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train-wrecc · 1 year

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Champagne Problems

marcus baker x miller!female!reader (I just realized some of y’all may think this means that Zion’s your dad but it just means that Georgia’s your mom but you have a different dad)

flangst! ( if y’all can’t tell I really like flangst, haha)

word count: 7.1k

warnings!: mentions of pregnancy & abortion, cussing, toxic? relationship (on&off), mentions of food, anxiety, & panic attacks… i think that’s all 😅

includes: bestfriend!padma, younger!sister!ginny (15 years old), you and Marcus are 18, OC? (not really) Noah (Marcus's best friend that he lost to cancer, they never gave him a name in the show, so from now on I’ll probably just refer to him as Noah, it was the first name that came to mind)

ALSO: before reading, I just want to preface, that it is your body and your choice. 💞

unedited!

part 2 part 3

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

You never thought you’d be stood here, however there you were. It was as if the box full of pregnancy tests was laughing at you. You had been practically been disintegrating it with your eyes. You’d had enough, you were just gonna do it.

As you waited for the three tests for three minutes, it was the longest three minutes of your life. You were filled with anxiety and intrusive thoughts that almost sent you spiraling.

Your breath trembled with unevenness, your timer causing you to jolt out of your stupor. You held your breath. This was it. These pink sticks would cruelly decide your fate.

You quickly glanced at the tests. All three tests were undoubtedly positive, each reading the word ‘positive’ on the little digital screen.

That one word ‘positive’ sent you panicking, gasping for air, as the word ran rampant in your head. Positive. They're positive.

You couldn’t even form the words in your brain, “I’m preg-“. It was as if even acknowledging the word in your mind would make what was already your reality true. That was something you didn’t want to accept.

Your legs gave out from under you, sending you crashing to the cold tile flooring. Goosebumps arose on your arms, unsure if they were caused by the frigid tile or the shock of the recent revelations.

Silent sobs fell from your lips. Tears tainted your cheeks, the pregnancy tests taunting you from the counter. You were so livid with yourself. How could you have let this happen? How could you have been so stupid!? How? Why?

Your mother had desperately tried to protect you from this; from the pain of becoming a teenage mother. You weren’t sure how you were gonna tell her, you knew it’d break her. Would she scream at you? Throw you out? Would she simply cry? And what about your siblings, how would they react?

And Marcus? You knew from the moment you read that word on the pregnancy test that he was the father of your unborn child. Would he even want to be in your child’s life? You knew what it was like to grow up with an absent father, and you would never want your child to have to go through that. To grow up wondering why all the other kids had dads and they didn’t.

Having to question why they were abandoned by him as you did.

Your hands formed tight fists, your nails imprinting crescent moons on the palms of your hands due to how hard you’d been clenching them.

You threw your head back, wanting to scream but you couldn’t. You didn’t want to alert anyone of what had happened while you were in the bathroom.

A knock on the door, caused your breath to hitch in your throat. “Y/n are you almost done? You’ve been in there for like 20 minutes now,” You heard your sister Ginny call from the opposite side of the door.

You cleared your throat, hands sweeping away the tears that had created streams down your face.

“Yeah, Ginny, I-I’ll be out soon.” You said trying to hide the emotion your voice held.

Ginny knew something was up, but she figured it had something to do with your on-again-off-again relationship with Marcus. She decided she would give you your space and check on you later. Sometimes she just wanted to quite literally slap some sense into you, scream at you to drop his ass. But she knew even that wouldn’t do anything.

Marcus had your heart in a cage. You loved him unequivocally. But she wasn’t sure he felt the same. When he wasn’t with you, and you guys were in the off stage, he was with some other girl.

Ginny loved you with all her heart, and she and everyone around you could clearly see you deserved and were worthy of much more than Marcus could offer you. Albeit, you were too blinded by that captivating, enamoring smile of his. It pulled you back into his arms every time. His brown eyes brought you crawling back to him each time you tried to escape them.

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

You tried your best to mask your emotions, however, you were pregnant and even more hormonal. So to say you were hiding it well, well, it was contradictory, to say the least.

You hadn’t told a single soul. As the days passed you spent them kissing Marcus and doing a lot more, taking in all of him that you could, trying to memorize every part of him. This minute voice in the back of your mind told you once you told him, you would lose him. For good.

When you weren’t with Marcus you spent your nights hysterically crying in bed. Your hand clamped against your mouth in a feeble attempt to obscure your cries.

One night Ginny had heard you, coming into your room to find you on the verge of a panic attack. That was when she knew something was terribly wrong.

Your chest shook, heart, beating erratically. You shook your head wanting to wake up from this nightmare.

“Y/n/n, calm down, you’re okay, everything’s gonna be okay, alright?” Ginny attempted to calm you down.

You only shook your head, somehow your sobbing becoming even louder at her words. She pulled you into a tight embrace. Rocking you back and forth in an attempt to soothe you. Something you had done for her numerous times when she would have panic attacks.

You felt disgusted with yourself. You were her older sister. You were supposed to set a good example for her. You are the one whose supposed to comfort her, and be her shoulder to cry on, not the other way around.

Ginny couldn’t seem to calm you, no matter what she did. She wasn’t quite sure how your mother hadn’t woken up or Austin.

“Y/n/n, do you want me to call Marcus?” She asked you, she may not like him for you, but she knew he would somehow be able to instantly calm you down.

“No,” You cried sobbing harder, at the mention of his name.

“Okay, okay, I won’t call him,” She murmured.

She gently rubbed your back, continuing to rock the both of you back and forth. It took a while but you eventually calmed down. Ginny stayed with you that night and cuddled you to sleep not wanting to leave you alone. A tear escaped Ginny’s eye, she hated seeing you like this.

The following morning, Georgia burst into the room, searching for her youngest daughter. She found her in your bed, the two of you holding each other; it was something she hadn’t seen in a while and it piqued her curiosity. She could immediately tell something was up. Your eyes were swollen, cheeks splotchy, all pointing to one thing.

You had been crying. She had a feeling it had something to do with the boy that just seemed to keep on hurting you. Often times she thought it would be best if she poisoned his food or drink while he was over but she refrained from doing so for your sake because somehow you loved that boy. She knew what it was like to be so in love with someone that just seemingly couldn’t commit to you.

Marcus could hurt you so deeply, and send you on a rollercoaster of highs and lows. But the highs, God were they so good. You would be smiling for days, nothing able to tear you down except the only person who could paint that same smile on your face. She loved seeing you that happy, that was all she wanted for her kid's, unfaltering happiness.

Your mother let you and your siblings stay home that day. She woke you with your favorite breakfast and favorite drink paired with it.

“Thanks, mama.” You tried your hardest to bring a smile to your face, for her sake. But you couldn’t and it ended up being more of a grimace. Hiding this secret was taking a toll on you, it had been two weeks since you had found out the shocking news, that you were gonna be a mother in 9 months. Give or take. You were beginning to drown.

Ginny glanced at her mother, eyes full of worry.

“Anything for my girls,” She smiled at you.

“How about we have a girl's day, huh, how does that sound?” She inquired.

“I really appreciate you mom, but I kind of just want to stay home today if that’s alright?”

“Of course, babygirl.” She gave you a warm smile.

“You know, you can tell me anything, right, baby?” She pulled you into a hug. You fought back the tears that so desperately were trying to slip out. You nodded, not trusting your voice to respond.

“Alright, well, I’ll leave y’all be.” She trailed out, closing the door behind her.

You took a small bite of your breakfast, you were beyond starving.

“Y/n? What’s wrong, please talk to me,” Ginny murmured, hurt in her voice.

“I hate seeing you like this,” She whispered.

“It’s nothing Gin, alright, don’t worry about me. Okay, me and Marcus are just having a rough patch that’s all.” You lied to the girl, you just needed more time before you inevitably broke your family’s hearts.

“I know that’s not true Y/n/n,” she shook her head, “this is different.”

“Ginny, I promise you, I’m fine-“ as that last word fell from your lips, you felt an overwhelming rise of nausea fill you. You leaped up from your bed, sprinting to the bathroom. You practically vomited your intestines into the toilet.

You wiped your mouth with some toilet paper. You rinsed your mouth, followed by brushing your teeth along with some mouthwash to get rid of the horrid taste of bile.

As you turned to walk out, Ginny stood in the doorway, eyebrows scrunched together.

“Something in the food must’ve been bad or undercooked,” You explained.

“Mhm,” She nodded.

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

You hadn’t talked to your best friend Padma, in a few days, like everyone else Padma knew you were acting odd, however, she had yet to voice her opinion. You knew being around Padma, would cause her to lure your secret out, and you couldn’t risk that. So, you had been hanging out with Marcus a lot more.

Albeit, it caused you to feel extremely guilty for keeping it from him. It had almost been a month that you’d been harboring this secret, and you knew you’d need to tell everyone soon. However, you decided to keep on basking in the bliss of ignoring your problems.

You had decided to go over to Marcus's house, you knew he was home seeing as you were neighbors, but he hadn’t been responding to your texts. You should’ve just given him the space he clearly wanted. You walked into the house, as if it were your own, seeing as you spent a lot of time there.

Max was nowhere to be found, so you signed hello to Ellen and Clint and made your way to Marcus’s room. You knocked on his door, before pushing it open. The boy barely glanced up at you, before returning to his sketchbook. “So, now you’re ignoring me?” You questioned him.

A sigh escaped his full lips at your remark. “Really, Marcus? You’re gonna do this again?” Shaking your head in annoyance. Your hormones were not about to put up with his shit.

“I don’t wanna talk about this right now, Y/n,”

“Well too bad, Marcus, because I’m here, and I want to talk about it. Right now. I seriously don’t feel like paying your games right now.”

He raised his eyebrows at your tone, never having heard you speak to him like that before. “I’m too tired for this, Y/n, just go.”

“No, Marcus, I’m not leaving until you tell me what the hell your problem is.”

“You, Y/n! You want to know what my problem is, there it is, Y/n! You’ve been so fucking clingy this past fucking month, I haven’t had a second to myself. God, I just wanted a little space but clearly, that’s too much to fucking ask of you.” He spat at you, brows scrunched up in anger.

His outburst caused you to purse your lips in shock before your jaw clenched with anger.

“Oh, sorry, for wanting to spend time with my boyfriend before he inevitably breaks things off at the beginning of each month, like some sort of fucking routine! So he can be with some other bitch for a few weeks, before deciding to come back to me, god, Marcus!”

“What the fuck is up with you, why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“What’s wrong with me?” You questioned letting out a humorless laugh.

“What’s wrong with me is that I’m tired of your shit, Marcus. What’s wrong with me is that I’m pregnant with your fucking kid!” You exclaimed in exasperation your hands flying up in anger.

Marcus’s brown eyes widened immensely, at your words. It dawned on you, that you had just told him that you were pregnant. Your hand flew to your mouth in shock, “Oh my god,” You murmured.

He sat in silence for a few moments, and you turned to face his door as you began to feel panic bubble up in your chest. “You’re pregnant?” He quietly questioned, as his head dropped into his hands.

You couldn’t bring yourself to form the words, simply nodding your head, as your eyes burned holes into his wooden flooring. “This can’t be happening, Y/n, we’re only 18, I mean we haven’t even graduated high school yet!”

You took deep breaths trying to calm yourself, “Don’t you think I know that, Marcus?” You hissed at him.

“What the hell, Y/n, you- you said you were on the pill!”

“I was, Marcus, it’s not 100% effective, and don’t you dare try to fucking blame this on me okay?” You turned to him with nothing but irateness smeared across your face.

“I can’t deal with this shit right now,” He quietly muttered, however, you still heard him.

“How the fuck do I even know that it’s really mine?” He questioned, now standing up.

“You’re fucking with me right, Marcus?” Fury burning in your eyes.

His face remained stoic, “Unlike you Marcus, you’re the only person I’ve ever been with,” You said through clenched teeth.

You couldn’t control your anger anymore, and the next thing you knew you were slapping him. “You’re a fucking asshole.” You said, before leaving his room, tears beginning to cloud your vision.

You attempted to rid yourself of the tears, but you couldn’t. They streamed down your face like a rapid, as your breath began to quicken. You reached for your phone calling Padma.

You sat in her SUV, as she shushed you, caressing your hair.

“Everything’s gonna work out in the end, Y/n/n, I promise.”

“It’s not Lo,” You managed to say through your crying and whimpers, “I fucked up so bad,” You whaled.

(*A/N: Padma means Lotus in another language, I don’t remember what language… but Lo is short for Lotus, I don’t know, I thought it was a cute nickname, rather than using ‘Pad’.)

“I’m here for you, Y/n/n, and I always will be okay, you know that, right?”

You gave a nod in response, sniffling.

“I’m sorry for ignoring you, I’m a terrible friend.” You cried.

“It’s okay, bub, I know you’ve been struggling this past month, I don’t hold it against you for needing some time.”

“You should, I have no excuse,” You whimpered.

“But I don’t, okay? Do you think you’re ready to tell me what’s wrong?” She gently asked. You nodded, staying in her warm, comforting embrace as you explained why you had been so distant, due to the fact that you would be a teen mom in less than 9 months. You told her about the fight with Marcus, how you hadn’t meant to just blurt the words out, and how he had the audacity to question if your child was his.

“Oh my god, Y/n/n, he’s a complete dick!”

“I know, and what’s worse is that, after everything that we’ve been through, I still love him. Does that make me crazy?” Your eyes welled up with more tears, and a dry laugh slipped from your lips.

“Very much so, but that’s what love does. Anyone who says they're in love and doesn’t feel crazy, well they’re not really in love.”

“Can I ask you something?” She voiced.

You nodded, “Why didn’t you feel like you could talk to me about this? We’ve been friends forever Y/n/n, you know I’d never judge you…” She gently probed.

“I know Lo, I just didn’t know how to and I didn’t wanna burden you with this secret,”

“You wouldn’t have bub, I promise you,” She said her hands clasping yours.

“Does anyone else know?”

“No,” You responded, “I have no idea how I’m gonna tell my mom, or Ginny…”

Tears began to leak from your eyes once again, “Mom is gonna be so disappointed in me,” You cried, “I mean she was a teen mom, and this is literally what she has tried to prevent from happening,”

“I’m a terrible daughter, and I’ll probably be a terrible mother too, I mean I’m only eighteen, and- and this kid is gonna have to grow up without a Dad, just like I did. They're gonna wonder why they weren’t good enough, and I-I’m gonna have to raise them by m-myself,” Your breath hitched, as you continued to cry and ramble.

“You’re gonna be a great mom, Y/n/n, if there’s one thing I’m sure of it’s that. And yeah, maybe it’s not exactly what your mom wanted but, I’m sure she’ll be supportive, especially because she knows exactly what it’s like to be a teen mom. And Ginny and Austin will probably be so excited to have a niece or nephew. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

You nodded your head, trying to believe her words.

“When are you gonna tell them?”

“I have no idea…”

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

Marcus hadn’t talked to you since last week when you had accidentally told him you were pregnant. You hadn’t tried to reach out to him either, unsure of how to feel anymore.

You glanced up at your mother’s dark brown eyes which were filled with shock as she tried to keep her face neutral. Your younger brother Austin was giddy with excitement, a wide grin playing on his face, Ginny’s face furrowed in worry.

You nervously played with the ring Marcus had given you when you first began dating at 15. A ring filled with false promises, empty words, and happiness that no longer remained. “I tried, I tried so hard… to prevent this, so you wouldn’t have to go through what I did,” She muttered, her tone holding a wave of slight anger to it.

“How could you be so fucking stupid Y/n?! I mean, truly, I-I cannot believe this...” Your mother suddenly burst out.

Your mouth was agape, you were speechless. You had hoped she would’ve reacted better, but you knew better. Your bottom lip trembled, eyes shimmering with tears. “Mom!” Ginny snapped at her.

You quickly got up, making your way to your room. You were too busy trying to drown the feeling of an oncoming panic attack that you didn’t notice Marcus sat on your bed. Your breathing became more erratic, your panic causing you to not hear Marcus as he questioned if you were okay.

“I should just get rid of it,” You sniffed, the words being filled with bitterness as they left your mouth.

“Princess?”

You looked up, eyes now meeting Marcus’s. Your eyes widened, “What-what are you doing here?”

“You were planning on aborting our baby? Without telling me?” He accused you with belligerence.

“Marcus, I-”

“I can’t believe you, Y/n,”

“Marcus, please, let me-”

“I’m out of here,” He shook his head, leaving the way he came.

“You’re not the one who’s carrying this baby, okay, Marcus!” You called out to him, as he was midway through climbing out of your window.

He turned toward you, “Yeah, soon neither will you.” He snapped at you, slamming your window shut.

(A/N: Damn, double homicide. LMAO please tell me y’all have seen those tiktoks, if not just ignore this… 😅)

You gasped for a breath and stood frozen in place for a moment. In a fit of anger, you began flinging things across the room. A picture frame of you and Marcus went flying at your window, the force causing it to shatter. You let out a scream of frustration, as you sat on the floor, sobbing loudly, your heart physically paining you.

Your fists met the floor, pounding on the wood, not knowing how to handle all the anger, sadness, and frustration that filled you.

When Marcus reached his room, he slammed his door in frustration and anger. Anger at himself, you, and the world. His eyes held unshed tears, his face in a scowl. He abruptly began punching his bedroom wall. Not stopping until he felt a force holding his fists back. He hadn’t realized he had been crying until he felt his tears now hitting his fists. His head fell against the wall, as Maxine pulled him into a hug, “What’s wrong Mark?” She spoke up after a few silent moments.

(A/N: I’m never using that nickname again, I’m sorry but that made me physically cringe…haha)

“Everything.” He breathed out.

Marcus had decided to confide in his twin, something he hadn’t done in a while.

“I- I haven’t been able to say it but, I-I love her, Max. I know I don’t deserve her, I’ve been treating her like crap for the past year. Our relationship has brought her nothing but pain, and I try and try to let her go. But I can’t each time I try to break it off, I end up going back to her because I can’t fucking breathe without her. I’m such a fucking asshole.” He shook his head in frustration.

“She’s- she’s fucking pregnant, Max, I don’t- I can’t be a dad. I can barely fucking take care of myself,” He whispered, exasperation in his voice.

“I thought for a second that maybe we could figure things out, so I went over there, and she’s fucking talking about getting rid of our baby, Max.”

“I think- I think you need to figure out what you want, Marcus, and once you do, you need to tell Y/n alright? Because this is something big, that you both need to discuss, and you need to stop being an idiot and tell her how you really feel, instead of getting scared and running away from your feelings,” She told her brother, trying to contain her thoughts, she wanted him to come to his own decision, albeit she really excited at the thought of possibly having a niece or nephew. Preferably a niece.

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

After Ginny and Austin had told their mom off for shouting at their hormonal, pregnant sister, Ginny texted Padma hoping she’d be able to cheer you up. Padma had shown up at your house to whisk you away for a little. Before you left you tightly hugged Ginny and Austin who had showered you with love before you left, showing they supported you in whatever you would decide to do. Their kind words brought tears to your eyes, but you blinked them away not wanting to cry anymore. As for your mom, you assumed she was hiding in her room, an attempt at hiding you from her disappointment in you.

Padma came from the even wealthier side of Wellsbury, so money was something she didn’t lack. She had taken you out for some ice cream, ordering your favorite. Once you both had finished your ice creams, she decided you both needed a mani-pedi.

Padma had definitely helped relax you with her impromptu girl’s day. Once you guys finished at the salon, you begged Padma to let you stay the night at her house, not wanting to return to your own and possibly run into Marcus or your mother.

You were grateful when she said yes, and it was a good thing seeing as Marcus had shown up at your house, looking for you.

Ginny stood with her arms crossed, her full eyebrows raised in umbrage. Marcus nervously swallowed at your little sister’s seeming repulsiveness toward him. Before he could even utter a letter she began, “She’s not here. And even if she were, she most definitely wouldn’t want to see you.” She told him, her words filled with nothing but loathing for the boy.

“Ginny, I-”

“You know I really don’t understand what she sees in you. You have treated her like some disposable toy for I don’t even know how long, yet somehow she still loves you.” She bit her lip in anger, “You don’t deserve her, she deserves someone way better than you, someone who actually loves her, cares about-”

“Ginny, you can say whatever you want about me, but don’t say that I don’t care about or love your sister, because I do.” He interrupted her, with anguish.

“Then act like it, Marcus!” She shouted at him, “Because you say one thing, but you do the complete opposite! You need to get your shit together before it’s too late, and she leaves you. For good. It seems like she’s this close to dropping your ass,” She gestured with her hand.

Marcus clenched his jaw, his eyes glazing over with tears as he gave a small nod at the young girl who was grilling him, “I’m trying, Ginny.” He softly spoke.

“Well try harder, Marcus, for my sister, for your unborn child. I mean, don’t you want to be in their life?”

“I don’t know if they’re gonna have a life”

“Well, that’s something you guys need to talk about, and Marcus, please, stop hurting her,” Ginny begged.

“I promise,” He murmured his voice breaking slightly.

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

You returned home the next day and were full-on expecting to come home and be met with an angry mom, and a torn-up room. Albeit, it was the opposite. Your eyes held a sadness in them, feeling completely lost and overwhelmed. You were surprised when you swung your door open, your mother sat on your bed in your somehow tidy room.

She gave you a soft smile, tears in her eyes. You weren’t sure what to do, so you simply stood there, feeling shame, waiting for her to practically throw you out. You attempted to blink your tears away, hugging yourself in an attempt to comfort yourself.

“Baby… I’m- I’m so sorry for what I said yesterday.”

Your eyes were turned downward, your gaze on the floor. Suddenly you saw her feet appear in front of your own before you felt her wrap her arms around you, causing your tears to silently fall. “I should have never called you stupid, because my sweet girl you are anything but, and I am so proud of you, okay?” She said her voice full of emotion, her hand soothingly rubbing your back.

You silently nodded, sniffles and soft whimpers leaving you. “I’m gonna be here with you baby girl, every step of the way, alright? I support you no matter what, darling, I love you so much.” She whispered as you continued to keep your head buried in the crook of her neck.

“I’m so mad at myself for what I said to you baby, please forgive me, I know what it’s like to be in your position and I really should have comforted you instead of making you feel worse.” She cradled your head in her hands, before pulling back from you, wiping your tears, and placing a kiss on your forehead.

You sat on your bed, cuddled up with your mom, being in her arms brought you the utmost comfort. Your head once again, found its place in the crook of her neck with your eyes closed. They felt so sore from all the crying you had done in the past month and a half.

“Have you and Marcus talked about what you’re gonna do?” Your mother softly asked you.

You wordlessly shook your head ‘no’. “I think he thinks I want an abortion,” You gently voiced. “Oh, and may I ask why he thinks that?”

“It was after I told you guys about my pregnancy, and I came up here, and I was really upset, and I said that maybe I should just abort it. I didn’t know Marcu was here and he heard me, I haven’t talked to him since.” She quietly nodded, processing your words.

“And is that what you want, baby?”

“I don’t know mama, a part of me wants to try and raise this baby but I don’t wanna do it without him, but I think I’m gonna have to.” Your voice cracked at your last words.

“If he’s in your baby’s life, is up to him. But honey, you won’t have to raise your baby alone, you’re gonna have me, Ginny, Lo, we're all gonna be here to help you and support you if you decide you want to keep this baby.”

You nodded, her words bringing some comfort to you. Your mom let out a small sigh but before she could say anything else you spoke up. “Mom, how did you decide you wanted to keep me?” You questioned her. “Honestly, honey, I just knew. I mean from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t wait for you. I was so happy to finally be able to love someone so dearly, who’d love me just as much as I loved them. I guess in a way… it was for my own selfish reasons of wanting to feel loved, but I try not to think about that too much, and just focus on being grateful for you, and to my younger self for making the only decision that I felt was right.”

“I think, I think I wanna keep them.” You said, gently placing your palm against your tummy that’d soon grow to carry your baby.

You stayed in your mother’s loving embrace for a while longer before she moved, explaining to you she had some things she had to take care of. She sent Ginny and Austin up to cuddle you, before making her way towards the Baker’s house.

It was pure luck that Marcus happened to be walking out of his house, just as she had begun walking toward their front door. “Marcus, just the boy-soon-to-be-father, I wanted to talk to.” She smiled, a calculating smile, at the boy.

“Mrs. Miller, uh, I don’t know what to say…” He murmured.

“Well, I just wanted to come over here and congratulate you, of course. As well as to remind you that you will help raise this child and if you continue to string my daughter along, and treat her like your little plaything, you won’t get to see your child grow, let alone the light of day, okey-dokey?” Her serious expression abruptly disappeared as she once again smiled at him and patted his shoulder.

“I think this chat went splendidly, but I best get going,” She said before walking off.

Marcus was left speechless, mouth slightly ajar. He had yet to tell his parents, and he hadn’t thought you would’ve already told Georgia. His talk with Max had made him realize he needed to tell you how he felt about you and your unborn child.

You, Ginny, and Austin had just settled into a comfortable position on your queen size bed, which was oh-so-comfortable. A knock interrupted your laughter at the movie that had been playing. It caused the three of you to glance at each other before Ginny decided to go and answer it. You followed her, not wanting her to answer the door by herself. Of course, that prompted Austin to go as well.

“Ginny, wait, for-”

You were interrupted by Ginny pulling the door wide open, Marcus stood on your porch, your favorite flowers in hand and a stuffed teddy bear. He looked up as the door opened, making eye contact with Ginny, his eyes held remorse, he was ready to plead with Ginny to speak with you, however as his lips moved to form the words, his eyes caught you, as you stood a little ways behind her.

“Y/n?” He questioned in a soft tone.

Ginny raised her full brows at the boy, unimpressed, “Y/n do you want me to-” she began but you cut her off. “It’s okay Ginny, why don’t you and Austin go watch the movie, I’ll be up soon.” You smiled at the two.

Ginny stood there for a moment before you shooed her away. Austin left after he had turned to Marcus and said, “If you hurt my sister, I’ll hurt you. Trust me, I’ve stabbed someone with a pencil before.” in a serious tone.

“I promise I won’t, not anymore.” He said with a nod of his head.

You turned back to face Marcus, you attempted to keep your guard up, arms crossed as you raised your brows expectantly at the boy, waiting for him to speak. Marcus held out the teddy bear that was half your size and the chocolates, you silently accepted them, gesturing for him to follow you to the living room. Once you had both gotten seated comfortably on the couch he spoke up.

“Bub, I am so sorry for the way I’ve been treating you and our relationship recently. I know nothing I say will excuse my actions- not that I want it to, I just, want you to know that I’m so sorry for the way I’ve acted recently. And I-I,” He clasped his hands together before he closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his struggle to say whatever he was trying to say.

Marcus opened his eyes glancing at the ceiling before returning to meet your own eyes, his brown eyes slightly glazed over. “Y/n, I love you.” Those three words were not what you were expecting Marcus to say, after all, he hadn’t said them in over a year. You tried to remain stoic, however, Marcus knew you, and he could see the tears that had welled up in your beautiful eyes. You turned away from him to wipe a stray tear that had cascaded down your cheek, you hated how hormonal your pregnancy made you. You faced Marcus once again, his eyes practically begging for you, your touch, your love.

You gave in as you practically jumped into his arms, your head buried in his chest. He embraced you in his arms, as your eyes watered. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you I love you in so long. I just, I guess… since- Noah, I was… I don’t know, scared of losing you, and I- I tried to push you away. I could never commit though, I love you too much to ever truly let you go.” His arms tightened around you as he said those last few words.

You sniffled you can’t believe you had never realized that maybe Marcus had been acting this way due to losing Noah, you were mad at yourself. “I’m sorry too. Sorry for not realizing, god how could I have been so insensitive, all this time…” You whimpered.

“Princess, you have nothing to be sorry for, you were there for me through all of that, and I’m so grateful for you and so sorry I never showed you how much I appreciated it. I don’t know how I’m gonna make up all of this to you, but I will, I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.” He said, one of his hands cradling your head in his palm.

“And I-, if you decide that you want to keep the baby, I will try my hardest to be the best dad to them that I can.” He gently murmured. His words caused you to slightly pull away so you could meet his eyes.

“Marcus, that day you were in my room, I-I never meant what I said,” Your voice cracked, “I was just so upset because I had told everyone about the baby and my mom didn’t really react that well… and she called me stupid, I- I overreacted and I wish I could take back what I said. I never once thought about aborting the baby, our baby.” You sniffed, as more tears fell from your eyes, prompting Marcus to wipe them.

“I’m sorry you had to tell your family by yourself. I wanted to be there with you, and support you. I never should’ve acted like such a fucking asshole when you told me, I was just scared…and just a fucking dipshit, god. I never should have said what I said to you Y/n, and I will never ever act like that ever again. I know I’m the only person you’ve been with and I should have never questioned if the baby was mine, I was being a complete dick. I know you think I’ve been with others but I haven’t. You were my first, and only.” He said, which slightly shocked you.

“What? How did I not know that…”

“I wanted you to think I was cool and I don’t know somewhat experienced, I was dumb and immature.” He responded. You simply nodded, he was.

Marcus cleared his throat, “Y/n, I-I understand if you don’t want to be with me anymore and you want to co-parent our baby. I mean- I’ve hurt you so, so much and I wish I could take back all that I did to hurt you, and all the pain that I’ve caused you. So, I-I won’t like it, but I’ll understand.”

You looked at Marcus, his eyes full of remorse, and love. “I love you so much Marcus, with all my heart. And after everything that we’ve been through, I love you just as much as the day I first met you. I still want to be with you, and raise our baby.” You smiled, your eyes scintillating with tears. “But, if you ever, ever treat me or speak to me the way you have been, I will not hesitate to end things. Because as much as I love you, I will not allow anyone to treat me like that again, let alone the father of my child.” You said, trying to keep your voice even, so he couldn’t hear the hurt.

Marcus nodded, “Thank you, for giving me a second chance.” He said cradling your face in his hands. He began to lean in closer toward you, and you followed along, closing the distance between the two of you. As your lips met, you felt tears fall from both his and your eyes as you both poured all of your heart and love into the kiss. Your hands wrapped around his neck, one moving up into his hair and running your hands through his silky strands of hair, as you tried to pull him impossibly closer to you. Marcus was just as eager to be as close to you as possible, pulling you in his lap.

Your lips continually met, kissing until you had to pull away to breathe.

“We're having a baby,” He said as tears of joy fell from both of your guy's eyes. You nodded, your grin matching his own. His eyes widened for a second, “What?” You questioned him.

“We still have to tell my parents.”

“Crap, and Max.” You whined.

“I already told her…”

“Oh, okay. What’d she say?” You said slightly relieved and slightly nervous.

“She didn’t really say how she felt just slapped some sense into me, but I can tell she wanted us to keep the baby..” He smiled.

“Well, I’m glad, remind me to thank her.” You returned a smile to him. He nodded, pulling you into him, once again hugging you, which you gladly accepted. You stayed like that for a couple moments.

“Let’s go and watch the movie with Gin and Austin?”

Marcus nodded with a smile, pulling you to stand with him. Once you both made it to your room, you smiled at the sight of your siblings cuddled together on your bed, waiting for you.

“Make some room for us?” You questioned them.

They both turned to you, raised eyebrows of curiosity.

“We’re keeping the baby, so we’re gonna need all the help we can get.” You grinned, hand in Marcus’s own.

Ginny and Austin had smiles plastered on their faces, as they jumped off your bed and ran towards you and Marcus, pulling both of you into a hug. This caused you and Marcus to laugh. You both had a feeling that everything would be okay. As long as you had each other and your families, you’d be able to overcome anything.

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

A/N: I hope this was good and I hope it made y’all cry because once my writing has brought tears to someone's eyes, I’ll know my writing is at least okay, haha. Anyways I kinda wanna write a follow-up to this like about y’all going to the first doctor appointment, and stuff like that!

ALSO, a lot happened in this. I LOVED miller!reader, little!sister!Ginny & BFF!Padma, but how do y’all feel about it? 🤨

don't ask about the fic name i feel like it was kinda related to the fic but also not... I was just listening to champagne problems by taylor swift & was like that’ll do 🥲

& this idea just randomly popped in my head and I had to write it and if the ending feels rushed it’s because it kinda was because I wanted to post this for y’all! 💞

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333creolelady · 2 months

Text

Lady Of The Blue Bakunawa Ch. 6

Afab black OC x Roman Reigns (Pirate au)

Banner by : @joannasteez

Warnings: MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING. mentions of past child loss, grief, mentions of past child abuse, mention of past sexual assault, mentions of past murder, gore, mentions of past racism, heavy angst (with fluff), hard topics, sex, foreplay (fingering cunnulingus fem receiving) Handjob, description of bodily fluids (cum, arousal), emotionally heavy topics, Includes a creature (a collective) who thrives on pain, religious undertones due to mention of the seven deadly sins, brief mention of not wanting to be alive (not SH), patricarichal views (Jane is unlearning, give her some grace chile).Minors DNI. LONG CHAPTER ALERT.

Songs this chapter: When Ginny kissed Harry, Davy Jones, Avril 14, El matador, Observatory kiss

Alternative playlist songs: Like a star, Decks dark, The Moment I said it, Cemeteries of London, Simply beautiful

Chapter Playlist link here <-

Next-> chapter 7

<- Back to Masterlist

Alternative Playlist link <-

Second warning. This chapter is emotionally heavy. Please consider reading it in two parts if you have to. This chapter has brief mentions of PAST sexual assault mid chapter. There is also a consensual smut scene (foreplay) at the end of the same chapter. If this is too heavy for you I will send you a cliff notes version (just shoot message in my DM’s) Chapter indicators for the SA topic will be <color coded> so you may skip if need be. . Proceed with caution.

Roman

He watches her take a breath and shoot at an empty can floating on a piece of driftwood. Caden had tied to the wood to rear of the ship. It was the best way she could get shooting practice from a distance. Funnily enough, Jane was savvy with a gun. She’d only been practicing for a few days and could shoot pretty well from a reasonable distance. Roman was impressed.

He’d left her for a few moments to set the dinner table inside his cabin. The waters were calm and the warm breeze had made the humidity slightly too sticky. He made light of it, feasting his eyes on the exposed skin of her neck and arms. Warmer weather called for thinner clothes. He would enjoy it for now.

He placed her bowl across from his and plated the food onto a porcelain plate. There were many upgrades on this new boat. Night had a taste for the finer things and had many high priced items hidden on the ship. He seemed to like fine china. Jane noticed his absence and turned around, he beckoned her to eat. She sat down across from him and placed her pistol on the table next to her.

Roman observed the way she handled her weapons so confidently already. “ Like a proper pirate”, Roman teased. She pulled off the extra hat he gave her and sat it beside the gun. She smiled shyly, placing a napkin in her lap.

8 days ago Roman and Jane’s relationship had changed in what only could be described as an explosion of passion previously left unshared. He now would encourage her sword lessons with Adhar. He would teach her how to use a gun and how to defend herself.

And now there was no confusion on whether or not affections would be shared. It was clear as day that they liked each other. He was just waiting for Jane to lean into her desires and initiate more often.

She sat across from him and dug into the food, spooning it into her mouth. He went fishing for her and cooked it. Tropical waters meant better catches of fish.

“ What is this?”, she said with an enthusiastic mouth full.

“ Oka l’a. It’s a dish of my people. Most people prefer it raw but sometimes we cook it for the children or sickly. You get the cooked version”, he chuckled watching her pick up a tiny piece of fish and eat it with her fingers.

“ You made this?”, she said with surprise.

“ Yes. That’s why I was gone”, he smiled.

“ It kind of tastes like coconut too. We used to put coconut in some of our food back in Trinidad. My grandfather used to add it to his Callaloo”, she sighed in content.

“ So you like it ?”

“ I do! You never told me you could cook.”

“ There was never a need to. Always had somebody to do it for me but thankfully my memory is pretty extensive. I’m sure there are a few missing ingredients however. This was my favorite dish my mother made.”

“ You remember her?”, she asked with curiosity.

“ I’m not ancient ”, Roman laughed. Jane just smiled and went back for another piece of fish.

“ Sometimes the memories get fuzzy after so long”, she shrugged.

“ I feel that way sometimes. The food was the easiest thing for me to remember because it was one of the last meals I had. At least that’s what my memory tells me.”

“ So this..raw fish. Your culture eats it a lot ?”

“ Yes. We prepare it in a way. We knew which ones to choose—we could asses how healthy the fish was. It’s very fresh and the children are brought up on it young. We never got sick. Thankfully, now that we’ve moved into more tropical waters, we have healthier fish. I could never eat this from the port. It was would end bad since the water is so filthy.”

“ Lest we want another cholera event”, she joked.

“ Don’t even remind me”, Roman shivered.

“ Do you have any other favorite meals ?”

“ Pork.”

“ Pork? But you can get pork anywhere.”

“ We cooked it better.”

“ How did you learn to cook anyway?”

“ The men cook where I’m from. Especially for big feasts. So young boys learn how to cook from their fathers.”

Jane’s eyes widened. “ Remind me why we aren’t back there instead ? Everything I’ve heard so far is promising.”

“ If you want off cooking duty you’d best say so. Unfortunately my meals are only reserved for you”, he teased.

“ As tempting as that sounds, I can't abandon ship with Caden.”

“ So what’s another interesting thing about your culture ?”

“Our seafaring is unmatched. We were the first people in the world to migrate by boat.”

“ So this comes naturally to you then?”

“ Yes. Especially because all I knew was water even in my life before.”

“ Married to the sea”, she teased. Roman didn’t laugh but instead graced her with a soft unassuming smile.

“And what about you?”, he asked.

“What about me?”

“Is there anything you remember about Trinidad ? Anything at all ?”

“ I remember putting scotch bonnets in our food. We have really spicy peppers—maybe even some of the hottest in the whole world. As a kid, whenever a general was particularly mean to us, we would rub the rim of their mugs with the juices from the pepper. There lips would blow up like fish.”

Roman laughed. “ Mischievous .”

“ Oh you don’t know half of it. Me and my cousin used to get in SO much trouble. There’s a certain kind of fearlessness children are born with. I would never have the gull to do something like that now.”

“ I’m a fan of young Jane. She sounds like she doesn’t take any mess”, Roman smiles.

“ I also remember being able to wear what I wanted as a kid. The culture we created for ourselves didn’t concern itself with layers and corsets and thick fabric. It’s hot. If I left my house with my stomach showing as a kid, people would laugh at my pot belly at most. Women didn’t have to be covered from neck to ankle either—like I said, it’s hot. Our garbs were also very colorful and bright. Then one day there were all these rules. Wear this not that. Your hair should be this not that. Anything else was suggestive or loud.”

“ Well..sounds like a story I’ve heard one too many times unfortunately.”

Jane shrugs. “Well I suppose there’s no point in stewing in it now. You take the good parts and leave the rest.”

“ I would have disagreed with that before I met you but now….”, Roman trailed off teasingly. A smile spread slowly on her face. He had a habit of staring at her unpromoted now. She was convinced he just liked to see her squirm.

She anxiously changed the topic. “How much longer?”

“ A few more days. We’re close.”

“ Days? Good, we have more pressing matters to address anyways.”

“ Like?”

Jane looks down in her lap finding the courage to finally spit it out. “We kiss…”

“Yes.”

“On the lips….”

“Yes I know.”

“And you touch me…”

Roman scoffs in a humorous tone. “How could I forget ?”

“Yes but… usually when that happens there’s a reason for it. Like there’s a purpose.”

“I want to make you feel good. Is that not the purpose for any of it ?”

“What I mean is that we’re doing things that people who are in established relationships do.”

“ We are. Fun, isn’t it?”, he smiled smugly. He enjoyed forcing her to be more direct.

“ I am unspoken for. You have no claim on me and I doubt you intend to wed. I know people see that we are involved no matter how cordial and polite you are in front of others. It’s unbecoming for a woman on a ship full of men to be so loosely claimed, while clearly giving away the very thing reserved for a steady union. I mean what if people think I’m just…kept. And while I think that most of your crew have been outstanding gentlemen to me, they’re still just men Roman”, she uttered quickly.

He raised a brow at her. “ Who said you were unspoken for…?”

She mirrored his face with a surprise of her own. “Uh…well you never said.”

Roman leaned forward with his elbows dominantly on the table across from her. “ My apologies. We are together. Meaning that you are my intended, lover, suitor. Or if you prefer the term courting then that is suitable as well.”

Jane is visibly stunned. She just assumed that any relationship she formed with Roman wouldn’t be a steady one. He wasn’t exactly traditional. “ Courting would mean that you intend to marry…?”

“ So ?”

“ You’re a pirate ?”

“ And?”

Her expression flattened.“ You live in a boat in the middle of the ocean.”

“ Accomodations can be made, don’t you think?

“ I mean yes…”

“ Unless you prefer our connection to stay strictly physical?”, he asked.

“ No no. I was just concerned about how it looked.”

“ How about this…I could make an announcement?”

“ No… it doesn’t have to be some big event.”

“ Well then I won’t hide my affection.”

“ I didn’t take you as a publicly affectionate person.”

“ It’s not like I’ll have my tongue down your throat—without your permission of course. Hand placement goes a long way.”

A mischievous expression spread across her face. “ Well since you’ve declared that we’re courting I’ll have to put you to work more often.”

“ I aim to please Miss Ramlal.”

“ I’ve noticed”, she giggled.

Romans attention faltered when a loud thump echoed beneath them. He stalked to the edge of the ship to see a giant piece of plank wood bumping on against the boat.

“ Look!” Jane gasped.

Behind them a ship splintered into a million pieces laid on the shore of a beach. It looked old and the wood was wet and rotten. The sail was obliterated.

“ Why-has this happened ?”, Said Jane.

“ I’m not sure, it could have been anything. I know one thing for certain though, this means we’re getting closer to our destination.” Roman pulled out his spyglass and further inspected the shipwreck. The wood had chunks bitten out of it as if something attempted to eat the boat.

Worry clenched Roman’s chest as he folded the spyglass and put it back on the table.

“ Room for dessert dove ?”

Jane

3 days of wind and gray skies with absolutely no rain and plenty of thunder, it was unheard of. The air was colder and despite the wind there were no waves. The boat had an almost mechanical float, as if it had feet underneath the hull dragging across the sea floor. Roman insisted that things were moving according to plan. Jane wasn’t so sure.

Suddenly a thick mist filled the air causing Jane to step back cautiously. Jane retreated back towards Roman’s quarters as a huge groaning sound echoed in the distance. A rumble vibrating throughout the ship sent her scrambling for Roman. Sure enough she needn’t look far as he immediately looked for her too, stepping out of his quarters and holding onto her with caution. Something rumbled under the surface of the water completely gray, solid, and endless.

What looked to be a building made of stone or concrete traveled slowly and disruptively out of the sea and into the sky, reaching past the clouds and onwards to the heavens. Water fell from the sides splashing back down to the sea below. Jane turned to Roman with fear, a question already forming on her lips but never making it past them.

“ It’s alright. This is where we’re supposed to be ”, he reassured quietly.

A murmuring crowd had formed now. The building had hundreds of tiny small square glass windows but no light illuminated from them. The shape of the building was rectangular, narrow and smooth. She’d never seen a construction like it. It’s opening was a gaping black hole that she couldn’t see through. Large wet stone steps led to the entrance, just wide enough to put a ship ramp down. As afraid as she was, her feet felt compelled to move forward. If he was going to go then she was coming with him.

“William, Adhar, with me. Jane…”, Roman headed for his cabin leaving the french doors open. The two followed behind him. William loaded his pistol and Adar unsheathed his sword. They sat at the table sharpening weapons and loading their pistols. Roman’s attached two small pistols to his hip. Jane took a pistol for herself and Roman softly took it from her.

“ You should know what you’re getting yourself into before you make your choice”, he said softly.

“Well, let’s hear it”, said Jane.

“The man who gave me the map to the key was rumored to have been the only survivor of the journey but it changed him forever. Every pirate knows that this is rumored to be an eternal prison of all depravity and fear. Here belongs every spirit of corruption—the first of their kind. Some are referred to as fallen angels.”

“ Demons ?”, her face wrinkled in confusion.

“ Aliens, demons..fallen angels. Whatever your persuasion.”

Jane took in a sharp inhale.

“ You do not have to go in. None of you do. I can do this alone”, said Roman.

“No…no I won’t leave you”, said Jane.

“ We stay with the captain”, Said William confidently. No fear.

“ Us pirates have heard the rumors for years about what this will look like…what it will feel like. I fear the rumors have been true. That…this place is every bit of a prison. I don’t know what horrors await us on the other side. All I know is that you will be judged in some way. The myths over the years alter and change.”

“ I understand.”

“ I must warn you that this creature has a fixation for women. Crane mentioned that we may have a better chance of getting the key with you there.”

“ Why?”

“ I have no clue but for that reason maybe you should sit this one out. Fixation could mean anything ?”

“ I’m coming”, Jane said with a gentle firmness. Roman is visibly nervous and holds back on controlling the situation. She can see the wheels turning in his head.

“ Are you absolutely sure Jane?”

“ I stay with the captain”, she uttered.

Roman stood in finality. “ Adhar behind Jane. William at my side.”

The group goes back to preparing their weapons. Hat, boots, long shirts and cotton pants. It was cooler now despite being in the tropics. Jane dressed in Caden’s hand-me-downs, disguising herself as a man as best she could. She was almost sure “fixation” wasn’t a good thing where they were going.

The four of them finished gearing up and made way for the ramp. Caden wished Roman luck eyeing the building with hesitance. Their feet finally touch the wet slabs of the stone stairs leading to the opening. William stands with Roman and Adhar is behind Jane forming a protective shape around her. Jane reaches for Roman’s right hand. He let’s her have it, wanting to give her comfort in some way. She looks back at Caden only to find Adhar staring at their hands with an unreadable expression.

William and Roman take the first steps and the others follow. Their boots echoed into the abyss. A few steps further and they become engulfed in darkness. Then suddenly the dark opening is lit with dozens of torches. They paused when they sensed the presence of another person. A large person–or perhaps it was once a person held a lantern. Large muscles, hooved feet, a tail, long uncanny long arms, and a BULL’S head. Before the scream could leave Jane’s mouth, Adhar covered it. Roman pulled his hand slowly from her and rested his hand on his pistol. William held his hand out, motioning to wait. The bull tilted it’s head to the side watching the group as if to assess them. The Minotaur’s eyes grew darker and wider when they landed on Jane causing Roman to completely pull out his gun.

“ If you want in, those weapons are not allowed”, it spoke with a deep honking barrelous voice. He motioned for Roman’s weapon.

“ The girl needs protection”, said Roman.

“ As does fate. No weapons”, said the Minotaur crossing his arms.

“ Remember what we came here for Roman, it’s fine. We didn’t come all this way for nothing”, Jane whispered.

“ I am the keeper of this prison. I control what goes and what doesn't come out. This is your final warning. Lose the weapons or you will not pass”, the Minotaur warned.

Jane saw the puzzled anger in Roman’s eyes. For a moment she thought he would shoot the damned thing but she rested her hand on his back. With a tense jaw he slowly placed his guns on the ground followed by his sword. The others followed suit. The minotaur watches them for a moment and begins to walk, not bothering to motion for them.

He leads them up a thin and narrow stone staircase with small windows overlooking the sea. There was a wet mildew smell to this place that clung to her nose. The stairs carried them out to a stone floor that held 6 cells on each side. The first creature was something out of a nightmare. It was humanoid with fleshy pale gray wings, an emaciated slim body, large eyes—all pupil, holes for a nose and no mouth. It stood unmoving, eyeing her before placing it’s hand on the invisible barrier that held it inside its cell.

She turned her head in the other direction only to find an even more terrifying creature. There was an Octopus like creature whose skin resembled human flesh with tentacles that had suckers like human mouths. It’s moans sounded like that of a woman’s and an animal mixed together. Her breath hitched and her nails dug into Roman hands so hard that he winced and turned around to face her. The group stopped.

“ Just don’t look Jane”, he reassured her quietly. Adhar placed a reassuring hand on her back looking behind him protectively.

“ Come. They are contained”, said the Minotaur without looking back.

“ Come Miss Ramlal. They look just like my old military unit. Just another walk in the park”, William said quietly in that thick German accent.

They go back to following the Minotaur. Jane keeps her head down to the ground in order to avoid scaring herself again. The only problem is that they would have to travel ten flights of stairs before they reached who they were looking for.

Within those ten flights of stairs the sounds of these…beings were far too intriguing. Some levels were completely silent and so dark it looked like nobody was there. Others were extremely loud with howling screaming monsters. Some of the creatures were violent, banging against their magical traps while others didn’t bother to turn around and see who was there.

She peaked and saw three 4 foot beings with dark grey skin, large eyes, slits for noses, no mouth, long fingers, large heads and tiny child-like bodies. She saw beings that looked like humans with three eyes and mouths full of razor sharp teeth. She saw beings that looked like children with black eyes. Some of them looked like animals that stood on hind legs, some of them were beasts she’d heard of in fairy tales. Lizard creatures, vampires and wendigo. She saw creatures that she’d only heard of in Trinidadian folklore. Douens, Lagahoo’s and Chikcharney’s.

Magic was real. It was a real as rain and it was dark. It was scary. Suddenly she knew without a doubt that the treasure had to be real too.

“ We have arrived”, The Minotaur grunts.

The tenth floor was one long hallway with a stairwell. It was dark. So dark that the torch the Minotaur held looked like a candle light. He snapped his fingers and ten torches lit the room to reveal a cell at the end of the hall. The cell was completely dark as if nothing was there.

The Minotaur turns to them. “ Have you brought them a gift ?”

“ Them? There was no talk of bringing it a gift. Nobody informed us.”

“ They will not speak unless you’ve brought a gift.”

“ I have an apple..”, Adhar says quietly.

The Minotaur hold out his hand awaiting Adhar. Adhar places the apple in his palm. The bull places the apple into a slot by the cell and pushes it into the opening. For a moment it’s just quiet but then a voice calls out. It sounded like a child, a man, and a woman all speaking at once. Like three voices stacked on top of one another.

“Have you met my children? My aspects ?”

“ Children ?” Roman called out the darkness.

“ Yes, they are my flesh and blood and …bone. Created in my image”, the voices groaned.

“ I wasn’t aware,” said Roman cautiously.

“ Perhaps you have read the apocrypha ?”, said a child’s voice. It startled Jane.

Roman doesn’t respond.

“ This is what you were wore that day….it is not ?”, said the child voice. Suddenly the blackness of the glass faded until it revealed a little boy….

Roman

His palms grew cold and wet. The room was hot. There it stood. The reoccurring nightmare that he could never truly out run. Himself.

8 year old Roman stood in front of him in a cotton lava lava, barefoot, no shirt because it was especially hot that day. He’d been playing in the water and his mother finally flagged him down to eat. He ate the last meal he would ever eat from her. He played with his siblings making sand cakes and running around the shore line. Then his life turned upside down.

“ Roman”, he heard Jane whispered to him. He couldn’t even turn around to face her. He was utterly frozen in place. The memories come back to him. His crying, being pried from the hands of his mother, sand burn on his back from being dragged, the screaming, the pleading. Nobody understanding him because of the language barrier. The confusion. The realization that he would never see his family again. The realization that his parents were not invincible and in the end, there was nothing they could do against German occupation. The harshness in the soldiers' glares. The disgust.

“ Or perhaps…this form would be better…”, The creature morphed into his tormentor. Queen Augusta Luise. She stood with a knowing smirk on her face, fanning herself with that imported Chinese fan. She was in her usual dramatic ball gown with an obnoxiously large ruby and diamond necklace. Her hair was in a tight updo with brown hard curls pinned at the top of her head. Her blue eyes cut him as they always had. It had even mimicked her thick accent.

The most gut wrenching, visceral, primal rage came over him. If he ever saw Augusta again he vowed that he would make her suffer. He stepped closer to the cell and the Minotaur reached a hand out to his chest.

“ They can’t get out. You can’t go in. It is written.”

“ What does it want?” Roman urged.

“ Your pain is your payment. If you want the key your pain, secrets, and sins will be judged. There is no prize without punishment.”

“ That hardly sounds fair.”

“ Is it not? You desire a treasure older than your existence. A treasure that can only be held in the hands of a worthy man. Are you worthy ?”

Roman frowned. “ What does my pain do for you?”

“ feeds us..”

Roman frowned, disturbed by its words.

“ We are hungry. It has been many years since we have tasted the sweetness of fruit ... .but the sweetness of sorrow is unmatched. It is dripping from one of you. We could not pass up this opportunity”, says Augusta’s clone with a sickly fake sympathetic voice.

“ Is it really worth it all? We don’t need a fucking key to get the treasure. I’ll take my bloody gun and shoot whatever’s holding the goddamn thing. What does this thing know about any of us?”, William whispered to Roman.

“ William Wright. Prideful William”, The monster morphed into a 3 year old boy with strawberry blonde hair, freckles, large green eyes and a button nose. It’s voice became tiny to match the body it emulated. Jane’s eyes widened in horror as William dropped to his knees in as soon as he saw the boy.

“ Too prideful to spend time with your only son thinking being a provider is more important than being there for your sick child.. Now he’s gone and what do you have to show for it ? A dead General who did nothing wrong but give you the commands you signed up for. Plucking out his eyes in a misplaced fury….”, This monster morphed into a burly man with blonde hair, and a bloody face with missing eyes.

“ Stop this! You know nothing!”, William cried in agony. Jane debated comforting him or staying put. She didn’t want the attention to turn on her.

The creature taunts William in his sons form and voice, leaning against the barrier. “ Prideful William, too prideful to say that he took out his own eyeball in guilt but instead lies and claims that he lost it in a sword fight. William the prideful. Too prideful to write to his wife. You ignore her letters. You let her wallow in her grief alone. Oh…pride is your true love. This sin suits you well. Even now…you cannot face the truth. You refuse it.”

William sat on the floor reduced to tears, head tucked between his legs. How easy this fierce man broke down. Roman’s fierce fighter had self- destructed. A reminder that everyone has something in their life worth crying over no matter how strong they appear.

Roman rested his hands on Williams' shoulder. He looked back up into the cell to see Augsta staring at him with that smirk again.

“ Do you accept..wraithful Roman?”

Roman’s face fell. “ Fine…but not her.”

Augusta twirled her hair playfully. “ If your pain is worth the treasure you seek, then perhaps…”

“ NOT. HER”, said Roman sternly.

“ We shall see. Come …”, the monster said in a gentle voice as it morphed into a young woman with nearly ankle length jet black hair. She had tawny brown skin, thick brown eyes, a wide nose and full pink lips. She was gorgeous… She was his mother.

Roman let the tears happen, he didnt try to wipe them away. It was too painful to claim indifference. It had been many years since he saw her face. His mother– the monster, was crying with him. She placed her hand on the invisible barrier and Roman nearly did the same. He stopped himself remembering that it wasn’t her.

“ She grieved you for a long time. She didn’t believe you to be gone forever. She convinced herself that it was a bad dream and that you were simply lost. But you were not lost.. You had a new mother..”, said the womanly voice. The monster then turned to Augusta again. Anger creeped up on the back of his neck. He always felt anger on his back and on his neck. Now it was no different.

“ Have your lover the fantasies you have of killing your former mother?”

“ She is not my mother..”, Roman sneered.

“ You called her Mommy. You held her hands in yours, appeased her even when she made you beg for a God you didn't believe in. She beat you into submission. So peculiar how hatred can turn into an obsession. You were her little doll and you performed for her for years. Making her believe that her love was the cause for your greatness. Fencing, Math, Polo, Portuguese,Spanish, German, English, Japanese. Star pupil…handsome and muscular. Smart as a whip. Well spoken…they would say. When her back was turned you spat in her food. You stole her items and sold them for free. You cursed her name every night before you closed your eyes. Too afraid to show your rage, too afraid to upset your captor. How she had turned you into her perfect pet, performing at a whim and entertaining her high born friends.Then suddenly she outgrew you. Her little puppy had turned into a wolf and that rage had cracked and broken the seams of your composure. She kicked out her dog..”, The monster taunted. It shifted to his teenage self in tattered clothes.

“ Suddenly the victim becomes the monster. Does she know about the killing spree you went on after she discarded you? Kings guards, high society sweethearts? Anyone who looked at you wrong? You may believe that your anger was warranted but how many orphans did you create ? Mothers you made childless? They called you the Lacerator because of the mess you left behind. Everywhere you went there was destruction and pain. You killed your fellow pirates in ways that would make the devil blush. You killed for money, for greed, for power. Yet you believe that the family you formed in your crew washes the stain of blood from your hands?”

Roman turned to Jane to see a sick look on her face. Would she see him differently after this?

“ You mention no context. Those people saw me as subhuman. Some of them were even ordered to kill me or took it upon themselves to torment me. I did what I had to do to survive”, Roman countered.

“ Not all of them were high born. Some of them were similar to yourself. Class traitor…so dignified in your approach to violence. Does she know that every moment of your life you have a wraith boiling inside of you so legendary that I can feel it through our barrier. You wish to harm me. You wish to harm those who have done you wrong but instead you have pillaged your way to your current riches. The same way the Germans pillaged your people. No amount of blood spilled will fill the hole inside of you. Wraithful Roman. Be hopeful that all this suffering will have amounted to something. May god save the ones you love if you get to that treasure and find nothing but bones and dust.”

Roman watched silently as the monster morphed itself into countless faces…some he remembered and others he didn’t. He could bare it no longer.

“ You got what you wanted”, Roman sneered. The monster froze with the terror stricken face of his last kill. A pirate from Captain Night’s ship.

“ Adhar…oh Adhar....”, the creature groaned in a woman’s voice. It’s figure became that of a woman moaning in pleasure. Gingers, Brunette’s, Black, White, Asian. Fair skinned and Dark skinned. They all moaned Adhar’s name one after the other.

“ They all loved you, Adhar. What is it about you that drives women to madness ? What wound do you press against that makes them feel so unworthy. Or is it you? Is it you who feels unworthy ? Is it you searching for something you never had ? Perhaps it was your mother. She couldn’t be bothered to care about you. She was forced to have you. You barely know the warmth of a mothers love. Or was it your father ? Nothing was ever truly good enough for him. You weren’t a man in his eyes. Kita almost made you whole again. She loved you dearly…”, a soft voice called out. She was undoubtedly south Asian. Green eyes, curly shoulder length hair, elaborate jewelry and an olive complexion. Roman looked back at Adhar to see a watery smile spread across his face.

“ I didn’t have any money. I just wanted to be able to provide for Kita. To give her nice things. To take care of her like a real man”, Adhar sniffled.

“ Instead of stepping up, asking her father for her hand and living a humble life— you rob and steal. You killed the market owner, someone you knew since childhood. You take from your own community. You betray the ones you love for money. They had no choice but to send you away leaving Kita with broken promises and a broken heart. What do you do to ease the pain? You pursue countless women, giving them sweet nothings. They awake to the smell of you on their sheets. Lustful lonely Adhar, so sure he’s content. So sure that he’s simply a kind man. So sure he made the right choice but constantly searching for a woman you’ll never have. Your longing has no restraint. It is so boundless that it has made you envious of the man who saved you from a life of poverty and starvation”, said the monster.

Adhar breathing quickened. His fists balled up in flattered fashion. “I- I- I just didn’t want to be …I didn’t meant to hurt anyone. That was never my intent….”

Then with a sudden turn of events Kita morphed into full lips, brown almond eyes and black onyx hair. Roman looked at himself on the other side of the glass. The monster mirrored him perfectly before splitting itself into a second person. Jane. The monster had morphed into himself and Jane. Roman tensed up not understanding where this was going,

“ Not only are you lustful but you are envious. Envious of affections shared between your captain and your new friend. Envious of a love lost. Envious of the love brewing between Roman and his intended. If you feel that you are unloveable—then you will always be. No matter how much you fuck the loneliness away you are lustful lonely Adhar. Adar the envious”, said Roman’s Doppelganger. It turned to kiss Jane’s doppelganger. Adhar looked sick as he glanced over to Roman and then Jane.

Roman was just as embarrassed as Adhar was. All the speculations he had about Adhar and it never occurred to him that he was jealous of what he and Jane shared. He assumed he just wanted Jane but that wasn’t the case. He wanted what they had. He didn’t know about Kita or much about his life before. Adhar was a newer crew member who he didn’t get the chance to speak with often. He took him in because of his proficiency with the sword.

Roman turned to look back at Jane who was standing behind the Minotaur now. The last time she looked this frantic was the first time they saw each other. William was in a ball on the floor staring at the wall. Adhar looked like he was seconds from cracking. Everyone was a mess. Now he understood what the creature meant when it said pain. Everything about this was painful. Their worst thoughts about themselves actualized.

“ If you don’t mind sir I’ll…be waiting behind the door. Just yell for me? ”, Adhar looked to Roman. Roman nodded in agreement allowing him an early exit.

“ We are done”, Roman says with resistance. For the first time in his life…he was afraid. He was afraid of what came next. He was afraid for Jane.

“ I could stop now but…this treasure that you want. It’s more than just Gold, Silver, Rubies and Diamonds. This treasure would make you the wealthiest person to have ever lived. The monarchies would pale in comparison to you. I have seen nothing to convince me of any of your repentance. If you give me her pain I could feed off it for months. Give me her or you return to your ship and get swallowed by the sea”, the monster hissed. It’s voice was nowhere near the familiarity of a human. It was stripped of any of humanity.

“ She is mine to protect. We will and take our chances. Jane come, we are leaving ,” Roman stalked to her but she stepped back.

“ N-no. No I can do it.”

“ I don’t want this. You don’t want this Jane”, Roman raised his tone ever so slightly. He didn’t mean to but his mind was spinning. Whatever she wasn’t ready to tell him, surely this wasn’t the way she’d go about it?

Jane walked over to him and placed her hands in his in an attempt to calm him.“Do you honestly think that this would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me? I’m stronger than you think. Besides…it all had to have been for something. There’s nothing that this thing can tell me that I haven’t already told myself”, Jane smiled sadly. Roman nodded and hesitantly stepped out of her way.

Jane

The creature before her was incomprehensible. It was all things horror, despair, loneliness, fear, lust and darkness. It was many things and then nothing at all. Limbs, eyes, many teeth—countless teeth. Many faces and orphases. Its shape took up the entirety of it cell. And then in an instant it mirrored her. It looked just like her, like she was standing in a mirror.

“ I’m probably not in the position to make requests but…would it be okay if William left the room as well as the Minotaur.”

“ fine”, said the monster.

The Minotaur picks up William and throws him over his shoulder, leaving out of the room. Now it was just Roman and herself and this ….thing.

“ Come closer sweet little creature…”, said her doppelganger.

She stepped forward just a few short inches from the barrier. Her doppelganger looked her up and down, walking back and forth from one end of the cage to another in a predatory fashion. Jane didn’t not falter her gaze.

“ I was told you like women ? Why is that ?”

“ Like isn’t the word I’d use to describe you creatures. It’s so much more than that. The essence of a woman is sweeter…their secrets—darker. You are the original sinners. Your capacity for corruption knows no bounds.”

“ I see”, says Jane quietly.

“ Jane Ramlal. Trinidad and Tobago…. September 22nd. Family is gone—I presume it’s from the Spanish and British occupation”, her doppleganger assessed in a detached manner.

“ You have a knack for lying don’t you? Your grandfather taught you reading, writing and arithmetic. Very rare for a girl like you…and to have to pretend all those years to not know a thing.”

“ he did.”

“ Such sadness. It wafts off you. Depressive, even as a child. Fun times were short lived. It’s almost like you were doomed from the start.”

Jane doesn’t respond. There was no need to. She couldn’t change what she was born into. There no point in being defensive.

“ You killed a general with your cousin at 10 years old. You put a scotch bonnet in his drink and it burned a hole in his stomach. I would deduct points for that but he wasn’t a very good man either. Seems like you know how to pick the bad apples unlike your dear friend Roman.”

“ It wasn’t right.”

The creature looked at her strangely as if her accountability was unusual.

“ How hard it must have been for you working for high society. Cruel wives and their vulture husbands. The last 13 years of your life have seemed to blur together. Every day is the same. Work, sleep, work, sleep. No enjoyment, no happiness. It’s as if I’m looking at a loop.”

Jane remained unmoved. “ Yes I only just…started living recently.”

<<<<<<<IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO BRIEF MENTIONS OF SA STOP HERE. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!!!!

“ And you are no stranger to the violence of men?”

And there it was. Jane froze and closed her eyes slowly in shame. That’s it… the moment she was dreading. The one thing she would never say. The reasons she told the other men to leave.

“ I am more than familiar”, she croaked.

“ Something was taken from you…more than once. And again fairly recently on this boat taking you the America’s. You wish to not exist..?”

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<SAFE.

“ I….”, tears flooded Jane’s eyes. “ I have many times.”

The doppelganger tilted its head. “even now?”

“ Months ago. Not now.”

“ That desire drove you to poke holes into the hull of that ship for months with screws and knives. When the storm came the ship could not withstand it. However, the storm took a violent turn and you were left for dead. You survived by hanging onto driftwood. What a viper you are. You play helpless very well”, the Doppelganger smirked at her.

“ Yes…I did those things”, Jane said stoically. She wasn’t proud of what she did but she felt that she had no other choice. She wouldn’t bother rationalizing it to the creature.

“ You have been given an exit from your suffering. You cannot tell the dark from the light. All around you… endless possibilities. So many women would want what you have. The chance to start over but you are haunted by your past. I give you the sin of trisitia. An old sin long before the seven. Tristia…sorrow..Are you aware of the cure for each sin?”

“ I am not.”

“ For lust it is self control. For gluttony it is temperance. For greed it is charity. For sloth it is diligence. For wrath it is patience. For envy it is kindness. And for pride it is humility. Can you guess what the cure for sorrow is ?”

“ No…”

“ To live. Jane Ramlal…I sentence you to live.”

Jane looked thoughtfully at her doppleganger. The last few months had proven to her that she didn’t know what it meant to live until recently. It wasn’t just surviving like she’d always known. Living…enjoying life. Eating food when you’re not hungry. Not caring about how rich a dessert tastes. Buying clothes for fun. Listening to music and swaying to it. Relaxing and not feeling guilty about it. Being present enough to laugh at a joke. Being admired and not feeling unworthy for it. That was living. That was what she’d been missing for so long. “ Have I…given you enough ?”

“ I suppose. You are worthy of this treasure. You may have the key”, says the creature in a bold flat tone. It shifts back into its original form. Carefully it used their hand to reach inside of one of its many mouths and pulled out a key with a long chain. It placed the key into the slot box, pushing it to the outside. Jane picked up the key and held it in her palm. It was a mortice shape.

“ Only you may wear it. If you give the key to anyone else it will destroy them. Now that you have this key there will be many creatures that do not want you to have it. Keep it safe and do not lose it.”

“ I will protect it”, Jane placed the chain around her neck and tucked it into her shirt.

She turned to Roman and saw such a tired and withered expression on his face. It was as if being here had aged him 10 years.

“ Let’s get out of here”, she said.

“ Goodbyeeee friendsssss!”, the creature hissed.

Roman makes no protest as he leads her out of the room. The Minotaur, William, and Adhar all stood quietly by the stairs. They gathered their weapons and made way for the boat. The bull led them back out to their ship without so much as a goodbye. She walked up the ramp and looked back at the Minotaur standing in the entrance.

Magic was real. It was as real as rain. And it was dark. This..she knew to be true now.

An exhaustion came over her so heavily. She stumbled into Roman’s cabin, kicking off her boots. He trailed behind her placing his weapons on the same table they strategized at. William and Adhar left to go be alone. Truthfully she didn’t want to be alone after something so triggering and sensitizing.

She’d never seen Roman cry and his nose was still red from it. She studied his face thinking about all the things he did. She felt not a single ounce of judgment towards him. He was a bit more morally complex than she initially thought. There was a time in his life that he was unrecognizable compared to the man before her. She understood it all. She could accept that anger for his past. She was still angry about her own past—sin or not.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before he pulled a hidden stash of rum. He sat out two glasses and she chugged the first serving. The second glass she poured on her own, filling it all the way to the rim. Alcohol never really made the pain stop but it slowed down her thoughts. She took another burning gulp.

“ Easy….”, Roman sighed across the table. She sat the cup down and suddenly the tears came. They racked over her heavily and violently. She muffled the sounds with her face in her hands. Roman reached across the table and grabbed one of her hands.

“ It’s alright dove”, he whispered.

“ It’s not alright. I feel. I feel…violated. I feel open. I hate this feeling.”, she sniffled.

“ We all do.”

“ I was never going to tell you what happened to me. Especially on that ship.”

“ Why….”

“ Because men pretend to sympathize…to empathize. They pretend to be good people but they’re not. You tell them your past and they’ll be sure to give you double of it. To make it hurt worse.”

Roman didn’t respond. He wasn’t sure how to.

“ I…have spent so many years trying to come to peace with it. Then the ship happened and it unraveled me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be whole enough again to give you what you want.”

Roman frowned in confusion.“ What do I want ?”

“ What all men want. Real sex. Not whatever game that was a week ago.”

“ Game? That’s how you saw it ?”

“ What could be better than taking the pleasure you want as opposed to spending all your time giving it ? I came and you got nothing”, Jane scoffed, wiping her face.

“ You’re approaching this like some type of payment Jane. Sex isn't some transaction—at least not how I see it. Not with you. I don’t pleasure you in hopes that you do it back. I do it because I enjoy it and nothing more.”

“ I don’t believe you”, she shrugged.

Roman was dumbfounded. Absolutely dumbfounded. He thought he made his intentions clear.

“ What aren’t I saying to make this better? What am I missing ? How do I take this pain from you ?”

“ You can't, it's already done.”

“ Jane..”

“ I can’t….I can’t go all the way with you right now. I don’t know if I’ll ever enjoy real sex again. And what’s even more maddening is that I experience a desire for you that supersedes any other man I’ve encountered. I crave you in a way that is foreign to me. But I cannot give you the very thing that I’m supposed to. What any woman would. I’m trapped in my body—in my desire. I’m fucked up. I’m…broken Roman.”

“ Don’t say that….”

“ I am.. it’s true.”

“ It’s not true. I want whatever you give me. I want you. There’s so many other options on the table for us. It doesn’t have to be just ONE way Jane. However and whatever we decide to do is for us only. There’s no guideline on this sort of thing. I’m in no rush.”

“ You told me that if I chose you I would be guilty of crime by association. I’m telling you if you choose me—I may not be able to fulfill you sexually in the way that you need. At least not in this moment. That could be days, months, weeks, years. It could be a lifetime if we make it that long.”

“ I’m telling you that there are other ways. I am more than fulfilled right now. I’m fulfilled by your gaze. The touch of your hand. Whatever you’re comfortable with is what I’m comfortable with.”

“ You say that now but what happens when what I give you is not enough anymore? There could be someone else, someone more willing. Someone more beautiful.”

“ You must think my brain is located in my cock”, Roman chuckled.

“ I…I just want it all out of the table.”

“ No seriously. You’ve got to stop with these generalized statements about men. I know the horrors of men. Every person who looks like you and me understands those horrors. What I can say is that I know men don’t always have the best representatives. A good portion of them are shit—even I can agree. And for about a decade of my life I was one of them. But people do change Jane. I changed. I changed even more when I met you. Being able to call you mine is enough. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I will never pressure you. I meant it when I said you’ve paid your dues. I’m not here to cause you anymore pain. Neither one of us needs that now. Especially not after today”, Roman urged.

She carefully took in everything he said. The conviction in which he spoke, the sincerity in his eyes… he was telling the truth. Her gut told her so.

Roman continued. “ You and me—you especially, have been through hell and back. Let us have this one thing to ourselves, for ourselves. Leave the expectations behind you. I’m not your dictator. I'm not here to tell you what you should or should not do as a woman. I just want this, I want us. Nothing more.”

Jane’s face wrinkled in confusion. Roman was a strange bird. Any other man would have walked away—at least the ones she encountered previously. “ That’s not very traditional, you know ? You really truly want this…all my darkness? All my pain? It’s not too much for you ?”

“ In case you haven’t noticed, I’m nowhere near a traditional man. I could ask you the same but who else would understand me like you? You heard about all those things I did in my past and you still look at me like I hold the moon and stars. Like me—an ole’ pirate, has the right to cast judgment over you. I want you and anything that comes with it. The good and the bad.”

Roman gets up from his chair and walks over to her, crouching down to where she sat. Her arms leaned over his shoulders and she wrapped them around him tightly in a deep decompressing embrace. How often do they hug?? Not often, if even at all especially for it to have felt so good. She revels in the feeling, confused on how something so simple had taken so much weight off her shoulders. He pulls away and cradles her face in his hands.

“ I will take your darkness and turn it sweet. This I vow to you. No secret of yours should be burdened alone”, he says.

“ Okay”, mutters wiping a stray tear from her cheek. Why did she always end up crying in his arms? Why was it so easy too?

“ Okay”, he chuckles. He kisses her lips gently and sweetly. Like she’s made of glass. She doesn’t mind it. She doesn’t mind being doted on and revered as precious especially after such a hard conversation.

“ What can I do to make your frown turn upside down ?”

“ I need a hot bath”, she murmured.

“ Okay I can do that . Any other requests ?”

“ More of what you made me earlier.”

“ ahh. The Oka l’a ?”

“ Yes please”, she mumbled face first into his shoulder. All that crying had made her sleepy.

“ Your wish is my command.”

Roman

Much to Roman’s dismay, they stopped on the deserted island with the rotting boat for barnacle scraping. It was necessary to ensure that the ship continued to travel at its highest speed. Barnacle scraping was one of the more annoying facets of being a crew member. In moments like this he was thankful to be the Captain. All that sand and salt water battering against someone while they scraped away with all their might—it wasn’t fun. Rory and Thomas were on duty. He watched them scrape against the hall of the boat, flinging the barnacles into the sand.

He needed to touch land and recenter his thoughts. His mind kept wandering back to all the venom that the creature spat. The conversation with Jane played on a loop in his mind. He had come to the realization that every action he made with Jane was in protest to all the beliefs she had about men. It would be his job to show her better everyday. It wasn’t a hard job but she was resistant to her prior beliefs. He was patient with her.

He let a wave of warmth fill his lungs from his pipe as he stared at his ship from the beach. Should he feel guilty for his anger towards the monarchy? It wasn’t just Augusta that caused him pain. There were many people like her. However, he was angry quite a lot. It was something he had only recently gotten a hold of 5 years ago. He found other cathartic ways to deal with it. He’d gotten into reading again and collecting cigars. He’d even gotten a fucking parrot but every now and then his mind would wonder.

He’d rethink arguments and injustices and dream up something better. A desperate need to be the savior he needed for himself. The thirst for vengeance. The occurring nightmares did him no favours. Sure, he was remorseful of the violence that ensued. His treck to the top of the food chain had been bloody—sometimes unnecessarily. He was bitter for many years. Still, if Roman had no choice but to be removed from his family he would choose being a pirate always. He never wanted the life of a monarch.

This constant battle of being a fierce figurehead and a the gentlest version of himself for Jane was a catch 22. One side of him needed the other, yet his line of work contradicted the very thing he wanted to give her. How much longer could this go on? He would never out run the cruel man he used to be. But he had to make space for the man Jane needed.

The ache for her returned, dull and throbbing like a maddening tooth ache. Ever since he’d nearly left her it seemed like there was a thin long string between them. If he got too far she’d pop into his head and somehow he’d return. He’d have to head back soon. But he needed this fucking smoke.

He undressed her for her bath in his room. She was stunning while clothed and even more stunning naked. It seemed quite redundant after the intensity of their discussion. However she seemed to be fairly comfortable. He kissed her intensely before he left, he could still feel it on his mouth. He liked the way she used his space, it made the cabin feel “lived in”. He could see himself shutting out the world and imagining the captain's quarters as a house on land. She’d be busy doing tasks around the space like a house. There would not be a roaring sea outside and he’d have her all to himself. He would soon suggest the idea of her moving her things into his cabin. There was no use in being apart.

He turned around to look at the boat, realizing he had strayed further away than he should have. He threw his cigar in the sand and squashed it with his foot. He watched the embers burn out in the sand. A distant yell snaps him out of his thoughts.

He can see Thomas stumbling backwards in the distance before getting up and lunging forward. Maybe a fight broke out? Roman starts a light jog back to the boat. Another yell and Adhar appears to be swinging his sword around—fighting? Roman was sprinting now. He dreaded the thought of secret attack but how? They were in the middle of nowhere.

He ran to the other side of the boat to find Thomas sparing with what could only be described as a skeleton. A skeleton?

“ Don’t just stand there! It’s strong !”, Thomas choked. It took Roman a moment to actually process what he was looking at. Not even the creatures in the prison confused him this much. The Skeleton had its forearm pressed against Thomas's neck. Roman grabbed the back of its head and swung it effortlessly to the ground. The bones shattered apart. The two just stand there panting while looking at the pile of bones.

“ How the fuck did you manage to let a skeleton choke you?”, Roman turned to Thomas.

Thomas rubbed his sore throat. “ I’m telling you it was kind of strong. And it’s bones hurt. Bloody thing got me while my back was turned”, he hissed. Suddenly Thomas’s eyes widened. Roman turns around to find that the skeleton had reanimated. This time he pulled out his sword and slashed across it’s sternum with his sword, causing it to fall again.

“ Bloody hell….”, Roman groaned as the Skeleton made yet another attempt and rebuild itself.

“ Just keep it discombobulated. It can’t hurt you if it can’t put itself back together”, he gave his sword to Thomas and stalked back to the ramp.

The top deck was hell. Pirates' backs were being ridden by skeletons in Tang dynasty armor. Rory blasted through a group of skeletons with a roar sending bone parts flying everywhere. Adhar was sword fighting with two skeletons at the same time. Williams fought at the edge of the ship sending bones flying into the sand. Caden used a femur as a weapon warding off approaching skeletons. Each time a skeleton was knocked down they’d reanimate and come back for more.

“ Anybody got a fucking match ?”, Williams yelled with a pipe in his mouth flying a bone down the beach.

“ Don’t even bother they won’t burn, OUCH!”, Earl yelped as a Skeleton bit his ear.

The skeletons that managed to get on the ship held Dao’s. Some of them were rusted by sea water making sharp, rusted, jagged weapons that could potentially kill someone. That’s how Roman ended up in a fight with an armored Skeleton holding a spear. One for the story books.

Jane

She actually didn’t mean to fall asleep in his bed but he insisted that he had work to do. To her surprise she woke up to yelling. She quickly grabbed her pistol off Roman’s table and busted the French doors open to find utter chaos. Skeletons were everywhere and they were angry? Roman fought somewhere in the middle of the deck, throwing Skeleton heads in the air and kicking them off the boat.

An especially tall Skeleton in thick black armor came stomping towards her. Her eyes widened and she lifted her gun at its head, shooting at it in three short bursts. She shot the head, chest and pelvis. It paused looking at her momentarily before collapsing onto itself. Roman turned around, nose flared in a heavy irritation. He storms over to her.

“ Get back in there and close the door”, he hissed.

“ What ?! No. I just killed that thing. It looks like you guys need the help!”, she gawked.

“ It’s not safe t-— wait”, Roman punched the head off a skeleton creeping up behind Jane.

“ They’re trying to stab people with rusty knives. I’ll be damned if you die because a bag of bones shanked you. Go back into my room and lock the door”, Roman demanded. Another Skeleton attempted to swipe at Jane with a spear. He snatched the spear from the Skeleton’s arms causing the bones to disconnect from it. Now an armless Skelton was trying to bite him.

“ I’m fighting. We talked about this. You said I was perfectly capable of defen— HEY!”, Jane scoffs as Roman picks her and throws her over his shoulder like a bag of flour. She scrambles against his hold, beating against his back but it’s pointless.

Roman storms through the French doors and plops her on the bed. She takes a pillow and throws it at him. When she realizes he’s heading for the door she sprints after him. She's a second slower than him and he manages to trap her inside.

Roman

He wraps his belt around the double door handles and places a sword in between them to prevent her escape. He can hear her yelling and beating from the other side.

“ William!”

“ Aye Cap’n?”, he turns to Roman, face drenched with sweat.

“ Do not let Jane leave that room. Do not let anything enter that room. She can’t come out.”

“ Aye”, William stalked over to the door with a pistol standing in front of it.

“ JACKASS!!”, she shouts from the other side of the door.

10 minutes into this “fight” a skeleton had actually managed to slash the skin on his arm. It did nothing but piss him off more. Thomas had retreated back onto the boat with a Skeleton biting his ankle like one of those rat terriers.

“ We need to get off this bloody island!” Adhar yelled in exhaustion. There were over 100 Skeletons reanimating themselves with some rising from the under the sand, crawling from the rotten boat and even coming out of the tree line.

“ Fuck this. Raise the sails. Cortez! Get us out!” Roman yelled, pushing another skeleton down the side of the boat.

They made sail again, throwing the bones overboard. The reanimated bones on the shoreline tried following the boat but fell apart once the water reached their knees. What was left of the skeletons was dumped in the water.

The men sat there panting on the wind deck. This was somehow the perfect way to end a shitty day. Some of them had bite marks, cuts and bruises. Others just looked disheveled.

“ Let me out of here you NOW!!”, he heard Jane screech from the other side of the door. Roman painfully peeled himself from the floor and untied the French doors. Jane swung the door open and pushed Roman. He barely stumbled. Her eyes widened when she saw his arm.

“ You’re hurt”, she held his arm.

“ Just a scratch”.

“ You’re bleeding onto the fucking floor. Earl!.”, She pulled him inside the cabin and sat him down.

Earl came and assessed his arm.“Superficial though I’m sure very uncomfortable. You won’t need any stitches; the cut was clean. Why don’t we get you an astringent, some ointment and a bandage?”

“ I can help him. Why don’t you go relax Earl. I’m sure it’s been a long day for you.”

Earl thanked her and gave her the wound supplies before leaving, likely to go assess his own bite. After a quick wash up, Roman sat at the table with Jane on her knees, pressed witch hazel against the wound. She rinsed it cleaned and dabbed bag balm on the very top.

“ You know you might not have gotten than cut if you actually let me help”, she sighed wrapping his arm with a bandage.

“ It was no big deal.”

“ Oh really? If it was no big deal then why didn’t you let me help?”, she bit.

“ Rusty. knives.”

“ I don’t. care”, she mimicked.

Jane rolled her eyes and sat the bandage roll on the table. Roman unexpectedly pulled her forward in between his legs, leaning over her just inches above her face.

Roman smirked. “ Have I ever told you how cute you are when you’re mad?”

He leaned down and kissed her mouth firmly in a long hum. She stiffened and then softened, swatting at his chest as he pulled away. He chuckled at the pout on her face.

“ You’re not funny”, she whined with annoyance.

“ Maybe not but I have to admit, after all the shit that happened today I never guessed I would be nearly stabbed by a dead guy.”

“ Well…that thing did say that other creatures won’t want us to have the key . I just hope nothing else comes up. Nothing we can’t handle at least”, Jane sighed.

“ Whatever it is we will get through it.”

“ Not if you lock me away”, she frowns.

“ Alright fine. Next time I promise but not if I sense your imminent death.”

“ Fine but you’re going to have to make it up to me.”

“ How ?”

“ I don’t know.”

“ I could always give you a kiss.”

“ You just gave me a kiss?”

“ Not that kind of kiss darling.”

She yawns in an exaggerated manner. “ Maybe with breakfast. I’m exhausted.” She stands putting the pound supplies back in the aid kit.

“ Then… I bid you a goodnight Miss Ramlal.”

“ Good night you stubborn ass”, she drawled on her way to the door.

“ One of these days you’re going to have to move your things in with mine. it’s only right ”, he called back to her.

“ In the midst of you making it up to me, maybe you’ll give me your proposition”, she winked at the door before turning the corner.

Roman accepted that challengeand went to bed with a stiff cock.

Jane

Thanks to her nap earlier she was up tonight. She read, she had a snack, she even tried on new dresses she got back in Port Plado before they left. She was bored. It also didn’t help that ever since their exchange she’d thought alot about that “convincing”. She should have taken the offer.

A knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. She gets up pulling on her robe and answers the door. Roman is standing there wish disheveled hair, opened shirt, just trousers.

“ May I come in ?” He asks quietly.

“ Of course”, she moved over to let him sit on her bed.

“ How’d you know I was awake?”

“ I could see a light under your door.”

“ Oh. Right ”, she smiled pulling her robe around herself.

“ feeling okay ?”

“ yes I’m fine. Just a bit restless”, she looked at his trousers and could see a dint. Her belly flipped in excitement but she tried to hide it. He seemed tired.

“May I…..touch you ?”

Fuck it…

“ Ye—-.” before she can even finish the word he ambushes her, covering her mouth with his mouth. He pushes up her dress. They fell backwards on the bed. He pins her left leg to her stomach, keeping her open to reveal her glistening center. He licks three fingers and places them at her clit swirling them in tight firm circles. Her eyes nearly cross as her head falls back. He's so big she can’t close her legs. He props her other leg over his shoulder for better access. She has to cover her mouth from the sudden stimulation. She’s audibly wet which gives away the arousal she’s had for the last few hours. He pulls back to spit on her cunt and then resumes with those firm circles.

“ Roman ”, she sighs.

“Jane”, he mocks quietly.

“ What are you doing ?”, she asks lazily. She knew exactly what but her mind didn’t have enough time to calculate the last 30 seconds.

“ You really do have such a pretty cunt”, he grunted against her mouth. She just sighs softly against them, closing her eyes and relishing in the warmth of his fingers.

“ I’ve been thinking about how it tastes ever since that night. I told you…there are so many ways to get my point across. You haven’t an inkling on what truly satisfies me. I can’t be satifised- won’t be satisfied, unless I can see you crumble in my fucking hands.” His tone was rough and sharper than usual. She didn’t mind it at all. He pulls back to gently but firmly slap her cunt and it ignites all of her pleasure centers. She gasps, Instinctively closing her legs. To no avail she remains wide open to him. Her back bends off the bed as he continues rubbing her clit.

“ Stay right there. You’re doing such a good job”, he whispered. She’s whimpering behind her hand now. He looks down to see a sticky arousal forming around his fingers.

“ You see, if you were in my bed you could yell as loud as you want. Think about that next time because I plan on doing this again”, he sucked her neck. Her eyes rolled around her skull as she gripped his bicep. She can feel her nails biting into his skin. It just makes his hand move faster.

“ Roman…sensitive”, she warned.

“ I hope you know that you’re not getting up from under me until you’re properly ruined”, he chuckles darkly. He flashes his teeth and he can see another dreadful wave of arousal come over her features.

“ You’re not ready to go all the way, that’s fine. I can take that. Take all the time you need but I will watch you cum. Whether I do it for you or you do it yourself. I will watch you shatter every single time Jane”, he murmured against her temple. Her brows scrunch and her lips tremble into a pout as she feels herself coming close to the edge. A true delirium was seeping in as she neared her impending climax. That stage where she’d do or say anything to cum. No matter how bat shit crazy it was. She’d recite the Spanish alphabet if it meant he kept going.

“ Yes ...yes only you—make me come”, she whined hazily. Her entire body had broken out into a light sweat. Properly wanton and consumed by desire. Not caring about her appearance. Raw pleasure.

“ Only me, yes. Say it again”, he says with another quick slap to her cunt.

“ Onl-Oh fuuckk”, she squeaked.

“ Tell me all the filth going on in your head right now. Tell me and I’ll lick you a bit. Tell me what you were thinking about before I came in here”, he taunts in her ear.

“ Y-your tongue. Your shouldersss-shit!”, she moaned.

“ What a good girl you are..”, he pulls away and laps at her clit. His tongue is pleasantly cooler than her heated sensitive skin, which gives her a gush of relief. Yet as quickly as she relaxed, she tensed up at the feeling of his tongue. It poked, flicked, lapped and dipped at the entirety of her cunt, pushing her closer to her release. She was seconds away from coming undone right then but he pulled away to watch her sex. She’s drenched down to the sheets. The longer he prolongs her pleasure the wetter she gets. He licks into her awaiting mouth.

“ You like my tongue?”, he mumbles against her lips.

“ Yes I love it I love it love it”, she chants desperately into the quiet of his mouth. His fingers become more frantic.

He shuts her up here and there with lip locks, sucking on her tongue to keep her at bay. Or he’d pull away just to rest his forehead on hers and watch the way her face breaks up and contorts. H finds her devastating in the height of pleasure—a feast for the eyes. He kisses her forehead as she hiccups underneath him, becoming desperate for reprieve.

“ More ?”, he asks her. She neither nods nor denies, just stares at him with pleading eyes. He pulls his hand away.

“ Open your mouth and say it”, he says firmly.

“ Yes please”, she gushes desperately.

She bucks her hips. He takes his thumb into his mouth, sucks it and places it right on her clit, swirling in fast circles now. Her pleasure becomes more narrowed and more precise. Her head falls back but he uses his other hand to pull the back of her head up, forcing her to look at him.

“ Right here. Right at me”, he says. Forehead to forehead she can see his pupils dilate.

“ I’m- I- I ”, she whimpers. Her words fail her. She’s so close she can taste it.

“ Shh. Just give it to me darling”, he soothed shushing her.

She felt it was her duty to describe to him how good this felt. How mad she was driving her. She almost pitied him for not being able to feel this intensely. So good so…

“ Look at that. So… wet. You see what happens when you keep from it. It’s weeping Jane”, he taunts.

God his fingers... Holy shit his fucking fingers. In her right mind she’d debate if they were better than his tongue. She can only nod as her eyes roll into the back her skull drunkenly. Just what he wanted.

She fists the front of his shirt stretching it towards her, closing the rest of the distance between them.

“ I’m going to cum”, she croaks out in a panic from the force of which she can feel her orgasm sprinting towards her. She imagines it like a train. This would be a big one —just as big as the party if not bigger. She holds onto his wrist in an attempt to brace herself. Eyes wide and filled with worry and desire. There were over 100 pirates just outside that door and the only thing on her mind was how hard she was about to come.

And then her orgasm briefly paused in it’s pursuit of her and she was frozen at her peak for seconds longer than she’s used to. She wants to screech at the intensity. It was agonizing. It was deliciously agonizing. Her climax had her by her throat and it was nearly unbearable.

“ Go ahead, Dove. Don’t need my permission”, Roman whispered softly.

And his words dislodge any delays and fuck her mind. What follows is nothing but pure ecstasy. She contemplates pushing against his chest or biting him to withstand the force. All she can muster up is the bend of her back off the bed. He smashes his mouth to hers but there’s no need. The release is so intense she can barely make a sound. Her hearing gives out and the room fills with dots.

“ Breathe”, he whispers. She goes limp from the lack of air she denied herself.Seconds later he pulls his hand away.

The moment a gust of air pushes past her mouth he eats it, swallowing it down for himself and pulling her into a dizzying sloppy wet kiss. She’s panting heavily looking at him like a crazed man. Then they both look down to see her drenched center glistening against the lantern light.

“ Inside, okay ?”, He asks. She nods.

He gently takes two fingers and pushes them inside of her, feeling her slippery release. The squelch of his fingers brings an inner warmth to her cheeks that thankfully can’t be seen. He then pulls them out and watches her intently as he sucks on them. He attempts to swipe at her clit with his thumb again but she bucks against him, shaking her head in warning. Too much.

He chuckles at her expression and looks down hungrily between her legs. He takes a moment to pull those lips apart to see the wet inside of her. She's pulsating, flashes of her climax still seizing her flesh. He pulls his hand away to grab her chin and kiss her. She groans, feeling the heat nearly return to her core from him.

“ Can you taste yourself on my tongue ?”

She nods almost dumbly. Did she have room for another orgasm?

“ I like the way you taste. If I was in a crueler mood I’d pin you to this bed and eat your cunt until you started wailing. Push you past the point of sensitivity. I’ll save it for another day.”

She’s gobsmacked. Center out and he just looks back down at her.

“ I’m just getting one last look before I go into my cabin and tug on my cock with my fingers in my mouth”, he says in the most casual tone.

She can still see a tint in pants. He begins to pull away.

“ You…you could do it here”, she pants. He pauses.

She leans forward and grabs him through his pants. His eyes closed slowly as if he was hoping she wouldn’t.

“ You said—.”

“ There are other ways, you said so yourself.”

“ Are you sure you’re ready for that ?”

“ I am.”

“ Absolutely sure ?”, he presses.

“ Yes I’m absolutely sure”, she drawls.

“Okay. If you want me to stop, just say the word.”, he slowly reached down to his pants and pulled them down to his knees. He was bare under his trousers which caused his length to pop out and hit his belly button. Her eyes widened.

The length alone was just as concerning as was the girth. She was happy to have chosen a patient man because she would need it. But it was perfect. Tawny colored, with a thick vein in the center underneath. The head was flushed and wet with his own arousal. He took off his shirt. She noticed a slight curve to it when she reached forward and pulled him towards her. His skin was hot and throbbing, twitching in her hand. It almost made her giggle with how reactive his body seemed to her touch.

She pulled her hand away, dipping her hands between her still soaked thighs and spread it onto the base of him. His head fell back, looking at the ceiling in restraint. “Christ, fuck”, he spat. She moved her hand up and down his length.

“ You can fuck my hand…”, she giggled. Something about the sentence seemed silly to her but he didn’t laugh. Instead, he eagerly took her invitation, drawing his hips back to his tip and pushing into her hand. His eyes moved back and forth, up and down her body. She licked her other palm and pressed it firmly around his base, allowing him to use both of her hands..

Truthfully she needed two hands for his length alone. He went faster, which caused the bed to shift resulting in her bouncing. Her breasts bounced up and down with each thrust which nearly sent him over the edge.

He became more eager. It was so obvious he wanted a quick release and she was happy to give that to him. She looked down to see the squelch of arousal in her hand as his cock appeared and reappeared around her fist.

She reached down carefully and cupped his balls. Roman took a fist between his teeth as she massaged them slowly. His composure broke.

“ Tell me where you want it”, he huffed, thrusting into her fist like a cunt.

“ You decide”, she grinned mischievously up at him.

He came with a grunt and settled for her stomach and breasts. His release shocked her. It was the most beautiful thing to see him come undone. It didn’t push her away, it drew her in. The way every muscle in his body seemed to get bigger, the way his stomach contracted, the way his mouth hung open, his eyes, the grunting. She loved every single moment of it. It took her a few moments to notice the wetness between her chest and on her breasts. She looked down and swiped his arousal off her nipple with her finger, placing it in her mouth. He visibly shuddered.

“ You taste really good”, she smiled up at him. He leaned down for another kiss.

She no longer needed any convincing.

————

Hey guys I’m back and feeling better. New chapter by Sunday at the latest.

#spotify #roman reigns #roman reigns x oc #roman reigns x reader #the tribal chief #wwe #wwe smackdown #pirate au #roman reigns au #the head of the table

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she-is-juniper · 2 years

Text

Only Ones Who Know — an Elvis Presley x Reader slow burn series (chapter three)

Pairing: Austin Butler!Elvis Presley x f!Reader Type: series (chapter 3 / ?) ~ chapter one ~ chapter two ~ Warnings: so much fluff, a considerable amount of angst, pining, long lost lovers, slow burn, implied childhood/family trauma (vague), some cursing Prompt: You and Elvis grew up together; he was your best friend and first love, but he and his family moved away. Eight years later, Elvis walks into the diner where you work…and he doesn’t recognize you. But there’s an intense connection between the two of you. Should you let things between you play out organically, or should you tell him who you really are? Word Count (by chapter): 7K Rating (by chapter): M (mature) A/N: This chapter was so special for me to write. It's fluffy and angsty but I hope it makes you feel nostalgic and hopeful the way it felt for me when I wrote it. There are some brief allusions to implied childhood/family trauma, but I left it vague. Also, before y’all chew me out for writing this as a reader insert and not as an OC… I know, I know!! But I made the details ambiguous enough that most readers could suspend their imaginations enough to fill in the blanks for your own preferences. So I suppose you could read this as an OC or as a reader insert—either way, I sincerely hope you enjoy it!! I don’t claim that this is historically accurate or factual but simply inspired by the historical context! The events of this series are kind of a combination of real life events from Elvis’ life and the events of the film; thus, it may not follow the outline of events exactly as they appear the film. Inspiration for the plot more closely but loosely resembles real life documentations of Elvis’ life in 1956. Please note that I do not claim that this is historically accurate or factual but simply inspired by the historical context. Please for the love of all that is holy, comment/reblog/send asks if you want to see more of my writing—thank you in advance! ♡, Juni

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The first thing I had done after I had gotten home from Beale Street was cry over Elvis Presley.

I went to my bedroom, closed the door, threw my bag and clothes on the floor, curled up in a ball on my bed, and cried. Maybe I was just being too sensitive. Or maybe it was the early morning hour that sparked my sudden despair. But I cried until my eyes ran dry of tears and I was simply too exhausted to keep them open any longer.

That night, in my dreams, I was a child again.

I was climbing a tree, the rickety oak tree in the small backyard of my childhood home. As I climbed, the sky above me became dark and angry. It began to rain, and the wind began to howl, and I knew I needed to climb down to return inside. But as I looked down from my perch on the tree, I realized I had climbed much further than I thought, and there was no way back down.

Someone was calling my name. It was Elvis’s voice. He was inside my parents’ house, peering out the window, shouting my name over and over again…

“Y/N…Y/N!”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Y/N! Wake up!”

Reality crashed back as I stirred from my slumber. My roommate, Margaret, was standing over me and tapping my shoulder.

“Someone’s on the line for you,” she was saying.

“Huh?”

“Phone call, for you. She’s already rung three times.”

I heaved myself upright and gripped my throbbing temple. “Who?”

“Someone from your restaurant, I think?” Margaret was already dressed for work herself, in her starched white nurse’s dress. “Were you supposed to go in for work this morning?”

“No, my shift starts at twelve.” Rubbing my eyes, I glanced at the clock on my nightstand; it was only 10:45.

“Well, whoever it is, she’s gabbing so much I can scarcely understand her. She's still on the line, I left the phone off the hook for you.” Margaret gathered herself and headed out the door, but not before glancing at the pile of last night’s clothes I’d thrown on the floor. “...Ginny and I were wondering where you went last night?”

I searched for an oversized sweater in my dresser and threw it over my torso. “Beale Street,” I mumbled.

Margaret feigned a look of disapproval, but I could see the glint of intrigue in her eyes. “Were you being safe?”

“I was there with someone, don’t worry.”

"Someone?" She led the way into the living room, grabbing her purse and nurse’s cap. “A man?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

I waved goodbye to Margaret as she departed the apartment for work, and I went to pick up the telephone handset she’d left off the hook on the counter. “Hello, this is Y/N—”

“Y/N! Oh my god, you finally picked up.” It was Lila Mae, undoubtedly, my coworker at the diner. And sure enough, she was talking a mile a minute. “I’ve been callin’ you all morning! Have you heard? Do you know what’s happenin’ here right now? You gotta get to the diner right now! I can’t believe—”

“Slow down, Lila Mae— slow down. What’s going on?” I interrupted her.

“Elvis Presley is what’s going on! Why for the love of all that is holy did you never tell me that you knew him?! Oh my god. Oh my lord. I feel faint—”

“What do you mean?” Elvis…Is he…?

“He’s here! Outside the diner! He’s been waitin’ for you here all morning!”

“Elvis is at the diner again?”

Lila Mae gasped. “'Again'? You mean to tell me he’s been here before? Why didn’t I know?! Oh my god. Elvis Presley’s here—”

“Lila Mae— Lila Mae. What do you mean, he’s been waiting for me?”

“He came in ‘round 10 o’clock. I just about fainted at the sight, he’s such a dreamboat—he’s even more dreamy in person. And he was describin’ you, askin’ when you’d be here. I didn’t know what to do, it’s like my tongue stopped workin’, it was real humiliating. But I finally told him you was comin’ in for your shift ‘round noon, and I offered him a table to sit at, but he just said thank you and went back outside to his car. And he’s been there ever since. I reckon he’s waitin’ for you to show up! Did ya know he drives a yellow Cadillac convertible, with red upholstery? He—”

“Okay— okay— I’m on my way,” I said before hanging up. I was still worn slap out from my restless night, and I wasn’t thinking very clearly, but I mentally cursed Elvis for showing up to my place of employment—again. Why couldn’t he just spare me the misery, go on with his life, and let me go on with mine? It was clear that I didn’t belong in his life anymore, and he didn’t belong in mine—regardless of our past.

I quickly got dressed in a pair of trousers, a casual summer blouse, and a chiffon scarf I tied around my neck, and I grabbed my wrinkled waitressing uniform too, since I was due to work at noon. I usually took a bus to work, and today, of all days, it was running late. By the time I arrived at the diner, it was nearly 11:30.

There was a commotion of cars and people by the entrance. A haphazard crowd was formed around the same shiny Cadillac I’d seen park along Beale Street last night—Elvis’s car. As I approached, I saw girls and boys alike clutching albums and other merchandise, eagerly waiting their turn.

And there he was, sitting in the driver’s seat of his convertible surrounded by the crowd of fans. He looked impeccable and unmistakable, wearing a white button-down with the sleeves carefully cuffed, his hair meticulously slicked back as usual. He was smiling graciously to a doting fan, who was all but tossing her skirts onto him.

No—actually tossing her skirts into his car.

“You want me to sign your...petticoat?” he was asking.

“Yes, please, Mr. Presley,” the girl gushed, shoving a pen at him. He chuckled and took off the cap.

“Well, as long as they don’t get angry at you none for havin’ me ruin your pretty skirt,” he said, signing the fabric.

“Elvis,” I called out to him over the small crowd as I approached.

He glanced up. And he smiled like he was a kid and I was his Christmas morning present. Pure unbridled joy. It was ten times more intense than the way he'd looked at me last night when he saw me on Beale Street.

“Was wonderin’ when you’d show up,” he called back.

I held my hand up to block the sun as I frowned at him. Seeing him again after last night's escapade brought a rush of feelings, a strange mixture of thrill and anxiety. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Well, I came to find you,” he said simply, and then he addressed his flock of fans. “Excuse me, will y’all let the pretty lady through?”

The crowd eyed me as they parted to let me through to his vehicle. I didn’t move, though, just stared at him from across the parking lot.

“Hop on in,” he invited me, patting his passenger seat.

“...Why?”

“Figured we’d go for a ride, y’know, talk.”

I glanced furtively at the whispering crowd, feeling warm at the cheeks. But I crossed through them to stand beside his car and spoke lowly. “Elvis, you shouldn’t have come here.”

“Well, I had to,” he replied, matching my lowered speaking volume, and the corner of his lips turned up. “You didn’t leave me with no name, no phone number, no address. But I remembered you worked here, so… I came to see you.”

Something about his casual tone of voice was…off. It was strange. Like he was putting on a guise of some sort. But I couldn’t pinpoint it.

“You shouldn’t have,” I said curtly. “You should go home.”

He leaned over to pop the passenger door open, indicating for me to sit. “Not until we talk,” he said.

“I have to go to work,” I retorted.

He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “You can skip just for today, can't you?”

I glared. “This is my job. I can’t just play hooky like some schoolgirl. I have to pay rent.” Not all of us are blessed with heaps of money.

“I’m sure your friend in there wouldn’t mind covering for you for the day,” he mused. “Why don’t you go and ask her? Tell her I’ll sign any merchandise she wants when we get back.”

I stared at him, trying to make sense of my racing thoughts. He smiled at me.

“Please,” he added, and his smile faltered just a bit, revealing the earnestness in his blue eyes. He dropped his voice even lower, ensuring that none of the onlookers would be able to hear. “After how we left things last night…I’d just really, really love to talk, is all.” He eyed his slew of fans. “Alone, ideally.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. Could I really blame him for wanting to talk after what happened last night? I had left so abruptly from the club with seemingly no explanation. I could only imagine what he was feeling.

Growing up, Elvis was always inquisitive, sensitive, considerate. He’d always hated conflict, always wanted to make sure he listened to and understood others, always quick to apologize. So after yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he had done something awfully wrong to offend me. Which, even though he didn’t recognize me, his childhood best friend, despite everything… He really hadn’t done anything wrong last night.

I owed him the opportunity to get closure.

“Let me go talk to Lila Mae,” I said.

He smiled in relief.

Inside the diner, Lila Mae was a hurricane of excitement. “Y/N,” she gasped as she saw me. She ran up to me with huge eyes and gripped my arms. “Spill everything, now. How do you know Elvis Presley? Did he ask for your number? What's he doing here?”

“He—he wants to take me on a drive,” I said.

“When?!”

“Uh…Today. Right now.”

She digs her fingernails into my arms even harder. “Oh my god. You don’t know how lucky you are. What’s he smell like?”

“Lila Mae—will you cover my shift for me today?” I pleaded. “He said he’ll sign any of your merch. And I’ll owe you the next time you want off.”

She nodded so quickly I thought her head might fall off her neck. “Go on your date, girl!! And then I wanna know everything, you hear me?”

I thanked her profusely and ran back outside to hop in Elvis’s passenger seat. He grinned and waved goodbye to the fans before he backed his Cadillac out of the parking spot. He braced his hand on the back of my seat to look behind him, and his close proximity to my skin was intoxicating.

We didn’t say anything at first as he drove. The warm July air washed over my skin and through my hair. I untied the chiffon scarf around my neck and wrapped it over my hair to protect it from the wind as he drove. I noticed him glancing over at me, but every time I glanced back, he was conveniently looking straight ahead at the road. The way he looked, with his right hand gripping the top of the steering wheel and his left resting casually against the car window frame, brought an ache to my chest.

When he got on the 51, though, and started driving south, I finally spoke up. “So where is it you taking me, exactly?”

His white teeth glimmered with sunshine. “I’m gonna show you a place.”

“ ‘A place?’ ”

“You’ll see.”

We were quiet again, but it was a comfortable silence. Although…he was humming something, I realized. I could just barely hear it over the sound of the wind and the road. The tune, from what I could make out of it, was somewhat familiar. I wanted to ask him what. But I didn’t say anything.

The sprawl of urban infrastructure became more and more sparse, gradually becoming replaced with pastoral fields and forests. Finally, he turned off the highway into a narrow road, driving all the way up a circular driveway that surrounded a knoll of grass and trees.

I gaped up at the building we’d stopped next to. It was a massive mansion, and it was absolutely gorgeous. A series of white, southern colonial-style pillars towered at its front like sentinels, beckoning the eye up the stairs and to the grand front door. Two stories tall and with more shuttered windows than I could immediately count, the mansion was a formidably elegant sight.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmured.

“Ain’t it?” Elvis affirmed. “It’s called Graceland.” He looked back and forth between me and the mansion, grinning. “I’m gonna purchase it one day.”

“The mansion?” I gaped.

“The whole estate. I came across it a few months ago on the way to a show in Jackson. It’s not up for sale yet or nothin’. But the minute it is…I’m gonna buy it, for my mama and daddy.”

He put his convertible in park, then, and opened the door to step out. I gawked as he stepped up the steps leading up to the front door as if he already owned the place. “Elvis, what are you doing? Isn’t this private property—”

“Relax,” he interrupted, laughing. “It’s vacant.”

I noticed, then, the lack of vehicles or other evidence of inhabitants surrounding the building, and decided to join him. The massive front door was bookended by two tall windows decorated with wrought iron. He put his hands up to the glass to peer through one of them, and I peered in next to him. There was a beautiful staircase right by the front foyer, and two beautiful archways leading to rooms to the left and right. It was empty, devoid of furniture, but full of potential.

“Folks are starting to recognize me coming in and out of my parents’ house east of town,” he elaborated, “but I’m worried they’re all gonna start harassing the neighbors. I’m thinking we’re gonna need to move again soon. So I’m keeping my eye out for this place.”

I recalled the Presleys’ tiny shotgun house from the days of our youth. To think they’d one day be living in a grand estate such as this was surreal. But, then again, so was the notion that I would run into Elvis again after all these years, in the diner where I worked of all places

“I got a good feelin’ about it,” he went on. “It’s kinda silly, but…it calls to me, this place. It’s the name, I think. Graceland. Like you can feel the grace of God here, in the walls, in the fields around it.”

I hadn’t heard him say anything overtly spiritual before, but I was reminded of the way he’d tilted his head to the sky in prayer just before his performance at the benefit concert.

“It’s not silly at all,” I reassured him. I understood completely what he meant; there was a reverent sort of quality here, something that felt powerful and bigger than life. I touched the wooden window frame. "I feel it, too."

He held my gaze for a long while, and my heart fluttered so loudly I swore he’d be able to hear it over the rustle of the trees in the wind, like the whir of a hummingbird’s wings. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. I wondered if he felt the same about me.

“Elvis,” I said quietly.

His lips parted ever so slightly, but he said nothing. Just waited.

“I’m sorry I left so quickly last night,” I went on. “I know it wasn’t fair to you. But it’s nothing you did. It’s just—”

He grabbed my arm, effectively ending my apology mid-sentence. “You don’t have nothin’ to apologize for,” he said earnestly. “I understand completely why you left.”

You don’t, I thought. “Please, let me explain—”

“No hard feelings. Besides, I’m the one who should apologize.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well… I could’ve done some things better.”

I frowned. But he didn’t elaborate. His hand, still on my arm, slid down to my hand, which he held lightly in his own. I felt corny for having the thought that his eyes were the same color as the sky today.

“How come you showed me here, Elvis?” I asked quietly.

He bit his bottom lip as if he were trying not to smile. “Just a pit stop along the way. We’re not quite at our final stop yet. We gotta keep driving a bit.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “We’re going somewhere else?”

“Trust me, darlin’.”

He squeezed my hand and led me back down the steps to his car. He came around to open my door for me before getting in the driver’s seat and departing from the mansion estate. And then it was quiet between us again on the road.

I usually wouldn’t have minded the lack of conversation—or a good old-fashioned surprise—but my mind was spinning, and I needed answers. I wanted to know why he’d come back, what he’d been meaning to talk about, why he’d decided to come find me again. I wasn't in the mood for this sort of anticipation today.

“Elvis, I don’t understand why you’re taking me halfway to Mississippi just to talk.”

Just as I’d said it, we drove past a sign signaling that the Mississippi state border was a mile ahead. I made a strained noise and gestured to the sign to emphasize my point; he just chuckled, unbothered.

“You’ll see,” he said simply.

As curious as I was to see where we were going, my annoyance flared. “So, what, you couldn’t just spit it out back there at the mansion?"

He said nothing, just smiled to himself as he watched the road.

"Elvis," I prompted again. "We really have to drive out to the boonies to have a simple conversation?”

“Do ya want me to turn around, woman?” he asked, amusedly.

I huffed in irritation. “It depends on how much further we’re going.”

He didn’t even try to hide his smirk. “Don’t worry, it’s just a few more miles. I promise.” He saw the way I was glaring at him and added, “Do you need to get back to town for something?”

“No,” I griped.

“Then it sounds like you’re all mine today,” he said definitively.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. He snickered at me.

“Y’know, you’re real cute when you’re grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy,” I said.

“You are.”

I worked hard to force myself to ignore his attempt at flirting. “I just thought when you said you’d take me on a drive to talk, that we’d actually, y’know, talk.”

“We are talking,” he replied.

“About last night,” I said petulantly. “About… us.”

“We will talk about that—in ‘bout seven miles or so,” he said.

Seven? “Why not right now?” I pushed. “Can’t you tell me why you came all the way back to the diner to see me?”

“I will,” he laughed. “Besides, ain’t it obvious why I came to see you?”

I gawked. “No! I thought you just wanted closure!” I exclaimed.

Elvis raised his dark brows. “Closure?”

“About why I left last night.”

“I told you, you don’t have to explain anything,” he said. “And I don’t need no closure with you.”

"We weren't meant to see each other again," I groaned.

"What? Why?"

"Because this isn't going to work," I said and gestured between us. "You should have just let me go."

"Well, that's not what you said when you left," Elvis replied calmly. "You just said you had to go." His smile grew. "Did you really never want to see me again?"

I bit back my initial response and considered. "No," I finally admitted.

"That's what I thought," he said smugly.

As we passed the state border into Mississippi, I simmered. Something just wasn’t adding up. Why was he being so easygoing, nonchalant about everything? Moreover, I was beginning to become very nervous about what was happening—and my nerves were further fodder for my irrational anger.

“Don’t you understand how unfair this is?” I snapped. “You come into my life out of the blue not twenty four hours ago, and you uproot me from my work, and now you’re expecting me to just let you take me into the middle of nowhere like some murderer?”

He somehow seemed even more amused. “You think I’m driving you out here to kill you, dear, is that what it is?”

“No,” I huffed.

“You really have such little trust in me?” he laughed.

“I barely know you,” I retorted. Which was, of course, half true. I knew who he used to be. But for all intents and purposes, we were virtually strangers.

He gave me a level look that was indecipherable.

“I’ll turn around right now,” he offered.

I was silent.

“I mean it,” he said, braking the car ever so slightly. “You say the word, and I’ll take you back. No questions asked.”

My heart pounded. He kept braking, kept staring. Cars passed us in the left lane.

“What’ll it be?” he pressed.

I said nothing. He braked until we were at a snail's pace and he put his blinker on, preparing to make a U-turn and head back north.

“Don’t stop,” I whispered at last.

He smiled triumphantly and accelerated again.

Over time, my temper faded, leaving only a steady anticipatory anxiety. But I had to admit, the drive was beautiful. The summer sky was as endless as the the dense woods that bordered either side of the road. Despite the heat, the air that rushed over us in the convertible felt almost cool on my skin. I tried to focus on that sensation instead of the feeling of trepidation about where he might be taking me.

A few moments later, though, Elvis seemed to decide he was through with the silent treatment. “Tell me ‘bout what you’re studying at the women’s college,” he said.

I told him. My response set him off with a dozen new questions about myself, my life in Memphis, my summer job, my roommates, my aspirations. I answered them honestly. It felt a bit bizarre to resort to small talk after our prior conversation, but I figured if he didn’t want to talk about the important stuff, then I’d humor him for the rest of the drive. Besides, it beat driving in silence—and it admittedly felt good knowing how much he cared to know about me. He was attentive and engaging, and perfectly polite. My heart began to soften from the intensity of my earlier emotions.

After he seemed satisfied at the answer to his question about my favorite film, I asked him a question of my own. “What happened after the concert last night?”

Elvis tilted his head. “What d’ya mean?”

“I just meant, you seemed a bit...upset, about the performance when I saw you later at Club Handy. Did something go wrong?”

“Oh,” he frowned. “I…wasn’t supposed to, y'know, move around like that on stage again. Y’know, with the New Elvis and all. The Colonel just about flipped his lid when he saw me after.”

“So you broke the rules?” I realized.

He nodded, unsmiling.

“Well, so what?” I remarked. “You can’t make everyone happy. You gotta stay true to yourself, and all, right?”

“It ain’t that easy,” he sighed, tightening his grip on the wheel. “Colonel told me there’s gonna be consequences. Some people seemed real mad about the performance.”

“What about all the people who loved it?” I pointed out. “I saw your fans out there, Elvis. Those are the ones that matter the most, aren’t they?”

Elvis smiled just a bit. “You’re right,” he said, “as usual.”

“As usual?”

“Well, sure,” he said. “Remember what you told me yesterday? About listenin’ to my heart?”

I recalled the moment, back at the diner when I’d first seen him again, and nodded.

“That whole day, I hadn’t been so sure what I was fixin' to do do at Russwood. I knew I didn’t want any trouble with the Colonel, or with any of the folks who were making a ruckus about the way I sing or move. But after that godforsaken performance on Steve Allen…” He sighed and gritted his teeth. “If I can’t move, I can’t sing.”

Then, he looked over at me. “And the next thing I knew, the prettiest waitress in the world was waltzin’ up to me,” he said with a wink, “and reminded me that I should listen to my heart. And so I did. So I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is…thank you.”

I felt warm to the cheeks, but I didn’t say anything in response. I was vaguely aware of a knot that had formed in my stomach, which was less in response to his blatant compliment and rather felt more like a warning signal that something was wrong.

Before I could pinpoint it, Elvis finally pulled off the highway and onto an intersecting road, where a small sign indicated it was a local park. A small clearing extended beyond the gravel road, beyond which I could barely see an old wooden bridge.

It was a relatively unassuming park. Certainly not as grand or romantic as many of the local nature parks closer to Memphis. So why exactly Elvis had decided to drive half an hour and across the state border to this particular park, I had not a clue.

But that wasn’t the cause for the warning signals going off in my mind. The cause, I realized, was the realization that Elvis hadn’t once used the name Missy to refer to me today.

Before I could make sense of it, Elvis put the car in park and came around to the passenger side to open my door. He took my hand in his as I got out, saying, “Come with me, I’d like you to see this.”

I followed his lead in a daze and untied the scarf from my head, tying it around my neck again to combat the sheen of sweat that had developed on my skin from the summer heat. We walked across the gravel road and over to the small trail that had been stamped out in the grassy clearing. Around us, cicadas whirred and the air smelled of pine and sunshine. The trail led us to the wooden bridge—which was battered and moss-covered, yet sturdy-looking. Still holding my hand, Elvis glanced down at me with a smile before he stepped onto the bridge.

We walked to the middle of it, where it was cool and shady under the huge oak trees. Frankly, the sight of the small creek below wasn’t particularly spectacular. Confused, I frowned up at Elvis and searched his eyes for answers. But they gave me none. He gazed down at me, a thousand unspoken words on his expression. And he guided my hand up to the bridge’s guardrail, pressing my fingers into the wood.

Beneath his hand, my fingertips brushed over a series of small ridges. Etchings in the wood.

I pulled my hand back to study it. Carved into the wood, clear as day, were two names, separated by a small symbol.

Elvis ♡ Y/N.

Time stopped.

The world around me blurred. No more trees around us, no more creek below us, no more bridge under our feet. Just the carving in the wood, there beside my hand, glowing up at me like a beacon.

Elvis’s name. My name. The heart. The slight wear to the carving…as if it had been carved many years ago.

A voice, Elvis’s voice, came through to my consciousness. “Y/N,” he said.

My name. He spoke my name.

Slowly, my mouth agape in astonishment, I inched my gaze to Elvis. I watched as his lips parted again to speak my name. He spoke it like it the passcode into Heaven itself.

“Y/N.”

“Elvis,” I said back, my voice cracking.

I still didn’t understand. Didn’t understand why we were here, what the carving meant, what he’d wanted to say. But nothing else seemed to matter, except that he was saying my name, my real name.

“You recognize me,” I whispered as tears welled in my eyes.

Elvis just nodded. Something in his expression, the way his eyebrows pulled down like he was about to cry himself, it drew me in. I fell into his arms like I was a compass needle and he was my north.

“It’s okay, Y/N, honey,” he murmured into my hair as his arms wrapped around me. “I got you.”

And I started sobbing.

He held me like he would never leave again.

“I don’t understand,” I choked out in between gasps for air. “When…?”

“This morning,” he revealed, his voice just a low rumble against the side of my head. “I came into your diner to try to find you, but I didn’t know your name, so I got to describing you. And your waitress friend said your name. And that’s when I realized. God, Y/N… I’m so goddamn stupid. I should have realized from the start who you were.”

“No shit,” I laughed a little, sniffling. “I can’t believe you didn’t recognize me right away.” I couldn’t hide the hurt from my voice, but it was mild—I was mostly just relieved.

Elvis pulled me away just enough so he could see my face. He studied it with a wistful smile and wiped my tears off my cheeks with his thumbs.

“Look at you, you’ve changed so much,” he remarked. “I didn’t recognize you.”

“I grew up,” I said.

He nodded. “You’re a whole woman now.”

“Yeah, well, that happens to a lot of girls when we get to be thirteen or so,” I replied with a sniff.

He laughed and then brushed his fingers across my cheek again. “But now that I know… I still see the same Y/N in those eyes.”

I gazed up at him until I remembered the wooden railing. “What is this?” I asked, touching the carving in the wood again. “When did you do this?”

“September ’48,” he replied. “The day we moved from Tupelo to Memphis. We stopped in this here park on the way to let Mama stretch her legs for a bit…and I wandered onto the bridge. I had a pocket knife, a gift from my Daddy, and I used that to carve it.” He stared down at the names in the wood with a slight pinkness to his cheeks. “I…couldn’t stop thinking about you that day, Y/N. Your face when I told you that you couldn’t come with us…I couldn’t get it outta my head. I felt terrible.”

I blinked up at him, speechless. The way he spoke of that year brought up memories I hadn’t thought of in a long time. Some good…some bad, really bad. I felt the familiar chill of anxiety settle at the pit of my stomach.

This was the feeling I was trying to forget, the feeling I’d been running from for eight years. And as far as the last thing I had said to him in September ‘48–in which I had professed my love to him in a last ditch effort to have him take me with him—I regretted it deeply. Partially out of humiliation. Partially out of guilt for ever making him feel guilty about the circumstances, which had been completely out of his control. But it was more than just the humiliation and guilt.

“It was a long time ago,” I said dismissively. I didn’t like to think about my thirteen-year-old self.

“It was,” Elvis agreed. “But that don’t change the fact that I could’ve been nicer to you that day. It’s just…I was just a dumb kid, and we were moving, and I didn’t want to, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I wish things could’ve been different.”

“Don’t say that. If your parents had never moved to Memphis, you wouldn’t be who you are today.”

Elvis Presley. The King of Rock and Roll. Someone whose life I didn’t belong in anymore.

He gave a melancholy half-smile. “I know, I know… But I hated myself for breaking your heart.”

My stomach twisted. “I got over it,” I said.

His expression was unreadable. “I thought about you all the time. And I wrote you letters, but they all—”

“You what??” I exclaimed.

“I told you, darlin’, I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he emphasized—and his eyes captured mine. “And about what you said to me before I left.”

I mentally cringed.

“So I wrote you letters—probably a dozen. But they all returned to sender.”

“We moved across town a month after your family left,” I explained.

He made a noise of understanding. “No wonder…” And then he smiled to himself. “I thought I’d never, ever be lucky enough to see you again. But here you are.”

He pulled me into him again, enveloping me with his arms, and my anxious thoughts became scattered into a thousand pieces once again. He stroked my head gently, and I clutched at his shirt.

“Y/N,” he murmured. I felt him kiss my head. “I missed you, so much. And I loved you, too. I…”

He trailed off. I knew what he was about to say, and my body stiffened, which must have indicated to him that I wasn’t ready to hear it.

And I surely wasn’t. Frankly, I was trying not to collapse with how overwhelmed I was.

“You don’t know me anymore, Elvis,” I whispered. “I’m not the same girl anymore. We’re both different. We don’t know each other anymore.”

“I’d like to try and change that,” he said, rubbing my upper back as he continued to hold me close.

My heart jolted. “You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

I thought about all the times I passed by the shops in Memphis and saw his face on the television screens. I thought about the way every girl had screamed and reached out for him on the stage last night. I thought about the months and months he must spend on the road, touring. I tried to imagine myself inserted into his life, and I couldn’t.

“I just don’t belong in your life anymore,” I said.

He didn’t say anything for a while. He just held me, and the leaves rustled and the cicadas hummed around us like a symphony. But when he finally pulled away, his frowning expression seemed…angry.

Not angry. Determined.

“No,” he said. “Now, excuse my language, darlin’, but that’s a load of bullshit.”

I sighed. “Have you not seen yourself? You’re Elvis Presley. ”

“That doesn’t mean a damn thing,” he said. “Have you not seen yourself?”

His stubbornness fueled my frustration. “What?” I snapped. “A twenty-one year old unmarried girl who works at a diner and still barely scrapes by with enough for rent?”

He wasn’t phased. “You don’t see yourself very clearly,” he said definitively. “You’re more than that.”

“But you don’t know me at all,” I argued.

He took my hands. “And I wanna try to change that. I wanna get to know you again.”

As his words sunk in, they left one very big question. “But aren’t you leaving for another tour again?”

“I’m here in Memphis for a whole month, taking care of business, and my Mama and my old man.” He squeezed my hands in his. “I want the chance to get to know you again, Y/N,” he said again.

And with eyes like those…how could I have possibly turned him down?

“Elvis,” I said, so quietly it was almost a whisper. “Have you thought about why I didn’t tell you who I was when you came into the diner yesterday?”

He chewed his bottom lip. “I wondered.”

I sighed and faced away, leaning against the guardrail out toward the little creek and the emerald woods. “Before you left, eight years ago… when I told you that I loved you, it wasn’t just that.” I took a deep breath, readying myself for the familiar stinging behind my eyes, the ache in my throat. “I was just a kid, I didn’t even really know what love was. So I guess what I had meant by that—and why it was so hard for me when you left—was because you were one of the only good things in my life in Tupelo.

“You made me so happy, and you made me feel loved the way no one else ever had before,” I went on. “And so when you left…there was nothing left to mask the pain of everything else I was going through.”

“I’m so sorry,” Elvis murmured beside me.

I sighed again and collected myself. “Like I said before, I got over it. And I moved out of Tupelo as fast as I could, and I eventually got to Memphis. But when I saw you in the diner yesterday after all those years…”

“It brought back the bad memories,” he guessed.

I nodded. “And I figured…maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that you didn’t recognize me. Because I didn’t have to be that girl anymore.”

I didn’t have to be Y/N from Tupelo who grew up with no money and a bad home life. I could be Missy, the cool college girl living in the city. I could be someone better.

“I was able to get a fresh start with you,” I finished.

Elvis bit his lip again, deep in thought. Wordlessly, he sat at the edge of the bridge and gazed off into the woods. I joined him, and together our feet dangled over the blue creek. Around us, speckles of sunlight shone through the leaves of the trees above us and danced along the wooden slats of the bridge. A steady breeze brought goosebumps to my arms, and I shivered, despite the summer warmth.

Where would we go from here?

Elvis broke the silence after a long while. “What if we started with a...with a blank slate?” he mused. “Forget Tupelo, and the diner, and everything. Let’s just start over again.”

“It’s not that easy,” I mumbled.

“Why not?” He grinned suddenly and bumped my shoulder with his. “I’m just a boy who likes a girl. Doesn’t seem all that complicated to me.”

His smile was, unfortunately, infectious. “Well…That part seems simple enough,” I agreed.

He brushed his finger against mine where they rested on the bridge behind us. "I like you, and I'm gonna take you out tonight," he murmured. "I'm gonna take you to dinner, and you're gonna get whatever you want to eat, and we're gonna split some fancy dessert, and I'm gonna give you the last bite, like always."

I laughed, remembering the days of our youth. We used to save up our spare change and run across town to the general store in Tupelo, and we'd have just enough to purchase one chocolate bar. We'd climb up to the top of a tree and sit side-by-side on one of the branches to split the bar. And Elvis would always save the last bite for me, every time, without fail.

"You remembered," I said.

"I always will," he replied.

The memory prompted me to think about my nightmare from last night, about the storm, and climbing the tree, and Elvis's voice sounding from the house. I was beginning to understand what the dream had meant.

"I'm gonna treat you right, Y/N," he continued. "I want to do everything I can to show you that you can trust me. I want to know who you are."

I flipped my hand around, and Elvis interlocked his fingers with mine. Holding hands was just something we’d always done, even before anything turned romantic between us. We used to hold hands everywhere as kids. Now, seeing his hand joined with mine, I felt that familiar burn of nostalgia, but it felt good. He felt good. He was the feeling of home.

But I was scared. So scared. More scared than I was ready to admit right then. And I could tell that he knew it.

“Let’s start over?” he said again, but this time it was a question.

I squeezed his hand and replied softly, “Okay.”

✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷

A/N:

I hope you enjoyed chapter 3 ♡ This story has become sort of like my own comfort fic except I'm the one writing it haha! I can only hope I emulated the same sense of comfort and nostalgia and warmth onto you, my readers. Thank you eternally for sticking with me through this slow burn!

I’m dying to hear your thoughts about it! Please note that I write fanfiction for free; my only request for repayment is a genuine expression of your thoughts, opinions, likes/dislikes, and predictions about the story. Whether it’s simply a “Wow, I loved it!”, a keyboard smash, a series of convoluted thoughts in the tags, or even a full-out review, please know that any and all feedback is welcome!

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vipa-vo · 3 months

Text

Desire

Joel Miller x oc part 1 Warnings: 18+, sexual, tension, dirty thoughts, drinking/alcohol, jealousy, angry, oc is 36 Joel is 53, age gap, cursing, etc Summary: Rory Matthews was late out in a bar forgetting she had patrol in the morning with Joel.

Rory Matthews

“Didn’t know you were a drinker, Daniel.” I look him over, my not so sober self thinking how he would be on my bed- ahh… now Joel crosses my mind, ugh, he hasn’t spoken to me since we kissed.

I roll my eyes at the thought, going back to Daniel, as he opens his mouth to speak. “You don’t know a lot of things about me, but if you want I can take you out and you’ll know plenty.” He suggests, well that was bold.

No one asked me out- why? You may ask, because everyone was scared of Joel, Joel was someone you would call ‘protective’, the knight in shining armor, there were even rumors spread around town that we were dating- oh how I wanted that to be true, but no, we weren’t dating… to my better judgment.

It was me, Joel, and Ellie for a while before we found Joel’s brother: Tommy.

Never mind, let’s get back to where we were now, and that was me sitting on a chair with a glass of beer and Daniel sitting across from me.

“Why not, I don’t have anything to lose.” I shrug, taking a sip from my beer.

“I’ll come by and pick you up, how about Friday?” He asked as he looks up from his glass.

Swallowing the uncomfortable feeling, and looking back at him, the little spark on his eyes said something else than just a date. It said more, and I sure as hell didn’t want more, but my ego answered before my head could translate. “I’m free.”

He smiled at me, almost a smirk, nodding my head I think of all the ways this could go wrong.

“I think I’m done for the night.” My more sober self comes out as I go to stand.

“Have a good night, sweet dreams, I’ll see you Friday.” Daniel says as I go and leave the bar.

I speed-walk down the road of Jackson as I make my way to my house, my legs not stopping till I’m in front of my front door.

My next door neighbor was a ‘lovely’ woman named Ginny, she was a year older than me, and I hated her guts- mostly because she hated mine more.

I saw her every now and then, flirting with Joel, or someone else that talked with me, she pretty much thought with who ever I talk with, I have a crush on, so she went over and talked their ear off, mostly flirting with them, while I could see Joel trying not to be rude to her but I saw the annoying little eye rolls he was doing the moment she started to talk with him.

And then we have my other neighbor that was across from me and that neighbor so happened to be Joel, and Ellie, because she leaves close by in a way-to-huge shack.

But still, I was happy she had her own privacy from Joel. I saw the kid way more than I saw Joel, she and I even had our girls nights.

I saw her as a younger sister, while she may be 15 I saw her as a sister, which is weird because I myself am 36.

Anyway, I step inside my house and lock my door shut.

“Home sweet home.” I mumble as I take my shoes off, and go hang my coat on the hanger.

I do my girly needs and go to sleep, the alcohol helping.

-morning-

A loud bang wakes me up. I pretty much jump out of bed.

Then I hear it again, grumbling under my breath I walk to my front door, stepping one step at a time as I walk down the stairs, my head hurting a little.

When the bang is heard again I yell out. “I’m coming you imbecile!”

Finally making it down I walk to the door. Only to find Joel on the other end.

“Joel.”

“Rory.”

“What’s.. up?” I ask mentally smacking myself for the pause.

“You’re late.” He says simply.

I look at him with confusion. “Late? Late for what?” I ask.

“Late for patrol.”

“Fuck- shit- fuck- sorry I forgot- give me 10 minutes!” I yell out as I sprint back into my house to get changed.

I hear his faint chuckle as I go upstairs to get rid of my sleeping clothes.

When I’m done and changed into jeans and a better shirt, I walk back down and go to my shoes, this time putting my black combat boots on.

“You ready?” He asks as I close the door behind me.

“Yup.” I answer as I make my backpack more comfortable on my back.

I do as I’m walking my hair half up half down, then someone class out.

“Joel!” A woman’s voice who sounds way too excited this early in the morning.

Joel turns around me doing the same. Surprise, surprise, it’s Ginny.

“Yes?” Joel asks, and I do not miss the eye roll.

“Do you have a minute?” She asks with a voice way too high to be hers.

I mentally roll my eyes, something burning in my stomach- is that jealousy that I’m sensing from myself?

Joel turns his head to me and looks back at Ginny. “Can’ I’m headed out.” Joel says.

“Come on, she can wait, I need to tell you something.” She presses. My eyes widen.

“Hey go with her, clearly it’s important.” I say, doing my best to hide the loud jealousy that wants to kill the bitch, I turn around walking away, heading to the horses.

“Hey, Rory! You’re late!” I hear Maria yell, I turn to walk up to her and explain way I was late.

“I’m so sorry Maria, I overslept.” I say as I come to a stop in front of her.

“It’s alright, you probably needed it, where’s Joel?”

Probably fucking Ginny.

“Ginny wanted to talk to him.”

“And he stayed?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because he most certainly does not like her.” Maria grumbles out.

“Eh, maybe she finally pulled a string and Joel did what she wanted, for her to shut up.” I sheepishly.

“And you know that, how?”

“I’m an observer.”

“Uhm.” She hums slowly, almost suspicious. “Okay.

“Sorry I’m late, someone asked for me.” Joel’s voice is heard from behind me.

Maria looks at me first and then at Joel. “It’s okay, only if you two start moving your asses and get out on patrol!” Maria says as she walks away.

I get on my horse, his name is Scar, as in the loin king Scar, he has a big scar on his eye so I named him Scar, but also because Scar from the loin king was one of my favorite characters and movie.

“Who’s a good boy.” I say as I pet the back of his neck. A whine is heard, Scar wanting more attention than just a pet, makes me chuckle. “We don’t have time for your attention seeking, Scar.” I say as I hop onto my seat.

“Open the door!” Maria’s yell is heard and the men open the two huge doors. “She you two later, and stay save.” She says as we ride out.

-at the outpost-

We left our horses inside the building so that it’s at least warm for them, the random snow storm not helping, it’s already 6pm, we were switched from patrol to lookout, worst part is, we need to stay here till morning because of the storm outside. The men that switched with us said they’ll tell Maria we were switched.

Joel went to write that we were switched and that we were in the lookout building. At least we had power.

Only thing was we had one bed. And the couch was way too uncomfortable to sleep on.

My jealousy was still mad at Joel for some reason, while my brain said to not think about it, the kiss we shared was an accident.

Hey, maybe he already was with Ginny and I was delusional for think other wise. But damn was it a good kiss.

As if the devil had been called in, he comes walking back to the main lookout aria.

“What ya thinking?” He asks as he goes to sit next to me.

“Nothin’.” I answer back.

“Don’t lie.”

“Already did.”

I could practically feel the glare and eye roll from him. “Just speak to me.” He says softly.

I turn my head around to look at him, I straighten up and lick my lips, his eyes falling to my lips doesn’t go unnoticed, I corse my arms as I get more comfortable.

“What’s up in that little mind of yours?” He asks as he looks in my eyes, as if searching to find something in them.

“Y-nothing.” I grumble out as I again turn my head to the big window that looks over Jackson.

He turns my head back around with his hand on my chin. “Look at me as you say it, else I won’t believe you.”

I look at him. I can’t fucking lie in his face, that’s pretty much my weakness, to lie to someone I love in their face.

“N-nothing.”

“Don’t lie, again.” He say more sternly.

I roll my eyes and stand up, he most definitely will not have me confess my feelings for him, if that’s what he wants.

“I’m going to take some fresh air.” I say as I walk away and go to the opened area that’s like a balcony, on the left there’s a wall, a full on wall, to have as cover.

I go a little more closer to it as I look around, the big mountains surrounding the area, it’s beautiful how tall they are, the snow storm covering the top and sides of the mountains in snow.

A shiver goes through me, as the cold air hits my face.

Pushing the cold away I just admire the beauty of the setting sun the foggy air doesn’t let you see practically anything from the sun but the night.

A hand goes to my mouth and onto my waist as I’m pulled against someone’s body, I immediately put my hand on the hand that’s covering my mouth.

The person behind me has a strong grip, as his pushed himself against the wall, I calm down trying to make sense of how this person could have come up behind me without them getting shot by Joel, or is Joel dead on the couch? If he is, these people won’t rest till they’re dead.

“Imagine there’s a clicker in this building.” The husky voice whispers into my ear, Joel.

“What?” I grumble in anger his hand muffling my grumble.

“Imagine- just imagine there’s a clicker here, and we’re just like this, body to body, you can’t make a noise.” He whispers against my ear, his breath hitting my ear, something in my stomach flutters.

I gulp down my saliva as my cheeks start to burn. He pulls me more into him, my back arching as he lines me perfectly against his chest, the hand that’s around my waist tugs me further into him.

A small whimper comes out of my mouth, as I close my eyes. “Hey, hey, I need you with opened eyes, it could be anywhere.” He whispers more lowly.

When he again pushes my waist against himself, I can feel something poke me- my thoughts at interrupted by him changing places with me, this time he can look me in the eyes, as he has me against the wall.

“Joel…” I let a soft moan out.

“What do you want?”

“You.”

A low chuckle is heard from him. “And that’s what you’ll get, ma’am.” His husky voice is heard against my ear as he scoops me up, I tie my legs around his waist. “What ever you say, I’m under your command.”

My head falls in between his neck and shoulder. “Joel.. please.” I moan out softly.

“Please what?”

“Just- fuck me.”

“Gladly.”

He holds me up with his hands on my butt, as I have my arms around his shoulders as he carries me back inside. “Aren’t we supposed to be on watch?” I joke as he drops me on the bed.

“They won’t miss us.” He grumbles out, I go and unbutton his button-up shirt, so that he’ll be now half naked. “Now, isn’t that unfair? You fully dressed while I’m here without a shirt.”

“Didn’t you say you’re on my command?”

“That I am.”

I chuckle at him, he also goes to unbutton my shirt as he smacks his lips onto mine, the kisses is filled with hunger, he throws the shirt on the ground closely to where I had thrown his one.

“Now, now.” I stand up. “This won’t be surrender without me being on top, would it?” I tease.

“Shut up, and do what ever you want.”

“Well then.” As I go to say it I push him on the bed, him now sitting, making him look up at me. “Let’s begin.”

I go and unbuckle his belt before I go and remove his pants, him doing the same with my jeans.

I go and sit on his lap as we have a full out make out session, I roll my hips onto his crotch only to feel how hard he actually was.

Smirking I slowly but steady do my hand down, finding my way to his underwear, I slowly caress him, making him moan.

“Rory…” his soft moan is heard.

“Yes?”

“Don’t tease.”

I chuckle. I stop grinding my hip against him as I go and remove his underwear. And then after I do the same with my own panties.

A moan is heard as I caress his cock with my hand, I’m starting to get worried that this might not fit. And as if reading me like a book he speaks up.

“It’ll fit, I’ll make it fit.”

And that alone makes me wet, he starts to draw circles on my cunt, which make me a moaning mess.

After a moment he does both of his hands on my hip. He has me lined on with his cock.

“Please go slow.” I mumble out.

“Whatever you wish.” He says as he slowly pulls me down onto his cock.

The tip touches my pussy and I let a moan out.

He keeps going further into me, not stopping until his all the way in.

He stops to check with me if I’m okay, but starts moving when he sees that I’m indeed good.

He speeds up, making me moan louder.

“Joel!” I moan.

“Fuck.” He also lets a moan out.

“J-Joel, I-I think I’m close.” I say to him, over the slapping skin.

“Cum on me.”

As if that helped me through my orgasm, I let it out. He thrust over my orgasm and continues to fuck me endlessly.

I hold onto his shoulders as I’m onto of him, he turns me over, taking the lead, I dig my nails into his back as he goes down to my neck, leaving hot kisses behind.

He pulls out and comes on top of my stomach, moaning my name.

He drops over next to me as he lies down.

He sloppily puts a protective hand around my waist and pulls me closer, his body giving me warmth.

We’re like two body’s burning in desire.

———————————————————————————

I already plan on posting part 2 of this so come back if you wanna read it!!

#joel miller #joel x reader #joel miller x reader #tlou #tlou2 #oc #Joel miller game #smut #joel smut #reading #jealousy #tension #lovers #grumpy x grumpy #18+ only

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mermaidmvtel · 7 days

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welcome to my blog

☆ my name is dee

☆ im 14 (29th may)

☆ from the uk

☆ gemini sun, leo moon, leo rising

☆ favourite films are bones and all, little women, speak, mary poppins, funny face, girl interrupted, the virgin suicides, scream, jennifers body, ladybird, easy a, priscilla, elvis, i tonya, but i'm a cheerleader

☆ favourite tv shows are gilmore girls, the oc, ginny and georgia, sex and the city, the carrie diaries, derry girls, class of 2007

☆ favourite artists are lana del rey, ariana grande, sabrina carpenter, elvis presley, nancy sinatra, olivia rodrigo, fiona apple, billie eilish, sufjan stevens, the ronettes, aretha franklin, beyoncé, rihanna, kesha, britney spears, christina aguilera, justin bieber, aretha franklin

☆ dm me if u wanna be friends 🐈‍⬛

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tryskomys · 10 months

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MOONCHILD

Remus Lupin x OC reader

Chapter 2 - Episkey

Summary: Moony and Mittens officially join the Hogwarts faculty. After a string of both endearing and hostile reunions, the feast unexpectedly evokes a wave of dreadful memories.

previous chapter

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notes: here goes chapter two! hope you’ll enjoy it, it is preeeetty juicy for you angst lovers out there…

tw: a bit nasty - blood, vivid description of minor injuries, foul language, padfoot is a dickhead ™

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"Do you think I should change back?" Hesperia mumbled in a hushed voice as she and Remus crisscrossed between students through the narrow corridor. He was doing his best not to step on anyone's feet, which was quite a challenge as his pointy Oxford shoes neared twice the size of some of the children's. The brown leather material was flaky in some places, the heel worn out and uneven.

He answered with a shrug, now trying his best to maintain balance when the train suddenly moved, rattling through the tracks once again with a deafening screech of wheels.

"I don't think that will be necessary. They probably thought you were wandering somewhere around the train."

She sighed in relief and attempted to tuck a loose strand of hair back into the chignon.

"Splendid. I don't think that shaggy old floor mop would digest the chocolate very well. I don't plan on dying tonight, not until I've had at least two servings of butterbeer croquembouche."

A giggle rumbled through his chest as they reached their respective compartment. The children were still there, now a bit calmer as they discussed the preceding events. Remus gave a short nod in the direction of the now-empty package of chocolate.

Hesperia raised her eyebrows in contentment and then softly cleared her throat, a shy shiver running down her spine when the passengers looked at the two of them.

Their surprised faces scanned the new stranger, the boys were especially flustered when she gave them all a warm smile. Harry discreetly looked the woman up and down, stopping when she made eye contact with him.

Her eyes…that's impossible.

"Are you feeling better, Harry? We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in ten minutes." Remus gained back their attention when he spoke. They were already getting used to his calm, silent voice. He seemed to have an unusual sort of authority, one won over by pure kindness. But it was their first time hearing the woman speak.

"Professor Lupin kindly filled me in on the problems we've run into. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will investigate how those beasts got in here. Don't burden your minds with that, now. There's no safer place than Hogwarts, right?" she assured them. Her words carried through the air as if they were soft clouds, sweet to their ears like butterscotch.

Remus nodded and motioned towards the leather seats.

"May we join you?" he asked politely, his tired smile growing wider when the children nodded and muttered silent, assuring replies. Harry shuffled to the side so the professors could sit in the same place where Remus slept, oblivious to the cat's sudden disappearance until Ginny's shy voice peeped from the corner.

Hesperia got up in the meantime and reached for the copy of Daily Prophet that was tucked under her ragged suitcase, stubbornly staring into it when she sat down and heard Ginny's tremoring question.

"Professor, I- I'm sorry, but where is your Mittens?" she stuttered and her face was almost as red as her hair now. His eye twitched for the slightest second before he shifted in his seat, sticking his hands into the pockets of his robe.

"Oh, Mittens is not mine, she's just a stray. I used to meet her a lot around the grounds when I went to school, which was…let's say some years ago. More than I'd like to admit." he grinned and casually rested his head on the window.

"I was quite surprised to see her after all that time. She was looking rather ragged, though. I guess age is catching up to her." he shrugged as Ginny giggled. His ears caught the subtle rustle of paper when Hesperia gripped the Prophet tighter.

Oh, you're surely getting the claws when we get there, prick.

She was torn out of the long silence that followed when the train stopped with a shrill sound of metal grinding against metal.

"Looks like we're here! Ah, I hope there will be broiled potatoes." Remus stretched and gave everyone present a wide smile before getting up, probably too fast for his exhaustion, because his vision went fuzzy for a moment and he stumbled backwards. Neville caught him, his big ears as red as his favourite cherry liquorice sticks from the snack trolley.

The professor patted his slouched shoulder and thanked him. He just nodded and nearly ran out of the cabin, stumbling over Hesperia's small suitcase in the process.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet all of you! See you around." she nodded and handed Remus his cane before disappearing from their sight with a small wave.

When she walked outside, ropes of frigid rain were falling from the sky with loud splashes and clouds occasionally cracked with bright lightning. She softly swore under her breath, cringing as wet drops ran under the collar of her robe. Remus carefully limped down the stairs of the train and when he hit the ground with a heavy huff, she snorted.

"Who did you say was getting old?" she hissed at him but couldn't hide the grin playing at her lips when he looked at her, his green eyes wide. He smacked his lips in annoyance and softly punched her arm. He took out his wand, pointed it at the sky and a transparent umbrella sprung out of its tip, successfully shielding both of them from the pouring rain.

She lifted his small luggage from the ground and held it along with her own so he could use his cane as well as his wand. Ignoring his protests, she scooted over closer to him and hooked her arm into his when he offered it with a sigh.

"Mimi, you don't have to -"

"Shush, pay attention to your steps, now. You can be a gentleman tomorrow." she cut him off and tugged on his arm to make him move.

She heard Hagrid's booming voice calling the first-years to join him and she melted, the nostalgia finally catching up to her.

They made their way over to the carriages, gravel crunching under their shoes as they walked on the road surrounded by various blooming bushes and small flame spheres that hovered above the ground. The carriages they seemed to be dragged by strange, naked creatures now. They resembled horses and birds alike, their wings scaly and skeletal. Thestrals.

"Makes sense that we would see them, now...after everything," Remus mumbled in her ear, his warm breath making her freezing cheek pleasantly flush. She just soundlessly nodded and let go of him, climbing into one of the vehicles with a soft huff.

Three fairly grown-up girls, presumably seventh-years, hesitantly joined them. Their hair was soaked and their teeth rattled in the cold autumn breeze that fluttered around them as the Thestrals moved. Their faces turned pink when they noticed the unusually young and unusually handsome professor and his gentle smile.

"Engorgio!" he commanded and the transparent umbrella expanded with a high-pitched squeal until it hovered over the whole carriage. The group's cheeks flamed even brighter now, stifling giggles when he spoke.

"Better?" his sweet voice carried through the air and the girls nodded, gingerly thanking before murmuring something among each other. She cursed her pitch-perfect hearing.

Why couldn't I have transformed into a mole rat instead?

"Show-off," she muttered under her breath and he shrugged, a smug grin reaching all the way up to his twinkling eyes.

When they arrived in front of the castle and hopped out of the vehicle, she spotted Harry and the others from the train in the distance. They seemed to be in some sort of conflict with a trio of boys she didn't see before when they passed the compartments on the way here. Remus raised an eyebrow as they neared the group.

"I wonder whose son that is," he mumbled with a sarcastic smirk when they were close enough to notice that the loudest student had shiny, platinum blonde hair. She scoffed and did her best to put on a professional façade.

"Is there a problem?" Remus questioned in a firm but friendly tone and they stopped by the band of teens. He was remarkably better at keeping his temper than her, which was quite ironic considering his condition. Her disdain was hidden behind an unconvincing smile.

Draco Malfoy and his two companions turned around and looked the professors up and down, silver and green ties nonchalantly thrown around their necks. Now that they were illuminated by the golden lights of the castle and standing right in front of them, Harry noticed just how much shabbier they looked in comparison to the river of people flowing into the castle.

Remus Lupin was a tall, tall man. And yet, his ill-fitting robes still seemed to loosely flutter around his fairly broad stature. The tweed suit he had under his long grey robe was pilling around the buttons and loose threads were sticking out of his mousy brown tie. The rough woollen coat that hung down from his shoulders had clumps all over and it looked frankly uncomfortable to wear. His dark brown Oxfords were worn-out and creased all over.

His female companion didn't look much fancier. Her fawny suit was from a lighter type of wool than his, but it was no less crumpled. Her trousers ended above her ankles, it was hard to decide if they were supposed to be that way or if she had them for years and simply grew out of them. The high leather boots on her feet were slightly pointy and had a small and stocky hourglass-shaped heel. The shoelaces were tightly knotted, looking like they might fall apart at any moment.

Her moss-green robe had a few patches from a different fabric and her mustard-yellow parka was the only piece of clothing on both of them that looked semi-new.

Malfoy must've went through the same thought process, because his already judgemental smirk grew even wider when he saw Remus's scarred face, pale and exhausted. The grey strands in his hair glinted under the soft lights that escaped through the windows.

"No problem at all…professor." Draco sneered and gave Harry, Ron and Hermione one last scoff before waving off his two beefy friends and joining the mountain of heads moving up the stairs. Ron gave them an apologizing smile and Hesperia patted his shoulder.

"Enjoy the feast." she winked and turned around when she heard Professor Flitwick's high-pitched voice from around the corner. Ron caught the slightest hint of her perfume when she whipped her head around and his red ears nearly started glowing in the dark rainy night.

"Hessie! Remus! I've been looking for you all over, where were you hiding?" Flitwick mused, waving at them to join him. They exchanged a big grin and waved Harry and his friends goodbye, rushing to the small man's side. They affectionately shook his hand and he led them to the back entrance reserved for teachers.

They entered a small lobby that continued to The Great Hall, where most teachers already sat at their places, waiting for everyone to arrive. Remus waved his wand to make the umbrella disappear with a puff of raindrops and hung his cane on one of the armchairs. Hessie put the two suitcases on the floor, taking off her parka.

Professor Sprout just walked in with a deep frown on her face.

"Filius, how in Helga's name am I supposed to -"

She stopped in her tracks when she noticed the new faces and her annoyed expression immediately changed to a delighted smile.

"Remus! And Hessie, too! Merlin's beard, come here, my lion cubs." she exclaimed and stomped through the lobby with a boisterous giggle. She gave them both a big bone-crushing hug before standing on her tiptoes to pinch Remus's cheek. He blushed at the sudden attention.

"My dear boy, look at you! You've grown so much!" she sniffled and turned to Hessie, took her hands and spun her around.

"Let me have a proper look at you, rosebud. My dear Hessie, as sweet as ever!"

Professor Sprout took out a lacy handkerchief and patted her eyes dry. Hessie bit her lip to contain the embarrassed smile that curled on her lips. The stocky witch sighed and put her handkerchief back inside her robes, softly clapping her hands.

"We're so honoured to be back, Professor." Remus awkwardly stuck his hands into his pockets and Professor Sprout tutted.

"Oh, stop it, sweetheart. Call me Pomona. We're so delighted to have you here with us. Truly, right before you arrived, Filius was just talking about - Filius?"

Her eyes widened when she realized she came in to complain to Professor Flitwick and franatically looked around the room. He elegantly snuck out of the room when she was busy blowing her nose.

"Filius!" she lamented and ran out of the door without a word, muttering something under her breath before calling out for him again.

They broke into giggles as soon as she disappeared behind the corner. She walked up closer to him and smoothed his robes, spotting cat hair on his chest. They fell silent and he looked down at her lovingly, allowing himself to study her face now that she was busy taking out her wand.

Her eyebrows were knitted in concentration as she muttered a string of incantations, first removing the clumps on his suit with a simple wave, then swishing it to make the loose threads vanish and finally move onto the tear near the bottom of his robe, intricately twirling the tip as the fabric seemed to attach itself together.

She didn't seem to age a day since they last walked through this castle. Even back then she had a few silver threads in her hair.

His eyes fell on the long scar that graced her skin. A wave of sickness jolted through his body and he bit down on his bottom lip so roughly a drop of blood appeared on it. She seemed to have a potent radar for Remus's self-loathing thoughts, so she looked at him, put her wand away and reached up, wiping the red stain with the pad of her thumb. His eyelids involuntarily fluttered closed as his fists clenched in his pockets.

"How many times did I tell you not to chew your lips?" she whispered when he opened his eyes. They were exhausted and bordered with dark circles. And despite all the pain they carried, they were so warm, so caring it made her heartbeat stutter. He softly shook his head.

"I cannot count that high, Mittens," he said and breathed out a shivering sigh.

Both of them jumped when Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat, watching them with arms akimbo as his grey robe fluttered in the cold breeze that flowed in through the main door. The expression on his face seemed deliberately bored as if he was standing there for hours.

"I see you've already settled here comfortably. Splendid!" his voice echoed through the stone walls and he giggled when he saw their terrified expressions, walking up to them with open arms.

Hessie let out a silent chuckle and straightened her robes. Remus sheepishly took the hands out of his pockets, clasping them behind his back.

"Sweet Hessie." he kissed the back of her hand before softly caressing her cheek.

"And Remus, my dear friend. What a joy to see the two in these halls again. I'll forever be in your debt for this." he shook Remus's hand and patted his back, taking both of them around the shoulders.

"You have missed the usual professors' meeting, but pay no mind to that. I will fill you in on everything. Now, tell me - ah, Severus! Right on time as always."

They both set their eyes on the towering figure in the doorframe. His posture was unbelievably straight, not in the slightest similar to the hunch he was stuck in when they last saw each other.

Severus Snape was piercing them with narrowed eyes, thy were so astonishingly dark they didn't seem to reflect any light. He was completely wrapped in layers of long black robes, only his pale sinewy hands peeked out of his sleeves while he folded his arms.

'What's up, Snivellus? Stumbled upon some shampoo lately? 'Cause it doesn't seem like it. Levicorpus!'

James Potter's phantom voice echoed through her ears as she studied his greasy raven hair, her eyes rapidly blinking off the embarrassment. She hated that nickname almost as much as she hated Snape himself, along with his supremacist friend group.

She wondered if he ever knew that. If he remembered that she and Remus loathed their friends’ treatment of him. Considering his hostile scowl, though, it seemed like enabling was just as heinous as bullying in his eyes. She couldn't fault him for that, so she averted his stare by peeking inside the noisy Great Hall.

"Severus, you've met Remus and Hessie before." Dumbledore walked up to him and motioned him inside the lobby. Remus was as uncomfortable as her when he stuck out his palm to shake Snape's veiny hand.

"I've had the pleasure." he simply stated, his voice impossibly deep and cold as ice. Remus gave him a small, genuine smile, but Snape just turned to Hessie, shaking her hand with a similarly steely grip.

"Severus will supply you with the Wolfsbane potion as often as you'll need. The ingredients in his pantry are of utmost quality, as are his skills, of course. I'm fully convinced that we'll be able to ease your suffering, Remus. I promise." Dumbledore assured him, sensing the tension in the room.

Remus nodded.

"Oh, I have no doubts about our Potions Master's skills. Severus, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am in your debt." he gave him a polite nod, nervously picking on the skin around his nails.

Snape stood motionless, like a Muggle portrait before giving Remus a lopsided, dishonest smile and with a dramatic swish of his black robe, he turned around and headed towards his seat behind the teachers' table. Dumbledore shrugged and gave them a reassuring smile, waving towards the door as he led the way to The Great Hall. They exchanged a nervous sigh and followed him.

● ● ● ● ● ●

"With great honour, I'd like to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin and Professor H. Lynx, who were generous enough to accept my offer and share the open position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers."

Dumbledore introduced the young duo and they both got up, giving the packed dining hall a court, shy bow. They grinned at each other and sat down, looking around the room as the lukewarm cheers died down.

"For those who seemed to be puzzled by this unusual precaution, the Hogwarts faculty has discussed the…inconsistencies in the previous years and deduced that it would be wise to employ two teachers at once. In case one of them got possessed by anything, be it villainy or incompetence," he added with a knowing smirk and cheerful laughter carried through the packed room.

Harry caught Hessie's eyes and she gave him a disarming wink, making his cheeks flood with a patchy blush.

She seemed so familiar.

The excitement after Dumbledore’s announcement of the new Care of Magical Creatures professor got a considerably louder applause as Hagrid sheepishly stood up and hit the long table with his large belly, making Remus's goblet of wine fall on the floor with a twinkling rattle. He just laughed it off and continued clapping as a new goblet appeared in front of him out of thin air.

The joyous atmosphere seemed to quickly vaporize when the headmaster’s speech turned to the topic of Dementors and their reason to lurk around the castle.

When his name boomed through the stone walls, Hessie felt as if someone dropped a bucket of freezing water down her robe, frigid dread running down her spine.

Twelve years and it still didn't hurt any less than when she got the owl on the fateful Hallowe'en night. She heard Remus's deep sigh beside her as he stared at the table. Her peripheral vision caught Snape's dark eyes boring into her skull, mouth twisted in a mocking grin.

A memory consumed her whole consciousness.

She was stomping through the tall grass with deafening ringing in her ears, her nostrils shivered as she huffed out heavy breaths. The Whomping Willow, covered in snow, was getting smaller and smaller as she walked away, looking almost indistinguishable from a harmless tree when she finally reached the castle's back door.

She never ran up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower as quickly as that evening. The Fat Lady was just falling asleep when she walked up to the portrait, biting the inside of her cheek to contain her shaky voice.

"'Shrivelfig juice.'" she said firmly, trying to mask the anger spewing out of her brain. The Lady peevishly grunted and opened her eyes.

"Merlin's beard, what are you doing up at this hour? I was just about to indulge in my beauty sleep - "

"I SAID 'SHRIVELFIG JUICE‘!" she exclaimed, her eyebrows knotted in a deep frown. The Fat Lady gasped and reluctantly opened the entrance, muttering complaints under her breath.

"The audacity! I thought you had manners, young lady!" she called after her, but Hessie couldn't hear any of it. The ringing in her ears got too loud when she entered the common room and slammed the door behind her.

A handsome young man was sitting by the fireplace in one of the velvet armchairs, the flames illuminated his chiselled features. His grey eyes were scanning a Muggle motorcycle magazine but he immediately hopped up when he noticed her, greeting her with a signature wide grin as his dark locks nonchalantly cascaded around his face.

His joyful expression quickly fell when she charged at him and decked him in the face so hard he stumbled back down on his seat.

Her fist slowly filled up with white-hot pain when she heard a soft crack upon the impact. Her index finger was now bent at an unnatural angle.

"What the -"

"You self-centred prick! What exactly did you think you were doing?!" she shrieked as she held her bleeding knuckles, the pain was like gasoline to her fury. He looked up at her, mouth full of blood. His nose was letting out a small drop as well, tickling the bow of his lips. He immediately knew what she was talking about.

"What's gotten into you? It was a joke, Mimi -"

"Don't Mimi me, you fucking idiot! He could have died!"

"Serves him right, didn't he call you a scar-faced cunt yesterday?"

"Serves him right?!" she screeched again, pacing in front of him like a hungry lioness in her cage. Her chest rapidly heaved. They were lucky the whole tower was gone for an overnight field trip to Hogsmeade.

"He's a sinister, greasy little cockroach. He had it coming. Someone ought to give him a little scare." he hissed and wiped the bloody nose with the sleeve of his yellow-red sweater.

She scoffed.

"So you took it upon yourself, a hero of the people!"

He took a breath to say something but she harshly cut him off.

"You don't value human life? Fine. Suit yourself. But did your omnipotent brain even consider what would've happened to Moony if he had ripped that fuckface to shreds? How he would feel if he woke up in the hospital wing tomorrow and found out he'd torn someone's beating heart out? Did you worry about the consequences for your best fucking friend?!" she screamed in his face and he fell silent, putting together that this was the true core of her wrath.

And he truly didn't realize any of it. She was right and he was arrogant and careless. He felt humiliated. She could see right through him at that moment, so she gave him a joyless grin.

"Didn't think so. Let me enlighten you, then!"

He immediately backed away when she walked towards him again, but this time she just braced herself against the armrests of his chair, ignoring the bloody marks she'd left behind. She bent down on his level and got as close as she could without their noses touching.

He could inhale the scent of her Moondew shampoo from this distance, but it felt dangerous, not familiar. Her furious stare made him feel like he was burning on a stake, so he decided to move his gaze to the carmine red carpet under his feet instead.

Her silent voice was even more menacing than her enraged shrieks.

"He would've been expelled and sent to rot in Azkaban for manslaughter. All because pretty boy wanted to boost his fragile ego by navigating a clueless person to a tunnel that leads straight into a werewolf's den."

The boy's grunt echoed through the common room walls when he jumped up from his armchair, took her by the collar of her fuzzy green sweater and backed her into a wall, deaf to the gasp she made when her shoulders hit the uneven stone.

"You know what?! If you care so much about your precious Snape's well-being, why don't you go join him and his Death Eater friends at the dining table for breakfast? You can talk about your mother's bakery over a cuppa and they'll welcome you with open arms!" he barked out, spitting blood and saliva all around him.

She didn't have time to process his statement, because as soon as the words left his mouth, her injured hand instinctively sprung up and firmly slapped his cheek, leaving a mark of bloody fingers behind. His face whipped to the side and he took a moment to breathe out before meeting her devastated face, realizing the weight of his insult.

Strident pain pulsed through her broken finger, but it was nothing compared to the feeling that was eating through her heart when his venomous words sank in. He stared at her with wide eyes, knowing that there was nothing he could do to take back the taunt he just stabbed her with.

She scoffed, a sarcastic smirk curling up the corners of her quivering lips.

"You make me sick, Black," she whispered and wrenched out of his now-limp grip. She forcefully pushed him aside with her shoulder, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. As she stomped off, he heard a strained mumble.

"Episkey."

He cringed at the poorly contained squeal she let out when her busted finger straightened itself back to its usual position with a nauseating crack.

”Mittens, I -“

He could do nothing but watch her body warp into a familiar ball of matted fur and disappear behind the bookshelf that hid one of the ways out of the castle.

She jerked at the loud swish that accompanied the sudden appearance of mountains of food.

Sweet and savoury, sour or bland, it was all there.

She fixed her dissociated stare at the broiled chicken drumsticks that were neatly arranged in a bowl of creamy corn and broccoli, dull pain pulsing in her stomach.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆

Tag list: @wickedsingularity @messyr-moons

#remus lupin fanfiction #remus lupin x oc #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin x you #remus lupin fanfic #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #marauders fanfiction #marauders oc #golden trio era #potterhead #remus lupin angst #remus lupin fluff #golden trio #professor remus lupin #severus snape #sirius black #the marauders #marauders angst

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robynlilyblack · 2 years

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Navigation

Welcome!

About me

My name's Robyn, I mainly write but I also do some digital art which may appear in my fics. Below you can find my masterlists, request rules, characters I write for, my ocs and any other general information

My requests are currently open, please read the info below before sending one in x

See this poll to have a say in current projects

Please feel free to ask me questions ♡

My Work

General Masterlist

Complete Series: Incident with a Time Turner [Sirius Black x potter! reader]

Recent oneshots: No one messes with my guy [young! Remus Lupin x slytherin! reader] Our Pretty Stars [Marlene McKinnon x shy! slytherin! reader] You're not my wife? [young! Sirius Black x reader] The one for me [young! James Potter x shy! slytherin! reader] A snake and his little bird [grumpy! Regulus Black x sunshine! marauder! reader] You had one job Weasley! [Fred Weasley x spy! slytherin! reader] Tissue [Hermione Granger x wolfstars daughter! reader]

Request Information:

Feel free to request a fic cuties but please read below before sumbitting one:

Please give me some kind of plot to work with along with who you want the blurb to be about, eg. character x gender! reader (i will assume gender neutral if not specified and I am comfortable writing reader with a female character)

You may request a reader with any sexuality

If you don’t specify a house for hp fics I'll write it as netural or i’ll choose one which fits the storyline

Feel free to request AU’s, eg. soulmate, no voldy, royal, rockstar etc. dark fics and horror are okay

You can request fics with any kind of reader , eg. lupine wolf, shy! reader, tomboy! reader, werewolf! reader etc

I don’t take smutty requests but I will write the lead up, some spicy make out sessions, talk about sex / mature themes, just not explicit content x (this may change with time)

You can also request ideas for next parts in mini series or part 2′s to existing works

Although longer requests are welcome, fics planned out without any room for me to be creative are less likely to be written

It takes time to write and I want to make sure it's the best it can be, so please be patient

If you have sent in a request and I haven’t written it feel free to send it in again, sometimes I miss them and they get buried

Characters I write for:

Romantic Hp: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Regulus Black, Marlene McKinnon, Fred Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley

St: Eddie munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley

Platonic Wolfstar parents, Jilly parents, Jegulus parents etc

Any other characters I am happy to write if I like and feel inspired by the concept these are just the ones I will almost always accept, check my masterlist to see them or sent in an ask. This list will may change over time ♡

My Original Characters:

These characters are of my own creation, they will be used in fics and in longer fanfics that I may work on, click on links for character art!

Robyn Lily Black - Main OC

Bonnie Nathair

Jamie Amelia Black

Jessica McConnell

Sam Tonks

Joesph Evan Taggart

Emily Rose Taggart

Timothy Greengrass

Alex McConnell

Extra art

Cannons in my writing and things to know:

Below is some of the things i tend to keep cannon in my writing but these can differ depending on the readers house and storyline (mostly for hp fics):

If the reader is Hufflepuff they are always friends with Jess McConnell and Cedric Diggory (Golden Era), or Amos Diggory and Alex McConnell (Marauder Era)

If the reader is Slytherin they will usually be friends with Timothy Greengrass and Joey Taggart (Golden Era), or Regulus, Barty, Evan and Pandora (Marauder Era)

I won’t write Marlene, Angelina, Pansy or Astoria as villians, they may be in the story but I refuse make them toxic for the sake of it

Cedric won’t be used as a way of making people jealous, I see that used alot plus I really like Cho and Cedric so i prefer to write him as a good friend/brother figure

Neville and Luna are always sweeties

Marlene and Dorca are always iconic queens

In non-voldy universes Peter is the cutest and sweetest marauder (aka the loveable weirdo)

When the reader isn't paired with them the following ships are cannon: wolfstar, dorlene, jilly or jegulus/marylily, hinny, romione

If you don’t like 🏳️‍🌈 relationships then this isn’t the page for you

#robynlilyblack #updated: 5th Jan 23

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severitus-big-bang · 6 months

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Prompts and ideas for your SeveritusBB work

Categories

as taken from the Potions and Snitches site:

Big Brother Snape [23] Stories where Snape and Harry have the same parents, or one parent in common with each other. May be biological or adopted, officially or not.

Snape Equal Status to Harry [279] Snape and Harry have the same status and are equals in social power. Subcategories are Colleagues Snape and Harry, Foes Snape and Harry, and Comrades Snape and Harry.

Healer Snape [251] Stories where Snape heals Harry in some way. Healer - one that heals or attempts to heal. Healing: the process of recovery, repair, and restoration.

Master Snape [38] Stories where Snape has absolute authority over Harry; consists of Apprentice Harry, Headmaster Snape, and Slave Harry.

Parental Snape [1159] Snape exercises paternal care over Harry; to perform the tasks or duties of a parent or father. Subcategories include Biological Father Snape (Sevitis and Severitus stories), Stepfather Snape, and Guardian Snape.

Reverse Roles [51] Harry Potter takes care of Severus Snape. Roles are opposite or contrary in position, direction, order, or character. Subcategories include Big Brother Harry, Healer Harry, Master Harry, Parental Harry, Teacher Harry.

Teacher Snape [1002] Snape teaches or instructs Harry, esp. as a profession; instructor. Contains Trusted Advisor Snape, Professor Snape, and Unofficially teaching Snape.

Starting points

Which relationship are you aiming for? - see categories and Severitus relationship

Canon/Canon divergent/AU

In which time is the story set? (era)

Is there a background Severus/xy ship (for example Lily, James, Sirius, Petunia, OC, …) or a background Harry/xy ship (Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Cho, OC, whoever you can think about)

Tropes

Hurt/Comfort - injury at school/after encounter with Voldemort/ because of the Dursleys

Family fluff

Time travel (reversed Severitus?)

Angst

Humour

…

Setting

Hogwarts

Spinner's End/Cokeworth

Potter Residence/Gordic’s Hollow

Surrey

…

How old are the characters

Toddler

Kid

Student

Adults

…

Classic prompt ideas

Hogwarts setting

Severus is the only adult at Hogwarts to notice how Harry is doing after Quirrel's death/ Cedric’s death/Sirius’ death

Severus is the one to find out about the Dursley’s neglect/abuse

Someone discloses that Severus is in fact Harry’s biological father, but Lily had to hide it

Harry is put in Slytherin and therefore Snape can’t [be seen to] hate him

Friendship between two professors

Reverse Severitus

Harry travels back in time (to prevent Severus’ death?) by looking after him from a young age Either as a professor/mentor or he adopts him

Severus is de-aged and Harry decides to look after him

AU where their roles are reversed and Harry notices how much Severus struggles

Early in Harry’s life

Severus decides to adopt/care for Harry directly after Lily’s death (he is godfather?)

Severus is sent to look if everything in Privet Drive is all right and finds out about cupboard

Dumbledore places Harry with him against his will

Sev decides to take Harry away

Dursleys refuse to take Harry in - needs to be places somewhere else

Harry runs away - is taken in by Severus

Severus finds him by accident

Severus is tasked to find him

Lily put in her will that Harry should go to Severus (turns out he is his father but didn’t know)

Severus knows he is Harry’s father but promised Lily not to tell, after the Potters' deaths he takes on his responsibilities

AU - Potters survive

Severus and Lily are together

Severus and James are together

Triad Severus/Lily/James

Godfather Severus, Uncle Severus…

(Adoptive) brother Severus

...

Actual prompts

Challenges created by P&S members can be found here:

#severitus #severitus big bang 2024 #harry potter #severus snape #pro snape #writing prompt

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all-too-random · 6 months

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HP Next Gen HC: Character Information

This is just some very basic information about the next gen characters as I see them in my own hcs. I've made some for other canon characters as well as some of my OC's, if anyone wants that

Name: Edward Remus Lupin Nicknames: Teddy (by everyone), Tedward (by James) Birth Date: April 20, 1998 Parents: Remus Lupin & Nymphadora Tonks Siblings: None S/O: Victoire Weasley (as of his 6th year) Gender: Demi-Boy (amab) Pronouns: He/They Sexuality: Pansexual House: Hufflepuff Favorite Subject: Transfiguration Least Favorite Subject: Charms Patronus: Wolf Pet: an Owl named Solstice Blood Type: Half-Blood (Metamorphagus) Favorite Spell: Aparecium (makes ink invisible)

Name: Victoire Appoline Weasley Nicknames: Vic (everyone), Vicky (family ONLY) Birth Date: May 2, 2000 Parents: Bill Weasley & Fleur Weasley (Delacour) Siblings: Dominique Weasley, Louis Weasley S/O: Teddy Lupin (as of her 4th year) Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: She's not really sure. She's never been attracted to girls, but she's always attracted to Teddy, and he is not exactly cis House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: Charms Least Favorite Subject: Music (she did it for one year... learned the hard way that she cannot sing) Patronus: Albatross Pet: Hermit crab named Shelldon (he stays at home when she's at school) Blood Type: Half-Blood (part veela, possibly a little werewolf??? Her family has never looked into it) Favorite Spell: Geminio (duplicates objects; she's always losing things, so duplicating them helps)

Name: Molly Willow Weasley Nicknames: None. She is Molly or nothing. Birth Date: December 14, 2001 Parents: Percy & Audrey Weasley Siblings: Lucy Weasley S/O: Calum Wood (as of her 6th year) Gender: Female Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Straight House: Ravenclaw Favorite Subject: Ancient Runes Least Favorite Subject: Divination Patronus: Pheasant Pet: None. She doesn't want another responsibility. (Borrows Lucy's owl to send letters) Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Accio (summons an object)

Name: Dominique Charlene Weasley Nicknames: Domi (pretty much just family), Dom (everyone else) Birth Date: January 22, 2002 Parents: Bill Weasley & Fleur Weasley (Delacour) Siblings: Victoire Weasley, Louis Weasley S/O: Agnes "Aggie" Wood (as of her 5th year) Gender: Female Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Lesbian House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: Care of Magical Creatures Least Favorite Subject: Astronomy Patronus: Husky Pet: She is in charge of Peggy, the family Owl Blood Type: Half-blood (part veela, hopes she's part werewolf) Favorite Spell: Episkey (heals minor injuries; she's hurt a lot from quidditch)

Name: Fred Gideon Weasley II Nicknames: Freddy (by literally everyone; he's only Fred if he's in trouble) Birth Date: August 29, 2003 Parents: George Weasley & Angelina Weasley (Johnson) Siblings: Roxanne Weasley S/O: Astor Zabini (as of his 6th year) Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: ???? That's a good question, man, he doesn't know either House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: History of Magic and Charms Least Favorite Subject: Ancient Runes (he took it because Molly recommended it, but it makes no sense to him) Patronus: Bassett Hound Pet: A toad named Frogger Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Scourgify (cleans an object; makes it really easy to clean his messes before he's caught)

Name: James Sirius Potter Nicknames: Jamie (by whoever feels like it) Birth Date: September 2, 2003 (he and Freddy were only born days apart, but bc of when their birthdays fall, James is a year behind in school) Parents: Harry Potter & Ginny Potter (Weasley) Siblings: Albus Potter, Lily Potter S/O: Rylee Finnigan (briefly in 4th year), Alison Longbottom (on-off 3rd year-5th year, solid from Christmas in 5th year-onward) Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Straight House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: Transfiguration Least Favorite Subject: Potions Patronus: Mountain Lion Pet: An owl named Owlthello (he thinks it's hilarious; also he loves Shakespeare) (he's also been begging his mom for a dog for YEARS!) Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Repairo (repairs broken objects; uses it on his glasses a lot)

Name: Lucille Audrey Weasley Nicknames: Lucy (by everyone. Hates being called Lucille) Birth Date: February 10, 2005 Parents: Percy & Audrey Weasley Siblings: Molly Weasley S/O: None Gender: "Gender is a social construct. I am whatever I feel like I am. But Im not a man, because fuck the patriarchy." Pronouns: She/They Sexuality: AroAce House: Ravenclaw Favorite Subject: Divination Least Favorite Subject: Ancient Runes (She's actually never taken it, but has decided it is her least favorite to spite her sister) Patronus: Raven Pet: An owl named Haven Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Colloportus (closes a door & keeps it from being opened) (this is the only way they were able to stop their family from barging into their room)

Name: Roxanne Fabianna Weasley Nicknames: Roxy (was used a lot when she was little, but not so much as she got older) Birth Date: April 5, 2005 Parents: George Weasley & Angelina Weasley (Johnson) Siblings: Fred Weasley II S/O: Ty Jordan (as of her 3rd year) Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Pansexual House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: Herbology Least Favorite Subject: Transfiguration (everything is only ever partially transfigured...) Patronus: Hyena Pet: an owl named Gem (she wanted a cat, but she's allergic) Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Flagrate (allows the wand to write/draw in the air with fire) (she just thinks it's neat)

Name: Rose Bailey Granger-Weasley Nicknames: Rosie (by family only), Ro (sometimes, can be used by anyone) Birth Date: September 15, 2005 Parents: Ron & Hermione Granger-Weasley Siblings: Hugo Granger-Weasley S/O: Craig Bowker Jr. (as of her 5th year) Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Straight, on the Ace spectrum House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: History of Magic Least Favorite Subject: Care of Magical Creatures (they're too unpredictable) Patronus: Tuxedo cat Pet: A cat named Poppin Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Lumos (makes it easy to pull all-nighters)

Name: Albus Severus Potter Nicknames: Al (Harry; don't call him that.) Alby (by his family when he was young) Birth Date: March 9, 2006 Parents: Harry Potter & Ginny Potter (Weasley) Siblings: James Potter, Lily Potter S/O: Scorpius Malfoy (as of his 4th year) Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Gay House: Slytherin Favorite Subject: Potions Least Favorite Subject: Arithmancy (he took it one year bc of Scorpius. Never. Again.) Patronus: Grass Snake Pet: A ferret named Misty Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Revelio (revels a hidden object)

Name: Louis Arthur Weasley Nicknames: Lou Birth Date: November 12, 2006 Parents: Bill Weasley & Fleur Weasley (Delacour) Siblings: Victoire Weasley, Dominique Weasley S/O: Tierney Finnigan (as of their 4th year) Gender: Nonbinary/Genderfluid?? (They're still kinda figuring it out) Pronouns: Any (they/them is what they usually go by) Sexuality: Pansexual House: Hufflepuff Favorite Subject: Muggle Studies (also really likes Music, but it sometimes makes them feel dysphoric bc of their voice) Least Favorite Subject: Patronus: Dragon Fly Pet: A cat named Atlas Blood Type: Half-blood (part veela, possibly part werewolf) Favorite Spell: Lumos (she's afraid of the dark)

Name: Hugo Jack Granger-Weasley Nicknames: None Birth Date: April 16, 2008 Parents: Ron & Hermione Granger-Weasley Siblings: Rose Granger-Weasley S/O: Ruby Gilligan Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Bisexual House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: Care of Magical Creatures Least Favorite Subject: History of Magic (its a lot of reading & he has dyslexia) Patronus: Hedgehog Pet: A toad named Toothless (he loves HTTYD) Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Aguamenti (he spent a lot of his childhood in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and has had to extinguish fires on multiple occassions)

Name: Lily Luna Potter Nicknames: Lil/Lils (by everyone), Lulu (by Abus) Birth Date: May 24, 2008 Parents: Harry Potter & Ginny Potter (Weasley) Siblings: James Potter, Albus Potter S/O: Lorcan Scamander (as of her 5th year) Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Straight House: Gryffindor Favorite Subject: Divination, Astronomy, and Alchemy (she can't pick, she loves all three) Least Favorite Subject: DADA (she doesn't really want to know how to fight, if she's honest) Patronus: Field Mouse Pet: A cat named Aquarius Blood Type: Half-Blood Favorite Spell: Alohomora (opens a lock)

Name: Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy Nicknames: Scorp, Scor Birth Date: January 31, 2006 Parents: Draco Malfoy & Astoria Malfoy (Greengrass) Siblings: None S/O: Albus Potter (as of his 4th year) Gender: Male (feels gender-neutral, sometimes, but chooses to identify as male) Pronouns: He/They Sexuality: Gay House: Slytherin Favorite Subject: Potions Least Favorite Subject: He likes them all to a degree Patronus: Ferret Pet: An owl named Sparticus (also claims Albus' ferret as his "step-ferret") Blood Type: Pure Blood Favorite Spell: Avifors (turns small objects into birds. Does it when he's bored or to be petty)

#harry potter #harry potter next gen #hogwarts #harry potter cursed child #harry potter and the cursed child #albus x scorpius #albus potter #albus severus potter #scorpius malfoy #james potter ii #james sirius potter #rose weasley #rose granger weasley #lily luna potter

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oldworldwidgets · 5 months

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i have been THINKING about miss ginny lately especially since the new 76 update dropped, so heres a lil doodle my friend did of her!!! + her if she was a worm on a string, of course, and some in-game screenshots.

i am also using this as an opportunity to dump some lore under the cut :3 its a lot of words so prepare urself

ginny lore be upon ye:

Her full name is Virginia May Adler, but you can just call her Ginny. She's a 25ish (who's counting?) Appalachia native. Though she grew up in the Toxic Valley after she and her dad left the Vault, she now resides at her cozy camp in The Mire. She uses big guns, is covered in scars from all her forays into garbage dumps, and loves stuffed animals and Nuka-Cola Quantum more than most things.

Ginny is very bubbly and smiley. Human embodiment of :D. She’s the type of person that smiles at other people the very moment she sees them, just out of instinct. Seriously, she’s smiled at more Blood Eagles than she can count, and not because she can’t count very high. She can (INT 15 mf). Don’t worry – despite his hatred for the Eagles, Beckett still thinks it’s sweet.

Yeah, yeah, she’s dating her bartender. He moved right into her heart when he moved into her camp. He’s for sure very awkward about what he wants (her) and skirts the subject every time she brings it up, but she knows good and well by the way he settled himself into her camp (and the sweet things he says to her cat Krypto when he thinks she isn’t around) that he’s in this for the long haul. Plus, once they finally mow down the top-ranking Blood Eagles and save his brother from his otherwise-certain demise, he finally allows himself to open up to and fall for her.

She and Aries from Blue Ridge Caravan Company are inseparable. They met in Big Bend Tunnel. She and Beckett were hunting Blood Eagles, he was protecting his shipment from them. His dark, existential humor caught her attention immediately and, on the spot, he enlisted her into Blue Ridge.

She’s a scavver by trade, and a damn good one too. She picks up and stashes everything she sees, then determines its value only after she makes it home. She’s always excited and eager to buy, sell, and trade with anyone who asks, especially now that she's with Blue Ridge.

Since Beckett works the bar even when she’s away, he always catches word of the best weapons caches, armor drops, and any other rumors of note that might interest her. Only after a firm but loving warning and a promise that she’ll return to him before the street lights come on will he give her what she’s looking for. Oh, and the information too. WINK.

She’s also craaffttyyyyyy. She can make anything you could possibly need and more, just as long as she has some duct tape, a few loose screws, and a cartoon cloud of smoke.

She is terrified of heights. She also used to be terrified of animals, especially the ones with paws and claws as opposed to the ones with pincers, stingers, or poison glands. This changed after her dad came home with Krypto, her cat. She hated the thing at first, but when she lost her dad... Krypto was all she had left of him. Now, they can't live without each other.

She frankly does not care about radiation damage, diseases, mutations, etc at all. It’s inevitable in the life of a scavver. She’s probably had tetanus more times than she can count, but it’s never been a match for a disease cure or some brahmin milk. Plus, she kinda thinks it’s cool.

She used to be a natural blonde, but all the exposure to all the [gestures widely] in the wasteland (primarily radiation, but no one’s ever seen her in a gas mask or a hazmat suit – even in the ash heap region. The best she can do is pull her neck bandana over her nose when Beckett gives her his best sad eyes) eventually broke down all the melanin in her hair, leaving it white. Aside from all the junk that somehow always finds its way back in there, of course.

Beckett is the ONLY one that’s allowed to call her Gin and she only allows it because he’s a bartender. He also loooooves screaming “WEST VIRGIIIIINNNNNNNNIIAAAAA” to the tune of country roads (obviously) when he needs her attention and they’re not in the same vicinity, hence him sometimes calling her West Virginia.

After her long scavving or traveling days, Ginny likes to sit in Beckett’s lap on their front porch while he takes her hair down out of the updo of the day and picks out all the sticks and leaves. If a leaf falls from the tree above them, even if he has every opportunity to catch it before it lands in her almost-clean hair and ruins his hard work, he won’t. He'll do anything to keep her there just a little longer.

OKAY THANKS FOR READING LOVE U BYE

#oc: ginny may #oldworld.ocs #fallout #fallout 76 #fo76

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upontherisers · 12 days

Text

oc introduction: straighten up and fly right

masters of the air has unfortunately woven itself into the very fiber of my being and the girls are writing themselves at this point. i’m not going to call it a fic yet, but i will be writing for my mota OCs under the title of Straighten Up and Fly Right. i’d like y’all to meet the women of thorpe abbotts (and beyond) circa 1943. more are on their way.

The Air

1st Lt. May Vera West, 23, of Upper Marlborough, MD - bombardier, Gin’s Joint

Please, call her Vera. Klutzy in a way that makes the fact that she’s still alive a miracle. It’s a wonder she got through training. Gets caught in a lot of awkward moments. Nervous but not anxious. Mousy, energetic. A quick thinker and a rule follower—not an insubordinate bone in her body.

Cpt. Virginia “Ginny” Franklin, 25, of Seattle, WA - command pilot, Gin’s Joint

Sly talking, suave blonde bombshell with a face for the pictures. Chews gum in a way that’ll make your heart pound. Hell of a pilot. College girl. Loves her “sisters” (her crew) and every woman under her command. Quite friendly but not to the British. Can and will charm every CO out of worrying about the competency of her crew. Very laid back, a little (a lot) messy.

1st Lt. Mahalia Summerton, 24, of Charleston, SC - pilot, Blue Baby

Eldest daughter of two sharecroppers who started flying planes to help crop dust nearby farms. Worked her way through college and into a pilot’s license. Chooses fighter planes over the big birds once she joins up and leads her own squadron of Red Tails in Italy. No-nonsense and aloof to strangers, protective once she opens up. Bold.

The Ground

Lola Rosales-Mooreland, 19, of McAllen, TX - Clubmobile hostess

Small town banker’s daughter making her way into the wide world, wielding her miraculous medal against temptation and tragedy with less and less efficiency. Tries not to be a goody two shoes but can’t quite break the habit of trusting blindly in authority. Loves to dance. Sweet tooth.

Roberta “Bobbie” Chambers, 24, of Arlington, VA - Clubmobile hostess

An Army brat who runs her Clubmobile like a world-class regiment. Doesn’t accept any less than the best and doesn’t accept excuses. Tries to instill a sense of purpose into her girls beyond quaint patriotism; donuts can win the war and by God it’ll be hers that will. Will never admit how much she likes dancing. A morning person. And it's Bobbie, not Roberta.

Sgt. Dellarose Williamson, 21, Detroit, MI - mechanic

Knows machinery better than most people know themselves. There’s no such thing as a lost cause, just a thing that needs a little love. Brushes off every slight about her height with a bright smile and dimples that make you feel bad about razzing her. Has a busy mind that can run away from itself sometimes. Runs on three hours of sleep and a strong black coffee.

#straighten up and fly right #my writing #vera west #ginny franklin #mahalia summerton #lola rosales mooreland #bobbie chambers #dellarose williamson #tryna get this out before i start reblogging prompts

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findyourrp · 6 months

Note

21fplayingA here looking for some advanced literate doubles!!

one thing about me is i guarantee equality in doubling. i WILL fangirl over your OC. i WILL do research on your love interest of choice if i don't know them. i WILL make playlists. hell, if it's the same verse, who's to say our ocs can't be scheming besties???

all i ask is that you're able to write at least 2-3 paragraphs per response with ample grammar & third person!

i will write any character for you. even if i don't know the character, i am willing to learn & read fanfics! i genuinely love doubling & getting to try on new characters that i may never have thought to roleplay before. i am okay with any gendered pairing. my ocs vary in gender!

now, characters i am looking for for my side:

harry potter: james potter*, remus lupin*, sirius black*, ginny weasley*, regulus black*, harry potter*, cedric diggory* (can u tell how much brainrot im having rn??)

stranger things: jonathan byers*, robin buckley, eddie munson

my hero academia: tomura shigaraki

attack on titan: jean kirstein, sasha braus, ymir*, eren yeager

shameless: fiona gallagher

pls feel free to like if you're interested at all! 🦆

#fandom rp #fandom roleplay #aot rp #rp finder #mha rp #shameless rp #stranger things rp #double up rp

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train-wrecc · 1 year

Text

Two Ghosts

marcus baker x female!reader

(I don’t think I used any she/her pronouns in this, but I’m not 100% positive, so I guess it may or may not be gender-neutral…)

warnings!: mentions of food, crying, cheating, a slap, drinking, angst?, unedited rushed writing, I think that’s it? My A/N at the end does mention SA, but the fic does not, so you can skip the highlighted section of the A/N.

includes!: bff!padma(lo), roman an OC, but also not really an OC, ex!marcus

angst!

word count: 5.5k!

A/N: Let’s pretend that Padma and Marcus were never a thing in this :) Yes, I am still working on Champagne Problems 2, fret not

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

It happened suddenly, one moment you were both sitting there talking, and the next your lips were on his. Somehow everything else was drowned out, and all you could focus on was Marcus. The night was filled with fervor, as you poured your love into each kiss, that would soon be meaningless.

You savored every minute of it because you knew he was only yours for the night. The next day he would be off, kissing Ginny, loving her, or pretending to love her, either way, he was no longer yours. You knew it wasn’t right, but you loved him, so much, that you would take whatever you could get.

You both lay there, Marcus fast asleep. You reach over pressing a kiss to his cheek, “If only you knew how much I still love you,” You quietly murmured, caressing his cheek. You wrapped your arm around him before drifting off to sleep.

Light shined into your bedroom, waking you up. You turned to reach your arm out for Marcus, albeit your hand met the cold sheets. Your eyes flew open, Marcus was gone. You should’ve known, it was your routine, but each time it happened you thought maybe just maybe you had changed his mind. That he once again loved you, like how you still deeply loved him. And each time you were proven wrong.

Your eyes began to water. You were so stupid. This was it, the fourth and last time this would ever happen. You needed to stop this for Ginny’s sake and your own. You couldn’t keep doing this, because the more you did it, the more you hurt yourself. You wiped your tears, deciding to check your phone, to take your mind off your repeated mistakes.

You got a text from your best friend Padma. You decided you guys would meet at a cafe to hang out and chat, desperately needing it. You would’ve met her at Blue Farm where she worked but Ginny also happened to work there, and you couldn’t face her, you felt so guilty, sleeping with Marcus. He and Ginny hadn’t been dating for that long but still, it wasn’t right, you knew that, and you continued to get with him, and you had no one to blame but yourself.

You walked inside, Padma wasn’t there yet, so you decided you would order both of your favorite drinks, along with your favorite pastries. She walked in, her long black hair swaying as she made her way to the table. The waiter had just placed your pastries and drinks down as she sat across from you. She gave you a comforting smile, which you returned, but she knew you better than you knew yourself. She knew something was up.

“What’s wrong, bub?” She questioned.

“Nothing,” You shook your head, “We’re always talking about my problems, what’s been up with you, how’s work?”

Padma pursed her lips for a second at your answer, before starting, “Work’s good, the usual, Joe not knowing how to be strict, Ginny always hating on her mom, and dad, and basically everyone. But besides that, remember how I’ve been talking to that guy, Jason?”

You nodded your head in response, taking a sip from your drink, “Well it turns out he has a girlfriend, and she’s pregnant! Can you believe that, and to think he asked me out on a date,” She shook her head.

“At this point, I’m really considering just dating you, you’re the only person who really gets me.” She said, causing you both to laugh. “Honestly, same.” You laughed.

You both continued to talk about school, your families, drama circulating around the school, from the most important things to the least important things. After a while, you began to space out, your mind going back to thinking about that one person you just couldn’t ever stop thinking about. Marcus, you swore it was like he was a fucking cancerous tumor in your life.

“I can tell you’re thinking about him.” Padma interrupted your daze.

“What? No, I’m not…” You scoffed.

“You can lie to yourself but you can’t lie to me. We really need to find a way to get you over him, I mean his dick can’t be that good.”

“Oh my god, Padma,” You laughed shaking your head, “Trust me, it’s not that, I still love him, I know we broke up a couple of months ago, and I know I should be over him by now, but I can’t help my feelings for him. No matter how much I wish they would just go away they don’t.” Your vision began to get blurry your eyes shining with unshed tears. You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth, glancing away for a second, before focusing your gaze on your interlaced hands. “But don’t worry, I’m gonna end whatever this is, I know we never should’ve started it, I mean he’s with Ginny, I don’t know why I ever thought this was a good idea. I guess I just- I don’t know wanted to feel his love again, but this, it’s not love, and it’s not right. If anything I’m just torturing myself.” You said sniffling.

“I don’t even know how you can stand to look at me, I mean what Marcus and I have done is unforgivable, I knew he was with Ginny, and I still, I still continued it, because I’m a selfish bitch.” You muttered angrily.

Padma clasped your hands in one of her own, “Don’t talk about yourself like that okay, I love you, Y/n, you’re my best friend, sometimes good people make poor choices, we’re human, bub. The world isn’t black and white, we’ve just got to learn from our mistakes and do better. I’m glad you’re ending this because it’s not doing you any good.” She said, giving you a reassuring smile, which caused you to shed a tear.

“I love you too.” You sniffled, pulling her into a tight hug. “Everything’s gonna be okay in the end.” You both stayed like that for a while before you finally pulled away. “Come on, we need to find you a new man to take your mind off of he who shall not be named.” She smiled. “You know, I think I know just the person.”

“Oh god, no, what did we just talk about?”

“No, trust me, please, he’s like the nicest guy ever, but he’s not really my type.”

“And he’s my type?”

“Yes, he has brown hair.”

“I don’t know Lo,”

“Come on, I’ll bring him to Abby’s party tomorrow, and introduce you two, that’s all, and then if you like him, well there you go!”

“Fine,”

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

You had arrived at Abby’s party, and a bunch of people already there excluding Padma, and her friend who you now knew as Roman. You kept to yourself, hanging out on the back porch in a corner. People filled every square inch of the house, red solo cups in numerous hands. You had stuck to your water, not wanting to meet Roman while tipsy or drunk. Padma had texted you when she had arrived, asking where you were, which prompted you to go and find her.

You made your way through the crowded house, trying to avoid bumping into anyone, however you lucked out, someone’s drink getting spilled all over your outfit. You gave an annoyed sigh, as the person muttered an apology. You continued to make your way toward the front of the house and to a bathroom, when you ran into Padma and who you presumed was Roman, and my was he tall, and had the richest chocolate brown curls. You tore your eyes away from him, glancing at Padma, she greeted you with a ‘Hi’ before introducing you to Roman. “Roman this is my bestfriend Y/n, Y/n this is Roman.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/n, Padma speaks very highly of you,” He smiled at you, you stretched your hand out to shake his own, but he instead pressed a chaste kiss to the back of your hand. A small nervous smile tugged on your lips, “Nice to meet you as well, Roman, I’m sorry I should go clean up, someone spilled their drink all over me.” You glanced between him and Padma.

“Roman, why don’t you go help Y/n, I’m gonna go find Silver,” Padma smiled at the both of you, slightly shoving Roman towards you before taking off past the living room.

Roman gave you a small smile, one of his hands going up to the back of his neck “If you don’t want me to go with you, that’s completely fine, Padma can be very-”

“Determined.” You finished, a small laugh escaping your lips.

“Yeah, very,” He laughed along with you.

Both you and Roman made your way through the crowd of party-goers and toward the staircase, as you both walked in search of a towel to dry your damp clothes when your causal conversation was interrupted by some arguing coming from one of the bedrooms. You both went silent, looking at each other before making an awkward face, and bursting out with laughter.

You had finally found the bathroom, which had a few folded hand towels, you attempted to wipe the sticky mess of a drink from your skin, and outfit. The stain was practically ingrained into the cloth, “Here, why don’t you take my jacket, to hide the stain.”

“Oh, no that’s okay, I don’t need-”

“No, it’s fine, I insist,” Roman said removing his jacket and placing it on your shoulders. “Thank you,” You smiled.

Just as you were leaving the bathroom, Roman bumped into someone, “Sorry, man.”

“It’s fine,” The other guy replied after turning around, his eyes meeting yours.

“Y/n? What are you doing here?” It was Marcus.

“Marcus? Oh, uh, Padma kinda convinced me to come,” You gave an awkward smile.

“Are-are you here with Ginny?” You questioned, not really knowing what to say. At one time you wouldn't have been able to stop the conversation as the words seamlessly fell from both of your lips, conversation came easy albeit, that was then, and this is now.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, I am.” He pursed his lips.

“Oh, sorry uh, Roman this is Marcus, Marcus this is Roman.” You introduced them, unsure of what title to give either of them so you just skipped the labels. They both nodded, before Roman spoke up, “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, uh, I should get going,” Marcus gestured downstairs.

Marcus left with that, leaving to who knows where, however, you had yet to see Ginny.

“Sorry about that awkwardness, uh, Marcus, he’s my uh…”

“Ex?” He filled in for you, “Yeah, that obvious?” You laughed.

“Just a bit,” He gave you a small smile.

Roman and you decided to head back downstairs, however, all the people combined with the loud music became a little too much for you, so he offered for the two of you to head outside. You both sat on the porch gazing up at the sky, conversation flowed as you talked about various things.

“I don’t wanna offend you or anything Y/n, but do you and Marcus still have something going on? I mean he’s been staring at you all night, and I don’t know I just get this feeling you still have feelings for him.”

“Uh, yeah it’s kinda complicated, well actually that’s a lie, um, he has a new girlfriend, and I’m- I am still trying to get rid of my feelings for him. I’m sorry, I should have told you from the beginning…”

“No, it’s fine, I know how hard it is to get over someone when you had really strong feelings for them. I like you Y/n, and I don’t think you’re ready to be in a new relationship, but I’d love to have you as a friend, at least for right now,” He gave you a kind smile.

“Thanks, Roman, I’d really like that,” You said pulling him into a warm embrace.

You didn’t notice it but Marcus had been walking by stopping in his steps as he saw you and Roman hugging. It felt as if something snapped in him, anger filling him at your arms being wrapped around someone. Someone that wasn’t him.

Marcus practically threw the back doors open, “Hey, get your hands off her, man!”

He growled at Roman, words slightly slurred. Roman and you both pulled away from each other, turning to face Marcus. You stood up, “Marcus, you’re drunk, go inside and find Ginny.”

“Yeah bud, why don’t you listen to Y/n,” Roman said calmly.

“You’re not my fucking buddy, so why don’t you keep your mouth shut Rowan.”

“Marcus, calm down, alright, you’re not acting like yourself okay?”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Y/n, you- you’re fucking him aren’t you?”

“Okay, Marcus you’re really starting to get on my fucking nerves, and Roman and I are just friends. And even if I was it’s none of your fucking business.”

“That’s not what you were saying a couple of days ago,” He smirked at you.

You walked towards Marcus, “You need to shut the fuck up unless you want Ginny to find out,” You quietly gritted through your teeth. You pulled away from him, “Roman, can you give Marcus and me a second please,” You turned to him.

“Yeah of course, don’t hesitate to come and get me if you need help,” He slightly nodded toward Marcus, Marcus not noticing due to his drunkenness. “Yeah, thank you,” You murmured.

You pulled Marcus further outside, grabbing a water bottle for him from the cooler that was near the door. You handed it to him, “Drink.” You told him. He begrudgingly did so, gulping the water down.

“Now, you’re gonna listen to me. You’re drunk Marcus, so before you make any more mistakes, you’re gonna go find Ginny and you’re gonna have her take you home okay? It’s bad enough you practically screamed to everyone that we’ve been sleeping together,” You told him.

“I don’t care if the whole world knows,” He murmured.

“Yeah, you say that now, but you won’t be saying the same thing tomorrow morning.”

“How do you know that?” He questioned defiantly, his words less slurred.

“Because we had been sneaking around for a reason, you know like the small fact that you have a girlfriend.” You sarcastically told him.

He sightly hummed, “You know I heard what you said.” He said without any clarification.

“What?” You questioned in confusion.

“You said you still love me.” He quietly said.

“You’re drunk Marcus, you don’t know what you’re talking about, alright?” You shook your head.

“Don’t lie to me Y/n, I know what I heard.”

“No, no you don’t Marcus, okay I never said that,” You said, pitch going slightly higher as you lied, as you shrugged your shoulders trying to come off casual, albeit, beneath your cool exterior you were panicking.

“Do you really think I’m that fucking stupid, Y/n? I can tell when you’re fucking lying, just admit it.”

“No, Marcus, I’m not admitting to something I didn’t fucking say, and y’know what if you’re sober enough to say all this, then I think you’re sober enough to understand that we’re done, and I mean it this time.” You angrily muttered.

“Sure you do, Y/n,” He laughed. “I’m serious Marcus, this whole stupid ass friends-with-benefits thing, it’s over, okay. You’re with Ginny, and we knew it wasn’t right, and we never should’ve begun it in the first place. I mean, don’t you think Ginny deserves loyalty?”

Before Marcus could respond, you heard the door slightly creak. You turned being met with Ginny standing there, eyes filled with unshed tears, “Really, Marcus? You told me that I was overthinking, and acting jealous. But I was right all along, wasn’t I?”

“Ginny, I- you heard wrong okay?” He tried to lie, as you stood there silently, you knew it would be best if you didn’t say anything, you were the cause of this after all. You never pictured yourself as a homewrecker, a liar, or a cheater, yet here you were.

“Are you seriously gonna try and fucking lie to me Marcus, I just fucking heard the both of you! I want you to admit it, say it.”

“Ginny, please, let’s not do this right now, okay?”

“Oh really? Why? Don’t want everyone to know that you and your fucking slut are lying, cheating pieces of shit?!” Her voice filled with venom, as she practically shouted.

“If the both of you felt it was okay to talk about cheating on me here, why can’t I talk about it, hmm? I can’t believe this Marcus, I- I should’ve fucking known, all the sneaking off, acting weird, never wanting to do anything. Are you still in love with her or something, clearly you don’t fucking love me if you were able to cheat on me?”

“Ginny-”

“Answer the question, Marcus, do you still love her?” She spat.

You and Ginny both had your eyes locked on Marcus, your heart was beating erratically, “No, she was just there.” He quietly murmured, by now he was definitely sober, and you know you had no right to feel hurt because you knew what this was from the beginning. Albeit your heart twinged slightly at his words.

This wasn’t about you, this was about Ginny and Marcus, you had no right to be hurt, I mean you weren’t the one who had gotten cheated on. You blinked away your tears, as you glanced away.

“We're done Marcus, I don’t want to see you or hear from you ever again.” She muttered, voice full of resentment. “And you,” She turned to you, “You’re nothing but a cheap, heartless, bitch, and you know what you two make a good pair, yeah, you’re both selfish assholes, I hope you both rot in hell.” She cussed at you, and you took it because you knew every word she said was true, and you knew you deserved it. However, what you weren’t expecting was for Ginny closer to you, and before you knew it you felt a sharp stinging pain as she slapped you.

As you were stunned, reeling from what just happened, Ginny stalked off anger rolling off of her in waves. You felt a slight heat on your cheek, lifting your hand to your cheek. There was a little bit of blood on your hand, one of Ginny’s rings must’ve cut you when she slapped you.

“Oh my god, Y/n are you okay?” Roman asked as he was suddenly in front of you, his eyes examining your face, as you stared blankly ahead of you.

You nodded your head, ‘Yes’, as you felt your lips slightly tremble.

You began to walk off, as you heard Marcus and Roman calling after you. You quickly made your way through the crowd, everyone’s eyes on you, as you practically ran toward the front door. Your breathing felt shallow as you made your way out of the house, and began walking. At the moment you really weren’t sure where you were going but you just knew you had to get as far away from that house and everyone in it as fast as you possibly could.

“Y/n, wait!” Someone called, but you were so deep in thought, you had blocked everything out. You somehow misstepped causing you to trip and fall. You grunted slightly as you glanced at your now scraped-up and slightly bleeding knee. The stinging pain from your cheek and knee wasn’t too bad, but as the night kept getting worse you couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed as the tears began to slightly roll down your cheeks. It just added to how shitty you felt.

You felt like a crybaby, you had brought all this on yourself, and you deserved it, so why were you crying? Yet somehow you couldn’t stop them. You were so frustrated and angry with yourself, not knowing what to do with all your pent-up anger, you let out a frustrated scream, as your fists met the cement.

“Y/n, stop,” Someone said, holding your fists as they soothingly rubbed your back. You turned your eyes meeting Marcus's own eyes. “Stop, please, j-just leave me alone, please, Marcus, I just want to be alone right now,” You quietly murmured.

“Y/n-”

“She said she wants to be alone, man, so why don’t you listen?” You heard Roman say from behind you, he must’ve just caught up to you. Following him was Padma, “Y/n. are you alright?” She called out toward you.

You simply nodded in response, tears still streaming down your cheeks.

“Why don’t you mind your own fucking business?” Marcus harshly snapped at Roman.

“I could say the same about you.” Roman retorted.

Marcus stood from the sidewalk, facing Roman, “Who the fuck even are you to Y/n? Alright, do you even know her? Because this is the first time, I’ve ever seen or heard of you, Roman, and you’re really starting to piss me off, so why don’t you leave before I punch you in the face.”

“Can the both of you shut the fuck for god’s sake! God, I wish I were a fucking lesbian, so I wouldn’t have to deal with men!” You shouted.

Padma reached the boys, telling them both that it might be best if they both left. They were both defiant but they finally agreed, Padma, promising she’d take care of you.

“Alright, come on, sweetie, why don’t we get you home,” She crouched down to meet your eyes.

“I don’t deserve to go home, I should just stay here, and suffer on the cold hard cement.” You sniffled. “Well then maybe I should go grab Marcus too and he can sit out here as well, he’s not innocent.” At that, you stood up.

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

The next day you woke up feeling like shit. Not, because you were hungover, you didn’t drink last night. But you had spent a fair amount of your night crying before falling asleep, resulting in your eyes being sore and puffy, slightly aching, and leaving your head with a throb.

You turned to your other side, being met with Padma laying beside you, causing you to smile. You truly loved her, she was an amazing friend, and was always there for you. You grabbed your phone and wallet, deciding you’d get her her favorite drink and breakfast.

As you looked at the time you saw that it was ten, you also noticed various texts from Marcus, and one from Roman asking how you were. Padma must’ve given him your number. You replied to Roman, deciding to ignore Marcus for now, not wanting to deal with him so early, at least for you, in the morning. You had stopped by your and Padma’s favorite cafe, getting each of your favorite breakfasts as well as drinks. As you were leaving you quite literally ran into someone.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” You blurted out in apology.

You looked up, seeing Marcus. “Oh,” You let out in realization. “Hey,” You murmured.

“Hey, did you get my messages, I was actually gonna get you breakfast, but I guess you beat me,” He gestured to the bag of food in your hands. “Yeah, uh, we should probably get some napkins to clean that up,” You gestured to his wet shirt.

“Yeah,” He murmured.

You grabbed a handful of napkins patting them against Marcus’s wet shirt. “I should probably let you-”

“Yeah,” He said, taking the napkins from your hand.

“I uh, why don’t I buy you another drink, since you spilled the other one,” Marcus offered once he had finished somewhat drying his shirt. “Uh, no that’s okay, really.” You responded.

“Okay, well uh, can we talk then?” He questioned.

“About?”

“Us, y’know and everything that happened last night…” He muttered.

“I mean, what’s there to talk about? Whatever we were doing is over, Ginny dumped you, you were drunk, Ginny slapped the shit out of me, and hopes we rot in hell, did I miss anything?” You questioned.

“I think you covered almost all of it, besides the part where I said I heard you say you love me, yeah that little part?”

“Yeah, no, we’re- we're not doing this again, goodbye, Marcus.” You said, grabbing your food, and Padma’s drink before leaving the cafe. You made your way to your car, hearing Marcus behind you. “I don’t understand, why you can’t just admit it, Y/n, I heard you.”

“Why does it matter, Marcus? Is this like some sick game to you? Do you want me to admit it so you can break my heart by telling me you don’t love me, Marcus, is that it? Because I got that last night when you said I was ‘just there’ and honestly, I don’t care, truly.”

“I- I shouldn’t have said that Y/n, I was just trying to calm Ginny, alright?”

“Why? Did you ever even care about her, I mean you spent more than half of your guy’s relationship cheating on her. Your probably spent our entire relationship cheating on me too.” You murmured the last sent quietly. As you continued to make your way to your car, putting your probably now cold breakfast in the car.

“I do care about Ginny, I-I never meant to hurt her, I just…”

“Cheated on her, yeah, cause that truly shows how much you cared about her.” You sarcastically muttered.

“No, and I never cheated on you, Y/n, I promise.”

“Mhmm,”

“Alright are we done with this conversation, now, Marcus?” You said, a sigh slipping from your lips.

“No, I want you to be honest with me, okay? Do you still love me, Y/n?” He implored.

“Oh my god, I cannot deal with this right now,” You whispered your head leaning against the glass window of your car, eyes shut tightly. Why was he being so stubborn about this?

“Look at me, Y/n,” He said turning you by the arm to face him. His eyebrows were raised in questioning, as he stared deeply into your eyes. You glanced away from his eyes that were practically piercing into your own, trying to pry the truth from you.

“No, Marcus.” You said, voice slightly getting higher.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care, believe what you want. I-”

“Say it,” He challenged.

“No, I’m not doing this…”

Marcus snatched your keys from your hands.

“Marcus, give me back my keys, right now.”

“No, not until you’re honest with me.

“Marcus, I don’t have time for this, seriously give me back my fucking keys, you’re really starting to get on my nerves.”

He stayed silent.

“Marcus, why are you doing this?” You murmured practically pleading.

“Because Y/n, you keep denying it, but I know you’re lying. I want you to be honest with me and yourself.”

You glanced down at the pavement, shaking your head. “Fine,” you muttered meeting his eyes, “I’m still in love with you, you fucking asshole, okay? Why else would I have ever agreed to be your fuck buddy, Marcus? Because that was the only way I could have you. Because for some reason I’m fucking crazy and can’t get over you. And I know what we did was wrong and I feel like shit whenever I think about how much we hurt Ginny. I know I’m a terrible person, I know I’m a slut, a homewrecker whatever word you wanna use. You happy? Is this what you wanted me to admit? So you could gloat, or tell me how much of a fuck you don’t give about me? Because I already know Marcus. I mean it took you, what, a month to get over me and get with Ginny? A-and you know what hurts the most is that, I don’t think you ever really loved me. I mean really, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’. Great way to end things with someone. But don’t worry, I’ll eventually get over you, and I can’t wait for the day to come. There, I said it, now give me my keys.” You said as tears streamed down your face, lips trembling.

“Y/n/n…” Marcus murmured, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“Don’t call me that, and please don’t touch me.” You said as you shrugged his hand off. While Marcus was in thought, you snatched your keys back, making your way to the driver door.

“Y/n wait! God, I have so much to say…” He muttered.

“I just wanna go home, Marcus, okay?” You whimpered, tears falling from your eyes, still.

“Wait, bub, please, I’m sorry, about everything, okay? The whole reason I did all this, because I started all this, was because I’m still in love with you too. Okay? I don’t want you to get over me, ever, because I’m not over you. And I was a fucking idiot for ever letting you go, I know that. And the fact that you could ever think that I didn’t love you, makes me so fucking sad because you’re the only girl I’ve ever loved, Y/n/n. And I’m sorry I didn’t show you as well as I should’ve. I’m sorry I dragged you into my mess, I should’ve never cheated on Ginny with you. I should’ve ended things with her and tried to fix things with you. You’re not a slut, and I don’t want you to ever call yourself anything remotely similar to that word, because you’re not. All that happened was my fault, I knew what I was doing, okay, it’s on me. I’m really fucking sorry, bub, for everything.” He responded, tears filling his own eyes.

“This doesn’t fix anything, Marcus,” You shook your head.

“Your words are everything that I’ve dreamed of hearing since you broke up with me, but they're just that. Words, empty promises. Actions are what show me change, they’re what fix things. You may say you love me Marcus, but you never show me. Each night we spent together, I never wanted to go to sleep because I knew in the morning you’d be gone, and I’d be left alone with my heart broken once again. Because you weren’t with me, you were with Ginny. Do you realize how much that hurt me? Yet I still kept going back to you, because clearly, something’s fucking wrong with me,” You laughed through your tears.

“No matter how much I love you Marcus, I can’t be with you. I’m only going to end up getting hurt, again. I mean I’m the other woman, and cheaters always cheat. You’d probably end up doing the same thing to me that we did to Ginny because we both had a part in hurting her. It wasn’t just you.”

“No, Y/n the only reason I cheated on Ginny, was because I’m still in love with you! I would never do that to you…”

。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ

A/N: this is really bad sorry y’all I rushed this bc I wanted to post something for y’all because I haven’t posted in like 2 weeks, sorry about that :(((

I was gonna add a little more to this today but I started my period and literally everything hurts 🥹😭 so um I just decided I’d post this as it is or else I probably wouldn’t have been able to get this out for another few days.

I am still working on Champagne Problems 2, it’ll probably be out this upcoming weekend hopefully!

Also I had this idea 💡,

EXPLANATION of IDEA (mentions of SA, percy hynes): lmk what y’all think about it or if you’d like me to write something for it but, I came late into the Wednesday fandom, like when all the Percy allegations and cancel Percy stuff was at its peak. However I love Xavier Thorpe, for me it’s very easy to separate character from actor, just because I’ve always kind of stuck to reading fanfic about actors characters and not them because I just feel weird kinda reading fanfics about the actors. Anyways I don’t really know anything about the allegations just that they involve SA. So, I’m not going to get into whether or not I think Percy is guilty or not bc Idk enough to form an opinion.

That being said, in a way, I think Marcus and Xavier, are similar characters, they both have that “tortured artist” thing going on, they both stick to themselves I feel like and overalll I just think the characters are similar. As for the actors IDK, bc idk them.

So my idea is to basically use Marcus or Felix as a FC for Xavier Thorpe! PLEASE, I’m begging y’all to lmk ur thoughts on this. Sorry this A/N is so long but yeah bc I really am tempted to write something for Xavier. or maybe I'll just write for xavier and y'all can imagine whoever you want whether that's percy, or whoever else!

#xavier thorpe #marcus baker smut #ginny x marcus #marcus baker x you #marcus baker x reader #ginny and marcus #ginny and georgia #ginny miller #marcus baker #felix mallard #marcus baker imagine #marcusbakerblurb #marcusbakerfic #oneshot #wednesday #netflix ginny and georgia #ginny and georgia netflix #twmasterlist #angst fic

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