniss with flowers tells her that she wants to volunteer; just like she did.
The nightmares come and Peeta stays with Katniss most nights, helping each other survive.
Everest and Arista find ways to occupy themselves. Madge steps in when their parents have to tend the crushing weight of their titles. Tomorrow ends in the Capitol; Caesar and Snow, all in one night.
Y/N sits, legs crossed, beside Haymitch on the gray satin bench of the train car. Katniss and Peeta directly across from them.
“Snow is watching us.” Haymitch says, as if anyone could forget. “If he wants you to pacify the districts, I promise you, he’s not happy. Instead of being in love, you two sound like you’re reciting from a drilling manual.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” Peeta turns his palms up, they’re all grasping at straws now.
Y/N leans forward, “I think-”
“We could get married.” Katniss meets her gaze when she says it.
“That’s not helping,” Haymitch taps a finger against his glass.
Peeta’s eyes never leave Katniss. Of all the times he’s thought about it, wanted it even; someday in the future, when it was real. Not like this, never like this.
“I’m serious.” Katniss decides, “if we’re on this train forever it’s gonna happen eventually, why not now?”
“It does make a statement,” Haymitch huffs a laugh, “I’ll give you that.”
“Yeah, sure.” Peeta rises to his feet, “let’s do it.”
“Wait.” Y/N reaches out a hand to catch him, “we still have the show. We can find another way, something else to feed these people and keep them at bay for a while.”
“Like what?” Peeta plops back down in his seat.
“Like a baby.” Y/N forces the poofy skirt of her dress to lie flat against her bump.
“No, if you’re giving them that, we’re giving them the proposal.” Peeta protests. Y/N and Haymitch have already given away too much.
Katniss nods in agreement.
“Alright then,” Haymitch drinks to that, “let’s give them a night they’ll never forget.”
Part 10
Series Taglist: @praline357 @flowercrowns-goodvibes @justheretoparty420 @avocadotoastwithegg @officialjellydoughnut @whoreforfictionalpeople @treehouse-mouse @emo-markie @spilled-mi1k @magical-spit @greaser9902 @jessicamellarky @yourebuckingkiddingme @smuha2004 @sendhelplease @ninimackbrews @wittiestrain184 @r1dd1kulus @erenluvr69
484 notes · View notes
mackjlee9 · 11 months
Text
|Part 2|Leon Kennedy x Male!Reader [?]
Warning; I struggled with this one so- I apologize in advance! I was thinking between Vendetta!Leon or Death Island!Leon, so either one is fine. 3.2k words.
Masterlist.
«««
Resident Evil 4
With ragged and rapid breaths, (M/n) collapsed inside the lift hoping the wooden roof of it would work as some sort of barrier, but even without it, (M/n) had already given up on making it out the island alive. He hates that he wasn't able to keep his promise, but at least... He knew he would remain a part of Leon's life, even with him gone.
He sighed, hearing the explosions going off everywhere, watching pieces of the mountains fall to the bottom of the ocean, and feeling the heat of the fire despite not being extremely close to any.
(M/n) stayed conscious for as long as he could, observing how his body was consumed by those black veins, and he sighed again, a long, drawn-out sigh as he thought of Leon. His eyes, his hair, his smile, his laugh, his voice... His lips.
His sight started getting blurry and his eyes stung with tears at the image of Leon in his mind, making him close his eyes, feeling those warm teardrops falling down his face.
"Goodbye, Leon..." Now that he said it, the knot in his throat got tighter, and he just let the tears freely make their way down, his body shaking with every sob that left him, his fists closing as he took in his reality, his final moments before everything turned black.
//////
Hours later, a few rescue helicopters find their way to the island, barely anything of it left standing above the waterline, collapsed on itself.
These people had been assigned there just to make sure the evidence had been destroyed, and that's where the land team comes in. All of them are walking around wearing suits and masks as a way to prevent any kind of direct contact with la plaga or any other virus that could linger in the air, they take careful steps where the ground feels more solid and stable, moving away pieces of rubble from the buildings that blocked their paths, kicking some small rocks that they found bothersome.
The more they walked in, the more things were found. Including bodies. Many of them actually, and most of them were unidentified corpses, with signs of bullet holes in their rotting bodies, leading them to assume this was Agent Kennedy's doing.
There were finding most of the buildings destroyed, the floor that hold them up had caved in and now they were submerged, and they were unable to go anywhere inside them, with the top of the mountain collapsed and chunks of it burying them further. They were about to leave when there was nothing useful and everything seemed to be gone, when one of the men that had wandered off on his own recognized one of the bodies.
"Captain! I found something!" He called through their radio, and the captain stopped before any other men could head over.
"What did you find, kid?" The man asked with severity, he was tired and wanted to leave, so he wasn't in the best mood to deal with any kind of "funny business".
"I found Lieutenant Colonel (L/n)!" He hurried to explain, kneeling and pressing his fingers on the male's pulse. It was there. "He's still alive!" He exclaimed before his superior told them what everyone already knew.
(M/n) was dead. He died saving Agent Kennedy, they were informed of that... But also ordered to bring his body in case they found him. Be able to give him and proper burial and say their final goodbye to the men that helped rescue the President's daughter, they weren't expecting that he would survive such an explosion.
But the moment they ran to where he was found, they understood why. Four foreign claw-like appendages had spurted out of his back, the flesh pulsing and twitching, black veins throbbing all over (M/n)'s skin.
For a moment they were scared of getting closer to him, but the way the claws were struggling to get him out and failing made the youngest of them run toward him, holding onto the slimy claw and pulling, groaning at the strength he had to use to move him barely an inch.
"Come on...! Come on!" He yelled whilst getting a better stance, "I won't...! Abandon you here, Lieutenant...!" The kid's will shook other soldiers that had served under (M/n)'s command or had the pleasure to meet the man, and they ran to help him.
They carried (M/n) on their way to the helicopter, meeting with the medic unit as they brought out a stretcher so they could carry him easier into the chopper and back to safety. But they couldn't help but think about what would actually happen to him when others see the appendages that grew on his back...
He would be safe, but he won't be treated like a human anymore. Only like a test subject. Like they've seen had happened to other infected soldiers.
The whole team got back onboard, and the medics hurried to stabilize (M/n) enough for him to receive a more adequate treatment.
Their captain turns on his radio to inform them of the situation, they had explored the remains of the island, made sure evidence was destroyed, and how they had found Lieutenant Colonel... Alive. But barely, explaining how (M/n) was in critical condition, holding a thin thread as he fought to stay alive, but left out the changes that occurred to his body. He didn't want to deal with that for now.
//////
Rushing through the halls of their base, they took (M/n) to the hospital room they had, equipped with anything (M/n) could need to make sure he stays alive.
While the doctors rushed around to get everything they needed when a man in a suit walked in. He looked at (M/n)'s body laying on the hospital bed, the claws coming out from within him catching his attention.
"Take him to the laboratory for testing once you make sure he's alive," he said, his voice not wavering even for a moment and the doctors looked at each other before nodding at the orders they received.
Everyone watched as he left, in complete silence they observed him walk out, but they still had stuff to do and a life to save.
A few of them had discussed the removal of the claws on his back, but before that, they had to do a full body scan of him to be able to see if the surgical removal was possible. And it didn't seem like they could.
All four of them were working as an extension of his spinal cord, and the parasite was still moving inside him, very slightly, twitching around and curling on itself, it appeared... To be dying.
For now, they just made sure (M/n) survived, only to later be used as a test subject.
It didn't sit right with either of them, but they had orders.
//////
When (M/n) finally woke up, he was surrounded by machines, locked in a completely white room that didn't have anything other than a metal door and a one-way mirror. He wasn't stupid, he knew where he was or had an idea of the facility he was being kept in.
He had never liked being on the other side of the mirror, observing an infected patient, a friend, or even a family member, and now he was the subject.
That was something he always feared, but it didn't make him as scared as the thought of losing Leon... Speaking of...
Where could he be?
The people in the monitoring room got a reading of (M/n)'s heart picking up, signaling he was awake, and soon, one of them rushed to his room, followed by armed guards, clipboard in their hands, ready to write anything that (M/n) could tell them or they could notice about him.
But it was useless.
Despite the physical changes he had gone through and being awake, he never responded, still as a rock, completely unresponsive to anything external from his own mind. He was lost. Whether it was temporary or permanent, they didn't know, the only they could do was wait for a signal of human behavior.
And just like that, years flew by, but it's not like (M/n) knew how long it's been since he woke up. He never responded to any questions or external stimulation used to get a reaction, he never moved aside from the automatic body movement like breathing and blinking. (M/n) didn't even sleep either, the first week they had monitored when he woke after six months he had spent the whole week awake, so it resulted in them giving him sleeping medicine through his IV.
He somehow ate, but no one was sure why or how, but one of the appendages had a mouth far behind the claw, and they weren't sure if it was moving on its own controlled by la plaga, or if (M/n) was doing that.
But the truth is, (M/n) didn't know either, he had moments where he was somehow conscious and then he was gone for long periods of time. Many had wondered why this happened, and someone had decided on checking the state of the parasite.
It was dead. Everyone knew that, but (M/n) should be somehow aware of his surroundings, nothing they had tried worked to "wake him up".
They discovered that, not only had the parasite died inside him, but while they had been waiting for it to shrink or shrivel up, it had expanded, and it managed to fuse itself with (M/n)'s spine and skull, as if it was still trying to control (M/n) during its last moment, and even after it died it refused to let go of its host. Removing it was impossible before and it was even worse now.
Many had given up on helping him, but someone was interested in his case and wanted to help an old friend back to life.
While scientists and doctors tried their best, (M/n) has short periods of lucidity he just sees flashes here and there, people going in an out of the room, talking and yelling, the feeling of foreign substances being injected into his blood, but he's not entirely sure what's happening, and when he starts to panic at not being able to understand what's occurring to him, his mind takes him to Leon and he's calm again. He's sure he has never thought of him more than he has done for as long as he stayed there.
He just wants to see him, or at least know that he's okay. That he's still alive.
Even if there was nothing he could do in this room where he was monitored 24/7 with specialized equipment to treat and investigate his case. One of the rarest cases of infection.
And of course, one of his close friends had found out about his current situation.
Rebecca had stumbled into this laboratory room he was kept in after six years of his "death" and for years she has tried doing everything she could, and even if a cure wouldn't fix the damage to his nerve system it could someone give him his consciousness and motor control back.
Of course, her superiors had other motives and those were getting more information about las plagas, despite what Leon had told them and what Tricell had done to it. But when ten years had passed since the day (M/n) was found, the hope she had vanished. And she couldn't keep the secret from Leon either.
Every time Rebecca sees (M/n)'s state, she remembers all the times Leon had talked about him, always with a sad look in his eyes, and yet, they were full of love for him.
She had done everything everyone had already tried a handful of times, holding more determination than others to help him, because it would only hurt Leon more to see him like that, but after being a test subject to many scientists and doctors for a decade, if a treatment or a cure hadn't been found by now, the chances of finding one later were even lesser than she previously thought.
So deciding this was something Leon had to know after years of keeping it a secret, Rebecca stood outside of the facility, waiting patiently for the roaring of Leon's bike, and after twenty minutes of anxious waiting, there it was. Leon arrived in his red Ducati and got off, showing a small smile toward the brunette who tried to smile back but couldn't, and Leon realized.
With a frown on his brow, he walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Is everything alright?" She took a deep breath and looked up, staring into Leon's blue eyes, full of concern for her.
"You remember why I called you here, right?" Feeling more confused, Leon nodded, watching her sigh and turn around, "Follow me."
Well, Leon was certainly weirded out by this, she wanted to show him something... What could be so important to cause this behavior in her? Although he'll rather not come to conclusions on his own.
Walking around a laboratory facility always had him on edge, especially when he was aware of the things that were in it, but being with Rebecca made him feel more at ease about the place he was currently walking into. He followed Rebecca down many halls and down the elevator, where he tried to come up with something to say, but the tension made him unable to, so he kept quiet, taking steps behind her as she approached a door labeled "R.Chambers" so clearly it was her office.
All the equipment he saw there made him question what it was for, but some X-rays on the board caught his attention. Front and side view of someone's torso, specifically their spine. A weird fusion of a parasite on the spine and skull of the patient, and placed on a nearby table was a picture that showed the person's back, the claw appendages they had brought grotesque memories of Spain, of Saddler, of Ashley, of Luis and... Of (M/n).
"Is this what you wanted to show me?" He turned toward Rebecca, who glanced over her shoulder as she input the code on the automatic secured door.
"Not exactly..." The door opened, but there wasn't a light on that could make anything visible inside it, and from where he was, Leon could only see the heart monitor attached to whoever was in that room, "The day you and Ashley escaped the island, a rescue and research team arrived at what was left of it, to... Make sure there was no lingering evidence of la plaga," Leon remained quiet, but his frown got deeper, the gears in his brain moving frantically as he processed every word Rebecca was saying, "Everyone had their orders-"
"What are you trying to say, Becca?" He said in a rather harsh voice, and she reached her hand to the panel, where she could control the lights in the room.
"The rescue team found a survivor among the remains of the island," she pushed the green button at the bottom of the panel, and the lights started turning on one by one, as if making fun of him, "They found (M/n) alive."
That was all he needed to hear to run toward the opened door, stopping in place when he witness what had become of (M/n). He was connected to all sorts of machines, his heartbeat slow and steady, his body completely immovable. He didn't look alive at all. But the claws coming from his back that were slowly moving against the restraints around them told him that he actually was alive.
"After all these years..." Rebecca placed her hand on Leon's shoulder, like he had done before entering the facility, and her eyes glanced from (M/n) to Leon over and over again.
"He has remained unresponsive for the past ten years, and I took his case fours years ago, trying to find a way to bring him back to normal but... Nothing worked," Leon decided to not comment on the fact that she knew (M/n) was alive for so long, but he couldn't blame her for not telling him, only recently they had gone back to being in contact, "I've been informed that... He will be disconnected from the life support that keeps him alive for now, so I-... I had to let you see him one more time."
Rebecca felt a knot in her throat as she watched the tears falling down Leon's face, and she blinked her own tears away.
"I will leave you with him for a while..."
Rebecca walked out and the door closed behind her, she sat down on her desk and watched for a moment as Leon slowly approached (M/n), before looking away and she tried to distract herself.
Leon stood next to (M/n)'s bed, unsure of what he should do, but there was only one thing he wanted to do at that moment. Hug him. He wanted to hug him and cry in his arms, like the old times when he was still a rookie in the academy, where he met (M/n) and fell in love with him.
"(M/n)..." He whispered and leaned down to wrap his arms around him, and his ears picked up the sound of his heart monitor going crazy, the claws on his back wriggling erratically. Both Leon and Rebecca worried for a moment, but Rebecca saw something that had never happened before.
(M/n) moved his head back, blinking a few times and looking around the room he was in, before he felt the familiar feeling of Leon's warmth, leaning against him and sighing in contentment.
"Hey, Leon..." This was the first time he had spoken since he was practically brought back to life, and Rebecca almost couldn't believe it. She tried to think of a logical explanation, there had to be a reason as to why now, so suddenly, he was able to act as if a decade hasn't gone by to him.
But maybe... He just needed some sort of closure, knowing that Leon was okay. The loud and rapid beeping of his heart monitor reminded her of all those days when (M/n)'s heart rate would suddenly go crazy, and yet he wasn't reacting at all, it was almost fairytale-like to think that all he needed was Leon.
But not to (M/n), who was only able to think about him and miss him, everything had been like a dream to him, as if he was in a constant loop, trapped in his mind, as if... La plaga had done this to him.
But he couldn't think of that right now, not when he felt Leon's hot tears wetting his neck and shoulder, his body trembling as his sobs echoed in the room. (M/n)'s arms slowly lift up, wrapping around Leon's waist, stroking his back to reassure him that he was there.
That he was still alive.
++++
Tag list; @jnyuan, @soulsnipr, @sw1tch3roo, @iwanttittes, @bigdickbruce, @burningglitterphantom, @doomdragon999, let me know if you didn't wanna be tagged and I'll remove it!
349 notes · View notes
turntechgaykid · 2 months
Text
My Headcanons for the Strawhats: (Monster Trio)
Luffy:
- Low-key has REALLY bad abandonment issues (see him telling Ace he keeps following him into a dangerous forest bc it makes him feel less alone, Sabo's 'death', Saboady, Marineford, etc)
- Autistic
- When he relaxes/sleeps his body will become super slack an his arms an legs will spread out all over
- HATES the cold and his body hurts when it's too cold out (rubber breaks easily when frozen)
- Will drink but is superrrrrrr picky about booze
- Has very green eyes an no one can convince me otherwise
- Love language is Physical touch (He bites people, affectionately)
- (Based on my Headcanons that Luffy is Brazilian and Robin is Peruvian) His first language is Portuguese an if he forgets a word he'll ask Robin to translate
- Favorite color is red (any shade)
- Likes collecting shiny rocks/pretty sea shells
- Is the most emotionally intelligent person on the crew an has really good observation skills but takes most things at face value/doesn't question them bc he can't understand why someone wouldn't want to show/say exactly what they mean
- If he cries or gets embarrassed enough to blush he'll cover his face with his hat
- Likes when Nami/anyone paints his nails but can never sit still long enough to get them done nicely
- Ambidextrous
- Knows a lot about bugs and can rattle off facts about them for hours
- Really really good at guessing games to the point everyone thinks he's cheating somehow
- Has stretch marks alllll over
- Eats so much bc his stomach stretches no matter how much he eats so he never really feels 'full'
- Has HATED Garp ever since he did nothing to help during Marineford
Zoro:
- Has dimples but he's insecure so he tries hiding them
- Everyone thinks he has green eyes but I think he has brown eyes
- His love language is Acts of service
- Extremely touch starved (if someone plays with his hair he is passing out IMMEDIATELY)
- Secretly loves that (other then Robin) Chopper always goes to him first for everything
- Really loves forests, if they land on an island with one he's most likely heading there first
- Unofficial Official first mate of the strawhats
- When it comes to keeping the crew safe he trusts Robin & Sanji the most (other then the Captain ofc) because he knows they won't hesitate to kill someone they're fighting
- Nami is like a sister to him
- Is actually REALLY good at math an confused tf out the crew when they found out (is now in charge of keeping track of the amount of necessities on the ship or how much they need for a certain amount of time)
- Will forget how long he's been going when training an won't realize til someone stops him
- Gets worried/nervous anytime he watches someone walking down stairs
- Knows a shit ton of knife/sword tricks (can absolutely swallow a sword)
- Doesn't like showers bc he hates water on his face
- Is willing to follow Luffy's orders without question (Post time skip, Pre time skip -specifically before thriller bark- Zoro would still question Luffy)
- One of the few Straw hats that hasn't dated anyone (Sanji had some flings w/ regulars at Baratie, Usopp w/ Kaya, Nami had a few flings here an there, Franky had been with a few people back on water 7 and Brook had been with a few people back when he was alive)
- His favorite color is Sage green/Gold
- Taught Chopper some sword fighting techniques (Brook also joined in an taught Chopper some of his moves)
- Loves taking naps with Chopper (Chopper is low-key his favorite person on the crew)
- He an Robin have little competitions to one up eachother with gifts or things for Chopper bc they both wanna be his favorite >:)
Sanji:
- Loves the ocean/thinks it's the most beautiful part of nature ever
- Either is a Queer Cis guy OR a Queer Trans woman<3
- Ace was absolutely his gay awakening but he thought it was a 'fluke' til he stayed on the momorio island and accepted himself
- Sees it as a HUGE compliment when anyone on the crew gains weight bc it reaffirms he's doing his job well :)
- Loves loves loves all animals and won't let anyone hurt them (including rodents/other "gross" animals)
- Has insectophobia/arachnophobia and OCD
- HATES having anything covering to much of his face/head bc of the mask Judge had him in
- Pulls on his hair when frustrated/angry/overwhelmed/etc.
- French is his first language
- Knows how to figure skate, do ballet and learned gymnastics
- His love language is Words of affirmation
- Writes letters to Zeff at least once a week (after the events at WCI he started addressing Zeff as Dad in his letters)
- Is secretly writing his own cookbook
- Has anisocoria, effects his right eye (anisocoria can easily be confused with heterochromia. It gives the appearance of two different eye colors, but the variation only relates to pupil size — which can cause one eye to look darker than the other — not the actual eye color.)
- Sanji an Usopp are actually really close (both their moms passed bc of sickness both had shit dads plus soba mask + sogeking friendship is superior)
- Sees Zoro as a brother (their dynamic is like the eldest brothers who try to compete over everything)
- Sees Robin as a mother figure but low-key feels guilty about it
- Told Nami everything about his past after WCI and they're really close now
- Sees Luffy a bit as an obnoxious younger brother
- When it gets really hot he'll let Chopper sit inside/in front of the freezer for a little bit
81 notes · View notes
yuyuswrld · 5 months
Text
O Captain, My Captain || 1
Tumblr media
series intro here, or read chapter 2
characters: reiner x reader (this chapter), various aot boys x reader.
notes: this is an 18+ series, please don’t interact if you’re a minor! reader is referred to with she/they pronouns.
content warnings: explicit smut, fingering, reiner eating pussy like a god!!, alcohol consumption, degradation, mild slut shaming (?), mentions of marijuana at the end
Tumblr media
“Has he always been a bitch?” You question Marco, inhaling bites of your ramen. He shrugs, “We’ve both been on the team since freshman year and I’ve never had a problem with him. Maybe you’re the problem?” He meets with dead silence as you stare up at him from your bowl.
“Funny, Bott. I’m just not looking forward to spending so much time with him, if he behaves like that, anyway.” Exasperation visible, you slump in your chair to think. “It’s not like he’s on the sidelines. He’s the damn captain, which means I have to talk to him a lot.”
Marco shrugs. “You’re being dramatic. He’s a pain sometimes, but he’s not that bad. Just try to be nice to him, please. Eren won’t get any nicer if you’re mean. Plus,” He stops to take a bite of his food, “we don’t have the time for fighting. We’re expected to go to nationals this year, and that’s not happening if you two scare each other off.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Bott. I’ll see you at practice later.” Uncrossing your arms and brushing off your legs as you get up from your seat. Okay, sure, Eren has yet to be anything except slightly dismissive and maybe just a little shit. He hasn’t actually done anything to you. You toss your bag over your shoulder before thanking Marco for the meal and dismissing yourself.
As the time for practice draws closer, you collect your thoughts as you stand outside the cold metal doors of the university’s second largest gym. Sure, you went to a school notorious for its D-1 volleyball, but the gym’s size was excessive. The high rise bleachers felt as if they would swallow you alive and the walls would collapse in. They had before. You remember the bile pool in your throat as the sports cameras flashes ate at your failure and spat you back out. Like a gazelle running from its predator, your body craves to run away from the glorified arena ahead of you.
“The fuck are you standing in the doorway for? Are you going in, or what?” Is it wrong to want to choose violence? Couldn’t he just say excuse me or ask if something’s wrong like a normal person?
Ugh, you should choose peace and not mess up a good opportunity. Just think about the money and all the nice things you can buy.
“I’m obviously just trying to get in your way.” You push the door open and walk into the gymnasium, not bothering with holding it open for Eren. In fact– hopefully it hits him! 
You hear the door fly open again behind you and a bag hits the ground with a loud thud. Eyes landing on the congregation of men in jerseys surrounding a smaller man, you beeline over to them. As you near, the smaller man, who you assume to be Coach Levi, locks his gaze with you. Is he… angry? Concerned? It’s impossible to determine what he’s thinking as he continues to stare.
“You’re not pregnant, are you?”
Your jaw drops. You’ve met more people in your life than you can count and never did a single person start a conversation in such a way.
“Not as far as I’m aware of…?”
“Okay, if you do what Hanna did, I will rip that baby out of your-”
A blond kid speaks up, “Um, Coach, you probably shouldn’t be threatening them on the first day. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to do that when we really need someone to organize our itinerary and keep practice stats. We’re nothing if we don’t have those numbers.”
“Fine, Arlelt. You and Braun stay here, explain how game statistics work and start having her do one-on-ones after. Performance evaluations for all of you.” You watch as Coach Levi’s eyes hover over Eren, who looks less than pleased. You’re not sure what’s going on there, but also can’t bring yourself to care. “Rest of you can go practice.”
As you glance over at the two boys who stayed, it throws you off that you’ve seen both of them before. The little blond one, you’re pretty sure his name is Armin. You’ve seen him walking around with Eren before, but he always looked so out of place in how gentle he is. You’re pretty sure you watched him bump into a trash can and apologize.
The other, however, you don’t think you’ve ever seen a man with such a commanding presence. He’s well-built. You’re pretty sure even a Greek god couldn’t hold up in comparison. You scoff internally, ‘it’s always the fucking volleyball players.’ But there’s something that lingers on your tongue, a conversation revolving around him. Then it hits you, Petra’s gossipped about him before!
“There are some really cute guys on our volleyball team. Did you know that?”
“Not this again, Petra. We’re supposed to be doing our biology homework.”
“Bitch, please. Let me speak. Anyway, there’s this guy on the team, his name is Reiner and oh my god- that is one fine ass man. He’s built like a tank engine. Not only that,” she says, a little giggle follows. “I’ve only heard this from two girls. He says he doesn’t like to hook up a lot, but his head game is insane. Like cum in a minute insane.” 
You stare, “I’m pretty sure that’s impossible, Petra.”
“I don’t know! Hook up with him yourself and you can give me all the juicy details afterwards.” You can only sigh in response, disturbed by your best friend’s inability to study.
But, here he was in the flesh, all 6’2 farmers tan of him. You couldn’t possibly do something so scandalous on your first day, could you? You shake the thought out of your mind as Armin talks.
“Volleyball stats are relatively easy to get the hang of. You just need to watch pretty closely. Even if you do miss something, we record them and you’ll go back through with Eren to make sure everything is recorded properly. Then, you’ll want to convert the numbers of each hit, serve, and pass into percentages compared to how many times it occurred per set.”
Reiner laughs, just a small one, but lord it’s like music to your ears. “Armin, you’re dumping too much info on them at once. It’d probably just be best to just show them the ropes visually and they can go from there. C’mon, let’s have coach set up the camera and record the three-on-three’s that they’re doing now.  We’ll watch the game, I’ll have you watch me record it, and then we’ll go back over it while watching the tape later.”
You nod, feeling just a hint of warmth across your face. Is this even possible, to have a school-girl crush in university? Those days were supposed to be behind you, but you can’t help but have the smallest bit of a smile as you follow him and Armin to speak with Coach Levi.
As you watch Reiner and Armin record the stats, your mind spins with utter confusion. You’re beyond lost, unsure how they’re even keeping up with the sheer amount of movement the players are doing. Dig? Write it down. Set? Write it down. You want to groan, or maybe even just go get dinner as you feel your stomach rumble.
As practice wraps up, your stomach rumbles in pain once again as it craves its next coddling. Reiner glances over from where you two stand, finishing up showing Coach Levi the statistics and getting a dismissive, “make sure it’s right,” instead of an appreciative response. He smiles at you, looking down.
“Gettin’ hungry?” He asks.
“Beyond hungry,” you say, shoulders dropping in defeat. “I’m being tortured. I haven’t eaten since noon. It’s 7 now! It’s criminal that you guys would starve me for so long.” You tease Reiner. He only responds by glancing at the gym door where most of the boys say their goodbyes before tapping out for the night.
“Y’know, I’ve heard I make a mean rice bowl.” 
It didn’t take much convincing for you to follow him back to his dorm room as practice winds down. Upon sitting across from each other at his make-shift dinner table, you learn Reiner is one of the middle blockers, coming at no surprise to you when taking in consideration to his stature. Although, you also learn he was from the countryside and this scholarship was his way out.
“Y’know, I always kinda dreamt of moving to the big city and being able to do what I love. But it’s crazy, man, I still can’t believe I’m here sometimes playing for the top university on the island.” 
Hearing the passion in his voice, you question if it’s right for you to intrude as a manager. Is it okay for you to be in charge of the livelihood of the men who’ve come so far and done so much for their passion? The men who could very well play on Paradis’ Olympic Team in the future? The concern is quickly shoved into your mental locker to be returned to as Reiner asks about watching a movie over some post-dinner snacks and beer. A much needed chance to relax after endless studying, you agree chipperly and move over to his plush couch.
As you two get halfway through Inglourious Basterds, you feel his arm wrap around you and his head turn in your direction. The alcohol running through your system has you heating up just from the skin contact. You blush as Petra’s words return to the forefront of your mind. You turn your head to face him, eyes interlocking with each other. His eyes signal a look of need, not want. You’re not sure if anyone’s ever looked at you like that before. Like a hunter who’ll starve without the meat of the deer he’s trailing.
“You’re so fucking hot” He mutters, you’re surprised a man of his stature can be so quiet. “I don’t think I’ll last with you as our manager.” Reiner closes the gap between the two of you. There’s a slight metallic tinge on his lips, but it’s addicting in the worst of ways and only deepens the experience. You two continue, allowing yourselves to sink into the couch, your body hitting the arm rest. His kiss moves from your lips to your neck, hands beginning to roam until they find purchase underneath your shirt. First, he plays with your bra before making his way under. Reiner moves his lips from your neck gently, almost like he’s scared of making a mistake. He helps you pull your shirt over your head and follows by removing your bra, his delicate touch unhooking the backing.
“You don’t have to be gentle,” you coo to him, lust-filled gazes connecting. “Please, I like it a bit rough, I swear.” He groans into the valley of your breasts.
“Don’t say that shit, I might break you.”
You can only laugh at his words, unfazed by the prospect, if not even more turned on by it. 
“Holy shit, please do,”
“In that case,” He says, voice lower as if weighing his options internally. “Don’t blame me if you limp to practice tomorrow.” Reiner helps you remove your pants before his fingers begin to dance over your body again. The touches are soft as they ghost the outline of your skin, your heart beating as you wait for him to soothe the ache between your legs. You attempt to rub them together for a semblance of friction but his arms find their way to keep them split. His gaze shifts up to you, eyes narrow as if disapproving of your behavior. Reiner’s face then begins to move lower, tongue licking a stripe up the inside of your thigh as his fingers begin to dance over your clit. He moves his face over to meet his fingers, tongue flattening against your clit, which draws a moan of approval from you. It seems evident that it spurs him on further as he begins to speed up his tongue, then switching to sucking your bud and having his fingers delve lower to your hole. Reiner holds eye contact with you as he begins to press one of his monstrous fingers inside of you. 
You can only make a noise of approval as he pushes it further in, approving of how well even one of them feels inside. It heightens your pleasure as he thrusts it forward, keeping his tongue dancing and sucking against your clit in a flurry of movements that have you questioning if Reiner is really a man and not a god in disguise. As he pushes a second large finger in, you cry out much louder than you should be in the dorms. You bite down on your lip to withhold any further noises, but Reiner puts a complete pause on what he’s doing.
“Keep moaning, baby. Let them hear how well you’re getting finger-fucked right now. This is what Armin wanted to be doing to you right now, did you know that?” He lets out a deep laugh, lips and face glistening in the dim lighting of his tv. “Bet you’d like that, though, huh?” His fingers move again and you gasp. “Yeah, you’d fucking love it if I bent you over and fingered you from behind to show off the entire team what a good little pocket pussy you are.”
That’s what tipped you over the edge. In fact, it’s probably disrespectful to feminism that you allow yourself to be finger-fucked while getting off to the disgusting words spewing out of the blond’s mouth. But social constructs be damned if this man didn’t stick his dick in you soon. You clench around his fingers as they continue to move, despite your cum gushing over his fingers.
“You’re fuckin’ nasty. But you’re still not ready for me.”
His face returns to its original spot, blowing hot air on it first as you wriggle at the stimulation. Reiner only adds another finger in response, allowing the three large digits to stretch you out before moving them once again. It feels as if you’re melting around his fingers as your back arches to the stretch. Despite slight discomfort, it’s overwhelmingly pleasurable to feel the expertise in his ways.
It’s not long after he adds another finger that you feel the coil in your stomach once again. As his tongue laps at your clit with a technique unknown to you, you’re about to unravel against his touch once again.
“‘M gonna cum,” you pant out desperately.
“Do it, cum on my fuckin’ tongue.” He replies approvingly, allowing you to take the time you need to ride out the rush to your body. For a second, you feel as if you’re floating in the way your back arches off the couch and your head spins in pure ecstasy. You glance over at Reiner, eyes fixated, as he removes his pants and reveals the thing you’ve been so curious to see. It matches his stature in almost every way, which makes you cringe at the thought of him fitting it in.
“You said you like it rough?” It’s a trap, that much you’re sure of. You glance back down to examine how large he is before you reconfirm, but before you know it, the condom has slipped on and he’s making his way back to you. He asserts his way on top, arms on either side of your head as he leans in to give you a quick kiss. It catches you a bit off guard, the earlier metallic taste has changed into the taste of your own cum and there’s a slight wince as you taste it. You can’t tell if this man is slightly depraved or hot as hell.
“I asked you a question. It’s not nice to ignore me.” 
A loud smack to your clit resounds as you let out a sharp, pleasure-filled gasp. 
“Yes, please,” you whine. It’s slightly pathetic, how you’re behaving for this man, but god be damned if anything were to impede your moment. 
He only grunts in response, lining himself up with your entrance. As he sinks in, you bite your lip to fight the stretch. You attempt to lie back and relax in his touch to allow him in, but he’s just so large. Reiner bottoms out, tip just ghosting against your cervix. He only grants you a few moments to adjust to his size before he’s pounding into you, your cries of pleasure nothing but music to his ears. The tip kissing your cervix is making your brain fuzz beyond anything you’ve felt before, and your walls hug him in intoxicating ways. Reiner grips both of your legs, bringing them onto his shoulders to push in further which earns you a grunt of approval from the larger man. 
He fucks you like he hates you. Every so often, his head falls back, and he lets out grunts of pleasure. His body moves like an artist painting their long-lost lover from only a distant memory, hips ferocious in their assault of your cunt. Reiner flips you over onto your hands and knees after an indiscernible amount of time, your sweat-covered body cringing at the chilly breeze it causes. His pace is still unrelenting from the back, cock feeling as if it’s touching every inch it can inside of you.
“Holy shit,” He cries out. “I’m gonna cum. I wish I could cum inside this pretty little pussy of yours.”
Without another word, except for your moan of approval, Reiner finishes and delicately slides out of you, removing the condom and disposing of it. He arrives back a couple minutes later, towel in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
“So, round two?”
“I’m pretty sure you started my period just now.”
Tumblr media Tumblr media
114 notes · View notes
lxclerc · 2 years
Text
𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐦𝐯𝟑𝟑
SUMMARY: in which max chooses between you or racin REQUEST: here: “a max one shot where horner doesn't aprove of his relationship with the reader and gives him an ultimatum: "you either stop dating her or you quit" because he was certain that max would chose to keep racing (the reader also thinks this) but i stead he goes like "i would choose her over racing every fucking time" or something along those lines. i love max and i love your work so i thought i'd try and request!!!” PAIRING: max verstappen x reader warning: angst to fluff, angry max (hot max), indications of sex(??), christi*n horn*r WORD COUNT: 1.2k
NOTE: let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!
masterlist
Everyone knows that Max Verstappen is meant to be great. He’s meant to be a legend. In years time when people talk about motorsport, his name will be mentioned in awe. He will be in the hall of fame, one of the greats, a hero in formula 1 history. For Max, racing is control. It’s freedom dripping from his fingertips, an ichor promising him eternal youth. For Max, racing is everything magical and thrilling in the world. 
But loving you is like breathing. He needs it. He never thought a woman unable to reach the top of the shelf could leave him quite so defenseless, breaking down every wall he’s built around himself only to build it back up brick by brick with you on the other side. You understand why the walls are up. You understand him and you don’t try to change him. 
You don’t mind his temper or his occasional outburst. You understand the reason for his defenses and his need for perfection. You understand him and exactly what he needs, how to treat his unseen wounds and how to love him so perfectly he feels so adored with your skin against his.
Max never used to believe in soulmates. The thought of someone being absolutely perfect was laughable to him until you came along, smiling at him with that smile and those eyes. You love him so gently, so softly and yet somehow so fiercely. You softly kiss every inch of his skin only to scream his name for the world to hear. You touch him as though you’re terrified he’s breaking but scratch at his skin at night as though you understand that he’s already broken. 
He never thought anything could make him feel so alive than racing does till your lips touched his and your hands explored his body and he realized you’re a different kind of adrenaline. You are more than ichor and gold, more than glory and pride. You are more, everything magical and beautiful and extraordinary and for some whatever reason or whatever good deed he did in a past life, you’re his.
“Max, are you even listening to me?” Christian Horner demanded, irritation in his voice as he pulled Max out of the thoughts of you.
He’s not producing his usual great results, usually only ever landing with p5s to p7s. His feet haven't touched podiums in a while and he knows that Christian is beginning to lose his patience. The Red bull principal thinks it’s you. What else would it be? Ever since you came around, Max has been nothing but loud laughs and beaming smiles, nothing at all like the angry and focused Max Verstappen, world champion, that everyone knows. 
Some would argue that p5s and p7s are great results but not for Christian Horner and not for Max Verstappen. He’s meant to be great, greater than the others. He’s meant to be a legend.
“If you’re not ready to dedicate yourself to this and our goal then I don’t think you should be here,” Christian continues. 
Max’s head snapped up. “What are you saying?” 
“I’m saying you’re either racing with us or playing happy couples with Y/N. You can’t have it both.” 
The usual fury in his eyes returns, his body stiffening and his fist clenching. He looks terrifying and from your place outside the room, you’re almost amazed how Christian can hold his gaze. “Are you making me choose between her and racing?” 
“Yes.” 
You want to scream. You want to curl up in a ball and cry. Instead, you stand up and walk away so you wouldn’t have to hear him say it. You know Max loves you. He’s never failed to let you know, to show you but you also know that his love for you is nothing close to his love for the sport. It’s his life, his dream, everything he’s worked for. Racing is in his blood, ingrained in his DNA. It’s in every atom and neuron in his body. Max is racing. 
He would choose you over anything else but this and as much as you want to kneel in front of him and ask him not to leave you, to choose you, you know it would be selfish of you to do so. Asking him to give up a sport he dedicated his entire life to would be your biggest act of selfishness. 
Love is not selfish and neither are you. 
From inside the room, Max watched you walk away, knowing that you heard everything. His jaw clenched in anger at the satisfaction in Christian’s eyes but he forces himself to keep still. Instead, he removes his red bull cap, slamming it on the table.
“I quit racing then,” he said, voice shaking from unreleased anger. “I don’t think you understand, Horner. I will always choose her. Over racing, over a championship, over anything, I will choose her without a second thought, without hesitation.” 
And with that, Max stands and walks away, leaving the red bull team principal shocked and frozen in place, slowly realizing that he lost in a dangerous game he started. 
Max is quick to search for you, asking everyone he passes by if they’ve seen you around. They all say the same thing – you running to his drivers room, tears streaming down your face. His heart clenches painfully at the thought. 
He finds you on the couch in his drivers room, arms wrapped around your legs and your face pushed against your knees as sobs shake your body and when you look up at him, your pretty face littered with tears and your eyes glassy, he almost wants to tear his heart out. 
You try to wipe at your tears hastily as he moves to approach you. “I-I can be gone in an hour. Just…I need to book a ticket back home and maybe I can have my stuff out of your apartment before the weekend ends and–”
He cups your face with his palms. “What are you talking about, Schatje? You’re not going anywhere.” 
You try to hold yourself back from leaning into his touch. “But Horner–”
“Horner can fuck himself,” Max interrupts. “Nothing will make me leave. I’m here till you ask me to go.” 
You want to cry again as he wraps you in his arms, pulling you against his chest. “But racing, Max. It’s all you’ve ever wanted.”
“All I want is to be with you. All the time. Until we’re gray and old and can barely stand, I want to be holding your hand. You’re all I want. I will always choose you, Y/N.” 
You suck in a deep breath as your hands grips at his shirt. To be loved so fiercely and so extraordinarily is terrifying but you wouldn’t have it any other way. 
“What about racing?” You ask again. 
“I can always choose another team,” he says. He’s right. Any other team principal would sell their limbs to have him drive for them. Christian Horner is an idiot if he thought it's Max’s lost. 
“I love you,” you mutter against the skin of his neck. 
“I love you,” he says. “More than anything.”
taglist: @ricsaigaslec @dragon-of-winterfell @coffeehurricanes @rdtbattinson
2K notes · View notes
aloneinthehellfire · 2 months
Text
Chapter Fifteen: Sattler's Quarry
Gates Of Hell [Masterlist]
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Word Count: 3.9k
Warnings: mentions of death, virus, mentions of past trauma, thalassophobia (deep fear of water)
[A/N: this chapter is dedicated to the one and only @sattlersquarry who has literally been supporting this series since day one!!! I honestly don't know where this fic would be without your constant support so, in honour, here's a chapter filled with the steve x reader moments we deserve (and maybe a little angst, but I can't help myself)
I would also like to take the moment to thank everyone for their patience, I've been through two rounds of sickness and it really took a lot out of me but I'm okay, I'm back, and I'm really excited to share this chapter with you all! I hope everyone enjoys!]
Tumblr media
Sattler's Quarry
You were living on borrowed time.
It wasn’t news to you, in fact it’s all you’ve been thinking about since the day the gate exploded, leaving you and Steve stranded in a foreign world shaped like your home. The thought of it creeps in whenever you’re still, imagining how horrible it would be if it happened without warning.
And then those terrifying images play out like a slide-show. You turning, attacking, regretting. You hate that you’re imagining all the ways you could possible turn on the boy you cared about, but you can’t help it. This virus did everything it could to make you feel like a monster.
Steve can tell your symptoms are getting worse. You’re trying your best to hide them, force them away, but every so often you’ll slip up and expose the intensity of it, snapping at him or stumbling to a stop to blink away the black spots in your vision. He could just go on, find the gate himself and escape before it was too late. But he wasn’t leaving you down here.
After Max’s radio message this morning, you had both immediately set off, determined for this to be the last trip across the Upside Down forever. You just hoped you had decrypted the pattern correctly and weren’t just leading you both out here for nothing. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Once your soft footsteps turn to crunches above the gravel, you know you’ve arrived.
Sattler’s Quarry was located on the edge of town, buried behind a thick expanse of woods behind the lab. It wasn’t a particularly unpopular place, but since it was owned land people generally tried to stay away from it. That was until Will Byers’ body was found just before he miraculously showed up alive a week later, making it a honeypot for insensitive teens. Since so many kids were visiting, the owner, Frank, decided it best to just drain the quarry to avoid anymore mishaps with government cover-ups and reckless teens alike.
While it didn’t make the cut for the ‘bodies of water’ criteria, you figured it should count for its past.
“Um, so where is this gate meant to be if there’s no water?” Steve questions, squinting towards his surroundings. Somehow everything was darker around the quarry, making it near impossible to spot anything dangerous. And there was always something dangerous.
“They said it always appears at the heart.” You reply, keeping your focus on the ground so you don’t accidentally walk off a cliff in an anti-climactic end to your life.
“What kind of cryptic bullshit is that?”
“I think they just mean the middle.” You gently nudge his arm, spotting the edge of the quarry and he nods, sighing.
“Okay… let’s find the middle.”
You lead him to the edge, focused on your footing to ensure it was solid ground. Everything seemed normal until a crackle of lightning above you shed a spotlight, glinting below. You both freeze, staring down.
“Holy shit.” Steve breathes, and you can only nod in agreement.
You had never seen the quarry so full with water even before they drained it, but there it was, rising up to what would be half full. You can just spot the smaller rock ledge you and Robin would sit at during the summer, imagining the quarry could have been a swimming spot if it weren’t so small. Now you didn’t really have to imagine.
“I didn’t even know the Upside Down had natural water.” You say, feeling a sudden pang of fear. “Steve?”
“Yeah?”
“When was the last time you drank water?”
“Uh…” He frowns at first, thinking it through. And then he widens his eyes, staring back at you.
Neither of you have had food or water for three weeks. And worse yet, neither of you had noticed.
“How is that possible?” Steve questions and you shake your head. “I don’t even… are you hungry?”
“No.” You let out a breath, looking around you. “How could we have forgotten something like that?”
“Been too busy fighting and running.” Steve shrugs and you tighten your lips. “Come on, we’ll freak out about this later, let’s get a closer look at this water.”
You point out the ledge you had spotted earlier and soon enough, you had both quickly descended down until you were both peering over the edge, close enough to the water to see your reflections shining back at you.
“The water seems pretty clear.” Steve nods, hands on his hips as he looks across the massive body of water.
You frown. “How can you tell? Everything’s so dark down here.”
“Yeah I can’t see shit, I was lying.” Steve peers back down at it, crouching and running his hand through the water. It was strange, knowing now that he hadn’t touched water in weeks and yet, he still remained completely satisfied. “Dustin said the gate should glow red when it opens… do you think we’ll be able to see it from up here?”
“I don’t know.” You say, shifting on your feet. Steve looks up at you, noting your uneasy nature.
“Hey, they’ll let us know when the gate opens on their radar thingy.” He assures, standing back up.
“That’s not…” You glance back at the water before turning around, opting to face anywhere but there. “I don’t like water.”
“You don’t like water?” Steve repeats and you nod, thinning your lips. “Wait, like, you’re scared of it?”
“Not the water specifically. Just like...” You explain, wafting your hand through the air. “The stuff in the water.”
“Like what?” He asks, raising an eyebrow and you look shocked. “What? I’ve been swimming all my life, I have no idea what you’re on about.”
Your mouth gapes, feeling exasperated as you look between him and the water. “There’s- it could… Scary fish.”
“Scary fish?” He tries to hide his smirk and you bat his arm.“It’s the quarry, okay? Nothing was even in here before it got drained or some shit, nothing is gonna be here now, okay? Can you swim?”
“Yeah, I can swim.” You nod, looking down with a shudder. “But it’s much nicer in a pool with ceramic tiles staring back at me. Not whatever endless void of death I’m looking at right now.”
“That’s the positive spirit.” He chuckles and you grimace. “Okay, okay, look, I’m not asking you to jump in there alone, okay? We’ll do it together.”
When silence washes over, you turn to see him holding out his pinkie. You smirk, looping your own around it.
“Thought you said this was childish.”
“It grew on me.” He shrugs, smiling down at you. When he realises he’s just staring, he clears his throat, stepping back. “So, uh… what now?”
“We wait, I guess.” You say, lowering yourself onto a smaller ledge etched into the rocky surface, digging your elbows into your knees as you lean forward with your head in your hands, trying not to think about what could be lurking in the deep.
Steve joins you after a moment, his knee brushing against yours as he stretches out. He thinks how strange it was you were both so comfortable with contact that it was simply second-nature, your arm pressed against his to the point he could feel your warmth even through the thick fabric of your jackets. When the apocalypse started, neither of you could sit so close, the space between you speaking volumes.
“Do you think the military have it sorted?”
Steve’s question was a surprise, making you straighten up to meet his eyes inquisitively.
“I mean, it’s been three weeks. They must have done something.” He theorises and you shrug, not giving it much thought.
“Maybe.” You say, pursing your lips. “They didn’t have much luck before but, like you said, it’s been three weeks. The worst of it would probably mean they move us out of Hawkins, maybe to California or something.”
Something sparked hope then in Steve’s chest. Us. Not ‘them’, or ‘you’, us. Steve was always afraid to speculate about the future after the Upside Down, fully aware of the inevitable possibility you won’t have one. But there you were, including yourself in the narrative like it was meant to be.
You twist your face when you noticing him smiling, making you laugh. “You’re making that face again.”
“I can’t help it.” He chuckles and you smile back at him, nudging his shoulder playfully. “You wanna hear something funny?”
“I can’t deal with another one of your ‘knock, knock’ jokes right now.” You groan and he laughs, shaking his head.
“No, it’s not that.” He scrunches his face in thought, letting his eyes drift to the water then back to you, studying you like it was his last moment he ever could. “I, uh… do you remember anything about middle school?”
You raise your eyebrow, smirking. “Uh… a little, I guess. Why, do you?”
“It’s probably the only thing I can remember.” He sighs, leaning back until the rock edge dug into shoulder. “It was the last time I felt like a kid.”
“What’s so funny about it?” You remind him and he clicks his tongue, nodding.
“I, um…” Steve looks nervous, staring at his shoes. It made your stomach flutter, feel giddy. “I actually had the biggest crush on this girl back then. I… I don’t think I hid it that well either.”
You slowly nod, looking at your hands. “Nancy?”
“No.” He says and you back to him, frowning. “It… it was you.”
Your eyes widen. “What?”
“I- I thought you knew.” He laughs and you shake your head, looking bewildered. “Literally everyone else did. Even Robin was teasing me about it.”
“You throw so many parties that the school practically lives at your house, you’re always ranting about getting a basketball scholarship, and weirdly enough I am fully aware of the crush you had in middle school that you completely ruined but it’s so mind-blowing I can’t even repeat it.”
His mind is taken back to his very first official meeting with Robin, the way she had rambled at him the entire car ride as he drove around searching for you. She knew so much about him and, since you were close, he figured you would have known all about his middle school crush too. How wrong he was.
“I didn’t know.” You say, smiling in disbelief. “Seriously? Me?”
“Yeah.” He laughs nervously, running a hand through his hair. “I know we didn’t really hang out that much, but whenever you were around… I don’t know, you just seemed so… cool. And fun. You would always make the best jokes, you never let anyone tell you what to do. You were so different from my other friends, I just… I just had a massive crush on you.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” You ask, your wide eyes staring up at him, waiting for an answer.
“I…” He lets out a breath, shrugging. “I don’t know. Maybe I figured you wouldn’t want to be with a guy like me. I mean, the people you were friends with were nothing like me. And we never really saw eachother that much… I just ran out of time.”
“Ran out of time?”
“Well, you know.” He says, smirking. “The whole sworn enemies thing we had going on for some reason.”
Steve meant it as a joke, but your breath hitches and you shift in your spot, eyes darting away from him in a flash of hurt.
“Wait, no, I didn’t mean-” He tries, but you shake your head.
“It’s okay.” You dismiss, leaning forward. It wasn’t okay, though. It was a subject you’ve been avoiding ever since you found out Steve lost a lot of his childhood memories to deliberate punches and infuriating concussions.
But maybe you needed to stop avoiding the truth. The secret was only keeping a barrier between you, one you had cherished a long time ago but… everything was different now. It was time.
“I know you don’t remember.” You say quietly, watching how the red sky reflects against the water, making it crimson in its wake. “And that’s okay. I mean, it was a long time ago, but… but part of me wishes you did.”
Because I hate to be the one to remind you, you thought, knowing that once Steve caught a glimpse of the person he was in the past, it would eat him up inside.
“Do you remember Dan Shelter?” You ask, looking up at him. He frowns in confusion, unsure where this was heading, but he nods regardless. “The summer before freshman year, he asked me out on a date, wanted to take me to a movie or something. And I said yes.”
Steve watches how you keep your fingers busy, mindlessly twisting around a loose thread at the bottom of the jacket you were wearing, avoiding his eyes completely. He couldn’t remember a single detail of what you were talking about and yet he knows he and Dan would hang out almost all the time in the beginning years of high school.
“What happened?” He asks, feeling like he was holding his breath for far too long, afraid of the ending.
“Nothing.” You shrug, finally looking at him. “He stood me up. Part of me figured he would. He didn’t really seem that into it when he asked, I was just… I was so happy for a minute knowing someone had picked me, you know? The weird police girl. But I waited outside the theatre for an hour that day until my dad eventually picked me up and took me home.”
“I don’t…”
“I know.” You nod, sending him a reassuring smile. “But, I, um… I did see him again. At the arcade. I was there with Robin, actually. Yeah, we, uh, we managed to escape our parents for the day and just spent all our money playing stupid games. It was fun. And then I spot Dan trying to beat some high score and I felt so embarrassed at first. But then I thought, why the hell am I the one embarrassed? He was the jerk, not me.”
“So I went over.” You continue, returning to fiddle with the hem of your jacket. “I asked him up front, why didn’t he show up for our date? But, as it turns out, he wasn’t alone. Tommy and some others showed up, teasing, asking him if I was telling the truth. And he just… he laughed. Told me I was ‘freaky’, that I had been stalking him.”
“Why would he do that?” Steve shakes his head and you tighten your lips.
“Because that’s how guys like that became likeable.” You say bitterly, “It only got worse after that. They all started calling me names, laughing in my face. Robin told me to leave, and I should’ve, but I wasn’t going to stand there and take it. I told Dan he was a liar, that he wishes a girl would care enough to stalk him. And then someone else stepped forward.”
You take a deep breath, meeting Steve’s eyes. “He said it was all true. And that I… I had done it to him. That I was some crazy stalker obsessed with boys to the point where I had tried to throw myself at him. And even though they were false accusations, obviously everybody believed him over me.”
“Who…” He asks before he notices how your face twists, turning away from him once again. His stomach churns.
“You said that.” You say quietly, and his heart sinks. He ruined your life, and it wasn’t even an interaction he bothered to remember. “I didn’t even know why, either. I just remember after that, Tommy and Carol starting spreading the rumours, even attaching a whole story to it about us at Lover’s Lake and me going all crazy because you didn’t like me back or some shit. Everyone started calling it-”
“The date.” Steve finishes and you whip your head toward him, eyebrows furrowed. Nancy had told him all he needed to know, and he had chosen not to believe it could be true. But it was, and he hated himself for it.
“Yeah.” You nod, biting your lip. “I… I didn’t really make many friends after that. ‘The date’. They all assumed I was trying to use them to get to boys, that I was some kind of freak. After a while I just gave up trying to convince anyone any different. I already had enough to deal with, I just…. I stopped caring.”
“I can’t believe I forgot about that.” Steve says and you start to shake your head.
“No, you’ve- you’ve been through a lot, I don’t-”
“It doesn’t change what I did.” He interrupts, looking at you with determination. “Back then, I- I was so obsessed with everyone liking me, with fitting in with, god, Tommy and Dan… I would say literally anything to make me their friend. I did say literally anything.”
You watch as Steve’s face scrunches in disgust, burying it in his hands and mumbling into them. “I can’t believe I did that.”
“It was a long time ago, now.” You try and he runs his hands through his hair, straightening back up.
“I am so so sorry, Y/n.” He says with such conviction you knew it was true. You just never thought you’d hear those words ever leave King Steve’s lips. And you were partially right. Because the boy sat beside you, holding your hand and begging for your forgiveness, wasn’t King Steve anymore.
“I forgive you.” You give him a small smile, squeezing his hand.
“Really?” He frowns. Something heavy in his chest was lifting. Three small words that held heavy significance were giving him a peace he was unfamiliar with. After last year, he had assumed he was on the path to forgiveness for his old self, knowing he would have years to redeem. He figured as long as he proved himself, he wouldn’t need to hear those little words. But he did. He really did.
“Steve.” You raise your eyebrow, a smirk playing on your lips. “I literally just made out with you in a cheap motel bathroom yesterday.”
A smile stretches onto his face, a rouge tint hitting his cheeks. “You mean you don’t do that with all the boys you’re stuck in the Upside Down with?”
“Only the ones I’ve forgiven.” You shrug and he dramatically holds his hand to his heart, making you laugh.
After a moment, he wraps his arm around you and pulls you closer, resting his head against yours as you smile against his touch.
“Thank you. For forgiving me.” He mumbles into your hair and you pull away, looking up at him with such adoration, he felt the tips of his ears turn pink under your gaze.
Your hand reaches up to brush your fingers against his cheek, holding your breath. He brings himself closer and your eyes flutter shut, feeling his lips brush against yours until you commit fully, your hands slipping around his neck like he would slip away.
The kiss wasn’t the same as it was the first time. There wasn’t any hesitation or urgency. It was just simply sweet, all of your senses consumed by Steve and Steve only. His heart found its rhythm with yours, everything else washing away into a stream of his happiness.
And, when you pull away, he’s still chasing your lips, eyes closed and cheeks red. It was the second time he has ever kissed you, and he already craved a million more.
“Steve?”
“Yeah.”
“Look.”
He opens his eyes to find your worried ones staring back, tilting your head to the water. He turns his gaze over to the quarry, his eyebrows furrowing.
A red glow was starting to blare through, casting the quarry in a scarlet hue. It was beaming from the middle, just as you said it would, like a living, breathing heart.
You both slowly stand, moving closer to the edge with heavy chests. This was finally it. This was the escape.
“Guys, the gate just showed.” Lucas’ voice blares out into the dark from the ground beside you. You reach down to grab the radio and hold it to your lips.
“We see it.”
“You have around 5 minutes to get through before it shuts off for good.”
“It’s all we need.” Steve nods, looking at you. “I’m gonna dive down a little, just enough to get a look and see if it’s big enough.”
He pulls off his jacket, knowing it would only weigh him down in the long run. Letting it fall beside him, he moves to the edge until he feels your hand on his arm, making him turn back to your worried gaze.
“Be careful.” You say and he smiles at you, giving you a smile salute before finally diving down in perfect form.
The water engulfs him like a warm blanket, shocking his senses as he prepared for the cold. But it didn’t feel any different from his swimming pool at home, his legs kicking out and driving him further down the quarry. He followed the red light, his eyes adjusting to the gate that lay at the bottom. It looked like some sort of thick membrane was blocking his view to the other side, but he took that as a positive. It meant nothing was bleeding out into the other side.
After about twenty seconds of you shifting on your feet, Steve resurfaced just a few metres away, presumably directly above the gate. Once he spotted where he had left you, he grins.
“We’re good.” He calls out, shaking water droplets from his hair and extending his arm as an invitation. “No pressure, but… it’s now or never.”
You nod, taking a deep breath. No pressure. You were just going to dive into this suspicious body of water in hopes of breaking through a gate that lay at the very bottom of the quarry. And you had limited time to do it. No pressure at all.
You dump your bag and your jacket, neither of which you would need on the surface. Hopper would surely be heading to Sattler’s Quarry now to take you both far away from here. Home.
As you ready yourself to jump, you look up to ensure you’d be swimming in the right direction when your eye catches something on the other side of the quarry, making you squint into the darkness. Your heart jumps.
The red glow from the gate was making the water a little clearer, making everything look scarily like blood. But that wasn’t really the terrifying part.
A dark shape was moving in the water.
And it was heading directly for Steve.
“Get out of the water.” You say, completely numb. He frowns at you, and finally your voice rises. “Steve, get out right now!”
Swivelling his head around, he’s confused at your outburst and trying to find what you were staring at. And then he sees it, something big. He wasn’t alone in the water.
“Shit.” He breathes out, immediately starting to swim towards you.
There is a big distance between you and where he started in the middle, your voice almost alien to yourself as you continuously cried out.
“Steve! Come on, just a little more!” You keep shouting, hoping your words would somehow bring him to you faster. It’s gaining on him, but he’s so close.
You’re reaching over the edge, arms held out ready to pull him out. You can almost brush your fingertips against his. Just a few more arm strokes towards you until the water would splash your face and he’d be in your arms-
The water shifts directly behind him.
And then he’s gone.
You’re just left alone, screaming into the darkness.
“STEVE!”
Chapter Sixteen: The Pattern ->
Tumblr media
taglist: @toomanyfandomsimfanvergent . @sheisjoeschateau . @kthomps914 . @curled-hair-red-lips . @nix-rose . @palmtreesx3 . @kryztalglear . @sattlersquarry . @hey-barnes-stole-a-jeep . @sadslasher13 . @iliveonteaandbooks . @innercreationflower . @newyorkangelbaby .
64 notes · View notes
inkyquince · 1 year
Text
Patreon Post: Daddy Dearest (Bailey the Caretaker)
content warning. mentioned rape of the reader, slut shaming, Incest, Somnophilia, Dubcon. 
Your father was a very particular man. Selective. An asshole in layman’s terms. That’s also true in your terms. He was always distant, treated you like any of the others in the orphanage, as if he hadn’t fucking sired you himself. You did know for a fact that he made sure to get a vasectomy afterwards, so no surprise children would land on his doorstep, claiming to be his. But you, sadly, were too obviously his, so he couldn’t even deny it.
You never got preferential treatment growing up. You weren’t one but you were treated as an orphan. You had slightly better clothes, you actually went to the doctor when you were sick instead of being told to tough it out, but there was no bond between you two of any significance. Bailey was doing his parental duties of keeping you alive but nothing more. It wasn’t a good upbringing. Not with the people that your father had around him that wouldn’t even hide their admiration of their… Friend’s child, even in front of him. He didn’t care.
You were an accident and he never let you forget it.
This man was meticulous, counting his notes and checking his calendar and always busy. Accidents weren’t permissible. Yet there you were, his biggest damn mistake.
Yet, despite you being his mistake, you were also his in your entirety. Bailey didn’t own much, so he wouldn’t lose much. So, fuck.
Worst of all, Bailey himself didn’t know how he ended up like this. No, not stuck as a single father with a kid who now was paying rent like every other orphan. No, how the fuck did he end up as fucked up at this? You never felt like his kid, not in the way he saw how others interacted with their children. He knew in his gut that you were his, and it brought some feelings, but it all changed when you started… Going out to work.
He raised a fucking whore. Not really, he barely kept a roof over your head, but he still knew it, deep in his bones, he did this to you. His “friends” would snidely ask about his kid, while both of them knew that they had seen more of you lately, than he had. On your knees, on your back, fucked open and whored out. A father should never know about any of this, not about their child, but you are barely his fucking kid. He had to put up with disgusting stories from people he fucking grew up with, photos shared around, even the odd video being sent to him. He was surrounded by disgusting people, but deep down he knew he was one of them. A disgusting pervert who needed a release when the long evenings just wouldn’t end, and felt like they’d only release him from the hell if he finally clicked on his deleted emails bin on his computer.
He didn’t get lube, no foreplay, nothing. This wasn’t pleasure, this was a need. Watching you awkwardly bob on a cock was the first video. Came in seconds. Then the second eternal evening, he watched you struggle to take a fat cock up your ass. Third, Fourth, Fifth, a pussy on your face, zoom in shot of your hole being fingered, a fat dog bot knot pressing deeper into you as you moaned. Fuck, everything from your first time onwards was documented, no doubt because the town wanted to watch Bailey’s kid be ruined. They couldn’t touch him but fuck, they could touch you all over.
It stopped being a nagging thought, for him to watch you. It was a routine now. He had a lot of videos left over when he got them out of the bin, and before too long, he was desperately jerking his cock to anything he could of you. Gangbangs, rape, even a brief period of you with little cow ears, being mounted by multiple dog boys. He did wonder where you had gotten in that time.
But, no matter how many hundreds of videos of you he had, they were always going to run thin before dissipating altogether. Now where the fuck would he get his fix?
By being the most disgusting man in town.
As bad as Morgan, no, the new Morgan.
It took a lot of liquid courage. A lot. Finished a whole bottle of something strong smelling before he started making his way upstairs, feet instinctively finding the spots in the stairs that made no creaking noises. You had his old room. He didn’t know if he did it on purpose, not anymore. Keeping what was his in all the same place. The door didn’t even make a noise as it swung open and he saw… You.
Sprawled out on your bed, sleep shorts riding up, blind to the danger slowly making his way inside, breath reeking of booze. He didn’t know when exactly he started getting this pavlovian response to you, but as per usual, his cock immediately stood to attention at the sight of his child’s face.
Sitting down on the bed, he only hesitates a moment before greedily dragging his coarse hands over your back, his usual gloves left downstairs.
His hand greedily played with your ass, squeezing the soft mounds before roughly parting them, pulling the fabric taut against your hole, spitting against the garment to make it cling against your hole. Drags his thumb against your rim, before turning you on your back properly, his breath coming quickly.
He was terrible. Bailey was a bad fucking dad anyway, but… But now his hands were slipping under your sleep shirt, squeezing at your chest, pinching those cute little nipples. He was molesting you. Molesting his kid. Dabbing his index and middle finger against his tongue, he rubbed them against your sleep shirt, right where your nipples had started to pebble underneath all the attention.
This is all he needs. Just to play with you a bit. This would be enough…
Maybe something more. Like taking your hand and cupping your smaller fingers to take his dripping cock in hand, making you jerk him as you sighed softly. Bailey didn’t care if you woke up. In fact, if you did, he’d enjoy it. He’d throw his long term plan out the window, of taking his time to touch and experiment with you, and would force you down on his cock.
But what he didn’t expect was the little whine you gave, before your fingers tightened a bit around his cock.
“... Daddy…. “ You sighed.
He knows you don’t mean him. You mean Eden, who likes splitting his childhood best friend’s hole open on his cock, demanding you call him uncle. You mean Avery, who picks you up to fuck you in the car after a date. Leighton, who takes out all of his pent up anger at Bailey from their school days, on you. It’s Harper, it’s Briar, it’s Remy.
But fuck.
Yes, jerk your daddy’s fat cock. Bailey’s pace kicked up, enjoying the feeling of your softer hand against his erection. Call out for your daddy, the one man whose supposed to love you unconditionally, and earn that fucking love. Become his whore, his flesh and blood forced to take his cock. He’ll cut your rent in half for a rough fuck with that cute body, to tear that ass roughly.
Bailey ends up grunting and standing up to cum all over your face. White fluid leaking down your face, sinking into the lining of your mouth. Your father’s love all over you.
With a grunt, he tucks his cock away, before pausing. He leans down and presses a lingering, low, hungry kiss to your tainted lips before straightening up. Next time, he was going to fuck your thighs. Then your mouth. Then your hole. Doesn’t matter if you’re awake or not.
288 notes · View notes
dilemmaontwolegs · 1 year
Text
Midnight Blades {5}
Aemond Targaryen x princess!reader (Dark!themes) Summary: Done with being kept secure in Red Keep you decide to visit the city alone but Aemond decides to join you. Warnings: 18+ only, nsfw, violence, murder, sexual themes, a bit of fluff WC: 2653
Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine || Part Ten || Part Eleven || Part Twelve || Part Thirteen || Part Fourteen || Part Fifteen || Part Sixteen || Part Seventeen || Part Eighteen || Part Nineteen || Part Twenty ||
Tumblr media
The city was alive as the people of King’s Landing gathered to celebrate a god that you did not believe in. It still didn’t stop you from gathering a cloak of Aemond’s you found in the room, pulling the hood over your head and following a maid to find a stairwell the Tarygaryen’s surely wouldn’t lower themselves to use.
Sure footed and silent, you descended into the bowels of the Keep and followed your nose until you passed the kitchens. No one even gave a second glance your way as they rushed to prepare for the celebration feast you were to attend with Aemond.
“Bollocks,” you cursed under your breath as the mouth of the alleyway opened to an airy courtyard and there in the middle stood your husband. He had yet to see you as he trained with Ser Criston, and you could hardly see him through the thick ring of men circling like vultures to see the fight, but there was no mistake who the long silvery hair belonged to.
It wasn’t until the men peeled away that you realised you had watched the entire fight unfold and it had held you enraptured. It also meant there was now nothing blocking him from seeing you and you stepped back into the shadows hoping he would dismiss you as just another observer.
You hadn’t been in Red Keep long enough to find a secret exit so with no other option but the gate ahead you inhaled deeply and peeked around the corner to see if he was gone.
“Looking for someone?” Aemond asked with a small amused smile, pushing the hood back to bare your face. “Or was that your poor attempt at spying?”
“Neither, I wish to see the markets and parades,” you replied as you stepped around him, feeling his body follow like a shadow to your own. “But if anyone were to ask I would certainly report the sub-par training I witnessed.”
Aemond chuckled and kept half a step behind you all the way past Red Keep’s gate and into the bustling city. The residents stood silent as their prince strolled by and the curious stares turned to you as he placed his hand low to your back every time a horse whinnied too loud or someone stepped too close.
“We should not have left without an escort,” Aemond said in your ear when music started to rise and the parade began. Dancers made their way down the streets with bells on their feet and bright ribbons in their hands. They jumped and sang along, twirling the ribbon in cascading colours and you rose on your tiptoes to see them pass by.
“What?” You frowned as you caught Aemond watching you with parted lips and an intense stare.
“They made you smile.”
Your frown deepened as you turned to face him. “You say that as if I am a miserable wretch. I do smile.”
His lips curved into a small smile as he started to disagree, “Your saccharine smiles towards my family are not genuine. Not like that one.” He traced his thumb over your lips. “It changes your entire face, makes you look-”
Your heart hammered in your chest as he spoke until movement in his blind spot distracted you from what he was about to admit. “For Rhaenyra!” a stranger shouted as he lunged for Aemond.
The dagger hidden beneath your cloak warmed at your touch as you pushed Aemond aside to meet the blade that aimed for his gut. His eye widened and a flash of betrayal crossed them before he realised you weren’t going to gut him but trying to prevent it. More screams of support for the ‘True Queen’ erupted and Aemond pressed his back to yours, drawing his sword and squaring off with the armed men surrounding you both. 
“Scythian scum,” one man growled as he pointed his dented and chipped sword at you.
“Still better than being a piece of shit like you,” you spat back. “That escort sounds quite useful about now.”
Aemond laughed darkly and you saw a few of the opponents flinch at the sound, extremely aware of the violence it promised. “We wouldn’t want you to miss out on all the fun, princess.”
Another wave of the parade arrived and the crowd swelled, half of them oblivious to the stand off within. The beat of the music suddenly reminded you of the war drums that had welcomed you on a tour to the Dothraki borders as a child and your heart beat in time to the deep thrum. 
“Move aside savage whore and you may live, it is the Kinslayer who is destined to die by my hand.” 
“If anyone gets to kill the prince, it will be me.” You twirled the dagger, loosening your wrist so motion was smooth and controlled. “Let us bathe in their blood, Midnight,” you whispered to the blade before stepping away from the shelter of Aemond’s back and towards the man who wanted to steal your vengeance.
Your attack spurred Aemond to break off the moot glaring contest and his sword clashed loudly. This wasn’t training and this wasn’t foreplay, this was life or death so you couldn’t spare a second to worry about him when a blade was relentlessly slicing the air where you had been.
Dropping to your knees, you ignored the bite of the stone and spun beneath the sword, slashing the man’s heel with Midnight before leaping back to your feet. The man fell to his knees as his tendons were sliced to the bone and you drew your blade across his throat, kicking his lifeless body to the ground. 
A body crashed into your back and you almost tripped over the body as the parade reached its peak, the crowds pushing against each other to get a better view. Midnight was dropped as you tried to steady yourself and you couldn’t risk stabbing an innocent bystander by accident. 
“Fuck!”
You couldn’t see the blade amongst the boots passing by but almost immediately the crowd thinned as they followed the parade. Aemond was still fighting two men and the body of a third lay at his feet without its head, but you couldn’t help him until you were armed. 
“Sparrow,” a quiet voice greeted you, the accent lilting with Lyseni gentleness. “I believe you dropped this.”
The hooded woman held out Midnight in offering and you wrapped your fingers around the handle as you whispered, “You have my gratitude once again, White Worm.”
The spymaster nodded and disappeared into the crowd as you jumped over the bodies to join Aemond. The duo were working to use Aemond’s blindspot but you ruined their strategy as you took his left. 
“I grow weary of this, dear husband, shall we finish this dance?” 
Aemond bent his knees and dropped his hips into an offensive stance in answer, his long sword raised above his head. “With pleasure.”
If you had been able to wear DragonBane concealed you would have used the long sword too, but it was impossible to hide under the cloak. Facing the man before you with his long sword that was thrice the length of Midnight was daunting but you took a steadying breath and exhaled as you lunged. 
By the time the City Watch arrived blood ran thick down your cloak and Aemond finally stopped mutilating the traitors that were now unrecognisable. The lingering crowd had watched from afar with fear at Aemond’s actions until you placed a hand on his forearm and shook your head. 
“That is enough,” you murmured, wiping a red strand of hair away from his face. 
“It will never be enough,” he growled, kicking the body one last time before Ser Criston cut between you and grabbed him. 
“Are you alright, my prince?” The concern was palpable and you looked away to survey the guards stationed around you as Aemond reassured Ser Criston he was unharmed, merely scratches and knicks. “Your mother needs to know about this.”
You looked at the armoured man with an eyebrow cocked. “Don’t you mean the King?” 
“Both,” he clipped shortly over his shoulder before turning back to his priority, Aemond. “We should make our way back to the Keep in case there are more traitors.”
“Good, I will slaughter every one of those cunts!” Aemond’s voice grew until he shouted the last part to anyone that might be listening in the shadows. 
Skirting around Ser Criston, Aemond placed his blood soaked hand on your lower back and nodded his head to the guards before you moved out as a group. The march of soldier’s feet and clink of armour through the silent streets were in stark contrast to the joyous parade that had passed through not so long ago, but it felt like a lifetime as the rush of the fight faded from your body and left you exhausted.
The handmaids waiting in the chambers gasped with shock as you unceremoniously peeled the bloody layers of cloth from your body and let the sodden material slap heavily on the floor. Even your undergarments had absorbed the blood of Rhaenyra’s supporters. 
“Leave us,” Aemond ordered as he stepped into the room and saw the trail of clothing leading to the bath that had been drawn by the fire. The handmaids bowed and darted from the room allowing Aemond to lock the door and drop his forehead to the cool wood.
The water sloshed as you broke the surface and the silence was broken by the crackle of fire. Your eyes darted around as you noticed the handmaids missing until they landed on your husband, his posture not as rigid as he usually stood where he waited. “Did your mother spank her wayward son for leaving the Keep?” 
He turned and pulled the leather patch from his head, messing his red streaked hair as it lifted stiff strands to burst in all directions. “Her anger would have been preferred, but it was only her disappointment that she shared with me.”
You sat up straighter until your breasts were bared to the chilly air and your nipples peaked in response. “Disappointment, for what?”
Aemond took a deep breath and released a long, heavy sigh. He contemplated his answer as he pushed off from the door and ran his fingers down the clasps of his tunic, allowing it along with his trousers and boots to join your discarded clothes on the floor. His pale skin was pink with his enemies’ blood and he looked at the warm bath longingly before making his way to the cold jugs of water beside the wash basin. 
You watched quietly as Aemond dumped the jug over his head and steam sizzled as some splashed into the flames, the puddle on the floor leeching the blood from his skin. His skin prickled instantly as the cold penetrated his hard exterior and against your better judgement you shifted forward, feeling a little bit sorry for the prince. 
“Get in.”
The water rose to the lip of the bath as Aemond lowered himself in and pulled you back so you were resting against his chest. His long fingers drizzled water over your breasts as a peaceful silence descended, enjoying the sight of the droplets rolling across your skin.
“She blames me,” Aemond murmured quietly. “For all of it.”
“The plan to usurp the throne started this,” you replied after he added nothing more. “There can never be peace while two war councils take place.”
“I wanted my revenge.”
You turned onto your stomach, lying chest to chest with him, and the water spilled to the stone floor. The sapphire was almost black in the dim light, the sun descending over the other side of Red Keep, but it still caught the flickers of the fire beside the bath. With dripping fingers, you reached up to the scar and traced the jagged line that cut through his eye. “Wanting revenge and wanting to start a war are two very different things, Aemond.”
His only response was a sad smile before he pulled you higher up his body and kissed you softly. It was…sweet. There was no burning need to dominate and there had been no feverish argument that led to the passionate claim, this was purely indulgent and gentle.
Despite his cock stirring beneath your body, he pulled away and smiled at the pout on your lips. “Later, we have a celebration to prepare for.”
“There is a feast every other evening, can we not just skip one?” It was a slight exaggeration but they did flaunt their wealth frivolously with the regular celebrations. 
He didn’t even entertain you with an answer or a false promise, merely stepping out of the bath and distracting you with his body as he knew it would. Only once he covered himself with a robe did you notice the needy throb left between your legs and clenched your thighs together so he didn’t have the satisfaction of seeing your reaction to him. 
Tumblr media
The music from the parade was spilling from the dining hall and you looked to Aemond who smiled knowingly, giving your hand a squeeze as it rested in his. “I couldn’t miss a chance to see you truly smile again. And, I am intrigued to see how well you dance without a sword in your hand.”
You laughed and shook your head as you rounded the last corner and stepped into the brightly lit room. It had been transformed for the evening with long tables spread around the outer walls leaving a large space for the guests to dance. They were lined up in neat rows and moved stiffly to the music unlike the lively madness you had seen in the city, but it was still lovely to watch.
“I do not know this dance,” you admitted to Aemond as he walked straight to the centre and turned to face you.
“Follow my lead.” He stepped away and raised his hand like the others and you lifted yours to mirror him. The foot movements were similar to sparring as you circled one another before swapping hands and reversing the rotation.
“You are so far away,” you complained as your fingers brushed on the rare occasion.
He stepped closer and linked your fingers, not caring that his mother would be watching for any mistake he made. “Is this not how you dance at home?”
“No,” you said with a laugh, “it would be deemed quite the scandal if your family were to witness it.”
“I can’t disappoint them anymore than I already have,” he said with a smirk, but the amusement didn’t reach his eye. “Show me, princess.”
You stepped closer until your bodies were pressed together and moved Aemond’s hand to the small of your back. His smile widened as he looked down at you, waiting for the next move as the guests fell silent with shock. “Follow my lead.”
Aemond danced just like he fought, action and reaction. You stepped back and he instantly stepped forward, the movement smooth as you glided around the dance floor to the music. You pushed away from him and missed the warmth of his hand on your back but his fingers tightened and he pulled you back with a spin that left your back pressed to his chest and his lips at your ear. 
“This is not part of the dance,” you whispered breathlessly.
“Then we will make our own.” He pushed you away and you grinned as he brought you back to face him.
“Thank you, Aemond.” Rebellious joy, that was what flooded you as the song came to an end and you stepped away to courtesy while he bowed. “But you will still be my enemy in the morning.”
His eye sparkled with the reminder and he brushed his lips over your knuckles as he murmured, “You are still my enemy now.”
Click here for Part Six.
Taglist: @hopebaker @mariamyousef702
449 notes · View notes
askvashthetyphoon · 1 year
Text
Restraint
Tumblr media
VashxFemale reader, biting, scratching, sexicles, -18 do not interact, alien anatomy lol
During one of the humanoid typhoons many adventures, somehow, you were swept up into his group.
 A survivor of one of the many unsuccessful attempted human settlements.
 Now, it was Milly, Meryl, Wolfwood, and of course Vash, trying their best to stay alive on the hellhole planet that was No-Man’s Land. You weren’t as good of a shot as Vash(was anyone), as strong as Milly, or packed as much of a punch as Wolfwood. However, you were very dexterous, sly, and thoughtful, something the group sorely lacked. More than once, you’re quick thinking had gotten them out of the tightest of pickles, often saving plants or extra humans in the process.
Your relationship with Vash had started as nothing more than a crush. You thought he was weird, but cute. With that fluff of blonde hair and those dazzling blue eyes, bright as the sky on the most blazing summer day. He smelled good too- different than most people. When everyone else was drenched in sweat and swearing lowly under their breath from the blazing heat…  he only ever smelled of dandelions, gun oil, and faint powdery sweetness.
He was also stupid. But the more you spent time together, the more you realized the stupid part was an act(mostly). You admired his morals. How was it he could keep such hope for the human race, when all he ever got was shot in the back? How was it that he managed to guide humanity towards being a better version of themselves, all while minimizing bloodshed?
You didn’t understand. But you did understand that for whatever reason he wasn’t interested in you.
That was what you thought, anyway. Until one night, while drunk, when he smooched you square across your lips and you recognized it.
That desperate kind of loneliness behind that kiss. Seeping out like blood from a bullet wound, no matter how tight the bandage was. From then on, it became your mission. You wanted him to let go, even if only for one night.
But he was the hardest case you’d ever encountered. He was excellent at ditching the group, and you, especially at times when you’d thought you’d been making progress. He gave such mixed messages- leaning in one moment, darting away the next. It was clear that he wanted to be with you, but was also resisting for some reason you couldn’t understand, and he wouldn’t talk about.
It hurt.
He hated hurting you, yet seemed unable to explain his own actions.
When you found out that he was a plant, things made more sense. The aging thing would probably tear him apart from the inside out. Better to just be friends than anything else right?
Better to bury a friend than a lover. Better to remember only hugs and kisses than anything else.
Yet.
You both found yourself slipping. Soft sweet kisses turning into hot makeout sessions away from the group. Gentle shoulder squeezes turning into roaming up and down each other’s bodies, up underneath clothes. Under that huge jacket, Vash was a bit of a brick house. You’d never know he had such wide shoulders under there. And the squeaks of embarrassment he gave were irresistible… especially when you managed to slip a finger into the groove of his scars. Or press a kiss directly on a mottled, ugly bruise.
You both slipped deeper. Beginning to share rooms more and more often, getting drunk together, going out for breakfast in the morning and dinners in the evenings when you could. And yet. It was strange. When you finally did have sex, there was something incredibly … restrained about it. Vash seemed too self-aware, too tense. You could feel it in the way he moved, almost… jerkily.
And the moment he did start to lose himself-
the moment those lights just under his skin started to snake a blue pattern out across his chest…
He’d stop. Tense up. Calm that side of himself. Then keep going.
It was so utterly disappointing. The sex itself was… fine. But knowing he wasn’t giving you all of himself was unbearable. Hell, you were pretty sure he was actually faking an orgasm… But that was besides the point.
You wanted to see the beast part too. Everyone had one- even you! The part that demanded that part of him. That wanted to be thrown around and bitten and scratched and claimed by whatever was under his skin. The part that made it so difficult to sit, composed, while you were busy burning from the inside out. Your insides so slick when you thought of the bestial side of him,  that they stained your underwear and sometimes, even managed a stain on the seam of your jeans.
And that beastly side of him could tell.
You could tell when Vash’s ears went red, his hand tightening up on whatever he happened to be holding at the moment. His Adam’s apple bobbing a bit as he fought back… whatever it was, with every fiber inside him.
Sometimes, you could see it peeking through. Vash’s canines would become strangely long, his fingernails seeming to morph into fine points. The pupils of his eyes elongating like a cat’s behind his glasses, the blue beginning to blot out the white’s of his eyes. Tiny little neon galaxies blooming.
Oh, yes. There was something under there that wanted you, as badly as you wanted it.
But he’d blink them away.
It was So bad that at times, it’d take Wolfwood two or three times to snap Vash out of it as he struggled for control.
It was so irritating. His walls were almost perfect no matter how much you pushed and prodded.
Until.
You awake one morning to a growling and spitting you’d never heard before. Wolfwood and Millie were busy in the room next door; you could hear scraping and swearing and gun shots. At first you thought they were fighting some kind of animal.
Until.
“Vash! Fucker, snap out of it!” From Wolfwood.
And a softer, more desperate, “Vash! It’s okay, we’re here!” You couldn’t help yourself from peeking in- instantly, being blocked by Wolfwoods thick arm.
“Uh-uh. You stay put. Knives is doing something to the plants. It’s got Vash spooked. You-” But he didn’t get to finish as the cried from the creature quieted suddenly. It’s wings folding and some of its tentacle-roots retacting until underneath, you saw something that was Vash. But also, very not.
Roots, thick, purple-black, and pulsing, poured from his back like spilled ink. Dotting these were fine purple flowers, blooming and creating a smell that made you dizzy when you inhaled. His fingers and toes tipped with blackened, sharp claws that glittered in a dangerous way. A long black tail slapped the ground angrily- feathered or furred you couldn’t discern. Only the tip was forked like an arrowhead.
And most beautiful of all- the wings. Were their four, or six? It was hard to tell. Two larger main ones, and then smaller ones lined either side of his spine. An enchantingly messy mix. They were so dark black they seemed to absorb light itself, tiny purple lights winking deep inside those feathers, ethereal and inhuman.
His skin was covered with those markings now, a distressed neon purple shining bright against suntanned skin. Yet, as he looked at you, they began to change color. The one’s near his chest blooming a soft blue once more as he muttered, “I…?”
His voice coming out in a growl that you’d never heard before. Without thinking, you went to him. Crouching down in front of him even though both Milly and Wolfwood warned against it, keeping their guns trained on Vash.
You kissed him.
The blue color spread down his chest, up his arms and legs.
“Leave him with me. I think I can help him.” You murmured to their shocked faces as you took Vash’s head in your hands. Smooching right between two horns that you’d just noticed jutting out from behind his temples. Striped with geometric purple markings, and warm to the touch, with pointed ends. Sort of antelope-like in the way they curled.
It took some time to get Wolfwood and Milly out of the room. But once you did, the fun began. Before you were even really aware of it you were on your back. Those long claws shredding everything that stood between him and your naked body.
At first, you were afraid. That was, until he started kissing a line up your belly. Between your breasts. Your body held gently yet firmly in a loop of an inhuman arm. Too long and strong to be anything human.
“…Vash…”
His eyes flicked to you for a moment. His pupils nothing but black leaves in a sea of sky blue. Flicking for a moment, back to round. You could see panic starting to set in. His hand shaking and beginning to pull away. You cupped his chin and whispered, “Vash, this is you, too. This is a part of you. And I love every part of you. So please…”
You grabbed his clawed hand and kissed it, then him again. So softly and sweetly, like two butterfly wings brushing briefly in a golden field.
“Let me be with every version of you.”
For a moment, he was back completely. And there were tears streaming down his face, white hot.
“I’ll hurt you.” He whispered, his tears dripping gently down the outsides of his face and mixing into that perfect blonde hair. Blackened at the bottom from using too much of his power.
“I trust you.”
“I’m scared.”
You kissed him again, knotting your hand in the back of his hair. Feelings the way his vines were sort of tangling around your arms and legs. The way his wings were curled and cupped around you protectively.
“I am too. But there’s no version of you that would hurt me in any way that matters.”
You felt his hot tears dot your chest as he hiccupped, choking back crying.
Then, he nodded. And he let go.
After that, everything happened very quickly. You were soon parted from any and all scraps of clothing. Given a good lick-down between the legs until you were practically crying with desire. So cruel.
And then all the sudden, too full. You didn’t even get the chance to see what exactly what was between his legs before he was inside you, nudging up carefully, since he was a bit bigger than most humans.
Biting and growling all along your collarbone as he did so. Sucking hard, leaving hickeys. A clawed hand cupping your collarbone. You were like a doll in his arms, the expanse of his shoulders hiding you completely from the world.
It felt… quite different than any other man you’d had before. There were sweet, hard sections to it that spread gently. Sort of like a pinecone but made of hot, wet flesh. The edges spreading and rubbing everywhere against you the farther up he went. The 'core' of it so hot and thick it made you to whimper and wriggle with desire.
He growled a soft, chuckling sound as you bucked. Pinning you to prevent you from taking him too fast, no matter how much you wanted him all at once.
 You were full to bursting by the time he was fully seated inside you; so stretched that you were a little worried you’d pop somewhere. The first of many orgasms rippled up your body all at once. And you barely had a chance to take a breath before he set a punishing pace.
During the middle, things got fuzzy. He moved you a few times to get better angles, but he was always the one in control. Sometimes having to drag his claws along the floorboards to avoid goring you in his frenzy.
Unlike the other Vash, this one was loud. Growling, hissing, purring, clicking. The wings flapping occasionally. The roots twining around the bed, the lamp, the table.
They were sounds you’d only ever heard from Vash when you’d startled him in the dark. He’s place his ear against your mouth too, huffing softly, wanting to hear you in return. Giving rough nuzzles against your neck and on the side of your face when he figured out what made you make the right noises. What pleased you.
Your hands scrambled along his body as he took you. Settling sometimes on the wickedly small tightness of his lower back. Still dimpled, even in this form, and slick with sweet smelling sweat. Other times hooking on his shoulders, dug in around the base of his wings. Feeling the spreading of the flowers that dotted his body blooming around your fingers.
If you were lucky, you’d get your chin up on his shoulder so you could breathe. But for the most part you were tucked against his chest, breathing hard against the metal that laced under his skin. Against the thousand cuts and scrapes and scars that you and every other human had inflicted on him.
The pollen in the air making you dizzy. Making you so incredibly wet that he accidentally slipped out more than once, thrusting back up with an annoyed huffy growl and pinning your hips to keep you in place.
You kissed and nibbled mindlessly along every one of those scars, trying to keep up.
All of the sudden, you heard a small crack. And he leaned down, you baring your neck for what you assumed would be another bite or nip.
Only this time, it was deep. Piercing.
Canines sinking in on both sides of your neck, both veins. Tapping into your lifeblood. A red streak running down either side, becoming laced with blue as venom poured from him into you.
At the same time, his hips bucking deep, his body shivering slightly as he came. It was quite hot; you felt it blooming deep inside you like a shot of alcohol on a freezing night.
His arms were all around you now. No part of you touching the scratched and soiled floor as he cradled you so lovingly, so tenderly despite every part of him being a weapon. His roots twining around you, soothingly petting up and down your back. His wings a black tent around you, blocking out the thin sliver of sun that was snaking through the window.
So hot. You could feel it loop through your heart and back outwards. Upwards into your brain, to the tips of your fingers, your toes. Your body shuddered slightly, and you heard faintly a soft wet sound as something burst from between your shoulders. It didn’t hurt.
By now, you were so far away. Barely there when his fangs were finally removed, feeling a wetness as he licked the wounds closed. Or did they close by themselves? And if so, how?
So many questions. So sleepy. The last thing you remember was looking at him, the beast. But Vash also; the soft, tender man you loved oh so much. His eyes the most perfect summer blue and filled with so much concern.
So much love.
You'd have cried if you had any strength left in your body.
 He was looking at you and saying very softly under his breath, thinking you couldn’t hear, “She’s like me. Oh, god, she’s like me …” His warm hand cupping your cheek.
And you drifted away.
243 notes · View notes