#not having to worry about monarch stuff for a day!!!

[themissinghand]

hallo!! hope you're having a wonderful day and your works are just so good!!!

can i request for jinwoo with a photographer male reader that like works for events and stuff. plus, he always gets complimented by people, and even jinwoo, by how pretty he looks and asking if he ever gets photographed to which reader denied because he's actually camera shy

now, he's in an event at a park and jinwoo is there and sees reader taking photographs and jinwoo decides to be sneaky and tries to get a photo of reader but reader caughts him and just smiled at the camera before telling jinwoo to delete it.

jinwoo, in fact, did not.

im so sorry if this is too much or long JASJS

Solo Leveling: A Snapshot in Time

Summary: In which a picture is a thousand words, and Jinwoo wants to capture every moment with you.  

Or, just domestic fluff between two loving husbands, from the beginning to the end. 

Pairing: Husband! Sung Jinwoo x M! Photographer! Reader

Note: Thanks for your support! I’m glad that my stories are making you happy as I am writing them. One of my ways to de-stress honestly. Hope everyone is having a good day! 

Warnings: A bit of angst, because time waits for no one. 

★・・・・・・★

“Smile!” 

Click! 

“That’s it for today. Great work everyone.” 

Jinwoo watched his husband scramble everywhere with your team to take wedding photos with a big smile on his lips. 

No, Jinwoo is not jealous, after all, he has wedding photos of both of you. 

Instead, he was simply awe-struck by how pretty his husband looks, especially when he’s passionate about his job. 

“See you tomorrow at the office everyone!” You waved off your children (employees) and jogged towards Jinwoo who popped out from one of the shadows.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you would come so early to pick me up.” Jinwoo pulls you close and kisses your forehead, and you tippy-toe to return a kiss to his cheek.

“It’s okay, I got off work early. I love watching you work anyway.” 

The two of you caught up with each other about your days, and you especially liked to hear about Jinwoo’s work considering he was a detective. Jinwoo however, does his best to avoid all the…graphic details of his work. 

Even though Jinwoo knew you wouldn’t mind (you never did), he wanted only good things to happen to you. 

(Because you were always there for him - until he couldn’t protect you) 

“Jinwoo?” 

“Can we take a selfie?” Jinwoo pulls out his phone to change the topic, but his husband quickly turns the other way and covers his face. 

“Jinwoo! I don’t look good right now!” You shyly exclaim, but you couldn’t escape since Jinwoo held onto your shirt. 

“Don’t worry, you’re beautiful.” 

“Maybe next time Jinwoo.” Seeing your flustered expression, Jinwoo decided not to push further, instead he raised a pinky.

“Promise?” 

“Promise.” 

“Jinwoo…I love you.” 

The Monarchs had targeted you, leaving you in such a bloodied state. 

“No. No!” Hearing your faint heartbeat, Jinwoo quickly pulled out his Holy Water of Life.

But it was too late. 

“Why, why isn’t it working?!” But Jinwoo knew why - the Holy Water could not cure the dead.

“My Liege, His Highness has passed away.”

“Why…what happened.” Jinwoo crushed the empty bottle of Holy Water with his bare hands as he held you. 

“It was an ambush. Multiple Monarchs have targeted His Highness in an instant, and we could not protect His Highness.” 

All of his soldiers knelt down in shame.

“Please punish us My Liege. We fail you.”

Jinwoo held your body close as he shed tears, before his tear turn into fuel for his rage.

“Your punishment will be due later, we will hunt down the Monarchs.”

“Yes My Liege!” Jinwoo saw your peaceful expression, as if nothing had gone wrong. 

“If…we meet in our next life, I swear I will protect you.” 

Carrying your body into his shadow realm and resting you in a casket, all of his shadows knelt in respect. 

“Wait for me, (Y/N).” 

“Honey? Another nightmare?” Jinwoo felt a finger gently pressing on his forehead, and drawing on his arm. 

He slowly opens his eyes, his breathing shaking as he pulls you close. 

“Oh dear. Was it bad?” 

He nods, and hugs you tighter. You pat him on the back and whisper sweet words to him.

“I love you.” 

“Whatever you do, I’ll support you.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you.” 

Do you know? Of course not. 

All of it was in the past, and Jinwoo hopes it stays that way. 

Even if the world is peaceful, he knows how cruel people can be, that’s why, he’s learned his lesson and stationed many of his shadows around you. 

Never again. 

Click! 

“Okay, a few more before our break!” It was a fashion shoot, and you even dressed up a bit more to match the elegant theme. 

Dressed in a fancy blue suit, Jinwoo believed you too could stand on stage. Even the director of the shoot itself invited you, but you didn’t dare considering you were camera shy. 

But Jinwoo knew it would be such a shame if no one captured this moment. 

“(Y/N).” Jinwoo called out, quickly whipping out his phone. 

“What-” You were surprised, and before you shield yourself from the camera, Jinwoo winked. 

“Promise.” 

He could see you muttering “fine”, before a gentle smile graced your lips. 

Click!

“You have to delete it okay?” You whispered, and Jinwoo nodded.

But if fact, he did not. 

After all, he knew it wasn’t just him who took photos of you, so of course that wouldn’t do. He immediately had shadows mess with those photographers and steal some of the good ones for himself. 

The photo became his phone screen. 

And Jinwoo makes sure that he captures every moment, because unlike him, you were not immune to time.

“Jinwoo…thank you for loving me. I don’t know why, but from the moment I met you to now, I always feel like I’ve known you for a long long time.” 

Jinwoo sits by your hospital bed, holding your wrinkled hand. 

“Maybe because we met in our last life.” You chuckle, before coughing. 

“Even when we’re old now, you still look so handsome.” Jinwoo chuckle lightly before pressing a kiss to your hand. 

We promised we'll be together forever.

“No, you’re more beautiful.” A bright, youthful smile rose to your lips, making Jinwoo reminisce to the past as young adults. 

But alas, time is so cruel.

“Jinwoo, I pray that we meet in our next life.” 

Jinwoo decided to respect you and let you go. 

“I love you.” With a final breath, your hand remains limp in his, and tears rolled down his cheeks. 

“I love you too.” 

Jinwoo’s phone lights up with dozens of missed calls and messages, but he doesn’t mind, instead, he removes them all to reveal a timeless treasure, a photo of you smiling at the camera.

“Wait for me, (Y/N).”

#manhwa #solo leveling #sung jin woo x reader #sung jin woo x male reader #sung jinwoo x reader #sung jin woo #sung jinwoo #solo leveling fic #solo leveling headcanons #x male reader #x male y/n #light angst #shadow soldiers #domestic fluff #solo leveling fluff

[snarky-art]

Thriving vs Survivng, am I right, lads?

Bloom and Stella eventually get married, Daphne and the woman with her, Nadia, an oc I made and have mentioned a few times, get married with Daphne to be next in line as Queen of Domino, and Aisha and Musa get married one day, but are currently in this pic going through some Shit that’s putting a huge damper on that.

More info on everyone and political drama stuff below the cut!

Bloom and Stella are thriving.

Polyamory is super duper normalized in a decent amount of places, and is considered a norm on Solaria. Stella is eventually married both to Brandon and Bloom. Both of Bloom’s sets of parents love Stella and are incredibly happy for her. After much talk and deliberation between Daphne, Bloom, Marion, and Oritel to see how Bloom and Daphne are feeling after Daphne is healed up and in a good place and has processed shit, it’s decided Daphne will continue as heir and shall be next in line for rulership. Bloom meanwhile shall continue her role as guardian fairy, Holder of The Flame, and eventually upon her marriage to Stella will be Queen Regent of Solaria. She has a lot more flexibility this way too to go where she feels most comfortable, between Earth and other areas in The Magical Realm. Oritel and Marion don’t want Bloom or Daphne to feel trapped or be stifled with immense pressure if they can help it, and Bloom is still most comfortable on Earth, so having the option to go back and forth is important and something Marion and Oritel want her to not feel cut off from it, a mistake they made early on when they first got brought back from their stasis.

Formal picture of Nadia finally! An oc from Earth I made who’s Daphne’s gf and eventual wife. I thought it would be nice for Daphne to not worry about contextualizing her grief and trauma with someone who already had preconceived notions of her from myths and legends over the last 1000+ years.

Nadia: so you’re Bloom’s sister! That’s so cool! Do you have magic too?

Daphne, who at this point while not the holder of the flame anymore is still an incredibly powerful fire elemental who retains her nymphix and could hand bloom’s ass to her and call upon The Dragon at will whenever she wants: uh, yeah, some I guess.

Bloom: glad to see being a useless lesbian is a universal trait instead of just earth specific

Daphne: exCUSE ME-

Royal balls be like “The Incarnation of God Itself, heir to The Great Pillar of all of Magic Domino, The Dragon Reborn, Supreme Nymph of Magix, Princess Daphne, and Nadia, Barista on Tuesday, Thursday, and Weekends, of the plant Earth”

Like, oh boy, THEE DAPHNE, and Nadia from Starbucks.

Also don’t worry it’s not actually a Starbucks. It’s a small local cafe and bakery spot that Bloom really likes. Daphne went with her once, saw Nadia, and went 👀. Daphne doesn’t even like coffee also she just goes there for Nadia and was too anxious to ask about any other drinks so she just gets what Bloom got, would makes Bloom, who is not at all rich on Earth, pay for it, and then didn’t actually drink it.

Also, Nadia is definitely wearing heels here.

She’s only around 5’9 or ~175cm, while as I’ve mentioned before, Daphne is 6’7 or ~200cm.

She like to wear different heels and go “ok NOW how close am I to being taller than you” or sometimes go “ok, I think I beat you this time” when she tries on a new pair

She’s never close obviously and they both know that because hehe funny joke, but Daphne will still go “oh, you just might’ve this time.”

Musa and Aisha meanwhile are Struggling. Not only is Musa someone who is already insanely anti-monarch in her governmental views, even one that operates more as a democracy, the government she’s working with can’t stand her.

I’ve mentioned in these posts how marriage works on Andros, and Musa is Not It. She’s not even a Land Androsian, which would’ve been considered a bit of a scandal because of how their government structure is set up. No it’s much worse, for oh no, she’s not an Androsian at all! Truly horrific (I say this sarcastically, but that’s genuinely what the nobles and a chunk of the population feel).

Musa is doing what she can to appease Androsian court.

Gold is a big fucking no no on Andros, but she doesn’t want to give that up since it’s a really important part of her culture.

Aisha is standing with her on that, but it doesn’t make it easier to deal with the assholes in court.

She’s even muted her reds to lean more towards purples and blues.

Muting the reds was a huge olive branch of sorts and she’s pissed about it and doesn’t like doing it (but she did it, and it wasn’t even appreciated, but WHATEVER), but she refuses to get rid of the golds (good for her).

Aisha has gold nail polish here also. She’s doing what she can, and eventually is just gonna say fuck it and start wearing straight up gold with her silvers and tell Musa to get back in the bright red or so help me-

Stella let’s Aisha borrow her stash specifically when she first start and immediately commissions some custom ones done for Aisha’s measurements.

#winx club #winx #winx club bloom #winx club Aisha #winx Aisha #aisha winx #winx club layla #winx layla #layla winx #bloom winx #winx bloom #winx stella #winx club stella #stella winx #musa winx club #winx musa #musa winx #nadia oc #world building #lore #winx club rewrite #winx rewrite #winx club redesign #winx redo #winx club redo #winx club remake #winx remake #winx daphne #winx club daphne #daphne winx

[mamadarama]

I was going through some posts I missed and came across the “tatsumi is mature but still does 19 year old things” and I just wanna say I’ve never been able to put it into words when my friends ask but like. That’s exactly what I love about this game.

We’ve got scandals and drama and weird crypto currencies and convoluted backstories of implied murder or identity theft or military shit or relations to underground gang activity or so SO much more and yet the writers still succeed in reminding you that this is a game full of high schoolers.

Natume was one of the five oddballs and suffered through so much during the war where it affects him to this day, but he also refers to his tech savvy and love of the occult as magic and loves the junior he “adopted” to death. Despite Aira struggling against every odd to become a real idol he still buys merch and looks on the internet to look for content of the ones he likes. Rinne was destined to become the monarch of his homeland but ran away in an attempt to find happiness and acceptance and is an amazing strategist who uses it to take down corruption, but his sense of humor is entirely made up of sex jokes and romantic teasing like Aira being “hiiro’s little girlfriend”. The amount of characters that assign themselves the mom friend role just because. Trickstar. I don’t think I need to explain Trickstar-

Like this game has made me cry so many times and it has its ridiculous moments but it also has its genuine ones while also being the most teenage shit I’ve seen in my life and I feel like so few media can balance those and still have a decent story like that. Sorry for the long ass post I just have so many feelings about this kind of stuff 😭

YEAH this is exactly what i was talking about in a previous ask when i said i have nothing meaningful to add to the enstars cast that isnt a headcanon . its all very well thought out and the interpersonal relationships are nuanced enough to feel realistic but outlandish enough to be interesting .

worldbuilding and character design is one of my special interests and i say this any chance i can get: the most important part of building a character (and a story in general) is realizing the importance of comedic irony and comedy as a whole regardless of genre or tone. it makes characters feel more 3 dimensional and relatable because people arent stagnant and theres multiple facets to any individuals personality (this is also why some of the most popular animes of all time have filler episodes or funny bits that show the characters personalities, every event hits with 3x emotional impact the more you know about the characters as people but that's a different discussion) enstars does a really good job of this . like for example if wataru were to have had a realistic reaction to eichi starting the war it wouldnt be nearly as good of a story. the fact that eichis ridiculous ass backwards plan to get wataru to fall in love with him actually worked is a perfect example of comedy used to make a story more interesting. another thing similar to this is how sometimes its better to not detail something and let characters do things for a mundane reason or even no reason at all . for example subaru hating chiaki just because he annoys him, or shinobu being on the broadcasting team despite his character not being associated with technology otherwise and therefore having no real backstory on why he likes radio stuff. its all really well planned worldbuilding with an insane amount of subtle details , which is why enstars is one of my favorite stories to analyze . the only thing i could possibly want more out of it is hardcore tragedy but thats entirely a personal preference rather than a critique because im a slut for catharsis and i love sad endings , especially ones where characters die . (don't worry im in therapy)

#ask #anon

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not wanting my brother to follow Islam?🐢

(Emoji so I can recognize my submission)

⚠WARNING⚠: This is a reaaal long one and also contains discussion of some potentially triggering subjects.

I'll try and explain this as concisely as I can but this is just a part of a long ongoing issue I have had with my brother. I (16F/X) have been at odds with my brother (19M) over a multitude of subjects. We debate often but the problem is he is very stubborn so the debates usually don't result in anything beyond me being frustrated and his opinions remaining unchanged. The problem is that he has unfortunately started going down a nazi rabbit hole and picking up all sorts of extremely harmful ideas. I'll list some of them for you so you can get a general picture: Denying evolution, the rothschild conspiracy, general antisemitism, transphobia, monarchism /facism, calling all sexual content filthy, misogynistic ideas, hating on atheists, etc. As an atheist who is also aroace, nonbinary and also very progressive, this makes me feel greatly uncomfortable. Let me be clear, I don't think I'm the asshole for opposing these ideas, the part where I could be the asshole is me opposing his transition into religion. A lot of his more radical ideas started sprouting after he started getting into Islam like the whole denying evolution thing and his rampant antisemetism. Also just to be clear, I have nothing against Muslims and I am not trying to say that Muslims inherently don't believe in basic science, it's just the particular circles that my brother has been exposed to that are giving him these ideas. However I will acknowledge the that it might be my own implicit bias that is making me reject his own interest in Islam. I'd also like to note my brother has been struggling with his health basically his entire teen life, where he has trouble sleeping, has barely any energy and this has led to him becoming depressed. He barely has any interests and those he had he's recently said he no longer enjoys. It's clear to me this is why such toxic ideas have appealed to him, because he feels disconnected and lonely. He barely goes out, he barely eats, he sleeps until the early afternoon, he has to shave and shower every single time he goes out and if he accidentally nicks himself while shaving he will adamantly refuse to go. It really upsets me to see him this way because I can tell he is suffering but he will never talk to me about it. However it doesn't change the fact that he has said some truly abhorrent things. I have tried many times to show him he's wrong or to gently guide him towards a more progressive and educated outlook but he is too stubborn to change.

This fully came to a head when we were having dinner together with our parents and he kept repeating the same arguments that god must be real because XYZ or, evolution is fake because XYZ and I would tell him why I disagreed with his reasoning. Continue in circles for two whole hours. This ended with me telling him that he was a dumbass and that he should stop watching religious content.

I feel I am an asshole here because just as I don't want to be forced into a religion, I shouldn't force him out of one, but I feel since he's picked up religious ideas he's only gotten worse. Just yesterday he officially became a Muslim at a nearby mosque. I feel I should be happy for him but I can already see problems that may arise. He has to do 5 prayers (salat) a day at certain times and this morning he slept through two. I also worry about Ramadan since he's already very skinny and barely eating, I don't think further fasting will help at all.

Even worse, he's been spreading some of his ideas to my parents. They don't take on all his BS thankfully but they have absorbed some of the more troubling stuff, particularly his transphobia. I try to avoid queer topics as much as I can for this reason but whenever it does come up I always feel sick just sitting there listening to them.

Yet again I want to reiterate that Muslims are not a monolith and do not all share the same opinions but an unfortunately high number are greatly opposed to the idea of queer people. Not to mention many hold strong beliefs regarding the strict divisions of male and female. I don't know. Yet again, it could just be accidental Islamophobia on my part but I don't think it's a coincidence that he started getting more extreme once he got into particular Muslim circles.

So tumblr, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[bella-rose29]

Chapter 7 - The Demon

I'm back from my holiday and still mildly sleep deprived from the flight but here's the next chapter! This is the second to last chapter (not including an epilogue), and I hope you all enjoy this one! As always, if you want to be added to/ removed from the tag list please let me know, and requests are always welcome :)

We start off with Tamar's point of view for this one, then switch to the reader, which again has been marked by the --- (because I still don't know how best to show a change in perspective).

Warnings: gets a lil steamy at one point (but I can't write it for the life of me)

Word count: 3.1k

Series master list

Tag list: @kentucky-criedfricken, @hauntedenthusiasttragedy, @kateswone, @historianthesecond, @polli05927, @ell0ra-br3kk3r, @simbaaas-stuff (sorry if I've missed anyone, let me know if I have!)

So far, everything was going swimmingly. 

Tamar couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy at just how easily this tour was going, but with only one night left she was hoping they would have an uneventful journey home the next day. 

Saints, she missed Nadia. Getting back home and showing her partner just how much she had been missed was high on Tamar’s list of things to do. 

Right now, however, she was frustrated with the server behind the counter at the inn. 

Apparently the King and Queen of Ravka would have to sleep in separate rooms tonight, due to the somewhat… conservative views of the owners, but looking over at the monarchs now, Tamar wasn’t sure how she’d ever be able to peel them apart. 

She also wasn’t sure what had changed, but the past week had seen a dramatic difference in the couples’ behaviour; both being far more touchy, never leaving each others' side, making out in the carriage rides (which was a pain in the ass to Tailor) and at night. 

On second thoughts, maybe it would be good for them to spend a night apart. 

Sighing and removing her hands from where they rested on the tops of her axes, Tamar accepted the keys from the inn owner, promising to separate the lovers with a grimace. She wasn’t looking forward to that at all. 

“Room keys,” she said to the travelling party, jangling the items in the air. Her twin immediately shot up, snatching a key and tearing up the stairs. He’d needed the toilet for 'the last three days’ apparently (his words, not Tamar’s), but had refused to just go pee in a bush (it was too undignified, apparently, as if Tamar hadn't seen him do some of the most undignified things in the world). Zoya took the next key, looking exhausted from all the travelling and like she very much needed her own bed. Tamar handed out keys to the remaining members of the group, then turned to Nikolai and Y/N. 

“Alright lovebirds. You’re gonna have to split up tonight.” At their pouts, Tamar couldn’t help but roll her eyes, a smile forming on her face as she recognised the look she had worn when told Nadia wasn’t coming with them. 

“Are you going to be okay, darling?”

“I’ll be fine, Kolya, it’s you I’m worried about.”

Saints, they were insufferable now. Tolya would be soaking this up if he were here, going on about how they were straight out of one of his beloved poems. 

After ten minutes and many more sentiments and kisses, Tamar managed to wrangle them into their respective rooms, with promises that yes, they would be allowed to sit next to each other at breakfast (that was Y/N asking) and no, she wasn’t asking them to get divorced and never see each other again (that was Nikolai, far more dramatic than his wife). 

She let out a breath as she leaned against her own door to the room she’d be sharing with Tolya, before entering and telling him to take first watch, and slipping into a light sleep. 

Two hours later she was woken by her brother, taking the next round of standing guard. Going to stand in the corridor and resting her back against the wall, she settled in as best she could for the next two hours. Something sharp jammed into her back and she whirled round, hand on her axe, only to realise it was a rogue nail sticking out the wall. 

I can’t wait to be back in the Palace, she thought. She was skittish, the lack of incidents making her paranoid and pushing her further towards the edge of insanity, so she took a deep breath to calm herself. 

For the next hour or so, Tamar maintained her stoic watch in the dimly lit corridor, standing so still anyone passing might have thought her a statue (one particularly drunk customer did as he passed on his way to his room, commenting on the strange decor of the inn). She was just thinking idly about things that needed doing the next morning when the handle to Nikolai’s room twisted. 

Immediately on high alert, her hands formed the motions she needed, but frowned when she only felt one steady heartbeat that she recognised as the King’s. The door opened, and Tamar held her breath as a figure shuffled out cautiously. 

Saints, can they really not leave each other alone?

Her thoughts were cut off when she realised that her king was on all fours, two dark shapes protruding out of his back. 

The demon was here. 

But why now? she thought, confusion lacing her expression again. And why isn’t it attacking?

The demon had never just… walked around like this before, and Tamar was torn between fetching Zoya and Tolya or just watching and waiting to see what would happen. Peering through the open door, Tamar was startled to find the bed stripped, the pillows and sheets on the floor. Nothing looked damaged (thankfully, she didn’t feel like compensating the owners for any damage), and her confusion only grew. 

It was moving again, having stopped briefly to stare up at her with voids of black shining out in place of the usual blue. It had put its nose in the air as it sniffed around for something and, seemingly finding what it had been looking for (smelling for?), Tamar tensed, hoping that it wasn’t hungry for Heartrender. She was surprised again when it turned to Y/N’s room instead and opened the door (and since when could it open doors?), going inside while still on all fours, wings trailing behind. The demon’s claws clacked on the wooden floorboards, and Tamar followed a few paces behind, still monitoring the situation. 

It shuffled closer to Y/N’s bed, pausing every few steps to check she was still sleeping and it hadn't woken her up, then reached up to pull back the cover from her face when it stopped next to the bed. 

“What are you doing?” Tamar muttered to herself, hands fluttering nervously at her sides, torn between her axes and her powers. The demon pulled the whole cover off, then with surprising gentleness lifted Y/N out of the bed. It paused again, reaching a few clawed fingers out to grab a hold of her duvet, then set off slowly in the direction of the door where Tamar was stood. She hurried out of the way, not wanting anything to trigger an attack on her or the Queen, and it paid her no attention as it trudged slowly back to Nikolai’s room. 

Tamar knocked lightly on Zoya and Tolya’s doors, hoping it would be enough to wake them up but not alert the demon. A few moments later a bleary-eyed General appeared, blue robe wrapped around her body and her hair mussed from sleep, clearly unimpressed. Tolya didn’t appear for another five minutes, finding the two women stood outside the King’s bedroom door, gaping at the scene in front of them. 

“Why did you have to wake me up?” Tolya grumbled quietly. “I was having an excellent dream wher-“ He didn’t get to finish since Tamar had slapped a hand over his mouth, the demon staring at them, teeth bared at the disturbance. He removed her hand, eyes wide. 

“What the…”

The demon was still growling slightly at them, a low rumble in its throat, when a murmur came from the pile of sheets in the middle of the floor. It snapped its head round to Y/N, noticing that she was waking up. She rubbed her eyes, and Tamar held her breath. 

"Wha-"

“Don’t move too much, alright?” She said to her Queen in a whisper. Y/N was sat in the weird pillow-and sheet-nest that the demon had made (and was now making little alterations to, pulling folds out to be just right), staring at the demon that had taken over her husband’s body. 

“What… Tamar? Zoya? What’s going on? Is he… is this normal?” She stiffened when the demon came back to her side and pushed her gently back into the pillows, then moved to lie down next to her, one arm circling her waist as it pulled her back against its chest. 

“This is… to be honest, we don’t know what’s going on. This has never happened before. Tolya and I will monitor from here for the rest of the night,” -at his disgruntled sound she elbowed him in the ribs- “and you won’t leave our sight.”

She nodded, eyes still wide in fear and surprise. Zoya offered a few words of comfort to her friend before going back to bed, and Tamar and her brother settled in for the rest of the night. 

---

Sunlight filtered through the curtains, bringing Y/N out of her slumber. At the feel of a warm body underneath her, she panicked, remembering the demon from the night before, but when her eyes opened to land on her very much demon-less husband, she let out a soft sigh of relief. Looking around at the room, she noticed that the twins had disappeared, having left a note next to the couple saying 'Gone to get people up and moving, back in 30'. 

Nikolai woke then, rubbing his eye with blackened fingers before groaning in slight pain at their position.

"Why, in the name of all the Saints, does my back hurt so much?" He croaked out, and Y/N couldn't help but giggle.

"Maybe because we're on the floor?" Nikolai's eyes went wide, his head whipping around to take a proper look at where they were, and then he seemed to register the fact that she was with him.

"Wait... did we have passionate and mind-blowing sex that was so good it gave me amnesia? Because that would be a tragedy and we might have to-"

"NO!" she shouted, using a nearby pillow to whack him in the face as her cheeks went red and her mind filled in the rest of his sentence. "Why does your mind always go there? No, you um... the demon got lonely and wanted a hug?" She didn't mean for it to end in a question, but she still wasn't entirely sure herself what had happened the night before. Her husband stared at her, blinking a few times. When he spoke his voice was smaller than she'd ever heard it before.

"Did I hurt you?" His hand had been reaching up to cup her face, but now Nikolai hesitated in anticipation. She gently took it and guided it to her cheek, leaning in to the warmth of his palm.

"No, Kolya, you didn't hurt me. I think it genuinely just got lonely or something. Made this weird nest thing on the floor, which on a side note, I'd love to get into to research the behaviours of- wait, why are you staring at me like that?" Her nose wrinkled as she took in his expression, then smoothed out when he leaned up to kiss her.

"You definitely can't be too traumatised from being accosted by my other half if you want to research its behaviours, darling. I'm just glad you're okay."

"I thought I was your other half? What, does our marriage mean nothing to you anymore?" she joked, pleased when he cracked a smile. She could get drunk on his smiles, the ones that were specifically for her; they were like the sun to her.

"Sorry, darling," he replied, and Saints, she'd said that she didn't like being called the pet name, but it was really doing things to her. She hadn't missed how Nikolai had continually called her 'darling' since that carriage ride, and she also hadn't missed how he'd responded when the bump in the road threw her on to him.

Just like how she now didn't miss his smile turning wolfish moments before he gripped her waist lightly and flipped her on her back. She squealed, which turned into a muffled moan when he pressed his lips and body against hers. Y/N was completely certain that everybody knew they were making out in the carriage rides and basically any other opportunity they got, but she couldn't bring herself to care when he felt like heaven.

Her arms circled around him, pulling him closer, and when he came up for air he asked "Is this alright, Y/N?" and she could have died right there at how gentle he was being.

"This is definitely alright, Nikolai." She brought him back in, and this time some of their restraint had slipped away, tongues deepening the kiss. One of his arms was propping him up and playing with a strand of her hair; the other was caressing her side, toying with the hem of her night shirt, his fingers grazing her bare skin underneath. Her own hands were exploring the expanse of his back (which she totally hadn't already memorised) and moving through his hair, and she'd lifted a leg to wrap around his waist. She moaned again when he moved the hand that was stroking her side to grip her thigh tightly instead, and when she arched her body up in response, hips pressing into his, they groaned into each other's skin at the contact, at feeling everything so closely. Nikolai had moved onto her neck, leaving kisses down it, occasionally nipping at the skin and testing her reactions, staying in one place for longer when he got one he liked. Her mind was a mess, what with his hands stroking her neck and thigh (the latter getting progressively higher as time went on), but did manage to think about how maybe they would be having mind-blowing sex. No sooner than she'd had that thought, however, was Nikolai pulling away, hair mussed from where her hands had been running through and pulling it, lips swollen and pupils blown. She was sure she looked the same, although he wasn't frowning at the lack of contact.

"Why... what..." she swallowed, trying to get her breath back and her thoughts in some sort of order.

"I don't think- I can't..." he paused, doing the same as her and taking deep breaths, and for a moment she panicked, thinking he didn't want this, didn't want her, but then when he spoke she didn't know why she'd worried in the first place.

"I refuse to let the first time I make love to you be on the floor of someone else's bedroom, Y/N, no matter how badly I want you right now."

Saints, this man.

She swallowed again, nodding slightly, then whined - what was she, a puppy? - when he started to get up and move away from her. At the sound Nikolai hesitated, then planted a final kiss on her lips as a promise that 'this will continue' before leaving to get changed. She watched him go, and when Genya inevitably asked when the party got back, Y/N would say that she was most definitely not staring at his ass as he left the room.

~~~

Breakfast passed quickly, and there was a flurry of activity as everybody packed things up for the final stretch of the journey, energy renewed at the knowledge that they'd be sleeping in their own beds tonight. Y/N had taken a little extra time to cool her face that morning, hoping the cold water would help reduce the swelling in her lips before coming downstairs. Tamar had come over in the food hall at one point, checking in on her and asking questions about the night before in a quiet voice.

"Seriously, Tamar, I'm fine. No marks or bruises. Like I said to Nik I'm pretty sure the demon was just feeling lonely, especially since Nik and I have spent the last week or so sharing a bed. Probably just wanted to make sure I was okay."

"That's... not what normally happens," she replied with a frown. "But if you're not hurt, then I guess it's alright."

Within the next ten minutes the touring party had packed up and were on the move, and now Y/N was sat opposite Nikolai in the carriage, knees knocking with his. He was looking out the window, clearly lost in thought as he absentmindedly stroked his fingers over the back of her hand, his wedding ring cool against her warm skin.

"I'm glad it's you," she said. He dragged himself out of his reverie, blinking a few times as he took in what she had said.

"What do you mean, darling?"

"I mean I'm glad that it was you I had to marry."

"I'm glad too, Y/N," he replied with a smile. "Unfortunately I can't take any credit for the decision-making process, although I definitely would have picked you," the last part was said with a wink and a grin as he looked her up and down, making Y/N's cheeks heat up, but she couldn't help but frown at what had come before.

"But I thought that you were the one that picked me to marry you?" she asked, confusion lacing her voice. "When I asked Zoya why I was the one that had to marry you, she just said that I'd 'been chosen'."

"I thought she'd told you? I let the Triumvirate pick, I trust their judgement and I was rather busy trying to convince everyone that the last thing we needed was a civil war and to let me be king."

Y/N was quiet for a minute, thinking.

"I think... I think she didn't tell me that you didn't have any part in it so that she could reduce my stress about the whole thing. It's fair, really; if I thought that you didn't want anything to do with me I probably would have run away or something."

"Good job she didn't, then. I quite like having you around. And as far as whether or not I would have picked you, I think I would. The people clearly love you, and you're going to be an excellent Queen to Ravka because of how much you clearly love them. Sure, court will be difficult, trying to get the nobles properly on side, but I know that you can do it, because you love Ravka and her people and you'll do what you need to to protect them."

"I... thank you, Nikolai. That... that means a lot to me," she swallowed down the lump in her throat at his sincerity.

"I think I've come up with a way to launch the garden project you were talking about, too. We can start making plans tomorrow, if you like?"

"That would be perfect, Kolya."

He smiled back at her, hand still holding hers.

Hope had bloomed in her chest, and she let it grow. There wasn't much that could make this day much better than being here with him, and nothing could bring her mood down now.

Until the window shattered as an arrow shot through it, narrowly missing Nikolai's head.

Chapter 8

#i'm evil for this ending i'm sorry #i'll make it up to you in the next one #i promise <3 #nikolai lanstov x reader #grishaverse #netflix shadow and bone #nikolai lantsov #nikolai x reader #nikolai lanstov x y/n #nikolai x y/n

[whump-about-it]

Smoke/Shared Clothing/ Bloodstains

@whumpril day23 (a little late)

CW: blood, smoking, conditioned whumpee, aggressive caretaking, clueless caretaker, hidden injuries, mentions of vomiting (no details).

When Friend walked into Caretaker’s apartment they were neither surprised to see Whumpee there, nor that they were wearing Caretaker’s clothing.

Whumpee had been oscillating between Friend and Caretaker’s couches since Whumper had finally agreed to leave them alone. Considering Whumpee had not been at Friend's that morning they were honestly relieved to find them at Caretaker’s. As for the clothing, Whumpee had recently taken up the habit of wearing Caretaker’s sweaters and t-shirts. They probably would have worn Friend’s too, except Friend hadn’t been fond of the clothes sharing the one time Whumpee had tried it. Caretaker apparently didn’t mind because these days Whumpee seemed to be wearing their clothes more than their own. Caretaker was closer to Whumpee’s size anyway, so though Whumpee was swimming in their clothing, they weren’t drowning in them like they had been with Friend's.

What did surprise Friend was that Whumpee was smoking.

They were leaning out the open kitchen window, one of Caretaker’s sweatshirts rolled up to their elbows, with a small tendril of smoke rising from the half spent cigarette between their fingers. They turned to look at Friend when they walked in the door. Their face was pale with dark circles under there eyes and they gave Friend a half smile in way of a welcome before turning back to the view out the window. Taking another drag from their cigarette.

“I thought you quit.” Friend tried not to make the statement sound accusatory. They’d been the one who got Whumpee hooked on smoking in the first place after all. Years ago, before any of them could imagine what the future would bring. Caretaker had hounded them both for the smoking until it eventually got the better of Friend. Whumpee had taken longer though. It had only been in the last couple of months, again since Whumper agreed to leave them alone, that they’d given the habit up.

“It’s been a long night” Whumpee shrugged and stubbed out the cigarette on the windowsill.

Friend nodded and went to join them at the window. They had been tipped off that something was wrong when Caretaker had called in sick to work the day before. The one time Caretaker had answered their texts they had said they thought they might have food poisoning and not to worry. That morning though, when Caretaker had called in sick to work again, and Whumpee wasn't around like Friend would have expected them to be if Caretaker was ill, they figured they should probably check in.

"How is Caretaker?"

"They've been better" The statement didn't mean much coming from Whumpee. They had always been the monarch of understatements. Friend could distinctly remember a time when they had described a cut that had required stitches and a blood transfusion as nothing more than a 'scratch'. They had also tried convincing Caretaker and Friend that it had come from falling in the shower, but that was a whole different issue.

"They're sleeping now," Whumpee explained "But they were up half the night vomiting and the other half hallucinating. They thought I was their uncle at one point, which I didn't even know they had any."

"That doesn't sound like food poisoning"

Whumpee shook their head.

"I think its the flu, but if there's no blood involved I'm really at a loss with medical stuff."

Friend swallowed and tried not to think about those years when they and Caretaker had been out of contact with Whumpee. All those injuries Whumpee had had to treat on their own in the dark closet of a room Whumper had kept them in. Caretaker knew more of the details than Friend did. And though Friend would have been there to listen if Whumpee wanted to tell them, they didn't envy Caretaker being the one Whumpee had turned too with that information.

"You should call me next time" Friend didn't know anything about treating the flu either, but they and Whumpee could have at least muddled through together. Whumpee shook there head though, stiffling a yawn as they did.

"You have a job. Anyway, I figure it's pay back for all the times the two of you were there for me when I couldn't get up off the floor."

Friend sighed and put a reassuring hand on Whumpee’s back. Despite the light touch Whumpee’s whole body tensed and Friend remembered a second to late that they didn’t like being touched anymore.

“Sorry” They removed their hand and Whumpee leaned more heavily on the windowsill, working to even out their breathing. It was a more dramatic reaction than they’d had in a while, but they also looked ready to collapse with how tired they were, so Friend didn’t think much of it.

“I was going to say that you don’t owe us anything, Whumpee.”

Caretaker had always done more peeling Whumpee off the floor than Friend had. But Friend was sure they felt the same way. Caretaker was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off their back (clearly, as Whumpee was already wearing it).

Whumpee pursed their lips and nodded in a way that Friend knew meant they didn’t believe them. That could be a conversation for another time though. Whumpee really did look awful and now that Friend was thinking about it, if Caretaker had come down with something contagious, Whumpee could very well be catching it.

“Why don’t you get some rest” Friend nodded towards the couch behind them in the living room. “I’m gonna go check on Caretaker.”

“Sure” Whumpee murmured. “Just want another smoke first.”

Friend knew they probably should have said something about that. But they really had no ground to stand on so they let it go and turned away from Whumpee towards the hall where Caretaker’s bedroom was. A split second later though they turned back.

Something had caught their eye.

The spot on Caretaker’s sweatshirt where Friend had accidentally touched Whumpee was sticking to their back in almost a perfect outline of their hand. Not only that but the spot where the heel of their hand would have been now had an odd brown stain against the green of the fabric.

Friend swallowed thickly, a familiar panic and confusion curling in their stomach.

“Whumpee?” They asked “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

Whumpee turned to look at them. Pasting an expression of confusion on their face as they did. Looking at them directly for the first time Friend could see that Whumpee wasn’t just pale. They were colorless. And their dark eyes were blood shot and red rimmed from crying.

Friend could feel bile rising in their throat. Without much thinking they stepped forward and grabbed Whumpee by their elbow, forcing them to turn back towards the window. Caretaker would have been gentler. They would have had Whumpee sit down and coaxed the truth out of them with calm words and reassurances. But Friend wasn't Caretaker.

Their ears were ringing as they pulled up the hem of Caretaker's sweatshirt. Whumpee was wearing a black t-shirt underneath it, but Friend could see dark red, still moist stains at the waist band of their grey sweatpants.

Whumpee let out a yelp of protest, but didn't resist as Friend grabbed at the t-shirt. They only pulled it up as far as they needed to confirm what they were fearing. The few inches of visible skin on Whumpee's lower back were covered with bruises, welts, and weeping cuts, overlapping the already intricate map of healed scars.

"Whumpee. What did you do?" Friend at the very least managed to keep their voice a stern calm. Whumpee was beginning to shake under Friend's grasp. They were leaning heavily on the windowsill, gripping it with white knuckles. Friend suddenly felt the need to hold onto Whumpee and let go of their clothing, instead grabbing them by their elbows again.

"Caretaker had a fever of 104" Whumpee answered. Their voice was shaking as much as their body. "They needed medicine. I didn't know where else to go."

Friend had the ware-with-all to pull Whumpee's weight towards themselves, right before their knees buckled and the two of them collapsed to the floor, gripping each other as Whumpee let out a sudden sob of pain.

"You call me, Whumpee" Friend insisted, gathering Whumpee against them trying to avoid aggravating God knows what injuries they had. "You should have called me. Not Whumper. You never have to see them again."

Whumpee began to sob harder.

"I just wanted to help" they moaned "I wanted to be useful for once. You guys were never supposed to find out."

Friend's heart broke. They pulled Whumpee's head into their chest and began to stroke their hair. They suddenly regret their anger and how aggressive they had been.

"You were helping. You are useful. You didn't have to go to Whumper for that. Being here for Caretaker is enough. They appreciate it, I promise you. They'll tell you when they're feeling better."

Whumpee began to sob even harder at Friend's words. Friend kissed them on the top of their head and continued to stroke their hair until they had calmed a little. It didn't take long. Even at their worst, Whumpee had never been much of a crier.

"Was this the first time you've contacted them?" Friend asked when they thought Whumpee was able to answer.

"Yea" Whumpee nodded against Friend's chest. Friend breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, you didn't make any deals with them did you?"

"Just for the medicine."

"And all they wanted was to hurt you one last time?"

Whumpee let out a single sob as a response and Friend kissed them on the head again.

"Have you cleaned yourself up yet?"

Whumpee shook their head against Friend's chest.

"Tried," They mumbled. "Can't reach"

"Alright. Do you think you can stand? If you can get to the table I can clean you up. You'll probably have to talk me through it though."

Whumpee lifted their head from Friend's chest and looked at them with watery eyes.

"I think I'll need help getting up" They admit sheepishly. "Someone should check on Caretaker. It's almost time for them to take the medicine again."

"Don't worry. I'll check up on Caretaker." Friend reassured them as they helped Whumpee up off the ground. "I'll grab you a change of clothing too. There's too much blood on these."

Whumpee nodded and let Friend lead them to the kitchen table.

#whump #whump drabble #whumblr #whumpril2023 #whumprilday23 #caretaker x whumpee #whumpee x friend #sick caretaker #injured #hiding injuries #sharing clothes #bloodstains #smoke #recovering whumpee

[angelasscribbles]

The Crown and the Shield Chapter 8: Healing

Series: The Crown and the Shield

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Constantine x Jackson

Word Count: 922

Rating: PG

Warnings for this chapter: none

Special thanks to @aussiegurl1234 for her input.

A/N: So, we finally come to the final chapter of this “one-shot” lol. I hope it meets expectations.

My other stuff: Master List.

“Today is the one-year anniversary of the Madrid Peace Summit Massacre,” the news anchor addressed the camera.

“It was a dark day for all our countries,” His co-host replied nodding her head sympathetically, “Isabella Hasapis was forced to take the Auverness throne when both her parents were killed, making her the youngest monarch in their history, ascending the throne at only sixteen. In Monterisso, the late queen’s sister was appointed as regent until crown princess Amalas is old enough to rule.”

Constantine turned the volume of the TV up as his mind ran back in time to the worst day of his life.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” the white-coated doctor stood with his hands in his pockets as he delivered the news, “We did everything we could. Heroic measures were employed but the injuries from the gunshot wounds were too grievous, and we were unable to save him.”

Constantine’s body shook with sobs. He let himself be led to a chair. He sank into it and dropped his head into his hands. He gathered his emotions as best he could and lifted his head, “And her?”

“I’m sorry, sir, again, the extent of the injuries-“

“So I’ve lost them both?”

“I’m very sorry for your loss. Would you like to see your wife now?”

“Connie, why are you watching this?” Eleanor took the remote from his hand and clicked the TV off just as the footage of his remarks from the south lawn of the palace earlier in the day began to play.

He turned to her with tears in his eyes, “It was the day I lost both my parents. The day I almost lost you. I don’t know how Leo and Liam would have-“

“Hey, we don’t have to worry about that. I’m here. I made it and so did you.”

“Thanks to Jack.”

“Yes,” she agreed, “Thanks to Jack. Speaking of him…don’t you have somewhere to be?”

He glanced at the clock on the wall and jumped to his feet, “Shit! Yes! I have to go!”

“It’s fine, go!” She shooed him out of their private living room, one hand at the small of her back and the other resting on her burgeoning stomach as she felt the baby kick. “Settle down, Lena. You have a month left in there.”

She missed her in-laws, but she was grateful that both she and her husband had been spared. The bullet had hit her in the side. There had been a lot of blood, but no major organs had been damaged.

She would have joined the king, but she was on partial bedrest for the duration of the pregnancy. She had told Constantine to give her love to the Walker family. She would be forever grateful for the sacrifices made that day.

Constantine stepped out of the limo and approached the group gathered around the gravesite. He made his way to Bianca and swept her into a hug before doing the same with Drake and Savannah in turn.

He stepped forward and touched the cold marble of the marker, his fingers tracing the etching. His throat constricted as he croaked out, “He died a hero.”

“That he did. He stepped right in front of that bullet.”

Constantine turned toward the voice with a solemn expression, “So did you.”

“Damned straight I did! And I’d do it again!”

The king pulled the other man into a tight embrace as he fought back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him, “Don’t joke about that, Jack, I almost lost you that day!”

It had been touch and go for two weeks. Constantine had never left his side.

“I’m not joking,” Jackson hugged him back.

Constantine had tried to get him to transfer to a less dangerous position, but Jackson had refused. There was no one else he trusted to safeguard the man he loved.

“Eleanor sends her love to all of you,” Constantine pushed out of Jackson’s arms and turned back to the monument, “We know how much Bastien meant to you.”

“He was like family,” Bianca agreed.

“He didn’t hesitate to take that bullet for her,” Jackson removed a flask of whiskey from his jacket pocket and held it up to the monument in salute, “Here’s to the best junior officer I ever had the privilege of training.”

“To Bastien!” the little group chorused.

When the gathering was over, Constantine and Jackson walked back to the limo together, hand in hand.

The perpetrators of the attack had all been brought to justice and The Liberation Core dismantled. There was some amount of closure in that.

Eleanor had taken the news of his relationship with Jackson in stride.

“I suspected, Connie. But it doesn’t change anything for me. I love you, and I love our boys.”

The only thing she had asked him for was another child. A chance for a girl and he’d given it to her.

In return, she’d given him complete acceptance of his relationship with Jackson.

He was as happy as he could be while still grieving his parents. He would always miss them, but he had a baby on the way, a queen who understood him, and the love of his life by his side.

Next year for his birthday, Jackson was getting that white water rafting trip. Constantine had already booked it. Just the two of them…give or take a few dozen guardsmen.

He glanced at the man next to him with happiness in his heart. He was healing, Cordonia was healing, and the future looked bright.  

~fin

#trr au #trr fanfic #trr fandom #trr au fanfic #choices fic writers creations #tcats #the crown and the shield #angelasscribbles #the royal romance #trr #the royal romance fanfic #cfwc fics of the week #Constantine Rys #Jackson Walker #Connie x Jack #choices stories you play #choices

[via-the-cryptid]

How does the Sugar Snow war get resolved after? Like, at what point is it safe for Snow Queen and Simon to leave the TreeHouse neutral ground? Does Finn orchestrate a talking it out thing with PB or do they just leave after a while or what? Is Gunther wearing the crown and put in charge of re-freezing the ice kingdom here, too, and then at some point SQ gets word he’s done and they just never leave? How does Snow Queen know for sure that PB isn’t going to try to kidnap Simon or try anything again?

Bubblegum… kinda gets evicted from the Candy Kingdom during the aftermath of the war? King of Ooo takes advantage of the people’s upset with her to swoop in and talk about how it’s all her fault and the Snow Queen wouldn’t have attacked if PB hadn’t provoked her, which leads to the whole election arc and Bubblegum taking Peppermint Butler and going to live in her uncle’s cabin. Snow Queen is kind of ignoring her at this point due to how ecstatic she is that her prince is back, meaning that she’s kinda blind to the political repercussions of attacking one of the most powerful monarchs in Ooo and therefore doesn’t find neutral ground to be all that necessary. It was more Simon’s idea that they avoid PB since she’d just kidnapped him and he was still a little wary, and SQ just went along with it because it was what Simon and therefore she agreed automatically (yes this is unhealthy, yes they work on it).

Finn is a little disgruntled with PB, but he and Jake do try to get the two regents to sort things out after a while to cool down. bubblegum has had the chance to see that, with her prince finally by her side, Snow Queen just… isn’t doing anything anymore. She’s not harassing anyone, she’s not freezing random stuff, she’s just being normal (as normal as she’s capable of being, anyways). That’s really what tips the scales for PB, because her main worry was that SQ would one day be a more major threat to the Candy Kingdom, but now she’s able to see that SQ won’t actually do anything unless provoked, especially now that Simon is around.

this revelation is what leads to Bubblegum actually apologizing, and it’s Simon’s connection to her that makes Snow Queen accept the apology. in her mind, it’s a match between ‘friends with prince’ and ‘kept prince away from me’, but now that Simon is no longer imprisoned, the first option wins and Snow Queen… pretty much forgets that the whole war even happened to begin with. Benefits of being batshit crazy, I guess.

As for the Snow Kingdom, SQ was flying out there most days to rebuild, but she was taking Simon with her pretty much everywhere she went, so it was taking a bit longer than it normally would. Gunther is not allowed to wear Mom’s Special Shiny Hat, but he was allowed to watch over and guard the progress just to make sure nothing happened. He felt very important and Snow Queen was very proud.

#adventure time #snow queen au #simon petrikov #betty grof #petrigrof #petrigrof role swap #answered asks #sugar snow war #princess bubblegum #bonnibel bubblegum

[anonymousredactedconfessions]

Since this is a safe space, I too have my confessions for the Summit Audio and other plot stuff as well. This is very long so bear with me

*drum roll 🥁🥁🥁🥁*

I am disappointed with Darlin's storyline! :DD

What the hell happened to character development? And can we please keep talking about how it's getting annoying when Darlin just stands there while everyone else just speaks for them? I've been waiting for so long for the moment where we get to see that Darlin' finally stopped hopping on the fight/defensive option immediately without thinking shit through.

Cuz I know damm well they were already planning on giving Alexis the business when they heard her voice. I was waiting on them to be more verbal and civil with their confrontation rather than jumping to "You know I've fought vampires before, right?" Like COME ONNN MAN

I agree with the other recent confessions in this blog cuz yeah, will they ever get the agency they deserve?? And what the hell was up with Porter coming in to "save the day" and Sam zipping back out of know where (btw where the hell have you been bro??). And even when Alexis left, Darlin still wasn't able to get a word in.

Does Darlin notice this too or are we never gonna get that moment where they finally snap and make people remember that they are an adult and can progress their life by making their own decisions. They don't always need someone for that and it takes away from their "independence".

Plus ( as much as I love my cowboy) woulda been more upset to Sam when he not only not listened to Darlin talk as they told him what bullshit she said to them and give them the reassurance they needed in that moment, mf started sayin shit like "she's a real person under there, I know it" because no way in hell would I believe that if the person we're talking about is proud of ASSAULTING a person she "claims to love" and also waited until the Monarchal Summit to confront Darlin where there's tons of people around to confront them like a pissy, jealous school girl.

Also I feel like Darlin and David's relationship hasn't been done well enough. Not even just them and David but just the pack in general. The smash tournaments and Solstice party's are cool but when are we actually gonna have a video where it's just the pack? No mates, Sam included and it's just the four of them? (i.e. David, Ash, Darlin, and Milo)

To me, it makes a lot of sense why Darlin felt out of place cuz they don't get mentioned a lot when they're not around, only when Sam is included in the conversation. It feels like they don't exist without their mate around so it's not fully Darlin's fault that they left and ended up in the wrong crowd.

And it's frustrating to see those chat group posts where it's supposed to be The Packs Mates Groupchat thingy but instead of Sam they put Darlin in. Or Sam is there but so is Darlin. Like huh??? Is Sam a part of the damm pack now???? All the more reason why I get Darlin' almost leaving the pack, they seem as someone who's forgettable.

Erik should at least give Darlin a nickname name or some code shit to address them without just having to say "my pack member" or "my partner", and (my least favorite) "Sam's mate". Just give them the nick name Tank like everyone else so you don't have to worry about addressing them by saying anything vague and unspecific.

Sorry but Darlin feels too much like a character than a listener to be written as someone who just stands there from the sidelines and watches as everyone speaks for them. I NEED them to be making a decision that continues the plot, not someone who made it for them. They deserve better as a character and I will die on that hill. BUT that's just me. Have a good day/night!

-💜🐺

.

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #confessions #💜🐺

[dotieeee]

The Dream That Got Away

Chapter 6

Pairing: Dark!Morpheus x You (no Y/N!)

This is a multi-chapter fic — Weekly updates (either Saturday or Sunday) because I found a rhythm of sorts lol

(The entire fic has been outlined, so I will see this to the end, you have my word)

**********************************************************

Link to the Masterlist

Overall Warnings!! Take heed:

Morpheus is DARK – in canon, he changes for the better (or at least, tries to – but we don’t do canon lol, so he goes even more batshit crazy) cue obsession, manipulation, possessiveness, powerplay

18+ ONLY – explicit scenes will be present, some explicit language

DUB-CON and NON-CON scenes

Character death (sort of)

Creator vs Creation drama

And other dark stuff that may be added in the future

This chapter’s warnings:

mentions of blood and gore

some mentions of violence

You have been warned!! Proceed with caution!!!

Link to the previous chapter

Chapter 6: The Sleep Doctor

The moment you come to, you sit up, your hands automatically grasping your throat, rasping for air. Gentle hands immediately rub your back, soothing your violent coughing until your breathing evens out. Those hands shove a glass of water into yours, and you drink – but you drink too quickly – your burst into another coughing fit.

“Mera, how you worried me. What happened to you?”

It takes you a while to compose yourself, but eventually, you find the voice to say, “The waters…”

Lucienne regards you with worry etched all over her face. “You’ve been out cold for three days, Mera. I found you on the shore, unconscious.”

Swallowing thickly, your own face, contorted with malevolent intent, flashes before your eyes. You shake the mental image away, before getting up to your feet from the floor which you lay moments ago.

You look around mournfully at the throne room, or what is left of it. The great stone pillars have toppled down many years ago, and their rubble now littered the floor, along with the shards of glass that were once the stained murals that adorned the walls. Everything that made hall the luxurious, fit for a king, lay on your feet in ruins. You let the tears sting your eyes as they fall freely, but you don’t brush them away – there was no one else, save Lucienne, to see them, after all.

“We’re running out of time, Lucienne.”

The librarian, even without her domain, stands steadfast. “Have faith, Mera. I know he will return.”

“Until then, I will keep looking.”

Shaking her head, Lucienne counters, “I’m not sure it’s wise to go on. You could be trapped in there for all we know.”

You smile ruefully as you turn to face her, your mind already made up. “I have to try,” for the Dreaming, you add silently.

***

At the mark of your Dream King’s one hundred and fifth year of departure, there were only you and Lucienne left manning the palace ruins. Not that there was anything left to do. You both gave up clearing the debris off the floors about three decades ago, seeing as after you had swept the floor, more of the accursed rubble would fall from the ceiling and the walls, easily doubling the effort. All there was left to do was to watch the Realm perish in the absence of the monarch it answered to.

And it’s for its sake that you continue the cycle of braving the treacherous sea of dreams and returning from it after long periods. Your connection with its shores has significantly thinned over the decades, and every visit cost you days of rest, often coming back ashore unconscious or in a severely weakened state. Lucienne had kindly taken upon herself to wait on the sandy coast for your arrival every time you venture out to the dreams of the mortals.

So, with a small wave of farewell to Lucienne and a deep breath, you take a plunge into the darkened waters of the ocean of dreams, knowing full well what you had signed up for.

After what seems an eternity battling with the waters and searching for a dream-link you could latch on to, you land, face-flat, on a carpeted floor. Groaning at your rather painful landing, you get up and try to find out whose dream you managed to get on. The room had strikingly gray walls, and sleek yet minimal interior décor that matched the furniture – the desk, almost empty save for a desktop computer, and the bookshelf at the corner, plus the glass coffee table at the center, surrounded by a gray, velour sofa-set – all illuminated by bright, natural sunlight filtering through the expansive glass windows. You know this modern-brutalist study; you’ve been here months before, but only once – the Sleep Doctor, as you have discovered, was pretty damn hard to catch.

You walk excitedly to the bookshelf, noting how it has been ages since you have last held a book. The books were arranged, not by name but by the spine colour – you let out a soft chuckle at the peculiarity. A book called Sleep Better with Science intrigues you, but before you could pick it up, you hear the loud clearing of a throat behind you.

“Ah, so the Sleep Doctor decides to finally entertain his guest,” you mutter to yourself, reaching for the book to inspect its premise.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

Whipping your head around, you look directly into the green, mildly bewildered eyes of Oliver Chapman, frozen in his place with a finger pointing at you. You don’t fail to notice the bands attached to his fingers, with wires that seem to connect to a kind of bracelet he’s wearing.

You’ve only been seen a handful of times in your true form by lucid dreamers – they have become a rarity as time went on, but you knew how to deal with them – an outlandish, over-the-top dream-element that didn’t quite belong in their environment always did the trick. So, with a flick of your wrist, you conjure a lion in the middle of his office, which you order to pounce on him (it won’t hurt him, you think to yourself). The Sleep Doctor, mimicking your hand movement, somehow makes the lion vanish into thin air.

“What in the living hell was that all about?” He calls out indignantly, backing away warily.

But you ignore him. You just stare at him with your mouth agape, wondering how on earth he had managed to single-handedly will a powerful dream-element to disappear of his own volition. He is, by far, the most powerful lucid dreamer you have ever come across. Is his ability to control his dreams coming from the strange device on his wrist?

“This is fascinating!” You whisper to yourself, not caring that you’re now unabashedly ogling at him.

“Hey, this is my dream, and I’d like to know who you are, how you got in here, and how you just made a fucking lion appear in my office,” he commands with false bravado, his posture straightening, trying to intimidate. He’s doing it rather poorly, you note, and he’s now completely red in the ears at the undivided attention he’s getting from you.

You cover your mouth and try to stifle a laugh bubbling at your throat, to no avail. It’s the first genuine laugh you’ve let out for decades, but he doesn’t know that. Bristling at your reaction, he asks, “Hey, what’s so funny about all this?”

You wave his question away, letting your laughter die down. This is going to be fun.

“Sorry about that,” you start, still breathless. “My name is Mera, and I’m a dream.”

“Huh.” He rubs the back of his head awkwardly. “I can see that. But how…” he starts gesturing at you and the middle of the study.

Grinning ear-to-ear, you simply reply, “You’re going to be in for a wild ride.”

***

 “You mean your… kind exists, and there’s a god of Dreams orchestrating all of this?”

Disbelief mars the features of Oliver Chapman, now lying on the L-shaped sofa with his hands crossed on his chest like he’s about to spill his wildest secrets to an unsuspecting therapist.

“He’s not a god, he’s called an ‘Endless,’” you correct him, lazily swinging your legs over the arms of the velour sofa you’re lounging on and hugging the throw pillow. “They’re immensely powerful beings that have been around since the dawn of –”

“Endless? There are others like him?” He props his elbows on the couch so he can raise his head to face you with a baffled expression.

“Yes, now keep up, please,” you jest, growing more amused by the minute at how he’s taking in all this new information. “Point is, we have the abilities to shape what you see in –”

“Hang on,” Once again he interrupts you, now fully sitting up on the sofa, placing one hand on his chin. “How can I be so sure I’m not just dreaming all of this? I mean, for all I know, you could just be a manifestation of my repressed sexual urges or my subconscious desire for an extremely attractive –”

You chuck the pillow at him which hits him in the face. “Are you going to let me finish or what?”

“Yeah, sorry, do continue, please,” he quips cheekily. “You have the power to…?”

“Shape what you see in your dreams, as I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted. Anyway, each of us has unique functionality – I for one was made to inspire.”

Now fully facing you, with his hands on his knees, he curiously asks, “Inspire how?”

“Let’s say you’ve been bored with routine, or you’ve recently been living your life aimless, an empty shell,” You respond thoughtfully. “I come in and help you find passion in life. Or recover it, granted you’ve already discovered it and just lost it in the past.”

“And there are others like you? Nightmares, too?”

You nod enthusiastically. “Yes, indeed.”

Leaning back on the sofa, he pauses, as if trying to recall something. “Wait a tick,” he slowly starts. “You’ve been here before – once, months ago.”

Smirking, you point a finger gun at him, confirming his conclusion. “Bingo! How’d that work for you?”

His face lights up at your question, motioning to the odd bracelet he’s wearing. “You helped me with…with a lot of things!”

“In that one visit?” You tilt your head questioningly. Your visit with him then was rather uneventful – you recall only turning a book with the title The Science of Sleep on the covers, but it escapes you what page it was, leaving the open book on his table hastily when your link to the sands sparked back to life.

Oliver springs up from the sofa energetically, hands flailing wildly. “Yeah! You…I…Jesus, you’ve no idea what you helped me accomplish, I could just kiss you right now – not that I’d ever…” he pauses awkwardly at your raised eyebrow, running his hands through his gray hair. “So, this is real – all of it! And this thing on my wrist is the proof…”

“I guess you could say that, yes.”

He starts pacing at the center of his study, muttering to himself excitedly. “This is brilliant. This… this is amazing.” Turning to you, he says, “You’re amazing. Sorry, could I offer you some tea? I completely forgot, what with you barging in, the lion and all…”

“Yes, that’d be lovely, thank you,” you reply, giving him a warm smile, happy with knowing you had made a difference, no matter how brief your visit was.

Ears going red once more, he mumbles, “Hang on, shit, I gotta get a kitchen –”

“You realize you can just make one appear out of thin air, right?”

“Oh, right,” he says sheepishly, hand going through his locks once more. You observe he seems to have a habit of running his hands through his hair when he’s nervous. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

With a look of concentration on his face, he waves his wrist, and a cup of tea appears on the coffee table. You take the cup and sip. It’s the first cup of tea you’ve had in years since the kitchen in the Dreaming collapsed on itself. And it’s quite possibly the most delicious cup you’ve ever had.

“Hmm. Needs work. Not bad, though, for a Sleep Doctor,” you tease.

“Ollie. Just call me Ollie. I’m not a sleep doctor, not anymore. Well, I was a sleep technician, but I retired.”

Interest piqued, you set the cup down, your brain swimming with more questions than you can process. Ollie is proving to be an intriguing dreamer – it certainly wouldn’t hurt if you stuck around for a moment and prod him around, would it?

“Well, Ollie, I’ve told you about my job; why don’t you tell me about yours?”

He beams brightly at you, and he starts opening his mouth –

But he gets interrupted by a beeping that seems to reverberate through the entire dream.

“Shit, that’s my alarm. Listen: stay here, I’ll come back, and I can show you what I’ve been up to. Will you wait for me?” he asks, his eyes hopeful, posture tense as he awaits your response.

You couldn’t lose this opportunity to find out more about him and his field, especially since it’s so closely related to your function. “Sure, I will.”

He releases an audible sigh of relief, then disappears, taking with him the beeping sound, leaving you alone in the dream, the atmosphere dulling without his presence.

And so, you lie back on the sofa, wondering what stories the Sleep Doctor has to tell in his return.

***

What he had in store for you was way more than what you have imagined.

It turns out the book you had left open on his desk had led him to a fantastic discovery. He, being a sleep technician, as he called it, knew the sleep stages as he had studied them for years. The book, however, left him with a striking, out-of-this-world idea of trying to control and prolong one of the sleep stages humanity has yet to tap into to cure any sleeping sickness – the hypnagogic sleeping stage.

You were aware of how far the mortals have gone to try to understand the realm of your master, and the science simply mesmerized you. Ollie took that thrill to another level. The human brain, he notes, seems to be more receptive to learning and creativity in the state of hypnagogia compared to other stages of sleep, including the more popular lucid state. Problem is, you’ve been in hypnagogic dreams, and they never last long, so the dreamers' interaction with the dream elements you create tends to be more limited. He knows this all too well, and this is what he aims to remedy.

“You know, Salvador Dali used to hold this steel ball in his hand before taking a nap,” you tell him. “It was his way of getting into this stage, and his dreams were just mind-blowing, it was a pleasure to watch him create this imagery out of nothing.”

“Whoa, you’ve been to Dali’s dreams? Just how old are you?” he wonders aloud, turning to face you with a teasing expression. You shove him playfully on his arm with a little too much force, earning an indignant ‘hey’ from him.

But it was through the steel ball method that he engineered the bracelet he’s wearing – it serves as a tracking device that recognizes the sleeper’s entrance to the hypnagogic state through their heart rate, finger muscle movement, and sweat gland activity. The sleeper naps with their fist clenched, and then when it relaxes as they fall asleep, the computer application starts a timer, then wakes them up to record the dream they had in the nap. This recorded message would then be played during the sleeper's second trip to hypnagogia, allowing them to potentially control everything in the dream, including willing themselves to wake up. Repeating this process, he says eagerly, seemed to have positive effects on his creativity levels when he tested it himself. He has yet to test anyone with sleeping sickness, though.

“So yeah, this is what I’ve accomplished because of you,” he finishes, rubbing the back of his head and gauging your reaction. “I probably lost you there, sorry, I tend to ramble a lot…” chuckling self-consciously. 

But no – you were enraptured the entire time, and you caught his every word. Saying you’re impressed with his invention was a huge understatement.

You flash him an encouraging smile, voicing your feedback. “You must know that this isn’t just my doing: I merely enhanced what was already there within you.”

Wriggling his eyebrows suggestively, he starts, “Are you calling me a genius? I suppose I am quite the dashing, brilliant young bachelor –”

“Just show me the app, please,” you retort, pinching your nose bridge in mock annoyance. So, he’s chatty, sassy, and nervous – what a combination, you note inwardly. 

And he laughs. It’s a pleasant, contagious sound; you couldn’t help but laugh along with him. 

“Feel free to smack me on the head when I get cocky.” He beckons to the computer on the desk, intending to pull up the application.

As you watch him unlock his desktop computer, he asks in a more serious tone: “But wouldn’t this interfere with your work, as dreams? Are you okay with this?”

“Are you kidding me? We need all the help we can get, even with the Dream Lord around,” you respond, watching keenly for the app to load. “I, for one, would embrace this technology if it meant encouraging creativity among our dreamers and ridding them of any sleep disturbances. The potential this would unlock is just too great to ignore.”

“Exactly my point!” He exclaims. But his expression turns sullen, closing the app before it even completes the loading bar. “Except, it isn’t quite there yet. Right now, it works fine on my laptop – it’s the phone app that worries me, I can’t get it to work properly.”

“And this is where I need your help.” He looks at you with earnest, expectant eyes, wringing his hands in anticipation.

“What do you have in mind, Ollie?”

“Can you stay, perhaps? Until I get the code to work?”

You find yourself at a loss for words. You know you had to do something for him because the situation he’s under is partially your doing, but could you commit to his project, knowing you also had a quest of your own?

“Alright. I’ll help,” you finally answer, nodding resolutely. “But I can only stay for a week at most. Even then, I’m not sure how much help I can be with computer coding. I suppose I could learn, but we wouldn’t have time for that –”

You’re instantly cut off as he wraps you in a tight, quick hug, and when he lets go, he gives you one of the brightest smiles you’ve ever seen as he says ‘thank you’ over and over.

“You wouldn’t have to do anything at all, actually – just your presence is powerful enough to help, Mera.”

“Very well. You’ve got a tight deadline, Doctor, so let's get to work!” You flash him a broad smile of your own, cracking your knuckles. This is the right thing to do, you tell yourself. Once he solves the code, you could then move on to your own project of combing through the dreams for any sign of the missing King.

***

“You know, I could get used to this.”

Ollie takes a bite of the lemon-strawberry sponge cake on his plate before sipping the cup of coffee you set on the table. Groaning, he says, “This is wonderful. I’ve tried cooking before in my dreams, but the food never tasted this great.”

“Maybe because your version of ‘cooking’ is boiling water and dumping three packets of instant ramen in it,” you quip, settling down on the dining table across from him to dig into your own slice of the cake.

Since your agreement with him to stay for a week, he has added more rooms to this dream-space he fully controlled – one such addition was the sleek, modern kitchen you had wasted no time using, cooking and baking all sorts of dishes from the cookbooks he had added to the space, much to his delight. One such recipe was the cake you’re both snacking on. You know this was your only chance to experiment in the culinary field because once your Dream Lord is back, he’ll probably take most of your time for himself. 

“Speaking of instant ramen, are you familiar with Momofuku Ando?” taking a sip from your cup.

“No, never heard of him. Who is he?” Ollie asks with genuine curiosity, a trait you noticed he exhibits without fail in your conversations. Just talking to him about even the most mundane of things was very refreshing.

“He invented the instant noodles you humans can’t seem to get enough of. And I led him to it.” You reveal to him with a proud smirk, finishing your cake off.

“No way. You’re really that old, huh?” He laughs heartily while you pelt him with a leftover piece of sliced strawberry he tries to dodge. “How?”

“I disguised myself as a helper in his kitchen, and he liked multitasking – so when he was frying dumplings and boiling noodles at the same time, I handed him the wrong bowl, and he ends up frying the noodles instead.”

“That’s creative as fuck.” He leans back on his chair, looking at you with pure awe as you finish your story. There is something soft in his stare and his voice as he says, “You know, I’ve never met anyone quite as remarkable as you.”

You tear your gaze away from his green eyes – they are a striking forest green, even more brightened by the natural sunlight permeating the kitchen – and instead, focus on the remaining coffee in your cup that has now grown cold and unpalatable. Still, you gulp it all down, grimacing at the grit you feel on your tongue at the dregs from the bottom of the mug, before addressing an important point you had momentarily forgotten.

“How’s the app going, by the way?”

“I’ve made so much progress, Mera, all thanks to you.” He responds lightly, leaning forward in his excitement. “I’ve asked a friend of mine, an engineer, to replicate the device for me so I could potentially test it on others, but I’ve got a long way to go.”

“Hmm. That’s good news, indeed,” you glow. “It seems like I won’t have to worry about leaving you empty-handed. We’ve three more days, so we better get going.”

A different emotion – is it sadness? – flashes in his eyes, before he reverts to his cheery demeanor. Getting up, he offers to wash up after both of you while you excuse yourself to his study.

As you lounge on the L-shaped sofa, your eyes land on a new decoration he had placed in the room: a tiny dreamcatcher hanging on the wall beside the desk. You frown slightly at how the exotic artifact looks so conspicuous against the minimal interior. There is also something sinister emanating from it that you couldn’t quite pinpoint. 

You’re being paranoid. Choosing to ignore the nagging feeling, you grab the book you had left on your desk before your baking venture and turn to the page you had bookmarked.

The Doctor joins you in the study after a while, and you both spend the entire dream in comfortable silence, with him basking in the inspiration you provided, and you taking delight in finally being able to read as many books as you like for the first time in over seventy years.

***

A groan of frustration from Ollie rouses you from your nap on the sofa, and you rush to him at once to find out what the problem is. 

You find him with him gripping his hair, huddled over his desk currently littered with the bits of paper that contained his notes – normally a neat block print, the handwriting on them has grown more hurried and illegible.

“How are you going to remember your notes with that kind of penmanship?” You ask in a joking manner, trying to cheer him up.

Ollie has didactic memory, you discover, so it’s easy for him to construct images in his dreams in vivid detail. It’s with the help of this incredible recall that allows him to inspect the code in his dreams, scribble his observations, and relay the information to his voice recorder the moment he wakes up. He’s also a big neat freak, and so it’s with his handwriting, entirely out-of-character, you deduce that he’s facing difficulty with his work.

“Ollie?” You call softly, placing a palm on his bicep to capture his attention. When he looks at you, he gives you a tired smile: one that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up, Mera. I’m just…about to make a decision,” he starts slowly.

Knitting your brows, you ask him, “What decision?”

“One that I might regret. I just hope you don’t hate me for it,” he tells you rather unhappily, getting to his feet. He begins a slow pace in front of his desk with his arms folded to his chest. “I know it’s your last day with me.”

“Yes, it is. Have you not been productive with me around for the last seven days?”

Smiling wanly, he responds, “It has been, Mera. I’ll be forever grateful for your help.”

“So, what’s the matter then?” You push him, wishing he’d give you more straightforward answers.

Sighing deeply, he runs his hand through his locks, avoiding your eyes. “The old boss I worked for… I pitched my invention to him at a dinner party. He said he was willing to run the tests in his sleep lab. All I need is to draft a formal proposal and an abstract so we can begin trials.”

“But, that’s good news, isn’t it?” You inquire, now more confused than ever. He’s gotten so close to finally achieving what he had dreamed of for so long, so why was he acting like this?

You observe him with narrowed eyes as he slowly makes his way in front of the dreamcatcher. He looks at the object with fondness in his eyes. Pointing to it, he turns to you with a lopsided grin. 

“You’ve noticed this before?”

You let out a snicker. “Yes, I have. It doesn’t fit the aesthetic you’re going for, but it’s pretty.” And it gives me the creeps.

“It belonged to my father. I guess you could call it an heirloom of sorts. Like his father, and his great-grandfather, he liked sleep – fascinated by it, it would become an obsession. Three generations of Chapmans took to somnology, and all because we just liked napping so much,” he lets out a small, but hollow laugh, before turning to you, with the most sorrowful expression you’ve ever seen on him.

“This invention, this…idea… it’s the culmination of what my family has wanted for generations. I can’t let them down now.”

From his jacket pocket, he fishes out a utility knife and draws the blade out. You back away at the sight, remembering with clear intensity the last one that cut your wrists more than a century ago.

“Ollie, please put that away…” you say lowly. To your horror, he pierces his finger with the tip of the blade, drawing blood that starts slowly trickling down his palm.

“I am, truly, very sorry to have to do this, Mera.”

He then tears off the dreamcatcher from the wall and smears his blood on the woven threads at the center. Your blood curdles at the sight, knowing intuitively what comes next.

“Don’t do it, Ollie…”

Holding the dreamcatcher out, he starts reciting,

“Mera, yawarniywan, kay totemwan watayki –”***

“Ollie, don’t you dare –”

“Chaymi watasqanchikqa kanqa kay musquy hapiq tukunankama –”***

“Ollie, NO!”

“Chhayna kachun.”***

As he finishes the spell with the final line, the dreamcatcher glows white, effectively sealing your magical bond with the object and trapping you in this dream-space.

“What have you done…” You could only whisper, wide-eyed and disbelieving.

Approaching you slowly, he holds his hand out to try to appease you. “Mera, please, I had to, I’m nowhere near close to –”

“Don’t you dare come near me, you selfish bastard,” you snap. He winces at the coldness in your tone and your stare and stops dead in his tracks.

“Mera, please, I can destroy the dreamcatcher when I’m done, I promise…”

“I don’t care about your promises, Oliver Chapman. I’m already running out of time, as it is, and you may have well just damned my realm with your magic.”

With a final look of disdain at the Doctor you thought you could trust, you walk to the bathroom in the study and slam the door shut, making sure the lock is turned in place. As you sit on the floor with your back to the door, you hear him knock softly, calling your name and apologizing profusely – but his words are meaningless to you.

Like the King of Dreams, whom you’ve trusted fully, he’s trapped you against your will for his own selfish reasons. Honestly, what is it with men acting like they could keep you like some sort of caged animal?

The Doctor eventually goes quiet, but you hear him plop down on the floor and lean on the door outside, sighing heavily. As his alarm goes off, he promises to come back for you, but again, you ignore him, and after a few moments, the beeping dies down, indicating that he had gone back to the Waking World. 

He’s no different from the Dream King, you think to yourself. And yet, you can’t help but wish to your heart that that wasn’t the case.

***

It’s been two days since the Doctor bound you to himself using his dreamcatcher. You had ignored him and had not stepped out of the bathroom the entire time since, still very much upset about the magic he had used to keep you in his dream. You were familiar with the magic – reading about the many ways the humans could harm your kind at discovering your existence was something the Dream Lord had required during your first week on the job. The magic Ollie used was powerful, except it had one glaring weakness: the magic needed to be bound to a physical dreamcatcher, whether it was in the Waking or Dreaming Realm, so destroying the dreamcatcher meant breaking the magical bond. So, all you had to do was get your hands on the damn thing, cut it up, and you’d be free of him and finally pursue your quest.

A soft knock comes on the door, followed by a muffled mention of your name.

“I made a terrible mistake, and I came to make it right.” He calls through the bathroom door solemnly.

You then hear shuffling on the other side, indicating he had sat on the floor. You feel him lean against the door and breathe deeply.

“Have I told you before that the Chapmans were cursed? Well, the males, at least. Dad said, my great-grandfather one day went to bed, and he never woke up the next day. Encephalitis lethargica,” Ollie’s voice slowly and solemnly recounts.

“My grandfather fared a little better – he once told me he had really horrific nightmares until he had learned to control them in the lucid state. And my dad – he said he used to see a therapist because of his sleep paralysis. Until he read about the steel-ball thing.

“So I asked my dad one day why he chose to study the field that used to give him these horrible visions. He said he didn’t know,” you hear him pause and chuckle dryly. In your head, you could almost see him run his hand through his hair, as is his habit. “Hell, even I didn’t know why I chose the same line of work. Until you came in, at least.”

“When I realized what I could do, I thought I could finally get other people who had the same curse as we did to find a way out like my grandfather and my father did.”

A pang of regret stabs you in the heart as he finishes his story, your own words replaying in your head. You had called him selfish for magically binding you with him, but his true reason is anything but. Could you trust him, though, after betraying you as he did?

As if he read your mind, he says, “I know I’ve lost your trust. But I hope I can gain it back with this.”

And what falls on your lap is the dreamcatcher he had marked by his blood two nights ago – the same one that you’re bound to. The moment you touch it, you could feel your link to the other dreamers come back to life.

“Destroy it, and you’ll be free.” You hear Ollie say.

You get to your feet with the dreamcatcher in your clutch. Your fist prepares to crush the accursed object, and you hear the willow ring creak under the force, but you’re conflicted: you don’t know yet what compels you to, but you shove it inside your pocket instead, and will yourself to another Dreamer, leaving Ollie alone in his dream-space, talking to himself.

***

Your two-week search for the King of Dreams ends up futile. There was nothing of him you could find anywhere in anyone’s dreams; if anything, the dreams themselves have become more random and harder to control, sapping you of the energy you know you needed to make it back to the shores to Lucienne.

Your knees collapse as you let go of the sword in your hand – you had just finished enacting a medieval battle in the dream of Belladonna San Mateo, a documentary filmmaker. Your disguised form, a male clad in heavy chainmail armour, is soaked in the blood and the guts of the dream-enemies you have slain, but you yourself sustained an injury in our abdomen: an arrow had pierced your armour, nicking the flesh underneath. It should’ve healed the moment you take the arrow out, but given the volatility of your dreaming powers, it now takes a lot longer for your injuries to heal. Participating in this battle had been a foolish thing to do, but once again, your recklessness in your desire to inspire had gotten you in trouble.

Another issue that’s weighing you down at the moment is the fact that your link to the shores of the sea of dreams had once again died down, leaving you stuck in the dreams. In a final act to save yourself, you use what remaining energy you had to focus on a certain modern-brutalist study and will yourself in it with much difficulty.

Thankfully, you don’t land on his carpet, and you had reverted to your original figure for Oliver Chapman to be able to recognize you. He’s instantly at your side, cursing under his breath at your bloodied state. You could hear him call your name and ask you questions, but could barely process his words – you could feel the infection start to kick in and the fever overtake your body. You vaguely register the way he carries you to a bedroom in his dream-space and dresses your wound with care, nor do you understand the words that come out of your mouth in your feverish state.

The unconsciousness that follows is a sweet relief.

***

“Why didn’t you tell me your boss was missing?”

Ollie hands you a warm mug of hot chocolate, which you gratefully accept, before cocking your head curiously at his question.

“When did I tell you that?”

“While I was bandaging that wound on your stomach,” he replies, sitting on the sofa beside the bed you’re currently propped on. He conjures a mug for himself, sipping from it before setting it down on the nightstand.

Sighing deeply at the comfort of the chocolate, you decide to tell him the truth:

“The King of Dreams and Nightmares has been missing for over a hundred years. I’ve been trying to find him since, but so far, no such luck.”

He runs his hands through his hair, before saying quietly, “Please accept my apologies, Mera, for endangering your mission. I shouldn’t have used that magic to keep you here. I’d totally get it if you left after this and if I never see you again.”

You don’t offer an immediate reply, lost in your thoughts – he had just helped you recover some of your strength from your two-week misadventure. You had intended to use that period to not only search for your King but also contemplate whether or not you’d really help him achieve the dream you had helped him conceive. But even that proved too little a time for such a huge decision to make.

Ollie crunches his face, seemingly confused by your words. Not wanting to leave any gray area, you amend, “I’m going to help you, dum-dum. I’m going to see this project finish, so you better make it worth my fucking –”

“My kingdom is dying, Ollie. Bringing my sovereign back means restoring the Dreaming and helping our dreamers.”

You set your now-empty mug on the nightstand, before looking him in his eyes and continuing: “But I’ve been looking for him for a century and neglecting my other duties in the process. I want to help you humans, and I can’t do that while on the hunt for a missing Endless that may or may not come back. Me returning here and helping you finish your experiment, means I get to fulfill my function, even without him.”

Buy your words die down your throat – you find yourself enveloped in a tight embrace, and you feel yourself relax in the Sleep Doctor’s arms as you get a whiff of his scent – musky vanilla, you note – before saying in a strained voice, “Ollie, the wound – I’ll bleed –”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry!” he releases go abruptly and sits on the edge of the bed. He’s beaming at you now, and you’re spellbound by the sheer warmth and shameless joy he can exude.

"Thank you, Mera."

You slowly return his smile, at least until he remarks:

“So, you’re definitely over a hundred years old, then.”

******************************

Link to the next chapter

Author notes on the Chapter:

***Translation of the spell by line:

"I bind you to me, Mera, with my blood, with this totem.

So our bond shall be until this dreamcatcher is finished.

Let it be so."

The language I used is the Quechuan language - I tried looking for resources on the Ojibwa language (the culture from which the dreamcatcher originated), but I couldn't find any that would translate whole sentences without me having to study the language itself. Sorry, this is NOT meant to insult any indigenous culture. I just wanted to use a language that could still depict the authenticity of the spell (which is actually fictional) used in this fic. My apologies once again, and thank you for understanding!! I'd be happy to change the spell to English if you're not comfortable with it - just let me know via the comments.

Also, I hope I don't lose you in this chapter!! Do not be fooled by the lightness in this lol. This was meant to show how Mera meets and gets to know the man she's going to fall in love with, and the man who will be the subject of the Dream King's endless (pun intended) ire and bitter jealousy. Our Dark King will make an appearance again in the next chapter, and oh boy he won't be happy xD. Until then, I hope to see you!!!

One more thing: the device featured in this fic is an actual, existing device called Dormio - it does exactly what I described here except for it doesn't cure any sleeping illness that I know of, it's just used mainly to spark creativity. All rights belong to the creators of the Dormio device, and mentions of it are used here for creative license ONLY.

******************************

Author's notes in general:

Thank you, THANK YOU for reading!!

Please engage, comment and reblog!! I love feedback from you guys :) This is my first ever fic, so kindness is truly appreciated!

Thank you to my queen @queenshelby @endlessdreamqueen3 for encouraging me to pen this, as well as to my fellow Dark!Morpheus writers whose work I have thoroughly enjoyed and keep rereading :)

Post date: 11/26/22

Edit date: 11/26/22

Taglist: Just lemme know please if you want to be added, too!

Tagging the following:

@wt-fxck

@sandman-33

@reallystressedhoneybee

@akiraquote

@safe-teycar

@ponyboys-sunsetsts

@izziclee

@spygrrl99

@intothesoul

@thecrazytealady

@tastyinspection8860

@kittenssss-blog

@trinittyy

@mxacegrey

@sarahbullet235

@blu3what

@justporple

#the sandman fanfic #dark!morpheus #dream x reader #dark!morpheus x reader #dark morpheus #dark morpheus x reader #Morpheus x You #dream x you #dream of the endless x reader #lord morpheus x reader #king of dreams #ruler of the nightmare realm #dark!dream of the endless #dark!dream #the sandman x reader #no y/n #the sandman fanfiction #18+only #tom sturridge character #the sandman #the dream that got away

[writingforatwistedworld]

Phantom bride event-Player is their last option Pt.5

Characters: Epel Felmier, Ace Trappola, Riddle Rosehearts

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, violence, murder, killing, blood, death, possessiveness, imprisonment, kidnapping, obsession

Oh dear.... oh boy....

Ok, you enter, make him think he ascended to haven because he can see you in such clothing and then crashes like a caffeine addict after they don't get enough of their stuff after realizing that... well... you are more or less a sacrifice

So, Epel is panicking, you are proposing, the world ends in his eyes

All these hours upon hours upon hours of praying just to see his God die is something he had hoped to never witness

But, oh happy day, here we are

If you were just here proposing then he would just have the urge to... uh poison and put you into a glass coffin

But congrats! He is way too scared for your safety to do that

One good thing at least....

Epel is devastated

Even if he could move he would still be absolutely useless!

A small, weak guy like himself could never change anything about the situation

And look at the competition! She is literally royalty!

But, oh well, even royalty can be disposed off

The poisoned apple is a powerfull tool after all

Do not understimate him

Once he is free again he will find a way to harm her and keep you to himself. Only him. Him. Him alone. Did I mention he will find a way to bind you to him?

Oh uh…. how about we call a doctor?

My man over here looks everything else but good

Why? Can't you see the color of his face??!

All I can say that he plans to show Crowley his opinion on sending you as the last DEFENSELESS person

He painted the roses red, And many tears the crow shed, He dare not to stop, Or spare a drop, …. (Cheesus!!! What the heck did I create here??!)

But *ahem* bloodlust aside, he is terrefied

What if you get hurt?

Or even worse, you might even mean those words!!!

And he is also at fault for your situation!!!

If only he had tried harder! If only he didn’t try to act all above and better than her...

And also, for some reason he feels like he is failing you

Not only as a friend

But also if he was someone responsible for your safety

Then again, he was raised with the believe that you are the true ruler, the hidden monarch, of the Queendom of roses

So in other words, you got a friend who will end anbody if you wish so

Oh and also, he will lock you up for your own safety. Just some unimportant information here.... RUN!

I have never seen him so pale

No joke, all the blood which rushes up to his head when he is angry (QUESTION MARK) Gone.

My man has gone pale

Red Queen? More like white Queen!

*sigh* When will I ever get in my head that the live-action… ok, moving on

But then again you could die

So his worries are somewhat understandable

If only he wouldn’t feel so guilty….

He made a promise to Draconia, to save his dorm member and failed

Now you had to pay the price for his pathetic attempt at saving Lilia

Fire is a bit useless if your opponents are ghosts….

Oh and his dreams could die just now

Riddle knew that loving the hidden monarch was a bit much even for Queendom of Roses standarts but it is what it is

The Queen likes the crow red, If he saw black instead, He’d raise a fuss, And the crow under us, Would quickly loose his head…. God, I need to stop…

Safe to say that Crowley is in danger like never before….

And maybe uh... leave the place before he forces you upon that throne back home because then that was your last free second

#yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst x reader #yandere epel #yandere epel x reader #yandere epel felmier #yandere ace x reader #yandere ace trappola #yandere ace #yandere riddle #yandere riddle x reader #yandere riddle rosehearts #tw: yandere #tw: violence #tw: murder #tw: killing #tw: blood #tw: death #tw: possessiveness #tw: imprisonment #tw: obsession #tw: kidnapping

[80pairsofcrocs]

baby scarab || 30

@howlongtillidie - Ok but!

Reader blasting horrible histories songs to annoy marc but just ends up singing along with Steven to the monarch, highway man and king of bling while Marc Jake and Khonshu look on with love and confusion at what is happening

~~~

anon - HAVE HAD A FLUFF IDEA! One day, reader accidentally befriends a murder of crows??? Like, maybe they dropped some food and the birds ate it, so they kinda kept feeding them? Then later on they find a bunch of shiny stuff on their windowsill?

~~~

anon - hi!! love the baby scarab series so much. a quick idea inspired by the recent asks. marc dares the reader to eat some shampoo and steven gets angry at marc but also at you for actually doing it

~~~

A/N : only doing the shampoo one to get you all off my ass

masterlist - marvel masterlist - series masterlist

A/N : kinda short chapter, sorry. never be afraid to leave requests!! and dont worry if you dont see yours for a while, if i havent answered it, that means im working on it.

please enjoy, and don't be shy if you want to be in the taglist, just ask <3, sorry for the long wait

playlist

pairings : steven grant x (platonic)reader, marc spector x (platonic) reader, khonshu x (platonic)reader, jake lockley x (platonic)reader

TW : medicine (pills), language, spidey stuff, mentions of sickness, mentions of violence, overall fluff, eating toxic stuff. let me know if i missed anything

~~~

steven woke up alone again.

his exact thoughts were, ‘what now?’.

you happened to be looking for your medicine in the cabinets.

jake ended up fronting when he came in the kitchen, taking one of his hats he had on the counter and putting it on.

“you’re never up early, what’s on your mind, princesa?” he asks you and you turn around.

“oh uhhhhh..” you try to come up with something, phone in hand.

“who are you texting?” jake asks, seeing the messaging screen on your phone.

“my guy in the chair” you say calmly and slip your phone into the pocket of stevens sweater than you’re still wearing.

“why? are you going on a date with him?” he teases and you groan.

“literally shut up” you feel your face heat up as you bring up the hood of the sweater and pull on the strings, making it so that the tip of your nose the only thing visible.

jake chuckles and comes over so that he’s standing right in front of you.

he pulls the hood down, the strings going back in the hood when he does.

you’re glaring at him when your phone buzzes again, making him smirk at you.

“no but for real, what are you talking about?” he asks and you sigh.

“he uh.. he’s inviting me to get coffee again with him tomorrow” you wave him off and he snickers at your answer.

“again?” marc speaks up and you nod.

“yesterday before i came here we got coffee”

“and was that before or after you kissed?” steven asks and you groan again.

the three of them laugh at your misery. like the jerks they are.

“yeah, laugh it up” you say sarcastically, still looking for your medication.

“it’s in the bathroom” jake pats your shoulder and you make your way to the bathroom like he said, and snatching your bag of pills off the counter.

you bring them out with you and take two pills out, and swallowing them dry out of habit.

jake makes eye contact with you after that and glares. 

“..what?” you ask, sticking your pills in one of the cabinets.

“you forgot something” he says and your brain clicks into realization.

“i forgot water” you say to yourself, and jake nods obnoxiously.

“and what did you say you’d do when you forgot?” he asks rhetorically, gesturing for you to answer.

you do so reluctantly. “i give back one of your hats” you mumble and he nods.

“right. now go get me the one out of your bag” he tells you and you groan.

“nooo but the one in my bag is my favorite”

“i don’t care, you’ll get it back when you take your pills with water” he reassures you and you angrily find your bag, open it, and chuck the hat at jake, not caring if he caught it or not.

“see, was it that hard?” he asks sarcastically and you flip him off.

“yes, it was like parting with my child” you put a hand to your heart and stare at the ceiling.

you hear jake scoff and toss the hat on the counter.

“where’d you even get so many?” you ask, suddenly curious about the man’s many hats.

“being honest, they’ve doubled since i met you” he says and you cock your head.

“i bought some i thought you’d like” he admits and you smile at him.

nothing else is said as you mess with the strings of the sweater, then hopping up on the counter.

you twist your body so that you can look in the cupboard behind you for your pop tarts.

you find what you’re looking for, and after opening the package, you break one of them in half and offer it to jake.

he takes it and sits next to you on the counter. “this isn’t a bribe to get the hat back, is it?” he asks, eating the pop tart.

you shake your head. “what? no.” you deny it and curse yourself out in your head because he caught on.

he chuckles and brings a hand up to ruffle your hair, to which you groan.

“nice try” he tells you and you two just sit on the counter eating your pop tarts.

it’s so quiet that you can hear jakes heartbeat, which you are annoyed by at the moment.

“can you stop your heart for a minute?” you ask, and jake scoffs.

“no”

“but it’s bothering me”

“then go sit somewhere else”

“but i was here first” you whine and jake scoffs again.

“well then you have to deal with it” he tells you.

you glare at him and finish your pop tart, both of you getting off the counter so that you could get your bag while jake throws away the wrapper that you not so sneakily stuffed into his pocket.

“i have to be at the cafe by noon, so i better go” you start, jake, steven, and marc fearing what you say next.

“i’ll be back at like 4” you say and they all let out a silent sigh of relief.

“you’re coming back?” steven asks.

“well unless you don’t want me to-”

“no, we do” he defends and you chuckle, unlocking the door.

“then i’ll see you all later” you say, stepping out after hearing the three of them say ‘goodbye’, or ‘see you later’.

you sit in the elevator with a smile on your face, happy that you’re back with your boys.

~~~

surprisingly it was already time for you to go back home.

those hours went by very quick.

while you were walking home, you hear a flutter of wings above you, and looking up you see a couple of crows looking down at you from a light post.

you smile to yourself and move to the edge of the sidewalk, close to the building to squat down and swing your bag over your shoulder to bring it in front of you on the ground.

you dig into your bag and pull out the sandwich you were supposed to have for lunch, and take the bread, leaving the contents of it in the plastic bag it was in.

you zip up your bag and put it back on your shoulders, standing up and ripping a tiny piece off the bread and tossing it up at the birds, watching as one caught it in midair.

you chuckle softly, tossing some more bread up and watching as the birds catch it.

you figure that the guys will freak out if you’re late, so you wave to the crows, and keep walking, a single piece of bread in your hands.

you hear crows cawing behind you and turn around to see even more of them, perched up on anything high.

smiling, you end up leaving a literal trail of bread crumbs behind you, hearing scratches on the sidewalk as the crows all fight over the food.

you did run out though, to which you apologized for not having more, even though the birds probably didn’t understand you.

you only arrived at the door five minutes past the time you were supposed to, and when you opened it and walked in, seeing steven already cooking something.

he looks over to you when he hears the door open, and you set your bag down on the floor, next to where your shoes were once you took them off.

“how was your day?” steven asks you, as you go to sit on the counter next to him.

“it was good” you answer. “yours?”

“better now that you’re back” he says honestly, and you snort.

“what? it’s true” he defends himself, giving you a look.

“sure” you mumble, still not really used to compliments like that.

steven lightly hits your leg, putting the stove at low and going to the other side of you to lean against the counter.

“do you doubt that we miss you?” he asks and you shake your head.

“no, you guys are clingy” you answer jokingly.

“no but seriously” he says again and you think about it for a second.

“it’s just weird to think about” you start. “people missing me” you clarify and steven nods, messing with a loose string on his sleeve.

“i get it” he begins. “before i found out there was a little american man living inside of me, i didn’t really have anyone either”

he pauses. “actually, i did have.. my uhm.. whoever i thought was my mum.” he explains and you nod.

“but hey, now i have marc and jake and layla..” he trails off, lightly pushing you off the counter from your back.

“and now i have you” you starts, all of a sudden pulling you into a tight hug.

“you, my beautiful little spiderling” he obnoxiously rocks you both left and right, resting his chin on the top of your head.

“okay okay- i get it” you say, and steven stops moving, and pushes you so that you’re standing out at arms reach.

“and- you know that you always have me, and the others right?” he asks and you nod.

“yeah i.. i know” you say quietly, putting your hands on stevens shoulders, exactly like he’s doing with you.

you crack a smile and pull him in for the hug this time, surprising him as his arms slowly wrap around you.

“you got me and i got you, steven with a v” you say and you feel him chuckle.

“yes. yes we do” you two stay in the hug for a minute before you both let go when you heard a tap at the window.

you only see a crow, tilting its head at you before flying away.

you chuckle and walk towards the window, opening it to see a silver bobby pin, which certainly wasn’t there before.

“what is it?” steven asks, following after you.

“the crow left me a gift” you say with a smile, holding it up for him to see.

he furrows his brows, and looks back at the window. “it did?”

you nod, pocketing the shiny object. “well, i did feed some earlier” you say sheepishly.

“with what? you didn’t bring any..” steven trails off and you walk past him and to the kitchen to go lean on the counter.

“did you eat lunch today?” he asks, turning around.

you don’t answer, you just mess with your fingers.

steven sighs and comes back towards you. “you need to eat, sweetheart” he says softly and you nod.

“i know i just forgot” you answer and he nods.

“i’m giving you a little extra for supper, and you’re eating all of it” he tells you and you nod.

“good, now go set the table, this is almost done” he gestures to the food sizzling in the pan next to you.

you just smile and nod, doing as he said contently.

~~~

it was after dinner, and to stevens delight you ate everything he put on your plate, and now you were leaning against marc on the couch, just scrolling through tik tok.

you had come across a thirst trap, and that was when marc chose to look to you.

“what are you- what is that?” he asks and you sigh.

“i want her boobies” is all you answer with.

marc looks away as you scroll past, him ruffling your hair.

“no you don’t” he starts. “when she gets old they’re going to deflate” he finishes and you chuckle.

“they’ll weigh her down” he tells you, which makes you laugh harder.

you also scroll onto a would you rather video, the question being, ‘would you rather eat shampoo or drink expired mayonnaise’.

“oh, the shampoo for sure” you mutter to yourself, marc humming in confusion.

“would you rather eat shampoo or drink expired mayonnaise?” you ask him and he scoffs.

“oh, the shampoo for sure” he says and you make a face.

“that’s what i just said” you mumble.

“you wouldn’t though. you’re still a weenie” you tell him and turn off your phone.

marc let’s our a dry laugh. “i would, and i am not” he says and it’s your turn you scoff.

“weenie”

“if you’re so brave, why don’t you go do it?” he questions, and you shoot up in your seat, standing up to look down at him.

“you know what? i will”

“y/n don’t you dare!” steven shouts after you as you make your way to the bathroom, marc following after you.

“you won’t actually do it” marc starts. “but in the tiny chance that you do, i’ll give you 20 dollars”

“40”

“30”

“deal”

you yank the shampoo from out of the shower and pop the lid off, steven and jake both panicking in the mirror, marc just staring at you in surprise.

“nonono y/n if you eat that-“

“i won’t give you the hat back” jake cuts steven off and you’re at a cross roads.

you make direct eye contact with jake. “but it’s 30 dollars” is the last thing you say before squirting some of the shampoo on your finger and licking it off before swallowing it, ignoring steven and jake trying to stop you.

“pay up” you hold your hand out towards marc, putting the shampoo back in the shower.

“i can’t believe you just did that” he murmurs, taking money out of his back pocket and handing you the right amount, you pocketing it right away.

“go wash your mouth out” marc starts, leaving the bathroom. “i can’t believe she actually did it” you heard him say to jake and steven.

you wash your mouth out and come back out to sit back next to marc.

“i hope you know that i’m angry at both of you” steven says when you sit down.

“but he-“

“save it” jake says and you bite the inside of your cheek.

“you could get sick, and none of us want that” he continues and you nod.

“it was a one time thing” you shrug, marc shaking his head from beside you.

“it better be” steven says and you smile innocently. 

“i’ll bring you back a mocha frappuccino tomorrow” 

“..fine but please for the love of god don’t do that again”

“okay okay, i won’t” you say, hands up in surrender.

“good, now marc, i hope you get hit by a bus” steven says bluntly and you cover your mouth to stop yourself from laughing.

“hey- but she’s the one who-“

“no but you bribed her with money” steven starts. “unacceptable” you let out a sigh.

you see jake slowly shaking his head at marc, and you decide to go back on tik tok while they argue.

khonshu decides to appear next to you, wondering what was going on.

“what did you do this time?” he asks you, and you look up at him.

“i ate some shampoo” you say simply and look back to your phone as khonshu hums.

“you’re probably going to die” he says and you chuckle.

“well it smelled like fruit, but that was a lie” you answer, and khonshu nods.

“understandable” 

the guys had stopped talking, and marc was now just switching through channels, trying to find something interesting on tv.

you just go back to your phone and tap off of tik tok to play one of the random games you had.

“i’ll fly a starship” you mumble quietly, khonshu tilting his head at you as he has nothing else to do.

“across the universe divide. and when i reach the other side-“

“i’ll find a place to rest my spirit, if i can” steven continues and you smile at him, chuckling as he continues, the rest of the people in the room being confused.

“perhaps i may become a highway man again. or i may simply be a simple drop of rain” you both half-sing half-speak at the same time.

“but i will remain. and i’ll come back again, and again, and again, and again..” you both trail off, marc and jake finding the random exchange amusing.

you nod along to a different song in your head now, steven and everyone being curious as to what you’ll do next.

“bad news on the door step. i couldn’t take one more step” you mumble, and steven decides to continue again.

“i can’t remember if i cried, when i read about his widowed bride” you smile to yourself as steven continues further.

“but something touched me deep inside. the day-“

“the music, died” you both say together.

“so bye, bye miss american pie” you both chuckle quickly, marc and jake just watching with smiles on their faces, jakes a little smaller than marc’s.

“drove my chevy to the levee but the levee was dry. and then good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing this’ll be the day that i die”

“this’ll be the day that i die” you dramatically fall back on marc, falling completely limp, acting as dead as you can.

steven chuckles at you and sighs. “you’re adorable” he says teasingly.

“and you’re old” you mumble, getting embarrassed again.

“don’t make that face- i’m just messing with you” steven says nicely and you snort, going back to your game.

~~~

the rest of the night was just you, the guys, and khonshu hanging out.

khonshu mostly making fun of anyone and anything whenever he had the chance.

and that included the couple crows that came by, leaving you more gifts.

the gifts being a dime, a silver bottle cap, a tab to a can, and a tiny keychain with a small spider on it.

ironic, isn’t it?

your dads were all amazed that you had befriended a murder of crows just by feeding them.

and of course that meant that you were going to bring spare bread with you everywhere now.

you kept all your new gifts in a small glass jar that steven had given you, deciding to use that to collect any new ones that you might get in the future.

you also had gone back to your place to grab stevens sweater that you left there, and to your surprise he said, ‘it looks better on you, keep it’.

and that’s when you hugged him again and thanked him over and over.

now you’ll always have a piece of him with you. a piece of all of them.

you had stevens sweater now, a couple of jakes hats hidden around your apartment, and you had the key that marc gave you.

just a little piece of them to have for yourself.

just a little piece to remind you of them.

just a little piece of them.

and the thing you gave them?

the thing you gave them to have for themselves, to remind them of you?

they had your heart.

a heart that’s full of love.

a heart that will never run out of said love, all reserved for them.

your heart, was theirs to protect now.

they had your heart, and you had theirs.

~~~

A/N : sorry this is so short and dry, its just one of those days. more interesting chapters coming up!! :))

taglist ---

@alexloveskili @ihatemyselfmorethanmydepression @thebiggestsimpshrimp @guyinachair27 @astrobuzzsstuff @mooonlight-and-stars @moonlighting87 @mateihavenoidea @inactive-things @alondrashultz @femalemarvelself @queenthorin1 @haileymorelikestupid @jvdethirlwall @justtiredandvibing @winterfrostsarmy @themapoftinyperfectthings @littlebird101 @atzlena @httpslinow @arrowurboat @m-brekker @lifeandbandmembers-blog @adamcarlsenslvr @violet-19999 @seninjakitey @bestgirlpip @panic-in-the-multiverse @in-between-the-cafes @branolagar @bl6o6dy @annoyingmarvelreader @bee-a-cool-kid @buzzitsbeee @wintergirlsoilder2 @crow-carcass @you-bloody-shank @distinguishedmakerpandapatrol @magnificentcreatorpenguin @50shadesofcrocs @rayrlupin @kingshitonly @brekkers-desigirl @hutaos-gh0st @kayane28

#moon knight series #mcu moon knight #moonknight fic #moon knight #moon night #x reader #reader insert #baby scarab #steven grant x you #steven grant x teen!reader #steven #steven with a v #steven grant #marc spector #marc x layla #marc spector x reader #marc spector x teen!reader #marc #jake lockley x teen!reader #jake lockely x you #jake lockley #jake lockely x reader #khonshu #marvel x reader #marvel x teen!reader #marvel x you #x you fluff #x you #x y/n

[ben-the-hyena]

It's funny how we can find CANONICAL reasons for EVERYTHING the King has become by analyzing all his backstory and putting 2 and 2 together

How extremely strict and harsh he can be on the Prince especially when he fails ? Himself had gone through that kind of education but a much worse traumatizing way so in comparison he tries to be better and as rare as it is he does give him more validation and proofs he cares than he ever got himself

Why he hates the Bamboo of Memories and refuses to touch it at all cost ? He was beaten with it over anything as a child and it was constantly threatening him as he was working, ready to blow at any trace of weakness

How he acts like a gleeful kid when he sees his father and worries for him now he becomes senile and defends him and saying he has so much to worry about and is so great and wise ? Probably his inner child who wants to catch up the old times after they made peace when he was a late teenager and wants to enjoy that new relationship they have as much as he can before it's too late for how old he is and as long as he can remember his family with his senility especially since he almost died before his eyes falling sick and unconscious suddenly in front of him on a day out with him and his future wife, and also finds him excuses as traumatic as his childhood was probably both as a form of denial (hence why he repeats some stuff with his own son, even though he toned it down) and also because of the moment he accidentally found out his father cared all along when seeing he still had his 2nd place trophy which pushed both of them to make them peace. That day, no matter the abuse he went through, the rebellious future King convinced himself his father must have been right all along and his love-hungry side threw himself on his knees in tears begging for forgiveness. And since it worked out since the Emperor himself was considering his methods of education and gently patted his head and from then on had a normal father-son relationship, the King must have gone through denial and convinced himself his father had been right all along with tough love was so busy and had enough to worry about with his responsibilities and himself not helping and so that it was not that awful, allowing himself that way to love him and move on without therapy (BAD IDEA)

How super extravagant, extroverted and flamboyant he is in his choice of clothes, lifestyle and mannerisms ? How restricted he was all his childhood and most teenhood lowering his head and veing silent in his father's presebce with said father looking much more stern and traditionalist-looking like a classic king or emperor the way we imagine them and expecting his son to follow his expectations, after his rebellion phase he did a 180° looking more like Freddie Mercury in his famous king costume ready to perform than a real monarch

How he finds any excuse to play fun music and sing and bust good moves ? How along his harsh training and education his father wanted him to be perfect in artistic topics too and forced him to do ballet and classic piano, now he grew to like the mediums but he just wants to play them his own way, a more fun way that looks more like himself

Why he is so irresponsible and just thinks about lounging and partying while he sends his son fix his own mistakes because he is too lazy ? As a kid he never got to play much because his father had the policy that "sincr you have free time you should make something off it" and it was always homework, katamari and training, time for himself was only for sleep and eating. So now that he is the King with nobody telling him what to do he CATCHES UP TO THE MAX NOW everything he missed for years and doesn't want to waste his time working again if it is doable by someone else, case in point his son since in his mind it trains him with the katamari and helps him be prepared to be the future king anyway and he watches

Why he is so destructive and reckless asbsolutely irresponsible with his duties easily breaking apart the universe after too many accidents ? Because as said he was too restricted without any fun allowed so now he goes WILD and wants to do everything he wants without thinking much about the consequences, he is essentially an eternal teenager now

How he loves his Queen as much as the first day and adores her, gushes about her, is loyal to her, dances with her, still goes on dates and vacations with her, are kinky and still sexually active (WHEN YOU ROLL THEM UP TOGETHER...) together and how he is essentially a better husband than father ? Sure it was a live at first sight, but loves ar first sights need to be fueled to last long, and the fuel in question was how she was the very first person in his life who made him feel good, showed him there was actually fun in life and how beautiful the world was, made him laugh, was sweet to him, shared his interests... in a way she was and is still his first and only friend

How he LOVES praises and fans and will change his opinion completely if he finds out the person is a fan it they compliment him and will make it his duty to (have his son) fulfill their requests because he can't disappoint them and how the whole plot of the 2nd game is he is overwhelmed in sudden adoration from Earthlings after the events of the first game and he gets intoxicated in that love and thrives for it and wants more and more ? As said, until the Queen, he had NOBODY, he grew up alone, seemed to be homeschooled, interacted with kids his age only in competitions with no time to socialize with them, and his father wasn't generous with compliments even when he succeded at something, making him crave for his pride and love all his childhood. And even after his happy ending marrying the love of his life and having a child with her and being visited often by his nephews and nieces he cares for too, he has nobody else, he has his family but still no friend. So people, his subjects at that, who all of sudden start praise him, call him awesome and perfect and the best and sexy and heroic and so on ? No wonder he starts craving for their love too, this is the closest he would have from "friends" and get praised at last after all these years, that's why he becomes slave to their requests after they show they admire him (if they request but don't praise, unless the request interests him, he will give 0 shit about it) and demands his son to fulfill them NOT to disappoint them and gets FURIOUS when he fails, he projects his childhood in the situation akd sees how much he has been missing the feeling of being adored. And that's also why when he overhears fans after his concert state that they find him NOT to be THE coolest but super cool AS MUCH AS SOMEONE ELSE he gets HORRIFIED as if his world crumbled under his feet and enters depression

He wants to be the very best and not be as best as someone else THAT much or he gets depressed ? His harsh education about becoming the best for bzing the peefect king, AND probably the trauma due to winning 2nd place at a boxing competition for children and his father being highly disappointed, giving him the cold shoulder and throwing away in a eiver his trophy he himself was proud of, bringing him near to tears. Even after seeing his father fished the trophy back and kept it in secret which did live him to tears and motivated him to apologize for his rebellion when he was a teen, it still stuck and stings

That man is a mess and yet rules over the whole cosmos God help us

#ah shit he IS God #gif #psychology #abuse #oh poor one... #katamari #king of all cosmos #when they were young #if I lived in that universe i'd praise him so that he would fulfill my request to go talk to a therapist. but he'd send the prince instead

[urban-amore]

Marinette cries over Chat and I'm sad

Okay so here's my take on Marinette and her reaction to liking Chat Noir at the end of episode 6. It all boils down to Marinette overthinking this and being stuck in her head. Which honestly is what everything Marinette does boils down to so this isn't really new news you know?

I would like to start by saying her overthinking isn't always bad, look at Monarch getting the miraculouses. If Marinette didn't overthink that entire thing, he could have found out who she was from the Kwamis. And it wasn't that she overthought it, she thoroughly thought it through.

I took a bunch of design theory courses in school. One of the first things they teach you is to find where your design can "break" and to work on a solution before it does. That's what Marinette does. (Which also makes sense why she's a designer. That girl can examine a design 5 million different ways and then some lol.)

But on the bad side, it causes her to seek out the bad and fix it before it "breaks." That's why she never considered her feelings toward Chat in the first place. She always saw the biggest breaking point: Monarch using their relationship to get to the other person. That (and Chat being his punny Chat-y self, let's just be that honest here) caused Marinette to shut down exploring those feelings.

I think what ultimately happened is Marinette, stuck in her head, is reaching the point where she just can't keep doing it by herself. That's why she told Alya she's Ladybug, it's all mentally a lot. And I think that's why she started falling for Chat. When you're so used to carrying stuff on your own, you become extremely appreciative of the people who love and support you.

So weirdly it's her overthinking that prevented her from exploring her feelings for Chat in the beginning, but it's also her overthinking that showed her Chat is what she wanted and what helps support her.

And that's what scares Marinette. She puts so much pressure on herself to be the best and to handle everything. To put that support in someone else is terrifying. And when Marinette gets scared she overthinks and has to find how it can "break" so she can fix it before it does. But she can't do that here. There's no way to prevent the worse from happening and that, for a lack of a better word, sucks.

I also think that's why she was so smitten with Adrien. She's been able to keep that relationship in her mind where it's safe. There's no way to break it if it's just a bunch of stories she told herself, as Marinette said. She doesn't have to worry about how it will "break," it's her mind and therefore the relationship can be perfect.

But with Chat, the ways it could "break," the things that could go wrong, are all there and they are LOUD. And, for an overthinker like Marinette, that's very bad.

I'm sure with time the calming and supportive nature that Chat brings will get louder than the worrying sea of voices that tell Marinette all the ways it can go wrong. And I'm so excited to see that day come because it's been 7 years and I just want these kids to have a happy ending 🥲

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 5 #miraculous season 5 #miraculous ladybug spoilers #mlb #mlb spoilers #spoiler #spoilers #my thoughts #which is also me overthinking things #lol

[tciddaemina]

Hello! I wanted to say that I loved reading your fanfic “Come all ye mighty”! I hope you plan in continuing in the future! I do have a question though. In the first chapter you said that you based it on an unfinished webcomic but I’m not entirely sure on what you are talking about or where I can find this unfinished version. May you please enlighten me?

haha no worries. i'm happy to hear you enjoy it. i definitely do plan to continue the story. i have a new chapter with my beta right now (fingers crossed the turn around is quick). fully intend for there to be more chapters in future, though admittedly it is a story i update very sporadically

honestly its just the solo leveling manwha, which you can find at pretty much any random manga reading site online (including here). when I started writing come all ye mighty the manwha had only just finished the jeju island arc and gotten no further (so like maybe around chapter ~110 or so?), hence me discarding all the solo leveling worldbuilding done after that point, because I'd filled the stuff with my own lore. (also like, lets be real, the whole monarch and rulers things is just not that interesting)

apparently an anime has come out for solo leveling since, but i don't really have plans to watch it. i imagine you can also find that at any random anime streaming site.

hopefully this answers your question. have a nice day ❤

part 2

#te talks #ask #come all ye mighty

[dravid-writes]

"I still just can't believe I did it... Plagg, I... I Cataclysmed someone!"

"You Cataclysmed Monarch. Of all the people to Cataclysm, that's probably the best option."

"It's not about who, Plagg, it's... I used the power of destruction on a human! A living, breathing person."

"Adrien, don't worry about it, it's not your fault. He literally did it to himself. And besides, he was transformed, it's fine. Nothing can destroy those suits."

"How do you know that for sure? A Cataclysm can destroy a miraculous."

"Kid, you literally fought an akuma yesterday. Monarch's clearly still kicking."

"What if it's slow? What if it injured him, and it's gradually eating away at him? What if every day, he gets weaker, and starts having trouble walking, and can barely get out of bed and then- And then-"

Plagg sits on Adrien's shoulder, looking up at him with an unusually serious expression. "Adrien. Calm down. It wasn't your fault. Enough with the what ifs, okay?"

"... Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's just... Sometimes I wish I had a power other than destruction. I can't stand the idea of... ending someone's life. If that Cataclysm kills him..."

"Good riddance."

"Plagg!"

"Look, Adrien, I don't blame you for how you feel. It's human nature to care about others, and that relentless kindness of yours is why I love you as my holder. But you gotta know when to throw out bad cheese, and Monarch? He's so stinky even I'D throw him right in the bin, given the chance."

"That's awful! Even if he's a villain, he's still a person!"

Plagg sighs. "Sorry kid. Just like it's your nature to care too much for your own good, it's my nature to see a problem and want to just get rid of it. But hey, that's why you're the hero. You're Chat Noir, so I trust you to call the shots."

Adrien flops down onto his bed. "Can we just... stop talking about superhero stuff for a while? I don't want to think about this anymore."

"Sounds good to me!" Plagg grabs a magazine from the ground. "I've been waiting to tell you about this new restaurant-"

"I don't want to talk about cheese either."

Plagg sighs dramatically. "I suppose no holder is perfect. Well, I can't stop thinking about cheese now, so I'll spare you my poetry and just grab a snack, 'kay?"

"Thanks. Don't get seen."

"Psh, of course I won't! Careful is my middle name."

Plagg flies through the Agreste mansion, passing through walls and occasionally checking for humans before entering a room. But as he enters the kitchen, he finds Adrien's dad on the phone with Nathalie or that Tsurugi woman or someone. Plagg was about to phase into the cupboard and grab a snack, but he freezes as he hears Gabe say "akuma candidates."

Suddenly paying attention, Plagg starts eavesdropping.

"That's why we need to increase production on Alliance rings, immediately. Marketing, shipping, everyone needs to be wearing an Alliance. The akuma of a lifetime could have the worst day of their life, but if they aren't wearing an Alliance, they'll have no miraculous power, and they'll stand no chance against Ladybug and Chat Noir!"

Plagg didn't understand most of what he was hearing, something about those rings Gabe keeps trying to make Adrien wear? But it sure sounds like Gabe is trying to... help the akumas? Is he working with Monarch?!

"... No, I don't have time to be patient! Look at this!" Gabe pulls up his sleeve, and reveals a black burn spreading across his arm. "If I wait for a chance, this Cataclysm will kill me. I need to make the wish soon."

Holy shit Adrien's dad is Monarch.

"... I don't care, make the rings out of plastic with dollar store microphones if you have to!"

Holy shit. Monarch is right in front of Plagg.

"This isn't about business, the only thing that matters is getting the ladybug and black-" Gabe, in his frantic back and forth pacing, finally turns toward Plagg.

The two stare each other down from across the kitchen.

All is silent, except for the confused sounds of the woman on the phone.

Finally, they both snap out of it.

"Nooroodarkwings-"

"Nadja Chamack here with breaking news! I'm at the home of Gabriel Agreste, where half of the mansion appears to have spontaneously disintegrated! Gabriel Agreste is currently missing, though Adrien Agreste and his bodyguard, as well as Nathalie Sancoeur, are unharmed and currently being questioned by the police. There has not yet been an akuma sighting, so we do not know the source of- Wait, there appears to be a small... er, creature, in the missing part of the mansion! Excuse me, do you have any information on this sudden event?

"... Huh? Wait, is he really not showing up on the camera? W-well, regardless, Mr... Plagg? Mr. Plagg, do you know what has happened to Gabriel Agreste?

"... Bad... cheese?"

#miraculous ladybug #remember in ephemeral when plagg just went for the kill? #he is the kwami of destruction and he knows it #adrien's all like “oh my gosh i can't believe i cataclysmed someone” #and plagg's just “the dinosaurs looked at me funny”