#but in the end she distanced herself from him and ended up being the cause of halmarut possessing him

[weaveandwood]

Midwinter in Waterdeep: Part Three

Gale/Tav | Angst & Pining | Read Part One | Read Part Two | Read on AO3

Summary:

Over a year after their relationship ends, fate brings the couple back together for one too-short night.

The sun set and the moon rose in the night sky without a sign of Gale. She was once again confronted with her demons, whispering in her ear about his habit of getting so lost in his own work and focused on his own ambitions that he left her alone, adrift, and purposeless in the aftermath of their adventure and again now. Her only solution then had been to run, leaving him and the biggest piece of her heart behind. Those demons tugged at her another time. She wasn’t strong enough to resist them. I can’t do this. 

AN: The final installment is here! Thank everyone so much for all your support on this mini series. I hope you love it as much as I do, and I'm sorry for ripping out your hearts along the way. CN: Suggestive language, mild descriptions of panic

The first Midwinter was spent in reverence of each other. They watched the annual fireworks from his balcony and stayed up until the dawn began its ascent over the horizon. Hours were spent relearning each other’s bodies and minds after being strangers for so long. She spoke of her jobs, the contracts she accepted, the locations she visited as he kissed her neck in that one spot that was her undoing and his hands worked his way up her thighs. He spoke of his apprentices, new spells he was crafting, his colleagues turned friends while she kissed the faint remnants of the orb tattoo on his chest, her hand trailing down the line of his stomach. He worshiped her throughout the night and she accepted his offerings gladly.

While the sun rose, she lay in his arms, head on his bare chest as they made plans to spend next Midwinter together. 

Dangerous. Tempting. Stupid.

He cast an illusion to make it snow in what used to be the bedroom they shared, just to see the smile on her face that would no doubt satisfy him for another year. She kept the longing she had to stay with him locked away deep inside, remembering the tormented look on his face the previous night when he ran to her. She couldn’t be the cause of that again, she didn’t trust herself with his heart.

They both wept after they parted. 

**

The second Midwinter, they met in the market - the first time Gale had been in almost two years. They got sweet rolls and held hands as they walked to the inn he reserved for them this holiday. They barely got into the room before their bodies collided and their clothes ended up in a wrinkled pile on the floor, not wanting an inch of space to come between them on their one, too-short night together where she was his and he was hers, though both confessed there was no one else during their time apart. 

She asked for another illusion as he traced his fingers up and down her bare back, the muscles and small scars from so many adventures illuminated by the moonlight. He made the room fill with small glowing rabbits, her favorite animal. 

“You remembered.” “How could I ever forget anything about you?”

He gifted her a sending stone that was modified to only relay a signal when the pair were within a certain distance from each other, so he would know she was near, that she was safe at least one day a year. He kept its partner with him at all times - if not in his pocket, then within arm’s reach, counting down the days until he could feel the trace hum of magic that said she was close, that she was coming back to him. She always kept the stone in her pack or under her pillow as she slept in the wilds and reminisced about stolen moments in tents with him. 

***

The third Midwinter, the sending stone in his pocket flickered to life a day earlier than expected, before the sunrise. He met her at the gates of the city full of concern, but she relieved his fears by explaining she had extra time this year and could stay this additional day, if he wanted. Of course he wanted! He was elated as they walked back to the tower, but had to finish up the term today. He kissed her deeply and promised to be back by sunset, a familiar line she had heard plenty before.

Hours ticked by in quiet solitude. The walls of the tower closed in on her and the sounds of the city aggravated instead of soothed. The sun set and the moon rose in the night sky without a sign of Gale. She was once again confronted with her demons, whispering in her ear about his habit of getting so lost in his own work and focused on his own ambitions that he left her alone, adrift, and purposeless in the aftermath of their adventure and again now. Her only solution then had been to run, leaving him and the biggest piece of her heart behind. Those demons tugged at her another time. She wasn’t strong enough to resist them.

I can’t do this. 

The day had completely gotten away from him - he didn’t realize how late it had become as he rushed home after a long day of examinations and meetings with fellow professors. The only thing that kept him going was the thought of spending two nights with the love of his life, lost in memory and passion. 

He called out to her as he walked in, receiving no response. The tower was empty. His breathing quickened as he collapsed against the wall in the entry, sinking to the floor. A cold panic took over as he found himself alone, reliving that first day all those years ago. He ran his shaking hands through his hair, looking for a note, a sign, anything…and found no trace of her. 

She’s not here.

She didn’t come back that night. The next morning, he ignored the faint buzzing from the stone as he walked to Blackstaff to finish some paperwork before properly starting his holiday as he did every year, though this year it was more of a distraction than anything. He came home late to find a package on his doorstep - a small silver moon earring to wear in the empty piercing where Mystra’s symbol used to reside with a note that read “Be a moon unto yourself.” He could feel her watching but went inside anyway. He tucked the parcel in the same drawer with her ring and extinguished all the lights in his tower, wearily retreating to his study. 

She sat across the street from the tower huddled in her coat, crying through the fireworks until the early morning. Something broke inside her that night, deeper than what already was fractured. 

I’m sorry. 

****

The fourth Midwinter, he received a delivery at his office in Blackstaff Academy. Inside was a sending stone, almost exactly like the one he had gotten her two years ago. His heart beat faster - was she returning it? Was this goodbye? Had the last Midwinter ruined them? They hadn’t spoken but at times he felt his original stone humming, knowing she was near Waterdeep on a few occasions over the last year, resisting the urge to go to the gates each time for a glimpse of her. 

He felt the familiar crackle of magic as he inspected the parcel. No, this one is a different stone, he thought with relief, hearing her voice when he touched it for the first time.

I love you. I’m here. Meet me outside of the city if you can forgive me.

His eyes filled with tears, replying with the only message he could ever respond to her with.

I love you.

She smiled to herself as she heard his warm voice in her head. I love you. It was the first time they had said it to each other in so long - even before she had left him. A flicker of hope surged within her. She met him at the gates as the sun set, grabbing his robes and pulling him to her to kiss him deeply before he even had a chance to say hello. There was so much to say, so much to confess, and so little time. She took his hand and led him away from the city, deep into the woods off the main road where she had set up a tent for them, a campfire waiting. He moved to kiss her, to begin their usual dance of removing clothes and grasping at each other to stave off the chill in the air and the loneliness in their hearts. He longed to touch her, to feel himself inside her again. 

She stopped him. 

He listened as she told him about her next adventure on the other side of the continent. How she purchased the new sending stones because she wanted to hear his voice in her head every day when she would be so far from him. How after last Midwinter, she wanted to move forward and not spend every moment together thinking about the hurts of the past. How she realized the irony of her saying that while sitting in a campsite that was reminiscent of the one they shared all those years ago. How she was ready, finally, to offer more and hoped he would accept. 

“I love you, Gale.”  She’s real. “I love you, too.” She’s here.

The Midwinter fireworks from Waterdeep looked especially beautiful that night as they made love underneath them. 

*****

The fifth Midwinter, she met him at the gates of the city, his message this morning running through her head. Meet me at the gates at our usual time. I have a surprise for you. I love you. 

Every day they sent each other a message through the stones. Every first message ended with “I love you.” Every reply started with “I love you.”

He was practically buzzing when he saw her, drawing her tightly into his embrace, just as he did that night four years ago when she came back into his life by a chance of fate - and yes, after that night he most certainly was a bigger believer in fate. She was safe, she was here, and she loved him. He led her to the woods, the same spot she set up their campsite the previous year. In its place was a small cabin surrounded by wildness, enchanted to be invisible to everyone but the two of them. 

He needed her like air, but he refused to suffocate her with that need - not with traditional roles or expectations, not with her always having to adjust to fit into his life, his routine, his schedule, never the other way around. He wanted to fit into her life. She was the moon, she was the stars, she was the sky. She was precious to him, more important to him than even the Weave. He didn’t need anything but her - not his tower, not his accolades…just her. He loved her, and saw her, and understood what she was capable of offering. This cabin, he hoped, would be proof of that, and would be their home when she was between contracts, between adventures. 

She cried as he said all of this to her with tears streaming down his own smiling face. He held out the silver ring he had purchased for her all those years ago. She couldn’t believe he had kept it safe, looked after it as if he knew she would be back. They were different people then. They were different people now. After all this time, he remained devoted to her, steadfast, even as she pushed and pulled, clawing at the boundaries of his love. She believed him - for the first time, she felt understood. She was understood. He knew her, he was safe, he was here, and he loved her. She knew there could never be anyone else for either of them. He was her home. This was her home.

They kissed as he slipped the ring onto her finger. 

******

The sixth Midwinter, Gale found himself looking out the window of their cabin watching the snow while he prepared their dinner for the evening, replaying their messages from that morning in his head. 

I will be home at sunset. Will be with you for a month. I love you.

I love you. Please hurry back to me, I cannot bear to be apart from you much longer.

He laughed softly to himself. Home. If you had asked him five years ago, while he was bereft and reeling, what he thought home was he would have told you a study full of books, a desk littered with parchment, and a full wine cellar. Now? Home was the smile she gave him when he cast illusions. Home was the way she laid her head on his lap when he read to her, no matter the subject. Home was the way she brought him tea and kissed the top of his head as he stayed up late, working on new spells and theories by candlelight. Home was the sound of her voice calling his name as his mouth was between her thighs. Home was a tiny cabin hidden deep in the woods. 

He twirled the silver ring on his own finger, the twin to hers. He had felt the hum of the original sending stone only a few months after their last Midwinter, during Greengrass. He rushed to the cabin after classes were completed for the day, wondering why she hadn’t told him anything through their messaging stones, wondering if the original stones were malfunctioning. He had no sooner opened the door before she pulled him in and kissed him deeply. He led her to the bedroom, both of them shedding layers of clothing along the way as they reunited. Later that evening, she lazily ran her fingers through his hair as the dancing lights he cast hovered over them, lighting the room in a beautiful pale blue glow. 

“Marry me, Gale.”

They were married that week in a small ceremony, only Tara and Morena in attendance, though once word got out, many congratulations poured in from all over the Sword Coast. She had left later that week, and now she was finally coming home. He glanced at the bags he had brought from the tower, full of work and tomes, and contemplated putting them away before he felt his favorite hum of magic in all the world. 

She stood in front of their cabin, looking in through the window at him. Her eyes watered, whether from joy or the wind she couldn’t say, but she’d blame the wind anyway. Four small glowing rabbits hopped around at her feet and led her to the door. 

“Welcome home, my love.”

#bg3 #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 fanfiction #gale fic #gale x tav #gale x f!tav #gale x auroria #my writing #midwinter in waterdeep #baldur’s gate 3 #I don't know how to express how happy i am with this and i hope everyone else is too

[sealrock]

decembhyur, day 14: water

I have a recurring dream of hector, and paris is not in it. I dream of him frozen in a moment in time that forces me to relive the heartache and terror I put him through. he's separated from me by water; at times it appears to be a lake, and other times an ocean. I hear the roar of waves and the wind chill against my face, but hector does not move from his spot. I cannot discern if he says anything to me during these moments. he just stands there, away from me, just like before. he looks so small and fragile marooned out there, and yet I cannot save him. as I stand firmly rooted in place, as I've done so many times before, a heavy fog begins to roll over the tide. it engulfs everything in its path, including hector. my voice seizes, a lump forms in my throat as I watch him vanish before my eyes. I feel hot tears mixed with kohl race down and stain my cheeks, and still, I cannot speak. I cannot cry. I cannot scream. all I can do is stand there, just like I've always done before, suddenly so helpless and useless in the face of a horror of my own making. I failed him. I pushed him aside so callously when he needed me the most. he will always be here, trapped by ever-flowing water. I cannot reach him… not anymore. — ♫

#decembhyur #decembhyur2023 #mypost. #ffxiv gpose #ffxiv screenshots #ffxiv oc #💐 #i hate tumblr formatting btw #you guys have NO idea how hard this prompt was for me. i agonized over this for 4 days straight because i was drawing blanks #but then the omori ost gave me inspiration #i know i said i wasn't gonna include hector in this but i needed angst and some mildly creepy vibes #andi has this nightmare because she feels guilty over not listening and helping hector when he was showing signs of a mental breakdown #she wanted things to be just like before where everything was right in the world #but in the end she distanced herself from him and ended up being the cause of halmarut possessing him #sidenote: paris rarely appears in andi's dreams because she doesn't think about them. her own child #she assumed that paris would be safe and sound with cassandra and have a semi-normal life. well she thought Wrong #q.

[hotgirlssupportlando]

"...i swear to god there will be a bodybag and not an ambulance waiting for you at the next race"

pairing: protective!max verstappen x fem!f1 driver!reader summary: y/n taking a lot of shit from her bullying teammate causing them to crash into each other during a race. her being in bad condition after the crash making max protective and angry wanting some justice for y/n. fluff end after a whole lotta angst warnings: bad crashing, angst, threats, almost physical abuse? notes: can't get angry and protective max out of my head so just had to write something!! teammate is made up but faceclaiming estiebestie (sorryy) wc: 2,6k

y/n saw red. the anger inside of her bubbled up and if she hadn’t had the willpower of steel the volcano inside of her would’ve erupted. the man in front of her, her so called teammate was once again acting like a total asshole. y/n couldn’t even keep count on every name she had been called, every false accusation he had stated and every attempt of getting her out of the team he had tried since they both became teammates. she was drained, deeply and utterly drained. it was getting harder and harder to try and ignore the abuse she was faced with every day around this man. but once again she was stood in front of him, taking all the shit he had to say, staring blankly at him knowing that this argument would only fuel her racing ability this weekend. 

as the pair stood outside the alpine garage argumenting, max could from a distance see y/n’s eye roll at her teammate. he felt a flame start in him as he saw that the situation began to go out of control, rapidly max started walking over to the alpine drivers to get y/n out of the situation. as he reached the pair he glanced at the man before turning to y/n, gently asking her to come with him. she nodded and they walked away in silence. max put his arm around her shoulder knowing that the girl beside him was in a fragile state and as the arm landed on y/n she felt like every hidden emotion was about to burst out of her. the tears were on the verge of falling and the built up anger made her wanting to hit something, or someone. 

slowly they approached max’s drivers room and without yet exchanging a word with each other they both knew this situation from inside and out, as it had happened the last five race weekends. as max shut the door behind them to his room y/n turned to him and every held back tear started to fall as a waterfall. he opened up his arms for her to be embraced in and y/n crashed into him. trying to keep herself on her feet she desperately grabbed on to the back of max’s fireproofs to have something holding her up. max put his head on top of hers, holding her tightly whilst stroking her hair. 

”i just hate him so fucking much.. ughh how can a person be that much of an asshole?” y/n cried out.

”shh i know y/n, i hate him too. and i swear to god if the team doesn’t do anything about him, i sure will” max whispered.

y/n sniffled as she tilted her head up facing the red bull driver. their eyes locked and a small smile cracked on y/n’s lips knowing max would do anything for her. max smiled back, still stroking her back trying to get her soothed. 

”you know i would fight him for you?” max smiled to the girl.

”thank you, i would too if my contract didn’t say otherwise” y/n chuckled drying her tears with her sleeve. max chuckled too, taking her once again into his embrace and held her head against his chest. y/n felt at home in the arms of her dear friend. or situationship. wherever their relationship was at the moment she always knew he would be there for her. 

__

one day later during the race

y/n had gotten a pretty good start of the race and felt that her first podium was about to become reality for her. of course max led the race so the first step of the podium was ruled out already. she was p3 and five laps remained of the race when the side mirrors revealed a car approaching in familiar blue and pink colours. ’fuck’ she muttered. while getting team orders that the pair of teammates were allowed to fight for the podium position, she started playing up all the comments her teammate had dropped during the last weeks. this lighted a fire in her willing to do anything to outperform the man behind her. she just couldn’t let him win, she couldn’t let him have another reason to bully her.

her teammate and her were fighting at any given chance, y/n defending like her life depended on it. with only one lap remaining the pair were side by side on a long straight approaching a tight corner when all of a sudden y/n felt her car was out of control and crashing into the barriers. the whole situation went in slow motion and she couldn’t grasp what had happened as she had went into the corner leading of the alpine drivers. while trying to figure out what just happened she suddenly felt another big crash into her car making her unconscious. 

max’s pov

the checkered flag was waving in front of him, taking yet another victory. smilingly he looked up at the leaderboard looking for y/l/n knowing she was third last time he checked. confused he saw your name rapidly dropping down the leaderboard while seeing a red flag being waved. his gut wrenched. he tried asking his team why the red flag was waved but was only met with ’big crash in turn 14’. max slowed down his car significantly and as he approached the fourteenth corner he couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. 

two alpine cars had collided, one of them side by side with the barriers with the other car piercing the side of the first car. when realizing that the car that was a total wreck belonged to y/n max let out a scream revealing the pain he felt. in pure chock he went against team orders and drove off to the gravel beside the collision. he unfastened himself, releasing his steering wheel as fast as he could jumping out of the car to run over to y/n. he stopped a couple of meters away from the medical team that was already there trying to get y/n safely out of her smashed car. in all of his years in formula one he had never seen anything like this crash and max felt his body freeze seeing y/n’s lifeless body being carried over to the ambulance. he was so chocked from everything that had happened during the last couple of minutes that he couldn’t move or speak, he just kept staring at the ambulance’s door getting shut before driving away. 

after a while max felt a gentle tap on his shoulder and somehow got the strength to turn around and walk over to the safety car which was there picking him up. after this his body just moved on autopilot, in a blur he finished interviews and podium celebration with his thoughts in a completely different place. 

__

y/n had been moved from the medical center to the nearby hospital where max now was sitting in the waiting room. he had gotten the news of y/n being in critical condition but also that with the right treatments she would be fine after some rehabilitation. this had calmed his mind a bit but all he wanted to do now was to meet her. 

a nurse approached max as he was sitting with his head in his hands ”are you family of y/n?”. 

”yes! or something like that.. a friend.. or boyfriend..” max hesitantly answered.

”well either way, my bad f1 skills tell me you are max verstappen and y/n has been saying your name since she woke up so i think it’s time you can go and see her. just try to stay calm, she’s in a fragile state and cannot handle any extra stress now” the nurse informed max while he nodded understandingly. 

the nurse pointed to the room y/n was in and max approached the door and slowly opened it. inside the room he saw the girl peacefully sleeping with monitors silently beeping around her. her hair was messy and you could still see strands of hair with blood on them. the whole scene was a bit too much for max to handle and he couldn’t help his tears from falling looking at the girl he loved most in such a state. 

y/n’s eyes fluttered open trying to adjust to the bright light in the room. the first thing she saw was max at the end of the bed looking at her with tears in his eyes. 

”am i dead or am i seeing max verstappen crying for the first time?” y/n tiredly smiled. max smiled and chuckled while drying his tears ”shh don’t tell anyone”. 

”…but seriously y/n/n i’ve never been so scared in my whole life seeing you in that crash. i thought i-” max cried ”i- thought i’d lost you forever. and there was so much that i hadn’t told you and everyth-” y/n interrupted max’s intense crying to tell him to come and lay down with her. sobbingly he lied down feeling y/n clinging onto his body. the pair held each other tightly, wiping away the falling tears before falling asleep in the hospital bed. without any further words exchanging they both knew that the feelings they shared wasn’t only on a friend level, it was something much more.

__

hours later max was getting a drive back to the paddock for some debriefing before heading back to the hospital. at this point his chock had settled and on the drive over it had instead turned into anger against the one who caused the collision, y/n’s teammate. he couldn’t stop thinking about how that mans stupid thinking almost turned into the death of one of his favourite persons. the audacity that alpine driver had to make such a bad mistake, if it even was a mistake. taking out y/n would mean replacing her spot in the spotlight. with all these thoughts running around in max’s mind he only got angrier and angrier until he reached the paddock. 

once the car stopped, max firmly opened the passenger door and headed out, walking with a certain location in mind, the alpine quarters. his assistant tried getting his attention as the whole team was waiting for him in the red bull meeting room but he just ignored this as he was determined to make some justice for y/n. 

he stormed in to the alpine area angrily asking for y/n’s teammate. after a few directions he saw the man he was looking for. at a distance the two men got eye contact, max’s eyes being pitch black of fury while the other mans eyes widened as max rapidly moved towards him. 

all the staff around them paused what they were doing seeing that there was no way of preventing max from the target he had set eyes on. as max was approaching y/n’s teammate the alpine driver tried explaining himself, acting like a victim in the situation but max had heard enough of the bullshit. he had had enough with y/n holding back her tears during every race weekend because of her teammates bullying. this was it.

without a word max answered the drivers explanations with a firm push in the chest causing him to back off a bit, putting his hands up in the air as surrendering. but max wasn’t done. the red bull driver harshly grabbed the alpine drivers collar shoving him up to the wall behind him. he was met with terrified eyes at the unexpected move. max’s face moved close to the other mans giving him a look that could’ve killed. 

”if you ever talk bad about y/n or even look at her in a bad way, i swear to god there will be a bodybag and not an ambulance waiting for you at the next race” max threatened. the man before him nodded eagerly ”i swear, i swear, it will never hap-” in a moment he was harshly put down. max turned around and calmly walked away from the scared man hoping this would prevent y/n from breaking down every weekend. the surrounding people were in chock of what they’d witnessed and before max left he made sure that the other staff at alpine would prevent anything from happening y/n ever again. 

__

back at the hospital a nurse had recently visited y/n’s room giving her some medicine for the night. max and y/n were lying in bed next to each other talking about everything and anything, max noticing y/n slowly falling asleep in his arms. he looked at the girl who looked so at peace even though everything she had been through this day. he slightly readjusted his position when he heard a painful groan from y/n. he was quick to try and jump off the bed to let the injured girl sleep in a comfortable position but this only caused y/n to groan even more, not wanting to sleep without him. 

”okay, but promise me you tell me if i’m hurting you even the slightest. i don’t want to cause you any more pain” max said with a concerned voice.

”i promise max, i just want you here” y/n answered as she found a somewhat comfortable position clinging onto his body. she couldn’t escape the pain her body was causing her but the feeling of max’s warm body against hers and his hands carefully stroking her hair numbed the pain she was feeling. even though her physical body was in the worst condition it had ever been, she wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else than in this man’s arms. she could finally find some peace now and fall asleep. 

”i love you” 

y/n was almost asleep when hearing the words max expressed. she felt a butterfly in her otherwise sore stomach and smiled. was she high on morphine or did she really just hear that? she tilted her head upwards scaring max a bit as he was sure she was deep asleep. 

”i love you too max” y/n said as the pair smiled brightly at each other. 

without hesitation y/n leaned in and crashed her lips against max’s, sharing a sweet and longed for kiss together. max removing his hand from y/n’s hair to instead cup her cheeks deepening the kiss. ’ouch’ y/n complained making max to quickly removing his body from hers not wanting to cause any pain. ’it’s okay, sorry i scared you, i have a bruised bone there’ she explained. ’oh i’m so sorry i didn’t mean to-’ max said concerned but y/n waved it away interrupting his talking with another kiss. max smiled and returned the kiss.

soon after they were lying next to each other again, both filled with love ready to fall asleep after the longest day in history. a weight had been dropped from both of their shoulders after finally revealing their feelings to each other and no one could be happier. as y/n fell asleep max looked at her for the last time before falling asleep too, he felt peace knowing that the girl in his arms was finally safe now, and would always be. he was never letting anyone hurt his girl again. 

#f1 x reader #f1 #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 x you #f1 imagine #formula one #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen #max x reader #max verstappen x you #max verstappen x y/n #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen fic #max verstappen imagine #mv1 #mv1 x y/n #mv1 x you #mv1 x reader #mv33 #mv33 x reader #mv33 imagine #mv33 fic #mv33 x you

[rocketrhap3000]

suffocate me with your love

summary: as requested by this anon, reader overhears bucky complaining about how clingy she is but doesn’t hear the full story, causing her to distance herself from him and unintentionally breaking both of their hearts

warnings: reader deals with some self loathing stemming from childhood fears, a few swears, this is pretty angsty but i promise there’s a happy ending

a/n: thank you for the request! as i said, this is such a personal topic for me and writing this was so healing to be honest. i hope it can bring some comfort for anyone else who’s been told they’re too clingy or attached. you are loved and you deserve love 🤍

main masterlist here

The little white cat on your lap lifts her head and stands up in alert when she hears the front door click open, signaling your boyfriend's arrival back to his apartment. Next, you hear Bucky’s footsteps tread softly over where you and Alpine have cozied up on the couch in the living room, and before you know it, he’s falling down beside you, careful not to crush the cat on the couch with you.

“Hey, Buck,” you giggle as he leans into you.

“Mm, hi,” he murmurs back. “Missed you today, Sweets,” Bucky breathes as he wraps his arms around you, holding you to him.

“Missed you, too,” you sigh back, loving how safe and secure you feel in his arms.

It’s been almost four months since Bucky officially asked you out. Before that, the two of you tiptoed around each other for nearly a year, starting when you first moved into the apartment next to his in the Tower, when you became a part of the science and research team with Banner. Bucky is the sweetest man you’ve ever met, and you have always felt safe around him and loved by him.

However, you have an underlying fear that you just can’t seem to shake, even though you’re extremely happy with Bucky. As a child, your family constantly told you how clingy and desperate for affection and attention you were. You couldn’t help it, though, no matter how many times they told you to stop being so attached. You just crave affection and closeness with those you love, and that includes Bucky, now. He’s never given you a hard time about it, though; in fact, he’s always reciprocated your touch and affection. He’s never once made you feel too clingy or attached, and you always feel loved and cared for by him.

“How were my two girls today?” he asks as he pulls away enough to just settle at your side instead, and you smile as you watch Alpine climbs right into his lap.

“Good,” you smile bashfully, resting your head on his flesh shoulder and leaning into him.

“Have you eaten dinner yet?” he asks, softly rubbing your arm with the hand that’s wrapped around you.

“No,” you murmur, trying to get as close to him as you possibly can. “Was waiting for you. What are you hungry for?”

“Anything you want, Sweets,” he smiles and kisses your temple.

This right here? Absolute bliss.

~♡~

Later in the week, you go to visit Bucky and Sam after their training session with some new recruits. He’d told you they’d be done around noon, and he offered to take you to lunch afterwards. Going out with Bucky always filled you with such unbridled joy, one like none other. Something about being with him just made you so giddy, like a little girl with a school crush.

You smile to yourself as you hear Bucky’s familiar chuckle voice off the halls as you make your way to find him. But when you pick up the conversation between him and Sam, your stomach starts to churn.

“God, I need a break from her,” you hear your boyfriend’s voice come from the kitchen, immediately grabbing your attention.

Who is “her”?

“Don’t even get me started,” you hear Sam scoff his reply. “I saw her practically up your shirt the other day and I felt the urge to swoop in and save you.”

Your brain automatically goes to the worst case scenario. Sam had walked in on you and Bucky cuddling in the common room watching a movie the other day. Is that what he’s talking about?

“Why didn’t you?” Bucky playfully yells. “Man, I thought she’d get the hint by now. She literally won’t leave me alone. It’s like she’s a leech or something.”

Your heart begins to race and tears begin to burn at the back of your eyes. He has to be talking about you, surely. You know you’re so clingy; he’s just been hiding how annoyed he’s been by you, just to save your feelings.

“Have you told her?” Sam asks.

“No,” Bucky sighs.

“Why the hell not?” Sam laughs.

“I don’t want to be an asshole, you know? She’s annoying, but I still don’t want to hurt her feelings,” Bucky explains.

“It’s not being an asshole to tell her you need your space, man,” you hear Sam reply.

“I do need my space. And especially from her. She’s suffocating—” you hear him say, and it’s the last thing you hear before your throat closes up, your ears start to ring, and your eyes blur with tears as you run down the hall back to your apartment.

Time seems to freeze as you make your way to your place, shutting and locking the door as tears stream down your cheeks.

Your biggest fear has come to pass.

Your wonderful boyfriend, someone you love more than anyone in the world, thinks you’re too clingy, just as your family had said all along.

You’re annoying.

You’re suffocating.

This is your worst nightmare.

What you don’t realize, however, is that Bucky wasn’t finished. And after you’ve run off in silent tears, he clarifies what you should have stuck around to hear.

“Especially since I have a girlfriend! I get that I’m assigned to train her, but Alexis needs to know I’m uncomfortable with how touchy she is both inside and outside of training. Plus, she knows I’m dating (Y/n),” Bucky reasons.

“The whole team knows, Buck. You guys look like lovesick puppies whenever you’re together and you can’t keep your hands off each other,” Sam laughs.

“Then why can’t Alexis take a fucking hint?” Bucky cries out with a laugh.

“Have you talked to Nat or anyone else about it? I’m sure they’d talk with her. I know I will if you want me to. We could even switch her with someone else so you won’t have to work with her anymore,” Sam offers.

“That would be great, honestly, man. I’d be in deep shit with (Y/n) if she saw the way Alexis gets with me. And my girl is the last person I want to hurt. I love her, Sam,” Bucky admits.

“Whoa,” Sam smiles. “You guys have only been together for a little while. You already sure about that?”

“When you know, you know,” Bucky shrugs. “She’s the love of my life. I think about her every moment. I never wanna be apart from her.”

If only you would have heard all that.

~♡~

Weeks pass and you grow increasingly distant from Bucky by the day.

You no longer stop over at his apartment to wait with Alpine for him to get back from trainings. You spend more time in the lab with Banner, and when Bucky asks if you need some time off, you politely decline. You no longer go to bed with him for sleepy snuggles; instead, you retreat back to your apartment after the few minutes of time you have together in the evenings.

You dodge his kisses and pull away from his hugs. You don’t cuddle up to him on the few evenings you do spend with him, and you don’t initiate any touch with him whatsoever.

It’s so hard not to give into his touches and kisses, but it’s genuinely what you think Bucky wants. For that reason, you don’t see just how hurt he’s been by the absence of your affection.

~♡~

“So, how are things with you and the lady lately?” Sam asks, nudging Bucky’s shoulder with his own as the two men sit at the counter of the bar together.

“Really?” Bucky scoffs after swallowing his sip of beer.

“Yes, really,” Sam replies with a chuckle of his own. “If I don’t ask, you won’t tell me anythin’. I gotta know what’s going on in your life, man.”

“Okay,” Bucky chuckles again, then lets out a sigh. “I don’t know. Like I’ve told you before. I love her. I think she’s incredible. But if I’m being honest, recently I get the feeling she’s not really into me anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Sam asks, taking a swig of his drink. “She looked pretty comfy cozy in your lap at last month’s meeting," he teases.

“Well without giving up too many details…” Bucky rolls his eyes and winces as he struggles to word it tactfully, knowing just how embarrassed you would feel if you found out Bucky was telling Sam these details of your relationship. “She used just to be a lot more affectionate.”

“She always has been,” Sam agrees. “She’s such a sweet person.”

“I know. But she’s completely stopped. And without any apparent reason, too. Can’t remember the last time she even kissed me. I just… I don’t get it, Sam. What am I doing wrong?”

“Dude, I don’t know her like you do. But maybe just lay off for a little bit? Maybe it will prompt her to start things on her own if she wants them again.”

“Yeah,” Bucky nods slowly, thinking of just how difficult it will be if he decides to withhold his affection from you for a while if you don’t explicitly ask for it. “Yeah, that seems like it could work.”

But even though Bucky has accepted his advice, Sam notices as his friend’s demeanor changes. His already small smile starts to fade as the thought of you sitting at home alone while he’s out with a buddy crosses his mind, and something just tells him you’re not okay.

“Alright, Buck,” Sam sighs, waving down the bartender with one hand hand placing the other on his friend’s shoulder. “I can practically smell the smoke comin’ from your cyborg brain right now. Go,” he then nods his head at Bucky.

“But-”

“Go,” Sam insists with a smile. “Drinks are on me. I know you’re overthinking about your girl right now. Get home before your brain combusts.”

Bucky scoffs, amused at how well Sam knows him and thankful for the advice. He only hopes it will work, and that whatever tension there is between you two can be resolved.

He can’t stand not cuddling and kissing you like he used to.

~♡~

A knock comes at your front door just around eight, after you’ve already showered and changed into your pyjamas - ironically, it’s your boyfriend’s blue henley and a pair of his baggy grey sweats. You’d known Bucky was going out with Sam, so you expected to be alone for the rest of the night.

Toeing over the smooth panels of the wooden floor in your fuzzy socks, you leave your bedroom and head for the main door, nervous as to who may be there.

But an involuntary smile graces your lips when you open the door to your boyfriend, standing in the hallway with a beautiful bouquet of white roses in his hand and a box of your favorite chocolates in the other.

“Bucky,” you breathe, and even with things in his hands, he wraps his arms around your torso and brings you in for a delicate kiss.

“Hi, Sweets,” he greets after breaking away.

“What— uh, what are you doing here?” you stammer, suddenly becoming aware of how tightly you’re clinging to him and pulling back to put space between the two of you. “Thought you were out with Sam,” you say softly, stepping backwards to let him into your apartment, then turning around to head over to the living room.

“I… Well, I’d rather be with you,” he says, following after you. After a few steps, he catches up to you, and hands you the flowers and chocolates.

“What are these for?” you ask, accepting the gifts and admiring the roses with a small smile.

“Don’t need a reason to get my girl some flowers that are almost as pretty as her,” Bucky says, and you’d be swooning if you still weren’t so nervous about coming off as clingy.

Stepping over into the kitchen, you set the chocolate on the counter, then grab an empty vase to fill with water to place the flowers in. Bucky stands near you, watching as you fulfill the task, then setting the vase on your kitchen table, where all of Bucky’s flowers for you have gone.

Next, he grabs your hand as you bush past him to go back to the living room.

“Are you here to spend the night? Where’s Alpine?” you ask, dropping his hand as you sit down on the couch.

Bucky’s heart sinks and his smile falls. He thought you’d appreciate the little surprise, but now he’s convinced you’re just not into him anymore.

“I stopped to check on her right before coming to you. She’s good for the night if you want me to stay. Otherwise I— I can go back,” he says, hesitantly sitting down on the couch beside you.

“No, that’s okay,” you nod, relieved to hear that he’s here because he wants to be, and not because you’ve forced him to.

Silence falls over the room like a heavy, uncomfortable blanket. You’ve never felt this way being alone with Bucky before. You hate it. You want to snuggle up with him and have him hold you tight.

But you know that would be too annoying.

Too suffocating.

Those words echo in your head over and over again, until Bucky breaks the silence, pulling you from the spiral of your thoughts.

“Sweetheart,” Bucky mutters, reaching out to grab your hand. “Are you okay?”

“Mhm,” you smile and nod, pulling your hand from his, then scootch just a tad away from him.

“You’re just… You don’t seem like yourself lately. I’m worried, Sweets.”

“I’m fine, Buck,” you assure him, though he isn’t convinced.

“Okay,” he pauses generously before speaking up again. “Are we… okay?”

“Yeah,” you nod again, but Bucky finally builds up the courage to ask you directly what he wants.

“You’ve just been really distant lately. No more cuddles, hugs, kisses… no more movie nights or making dinner together. I’ve barely seen you this week, and I know you’re busy with Banner, but I miss you. I just… Are you… do you want to break up with me?” he asks, and your heart shatters into a million pieces.

“No, James,” you coo, finally reaching out to grab his hand again. “Not at all, Honey.”

“Then why haven’t you been as affectionate as you used to be?” he asks, voice shaking with nerves and heartbreak.

Another wave of silence washes over the room as you debate whether or not you’ll tell him the truth. You know you should, and against all the fear you’re feeling right now, you know it’s worth it to save your relationship with the sweetest man on the planet.

“I heard you talking to Sam, Bucky,” you say softly, removing your hand from his and casting your gaze to your lap.

“What, Sweets?” he asks with a small frown.

“I heard you talking… about me.”

Bucky doesn’t understand. When are you talking about? Did he accidentally butt dial you when he was with Sam tonight? Fuck technology, he thinks. What has he done?

“Tonight?” he asks nervously, but you shake your head. “Sweetheart, I’m lost. When are you talking about?” he asks, and you begin to dread having to explain to him what you overheard.

“In the kitchen. A few weeks ago. You said you needed a break,” you state, blinking to get rid of the tears that are blurring your eyes but instead one escapes, and rolls down your cheek, making your heartbreak evident to your boyfriend. “I heard you say I was too clingy. Annoying. Suffocating,” you wince as you speak the words that have been daggers in your heart since the moment you’d heard them.

Bucky’s jaw falls open and his face goes white as he watches you break down into sobs.

“Oh, (Y/n),” he sighs and shakes his head. “Oh my god. No no no,” he gathers you in his arms and kisses your head and cheeks and all over face.

“I never meant to be so clingy, Bucky. I’m sorry. They always told me I was too attached. I didn’t mean to bother you. I’m so sorry,” you sob into his chest.

“Sweetheart, no no no!” he quietly exclaims, pulling away from you and grabbing a tissue from the box in your coffee table to dry your stray tears. “I wasn’t talking about you!”

“You… you weren’t?” you ask shakily.

“No, sweet girl,” he assures you. “You could never be too clingy or too attached or too much anything. You’re perfect. I love your hugs and your cuddles and your kisses. I crave your cuddles when I’m gone away on missions. I wish I could bottle up your kisses and keep them in my pocket for whenever I need one. I love you, (Y/n),” he confesses, and your stomach floods with butterflies instead of sadness.

“I love you, too, Bucky,” you admit with a giggle through your tears, relief washing over you like a massive tidal wave.

“I’m so sorry you overheard that, and I’m so sorry you’ve been feeling that way for all these weeks,” he wraps his arms around you again, squeezing you tightly to him.

“It’s okay. I know I should have asked you sooner. I guess I just assumed the worst and I immediately shut down. I wanted to give you the space I thought you needed from me,” you whisper into the crook of his neck.

“I don’t need any space from you, Sweets,” he replies softly. “And I was most certainly not talking about you,” he reassures, then pulling away from you just enough to hold your eye contact.

“Who was it, then?” you ask hesitantly, though you know it’s not you.

“Alexis. That new recruit,” he begins, rolling his eyes, and you laugh at how annoyed he looks. “I was assigned to train her, but she’s got this weird thing for me. She gets way too close and touchy in training and continues with it even after training. I’ve asked her to stop, but she just hasn’t listened. I had to tell Sam about it; it was just getting too far,” he shakes his head.

“Oh, wow,” you frown, now feeling bad for Bucky as he’s had to deal with such unwanted contact with this recruit. “I’m sorry, Buck.”

“It’s not your fault, sweet girl,” he assures, leaning in to kiss you gently. “I just had to let Sam know. He’s gonna switch her out for someone else for me to train. Maybe even talk to Nat or someone who’s in charge of recruitment if it continues.”

“Good,” you nod and smile, eyes going wide in relief.

“Yeah,” Bucky also chuckles in relief. “I’m so glad we cleared this up."

"Me, too," you tell him. "I'm sorry for not telling you how I was feeling earlier. I feel like it would have avoided all of this."

"Probably," he laughs softly. "But I can't blame you for doing what you did. I can't imagine how you were feeling after hearing all that. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself when you started avoiding me, Sweets."

"Bucky, I'm so sorry," you give him a sad smile.

"No, I get it," he shakes his head and smiles, pulling you in closer, so much so that you're practically in his lap. "Now we just have a few weeks of cuddles to make up for, don't we?"

"Yes," you giggle as he feathers kisses to your neck and shoulders. "That we do."

"I love you so much, Sweetheart," he then whispers against your lips.

"I love you, too."

~♡~

thank you so much for reading! reblogs and feedback are so greatly appreciated and help out your fave writers more than you know 💘

Bucky taglist below, link in bio to be added :)

@lharrietg​​​  @enchantedbarnes​​​  @buchanansebba​​​ ​  @verygraphicink​​​​  @writing-for-marvel  @marvelatthetwilight​​​   @jackiehollanderr @lets--be-honest​​​​   @writerwrites​​​​ ​​​  @arabescapr​​​​  @real-jane​​​​  @mellyteddybear-blog​​​​ @listenthemoose​​​​ @lhharrysworld​​@mcufossilman​​​​ @danireal17​​​​​​​ @hallecarey1 @selluequestrian​​​​ @engie115 @emi11ie​​​ @matchat3a​​​ @sonicisnotsober​@balekanemohafe​​​ @mogaruke​​​ @seitmai​​​ @caplanbuckybarnes @midgardianminx​​​​ ​ @jesslove23-blog​​​ @dumb-fawkin-bitch​​​ @jessybarnes​​​ @pandaxnienke​​​ ​ @alexxavicry​​  @spideysimpossiblegirl​​ @rach2602 @samlworld @nsuiswitch @thearieunhinged

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #avengers #marvel #mcu #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #tfatws #sam wilson #sebastian stan

[patrickzvveig]

also as i reread the books i really want to examine the idea of Peeta and Gale as representations of "peace and war" because I think that that is an extreme oversimplification for both of them. Peeta being "peace" is not right because he's not afraid to be disruptive and disobey when necessary. In his first real scene he literally throws Haymitch's glass away from him. Hell, "peace" in stories isn't presented as a good thing. There's the uneasy peace that is literally the purpose of the games to ensure. It's not a good thing. The only reason Katniss is able to settle down and live the life she wanted to is because of rebellion and war.

Peeta is not a metaphor for choosing peace. He is just radically kind and empathetic in a world where selfishness and apathy are the best way to ensure survival. And this is something Katniss cannot comprehend at the beginning. She is confused when Peeta cleans Haymitch up alone, instead of asking a Capitol aide to help him because that would be good revenge. She cannot understand that he is just a kind person.

Gale, on the other hand, is extremely vengeful. And as much as I dislike him for the way he behaved towards Katniss after her games, his anger is justified and sympathetic. But it leads no where. In the end, his line of thinking parallels that to the Capitol, who created the Games as revenge for their peace and comfort being destroyed by the rebels. Obviously, Gale has many more reasons to be angry than the Capitol ever would, but using his rage and anger to lead the rebellion instead of the empathetic and kind view of Peeta, which seeks to create a better world for the oppressed, is what ultimately will crush the rebellion and destroy its root cause.

and the story is about Katniss coming to accept Peeta's outlook on the world is better grounds for a rebellion than Gale's. In the beginning of book 1 she literally tries her best to distance herself from Peeta because she is quite literally afraid of kindness and sees it as a way that he is exposing her weakness. In the end she realizes that the only world safe enough to settle down in is one that prioritizes kindness and its citizens. It's not about "peace versus war" because by choosing "peace" the cause leads to nowhere. But by choosing to create a safer and better society, there is always a greater reason to fight.

#another reason why everlark is superior #and why it's barely a love triangle and Peeta were always going to happen #i want to add to this idea the more i read but this is a good start #the hunger games #catching fire #mockingjay #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #everlark #thg #gale hawthorne

[shadowdaddies]

Ready for another azriel request??? I’m rereading the series right now so I’m BEGGING for some azriel action😭 I was thinking something a little angsty maybe azriel and the reader (obviously mated) get into an argument or he snaps at her or something like that (you can decide) and so she starts to distance herself and one day she gets attacked or kidnapped or something (again you can decide) and azriel is panicking and stuff. I just really want some groveling or begging or something idk. Ending with fluff obviously. Sorry all of my requests are long and detailed😭 thank you thooo❤️

hey love! I planned this out awhile ago but I've been busy with visiting family; thank you for the request as always💜

There With You

Azriel x Reader

warnings: reader is captured but no explicit torture, miscommunication trope

The rustling of leaves sounded to your right, hand instinctively reaching for the dagger at your hip as you and Azriel looked to the source of the noise.

A breath you hadn’t realized you were holding blew from your lips at the sight of the crow landing in the tree, dried Autumn leaves drifting to the ground beneath the creature.

Allowing your hand to drop from your weapon, you continued your walk through the wood, the distraction of the bird causing your misstep. 

The branch underneath your boot cracked in an echo that seemed to silence the rest of the forest, the world growing eerily quiet around you for a moment. Azriel stood still as stone to your left, hazel eyes simmering with something akin to anger.

“You need to be more careful,” he murmured, voice as soft and cutting as the cool wind that whipped through the air. Holding back the sigh that aimed to leave your lips, you hissed through your teeth, gaze slicing to meet your mate’s. 

“I stepped on a branch, Azriel,” you retorted, face growing heated at the awareness of how something as small as a snapping branch could blow your mission. Nonetheless, the condescension with which Az was speaking to you was enough to lead you to dig your heels in for this argument. “A cracked stick in the forest isn’t going to summon the entire Autumn Court,” you muttered bitterly.

A scarred hand took your arm in a gentle but firm grip. “You know well that we do not need to summon the High Court. A farmer looking to gain favor with Beron could see us. That is all it would take to destroy the mission...” he trailed off, removing his hand to drag it over his tired features. 

“I told Rhys this was a bad strategy. He knows how much more difficult you make this,” your mate grumbled, barely loud enough for you to hear. Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as you stopped abruptly.

Azriel’s eyes widened, jaw dropping slightly as his head turned to you. Before he could speak, you raised a stiff hand, pausing him in his own tracks. “I make this difficult? I didn’t realize what a burden I am, Azriel.” The words spewed from you in a fountain of anger, welling up inside, hands clenched at your sides.

“Let’s go in different directions. We’ll cover ground more quickly, and we can find the book and get out of here... without making this anymore difficult for you,” you shot over your shoulder, shaking off the shadow that tried to keep you from walking away.

A soft huff sounded from behind you, betraying the feelings of guilt you could feel through the bond before you shut it off. Drawing your dagger, you angrily whacked at any branches and leaves that dared cross your path, stomping through the wood in search of the book Eris had taken from his father’s study for you. 

Blinded by your anger, you missed the sound of soldiers being winnowed in behind you until it was too late. The rush of leaves on the wind perked your ears, but by the time that you turned to see one of the Vanserra brothers behind you with his guard, a circle of fire had engulfed you. 

Walls of flame surrounded you, a dome of heat drawing the oxygen from your lungs as black spotted your vision. Opening the bond with your little remaining strength, you felt Azriel’s panic before losing consciousness. 

~~~

You awoke in a damp room, dark save for the flickering fae light in the center of the cell. Head pounding you force your eyes to take in the cold, wet stone, the wall to which you are chained. 

Mouth dry with thirst, your head bobs towards the creaking door, a vaguely familiar figure stepping through it. “Keep this closed. We don’t need anyone above hearing what happens in here.” Dark laughter sounded from the guards as they dutifully closed the heavy door.

The moment the bar slid into the lock, amber eyes shot to you, Eris’s voice laced with concern as he spoke. “Where is Azriel?” he demanded, a soft hand cupping your jaw as he helped you focus on him. 

Swallowing thickly, you gazed up at the flaming red hair, burning whiskey eyes that demanded an answer that you wouldn’t, couldn’t give. “We split to cover more ground quickly,” you muttered, a half-truth. “We were struggling to find the book you left for us.”

The last part came out as a hiss, Eris’s hand dropping from you as though burned by your words. Any sign of pity left his expression, the mask of Autumn Lord slipping on easily. “Of course he would struggle with such simple instructions,” he drawled, looking down at you, a cat toying with a mouse.

An exasperated huff of laughter escaped you at the male bravado. “If you could discard whatever issue exists between you two for one moment,” you shot back, “I would appreciate some assistance - perhaps some context - to our current situation.” 

Yanking on the chains for emphasis, your expression turned from teasing to paled at Eris’s grim reaction. The Lord’s lips thinned as he blew out a quiet breath, golden eyes searching the thick walls of the room before he dared to speak.

“I cannot let you escape under my watch,” he muttered, a hand running through the deep red of his hair, gears turning in his head. “Azriel knows where you are. I have asked one of my more... inept brothers, to guard you while I arrange a meeting with my father.”

Flames danced in his eyes, searing intensity reminding you of Eris’s power when he turned to you. “If any harm comes to my younger brother, be assured that your mate will regret ever crossing the boundary into my Court.”

Something sparked inside of you at his words, the intensity with which Eris defended his family. Respect welled deep inside of you, breath short as you nodded. “I will keep your family safe, Eris,” you breathed, fighting the smile that tugged at your lips as his features softened under the comfort of your promise.

“Make sure your bond is open so that he can sense you,” Eris directed, turning on his heel to leave. You did as he said, opening your bond as you reached out in any direction for where Azriel might be. Eris’s steps halted for a moment, a sharp catch in his breath before he shook his head, hand lifting to knock on the cell door. 

Eris didn’t bother to look back when he strode through the archway, graceful steps leading him from the depths of your enclosure. One guard flashed his yellow teeth in a grin that sent disgust through you, your middle finger struggling to angle in response before he slammed the door.

No sooner had the dust settled from the sliding entryway than shadows swirled in front of you, Azriel materializing in the darkness. Your mate collapsed to the ground in front of you, his knees hitting stone as wings sagged behind him.

“I am so sorry,” he choked out, hazel eyes glowing with unshed tears in the dim light, “I failed you.” Your heart cleaved in two at his statement, shaking your head vigorously as you fought to keep your own emotions in check. 

“Azriel, you didn’t fail me. I am the one who left, who makes things difficult...” you swallowed at those words, shame overwhelming at the thought of holding back your mate, your Court. 

Panic was etched across Azriel’s features as he reached for your chains, regret and love flowing through the bond. “No,” he ground out, “that is not what I meant.” His forehead rested against yours, slick with sweat as the shackles broke free.

A scarred hand found your cheek, the outside world ceasing to exist as Azriel’s gaze focused on you. “I am a fool,” he murmured. “I meant to say that missions with you are difficult because you are all that I can focus on, you are all that I care about. I am the burden, because I would throw away any mission, any Court, any world to keep you safe.” 

His throat worked, voice thick as his lashes wetted with tears. “And yet I still failed you, still nearly lost you because of my own inability-“ 

Arms wrapping around him, you ignored your wrists, sore from the shackles, in favor of twining your hands at the nape of your mate’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Love and admiration flowed both ways through your connection, and despite everything, you couldn’t fight the smile you offered Azriel.

“You are not, and have never been a failure, Azriel. You are my love, my perfect mate, and I should have stayed to communicate instead of trying to prove myself to the one person who I know I don’t have anything to prove to.” 

Azriel nodded, a beautiful smile stretching across his lips as he lifted you into his arms. “You are perfect. And I am sorry that I ever let you forget it,” he whispered, sweeping you into a pool of shadows as he transported you out of the dungeons.

Once more you were surrounded by the crisp air of the Autumn Forest, the moonlight shining down on the babbling brook as you walked hand-in-hand with your mate. “We still have to find the book,” you noted, bumping Azriel’s shoulder in playful reminder.

He laughed softly, hand reaching into the side pocket of his leathers to pull out a small leather-bound journal, waving it in the air. “Found it just as I heard the Autumn soldiers,” he grimaced, eyes shuttering at the memory. 

Your hand found his arm, giving a reassuring squeeze as you leaned your head against him, quiet comfort settling over the two of you. 

“Let’s head home, then,” you whispered. “I could use a warm bath.” You felt Azriel’s lips press against your hair, strong arms scooping you up effortlessly.

Azriel’s warm breath tickled your neck, shadows dancing as the Autumn Court began to fade around you, darkness swallowing the landscape. “As long as I get to be there with you.”

#acotar #acotar x reader #acotar fanfiction #acotar imagine #azriel #azriel x reader #a court of thorns and roses #acotar fanfic #acotar fic #azriel acotar #azriel shadowsinger #acotar reader fic #acotar azriel #azriel fanfic #azriel x you #azriel x reader fluff #azriel x y/n #azriel angst #acotar azriel x reader #azriel x reader angst #acotar angst #acotar x you #azriel acotar x reader #acotar reader imagine #acotar eris #eris vanserra #eris acotar #acotar series #acotar x y/n

[deepouterspacecandy]

Someone needs to kiss Abigail Anderson in the rain and I think that someone is you. 18+ only.

I don’t think Abby and her dad ever had The Talk per se.

In his eyes, he always regarded her as an incredibly perceptive and intelligent individual. She had her nose in a book for most of her youth and, given that doctors raised her, she had absorbed most of the medical knowledge pertaining to matters of sex and procreation of her own volition.

Sexuality as a whole rarely came up between them because they scarcely found a moment to broach the subject.

The Fireflies were a diverse collective, and Abby was no stranger to the concept of same-sex relationships. Her father had faith in their trusting connection, assuming that it would be a catalyst for her to confide in him whenever necessary.

When Abby entered the WLF as an orphan, she found herself a family in the gym. Her trainers, personal chefs, and comrades were the individuals she formed the strongest bonds with. It was through observing their relationships that she learned the rest. Despite the cringe-worthy locker room talk she’d ignore; she remained grounded in her strong sense of identity. Her sole focus was on transforming her body into a lethal weapon, leaving everything else irrelevant.

Then she saw you.

The second you stepped through those gates with your group, you grabbed her attention. Although she had never helped integrate newcomers before, she fully committed herself to facilitating yours. From the moment you met, you formed an instant connection, and as weeks turned into months, you became inseparable.

It took her some time to understand what she was going through, then it hit her all at once.

In the crowded mess hall, amidst the chatter of comrades, you brushed against her to whisper something casual in her ear. The delicate touch of your lips against the shell of her ear and the tender warmth of your breath against her neck gave her goosebumps. She didn’t register what you said as your hushed voice overwhelmed her with a rush of heat.

She kept it a secret from you for a while. You brushed off your suspicions and attributed them to hopefulness, mainly because she was so straightforward about everything else.  

Abby spent many nights lying in her loft bed, gazing at the wooden panels above, plagued by the fear that her feelings were nothing more than loneliness and confusion. But then she’d recall the sensation of your whispered words in her ear, causing her heart to skip a beat and a dull ache to pulse between her legs.

As always, you beat her to the punch.

When you came out, it was during a late-night patrol with your squad. Seeking refuge from a nasty storm, you found yourselves holed up in an old barn. The group engaged in animated discussions about their desired post-war experiences, many of them sexual in nature.

As they directed the question your way, you playfully quipped that you’d be willing to part with a kidney just to feel the exhilaration of being lifted off your feet and kissed by the first gay woman to step foot in the stadium. You humorously mentioned that you would enjoy being spoiled with gifts, praise, and affection, but that you’d settle for someone to cuddle at the end of every day.  

Your crew mocked you for being too wholesome, but your confession set Abby’s body on fire. As she watched the candlelight flicker in your eyes, a pang of possessiveness washed over her.

Her heart sank at the idea of another woman becoming your future.

When you slipped outside to do a perimeter check, she followed you into the rain.

“Don’t fall in love with someone else,” Abby blurted.

“Shit, Abby. You scared me!”

“Promise me,” she begged, reaching for your hands.

Rain poured down relentlessly and drenched you both as drops of icy water seeped through her eyelashes to gather in the groove of her lips.

“Everything you said—I want it too,” she continued. “Please don’t count me out, okay? Love me first.”

As you closed the distance between you, your fingers instinctively reached for the collar of her jacket, toying with the zipper-pull beneath her quivering chin.

“Are you calling dibs on me, Abigail?” you teased.

Shielding you from the storm, she gently placed the hood of your jacket over your head before her hands moved to cradle your jaw. The deafening sound of thunder filled the air, making the ground beneath your feet shake.

Above the noise, Abby’s voice echoed.

“Can I?”

As you nodded for her to take you, the sky opened up.

Abby lifted you into her loving arms, kissing you dizzy as her sweet whimpers made the whole world fade away.

#abby the last of us #abby tlou #abby x fem!reader #abby x reader #abby x you #tlou abby #lesbian

[megalony]

He's Not One Of Us

This is a new Eddie Diaz imagine, requested by anon, I hope you will all like it. I'm loving all the Eddie requests coming through recently and am trying to work my way through them all.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@sj-thefanthefan@hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii  @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts @hiireadstuff @ashie-babie @classyunknownlover @jayyeahthatsme @sp1ritssz @dumb-fawkin-bitch @oliverstarksbae @gimatida @heart-35 @supernaturalstilinski @stefansalvatoresgf @kyky9103

Eddie Diaz Masterlist

Summary: (Y/n) has a bad feeling about the new recruit. And things go from bad to worse when she's paired with him on a call and ends up getting injured.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A grin overtook (Y/n)'s features and she looked up from the cards she was shuffling to see who was hovering over her and causing a shadow to cast across her eyes.

She watched the way Eddie leaned over until his right hand hovered over her shoulder and clamped down on the back of the sofa. And his left hand held the arm of the sofa, effectively caging her down where she sat so she had no form of escaping him. His knees pressed down into hers and when he tilted his head to the side, a smirk flooded his face and made (Y/n)'s stomach ignite with adrenaline.

"Hm, what're you after?" She continued shuffling the cards, waiting for Evan to come back and play another round. They had just finished lunch and they had a bit of free time to kill, waiting for their next call out.

"A kiss." He responded boldly, quirking his lips up to the side but when he leaned close, (Y/n) ducked her head down so he kissed her temple instead.

She could feel the way he huffed against her temple but kissed her there anyway and she tried not to make a sound. Her eyes focused on the deck of cards she shifted between her fingers but her chest tightened when Eddie's hand left the arm of the chair and moved to cup her chin. He held her chin between his thumb and finger and tilted her head up so they were level again.

"Don't tease me." His words were pleading, but his tone was demanding and (Y/n) couldn't help herself.

"Why not? What're you gonna do, Eddie, punish me?"

She leaned up and pecked his cheek before she pushed back in her seat and sat up straight, adding some distance between them. They were on shift. They were supposed to be curteous and professional and Eddie was making it extremely hard right now.

And (Y/n) knew her husband. He wasn't always touchy-feely when they were on shift together, he liked to try and remain professional and keep the boundaries because of regulations. But he was starting to bend the rules a little more recently instead of it being just (Y/n) who would sneak up on him and steal a kiss from his unknowing lips.

Her eyes widened and she drew in a sharp breath when Eddie moved. His knees moved away from hers until they were pinned into her thighs and he was practically sat down on her lap. But she almost crushed the cards in half when his hands moved to the top of her trousers. Before (Y/n) could say anything, Eddie managed to worm his fingers beneath her waistband and under her shirt that she had tucked into her trousers.

His cold fingers on her skin made her stomach pull in and she took a sharp breath when one of his fingers hooked into her underwear.

"Eddie!" She hissed as she tilted her head to look around. "If someone sees we'll get pulled in Bobby's office."

(Y/n) set the cards down on the seat next to her before she curled her fingers tightly around Eddie's wrist. She wasn't quite strong enough to pull his hand away when he tensed his arms and fought to keep his hands where they were. His lips quirked into a baiting smirk and a devilish look passed across his eyes that seemed to turn three shades darker within the space of a second.

"So gimme a kiss."

His fingertips wedged against her underwear and squeezed her hips until he could see she was barely able to breathe and her eyes kept nervously looking around. Her brother would never let them live this down if he caught them. Bobby would probably stop letting them be on shift together. Chimney would be embarrassed and wouldn't know how to act and she dreaded to think what Hen would do if she saw them in a compromising position like this.

She kept one hand tightly clenched around Eddie's wrist to stop him from getting any more ideas and moving his hand any further into her pants. But her left hand reached up to cup his jaw and her thumb traced his cheekbone as she pushed up to kiss him.

Her lips pressed fiercely into his until he was leaning back from the pressure and she pulled on his bottom lip to part them and swipe her tongue past his lips.

She kissed him until he stole all the air from her lungs and left her feeling lightheaded and on the verge of passing out. When Eddie groaned against her lips, (Y/n) finally pulled back and let her head flop back on the sofa so she was left staring up at his wide grin and hooded eyes.

"That's your lot, now release me." She murmured softly, pushing her knees up to make him take the hint and move.

He looked doubtful, as if he was about to grin and move his hands even further south and (Y/n) wouldn't put it past him. But Eddie obliged, shimmying his hands back out of her trousers and just to wind her up, he dragged her shirt up too. He pulled the bottom of her shirt out of her waistband and pulled a few of the buttons loose in the few spare seconds he had before (Y/n) was hitting his hands to scold him.

"Eddie…" She whined and pushed his hands back towards his own chest and when he finally climbed off her lap and slumped down next to her, she glared playfully at him.

Her hands moved to do up her buttons quickly when she heard Evan coming back over. She did not want her big brother to see her clothes askew and realise what Eddie had been up to. He didn't need that image and she didn't need the torment.

She grabbed the deck of cards Eddie had almost sat on and placed them on his thigh, letting her fingers drag dangerously close to his zipper to see if he would smirk or frown or pull away.

"Your turn to beat my brother at cards. I'm gonna go check the inventory." (Y/n) allowed Eddie one last kiss before she got up and weaved past her brother before Eddie could pin her back down and prevent her from moving.

She would let Eddie take her place in the game of cards, she had been on a winning streak anyway.

And it felt more dangerous to stay close to Eddie when he was in a teasing mood like that. She didn't quite know if he could keep his wandering hands to himself, and as much as she didn't want him to, she didn't want to get caught out either.

(Y/n) headed down the stairs but when she went towards the stock room, she stopped and glanced over towards one of the engines.

The new guy. He had some of the hatches open on the truck and a clipboard in his hands. He was doing an inventory check.

"Do you need me to grab anything out of inventory for you?" She stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked over towards him with a kind smile. Her eyes danced across the hatches to see what was in the truck and see if anything needed restocking.

There was something about the new guy that seemed a little… off. He wasn't like the other newbies they got here. He wasn't trying to intergrate himself into the team and become one of them right away. He wasn't sucking up to anyone or trying to cause trouble and he wasn't exactly getting stuck in.

Blake did whatever he was told, but he seemed to want to be told how to do everything. It was as if he needed clear instructions for every little call out they had. Eddie had to tell him yesterday to bandage a woman's hand when she had suffered a burn. He just stood looking at her hand like it was a miracle and he didn't know how to treat it.

"Um… I can't find any of these in here."

(Y/n) leaned down to see what he was pointing at on the clipboard but she rolled her lips together when she looked at the top of the page.

She moved her hands towards the clipboard, silently asking if she could take it and when he handed it over, she took the sheet of paper off. (Y/n) swapped it for the page behind it and slowly pointed at the writing on the top of the page.

"That was the ambulance inventory, you need to be checking this one, for the engine."

He had been on the inventory that they stocked in the ambulance. It was an honest mistake, he clearly hadn't looked at the top of the page. But he should have figured something wasn't right. No fire house tended to stock their fire engines with stethoscopes, bandages, gauze and saline bags.

When he looked over the page but didn't say anything, (Y/n) took a peek inside and turned around.

By the time she went into the inventory room, grabbed two new CO2 extinguishers and came back to the truck, Blake had moved all of two steps. He seemed to have ticked a few things on the list and he was at least looking through what was in the truck now which was a start.

"Can you get the old CO2 tank out and check it please? I'm pretty sure it was almost empty when we used it this morning."

(Y/n) busied herself slotting the two new tanks into place and clipping them in so they wouldn't roll around in the hatch. But when she looked over at Blake, her brows furrowed and she sank her teeth down into her lower lip. What was he doing?

"These sure are different to the ones I'm used to… does it usually stick this much?"

Where had he come from to deal with different fire extinguishers? Most of them were exactly the same, only the size of the cannisters changed. They all operated the same way so everyone could use them.

But when (Y/n) leaned over to see what he was trying to do, her stomach flooded with adrenaline and she reached around him.

"No… you have to take the pin out, see?" She removed the safety pin and when he pressed the metal release clasps together, the last drop of CO2 burst out the nozzle.

Was he trying to wind her up? Was this a joke that (Y/n) didn't find funny?

He should have been shown how to use the cannister in his basic training back at the academy. No one got past the first stage if they couldn't operate a hose or a cannister for a basic fire emergency test. Blake must be winding (Y/n) up and she just didn't see the funny side. But he looked so serious, even as he walked away to dispose of the cannister.

Something was strange about him.

***

"Okay, Eddie, Buck you two go to the first floor and try to put out as much of that fire as you can. Hen tend to the workers, Chim you and me will take the ground floor. And (Y/n), take Blake with you up to the second floor. That fire is everywhere and it needs to be out. Go."

A shiver tore down (Y/n)'s spine when Bobby's voice rung out through the air, over the smoke consuming the midnight sky.

Why did she have to take Blake? Why couldn't Bobby keep the new guy with him and show him the ropes and keep an eye on him?

(Y/n) had a bad feeling about Blake. There was just something that wasn't right about him and she didn't know why, but he made her nervous. She didn't want to be the one to get paired up with him. He was going to slow her down and that was the last thing they needed when this warehouse was consumed in fire and needed putting out before the whole structure collapsed.

But she couldn't go against orders and she had no specific reason not to trust Blake. She couldn't signal him out and risk creating waves in the team and getting reprimanded for not being a team player.

With her gloves, overcoat and helmet secured, (Y/n) turned to Eddie who was stood on her right. She knew he could see the apprehension in her eyes, but she tried to smile. The last thing she wanted to do was worry him right now.

"All good?"

"All good. See you soon." She nodded and her smile felt more relaxed when Eddie curved an arm around her waist and leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek. He muttered a few choice words in her ear, gave her a squeeze, then pulled away to find his own helmet and overcoat.

The hose wouldn't stretch through the lobby, up both stairwells and across the second floor. So (Y/n) found an extinguisher and when Blake followed her lead, she headed inside after her husband and brother. The boys parted onto the first floor and Evan grinned back at his sister before she and Blake hurried up to the next level.

Most of the workers had gone home before the fire and the few who were left had managed to get out. The 236 station had started an evacuation and almost everyone was accounted for now. Their job was to put the fires out, that was their main focus and if they saw anyone along the way, they had to get them out.

Heading out into the corridor, (Y/n) opened one of the doors on her right and shone her torch around.

"Try and turn the sprinkler system on, will you?"

"Sure."

When Blake nodded, (Y/n) walked further into the room and started putting out the small fires. The main flames were out in the corridor which would be a big issue to cover.

(Y/n) finished putting out the fires and headed across into the next room while Blake started following the sprinkler system built into the ceiling to try and see if there was another lever somewhere he could wrench into working. It took him out into the corridor while (Y/n) focused on making sure each room was evacuated and clear.

"Alright guys, how we looking up there? Building manager says all personel have been accounted for except for a secretary in the East end of the second floor. (Y/n), Blake, can you find your way there?" Bobby's voice came through the speaker and made (Y/n) feel a little better. One last person to get out, then the fire was the primary focus. This wasn't going to be such a rushed job.

Just as she headed back out into the corridor, her eyes widened and her heart jumped up into her chest when a soaring wave of vibrant orange and blood red crimson surged her way.

(Y/n) backed up as a consuming wave of heat overwhelmed her body and flames sparked down the corridor. If fire could have moved and imitated a wave, (Y/n) swore she had seen a tsunami of fire engulf the corridor. The shock and extreme power sent her down to the floor with a thud and she cringed when the floorboards creaked. This floor was unsteady as it was without her being thrown about the room.

Pushing up to her knees, (Y/n) took a few steady breaths and looked down at herself, making sure she was truly alright before she got up and tried to head out into the corridor. Her eyes locked on Blake who was on the other side of the corridor in the doorway to an office. They both looked up at the ceiling and (Y/n) felt like she could cry when she realised there had to be a gas leak.

One of the pipes above them was sizzling and the flames were soaring up towards the roof. The warehouse was going to go up in flames if the gas wasn't turned off.

"What was that? (Y/n) you okay?" Eddie's voice carried through the radio and made (Y/n) smile.

"I- we're good… Cap we have a gas leak up here, someone needs to turn the gas off now. This corridor is blocked, we can't get through to the East side."

"Fully blocked?"

"Yep… we could go up to the roof though, a rope rescue is our best bet." (Y/n) had done a few rope rescues in her time. It would be much easier to go to the roof and lower down the side of the building and into one of the offices on the East side. They could get the woman out safely that way.

They couldn't push their way through the flames, they didn't have enough extinguishers to make it all that way and then bring the woman safely back again.

"Do it."

"Be careful!" Both Eddie and Evan spoke at the same time and (Y/n) grinned at the sound of her boy's voices. Her husband and brother, always the worriers. Her protectors.

(Y/n) wasn't sure which room Blake found the rope in, but she was glad he tossed it over his shoulder and grinned. He led the way back towards the stairwell and they started their ascent up towards the roof. It saved them needing to go down to the truck and then climb all the way back up the stairs again.

It didn't feel stable on the roof, but if they were careful and quick the floor felt sturdy enough to hold them for a few minutes, at least. They kept their steps light and their weight evenly spread out as they trailed across to the East side of the building.

The pair of them leaned over the edge and looked down. There was at least three windows that they could smash into on the second floor to find a way to get the secretary out.

"I can go down." (Y/n) watched Blake look around, somewhat nervously, but he smiled and nodded. She thought it might he easier if she went down on the rope. Something told her Blake wasn't the best person to go looking for their victim inside.

Reaching down, she grabbed one end of the rope and threaded it around her waist and looped it as tight as she could so it didn't move an inch below her hips.

"Can you secure it to the chimney for me?" Blake grabbed the other end before she finished speaking and she turned to look back down while he tied it off.

This was exactly like her training at the academy. At least this time, no one would be stood at the bottom waiting for her to fall or make a mistake and timing how long it took her to complete her absail down. And if she had Blake up top to watch, at least he could keep the rope secure and he could then be the eyes and ears when it came to getting their victim out.

"Okay, I- I guess I'll keep watch from up here."

"Okay." (Y/n) tried to smile, but the way Blake was nervously rubbing his gloved hands together made her uneasy.

She held tight to the rope with one hand and used her other hand to lean on the ledge and ease herself over. Her boots pressed up against the brick wall and with a deep breath, (Y/n) slowly threaded the rope through her hand and started her descent down. She only had to go six or seven feet down to reach the window and then she could use her feet and momentum to break the window and get inside. The only problem would be finding where the secretary was.

A jolt surged through (Y/n)'s stomach that felt like it had pushed up into her chest when she juttered down a bit too quickly. Her fist clenched around the rope and she tilted her head back as harsh breaths escaped her lips.

"Blake?" She looked up at him but he just gave her a thumbs up. She was fine.

Her eyes trailed back down to the wall and she tried to keep moving down, but when the rope jolted and she lowered down a bit too quickly, she looked up again. Blake had gone. He wasn't leaning over watching her descent anymore.

When the rope gave way for a third time, (Y/n) held her breath but her lips parted and a scream tumbled past her lips when she felt gravity hold onto her. It was as if invisible hands had suddenly grabbed her waist and started to pull.

(Y/n) had never fallen off of anything before. She had never fallen during an absail, not during her training or in a real life emergency like this.

She could see the rope falling down and grating against the ledge of the roof and the wind whipped against the back of her neck and scraped along her arms as her body tilted backwards and she surged down through the air. All the air left her lungs in a horrid, banshee scream and her eyes snapped closed as her arms pulled up and pinned against her chest.

(Y/n) knew she needed to turn. She should fall on her side to save the risk of damaging her spine or paralysing herself, bit she didn't have the time. Within seconds, all her air was gone and her body no longer felt like it was falling through space and time.

She landed on the tarmac with a horrid thud that shook the pavement and sent her body reeling.

Stars danced behind her eyelids. Horrid shockwaves rattled through the back of her head that was pulsing and igniting in pain and her lungs stopped working. They shuddered in her chest as her lips parted but she couldn't breathe. Her chest had been shocked and her system wasn't working properly.

It took a few agonising seconds for (Y/n) to get her lungs back into working order and she finally sucked in a ragged, gasping breath that made her back pulse and spark and her body jolted and thrashed on the floor.

Her arms that were both pinned to her chest started to shake and she barely felt her right hand move to clench around the radio pinned to her shoulder.

All she could do was scream. No words formulated on her tongue and her eyes wouldn't open. She couldn't move, speak or even breathe properly. All the air (Y/n) sucked in went straight back out into a horrible howl that shook the foundations of the warehouse in front of her.

"(Y/n)?!"

"(Y/n)? Baby what's the matter? What's happened? Baby talk to me!" Terror ransacked Eddie's body and he dropped the CO2 tank in his hand to grab his radio.

Why was she screaming? Why was his wife screaming through the radio frequency? What had she done? She was supposed to be on the rope going down into the second floor. How had she suddenly hurt herself and ended up screaming in agony in Eddie's ears?

"Baby talk to me!" Eddie's eyes darted over to look at Evan before he stared down at his feet and willed his wife to talk. They couldn't help if they didn't know what was going on, where she was or what she had been doing.

When the word "Fell." burst past (Y/n)'s lips in a horrid, bubbling cry, Eddie looked over at Evan. How had she fallen? She should have been tied to a rope, that was the whole point.

Both men took off into a sprint when another cry tore through the radio and made them flinch. The first floor was clear of all fires now, they had gone round putting them out and there was no gas leak on this floor either which was good. They had the chance to bolt down the stairs and through the main floor of the warehouse until they burst through the front doors and looked around.

"Eddie…"

"I'm coming baby, I'm here, I'm here!"

Eddie tore off his helmet, gloves and jacket when his eyes landed on his wife. He sprinted across the pavement while he felt like his heart was trying to break free from his chest to get to her.

He didn't give Evan the chance to kneel down before he grabbed his jacket and gave him a shove in the other direction.

"Get me a medic bag and a back board. Now!" When Evan took off in a sprint, Eddie crashed down to his knees beside (Y/n) who was still screaming with any breaths she could suck in. "Baby… baby it's me. Shh, shh let me look at you, it's alright baby girl."

His hands cupped her face and his thumbs swiped across her cheeks, brushing away some of the tears that were streaking through the soot and dirt clinging to her face. He hated to see her lips curved down and hear the way she cried and clawed for breath.

It was hard to stop his finger from trembling as they tore at her jacket and pushed it off to the sides so he could assess her.

He tried to feel around her neck, down her shoulders and he moved her arms so they were resting at her sides rather than across her chest. When his fingers curled around her left shoulder, (Y/n) saw streaks of white flash across her eyes and she writhed against the floor, choking on a scream.

"Shh… it's broken baby." Eddie moved her left arm so it was back across her chest and tried to keep the joint stiff and in place. Her shoulder had definitely broken and the bone could have shattered for all he knew.

"Here." Evan placed the bag down next to Eddie and left the back board nearby while he knelt down on (Y/n)'s other side.

He reached down to take her right hand in his and started gliding his fingers up and down her arm to try and keep her settled.

"Wiggle your toes for me, good girl." Eddie felt down her legs and slipped his fingers beneath the cuff of her boots to feel her ankles. They didn't feel broken, but he couldn't be sure. He was relieved when (Y/n) bent both her feet back and forth. That proved she didn't have any nerve damage or paralysis and she didn't scream in agony which made him hopeful she didn't have any lasting or serious damage in her legs.

He took the stethoscope out the bag and listened to her heart and then her lungs which all sounded good.

He undid the rope around her waist, throwing it out the way before his fingers pressed beneath her armpits and worked down her sides to check her ribs and her pelvis.

"A few broken ribs, but pelvis is in tact…" Eddie moved his hands to the back of (Y/n)'s head and moved his fingers through her hair. "Small cut to the back of the head."

"Cap, (Y/n)'s had an accident, she's got a lot of trauma we have to take her to the hospital now." Evan kept hold of her hand while he spoke into the radio. Everyone knew she had had a fall, they all heard her screams through the radio. But they had to transfer her to the hospital now and get her seen to.

He looked down at (Y/n) when she let go of his hand and her trembling fingers reached out for Eddie instead. She pinched his hand so tightly he hissed at her sharp nails digging into his skin.

"What is it, baby?"

He didn't know what she was trying to do or tell him until she pressed his hand to her abdomen while her chest shuddered back and forth and spit rolled past her lips. "B-burns… bad."

Eddie's brows furrowed and he carefully untucked her shirt from her trousers and wrenched it up towards her bra. She couldn't have gotten burns on her chest, she was wearing her protective gear and she didn't say anything on the radio about being caught in one of the fires. But when he pressed his fingertips just above her belly button and then around to the sides, she moaned through a sob and began to cough.

"Either internal bleeding or something's ruptured… okay baby, shh it's alright. I'm gonna give you some morphine, then we'll get you to the hospital."

He found a pre-packaged needle in the medic bag and injected the morphine into (Y/n)'s thigh. It wouldn't do much but it would hopefully take the edge off and calm her down until they could get her sedated at the hospital.

"Up on three… one, two, three."

The pair of them tried to be as careful as possible when they eased (Y/n) onto the backboard but they couldn't move her painlessly. Her scream vibrated through the pair of them but they tried to shake it off and move towards the ambulance just as the rest of the team came out the building.

The other station would have to deal with putting out the last of the fires and finish getting that last victim out the building. They had one of their own critically injured and out of action. (Y/n) had to come first.

"I've got you, you're gonna be fine sweet girl, don't worry." Eddie reached down for her hand the moment they had her in the back of the ambulance. He pulled her hand into his chest and kissed her knuckles as Evan climbed in the back with them and shut the doors.

They had to go.

***

Evan pushed off the wall when the waiting room doors opened and Maddie burst through. His big sister ran into the small, secluded room just down the hall from the operating theatre she had been directed to when she got here.

It had been a fright to finish her shift and have Evan call her. Their little sister had been involved in some kind of accident, and now the whole team were waiting at the hospital for any news while she was taken for surgery.

"What happened?" Her arms enveloped around Evan and she leaned her chin up on his shoulder when he bent down to hug her properly. He may be the middle child, but he was by far the tallest out of them all.

She darted her eyes around the team. Hen and Chimney were sat with cups of coffee in their hands, half asleep, half engaged in conversation. Eddie was sat on the other side of the room, hands clasped together with his knees spread wide and his head hung down between his knees. And the new guy who Maddie had yet to meet, was sat near the window with his feet tapping out a tune against the tiles.

"A rope rescue went wrong… s-she fell, we don't know how." Evan kept his arm curled around Maddie before he glanced over at Eddie.

His brother in law had barely spoken since (Y/n) left for X-rays and an MRI and when the doctor told them she was in surgery, it seemed to wash right over Eddie's head.

"Broken shoulder. Six broken ribs, concussion and her intestine ruptured… so she's in surgery to repair it." Eddie's lips stayed pressed against his fingers and his words came out partially muffled, but he knew Maddie had heard him alright.

They were lucky (Y/n) didn't break her neck or her spine with the way she fell and how she landed. But a ruptured intestine was worse than Eddie had been expecting and he wasn't happy. Why had his wife fallen? How had it gone so wrong? It wasn't as if she hadn't done this before, they all had their training and knew what to do. Why did she have to get hurt tonight?

"I'm gonna call Carla, check on Chris."

Eddie pushed up and walked out the waiting room. He didn't want to sit with the team in silence like this. He didn't like it. It was slowly killing him. He needed to see how Chris was doing and make sure he was alright and he had to update Carla on what was happening. It had been bad enough that he had to call her and beg for her to keep Chris with her for the night so Eddie could stay and wait for any updates on (Y/n).

He fished his phone out his pocket and wandered down the hall, turning the corner and jogging down the stairs. But he barely got outside into the fresh air before his eyes locked on Bobby sat down on a bench a few feet away.

The Captain had come outside to make a few calls. He had to know the B shift at the station were coping alright and he had to inform the chief that an accident had happened and injured one of the team. It was even worse that they didn't know how or why this had happened.

Eddie's finger hovered over Carla's contact in his phone, but he stopped when he heard Bobby begin to speak.

"You're sure? Well how the Hell did that happen?"

That didn't sound good. Bobby had his stern voice and a hand on his hip; sure signs that his conversation wasn't about anything good.

"Explain to me how he got the transfer papers and the credentials to get himself on my team if he's had no training and not even passed through the academy?!"

What was he talking about?

Adrenaline pooled in Eddie's stomach and surged up through to his chest when he thought about the only person on the team who had recently been transferred, and who seemed rather clueless.

Blake.

Had he not had any training? How had he not gone through any training? How did he get into the fire station and get the papers to transfer to them if he didn't have any training and didn't pass the academy? That wasn't possible. Everyone was vetted before they got an interview for any station and Bobby wasn't a fool.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Eddie turned around and headed back inside.

It felt as if he had tunnel vision, narrowing more and more until all he could see were the stairs ahead of him that would lead back up to the waiting room where the team were. He had to find out what was going on. He had to know if (Y/n)'s fall had anything to do with Blake and if the new recruit was even a recruit at all. Eddie had to know if he really had no training and if he was with them under false pretenses.

Because if he was and this was all true, then he had just risked (Y/n)'s life.

By the time he got into the waiting room, his breathing had turned shallow and his hands were balled into fists at his sides. The only thing he could see was Blake. That scrawny, strange new recruit who was sat with his back up straight and his hands on his knees while his feet tapped against the floor. From a distance, he really looked like he belonged with them, as if he was truly a colleague worried about a friend's welfare.

"That was quick-"

Panic surged through the room when Eddie pushed past Hen and made a beeline for Blake.

As soon as his hands scrunched up in Blake's shirt, Eddie ripped him up from his seat and launched him to the other side of the room. He pushed Blake back until his back and shoulders were pinned up against the wall and his feet were barely touching the floor. Eddie's right arm pressed across his collar bone, digging into the base of his neck making it harder for him to catch a proper breath. Just like (Y/n) had struggled when she fell.

"What did you do to that rope?"

"Eddie what the Hell are you doing?! Get off him." Evan tried to grab Eddie by the shoulders, but he swung his left arm out to push Evan back and bashed his shoulder back to get him off.

"Wow, Eddie calm down-"

"What did you do to it?!"

"I- I don't know." Those three little words infuriated Eddie and he smashed Blake's head back against the wall to try and make him remember what he'd done. He must know something. He must know what he had done wrong up there because (Y/n) was a trained professional. She wouldn't fall for no reason, something had happened to her on that roof.

"Eddie enough!"

Blake slumped down against the wall when Eddie was wrenched off of him and both Hen and Evan tried to hold him at bay. He couldn't just attack one of the team like that. He had to tell them what was going on.

"He's not one of us." He spat the words as if they were vile poison on his tongue and he could feel the sweat rolling down the back of his neck. Eddie could see the panic in Blake's eyes and it made him laugh. A cynical, crooked laugh tore past his lips and he leaned his head back to look up at the ceiling.

"What does that mean?"

"You think Cap hasn't found out by now? He knows you don't have any training. You didn't pass the academy, and yet you're here. So I'll ask again. What did you do to that rope?" Eddie flashed his teeth in a sharp, sideways smirk that had Blake quaking at the knees and his round eyes looked around everyone as if asking for help.

They all wanted an explanation. Everyone wanted to know what was going on and how one of them could go two weeks on the job without any training or qualifications and not get caught out.

"I- I tied it up! S-she asked me to tie it, a-and I thought I did, but I didn't know how it was supposed to go… and she… when she pulled on it, it just came loose. I swear it was an accident!"

He meant no harm.

When (Y/n) asked him to tie the rope, Blake tried his best. But he didn't know how to do a rope rescue, he didn't know how to tie it or which knot to use or how much rope to thread around the chimney to secure it. And when (Y/n) started to thread it through her hands and lower herself down, it came loose.

He tried to grab it but the rope slipped through his gloved hands before he could hold onto it and when he looked down, (Y/n) was already on the floor, screaming through the radio.

It was an accident. Blake never meant to hurt her. He wormed his way into the station because he was desperate to help people, it was all he wanted to do. He didn't care if he didn't know the ways to help, the team had been showing him and he thought that was enough.

He doubled forward with a gasp when Eddie's knee rammed into his stomach. And he cried out when Eddie grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him into the closest chair, watching him crumble to the floor like a piece of paper.

A roaring scream left Eddie's lips when Evan and Chimney threw themselves on top of him and pinned him to the floor.

He bashed his elbows into their sides, scraped his boots against the polished floor and pushed up onto his knees until both men were pinning his arms behind his back like he was under arrest.

"You could have killed my wife! She could have broken her neck because of you. She's in surgery and you think I give a shit whether you tried or not?" Blake could give Eddie all the apologies and sorrows in the world. It would never be enough. Eddie didn't care for apologies when Blake knew what he was doing.

He knew being here without training could put someone in harm's way or potentially kill someone and he did it anyway. And now it was Eddie's wife that was in danger.

"I didn't know-"

"If anything else happens to (Y/n), I will murder you." His words weren't a threat, they were a promise.

If (Y/n) suffered any further complications because of her injuries or God forbid, she died, Eddie wouldn't hesitate. He would find any weapon he could lay his hands on and make Blake pay for this. He wasn't going to let him get away with what he had done tonight.

Every part of Eddie began shaking as he reached for the closest chair and launched it across the room. He held his hands up when Hen and Maddie both stepped in front of him and his eyes just dared one of them to do or say something to let him explode.

"You want some advice?" Evan turned to look at Blake who was slumped on the floor, arms bound around his chest and tears flushing his face. When Blake nodded, Evan crouched down to be level with him and stared into his broken eyes. "Run."

Blake needed no more words than that to scramble onto shaking legs and stumble out of the room.

The 118 was a family. Eddie was (Y/n)’s husband. Evan and Maddie were her older, protective siblings. Hen was like another sister to her and Bobby was a surrogate father to her. None of them would stand for someone walking in and hurting her like this and they weren't going to be kind to Blake after the stunts he had pulled.

He needed to leave before someone hurt him.

As soon as he was out of the room, Eddie tangled both his hands together behind his head and tried to take big, deep breaths. He paced up and down the length of the room while everyone else tried to put the chairs back in order and sit down again.

But he turned to face the door when it opened. He was ready to lash out but he stopped himself when he saw the doctor. Her eyes flitted about the room, clearly knowing something had happened but she didn't dare approach the subject.

"(Y/n) Diaz?"

"Is she alright?"

"Surgery went well, her shoulder is back in place and we've repaired the rupture to her intestine, there should be no lasting damage. You can see her now."

Eddie stormed out the room before the doctor had chance to tell him which room (Y/n) was in. He headed down the hall and slowed down just enough for her to catch him up and direct him to the right room on the left.

He could feel his heart breaking all over again when his eyes locked on his wife. He couldn't quite get the image of her crumpled up on the floor out of his mind. But Eddie wasn't so sure that this image was any better. (Y/n) laid up in a hospital bed, her left arm pinned to her chest in a sling with tape and bandages rolled around her shoulder. An oxygen tube stuck beneath her nose, monitoring wires and stickers beneath her gown. IV canula taped into the back of her right hand.

And he dreaded to think what her abdomen would look like beneath the gown or how the cut looked on the back of her head or how much blood she had lost tonight.

He barely heard the doctor close the door before he moved to sit down on the edge of the bed and lean over. His hands delicately cupped either side of (Y/n)'s face and he pressed a careful kiss to her chapped lips.

"There's my girl. Hey, mi amor." He let his temple rest lightly on hers and he managed to smile when he felt (Y/n)'s hand curl around his wrist.

"I'm sorry."

"Hm, sorry for what baby? You got hurt, you don't have anything to be sorry for." Eddie brushed his thumb across her cheek and pressed another tender kiss to her lips when he felt her hand tighten around his wrist. She had suffered a bad accident, but that was no reason for (Y/n) to be apologising. She hadn't done anything wrong.

"I- I fell… did I… did I do something wrong, with the rope?" Panic burned in (Y/n)'s voice and she could feel her eyes welling up with tears. She'd never had a big accident at work before.

"No, no baby girl you didn't do anything wrong, I swear. I'll explain later, but nothing is your fault. You hear me?"

Eddie wouldn't have (Y/n) believing she had done something wrong when it was someone else who had put her life in danger. Blake had hurt her, badly. He had caused her damage that could well have been irreversable or even fatal. Eddie was lucky to have his wife safe and alive in his arms and he wouldn't have her getting frightened or upset because she thought she hadn't done her job correctly.

The only person at fault was the new recruit, and he wasn't getting away with this.

#eddie diaz x reader #imagine #911 imagine #eddie diaz imagine #eddie x reader #eddie diaz

[xxwritemeastoryxx]

Intertwined

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Elijah Mikaelson x Fem!Reader - Soulmate Au!

Word Count: 6.1K

Warnings: Angst, arguments, Elijah being overly protective but denying himself happiness as always, canon typical violence, a bit of fluff at the end.

Author’s Note: Because I'm apparently on a sequel kick, here's another. I promise I'm getting to the requests that I have and all the things I still need to work on from last year. I'm going where the muse takes me in my writing flow. So there's that. Also please note that you need to read Hidden Marks before reading this one.

I do not and will not ever give permission for my fics to be copied and posted on other sites. Don’t do it. Don’t be that person that ruins it for me and everyone else.Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things. While likes are appreciated, reblogs are gold. Seriously, if you enjoyed this in the slightest, please reblog ♥

Hidden Marks || TVDU Masterlist || Main Masterlist || Taglist

It had been months since Elijah had seen the three intertwined circles on the middle of Y/N’s back that made up her soul mark. The first and only time he'd seen it, he'd been pulling a wooden bullet out from her back when she asked for his help. From the moment Elijah helped to remove the bullet, the mark haunted him. 

Seeing her mark should have been a great thing. It should have brought him some peace and happiness to see her mark. That her mark matched the very one he had just below his left clavicle. A perfect pair that made sense for how close they had become as friends over the century. If anything, since seeing her mark he's been conflicted on his feelings. 

Part of him wants and tries to be protective of her. His soulmate that had come into his life when he least expected it. The woman that had become his best friend over the century had been the one thing he never actively searched for. He now knew why she stepped into his life and never left. But it was the other part of him that caused him to fight daily with his feelings. 

Y/N would be in danger because of him. She would soon become a target if even the slightest word had slipped about who his soulmate was. An endless cycle he'd force her into if an enemy ever came knocking. Threats and being captured for the sole purpose of being leveraged against him. 

Not to mention if his brother had ever lost his temper with him. Klaus wasn't one to spare the women in Elijah's life before. What difference would it make this time? All it would take was one action that made Klaus feel the slightest ounce of betrayal and he'd take it out on her. 

Elijah was willing to take on the devil himself if Y/N was in danger. He was reminded of it any time she recklessly put herself in harm's way. An argument he had with her plenty of times during their friendship, but held a deeper meaning as of recently. 

He was also reminded daily how easily she could bend him to her will with a simple smile as she walked into the room. Or the occasional knowing look she'd give him when he or his siblings said something she didn't agree with that would almost instantly change his mind about the situation. Especially if she added in her details that would make it reckless on her part. 

But no matter how many times that feeling of comfort and love started to grow for the woman he believed he could only care for platonically, he could never voice it. He could never bring himself to mention the details that he knew. And because he chose to keep it to himself, it began the yoyo effect of wanting to keep her at a distance and keep her close for his own sanity. 

It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Y/N either. From the moment she offered him a night out to deal with the humans who had put the bullets into her back, she noticed something different. She noticed the way his demeanor changed around her. He grew worrisome over the smallest of things he never had before. And even fought with her longer over details of plans to help take down the threat the Mikaelsons had been faced with. 

She found herself frustrated on the days that he brushed her off and all but ignored her. He had never once been cold to her in the time that she had known him. They had pushed each other’s buttons on occasion, but Elijah had never once pushed her away like he had been doing now. Every time he did, it hurt more than Y/N had ever expected it to. 

They were close friends, she knew that. She knew there would always be moments that Elijah would pick his family over her. That there would be moments where he would keep his family safe and do anything he could to also keep her safe. She knew she was not the highest priority. But why did it feel like someone had staked her when he walked away from her when she felt she really needed him for a few moments?

That's when the thoughts of doubt had been planted in her head. Doubts that were formed and fueled to drive her insane for most of the night that made it almost impossible to sleep. What had she done to earn such coldness from someone that she was close with? Had she crossed a boundary that she had suddenly been unaware of? 

The final straw that broke her had been moments ago when she offered to go with him to deal with the beginning of a threat. It was always something they had done together. A way to have Elijah’s calm and calculated approach and her glimmer of chaos that would always work out in their favor. But when he told her to stay behind, she could no longer keep anything at bay anymore. 

The moment Elijah had told her to stay behind, her face fell at his words. And as he walked past her to leave his expression hadn’t changed. And as she turned to face him, she let it all out. 

“What have I done?” She asked, causing him to stop in his tracks. “Have I wronged you in some way that makes you no longer want to be around me?”

Elijah heard the way her voice cracked towards the end. He had hoped that his actions wouldn’t hurt her. But here she was asking what she had done to him when in reality it had been him to do it. He turned to face her and shook his head slightly. 

“No.” His voice was composed in comparison to hers. “You have done nothing at all.”

She shook her head as she crossed her arms. “I’ve known you for over a century, Elijah. I know well enough to know you are lying to me. If I’ve done nothing wrong there wouldn’t be this shift between us where it feels like you suddenly want nothing to do with me.”

“I assure you that if I had wanted nothing to do with you, you would not still be standing here.” It was as close to the truth he could go to without coming out right with it. “We are facing a potential threat that I feel as though I need to do this with my siblings. We have no idea what they are fully capable of and the last time I checked, you are not as indestructible as you believe.”

Elijah had no idea how this threat would continue to play in their lives. He had no idea what knowledge they planned to use against them in an attempt to try and take him and his family out. That was why Elijah wanted to do this without her. He wanted to make sure that she would remain safe. 

He didn’t want to take Y/N with him with the possibility of allowing them to get an inkling that Y/N had now meant more to him than he let on. He didn’t want her in danger from something he didn’t fully understand. This was the part of him that was willing to do anything to protect her. He just had to slightly push her away in order to do so. 

“That never stopped you before.” She noted as she took a step towards him. “I may not be an original, but I am still a whole lot older than a majority of the threats that walk into the city. I have proven myself over and over that I can handle my own. I’m even better by your side. But ever since you’ve seen my mark, it’s like you don’t want to be near me. All I want is the truth from you. Did I do something or did my mark tell you something that you haven’t told me?”

Elijah looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up to her. He could see the hurt in her eyes as she expressed everything. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell her even though every part of him wanted to. To bring some peace to her mind on his reasoning instead of making her feel as though she wasn’t wanted. 

“I’m going to try to make this as clear as I can." His voice was still even, almost void of any emotion. "This threat is not to be taken lightly. While we do not have the full specifics on who they are or why they are here, I do know they have come close to harming the people I care about." His eyes met hers. "While our normal plan pairs perfectly with the riff raff we deal with, at this moment it does not. So no, you will not accompany me tonight. I need you here." 

After taking in his words, all she could manage was a nod before he was gone from her sight. He didn’t even give her a chance to respond or fight him on what he was telling her. And it left Y/N feeling defeated. 

Her mind still tried to make sense of the changes that had come over the last few months. Every push and pull that happened between the two being analyzed as if it had been some rather important document or experiment being worked on. She was trying to find something, anything, to show what caused Elijah’s sudden change. No matter how many ways she thought about it, it only came back to one starting point: the night Elijah saw her mark. 

Had seeing it really thrown him off to not want to be near her like he had used to? Not showing them their marks had been a preference they decided on early in their friendships. If there was ever a day they felt comfortable in showing what it was, they would have. And that night, with a bullet in her back, it hadn’t mattered if Elijah had seen it or not. 

She ran a hand along her face, trying to shake off the thoughts that had kept her pacing her room for hours after he had left. She no longer cared about the mark or who she may have possibly shared it with. Why did that change now that Elijah had seen it?

It made her wonder if he had seen the mark on someone else. If there was a possibility that he felt guilty in some way after seeing it. There had been plenty of enemies in his existence. At some point he could have easily come across it and not realized it until he saw it on her back.

Did it belong to someone who had betrayed him? Had he seen it on someone that he had taken their life out of necessity? Or had this person been a victim of the many spells he had endured? 

Deep down she knew it was the fear of losing Elijah. Something she had thought about over the century and a half she had known him. Friendships can only last so long before one reason or another comes along. She knew plenty of people who had left her on the back burner after finding their soulmate, even during her human years. 

She had grown used to having Elijah in her life. It would take her longer to find a memory that didn’t involve Elijah versus the ones with. Over the years she had become dependent on the fact that Elijah had always been there for her just as she was for him. He was a constant and part of her hated the thought of her ever losing that. 

At the thought, Y/N had felt her heart sink. A simple thought putting everything into perspective to her. The idea may have been formed from past experiences, but it all made sense. Elijah must have found his soulmate. And if that was the case, she was sure this was the beginning of being put further back on the burner.  

“Y/N?!” Rebekah’s panicked voice had broken her from her thoughts, causing her to move quickly to find Rebekah. 

Upon reaching the courtyard, a gasp left her lips as she found Rebekah dragging a half standing Elijah towards the couch. The majority of his clothing had been covered in blood. Parts of the fabric had been torn in several places. It was as if Elijah had picked a battle he couldn’t win. 

“What the hell happened?” Y/N asked as she moved to help get Elijah settled on the couch. Her eyes had still been taking him in, accessing his injuries. 

“Witches.” Elijah breathed out as he tried to get a hold of reality. He had lost enough blood and his mind had been a distorted mess from the magic he had been subjected to. 

“Everything had been going according to plan but whatever spell they used on him, it threw him off course.” Rebekah took the moment to leave the room to get items they needed to help Elijah for the time being until Freya could get back there. The moment she was back she continued. “The others are still there dealing with them.” 

Seeing the items Rebekah had brought, Y/N reached for the towel that had been sitting in a bowl of water and began cleaning off the blood from Elijah’s face and neck. “I can understand the disorientation, but what the hell ripped into him?” 

There was panic rising within Y/N. She hated that he had made her stay behind. She could have been there to help him in some way. Been there to help prevent him from being hurt as he was now. 

"Between the spell and some of the wolves within the vicinity, he couldn't watch his back." Rebekah said as she picked up another towel and folded it before placing it on Elijah's forehead. Afterwards she began picking up little containers of what Y/N could only assume were herbs and salves that Freya had instructed her to use for the time being. 

As Y/N ran the towel over his neck, Elijah lifted his hand to her hand, stilling her movements. It caused her to look up at him. His eyes had been looking over her face, before they settled on her eyes.

"You're safe." His voice was barely above a whisper. 

She nodded her head. "I am safe. You made sure I was." She wasn't sure if that was what he needed to relax more as she attempted to help clean him. "Freya will be here soon." 

With that, Elijah seemed to relax his hold and it allowed for her to continue wiping up the blood. So far it looked as though any of the injuries he sustained were healing. It may have been at a whole lot of a slower pace, but his wounds were healing. But the moment her hand moved to remove the shredded fabric stuck to his skin along his left shoulder and chest, his hand grabbed a hold of her wrist, not wanting her to continue. 

"I need to make sure your wounds are healing Elijah." She said softly as she brought her eyes up to his once more. "Or to at least give me the peace of mind that this looks way worse than it is." 

"For once let someone take care of you." Rebekah added and pulled his hand away from Y/N. It had been too easy to remove his hand. His strength is almost non-existent given what he'd been through. 

Elijah hated that he couldn't get his mind to process the protest he wanted to give. He hated that he couldn't give a strong enough response to say he'd deal with it later. But the spell within his mind made it difficult to think clearly for more than a second or two at a time. 

Elijah’s eyes never left Y/N’s face as she began to move the fabric away from his chest. He didn't care about the wounds he was facing. He didn't even care that Y/N and Rebekah were caring for him. It was what laid just under the layers of fabric she was removing, that had him worried. 

Quickly dipping the towel into the bowl of water between her and Rebekah, Y/N brought it back up to his chest and began to rid him of the drying blood. There was a part of her that was relieved to not see some gaping wound that he was trying to prevent her from seeing. 

That relief soon turned into curiosity as the blood was being wiped away. The beginning of Elijah's mark became clear as day. With each wipe of the towel the mark continued to grow. And as last of the reminisce of blood was removed from the mark, she all but dropped the towel. 

Just below his left clavicle had been three intertwined circles. It ran horizontally across his skin in the exact same way it ran across the middle of her back. And for a moment she fought herself on reaching out just to run her fingers along the mark. A need to make sure it was really there. 

Elijah had watched her the whole time. Even through his hazed mind he could see the way relief had flooded her eyes before her brows began to furrow. The curiosity in her eyes had been evident and there was nothing Elijah could do to fully protest in his current state. All he could do was watch her as she learned what he had months ago. 

Her soulmate had been right there in front of her for over a century.  

Her eyes snapped to him and Elijah could see several emotions flash through her eyes. He could see the way there was a sliver of excitement before hurt filled them as she tried to stop the tears from welling up. 

"What is it?" Rebekah asked as she caught on that Y/N had stopped her movements. 

Y/N shook her head slightly before looking away from Elijah. "Nothing worth noting." She said as she went back to wiping the blood. 

She kept her eyes away from the mark and as best as she could from keeping them from looking up at Elijah. She could feel his eyes on her. But she refused to look his way. 

All of her wild thoughts that had been going through her head earlier had only been partially right. She honestly never thought this was the case. And if she was being honest with herself, this felt worse. 

He had found his soulmate like she thought.  But she hadn't expected it to be herself. Not with the way he had pulled himself away from her during the course of the last few months. Not with the way she felt that she was losing her best friend. 

Elijah knew that he was her soulmate and he didn't tell her. There wasn't an excitement at knowing that the person they spent decades with had been the one person they both chose not to actively look for. Their life had been great just as it was. Until Elijah saw her mark. 

She tried to stop the spiral of thoughts that began to form. It was already too late to try to spare her heart the pain it was currently feeling. No matter how hard she tried to focus on helping Rebekah take care of him, one single thought played in her mind on a constant loop. 

He knew they were soulmates and he tried pushing her away. 

The moment Freya came running into the courtyard with Klaus and Kol behind her, Y/N pulled herself slowly away from the side of the couch. It was a way to not only keep the now unwanted attention of her facial expressions away but to give the necessary space Freya would need. 

When she moved a little too far for Elijah’s liking, his hand grabbed a hold of hers. This time his grip was tighter in comparison to earlier. He was getting better, stronger. The venom from the wolf bites was leaving his system while the spell kept a tight hold over him.

Y/N's eyes met his one more time. She could tell he was pleading with her to stay there with his eyes. Almost to say that once Freya helped him he'd explain everything to her. That he needed her to stay there.

There was something in her eyes that changed a moment after his words had pierced the air. “Would you tell me if you saw the mark on someone else?” 

“Of course.” He said even though it had been a lie. He knew he wasn’t going to speak of the very mark that was on his chest. 

Her heart ached at the sudden memory that filled her mind. She wanted to break down. She wanted to run to get fresh air. Do anything that would allow her to process the information she had been given in the last few minutes. 

Freya came over and knelt down beside Elijah, giving Y/N the chance to pull her hand away from Elijah. She took several back as she tried to decide if she wanted to stay or leave the area. But a heartbeat later she was mumbling some excuse and left the courtyard. 

It was only when she was safely behind the door of her room, she felt more clarity than she had downstairs. The wave of emotions she felt calmed in comparison.  While silent tears had begun falling, it hadn't felt like her world had come crashing to a halt as it had. 

"For as many times as I've come here to hide away, there's never been another person here." Y/N said as she took in the stranger. "Might have to find a new one if this one is compromised." 

"I can assure you, I've known about this place for a lot longer than you." The stranger looked towards her. "I may have been out of the city for some time, but I will know more about the history than you ever will.”

A laugh passed her lips causing a smile to form on his lips. “What if I told you I watched that town in the distance be built?”

His eyebrow raised slightly before he looked towards the town she had been speaking of. “I’d then ask if you knew what was out there before the town was built.”

“A small village.“ She responded.  “One that was destroyed just a few years after I was born. There are stories of a creature that roamed the woods that surrounded that village. A creature that was hunted but never killed.” She shrugged her shoulders before looking back towards the stranger. “Though I’d love to hear what you have that can top that.”

He laughed for a moment before he placed his hand out between them. “I’m Elijah. And I assure you, I can surpass any story you’ve been told about the area.”

“That’s a challenge I’m willing to take.” She said as she placed her hand in his. “I'm Y/N.”

That year Y/N needed to get away from the life she had found herself in after being a vampire for a few centuries already. The mountaintop just above the town she was born in had always been her go to place to reevaluate her life as a human and as a vampire. That night, Y/N had been debating on watching the sunrise for the last time. 

But Elijah had been there to pull her thoughts away from the sunrise and into a life that she had now thrived in. Elijah had been there when she needed him the most. Her soulmate had been the one to pull her back from the edge and she never knew it until now.

Elijah had saved her that night. He saved her and it wasn't long after he paid off a witch to create a daylight ring for her. A friendship shouldn't be had just in the dark. Those had been his words as he held up the daylight ring for her to take a few minutes before sunrise a few weeks later.

Her heart picked up in pace as her mind continued to accept everything that happened. The details of their meeting to this current moment made sense from a soulmate perspective. No matter how many times the flashes of memories played through her mind, there was no changing the facts. 

"What if I don't want to marry my soulmate?" A young Y/N asked as she kicked her shoe at the dirt. 

Her mother's laugh filled the air. "You don't always have to marry your soulmate. Sometimes it depends on what best suits the both of you. Your soulmate can be a best friend or even a lover. Sometimes they're both." She knelt down to Y/N's height. "There's one thing I know though. Having them in your life in any form is a whole lot better than not having them in your life or losing them. So when you are able to meet the person that knows your soul without needing to try hard, fight as hard as you can. Fight with them, for them and alongside them as needed." She ran her hand along Y/N’s cheek. "I know this doesn't make a lot of sense right now, but I promise one day you'll understand. "

The sound of the knock on her door followed by the door slowly opening had pulled her out of her thoughts and memories. Without even looking she had already known it was Elijah. She quickly wiped at her cheeks before she turned towards the door. 

The moment she had, Elijah could see that the whirlwind of emotions he saw earlier in her eyes had shifted. Even as her eyes welled up, he could see the hurt along with acceptance. And if he was being honest with himself, the acceptance is what scared him. 

He took a few steps further into her room before he came to a stop. "What I've done was-" 

"Cowardice?" She finished for him before he got the chance to even form the next word. It made him raise his brow. "Because whatever reasoning you have for not telling me was the worst decision you have ever made. And I know there have been plenty of questionable decisions you've made." 

"I know I should have told you that night." He gave a slight nod. "For a brief moment I wanted to. But then I realized the danger you would be in because of me." 

She had already begun shaking her head before he finished speaking. "Danger that I haven't already been in from just being close with you. Or to your siblings for that matter." She watched as he opened his mouth to speak but she quickly continued to stop him. "I know it's not the same. Putting it out there makes it more real and practically puts a target on both of us. I know what that target looks like. That just means we'll be better prepared for it." 

She knew from experience how easy it was to use a soulmate as leverage. How easy it was to threaten them to get someone to bend to their will. There was a dark decade in Y/N's existence where she had once toyed with humans and their soulmates. A time where her humanity had been switched and she hadn't cared. 

She knew the tricks that could be played. She knew how much damage someone could take before they snapped. The emotional torment that could be played on both parties to get the point across was something she lived for during that dark decade. 

At least that was until her humanity had been forcefully switched on. She tormented herself afterwards on how she could carelessly manipulate people by using the one weakness they all had. It was part of the reason she found herself heading back to the mountaintop. 

"If today has taught me anything it's that you were safer without me near." He watched as her eyebrow raised before he continued. "While having you by my side would have been beneficial for many reasons, I watched as my worst fear played through my mind because of a spell. A spell that provided sufficient reasons on why I was right on my decision to not say anything." 

"A spell that was used to distract you.” She noted. It explained why he had seemed so relieved at seeing her safe. "And a fear that we could have worked out beforehand if you simply had told me. I spent the last several hours wondering how and when I had become the problem. Part of me knew that you had found your soulmate and that was why you were pushing me away. That maybe you were trying to distance yourself from me to make room for them." Her eyes began to well up. "I just never thought you'd be pushing me away because I am your soulmate."

Elijah shook his head slightly as guilt filled him. He could see in that moment how hurt she had been by it. The emotions she had displayed when he first came into the room broke down bit by bit. And the thought that she believed she was the problem stung him in ways he never believed it would. 

"I don't know if I can be what you need me to be." He said a moment later. "It has been proven time and again that whenever I let an ounce of happiness into my life, it's quickly taken away. I refuse to have the same thing happen to you. And if that means keeping you at a distance or even you leaving the city-" 

"Nothing has to change!" She cut him off as she shook her head. "We have been by each other's side for over a century without even knowing we were soulmates. We have been through hell and back together without even questioning how it was possible. I have fought by your side not caring if I died in the process." She wiped at her cheeks as more tears escaped. "I will continuously be by your side even after this. I don't care if it is as something more or keeping things as it has been. But don't you dare for one moment think that I would be safer with you pushing me away or even deciding that it's better without you in my life." 

He sighed softly before taking a few steps to close the distance between them. "If anything were to ever happen to you because of me, I'd never be able to forgive myself." His hand came up to her cheek before using his thumb to wipe away more of her tears. 

"It's going to happen with or without you in my life." Her eyes met his. "I am no stranger to being threatened by your family. I have had Klaus's hand on my heart and I'm still here in front of you." She placed her hand on top of his as she leaned into his touch slightly.  A way to prove that she was there. "I am not even a stranger to having a witch use me as leverage or even used to fight against you. I can leave tonight and what's to stop anyone from coming after me once it's actually figured out?" She watched as he took in her words. "This isn't just one sided either. I am afraid of what each new threat could mean for you. I want and need you to be safe, maybe even for my own selfish reasons. But I will not let you push me away without at least fighting to stay. I will continue to be by your side no matter how much you push. I will stand there by your side and face the enemy with you and die there with you if it comes to it. I will continue to be your friend or more if that is what you need and you'll never have to worry that I'll leave you. But I will not let you try and push me out of your life for the fear of what could possibly happen to me just because you're afraid to let yourself be happy."

Elijah's eyes never left hers as she spoke. He couldn't bring himself to look away from her. Not when he was seeing everything play through her eyes. Every emotion, every piece of history and hopeful future had been displayed within them. And he could no longer ignore what he'd been trying to avoid. 

He knew everything she said was right. He would hate himself if anything happened to her while she was gone. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how it would feel if he ever learned the news that something had happened to her. He couldn't ignore the fact that throughout the years and even now she was fighting for her place to stay no matter how hard he tried to keep her at bay and safe in his eyes. 

The same safety that he had been trying to provide her since the night they met. How broken her eyes had looked from the moment she took a seat next to him on that mountain top. And how everything within him had told him to protect her from anything. Even himself if it ever came to it. 

But as he looked into her eyes now, he could see the woman that had become his best friend.  The woman that stood there beside him as threat after threat came. How she cared for him in his moments of need even though he fought her on it. The one person he couldn’t go more than a few days without speaking with. It was why the thought of losing her scared him even more than he ever believed. 

After a moment, Elijah nodded his head. “I give you my word that I will not push you away or ask you to leave.” His thumb gently moved along her cheek. He watched as something changed within her eyes. “I don't believe I could actually watch you leave, let alone be alone out there in the world. Nor can I picture a day where you are not in my life in some form or another. You have your selfish reasons and I have mine. But I have never wished for you to look so hurt as you have today and I will spend as much time as needed to make up for it. ” He looked elsewhere for a moment before looking back at her. “I just don’t know how things will change from here.”

The part of Y/N’s heart that expected the worst had felt relief. Relief that he wasn’t going to continue to push her away. Relief that he was willing to accept that they were soulmates and that she wasn’t going to go down or leave without a fight. And if anything, there was a small tug of a smile at her lips at his words. 

“We continue as friends, just as we have.” She offered. “If in the future things change, we’ll go from there.”

A hum of agreement passed his lips as he pulled his hand away from her. As he did, He maneuvered his hand to take a hold of her’s, finding comfort in just holding her hand within his. Her offer of nothing needing to change played in his ears.

There was something within him that agreed with that. Mixed within the agreement was the hope that things would change for the better. But for now this was a step in the right direction. A step that meant he wasn’t going to push her away as he had planned to. It was in a direction that he strongly believed he’d never lose her in the way that he feared.

“We’ll handle things as we always have.” He nodded his head, a small smile pulling at his lips. 

“Together?” She asked as a small hopeful smile pulled at her lips. 

She could joke about how they would work together as she always had in the past. She could have added in how reckless they could be. How the calm and chaosbetween them would keep things interesting. But at that moment, she only needed the confirmation that it would continually be them against everything else that came at them.

“Together.” He promised with no intention of ever breaking that promise. Even when the world learned of the mark they share, he’d keep his promise and keep each other close to their sides. As a friend, as a potential lover, but most importantly as soulmates that would never have to live without the other. 

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[ohthewh0rror]

WHEN I’M WITH YOU

˚₊ ⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆ ₊˚ prompt — Professor Slughorn assigns Tom a potions partner— the only problem is that it’s a girl he’s never met before. Will Tom ignore his growing feelings for his new partner or will he give in and accept how he truly feels.

Full Request: HERE

Pairing: Tom Riddle x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5K

A/N: I introduce to you — Tom “she’s not like the other girls” Riddle. Also I’m sorry girl, I forgot to make her sort of weary of Tom and skipped straight to her just being nice. 😗

“When you think of me, is it fondly?”

Tom resisted the urge to rub his hands together to warm them. The frosty January air was unrelenting, seeping its way through the thick stone walls of Hogwarts making the lengthy descent into the school's dungeons more unpleasant than usual.

Eager to get out of the frigid hall, Tom mentally thanked Salazar when the door to the potions classroom came into view. Walking through the door, Tom saw a few of his fellow classmates already huddled along the back wall and talking amongst themselves. He gave them a polite nod as they wished him good morning, continuing to make his way to the opposite end, away from them.

From his spot in the back, Tom watched as the other students slowly trickled in. Girls linked arm in arm, whispering and giggling to one another; boys knocking into one another, speaking loudly about next week's Quidditch match. The sense of comradery left Tom internally recoiling in disgust as he tried to imagine himself acting in such a way.

Tiernan Lestrange came to stand next to him, a little closer than what Tom was comfortable with. Tom side-eyed the boy, but ultimately said nothing to him, choosing to instead focus on Professor Slughorn who called the class to attention as he used his wand to wave the classroom door closed.

Tom began to tune his professor out as he began his theatrics about the point they’d be working with today— befuddlement draught. A potion used to cause the drinker to become reckless, something Tom would take precautionary measures not to spill or ingest in any capacity.

“I will be pairing you off today—” was all Tom heard before he felt the trickles of irritation creep into his mind. Working in pairs was always something Tom hated, preferring to work alone instead of having to potentially be weighed down by some idiot.

“And Mr. Riddle,” Professor Slughorn called out, breaking Tom out of his thoughts, “you will be working with Ms. Y/L/N!”. Slughorn’s arm was stretched out, motioning towards a girl standing on the other side of the class, just out of view. Tom ran the last name over in his head a few times, trying to spark some form of recognition in his mind, but he came up blank.

Slughorn clapped his hands, telling them they have until the end of the hour to finish their potion. Tom mentally prepared himself for what kind of girl he may be working with as he made his way through the dissipating crowd of students to find his partner.

Ah, there she was.

She hadn’t noticed him just yet, so he took those few seconds to give her a once over. It would make sense he didn’t recognize her, she was not in his house. They locked eyes as she finally noticed him just a few feet in front of her, and she swiftly closed the distance between the two.

“I don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Y/N” she said, introducing herself. Her voice, though a bit quiet, was sweet. It wasn’t the same condescending tone Tom was used to receiving from the girls that hung around Lestrange and Avery, and for that he was glad. Giving her a polite smile, Tom guided the both of them to an empty cauldron, “I don’t believe we have, my name is Tom.”

Y/N was not unbearable to work with, much to Tom’s relief. The only hiccup didn’t occur until thirty minutes into making the draught when she unknowingly overstepped a boundary of his. Tom had brought his hand up to drop the scurvy grass into the cauldron when she grabbed him; his eyes immediately snapped to her, surprised that she had the audacity to grab him.

“Wait,” she said, a hint of panic in her tone, “you have to add the sneezewort first.” Their hands stayed locked together as Tom took a peek at her potions book laying out in front of them. As his eyes glided over the instructions he saw she was right, causing him to now feel a little embarrassed at the mistake he almost made.

“You’re right,” Tom cringed on the inside, “it is sneezewort first.” Y/N let go of his hand as he lowered it to switch out the ingredient he was holding. Her grabbing him should have left him disgusted and discreetly wiping his hand against his robes to rid himself of the feeling of her touch But, it wasn’t disgust he felt from her touch; just annoyance and a lingering tingling feeling in his hand that he did not want to think about.

Tom and Y/N had just finished their potions when Slughorn had stopped in front of them. “A perfect brew! Though I expect nothing less from either of you!” Slughorn exclaimed in his usual jovial tone. “Thank you, sir,” Tom and Y/N replied at the same time. Tom and Y/N looked at one another, and he watched, unable to look away, as a genuine smile tugged at her lips.

Tom momentarily forgot they had been talking to Slughorn until the old fool spoke again, telling them they were welcome to spend the last few minutes of class how they wished. The two chose not to speak, something Tom was grateful for, as they put away their belongings. It wasn’t until the bell chimed telling them it was time for lunch that they spoke again.

“I’ll see you next Thursday, yeah?” Y/N looked at him with, what he could only describe as a hopeful look in her eyes. Tom nodded, “of course.” Tom watched as she left, her figure sauntering out of the potions door. He was once again reminded of where he was when he heard Avery’s grating voice ask him a question.

Though Tom did not have another class with her till next Thursday, he couldn’t seem to stop seeing her in some form. He saw her in the halls, a weird feeling gathering in his chest when she would give him a friendly wave as they passed each other by. He saw her in the Great Hall, his skin growing warm as his eyes accidentally caught hers from where they both sat at their respective tables.

Their next potions class together, Tom planned to work alone, but Y/N fell into step beside him, a playful smile dancing on her lips as she asked, “do you mind if I join you?”. Tom, who should have found a polite way to tell her to ‘fuck off’, couldn’t bring himself to turn her away.

“Not at all,” Tom wanted to hex himself. Why would he say that? Tom worked alone, he didn’t want nor need a partner, yet he did not hesitate to let her join him. It was beginning to drive him mad, how out of character he was being towards a girl he’s known for no longer than a week. Tom needed answers for why he was acting this way, for why he was being affected in such a way.

But answers wouldn’t come. For the next month Tom was tormented every time they worked together: sweaty palms, shortness of breath, conflicting thoughts. He was beginning to think she was attempting to bewitch him in some way, casting discrete spells on him. So, he began to pay closer attention to her, trying to catch her in the act, paying attention to her every move.

He noticed everything. From the way she hid behind her hands when she laughed all the way to how she liked her fruit cut a certain way. Every mannerism he noticed, he mentally jotted down— in case it was needed for future blackmail of course (he was sure he could spin the fruit thing into a vicious rumor of some kind).

Everything came to a head on February 26th. It was a chilly Friday night and the Slug Club was supposed to meet for a lavish dinner in Slughorn's office with its usual attendants.

Except, when Tom walked in it was anything but the usual attendants or atmosphere. Instead Tom walked into an office decorated to look far more lavish than usual with trays of food and drink floating about for guests to pick off of. As Tom walked further in, he saw more than just the typical group of boys that met once a month. He saw other students, as well as other adults, whom Tom assumed were acquaintances of Slughorn.

Tom thought of skipping this meeting, as gatherings such as this were out of his comfort zone, until something caught his eye. ‘Sweet Salazar,’ Tom thought to himself, exasperated. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at— or should he say, who he was looking at. It was Y/N, dressed in a flattering knee length, emerald dress. Tom thought of approaching her, but found himself rooted in place.

After a second, he finally found himself moving towards her, but before he could make it to her side, another boy approached her first. Tom slowed his steps as he felt a surge of white hot anger consume him at the sight of this Neanderthal touching her, as if he was worthy of such a thing. He was a plain looking fellow; average height, basic attire, and dull features.

‘As if she would go for the likes of him,’ it was that thought that made alarm bells go off in his head. Why would he think that? If not that boy, then who would she go for? Tom’s mind raced as he thought the question over. He fought with himself as he kept coming back to the same conclusion: Y/N deserved himself.

It was a conclusion he didn’t understand, but it was the only one he kept coming back to; the only one that made sense. Needing time to process what he realized, he slinked off, out of Y/N’s eyesight.

Tom was good at sneaking around and avoiding others, it was something he’d done since before his days at Hogwarts, when he was just a young child at Wool’s Orphanage. So it wasn’t hard to avoid Y/N for the remainder of the gathering, but in trying to avoid her, he ran into Slughorn.

“Tom! My boy! How are you enjoying the party?” Slughorn asked, clapping a heavy hand on his shoulder. Tom, though he wanted to be left alone, faked a polite smile, “I’m enjoying myself well enough, sir, you’ve truly outdone yourself this time.” He hoped a little flattery would help spend this conversation up, as he wasn’t in the mood to deal with him right now. “Good, good..” Slughorn trailed off, Tom hoped that would be the end of it, but the Professor seemed to have one more thing to add.

“I’ve noticed you hanging around Ms. Y/L/N more, and I must say, I like the idea of you two growing closer,” Slughorn confessed. Tom, though feeling embarrassed that his teacher noticed and decided to comment on an aspect of his personal life, played the bashful card. He forced himself to smile and glance at his feet, “I see.”

Slughorn gave Tom a pat on the back, wishing him luck, and departed to go mingle with more guests. Tom managed to avoid both Slughorn and Y/N for the rest of the night as he stayed in the furthest section of the party, mingling with the likes of Mulciber and Nott.

Finally having had enough, Tom decided to slip out of the room and into the empty hallway, intent on going back to his dorm and getting some rest. He hadn’t made it far from the party when he heard Y/N call for him from behind.

“Tom!” Y/N’s voice echoed throughout the hall. Tom stopped and turned to her, unsure of what she could need from him. Once she finally caught up to him, she stopped before him, slightly winded. Tom gave her a moment to collect herself, but a bashful look crossed her face as she seemed to be second guessing herself.

“Yes, Y/N?” Tom gently goaded, trying to get her to spit it out. It was another second before she finally spoke, “will you walk me back to my common room?”. It was a question that took him off guard, as that was not in the realm of what he guessed she could want. The fact that she wanted him to walk her back to her common room made his heart thump wildly against his chest. Giving her a slight nod, he held his arm out to her.

Feeling her hand delicately grasp his arm made him feel sick, having never done anything like this before. “Did you enjoy yourself? I assume this was the first time you’ve been invited?” Tom asked, trying to fill the silence. Well, that’s what he told himself at least. Truthfully, he just wanted to hear her voice; he could listen to her speak all day if she let him.

“Yes, this is my first time going,” she confirmed, “it was alright, a bit overwhelming if I’m being honest.” Tom nodded, knowing what she meant, “I felt the same.”

The two of them lapse into silence, only the sounds of their shoes could be heard as Tom escorted her back to her common room. Tom made sure to take smaller steps to be sure he didn’t accidentally drag her across the castle, but also, to prolong their walk.

Still, the walk was over far too soon as they came to a stop in front of her common room entrance. She let go of his arm, and the two of them faced each other. “Thank you for walking me back, Tom,” Y/N said. Tom gave her a genuine smile, “it was nothing.”

Y/N looked from Tom, to the entrance, and back to him again. She seemed as if she wanted to say something, and Tom, not wanting to be rude (for once) patiently waited for her to gather her courage to say what was on her mind. “I plan to go to Hogsmeade next weekend, would you mind accompanying me?” She asked.

The look on Tom’s face must have been awfully amusing as Y/N’s laughter reverberated throughout the hall. The sound of her laughter making his chest ache with how sweet it sounded. It made Tom wish he could bottle it up and keep it on a shelf; save it for moments when he needed to be reminded that something other than pain and cruelty existed in this world.

“So..” Y/N trailed off, laughter still evident in her tone, “is that a yes?”.

Finding his voice Tom agreed, “that’s a yes.”

Tom and Y/N bid each other goodnight, parting ways as she stepped through the entrance to her common room. As the entrance closed behind her Tom turned to make his way back to the dungeon, a feeling of anticipation filling him as thought’s of Y/N and their future date overrun his mind.

Taglist: @r-a-c-h-e-l

#tom riddle #tom riddle imagine #tom riddle x reader #tom riddle x y/n #tom riddle x you #that’s all i got #take it or leave it

[wrongplacerighttime]

agent!harry x agent!fmc

the one where grace wants to forget and harry doesn’t. then she disappears. // little bunny part 5

well. here we are 🥺 the last part 🥺 brb i’m actually gonna cry about it.

little bunny masterlist

wc: 6.8k

tw: kidnapping, talks of murder, hurt/comfort trope, size kink, breeding kink (think that’s all) (as always let me know if i missed any)

bitter winds

It’s been the loneliest week of Grace’s life, she thinks. She’s been avoiding Harry like the plague, and he hasn’t necessarily been trying to see her, either. She knows she messed up, knows she broke the unspoken rule they seemed to have about not expressing feelings. It was supposed to be just sex.

They got back from Florida a few days ago, thankfully it was on Thursday and Aaron gave them Friday to rest. The weekend didn’t bring any new cases, so they didn’t speak. Didn’t have to be around each other

Harry had hovered over her name on his screen a time or two over the weekend (more like seven), and he just couldn’t bring himself to message or call. He stared at her name until the letters blurred together and it became illegible. He wanted to talk to her, but he couldn’t bring himself to take the plunge. He was afraid of his feelings, afraid of losing her because he didn’t know how to love her the way she deserved. She deserved someone good for her, and that wasn’t him…didn’t think it could ever be him. And he feels guilty—guilty that he’s taking something from her that he thinks he could never return.

Grace just doesn’t check her phone anyway, she hides under the covers and wishes it away. The feelings, the words she’d spoken…all of it. She replays his confusion on the other end of the phone, the way he said her name hesitantly, like he was warning her, at the words she had let slip. Words that were never intended to be spoken aloud. This humiliation feels like she’s stabbed herself in the chest, and his response was the twist of the knife.

——

Monday comes and Grace has to quite literally drag herself out of bed when her alarm blares through the tranquility of her room. She was half tempted to just not show up, but that wasn’t an option because she went AWOL during the last case after she confessed her love to Harry. She was angry at herself…at him. She knew it was misplaced. She had no reason to be in a sour mood, but she couldn’t help but just feel done. Her heart feels heavy in her chest, like it was full of concrete.

At the office, they keep their distance. She felt the pang in her heart when she heard his familiar footsteps walking through the door, and it took every fiber of effort to not look at him. She typed away on her keyboard, his eyes flitting to her once. When she didn’t so much as glance his way, he kept walking.

The tension was sharp, heavy. Their coworkers whispered to each other when they thought no one was listening, betting on which one would break first, sharing theories about what happened. As far as they were concerned the pair were innately opposite, but their banter kept the office light and airy. The cloud cover outside mirrored what it felt like in the office now. Cold and bitter and gloomy. Aarons door opening causes them all to look up. He looks around, raising a brow but choosing to ignore the uneasiness in the atmosphere.

“We have a case.”

——

Grace had a feeling of dread settled in her stomach the moment they landed in Caddo County, Oklahoma. It was January, it wasn’t terribly hot yet and it wasn’t tornado season, but something just felt off. She chalked it up to it being because of the case, just nervous. They made a home in the small police station, working with them to set up an area in the conference room and get to work. There have been a couple of murders in the small village of Fort Seminole. Small was an understatement. The population was less than 600 and the citizens were terrified that something like this was happening to their community. They thought it was the same person but called in the help of the FBI because they found a body dumped just three hours outside of Oklahoma in an even smaller town in Texas…and if it crossed state lines, it was a federal case anyway.

Aaron had made sure Grace and Harry were inevitably stuck working the geographical profile together, which means they would have to speak eventually. Somehow he had known that they had something they needed to work out, and he was hoping this would give them an excuse to do it.

The only sound in the conference room was the rustling of papers, cardstock and push pins. Grace had her back turned to Harry, shaking the box of pins, thinking to herself as she labeled the map. Red pins are for crime scenes and green are for the victims’ residence. She could feel his eyes on her, her heart felt like it was going a mile a minute and would beat out of her chest any second.

“Grace.” Her name coming from his lips is quiet, almost a whisper, and he’s tiptoeing around eggshells. She speaks before he can add anything else.

“Harry, listen. We don’t have to talk about it. We can just…go back to how things were before. Forget any of it ever happened, okay?” Her voice shakes, and he’s taken off guard by her statement.

“I don’t want to forget it, Grace.” His voice is soft, a gentleness she’s not used to hearing from him. It takes her by surprise. She bites the inside of her cheek, willing the stinging in the corners of her eyes to go away before she makes a fool of herself again.

“I think it’s better if we do.” She manages to say, swallowing the lump in her throat before turning back to the map so he can’t see her blinking the tears away. And he doesn’t know where this is coming from, because he meant what he said—he didn’t want to forget. He hears a sniffle coming from across the room and he watches her reach up to swipe a finger under the corner of her eye. All he wants to do is go to her, kiss her and tell her it’ll all be okay. That he feels the same.

He stays where he’s at, because if she wants to forget, he’ll try his best to forget, too.

——

Two days pass with no other incidents. They believe the suspect has likely caught wind of them being in town and has decided to lay low. They have alerts set up to send them any info on any case that is remotely similar to theirs within a 75 mile radius. Nothing, or anywhere, could be ruled out at this point. The radio never comes on, they never get any calls.

Grace chews on the end of her pen while reading over a report of the last victim. It just didn’t seem right. It felt like they were missing something. He was a single white male with no family in the area. His home had been left abandoned, frozen in time in the wake of his murder. The crime scene has long been cleaned but she believes she could still find something. She looks around, everyone else busy with their respective tasks and she decides she’ll just go alone.

“I’m going to the Jefferson house. See if we missed anything,” She mumbles to Aaron and he hums nodding once without looking up from the paper in front of him. She looks around, spotting Harry deep in conversation with a deputy and a pang stabs her heart. Her lips pressed together in a thin line, turning and walking out the double doors into the Oklahoman sunset.

The drive to the house was quick, easy to find. It was well put together, no mess or signs of a struggle inside due to the clean up crew already having gotten the place back in order. Dust rings rest on furniture, the only thing left of broken decor. The only indication a crime had happened here was the remnants of the bright yellow tape wound around the pillars of the front porch. Grace walks around, looking at the signs of someone’s livelihood, a life taken before it ever really got to begin, and she feels a twinge of guilt, grief for someone she didn’t even know. There were photos hung on the wall—pictures of the victim and their friends, pictures of their relatives with smiles so wide it was almost contagious. She shakes her head once, trying to shake away the thoughts and clear her mind.

She walks through, searching for anything that might stick out. She knew it would be almost impossible, but she was just hoping, praying, for something to catch her eye. She makes her way into the bathroom, taking in her surroundings and she spots a single drop of red on the white tile. When she bends down, she catches a glimpse of a blood soaked t-shirt in the bottom of the dirty laundry basket.

She stands, but before she can take another step, she feels a prick on her neck.

Then she blacks out.

——

When Grace comes to, her vision is blurry and her head is pounding. Her mouth feels drier than the Sahara and she tries to stand, but her legs are tied to the chair she’s sitting on, pulling on her hands she finds them bound behind her back. Her heart begins to race and her breathing becomes erratic.

“Pause. Breathe. In. Out.” She tells herself, blinking to clear the cloudiness from her dry eyes. She assesses the situation once her brain has calmed down enough to form a coherent thought. The room is dimly lit with one singular light bulb hanging over her head, the chair she’s sitting in is wooden and uncomfortable, rubbing the bare skin of her arms raw. Her hands feel like they’re bound with rope and she tries to pinpoint the nearest exit.

She can’t.

She turns the chair as much as she can without making herself topple over and she sees a set of stairs.

“Okay. I’m in a basement.” She says to herself, looking for anything she can maybe rub the rope against to loosen it or cut it. Then she hears a door opening followed by footsteps. She tries to calm her breathing and slow her heart rate. “Breathe. You’re trained for situations like this.”

A tall, burly man comes to stand in front of her. Her eyes flare with malice as he looks down at her, a scruffy beard hiding most of his lower half and a Stetson perched on the top of his head. His hair is long and greasy underneath, looking like it hadn’t been washed in days or even weeks.

He doesn’t say a word, just looks her over once from under the brim that hiding his features from her before snapping a singular picture of her with the polaroid camera she didn’t notice he’d carried in with him. The flash is blinding and leaves her vision spotty, forcing her eyes to squeeze shut. Without another word, he walks around her, back up the stairs and the door slams shut. She hears a lock twist and she’s alone again.

——

The next morning, Harry sits up in the uncomfortable motel bed, feeling like he slept on a plank of wood, and stretches his arms above his head. He’s already decided he’s going to try to talk to Grace today and apologize for being so distant. He wants to make it work, truly. He doesn’t want her to be afraid of loving him. She had left the police station around 6 PM yesterday and he didn’t see her before she came back to the motel so he decided to just leave her be when he rolled into the parking lot around 10:00. The light was off, as far as he could tell and he assumed she had been in bed already. She was always tired when they traveled outside of their own city, he had learned. She gave the excuse that it was due to not being in her own bed but he knew she was always overthinking and anxious about the cases they worked, getting too close to the families or friends of the victims and making her heart ache for them. That’s what made her a good agent, her heart was really in it to solve the case. It also sometimes got her in trouble.

He dresses for the day, brushing his teeth and looking in the mirror once before walking out the door of his room. He walks down the sidewalk of the dingy little motel, down to room 5, the one Grace would be in. He takes a deep breath, and he knocks. He waits.

Nothing.

He knocks again, “maybe she didn’t hear me?” He thinks. He waits and listens, no rustling behind the door. No footsteps drawing closer. He peeks through the window and he can just barely make out the shape of the bed that was still made through the crack in the curtains, and he thought it was unusual. Grace wasn’t the “make your bed every morning” type.

He makes his way to the station, looking around the room for her. He sees everyone except her. He starts to panic, and the room feels small and he can’t breathe.

“Styles. What’s wrong?” Aaron asks, watching Harry’s head swivel erratic like he was looking for something.

“Where’s Grace?” His words run together, tongue feeling thick in his mouth and dread forming a pit in his stomach.

“She’s probably still at the motel, I tried to call her but she didn’t answer.”

“She’s not there. The bed’s still made like she never even went in the room.” He runs a hand through his hair, heart pounding in his chest so hard he can hear it in his ears. “She’s not here and she’s not there. She’s gone. She’s missing.”

“Styles I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.” Aaron tried to assure but he can’t help but feel a little scared also. He tries to call Grace again but it goes straight to voicemail. Before he can say anything, a deputy walks up to them holding an envelope. He hands it to Harry without a word, and Harry doesn’t look twice at the person handing it to him. He snatches it, flipping it over. Agent Styles is scrawled across the front. He slides his finger through the seal to open it, finding the back of a polaroid facing outwards. The same signature of the person they’re looking for. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before flipping it over.

It’s Grace.

Tied to a chair and peering up at the person taking the photo of her. She looks physically unharmed, and seeing her in this position breaks his fucking heart. He turns it around, shoving it in Aaron’s face.

“This logical enough for you?” He sneers before throwing it at him in a fit of rage, he doesn’t stay to watch it flutter to the floor as he turns towards the door, storming out to the sidewalk.

“Fuck!” He yells over and over, slapping his hands against the brick of the building. He leans his head against the rough wall, feeling angry and scared tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

And the only thing running through his brain is that he should’ve told her he loved her, too.

——

After a brief walk around the block to calm his brain, he walks back into the station where the energy is buzzing and nervous. He doesn’t know where to even start, like his mind has short circuited and all the knowledge he possesses about being an agent is just gone. Lost. He sees her photo up on the board labeled “missing” underneath and he almost crumbles then. He didn’t want her to be chalked up as just another person. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that the rest of the team wouldn’t allow it to be that way, he was just so fucking nervous. He spots Aaron leaned over the table looking at a map of the area and he makes a beeline for him, dodging around busy bodies in the room.

“Aaron, we have to find her. We have to.” His voice is shaky and he feels like a small puppy standing under its owner at the gaze of his boss. Aaron’s expression softens and he gives Harry an apologetic look.

“We will, Harry.” Harry nods. “I need your head clear. Are you able to work the case? If you’re not, I need you to stand down. I need your word.”

“Yes. My head is clear. I just want her back.” He nods, his voice sounding so small in the chatter around them. Aaron gives him a knowing look, nodding once back to him.

“She told me yesterday she was going to the Jefferson house. She wanted to see if they missed anything after the scene got cleaned up. She thought something was missing from the case.” He pauses, looking at Harry who’s staring blankly at the map in front of them. “I sent Jenna and Kelly to the house while you were out. They should be arriving any moment now.”

The waiting was the worst part.

Finally, the phone rang and they confirmed that the Jefferson house is where Grace was last seen. The car she took was left in the driveway unlocked with her phone on the driver's seat, along with her badge and gun. They couldn’t track her, and whoever it was knew that was the first thing they would try to do.

Back to square one.

——

Grace doesn’t know how long she’s been down here. Her mouth is still dry from whatever drug was injected into her and she could feel the numbness tingling in her fingertips from the position of her arms. The rope had rubbed her wrists raw and if she shifted it stung, making her wince in pain. She knows the man who took her is obviously wanting her to die of “natural” causes, or else he would’ve fed her something by now.

She thinks about the team. Have they figured out she’s been taken and not just disappeared on her own accord? She’s had time to sit with her thoughts, thoughts of Harry fill her mind. Will she see him again? Before long she’ll be dehydrated. She hasn’t had anything to drink, and all he’s done is take a picture of her and leave. He hasn’t been down here again. Even then he didn’t say anything. She’s pretty sure he just wants to leave her here to rot.

She tries to think of how to get herself out. She thinks of the face she saw and what features she could make out in the low lighting and she feels like it almost looks familiar to her. The eyes peeking under the black Stetson play over and over in her head, and then she hears the door opening again for the first time since he took the photo of her. She hears his footsteps moving closer to her. No Stetson, in uniform. And when he steps in front of her, she knows then.

“It’s you.” She sneers.

——

At the station, they all read over every single thread of evidence they have, but nothing is standing out. Grace always knew what to look for, able to connect the dots faster than any of them. Kelly had fallen asleep at the desk she had made a home in, refusing to leave until something had stuck out to her. Aaron was still staring at the map, and Harry was pacing, file in hand. Grace had said it felt like they were missing something before she left and he was determined to figure it out. It was her life on the line now.

He was reading a sentence when it stuck out to him.

The woman was never physically harmed, and the man was stabbed multiple times after being tortured, cuts on his back like he was beaten with a belt. Both had a polaroid picture on their back when they died, the man left in his home with one and the woman whose body was dumped across state lines had one too. They knew this, they thought it was some kind of twisted signature.

They didn’t account for both of them having a finger cut off.

Which makes this case very similar to one they worked in Arkansas a few years ago, but they never caught the guy. They profiled the man to have been missing a finger himself, the product of very traumatic abuse in childhood. They found both parents dead, his father with belt marks on his back and beaten and stabbed. The mom was left physically unharmed.

And they found his sister tied to a chair in the basement, body still warm. Harry had pulled her restraints off and performed life saving measures. They got her back, her heart had stopped just before they found her. Once she was well in the hospital they questioned her. She told them it was her brother Jack Henderson, and they searched everywhere for him. It seemed as though he had gone on the lam, probably crossing the border and the case had been left open until they did. He was on the most wanted list.

And he had been here.

In this station.

“Aaron. It’s Jack Henderson.” Harry says without looking up, staring at the file with wide eyes. Aaron looks at him quizzically. “We just thought this guy took the fingers as souvenirs and left the polaroids as some twisted game, right? It’s him. Same MO, brutally murdered the male, female was essentially physically unharmed. Didn’t we take a polaroid from his house as evidence? We found a bunch of pictures of his tortured father, and one of his sister strapped to that chair in their basement. He’s doing this to get our attention. Trying to prove that he will get away a second time.”

“He didn’t cut off the same fingers as his though? How can you be sure?”

“He’s the one who handed me the envelope with Grace’s picture. It didn’t stick out to me until I read that the woman’s first finger had been cut off and had disappeared. He’s trying to lead us off his trail because he’s not doing it exactly the same, he’s doing just enough to get our attention.” He pauses. “When the deputy brought me the envelope, it was addressed as Agent Styles. Not Mr., not Harry. Agent. No one in this town that we’ve talked to has addressed me as agent, how would the unsub know my name unless he already knew me.” Aaron nods, taking in his theory and thinking that this is the closest thing they have to making sense.

“Aaron. He’s doing this to get back at me, for saving his sister. His sister is in WITSEC. He can’t find her to finish the job…he’s going to take Grace from me.” His voice broke on the last part, and he almost fell to the floor, his knees growing weak. He knows how long a person can last without food or water, her organs will start to shut down after three days, that’s the average. It’s been almost that.

They waste no time pulling up the file on Jack Henderson. The show his picture to every deputy before someone recognizes him. He goes by an alias, Greg Price and he doesn’t look like the same guy he used to. The only reason one had recognized him was because he had seen an old picture in Greg’s house of him and his mother. No one batted an eye when he walked in the building dressed as a deputy because they were all paying attention to their own things, and the profilers expected this to be the last place he would’ve been.

Jack was new(ish) to town. In a village of not even 600 people, people who’d grown and lived their entire lives here, he’d never not be the new guy. He showed up with a moving truck and bought a house just outside of town. He’d faked his identity, his qualifications, and ended up being hired as a deputy not long after he moved here. They’d had his address, jumping into vehicles as the sheriff escorted them down the winding roads with lights and sirens.

They whipped into the yard, Harry not wasting any time by throwing the door open and jumping out before the car was even shifted into park. He draws his weapon, kicking open the door left cracked. The house is eerily quiet as he moves through the rooms, taking the role of point and clearing them with Aaron following his direction. They come to a door that’s locked with a chain lock and deadbolt.

Harry quickly turns the lock, undoing the chain and hesitantly makes his way down the stairs. He looks right, then left and there she is. Grace. All thoughts clear his brain besides any that have to do with her. He runs the short distance, dropping to his knees and taking her face between his hands, lifting her head as it lulls to the side.

“Grace. Wake up, baby.” He lightly taps her cheek and her eyes flutter behind her closed lids. He reaches behind her, untying the knot keeping her hands bound and they fall to her side. She’s weak, having passed out a short time before they got there. He checks her pulse, slow but steady enough to not cause concern and he blows out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in.

He unties her legs with one hand, taking her and carrying her up the stairs and to the medic on the scene. He stays with her as they hook her to an IV, poking her several times before they are able to find a vein not affected by the dehydration. They informed him where they were taking her but he insisted on riding with her, wanting to be there if she woke up and didn’t know where she was. He holds her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles and willing her to open her eyes and just look at him so he could talk to her. He runs his fingers over the angry red marks left on her wrists and he curses himself for not being there sooner.

Things pass in a blur after that, the adrenaline of the past few wearing off and exhaustion taking over his body. He stays with her until they clear her to leave, and she doesn’t talk. Doesn’t say a word, not for a few hours at least.

“I’m sorry.” He hears her whisper finally, looking out the window. “I should’ve taken someone with me.”

“It’s not your fault. Please don’t blame yourself.” He reassures her, and she nods once, and that’s all she says.

The morning hours creep into the sky, Aaron comes to get them, taking them back to the motel. Harry walks Grace to her room, unlocking and opening the door for her.

“Do you want me to stay?” He asks, brushing her hair behind her ear and she shakes her head as she leans into his touch. He wanted to say the words, seeing the sadness and pain in her eyes all he wanted to do was say them. He swallows them down.

“No. I’ll be okay. I just need a shower, and sleep. Still tired.” He nods, hesitating to leave her, not wanting to take his eyes off her ever again. But he lets her be alone, trudging back to his own room and collapsing into the bed.

She sits in the shower after scrubbing her entire body raw, hugging her knees to her chest and letting the water run over her until it’s freezing and she’s shivering and she forced herself to get up. She dresses, going to the bed and pulling the covers up to her chin, daylight filtering through the window.

She doesn’t sleep.

——

Later that night, when they’re back in D.C, Harry takes her hand and leads her into her apartment. It’s the first time he’s been here and it’s just so…her. She hasn’t said much, and he doesn’t expect her to. Her mind is still reeling from the traumatic events of the past few days.

“Do you want to eat or anything?” He asks, his voice quiet and timid. She shakes her head, having no appetite. She swore to Aaron on the jet that she would never step foot in the state of Oklahoma ever again, and he told her she wouldn’t have to. He would make sure of it. They ended up finding Jack heading West out of the state, likely back towards Mexico. She’s not looking forward to the trial she’ll inevitably have to sit through and recount the experience.

“Okay.” He nods, looking around, shoving his hands in his pockets as he faces her. One arm crossed over her chest and she looks at the floor, tears brimming her lashline and she tried to blink them away, feeling like her emotions are a rollercoaster she can’t get off of.

“Just wanna go to bed, I think.” She mumbles. He nods, moving to walk around her and leave but she stops him.

“Wait.” She grabs his arm, looking up at him with pain in her eyes and he almost crumbles right then. “Don’t go. Please. I don’t want to be alone right now. Will you stay?” And he would, a million times over just for her. He’d do anything for her.

“Yes, baby. Of course. Just didn’t know if you’d want me here.”

“Always want you with me.” She looks towards the floor again, her voice sounding so small and he moves closer, placing his hands on either side of her face and forcing her to look up at him.

“I know, sweet girl. Always want you with me, too. Never gonna let you out of my sight again, okay?” He looks at her, his eyes flitting between hers and she nods, her bottom lip quivering as he pulls her into his chest and wraps his arms around her. She fists his shirt and he kisses the top of her head ever so gently, the sweet smell of her hair filling his senses and she’s all he knows. All he ever wants to know. “Let’s go to bed.”

She leads him down the small hallway to her room, but he leads her to her bed and makes her sit on the edge. He goes into her closet and picks out something for her to wear to bed, something comfortable and he kneels in front of her, untying the laces of her boots and pulling them off of her. Taking her hands in his, he brings her wrists to his mouth and kisses over the marks left on them, gently so as to not irritate them further. He runs his hands from her calves up to her thighs, flicking the button undone and she shifts her hips as he pulls the denim from her legs. Leaning in, he peppers small kisses right above her knees and savors the feeling of her skin against his lips. She watches him below her, a heat swirling just below her navel and she forces her mind away from those thoughts. He reaches up, lifting the hem of her shirt as she raises her arms, discarding the t-shirt on the floor with her jeans. He swallows when he notices her chest is bare, her nipples hardening when the cool air hits her skin and she sucks in a breath. His hands run up her thighs and grip her hips, pulling her body closer to him. Grace tangles her hands in his hair at the nape of his neck like she knows he likes,dipping down and brushing her nose against his. He smiles, looking over her features with admiration in his eyes. Her freckles spanning over her cheeks, the pink of her lips that he loves to kiss, her eyes so blue he could swim in them. She nudges him again, finally touching her lips to his.

He kisses her gently, not wanting to lead her into anything she might not want to do. She pushes her lips against his, and he sucks in a breath through his nose as she arches her back. Her chest presses against him and his hands sprawl across her back, holding her as close as he can get her. He sighs against her lips, moving to crawl over top of her and slotting his knee between her thighs without breaking their kiss. She lays back, his arms caging around her head as his muscles flex and extend to bear his weight. Their tongues dance together now, and she whines into his mouth causing him to pull away just enough to look at her.

“Grace.” He says her name breathlessly, his brows furrowing together slightly. “I don’t wanna hurt you, baby. Just got you back. We don’t have to do this.” She shakes her head, her chin jutting upwards and pushing her body into his again.

“You won’t. Promise. Just need you. Missed you so much, Harry.” She whispers, but she can still see the uncertainty in his eyes. “Please. Help me forget, just want to forget about it for a while.” Her voice wavers slightly and he nods once. She grinds against his leg and her eyes flutter closed as a jolt of pleasure runs down her spine, and how can he resist when she just looks so pretty underneath him like this? He shifts his weight to one arm, his fingers dancing down her skin so delicately. He feels the way her stomach flexes under his fingertips, sensitive and wanting to push against him more. He grips her hip, fingertips dimpling the skin underneath and she wraps her legs around his waist. He grinds against her, creating friction between them as she moans into his mouth.

“Fuck, Grace. You get me so worked up. Wanna fuck you, but just wanna take care of you.”

“Please, Har. Please. Fuck me.” She begs and he smirks at her eagerness, dropping his head to her shoulder and sinking his teeth into the skin of her collarbone. Her hips rut against him and she cries out, the sensation taking her off guard before he soothes with his tongue and kisses so gently. He pushes himself up onto his knees, undoing his belt and unbuttoning his jeans. Grace watches him through hazy eyes and she takes her bottom lip between her teeth.

“So pretty.” He mumbles from above her, pulling the belt from the loops and she wants to squeeze her thighs together but his body between them blocks her from doing so. He pushes the both his jeans and briefs down in one go, kicking them from his legs as he wraps his own hand around the base of his hard cock and tugging a few times before he leans back over her. She can feel the tip of him nudging at her hole through the material of her underwear and she reaches between their bodies. She wraps her own hand around him, his head dropping to her chest and he swears under his breath.

“Please.” She whines, begging him for anything he’ll give her. Truthfully, he’s just so caught up in having her back that he wants to just savor the moment, take his time with her. Something he doesn't get to do often. He moves the material of her underwear to the side, dragging a finger through her arousal and collecting it there. He brings it up, taking it into his mouth and wrapping his lips around it, tasting her.

“Taste so sweet, bunny. Sweetest I’ve ever had.” He whispers in her ear and she swears she can feel herself melting into the mattress. Unable to wait any longer, he pushes her panties down her thighs and she kicks them off. Harry drags the tip of his cock through her folds once before pushing against her weepy hole. He’s so used to just pounding into her, and he likes the change of pace. Likes watching her squirm while she waits, trying to buck into him and get more of him inside her.

“Let me go slow, Grace. Just got you back. Let me take my time with you.” She nods slowly and he smiles down at her. “That’s my girl.” He feels her clenching around almost nothing and he throws his head back, eyes fluttering closed as he pushes ever so slowly into her. So tight he’s seeing stars. Her jaw goes slack and all she can do is take it, insatiable for the feeling of him stretching her and filling her.

“So fucking tight, bunny. Gonna squeeze the life out of me.” He grumbles. He grabs her hips again, squeezing and he lifts her so slightly to adjust the angle. He pushes all the way in, dropping his gaze and watching the way he disappears inside her. He could almost cum right then.

“Fuck, barely fits doesn’t it? Taking me so fucking good, sweet girl. Look at you.” He croons, his words pushing through the pleasure buzzing around her brain and she wiggles her hips, bucking up into him before he forces them back down. He pulls out at a torturous pace, her arousal coating him and sending his brain haywire.

“Kiss me.” She breathes out, and he does. He pushes back into her, leaning over her and forcefully pressing his lips to hers. They’re a mix of pants and moans as he sets his pace, comfortable and slow, allowing her to feel every inch of him. The stretch feels like a delicious mix of pain and pleasure, and every time his hips meet hers she can feel him so fucking deep inside her she could cry. “So deep Har, feels so fucking good.” Her back arches off the bed and he kisses the valley between her breasts as she fists the sheets beneath them.

“Yeah? Feel me all the way in your belly?” He feels a haze settling over his mind and he takes her hand, bringing it between their bodies and resting her palm just below her navel with his hand over hers. He presses her hand down slightly, and as he drives into her again and again she feels tears brimming her lash line at the sensation, a smirk painted on his face. “Feel that? Know you do. Only I can do this, right bunny? I’m the only one who can fuck you like this.” He mumbles into her ear and she nods wordlessly, unable to form a coherent sentence. “There you go, baby. Feel so fucking good around my cock.”

“More.” She gasps and he obliges, picking up his pace slightly and he hits just the right spot every time. She knows it’s coming, dangling by fingertips on the edge of that blissful feeling as she feels the spool begin to unravel.

“Gonna get you all full of me, sweet girl. Let me give you my babies, yeah? Give you everything, be such a good mama.” He grits out through his teeth clenched together and she feels dizzy, his words penetrating a spot in her brain she didn’t know existed until him.

“Fuck, Harry.” She whines and he smiles against the curve of her neck, knowing she loves when he talks to her like this.

“Yeah? Like the thought of that? Look so fucking cute with your belly all swollen ‘cause of me. Know you would.” He mumbles and he’s picturing it, picturing it all in his brain and trying to hold onto his release as long as he can. His hips rock into her and she’s still got her hand on her belly and he dips down, attaching his lips around one of her hardened peaks on her breast and her body jolts, her pussy squeezing around him. He knows she’s close. He rolls her nipple between his teeth, flicking with his tongue and he feels her fluttering around him.

“Please Har. Need it so bad. Please cum in me, please.” Her words are jumbled and falling from her lips with ease.

“Never wanna be without you, sweet girl. Love you so fucking much.” He’s a mess of moans and whispering sweet nothings in her ear, determined to never let her question his intentions ever again, and it sends her over, eyes squeezing together so tightly she sees stars. The thread unravels and she throws her arms around his neck, holding him close to her. Her legs wrap around his hips and he thrusts into her one more time before he’s filling her to the hilt, spilling his warmth into her. And it’s so warm, making her head feel fuzzy.

They lay there, legs still wrapped around his hips, sweaty skin sticking together. He pulls back and a lazy grin spreads across her face when his eyes meet hers. She brings her hand up, poking a finger to his nose and he smiles wide at her, a sparkle dancing in his eye and just being in awe of her beauty…her flushed cheeks, her wet lashes, her swollen lips from kisses, her little baby hairs sticking to her temple with sweat. And they stay there, holding each other, saying I love you through light touches and longing gazes, without using any words.

But they don’t need to.

They just know.

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[cjrae]

Stunted Love. Or: The Theme of MaoMao's little finger.

Maomao's little finger is a recurring motif in the Apothecary Diaries, and it receives even more emphasis in the anime's first season - it represents her belief that romantic love leads to pain and destruction. Spoilers primarily for the anime, but also the epilogue of light novel four and Chapter 15 of light novel six below.

Love In A Cage

The motif is first introduced in "The Unsettling Matter of the Spirit" - Concubine Fuyou's story. Maomao has already noted the parallels between the red light district and the Inner Palace, but here we see what happens when romantic love is introduced into the mix. On paper, Concubine Fuyou is a literal object of pity. Her personhood is being gifted to an officer who recently distinguished himself on the front lines, discarded after having failed to please the Emperor. It's telling that this is one of the first times we see Jinshi interacting with a consort where he is completely serious, without bringing his charm to bear. We never hear him say anything, but it's clear that he's communicating the Emperor's order with respect and understanding the gravity of the consequences for Fuyou.

As the events of the episode unfold, the parallels between courtesans and consorts get stronger as Maomao introduces the concept of having a contract bought out - if a man wants a courtesan enough, she is also an object to be purchased, albeit at potentially astronomical price. At first glance, it would seem like these women have absolutely no power in these scenarios - but by the end of the episode, Maomao shows us the feminine side of this transaction - how a woman can manipulate the system she is trapped by in order to get what she wants. All she has to do is lower her value - a rather counterintuitive measure that can go horribly wrong all too easily, as we see later.

And what Concubine Fuyou wants is to escape the Inner Palace to be with the man she loves - a task that she succeeds at. She has played a long, patient game in the service of freedom. Trapped in the cage of the Inner Palace herself, Maomao holds her scarred finger against the freedom of the sky and wonders what kind of medicine love would make.

Devotion

We see further flashbacks to Maomao's past through multiple episodes, but the next time the concept of love is brought up is when Fengming is confessing her role in the death of Consort Ah-Duo's baby in "Honey" (episode 11). Maomao is brought up short by Fengming's confession - she flat out says to the audience that she's never loved anyone with that depth of devotion Fengming displays toward Ah-Duo, so she doesn't know how Fengming feels. But if she doesn't have empathy to offer, she does have a rough kindness. Another person might have said that Ah-Duo deserved to know why her son died, that the knowledge might have provided closure. Maomao, however, believes that knowing the baby's cause of death would only cause more pain (it's never the crime and always about the cover-up) without providing any actual benefit.

With these two episodes framing her early character development we see that, whatever Maomao's natural inclinations are (and I will leave discussion of neuro divergency to those better qualified to discuss it), there is a certain distance between Maomao and her emotions most of the time. It is implied that this distancing from her emotions is a trauma response as the image of a woman holding a knife above her head while kneeling on a bed is shown but not explained (it is the only recurring image during the montage before the discussion about her potential execution with Jinshi).

Lakan and Fengxian

In "Lakan" (episode 18) the motif begins recurring more often as Maomao's parentage is revealed. We've caught glimpses of the sick woman in the annex before, but as the camera pans over the bed, it's clear that this is Maomao's mother (as always in anime, the hair is a dead giveaway). We've seen Maomao in this room, always curled in a fetal position, staring with blank eyes, but here we see Maomao actually caring for a woman who she describes as driving her out over and over again. The camera's focus is on Maomao's eyes as she watches her mother continuing to deteriorate - they're blank yet again, echoing her earlier line of "This is stupid. She's gone."

This is not the look of a girl who genuinely doesn't care about her mother. The image of her mother with the knife upraised is straight out of recurring nightmares that wake her gasping with terror and continue to haunt her after she's returned to work. While there is no AFFECTION involved, there are certainly very strong emotions here. Later, in the bath with Meimei, Maomao wonders if Meimei's in love - and immediately shies away from the thought, insisting that "love is an emotion I'm sure I left behind in the womb."

Interestingly, this is immediately belied as the Three Princesses (the women who took on the maternal role that her mother discarded) begin to pamper Maomao in the bath, and she relaxes into their touch, flushed with belonging and pleasure at their attention.

Confrontation

In "Blue Roses," (episode 22), everything has built to a head. By hiding Maomao back into the Rear Palace, Jinshi is acting as her shield - and Lakan responds with a power play. Both he and Jinshi are aware that Lakan knows his true identity, so Lakan provokes Jinshi with a political test. "Nothing is impossible" for a man with Jinshi's power - so providing some blue roses at a garden party in early spring should be simple, right? It's a near impossible task and Lakan knows it - even if Jinshi were to figure out how to dye the roses to be the appropriate color, they're still out of season.

Up until now, Maomao's response to Lakan has been to hide. But, with Jinshi's reputation on the line and seeing how worn out he is, Maomao has finally had enough. So she takes Lakan's challenge on and, while she's in the process of growing the hothouse roses so that Jinshi can best Lakan, she diverts unwanted attention from the Crystal Palace's handmaidens by showing Xiaolan how to do a manicure - something that draws attention to the deformed pinky on her hand and changes her perspective of the damage to the finger.

The art should be paid attention to here - we see close up shots of two other people's hands after having the manicure done - Xiaolan and Consort Lihua. In both of these shots, there's some subtle detail paid to their little fingers as well - Xiaolan's is ever so slightly crooked rather than perfectly straight, while Lihua flexes her fingers so that the pinky is extended as she looks at her hands. In the next shot, Maomao has done her nails as well - and when Jinshi draws attention to the fact that he's surprised she would do her nails (like Hongiang, Maomao usually prefers work over fashion), she looks at the finger and remarks that, even though her little finger is twisted and scarred, it looks better than it did before - an acknowledgement that the finger is not actually a hindrance, but a piece of her identity.

Healing

Giving Lakan the opportunity to finally do right by Fengxian is the most grace and forgiveness that Maomao can extend to either of her parents. Their romantic love is certainly sympathetic to an outsider, but Maomao was shaped by the consequences. Lakan's carelessness and Fengxian's willingness to break the rules of the pleasure district in order to deliberately lower her value so that she could be with the man she loved, is the guiding cautionary tale of her life.

But Maomao has also grown over the season. She is neither the terrified little girl, abandoned by mother and father alike (however unintentionally on Lakan's part) nor a teenager full of fear fueled rage at Lakan's persistence. She is Luomen's daughter and proud of that fact - she has found her family and a place in the world. It is with that more adult understanding of the world around her that she dances atop the wall of the Rear Palace, giving her parents the only thing she can, which is her blessing and best wishes for their short future, as she sends her mother off.

Sure enough, who is watching her as she takes a step toward a more mature identity but Jinshi? Other characters have provided a shield between Maomao and Lakan - Verdigris' madam, Meimei and even Luomen. But it is on Jinshi's behalf that Maomao decided to face Lakan herself. She loves her adoptive dad and granny and sisters with all the affection she never received from Fengxian, but Maomao's actions have always spoken much louder than her words - Jinshi protected her and she, in turn, chose to face her childhood bogeyman to help him.

Is it stating the obvious that Maomao tripping and Jinshi catching her is an obvious metaphor for falling in love?

As she dances on the wall, we see the two seemingly disparate sides of her identity coalesce into a whole. The moment she lets down her hair is a uniquely Japanese moment of eroticism (this is why maiko and geisha use the oshiroi that bare the nape of their necks), even as she's also deliberately reapplied her freckles.

The moment she realizes that Jinshi truly sees all of her in a uniquely emotional moment, she trips and is made terrifyingly vulnerable as she nearly goes over the edge - only to be caught safely in Jinshi's arms.

Safely back atop the wall, the little finger comes up one more time - except that this time, instead of looking at the damage inflicted and seeing the scar, Maomao looks at her pinky and shows it to Jinshi, telling him what sounds like a strangely gruesome medical fact. That a fingertip can regrow if cut off. For all the trauma that her biological parents caused her, for all that her pinky will be scarred for the rest of her life, the wound did heal. Maomao has healed - she is capable of friendship, loyalty and love that can inspire devotion - even if she rarely displays open affection.

Love Creates Fear

This motif comes back again, at the end of light novel 4 (what will be the end of Season 2, if the studio continues to stick to two light novels a season for pacing, which I expect they will). Jinshi has officially cast aside his cover as a eunuch and stepped into the political limelight as the Imperial Brother. Maomao, as a result of their adventures, has returned home, to her apothecary shop and, as she works she thinks about how everything has changed.

"Jinshi must have finally gone back to being whoever he really was. Maomao didn't know his real name: she couldn't have used it even if she did. The worlds they lived in were simply too different…Anyway, now that Jinshi was no longer a eunuch, he couldn't get away with keeping some lowborn girl around him…So it was for the best, really, that Maomao had come back to the apothecary's shop in the pleasure district."

As Maomao ruminates to herself about how she will never see Jinshi again, she retreats to what she knows best - medicine. She's got her emotions under lock and key and she's begun experimenting, working on creating a more potent painkiller. However, her pain tolerance is too high to work with her previous methods.

Or, to lay the metaphor bare, Maomao has dealt with abandonment before, but not like this. Her usual methods aren't working - so it's time to up the ante. What she does next is extremely telling.

"'Got to cut deeper if I want to be sure'. Maomao looked at her left hand, then tied some string firmly around her pinky. She stood and took a small knife from a cabinet. 'Here goes!'

Just as she was about to bring the knife down, a beautiful voice interrupted her: 'WHAT are you doing?'

Without a word, she turned to see a man in an unusual mask standing in the entryway of the shop…'Done with all your work?' Maomao asked, undoing the string around her finger and putting the knife back in the cabinet."

The thought that she and Jinshi are now living in such different worlds that they will never see each other again is painful enough that cutting her finger off in a thinly justified experiment is preferable to feeling her own emotions. What Maomao wants in this moment is a return to the emotional numbness of the past - only this time, she will do the damage herself.

But Jinshi is not Lakan and abandoning Maomao for any reason is simply not an option. Just as he caught her on the wall, Jinshi catches her again. A prince is standing in an apothecary shop on the edges of the red-light district, a place where he should not be - except for the fact that it's where Maomao is.

Connection and Communication

Finally, as a callback toward the end of light novel six, Jinshi and Maomao are beginning to reconnect after Jinshi screwed up and lost a lot of emotional ground in light novel five's epilogue, and he does the following.

"She reached out for the package, which Jinshi had put behind his back, but he planted a palm on her belly to keep her from sitting up and she couldn't reach it. She kicked her legs from sheer frustration and this time he grabbed her ankle. She was just trying to decide what he might be planning when he brushed the tip of his pinky finger along the back of her foot.

'Hrk?!' Maomao choked, squirming...The back of her foot, and her back as well, were hopelessly vulnerable to a gentle brush of the fingers.

'M-Master Jinshi...That's...not...fair!'"

While Jinshi is still the instigator in this scene, this is the the first instance of romantic and sexual contact that Maomao accepts, eventually bursting out laughing - and when he gets that laughter, Jinshi also immediately backs off, accepting that he has pushed her as far as she can go right now. But that first contact was via that tiny fingertip representing love.

His hard-learned patience is rewarded when Maomao is finally willing to speak to Jinshi about how she's feeling about his desire to marry her, first obliquely as they discuss the plot of a very familiar tragic romance, before she addresses the issue directly.

"Instead of answering, she murmured, 'I don't want to be an enemy.' Jinshi gave her a sidelong look as if to ask whose enemy she meant. 'To Empress Gyokuyou,' she said.

Would Jinshi understand what she was saying? If not, that was fine, Maomao thought. There were things even he didn't know.

'You - '

He seemed about to ask her something else when a horse whinnied outside..."

Maomao may be hesitant, she may feel very confused, but she finally gives Jinshi something to work with here - communicating to him not that she simply doesn't care about him that way, but that she has a very real, concrete fear about what a romantic relationship with him would mean, not only for them, but for everyone else around them.

That's a lot to balance on the tip of a pinky.

#kusuriya no hitorigoto #the apothecary diaries #maomao #character analysis #jinshi and maomao #jinshi x maomao #jinshi #long text post #apothecary diaries meta #jinmao

[tiza0925]

Hi!...umm could you pls do a NSFW tanjiro x reader where reader starts to get jealous of kanao bcos kanao has started to gain feeling for tanjiro and has been trying to get close with him but she doesn't know that reader and tanjiro are secretly dating so reader ends up distancing herself from everyone and when tanjiro confronts reader they end up in a mating press+overstimulation and a bit breeding kink 😳

(Pls don't get me wrong I luv Kanao but I haven't seen any fanfictions like this and I'm sorry if this request is too much)😅

Take care 😊

only you | 18+

Warnings/Tags: nsfw, explicit sexual content, jealous!reader, afab/female reader, unprotected sex, mating press, creampie, breeding kink, reassurance, Tanjiro loves you so much, multiple orgasms (implied), overstimulation, soft!dom Tanjiro, ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS ARE AGED UP AND OVER 18 YEARS-OLD

Pairing: Tanjiro Kamado x Female Reader

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

You feel two thick fingers shove inside your mouth, the fingertips hooking onto your bottom teeth to pull your head forward to look into sinful red eyes. 

You blink blearily, tears blur your vision, and you choke with a sob as drool drips down the corners of your mouth. 

“Already crying?” You hear Tanjiro murmur, voice sweet and low, a huge contrast to the brutal thrusts he’s been giving you—fucking your sore cunt with the intent to make you pass out. “Too much for you now, hm?”

You suck in a sharp breath, moaning around his fingers, and your eyes roll back when Tanjiro leans in to have his head near your ear—causing his cock to sink in deeper that you swear you feel him in your throat. 

“I’m sorry, love, but you’ll have to hold on for a little longer,” His voice rumbles against you, rolling through your ear as his lips graze the shell of your ear. “I still need to cum inside you, okay?” 

If you weren’t currently getting fucked to the point where you can feel Tanjiro’s dick in your soul and your mind wasn’t a puddle of liquid pleasure—

You would probably laugh at yourself for being in the situation you’re in at the very moment. 

Because none of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for Kanao.

And now you’re torn between still wanting to be mad at Kanao and also wanting to give her a hug of gratitude for getting Tanjiro like this. 

Not because Kanao directly told Tanjiro to fuck you like he’s some madman. 

Instead, funnily enough, it was Kanao who was the one that wanted Tanjiro for herself. 

It was obvious with the way you’d watch her laugh at his jokes that weren’t even that funny sometimes. 

Or the way you’ve noticed Kanao would leave light touches on Tanjiro’s hand and arm—brief but still giving the message that she wants more from him—whenever you were all out on the field training. 

You’ve seen the way Kanao looked at Tanjiro. 

And honestly—you don’t blame her. 

Tanjiro is an attractive guy. 

Not only in his face but his demeanor, how polite he is. Smart, funny, and god—have you seen him without a shirt? 

So you get why Kanao acts that way—even more recently, now, as Tanjiro started to train more and grew a little taller. 

It’s why you’re dating him, in the first place. 

But nobody knows that. 

You two didn’t want to get in trouble—dating within the Corps wasn’t allowed. 

But you guys couldn’t help it. 

He liked you, and you didn’t want to lose out on the chance of having him to yourself. 

The only issue with keeping your relationship with Tanjiro a secret—

Is that people, like Kanao, will try to get with him instead. 

Because in their eyes—he’s single. 

In Kanao’s eyes—Tanjiro is available for her. 

And at first—you didn’t care. 

You both knew what would happen once you kept this relationship a secret. 

People will still flirt—it happened to you many times by other guys. 

But you were always polite to let them down—made up some lie about wanting to focus on becoming a better slayer and all. 

And Tanjiro said the same thing to Kanao once before—and she listened. 

Admired him from far away. 

And you were okay with that. 

Until—

Until Kanao started to get handsy. Gradually.  

Until her small crush developed into something more for Tanjiro—and she wasn’t so subtle about it anymore. 

You were okay with it until Kanao and Tanjiro got a little closer—and you had to sit back with your teeth pinching your tongue, watching and doing nothing about it. 

And over time—it got to you. 

It’s not that you don’t trust Tanjiro—because this man has done nothing but respect and show you immense trust and security in your relationship. 

And he never flirted with Kanao back. 

But that doesn’t mean you trust Kanao. 

Not when Tanjiro is, in general, a really nice guy. 

Nice to the point where Kanao can mistake it for flirting. 

And if you couldn’t say anything about it—because what can you say without blowing your guys’ secret? 

‘Hey, stop flirting with Tanjiro because—‘ 

Because what? You like him?

That he’s yours? 

It was futile and you hated it. 

…Hence, why you started to distance yourself. 

From a few others at first. 

But then it started to turn into you making an excuse to not talk to Tanjiro. 

That distancing turned into you avoiding him as much as you can. 

Because it hurt. 

You can’t flirt with Tanjiro in public as Kanao can 

And honestly—you genuinely thought you would get away with this whole ‘distancing thing'. 

It even got to the point where you thought that you and Tanjiro's relationship could possibly be over. 

And wouldn’t that be amazing for Kanao, huh? 

But then Tanjiro confronted you about it one night—and that…

That was something. 

The door to your dorm closes behind him as you both walk in, and it’s deadly silent. 

The tension is so thick that you can cut a knife through it, but you don’t say anything.

And for a moment—it remains silent. 

Just waiting for something to drop, to set off the bomb that’s been ticking for a while, now. 

And—

And then you hear Tanjiro let out a tired sigh, and you turn to see him rub a hand over his face as he looks at you, confused. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong, now?” 

Your eyes widen, and surprise flashes through your pupils as you swallow hard, playing dumb as you avert your gaze. “There’s nothing wrong.” 

He lets out a derisive snort, sarcasm lacing his words “Really?” 

“Yes, really,” Your voice comes out flat, and you walk towards your bed while taking off your shirt. “You should go, I’m tired.” 

A lie. 

One that Tanjiro immediately detects as he shakes his head and follows you. “Not until we talk this out first.” 

That’s the thing that also made you fall for him—is how big he is on communication. 

It’s something you generally love about him—except for this very moment. 

Because talking about how stupidly jealous you are will get you emotional—you can already feel the damn lump beginning to form in your throat. 

You try to ignore him as you set up the bed, sniffling. “There’s nothing to talk about.” 

Tanjiro huffs out a breath, his voice soft and pleading. “Don’t lie to me.”

You purse your lips, your teeth clenching. “You should go rest.” 

You feel him closer behind you, his body heat near yours, and his voice is so confused. “Was it something I said?” 

The breath you let out is shaky, feeling guilty for making him think he’s at fault here. 

Because he’s not but emotions are a bitch and it’s starting to get to you. 

You swallow thickly. “No.” 

Another step closer to you. 

“Was it something someone else said?” 

Your voice is a little strained. “…No.” 

“Did someone do something? Did I do something—?”

And at this point—something kind of just…snaps. 

“I don’t know,” You don’t mean to have any bite in your words, but you’re just so frustrated and overwhelmed and feel so stupid for the way you’re acting that it all just hits you at once as you sniffle, your voice cracking. “Why don’t you go ask your little girlfriend, Kanao?”

And then—

Everything turns silent. 

You can hear the soft ringing in your ears right after you say that. 

You can feel your heart thumping rapidly with regret flushing your cheeks and your stomach drops. 

Fuck. 

You didn’t mean to say that out loud. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck—

You feel a rough hand wrap around your wrist, and the next thing you know—

You’re being spun around—and your vision is instantly met with big, red eyes. 

And your breath hitches in your throat soon after when you take in Tanjiro’s expression because—

He doesn’t look mad at you. 

He looks…worried. 

Almost regretful in a way. 

“That’s what this is all about?” 

He asks, sounding incredulous and confused, looking at you patiently for you to answer. 

God—you feel so irrational now—

“I…” You start, not sure what to say with the way he’s looking at you like that, and you gulp. “…It’s not—”

“Oh, love,” Tanjiro sighs. Low and heavy—full with understanding once he takes a good look at you—and his eyebrows crinkle with focus as he brings you closer to him—tucking your head under his chin as he wraps his arms, full of muscles and warmth, around you. “You have no reason to be jealous of her, you know.” 

Your lower lip wobbles. “I know—”

“But,” He stops you, and you let out a shaky breath, “I’m sorry for not realizing it sooner.” 

Fuck.

You close your eyes, feeling guilty for even making him have to say that because—

“It’s not your fault,” You mutter, but Tanjiro simply shakes his head, sounding firm. 

 “No, I should’ve made stricter boundaries with Kanao—which I will do when I see her.” 

“I don’t want to tell you what to do with your friends, though.” 

Tanjiro frowns and tips his chin down to give your forehead an achingly gentle kiss, mumbling against your head. “How you feel is more important to me.”

Well, that’s just not fair. 

You both stay like that for a bit—simply hugging and being in the other’s arms. 

It’s silent again but this time it’s comfortable. 

But then at some point—

“Hey,” Reluctantly, you lift your head to look at him, and Tanjiro’s eyes soften as he gives your lips a soft, gentle kiss. “You’re the only one I want, you know.” 

You whimper, feeling a small shiver crawl up your spine. 

He guides your mouth open with his, his warm tongue sliding against your lower lip. “You’re the only one I want to kiss.” 

His hands on you grow firmer, almost possessive, as he pulls you closer to him—and you let out a small moan. 

He kisses you so deeply that you feel it in your bones, and he starts to walk you towards the bed—the bend of your knees hitting the edge, causing your back to fall and land on the soft cushion beneath. 

And he follows, holding you close to him, his mouth traveling to your ear and giving it a small nip, his voice rough against you, “You’re the only one I want to be inside of, too.” 

God. 

You feel yourself throb and you throw your arms around his neck as your legs wrap around him—kissing him back just as deeply, moaning into his mouth because this is the Tanjiro that you want. 

This is what you need from him right now. 

…Which is how, moments later, you end up the way you are right now. 

Cheeks red and shiny from tears. 

Your head foggy and ready to explode. 

Body so exhausted and numb from the way he’s been fucking you—holding you down with your legs thrown over his shoulders, nearly bending you in half as he presses your legs against your chest—

And he’s fucking you through your third orgasm, all while you cry around his fingers, clinging onto whatever your hands can find as Tanjiro pushes down on you—groaning at just how pretty you look. 

“Only made for me, love,” Tanjiro breathes heavily, kissing one of your tears, before looking back at you with a small grin. “You take me so well.”

You whine, and he pulls his fingers out of your mouth—your saliva shiny on his fingers—and he uses the same hand to wrap around your neck, putting one of your most vulnerable parts into his hand. 

“And I’m gonna make sure I get you all full with my cum.” 

That’s another thing about him. 

It’s the way he is in bed. 

He can be gentle but—

But there’s just this edge to him that makes your head spin and turn into mush. 

It’s the way he talks with words that sound sweet with the tone he uses, even if they’re filthy—as if each word has been dipped in sin-filled chocolate. 

It’s the way he fucks you with so much love and yet still manages to make you feel boneless and fucked stupid like some slut. 

And that little, spiteful, part of you grins—knowing that no one else gets to experience this side of him except you. 

Not even Kanao. 

He fucks you deep and slow, your fluids gushing out and getting both of you so wet that you can hear the sweet squelch of your pussy getting abused by his cock. 

Your clit is overstimulated from his body rubbing against it with every thrust—that your muscles tense and heat is constantly sparking in your lower belly.

He goes until he starts talking about breeding you—filling your sweet cunt with his cum and keeping it there until your belly is full with his babies and—

“God, love—”

And then you hear him groan, and Tanjiro kisses you as soon as his orgasm pushes through him—and he’s pumping his cum inside your pulsing cunt, filling you to the brim. 

It’s messy. 

You’re both so goddamn messy and out of breath by the time he cools down. 

But you don’t care. 

Even if your pussy is sore and wet and you know you’ll need a shower right after this—

And even if his breathing is heavy—hell, he feels heavy on top of you—

You like it. 

It’s welcoming. 

He kisses you again, this time slow and indulgent, and you feel yourself go numb at his words that get murmured right against you, “I’m all yours, okay?” 

End. 

Masterpost

#tanjiro smut #tanjiro kamado smut #kamado tanjirou smut #tanjirou kamado x reader smut #tanjiro x reader smut #tanjiro x y/n smut #tanjirou x y/n smut #tanjiro kamado x you smut #kamado tanjirou x reader smut #demon slayer smut #kimetsu no yaiba smut #kny smut #kny x reader smut #tanjirou x reader smut #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer

[byerseason]

my personal opinions on byler & mike’s character

most people believe mike is clueless or at least he just suspects will’s feelings. well, sometimes i agree with that but in general i think mike knows. actually he always knew. let’s look at everything from the beginning.

both mike and will always lived in a small town full of homophobia. we know will personally experienced homophobia from his dad and other people in hawkins. mike and will are friends since kindergarten and mike obviously witnessed all of these homophobia will went through. maybe mike experienced it too, we know ted said “see what happens?” for a reason. especially with lonnie, mike witnessed everything he did to will, we all know will shares everything with mike. so from their point of view, this thing called “homosexuality” is something really bad and all it causes is harm and hate. it’s something forbidden.

now let’s see what happened in all seasons. in season 1, a cool girl magically comes into mike’s life and shows interest in him. “you’re blind, because a girl is not grossed out by you” now mike has a chance to be normal like people expect him to be. and he’s a child, it’s not that deep. he can try. no deep feelings, no love, just be normal.

in season 2 this chance is taken away from mike leaving a trauma to him. after all, el was special and he cares for her so much. and the fact that she sacrificed herself just to save him and his friends is not something we can overlook. and adding to this trauma, something really bad is happening to will and they don’t even know what is it and how to fix it. he does his best, he never leaves his side because it’s something a good friend would do right? it wasn’t that forbidden thing the adults get angry about and it shouldn’t be. after el’s return and will being safe, mike had this chance again. el was here, she was incredible, a superhero who saved will and the world, and she was ready to be in a relationship with him. snowball scene was mike telling will “i’m moving on, you should move on too or we will get hurt by this.” because you know, these things always hurt will and nothing else.

in season 3, mike continues to this “moving on” as we can clearly see. this time a little bit grown up, or at least trying to grow up. distancing himself from will and all his friends, focusing on el all the time and for some reason not being able to maintain a friendship with will while dating el. this speaks volumes actually. it’s both him trying to be normal as expected and distancing himself from will to make sure he is normal too. to me that’s all the “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” scene. while mike is fighting back, will makes it harder for both of them without realizing it. i think -like everyone- the ending of season 3 was mike realizing it’s not working and it’s getting serious. he’s growing up, they’re growing up and everything is becoming clearer.

will and el moving to california was a new chance for mike. he ignored will, well at least he tried even though it’s clear he felt his absence especially in school, he didn’t reach out to him thinking maybe this is the chance for both of them to move on. and then el’s letter happened. mike thought will really did it, he moved on, he was able to move on while mike isn’t. if we think deeper, he is even working on a painting for her, something he used to do with mike. so yeah, will is normal, it worked for will, while mike is still dealing with this. when they reunite i think it was much more than just jealousy. disappointment, anger maybe? especially after he saw he brought the painting to the airport. apparently will wasn’t planning on giving all his attention to mike, who was visiting him after months, but he was planning to give the painting to the girl he likes, it was probably the reason of his excitement, not mike. so this is what makes mike want to focus on el more and ignore will during rinkomania scenes. when el mentions angela and will gives a reaction to this, mike is sure he was right and this day is about angela for will.

but he finds out he was wrong. well, the painting is still for a girl but at least he was wrong about angela. will was just upset because mike was being lied to, and he was hurt by mike being distant from him. this is what leads mike to sincerely apologize to will, as always. he always does that, if will says “where is dustin right now?” mike realizes his mistake and tries to fix it. if will says “we used to be best friends” mike realizes his mistake and offers to be best friends again. that’s all their dynamic about.

after mike and el’s fight, mike comes and explains what happened to will but it’s more like he is asking for an advice, he wants will to understand him. “it was a fight that you can’t come back from.” he wants will to agree but he doesn’t, this is when we start to understand mike’s inner struggles. he brings up this topic to will three times. none of these conversations are like two best friends giving each other relationship advices because mike never tells will what is the problem. for some reason he doesn’t want will to know he can’t tell her girlfriend that he loves her. we all know will and mike are sincere enough to tell these things to each other, they always do. but if he can’t, there must be a reason. maybe mike himself doesn’t know the answer either, maybe he doesn’t want will to understand his situation because he thinks will successfully moved on, who knows?

in the desert scene, he brings the topic up again, without mentioning what is “that thing”, but this time will seems like he understands. “sometimes, i think it’s just scary to open up like that, to say how you really feel, especially to the people you care about the most.” mike never mentioned he is struggling to say how he feels but will understand, he always did. this conversation would continue with mike opening up to will if it wasn’t interrupted, so mike brings it up once again for the third time, in the van scene.

this time he is being more open but he is still struggling to say one thing, which will completes for him “you’re scared of losing her.” well, mike was wrong. will wasn’t getting it until.. the painting scene. mike is not stupid, he knows will spent days working on it. he knows eleven doesn’t know about what this painting is about. he knows he doesn’t make el feel like “she is not a mistake at all” especially after their fight, remember that line from the script “she’s already beginning to understand she doesn’t need me, i saw it in her eyes” he knows el doesn’t need him, he knows will well enough to understand he is lying. the way he looks at will admiringly is him thinking “he didn’t move on, we’re still the same.” and also him being aware of what will is doing for him, breaking his own heart and sacrificing himself just to make mike feel better. also, he notices will is sobbing, he looks at him and even if he didn’t how could he not? he had tears in his eyes during all the monologue and he was sobbing right next to him. so is there any reason for mike to not say anything to his best friend sobbing next to him if he didn’t know the reason? the mike i know would immediately ask what was wrong if he was clueless. he knows why will is crying but he doesn’t know what to do about it. mike’s situation is pretty sad when you think about it, he probably feels like he’s stuck.

then we have the desert reunion scene. this time we clearly can see how stuck he feels between el and will, he doesn’t know how to get out of this without hurting any of them, and also himself. the way he looks at them looks like also him being afraid of damaging their bond.

then the monologue scene.. this scene may mean lots of different things, i am not sure either.

it may be mike being aware of what will is doing, how he is sacrificing himself once again, how mike is gonna have to lie and hurt everyone in the end, how the things are gonna be way more complicated or mike realizing he was wrong about thinking will has feelings for him.

my season 5 expectation is seeing a mike wheeler who stops fighting back and embraces his feelings, without hurting both of them.

that’s my point of view that changes almost everyday lol. i don’t know if there are many people who believes mike isn’t clueless so i wanted to share my thoughts. 💛

#byler #mike wheeler #will byers #byler endgame #byler analysis

[whalesforhands]

kaizen daycare! 2

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“(name)-sensei! Why’d you look so n-nerv—“ His little eyebrows furrow, tiny hand coming up to scratch his head in focused thought. “Nerv-y?”

(He promised Nanamin he would use a new word today.)

You giggle as you ruffle his hair. “That was a wonderful try, Yuuji-kun.” Two of your hands settle on his squishy cheeks as he stares up at you. “But I suppose I am a little nervous.”

Hmm… So that’s how it was pronounced! He’s gonna tell Nanamin he tried anyway. But… What’s causing you to be this way, though? That faraway look in your eyes is troubling him too… Oh!

“Didya forget to eat today, (name)-sensei?!” A pat to your knee as he stares up at you, all sparkly gaze and blushy cheeks with a smile that was overflowing with glowing excitement.

So cute. He reminds you of a blooming flower.

“Ahah, Yuuji-kun that’s not—“

Blonde, brunettes and raven-haired heads perk up at the little boy’s voice, their attention lost on the toys as they quickly start to trickle out of your sight and making a run for their cubbies. Are they-

“I got riceballs today!”

“Nanamin said he made me karaage!”

“Papa said our chara-bens are cute today too!”

“Daddy bought us kikufuku mochi for dessert!”

“Ahh, wait— Children-!” You realized a little too late.

It isn’t long before a clatter of bento boxes and a small assortment of various treats settle themselves in front of you, scattered into a small pile as the twins start pushing their treats forward a little more to make you notice it first.

“Mmm! (nwame)-swensei mwakes goodsh food!” Kugisaki Nobara finds herself being fed an adult’s lunch as she chews, her eyes closed in satisfaction and her feet kicking about as she continues to savour the taste of the food you were sharing with her.

(Sharing is an understatement. You’re surprised by how much she could eat, and how she was vacuuming up almost the entirety of your own packed lunch.)

“I’ll mwake sure to-“ She stops when she sees your stern gaze, not minding at all but taking the moment to swallow. “Forget my bento more off-then!” You only giggle as you shake your head in response, wiping off the grain of rice at the corner of her lips.

“Your grandma will be sad if you don’t eat her food often, Nobara-chan. You have to remember to bring it all the time, okay?”

“Mmm…” She’s still thinking as she watches your amused face, a hand on her cheek. “If (name)-sensei thinks so…” Her face breaks into a grin as she shows you a thumbs-up. “Okay!”

You hear several growls next to you. A turn of your head reveals the wanting gaze of the rest of your kids, all hungry ministrations of eating their own packed lunches stopped.

“Eh…?” The chopsticks in your hand have paused midair in bewilderment, wrist just in distance of Megumi as he makes a small grab for it, leading your utensil into his mouth as he noms down on the tamagoyaki you held.

“…it’s good…!” His eyes sparkle as he turns his head to face the growing pouts of his classmates, the rising jealousy not at all apparent to him as he feels you gently pry the chopsticks out of his mouth, a small tap to his nose in slight scolding that makes him nearly want to sneeze.

“Nanako wants some too!”

“M-mimiko as well!”

“I’m still hungry, (name)-sensei!”

“E-eh???? (name)-sensei was feeding me first!”

In the end, you had an empty lunch box and a very, very satisfied class of kids who had very full bellies that day.

(Are they trying to pay you back for that day? You’re really starting to think you have the sweetest kids to ever exist.)

“You all…” Megumi shifts closer to you, nestling himself on your lap as your hand goes up to support him, beginning to peek up at your face. You had started to tremble from where you sat on the floor of the foam-tiled play area, growing silent as the rest of the kids slowly crowded around you.

(Were they in trouble? Are you upset with them…? Please, please don’t be! They’re good kids!)

Megumi catches a glimmer forming at the corner of your eye, his small hands starting to grip onto your shirt and his green eyes starting to widen as he realizes that you’re cryi—

“Are so cute!” You’re already scooping them all into your arms, your face hot with gratuitous joy as you embrace the squealing kids close to you, enjoying their cuddly warmth and pats of your face.

(“Oh, but-” You begin to tut, staring down at the five kids squished together on your lap. “I have my own lunch today, kids.”

There’s a glower on their faces, disappointment and disheartened expressions clear and evident. It squeezes at your heart in guilt as the colorful plastic wrapping of one of the sweets is captured from the corner of your eye.

“B-but! It seems that I would need help clearing all these treats up!”)

——

You tiptoe out the room, gently shutting the door of the nap room behind you.

“Good work today.” Ieiri Shoko is sipping her second cup of coffee of the day as she appears behind you, clearly amused at your frazzled form after putting the children to sleep.

“There’s nothing good about today…” You’re sulking as you slump against the door, your knees bent as you let out a loud sigh.

A smirk appears on her face. “Why? Scared of being alone with a couple guys and their kids?” She heard the whole conversation. Perks of being one of the first few to arrive just to get some time to be alone with you.

Your feet shift nervously as you hands begin to fiddle with each other, a sigh escaping your lips as you lean back against the door. “You know I’m no good at being social, Shoko…”

You’re pouting at her as your cheeks start to warm from embarrassment. “What if they find me weird and unsettling and—“ You nearly want to scream. “What if they pull Megumi and the twins out of school because they think I’m unsuitable—“ You stop yourself. “But at the same time if they’ve moved into the neighborhood I’ll be running into them 24/7! If they find out I’m just some loser who stays at home all day and reads—“

You cough to cut yourself off at your spiel. Relax… You take in a deep breath as you finally start to calm. “And what if…” Your eyes flicker towards the ground. “They just… Don’t like me?”

A beat passes, and another.

Her eyes trail off to the side, letting the silence beat amongst the both of you. “They’ll like you like I love you, (name).” Her dark eyes meet yours, her steps stopping right before you as you catch the sight of her heels. “And if you’re so worried, you could always catch dinner with me instead as an excuse.”

(She would even call him up using the school register to tell him you can’t make it because your plant died or some other stupid excuse if that was what you wanted.)

“You’re so kind Shoko…!” You tackle her into a hug. “Your kindness precedes a being like me!” You pull back, glancing up at her blank, unimpressed gaze as you let a smile grace your face. “Jokes aside,” You scratch your cheek.

“I think it’s too late to even fully reject him now…”

You gulp nervously as the domineering man stood before you, all smiles and teeth and turned up eyes behind dark sunglasses that gleam with expectant want.

“I-I think that I have—“ Distance is closed in an instance, a towering frame leaning over you and breaking all boundaries of personal space.

“Y’know, the kids are gonna be super super excited once they find out we’re moving in next to ya!” Large porcelain hands reach up to grasp both of your own in his. “Won’tcha please come make them happy? Megumi and the twins talk about you lots, ya know? They even forget to eat sometimes when they get to tell us all about you.” There’s a cute pout on his face that makes your stomach swirl, your bewildered eyes starting to twirl as the scent of his cologne invades your nose…

(He’s so handsome… And so thoughtful of his kids… Ahh, you can feel your heart stutter…)

“I-I suppose I do have some free time today…!” He’s so close! If he leans down anymore, your lips would be—!

“Oho, that’s nice to hear, sensei!” A grin and a pat to your head. “We should have fully settled in by this afternoon, so I’ll come pick ya up after school, kay?” He pulls himself away (begrudgingly) as he pats his pockets for his car keys.

“O-oh, that’s not—“

“See ya later, sweetheart!” He’s practically already skipping out the door, sending you a salute and a wink as you stand there in stunned silence.

It looks like you have plans tonight with your neighbour… You turn towards the corridor before you pause in your steps abruptly, a small chill going up your spine.

Did you ever tell him your unit number…?

(Oh, you must’ve forgotten to close a window somewhere. No time to dawdle on your bad memory now when the kids’ health is at stake!)

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Notes:

You did actually go pretty hungry that day considering your lunch was fully consumed by 5 overeager toddlers. Shoko shared her convenience store sandwich with you.

Suguru heard the story of your shared lunch from Mimiko and used that as an excuse to talk recipes with you. Character-bentos are a popular topic between the both of you.

nvy’s aftertalk:

to all the anons who guessed that i was watching gakuen babysitters i am ashamed to admit that you are right i am a sucker for babies and cannot stop rewatching this dumb anime

#kdc au #jjk x reader #gojo satoru x reader #satosugu x reader #geto suguru x reader #geto x reader #gojo x reader

[zodiyack]

Little Loner

Pairing(s): Jace Wayland x fem!reader

Warnings: clary being jealous but then cupid??, I wrote this while sleep deprived, fluff at the end, Clary x Simon if you squint.

Words: 1,743

Author's Note: I finally finished the requests. Now have some drafts while I work on sequels and stuff <3

Masterlist | The Mortal Instruments Masterlist

Taglist: @matth1w, @redspaceace-writes, @fandom-puff, @darling-i-read it,  @simonsbluee,  @thewarriorprincessxo,  @sebastianstanslefteyebrow,  @livlaughquinn,  @bubsonnobx,  @bunnyweasley23

Jace leads Clary to Hodge, but hesitates when he sees an open door. He finds himself pausing to admire the scene, leaning on the door frame with a crooked smile. Clary moves to get a better view and is confused.

A girl sits in a windowsill, her pencil hitting the paper lightly as she sketches out the scenery outside the window. The light appears to angle just right, giving her an almost angelic presence. Black runes cover her skin, some disappearing to hide under her clothes.

Clary leans over to Alec and whispers. "Who is that?"

Alec simply nods a little. "Y/N. Jace has a thing for her, but he's never acted on it." Clary feels her heart break a little. "Shame, really. She likes him too, but they're both too stubborn to be the one to confess."

"Oh..."

"My advice," Alec looks between her and the room, "stay away from Jace."

He moves on before she can ask much else, walking along the halls and calling to Jace quietly. Jace is brought back to reality as he gives one last look into the room before venturing on.

"So, Y/N..." Clary tries.

She doesn't miss when Jace blushes slightly, "another Shadowhunter. She's been here a long time, however she really only talks to me."

"Why's that?"

He chuckles a little but shakes his head. "That's none of my business to tell. She's a great person when you get to know her though." That's all the information he gives before they reach their destination. He opens the door and gestures inside with a nod.

His expression stays neutral, stoic as he explains, "You may find Hodge a little eccentric, but he's one of the greatest Shadowhunters that's ever lived." He looks down at the cloth in her hand and his brows furrow. "Here, give me that."

She walks inside of the giant room, her body and eyes exploring. The two boys walk in after her. They watch her carefully. Despite her distance, Clary can still hear Jace and Alec by the door.

"Don't lead this one on while you pursue your little loner. You'll get her hopes up, and if she decides to stay...the rune to fix a broken heart is the most painful one." She could practically feel Jace roll his eyes.

"I'm not leading her on."

"Oh? Is that so? Because I don't normally go around flirting and being handsy with random people, Jace." Alec warned. "It's obvious, the way Clary looks at you. I'd tone down your 'lack of leading her on' before she gets the wrong idea."

The doors shut suddenly, causing Clary to flinch, and Alec storms off down the hall, leaving Jace to think over his words. The more he thought about it, the more he tried to deny it.

Jace opens the door, "The Silent Brothers are ready for her."

When Clary and Jace set off for their next location, she noticed a new companion had replaced Alec. It was the girl from before. The girl that Jace liked.

"I didn't expect you to be joining us..." She tries to make conversation, but Y/N barely acknowledges her.

"I admire your attempt, but she won't talk. Not unless she's comfortable with you." Jace smiles at the girl in question, who smiles to herself but stays quiet.

"How long would that take?"

"Patience is a virtue, Clary." Jokes Jace. "I suppose I was the first person who ever really tried, so there's not much to go off of. She's coming with us because I asked her too."

The redheaded girl can't help but glance between the two every now and then. She isn't sure whether she feels jealous or wants them to be together, but she can say one thing for sure; The tension was nauseatingly strong.

"Why didn't Hodge come with us?"

"He hasn't left the institute in years." Jace shrugs as he continues walking. "Some say it's a spell."

"He's agoraphobic." Y/N giggles at Clary's bluntness, leading to the ginger giving her a small smile. One she returned. They stop and turn, Jace crossing his arms while he waits.

"Is that him?" Clary asks.

Jace follows her gaze and shakes his head. "No, that's Harold, the groundskeeper." He tilts his head, leaning in a bit, "that's him."

She looks up a little and feels a small shiver of unease crawl up her spine. A comforting hand is felt on her shoulder, and she's met with Y/N's smile when she turns her head. The action leaves her wondering how obvious her discomfort was, but she still is thankful.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Clary looks to the two as though asking for help, but nods regardless. "We will help you to remember."

The trio follow the tall robed man, Clary a little more hesitant. Y/N turns, kind smile still standing, and lifts a finger to the middle of her lips. Clary nods and follows behind.

Along the way she trips, "Ow!"

Jace turns his head instantly, shushing her. "You'll wake the dead."

Clary rolls her eyes. She catches Y/N giving her an apologetic shrug, the girl nodding with her head to continue.

"I can't believe this place is just outside of the city..."

She follows the duo to the window like ledge they looked through. Jace's voice catches her off guard, "Welcome to the City of Bones." His breath is right next to her ear, sending her hairs to stand on their ends.

"This is where the Silent Brothers draw their power, from the bones and ashes of Shadowhunters."

"All of them are buried here?"

"Yes." Jace looks to the wall, "One day," he taps a skull, making Y/N giggle, the sound eliciting a smile to slide upon his pink lips, "that's gonna be me."

Clary stops to look at the skeleton. Sensing her unease, Y/N urges her forward with a light touch. Clary stops a few steps forward, inspecting the room from entryway.

"This is as far as we go." She looks at Jace, and he assures her, "You'll be fine."

"So you've done this before?"

Y/N and Jace exchange a glance. She dawns an apologetic look as shakes her head and Jace replies, "No."

Clary decides to continue to try and talk to Y/N, "Have you ever met Magnus Bane?"

The girl only shakes her head.

"You know... I'm quite jealous of you." Clary admits with a laugh. Y/N tilts her head in confusion, prompting Clary to continue. "I thought Jace was into me, and if I'm being honest, I'm really into him but... I'd be stupid to stand in your guys' way."

Her brows furrow, even more confused than before. Clary's hopes range from high to doubtful, there's a chance Alec was wrong, that she didn't have feelings for him, but she saw the way the two looked at each other. She might've been naïve and clouded in her conflicting feelings, but she wasn't blind.

"Jace likes you too. And honestly...you should go for it." She looks away, ashamed of her own assistance in helping the guy she liked be with someone else. However, she doesn't have time to mope, when a voice she hasn't heard before causes her to snap her eyes back to Y/N's face.

"Is it that obvious?" A shy expression, laced with a little embarrassment, greets her.

"You-"

"I talk, yes." She chuckles. "Jace wasn't lying. I mostly talk to him, but after I realized my feelings for him, I started to confide in Alec. My only problem was that I didn't realize Alec also had feelings for Jace... But, Alec saw how much I love Jace, and told me that he had found interest in someone else. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but, my feelings for Jace have always been around since then. I'm just...not too sure what to do about it."

Clary nods understandingly, and places her hand atop Y/N's. "Talk to him."

Y/N thinks about it for moment, and then nods. "Thank you."

"Hey. Can we talk?" Jace turns, nodding when he realizes it's Y/N. The blond looks around the infirmary, making sure Simon and Clary are accounted for one more time before he returns to facing her. He follows her to the study, sitting beside her on the piano seat.

"What's wrong?"

Her fingers press into the keys, a slow recollection of a piece by Bach. "It's nothing... I spoke to Clary-'

"You talked to Clary?" Y/N giggles at his dumbfounded expression. "M'sorry, that just caught me a little off-guard, you don't normally talk to anyone else."

"That's fair. Basically, she gave me some advice to a problem I have, not that I asked her for it- she actually noticed it- anyways, after Simon and the vampires and everything- I guess- my point is, Jace..."

"Yes?" His eyes were laced with concern, no longer amused by her sudden socializing.

"I like you. Like, really really like like you." She bit her lip. "Like...I'm in love with you."

Y/N stared at Jace, waiting for his answer. She grew nervous as time started to feel slower. The seconds felt like they were snail's paced, so close yet so far away. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her heartbeat rang in her ears. It was all so overwhelming until-

"I'm in love with you too."

"You what?"

Jace smiled shyly. "I'm in love with you too. I've been for a long time now." His eyes trace over her lips, the distance between them closing gradually. He hovers above her lips when his eyes meet hers again.

It's all in slow motion and superspeed at the same time. She lets go of control and lets her instincts take the reigns. Her lips crash into his and he lets out a surprised groan. Their eyes both close as they kiss one another, their lips partaking in a dance they somehow know. By the time they pull apart, they're out of breath and their eyes are blown.

"How long?"

She blinks. "Pardon?"

"How long have you been waiting to do that?"

"If I'm being honest, a month or so after we met. What about you?" Y/N giggles.

"Since we first met."

Clary leans against the door, heart half broken and half full, yet content with herself. Maybe she should look into what Simon's benefits are.

#x reader #jace wayland x reader #jace herondale x reader #jace wayland #jace herondale #jamie campbell bower #jamie bower #jamie bower x reader #jamie campbell bower x reader #reader insert #shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #city of bones #zodiyack #imagine #i need him