#playing with/braiding someones hair is ultimate sign of trust for me

[mountainshroom]

Felt like drawing some silly cats :)

#playing with/braiding someones hair is ultimate sign of trust for me #and i like the idea that katara likes doing peoples hair so 🥹 i dont knoww #bit of a modern au for them #and cats ofc #atla #avatar the last airbender #katara #toph #toph beifong #art #my art #fanart #digital art

[saiiboat]

What are your ginran aus?

ohhhhhh boy. ok. lets start with the silly and go from there.

BLEACH RACING AU!!!!!!!!

its basically the cast of bleach if they all raced sailboats. its everything to me. Haven't decided yet if they race dinghies out of a club or if they race bigger sailboats and each division is a team. either way its silly and fun. ginran is important to this one (homoeroticism of sailing) but most of what ive written down is me just putting aizen into a situation

little blurb: "Aizen is the kind of guy who got into sailing to seem more sophisticated and then realized that he made it too much of his personality and so he's locked himself into self-inflicted psychic warfare with himself about how he would want nothing in the world more than to be anywhere but waxing a boat but if he backs out now everyone will know that he's just been doing it to look cool and thats actually so much worse. Everyone else sails because they either love it or theyve grown up around it enough that its like. what else would they do. Aizen though is playing 5d mental chess about whether or not people will think he's a poser if he stops showing up for practice"

SCI-FI AU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fem!gin and robot!rangiku. Gin is a mechanic who found rangiku after she was tossed out for scrap by aizen. this one makes me insane. so fucking insane. the yuri of it all. the inherent eroticism of being a mechanic and working on the robot you're falling in love with. important to note that rangiku isnt an android like from dbh. she's very clearly a robot. think more along the lines of Pathfinder from apex legends

little blurb: "Mechanic Gin who ties her long hair back in a bun or perhaps a braid while working and who takes her gloves off with her teeth and takes a job directly under a ship's captain after she finds out that he's the captain that threw Rangiku out for scrap and she wears her hair long and it flows over her shoulders even while she works. Aizen comments that she reminds him a lot of another ship's captain that he knew years ago and she says "I'm not sure what yer talkin' about, Aizen-senchou" as she slowly takes apart his ship's interface from the inside"

MERCHANT SHIPPING AU!!!!!!

ficlet!!!!!

this is another one that ive been going insane about, mostly because im using it as an excuse to research tokugawa period japan and its shipping practices. thank you so much to Jakobina Arch from Whitman College for writing an absurd amount on this subject and also The Indian Ocean World Podcast for having her on their podcast. She's been my main source of both information and inspiration for starting this au LOL.

As young kids, Gin and Rangiku are taken in by Hirako Shinji, a strange but respectable captain of a merchant vessel. Aizen is a seemingly kind sailor on the ship, stuck doing gruntwork that he thinks he's above doing. In a fit of annoyance and ego, when he thinks no one is watching, he hurts Rangiku and threatens her not to tell anyone it was him. Eventually, Aizen leaves Hirako's crew, but Gin remembers him

Aizen kills and manipulates and slithers his way to the top of a trading company, and when Hirako's bezaisen faces being bought up by Aizen, Gin abandons the crew to join Aizen's. It's then a race against time to kill Aizen before he decides to go through with the purchase.

Hirako Shinji is their original captain. While Hirako-senchou works his crew hard and is a bit of a strange man, he is trusted by his crew to not cheat them of money, and to ultimately be a fair captain.

Izuru, Momo, and Renji are three young sailors on Aizen's crew. Momo works directly for Aizen and does his paperwork and navigation. She handles all of the important work that he simply signs off on. Despite her doing the brunt of the work, she respects the captain greatly.

When Gin joins the crew he works hard enough and freaks out enough of the other sailors that he earns his place as secondmate. Izuru takes a shining to him, and Gin enjoys having someone who respects him on the ship who he can also boss around.

Renji, Izuru and Momo's old friend who used to be on the same crew with them, had left work as a merchant sailor to instead serve a daimyou who had adopted his best friend.

Rangiku earns her salt as a master navigator and sailor after Gin leaves, becoming a trusted advisor to Hirako. She doesn't understand the reasoning of why Gin would abandon their crew, and she respects Hirako-senchou and the rest of the crew too much to abandon ship as well.

Hitsugaya is a 12 year old boy who has a strong mind for trade as well as sailing and navigation, and even the paperwork it involves. He comes onto the ship after Gin leaves, looking for information on the whereabouts of his older sister. Rangiku finds good company with him, even if she does like to tease him.

FLOWERS FOR ATONEMENT!!!!!!!!

ffa isnt an au so much as it is a fic im currently writing LOL it takes place after hueco mundo arc, and is based around Gin actually managing to kill Aizen and coming out unscathed. It's a lot about interpersonal relationships and Gin reconciling with not only Rangiku, but Izuru and Shinji (Who is temporary captain of the 5th while Momo is recovering) as well. Gin is whisked away to interrogation by 2nd company, so he isn't exactly given time with Rangiku directly after Aizen's death.

i put more of my writing in here than i thought i was going to, but i hope you enjoy either way LOLL

Snippet:

"I fucked Hisagi after you left."

She's sitting on the couch in her and Hitsugaya's office as Gin looks through the books in the bookcase behind her. Rangiku had chased her captain out of the office, promising to get paperwork done while he visited Hinamori. Of course, that had been the plan until Gin had quietly knocked and ducked into the office in the way he was so oft to do now.

She hears him stop flipping through one of the books. She swirls the sake in her cup and doesn't look behind her.

"Really? Hisagi? There's gotta be better choices than that."

"Bah! Like who?"

Gin makes a noise in his throat like a shrug. "Was he good?"

She tosses back the sake and rolls her shoulders. It pains her that she can't look more away from the conversation than Gin already being behind her. "I don't really remember; Kira and I were pretty wasted at that point."

Gin's silent for a minute, and it leaves Rangiku to stew in her thoughts.

"How is Izuru these days?"

Rangiku clenches her jaw. Her hands feel empty without sake in the cup, but moving to pour more feels like admitting defeat. She settles back into the couch and tilts her head towards him just enough to give him her ear. She still won't look at him. "Have you talked to him? Shouldn't a captain know how his lieutenant is?"

"Ah, for a lieutenant, he's pretty good at avoidin' his captain."

"And why do you think that is, Gin?" When she spins around to look at him, he's holding a poetry collection Hitsugaya had gifted her for New Years maybe 8 years ago. "Why in the name of the Soul King would Kira want to avoid you? Is it because you left? Is it because you played with his feelings? Because you used him and tossed him away? Is it because you didn't tell him what you were planning?" She should stop, she really should. She doesn't want to lose him again. "Why didn't you tell him, Gin? Why didn't you tell me?" She's staring at him, pleading him to say something, to say anything instead of just leaving again with no answer.

"He could've hurt one of ya."

Something in her heart breaks, and she doesn't even recognize what's happening before she breaks out into heavy, ugly sobs.

Gin hurries around to her side of the couch, past the wall she had put up between them. He catches the sake cup as it drops from her hands and hesitates for only a moment before gently (oh, so gently) relaxing her hands from where she had been digging her nails into her palms in its absence.

"Aw, c'mon, Ran. Ya don't need to cry."

He's standing in front of her with her hands held in his, and it feels like something in her chest is clawing to get out.

He kneels on the ground in front of her and she follows him, folding herself into the length of his body like she hadn't done in a hundred years, and his hands leave hers to wrap around her. His breath is on the top of her head and his fingers card softly through her hair. She grasps onto his haori and swears that she'll never let go.

It takes what seems like hours to find her voice, but eventually the words fall out of her mouth, "I only ever wanted you to stay."

"Then I won't ever leave again." He says it as easy as breathing, and she can't help but duck her head into him, giggling wetly.

"Stupid, stupid Gin. Is that all I had to say?" She unclasps her hands from the front of his haori and moves to wrap her arms around him, pulling herself closer. "If you aren't going anywhere, then I won't either." She moves her head back to look at him, and goes a bit crosseyed when she realizes how close their faces are. When her eyes are able to focus, she smiles. He looks soft. Happy. She pokes him in the cheek. "You still need to talk to Kira, Gin. Don't forget."

His eyes crinkle in a smile she knows is genuine. Only she gets to see this side of him. She wishes he would show it to other people. "I won't forget."

The finger poking into his cheek softens into what a more well-adjusted person may be brave enough to call a caress. Either way, she would have to be blind to miss the way he melts into the touch. "Promise?"

"Promise."

TIMELOOP FIC!!!!!!!!

this one doesn't actually belong to just me!!! its owned equally by @babygirlifier with some input on Rukia from @toomanydoors !! this one is specifically a rock musical bleach au, and the loop starts with momo and aizen in the office together, and ends with either momo dying or aizen escaping. its a whole lot of momo death, momo getting stronger, and momo coming into her own as a person separate from what aizen created her to be. of course, there is a lot of gin in this fic. he kills her a lot. but he's also a very strong ally once she figures out what she needs to say to him to get him to listen. there is a LOT about this fic that makes me insane, and a lot of ways that characters experience the wide array of horrors that the 3 of us are able to cook up. ill give you a fun little ginran moment though. of course.

blurb: "Just just imagining momo and rukia sitting off to the side and giving gin and rangiku space while the two of them have their heads ducked together and are talking quietly. in all of momo's time in these loops, she's never seen gin look so... tender. rukia keeps looking over momo's shoulder, unable to take her eyes off the two of them for too long. its understandable, momo reasons. it's a strange experience to see gin duck his head into rangiku's space, to see him hold her hands with such gentle care.

Gin agrees to help momo. this is the final loop."

#WOW. okay thats a lit of stuff. hope this is a good answer nonny #courtesy of bán #bleach racing au #merchant shipping au #flowers for atonement #bleach scifi au #burimyu timeloopfic #ginran #saii.writing

[purplesunrisefanfic]

Sub!Abby/Dom!Nora Headcannons

Warnings:

Warning for lifestyle BDSM and sexually explicit content. There’s swearing and some use of a sexist slur (but only between two women for kinky name-calling reasons.) Body piercing and the strain of working as medic are mentioned. So are sub/Dom drop. There is some switching. Also, I do get increasingly gooey and hurt/comfort near the end.

Some of these got sexied up by @pinkchubbiebunnie in her post on this subject so they may look familiar ❤️

As usual no read more because the Tumblr app and Timblr mobile site SUCK. Apologies.

Now let’s get kinky:

Abby is envy about how Nora can always seem so cool and confident while she is just dripping mess so often.

Even more so because Nora can just naturally and breezily go from talking to Abby normally to talking like she owns her (coz she does) and back again as other people enter and leave earshot while Abby is always unsubtly clearing her throat whenever someone walks in.

In fact, she’s so scared she’ll accidentally call Nora Sir in front of someone else one day that she has literally planned exactly how she will make it out to be a joke just in case she needs to save face.

Abby envies this even more because she knows that Nora isn’t any less prone to feeling insecure or having lapses in confidence than she is, she’s just way better at hiding it.

Even when she really wants to fight back or be a brat, Abby just physically cannot, like her muscles just melt or rebel at even the idea of defying Nora because they know who they belong to.

Abby sometimes tries to avoid getting patched up by Nora especially if it’s not in private bc she knows she’ll be in trouble if there’s any signs she was reckless.

She feels torn about that though because even while she’s getting the look of “You know what a bad girl you’ve been and you know you are gonna pay for it” she still feels so soothed by Nora’s touch.

But Abby’s efforts to control who treats her make no difference anyhow because Nora knows exactly what she’s up to even though she doesn’t let on. Nora only lets Abby get patched up by someone else if Abby’s injuries are way minor.

The other medics figure that’s just a regular protective gf thing, which it totally is as well but it’s also about being possessive over who might be involved in any lasting/permanent marks on what’s hers.

Being in control with Abby soothes some of Nora’s work-related traumas. Her opinion as a medic is held in high regard for the most part but some soldiers are just too stubborn with medical advice. It can be pretty rough on Nora when she knows a patient of hers isn’t going to listen, no matter what she says, and will go back out too early and sometimes wind up returning dead or dying. So it’s really soothing that when it comes to the person she loves most in the world, she doesn’t have these worries.

Nora makes Abby do menial manual things quite a lot, she’s actually ambivalent about making Abby do this kinda stuff, or at least she would be ambivalent about it if it wasn’t so blatant that Abby loves just being treated like her grunt muscle.

They’re actually pretty much the same intelligence-wise, but Abby simps for how much medical and hospital logistics knowledge Nora has and just has warm fuzzies getting to be her trained pet taking orders and knowing there’s well-planned logistics but not knowing herself what they are. It’s like the opposite of being a soldier and needing to be observant, she can just be switched-off eye candy trusting in someone else.

Needless to say, Nora loves said eye candy. Abby doesn’t get to wear too much in their apartment unless it’s really cold.

She’d never admit it, but Nora low-key wants Abby to call her Daddy and hates that with what happened to Jerry she can’t ever see herself risking bringing that up with Abby.

She resents that even more bc she (correctly) feels sure that Abby would’ve absolutely loved that.

Abby can always tell, even in a busy place, whether it’s Nora or someone else snapping their fingers.

When Nora snaps her fingers, the rest of the world disappears. Like instant subspace, Abby could be next to clicker and forget all about it instant.

Nora gives the subtlest, carefully considered hints of underlying affection while seemingly objectifying Abby and it’s just exactly what her pet beefcake needs to feel that undercurrent of love while she gets off on being used.

Abby spends that much time on her knees that she sometimes forgets that Nora isn’t actually taller than her.

And not just on her knees eating Nora out (though she does that a lot) but just generally kneeling like a good girl for Sir.

Abby would physically drool over the idea of wearing a collar 24/7 if she thought about it for too long. Nora would physically drool if she looked at Abby wearing a collar for too long.

Abby is free to masturbate alone when she wants to but she’s not allowed to orgasm from it. She’s never broken that rule and she’d actually be upset if she somehow did come with Nora’s permission.

She worries it might be a little messed-up to feel this way but Nora really enjoys knowing that she’s only partner that has made Abby orgasm. Sorry not sorry Owen, you did not seem good in bed.

Abby ends up being such a good girl that Nora decides to start giving her regular maintenance punishments because Abby doesn’t like to go too long without one.

Nora is near constantly torn between how much she enjoys Abby fingers inside her versus how much she enjoys seeing the intense pining when she doesn’t let Abby do that for a while.

That’s Nora’s favourite problem to have.

Remember the Abby’s hair + rope bondage fantasy? Yeah, Nora is a pro at that.

Nora uses Abby’s braid like a leash, and tells Abby that wherever she is, anytime her hair is braided then she’s basically wearing her leash.

Abby tries so hard not to think about that on patrol, but if there isn’t any actual danger to keep her busy, she sometimes can’t help but think about it.

Abby keeps an eye out for suitable jewellery, and if she ever found some she would love for Nora to pierce her navel or one of her nipples.

When Nora gets Dom-drop Abby carries Nora in her arms so she can hold her tight and feel her strength while she tells her how much she loves her and loves their relationship. Nora feels kinda weightless with the way Abby holds her and it’s so reassuring.

When Abby gets sub-drop Nora wraps herself around Abby from behind, skin-to-skin, and leans her face in next to Abby’s. She strokes her neck and whispers praise.

They don’t switch often because they’re pretty full-on lifestyle but when they have a kind of switchy playtime sometimes where Abby gets to run riot with all her brute force strength, picking Nora up, pining her down, manhandling her. She undresses her roughly then mocks Nora for “thinking you’re always in charge when the truth is I could take you down in an instant,” then picks her up by her shoulders and holds her there so her arms and legs dangle in the air, just wanting to prove that she’s powerless. Abby enjoys getting her own back by embarrassing Nora for once, and she likes to hold their faces very close so she can spot the slight changes in the hue of her skin when she makes Nora blush. “You thought you could hide your blushes from me? I know you too well for that, darling. That pretty face of yours can’t keep any secrets from me. No more than the rest of your body. I don’t even need to look or touch to know that you’ll dripping wet for me by now. That little sting of shame burning your cheeks always makes you a needy little bitch, doesn’t it?”

When they’re having those switchy scenes, Nora gets off on denial. No-one is really sure if it’s a power play that intensifies Abby’s status as (temporary) Dom because she edges and torments Nora but never lets her come, or whether it’s actually the opposite, intensifying their background dynamic because in that respect Abby gets a lot less power when she plays Dom.

Either way, Nora finishes up blissfully satisfied about her lack of satisfaction. Even more so because the next time they play, Nora back as Dom and Abby back remembering that all the muscles in the world won’t stop her from being Nora’s little bitch, she’ll make Abby plead to be allowed to give Sir an orgasm.

Abby begs harder than she ever does for her own orgasms.

A fact with makes Nora feel like a goddess, whilst also being so much fun to rub Abby’s nose in.

“Aww listen to little Abby beg just to please me. She likes to think she’s so strong with all that time in the gym. But no amount of time keeping up that facade will change the reality, Abigail. Deep down, you’re no big, strong brute, just a helpless little girl. My helpless ickle pet, so desperate for approval you’d do anything to please me, wouldn’t you?”

Abby melts then admits Nora is right.

Then Nora tells Abby only one of them of them gets to come tonight and makes Abby decide who it is.

She always chooses Nora.

And never regrets it.

And in amongst all kink of it, that makes Nora feel so nurtured.

Fair warning: this is where it becomes obvious that FEELINGS are my ultimate kink onto which all other kinks collapse...

Yeah, there’s that intense thing where it’s like the way a sub can adore you and nurtures you that makes it so much easier to be strong and tough than it would otherwise be, and dealing with everything in that world and all the injuries Nora and having to be strong with all the horrors, it’s like it’s easier for Nora to be strong in all the ways she needs to just to live that life.

They like doing little things to look after each other because they both know the feeling where they are assumed to be super tough and don’t need to be nurtured but ofc they need and deserve softness.

This ship makes me wish I had the words to explain how all the kinky stuff is low-key so soft imo.

Abby doesn’t get into much trouble but one way she sometimes does is being too much of an overprotective gf when other people are involved.

Oh and Dom or not, Nora is still little spoon and sleeps 1000% better for it.

Hope y’all liked these. AMA (esp anything kinky) about Abby/Nora or Abby/Ellie or other ships I ship because I have the feels.

#abby anderson #nora harris #abby x nora #my hcs #cw #a.s.s. shipping taskforce

[eirist]

Little Bits and Pieces of Heaven

A CEREMONY OF SORTS

One-shot #: 20

Disclaimer: One Piece (and its characters) belongs to Eiichiro Oda-sensei.

Reminder: I have no beta-reader. Any grammatical and spelling errors are solely mine.

Warning: OOC possible. One shot scribble.

Rating: T (Just random craziness)

Note: Funny thing about this plot bunny… it came to me just right after waking up and it was supposed to be a drabble for the Points of No Return collection. But sometimes, one-shots have a mind of their own. But I’m happy that I finally hit the 20th chapter mark! 

And if you wanna see what inspired Nami's look here, just click.  

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SENCHOU! Your crew loves you regardless of your antics!

Summary: “If Luffy does it right this time.”       

The fronds of the palm trees randomly lining the island shore swayed as the soothing, balmy sea breeze blew gently all around the small hidden cove on the other side of island.

It teased long, unbound tresses; ruffled unruly, short strands and played with the hems of loose white shirts and flowing dresses, lifting them slightly as the white sand shifted from restless feet.

Eyes exchanged nervous but excited glances.

Everything was calm, peaceful and pleasant.

But the face hidden under the shade of a straw hat was scrunched up in deep concentration. The jutting of his lower lip a sure sign of distress…

“Any time today would be good…” Usopp said in a sarcastic tone.

“Mah,” Sanji huffed.  “Looks like a sign that this shouldn’t push through.” He took a drag from his cigarette looking smug and amused at the same time.

“Shut up,” Zoro growled at his direction. “Of course you would say that shit cook!”

“Uhhmm…” Chopper nudged Robin’s leg slightly. “Maybe Luffy’s having a hard time reading what’s written on it?”

The archeologist looked thoughtful. “Hmm… probably…”

“Oi!” Luffy shouted and the reindeer flinched. “I can read ya know! It’s just that…”

"Oohh…” Sanji crooned, looking absolutely happy. “He’s having second thoughts about this!”

"Shut your trap ero-cook!"

“Oi Luffy,” This time it was Franky’s who spoke up… to complain. “We are kinda growing old here!”

Brook stepped closer to his captain and pointed at the strip of paper he was holding. “Just read whatever is written in there Luffy-san.”

Luffy frowned as he stared at the wrinkled paper.

Nami made a clicking sound with her tongue in obvious irritation. Everyone can see a vein popping out of her forehead even as she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Well... here’s to hoping that she wouldn’t lose her temper today of all days.

She shifted closer to their captain… looking dangerous than ever. “Luffy,” she said in an overly sugary sweet tone, that had the others shuffling a few feet away from her. “What are you waiting for?”

“For you to change your mind Nami-swaan!” Sanji sang as he twirled towards her, leaving hearts in his wake. “He’s thinking this is all a shitty idea. A really, really shitty idea!” He growled the last word at Zoro’s direction.

“Swirly do not make me cut you into shitty little pieces!”

“Bring it on you stupid moss-head!”

“Stop it!” Usopp hissed at them as his eyes darted towards the now peeved navigator. “Luffy just get on with it! Before Nami decides we are all better off lightning fried!” The sniper mumbled the last sentence with a shudder.

“Luffy,” Jinbe cleared his throat. “Maybe we can… ask someone else to do the honors?"

"Let Jinbe do it!" Usopp suggested, raising a hand. "He was also a captain before, right?"

“But...” It came out as a whine from the rubber man. “I’m the captain! I’m the one who should do it!”

“Then for goodness sake just do it!” Zoro groused, looking absolutely annoyed. “We’ve been standing here for almost half an hour!”

“Demo…”

“You can start by saying we are gathered here Luffy,” Robin instructed with a small smile.

“Aaw! And supeeer work your way until you reach the ‘you may kiss the bride part’!” Franky added. 

“Don’t forget to ask if there is anyone here who opposes this…” Sanji piped in. “BECAUSE I DO! I FUCKING DAMN DO!”

Franky made a grab for the cook, almost smothering his whole face with his big mechanical hand, to stop him from raving and going berserk.

“Franky! Temee!”

Luffy’s lips quivered. “We are gathered here today…” he finally intoned, reading from the paper. He lifted his head and glanced at Robin as if looking for approval and the raven-haired woman gave him a slight nod.

He stopped and stared at the paper again and everyone groaned.

Maybe it was not a really good idea to let the Straw Hats’ captain officiate a ceremony as important as this.

Zoro sighed and raked a hand through his hair frustration.

“Hohoho! This marriage is still not official yet, but it looks like it’s bound to sail in rough sea waters.” Sanji remarked smugly. “And sink.”

“Temee, kuso cook!”

“Sanji-kun!” Nami turned towards him, the expression on her face aghast.

“But Nami-swan!”

Usopp frowned at the blond-haired man. “Gosh. You sure are a sore loser.”

“NANI?!”

Splashing sound of water filled the air as the sharpshooter swiftly ran away from danger and into the safety of Robin’s side—who was standing on the shore—where Sanji wouldn’t dare aim his flaming kicks.

Franky rubbed a hand on his chin. “This is getting a bit draggy.”

“My arms are kinda getting tired holding these,” Chopper said in a sheepish tone as he gestured at what he was holding.

“Hmmm… Should we just help out?” Robin inquired.

“Maybe we should, Robin-san.” Brook nodded.

“We definitely should!” Usopp agreed.

“Besides, the bride is looking kinda pissed… not really good when you are about to get married right?” Franky observed.  “So I nominate Jinbe to take his place!”

“I wouldn’t mind doing it, if Luffy doesn’t.” The helmsman gladly accepted.

“Aaw really? I was going to nominate Sanji.” Usopp looked disappointed.

“Huh?”

“The hell are you saying shitty sniper?!” The blond chef roared. “WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT?!”

“Because I honestly do kinda want to see this whole you-are-now-married-you-may-kiss-the-bride scenario push through!” He hollered back and got nods of approval from mostly the older members of the crew. “And Luffy here is not helping!”

“Hey! Sanji’s not even a captain!” Luffy retorted.

“WHY ME?”

“Yeah why HIM?” Zoro drawled with a jerk of his thumb at the blond’s direction, looking down-right displeased.

Usopp folded his arms across his chest. “Think of it as man’s ultimate sacrifice for the one he loves!”

Zoro cocked an eyebrow at that and Sanji glared daggers at them.

“Oi minna!” Luffy yelled unhappily. “I can do this you know! Sheesh. Trust your captain!”

“THEN FUCKING DO IT AHO SENCHO!” Nami finally exploded after all that effort to rein in her temper. “DO NOT MAKE ME THROTTLE YOU IN THIS DRESS!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!!! I’m sorry Nami!”

Sanji sighed. Usopp did make a valid point. If nothing is done… they won’t be able to move forward and they’ll be stuck in the shores of this island until after the sun sets.

Or until Luffy manages to read what’s on the paper until the very end.

Which looks utterly impossible… given how the rubberman was stuck at the very first sentence.

Not to mention it would totally ruin Nami-san’s mood and her loveliness in her flowing white dress and loose French braid randomly adorned with little pearls.

Swallowing his pride for the sake of his favorite lady’s happiness, he lit up another cigarette before saying, “The wedding dinner will be ready in ten minutes tops.” He nonchalantly stated, earning surprised stares from everyone at his random announcement.

Everything was silent for a few seconds… except for the soft wind blowing across the foliage surrounding them, the rustling of the palm trees and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

Then Luffy suddenly grabbed Zoro and Nami’s hands, entwining them together, before looping his own rubbery ones around it in a sort of a handfast.

“Zoro! Nami! As your captain I now pronounced you married!” He said with a nod of his head and a squeeze on their hands. “Hm! You may now kiss each other.”

And just like that he untangled his hands from them and pumped his fists into the air.

“Yosh! Time for the wedding feast! Sanji MEAT!!!”

"That's it?!" Usopp gasped and Robin giggled. “Oi Luffy! That was rather anti-climactic!”

The others just gaped at their captain and their now ‘married’ crewmates in astonishment.

But the young captain was not listening. “Niku! Niku! Niku!” He chanted. “Oi Sanji!”

“I heard you the first time shitty captain!” Sanji snarled. He turned his attention at the stunned couple.

He smiled at the navigator. “Nami-san… Omedetou!” He greeted sweetly before glowering at Zoro. “Shitty swordsman.”

“Aho cook.”

“Arigatou Sanji-kun!”

“I’ll go and prepare the wedding dinner now.” He turned and was about to head towards the Sunny, which was docked a few meters away when Luffy’s hands grabbed him.

“Let’s go!”

“LUFFY! Kusoooo!”

“Zoro, Nami! Congratulations! Shihishi!” Luffy cheered before catapulting himself and their cook towards their ship.

Zoro and Nami glanced at each other in disbelief.

“Just like that?” Nami murmured to him with a bewildered expression on her face.

“Hmm…” Zoro looked as if he was contemplating. “You know, I expected worse. Way worse.”

“He didn’t even let us exchange our vows! Or slip the rings in each other’s fingers!”

The green-haired man chuckled. “Well we are lucky enough he got to pronounce us married and that we can kiss each other before high tailing it."

Nami pouted. Zoro was right. It was more than what they could hope for when they decided to ask Luffy to marry them.

“Well… guess we have to make use of what we have.” Her smile was dazzling as she stood on tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. “Husband.”

Zoro grinned back, tucking an errant lock of orange hair behind her ear. “Wife.”  He bent down to kiss her.

There was a soft popping sound and flowers petals showered down on them care of Franky’s modified rocket launcher, Usopp’s newest pop green intercrossing end product and Robin’s numerous blooming hands.

“OMEDETOU!!!”

Amidst the raining petals, there was a tug at the rolled up hem of Zoro’s white pants. He pulled away from Nami and looked down to see Chopper standing near them holding out the ring bearer pillow with a big smile on his cute face.

“Zoro. Nami. Omedetou!”

“Thanks Chopper!” Zoro patted the doctor’s head.

Nami beamed at him. “Arigatou Chopper!” She reached down for one of the rings. She grabbed Zoro’s hand to slip his on his finger. “We are so unconventional. We cannot even pull off a proper wedding.”

“That’s what actually makes us the Straw Hats,” Zoro took the other from Chopper and did the same… stopping just momentarily to admire the gold band that signifies that they belong to each other… now and always.

“And that wasn’t what you and I were supposed to say while slipping these on our fingers.” Nami sighed with a slight wiggle of her hand which was still in his.

Zoro laughed and brought it to his lips for a kiss.

"Oooh!” Chopper squealed as suddenly he hopped on Zoro’s shoulder. He stared at the rings around their fingers. “Wooow! You two are really married now!”

“Zoro! Nami! Congratulations!” Usopp shouted as he ran towards them, grabbing them in a tight hug.

“Thanks Usopp… but get off!”

Their other nakama made their way towards the couple clapping and greeting them, with Franky bawling in the background.

“That was… beautiful! Short but supeeeer sweet!” He sniffled. “Congratulations!”

“Nami, Zoro.” Robin smiled. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks Robin!”

“Congratulations Zoro-san, Nami-san!” Brook bowed down at them. “For the last time my I see your—”

“Do not make me ask Zoro to kick you into the sea Brook.” Nami was all smiles as she threatened the old skeleton.

“I was just kidding yohohoho!”

“Congratulations,” Jinbe nodded at his younger crewmates. “May there be no rough seas that you two cannot sail through together.”

“Aaw!” Frankly bawled louder.

A corner of Zoro’s lips quirked up at that. He liked how it totally negates nosebleed’s earlier statement.  Acknowledging it with a slight tilt of his head. ““Domo... Now shall head to the Sunny for a drink?”

Nami rolled her eyes at him. Of course booze is still one of his top priorities.

“Oi Zorooo! Namiii!” Luffy suddenly yelled and waved at them from the deck of the Thousand Sunny where the wedding feast was now laid out. He was chomping on a slab of meat with so much gusto. “Congwatsulashions!”

“Thanks aho captain!”

“Thank you Luffy! Even if you rushed it for the sake of eating you idiot!”

Luffy laughed as he peeked at them from the Sunny’s rail. “Shishishi! But there is nothing more to say. You two are now married… that’s it!”

Zoro and Nami blinked at the simple-mindedness that made Luffy… Luffy.

Though he was right. That was all there is to it. They are now married. It was a fact that will not change.

They smiled at each other.

Besides there was no winning against their captain anyway.

“But if you want we can do it again!” Luffy suggested. “Sanji’s wedding feast is a lot more awesome than our usual meals!”

A myriad of colorful languages suddenly came from the deck, care of their resident chef.

“I promise I will finish reading what Robin wrote in the paper!”

A few seconds later, Luffy’s head ricocheted from the force of Sanji’s kick.

“Aho sencho! Don’t you dare! Once is enough! I don’t want to see my Nami-swan get married to that third rate swordsman again!”

Zoro eyed Nami with both eyebrows raised. “My?” He mouthed. “Really?” He gestured at the rings they were now wearing.

The mapmaker just laughed. “You do know what you are getting into when you agreed to marry me right?”

He let out a ‘tch’ and smirked at her. “Oi Luffy!” He shouted. “That’s actually a good idea!”

Luffy looked surprised. “It is?”

“IT IS?” Sanji’s perplexed voice rang across the deck.

“It is?” Nami echoed.

“Yeah,” Zoro nodded. “Just think of it this way… aside from rubbing it again on swirly brows face…”

“We may also get to finally exchange our vows… and rings as well. As what should have happened today.” Nami continued, following his train of thought immediately. “Not a bad idea Zoro.”

“Only if Luffy does it right this time…”

Robin sighed as she stepped beside them and casually said.

"That is… if he gets past the ‘we are gathered here today’ part."  

#zoro x nami #ZoNa #zonami #zonalove #zona one-shots #zoro nami fanfiction #roronoa zoro #nami

[thatfairyfangirl]

True Colors Chapter 27

Both you and Bucky were happy to learn his accident in the quinjet didn’t lead to any broken bones, but your wrist was mildly sprained...you would be back on the stage by tomorrow night. You used the time to focus your energies inward, begin attempting to move on.

Bucky wandered into the shop, his third one in the last hour. “Excuse me?” He asked as he looked around at all the beautiful blooms.

The young girl behind the counter looked up from the arrangement she was working on, stars in her eyes when she realized exactly who just walked into her shop. “Oh wow! You're Bucky Barnes!” She was practically squealing with glee as she set down what she was doing. Looking up to her he smiled sheepishly, nodding a confirmation.

“Yeah, I am. Umm maybe you can help me?” He asked hopefully as he scratched at the back of his head. “I'm looking looking for some flowers for my best girl…”

“Well I'd say you've come to the right place. What does she like?” She was beaming with delight at the idea of arranging something for one of the avengers.

“I’m not really sure how to describe it.” He huffed out an almost frustrated sigh. Every floral shop he’s been in thus far hasn’t been able to name the flowers he was looking for. He was beginning to lose hope. “Umm That Disney movie about Rapunzel…” Her face lit up at the mention, very sure she knew exactly where he was going with this.

“Say no more! I know exactly what you’re looking for.” She just about squealed with excitement as Bucky breathed out a sigh of relief.

~ ~ ~ ~

Two days Later

While the rest of the Avengers searched for any signs that The Red Skull was finally ready to step out of the shadows he spent the next few days running all over town. Just because it wasn’t anything serious didn’t mean that he still didn’t feel the need to apologize. You had both put each other through hell over the past few months...and well, you did just save his life. This plan had to happen. His crystal blue eyes scanned the streets as he moved, knowing that tonight was the night, you were finally returning to Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat mutant cast. He had to keep his eyes out for you as

“Mr. Barnes! Welcome back!” The florist behind the counter was beaming with the excitement of feeling like she knew something special, which she probably did. “Is tonight the night?” She asked leaning over the counter filled with wonder. How she wished her boyfriend had half the romance in him Bucky had.

He nodded with a hopeful smile. “Assuming they are ready?”

With a proud smile she produced from the back room a glorious bouquet. As Bucky’s eyes fell on them the hopeful smile he had been wearing vanished, the girl’s along with it. “What’s wrong? It’s an exact replica.” She asked looking over the flowers, sure there wasn’t a single flaw.

“I thought I was ordering a bouquet of the golden flowers…” He wished he could be happier about this, it was obvious she put in a monumental amount of work to recreate this arrangement from something...But he couldn’t place where.

“Oh...Mr. Barnes, I’m so sorry...but those flowers just don’t exist in reality.” She explained a little bit sullenly. “But if she loves the movie I’m sure she’ll love these. Haven’t you seen Tangled Ever After?” He just looked at her, bewildered...he thought you had shown him everything Disney related...was there something YOU didn’t know that now he did? “Trust me,” the girl chuckled holding them out for him.

He just nodded as he checked his watch, he’d just have to trust her, he didn’t have much time now. As he made his way through the tower to his room to change he stopped at the entrance way to the common area, noticing Clint having some Daddy-Daughter time with Lila. “Hey, Clint, Lila, do you think (y/n) would like these?” Clint looked up over the couch as a tiny face with light brown pigtail braids popped up next to him, her eyes lit up the second she saw the arrangement.

“Holy-” Clint cut himself off, censoring himself in front of his daughter. “Dude! It’s like they took it right out of the cartoon! She’ll love it!”

“It’s just like the one Rapunzel had when she got married.” Lila commented with dreamy eyes. At that exact moment he knew what he’d be getting his daughter the next time he went home for a visit.

“I don’t remember these flowers in the movie...Just the gold ones?” Lila climbed off the couch rushing over to him explaining how the wedding was seen in a short but not to worry as it is on netflix and she knows how to work it. He couldn’t help smiling at the girl as she tugged at the metal hand, not once seeing it as a weapon as she lead him to the couch.

“Hey kid I thought this was supposed to be our time?” Clint joked as he made room for the added company.

“But he needs to know dad!” She insisted as she turned on the collection of Disney shorts.

~ ~ ~ ~

All of the team smiled to themselves as they took their seats, front row center. They weren’t entirely sure why today was the day Bucky insisted they come see the performance, but all were glad to come support you. Tony was the first to realize why as he flipped through the playbill, needing to move, nervous for you. He let out a quick triumphant laugh as he showed everyone else the piece of paper that had been shoved into every playbill being handed out that night. “This revival of Joseph was put together as a labor of love to remind mutants everywhere their dreams matter too. After tonight’s performance please stick around to watch the dream of one of our cast members come true as she is reminded to follow her heart.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnPClWznEY4

They cheered and whistled as you took the stage in a white dress, your signature necklace just barely brushing the neck hole. Seeing your friends brought you to nearly glow as you performed the part of the narrator.

After the final curtain call all the audience was still applauding as you shone brightly, taking a few extra bows, hearing your teammates cheering your name. As the curtain hit the floor you let out a huff as you began to catch your breath, pushing your hair back as you began to detach the microphone from your face. “Oh no Rainbow.” Mike said with a smile as he grabbed your hand. “You aren’t done yet.”

You raised a brow as he drug you out in front of the curtain. “Mike what’s going on?” You hissed under your breath, low enough to keep the microphone from picking it up but audible enough for him to hear.

“You’ve made so many people’s dreams come true...time someone does the same for you.” He answered as he held you in place, all the lights going dim, only a spotlight on you. As the light hit the gem on your necklace it shone rainbows down your body, bringing out a sad smile as you recalled that magical Christmas you and Bucky spent together. Though you had been trying to get over him he still haunted your every thought, missing him more than the sun misses the moon. A second spotlight shone on stage left as Bucky walked out, heart in his throat. You’ve heard him sing before...but never for anyone else...you liked his voice, but you also knew he had a real problem with others hearing it. The band down below started to play as he held up in one hand the flowers he’d gotten for you, and a microphone in the other. Your hands flew to your face, holding back tears of joy and amazement as you looked over the bouquet...it was perfect...he was perfect.

He slowly sang True Colors as he walked closer to you, reveling in the moment when you took the flowers, joining in the song. All the theater cheered as you both pulled each other into a longing passionate kiss long overdue.

~~~~

The night air held a soft autumn chill as you both slowly meandered through central park, one hand in his, the other clinging to the flowers for for a princess. Of course you both forgive each other, and it was obvious you both wanted to give this love a second chance… but there were things that needed to be talked about.

“Look Doll, that day in the quinjet…” he still didn't feel like a simple I'm sorry would cut it but was there really Any other way to say it? “I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I'd never dream of it.”

“You said red bitch...I was glowing red...which has never happened before by the way.” Thinking about it sent a chill down your spine, reminding you that you should probably make a call to the professor about that sooner rather than later.

“I didn't know what was going on… Sinthea and her scientists had me drugged pretty bad. But even with the heavy sedation I could still feel her hands on me, hear her talking about creating the ultimate weapon, ruling as one.” He was still trying to piece together what she meant by that. You had a pretty good idea though. The thought of her and him made you sick to your stomach as you squeezed his hand a little tighter, as if you were keeping him from her grasp. Now you knew how he must have felt.

“I want you to know there was never anything going on with me and Colossus...or me and Mike.”

“I know Doll.”

“No,” you stopped, tugging his hand closer to you, “You don't know… When I was a kid, when I first got my power...when mom went from the nicest person in the world to,” you paused trying to come up with the right word, eventually landing on “not.” You let out a deep sigh as you relived childhood memories you had kept locked away for good reason. “Mike was the one who stopped me from doing any more damage to my hair. Every time I ran from the school he was the one who convinced me to go back. He and I have a special bond...and if he's going to be living in New York, if he and I are going to be working together, you need to be ok with that.”

He pulled you in close, wrapping his arm around your shoulders as he planted a loving kiss to your forehead. “I know Doll. Who do you think helped me make all this happen?” You looked up to him wide eyed. He's spent so much time bending over backwards for you, making friends with people He seemed to hate just to make you happy...and what have you done to deserve it? He truly is something special, and you felt so lucky to have him. “I was wrong to get so upset over it. I know. I just don't know what I would do if I ever lost you.” Metal fingers brushed against your cheek. “All the time they tried to reprogram me you know what kept Bucky in control?” You looked up to him questioningly. “This little glimmer of color and light.” He said as he leaned his forehead in to press against yours. “I wasn't willing to let my memories of you go so easily.” He lifted his chin to rest on your rainbow mane. “I remember all of them...every face of every kill...I didn't want your face added to that list.” Your arms flew around him, squeezing him tightly as a tear trickled down your cheek. “Before you I was a monster. I don't want to think about what life will ever be like without you.” He added as he let you go, pulling away from you to bend down on one knee. “And I don't ever want to find out.” He added as he pulled a small box out of his pants pocket. “What do you think?” He pulled the box open to show a silver band with a rainbow colored gem in the middle.

Your heart exploded at the site of it. If the both of you were to be made into a ring you were sure that would be it. You just stood there a moment watching it sparkle in the light of the city. Once the shock wore off you nodded. “I think I'm going to have to move again. Because I'm with you Buck, till the end of the line.” He barely could let you finish your answer as he slid the ring on your finger before springing up, wrapping you in a tight embrace as your lips met again.

You both thought about going back to the tower, but there was one part of your life Bucky hadn't seen yet, your apartment. Plus it was a much shorter walk from where you were.

You woke in your bed wearing nothing more than the necklace and ring given to you by the man you were wrapped around. You smiled down to him as you brushed his long silky hair from his face, watching him stir under your touch. It was amazing how he looked so peaceful as he slept, such a far cry from the man who used to wake screaming in the middle of the night...you soothed the monster in him, gave him strength to be human again, while he gave you strength to not be. You planted a soft kiss on his forehead before slipping out from under his arms. As you made your way into the living room you kidnapped his t-shirt as your own, it hung loose against your body, looking more like a dress on your small frame as you readied some coffee, loving the idea of staying home with him as long as humanly possible today...you had some lost time to catch up on.

His eyes fluttered open as you filled the apartment with the bittersweet smell of coffee and a sullen slow melody. He pulled his boxers back on before emerging from the bedroom to find you on your couch, legs crossed with a guitar on your lap. He loved the way his shirt looked on you as you leaned forward, scribbling notes down on a blank sheet of music. In front of you sat 2 mugs of coffee, one sweetened and light with cream, the other a smooth bitter dark. He pushed tangled hair out of his face as he moved behind you, reaching his arm over to grab the mug that you made for him, taking a sip as he looked over your music, sure he’d never be able to read it as smoothly as you write it. “It sounds beautiful.” He said with a kiss to your cheek bringing out the brightest smile your face could make before he stood to look around the apartment...when you got in last night he was a little preoccupied with you to really get a good look. “So this is where you used to live?” He asked as you put the guitar down.

“Yep. This is my little slice of the world.” His eyes scanned over the pictures of you and your friends scattered among your cluttered shelves, smiling as he watched you age through them. These must have been the ones missing from your mom’s house. He saw a few familiar faces and a few he had yet to meet.

“I love it.” He assured her as he continued to look around at your life before Tony found you. “So….there’s something else we should talk about we never got around to last night…” As much as he hated to ruin such a beautiful moment this was something you needed to know. Curious, you looked up to him as you sipped on your overly sweet coffee. With a deep heavy breath he sat by you, explaining how a few days before you rescued him The Red Skull had left the facility he was being kept at. This meant there was at least one other still active...and it was housing one of the most dangerous men in history. And that he was sure it was HYDRA who tried to grab you.

“So we’ll find it and we’ll bring it to the ground.” You announced with that hope filled confidence he admired so much about you. “And then we’ll find any more active and take them down too.”

“God I love you.” was all he could think to say before cupping your cheek, letting his lips meet yours as he leaned into you. You let yourself fall back onto the sofa as your arms wrapped around his muscular torso, fingertips tracing the lines of his muscles as you held in giggles from his moving the oversize shirt up, the tips just barely brushing up your sides as he straddled you.

#marvel #marvel x reader #Avengers #avengers x reader #bucky #Bucky Barnes #bucky x reader #Winter Soldier #winter soldier x reader

[idesignedthefjords]

RSS Fic: Picture Perfect Bride

Recipient: @thestraggletag 

Prompt:  Arranged Marriage Modern AU

Notes: It’s my very first fic ever, so I hope you like it :) I had a really good beta; @avatoh who saved the day XD 

Summary: Maurice French, no longer wanting to take care of his daughter auctions her off on a mail-order bride website. Mr. Gold responds to the ad.

Belle was standing in the middle of her luxurious hotel room, looking at herself in the mirror. She looked beautiful in her wedding dress. It was a lace dress with a plunging V neckline. The bodice accentuated her slim waistline and had cap sleeves. Her soft skirt had lace flowers with tiny dots made of golden thread in the middle. Her hair was in a messy braided bun, with some baby’s breath braided in. She did not recognise herself. True, she looked like a typical beautiful blushing bride, but her face told a different story. She already had to redo her make-up 3 times, because she kept messing it up with her tears. Her lips were sore from gnawing on them; she had already drawn blood.

Just two months ago, her father decided that he had enough of her living in his house. He was dating a new woman, just two years after her mother passed away. He wanted to start a new life with her, and Belle was taking up precious space. “I just want a fresh start, Belle!” he told her on the same night he introduced his girlfriend He also had admitted that he didn’t think she would be able to live by herself. Yes, she had some mental issues in the past, she had been admitted to the hospital when her depression took the best of her. But that was in the past and she was building a life for herself; going to college, making friends. Maurice on the other hand, still believed she wouldn’t be able to cope by herself; “You aren’t getting any younger Belle, and neither am I. I can’t take care of you forever and you are nearly 25! It’s someone else’s turn now. Why don’t you get married and live with Gaston? He can provide for you; his family has money. You won’t have to look for a job anymore or go out with your shady friends to some disgusting bar.” She became so angry with him that he threatened to lock her up in the hospital again. “You are leaving this house, with a husband or a straightjacket and that’s final!” When she still refused to marry Gaston and screamed that she would rather marry a stranger, her father put her picture on some mail-order bride website. She still felt her cheeks burning with shame when she thought about it.

She had never expected him to do such a horrible thing, but she saw the page he had ultimately created for her, complete with a few happy pictures from her past and a brief description about her studying Library Science and a few of her hobbies which he had made up to appeal to possible suitors. Her father showed her the page with great pride even. “Look Belle, already multiple interested men! I’m going to pick the richest man though, only the best for my daughter!” Belle was so disappointed in her father. She couldn’t believe he would treat her like cattle; to be sold to the highest bidder. No wonder he thought Gaston was a suitable option for her; they were both equally misogynistic. She sort of accepted her fate in some strange way. If marriage was the way out of her father’s house, then so be it.

After a month of being on display on this awful website, someone with enough money had responded and her father agreed to make a deal. The man could marry her, if he would pay the rent for Maurice’s struggling flower shop for the next 5 years.

Her life was being exchanged for some bushels of roses..

--------

“Do the brave thing, and bravery will follow,” Belle thought when her father guided her down the aisle. She held her head up high, and stared towards the end of the aisle, keeping her eyes focused on  the priest. She didn’t notice, or pay much attention, to the other important person on this day; the man she was about to marry. He almost mirrored her body language when she finally looked at him. He too was staring at the priest, his back towards Belle. She could see the tension in his back; he was also nervous about this whole situation.  His legs were slightly parted and she could see he was leaning on a cane. He looked vaguely familiar but she couldn’t see his face.

When they reached their destination at the end of the aisle, Belle turned her head away when her father tried to kiss her cheek. She vowed she would never speak to him again after this day.

When she turned to face the groom for the first time, a shock went through her. It was Mr Gold! Mr. Gold was going to be her new husband! He wasn’t a complete stranger to her, afterall, but she knew his reputation and it wasn’t good. He was the owner of the pawn shop in town and her father’s defence lawyer when he was being sued for copyright infringement regarding his shops name, “Game of Thorns”. She had seen him a couple of times but hadn’t really spoken to him except for the occasional ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good evening’ when she ran into him around town. He had been nice to her in the past though. So he was the one she was being sold to. She knew more than enough about his reputation and the gossip surrounding him, and for a moment she was even more scared of him than of Gaston. But at least Mr Gold was smaller than Gaston and he had a limp. So she could outrun him is she needed to.

She was still in shock when they spoke their vows and it all went past her like in a haze. She didn’t realize it was over until she heard the priest say “You may kiss the bride.” Belle’s eyes went big with fear and she tensed up. She was going to have to kiss him! Gold gave a tiny, shy smile when he looked at her he finally leaned over he gently kissed her next to the corner of her mouth; nobody else seemed to notice he failed to kiss her a few inches shy of her lips..

Her friends weren’t invited to the wedding, so soon, she found herself in the backseat of a limousine. Mr Gold, her now husband, was sitting next to her playing with his flip phone. The wedding went by her so fast that she didn’t even hear a thing.

They arrived at their honeymoon location at the Boston Harbor Hotel an hour after they finished up signing all the papers to legalize their marriage, Mr Gold checked in while Belle was waiting by their suitcases. She was worried about what would happen on their wedding night. Would Mr Gold would expect something to happen between the two of them? Perhaps this is why he had wanted to marry her all along… Belle shook her head. He had a bad reputation, but he wasn’t a bad man, from what she knew of him. If this was the cost of her escaping her father, however, then it was a small price to pay.

When they reached their hotel room, she noticed there was, as you might expect from a honeymoon suite, only one bed.  There was, however, a small sofa in the corner by the window and a desk. Mr Gold walked over to the sofa and suggests “I can sleep here on the sofa tonight, if you’d like-”.

At the same time Belle blurted out “-So how do you want to do this?”

“Excuse me?”  Gold asked surprised.

“What?” Belle was confused. “I assumed you wanted to have a... “proper” wedding night. Consummate the marriage? I mean, that must be what you were after. Why else would you marry me? I know your reputation, Mr Gold. You find weakness in people and exploit them for your own gain. Me having had a mental illness is a weakness. And when my father put me on that awful website, you knew I was vulnerable. You found me and knew you could exploit me,” She spat at him angrily. She wanted to cry.

Mr Gold sighed and sad down on the sofa looking tired. “Belle, I’m disappointed you would think such things of me.”

His use of her first name made Belle feel powerless. She still had yet to know his.

“You see the good in people and I expected you to be better than just go by some rumours when judging someone.“ He started to explain: ”I saw you on the website; Maurice sent the page to every single one of his business relations. I was disgusted he would do this to you; selling you off to the highest bidder like that. So I decided to marry you just so you could get away from Maurice. Because I know you are capable of so much more. I just needed to get you out of that house. I wasn’t exploiting your weakness Belle, I was exploiting Maurice’s weakness; his love for money and his carelessness for you. I couldn’t sue him, because these mail-order bride websites are technically legal and I had to get you out of that house as fast as possible.”

Belle was even more confused now. “But where do we go from here? You got me away from my father, but now what? I have nothing to give you in return. I have no job, I’m homeless, I can’t even go back to college because father stopped funding it.”

Gold walked over to her and placed his hands on her arms, trying to reassure her. “You can have a home with me. I have a spare room for you in my house. And soon you will have a job. You’re studying Library Science, correct? I’m in the process of securing funding for the Storybrooke library, in the meantime you could help me out in the pawn shop. I have a lot of antique books that need to be catalogued and sorted. And if you want, you could save up some money to finish your degree; I’m not going to stop you” he laughed, “You can have all that, that is, if you spend just this one night with me.”

The blood drained from Belle’s face. So he did want to consummate this marriage. She tore herself away from his touch and took a step back. Gold realized his mistake “It was a quip, dearie. I didn’t mean… you misunderstand. I meant we have to sleep in the same room together. I can take the couch, it’s fine.”

He immediately limped back to the couch, to make sure she would understand that he was indeed intending to sleep there.

“No wait!” Belle apologized. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch, especially when you have been so kind to me. We can share the bed. It’s big enough and I trust you. Unless you don’t trust me?”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Belle had made up her mind.

They took turns using the bathroom, and when they finally settled in their shared bed and the lights were out, all the emotions from this day washed over Belle and spilled out. She had started to cry again and hoped Gold wouldn’t notice her silent sobs, but she suddenly felt his hand searching for hers and he carefully held it, drawing circles with his thumb in comfort. Belle hadn’t felt this kind of kindness for a while now, and she rolled over to him in a hug. He tensed for just a moment, but relaxed as he rubbed her back. Soon they both fell asleep. They could make this work.

AO3 link

#rumbelle secret santa #thestraggletag #rumbelle #rss #rumbelle fic

[rhina988]

Meet Cute

The mall. Such a great place to be, every other day except in the middle of Christmas shopping fever. It was only four days before the big holiday and the majority of Americans, including myself, decided this was the best time to shop for Christmas gifts. Every year I curse the day I said I was gonna go shop for presents the next day, which always turns out to be two weeks later, and every year I swear not to make the same mistake again, only to find myself in the same situation, every holiday season. Anyway, I’m facing another impossible gift hunting, trying to discover the ultimate present for my boyfriend, and I have no idea what to get him.

Dismissing the scarf, gloves, hats and all the other warm and fuzzy accessories, most of people shop for the Christmas presents, I decided to cross over to the lingerie part. Living in Los Angeles doesn’t require a wardrobe warmer than the denim jacket in this time of the year, so I gave up on the whole furry accessories. My boyfriend rarely travels, and he’s not a big fan of the snow, unlike me, so I thought a PJ’s would be something he’d need and like.

Having in mind he only wears the bottom part, I thought about paring the top and the bottom so that the top fits me, and the bottoms will fit him. I always needed some comfy t-shirts to wear at home, and this was the perfect piece. Looking through the pile of men’s wear, I found cute checked bottoms paired with a grey long sleeved top.

“I’m sorry, do you have these in L?” I asked the salesperson as she was approaching with that same set in her hands.

“Actually, we have just one set in that size, but the gentleman asked for it first, so...” she said with an apologetic face, carrying the PJ’s to a guy standing at the bathrobe section.

Quite the luck I have. Just the one piece I liked had to be already picked out by someone else. He heard the girl saying that the set is already taken, and the minute he said he was sorry, my phone rang. It was my boyfriend.

“Hello?” I answered and he immediately started to yell at me. We weren’t on good terms for the past few months, and the more time passed the more I was certain our relationship wasn’t going to last. Still, being a hopeless romantic, and a great dreamer, I tried to give it time and maybe salvage it in spite of these differences. Little did I know you can’t save something that was broken long time ago.

“Wait, wait... I’m sorry... please don’t...” I tried to calm him down, while the guy in the store tried to apologize to me.

“I’m sorry miss, did you want to buy this...” the guy tried to talk to me, but he was only making things worse by distracting me.

“No, no it’s fine...” I waved my hand at him, while my boyfriend though I was telling him that.

“It’s OK that you forgot about meeting me? How is that OK? You don’t think about me at all anymore...” I couldn’t say the word with him talking like crazy. With the corner of my eye, I could see the guy in the store approaching me, probably because he saw my worried face, that was about to be filled with tears.

“I know, I’m sorry, I’m on my way, just listen...” desperately trying to calm him down, I felt a tear rolling down my face, and the second later I had my phone tugged away from my hand.

“Hey jerk face, she said she was sorry. Let it go!” the guy said and hung up the phone, handing it back to me.

“What have you done?” I was baffled, “How dare you... do you have any idea how big a mess you just caused? I can’t ... Oh my God...” suddenly I felt a wave of panic attack coming right at me, and the whole place started to spin, while I couldn’t catch my breath.

I squatted, dropping my bags and my phone to the floor, when tears overflowed my face. I sobbed desperately, while I tried to calm myself, but it was all in vain.

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down,” the guy squatted next to me and tried to hug me, but I resisted.

“Get away from me,” I yelled, and the people started to turn around looking at us and talking about the little scene I’ve caused, “Who do you think you are, acting all smug like that,” the minute my anger replaced the fear and panic I realized who I was talking to.

“I apologize, I’ve crossed the line, but that guy was not treating you right, and I had to do something,” he said with the most compassionate look in his crystal blue eyes.

“Your apology means nothing. That was my boyfriend and he... oh my God,...” I got up, picked up my stuff and just ran away from the store.

Later That Day

“Yes, I know I’m better off without him, I’m just a little upset now...” I was talking to my bff, while I was walking through the park with my dog. Lucy was a yellow Labrador, and she was my everything, “OK.. I’ll... whoa, Lucy, hold on...” she suddenly started to tug hard on the leash, as she spotted another dog in the park. “I’ll have to call you back, Lucy’s gone wild,” I hung up, almost having my other arm pulled out.

Running along with her, we came across another Labrador that was playing on his own, and once Lucy saw him, things went wild. They started to run around, sniffing each other, jumping all over one another, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I tried to look for the owner of the dog, viewing around the park, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“They really hit it off, didn’t they,” a male voice said. I turned away only to see the guy from the store once again today.

“That’s your dog?” I asked in shock, feeling my cheeks blushing, while Lucy slightly tugged the long leash she was attached to.

“My friend’s actually, I’m just dog sitting for the day,” he smiled and took off his sunglasses, which made me gulp in amazement. Those blue eyes sparkled so gorgeously under the sunlight, I couldn’t really hear anything over the buzzing in my ears.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” he asked, and pointed at my pocket, as I completely muted the ring of my phone, when I was faced with his eyes.

“Um...” looking down at my shaky hands holding the phone, I saw it was my, now ex-boyfriend, “No... it’s not important,” I rejected a call, and put the phone back in my pocket.

“Look, I can’t believe we met again today, so I’ll use this very moment to apologize once more for acting the way I did, earlier today...”

“That’s OK,” I cut him off, “You were right to do so...” I nodded, twirling my braid end shyly unable to stop smiling.

“I was?” he wasn’t surprised much, but I guess he wanted to know what happened.

“Yes. My boyfriend was a jerk, and we broke up... so, I guess I should really be thanking you. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have found out whom he really was, and...” I caught myself babbling, which was a sign I really liked this guy.

“Well, I’m glad I was of help,” he said with a smile, noticing I was a bit excited, when the dogs started barking, looking for our attention.

“You’ve got a really beautiful dog,” he said, as Lucy approached us brushing slightly against his leg.

“Thank you. Hey girl, you like him, huh?” I asked bashfully putting my hands in my jacket pockets, to try to calm my nerves, as he squatted to pet her, and she was obviously very cheerful about it.

“Girls usually do,” he said in a cute way, looking up at me, while grazing my leg with his eyes on his way up to my eyes, “I’m Jared by the way, and you’re much prettier when you smile,” he said and offered a hand to shake as he stood up.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Jane,” I said and shook his hand, as my cheeks turned to crimson red after his compliment.

“Nice to meet you too, Jane. How would you like to take a walk with me?” he asked suddenly, and I didn’t really know what to say. Should I see this encounter as a sign that we should get to know each other a little better, or should I just move along after just ending my previous relationship?

“I don’t really...” I tried to avoid the walk, but Lucy started to bark at me, and jumped onto Jared’s leg, while the other dog came to play with Lucy, licking her face and jumping onto her. “... Why not. Sure, let’s go.” Seeing the dogs made me change my mind, and I just let go.

Jared and I walked for almost an entire afternoon, and it felt incredibly relaxing. There was no pushed conversations, everything ran so smoothly, as if we have known each other for years. He was a bit older than I was, and maybe that’s why I felt comfortable around him. I was always shy and it wasn’t easy to reach me, but with him I felt safe, like I could tell him everything. Something in his eyes told me I could trust him, and within those few hours, we’ve shared so much of our lives, giggled, laughed, that at one point I thought I might be oversharing. We were on our way back to the park where we met, and as the sun was setting down, we sat on the bench watching our dogs play. At one point, I noticed with the corner of my eye that Jared wasn’t focused on dogs much.

I cleared my throat and looked at him timidly, feeling the corner of my mouth curving up into a smile. Jared tilted his head and took a strand of my hair that fell out of a braid, and tucked it behind my ear. I felt goosebumps all over my body, and I couldn’t speak a word. His touch felt so warm, as his thumb brushed over my jaw. Reaching lower, he twisted my braid a little, placing it just slightly below my collarbone, which was clear enough a sign he was coming on to me more directly. Just as I scooted a bit closer to him, his phone buzzed.

He sighed, clearly disappointed he pressed his lips together tightly when his eyes fell down to his pocket as he reached for his phone. “Oh crap,” he said looking at the phone and I chuckled, “sorry,” he chuckled back realizing what he said,” I forgot about something, and I need to hurry back home. But, I’d like for us to have dinner.”

“That’s OK,” I smiled taking my phone out of my pocket to check the time, “I can’t believe we’ve spent almost the entire day together. Sure, dinner sounds great.”

“Perfect, here’s my number,” he took my phone and typed in his phone number, “just text me the address and I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 8.”

“OK, see you tomorrow,” I said smiling at Jared, as my cheeks blushed.

“See you tomorrow,” Jared said kissing my cheek.

Once he was far away, I started to squeal from happiness and my feet instantly begin to thump the ground. I felt like a schoolgirl. This was the moment I realized I wasn’t really in love with my ex-boyfriend as I originally thought. I guess my heart was never in the right place, which is why I always denied having sex with him, or going any further than just kissing him. Yes, I was a virgin, and now I was so glad that was the case, because the fact that I felt this excited about going out with another guy so soon after breaking up with someone else, was proof enough I have been dating the wrong person for months.

The next morning was one of the best mornings in my life. Thinking how I need to wait until later that day to see Jared made my heart ache, but a moment later it begin to flutter just at the thought that we’ll have our first kiss. I had breakfast and some coffee, when I thought I should find something to do that would keep me occupied and make the day fly by. Just as I was about to wash the dishes from the breakfast, my phone buzzed. It was Jared, sending a picture, 

Morning beautiful, can’t wait for tonight.

This made my day, and I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the morning. I’ve spent the entire day cleaning, dusting and tidying up the apartment, before it was time to pamper myself. Washing my hair, and doing my nails I started to think what to wear, and I almost panicked. I knew I wanted my hair loose and wavy, but I had nothing special to wear. Every girls’ problem, I know, but I wanted to leave a great impression on Jared, and I had no idea what to put on. Did he like skirts, dresses, or maybe a sexy jumpsuit? 

It was 7.45 and my stomach couldn’t stop spinning. I felt everything from butterflies, through nausea and to slight cramps, when I noticed my palms are sweating. Just what I needed. I started to breathe deeply, I washed my hands and tried to calm myself down. I took some more red lipstick and dabbed it on my lips, as I watched myself in the mirror. A beautiful striped, off the shoulders top, light pink skirt, beige sandals and a black bag, plus a sexy make-up was what I decided to put on for this special night, and I was delighted. I just hope Jared would find it as pretty.

Fifteen minutes later, my phone buzzed, and it was Jared.

“Hello,” my voice was a bit shivering, so I cleared my throat.

“I’m waiting for you outside,” Jared said with a sultry voice, so I immediately grabbed my clutch and went for the door.

“I’m coming right out,” I said with the biggest smile on my face and almost ran out of the apartment.

Coming outside the building, I saw the sexiest man in the world leaning against the stairway railing with his hands in his pockets. Dark hair slicked back, and a black shirt tucked in a pair of black pants, looked so dashing. The shirt undone almost all the way, revealed his perfectly chiseled chest, and gave out a peak of his tattoo written next to the collarbone. The necklace he had was just the seamless accessory for this dashing look that immediately made my heart race.

I walked down the stairs, and he offered me a hand to hold. Taking his hand into mine, he stepped back a little and twirled me to have a good look at me. “Absolutely stunning,” Jared said and pulled me close to him, making our bodies collide. 

His right hand was resting on the small of my back, while his left hand intertwined his fingers with mine, as his eyes stayed locked on mine. We looked at each other for a few seconds, as our breathing picked up the pace. Jared looked at my lips, then traced his eyes back to mine, only to lean in and kiss my cheek so softly, as if he was savoring the smell and taste of my skin. The little stubble tickled my cheek slightly, as I closed my eyes to enjoy this wonderful moment. I couldn’t even imagine how his tender lips would feel on mine, when just the peck on my cheek caused this many feelings inside me.

“Thank you,” I replied moving away from him, before he opened the car door for me, “you look very handsome as well,” I said and smiled as I was sitting down.

“I was really excited for tonight,” he said as we were driving towards the restaurant, and his hand rested on my knee.

Taking his hand into mine I said, “So was I,” and he smiled at my gesture.

We were driving for about 15 minutes, but we weren’t going to any restaurant as I previously thought it would be the case. Instead, when I looked to the left, I saw the ocean and the beach, with a little illuminated spot in the middle. Jared parked the car, and walked outside first so he could open the door for me.

“I thought we were having dinner,” I said confused, as he took my hand to help me get out.

“We are,” he replied and escorted me to the beach. As we were approaching the beach, I started to think the choice of footwear wasn’t the smartest. Just as I wanted to bend over and take my sandals off, Jared looked at me and said, “You should probably feel more comfortable taking those off,” pointing out at my sandals he squatted, and started to unbuckle the little strap on my sandal, quickly going to the next.

“Thanks, but I could’ve done it myself,” I said shyly.

“I know,” he answered, took my sandals, got up, and cupped my face, grazing his thumb over my cheek, making me melt instantly under his touch, “but I wanted to do it for you.”

Taking my hand, he led me to the little romantic set-up that completely blew my mind. 

Jared pulled the chair for me, and like a true gentleman, he let me sit down first. He definitely had the moves, and they were working for sure. The wine was cooling down, and the dinner was placed warm and ready.

“So, what do you think?” Jared asked while I was trying to wrap my mind around this gorgeous setting.

“This looks amazing... I can’t believe you did all of this...” I said and smiled, still trying to make myself believe I wasn’t dreaming.

“Well, I had a little help,” he chuckled and poured us some wine.

“Obviously, yes... but still, no one has ever done anything like this for me... Jared, this is incredibly sweet of you,” I said and almost melted on the spot, as I was coming to realize this was actually happening.

“I can’t believe you weren’t treated like the princess you are. I could tell that guy you talked to yesterday wasn’t good to or for you.”

“Yeah, we....um... were not meant for each other. I have no idea how I lasted that long with him,” I said taking a glass of wine, as Jared did the same.

“To an amazing adventure we’re going to have,” Jared said and we clinked. Our eyes met and I felt fireworks in my chest.

Jared held my hand almost the entire night, as if he never wanted to let go of me again. The sound of the waves splashing against the shore, the smell of the ocean and the light breeze that caressed our faces created the most romantic setting I’ve ever been in. At one point, I felt the wind on my shoulders, and it made me shiver for a second. That’s when Jared looked at the time on his watch, and he couldn’t believe it either.

“Maybe we should head home, it’s getting kinda cold, and I have nothing to cover you with. I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold,” Jared was so sweet, he pulled his chair closer and hugged me for a second, to make me warm.

“That’s OK, I’m not cold, but I think we should go, it’s way past midnight,” I said looking at his gorgeous blue eyes, as he put my hair away from my face, cupped my cheek and pressed his lips to mine.

I was in heaven. His lips felt so sweet and wonderful on mine, I never wanted to break this spectacular kiss. I cupped his face as he hugged me tight, and pulled my body even closer to his, never breaking the kiss. All the shivers were now gone, and I wanted to take this top and skirt off of me as well. I’ve never felt that passionate about anyone before, and I could felt Jared felt the same. Breaking the kiss, Jared started to breathe heavily as he pressed his forehead to mine, and opened his eyes to look at me.

“I could kiss you till the morning, but we should probably continue this some other time,” Jared said and pulled away, brushing his thumb over my lower lip, almost making me bite it. He was definitely causing some feelings that made me do things I’ve never thought about before.

I just nodded, and we went to the car. Jared drove me to my building, and escorted me to the door. This was our first date, but I wanted him in my apartment so bad. Still I haven’t invited him inside, having that much decency and strength to fight the tremendous urge.

He kissed me once more, making me almost dizzy this time, and we said goodbye. He stayed outside the entire time I was climbing up the stairs. I unlocked the building door, looked over my shoulder when Jared blew me a kiss and winked at me. I smiled and waved him back, when he said, “Goodnight, beautiful, sweet dreams.”

“I’ll dream about you,” I replied and entered the building feeling as happy as I’ve never been before.

I walked inside the apartment, took my clothes off, and threw it on the bed, as I went to the bathroom to freshen up. I ended up having a long bath, and when I got out, I had a message from Jared. This made my heart skip a beat. It’s been only half an hour since we parted ways, and he’s already texting me. I jumped on the bed in my bathrobe, and opened messages only to be greeted with a selfie of Jared 

and a caption

Wish I could tuck you in and kiss you a goodnight.

That was so heartwarming, I smiled and replied,

Me too. I had a great time tonight, though. XOXO.

Within seconds he replied,

So did I, we’re definitely doing it again. And much more. Sweet dreams, baby. XOXO

And much more? Shucks, I think I know what he had in mind, and the thought of more with Jared gave me certain feels. From the tingly and warm feeling between my legs, to an incredible surge of anxiety. I’ve been contemplating about my first time for a long time, but I had no idea how I should break it to Jared. He did seem like a real gentleman, but being way more experienced than me, I was kind of afraid that this fact about me would scare him off.

The next few weeks went by before I knew it, and Jared and I spent every free moment together. Texting back and forth when he was in the studio, or on short trips, talking on the phone before bed, everything was so cute and sweet I felt like it was my first real relationship. Beginnings were always the best part of a relationship, but this felt truly special. After being able to avoid going to Jared’s home for almost a month, now I was fresh out of excuses, and I had to face the inevitable.

I didn’t think he would necessarily want me to sleep over and have sex, but judging by his texts, kisses and touches in the last few dates, I’d say the idea definitely crossed his mind often. I was more than ready to do it, but I was still not sure how to tell him. Not wanting to appear to suggestive, I dressed as casual as possible, since Jared mentioned we were just supposed to have dinner and watch a movie at his place. Hint enough, but I wanted to be comfortable nevertheless. I put on a denim shorts, plain grey t-shirt and a white cardigan, thinking that’s all I need to keep me cozy, and I was on my way to Jared’s.

“Oh, look,” I said as I was surfing through the channels, and bumped into Mr. Nobody on TV. I was snuggled against Jared, and his arm was around me, while his hand grazed through my hair tenderly.

“Change it,” Jared said with a low voice, kissing the top of my head, and pulling me closer to him to hold me in his warm embrace.

“Why? I love that movie,” I said with a pouty face, looking up at him, just wanting to tease him a little. He kissed my lips, cupping my face to touch that sweet spot behind my ear, he knew made me incredibly weak.

Breaking the kiss, but still holding my face, he backed out just a bit, making our lips only a micro millimeter away from one another. He looked deep into my eyes, never blinking once, making me gulp. His cologne, and the mix of his breathing sent shockwaves through my body, and I immediately wanted to throw this cardigan off me.

“I said, change it,” Jared said with a low voice, reaching for the remote in my hand, never breaking the eye contact.

I gulped, and came back to my senses only to tell him ,”No,” and take the remote with both of my hands.

He smiled, and lowered his head, while I bit my lip not knowing what to expect next. He reached for the remote, as I squirmed and took it above my head, then to the side, trying to escape his hands from getting a hold of it. We were goofing around all over the sofa, when in one moment Jared started to tickle me, which instantly made me throw the remote away. It was obvious Jared was not going for the remote anymore, and he could care less about the movie on the TV. 

He grabbed both oh my arms, lift them above my head and gripped both of my wrists with one hand, making me squirm in attempt to resist him. He smiled slyly knowing there was nothing I could do to escape his strong grip. He hovered over me, spreading my legs which were instantly wrapped around his body. 

“Are you still going to disobey me?” he asked with a low voice, looking me straight to my eyes. 

I just nodded cheekily, slightly biting at my lower lip, as I could see the mischievous Jared resurfacing, once he smirked at me. Our breathing rapid, bodies heated and lust at its peak, only made the anticipation worse. Still having me at his mercy, Jared secured my wrists with his left hand, as his right slowly reached under my shirt, slightly grazing over the side of my upper body, only to go to my back and reach my bra. Thinking he was going to unclasp it, I almost tried to speak and tell him what I was supposed to confess long time ago, but he slowly lowered his hand to the small of my back, lifting my pelvis making it collide with his.

“Ahhh, Jar...” I moaned, trying to speak my mind, but he stopped me.

“Shhhh.... not a word,” he said and kissed me hungrily, which instantly made me relax my entire body, completely forgetting he was holding me tightly.

We started to make out, my legs still wrapped around his body, as his hand roamed all over my upper body, going under my bra squeezing my breasts, making me moan into his mouth. Twisting my nipple, Jared bit my lower lip as well, making me whimper, as I felt my crotch were on fire. Breaking the kiss, he bit my jawline a bit, as my hips thrusted upwards instinctively. 

“Jared, I need to tell you something,” I was barely able to whisper as his lips did magic on my neck, feeling he was about to take my shirt off. He stopped for a moment, stood upright, and took my legs to pin them harder to his body, pulling me closer to him.

“What is it, baby?” He asked, caressing my calves, and giving me that warm seductive look, filled with lust.

“I... I’ve never... you know.... before...” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him, even though I was burning with desire.

“You’re a virgin?” he asked in shock, but I could tell he was glad rather than disappointed.

I just nodded, and bit my lower lip, feeling slightly embarrassed while Jared smiled and waved his head in disbelief. He let go of my legs, and hovered over me, cupped my face and kissed me softly. He couldn’t stop looking at me for a few seconds, as his hand caressed my cheek.

“I’m glad you waited. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle,” he said giving me another kiss, making me feel at ease and ready to give myself to him completely.

I hope you enjoyed it. :)

Feel free to comment and leave feedback.

Much love.

#jared leto #imagine #jared leto imagine #fan fiction #fanfic #fan fiction writing #celebrity imagine #love story #celebrity fanfiction

[tfaotb]

13. A land of frost

I couldn’t finish my story without breaking down, but I had explained the majority of what had happened. Minerva held her hand over mouth in disbelief. I sat there simply weeping, I had hoped it was a bad dream…

Even after telling her the atrocity I had committed, I felt her warm embrace around me. I don’t know how long I cried for, but eventually we felt a change in the temperature in the air. I straightened myself out to go top side, to see where we were. As I emerged, snowflakes fell around me, as the bitterness of the cold met me face first.

Snow wasn’t the only thing around us. Large chunks of ice floated on the ocean, the crew was wearing heavy furs, anticipating this weather apparently. It was freezing, I had never been so cold before. I approached one of the crew members.

“Where are we?” I yelled, it was hard to hear anything past the wind. He pointed straight ahead, I looked in that direction. I could see mountains in the far distance, barely visible through the snow and ice. “Norlikke!” He shouted back. My heart dropped, anywhere but there! I began to panic as I hurried back downstairs to Minerva.

“Those bastards took us to Norlikke!” I shouted, there was panic in my voice. I didn’t know what to do. It seems as if I was going to die, no matter what I did.

“Yeah, this is the Frozen Walrus, they make trade runs between Olynian coastal cities and Norlikke.” Minerva said, I was bewildered that she didn’t stop us from going on this boat, Norlikke is a death trap for both of us!

“B-but they’ll kill us! We’re foreign, they’ll say we’re spies or something!” I shouted again, I lost any cool I had kept. She simply laughed, which confused me slightly.

“No no no, maybe fifteen years ago, but the civil wars are all over, Norlikke is becoming pretty progressive towards foreigners.” She explained, I still wasn’t sure. The stories my father would tell me, about the Norl invaders, brutally murdering anyone they saw, women and children, just for their joy of killing.

However… I trusted what she told me, I’ll take it all in stride, hopefully I can hide here, and try to make the best of things. We decided to stay in the brig until we arrived, which wasn’t long after.

Before we knew it, the ship had stopped and docked when the captain yelled at us to get off his ship. We obliged, as we stepped off onto the docks. A large town, full of cabin like houses lit up the snow filled air, even through the wind I could hear the hustle and bustle of the town.

We walked through the frozen street, everything was indoors, the market was a series of buildings with large windows, showcasing their wares. It was very different from Cyaqi marketplaces, where everything was outside. As we walked, the cold started to affect us, as we began to shiver. The steam of our breath clouded our frosted vision, but we spotted a large three story manor-like cabin. It looked like it had an upside down ship on its roof, I had never seen anything like it before.

A sign hung beside the supposed front door, “The Frozen Dog”. It had a rather silly, but macabre painting of a frozen dog on the sign. I felt like I should be surprised, but the name of this place gave it away already.

I looked at Minerva, who also looked at me. We entered the establishment, greeted by a symphony of shouts, swears and glass breaking. Feet stomping on the wooden floors kept in time with the fiddles and flutes playing in the background, hardly audible through the commotion. Amongst the instruments a man sang about a Norl hero slaying and old witch and using her old red skull as an enchanted beer drinking cup. Very strange thing to hear, but the drunken patrons were dancing and cheering at the tune.

We walked up to the bar, which was attended by a large, fat Norl with a few grey hairs in his massive beard. His hair looked like it was braided thirty years ago, seeing how disheveled it was. His red hair dragged behind him on the floor. He turned to face us, his fat cheeks were red as he greeted us with a jolly smile.

“Aye! What can I get ye lassies?” He bellowed. Despite the loud environment, we heard him just fine. We asked him for anything cooked hot. He guffawed loudly, as he wrote something down on paper. “First ones on me, lassies!” Minerva and I looked at each other and smiled, maybe this won’t be so bad, after all.

As I sat, I felt a heavy, furry object cover my shoulders. I was startled, as I nearly fell out of my chair. I realized someone had draped a deer pelt over me, a large Norl stood behind us, with a large friendly smile. “There ya go, can’t have the both of ye freezing out there, now can we?” I was shocked that he would just give us these. He walked away laughing, as he took a drink from a mug he was holding.

“Excuse me?” I called for the barkeeper. He turned around, and leaned on his bar.

“Aye, need somethin’ else from me?” He asked.

“Well, I was wondering what there was for work, maybe mercenary or demon hunting jobs?” He rubbed his chin, looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling.

“The Karl has a bounty for any wild demons ye might slay. Ya lassies might want to pay him a visit first.”

We thanked him for the food, and thanked the drunken patrons for the furs, which they replied with drunken cheers and hearty toasting. We emerged outside into the freezing cold again, but the furs made the chill bearable. I turned to Minerva.

“Do you have any idea what a Karl is?” I asked her. She just chuckled a bit.

“Of course I do, he’s kinda like the mayor of a town or city.” She said, she pointed to a house sat upon a hill within the town. It was large and well lit. “That’s probably where he lives too.” We decided to make our way to the large house.

As we approached, I noticed there was no gate, nor was there any guards outside. The front door was illuminated by torches, I stood there, looking around for someone to ask for entry. I looked up at Minerva opening the large double doors. “Wait, Minerva! What are you doing? We can’t just barge in!” I scolded, I didn’t want to break into anyone’s house, must less the Karl’s.

“It’s okay, Tierra. This is how they do things here, we can just walk in. Trust me.” She reassured me. I carefully walked inside with her.

Before us was a very large room, with the ceiling as high as the building was tall. An oversized fire pit blazed violently as a few well dressed Norls drank and laughed by the fire. Minerva took me around the fire pit to the back wall, where a man sat upon a large, ornate wooden chair. He had rested on the floor a large battle axe, which was old and chipped, but it looked as if it was razor sharp.

The man wore a black pelt that was long enough to be a robe that could trail behind him as he walked. The top half of a bear’s head hung down behind his neck. He wore an old set of armor, adorned with many small gems and colorful marbles, along with various fangs. He stared at us as we entered and approached him.

As we stood before him, he arose from his throne, still clutching the haft of his axe as the head rested on the ground. He reached behind his head as the bear head flipped up and sat upon his head like a hood, adding to his ferocious appearance.

He looked at us both, I felt fear as he looked me over. I had thought he was looking at my breasts, I looked down, only to realize he was looking at my half visible scar. He walked up to me, only then did I realize how massive he was. He was still looking at the scar.

“Looks like it hurt.” He said, I fidgeted with my hair a bit, I was extremely nervous and afraid of what he would do. He lifted the bottom of his tunic up, revealing his gut. A large, jagged scar traveled from his gut to his middle chest. A scar from a large claw, it seemed. “I assume you’re here for my permit and bounty.” He stated, his accent was the same as the other townspeople, but he spoke with less slang and more intelligence.

“That’s right, we hunt demons for a living, and we’re very good at it.” Minerva boasted, I looked at her sharply. I had only ever killed one demon, and I didn’t even remember doing it. I looked back at the Karl, who didn’t even address Minerva. He was still staring at me, even though he had sat down.

“What’s your name, jewel-eyes?” The Karl asked. I stammered a bit. “Um… Tierra, sir…” I replied nervously. He continued to stare.

“First time here, huh?” He said, he leaned back in his chair a bit. “You want my permit and bounty, you’ll have to prove yourself first.” He announced.

I was about to ask him what we needed to do, until I realized all of the men drinking by the fire had been watching us, listening as they gathered around us. I looked around cautiously at the gathering.

“As per Norlik tradition, when a young lad has seen twelve winters, he is set out into the harsh wilderness with his father’s sword to hunt, survive, and ultimately slay a warriors greatest challenge.” He rose a wooden mug into the air. “A great denmother!”

As he shouted this, the surrounding crowd shouted with the Karl, as they all drank afterwards. The Karl lowered his mug. “However… you are not Norlik, nor are either of you men.” He scratched his chin in thought. He turned his gaze back to me. “You two seem to share quite the bond. If you can slay a denmother, and return with its pelt, the permit and bounty is yours.”

He rose from his throne again, walking to a chest of drawers. He removed a slip of paper with writing on it, I couldn’t read it from that distance, however. “This is a temporary permit to travel within my lands.” He said, as he handed it to me. “Do not betray my trust.” He warned.

We both left the Karl’s longhouse, we headed for the road out of town as a giant, snowy mountain loomed before us, the wind howling ominously. I looked over at Minerva again, who nodded at me. I gazed up at the mountain again, as I gathered my courage and set off for the towering peak.

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