#but these are some of my favourite books and I'm still upset when I get reminded how badly they were treated in the recent adaptation

[thunderboltfire]

I have a lot of complicated feelings when it comes to what Neflix has done with the Witcher, but my probably least favourite is the line of argumentation that originated during shitstorms related to the first and second season that I was unlucky to witness.

It boils down to "Netflix's reinterpretation and vision is valid, because the Witcher books are not written to be slavic. The overwhelming Slavic aestetic is CDPR's interpretation, and the setting in the original books is universally European, as there are references to Arthurian mythos and celtic languages" And I'm not sure where this argument originated and whether it's parroting Sapkowski's own words or a common stance of people who haven't considered the underlying themes of the books series. Because while it's true that there are a lot of western european influences in the Witcher, it's still Central/Eastern European to the bone, and at its core, the lack of understanding of this topic is what makes the Netflix series inauthentic in my eyes.

The slavicness of the Witcher goes deeper than the aestetics, mannerisms, vodka and sour cucumbers. Deeper than Zoltan wrapping his sword with leopard pelt, like he was a hussar. Deeper than the Redanian queen Hedvig and her white eagle on the red field.

What Witcher is actually about? It's a story about destiny, sure. It's a sword-and-sorcery style, antiheroic deconstruction of a fairy tale, too, and it's a weird mix of many culture's influences.

But it's also a story about mundane evil and mundane good. If You think about most dark, gritty problems the world of Witcher faces, it's xenophobia and discrimination, insularism and superstition. Deep-seated fear of the unknown, the powerlessness of common people in the face of danger, war, poverty and hunger. It's what makes people spit over their left shoulder when they see a witcher, it's what makes them distrust their neighbor, clinging to anything they deem safe and known. It's their misfortune and pent-up anger that make them seek scapegoats and be mindlessly, mundanely cruel to the ones weaker than themselves.

There are of course evil wizards, complicated conspiracies and crowned heads, yes. But much of the destruction and depravity is rooted in everyday mundane cycle of violence and misery. The worst monsters in the series are not those killed with a silver sword, but with steel. it's hard to explain but it's the same sort of motiveless, mundane evil that still persist in our poorer regions, born out of generations-long poverty and misery. The behaviour of peasants in Witcher, and the distrust towards authority including kings and monarchs didn't come from nowhere.

On the other hand, among those same, desperately poor people, there is always someone who will share their meal with a traveller, who will risk their safety pulling a wounded stranger off the road into safety. Inconditional kindness among inconditional hate. Most of Geralt's friends try to be decent people in the horrible world. This sort of contrasting mentalities in the recently war-ridden world is intimately familiar to Eastern and Cetral Europe.

But it doesn't end here. Nilfgaard is also a uniquely Central/Eastern European threat. It's a combination of the Third Reich in its aestetics and its sense of superiority and the Stalinist USSR with its personality cult, vast territory and huge army, and as such it's instantly recognisable by anybody whose country was unlucky enough to be caught in-between those two forces. Nilfgaard implements total war and looks upon the northerners with contempt, conscripts the conquered people forcibly, denying them the right of their own identity. It may seem familiar and relevant to many opressed people, but it's in its essence the processing of the trauma of the WW2 and subsequent occupation.

My favourite case are the nonhumans, because their treatment is in a sense a reminder of our worst traits and the worst sins in our history - the regional antisemitism and/or xenophobia, violence, local pogroms. But at the very same time, the dilemma of Scoia'Tael, their impossible choice between maintaining their identity, a small semblance of freedom and their survival, them hiding in the forests, even the fact that they are generally deemed bandits, it all touches the very traumatic parts of specifically Polish history, such as January Uprising, Warsaw Uprising, Ghetto Uprising, the underground resistance in WW2 and the subsequent complicated problem of the Cursed Soldiers all at once. They are the 'other' to the general population, but their underlying struggle is also intimately known to us.

The slavic monsters are an aestetic choice, yes, but I think they are also a reflection of our local, private sins. These are our own, insular boogeymen, fears made flesh. They reproduce due to horrors of the war or they are an unprovoked misfortune that descends from nowhere and whose appearance amplifies the local injustices.

I'm not talking about many, many tiny references that exist in the books, these are just the most blatant examples that come to mind. Anyway, the thing is, whether Sapkowski has intended it or not, Witcher is slavic and it's Polish because it contains social commentary. Many aspects of its worldbuilding reflect our traumas and our national sins. It's not exclusively Polish in its influences and philosophical motifs of course, but it's obvious it doesn't exist in a vacuum.

And it seems to me that the inherently Eastern European aspects of Witcher are what was immediately rewritten in the series. It seems to me that the subtler underlying conflicts were reshaped to be centered around servitude, class and gender disparity, and Nilfgaard is more of a fanatic terrorist state than an imposing, totalitarian empire. A lot of complexity seems to be abandoned in lieu of usual high-fantasy wordbuilding. It's especially weird to me because it was completely unnecessary. The Witcher books didn't need to be adjusted to speak about relevant problems - they already did it! The problem of acceptance and discrimination is a very prevalent theme throughout the story! They are many strong female characters too, and they are well written. Honestly I don't know if I should find it insulting towards their viewers that they thought it won't be understood as it was and has to be somehow reshaped to fit the american perpective, because the current problems are very much discussed in there and Sapkowski is not subtle in showing that genocide and discrimination is evil. Heck, anyone who has read the ending knows how tragic it makes the whole story.

It also seems quite disrespectful, because they've basically taken a well-established piece of our domestic literature and popular culture and decided that the social commentary in it is not relevant. It is as if all it referenced was just not important enough and they decided to use it as an opportunity to talk about the problems they consider important. And don't get me wrong, I'm not forcing anyone to write about Central European problems and traumas, I'm just confused that they've taken the piece of art already containing such a perspective on the popular and relevant problem and they just... disregarded it, because it wasn't their exact perspective on said problem.

And I think this homogenisation, maybe even from a certain point of view you could say it's worldview sanitisation is a problem, because it's really ironic, isn't it? To talk about inclusivity in a story which among other problems is about being different, and in the same time to get rid of motifs, themes and references because they are foreign? Because if something presents a different perspective it suddenly is less desirable?

There was a lot of talking about the showrunners travelling to Poland to understand the Witcher's slavic spirit and how to convey it. I don't think they really meant it beyond the most superficial, paper-thin facade.

#The witcher #Sorry if its convoluted I just got reminded of something and it made me a little angry #and as I had this conversation a lot of times I've decided to put it into written text #sorry about being bitter #but these are some of my favourite books and I'm still upset when I get reminded how badly they were treated in the recent adaptation #I'm not saying you should never change anything #But it's good to have enough background to understand why some things are the way they are in the original #and to understand what the source material is about #we don't talk about particular character's looks or something (altough I feel they could care more about it too) #but central themes tropes and motifs #long post #it may seem like I'm talking from a high horse here #people are welcome to interpret literature however they want #Nobody has a monopol on themes #I just think that in this particular case the cultural context influences the worldbuilding #and if changed it doesn't have the same impact anymore #meta

[evermoresqueiswriting]

the one where clarisse learns about her love language

"Late in the night, the city's asleep Your love is a secret I'm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep Change my priorities The taste of your lips is my idea of luxury" - King Of My Heart, Taylor Swift

summary: after getting hurt during one game of capture de flag, clarisse gets taken care of by you and after this, clarisse went from never being at the infirmary to being there almost every day with a new injury. weird for an ares kid to get this easily injured, but you didn't mind

pairing: clarisse la rue x apollo!reader

word count: 6.2k i suddenly lost the ability to write shorter fics bruh

tags: fluff, clarisse fell first and harder

masterlist // ask box

No one at camp had a job at camp per say. Hephaestus kids were the ones forging the weapons campers used, and Demeter kids sometimes cooked dinner. And some Apollo kids – including yourself – were the designated healers at camp. So, it wasn’t your job, per say, to stay at the infirmary all day long, but you were. 

You enjoyed the calm and serenity of that place. The sun always shined through the windows, and you could sunbathe all day long, while listening to your favourite songs or painting. Most of the time it was quiet, except when Will followed you there. He was a rather loud kid, he loved to ask questions and learn about everything you did. 

“Shouldn’t you be playing with other kids your age instead of trying to work here?” 

“Shouldn’t you be socialising with kids your age instead of working for free?” Will replied in the same tone. 

“Rude!” 

“I learned from the best,” he gave you a pat on the shoulder. 

“I regret it. All the time,” you turned away. “If you’re gonna stay here, at least help me clean this place.”

The first time Will tried to help you clean this place, it was a disaster. Before you ran the infirmary, it wasn’t organised, everything was just laying around. Then you came in, and cleaned up the place, and organised it how you liked it. Will didn’t know that, so he just cleaned up like he thought was fine. It wasn’t. And you had lectured him about never – ever – touching anything again without you being there. 

“Tomorrow’s Capture the Flag,” Will started. “They put really far from the flag and the fight, again,” he frowned. 

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It always happens when the Ares cabin is teaming up with us. They’re always leading the fight.”

“Well they are good,” you shrugged. “But you know you can talk to Lee about this, he’s our head counsellor and he could talk to Clarisse.”

He shook his head. 

“Clarisse is kinda scary,” Will admitted. 

“Did I never tell you to never judge a book by its cover,” you put your hands on your hips, “but in that case you’re right. Clarisse does scare me a little bit too. And I’m kinda glad she decided to put me far away from her this time.”

Will rolled his eyes, clearly still upset. 

“Okay, I can see how this isn’t great,” you sighed. “If for the next one, we’re still teaming up with the Ares cabin, I’ll talk to Lee and Clarisse alright?”

He nodded. Hopefully, you weren’t going to team up with the Ares cabin anytime soon. You never talked to Clarisse, but you knew who she was. Everyone knew her. Ares daughter, head counsellor and incredibly scary. She was an amazing fighter, and no one wanted to be at the other end of her spear. 

“I’m just saying,” you ranted to Lee at dinner, “Will is a kid and it sucks that you decided to exclude him.”

“Who’s ‘you’,” he inquired. “Clarisse was the brain behind everything. She’s the strategist.”

“And what are you? A plant? You were there when the strategy was being made,” you argued.

“But Will never said anything to me. It’s always been this way.”

“Well he told me, and I’m telling you. Please pass along this information if we ever get teamed up with the Ares cabin again,” you smiled.

“Sure,” Lee nodded. “You’re the boss.”

“‘m not,” you mumbled and kept on eating. 

Lee was the Apollo cabin’s head counsellor. But really, you were his co-head counsellor. You have been at camp for a long time now, since the age of ten and you have always been a year-rounder at camp. But when the head counsellor spot freed up, you vouched for Lee. He wanted that position, he deserved it, and you agreed. But he always came for advice and your opinion. 

Capture the Flag day finally arrived, and you were getting ready, putting your armour on. You picked your bow and slid it on your shoulder, before leaving your cabin. You joined your team – the red one – and everyone was there already. Clarisse stood tall and proud at the front, planting her spear next to her. 

“Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged,” Chiron announced – like every single time. “Killing or maiming is not allowed.”

“Much to my regret,” Dionysus mumbled. “So yeah, let the game begin or whatever.”

Clarisse turned around, waved her hand around and people were running to their assigned position. You were on flag duty. On top of the hill that had a perfect view of your flag. If you saw anyone from the opposite side you'd shoot explosive arrows to blind and confuse them for a second, so your team had time to disarm them before they could reach your flag. 

You looked around, and spotted Michael and Lee. Chatting, and looking around. Moving on. Ares' kids were fighting some kids from the Hephaestus cabin. Logic. And then you spotted Clarisse. Walking alone through the forest. Probably to the other side where the blue flag was. 

But then you also spotted a group of three Athena kids – blue team – following her closely. Clarisse wasn’t stupid, she probably knew about them following her. 

“What are you watching?” someone asked, startling you. 

“Will! What are you doing here?”

“There wasn’t anyone around the borders, so I came to help you. So what are you staring at?”

“Nothing,” you shrugged, going back to monitor your flag. 

Will stared at you, huffed and went to look at what you were looking at. 

“y/n?,” Will called for you. 

“What?” you didn’t look at him.

“y/n!”

“What?” you gave him a quick glance. 

“Something’s wrong.”

That caught your attention. You looked back at where Clarisse was. She seemed fine. The three Athena kids were no longer there though. 

“What?”

“Don’t you see the trap?”

“What trap?” you frowned, looking more closely at where she stood. 

It was a particularly sunny day. If your dad wasn’t Apollo, you’d be blinded by the sun rays. But your dad was Apollo, so you were doing great. And there it was. The trap. It was so bright, it was hard to spot it. And the Athena kids knew that. So when Clarisse walked over it, it was too late and something came flying toward her. 

“What the hell?” you cursed before running down the hill. “Stay here,” you warned Will. 

Before you left, you gave a quick glance back, and Clarisse was down, surely unconscious. 

“Fuck.”

You sprinted towards where she was when you heard the emergency horn. The emergency horn that Chiron played at the start of every summer so campers would know what that sound meant. A warning for campers that the game stopped. When you reached Clarisse, Chiron and Mr D were already there. As well as most campers. 

“What happened?” campers talked among themselves.

“Move!” you pushed the kids blocking you from reaching Clarisse. 

Clarisse was bleeding from her forehead, and a metal stick was stuck in her left shoulder. It was overwhelming, people squeezing in to see what was going on, talking to each other. Even Chiron and Mr D couldn’t keep them in place. You kneeled beside Clarisse, trying to shield her from the campers, when you spotted one of the Athena kids that was following her earlier. 

You stood swiftly, without leaving Clarisse unattended and grabbed his armour with both hands to bring him closer.

“You take another step toward Clarisse again and I’ll make sure you won’t ever, ever, see another healthy day again. I’ll make sure you and your brothers will wake everyday in pain wishing you were dead instead,” you cursed him. 

You spoke in a low voice, but everyone heard. Just like that, everyone took a step back.

“y/n,” Chiron put his hand on your shoulder. “You’re needed in the infirmary, I’ll bring Clarisse there.”

You let him go, took your armour off and threw it on the ground before walking to the infirmary with your brothers close behind you. Michael had great healing skills too, so you’d need him. Will was learning so he stayed with you. Lee, as your head counsellor, also had to be here somehow. 

“Can you really do that?” Will asked timidly. “Make them sick forever.”

“Apollo kids can inherit dad’s plague powers,” Lee stated. “But it’s rare, and never that powerful.”

Will stared at you, but you only stared at the door. Waiting for Chiron to arrive. 

“Why are you so worried about Clarisse of all people,” Michael huffed. 

Lee slapped his arm. 

“What!” Michael rubbed his arm. 

“Great to know that’s what you’d think if we were ever on the battlefield,” you noted, “choosing who to help and who can die.”

“That’s not what I said!” he shouted.

“Then why shouldn’t I be worried about an injured camper, who just happened to be Clarisse?” you shouted back.

Someone cleared their throat. You both stopped bickering. Chiron. He put Clarisse on the bed next to the window and stepped back so you and Michael could start working. You didn’t need to talk to know what to do. You trained together, as a team, for years, so everything was done flawlessly and quickly. 

“She should be fine,” you announced, “I’ll stay and feed her ambrosia for the next few days and she should wake.”

“Great,” Chiron nodded, relieved. “Great work you two, as usual.”

They all left, except for Will and you both sat on the couch. You stared at Clarisse, with her head wrapped in a bandage, her shoulder too. 

“She doesn’t look so scary now huh,” you said. 

“No,” Will agreed. “So it really was the Athena cabin?”

“I don’t know, I mean I saw them. I don’t think Annabeth would’ve agreed to such a plan. As in a plan that’d almost kill their opponent in Capture the Flag. For a real quest, why not. But Capture the Flag?”

“What’s going to happen to those who pulled this stunt?”

“Well,” you sighed, “knowing Chiron, he’d probably just revoke their dessert privileges for two weeks instead of one. But I’m sure once she wakes up, she’ll know what to do.”

“Kill them?” Will ask, with a horrified expression.

“Maybe,” you shrugged. 

Will left first, leaving you alone with Clarisse. You told him you’d join him later when dinner would come. You went to see Clarisse. The bandages were already soaked, so you carefully removed them. You carefully cleaned her wounds again before bandaging them again. You fed her a tiny amount of ambrosia before joining the rest of your siblings for dinner. 

Before the feast could begin, Chiron gave a speech about how Capture the Flag wasn’t the place to settle personal accounts and that maiming and killing was forbidden. And how this time it went too far. 

“I’ve talked to the head counsellor in question, and it will be taken seriously. There will be consequences, and I don’t ever want to see this happening ever again.”

Campers nodded along, and went back to their table. You devoured your food in no time, not forgetting to leave some for the offering. Then you rushed to shower and clean your face before running to the infirmary where you’d spend the next few nights. 

“I really hope you’ll wake soon,” you told unconscious Clarisse. “I’m not used to having someone else in here.”

You walked around, putting things back where they’re supposed to, and walked back to where Clarisse was. Then you stood again, and sat.

“I’m crazy. A few hours with someone who doesn’t talk to me and I’m going insane,” you sighed. “Well, while we’re here, I have a few things to say, to get off my chest really,” you started your rant. “You know Will, my little brother. Well, Will is capable of holding his own, he can fight… maybe not your siblings, cause you’re all very, very, violent. But you don’t have to put him this far away each time you know, he notices.

“I’m saying,” you rested your back against the bed, “it could be different, you could come up with a different kind of strategy. It works for sure, you win a lot, but we could win in a different way also. 

“You know I saw you,” you continued after a moment. “Being followed by these idiots. I thought you knew, and–,” you paused. “Ugh I should’ve tried to protect you. Warn you. It was my job. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? And it was hot as hell, you could’ve felt a little dizzy and I should’ve–”

“Shut up,” Clarisse wheezed. 

You whipped around, standing up before backing away. 

“Ar– Clarisse?” you whispered. “Are you feeling alright?” you walked to her. 

Her eyes were still closed, she frowned and shook her head slightly. 

“Waw, Ares kids are tougher than I thought,” you mumbled to yourself. 

You went to grab some water and a straw, and sat next to Clarisse, on the bed. 

“You should drink a bit.”

She opened her eyes, and stared at you, with a blank expression. You blinked, and smiled, holding up the straw to her mouth. You frowned when she refused to drink. 

“Drinking water is good for you,” you added. “Please stop staring at me like you want to murder me.”

She rolled her eyes and drank everything before closing her eyes again, and turning her head on the other side. 

“Well, I’ll be sleeping on this bed,” you pointed to the bed next to hers, “if you need anything, shout.” 

Clarisse kept quiet, so you went to bed and fell asleep very quickly. Clarisse, on the other hand, could not fall asleep. She turned head around and looked at you. You clearly slept well, with your mouth slightly opened. After a few minutes of staring outside the window, her stomach growled. She needed to eat. 

There had to be food in here – she looked around and spotted a basket full of fruits and cake. That’ll do. She gathered all her strength and tried to push herself up using her left arm and yelped in pain. That woke you up.

“What’s wrong?” you worried.

“Nothing,” Clarisse panted, biting her lips. 

You rushed to her and saw her shoulder was bleeding again.

“What happened?” you worried, turning the lights on. 

You grabbed clean bandages, and a clean towel with some alcohol and rushed back to her. Clarisse somehow managed to sit up, her right arm holding onto where her left shoulder was stabbed.

“Don’t cover it,” you pushed her hand away.

You started to remove the blood soaked bandages when she grabbed your hand to stop you. You gave her a questioning look. Clarisse quickly let go of your hand and looked away, breathing slowly. You opened your mouth, but then closed it and resumed your work. 

“What were you trying to do anyway?” you asked when the wound was clean. 

“I was hungry.”

“I–, I mean I did say to shout if you needed me but I was not thinking a pained scream with you bleeding again. Just a ‘hey y/n bring me food’ would’ve suffice. I would’ve been up. And that’s done. Good as new.”

Clarisse was still looking away from you which hid her head wound. When she turned her head toward you, you raised your hand to touch her face, but she flinched away hard at your sudden movement. You froze, too afraid to move again. No one talked or dared to breathe – the silence became heavy. Clarisse opened her eyes, and stared at you. She took your hand in hers and put it down. 

“I–,” you breathed, “I was just going to check your head wound,” you murmured. 

“Go ahead then,” she sat straighter. 

You raised your hands slower this time, and tilted her head. You tore off her bandage and put it back in place. Clarisse could hear her heartbeat pacing up. Her mind and body stopped functioning. What was happening? She kept thinking about how your hands felt so warm in the night breeze, and how pretty you looked so close. Then when you dropped your hands, she came back to reality.

“Your face is still good. Like always,” and gave her a small smile. 

“I’ll go eat,” she blurted out before leaving bed.

“Oh– okay. I can go to the kitchen and bring other things if you want.”

“No it’s fine,” she brushed you off, focused on the fruits in front of her. 

Which was hard with you so close behind her. You watched Clarisse eat the strawberries and blueberries and grapes, and then you grabbed an orange and started to peel it. Once you were done you handed it to her. She grabbed it slowly and whispered a low thank you before eating it. Clarisse also ate half of the cake Katie brought to you earlier. 

“Demeter kids, am I right,” you ate with her, “I don't know what they put in their cakes but I could eat them everyday. You should rest now,” you put your hand on her right arm and squeezed it. “You can barely stand.”

This time when Clarisse closed her eyes, she fell asleep instantly. And so did you. The next morning, you were the first one up. As soon as the sun rose, you were ready to start your day. You went to your cabin and washed up before grabbing a new toothbrush for Clarisse. You changed your clothes, and then went to the Ares cabin. You opened the door, and no one was up yet. You spotted the only empty bunk bed – Clarisse had one for herself – and saw her drawer next to it. You grabbed a new pair of pants, and a new camp-half blood tee and left in a hurry. Clarisse was up by the time you came back.

“I brought some of your clothes so you could change,” you gave her the clothes and the toothbrush. “I did sneak into your cabin, but I didn’t look through your stuff, don't worry about that,” you smiled. “I mean, except for your clothes – sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Well, I’ll let you change and I’ll be… not here for sure. I’ll go get breakfast!”

Clarisse watched you walk away, humming to some songs and when you were out of her sight, she got out of bed to change and clean herself. All she could think about was what happened yesterday. What even happened yesterday?

Before yesterday, you never spoke. She knew your name and vaguely knew what you looked like, but that was it. Since she arrived at camp, she didn’t once step into the infirmary – she didn’t need to. But now, for some reason, all she could think about was you. And how warm and soft your hands felt, how nice it felt to have you touch her face like that. 

By the time you came back, Clarisse went back to bed and laid down. You gave her what you brought and you ate together, picking off the same plate.

“How are you feeling this morning? Does it still hurt?” you pointed at her shoulder.

“I’m—,” she stopped. “It still hurts,” which was true. “A lot,” that wasn’t.. 

“Really?” you worried. “I thought you’d be doing fine, because you woke so early. I thought your body was healing faster than most campers. Well,” you picked a strawberry with your fork, “you’ll have to stay here longer then.”

“Can’t go against the doctor’s orders,” she shrugged. 

“True,” you smiled. “You finish this,” you pushed the plate toward her, “I’ll go get some supplies to change this,” you gently patted her shoulder. 

You rolled your chair away, and grabbed what you needed and rolled back to Clarisse. You hopped onto her bed, and started your routine. The wounds were healing perfectly fine, and very quickly, so it was odd that Clarisse was still in extreme pain. 

“I don’t think these wounds will scar,” you said. 

“A shame, they’d make me look tougher.”

“Look?” you huffed. “You don’t need those to look tougher, you already do. Scary even,” you joke, but not really. “I mean I’m not scared– anymore… but yeah, some people may say– think you do. Anyway, scar or not, you’ll always look and be the toughest.”

“Anymore?” she grinned. “Were you before?”

“I mean,” you dragged that last vowel, “I don’t think scared is the right word. More like– intimidated. I never went to these meetings for Capture the Flag because I knew if you disagreed or worse – dismissed my ideas – I would’ve cried.”

“I never would’ve done that,” she chuckled, “I don’t think you’re capable of having bad ideas. Lee’s constantly praising you and giving us your ideas that I always take into account.”

“Really?” you couldn’t stop your smile. 

She shrugged, and nodded. You playfully slapped her on the shoulder – the left one – and she yelped in pain.

“What the hell!”

‘Sorry!” you backed away, “it was a reflex.”

Clarisse ended up staying in the infirmary with you for three whole days, but she couldn’t fake it anymore when the wound completely healed and it was as if nothing had happened. The day she left, you cleaned up the room and sat alone on the couch, just like before. 

It was weird. Usually, you enjoyed the silence and solitude of the room, but now it was as if time had stopped. Every time you looked at the clock, it’d only been two minutes. And so were the next few days. Then on Friday, as usual, Lee came in to visit. You worked in silence – which was the first odd thing Lee noticed – then he saw how you always stared at the empty bed Clarisse used to stay in. 

“You’re being weird,” he said. 

“I’m not!”

“You’re never this quiet when I visit.”

“The past few days were a bit dry,” you explained casually.

“You can say you miss Clarisse, it’s fine,” he sat next to you on the couch. 

“I–,” you sighed. “It’s just… I was getting used to having someone with me.”

“Well maybe you should spend less time here and more time outside with, mmh I don’t know, Clarisse maybe.” 

“What if she doesn’t see me as a friend though? What if I’m imagining things? She hasn’t visited me once.”

“Then you come back here, and the end.”

“I hate you,” you groaned. “You’re no help to me at all!”

When the door suddenly flew open which startled both of you. You could recognise these hair anywhere. 

“Clarisse?” you called her name. 

She turned to face you, and a gasp came out of your mouth before rushing to her. 

“What happened to your face?” you held her arms.

Clarisse had a nasty cut going from her eyebrow to her hairline. She stared at you without saying anything before turning her gaze to Lee, and he spurted out some excuses and then left. But before he closed the door, he gave you a knowing look saying ‘see, she’s here’. 

“What happened?” you frowned. 

“I don’t know,” she whispered. She cleared her throat. “These few days of rest weren’t a good idea I think.”

“That’s–,” you paused, “not accurate.”

But before she could reply, you grabbed her arm and dragged her to the other side of the room, and let her sit on the chair. You grabbed clean cotton and some alcohol and started to clean her wound. You stood closely to her, between her legs with her hands holding onto your thighs to stay steady. 

“How did this happen anyway?” you asked.

“I was practising with my brothers.”

You frowned, and tried to step away but Clarisse was holding on tight to your thighs. 

“You got beat up by your brothers?” you repeated with a raised eyebrow. “I have a hard time believing this. You’re just better than them,” you said casually before patching up her wound. 

“Why do you know so much about my brothers’ skills?”

“I don’t! I know about yours. And from what I saw in the past, it’s always you leading the fight so I assumed that’s because you’re the best among them.”

“Mh,” she hummed, “well I guess you haven’t been doing your job very well if I’m not back to my old self yet,” she grinned. 

“Or,” you grinned back, “maybe it’s your skills. I think they need a little sharpening. Maybe I could spare some time and teach you if you need.”

She suppressed a smile. 

“Or, maybe you just want to spend time with me.”

You were close to each other, and Clarisse was still holding onto you. You crossed your arms, and stared at her. She was looking up at you, and you were looking down, which was a rare occurrence since she was much taller than you. 

“I’m doing a favour to you at best. But if you don’t want to,” you sighed, “it’s–.”

“I do,” she affirmed. 

That was the start of your friendship. Turns out Clarisse was really glad to hang out with someone that wasn’t her sibling. She was always the one seaking you out. At lunch, at dinner, during classes. All the time. Even when you were working, because somehow she always, always, ended up getting hurt. 

One of the first times she came in after your friendship hangouts was for a sprained ankle. She came in limping, and threw herself on her – not really – bed, groaning. 

“What happened?” you rushed to her side, worried. “You’re lucky I just came back in here!” 

Clarisse didn’t want to admit this, but that was exactly why she was here. She was on her way to her cabin when she spotted you walking around with your sisters and she was so focused on you that she tripped and fell. 

“I just fell,” she explained. 

“You just fell,” you repeated slowly. “Right. Well lucky you because this,” you patted her leg, “will heal in no time with this,” you brought her some ambrosia. 

“That’s it?” she asked.

“Yeah,” you smiled. 

“Oh.”

Then the next time she came, like the next few ones, were always injuries that required you to clean up the wound, and then patch her up. It went from tiny cuts to ‘I have a bruise here’ then showing you her perfectly unbruised skin to serious injuries that she got during Capture the Flag. 

“You know at this rate I feel like you’re doing this on purpose,” you joked when she came in for the umpteenth time. “What is it this time?”

She shrugged and sat on her designated bed, and laid down. You joined her and sat next to where her legs rested. She held up her hand and you took it before she dragged you to lay beside her. The beds in the infirmary weren’t big enough for two so you were half laying on Clarisse with her arm resting behind your head. 

“Did you paint that?” she asked.

The ceiling was painted by the Apollo cabin, all together you decided on a design and painted it over weeks worth of work.  

“Here,” you pointed at the top of the painting. “That was painted by me.”

“Two planets?” 

“The moon and Saturn,” you smiled.

“Linked by a thread?”

“Yea, the red string of fate. It’s from Chinese mythology. The old lunar matchmaker god, who is in charge of marriages, would tie together two people with this red string of fate and they are destined to be together, to be lovers regardless of time, place or circumstances. And no matter what, that thread will never break. It can stretch or get tangled up, but it never breaks.”

“And what about the moon and Saturn then?” she frowned, confused. 

“Because,” you paused. “Your braids like a pattern, love you to the moon and to Saturn,” you started to sing, “Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long.”

You turned your head to look at her only to see confusion on her face.

“Taylor Swift, seven,” you explained. “It’s great, we’ll have to listen to it someday.”

“Sure.”

“Really?” you looked at her excitedly.

“Yeah, you seem to like her so sure, I’ll listen with you,” she shrugged.

“Oh and that’s Will’s painting,” you showed her another corner. “That’s my dad and his lover, Hyacinthus. That’s where the name of the flower came from. Isn’t that kind of sweet how he named a flower after him.”

“I mean didn’t Apollo kill – by accident – Hyacinthus?” she grimaced. 

“Or Zephyrus was so jealous of my dad that he killed his lover, because he couldn’t get no man. My dad is an excellent archer. His aim never failed him. I don’t see how it’s possible for him to kill his lover. But gods being petty over these kinds of things, that I can believe.”

Clarisse hummed in agreement. 

“But enough about my father’s love life,” you shrugged, turning around to face Clarisse, “what about your dad? Still desperately trying to woo someone else’’s wife?”

“I don’t want to talk about my dad,” she yawned, then closed her eyes. 

“Okay.”

Just as you were about to continue talking, you noticed that Clarisse had fallen asleep. It was still early in the afternoon so it was still bright outside. You looked around and started to get up so you could pull the curtains but Clarisse grabbed your arm to pull you closer to her, locking you in her arms. 

“Don’t go,” she mumbled. 

“Okay,” you whispered and stayed still. 

The thing was, Clarisse was like a human radiator. Sleeping in her arms felt exactly like sleeping under tons of heavy blankets. This much warmth only resulted in falling asleep in Clarisse’s arms. When you woke, you were alone in bed.

“Slacking off during work hours,” Lee said standing next to you. 

“Fuck!” you jumped off bed. “Why were you staring at me sleeping!” you screamed.

“You weren’t there and it’s almost time for dinner. I’m being a nice brother!” he shouted back.

“Oh. Well, thanks!” you yelled, and gave him a smile. 

You both left  to join your siblings at the dining pavilion, and once you sat at your usual spot, you scanned the room in search of Clarisse. She was at her table like usual, and eating in silence, head hanging low. Your tactic of staring at her wasn’t working even though you knew she knew that you were staring at her. 

“What are you doing?” Lee kicked you with his elbow. “Did something happen with Clarisse?” he whispered. 

You shook your head. 

“I mean,” you leaned in whispering, “we did sleep together.”

Lee’s eyes widened, mouth wide open and he backed away in shock. 

“You– you slept together? In the infirmary?”

“Not slept together,” you rolled your eyes, “she fell asleep and did I.”

“Ah.”

“Anyways, she left without saying anything,” you explained. “And now, I feel like she’s avoiding me.”

“It’s only been a few hours.”

“She’s avoiding me, I’ve been staring at her for at least fifteen minutes and nothing. Not a glance from her.”

“Okay creep. But once again, just talk to her. It would solve all your problems here.”

“She’s the one who doesn’t talk. I talk. A lot!”

 “Trust me, I know. I just don’t think Ares kids are the best at talking, you know.”

“Fine.”

But as it turned out, Clarisse mastered the art of avoiding people – you – when she wanted to. Whenever you tried to talk to her, she would disappear. After a few days of trying, you gave up and told everything to Lee. 

“If she doesn’t want anything to do with me, then fine by me,” you frowned, holding back your tears. 

“I’m sure you’re overthinking this,” he tried to comfort you.

“Oh please,” you huffed. “You saw what happened this morning when I tried to talk to her. I’ll get over it,” you whispered. “I’ll get over her.”

Lee considered himself your best friend, and favourite brother. You never said these things, but he considered you his best friend and favourite sister. And as your best friend he had to do something, he had to talk to Clarisse and give her a piece of his mind. So that night, he was a man on a mission. He walked to the Ares cabin, and waited for Clarisse to either go or or go out. 

“Clarisse!” he called her name when she finally left her cabin.

“What do you want, Fletcher?” Clarisse sighed, clearly annoyed.

“Oh, so you do speak. And here I thought you lost that ability,” he snickered.

“I will punch you in the face.”

Lee rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“I’m not scared, unlike you.”

“What–.”

“You’re scared to talk to y/n for whatever reason, and I need you to pluck up the courage to talk to her because you’re making her miserable by avoiding her.”

“I–,” she froze. 

Was she making you miserable? 

“You’re just doing your thing and going to her when you need, when you want but have you ever thought about what she was thinking? No. You would if you’d just listened to her, but no,” he made a big gesture, “avoiding her like the plague.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she mumbled, looking away.

“I’m telling you that you made a mistake, and if you continue down this path you’re going to lose her for good. I’m not saying this for you, because I couldn’t care less about you, but y/n is my sister and I want her to be happy and for some reason you are making her happy,” he rolled his eyes, “so do whatever you want with this information.”

Clarisse stood there, not saying anything, watching Lee walking away. But then he stopped and turned around to walk toward her again. 

“Before I forget,” Lee added before throwing his strongest punch in her face. “For making my sister cry.”

And he ran away, before Clarisse could punch him back. But Clarisse was too busy thinking about you to think about Lee and what he just did. If it weren’t for that afternoon in the infirmary, she probably would’ve ran to you so you could take care of her, but now, she couldn’t. So she went to sleep, wishing that tomorrow it’ll be better.

You were one of the first campers to arrive for breakfast. You ate slowly, and by the time the dining pavilion was filled with campers, you were done. But you stayed and listened to your siblings talk. Just as you were about to leave, Clarisse came in and you dropped your fork in shock. She had a black eye and her cheek was bruised, with her nose in a weird shape. She looked at you, as you stood urgently. But then you froze – should you go to her? You sat back down, still staring at Clarisse. 

“What happened to her?” Will whispered to you.

“I don’t know,” you whispered back. 

“You don’t? I thought you were friends.”

“Yea, me too,” you sighed. 

Clarisse was walking to her table, dragging her feet along and when she walked past the Apollo table, you stood and grabbed hand, forcing her to face you. When you noticed several heads staring at you, you dragged Clarisse away and brought her to the archery field. 

“What happened to your face?” you held her face in your hands.

“Nothing,” she leaned into your touch. 

“Clarisse,” you whispered. “Just talk to me please.”

“Lee came to have a little chat with me yesterday.”

“He did this?” you gasped. 

“Yeah.”

You held your hand to your mouth, in shock and to hide a tiny part of you that wanted to laugh.

“And?” you asked.

“He said I was making you miserable.”

“That’s not true!” you insisted.

“I ignored you. And I shouldn't have. I don’t–” she hesitated, “want to lose you,” she mumbled.

“Then just talk to me, we’re friends too.”

“I– I don’t know,” she stepped back and took a deep breath. “I was confused! I– I don’t know I like it when you take care of me,” she admitted in a low voice. “I’m being weird and–.”

“You’re not,” you held her arms. “It’s not weird to love physical touch. I mean, I just assumed that it was your love language you know.”

“What?” she asked, confused. 

“I think what you like is when I hold you or when I touch you because you love physical touch,” you began, “and you were doing everything to visit me, pretending to be a bad fighter and getting hurt on purpose.”

“No that’s no–,” she shook her head.

“It’s fine! My love language is quality time, and there’s nothing wrong—.”

“No it’s different–.”

“It’s not! It’s fi—.”

“It’s because I like you,” she blurted out. 

Oh. You couldn’t help but smile at her confession. 

“It’s not funny!” she huffed, crossing her arms. 

“I’m not laughing! I’m… happy about this outcome,” you rested your head against her arms and looked up. “Because I like you too Clarisse.”

“Really?” she stared at you.

You nodded. 

“I’m sorry about ignoring you,” she added.

“Mmh,” you smiled, “I accept your apology. But you’ll have to make it up to me.”

“Anything you want.”

“A kiss?” 

Clarisse uncrossed her arms and held your face instead and leaned in to kiss you eagerly. And you happily gave in, wrapping your arms around her waist. 

“Mmh, keep doing that and I’ll forgive you, no doubt.”

#clarisse la rue x reader #clarisse la rue fanfic #clarisse x you #clarisse la rue x y/n #clarisse la rue pjo #clarisse la rue fluff #clarisse la rue #pjo x reader #clarisse pjo #clarisse la rue x fem!reader

[ameliathornromance]

“(Y/N), what is that?”

Your Orc Boyfriend pointed to the bundle in your arms. A small, innocent smile crept onto your lips. “I… Brought back a baby?”

You had been on a stroll, alone. Your Orc Boyfriend was stuck doing boring wood chopping work. Normally, you would read, but you had just finished reading your favourite book for the third time and there were no reading materials available for you. So, you decided to go on a walk.

It was a rather new pass time for you.

You enjoyed some alone time, away from the others and the quietness of nature. Despite finding comfort in the grunts and growls of Orcs working and thudding about the camp, there were moments when you yearned for a more subdued ambiance, particularly at night.

And so that’s how your walks began.

You knew and followed only the safest Orc routes through the countryside.

But as you walked, faint cries called to you. You had frowned. A baby, crying? Mindful of a trap, you tiptoed in the direction of the crying.

“There are dangers out in the woods. Do not stray from our regular paths.” Your Boyfriend had warned you before you left.

All kinds of things lurked in the woods, from fellow Orc camps to Witches, you could never be too cautious. Anyone would do anything to capture a lone human woman. Regardless of where she'd come from.

Your feet were silent against the moss covered ground. The cries drew closer, and closer, and that’s when you found it. A bundle held the tiniest form you’d ever seen. The baby was pasty pale, wriggling and screaming at the top of it's lungs.

You swiftly stooped and scooped up the poor thing, cradling it. “It’s okay!” You shushed. “You’re okay! I’m here, don’t worry.” Looking over your shoulder, you knew you couldn't just leave the poor thing alone out there.

So you made your way back home, baby in hand. Other Orcs gave you odd looks upon your return with the baby, but no one said anything.

The baby had calmed down by this point and appeared content to have finally received someone's attention.

Noticing that your boyfriend was still busy at work with wood chopping, you made your way back to your shared tent and waited for him to finish.

In the meantime, you wrapped up the child in animal skins and tried to think of something to feed it.

Your boyfriend came in later in the evening. And here you are now.

“It was all alone, someone left it in the forest…” you explained. Worry crept over you.

Finding food had become more challenging. Winter was about to set in. The crops were dying, animals were being herded into more secluded places.

The entire encampment fought to provide enough food and water for everyone. And now you had brought a new born.

Your Orc Boyfriend said nothing. He approached, towering above both you and the small thing in your arms. You expected him to be angry. Upset because you brought back another mouth to feed.

“And it was all alone?” He asked you. His voice rumbled through your chest. All you could manage in reply was a weak nod.

“Humans are pathetic.” Your Orc Boyfriend scoffed.

Before you could stop him, your Orc had scooped the baby up in his own arms and peered down at it. “How could they abandon something so vulnerable?”

“You’re not angry?” You asked, surprised.

“No. Even an Orc would ensure the child's safety.” He grumbled. The baby stared up at him, expressionless. Before a huge grin over took its face, hands stretched out.

Your Orc chuckled, holding a finger out for the baby to take. It did so and giggled, flexing the finger up and down with ease.

"What about food?" You asked, placing a hand on your Orc's forearm. The both of you watched the baby investigate your partners finger.

"I will deal with that. Since this is new born, I will make sure it gets the care it needs." Once the baby had lost interest in his hand, your Orc Boyfriend cupped your face. "You did the right thing, my love. I'm glad you brought it back."

Your heart swelled with pride, "thank you."

"We shall raise it to be a strong and powerful warrior!" Your Orc grinned, tusks jutting out of his bottom lip. He raised the baby high in the air, it let out a shriek of delight.

You sighed as your Orc returned to cooing at the baby. You truly had a wonderful boyfriend, didn't you?

Sequel

#orc fiction #orc x reader #monster x female #monster x you #orc boyfriend #orc romance #monster romance #monster x human #monster x reader #monster lover #orc #orc x female!reader #orc x human

[thetriumphantpanda]

two is better than one | joel & tommy miller

Summary | Frustrated that whatever you're trying to do still isn't working, you decide to give it one more try with Joel before cooling off for a while. Tommy is back to keep an eye on the both of you this time, but what happens when he starts to feel a little left out, watching his brother bring his girl over the edge more times than he cares to count?

Warnings | I swear I always start this the same way so here we go: Tommy getting cucked but also getting involved this time 👀, Joel being a fucking menace, dirty talk, oral sex (F&M receiving), face sitting, breeding kink, unprotected PiV sex, talk of infertility, no use of Y/N

Word Count | 3.8k

Authors Note | Whew. When I tell you this little threesome has been rotting my brain, I'm not lying. This is the only thing I can focus on, hence them being updated so fast! I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you all for the continued love you're giving this series - it honestly blows my mind every time that it's something you guys enjoy, that my writing reaches so many people and that they lap that shit up. I'm so grateful to everyone who has taken the time to comment, send me asks, reblogs and those who have slid into my DMs with all the love. I see you, I hear you, and I love you all - thank you. I hope you enjoy this next part just as much as the rest - it's a doozy. You know the drill, if you did like it, please consider reblogging, commenting or sending the love to my ask box, it's what keeps me going. And if you'd like to leave me a tip (of course no pressure!), then here's my Ko-Fi.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Another month and another fucking negative pregnancy test. You knew it was irrational, but you were starting to think that maybe you were also part of the problem now. You’d been doing everything right, following all the advice in the books you’d bought almost a year ago when Tommy and you had first started trying for a baby. You’d been exercising, eating as healthily as possible, tried to keep yourself a stress-free as possible. You’d been keeping a close eye on your cycle and still, nothing to show for it. 

When you clambered down the stairs, test in hand and flung it in Tommy’s direction, he already knew. He could see the heavy set of your shoulders, the quiet sniffling of you trying to hide the fact you were crying. Tommy had settled you on the couch, covered you in a blanket and made you some tea. Then he’d made your favourite meal for dinner, even driven to the store and picked up Diet Coke, emptied a can into a glass filled with ice and lime juice like you loved, but none of it really helped to soothe how upset you were. 

The TV was on low, and he had your head in his lap, slowly stroking the strands of your hair as you tried to calm yourself down. Remind yourself that even the most fertile of couples needed to try for months sometimes before they had their first baby. It was stupid to think you’d be any different. 

“You’re thinkin’ way too loud, sugar.” Tommy muses, letting his hand run up and down your arm instead. 

“Sorry,” You mumble, “Just thought it would be easier.” 

“I know,” He coos, “We can take a break for a while, if you want.” 

You turn so you’re led on your back, looking right up at him, “I just want a baby.” You feel a tear slip down your cheek to pool near your ear. 

Tommy uses his thumb to brush away the tears that have started to fall, bobbing his leg up and down gently to try and soothe you, “It’s still fresh,” He speaks softly, “Let’s give it a couple of days and see what you want to do, okay?” 

You nod in agreement, feeling the beginnings of a headache pooling behind your eyes. You push yourself up into a sitting position and turn around to press a soft kiss to his lips, “I’m gonna go to bed,” You announce, “Headache.” 

He lets you go, it’s still early and you know there’s the game highlights he wanted to watch. In bed, you can do nothing but toss and turn for a few hours. Every time you’d try to close your eyes, all you could see was vision of you and Joel, in all the different positions he’d put you in so far, and all for what? When the bedside clock hit 10:30, you head out to use the bathroom. As you near the door at the top of the stairs you can hear Tommy talking to someone, through the phone because his is the only voice you can hear. 

“I know, brother, she’s just really beat up about it,” You hear him say, “I don’t know how to make it better.” 

You lean against the closed bathroom door, wondering if perhaps you should leave Tommy to talk to Joel. There’s a pause where you can hear Tommy humming along to whatever Joel is saying on the other end of the phone. 

“I dunno man,” Tommy sighs, “You managed to knock Sarah’s mom up on a one-night stand, guess I thought it would be easier for you.” 

There’s another pause, then he’s speaking again. 

“No Joel, all of her tests came back perfect,” Another sigh, “I was always the problem.”

You’re about to push down the handle to go to the bathroom when Tommy speaks again, “I don’t know, maybe we should just cool it for a while, we’re all gonna work ourselves up otherwise.” 

You decide you don’t really want to hear the rest of the conversation. You sit on the toilet and let your face drop to your hands in frustration. Why couldn’t you just be normal? Why couldn’t you have been a nice, normal couple, having a baby in the most natural way possible? Why did this have to come along and fucking complicate everything? And why did Joel have to be so fucking good to you every time? 

You wash your hands under the tap, water as scalding as it could go, just in order to feel something that wasn’t frustration before you head to bed. There’s no longer the sound of voices as you pad back across the hall and get back into bed, shutting off the lights and curling onto one side, knees as close to your chest as you can manage to get them. It’s not long before you can hear Tommy shuffling around upstairs. He pushes open the bedroom door quietly, obviously thinking you’re already asleep. You can hear him undressing before he's slipping onto his side of the bed, pulling your body close to his under the covers as he spoons you. 

You let your own arm cover his over your waist as you lean back into the comfort of his chest, letting his breath fan across the skin of your shoulder as he presses a kiss to your skin. 

“I wanna try again,” You speak softly into the dark, feeling Tommy’s arm’s squeeze you tighter, “Once more and then we cool it for a while.” 

“You sure?” He asks into your ear, lips pressing to the sensitive skin behind your ear. 

“I’m sure.” You respond, turning around in his arms to capture his lips in yours. 

When the time comes to try again, it’s you who greets Joel at the door when he knocks. Tommy already upstairs and situated in the chair he had taken the first time you’d done this as a three. Joel leans down, lips just millimeters from your own, but instead of kissing your mouth, he places a soft kiss to your cheek instead. 

“Hello, darlin’.” 

You step up onto your tiptoes to press your own kiss to his face, just shy of the corner of his mouth – the kisses from last time still a secret between the two of you. 

“Evening handsome,” You smile, pulling away from him to close the door as he steps inside, “You ready?” 

“To give you what you want?” He smirks, “Always, pretty girl.” 

You feel that telltale heat flush across your cheeks as Joel pulls you into his side, hand dipping down to squeeze your ass over the fabric of the robe you’d thrown on moments ago. God, why did he have to be so fucking intoxicating around you?

You take hold of his hand in yours, leading him up the stairs behind you. Tommy was reading a book as you entered the room, folding the corner of the page before setting it down on the nightstand closest to the chair. You can’t help but snigger as you watch him and Joel give each other the typical male greeting of a curt nod of the head. 

You drag Joel by the arm to the foot of the bed, pushing his shoulders down so he sits on the edge. Then you take a step back and tug on the belt of your robe, letting it fall open and off your body to leave you completely naked in front of him. You watch his face as he trails those beautiful brown eyes over your body, letting out a low whistle of approval. 

“Beautiful as ever, darlin’,” He compliments, reaching out a hand for you to take, “But you’re worked up, ain’t ya? And not in the good way.” 

Your eyes flit to Tommy in the corner of the room, who has that smug ‘I told you so’ look on his face. You’d been itching for Tommy to arrange this since that ovulation test said you were in the zone, but Joel had been working away for the past two days, and now you were worried that if you didn’t hurry the fuck up, you’d miss your chance. 

Joel reaches out and puts his hands on the back of your thighs, pulling you into him, he’s looking up at you, pressing hot kisses to the skin of your tummy, “Gotta relax babygirl,” He moans, “I’m tryin’ my damned hardest, but you just gotta let nature take its course.” 

“Just frustrating.” You mumble. 

“I know baby, I know,” He’s got his hands palming your tits now, “Long as I need to, I’ll keep fillin’ you up, y’hear me?” 

Your breath catches in your throat and all you can do is nod as he moves himself back on the bed. 

Joel leans back on the bed, his head just shy of the pillows, “Sit on my face, pretty girl.” 

You’re almost embarrassed at how quickly you scramble yourself onto the bed, moving up to straddle his hips – even Tommy is chuckling from his chair. 

“Can’t get enough of Joel’s mouth on your pussy, can you, sugar?” He speaks in a low voice. 

Joel has his hands on your ass, guiding your naked body to hover over his face before his hands are slipping up to your hips to pull your cunt to his mouth. He wastes no time in getting straight to business, wide tongue licking stripes from your entrance, where he laps up your slick like a cat would cream, to those deliciously tight flicks of the tip of his tongue to your clit. You can hear him groaning into your pussy, your hand coming down to anchor itself into his hair to hold him still as you start grinding against his face. 

You can hear the obscene slurps that he’s making underneath you, it’s half the reason you think it takes you no time at all to reach the edge, because he fucking enjoys this just as much as you do, he loves tasting you, loves making you feel good and you can feel that, can feel it on his mouth. 

As you throw your head back as Joel’s tongue swipes perfectly across your clit, you catch Tommy in the corner of the room. He’s palming himself through his jeans as he watches you, your body writhing as his brother’s mouth brings you closer and closer to the edge. It wouldn’t hurt, would it? You think, if you asked if he wanted you to help him out. 

“You feeling left out baby?” You coo, reaching your hand out for Tommy to take, “Joel gets my pussy tonight,” You punctuate with a grind of your pussy down onto his mouth, “But I can help you, if you want.” 

He’s standing at the edge of the bed in minutes, his hand pressing into the back of your neck, not unlike how he tries to work the knots from there when you watch TV together. It’s soft and it’s loving and a complete juxtaposition to the vice grip that Joel’s fingers currently have on your hips. 

Your lips are impossibly close to Tommy’s, you could easily lean forward and kiss him, instead, you have a demand, “Take off your pants.” 

Tommy’s hands start to undo the belt holding his jeans up, so you turn your attention back to Joel between your thighs. He is expertly holding you right on the edge, you’re mewling and whining as he tongue works you to the edge, and then pulls away, moving down to gather more of your slick on his tongue. 

You drop your head and catch his eyes looking up at you, “You gonna tease me all night, Miller?” You ask, voice cracking as he makes a point to suckle on your clit, making you cry out, “Fuck, make me come, please Joel.” 

All of a sudden, Tommy’s hand is on your face, pulling your mouth to his own in a searing kiss as he guides your hand to his cock. You’re moaning, a combination of the fact that any second, Joel’s mouth is going to have you screaming and the fact that it’s Tommy kissing you, his cock you’re currently pumping through your fist. It’s delicious and it’s filthy and it should feel all shades of wrong, but it fucking doesn’t. 

You feel it in your legs first, the way they begin to shake and pulse and your thighs clamp around Joel’s face. Then you feel it in your abdomen, like a knot unfurling all at once as pleasure bursts over every inch of your skin. Your mouth detaching from Tommy’s, so you can cry out his brother’s name as you feel yourself almost collapse onto him. 

“Such a good girl,” Tommy breathes into your ear, your hand still firmly held around his cock, “So good when you come for us like that.” 

You feel Joel’s hands tapping at the cheeks of your ass, telling you to lift yourself off his face which you do, dragging yourself down enough so that you’re sat across his chest, not caring that your leaking pussy is dragging slick all over him. His face is covered, covered in you. He’s grinning up at you like the devil, tongue circling his mouth to clean your taste from wherever he can reach. 

“I gotta be inside you, pretty girl.” You can hear his gruff voice speak. 

Tommy immediately moves back from you so you can settle yourself down on the bed. You start on your back, but Joel moves you to lie on your side. He’s still fully clothed behind you, but when he presses himself up against you, you can feel his thick cock straining in his jeans. 

“Take your clothes off.” Is all you can manage to whine as Tommy settles on his knees on the space in front of you, taking the back of your head in the palm of his hand to bring your mouth to his cock. 

Joel shuffles away from you and you feel the mattress lighten as he gets off the bed to shed his clothes. You almost wish you could watch, there’s something about the way Joel reveals his body to you that drives you wild. The way he drags his shirt off to reveal his broad frame, chest peppered with hair, or the way his cock bounces when he finally pulls off his underwear. But right now, you’re focused on making your man feel good. 

You’re making sure that you’re doing it exactly as Tommy likes, almost telling him through the ministrations of your mouth how grateful you are for him, for this being his idea, for loving you enough and trusting you enough to let someone else give you what he cannot. You’re giving all the attention of your tongue to the head of Tommy’s weeping cock, tasting the salt and musk of his pre-cum, using one had to pump the base of his cock. 

You can feel Joel settle back behind you, pressing his entire body against your own, hard cock slipping through the slick folds of your cunt as he settles himself in the right position, then, he’s taking hold of your leg, hand in the crux of your knee to pull it up, baring his prize. He slowly inches his cock inside your tight heat and suddenly it’s all a little overwhelming. 

You’re giving the love of your life the kind of head you’ve only ever seen in porn, Tommy taking most of the control to thrust in and out of your mouth. You’re pretty sure the tears falling from your eyes are a mixture of his length hitting the back of your throat and the overwhelming emotion, love, and admiration you feel for both the men who are crowding your body, owning it, taking what they both want, one of them hopefully leaving you with what you want. 

You pull your face away from Tommy’s cock for a moment, still giving his length the attention it needs, but you let yourself lean into Joel behind you, his cock still moving languidly inside you. He’s got one of his arms snaked under your neck, your head leant against his arm like a pillow, his other hand holding your leg up so that every time his cock brushes inside you, it’s hitting that damn spot that makes you want to cry. 

“Look at you, lucky girl,” Joel growls into your ear as his lifts your leg up higher, pushing it almost to lie flat aagainst your side, “One cock in that pretty little pussy, another in your mouth,” You let a moan, muffled by the fact that Tommy is currently doing a slap-up job of fucking your throat, “He’s a lucky man,” Joel speaks again, “Bet that mouth feels divine.” 

“You ask nicely, she might oblige you, brother.” 

You feel him puff air through his nose in a chuckle, “I’m quite happy right where I am,” He speaks, pumping his cock so deep inside you that you actually think you can see stars, “You’re a lucky son-of-a-bitch gettin’ this for the rest of your life.” 

“She’s special, I’ll give you that.” 

It’s like you have to prove him right now. You can feel the walls of your pussy clenching around Joel as he picks up his pace. You can feel his balls slapping into your skin with every thrust, the power behind them causing your mouth to take Tommy cock deeper into your mouth every time. 

“Sugar, I ain’t gonna last much longer.” You hear him speak from above you. 

You pull off him, again letting your hand work him as you look up at his through your lashes, “You want me to swallow for you, baby?” You asked, wondering what you must look like when he looks down at you, fucked out from his brother, begging for him to come down your throat. 

“There’s an offer I cannot refuse,” Tommy grins, letting your mouth take him back inside the warmth, “Such a good girl.” 

He only lasts a few more seconds, cum hitting your tongue and seeping down your throat. You swallow down every drop, grinning up at Tommy. He leans down and plants a kiss to your lips, and now your focus is on Joel, thick and solid, pumping his cock in and out of you. 

“You focus on Joel now, sugar,” He croons, “I’m gonna sit back and watch you have fun.” 

As soon as Tommy has moved away from you, Joel is pulling his cock from your pussy, turning you onto your back before he’s crowding his frame over you, settling between your thighs. You’re pliant and you move easily when he hooks your legs over his shoulders, folding you back as he slips his cock back inside you. 

You’re gripping his arms as he fucks into you in earnest now, tip of his cock bruising your cervix with every thrust, you know he’ll have half-moon shaped marks on his arms come the morning, they’ll match the bruises he always leaves on your hips, the shape of his fingertips indented into your skin. 

“God fuckin’ damnit,” Joel groan, head falling to the column of your throat to graze teeth and lips over your delicate skin, “Gonna come so deep in this fuckin’ pussy it won’t have a choice but to take, you hear me, pretty girl?” 

“Fuck!” You exclaim, as he shifts just enough to change the angle that his cock is spearing into you, “Joel please.” 

“Please what?” He teases, “What do you want, babygirl?” 

“Inside,” You breath out, “Want you inside.” 

“Yeah, want me to make you a mama?” You can feel tears pooling in your eyes, “No need to cry, pretty girl,” He leans down, folding you in half even more, almost uncomfortable, to kiss away the tears, “Gonna give you what you need.” 

He thankfully moves back a little, stopping your bones from screaming at you for being folded so inhumanely, then his thumb is on your clit, “Only gonna make you a mama if you come with me,” Joel smirks, “Deal?” 

“Oh god – fuck – whatever you want,” You cry, “Please, give me what I want.” 

His thumb is relentless on your already sensitive clit, those tight circles have you clenching around him and when you look into his eyes you know he’s just as close as you are, “That’s it baby, you keep those big, beautiful eyes on me,” Joel’s hips are snapping into your with a force you didn’t know you could feel, it’s entirely too much and entirely too little all at the same time, “Can feel that tight little pussy suckin’ me in,” You cry out as his thumb falters and drags across your clit in a way that has that not threatening to unfurl yet again, “It’s alright baby, if you come, I’ll follow, yeah?” 

That’s exactly what happens. His thumb traces wet circles over your clit and you do exactly as he says. You keep your eyes wide open, staring directly into his own, as your mouth falls open with a screech as your vision clouds. Whatever happens, Joel is right behind you, his cock pounds into at most, twice more, before he’s growling your name through his teeth, cum painting every inch of your pussy. He drops your legs from his shoulders, and falls forward, letting his head rest in the crook of your neck as you both fight to catch your breath.

You wrap your arms around him but it’s all too soon before he’s pulling himself out of you, a kiss to your cheek as he does so. You’re spent and you’re aching and if you’re honest, a little overwhelmed. Joel dresses quickly, and you wish you could ask him to stay, wish he didn’t feel the need to run away, but you know it’s for the best. Tommy tells you he’ll see him out and come to bed, so you roll over and pull yourself under the sheets, trying to warm yourself from the cool air that’s spattering across the sweat of your skin. 

Tommy is back within minutes having seen Joel off. He shed his clothes and moves right up behind you, gathering you into his arms. He takes some time to press kisses into your neck and across your shoulders and for some reason, it sets your belly on fire. How have you been fucked so thoroughly by another man, this man’s own brother, and now you’re aching for this man behind you. 

“I love you so much, Tommy,” You whisper into the dark, clutching at his arms wrapped around you, “So fucking much.” 

“I love you too baby,” He whispers into your ear, stilling your hips as they grind back into him, “Enough of that, I’ll give you what you want tomorrow.” 

#Joel Miller #Joel Miller Smut #Joel Miller Fic #Joel Miller fanfic #Joel Miller fanfiction #Joel Miller x you #Joel Miller x reader #Joel Miller x female reader #Joel Miller x f!reader #Tommy Miller #Tommy Miller smut #Tommy Miller fic #Tommy Miller fanfic #Tommy Miller fanfiction #Tommy Miller x you #Tommy Miller x reader #Tommy Miller x female reader #Tommy Miller x f!reader #The Last Of Us #The Last Of Us hbo #tlou #tlou hbo #tlou smut #tlou fic #the last of us fic #the last of us smut #trial & error #Joel Miller Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal

[m4tthewsgf]

If we go down, then we go down together.

Matt sturniolo x fem reader !fluff

Warning: anxiety attack, kissing

Author's Note: hi y'all I hope you're doing well! I came up with this while listening to "we go down together" by Dove Cameron and I just thought that it would be funny if the song was about elevators AND THEN I REMEMBERED MATT IS SCARED OF THEM so I was like YEAH!!!!!!! That was dumb I apologise but it's also kinda funny???? Idk y'all I'm really sleepy lmao. Enjoy!!! You're important!!

---

One thing about Matt is that he hates elevators. The thought of being in an enclosed, tight space from which you couldn't immediately escape in case of an emergency along with at least 3 other people breathing right next to you made him shiver in fear. He still got in them, although it was not by choice, but he was always extremely nervous when he did so.

I have been dating Matt for almost two years now and I can read him like an open book; I can tell just from the way he fidgets with his necklace or earrings that he's anxious or how he frowns when he is really upset. I know how to have him calm down when he is really stressed since I've seen him go through a couple of panic attacks throughout our relationship and the thought of little him dealing with that always broke my heart.

I've known him for a while and I always knew I liked him. It always confused me how I was able to pull a man like him and most importantly, how he fell in love with me. It was honestly a confidence boost every time I thought about it.

"Baby, it's okay I'm going in there with you" I soothed him as we waited for the elevator to come the story where we were at. I always told him that to remind him that he wasn't alone and I'd be there as well, hoping to bring some sort of comfort in him and help him relax.

"Yeah but what if-" he started his usual «what if» monologue.

"Matt, there's not what ifs. You're going to be okay, I promise you, here" I cut him off as I interlocked our fingers together while drawing circles on his soft skin with my thumb, "I'm right here, I got you" I added with a soft smile.

"What would I do without you?" he smiled back and leaned down to place a sweet peck on my lips. He pulled away just in time before we heard the ding which signified that the elevator has arrived.

"Come on" I said tugging his hand towards the doors and heard him inhale sharply.

Honestly, it was kind of hilarious how scared he was of them, but that was something that I'd never say to him. I would never want to invalidate his feelings and I totally understand that the feeling of fear mixed up with anxiety is not a good combination. I mean, his fear was valid if I'm being honest, but it still made me want to chuckle a bit.

"See? Everything's okay, Matty!" I told him once we got inside and the doors closed. He just looked down at me and smiled softly. We were the only ones inside so he took the opportunity to pull me into a gentle but passionate kiss.

Kissing him has been one of my favourite things to do ever since we got together. His lips are so soft and it's one of my two favourite features of his, the other one being his eyes. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about him, but those two features are the ones I notice first in every person I meet. You see, it is widely known that the eyes are the mirror to one's soul, but I personally believe that one's mouth is as powerful as their eyes, if not more; the words that fall out of it can break you or heal you. It holds the power to make you feel insignificant like a tiny ant in this huge world or as important as oxygen. It can also make you feel worried when you see a loved one frown or warm inside when you see them smile and laugh. And Matthew's mouth always did the latter.

It can also make you feel euphoric, or at least that's how I felt every time I kissed Matt; once our lips collided, I could feel that fuzziness in my chest that only appeared when he was around. I felt as if I could lift the whole damn world with my bare hands! I felt alive! I felt safe and loved and cared for. When we kissed, nothing and no one else mattered, just the two of us.

"I love you" he whispered after he broke the kiss, his lips still brushing against mine. I couldn't help but blush at the sight in front of me while feeling his grip on my waist tighten.

"I love you more-" I whispered back but got cut off as I felt the metallic ground tremble underneath me. My eyes were locked in Matt's as I watched his widen.

"What- what was that?" he panicked and I immediately grabbed his hands.

"Baby, I bet it's nothing just-" I tried to reassure him but got cut off once more with a more aggressive shake. His grip on my hands tightened and his face went white. All of a sudden, we stopped moving.

This cannot be happening right now. I thought. I pulled out my phone to check if there's any signal but there was nothing. Not a single bar.

"Matt, I need you to listen to me, okay baby?" I softly said as I felt his hands tremble against mine. He slowly nodded his head and let out a shaky breath.

"I need you to sit down and try to control your breathing for me. I'm going to go and press the help button on the panel right there and I'm going to be right back to you in a second, mkay?" I spoke as calmly as I could and watched him as he sat down slowly. I went to the panel and pressed the button a couple of times praying that they got the signal.

"It's all going to be okay sweetheart, I promise. I'm right here" I soothed him while I sat down across from him. I noticed how he started fidgeting with the piece of jewellery that fell onto his chest and his shortened breaths.

"I- I think I'm- I'm having an a- attack" he said with a rumbling voice and I reached my hand out to hold his. I scooted over him and wrapped my other arm around his shoulder, his head now hidden into the crook of my neck.

"I know, Matty. How about we do our exercise, hm?" I whispered and started scratching my fingernails against his back. "I want you to close your eyes and imagine we're back in Boston and you're showing me around. Where are you taking me first?"

"Pro- probably my house?" he chatted and I laughed.

"Yeah but let's say you want me to take me out on a date on your favourite spot. Where would that be?"

"Oh. Well there's th- this place a f- few-" he gasped and squinted his eyes.

"You're doing great baby, so so well. Keep going for me, focus on my voice" I praised him and placed soft kisses on his hair while worry had started to fill my own body. Why are they not responding?

"It's a- a few miles away fr- from my h-house and it's a fl- flower valey" he continued after taking a couple of deep breaths.

"Really? And what kind of flowers are there?" I asked feeling the shake on his hands slowly decrease.

"There are sun- sunflowers and tu- tulips. There's other flow- flowers too but I don't know wh- what kind they are but I can re- recognise t- those two 'cause th- they're your f- favourites" he smiled and chuckled slightly.

"You're so cute" I cooed and placed another kiss on his forehead. "Now, what colours do you see?"

"There are s- so many. There's defi- definitely red, ye- yellow and pink and I t- think blue as well b- but I'm not sure. There are also so- some mountains so you see brown t- too" he shrugged.

"That's okay Matty, you're doing great. Are there any animals around?" I spoke softly and moved my hand from his back onto his hair, earning an approving hum from him. However, I still didn't get any response from the reception and I knew I had to go up there and press it again, but I didn't want to leave Matt's side. I wanted him to know he had my full attention.

"Oh yeah, y- you'd love t- them! There are co- cows, the fluffy ones that you l- like and horses!" he exclaimed, "I really ha- have to take you there." his once trembling voice was now somewhat ceased.

"I'd love that, Matt," I placed one more kiss on the top of his head, "And why is this your favourite place in Boston?"

"Well, the sunset from up there is a- amazing and I used to always go there to t- think and c- clear my head. It also reminds me of you" he spoke now with ease, lifting his head from my shoulder and letting out a deep breath which sounded like it was stored in his chest for a while.

"Really?" I asked amused.

"Yeah, its beauty is breathtaking and so is yours. Whenever I go there and look at the scenery, it always calms me down and makes me forget about any worries of mine, something that you do as well," he turned to look at me with an affectionate smile, "If you were any place in the world, you'd be that."

I placed my hands on his cheeks wiping away a few tears that had escaped from his eyes. "I love you" I reminded him and kissed him passionately. "Are you okay?" I whispered against his lips once we stopped, my eyes scanning his features for any signs of discomfort.

"Yes, my love. Thank you," he replied and kissed me once more.

"You don't have to thank me, sweetheart, it's my job to take care of you and make you fell okay, hm?" I playfully told him and poked his chest with my index finger. "Now, let me try and ring them again, it's been almost an hour-"

"Hello?" I heard someone from the other side yell and I sighed in relief.

"Hi, thank you for coming" I yelled. They instructed us to stay away from the door and reassured us that we'd be out in a couple of minutes.

"I'm going to marry you one day" Matt said casually as he pulled me up in to my feet and I stayed there in shock at his confession.

"Wh- What? You want to marry me?" I stuttered.

"Why wouldn't I? You're my happiness, y/n, and I'd love to grow old with you but only if you'd like that too" he shook his head at my shocked expression and chuckled. He pulled me towards his chest, his hand around my waist holding me closer to his body as he looked down at me. "I love you so much that I'm afraid the right words do not exist to describe what I feel when I look at you or hear your voice or just think about you, baby" he added and kissed me again.

"I'd love to grow old with you, Matt. I love you" I giggled and hugged him.

Soon after, we were rescued by a team of firefighters whom we thanked again and bid them goodnight.

"Wanna get ice cream? I'll pay!" I chimed while we were walking down the street hand in hand heading towards Matt's car.

"I'm down and no you won't, let me treat you right, princess" he winked and I blushed.

"You're such a tease!" I rolled my eyes at him and playfully pushed him away only for him to bring my hand up to his lips.

#christopher sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #nick sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo x reader #sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo fanfiction #matt sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo fic #matt sturniolo smut #matthew sturniolo #matt sturniolo oneshots #matt sturniolo imagine #matt sturniolo fluff #chris sturniolo oneshot #chris sturniolo fluff #chris sturniolo fanfic #chris sturniolo smut #chris sturniolo #nick sturniolo fanfic #the sturniolo triplets #sturniolo triplets smut

[runningfrom2am]

cold nights // part five

summary: all the stars aligned, and it was you.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 2.7k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: tribute!reader and mentor!coriolanus, r is very sweet (too kind for this world. literally.), sunshine x grumpy trope kinda, he falls first, violence typical for the source material, r is very smart (as she should), district twelve!reader.

a/n: this one got me y'all i won't lie-

series masterlist // playlist

"Is everything okay? You look upset." You ask Coryo, mere moments after he joined your side of waiting tributes and mentors to tour the arena. How had you seen it so quickly? He curses himself mentally for making his distress so obvious.

For you, it was how pale he looked. All the colour had been drained from his face, and you doubted that was from him running up to you to catch up. He looked too fit to be sick just from running. The crease in his brow and bloodshot eyes certainly didn't help, either.

"Nothing." He replies quickly as the line starts to move. "How are you doing today?"

"Well." You nod, allowing the shift in topic. You wouldn't want to press him, you just didn't want whatever he is upset about to be because of you. "I have been reading. It helps."

"Oh, good. I'm glad." He hums, looking down at you for the first time.

"Thank you, again. I hope it wasn't too much of a hassle to get."

"Not at all." He shakes his head, returning your ever-present smile as best as he can within an hour of witnessing the possible death of another one of his classmates. Truth is, it was hard to get Romeo and Juliet for you. It wasn't commonplace in the Capitol, clearly, and he only knew one person, more broadly, one family who had ever so much as set foot in the Districts.

"Coriolanus! What a pleasure! Please, come in." Sejanus's mother greets him at the door, stepping out of the way and gesturing for him to enter.

"Mrs. Plinth, how are you?" He asks politely, stepping in and wiping his shoes on the doormat.

"I'm good! Yourself?"

"Good." He nods.

"Come eat, I just finished up some baking." She walks back into the home, and he follows suit. He's shocked when he's led into the kitchen, and she pats a stool at the kitchen island for him to sit. "Would you like some tea?" She offers, already cutting a slice of pie for him. It was still steaming. Still warm. His stomach growled just at the sight as he sat down. Typically one wouldn't host guests in your kitchen, but she was District. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

"Please." Coryo smiles at her gratefully.

"How is your mentorship going?" She asks, and he can tell by her refusal to make eye contact that it's purely to make conversation. She likely shared some perspectives with her son, but she was too mature to state such unpopular opinions in a way her son was not. "Sejanus told me you got paired with the girl from District Twelve. He really likes her. Said she's very smart. Very kind."

"She is. She's lovely." Coryo nods as she slides a plate in front of him, handing him a fork moments later. "I think it's going well."

"It's such a shame..." She mutters, clicking her tongue and shaking her head as she puts the tea on the kettle on the burner in between them. "Anyway," She catches herself, moving on quickly. "What can we do for you? Shall I call for my son?"

"Y/N is the reason I'm here, actually." He replies, ignoring her comment. Admittedly, when it came to you, he agreed with Mrs. Plinth and her son. It is such a shame.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I would like to get her a copy of her favourite book. I was hoping you might have it, I've never heard of it before."

"We have a library." She nods. "I can certainly take a look, what is it called?"

"It's very, very old, so no worries if you don't have it, but it's called 'Romeo and Juliet'." He tells her, eyes gleaming with hope. If they didn't have it, he wasn't sure what he would do.

"Oh! That is familiar to me." She smiles. "I haven't read it since I was your age, but I'm sure we still have it kicking around here somewhere. Do you mind keeping an eye on the tea while I take a look?"

"Of course." Coryo nods, wanting nothing less than to make his own tea as a guest in someone's home, but he has to do what he must to get you that book.

As soon as she wipes her hands on her apron and walks out of the kitchen, he hears her voice again. "Sejanus! Your friend is here!"

Internally, he rolls his eyes. He didn't want to see his classmate, but he was in his home. Maybe Sejanus would handle his tea, at least. He took this opportunity to start eating the warm pie in front of him, he hated people seeing him eat, but he was making all kinds of sacrifices today. Maybe he should ask if he could take a piece for you.

"Oh. Coryo." Sejanus says, walking into the kitchen. "What brings you?"

"Y/N." He replies. "I'd like to get a book for her. Your mother says she has it."

"Ah." Sejanus hums, slotting himself into the seat next to Coryo. So much for the tea. "What book?"

"Romeo and Juliet. It's her favourite." Coryo explains. "She's going to do a monologue from it in her interview."

"At least she'll talk to you." Sejanus sighs. "Marcus won't even look at me."

"Well, Y/N is nicer than most." Coryo says, much more eager to talk about you than Sejanus and his problems.

"She's something, huh?" Sejanus smiles, taking the bait.

"Yes. Very intelligent."

"I think it will be easy for her to get donations. Even if people don't know what she's talking about." Sejanus elaborates. "She's pleasant to look at, and the people here are so shallow that that might be the only thing that matters."

Pleasant, to Coriolanus, was an understatement. Surely, you were the most beautiful thing the Districts had to offer. That didn't mean that Sejanus or anyone should be valuing you based on that, though. Your mind was just a bonus. It would work wonders in humanizing you to the people of the Capitol. It had certainly worked on him.

"I hope it's more than that." He replies, and truth be told, it's a lie. He doesn't want anyone to look at you the way he does, but if it meant people sending money so he could save your life, so be it.

"I do too, but it's doubtful. Regardless, she'll do well. You'll have lots of donations to work with." Sejanus says, attempting to comfort his friend's worries. "My ma will convince my father to send some for her. I heard them talking about it, she wants to help you."

"Is that not a conflict of interest?"

"Maybe." Sejanus shrugs. "They can't donate to Marcus, obviously, but Ma really likes her. Asks about her every day. She's rooting for both of them. The problem is they can't both win."

Coryo would take it. One hundred percent he would take it, but it makes his heart crack even more.

"Here! Here it is!" His mother calls out as she returns to the kitchen, excitedly placing the book on the counter next to Coryo, patting the top of it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Plinth." He sighs in relief, picking up the old book in his hands.

"Please, call me Ma. We're so far past formalities." She grins, leaning against the counter across from them as the tea starts to whistle. Coryo would sooner die than call her 'Ma', but once again, he would do just about anything for you at this point. "I hope she enjoys it."

"I'll get it back to you before the games." Coryo promises.

Her smile fades to a sad one as she pours out the tea into a mug for him. "Yes, well, feel free to hold onto it as long as you need to, dear. I have more books than I could read in a lifetime."

"I did promise her I would read it." He matches her sentiment. "So I'll get into it after the games. I doubt I'll have any free time until then."

"Keep it. It's yours." She smiles.

"Thank you." He says again, flipping briefly through some of the pages. It was old, practically falling apart in his hands, but he knew you would take good care of it. And after you, he would do the same.

"I hid it with the blanket." You tell him. "I sure hope it doesn't rain..." You mumble, looking behind you to check how clear the sky currently is. So far, the book would be safe.

You're careful, hesitant even as you approach the turnstiles ahead of you. You wish that it wouldn't speak when you walk through it, but you know it will as you watch every other tribute ahead of you push through the metal gate.

"Enjoy the show!" You wince at the words, then you're on the other side. That wasn't so bad, but the statement echoes endlessly in your mind, bouncing off every other thought you've had today as you carry on into the open arena, allowing the other tributes and mentors to enter behind the two of you as a camera is shoved in your face and you smile, giving it a small wave.

"Well, hello there." You grin, looking past the camera to the man holding it. "How are you today?"

You don't get an answer as one of the mentors is yanking him away to point the camera at someone else. As you look around, instinctively, you step closer to Coryo's side as you gaze around the arena. "Gosh, It sure is... small." You mutter, swallowing the lump in your throat as reality comes crashing down on you in the dark space.

He grabs your hand.

Coriolanus has always thought the arena was huge. From his memories at the top of the stands, it did look big, but down here, on the floor, it did feel a lot smaller. Especially when he forced himself to imagine that it would be him who would be killed in this very room, not even a week from today.

There was nowhere to hide, he knew that, but now, the idea scared him. What would you do? He doesn't even have any good advice to give you.

You jump as the door slams shut behind you, turning quickly to look. Even Coryo looks scared, and you pull yourself closer to him. Had they lied to you? Were the games starting today? You didn't want to say goodbye yet. To the world, your family, to Coriolanus. You weren't ready- but would you ever be?

That's when the windows start to slide open above you, letting the light back in.

"Welcome to the arena for the Tenth Annual Hunger Games. Tributes, mentors, you have fifteen minutes to survey the space and discuss strategy." The voice over the loudspeakers is reassuring to you, but you know that's only temporary.

Coryo stays silent as he looks around. Clearly, you were ahead of him, though, already pulling on his hand in the direction of some of the other tributes. He only slightly resisted, confused as to what was happening, but he would let you have this ounce of freedom to do what you pleased.

"Hi!" You smile hopefully at Marcus as he's standing with Sejanus. "I think we're supposed to be forming alliances. I trust you, Marcus."

Your candidness almost shocks Coryo, but he quickly realizes what you're doing. You have almost no shot without somewhere to hide, so your best bet is to find allies. He didn't want you to do this, but now he sees few other options. He makes brief eye contact with Sejanus as Marcus ignores you, just walking away. Coryo starts scanning the rest of the tributes, suddenly focussed on who would be your best strategic option.

"Hey." Coryo whispers, leaning in to whisper in your ear. "If you want allies, talk to them." He points over to Reaper and Dill. He could see that Reaper was strong, and Dill was clearly a liability. You could slot right into the middle as far as skillsets go; he could defend you and she was no threat.

"Okay. Come on." You nod, dropping his hand to head toward them. Coryo looked around on the way, trying to see what other mentors were doing. What he was supposed to be doing, but most of them were just talking to each other, others only to their tribute. There was no right action, but what the two of you were doing was different. That was good.

"Dill, Reaper!" You smile as you get closer, giving a slight wave. Immediately, Reaper is looking past you and glaring at your mentor, tucking Dill behind his back and shaking his head. "Oh." You stop, looking between the two of them and the glare that Coryo is matching. "Never mind, then. I'll leave you to it."

Coryo is already trying to find another option for you, it wasn't looking good. You turn back to him, sighing before plastering a smile on your face, trying not to look too discouraged. "Okay, well..." You look around. "Oh! Lamina. She's lovely." You grab his hand again, but he stays in place as he watches the interaction she's having with Coral and the team she's already forming as they're actively casting Lamina out in favour of the boy from her District.

"Coryo?"

"Not her. Them." He explains, pointing them out to you.

"Oh, I don't know..." You're hesitant, and he understands why, but that's not an option. Without Reaper, numbers would be your biggest safety.

"Safety in numbers." He mumbles, overriding your reluctance and starting to walk their way, pulling you with him.

"Oh, okay. Yeah." You agree, subconsciously cowering behind him. "Actually, Coryo, I'm really not comf-" You speak up, trying to stop his crusade before you're jumping from the sound of an explosion above you.

You both freeze, looking up as the ceiling begins to collapse down on you, more blasts making your ears ring.

Quickly, Coryo is changing directions, running in the opposite direction and pushing you ahead of him as you follow your feet, sprinting toward the light at the door over the shaking ground. You don't last long, stumbling over some already fallen debris and falling. "We gotta go, we gotta go- Y/N, get up!" Coryo is ahead of you now, and you can hardly hear his yelling even though he's right in your face, pulling you back to your feet.

Just as you regain your footing side-by-side, Coryo is the next to fall. As he takes you down with him with the grip on your wrist, you quickly realize it's because a beam fell on his back as the two of you stumbled forward. The flames spreading to the back of his red uniform were the first thing to clue you in.

In your panic and heavy breathing, you can still see his lips moving. You're already trying to pull the bars off of him when he first even gets the chance to scream for help. You groan, inaudible even to you over the commotion as you put all your weight into pulling it back, hoping he's not already severely burned, but you're sure he is as the flames burn the metal rod in your hand.

Your grip slips and you fall back into another piece of the fallen ceiling that surrounded you, apparently sharp as a protruding piece of metal pierces your upper arm. You yelp, looking down as the blood begins to pour from the wound, but you ignore it to keep trying to free your mentor. Then, you're being pulled back by your dress. "The gate is open! The gate is open, come on!" It's Marcus, and by the time you even turn to look at him he's running toward the open door, motioning for you to follow. He gives up quickly as two of the other tributes follow. You don't even hear the gunshots that knock them down. He's trying to escape. You could escape.

You hesitate, looking back down at the boy in front of you who you can see is choking to try and breathe. Someone else slides in at your side as you continue to pull, but they're pushing you back. "Y/N! Run!" Sejanus shouts in your face, quickly removing his hands from you to grab the beam where you were just holding it. "I've got him- Go!"

"My honest, best advice?" Your conversation from the other day immediately comes to mind. "Figure out a way to escape."

You frantically look between the door and the boys in front of you, trying to decide. You have to decide right now. Right now, right now, right-

It's an easy decision. You grab the hot bars again and start pulling with every bit of strength you can muster.

taglist: @soulessjourney, @keziahcore, @that-veela-girl, @motorsport, @dreamyysouls, @rockstarbfs, @Lanadelrey3, @rawrmameh, @3zae-zae3, @babyspice6, @pastel0rchid, @maysileeewrites, @articxari, @Urfavpouge, @Multivitaminfy, @baybieruth, @kitscutie, @annaelise, @serrendiipty, @fratboyharrysgf0201, @totallynotkaibiased, @stelleduarte, @klplynn, @secretsicanthideanymore, @bejeweledreverie, @fals3-g0d, @drewsandsebastianswife, @niicole-87, @queenofshinigamis, @innercreationflower, @nallasstuff, @spring-goddess1, @baybieruth, @lovelyxtom, @throughgoeshxmilton, @enwonie, @scorpiolystoned, @iovemoonyy, @kodzuvk, @soupasoup, @eedwardss, @thatmarvelchick19, @wearemadeofstardust0, @regulusblackcore, @kbakery , @qardasngan, @omgsuperstarg, @kuroosbby001, @puredreamagination, @fantasticchaosthing, @coolcatyarb, @yokolesbianism,

if your user has a strikethrough i wasn't able to tag you! i'm so sorry!

#tbosas #tbosas fic #tbosas x reader #coriolanus snow #hunger games #thg #thg fanfic #thg series #the hunger games #thg fanfiction #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #coriolanus snow x reader #coriolanus x reader #coriolanus x you #coriolanus fanfiction #coryo x reader #coryo snow #snow x reader #snow lands on top

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Don't Speak 18

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as dubcon/noncon, obsession, stalking, manipulation, reclusive behaviour, disordered eating and other possible triggers. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: Reader is a reclusive loner who ventures down to the library on a simple mission. Her task is complicated by the man she meets there. (f!short!reader)

Character: librarian!Andy Barber

Note: Oh, Andrew.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me <3

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

Love you all. Take care. 💖

You pull on a sweatshirt, your favourite lilac one with the frayed cuffs. You listen to the hallway before you come out of the guestroom. You sneak over across to rinse your face with cold water, trying to prepare yourself to face your cowardice. You have an apology ready, but it changes each time you recite it in your head.

You're still foggy. Your limbs are full of sand and your stomach is scraped dry. As you approach the top of the stairs, a wave of vertigo spins you. You latch onto the railing and steady the room. Your descent is cautious and sluggish. With each step, you want just as much to go back and hide in bed.

You won't. You can't. You want to change so change.

You follow the scent of coffee to the kitchen, the soft noise of porcelain assuring you of his presence. Andy's back is to you, his shoulder blades straining his shirt, as he pours himself a cup from the metal carafe. You don't know if he hears you as he leans a hand on the counter and takes a long sip.

"Andy," you squeak and a jolt of surprise tense his body.

He turns to you, wiping a droplet from his beard, the cup in his other hand. You give a sheepish frown and wring your hands. You teeth your lower lip as you measure your words, only to find the scale at zero. They're all gone.

"I'm sorry," you let your rehearsed speech float away, "can I make breakfast?"

It always made Amber happy when you tried. A meal, or a tiny chore, it always brightened her right up. So maybe it would work with him. To show him you're not entirely worthless.

His throat bobs and he shrugs, “of course you can, but I can help if you–”

“No, please, I can do it. You said… pancakes?”

His face softens and he dips his chin just slightly, “sure. Pancakes are good.”

“Right, uh, oh, I don’t have my tablet. I was going to look up a recipe…”

“It’s fine, I have some old cook books,” he sets his coffee on the island and goes to a deep draw set below a thinner one. He pulls out a hardcover book, “mom left em behind when she… passed.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault,” he puts it on the counter, “I can pull everything out if–”

“Please, I think… I think I can find everything. You can go sit down.”

“Hmm, well, what if I’d rather stay and hang out?”

The lightness in his tone reassures you. He doesn’t sound mad anymore. Maybe he just needed his coffee. 

“That’s okay, I guess,” you say.

You near the counter and pull the book close. You open it and check the table of contents. Pancakes, pg. 17. You flip through and read the first ingredient. Flour.

Andy leans over and peeks as you search the kitchen with your eyes. He smiles and backs up, popping open a cupboard. There you see the flower among several other containers.

You come around and as you get close, he reaches to take the bag of flour down from the second shelf. It’s only that act which makes you realises you wouldn’t be able to get it yourself. He hands it over and you thank him. You hug the bag, the powder dusting out the top.

“Andy,” you teeter on your heels.

He tilts his head, let a brow furrow, “what?”

“Are you still mad?”

His mouth slants and he chuckles softly, “I wasn’t mad. I worry. That’s it.”

You look down. He sounded and looked mad, but maybe you misinterpreted. You sniff as you notice the flour on your shirt and you quickly spin away. You put the bag on the counter and look down at your sweatshirt, trying to dust it off. It’s not a big deal, you’re going to be cooking anyway.

You give up and go back to the book. You turn back as Andy knowingly pulls down the baking soda. You take it from him but as you do, he catches your sleeve. He pinches the frayed cuff. You tug, freeing yourself and hiding the loose threads behind your other arm.

“Cute sweater,” he comments, “too bad.”

“It’s fine,” you set down the cylinder and fold in the sleeves, hiding the tatters, “see?”

“Mmm, yeah,” he doesn’t sound convinced, “it’s a nice colour. A bit big on you.”

“I don’t mind,” you insist as you go to the fridge and slide out the tray of eggs, “really. I make due.”

“Ah, well… ever think of not making due? Maybe spending some of that money you’ve earned?”

“One day, maybe,” you say evasively as you take out the carton of milk before you return to the island, “did you want blueberries?”

He’s quiet for a moment. He crosses the tile and you cower as he reaches past you. He grabs his cup and sips from the brim. He pulls it away from his mouth and hums, “I love blueberries.” He puts his hand on your shoulder and squeezes, “thanks, honey.”

He leans in, just a little, and for a moment, your chest seizes. What is he doing? You swear he’s going to– He detaches and strides past you, “hope you don’t mind if I catch up on the news,” he chirps over his shoulder, “I know you’ll do a great job. I can’t wait to enjoy those pancakes.”

“Mhmm,” you issue a fragile hum, jittering from the close call. Was it really that or are you just overthinking again?

🕊️

You try to tidy up as the pancakes cook. You roll up the top of the flour bag and place it neatly under the cupboard for Andy to put back. You wipe away the powder left on the counter and a few stray specks of batter. As you rinse out the cloth, you smell burning.

You go back to the pan and flip the pancakes, only to find them black on the bottom. Oh no. You huff and toss them out. Start again. You have more than enough batter.

You use the spatula to balance the pancakes and dump them in the bin, letting the lid down. As you turn back, you hit the handle of the pan and it flips, knocking into the glass bowl of batter. You try to catch the pan as the bowl shatters and you cry out as the heat tortures your hand.

The cacophony of glass and metal and you shriek reverberates around you. You stare at the batter expanding in a large pool across the floor and whimper. Oh no, you’ve spoiled it all.

You stand with your hands out, burnt and thrumming. Andy appears in the archway as you can only sputter mindlessly. He carefully steps around the mess and takes you by the arm, turning you towards the sink. He doesn’t say a word as he flips on the hot water and forces your hands under the cool stream.

You murmur as you let him. It feels nice. You’re shaking, eyes welling, as you see the torment in your flesh, and feel it even deeper.

“I’m sorry,” you eke out.

“Don’t be,” he shakes his head as he keeps your hands under the flow, “accidents happen.”

“I– I burnt them and when I turned–”

He hushes you, cradling your hands in his large ones. He’s gentle as he keeps you in place, until you’re suitably numbed. He shifts you away as he shuts off the faucet and grabs a handle down. He lightly lays it over your hands.

“I’ll clean up the mess–”

“You won’t,” he insists,” you’ll sit down and let me clean up your hands, get some salve on them, and wrap them up.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I told you, don’t be,” he repeats, “sit, okay?”

You nod as he pulls out one of the tall chairs. He helps you up with a hand on your elbow and he backs away, unbothered by the cluster of glass and batter at his feet. He leaves you and you sob. You can’t do anything right, can you?

He returns and drags a chair over. You watch silently, castigated, as he sets to work. He applies a cooling cream to the burns across your palms and fingers, carefully wrapping them up. As you wince, he apologises. You wiggle your nose, barely holding back tears.

“It’s okay,” he assures you, “I'll clean up and then we can order something–”

“I’m sorry,” you hang your head, “I tried…” you pull your hands back, resting them daintily in your lap, “can I lay down?”

“Honey, you should stay up and eat. You promised me you’d eat, right?”

You nod, refusing to look at him.

“Alright, so you stay out here and I’ll figure something out.”

“Okay,” you agree in a tiny voice.

He sighs, “I’m not doing this to hurt you, you know? If you’re not going to take care of yourself, someone has to.” He stands and gathers up the remnants of the bandages and the tube of salve. “I can’t, if you don’t let me.”

“I’m sorry,” you echo once more.

He says nothing. You can tell by his posture he’s irritated. You look down at the chaos you’ve wrecked. You wouldn’t be surprised if he sent you back to Amber, and you wouldn’t be surprised if she refused to take you back. Especially after yesterday.

🕊️

Andy orders in and you sit at the table glumly. He places a container before you and flips the tops. Inside, there is a stack of pancakes, a small container of butter, and another of syrup. You say thank you and stare. Your stomach is a volcano, waiting to erupt.

You grab the butter and struggle to pop off the lid. You take the plastic knife and struggle to scoop out the creamy butter. Andy puts his container close and takes the chair next to yours. He turns in his seat and takes the knife and cup from you.

“Here,” he butters up each pancake and pours the syrup over. 

You can only watch. You feel like a child. He cuts up your pancakes and hands you back the fork.

“Got it?” He asks.

You nod. He turns to his own food as hold the fork awkwardly and jab at the fluffy squares. You sop up as much syrup as you can and nibble along the edge. He starts on his own pile, quiet as you languish in the lull.

“You okay?” He speaks at last.

“Yeah.”

“It’s alright. Sometimes those things happen. Let’s just move past it.”

“I know,” you mutter and chew.

“I’m just happy to have someone to spend my Saturday with. Usually… it’s just me, you know?”

You nod and finish the small square, letting your fork rest on the side of the container. He glances over and leans in, pressing his arm to yours.

“And you’re good company," he adds.

🕊️

You only eat half your breakfast. Andy accepts it with an air of disappointment but lets you go. You sit in the garage for almost an hour, staring at the canvas. You don’t know why it’s so hard. You have it all in your head but it just won’t come out. As it is, your hands make it impossible to do much.

After a while, you head back inside. Andy’s in the living room, the TV crackling with whatever sport he’s watching. He doesn’t look back as you pass the doorway. Good.

You retreat upstairs and tiptoe down to the guest room. You take out a pair of pajamas and take your towel with you across the hall. You close the door and flip the lock over. Maybe you should’ve asked but you figure it’s not too much trouble, not as much as bothering Andy. It’s his weekend, he deserves to enjoy it.

You turn on the faucet and watch the tub fill before you get undressed. You leave your fresh clothes on the closest corner of the counter and put the others on the opposite end. You take the cupcake soap with you and the fluffy pink loofah.

The water is hotter than you expect. You stand for a little before you can lower yourself. You look at the bluetooth speaker suctioned to the tile and step close, trying to find the buttons. You’ll have to bring your tablet in next time and see if you can pair it up.

You sit and sink into the heat. You always found baths to be relaxing. When your anxiety was bad, you could just forget. You should’ve brought a book but you let the regret slip away. You close your eyes and recline, the steam dampening your skin.

As you feel the water cool, you sit up and lather with the loofah and soap. You stand to get the rest of your body, the scent sugary but strong. You turn, trying to reach your back and hear a click as you do. You spin and face the door, facing Andy as he stands dumbfounded with his hand on the handle.

You drop down with a splash, hiding behind the wall of the tub. You cling to it, horrified. Why didn’t you close the curtain? You thought…

“...I locked the door…” you quaver.

“Uh, yeah, sometimes it doesn’t catch,” he says dully, his eyes transfixed on you. 

He shakes himself and finally looks away. You hide behind your hand, wanting nothing more than to disappear. He stutters and backs away.

“Sorry, uh, I’m sorry, dove, I didn’t… know…” He pivots stunted, his hand still on the door, and he pulls it shut as he leaves.

You stay as you are, staring at the door, heart beating furiously. You can’t believe what’s just happened. You just want to go shrivel up in bed and never come out. Never again.

#andy barber #dark andy barber #dark!andy barber #andy barber x reader #fic #dark fic #dark!fic #series #don't speak #au #library au #defending jacob

[nyxthejinx]

Hello! How’s your day/night going?

May I request a drabble of Diluc with an g/n s/o that haves fox’s ears? Like Miko but it’s pointing upwards not down. And their ear’s go with their emotions ;

Happy = go straight up

Sad = slowly go downwards

shy/embarrassed = go downwards really fast

If not that’s completely fine! Have the good rest of your day/night!

Archons-know-how-many-months-later, my night's going pretty well, sleep deprivation aside. I'm sorry it took so long, but it was an interesting prompt to go with. I'm not fully satisfied with how it came out, but I hope you'll like it anyways <3

𝐓𝐖: Nothing but fluff, one kiss. It's a misunderstanding but comical.

𝐅𝐭.: Diluc - GN!Reader

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.1k

𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨: Hanging With the Boys - OMORI

Diluc has always been secretly fascinated by your ears.

He never really brought up the topic or pointed out anything, fearing it would make him sound rude and you feel uncomfortable. And yet still to this day he founds endearing the way you show emotions through them.

On most days they'd be staying up proudly, paired with one of your unresistable smiles, while on some occations he'd seen them bend like a withered flowers, pulled downwards just like your lips in a sign of sadness.

But his favourite has to be without a doubt the sight of them flattening in a heartbeat, as you poorly hide that clumsy shyness he's grown so fond of.

What Diluc doesn't like, though, are those days when they're leaned backwards, forming a sharp 90 degrees angle with the back of your head. Days when you're upset, annoyed at something and/or someone.

Days when he automatically returns on his footsteps and tries to figure out whether it was his fault or not.

Today is one of those days.

It had started in the morning, with you marching down the corridor and completely ignoring the open door of his office. Being with his nose buried in paperwork, Diluc didn't exactly notice the lack of usual "have a good day" kiss. It was Adelinde who pointed out your strange behaviour and rang the bells in the back of his mind.

But why? He'd come home earlier yesterday, cuddled on the bed while you read your book, had a nice dinner together and slept with you in his arms. You'd kept your ears pointed all the way up the entire time!

Was someone bothering you? Did he subconsciously annoy you? Were you feeling unwell? Should he call a doctor?

"Please, calm down, master Diluc," Adelinde sighs, as she dusts the libraries in his office. "If they were in any pain they'd voice their discomfort. Master [Name] knows how concerned you get over their wellbeing."

Diluc, on the other hand, is having none of it. "I wouldn't know, Adelinde." He sinks in his chair, a frown etched on his forehead. "We're both well aware of their stubborness."

"You ought talk to them, then." She says. "Communication is the key."

Communication is the key.

Well, it is either the key for peace or chaos, Diluc thinks, an idea that's surely bound to fail popping up in his mind.

Candles? Lit. Table? Set. Dinner made by the man himself? Ready to help you ease the mood, it's your favourite after all.

It took him the rest of the evening to lay everything out for when you'd be back. It's a bit old fashioned, nothing too special, just like he is, but he knows you like it exactly this way.

Adelinde actually shook her head at the length he was going for this whole ordeal. But anyways-

Diluc stands by the window, waiting for any sign of your arrival. He focuses on his dull reflection, checks the outfit he'd chosen -casual, but still flattering in a way- and perks up upon seeing your figure approaching the manor.

He squints and- yes, your ears are still bent backwards, but not completely: more like a perturbed neutrality.

Well, make or break.

The door clicks open and he hears you shuffling around.

"Welcome back, Love." He makes his way to the entrance, hoping to look natural in his movements. When in reality he's a nervous wreck. "Let me help you with that."

Diluc gives you a small smile, makes quick work of your jacket, hanging it to the rack and subtly pushing you towards the decorated table. He doesn't give you time to ask any question, nor elaborate your confusion and stupor, as he accompanies you by the small of your back.

"How was your day?" He questions. Meanwhile he's already moved the chair, waiting for you to sit.

"Uh, fine, I guess?" You don't hide your hesitancy, as you lower yourself on the cushioned seat with a quirked brow. "What about you- this," You gesture around yourself, then towards Diluc. "What's the occasion?"

Diluc pushes you into position. He clears his throat, hands stilling on the seat back. "You seemed... Off, earlier this morning, Love. I was hoping a nice dinner would ease your mind."

"I prepared your favourite." And with that he slinks away. Or at least tries to.

You're quick to latch your fingers onto the sleeve of his shirt. "'Luc, I appreciate the thought, but I'm pretty sure there's something more going on."

You yank him gently, force him to face you fully and look at you in the eyes, when you notice that his gaze is aimed a little above yours.

"...Well?"

He stares up, back down, up again. And then he sighs. He sounds absolutely mortified. "It was my intention to have a chat about your sour mood. You appeared distressed when you left the Winery, your..." His cheeks start to gain colour. "Your ears. I've only ever seen them that way after an argument, or whenever you're upset. I was worried I enraged you unknowingly."

His free hand flies to cover the lower half of his face, as if he knows he's blushing like mad, while his eyes wander to the floor. Diluc looks like a kicked puppy, poor thing.

And suddenly you chuckle, your ears perking all the way up like usual. As if nothing at all had happened.

"'Luc, Love, I'm sorry." You smile. "I wasn't mad at you!"

"U-Uh?"

"Remember the book I was reading before bed?" You place both your hands on his biceps and get on your feet. "Well, I read the few pages I had left right this morning. And I didn't like the ending at all."

Oh. Oh.

So it was about the book.

Diluc stares at you dumbfounded. He's overheating, and he doesn't know if it's from shame, stress discharging or the incredible proximity of your bodies.

He feels your hands slide all the way up, locking behind his neck as your face inches closer and closer. A soft, yet amused smile pulling at your lips. "You're too sweet for this world."

And you peck him, quick but loving nevertheless. Take a step back and pat his chest. "You said you cooked my favourite, right? Can't wait to dig in."

And you sit once again, starting to ramble about your real day with a cozy enthusiasm he loves so much.

It takes him another ten seconds. But then he smiles, gazes at you with eyes brimming with adoration.

How he loves seeing you with your ears up.

DON'T copy/repost my work. REBLOG instead! ©nyxthejinx

#Genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #diluc x reader #diluc #genshin diluc #genshin blurbs #gn reader #blurb #drabble #genshin fluff #genshin images #diluc come home #| Genshin Impact 🌓 | #| Nyx Writes 🌑 |

[lucy90712]

Christmas at home- Pablo Gavi

WC: 2.6k A/n: in this story Gavi never got injured so he's still playing with the team 

Christmas has always been an interesting topic of discussion in mine and Pablo's relationship. When we first got together it was right at the start of November so we spent Christmas with our own families that year and last year we spent it with Pablo's family. This year we are going to see my family which has taken a lot of planning as my family don't live in Spain I'm just there to study so we had to book flights and see how long Pablo could be away for before he had to go back to training. We had everything sorted then the club decided to play a friendly in Dallas right after the last league game which ruined our plans a bit. Now instead of coming with me when I go home Pablo has to go to the states and then back to Barcelona and from there he's coming to see me and my family. 

I went home the day after Pablo's last league match and have enjoyed spending time with my family but I have been waiting for the day that he finally arrives as we don't get much quality time together so having him for the holidays is always my favourite parts of the year. All last night I couldn't sleep waiting for Pablo to text saying he'd got on the plane but instead I got a text saying his flight was cancelled and he's was having to get another later flight. This later flight would mean he's not landing until this afternoon which would be fine if we weren't supposed to go to a big family gathering at my grandmas house. Every year my grandma gets everyone in the family to come round a few days before Christmas so we can all celebrate together and I was so excited for Pablo to come and meet the rest of my family that he hasn't met before but now I don't think he'll make it. I was also supposed to collect him from the airport but he told me not to and that he'd find another way there. 

As much as I tried to hide my disappointment my parents could tell straight away that something was bothering me. To start with I refused to tell them what was up as I didn't want to ruin everyone's day plus there's nothing they can do so I just wanted to deal with it myself. Eventually though I could feel myself getting more and more upset so I decided it would be best to confide in my mum just to get my feelings out.

"Whats wrong sweetheart?" My mum asked as I sat down next to her 

"Pablo's flight was cancelled now he's not coming until later so he's going to miss the gathering at grandma's and I can't even go and get him from the airport" I explained 

"I'm sorry honey I know you wanted him to meet the rest of the family but at least he can get here still you'll still get to see him today just later" my mum said trying to make me feel better 

"I know it's just I told everyone Pablo would be here and now they are going to think he's a bad boyfriend" I said 

"Well you can explain the situation and if some people don't get it that's ok me and your dad love Pablo and we know he treats you so well and eventually everyone will get to see that whether it's now or another time" she said 

"Thanks mum that makes me feel a bit better" I said 

She gave me a hug and then we set off to my grandmas which isn't too far luckily. The entire car journey I was texting Pablo and just before we arrived I gave him the address of my grandma's place just in case he arrived in time to meet us there but I don't think his flight will land in time. Once we did arrive though I put my phone away and promised myself I wouldn't check it again until we left as I want to spend quality time with my family and not worry about how long it will be until Pablo gets here. 

After going in and seeing everyone I felt so much better my grandma greeted me with a big hug and took me off to the living room to tell the family what I had been up to as apparently I now lead the most interesting life out of everyone so they all want to hear how my life has been. Luckily I remembered to bring some things with me to give my younger cousins who are all obsessed with football, Pablo wanted to give the stuff to them but seeing a he's not here I did it for him. Everyone ended up crowded around my phone as I showed them pictures of the places I'd been and some of the amazing matches I'd been to. 

At these gatherings we always have a big family dinner and because I missed last year I've really been looking forward to today as there's nothing quite like homemade food from your grandparents. Being one of the oldest grandchildren I'm usually tasked with helping set the table and bring in the food which when I was younger I hated but now I like getting to be a part of everything plus I can get some of my cousins to help if I promise them more dessert. As we all sat down I felt a few people staring at me which made me feel a little uncomfortable but I just continued to eat and talk to the people sat next to me. 

"Y/n I wanted to ask didn't you say your boyfriend was coming for Christmas this year?" My uncle asked 

"Umm yeah he will be he had a match to play over in the US and he was supposed to fly in today but his flight got cancelled so he's arriving a bit later than expected I wanted to bring him here but things just didn't work out" I explained 

"He's rich could he not have got a private jet if he really wanted to be here" my aunt said 

"It's not that easy and he's not like a millionaire he really wanted to be here but the situation is out of his control one day I'll bring him to meet you all" I said trying not to show how annoyed I was feeling at the interrogation 

Just as everyone else was about to continue berating Pablo and our relationship the doorbell rang so I excused myself to answer it as I happened to be seated closest to the door. I was drowning in my own thoughts to the point that when I opened the door I didn't even pay any attention to who was stood there and just said hello like I would to anyone stood at the door. It was only when I heard the person stood in front of me speak that I really paid attention and once my eyes confirmed what my ears heard I freaked out. 

"Is that how you're going to greet me after I've just rushed here to see you" Pablo laughed 

"Oh my god you're here you made it" I smile jumping into his arms 

"I did make it there was one free seat on an earlier flight and I managed to get it thanks to the airport manager knowing who I was and now I'm here" he explained 

"What's wrong you don't seem very happy I thought you were excited to come here" he questioned 

"I was but just now everyone was questioning how much you actually cared about me and our relationship" I admitted 

"I'm sorry amor this is my fault if I was here earlier they wouldn't be so mean but I can show them now how much I really love you" he said 

He left his suitcase by the door and gave me a quick kiss before I led him through to where all my family were sat. There was a long silence as everyone realised that they were wrong about Pablo. I knew from the second they all met him they'd love him as everyone does you can pretend to hate him but deep down there's no way anyone can't not like Pablo he's just too sweet. My mum pulled up a spare chair next to mine so Pablo could sit and I got him some food as I know he'll be hungry. He didn't get much chance to eat though as everyone wanted to ask him a million questions but he didn't seem to care at all he was more than happy to talk to everyone especially my cousins who were so excited to have a footballer as part of the family. 

Dinner went a lot smoother with Pablo there and everyone apologised to me for thinking that Pablo wasn't a good boyfriend. In fact so many of my aunts and uncles as well as older cousins told me how lovely Pablo was and how obvious it was that he was that he was completely in love with me which was really nice to hear. I know Pablo loves me but to hear others say that they can tell just by watching us makes me happy as sometimes I get a bit insecure as Pablo and I don't exactly lead the same lives and I always worry he'll find someone better. We had a great time for the next few hours until it was time to go and everyone said their goodbyes and I had to make a promise to come home more often. I expected Pablo to be exhausted after so much traveling in just a few days but to my surprise he stayed awake for the entire car journey back to my parents talking to them while holding my waist and letting my head rest against his shoulder. Once I had helped him unpack Pablo wanted to go straight to bed so that's what we did but not before he smothered me in kisses. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Most days I am woken up by Pablo's alarm as he gets up ridiculously early every morning but this morning was different. Just before my eyes opened I could feel something trailing up and down my side and as my eyes began to open I felt soft kisses being pressed to my neck and cheek. Being woken up by kisses I think might be by favourite way to wake up especially on Christmas and at home with my family. As soon as Pablo noticed that my eyes were open he pulled me on top of him and held me close like we hadn't seen each other in months even though it was just a few hours ago before we went to sleep. 

"Merry Christmas preciosa" Pablo whispered 

"Merry Christmas guapo" I whispered back 

"How long were you waiting for me to wake up?" I asked 

"Not too long you are a quite a light sleeper at times although I did spend a bit longer staring at you" he said 

"Staring at me while I'm asleep that's a bit creepy don't you think" I laughed 

"You just look so pretty I can't help it" he smiled 

We joked around for a few more minutes before I rolled off of Pablo and out of bed pulling him up with me once my feet hit the ground. We both got changed into Christmas pyjamas as thats a tradition my family have we spend the day in Christmas pyjamas and seeing as it's Pablo's first Christmas with us my mum gave us both new matching ones to wear. Of course I had to take a few pictures of us in our matching pyjamas one of which I secretly sent to the rest of the team as I knew they'd like to see the pictures and tease Pablo about it. When we made our way downstairs the Christmas tree lights were already on and I could smell food cooking in the kitchen which meant my parents were already up and preparing for later. They greeted us both with a merry Christmas and we did the same before sitting down to enjoy the breakfast that had been made for us. 

After breakfast it was time to open presents but as soon as I started sorting through the presents Pablo sprinted upstairs and came back downstairs with his stacked with presents. He handed a few of them to my parents then put the rest in front of me which earned him a glare as I told him not to get me too much but clearly he didn't listen. My parents opened their presents from Pablo first and he nailed it he got them both things they really liked. He refused to let me open any of my presents from him until last so everyone opened their other presents first then finally I was allowed to open mine. 

Pablo really spoiled me. He got me the perfume I like, loads of new clothes from brands I could just tell were expensive even without knowing what they were. He also got me a really pretty dress which he told me was for a date that we were going to go on before we leave to go back to Barcelona. There was also lots of books as he knows I like to read and some new baking supplies as I'm always trying out new recipes and he's always trying what I make even though he says he shouldn't. Pablo got me so many things but when I thought I had finally opened them all he pulled out a small present from behind his back and handed it to me. The look on his face didn't really give anything away so I just took the wrapping paper off which left me with a little jewellery box. Inside the box was the prettiest gold ring with three tiny little diamonds across the top giving it a bit of sparkle but not too much at the same time. Pablo gently took the ring out of the box for me and then held my hand which made me look up at him. 

"This is a promise ring I want you to have it because I know you're the one for me and in a few years I'll replace that with a real engagement ring but for now I want you to be able to wear this and be able to look at your hand at any time and know that I'm there for you and I love you more than words can describe" he said sliding the ring in my finger

"Thank you so much Pablo this ring is beautiful" I replied shakily trying not to cry 

"A beautiful ring for the most beautiful girl I've ever met I know there are times that you don't feel that statement is true but I promise you are the only girl for me and this ring is there to remind you of that" he added 

"I love you so much thank you" I said finally letting a few tears escape my eyes 

"I love you more and don't even try to fight me on that" he laughed while wiping my tears

Of course my parents were both so happy for us and my mum had to take pictures of the both of us and of the ring to send to the rest of the family and Pablo sent some to his friends so my phone was blowing up for the rest of the day. I ignored it though as I was having such wonderful time playing board games and eating far too much food to really care about what was going on with my phone. This Christmas has been all I could've wished for getting to spend it with my family and my boyfriend at home has made for one of the best Christmases I have ever had and now I can't wait to do this again a few years down the road. 

#gavi x reader #gavi imagine #gavi imagines #pablo gavi imagine #pablo gavi imagines #gavi #football imagine

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

The Adaptation That Shall Not Be Named aside, I had an idea for an interesting way you could represent ART in a visual medium: it's cameras.

We know that, in any visual medium, what The Camera (be that literal in film or figurative in animation) chooses to show and focus on is important. Its the primary way the piece of media communicates to its audience, and the framing of a scene tells us a lot about how we're supposed to interpret it. What is on screen and how it's on screen convey authorial intent.

Take all that, and turn "authorial intent" into character expression (in this case, for ART). A conversation between Murderbot and ART that would traditionally be shot-reverse-shot becomes shot-ARTPOVshot, so both shots would be of Murderbot, but one would be from The Camera and one would be from ART. Even though the subject is the same, the difference between them could show us something about ART in the same way a reverse shot shows us something about any other character.

To me its like those shots from a monster's POV in horror movies, where one second you're with your protagonists, the next you're watching them from a far off angle between some blades of grass, shaky cam, ragged breathing. It's a classic, even a cliche, but it does the job of conveying the sense of unsafety, of Something Out There Watching Them, of monstrosity, of something feral and dangerous. All without needing to see the monster. What if that type of shot was all we ever got of a character?

(Also, in all honesty, some of my favourite meta about this series is how it's in conversation with the horror genre. ART and SecUnits being the type of characters that would be The Monster in another story, or from another perspective, is compelling to me, so i'm drawing on that a bit here. The idea of characterising but not visualising ART by taking pages out of horror monster cinematography? I just think it's neat.)

Anyway, you could also do all the sci-fi Augmented Vision stuff with it too. ART POV shots where we watch it pull up a feed tab over the camera feed and replay a section of audio, or check Murderbot's diagnostics, or look at Some Code Or Perhaps A Graph. ART POV shots that are broken into multiple feeds showing different things. ART POV shots that give you the sense of it being textually present without it being physically present.

You could use some of this for Murderbot itself, if you leant into how its drones are an extension of its awareness. You could even use it in a similar way to how Murderbot uses its narration, narrating less when it's upset as well as leaving out major details. What if, when Murderbot is tired of people looking at it or in a more vulnerable headspace, we get more drone POV shots without Murderbot in frame. It's still there, but present in a different way, behind The Camera rather than in front of it.

I think there's potential in using POV shots from ART's cameras to characterise it without visualising it in a traditional way. I think there's potential in using horror movie monster language on ART and Murderbot. I think there's potential in having the cinematography focus on what they're seeing in a way that emphasises the amount of Surveillance both of them are constantly doing.

I think there's potential in a show using The Camera as cleverly as the books use Narration.

#like can you IMAGINE. #“You dislike your function.” [subtle zoom on MB's face to see its reaction] #a human asking MB a person question and rather than the cut close up to see its reaction #the camera cuts away so its no longer even in frame #what does MB sending its GovernorModulePunishment.exe to ART look like from ARTs POV??? #that one time MB shut down after ART probed too much and ART just waited until it woke up. #its just a ART cam timelapse of MB lying Unmoving for three hours #do you see the vision???? am i crazy???? #murderbot #the murderbot diaries #art/perihelion #murderbot meta #stuff i made

[ariesbloodstone]

I need to get this out.

I think the reason why it took so long for alex and henry to get together is because they are classic extrovert and introvert (other than the fact they both have bad gaydar and thinking the other one is straight). First impressions between extrovert and introvert almost always bad. Alex misinterprets Henry's social awkwardness as rudeness. And the way Henry dismiss Alex when their first met because he was actually attracted to him, classic introvert moves. Trust me I know. Not to mention he was still upset after losing his father. I understand that too. Introverts can be misjudged as being cold and mean and rude when we are in our cocoon phases. We literally shut everyone out.

I also noticed that extroverts are also very passionate. They express their feelings and opinions loudly (Henry's word). So when he 'hated' henry, he like really dislikes him. But once he get together with henry, he almost immediately falls head over hills for him. Henry used to hides his feeling, mostly because his whole life he had to hide who he really is and pretend to be a straight prince. So when you compared it to alex, who is outgoing and loud and easily express his feeling, he looks so smitten with henry.

I'm an introvert. I always envy the personality trait the extovert mostly have. But sometimes I also feel bad when they fall for introvert, like when alex was about to confess his love to henry but henry literally ran away and shut him off completely. The thing is, introvert can seems pretty heartless. I think the reason why alex is my favourite is because he is so patient with henry and for his love for him and that is so beautiful. In the book he told bea that there is a part of henry that he thinks he can never get or something like that. I forgot the exact word. But he still loves him despite that. He loves him because of that. Which is so beautiful to me. He really loves henry on purpose. From my experience its hard to find someone like that. Loving all of you and some hidden part of you that you dont think you can or know how to share with anyone even the love of your life. To me Henry is so lucky to find someone like alex. I wish I can find my own alex...

#red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #alex claremont diaz #firstprince #prince henry of wales #rwrb

[sixteenthchapel]

Hello! Just wanted to say that I'm in love with your art and ur one of the people that made me fall in love with jttw jdjdje Also ur characterization of Wukong and Tripitaka makes their dynamic so charming and amusing 😭 (They r so dumb god)

Random question! Do you have a favourite moment in the book?

First of all, thank you so much!! oh my gosh that is so kind TToTT I'm really happy you liked them!! The pilgrims all being dumb together is my favorite thing hhaha As to your question, oh man, absolutely. Its more a bunch of moments all from one chapter. My favorite chapter of the book goes something like this: And I've said this before but should say again, it has been several years since I read the novel cover to cover, so I may not remember all the details just right, but as I recall it, my favorite chapter is the one immediately following the story of the White Bone Devil, which is one of the most famous chapters. But to me, the story of the White Bone Devil is nothing compared to their ridiculous conflict with Lord Yellow Robe, Kui Mulang.

After Monkey is banished by Tripitaka, he goes back to Mt Huaguo, leaving Pigsy and Sandy to look after the priest. Which goes about as well as you'd think. Pigsy says he'll go find food, then just takes a nap, Sandy I think goes looking for him, and when they both don't come back for a while, Tripitaka goes looking for them and ends up walking DIRECTLY into this demon's lair.

When Sandy and Pigsy learn of the priest's capture, they attempt to stage a rescue. During the middle of the fight, Pigsy thinks they're going to lose so tells Sandy to cover him, he has to go take as shit IMMEDIATELY. Runs into the bushes, and escapes all the while Sandy is captured and yelling at him for being a fat, useless, coward (rude.. but in this case very true lol)

Pigsy, now alone and unsure what to do, flies to Mt Huaguo to find Monkey and ask him to come back and save everyone. He tells him everything that's happened, and that Trip has been captured and will surely die if he doesn't help. Even after hearing all that, Monkey refuses. He's still upset that Trip dismissed him and thinks dying and reincarnating ought to teach the brat a lesson! Pigsy gives up at first, skulking off and mumbling to himself about what a flea-ridden bastard Monkey is... this is overheard by some of Monkey's minions who deliver the news to the king himself. Monkey orders Pigsy to be brought back for execution LOL Thinking on his feet, Pigsy tries to redirect Monkey's ire, and thinks one of my favorite lines in the novel. "A warrior is more likely to answer a challenge than an invitation".

He tells Monkey that it wasn't him... This demon, Lord Yellow Robe, he's the one who called Monkey a weak, pathetic, cowardly fool.

And this makes Monkey ENRAGED

Monkey springs into action, flying to confront this demon. Screaming about all the nasty things this demon said about him while Lord Yellow Robe has no idea who the hell this monkey is or why he's so pissed off.

And boy, does Monkey go HARD on this guy. After he beats him up and along with a bunch of his soldiers, the demon retreats into his lair and Monkey is left out. He can't find a way to get to him, so instead takes out his anger on Kui Mulang's wounded but still living soldiers, killing them all. He meets back up with Pigsy and Sandy and tells them his brilliant idea to draw the demon back out.

By taking his half-human children and killing them outside the gates, hoping that will enrage their father enough to come back out. Even his companions think he's malding a little hard

This has gone on awhile so to cut the rest short, Monkey is eventually "victorious". I think I recall a subplot about Trip being turned into a tiger too, and there was this captured princess subplot too.

But this is my fave chapter lol. Basically "Monkey Accidentally Saves The Day By Avenging An Imagined Insult To Himself"

Peak Monkey behavior, absolute mad lad, everyone is an idiot. Its just a mess and I love it.

#ty for the ask <3 #sorry for the long post aslfdjf i really like this particular story #monkey is so emotionally stable and not an insecure bully at all guys #he does come back after this #and his reward for his uh... heroic tantrum is he gets to have the headband put back on #i just kinda winged a design for kui mulang but i like how he looks #sun wukong #zhu bajie #tripitaka #sha wujing #kui mulang #yellow robe demon #jttw #jttw tag #journey to the west

[atlasscrumpit]

Hey i have a request that’s loosely based off what just happened on your yandere marc ai! if your up to it could i request the yandere moonboys with reader who is still finding it hard to adjust and they have a few of their belongings from their life before captivity. one day the moonboys just take all those old belongings and get rid of them to replace them with new things because they don’t want reader dwelling on their past, but obviously reader is so upset by this cause those belongings were the only things they had that they felt was theirs, then just some fighting and angst yk

Unfair

You wouldn't admit it but your room was actually pretty nice, Marc had made sure it was completely comfortable for you.

But, even the nicest cage is still a cage.

When you awoke in the morning you groaned and looked down to see where your usual stuffed toy would be there was a green frog stuffed animal.

You sat up and noticed your blanket was gone as well.

You grabbed the frog and went out into the kitchen where Steven was.

"What's this?" You muttered, holding the frog up as he looked at you.

"It's a toy for you, love." He said as you narrowed your eyes at him.

"Where's my other one?" You grumbled as he looked away nervously.

"Marc and Jake thought it would be best if we got rid of your old things and got you some new ones." He said as your eyes widened.

"What! You threw my stuff away! Even my favourite toy!" You screamed as you threw the frog at him, Marc quickly fronted and caught the toy.

"Maybe you should try being a little more grateful." He growled as you felt tears in your eyes.

"Get her back." You grumbled making Marc sigh.

"I can't, love. I'll buy you any other toy you want, but I don't want you having things that remind you of the past." He said as you chuckled dryly.

You ripped your shirt off leaving you half naked as you threw it at him.

"Here have this then! That's from my past too right!" You shouted as he sighed and covered his eyes, he took his coat off and wrapped it around you.

"Baby, you're overreacting. Keep this up and you'll get a punishment." He said as you pushed him away from you.

"Fuck you!" You screamed before storming off.

You went to their bed and grabbed Steven's favourite book, one of Jake's hats and one of Marc's tshirts.

You bundled them up in your arms before you opened the window and threw them out.

"Y/N! Stop!" He shouted as you turned around.

"How does it fucking feel!?" You shouted before Marc grabbed your wrist roughly and dragged you back to your room.

You began to sob and scream trying to get him to let go.

"Stop it! I hate you! I fucking hate all of you!" You screamed before he shoved you in your room and slammed the door shut.

"Fucking calm down and then maybe we can talk! But, carry on and you'll see what happens!" He growled as he dead bolted the door and walked away.

--

Marc inevitably ended up feeling terrible, he didn't understand the emotional connection you'd had to the objects.

After bribing the thrift shop he'd dropped the stuff off at, he'd managed to get your toy back.

When he came back he opened your door to see you curled up on your bed, facing the wall.

He sat down on your bed and rested his hand on your shoulder.

"Darling? I'm sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have thrown your stuff away and been so selfish. But, I got you something." He said as you stayed facing away.

"I don't want a replacement toy." You grumbled as he placed the toy in front of your face.

Your eyes lit up as you grabbed it and hugged it to your chest.

You began to cry as Marc's heart broke.

He carefully sat you on his lap and hugged you tightly.

"I'm so sorry, babygirl. I should've realised how special this is to you. I'm sorry I was so harsh." He whispered as he ran his hand through your hair.

"It's okay, thank you for getting her back." You whispered as you gripped onto Marc.

"That's okay, love. Can you forgive me?" He asked, you nodded a little and cuddled into him.

"Yeah, I forgive you. Only if you buy me more new things." You replied making him chuckle softly.

"I'll get you whatever you want, baby."

#moon knight #steven grant #marc spector #jake lockley #marvel #mcu #Yandere #Yandere moon knight #Marc Spector x reader

[clovcherry]

pt 2 of high-school sweethearts au! timeskip!! (SFW)

pairing: shu yamino x gn!reader

synopsis: it's been years since you've graduated from high-school, you blamed yourself for your mistakes but you never thought you'd meet him again.

tw: angst but happy ending!! not really sweethearts I've baited u all again 💀

link to pt.1

the strong aroma of coffee filled your senses, the chattering of people, you walked towards the counter, "the usual please," you said with a smile before walking to your favourite spot in the cafe.

"all alone gorgeous?"

you looked up from your laptop to see a stranger standing by your table with a nasty smirk on his face.

"nope, I have someone coming." rolling your eyes as you replied, you turned back to your laptop and continued typing away.

"excuse me, could you stop bothering her," it was enna! by the sound of her voice, it was obvious she was holding herself back from lashing out at the stranger.

"chill out dude, I was just tryna help them, they looked hella stressed," with that, the stranger walked away, mumbling a string of profanities.

"thanks enna, he just kept on babbling while I was trying to finish up my presentation," you complained, taking a sip of your coffee before shooting enna a grin.

she seems to be staring intently at your chest, more specifically at the necklace you had on. "you know, I've known you for years but you never told me about that necklace, wait hold on, I forgot I need to order," enna laughs as she gets up to buy a drink.

you stared down at the necklace, holding it gently in your fingers, there was a few scratches on it but you tried your best to maintain it. despite how long you've owned it, you could never look at the necklace without thinking about him.

it seems as if the scenes of shu standing at your doorstep was still fresh in your mind.

the two of you stared at each other, not exchanging any words. without saying anything, shu reaches to you, bringing you into a warm embrace. his light cologne filled your senses, you could hear his heart beating rapidly. you nervously wrapped your arms around his torso. "I feel the same way," he finally speaks his voice cracking a little, still hugging you tightly. "r-really?" you asked. he pulled away from you, his hand moving upwards, holding your chin gently in his hand. "c-can I?" he stuttered, his face flushed. you nodded nervously before his lips met yours. it was a short peck but it felt as if time had stopped for you.

that was the last time shu saw you. he was so heartbroken when you and your family suddenly disappeared, there was a new family living at where used to be your home. he only got an answer when he asked your friends. "(Name) moved to Canada," his world just came crashing down when he heard those words.

why didn't you tell him anything? you were just keeping this whole thing to yourself? was that why you wrote him that letter? he wished he had told you how he felt sooner, maybe he could've brought you to places, to have cheesy dates. but that was all thrown out the window. he wanted to feel angry, to feel upset at you for not telling him even after you left. but he knew he could never bring himself to have such negative emotions towards you.

you on the other hand packed all your things while crying. looking through your old photo books, there was a polaroid of shu and you at some karaoke place singing your hearts out together. then there was another one of the two of you dressing up for halloween night. you didn't know how to tell him, you were moving. you were so stupid, maybe if you had told him, he wouldn't have been so heartbroken. but you chose to keep it to yourself.

"hey, you there? are you dead or something," enna waved her hand around, waking you up from your thoughts.

"yeah, I'm all good," you sniffed a little, bringing a hand up to wipe away a tear that threatened to slip.

"yo were you having a moment, sorry man" she laughed, taking a sip of her tea.

"sorry enna, I gotta rush to my meeting or I'm gonna be late, enjoy your tea by the way," you finished up your coffee, packing your things before leaving.

-

you finally ended work, it was only 6pm and you felt like a wreck. when you got home and took a shower, you saw a notification from youtube, it was ennas stream. you clicked into her stream, you rarely watched her streams but you thought this was a good chance to support your friend.

it was a collab stream with a few other people, you listened to them play monopoly as you cooked dinner.

you immediately stopped cooking when you heard someone say, "shu". the person who replied sounded so similar to him, except his voice was a bit deeper. you looked at your phone screen, examining "shu's" chibi avatar which looks similar to him.

"oh shit!" your food was burning, you realized you spent too much time watching the stream.

-

right after you ate, you went to check out his channel. shu yamino, was his name. you tapped into his channel, there was a huge amount of livestreams, you watched a couple of his archives. he was just like the shu you knew, except maybe a bit more confident now.

he seems so much happier now, he does what he loves. but you? you work a 9-5 office job, constantly stressed, no lovelife whatsoever. or maybe you just couldn't move on.

-

"I want a one week leave."

your boss stared at you, puzzled. "now? you know that we have a lot of clients to answer, if you wanted one you should've called in earlier." he was irritated, you were one of his best workers, always completing your work on time, never once came late to work and even made deals with several difficult clients.

"well, it's urgent, I've been working my ass off for the past 2 years and I have never once asked for a break." you tried not to lose your patience, your fingers digging into your palm.

"fine, I'll find someone to cover for you," your boss sighed, grabbing his phone to call someone.

you thanked him bitterly before leaving.

-

you've arrived back to your hometown. the area looked almost the same, just some changes in places like the playground. it kinda hit you that you argued with your boss for a leave just to visit your hometown and shu.

it felt so nostalgic walking through the roads that you used to take everyday with shu to school. he only lived a few houses past yours so you both always walked each other to school. it felt like it was just yesterday discussing with shu about what you wanted to do, about your hopes and dreams while walking home. at that time, it was almost sunset, you could remember vividly how gorgeous he looked under the golden light of the sun.

and there you were, right outside his house. this front yard looked the same, only a few additions of new potted plants. you prayed silently to yourself that he hasn't moved yet as you walked towards his door.

your finger hovered above the doorbell, contemplating whether you should press it. what if he doesn't want to see you? I mean you pretty much abandoned him right after you confessed your feelings to him. you must've broke his heart. despite all the years that has passed, you've never once forgotten him. neither have you lost for feelings for him, sometimes you'd find yourself thinking about him and all the memories you both shared.

taking a deep breath, you ringed his doorbell.

you waited a short while for someone to get to door. but when you finally heard the door unlock, you knew there was no going back. the door swung open and there stood shu yamino.

he's grown so much taller since the last time you've seen him.

"(N-Name)?" his eyes were blown wide open, he couldn't believe it, you were standing right at his door.

tears welled up in your eyes as you pulled him in for a hug. "I'm sorry," you cried into his chest. "I'm sorry I left you," you said in between sniffles.

"I missed you," he mumbled, one arm was snaked around your waist while the other was gently stroking your head.

-

"I-I'm sorry I got your shirt all wet..." you grumbled, you were now both awkwardly sitting beside eachother on the couch.

"it's okay, I don't mind," he smiled, it was still the same smile, throughout all these years he still had the same smile.

"so, how have you been?" you asked, fiddling with the hem of your shirt.

"I'm doing fine." he replied, the atmosphere was thick. you stared at the floor, it's not like you weren't expecting this, you left him for years and then suddenly came back, you both can't just act like nothing happened.

"shu, I'm sorry. I know whatever I say now cannot change the fact that I messed up badly but I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to tell you I was leaving right after I told you how I felt about you. I understand if you don't feel the same way about me but I-I've never lost any of my feelings towards-" he cut you off completely by grabbing your chin and twisting your face towards him. his lips met yours. it was that feeling again, the same feeling you felt years ago, the butterflies your stomach and your cheeks felt like they were on fire.

he pulled away, "s-sorry, I don't know what came over me," shu looked away in embarrassment after what happened.

you started laughing, "still the same as ever," he turned back to you with a sheepish grin on his face.

"now, can I finally take you on an official date?"

#luxiem x reader #shu yamino x reader #luxiem #nijisanji #nijisanji en x reader #nijisanji x reader

[fire-water-grass-core]

OOC

tl:dr i'm placing all my blogs on indefinite hiatus, i'll be putting that in my pinned posts as well.

Well. I made the decision. it's been coming for a while tbh, i've taken a lot of breaks in the last few months, and if i'm honest i never really wanted to stop these breaks. I'm not having fun roleplaying here anymore. It's an ugly truth, but its a truth.

I don't want to blame anyone but myself, please don't get this wrong. But i want to explain myself and i want to be honest. And also, i'm very sorry about incoherent rambling, i can't really help it right now.

I feel like i had no involvement in this community anymore. Which is... objectively false, but that doesn't help me feel better. All the people that made me join rotomblr either left themselves or they evolved so much and so fast that i can't keep up. There are new people as well, and there are many that i like a lot, but in the end, rotomblr is changing way too fast for me to keep up and it simply kills all my joy and motivation. (again, i don't blame anyone here. I want you to have fun. It's just sad that i can't be part of the fun)

I have tried a lot to bring my motivation back to rotomblr by making A LOT of blogs, some have been very well received, some are not getting any attention. And again, i understand that. I don't want anyone to force themself to be into something they're not. And i understand much much better that i can't just expect a blog i created 5 minutes ago to get asks and followers in the hundreds. But this is, in the end, another reason for me to feel left out.

I also tried to plan an event, i tried making a story and none of it really went anywhere. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you can go and plan something like this, and how you work together with people like this, and i just can't keep it up anymore. It's gotten so bad that i actually fear opening the app on my phone. I don't read my favourite blogs anymore. And since i realized that, i also realized i need to make a change.

In addition, there is also real life, and other hobbies, and all of it is draining the limited time i have as well as my mental capacity and lately have been getting REALLY depressed. Not specifically because of rotomblr, but i think it's been a part of it.

So. I have made the decision to put all of my blogs on hiatus. I don't want to delete them, because i had it often that i just gave up on a hobby or a game or a book and came back to it after a long time. And honestly, i like a lot of the characters. They are very dear to me, and most of them only live through tumblr, and i don't want to lose them. But i don't have concrete plans to come back anytime soon.

On the other hand, i won't leave the few discord servers i'm in, mostly because i still really like the community and i consider quite a few of you people good friends by now.

PS: I am so incredibly upset with myself it's unbelievable. When i made the blog and started having really a lot of fun, i said to myself that i want to keep this hobby up for one year. That was my goal. And i failed. FUCK. On the other hand i have been ignoring rotomblr for a bit already and it's been kinda freeing. so... yeah... meh.

#ooc

[t00nyah]

they're making fun of poor people...

-07.28.23

my new favourite kids ever!!!!!! so i just. limbusified. catherine and linton from wuthering heights. bc im just that fixated on the book and those kids in particular. and i love them!!! so much!!! please!!!

gearld and i kind of made a new bus thing with probably no logical ground but it's fun to think about and THAT'S what's important. welcome to the kidbus.

their designs are...kinda messed...bc i based catherine on my book cathy design, but linton is based on my altbus oc isabella who is in fact his mother. (canonically cathy mentions linton's hair being lighter and it haunts me, but i like those designs...)

the only design notes i have are the fact that linton has isabella's locket(sob she has one in my altbus design and she isn't mentioned to have one in the book when catherines were both mentioned to have lockets i was just 'ARE YOU KIDDING ME' this is fucking sad) and cathy's uhm...whatever those are called(sorry) was a gift from her father. ironically gave cathy heather purple and linton royal blue which looks like would make more sense if swithced but i like it.

so, basically, kidbus literally takes place around 20 years later so that linton and cathy can still be kids of their parents and follow the book timeline as i wish bc im obsessed. both get book-traumatized by heathcliff bc of course. and both are unbearable and stubborn as lintons' kids ha ha.

linton is...weak as fuck. just like in the book, health is NOT the best thing he inherited from his mother. too much emotional impact causes him to cough blood, and he, being his father's son, gets very heated when angry, which only worsens the probability of his weakness taking over him. (me and gearld have a concept on a table...that maybe his mother is isabella altbus and his health problems are actually related to her getting killed and revived during pregnancy. which sounds insanely logical and im so normal about this.)

catherine is just as sweet as she is, with a very strong heart and her own sense of judgement, but she's very demanding and stubborn. she cares about linton deeply.

faust picked the kids up exactly in time when cathy was trying to search some help with linton's rapidly worsening condition, dragging him with her against his whining about it being too much for him. she didn't even get to say anything, cathy herself called out for her and begged for help. faust took linton from her to carry to the bus, to dante, doing pact shenanigans and such. initially...only cathy was supposed to be a sinner. the only reason why linton turned into one was cathy wanting him there because if her conditions aren't met she tends to rebel and stubbornly ignore whatever she's told to do until she has her own reasons to. so now linton suffers from constantly being led to his horrifying condition in fights and being revived only to experience it again.

-07.29.23

-07.28.23

cathy, being a thrushcross office member initially, carries a gun and never was taught anything else. linton, being a wuthering heights member, was barely taught handling a mace by heathcliff. he doesn't even have strength to use it to it's full potential. cathy once tried it and linton got very upset and pissed off by her noting it's not that hard. she just naturally is stronger than him.

they're also a pain to deal with hehe... in their cantos i think they'd probably confront heathcliff, separated by maybe hareton playing some role? i'm still working on that.

i love my kids.

#limbus company #cathy linton oc #linton heathcliff oc #lcb oc #kidbus