#the bad batch fantasy au

[jedipoodoo]

Secret Kingdoms Part Five (Sergeant Hunter x Reader)

Notes: magic and enchantments, impromptu dance party, MC eats peanuts at one point so if you're allergic to peanuts irl you aren't for this chapter. Asajj Ventress makes quick cameo to cause drama likeyado. MC gets really self-deprecating at the end of this one so take care of yourself. Dividers by @saradika . This chapter goes out to @dragonrider9905 who is writing their own medieval Hunter au!! Go check it out!

Oh, and happt belated birthday to @photogirl894

Lula roared in greeting, and rammed her head against your side the way a cat would wrap itself around your leg in an attempt to trip you.

“Woah, easy there girl!” You laughed and held out your arms, letting Lula nuzzle into your chest with a head that was almost as big as your entire body.

“I missed you too, girl,” You told her softly.

Then Padme, of all people, lighted down off the dragon’s back, graceful without even trying, and ran towards you, shouting your name.

“Princess!” You caught her in your arms as she embraced you. She was dressed in a thick woolen gown, and her face was still flushed with hairs escaping her simple braid.

“They said you had a fever!” You scolded.

“I had to make sure you were alright!” She insisted, “Crosshair and the others said they would follow Hunter to Serenno and I begged them to bring you back,” She sobbed against your shoulder, but only for a moment.

“And don’t worry for my condition, the Duchess frets enough for both of us.” She wiped her face and held her head high so that the men wouldn’t see her moment of weakness.

She looked around, finally catching sight of your strange new friends.

“Are these men…” She nodded to the Serennians, suspicious.

“They pose no threat,” You promised Anakin and the others, “They were just as much a victim of Dooku as we were.”

Three of the Serennians bowed to Padme, and the other two did the best they could while supporting each other in their injuries.

“The people of Serenno are at your disposal, your highness,” Their leader said, “The actions of Dooku were not ours.”

Padme nodded with the grace of a queen, “Thank you for your help. Now we have to help Duke Kenobi deal with the rest of your army,” She looked over her shoulder, and you could hear the faint sounds of battle in the distance; the whinny of a horse, metal clanging against metal, and men’s shouts that begged the stars above for victory.

“You mean the golems!” Tech interjected.

The sounds of battle drew your attention, clanging swords, screams of dying men, and hollow cries of the iron-made golems.

You turned to the Serrenians that had become your allies, "Do you know how we can destroy the golems?"

Their leader shook his head, "They didn't trust us enough to show us how it worked."

You ground your teeth in frustration. Grievous was smarter than you thought.

Lula appeared blissfully unaware of the conundrum, pressing her scaled snout low to the leaf-covered ground and sniffing everything within reach. It was a bit hard to try and have a conversation to plan your next step when a large dragon was wandering between everyone and you had to avoid being stepped on.

"Lula!" You scolded as she had two of the Serrenians backed up against the tree, sniffing their armor with great interest. She snorted, sending a huff of smoke up in their faces. Well, if they reminded her of her captors, you couldn't really blame her.

"Come on, you big ugly beast," Crosshair's voice lacked it's typical venom as he tried to urge Lula away from the terrified soldiers.

"Come on, girl!" Wrecker patted her side gently, trying to get her to stay still for a moment.

While they dealt with her, Padme inquired of the goblet in your hands.

You looked down at your hands, clutching the chalice that Grievous had been guarding. "If this is their anchor, how do we destroy it?"

"That..." Tech paused a single finger raised just so, "I am not sure."

"It's a cup! Just smash it!" Wrecker slid down Lula's back and snatched the cup from your hand. Grasping it by the stem, he attempted to smash the bowl of the goblet against a rock. A clap of thunder echoed through the woods, and a ripple of air hit all of you, knocking you off your feet. Hunter threw himself over you, and Tech had attempted to shield Padme from the energy. When you all had gathered your wits, the cup lay on the ground at Wrecker's feet, still intact.

"Nice," Crosshair grunted, brushing leaves from his hair. He had been sitting pretty on Lula's back until the ripple of energy had knocked him off.

Lula crooned curiously, leaning down towards the goblet.

"Lula, no wait!" You had no idea what the dark magic could do to her, but Lula had no fear. She growled at the goblet, and took a deep breath.

"She's gonna blow!" Wrecker grabbed Padme and pulled her behind one of the trees to protect her.

Lula roared with the crackle of white-hot fire as Hunter shielded you with his cloak. Lula shot a powerful, concentrated flame at the goblet, and with an eerie, high-pitched scream, the chalice shattered as if it was just waiting for Wrecker's strike to kick in.

The shriek faded, and a low rumbling echoed through the forest like a minor ground quake.

"Did... Did that do it then?" Wrecker asked.

You looked up, stomping out a stray burn that had caught on the dry leaves of the forest bed. Lula glared at the smoking circle of ash where the chalice had been. She huffed and sat down, satisfied with her handiwork.

"Fascinating," Tech adjusted his spectacles and took a few steps towards the dragon, trying not to startle her, "I had read hearsay of dragon flames defeating dark magic, but I found it quite unprobable. It seems I was wrong."

"For once in your life," Hunter chuckled, and pulled you closer.

Everything happened in a blur after that. The battle was over, and with it went the adrenaline and energy you’d been running on since your escape. Captain Romar and the Serennians officially surrendered to Duke Kenobi with the condition that their people be spared. The only caveat was that Grievous had escaped.

Duke Kenobi enlisted Captain Romar and the Serennian King’s Guard to lead a contingent of men to Serenno, arresting Dooku’s allies and making sure Grievous didn’t return.

In the meantime, the rest of you returned home.

The princess re-entered the capital, flanked by twenty men, including Hunter and his brothers, led by Sir Skywalker. The people lined the roads, throwing flowers for the heroes of the war. 

“God save the princess!” They cried, trying to get their blossoms to land in her lap. Young ladies waved their handkerchiefs to catch the attention of the knights. Wrecker waved shyly to the girl whose kerchief landed on his head.

Most of the soldiers stayed in the city to join in the celebrations. Winter was coming closer, and the weather could only be so nice for so long, but you followed the princess inside the castle walls, where the king and queen were waiting for her. Anakin anticipated Padme’s anxiety to see her parents, and was down from his horse in time to help Padme down from hers. She sprinted across the courtyard, meeting her mother halfway there. A few ladies tittered with whispers, but not many could find fault with the king and queen’s joy to see their daughter again.

“Allow me,” Hunter gently placed his hands on your waist and lifted you down from your horse. You gasped in surprise, but you were already on the ground.

Hunter leaned in close to your ear, “Is my lady afraid of a simple knight?” He teased.

“Hunter!” You clasped your hand over your mouth to keep yourself from making any unseemly noises, and ducked your head to hide your blush.

“Apologies, milady,” He whispered, tucking a bit of hair back behind your ear, and with it, a flower, one of the blossoms thrown by the crowd.

You looked up at him at last, and cupped the blossom delicately, stroking its silky petals, and dreamed of wearing a dress that felt so wonderful. You were almost tempted to kiss him, but then you remembered that you were in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by vulture’s eyes and mockingbird’s beaks. 

“I need to be by the princess,” You realized softly. Hunter could sense your reluctance with his own as his eyes softened.

“Okay. I’ll see you at the ceremony?” His hand squeezed your shoulder.

“I think so,” You bit your lip. Out of habit, you reached for your collarbone, trying to feel the pendant Hunter had made you, only to remember in a rush of sadness that it had been lost when you escaped Ohnaka and the pirates.

Padme and her parents were already heading inside, and you needed to take her cloak. Hunter tried to grasp your hand as you hurried after them, only for your fingers to slip through his hand. You kept yourself from looking back. He was a knight, you were a maid. You both had your duties to perform.

The next day, after a royal feast had been held to celebrate Padme’s return, King Ruwee wanted to honor the heroes of the battle with Serenno. 

“Why do all of you look gloomier than a cat in the mud?” You asked Hunter’s brothers as you prepared them for the ceremony. Each of them stood stiffly, in polished armor and vibrant ceremonial cloaks, shuffling on timid feet as they eyes darted about the empty hallway. You could hear the murmurs of the assembled courtiers just inside the throne room, and they were about to march out in front of all of them.

Tech chuckled, “It’s…not really our thing.”

“Accolades,” Crosshair tossed his cape over his shoulder, hitting Hunter in the face.

Hunter nudged Crosshair meaningfully, “King Ruwee is doing us a great honor today. Maybe today is finally the day we each get our own titles.”

He tugged at the neck of his cape, and you took the ties from his hands, carefully tying them securely so that the cape rested just so on the shoulders of his polished armor without choking his neck.

Before you could step away, Hunter caught your hand. He placed a kiss as soft as a butterfly’s wing on your knuckles. 

“I’ll see you in there, milady,” He murmured as you collected your thoughts.

You couldn’t help the smile that fluttered on your lips, “Good luck, Sir Hunter.”

You left Hunter and his brothers to brace themselves for a different kind of battle, and snuck in through the servant’s halls to make it to your spot at Padme’s side.

Padme sat on her throne, just off to the right of her mother’s high seat. She wrung a handkerchief in her hands, and you could faintly make out a blue flower embroidered on the corner. Embroidery work that she’d done for Sir Anakin.

“Are you alright, your highness?” You asked, placing your hand just over hers to massage her white knuckles.

She flashed a nervous smile at you, “You’ve saved my life, I think we’re past the whole ‘your highness’ thing,” She laughed weakly. 

“Padme,” You scolded, “I’m still responsible for your well-being.”

Padme squeezed your hand, “And I will always be grateful for that.”

Before you could press Padme for what was wrong, the trumpets sounded a fanfare. A hush fell through the throne room, and all turned towards the door as they opened with a majestic groan, making way for the heroes of Naboo. 

It was the six of them who had been sent to rescue you and Padme: Hunter and his brothers, and Anakin, the man who had ridden through several blockades with just his horse and sword to rescue the princess and bring her to safety. 

Hunter and his brothers were credited for the death of Count Dooku, and for that, King Ruwee made each of them a Duke. 

Your heart beat erratically as Hunter knelt before the King, the last of his brothers to be dubbed a duke at the edge of the king’s blade. Hunter caught your nervous glance as he knelt, and subtly winked at you before giving the king his focus. 

You knew he didn’t understand. A Knight and a servant wasn’t too much of a stretch, but a Duke and a servant were something else entirely. King Ruwee would never allow it, especially if Padme was hoping to marry her own beloved Knight one day.

The court was disappointed that Anakin was only made a duke, particularly when the herald had just finished reading a list of his noble accomplishments, but from the twinkle in Duke Kenobi’s eye, that wasn’t all that King Ruwee had in mind.

King Ruwee handed his sword to Queen Jobal and held out his hand to raise Anakin from the food, as he had done with the others before him. “Rise, Sir Skywalker, Lord of the Varykino lakes.”

The room thundered with applause for the Princess’s heroic rescuer. Anakin smiled for the crowd, but he stood awkwardly under all the attention. King Ruwee took pity on him after a moment and raised his hands for silence.

“As hero of Naboo, I will grant you one boon; whatever you will ask of me, I will grant it.”

The nobles gasped, whispering again at the king’s extreme generosity.

“Your majesty,” Anakin sank to his knees, “As a knight of Naboo, I want for nothing.”

The assembled crowd of nobles tittered approvingly at Anakin’s display of humility, and you rolled your eyes. You knew for a fact that was a lie. 

“Except for one thing,” Anakin raised his head to face his king, but his eyes landed on Padme. 

“I am afraid, however, that it is not something that you can give me, your majesty.”

King Ruwee looked to his daughter. Padme’s hand rested on her chest, trying to keep her breath steady, but the look she shared with Anakin never wavered.

Ruwee smiled like he knew this was coming. 

“Whatever you shall ask, Sir Skywalker, I give you my blessing.”

Anakin slowly pulled himself to his feet with shaking limbs, and you backed away from your position just behind Padme’s throne. Padme stood as Anakin approached her, clutching his hands in her pale fingers.

“Your majesty, Princess,” He whispered. You might have been the only one to hear his heart-melting declaration of love to Padme, but it was just as well. They deserved to have this one thing for themselves in a life full of courtly machinations.

“Yes,” Padme whispered. She broke out into a smile, and Anakin’s forehead rested against hers as he heaved a sigh of relief.

They held hands, but now they turned to face the court.

“Your majesties King Ruwee and Queen Jobal, I ask for your blessing in taking Princess Padme Amidala Naberrie, the first of her name, as my wife.”

Ruwee looked to his wife just to be sure. Jobal dabbed away a tear at the tender display, but nodded all the same.

Cheers all the louder filled the throne room, echoing through the stone chamber. Wrecker perhaps cheered the loudest, but it meant more to you and Hunter than it did to anyone else. He caught your eye as Padme and Anakin linked arms for all the court to see.

”I love you,” He mouthed.

It was a familiar scene, the chandeliers flickering overhead as the minstrels played jaunty tune after jaunty tune. Not only was this ball a celebration of the defeat of Dooku, but now it was also a celebration of the beloved Princess’s engagement. You ran interference with the other nobles to let Anakin and Padme have their moment on the dance floor, the center of everyone’s attention. Even King Ruwee, with his blood pressure, escorted his wife to the dance floor for a turn or two. 

You were wearing the shimmering blue gown again, not that anyone else would care. Padme was convinced that the dress had been what caught Hunter’s eye at your first ball, and promised that it would capture his attention. Or at least, it would if you could ever find him in this crowd. 

You were trying to distract a few well-wishers with a delicacy of sugared dates and pistachios when you heard a sultry voice.

“The new title suits you, my Lord.”

That voice itself didn’t mean anything to you, until you heard the reply.

“Oh, well thank you.”

You froze. That was Hunter’s voice. In the constant hum of chatter from the around the ballroom, it was hard to make out the tone of his voice, but you spotted him easily enough. He stood with the Baroness Talzin and her daughter, Asajj. 

“I have heard of your many exploits in battle, my lord. Should you be looking for a sparring partner, something…different, perhaps, to challenge your skills, I should be happy to lend a hand,” Asajj toasted Hunter with her ruby red goblet of wine. There was no mistaking her tone, she had a little more in mind than simply sparring.

You kept your breathing even. Despite Padme’s generosity, you were still a maid. You had a job to do. You took the tray of dates and turned to the nobles you were supposed to be entertaining, speaking more forcefully than usual to both catch their attention, and distract yourself. 

Someone called your name over the crowd, and you tried to brush it off as you had Baron Papanoida speak with Duke Kenobi and Duchess Kryze in an effort to give Padme and Anakin a few more moments alone.

“Milady!” He had found you now, it was impossible to avoid it. So when he tapped your arm to catch your attention, you place the tray between the two of you.

“Figs and nuts, sir?” 

Hunter blinked, and glanced down at the last treat on the tray. “Have you had any?”

It was your turn to be confused, “Well, no, I’m not supposed to-”

“Forget what you’re ‘supposed’ to do,” Hunter plucked the tray from your hand and took the last date, setting the tray aside and holding it out towards you.

Slightly embarrassed at his insistence, you refused to open your mouth until the sugary dusting brushed your lips. No use refusing it now. You opened your mouth and let Hunter place the date on your tongue. The slightly sour flavor exploded with the sugar, and you hummed in pleasure, just now realizing how hungry you had been.

“It’s good, right?” Hunter took a handful of peanuts from the serving dish and handed a few to you, “I first fell in love with figs when we were sent to Mandalore. Everyone eats them there.”

“It’s delicious,” You agreed, popping a few more in your mouth. You ate ravenously, Hunter could hardly get a word in edgewise until you were finished. Unable to wipe the peanut dust from your fingers onto your silken dress, Hunter offered you his handkerchief.

“Dance with me, milady?” He asked. He held out his hand, giving you the choice.

“I told you, don’t call me that,” You said, resisting the urge to pout like a spoiled child. You twisted his kerchief in your hands. The edge was embroidered with vines, just like the pendant he had made you.

Hunter simply smiled, “To recognize you as anything but a gracious lady would be just as impossible as stopping the sun from setting.

”Milady.”

Your face flushed, but it was impossible not to smile in reply. Of its own free will, your hand slipped into Hunters, and he spun you close, leading you to the edge of the dance floor.

“Last time, I hardly got the chance to dance with you,” He whispered so that only you would hear, “This time, I intend to have you as my only dance partner.”

Your breath caught on the lump in your throat, and you almost started to cry, but crying was forgotten as Hunter spun you under his arm, pulling a laugh from your chest that wrapped around the both of you and seemed to carry you far from the cares and worries of the ballroom.

It was almost enough to make you forget your staggeringly different places in society.

Almost.

Padme sat in the window the morning after, soaking up the sunlight of the early morning.

“Isn’t it so beautiful?” She asked you.

“Yes, it is, your highness,” You nodded, gently brushing her hair. The world had changed, but it still continued to spin on, and you still had work to do.

Padme turned, gently taking your hand, “How are things with you and Sir Hunter?” She asked.

Your smile wobbled, “Nevermind all that,” You said in a hurried whisper. You gently turned Padme’s head so that you could finish with her hair. 

She had worn an elaborate purple velvet dress for the ceremonies yesterday, and a shimmering gown in a yellow and pink gradient that was much better suited for dancing at the ball, but today was full of meetings to discuss what was to become of the Serennian lands after their surrender. She needed something dignified and elaborate to convey the sense of importance that these meetings held.  The dark red- almost brown- dress she was wearing was perhaps a little drab, but not when partnered with the cream sash and golden headpiece. 

Padme kept trying to get you to tell her everything that had happened while she was recovering at the Mandalorian Fortress, but you stubbornly refused.

“You look stunning, princess!” You told her, earnestly trying to avoid the worries in your heart.

Padme smiled at you, but you knew that she wasn’t buying your excuses. Fortunately for you, there was a knock at the door to her chambers and you had to answer it. 

The falconer’s apprentice handed you a scroll, sealed in black ink with Serenno’s traditional coat of arms. You gave the boy a coin for his troubles, and gave it to Padme to read as she hurried to the meeting. 

King Ruwee and Queen Jobal were already there, as were most of the council members. You quickly retrieved a pitcher of wine, pouring one for Padme and for several of the other council members who didn’t have their servants with them.

“As I am certain you all know, the purpose of this meeting is to decide the future of the kingdom of Serenno. Under Yan Dooku, who was slain by one of our own, all members of the royal family and those who would have a chance at a claim to the throne were wiped out. Those who were spared were absolutely loyal to Dooku,” Jobal began.

“As Serenno has surrendered to us, under the treaty of the Nine Kingdoms, we are free to absorb Serenno into our kingdom, or allow it to govern itself.”

Lord Taa harumphed, “If all who remain are loyal to Dooku, who is to say they won’t attack us again if we let them be? We’d be setting ourselves up for certain doom!”

King Ruwee held out his hand to calm his portly courtier.

“My dear, I believe you had more information on this front?” He asked Padme.

Padme sat up straight, holding the parchment she had received. "We have word from Romar, the captain of the King's Guard, that Dooku's allies have fled Serreno. His people offer their unconditional surrender." 

"Unconditional Surrender seems very extreme for a people who had nothing to do with their tyrant's machinations." Kenobi pondered, stroking his beard as he thought. 

"They're terrified," You spoke up. Suddenly, all eyes were on you. You gulped nervously, white-knuckling the pitcher. Padme hadn't been in Serenno. She hadn't seen what had become of a once prosperous mining kingdom. But you had. 

"Dooku killed their king, and anyone who could claim to be heir to the throne. He used dark magic that he found with the help of merchants from Nemoidia and the guilds in Geonosis, and he used that dark magic to threaten Serenno's people to submission. If they didn't give in to Dooku's reign, he would have wiped them out as well as us."

King Ruwee sat back in his chair, regarding you curiously. "What would you say they want, then?"

"Food," was your immediate answer, "They're starving. All of their resources went to Dooku and his allies. They have no loyalty to him. But they will be loyal to those who will take care of them and establish peace."

The council members murmured thoughtfully as they considered your words.

“Perhaps it would be best to absorb Serenno into our kingdom,” Ruwee said, “It would eradicate tariffs on food supplies-”

“And their mines would certainly be advantageous!” Taa said. He toasted the King, letting a few drops spill over the brim of his goblet.

“The new Dukes, aside from Lord Anakin, have yet to be assigned their own vassals. We could divide Serenno between them,” Jobal pointed to the map on the table.

Your spirits lifted. At least something was going right; Hunter and his brothers would be certain to take care of the people of Serenno, and if their interactions with the Serennian King’s Guard were anything to go off of, they would fit right in at home. And it would be far away enough to keep them away from the vultures of Court.

You were so pleased with this turn of events that you hardly noticed when the subject of conversation turned, if only for a moment.

“Speaking of the dukes, my sister is set to inherit a large portion of land upon her wedding day,” Duchess Kryze said slowly, “You have that accounted for, I assume, your majesty?”

You cocked your head to the side, trying not to sound too interested as you refilled Lord Taa’s goblet of wine.

“Of course, Satine, I promise I wouldn’t forget,” Ruwee chuckled.

“Good,” Duchess Kryze took an elegant sip from her goblet, “I had the notion just the other day, she would make a handsome partner for Sir Hunter, I think.”

You heard the pitcher crash against the stone floor, and as the noise rang in your ear you felt something soaking into your boot. 

“Forgive me, my lords,” You said on autopilot. Two footmen ran forward to help you clean up your mess, and you tried to mop it as best you could with your apron.

“No worries, my dear,” King Ruwee waved it off, and nodded to the duchess to continue.

“It’s a sizeable land, and with their skills I feel that Sir Hunter and my sister, Lady Kryze, would be a good match. Certainly a strong ally to your majesty should another enemy such as Dooku raise their ugly head.  I would have to speak to my sister, of course, but this marriage would prove advantageous to the young duke. I understand he wants what is best for his brothers, and this would help Sir Hunter arrange further advantageous marriages for them.”

“Are you alright?” Padme whispered as you shuffled your way over to her side, trembling and soaked with wine.

“I’m fine,” You assured her. You picked up the metal pitcher, ascertaining its condition, and fled the room with as much dignity as you could muster. 

You tossed the pitcher at the scullery maid. If you had any of your scruples about you, you would have moved on and grabbed a fresh pitcher so that you could return to the council room. Instead, you climbed down into the cellar and shut the door behind you, trying not to scream as tears burned into your cheeks.

You knew that you were well below Hunter’s station, but hearing the mere suggestion of Hunter being married to someone else was tearing your heart apart with every beat.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Hunter always put his brothers first, Duchess Satine was right about that. How could he refuse an offer like this? 

You buried your face in your hands and fell to your knees.

You had to face it now.

Hunter would never be yours.

Lady Luck (Prequel)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

#lizart writes #sergeant hunter #sergeant hunter x reader #tbb hunter #tbb hunter x reader #the bad batch hunter #the bad batch hunter x reader #fantasy au #the bad batch fantasy au

[wenalena]

Here my first piece of the crossover of The Bad Batch x Witcher !

Crosshair of the Viper school!

I need to practice more this type of painting🫠

#star wars #the bad batch #star wars fanart #tbb #crosshair #tbb crosshair #fanart #crossover #the bad batch x witcher #the witcher crossover #Crosshair #The bad batch AU #AU #Fantasy

[theladyheroine]

Songs that would be good writing prompts ✨

❥ This is just a short post for funsies! Enjoy if you’d like!

I See the Light from Disney’s Tangled

Strangers Like Me from Disney’s Tarzan

Son of Man from Disney’s Tarzan

I’m A Star from Disney’s Wish

The Neglected Garden by Cecile Corbel

The Voice by The Celtic Woman

Running With the Wolves by AURORA

Now I See by Lou & SQVARE

Wonderful from Netflix’s Over The Moon

To The Sky by Owl City

Dinosaur Park by Owl City

Under The Circus Lights by Owl City

Lavender by JVKE & Pink Sweat$

Broken Melodies NCT Dream & JVKE

Just A Cloud Away by Pharrell Williams

#writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writing prompts #romance writing prompts #otp ideas #otp writing prompts #urban fantasy writing #fluff prompts #fantasy writing #fluffy prompts #worldbuilding #fantasy aesthetic #fantasy writing prompts #fantasy au headcanons #fantasy au #worldbuilding prompts #fantasy x reader headcanons #the bad batch headcanons #clone wars headcanons #kingdom hearts x reader #kingdom hearts headcanons #bnha headcannons #bnha x reader #bnha headcanons sfw #Disney

[dragonrider9905]

The Price You Pay

Haaaaaaaaaaappppyyyyy Birthday @photogirl894 Morgan!!!!!!!! I hope you have a great day filled with many blessings and much happiness!!!!! I made this little drabble for you for your birthday, which I know I'm a little early in posting but I couldn't wait :) I hope you enjoy it <3 I've loved talking to you and getting to know you the last few months. Thanks for being a great friend, bestie!!!! ❤️🤗 Hope you enjoy the show.😎 You have that fun drabble we had about TBB being fantasy characters and actually @lizartgurl to thank for this. Lizartgurl has an AMAZING medieval au, go check it out. Mine pales in comparison.

The wind’s icy hands of early fall ripped down your throat and sent its chilling fingers across all the avenues of your lungs, causing a frozen burn in your chest. It slapped your face and nipped at your nose, hands and feet as you ran. 

But that didn’t matter. 

You had to keep running. 

Breathing was getting increasingly difficult as your heaves were not getting enough air in fast enough, and what you did get, felt like a knife was being shoved in your chest. Your feet were tangling, catching on thorny bushes, blood blossoming from the open wounds left behind. You barely felt them over the pounding of your heart. 

That also didn’t matter. 

You had to get away.

They were getting close. They were gaining on you! The sound of the horses neigh and the gallops surrounded you, closing in and echoing in the distance. 

Typically, you’d stay home on a moonless night like tonight, but tonight, the mist that shrouded the area was your friend. It cloaked you from danger, yet also made it difficult for you to see the forest floor. Luckily, you knew these woods like the back of your hand. The paths and trails (some of which you made yourself) could be trekked blindfolded if you had to, but not making any noise equal with swiftness increased in difficulty. 

You stopped momentarily, panting heavily to catch your breath, leaning against a neighboring tree to look around for the best route.

How did they find out? Or were you just being paranoid? No, they were definitely after you. 

Eyes darting in all directions, you sprinted into the unknown arms of the night again, only to run full force into something…or rather, someone. The bulk of the man’s chest sent you flying backward onto the ground. 

Your body crumpled against the dirt, defeated. You couldn’t find it in yourself to get up. You’d been found out. Caught. A dull soreness settled into your bones and your muscles cramped and pinched. A sigh escaped your mouth as you looked up to see who your captor was. 

The blacksmith. 

Your mind reeled back to when you first met. 

The chill of early spring blooming from the gentle winter nipped at your nose in a pleasant way. The snow was melting, soaking the soil to hopeful green fields and crops. You bounded home, a skip to your step and a happiness to your beat. The sun was shining brilliant reflections of yellow and gold which bounced off the tops of the village roofs in a colorful array of reflections. 

The town was bustling and you couldn’t help but sing a happy song along with the birds that welcomed the morning, pleased to hear their pretty voices again. It was a busy day today. The baker was out with his tray, like always. The butcher preparing fresh meats for purchase. Children laughing and playing tag in the town square. 

A very familiar and welcome sight, it was. 

You knew everyone and everything that went on in town. It was the smart thing to do if you wanted to stay one step ahead. Everything was in its place and everyone was doing their thing. You could never say life was dull in Ord Mantell. Quite the opposite. It was rather an exciting, and well, dangerous place to live. 

Definitely the place to go if you want to disappear. 

Reputable enough to live, seedy enough to live with a fake reputation and no one asked questions. People were nice enough, but true kindness was a downlow. Favor for favor was the rule, except for you. You probably should play that game too, but you didn’t have it in your heart to. You were just too generous and kind. 

But being generous and kind didn’t mean you didn’t have your secrets. 

It just meant you could only be so fake. Your name might be false but you could still be taken at face value.

Some parts of town, a person doesn’t go in lest they never come out. Some parts were completely safe such as in the hoity toity part of town. Then the rest was a solid mix of thieves living honest lives and honest men doing thievery. 

New faces came every day to trade or pass through. You knew the look of a newcomer who was soon a goner or a passer-through. So you could still say with all honesty…you still knew everyone’s face and their business in town, and there were in fact ‘no new faces’. The key was, none that stayed that was. 

That is what made today so different. 

There was a newcomer—who wanted to stay. 

Little did you know how much this day would affect the rest of your life. Later you would wonder if you had cause to bless or curse that day, but as of now, you had yet to see. 

Swinging your basket purposefully with rhythm humming your song, you jolted to a stop at the sight before you. 

A man, rugged with long, dark hair, face half inked in a skull tattoo turned from the man in front of him toward you. Nose was hooked and eyes were sharp like a hawk. Jaw was set and calculating, cold. Hyperfocsed on the world around him…and the sweet child before him, making sure she was safe and out of trouble. You knew the look well. 

She had to be his daughter, you thought. She had the same eyes as him, and perhaps smile if he ever would. Her hair was blond and bounced in sweet, short curls. The image of an angel.

You wondered about the mother, where she was, if she was coming soon or perhaps that’s why they were here to get away. Anything was possible in this place. 

She seemed happy but not unaware of the world around her. She looked about excitedly but minded her ‘father’ well when he’d comment. 

You locked eyes with the man, an unfamiliar chill going through your bones. His face was unreadable, searching yours. The two of you were locked in a silent, tense cord of something you couldn’t name. It wasn’t terror and it wasn’t attraction (though he was attractive). You weren’t afraid of the man—you’d known what true fear was. Let’s just call it caution. Caution was always advisable. 

Was he dangerous? Perhaps that was something you should find out. You suspected he could be if he wanted to, yet there was something to his demeanor that you liked, you trusted, but you couldn’t put your finger on why. Why was this man so different? You’d never felt this curious sense about anyone else before. You had good intuition but was it your intuition speaking or something else? 

Like fate…destiny…

The spell broke when the man he was talking to (who you knew to be the neighboring carpenter) called you over. 

“Come here and meet the new neighbors!”

You approached with a plastered smile and noticed the man tense slightly. 

“Hello! Welcome to Ord Mantell, truely. I know it isn’t much of a place, but it’s home, and I hope you find it to be as well.”

“The name is Hunter.” he grunted, shaking your hand then indicated the child, ‘and this is Omega.” He rested a hand on her shoulder and she smiled up at him then to you. He grinned down at her and you suspected she might be the only reason for him to smile. 

“He’s going to be our new blacksmith! Isn’t that wonderful!” 

“It is!” You exclaimed, “I know business will go well for you here. Well chosen trade. Will you take up the old smithery?”

“I was just showing it to him. What do you think, good sir?”

Hunter considered for a moment. 

“I’ll take it but I also want the house outside of town. I think it would be a better place for Omega.”

The carpenter laughed. 

“Quite agreed. The place will need a little work but it is suitable for the two of you. Word of the wise, fix the locks first before all else. Nothing you do will be any good if it’s stolen…or you’re dead.”

“Well noted.”

“Well, Hunter, Omega,” you smiled again, this time as genuinely as possible, “if you need anything at all, let me know. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand or help out if I can. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Another thing,” the carpenter broke in, “this is a literal angel. Trust no one in town but her. If she says she wants to help, she means it. So take her up on her offer. You’d be wise to get to know her. She’ll keep you out of trouble.”

You laughed softly and shook your head with an eye roll.

“A little dramatic, but thank you. I try.” You felt your face burn up and a shyness threatened to squeeze your throat. “I, uh, should go. Mrs. Pott’s kid is sick again. I promised to bring her some things. Bye now, and welcome.” You strode away with a subdued but still happy gait. 

The encounter was short, ‘normal’ and the strangest thing ever. They seemed normal but everything in the short minutes screamed secrecy. 

You would know. 

But how could a man with a girl as sweet as that be so terrible?

Omega waved you off happily, but before you were out of earshot you heard a “she seems really nice, Hunter! We should talk to her more later.” and a “we’ll see” from the man. 

You couldn’t blame him. He had to know what sort of place Ord Mantell was. You wondered why he trusted the carpenter in the first place.  

More questions. Perhaps he knew him from before? 

You made note of these things in your memory. The answers to these could be really important. Not just for your safety, but perhaps theirs. Who knew?

Besides, it couldn’t hurt to be friendly, make them dinner maybe. You wouldn’t have to stay, but extending an olive branch would be smart. An offering of peace. They didn’t seem like people who harmed but were running away from something. You weren’t always right but you weren’t always wrong either. Your intuition was pretty good, and they felt like people who would be good to get to know. 

Stopping by the door to Mrs. Potts’s humble home, you had to stow your thoughts aside. There was another little child who needed your help just beyond the door and he needed your attention. 

Later in the evening, you stopped by the smithery to see the pair hard at work fixing up the place, guessing they didn’t have anything to eat. You were right of course, so when they saw the hearty meal you brought, even Hunter couldn’t hide the staggered look of surprise and longing when the smell reminded him of how hungry he was. He looked suspiciously at you but accepted it with gratitude. They hardly had anything… 

“Ember? What are you doing here?”

His nickname for you (because of your curly red hair—normally crowned with little purple flowers or your favorite, forget-me-nots) pulled you back to the present. 

Hunter stretched his hand toward you but you flinched back, cowering against the tree, arm raised to protect yourself. 

Hurt crossed his eyes for a moment but resolve replaced it in a matter of seconds. He crouched down to your level and raised his hands as a show of peace. 

“I’m not going to hurt you. What happened? Are you alright? Em, talk to me.”

You opened your mouth but nothing came out. Instead, you struggled to swallow some invisible sand. In the distance, a terrible crackling sounded. It could be mistaken for thunder by the untrained ear but to those who lived in the village of Ord Mantell, it meant terror. They knew what it meant. 

You tore your eyes away from him to where the sound came from, blood drained from your face. An invisible weight pressed itself onto your chest. Cold seeped in and the ghost of fear possessed your eyes. Hunter had never seen you like this before and it shook him. He’d only ever known your smile, your kindness. 

This was so unnatural to him, a shiver went down his spine. 

“They’re after you?”

Your only reply was a choked gasp. Words refused to form into a coherent sentence, so you nodded instead, ever so slightly. 

“Follow me. I can protect you.”

Hunter stretched his hand out once more. Tentatively, you took it. Your grip shook in his firm grasp, fingers rigid and weak from fear.

“Wh-ere a-re we going?” You hated how your voice faltered. You weren’t afraid of him, were you? Hunter was your friend! He was helping you, right? 

Ugh how you hated questioning him, but you couldn’t help it. 

“Back to the cottage. Our cellar is a safe place. You can rest there for a bit but if you need to, we have an underground tunnel you can use. We’ll get you food and supplies. You must have dropped yours.”

You blushed. You actually hadn’t packed anything in your hurry, but you didn’t want to admit that out loud. 

“Thank you, that would be nice.”

Hunter helped you to your feet and brushed you off. Neighing sounded in the distance again, which spurred a hurried “this way” and the care of cleaning you off was forgotten. 

Hunter guided you through the night in a different direction, bubbles in your stomach bursting acid in your throat, your trust in Hunter swaying only a little. 

You were headed toward the crackling sounds. Not away from it. 

But you also knew this was how you got to his home.

Be calm, be calm, be calm.

The words matched the strumming of your heart. And it was like Hunter could hear it because he kept turning to side-eye you, a look on his face, half shrouded by shadow. 

That look could either be concern and care or something else, something dangerous. 

But he never said anything. Only ushered you on with a “hurry!”, voice deep and husky, red with warning. At a certain point, Hunter left the trail to follow alongside a precipice. You knew why. Others would avoid the sharp decline, it would be your refuge. The horses wouldn’t come near it.

“Hunter, how much farther…” 

You were cut off by the sight to your left. It was a distance off, but the terror it evoked had you standing in horror. A hooded figure, draped in black rode atop a black steed which seemed like a ghost itself. Both creatures' eyes shone red and beady in the night, the sound of each breath breaking the quiet of the night. 

“Look out! Get down!” Hunter was already crouched behind a log, aghast at your immobility, hand extended to pull you down with him.

In your attempt to hide, you slipped.

Down you fell into the precipice below and straight into the murky ravine. You tumbled and rolled gasping and grunting with each roll, only vaguely registering your name being shouted in urgency.

Your head struck a rock just as your body hit the water.

Everything went black, and the rest of the night would escape your memory.

— — — 

Hunter watched you fall in horror. He could count on his hands the number of times he’s felt that distinct fear, and it wasn’t many. He cried out your name instinctively but quickly quieted himself. Cursing himself for the racket, he turned to see the horseman disappear in a different direction. 

Thank the maker.

Hunter hurried down the cliff to your side. Though steep, it wasn’t impossible for someone like him, all the while cursing himself for not being more careful with you. He should have noticed you weren’t by him, he should have guided you more carefully…he should have…he should have…

Hunter jumped into the stream moments after your own entry. He dragged your limp body out of the water, which was deeper than he expected. 

“Hey, hey Ember?” He pushed the hair from your face. Your eyes were closed but you were breathing. He sighed in relief. He couldn’t see anything without a light, so a wound check would have to wait for the time being.

 “Let’s get you out of here, come on.” Lifting you up, he carried you the rest of the way to his cottage. 

He rested your exhausted body on the excuse for a mattress in the cellar as promised. Instinctively, you curled in on yourself. Hunter couldn’t help but smile down at you a little sadly. Even in sleep, worry and care stretched across your brow, a restless type of rest. He started to examine your head to make sure you weren’t severely injured. He wrapped the spot which only started to bruise. Then he moved to the cuts on your face and hands, cleaning them and applying a healing cream that none knew existed (except his brother of course). 

When he finished, Hunter tucked you in under the blanket and brushed the hair further from your face. Sighing and smiling in your sleep, something like relief finally settled into your features. Murmuring some gibberish, you leaned into his warm touch. He couldn’t help but smile to himself at the sight. 

Hunter sat next to you on the bed and pondered. There were a lot of questions to be asked. The whole situation was so strange, and the fact it was past midnight at the time of your run wasn’t helping. Hunter wasn’t superstitious, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t unsettled by it. What were you doing out so late by yourself? 

Of course there was the fact ‘they’ were chasing you but..

Why would you be their target? What had you done to evoke their rage? But more importantly, how did you know? Most people simply vanished unawares. You had a head start in escape. 

Then there was the Black Rider. 

Who was he? What did he have to do with you? 

Hunter ran his fingers through some of the tangles of your hair, brushing them further from your face, smoothing the strands behind the curve of your ear…when he noticed something. Your ears weren’t perfectly round…they were partially…tipped?

Suddenly, Hunter knew.

This was your secret. 

Well, one of many that was.

You were a half-elven. 

Half-elves were worth a lot of money, and rare. Heck, just as rare as a full-blooded elves. 

No wonder they wanted you…but somewhere deep down, Hunter guessed that wasn’t their only reason. 

Something squeezed in his chest for you, making his blood boil at the thought of what could have happened to you. The heat radiated in waves that made his head feel sick at how much fear you must have lived in for so long. 

The fear. The distrust. The urgency. 

Not to mention that this opened a whole new door of strange possibilities in a world a meager human mind could barely comprehend. 

Half elven. 

And you never told him…

Hunter understood, after all. He had his own secrets.  

In the morning, he’d figure something out. All he knew was that he had to keep you safe. 

Hunter left you in privacy quietly, with the lamp dimly lit, to go double bar the door. 

#the bad batch #tbb hunter #tbb tech #tbb wrecker #tbb crosshair #tbb echo #star wars #star wars the bad batch #tbb omega #fanfic #star wars fanfic #fanfiction #au #fantasy au #hunter x reader #sargeant hunter #sergeant hunter #sergeant hunter x reader #sergeant hunter x you #hunter x fem!reader #hunter x you

[sunnyvandsephi]

i did this 'sneaking Hunter past the ToS' design for the Vampires vs Werewolves ArtFight this year and still adore it so, to here it goes

Feredir just = "Hunter" in Tolkien's elvish

he had lore and everything!

i have phases where i just, want Hunter around in every canon or project i drift between, but this design was part of a whole little tale i was using to try and do collaborative pieces for ArtFight

as the story goes, Feredir and other Bad Batch mirrors still kept their 'outcast' vibes as they were either vampires who fled vampiric hierarchy after refusing a command, or werewolves who approved of that rebellion and joined forces (i was on Team Werewolf so)

design choices were, how to do his tattoo, instead made it a burn from exposure to sunlight, his fangs double up because his tat has gaps for two teeth, he still retains his "knife" in the form of a silver stake he can use an either Vampire -or- Werewolf, and in the same fashion as his Katarn-lll gear, keeps his vampiric armor even when acting against them- not going out of his way to hunt other vampires, but definitely willing to defend himself or when convinced by his fellows, rescue them from their superiors

#cw: scarring #cw: burns #i might do something with this still i dunno #hunter in a tailcoat hmmyes #star wars au #bad batch #tbb au #tbb hunter #sergeant hunter #dark fantasy au #dark fantasy #vampire art

[fandom-friday]

Hi Karrie!!!! One fic I may have already recommended but will absolutely do again if I did not is @lizartgurl @jedipoodoo ‘s Secret Kingdom series.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40385772/chapters/101166927

It is such a fun amazing read! I still haven’t finished but each chapter has been sooooo fun leaving me breathless for more!

Gotta love the idea of a medieval Hunter 😏

OOOOOH ok so I haven't read a lot of Fantasy AU fics, but I do love the idea of Hunter in one, especially as a knight. And HELL YES TO THE SELF-INDULGENT TAG. AS IT SHOULD BE. (I'm also giggling at the "Horse Girl Hunter" tag). And as someone that adores Jake Bartok's Medieval Star Wars series, I am INTRIGUED to see how it has inspired this work. The first few paragraphs have me giggling and kicking my feet for SURE. Thanks so much for sending it in!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

#FANDOM FRIDAY #creator appreciation #fic rec #fanfiction #fan fic #star wars #the bad batch #tbb #fantasy au #hunter #padme amidala #anakin skywalker #hunter x reader #hunter x you #anakin x padme #anidala

[wild-karrde]

Hi Karrde,

I've never sent in a Fandom Friday Rec before, but I think it's time for me to start!

I would like to highlight @vodika-vibes series of Clone Fairytale AU fics. I haven't caught up on her newest additions, but the ones I have read are positively magical!

If you like clones, knights, princess/princesses, magic, romance, and fairytales, then these are the fics for you! Vodika takes classic fairytale stories and adds her own twists, turns, and flare to create a whole new story that seems eerily familiar.

These fics deserve way more love than they are currently receiving, so I want to get the word out so others can enjoy!

Here is a list of current titles in the series:

The Prince's Wizard - Prince!Wolffe x Wizard!Reader  The Hand You're Dealt - Knight!Jesse x Princess!Reader Ner Kar'ta - Prince!Fox x reader The Mermaid and her ARC - Knight!Fives x Mermaid Princess!Reader The Witch and the Warrior - Prince!Cody x Witch!FemReader Wonderland - Knight!Gregor x f!reader Little Red - Devil!Hound x Detective!Reader Pen-Pals - Sailor!Tup x Reader The Merry Men of Mandalore - Prince!Boba x Outlaw!Reader Neverland - Knight!Howzer x Reader Another Happily Ever After - Knight!Rex x Reader Eternity - Kix x Vampire!Reader The ARC and the Monster - Knight!Echo x Reader Aliit Ori'shya Taldin - Prince!Fox x Reader

@the-bad-batch-baroness

HOLY HECK this is QUITE the list with a little something for almost everyone! All of these AU characterizations seem to perfectly fit with the MC chosen for them! Thanks so much for sending these in!

Link to Masterlist (fics at bottom)

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

#FANDOM FRIDAY #creator appreciation #fic rec #fanfiction #fan fic #star wars #the clone wars #tcw #the bad batch #tbb #fantasy AU #commander wolffe #arc trooper jesse #commander fox #arc trooper fives #commander cody #captain gregor #commander hound #clone trooper tup #captain howzer #boba fett #the book of boba fett #captain rex #clone medic kix #arc trooper echo

[shipobsessed212]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: CT-9904 | Crosshair/Clone Commander Mayday, Crosshair & Omega & Mayday, Phee Genoa/Clone Trooper Tech, Clone Force 99 | Bad Batch & Phee Genoa, Clone Force 99 | Bad Batch & Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) Characters: Tech (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Hunter (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, Wrecker (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Crosshair (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Clone Commander Mayday (Star Wars), Phee Genoa Additional Tags: Omega gets her period, Soft Crosshair (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Mythical Beings & Creatures, Force-Sensitive Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Swearing Summary:

When Omega gets her period some...Strange things happen and she's reunited with someone from her past.

#the bad batch #omega tbb #tech tbb #sargent hunter #wrecker tbb #tbb crosshair #clone commander mayday #phee genoa #wolffe pack #fantasy au #please read #please like

[starwhore-spacetrash]

//idk wut this will be… maybe a series… maybe not… Takes place after Clone Wars S.5 E19 Barrisoka// Ashoka POV

I rolled over again, stretching my arms above my head before slamming them down on either side of me. I’ve been trying to sleep for hours now… but I can’t shake it. How could she do this to me? After everything we’d been through? She could have picked anyone to frame; why me?

Anger boils inside me. “It’s not the Jedi way…” I stop myself; I’m not a Jedi. In a span of 48 hours, I’d lost my Master, my rank, my family, my purpose… my best friend.

The anger melts away and leaves something deep… a dark hole that’s swirling inside me; I feel like I’m being swallowed up.

Oddly, leaving the Jedi provided me with more relief than I anticipated. Barriss’ words have been running in a loop in my mind since her impassioned confession yesterday. She claimed the Jedi were corrupt. “The Jedi have become an army fighting for the Dark side!” I could still see the conviction in her eyes, the desperation in her voice.

If only she would have told me how she felt. How would I have responded? I wasn’t honest with her, why should I expect her to share everything with me? Barriss was always the open one. Always so kind and thoughtful. She knew me better than anyone… so why would would she chose me as her mark? Why set me up? I thought we were friends, many times, I thought we were more.

I feel the tears burning my eyes. A week ago, I would have pushed them back. Emotions are not a friend of the Jedi. They cloud your judgment. They make you weak. But, I am no Jedi, so I let them fall. A tear for every conversation, every smile, every time we fought alongside each other… a tear for every dream I’d had.

“Ahhhhh!” I slam my feet on the ground beneath me. I can’t lie here anymore. I have to see her. I’ll make her explain this to me. I deserve an explanation; it’s the least she could offer me after the hell she’s put me through.

•••

It’s darker here than I expected. I guess keeping the higher profile prisoners hidden deep under the city is a great deterrent for those who would want to break them free. Even with my knowledge of the force, I wouldn’t want to try it. I’m just here to get answers and get out. I don’t think I can bear looking at Barriss any longer than I have too. I’m lost in my thoughts and I barely acknowledge the two guards coming towards me.

Of course there are guards… I knew that going in. What I didn’t consider was my recent lack of clearance.

“Halt,” a guard now has his hand on my wrist, “you aren’t allowed down here.”

“Yes, I am allowed here.” I say as I wave my hand in front of his face. “Yes, you are allowed here,” the two guards echo in unison.

“You will take me to the cell of Barriss Offee, former Padawan and traitor to the Republic.” The words taste bitter leaving my mouth, and I fight the nausea rising in me.

A moment passes, and I almost waiver in my resolve. I’ve always struggled with mind tricks; Master Yoda says it because my mind is never at peace… now is no different. Finally, the guard repeats, “We will take you to the cell of Barriss Offee, former Padawan and traitor to the Republic.” We walk swiftly through the narrow corridors before stopping in front of a black, reflective door.

I waive my hand, “You will give me the key card and go about your day.” They do as I say, and I brace myself for what lies behind the door. I briefly consider walking away. What if what she says only hurts me more? What do I hope to gain from this conversation? An apology? No. She can’t say anything that would change the past, but, part of me (maybe a foolish, naive part) still hopes for a future. I take a breath and raise the card to the door.

“I’ve said all I intend to say. Further interrogation will get you nowhere.” Barriss’ back was to the door, her voice dull and without it’s usual sweetness. “That’s unfortunate,” I said mirroring the chill in her tone, “I risked my freedom to give you the opportunity to explain yourself. Foolish of me to assume my closest friend would have a reason for such betrayal. My mistake.” I knew I was speaking, but when she turned, when her tired eyes met mine, I felt the ice melt away.

“A-Ashoka?” she rasped. Barriss slowly stood up, hands raised in front of her, like she was afraid I would attack. There was fear written across her face, and something more… something deeper etched into the crease of her eyebrow. “Why-why are you here? I have nothing else to tell the Jedi.”

I tried to respond, but my mind was racing. Barriss stared at me wide eyed, awaiting a response. She didn’t wear her normal hood or headpiece, her short brunette waves falling loosely around her face. She wore a grey jumpsuit, and I couldn’t help but note that it was the only time I’d seen her in something other than her normal, baggy robe. Her legs were long, and obviously muscular. How did I never notice how small her waist was? The jumpsuit hugged her body around her hips and chest the material being pulled tight and…“Control yourself, Snips, a Jedi controls their emotions, not the other way around.” I could here Anakins snide voice correcting me for letting my guard down.

I snapped back into the moment, meeting Barriss’ eyes. “I’m not here on behalf of the Jedi. In fact, I won’t be doing anything for them ever again.” I said dryly. I noted the confusion that flooded her face. “What do you mean? As a Padawan, everything you do is on behalf of the Jedi, whether you intend it or not.”

“I left the order, Barriss.” It was the first time I said it out loud, and it didn’t hurt as much as I anticipated. Not when I was telling her.

“You left the order! Why?! Being a Jedi was everything to you! Was it because of what I did? Will they not let you back in?” Tears were pooling in her eyes, and I saw her bottom lip begin to quiver; my eyes were immediately drawn to it and I could think of nothing but making it stop. “My plan failed, Ashoka. I never intended for it to go that far. I wanted you to be out of danger, I never anticipated that you’d run away. I thought you’d be safe in a holding cell while I enacted the rest of the plan. I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.” She crumpled before me, heaving sobs wracking her small body.

She almost killed me. She caused the Council to turn against me… my own Master doubted me. I lost everything because of her and I should be furious. I should be glad she is rotting in the dark cell, tortured by her guilt. But I’m not.

My feet begin moving before I realize what I’m doing. In one movement, I scoop her from the floor and carry her to the small cot in the corner of the room. Her body relaxes into mine and I hold her tightly as the sobs lessen into muffled whimpers.

Gently, I comb my fingers through her hair, allowing my thumb to graze her temple and ear. I whisper, “I know. I understand. I forgive you.” She releases an exhausted sigh, and I lean my cheek against her forehead. Her breathing slows and I realize she’s asleep. Asleep on my lap, in my arms, in a jail cell, not 48 hours since her lies had me on trial for treason.

I’m not even angry. Actually, this is the closest I’ve felt to peace in months. The war, the council, everything that weighed down my existence for as long as I can remember… none of it exists anymore. Right now, it’s just us. Just Barriss, against my chest, sleeping as if she hasn’t had rest in years, and that’s all that matters to me.

I know this won’t last. The guards will do rounds soon and I’ll have to sneak out. Or worse, Barriss will wake up and I'll be forced to articulate what I feel (something I'm not at all prepared to do at the moment). I push those thoughts away and pull her closer. If being a Jedi Master means I could never have this feeling, then walking away was the best decision I ever made.

•••

To be continued…

#star wars #the clone wars #scifi #fantasy #fanfic #star wars smut #many a true nerd #geeklife #fanfiction #wattpad #bad batch #rebelscum #sw rebels #sw clone wars #sith lord #jedi survivor #jedi shadow #star wars padawan #padawan tano #padawans au #jedi padawan #clone wars anakin #sith anakin #anakin needs a hug #the skywalker saga #barriss offee #ashoka tano #barriss deserved better #barrissoka #ahsoka and barriss

[jedipoodoo]

Secret Kingdoms (Hunter x fem!Reader Fantasy AU)

Notes: This is highly self-indulgent but it's my birthday gift to me so eat my shorts, yes this is based off of that one episode of Merlin

Warnings: kidnapping, plans of an enforced marriage talk of war, one character nearly drowns, there will be a part three

Taglist: @imabeautifulbutterfly @twinkofthedink @imaginationrunswild2

Read it on AO3

You and Hunter rested beneath a tree, watching carefully as Anakin and Padme sat in the meadow below. They were using his cloak as a blanket while Padme instructed Anakin in making a chain of flowers. Without much else to do, you and Hunter were enjoying the same task. So far, you had made a chain of daisies long enough to wrap around your wrist, and then you heard Hunter humming. He had his knife, and was whittling with a piece of wood as he sang.

"There's a secret kingdom all my own With no castles, and no vassals, and no throne. Just two subjects, you and me, In my private monarchy, Where the king is love and love alone."

You set your daisy chain in your lap and looked over at him. His knife worked fast, his fingers deftly avoiding the sharp blade, though you could see a scar or two on his palm. That was to be expected if he was a knight, you supposed.

“What are you making?” You asked, looping two more daisies together.

Hunter chuckled, “It’s a secret.”

“Is it?” You leaned over, trying to get a good look, but Hunter turned away to conceal a smirk.

“Come on! Why won’t you show me?” You giggled, pulling on his shirt sleeve.

Hunter spun around to catch your wrist, his knife discarded safely. He chuckled as he pinned you to the ground, stealing the air from your lungs as he brought your hand to his lips.

“You will see soon enough, my lady,” He promised, tenderly kissing your knuckles.

Your heart fluttered, lips parted as you studied his face. His golden eyes never left yours

Your heart fluttered, lips parted as you studied his face. His golden eyes never left yours as the wind rippled across the meadow, surrounding you in a snowfall of white flower petals.

You wanted nothing more than to stay like this, forever, with your very own knight in shining armor. In this meadow, your status as a maid didn’t matter. You didn’t have to worry about the princess, or class, or politics, it was just you and Hunter.

You slid your hands up his arms, taking in his muscles before they met behind his neck.

“My lady,” Hunter sighed happily, pulling you upright again. You would do anything to hear him say that to you every day for the rest of your life.

Your thumb traced over his tattoo, marking the difference between ink and skin. It was almost unheard of in the Naboo court for knights to wear ink so proudly, but Hunter and his brothers were unmatched as the newest batch of knights. King Ruwee would be idiotic to banish them from his court if he wanted their support.

Still, curiosity got the best of you. “I have to ask, why the tattoo?”

Hunter chuckled, his large hand covering your smaller one, still resting on the side of his face. Your heart still fluttered every time you saw the ribbon tied securely around his wrist.

“Back during the siege, my brothers and I were sent to the Mandalorians to ask for help. They wore similar markings as a symbol of their family ties, and so my brothers and I adopted a skull symbol to symbolize our closeness. It's not a coat of arms or anything, King Ruwee hasn't granted us any of that, but we all have it on our armor."

He studied you nervously. "It doesn't scare you or anything, does it?"

You shook your head, "It is a bit imposing, at first glance, but that must serve you well in battle."

Hunter laughed, leaning forward so that his head rested against yours. “It does, my lady.”

After a moment, you frowned. “Why won’t you let me see what you’re working on?”

“You’re still on that?” Hunter asked, laughter threatening to bubble out of his chest. “It’s not done yet-”

“I still want to see! Please?” you wobbled your lip to be more convincing

Hunter brushed your nose with his, "Who would I be to refuse my lady?"

Keeping his eyes locked on yours, he reached behind his back, grabbing the piece of wood he'd been working on. Without breaking eye contact, he pressed it into the palm of your hand. You looked down. It couldn't be much bigger than a coin, and you could feel the little ridges around the edge. You ran your thumb over the surface, following the design he'd carved.

It was a vine, surrounding a simple flower.

"It's not finished, but it's supposed to be a necklace,” He mumbled sheepishly. 

You studied it a moment longer, touched by his craftsmanship. You took the ribbon you’d used for your hair today, and looped it through the hole at the top.

“Help me tie it off?” You swept our hair to the side, noticing the flush that covered his face.

“Is my handsome knight scared of a simple lady?” You teased.

Hunter chuckled at that, and leaned forward, his breath fanning out across your neck as gentle fingers tied a knot in the ribbon to secure it around your neck.

“Trust me, milady,” He whispered, “You are anything but simple.”

Your name echoed across the meadow, and you reluctantly looked up to find Padme waving to you as she and Anakin made their way towards you.

You sighed, and Hunter gently nudged your shoulder.

"Duty calls," He murmured, and big, fat raindrops began to slip through the branches of the tree onto your nose.

—

Two days later, the entire castle was in an uproar. Serenno had declared war on Naboo. It was rumored that Lord Dooku of Serenno was being manipulated by a sorcerer. Others insisted that he was working with this ancient sorcerer of his own will. Due to his ill health, King Ruwee would be unable to lead the troops in battle. He entrusted that task to his good friend, Duke Kenobi, and Kenobi's right-hand man and best friend, Anakin.

Padme was distraught at the idea of the man she loved having to leave for war and possibly never seeing him again, but you didn't have a chance to console her. Hunter and his brothers were to set out immediately and scout ahead for the Naboo army.

His horse was saddled by the time you made it to the courtyard. Hunter noticed you, and shouted something to his brothers before running towards you.

You threw your arms around him, and your feet momentarily left the ground as he held you tightly.

The thought occurred to you to beg him to stay, to be safe.

As if he could read your mind, he cupped your face with his hands, "If I don't go, I leave you and all the kingdom at risk, milady."

You blinked back tears, pressing a kiss to the palm of his leather glove. "I know."

He gently kissed your forehead. "I will be back soon," He promised.

You nodded, but neither of you moved to let go of the other.

"Be safe?" You whispered. You meant for it to sound like an order, but your voice wavered too much.

He nodded, and before he could change his mind, he pressed his lips to yours. It was your first kiss, and his too, from the flush that coated his cheeks a moment later.

"Hunter! Let's go!" Wrecker called. The rest of his brothers had mounted up, and their steeds were pacing the courtyard anxiously.

"I love you, my lady." He squeezed your hand, and ran to his horse. A moment later, he and his brothers had left the courtyard. The thundering of hooves on the cobblestones rang in your ears as you pressed your fingers to your lips and gripped the pendant that hung around your neck.

"I love you too."

—

The castle felt eerily empty without the knights, and the sky seemed overcast without the light of your lover's presence.

Princess Padme was determined to not let Anakin's absence erode her into nothingness, but there were days when neither of you were able to keep the other going, and you were left to sit in the windows with your stitching and dream of the men you loved returning through the castle's front gate.

Finally, Queen Jobal was tired of seeing the two of you moping about and infecting the palace with the rest of your melancholy, so she sent the two of you out into the fields surrounding the castle to get some sun. You were surprised when the Queen acquiesced so quickly to Padme's request for no guards, but Naboo was far enough away from Serenno,and guards were limited anyway with the men marching off to prepare for battle.

Being so trusting of the distance would be your downfall.

Padme sat in the center of the open field, weaving another length of daisy chains, and her worried fingers soon used up all the daisies within arms reach.

"Would you bring me those flowers at the edge of the forest, there?" she waved in the direction of the treeline, where garden of white flowers stretched towards the sunlight.

You complied without a word, and the sun beat on your back as you gathered armful of blossoms.

And hand seized your upper arm, but before you could scream, another slapped over your mouth.

"That's it, nice and quiet now, my dear. Don't want to frighten away your mistress now do we?" A voice hissed in your ear. The breath reeked of alcohol, and you couldn't tell if the nausea was from your fear or the stench.

You didn't move, freezing up as a knife pressed up against your back. Your captor dragged you into the shade, where his friends peered out from behind the trees, grinning as they set their sights on Padme. Their clothes looked to be of a fine quality, before wear and tear soiled and tore the expensive fabrics. These were mercenaries and thieves.

The hand removed itself, but before you could demand who hired these men, you were gagged with a somewhat clean cloth.

A hawk screeched in your face, and you looked up to see the leader of these mercenaries, so designated by a wide-brimmed hat and flamboyant feathers.

You could hear Padme calling your name, slowly growing closer. You tried to cry out and warn her to go get the guards, to stay away, but you struggled against the gag. There was a scuffle, out of your sight, and a moment later, Padme was dragged up beside you, her dress sullied with dirt.

She was also quickly gagged, and both of you had a hood pulled over your heads. You were tossed into a cart, the brocade of Padme's dress shoved up against your shoulder, and a moment later the cart began to move, taking you both far away from the palace.

—

Hours later, you had almost fallen asleep when the hood was ripped from your head. You were still in the forest, but it was hard to recognize for the darkness that shrouded the campfire.

"Good Evening, my dear Princess!" The lead mercenary sat on a stump, facing you and Padme as you sat together on a long.

"Who are you?" Padme demanded.

"I am Captain Hondo Ohnaka!" He answered without a pause, "Leader of Florrum's most feared band of mercenaries!"

Padme sat up straight, imagining a crown on her head to add a couple more inches to her height.

"What do you want with me, Captain Ohnaka?" She asked.

The Mercenary Captain tsked his teeth, "Truthfully, Dear Princess, I would have nothing to do with you. War between Serenno and Naboo would reap such profits for me and my men, but oh! The profits Count Dooku offered us for your capture and delivery to his palace, well, that was business we could not refuse!"

Padme glared at your captor, her knuckles growing white as her hands curled into fists.

"My father will have discovered me missing, and he will be sending his best men to find me!"

"Ah! But his best men are already in Serenno, no? By the time they receive the news that you are missing, we will already be under Count Dooku's protection."

You thought of Hunter and his brothers, though Padme was certainly praying for Anakin to leap from the bushes and cut down these brigands to defend her honor. You wanted Hunter to find you, to sweep you up in his arms, and deliver you safely back to the palace.

You and Padme looked at each other. Hondo was right, no matter your dreams, no one would be able to get to you in time.

"What does Count Dooku want with her majesty?" You asked, scooting closer to her. Both of you still had your wrists bound, but you held her hand and she squeezed tightly.

"The Count would not deign to share his plans with a mere mercenary such as myself," Hondo took a bow, waving his hat grandly.

"Though if 'ah 'ad t'say, he's lookin' to get 'Imself 'itched!" Captain Ohnaka's second in command cackled, and the Captain' s pet hawk screeched from his perch on Ohnaka's shoulder.

You and Padme looked at each other in fright.

Ohnaka chuckled, "I…. May know a bit about that, yes. Dinner, anyone?" He held out a biscuit to Padme.

Padme glared at him, so you took it before she could knock it into the fire.

"Princess, you need to eat," You urged her. Ohnaka gave you another biscuit, and left you with the second in command while he went to go check on the rest of his men.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Padme hissed. The mercenary was more concerned with keeping the hawk from annoying him.

You took a bite of the biscuit, it was stale, but flavorless, thankfully.

Padme nudged you gently. "You should run. You're a maid, they won't be concerned if you escape, you can get back to the palace and mount a rescue party."

You glanced over your shoulder. The Captain was coming back towards you.

"You're too valuable," You whispered to her, "If anyone should escape, it's you. Like you said, I'm just a maid. They're not going to be too concerned with me. You have to get away before we get to Serenno."

Ohnaka sat in front of you again, and you both went silent. An escape plan would have to come later.

—

For the most part, you weren't tied up, but you were under constant watch. It was hard to plan anything with ears constantly listening.

Two days after your capture, you crossed the border into Sereno. Trapped in the back of the pirates rickety wooden cart, you watched mournfully as Naboo's magnificent forests thinned out, making way for Serenno's cliffs and mountains.

One of the mercenaries’ scouts reported the distance to Serenno, and Ohnaka rubbed his hands together in delight.

“Tomorrow, Princess,” He took off his hat to give Padme a sweeping bow, “We shall introduce you to your husband!”

Padme blanched as the rest of Ohnaka’s crew jeered with laughter.

The mercenaries set up camp for the night at the base of the cliffs, next to a roaring waterfall. The fresh water seemed to be calling you with a siren song, making you keenly aware of every particle of dirt plastered to your skin. You were hesitant to bathe in front of these men of less than noble intentions, especially with the princess nearby. Her natural curls were limp with sweat, and her dress was covered in mud from sleeping on the ground all night.

“Captain,” You stood to catch Ohnaka’s attention, “If her highness is going to meet Count Dooku tomorrow, wouldn’t it be best for her to be cleaned up?”

The Mercenary thought it over. “You make a good point my lady.”

You grit your teeth

The men escorted you and Padme down to the riverbank.

“Alright now, off with it.” One of them jeered.

Padme glared at him, “Excuse me?”

“You ‘eard him,” His companion insisted, “We’re missing supper ‘bout now.”

While the men eyed Padme like fresh pork in the dining hall you snuck around behind them, eyeing the swords strapped to their belts.

“If you were a gentleman you’d give me some privacy,” Padme said, struggling to undo the ties on the back of her dress by herself.

“I ain’t no gentleman,” The mercenary assured her.

With a huff, Padme undid her dress, pulling it over her head and tossing it at the other man. She was still in her shift, but the men refused to look away. For your purposes, that suited you and Padme just fine.

“Then at least turn around.”

“So you can run away while my back is turned? How stupid do you think I am?”

Padme smirked, “Quite stupid, actually.”

You yanked the swords from their belts in one swift movement, keeping one for yourself and tossing the other to Padme. The both of you had been around Hunter and Anakin long enough to know how to hold your own against an opponent, particularly an unarmed one.

Padme slashed one of them across the face, and you took the other from the back. They both crumpled to the ground, but you could hear sounds from the campsite. Both of you ran.

You ran against the current of the river, hoping that the sound of rushing water would hide your footfalls. There was little to no cover in the canyon, so you hugged the wall as tightly as you could in an attempt to avoid detection.

Padme gripped your free hand tightly as you dove around a corner and into an alcove.

"Do you think we've lost them?" she whimpered.

You squeezed her hand tightly, taking one step towards the corner to look for yourself.

With a shout, one of the mercenaries lunged around the corner, yanking on your skirt.

You tried to kick him away, but he grabbed your ankle instead, knocking you off your feet.

"Run, Princess, run!" you screamed.

Padme had a white-knuckled grip on the sword, frozen in fear but desperate to help you. She raised her sword to free you, but another mercenary caught up with you. He swiped his sword at her, and she shrieked, stumbling backwards.

"NO!"

Padme disappeared over the edge of the path, and you heard the splash in the river below.

"No!" Ohnaka moaned, as his prize fell out of sight. The mercenaries went up and down the river, and none of them could find any trace of Padme.

Captain Ohnaka seethed.

"Hold her," He growled, grabbing his sword.

The mercenaries yanked you to your feet as Ohnaka approached

He gripped your chin in his hand, "My dear lady, if you value your life, You will answer my question quickly and honestly.

"Has Princess Padme ever met Count Dooku in person?"

Given that he was supposed to deliver Padme to Count Dooku, and the fact that the two had never met before hadn't mattered until now, you were quite confused.

"N-no, they've never met before." You stammered.

Captain Ohnaka dropped your chin so that it hit your chest. You gasped for breath, offering a silent prayer of gratitude that Padme had gotten away.

Captain Ohnaka took the dress from his right hand man, running the delicate fabric through his fingers.

"Let her go," he told his men.

They glanced at you, but you were just as confused as you were. Still, they dropped your arms, just in time for you to catch Padme's dress as Ohnaka threw it at you.

"Better get dressed, Princess Padme," the Captain grinned. His men began to chuckle darkly as it dawned on all of you what Ohnaka's plan was.

"Tomorrow, we shall introduce you to your future husband!"

—

Hunter wondered why he and his brothers had been summoned to Duke Kenobi’s tent again. They’d given their original report to him already, and clarified any questions the Duke had asked.

Hunter stopped Wrecker outside the tent, and all five of them could hear the shouting within. The Duke made a muffled reply, and the shouter responded. Crosshair swept the curtain aside to find Sir Anakin leaning over the Duke’s desk as he shouted angrily. The Duke was doing his best to remain calm for his brother-in-arms, but from his tense shoulders this had been going on for a while.

“We have to rescue her!” Anakin screamed. It was the only thing Hunter could make out.

“Rescue who?” Hunter asked, though there was only one person on the continent that Sir Anakin would be so protective over.

“Ah, The Bad Batch,” Duke Kenobi smiled at them wearily, happy to put Anakin’s fuming to the side as he beckoned them inside the tent.

“Tech, would you be certain no one is prying outside?” He asked, standing from his chair.

Tech nodded. After a brief perimeter sweep with Echo, they stationed Wrecker outside the tent door to make sure no one came too close.

What I am about to tell all of you cannot be repeated to another,” The Duke warned, “I am about to call off tomorrow morning’s attack on the border, and his majesty even asked me to consider running up the white flag as a precaution.”

A bird’s trill broke through Kenobi’s warning, and Hunter noticed the messenger pigeons roosting in the corner, and a tiny scroll sealed with the royal crest rested in the center of the Duke’s desk.

“Call off the attack?” Crosshair asked.

“If I may say so, your grace, the men will not be very happy about that,” Tech said. The grim twist of the Duke’s mustache proved he’d already considered that.

“We may have no other choice. We have received word from the Castle that the princess was abducted several days ago. The ransom note delivered the day after came from Count Dooku himself. He warned King Ruwee that if we tried anything, her highness would pay the price.”

That explained Anakin’s outburst. Hunter’s throat ran dry as he struggled to take a breath.

“Sir, was the princess the only one abducted?” He asked. Yes, the princess was in danger. But his only thoughts were of you.

“The king’s message didn’t say. Only to ceasefire for now.”

Hunter gulped. You never left Padme’s side, so you very well could be captured with her, or worse, cast aside and killed. Or you could have been the one to report her missing. Hunter tried to breathe and tell himself not to worry about things that couldn’t be helped. He was a knight, you would have had to worry about life or death in your relationship sooner or later.

“How can we sit here while Serenno terrorizes our borders? Their general has cut through five villages already! What of the people?” Echo asked.

“My thoughts exactly,” The Duke said grimly, “Which is where the six of you come in.”

“Six?” Hunter asked, abruptly pulled from his thoughts.

“Yes, Sir Hunter. Anakin will join you and your brothers on a rescue mission. The six of you will sneak across enemy lines, rescue the princess, and bring her back to our camp. Then we can resume our attack on Serenno.”

Crosshair grinned. “High chance of risk, small chance of success. Sounds like our kind of work.”

“Ready your horses,” Anakin said. He pushed past Hunter without waiting for the Duke’s dismissal. “We leave immediately.”

—

It was no wonder to you that Serenno wanted to invade Naboo. As the mercenaries approached the capitol the land became drier and rockier, a stark contrast to Naboo's lakes and lush greenery. These people couldn't farm, and those that stood on the side of the road to watch your procession were gaunt and thin in their ragged clothes. You couldn't look them in the eyes for the hollow, guilty feeling that filled your stomach. No wonder Serenno wanted to invade Naboo. Even as a maid, you went to bed with your stomach full and you knew that you would be guaranteed food the next day. Serenno had none of that.

The dark stone castle was surrounded by a wall ten feet thick, while giant knights armed to the teeth guarded the portcullis and every vantage point. Ohnaka and his men were granted entry, and you knew there was no chance of escape for you now.

A man in a golden crown stood on the steps of the castle, surrounded by his retinue. He had white hair with a neatly trimmed beard, and despite his height, his ermine-trimmed cloak trailed out behind him for a good foot. Count Dooku watched the procession smugly, surrounded by all the wealth and comforts his people could only dream of.

The cart came to a stop at the foot of the steps, and Ohnaka held out a hand to help you down. Padme’s dress twisted around you uncomfortably as you moved, and you hoped the count couldn’t tell how ill-fitting it was.

“My Lord!” Ohnaka said loudly, bowing to his patron, “May I present to you, Princess Padme Naberrie of Naboo!”

The Castle courtyard was silent, all looking to Count Dooku for his reaction. You stood frozen in fear, trying to remember how Padme carried herself. As much as you didn’t want to marry this count who was at least three times your age, if he discovered that you were not who you claimed to be, you would be killed without hesitation. At least alive, you had a chance of survival, a chance for Padme to make it back to the castle or to the army and mount a rescue.

Who were you kidding? You were just a maid. No one would be coming to rescue you.

The Count slowly approached her, his smug smile growing with each step. You could feel Ohnaka’s hand trembling in yours as the mercenary sent you a warning look out of the corner of his eye. He needed this scheme to work as much as you did.

The count took your chin in his hand, carefully studying your face. You swallowed nervously as the Count’s dark gray eyes bored into yours.

Then, with all the gentility a nobleman should exude, he knelt in front of you, taking your free hand and kissing it gently. It took all your self-preservation to not yank your hand away, wishing it was Hunter before you who was kissing you.

“Your highness,” He murmured, still with a self-satisfied smile, “Welcome home.”

—

As fast as Hunter wanted to ride, to rescue the princess and return her home himself if it meant seeing you again, Tech and Crosshair argued that if the rescue were to succeed, they needed the element of surprise.

Still, he and Anakin were at the front of their company, trotting as fast as they dared before Tech would remind them of the nature of their mission. Neither of them mentioned Anakin’s relationship with the princess, and Anakin didn’t try to bring you up either.

As the trees of Naboo began to vanish, they traveled down into one of the canyons to avoid detection, hugging the canyon wall as they followed the course of the river.

“This river leads to the marsh just outside the count’s castle,” Tech consulted his map again, “If we follow it, we should reach the castle by noon tomorrow.”

Hunter’s eye twitched. The Princess may not have until tomorrow.

“Camp, up ahead,” Crosshair warned.

Hunter spotted it too. It appeared abandoned, but there were the remnants of several cooking fires. As they approached, the ashes of the fires appeared fresh.

“This must be the party that captured the princess,” Anakin growled. His horse paced nervously, sensing his master’s anger.

Hunter leaped down from his horse to study the tracks left behind. They were fresher than the last two campsites they’d discovered, and now that they’d crossed the border into Serenno, the mercenaries or whoever the Count had sent to capture Princess Padme had become careless.

“There were two wagons, one loaded down with supplies, and the other not as heavy. Probably for the princess.”

“Can you tell how many men there were?” Echo asked.

Hunter grit his teeth. “About two dozen.”

“Only two dozen?” Wrecker guffawed, laughter echoing off the canyon walls, “We eat that for breakfast!”

Tech hushed Wrecker in warning as a murder of crows took off, spooked by the noise.

Hunter carefully studied the crow’s pattern, in case they warned the Count or anyone else of their unwanted presence. As he watched, the crows began to circle in the air, hesitantly scanning the area they’d just been stationed at.

“What is it?” Crosshair asked him quietly.

Hunter didn’t answer, but he chewed his bottom lip and mounted his horse again, following the river’s rapid course to where the crows finally landed.

There was a woman, washed up on the riverbank.

“Padme!” Anakin screamed her name, urging his horse into a gallop to reach her. He leaped down off his horse, pulling the princess from the water and into his arms. Her breathing was ragged, and she was wearing nothing but her shift. Anakin wrapped her in his cloak as Tech began to see to her condition. Hunter stood back, looking around for any sign of his lady.

“Ani?” Padme murmured, as she began to become cognizant of her surroundings.

“It’s alright your highness, you’re safe now,” Anakin soothed her, brushing her hair back from her face.

“If you’ll pardon me, your highness, you appear to have a fever. I’m going to administer an antidote.” Tech interrupted. Padme nodded, and Anakin helped her sit up to take a drink from one of the many draughts at his belt.

“My apologies if this is rude,” Crosshair spoke up, “But do you mind explaining what happened? How’d you end up in the river?”

“Crosshair!” Echo’s shout informed Crosshair that he had, in fact, been rude to ask those questions.

“‘S fine,” the princess murmured, shivering in Anakin’s arms, “I was captured by mercenaries from Florrum, they were hired by the Count to capture me…as a bride for Dooku.”

Such a revelation filled all the men in earshot with rage. That Dooku would be so vile towards their princess, for one, or that he would use such dishonorable means to gain control of Naboo. All of them preferred a direct fight to these political machinations.

“They had me wash up in the river, and my maid told me to run- they chased me, and I fell into the river. I guess they thought I died.”

“You nearly did.” Tech informed her grimly, but Hunter didn’t hear any of it.

Caught on a rock in the river was your necklace, with the pendant he made for you. He fished it out and held it tight.

You were still captured. Imprisoned by Count Dooku. There’s no telling what that man would do to you as punishment for losing the princess.

None of the others noticed his distress, and the Princess was too delirious with fever to think coherently.

“We have to get her back to our base camp, we can help her rest there, and Duke Kenobi can begin his attack,” Tech said. Wrecker scooped up the princess in his arms, handing her to Anakin once he was settled on his horse.

Hunter only barely registered that the others were preparing to turn around. But you were still in danger, and he refused to leave you behind.

“What about the maid?” He choked out. Your hair, your eyes, your laugh filled his mind, keeping him from thinking of anything but you.

“The maid?” Wrecker asked.

“Yes, the princess was captured with her maid. We have to save her!”

“But Serenno, the army…” Echo looked back up the canyon.

“Hunter, if Dooku has the resources to hire two dozen mercenaries, there’s no telling what kind of army he has at his disposal. We can’t break through all of them for just a maid, certainly not with the Princess sick and under our care,” Tech said.

Hunter grit his teeth.

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

With a “HYAH!” He turned his horse around, sending her galloping through the canyon.

“Hunter!” Crosshair screamed as his brother disappeared around the riverbend, “the Duke didn’t say anything about a maid!”

But Hunter was already too far ahead. He didn’t care how many men the Count had. You were in danger, and he was determined to save you.

Lady Luck (Prequel)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

#lizart writes #sergeant hunter #sergeant sunday #tbb hunter #tbb hunter x reader #the bad batch fantasy au #fantasy au #tbb x reader #the bad batch x reader #sergeant hunter x reader

[cuddles-with-dragons]

Here, Bad Batch Fantasy AU!

With OCs, and Sev!

#ao3 fanfic #ao3 link #fanfic #fanfiction #bad batch fanfic #bad batch fic #fantasy au #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #tbb #tbb au #rc sev

[dragonrider9905]

Chapters:

Chapter 1: The Secrets You Bury

#the bad batch #tbb hunter #star wars #tbb wrecker #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #tbb echo #tbb omega #star wars the bad batch #sergeant hunter x you #hunter x reader #hunter x oc #hunter x you #sergeant hunter x reader #star wars au #fantasy au #fantasy

[blueparadis]

a concept:

tattoo artist kaeya having a thing for u, his regular client rosaria's cute little roommate, who is the exact opposite of her. he feels bad for touching himself to the thoughts of u but he can't help himself bc he likes u so much

❝ INKED SECRETS ❞ + KAEYA ALBERICH !

+. CWs —» tattoo artist au + modern au, f!reader, fluff, light angst with comfort, some canon elements, love at first sight, mention of cigarette smoking, bad relationships, hookups, stranger to lovers, smut ( fantasies, m-mastarbation ) ; word count — 2k.

+. NOTES —» thanks to my beloved yoru ( @anantaru) for helping me and beta reading this otherwise i would've opened the gates of kaeya-brainrot; also, thank you for being patient. This ask was almost a month old and I know this was supposed to be short but the thing is kaeya is the one who had me invested in genshin impact. However, surprisingly I've never thought of writing about him so thank you for your muse. I loved writing this so fucking much. Thank you. Tattoo artist kaeya shall live forever in my mind. If you wanna check more of my writings, click here.

Kaeya Alberich. The name of the mystery man who would always be the talk of the topic for Rosaria. He was more familiar to you than your roommate ever was. You two shared a room yet you could never read Rosaria but she was thorough with you; maybe that is why you two clicked. Every one of your friends considered it a mystery how a sunflower like you would ever survive in the company of a moon. Everyone including Kaeya. He had his own proportion of confusion every time Rosaria talked about you. 

Kaeya knew how you looked, talked, and liked to eat ice cream in winter. Not only that, your favorite colors, bits and pieces of your small dreams were known to him. And all because Rosaria wouldn’t stop with the constant blabbering about you whenever he directly hung out with her, emphasizing the fact that you were nothing but an angel in disguise. Kaeya had to endure all of it, every bit of you that Rosaria seemed to find alluring. At moments like this, one could say that they exchanged personas since Kaeya was a guy of smiles and chitter-chatter while Rosaria was quite the opposite.

True, the friendship between Kaeya and Rosaria was another talk of Mondstadt’s inhabitants, but they both did not seem to react as people expected, as people thought they should. You would, barely, call them lovers. While Kaeya enjoyed different takes of his customers about Rosaria, she, on the other hand, brushed those petty rumors off, with just a glance keeping her stoic persona. 

But, among all these happenings, Rosaria had the front-row seat of the chaos that was about to unfold. She had her beauty salon just above Kaeya’s tattoo parlor. They have been working together for at least five years. Rosaria had her shop on rental and the five-storied complex was owned by none other than Kaeya Alberich himself. 

Anyone who wanted to go to her parlor had to cross Kaeya’s floor; hence, no one slipped past the grip of his galactic eyes. He knew the regulars of her shop and had an immense influence on them. He believed it was his charms while Rosaria begged to differ.

But she was just being professional, clearing non-financial tabs that she owed to him, for bringing the immense influx of customers to her salon. Sometimes, it worked both ways, but whenever they fought, the elders of the locality had more spice to flavor the rumors that had just started sedimenting.

January, the prime of winter, of snow and the freezing cold, Kaeya laid his first glance at you. Warm and alluring: you were every bit of beauty that Rosaria spoke of, in fact, now that he had finally seen you in person, he thinks Rosaria fell short of speaking of your angelic aura. 

“Hello, I have a parcel for Rosaria, could you please deliver it to her? I would have done it myself if I wasn’t in such a hurry.”, you kept the package on my desk, “Thank you very much, Mister . . .”, you looked at his batch that reads Kaeya Alberich, “. . . Thank you so much, Mister Kaeya Alberich.” And before Kaeya could say anything back, you fled out of his sight like a bird.

He watched you get into a cab holding the package in his hand, barely registering what you asked him to do. His mind had drifted far off to all those times when Rosaria was talking about you. He checked his watch and smiled to himself. Oops! Rosaria’s smoke break was ruined since he joined in with the package you had left for her, with many questions.

For a tattoo artist, Kaeya seemed the least bit invested in its antics, yet he had a steady influx of customers, mostly because he is very professional and dedicated to his livelihood. He pays special attention to his regular customers, sadly, you weren’t one of them, not yet.

Still, he would stand and smoke at the corner of the entrance so that he could watch you go like the wind to meet your roommate with a package in hand. He would notice the color of your dress, the matching nails, shoes, and every little detail thinking how flawlessly sexy you looked. 

But he abruptly stopped the second he had bruised his fingers with the cigarette burn. Fortunately, it was his left hand but with his line of work, he needed both. 

Today, during the lunch break when Rosaria told him that y/n wanted to have a tattoo, his blood rushed to his cheeks and ears. He did not think you’d be interested in tattoos or piercings. He definitely did not see the next blow coming. “Yep. sure.”, he supplied, coughing back the lump in his throat. Of all the parlors you could choose you had to choose his. What in the lord’s fuck was going on?

The day came faster, faster than he had anticipated. Needless to say, it did not go like he thought it would. It was safe to say he was more nervous than you were. “Are you sure about this?”, “Ya’know it’s gonna hurt, right?”, “Should I use some anesthetic on the area?” His questions wouldn’t stop and you were trying your best to stay as patient as possible It is true, part of him was nervous but another wanted to spend and enjoy some time with you.

“And done!”, Kaeya playfully mused as he wiped over the work of ink, careful enough not to accidentally graze his fingers over your inner thigh but of course, he did want to.“y/n” he spoke, his tone low but clear enough for you to hear, “so, how many tattoos do you have now?” Kaeya shifted in his chair as he intently watched you normalize your heightened breathing

“Didn’t you keep count?”, 

“nine”, he said, letting out a breathless laugh. “which means you dumped your ninth partner.” and he was not wrong. Of all the regular customers he had, you were his favorite because you had an amusing story to tell whenever you had visited his parlor. He would listen to you the moment he was finished with his handiwork.

But this one in particular, was quite a different story. You never told nor was he allowed to ask about the guy you dumped, ever. Part of him wanted to console you, and tell you that good things take time but another part of him was too afraid to lose you, realizing it was unprofessional of him to offer any form of painkiller against a situation like that. Because on any other occasion, his usual customers weren’t as chatty as you were. 

He never thought of a case where it might be the opposite. With that, he thought that you, of all people, being dumped by someone was utterly ridiculous, because who wouldn't want to date someone like you? He knows he would, after all, and if he could, he would make sure the ninth tattoo is to be the last tattoo on your body.

“What about you?”, you asked, swinging your legs in the air while sitting on the bed. “For a tattoo artist, you are awfully blank.” 

“It’s somewhere. . .”, he started, “wait I’ll rather show you . . .”. and when you, in a sliding second, unexpectedly flashed him, his hands immediately found their way crawling at the hem of his turtle-neck.

“Wait. wait. Wait. stop. Just stop.” kaeya panicked as you partly opened your eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest while your eyebrows jumped and stayed intact for seconds. Pin-drop silence and then both of you simultaneously laughed. Some might think it’s corny, and maybe you did as well but it doesn’t matter, what matters is that you were smiling right now. 

That’s good. That’s really good. 

Kaeya checked his watch as you left his place to run upstairs, checking to see if Rosaria was done with her chores; after all, she was almost approaching the closing hour of her shop so she should’ve been done by the time you had arrived at her place. Fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes before you and Rosaria would come out of the elevator to go home;  maybe he could if he’d finally stop thinking about it in such an unhealthy calculative manner.

Yet, well, there was just one problem. His ears felt hot, his mind was restless and he couldn't focus on a single task. Generally, it took ten minutes to close his shop and he does it every day, all alone so if not his mind, his muscle memory should be functioning properly. But all he desired to do was to touch himself and relieve himself from the agony of months boiling in his core.

June, the prime time of summer and ice cream. Kaeya slides his right arm under his vest while grazing his lower belly, eagerly thinking of the last time, but eventually, his arm ends up slipping into his pants, his fingers clamping around his length, and finally, a soft groan escapes from his mouth. The tip of his tongue kisses the corner of his lips as he takes out his cock which was coated with warm white fluid, at the tip pre-cum.

For a moment, he is surprised, and then he suddenly is not. There is a crescent formed along his lips as he taps the tip of his cock, smearing the reddened end with its pre. “Oh fuck. This feels so much better.”, he groans, mumbling to himself, thinking why he didn’t do this way sooner.

He palms his member, a little harder, this time trying to imagine how it would feel to be sheathed by your gummy walls. He started to pump his cock as his pants slipped, now clustered at the bottom of the chair while his legs were trying to give as much space as possible by spreading them further apart.

With half-lidded eyes, he checks if you had locked the door before leaving or not. You did not and the thought of you walking onto him turned him so bad that he thought he might cum right away.

The moment he closes his eyes he could see you, your calloused fingers around his cock and now he is pumping his cock rashly, the hem of his vest being buried in between his teeth, muffled moans escaping his mouth as the squelching noises had gotten louder and louder.

His other hand gradually made its way towards his nipples, pinching and circling around them thinking of your lips instead. “Oh fuck.”, he hisses as his toes curl, his hips bucked up with a force as he thinks of how euphoric it would be to have your soft lips wrapped around his cock, to have your puffy lips on his, to have your boobs tightly pressed against his bare chest, pronounced nipples grazing against each other while Kaeya’s cock is hitting your sweet spot with precision, blessing his ears with the prettiest desperate moans from you.

He squeezes his eyes shut as his hands move up and down his swollen cock, hitting his girth with calculated thrusts. He paces up as he feels his orgasm approaching, huffing and panting, not caring how vocal he has become until the coil at the core of his flat belly snaps, making him dizzy, his hand movements sloppy, and his inner thighs gradually closing, relishing in the high he had just experienced.

Kaeya’s chest rises up and down frantically as he finally opens his eyes, watching the spurs of milky white fluid all over the floor and his study desk. A heavy sigh leaves his body as his breathing normalizes. “Fuck . . .”, he mumbles throwing back his head before closing his eyes and thinking of you, again. He takes a few deep breaths to relax before cleaning the mess.

Yet, when he suddenly heard the footsteps, his heart sank. He regrets touching himself while thinking of you, he regrets not saving himself for you, he regrets chasing love so fast, so insanely that he almost lost his hope for finding the one. 

“Hey Kae-ya, you done?”, you asked, opening the door, “Rosa is gonna be late today. So, I’ll stay and help her. I’m going out to buy some food, you wanna come with me?” You let your exhausted body lean against the door frame while Kaeya remained silent. 

It just made him crazy how blatantly you ignored him, his magnetic affection for you, and the truth was, he cannot even blame you for that. He has always enjoyed this feeling, to like you in secrecy. The more you are unaware of his emotions, the greater chance he has to be around you. Kaeya does not ask for much, just a few more days till he musters up enough courage to finally ask you out.

—

@tokyometronetwork

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[starlightkun]

❧ word count: 11.8k ❧ warnings: cursing ❧ genre: fluff, modern magical creatures au, fantasy au, college au if you squint, werewolf jeno, human reader, ft. various other magical dreamies & neos and human!renjun (and an extra special guest appearance), hybrid au adjacent? (you’ll see what i mean, but i swear he’s a big bad werewolf), same universe as strawberry sunday ❧ extra info: this work is set in the same universe as strawberry sunday but can be read as a standalone! there is no continuing plotline between fics in this universe, they simply take place in the same world/magic system and may have overlapping characters (neos may pop up in more than one work!) ❧ author’s note: and here’s werewolf jeno too! continuing my big baby jeno agenda in this one so please take care of him, y’all <;33 ❧ sequel

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ explore the strawberry sunday universe more here!

Your friend’s eye roll was practically audible over the phone. “Just because I’m a Magical Creature Studies major doesn’t mean I’m a werewolf doctor, Y/N. I study them in a sociocultural context—”

“He’s grown ears and a tail, Renjun. Not wolf ones.”

Unlocking the back door to the bakery, you flicked on the light switch by the doorway. Immediately, the kitchen was illuminated, and you dumped your bag on a stool to root through it. You secured your navy blue apron from inside it, putting it over your neck then fastening the straps around your waist, now ready to start your opening checklist. The idea of a 4 a.m. opening shift should’ve made you shudder, but you always came into Half Moon Bakery with a bounce in your step despite the distinct lack of sunlight.

The first thing was to preheat the ovens: separate ones for yeast breads that needed more moisture, and sweets like cookies, muffins, and cakes that didn’t. You took the yeast doughs out of the fridge first that you’d prepared yesterday. It was all muscle memory, turning and shaping the dough with your hands and bread scraper. After shaping loaf after loaf after loaf, you put those aside for their final proof, then started on the sweets. Some had also been prepared the night before by the closing shift, whichever cookie doughs needed to sit overnight before being shaped. In the mornings, you mixed up the doughs and batters that didn’t need to be chilled prior to baking.

By the time the bread was finished proofing, you had usually at least spooned out your first batch of cookies as well. Those went in the sweets ovens first, then you turned to scoring the loaves before putting those in the bread oven. And it was usually at this point that you were entirely on autopilot, operating solely on dings of timers, no other units of time or place really having meaning to you.

You only knew that it was 6 a.m. when your coworker arrived. The employee entrance opened again while you were setting a hot pan of blueberry lemon scones down, Lee Jeno stepping through. He pushed some of his hair out of his eyes sleepily, lifting a hand in your direction in greeting.

“Morning, Jeno!” You chirped, pausing the music blaring from your phone.

He mumbled something akin to ‘morning’ back as he dropped his own apron around his neck then fumbled with tying the knot around his waist.

“You are never going to be a morning wolf, huh?” You sighed, grabbing the other pans that were in the oven.

“No,” he shook his head. “‘S too early.”

“What if I told you, that I…” You set down the pan of chocolate chunk cookies you just took out, then darted over to a different counter. A plate was there, a single broken sugar cookie on it. If the cookie were whole, it would have been half-dipped in chocolate to look like a half-moon. But alas, this one didn’t make it.

You held the plate out towards Jeno. “…Saved you a discard.”

The werewolf visibly perked up at this. “Really?”

“It’s not peanut butter, sorry.”

He rushed over to take the plate from you. “I can have it?”

“Yeah, Jeno,” you chuckled. “I accidentally snapped it trying to take it off the baking sheet. Better it go in this garbage disposal than the actual garbage.”

You poked his stomach on the word ‘this,’ earning an indignant scowl from him. Which didn’t have the intended effect, as he already had stuffed the entire cookie in his mouth.

“Thanks, Y/N,” Jeno said once he’d swallowed the food in his mouth. “I didn’t have much for breakfast.”

“Oh?” You frowned as you returned to your station, starting on preparing the icings to drizzle over the batches you’d just taken out. Werewolves usually had quite the appetite compared to humans, Jeno must be starving. “Were you running late or something? You could’ve eaten, I wouldn’t have minded if you were a couple minutes late.”

“No, I just… I don’t know, wasn’t that hungry.” He shrugged, starting to go about his own opening tasks.

“Who are you and what have you done with Jeno?” You pointed a whisk at him accusatorily as he opened up the storeroom.

He laughed. “I’m serious, though. It was weird, I made breakfast but when I sat down to eat I just… didn’t want to.”

“You seemed to handle that cookie just fine at least.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, voice slightly muffled as he took a couple steps inside the storage room to tally up the ingredients. “I don’t think I’d ever be able to turn down your baking, Y/N.”

You grinned to yourself as you whisked up the lemon icing for the scones. “Aw, thanks, Jeno.”

“Seriously, I don’t know how Mr. Minseok and I managed before you came along.”

“You seem to be forgetting that Minseok bakes. And very well, too,” you scoffed, referring to your sphinx boss. He had started the bakery by himself some years ago and Jeno had been his very first hire when he realized he couldn’t handle the front and back at the same time. You’d only started at the bakery a little less than a year ago, having been a passionate home baker who needed extra income now that you were in school. It was the summer right now though, between spring and fall semesters so you found yourself at the bakery most days.

“I know, I know. But like half our menu is your recipes now. And you improved some of Mr. Minseok’s.”

“Okay, improved is a choice word there, I streamlined the process a litt—”

Jeno emerged from the storeroom with a big sack of flour over his shoulder, and you completely lost the rest of that sentence as your eyes were drawn like magnets to where the muscles in his arm flexed and tensed. The sleeve of his white t-shirt—the same one you were wearing, with a small half-moon embroidered above the cuff—strained a little around the bulge of his bicep, veins crisscrossing his skin like roots of a tree.

“Y/N?” Jeno tilted his head curiously. This was truly so unfair; he was simultaneously looking like a confused puppy while holding a bag of flour one-handed that would take two humans to carry normally. “That’s a lot of icing on that scone.”

You looked down at where your hand had frozen over a scone, the spoon that you’d been drizzling icing with now pooling and entirely covering one with it instead. “Oh, shit!”

Picking up the scone, you held it over the icing bowl to shake and scrape off as much as you could, taking a few deep breaths.

“Anyway, this is our last bag of bread flour, and we’ve only got half a bag of whole wheat. We need to order some more?”

“Yeah, yeah.” You kept a laser focus on the scones as you went back to drizzling, refusing to look up at Jeno or his stupid big, stupid strong werewolf muscles. “Uhm, two bags of bread flour, one whole wheat. And how are we looking on all-purpose?”

“Still got three bags.”

“Order a bag of that just in case.”

“Heard, chef!” You could see him salute you in your peripheral vision before disappearing back in the storeroom.

After finishing his back of the house opening tasks, Jeno went to start to open the front of the bakery. You, very thankfully, didn’t do much in the front of the house. People in general were alright, but you’d much rather deal with dough and batter, and hear secondhand from Jeno how much everyone supposedly enjoyed what you baked and how delicious they apparently thought it was. You still had a job, so you figured that the customers liked your food just fine, at least. Sometimes you’d be called in as a very last resort to cover a front house worker’s shift, but usually the only times you ever emerged from the kitchens was to drop new batches off in the cases, then you’d disappear again.

Jeno popped in and out to take the food out to the display cases as it got closer and closer to opening, then dropped off an empty tray without picking up a new one.

“T-minus ten minutes until opening,” he informed you with a bright smile, disappearing back through the swinging door to the front for the last time this morning.

You knew it was 7 a.m. when you heard the quaint coffee shop playlist Jeno always put on start to filter in from the front. There wasn’t always a customer right at opening, so you usually relied on the music to reorient yourself in time. Chatter from the front would rise and fall as waves of customers came in and left, but you just kept working on your batches and washing up between them. Now with the bulk of your baking done for the morning, you had a lot of cleaning to do.

Minseok’s arrival let you know that it was 8 a.m., you were already 4 hours into your shift. Your boss came in through the employee entrance as you were dipping some now cooled half-moon cookies in chocolate.

“Morning, Minseok!” You greeted him with a grin.

“You know, Y/N,” he stopped in the middle of the kitchens to turn to you. “I will never doubt my decision to hire you. You know why?”

“Uh... why?”

“Who else could I possible give the 4 a.m. opening shift to and they would still give me such a nice greeting every single time?” He chuckled. “You should’ve seen Jeno’s face the first time I told him what time I open the bakery at.”

“Oh, yeah, he doesn’t seem to be a morning person.”

“You kidding me? Kid asks for the morning shift now,” he snorted, shuffling over to inspect the cookies you were dipping. “Jeno used to be about ready to rip my throat out with his teeth whenever I had him open with me.”

You raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

“Really,” he confirmed. “Though that was the early days of the bakery, you know, when he was just my hormonal teenage summer hire because I was doing his dad a favor and needed someone to work the register while I baked.”

“Now it’s almost like you two are a real business or something.”

Minseok laughed, his sharp canines glinting in the fluorescents. “Almost. Anyway, I’ll be in the office. Holler if you need me.”

You knew it was 11 a.m. when another coworker arrived. It usually cycled between a few different front house workers, and today it was Donghyuck, a dryad friend of Jeno’s who was a newer hire. You waved at him as best you could with two soapy hands, cleaning while a new batch of bread dough bulk proofed. A second front house worker usually came in a little before the lunch rush to help out, make sure whoever opened could take their break, and take over when their shift finished.

A little while later, Jeno came into the back, stretching and groaning. He took his apron off, hanging it on a hook against the wall by Minseok’s office door.

“That time already?” You asked knowingly.

“Yep. Lunch?” Jeno grabbed his keys from his pocket, spinning them around on his finger.

“Wish I could, but these loaves are going to finish proofing in like half an hour,” you sighed wistfully.

“I’ll go bring something back for us.”

“Oh, Jeno, you should go enjoy your lunch break away from work,” you tried to insist.

He made a face. “All by myself? How would I enjoy that? No, I’d rather hang out with you. Now, what do you want?”

Sat on two stools in the small, usually unused breakroom attached to the kitchen with Jeno, you bit into your sandwich gleefully.

“How do you not get tired of bread after working here?” He asked, peeling up one of the slices of his own sandwich.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “I just like it. Isn’t that kind of part of the job requirements?”

“Mm... good point.”

You were halfway through your sandwich when you realized that Jeno had barely taken a bite of his. The most he’d done was pick a little bit at the fillings, but he really had just been chatting with you. Normally he would have already devoured his, and been pretending not to be eyeing yours.

“Jeno? Aren’t you going to eat?” You asked, gently pushing the food towards him by the wrapper.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I don’t... want to...”

You set your lunch down. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I feel fine,” he nodded. “I’m just not very hungry.”

Concerned, you stood up and headed towards the door that led back into the kitchen. “Wait here.”

You went over to the cooling racks, searching for a specific tray of cookies. You pulled off a peanut butter cookie and walked back over to the werewolf, holding it out towards him. He sat up a little straighter, but it wasn’t the usual ecstatic reaction he had to his favorite kind of cookie.

“Here,” you pushed it in his hand. “You can have it.”

To your relief, he didn’t hesitate to eat half of it in one bite. His eyes crinkled into familiar little crescents as he happily munched on the cookie, quickly polishing off the other half.

Minseok approaching your station from the front typically let you know that was mid afternoon, about time for your shift to end as well. His schedule was variable, it depended on what kind of administrative duties needed to be done, and whether or not he needed to help out in the front or back at all that day.

The sphinx stopped across the counter from you as you put away clean utensils that you didn’t need anymore. “Hey, it’s too slow today. I already sent Donghyuck home and I’m having Jeno close the front. Go home once you’re done cleaning up.”

He was walking towards the back door when you suddenly thought of something. “Oh, Minseok!”

“Yeah?” Your boss stopped, his hand almost on the handle.

“I actually wanted to ask if I could stay after my shift and test a new recipe?”

“Sure. What kind?”

“New flavor of brownie?”

“Hm. If all goes well, it can be a limited flavor. Keep Jeno to taste test.”

You grinned, already planning on doing that yourself. After all, this recipe really was for him. “Will do, thank you!”

“Call if you need anything. Bye, Y/N.”

“Bye, Minseok!” You sent him off for the day with an enthusiastic wave.

Jeno came into the back just a few minutes later, tossing a washcloth into the laundry basket. “You need any help back here?”

“Yes, actually.” You couldn’t hide your beaming smile.

“Oh no,” he groaned. “What is that smile? We’re getting off early and you’re happy about giving me more work?”

“You can go if you want...” you sighed teasingly. “If you really don’t want to help me taste test the peanut butter brownies I’m about to make.”

He gasped, face immediately lighting up, “You’re making what?”

“Yep, the test kitchen is open this afternoon. But, since you want to leave work early, I guess I won’t have my trusty taste tester this time.” You let out another comically deep sigh, shutting away mixing bowls into cabinets. “And to think... all that peanut butter just going to waste... I guess I could give some to Sungchan. I know he says it’s not a werewolf thing to like peanut butter but—”

“Y/N!” Jeno cut in with a whine, grabbing your arm. “I’m staying! I’m your taste tester!”

You couldn’t help but giggle, turning to your friend and patting his cheek, “I know, Jeno. Now come on, help me put this stuff away and we can get started.”

Despite having worked at a bakery for a few years, Jeno didn’t know much about baking. He knew what the different kinds of baked goods that the store offered were, but he didn’t do any of the cooking. Mostly his role in your little test kitchens was to just taste test. And when your arm got tired of mixing sometimes, you’d pass the batter and spoon off to him. Sure, you had electric mixers for that kind of stuff, but for small batches like this, you preferred to just do the mixing by hand.

This time, you were making brownies swirled with peanut butter and with mini peanut butter cups in them. It was something Jeno had been begging for nearly as long as you’d been working at Half Moon. It had been sort of always in the back of your mind to get around to eventually, but Jeno’s disturbing lack of appetite today had finally spurred you into action.

As you folded the mini peanut butter cups into the brownie batter, you saw a hand snake under your arm towards the batter.

“Hey,” you gently pushed Jeno’s hand away from the mixing bowl. “That’s unsanitary, Jeno.”

“We’re not serving it to customers!”

You shook your head, pouring the batter into the square pan. Turning back to Jeno, you handed him the big mixing spoon, still coated in batter.

“Here.”

As he happily went to work licking the batter off the spoon, you put the finishing peanut butter swirls and mini peanut butter cups on top, popped the pan into the preheated oven, then set the timer.

“Alright, now we wait,” you declared, grabbing your hand towel off your shoulder and wiping a stray dollop of batter off the back of your hand.

“And by wait, you mean…”

You latched onto his forearm, the hand of which was holding a now batter-free mixing spoon, and hauled him over to the sink, which was filled with the dirty dishes from preparing the brownie batter. “I mean active waiting, of course. Come on, Jeno, do you want to wash or dry? I’ll let you pick, I’m feeling extra nice today.”

He sighed, nudging you over towards the other side of the sink, “I’ll wash today.”

Your eyebrows shot up as he turned on the faucet and picked up the sponge, squirting a small amount of dish soap on it. Normally if either of you were given your pick, you’d take drying, hands down. No chance of touching gross wet food, no soapy smelling hands, and no pruned fingertips. Drying was clearly the superior task.

But you were never one to look a gift horse in the mouth—or a gift werewolf, you supposed—so you grabbed a clean dish towel.

By the time you two were done with the dishes, the brownies were only about halfway done. So you did Jeno’s preferred method of waiting: passive waiting. Grabbing two chairs from the dining area, you sat down right in front of the oven, the interior light on, and watched them bake.

“And you’re sure liking peanut butter isn’t a werewolf thing?” You double-checked.

“I’m sure.” He confirmed with a chuckle.

“Okay, because you like really like it. Don’t get me wrong, Jeno, it’s endearing. But it’s practically supernatural how much you like it.”

“Well, it kind of is.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that werewolves have heightened senses, right? Compared to most other creatures. Other than vampires, I guess…”

“Well, yeah.”

“Sight, hearing, smell, taste…”

“Touch?” You asked curiously. That one was always left out of whatever werewolf lore you’d hear about.

“Oh, sure. I like really fuzzy blankets.”

You couldn’t help but smile fondly at the image of Jeno bundled up in a bunch of fuzzy throw blankets.

Jeno continued on with his justification of his love for peanut butter. “So, when I find something that I like the taste of, I really like it. At least, compared to a human, you know.”

“Because you taste it a lot more strongly than humans do.”

“Yeah!” He beamed at you.

“Got it. That makes sense. And you just happen to like peanut butter, like some humans will like peanut butter-flavored stuff more than others.”

“That’s part of why I like working here so much, too. Everything you make smells so good.”

“Aw, thanks, Jeno. I like working here too. You’re one of the easiest coworkers I think I’ve ever had. Aside from the incessant begging for peanut-butter flavored menu items.” You lightly flicked his ear, your tone teasing.

“I’m sorry!” He rushed to apologize.

“I’m kidding. Like I said, it’s endearing.” You waved off his apology. There were a few beats of silence, the two of you continuing to stare at the brownies. Something he said had stuck in your brain, though. “You said that was only part of why you like working here. What’s the other part?”

“Uhm…” Jeno’s eyes widened, flicking between you and the brownies nervously. “You know, Mr. Minseok is a really great boss! He’s super easy about asking for time off, and making the schedule around our classes and finals and stuff!”

“Yeah, Minseok’s great…” You agreed, eyeing your friend suspiciously. He was absolutely lying. Not about your boss being a good boss, Minseok really was great, but that definitely wasn’t what he meant when he said that just then.

But then the oven timer went off, and you decided not to press the matter any further. If Jeno wanted to be weird, that was his prerogative, you weren’t going to demand that he tell you something that he was clearly uncomfortable about.

Grabbing the dish with your oven mitts, you now transitioned into your least favorite part of doing test recipes with Jeno…

“Is it ready?”

“No, Jeno, it needs to cool down.”

“Oh.”

And just a minute later:

“Is it ready?”

“No, Jeno, still too hot.”

“Right.”

Two minutes later:

“Are you sure I can’t have just one bite?”

“It’s still steaming.”

“Okay…”

Another minute later:

“Y/N…”

“Jeno, I know you think I’m doing this because I’m a big meanie, but I promise it’s because I care about you and don’t want you to singe off all your tastebuds.”

“Fine.”

And finally, once he'd given up:

“Jeno!”

“They’re ready?!”

“Yes,” you confirmed, grabbing a knife and triangle server.

Serving Jeno up a corner piece, his favorite, onto a half-moon plate, you then dropped your own piece onto a full moon plate. After tapping your brownies together in a little cheers, you two took your first bites.

The brownie was still warm from the oven, fudgy, and gooey thanks to the swirls of peanut butter in there. You got a couple mini peanut butter cups in that bite that melted over your tongue. Altogether, you had to hand it to Jeno, this was a fantastic idea. It was missing a little something, though. Quickly grabbing a shaker from the counter, you dropped a couple flakes of coarse sea salt on top of just your brownie, then took another bite. Oh yeah, that was perfect.

Jeno had already polished off his brownie, and you could see him trying not to be obvious as he eyed the pan of seven others.

“That was really good, Y/N!” He praised you, eyes turning up into delightful crescents. “Like, I think the best thing you’ve ever made!”

“You say that with everything I make,” you pointed out, taking another bite.

“But this one’s seriously the best!”

“Because there’s peanut butter in it?”

“Well…”

“You can have another one, by the way.”

The sentence was barely out of your mouth before he had dished up another brownie. It didn’t even make it to his plate, instead going straight from pan to his mouth. You chuckled. Why did you even bother with dishes with him, honestly?

But really, it warmed your heart to see somebody enjoying your baking so honestly, so thoroughly, and unabashedly. You’d take a hundred customers like Jeno over any pompous pastry chef any day. And you were glad to see that his appetite was back.

He’d finished his second, and you guessed was about to go for his third when you stopped him.

“Jeno, hold on.” You grabbed his upper arm, looking around for a napkin or paper towel.

“What?” He asked, eyes on your hand that was on his arm, curious.

“You’ve got chocolate like, all over your face, dude.”

You’d finally secured a napkin, and stretched back to dampen it in the persistent drip from the sink faucet. Scooting your stool closer to Jeno, you leaned forward to get a better angle at your task. The werewolf jerked away, but you just clicked your tongue in your mouth and grabbed his chin to gently pull him back towards you.

“C’mere, Jeno. It’s just a little water,” you teased him, wiping away the brownie, chocolate, and peanut butter that were on his cheeks. “Don’t tell me the big bad wolf is scared of the equivalent of a baby wipe?”

“‘M not,” he mumbled as you dragged the wet napkin over the corner of his mouth.

You got a smear that was on the tip of his nose next, “How’d you get it up here anyway?”

He made a ‘I don’t know’ noise in the back of his throat, but stayed perfectly still as you moved back to scrutinize your work. Jeno’s face and ears were definitely much pinker, and he was looking straight up at the ceiling.

“Oh, missed a spot,” you sighed, bringing the napkin up one more time to the curve of his bottom lip. “There, Jeno, all good to go.”

It was then that your heart seemed to have caught up with the rest of the team, as you froze where you were. Jeno’s eyes were locked on yours, his warm breath hitting your face as he took shallow, quick breaths. Your blood roared in your ears. You were so close to him, your hand was still holding his chin, if you just—

Before you could actualize that thought, Jeno let out a yelp, tucking his chin to his chest and curling in on himself in pain.

“Jeno?” You stood up, panic overtaking you as he let out something closer to a grunt this time. “Jeno, are you okay?”

He keeled forward into you, and you easily caught him. Easing him off the stool and onto the ground with you, you sat down, cradling him to your chest as he still wasn’t responding.

“Jeno, what’s wrong?” You asked, carding a hand through his dark hair soothingly.

“It hurts, Y/N,” he whimpered.

Your heart broke at how distressed he sounded. “What hurts, Jeno?”

“Everything!” The werewolf wailed.

“Oh my god, okay. Shh, shh,” you tried to calm him back down, still stroking his head. Pressing the back of your hand to his forehead, you swore he felt warmer than normal. Werewolves naturally had higher body temperatures than humans, but he felt hot. “How bad? Do you need to go to the doctor? Should I call someone? What do you need from me, Jeno?”

“Don’t go!”

“I didn’t say I was going anywhere. But you need somebody else.”

“No I don’t—”

“Jeno—” Your sentence stopped in its tracks as your hand that had been running through his hair suddenly bumped into something. Turning your eyes back down from the ceiling to the werewolf in your arms, your eyes widened comically when you saw two fuzzy white ears emerging from the mop of dark hair atop his head. Trailing further down, you saw a fluffy white tail, too.

“I don’t need anybody else,” Jeno insisted.

“Jeno.” You stated quietly, desperately trying to maintain your composure. “I need you to listen to me. I’m not going to leave you. I’m not going anywhere. But we need to call somebody else to look at you.”

“Why?”

“You have ears and a tail.”

Jeno huffed. “I’m a werewolf, remember?”

“Are they always white and fluffy?”

He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, “No...”

“I’m going to call Renjun.” You decided, shifting so you could ease your phone out of your back pocket.

“Y/N!” Jeno buried his head in your lap.

“I’m not going anywhere, Jeno,” you reassured him, resting your free hand on his back. “I was just grabbing my phone.”

Dialing up the contact, you prayed that your friend wouldn’t be deep in a study session. Renjun had an annoying habit of being a good student and turning his ringer off when he studied. Finally, after way too many rings for your liking, he picked up.

“Hello?” Renjun picked up tersely. It sounded like there were other voices in the background.

“Hey, Renjun!” You put as much pep into your tone as you could muster. “Sorry, are you busy?”

“I’m at Chenle and Jisung’s, but we’re just watching movies.” He referenced two of their other friends, a fairy and dragon, respectively. You really just knew them from when they'd come into the bakery to (lovingly) pester Jeno. “What’s going on? I thought you and Jeno were working.”

“That’s why I’m calling.” While you felt bad interrupting their hangout, you had something a little more pressing. “I think Jeno’s sick.”

Your friend’s eye roll was practically audible over the phone. “Just because I’m a Magical Creature Studies major doesn’t mean I’m a werewolf doctor, Y/N. I study them in a sociocultural context—”

“He’s grown ears and a tail, Renjun. Not wolf ones.”

“I’m coming over right now.” And he hung up.

Jeno was still letting out little groans and whimpers every few minutes when you heard a knock at the rear employee entrance.

“It’s open!” You yelled out. It felt like you wouldn’t be very successful if you tried to get up right now.

Renjun threw open the door, eyes scanning the kitchen for a moment before they finally found you. The two of you were in the same position as before: you propped up against the cabinets, Jeno curled up nearly fetal, head in your lap as he clutched at whatever hurt. His stomach, his chest, his head. Everything.

He rushed over, face turning pained when he saw the state that Jeno was in. Squatting down beside the two of you, the human looked over your friend, but was careful not to touch him.

“He says that everything hurts, and I swear he’s running a fever.” You reported to Renjun. “In addition to, well, the obvious.”

Jeno’s feet scrambled for purchase against the concrete floor as he tried to curl up into an even tighter ball, holding his stomach.

“I know, Jeno, I know,” you murmured, stroking his back. “I’m sorry, I’m trying to help you get better. Just hold on.”

Renjun leaned towards his head, squinting at where the ears were growing out of his hair.

“You know... I’m surprised the other two didn’t come with you.” You commented, just to say something, to fill the silence.

Fae were naturally mischievous folk, there was no way Chenle would miss an opportunity to see Jeno with literal dog ears and a tail. And usually, wherever Chenle was, Jisung wasn’t far behind. From your understanding, dragons tended to be solitary creatures; however, according to Jeno, Jisung had taken a liking to the fairy some time ago and vice versa, and the two were inseparable ever since.

“I told them Jeno was throwing up. Didn’t mention the ears and tail.” The human scooted to inspect the tail next. “Now, I’m guessing he didn’t show up to his shift like this.”

“No, he was fine. We were testing a new recipe and then it just happened out of nowhere.”

Renjun sighed. “I think he’s just pupsick.” 

“What?”

“Pupsick. Usually only little werewolves get it, hence the name. It’d be kind of like if you or I got chickenpox. Like, we can get it, but usually only kids do. Pupsickness isn’t contagious to humans, by the way, so don’t worry about that.”

“Then how’d he get it?”

“Pups usually get it from each other, outbreaks will sort of crop up in daycares and classrooms. But the fact that Jeno’s got it… I don’t know for sure. Werewolf immune systems are practically superhuman once they’re adults, even to their own diseases. This one’s past my expertise. I’d call Sungchan, see if he knows anything.”

“Alright, I will. Thanks, Renjun.”

Renjun stood back up, then looked around the bakery. The half-eaten brownies were still on the countertop, not to mention you had your close-up checklist to do. “You should get him home, Y/N. Here, give me your keys, I’ll clean up here and lock up. I’ll put them under your mat when I’m done.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’d much rather be on bakery clean up duty than pupsick Jeno duty,” he nodded towards the werewolf. “Trust me, I don’t envy you.”

You gave him a half-hearted smile, then looked down at Jeno. He’d been quiet all throughout your conversation with Renjun, and you prodded him gently. “Jeno?”

“Yeah?” He mumbled.

“Can you stand up? I’m going to take you home.”

He let out a whine again, but this time higher pitched, sounding more like a petulant child than like he was actually in pain. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Come on, you’ll be so much more comfy at home in bed with all those fuzzy blankets, right?”

“Fine.” He dragged out the vowels, but scooted off of you to let you stand up.

“Alright, come on, Jeno,” you helped him get to his feet. “Now you’re going to have to walk there mostly of your own power. You’re a bit too solid for me to carry on my own.”

You patted his firm chest for emphasis. “If the stairs are going to be too much, let me know and I’ll make a couple calls. I think Sungchan and Jisung combined could probably get you up there. Maybe get Shotaro for good measure. I know sirens aren’t super strong like werewolves and dragons but—”

“No, I can do it,” he mumbled, looping an arm around your shoulders. “Don’t need… don’t need them.”

After untying both yours and Jeno’s aprons and handing them to Renjun, you took your bakery keys off your keyring to give those over as well, then wrapped one arm around Jeno’s waist and started guiding him over to the back door.

“Y/N,” Renjun caught your attention before you could push it open. “Don’t worry too much. It’s like a bad cold. He’ll just be really pitiful for a few days.”

“Right,” you nodded, mustering up a small smile. You were sure you looked frazzled still. “Thanks again, Renjun. We owe you one.”

“Free muffin and we’ll call it even.” He waved goodbye to you two. “Feel better, Jeno!”

It was thankfully a very short walk to Jeno’s apartment, he lived just around the corner. Once you got him inside, normally you would’ve been able to pass him off to his dryad roommate. But Jaemin was studying abroad for a month, as evidenced by the very droopy-looking plants around the living room.

“Here, let’s get you to bed, Jeno,” you murmured. “Which one’s yours?”

He pointed. “Left.”

Jeno’s room was surprisingly tidy. Though you weren’t sure if you were expecting it to be messy because he was a college boy, a werewolf, or based off his distaste of cleaning up at work. But regardless, you pulled back his covers and ushered him into bed.

“I’ll get you some ice water, you still feel really warm.” You told him, pressing your hand back to his forehead. “Do you want something to eat?”

“No. Don’t want you to go…” He grabbed your hand with both of his as you went to take it off his forehead, nuzzling his cheek against it this time instead.

Okay, his brain was definitely melting in there.

“I’ll be right back here, Jeno. You definitely need some water.” You shook him off as gently as possible. “I’m just going to your kitchen.”

Now free, you rushed to his kitchen, throwing open cabinets until you found one with cups, grabbing the first one your eyes landed on. You scooped ice in, then filled it up from the tap. Initially, you had planned on calling Sungchan while you did this, but you didn’t think Jeno would be that patient.

You speed-walked back down the hallway to his bedroom, finding the werewolf exactly where you left him, curled up in bed, staring at the doorway. You offered him as bright of a smile as you could, “Hey, Jeno! I’m back! Here’s your water.”

He lit up, moving to get up in bed, and you surged forward in concern.

“Woah, hey, are you good to do that, dude?” You asked, hands flitting over him nervously.

“‘M fine, Y/N, I’m fine. Just…” He yawned, covering his mouth. One of his ears twitched. “Really tired.”

“Well, drink this water first, please.” You lifted the glass to his mouth. His refusal of food was still worrying you, though. Werewolves had much higher metabolisms than humans, and the appetites to match. “Are you sure you don’t want something else? You ate hardly anything on break. Other than those brownies, the only thing you’ve had today was whatever you had at breakfast. It’s almost two…”

After gulping down half the glass, Jeno wiped his mouth and shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

You sighed, patting his cheek and pressing the glass back to his lips. “Okay… Just let me know if you change your mind. I’ll make something or order something. Whatever you want.”

He took a couple more sips before pushing your hand away. “You’re- You’re not going to leave?”

His voice was hopeful, eyes round and pleading—literal puppy dog eyes—as he asked that. You shook your head.

“No, Jeno, I’m going to stay right here with you. I want to stay with you.” You set the cup on his nightstand, gently nudging him forward and further in to make room for you to scoot onto the bed behind him.

Jeno immediately flopped around onto his front, wrapping his arms around your middle and burying his nose into your stomach. You giggled, squirming around for a moment.

“Ah! Jeno, that tickled.”

He mumbled something that sounded like an apology into your lap, squeezing his eyes shut. Your hands dropped to his head, careful to avoid the two white ears there as you ran your fingers through his hair again.

Soon, his breathing evened out, and you stilled your hand. He was asleep.

It was dark when you woke up. You didn’t remember falling asleep in the first place, the last thing you remembered was scrolling on your phone and thinking to yourself how good a nap looked and sounded right now. Jeno was still wrapped around you, peacefully asleep, and you were slumped in the multitude of pillows at the head of the bed. There was a little crick in your lower back, and you had the urge to stand up and crack it. Your stomach growled, and good god you needed to pee.

You tried to sit back up all the way, but Jeno was remarkably heavy in his passed-out state, and you barely moved an inch. Flopping back down, you instead tried shaking him awake.

“Jeno. Jeno, hey,” you said softly. Your lips twitched in amusement when you saw one of his white dog ears perk up towards the sound of your voice. The rest of him didn’t move, though. You shook him with a little more gusto. “Jeno... come on.”

The other ear was at attention now, and you could feel a grumble start in his chest. You switched to lightly squeezing his human ears, sides, and whatever parts of his arms you could reach.

“Jeno! Up! Wake up!” You pleaded with each gentle pinch, finally feeling victorious when he recoiled after you got his nose.

He jerked an arm back to cover his face in his elbow as he sneezed three times in a row.

“Bless you!” You snickered, quickly pulling yourself into a cross-legged sitting position now that you had an opportunity.

“Ack! Y/N, what was that for?” Jeno complained, voice thick with sleep, sitting up as well.

“I needed you to move so I can go use the bathroom,” you snorted, scooting towards the edge of the bed.

Before your feet could touch the floor, a pair of arms had wrapped around your shoulders, and a nose was nuzzling into your neck. “Y/N...”

“Jeno...” You mimicked his tone in an attempt to cover up how the sudden contact had made your back stiffen. You almost tilted your head to the side on instinct to give him more space, but kept your spine pin-straight.

You half-heartedly tried to push at him. “Dude, seriously, I need to pee. And aren’t you hungry?”

“Not hungry.”

“For real?” You frowned, contorting awkwardly to look at his face as you tested for his temperature again. “You’re still burning up. Do you have a thermometer around here? What’s a werewolf’s temperature even supposed to be?”

“We don’t have a thermometer. ‘M fine.”

“I’ll believe that when you’re back to eating six meals a day, Lee Jeno.” You scoffed. “Now I am going to the bathroom, then I’m coming right back. Okay?”

“No!” He clung onto you tighter, and you swore you saw his eyes getting moist as his lower lip trembled.

“Jeno, I’ll be right back, okay? I pinky promise.” You held one of your pinky fingers out to him. He begrudgingly linked one of his with it before letting go of you.

“Thank you.”

You slipped down the hall quickly. After relieving your screaming bladder and washing your hands, you pulled out your phone, seeing that you had a couple texts. They were both from Renjun from several hours ago.

[renjun: locked up the bakery, keys under your mat. how’s jeno doing?]

Then, a couple hours later.

[renjun: hey, just double checking that you found your keys and that jeno got home okay.]

[you: sorry for not replying, he’s been a bit of a handful. i haven’t made it home yet to grab my keys, still at jeno’s. thanks for locking up and dropping my keys off tho!]

You briefly thought of calling Sungchan, but you were worried about Jeno. Poking your head out of the bathroom and back down the hall, you listened for any signs of life. You could hear him tossing and turning restlessly in bed. So he at least hadn’t fallen back asleep.

Your stomach growled again, taking center stage now that the more pressing need had been dealt with.

“Hey, Jeno,” you said loudly as you entered the room, already pulling up a food delivery app on your phone.

Jeno sat up at attention, and with the sheets falling away from him, you could see the fluffy white tail behind him wagging vigorously as he gave you possibly the brightest smile he’d had since this whole thing started. “Y/N!”

“Jeno!” You repeated his name with a bewildered chuckle. “Am I covered in peanut butter or something? What’s got you in such a good mood all of a sudden?”

“Can I not just be happy to see you?” He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. His tail kept wagging, though.

“No, you can. I was just curious.” You leaned against the doorway, scrolling through the restaurant options. “I think I’m going to order delivery. Which means you’ll have to let me go get it when it gets here. Do you think you can do that?”

He yawned and stretched. “No promises.”

“Alright.” You turned your phone off. “Let me go raid your pantry really quick. You do have food, right?”

“Yeah...” Jeno laid back down, his sudden burst of excitement seeming to be wearing off expeditiously.

Giving him a thumbs up, you took off down the hall again. Jaemin and Jeno’s pantry was fairly human-friendly. Jaemin left three weeks ago, so there weren’t many of his organic trail mixes and granola bars left. And of course, plenty of Jeno’s werewolf protein bars—to supplement when he just couldn’t get enough protein for what his diet naturally called for. But mostly there were snacks that you’d find in your own human apartment, which you were grateful for; you’ve had some unfortunate moments with friends of yours whose appetites didn’t line up as closely with humans. You still shuddered at the thought of the plate stacked with slimy kelp that you’d been offered by Sungchan’s siren roommate, Shotaro. Sungchan and you ordered pizza that night.

Grabbing a few things for yourself, a couple water bottles, you then headed back towards his room. You’d also snagged one of Jeno’s protein bars, maybe you could convince him to get something close to a meal in him.

“I’m back, I’m back,” you announced as you hurried in, dropping the snacks on the nightstand.

Jeno rolled over just enough for you to sit back in your same place against the headboard. As soon as you were settled in, he scooched to put his head in your lap.

“How are you feeling? Still hurting?” You asked, cracking open the first bottle, then the other.

“Yeah…” He rubbed at his eyes.

“Tired?” You stroked his bangs away from his face.

“Mhm.”

“What about your temperature? Still got that fever?” You leaned down to press your lips to his forehead before you realized what you were doing.

You froze halfway back up, eyes locked on Jeno’s. Letting his bangs fall through your fingers and back down onto his face, you forced out a chuckle.

“Sorry, uh, my mom always did that to check my temperature when I was sick as a little kid. Just, kind of happened,” you stammered out as you kept fixing his hair to cover his forehead back up. “Do- Do you feel hot, Jeno? Or cold? Like any sort of chills or hot flashes or anything?”

His whole face was pink, and you couldn’t remember if it was already like that from the fever or not. The werewolf blinked up at you a couple more times before answering your question.

“I’m cold.” He pulled one of the fuzzy blankets up to his chin then as if for emphasis.

“Okay. Alright, well if you’re tired, hurting, and cold, I think you should get back to sleep.” You smiled down at him, patting his chest over the blanket. “Can you just drink a little more water for me?”

After getting a couple sips in him, Jeno rolled over and was out like a light. Oh that looked nice. You would probably take care of your hungry stomach and then join him in dreamland, honestly. Today had been… a lot.

The thought of spending the night in Jeno’s bed made your stomach twist and turn, and you briefly considered creeping out to the couch. But if something happened to Jeno with this pupsickness and you weren’t there, you’d hate yourself forever. No, you needed to stay right by his side, as much for yourself as for him. And so, you grabbed some trail mix and prepared to settle in for a long night.

You were still munching on some of Jaemin’s trail mix when suddenly, your phone rang. You panicked, scrambling to grab it so that it didn’t wake Jeno up. The werewolf in your lap didn’t even stir as the loud ringer kept going, though.

Keeping an eye on him, you answered the call in a whisper, “Hello?”

“Y/N? Sorry, is this a bad time? I had a question about the lecture from yesterday.” It was Sungchan on the other end, your only other werewolf friend, and project partner in your Magical Botany I class.

“Hey, Sungchan. Uh, it’s sort of a bad time but also the perfect time.” You kept your voice low and quiet, holding the phone close to your mouth.

“Oh. And what does that mean?”

“You go first.”

“Can you send me the notes?”

“That’s all you needed to ask me?” You snorted. “The notes from yesterday?”

“Can you send me all of the notes? From the whole semester?” His voice was pleading, sounding like he was braced for ridicule.

“Are you kidding me?”

“The last full moon was rough, okay?”

“Used your Bot I notebook as a chew toy, huh?”

“Will you send me them?” He groaned.

“Yeah, yeah, it might be a little while though.”

“That’s fine! You said this was a bad time, right? Sort of?”

“Right.” You gently dabbed at Jeno’s sweaty forehead. “So I have a werewolf question…”

Sungchan paused, sighed, then said, “Because you’re you, and I know are therefore not about to ask me anything weird, I will entertain this. Go ahead.”

“Do you know why an adult werewolf might get pupsick?”

“Is Jeno okay?”

Sungchan didn’t know Jeno as well as you did— the two werewolves had met a couple times in passing, when your classmate would buy something from the bakery, or the two of you would bump into Jeno while studying at the library. But Sungchan mostly knew of him from you. You happily talked about your job, your sphinx boss, and werewolf coworker to your friends, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that he was able to guess what this was about.

“Immediately blew my cover, huh?”

“It seemed like an awfully specific question.”

“Yes, Jeno’s pupsick. At least, according to Renjun.” You tested his temperature again, with your hand this time, on his cheek. He was still burning up, feeling very much like a heated, weighted blanket. “He’s exhausted, he’s moody, he doesn’t want to eat, he’s got a fever I think—”

“Wait, are you with him now?”

“Yeah, his roommate’s studying abroad for a month and I felt bad leaving him alone.”

“Those are his only symptoms? Sounds like he’s just got a cold.” Sungchan scoffed. “Why would Renjun say it’s pupsickness? Just because he’s a werewolf? Honestly—”

“Oh and he’s got ears and a tail.”

The other end of the call was silent for far too long. “Channie?”

“Ah. Yeah. He’s pupsick.” He confirmed.

“So… do you know why he’s got it? Renjun said that adult werewolves usually don’t get pupsick.”

“They don’t. Although I’m not surprised Jeno is.” 

“What? Why? Is he okay? Does he have like… a werewolf autoimmune disease or something? Do you guys have those?” 

“Jeno’s immune system is fine, Y/N,” your friend reassured you.

You relaxed again. “Oh, good.”

“It’s a combination of things that determines whether a werewolf gets pupsick or not. Yes, it’s our immune system, but one of the biggest symptoms of pupsickness is what you’re looking at: the partial shift.”

“The ears and tail.”

“Yeah. Pups can’t control their shifting yet because they’re more volatile emotionally and magically.” Sungchan walked you through it. “And like any other kids, they’re germ factories. So they get pupsick a lot more than adults do.”

“Then why’d Jeno get it? It’s not like he’s an education major or anything, he hasn’t been around any pups.”

“Adults usually get it when there’s something in their life that’s made them emotionally and magically volatile again.”

“Volatile?” You echoed, looking down at the peacefully napping wolf. He really just looked like an oversized puppy.

“You said he’s moody?”

“Mhm. Kind of… down? I don’t know, he’s not as bubbly as he normally is, you know? I could barely get him to let me get up to use the bathroom earlier, he looked like he was about to cry. And then when I came back, you’d think I brought him a jar of peanut butter or something he was so happy.”

“That’s what I mean, not like he’s going to snap and break a vase or something. And his shifting is obviously not in control either.”

“Well he’s going to get better, right?” You asked hopefully. “Renjun said it should just be a few days.”

“It is for pups.” 

Your stomach dropped. “That sounds like there’s going to be a but coming…”

“But for adults, they got sick because something in their life was out of balance.” Sungchan reiterated.

“So he’s going to be like this unless we get his life back in balance? I’ve got to what, sign him up for werewolf yoga or something?”

“Or wait until the next full moon. A full shift should do the trick to reset him.”

“Oh. When’s that?”

“Three weeks.”

“Three weeks?!” You couldn’t help the loud panic in your voice. One of Jeno’s ears flicked, and you held your breath as he shifted slightly, but ultimately stayed asleep.

Sungchan was still talking, “And there’s no promise that he won’t just catch it again if he’s still at unrest.”

“God, who knew you werewolves were so sensitive? You’re like orchids, you need a very specific soil pH or you’re going to die!” You hissed into the phone.

“We’re a very hardy species, actually. You know, if the Black Plague were to come back, humans would—”

“Yeah, I’m sure humans would all die out, and werewolves would inherit the Earth or whatever Revelations says.” You cut him off, all too used to his lectures on the differences between humans and werewolves. With a sigh, you determined that you’d gotten all the useful information you could from him. “Well, thanks, Sungchan.”

“Of course, Y/N.”

“Wait…”

“What?”

“Why did you say that you’re not surprised that Jeno’s pupsick then? Do you know what’s making him sick?”

“Y/N…” Your friend sighed. “You are so smart, and yet…”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve only met Jeno a couple times, but the guy so clearly has a huge crush on you. A better name for what’s wrong with him would be that he’s lovesick, honestly.”

Your jaw dropped as your eyes were glued to Jeno’s peacefully sleeping features. “S-Seriously?”

While you’d had a creeping suspicion—you weren’t that stupid, no matter what Sungchan was implying—you were also a little worried that it was all in your head.

“Every time I see you two together, he’s all heart eyes for you, Y/N. I don’t know how you’re missing it.” Sungchan chuckled.

“Must be your superior werewolf eyesight,” you replied sarcastically.

“Must be.” He repeated humorously.

“So like… what should I do?”

“He’s your wolf, Y/N. Do what you will.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” You sputtered out, jolting up in your seat.

Sungchan’s cackling laughter came through your speakers as you felt Jeno shift and stir in your lap. He lifted his head up slightly as he mumbled out a very sleepy, “Y/N?”

“Oh my god, you woke Jeno up!” You snapped at the other werewolf at the phone. “I’ve got to go!”

“I woke him up? Oh really—”

You cut Sungchan’s incredulous words off by hanging up, then tossing your phone aside on the bed. Jeno had settled back down a little bit, and you scratched between his ears.

“Go back to sleep, Jeno,” you murmured quietly. “Back to sleep… Sweet dreams, baby.”

As he relaxed again, you started humming a familiar tune, a lullaby that your mom used to sing to you when you would wake her up in the middle of the night because you weren’t feeling well. You didn’t let up even after Jeno’s breathing had evened out again, keeping it going as you slowly shifted around until you were no longer sitting up, laying down now. Jeno’s head still laying on your midsection, a comforting pressure. The rest of him was under all his fuzzy blankets, and you made sure he was securely under them all, gave him one last head pat, then let your eyes flutter shut, drifting off still humming that lullaby to yourself.

It was bright out when you woke up. You sighed, squeezing your eyes shut and trying to roll over to bury your face into your pillow. Except there was a weight attached to your back, and a low whine right next to your ear. Your eyes flew open, and you quickly remembered that you were not in your own bed.

Which meant that— Yep, that was Jeno koala-hugging you from behind. He had a pout on his face even his sleep, which turned into a peaceful smile as soon as you’d given up on moving, relaxing back into him.

His two white dog ears were splayed out to the sides, and while they were very cute, they also worried you. Your conversation with Sungchan yesterday came back to mind. God, what the hell were you supposed to do about that?

“Hey, Jeno? You awake?” You asked softly, quiet enough that if he weren’t, he hopefully wouldn’t wake up.

“Mm… mhm,” he nodded his head against your back. “Yeah… ‘m up.”

You turned over onto your back in Jeno’s arms, then feeling for his temperature on what part of his forehead that you could get to. “How are you feeling?”

“Still sleepy…” He muttered, the words muffled against your collarbone from where he had readjusted to nestle his face into the crook of your neck.

“Sorry if I woke you up,” you hummed, stroking his head. “You can go back to sleep.”

“Who were… who were you talking to?”

“When— Oh, last night. Sungchan. I was trying to figure out how to make you better.”

He made a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement, and for a brief moment you thought he might’ve fallen asleep again, until he looked up at you with the most heart-stopping, big, round eyes.

“Uhm, he said that when you shift on the full moon, that’ll probably kind of reset everything.”

“But the next full moon’s in…” he let out a yawn, punctuated by a sniffle. “Three weeks. I don’t know if I can take feeling like this for another three weeks.”

You rubbed a hand up and down his back soothingly, “I know, Jeno, I’m sorry. He did say something else.”

The werewolf’s animal ears perked up. “Something else?”

“Well, he was telling me about why adult werewolves get pupsick when its usually only pups who get it.”

“But I haven’t done anything to throw off my spiritual balance,” he whined. “I think… I mean, I haven’t pissed off any witches that I can think of, my shift on the last full moon went great, and everyone in my pack back home is okay.”

“Well, Sungchan said that it could be something personal, too. Not exactly related to werewolf stuff. Any kind of serious rift in your life, you know.” You tried to paraphrase your friend’s explanation as best you could without the heavy implications that he had. “Can you think of anything like that?”

“No...” he dragged out the vowel. “Just—”

Jeno suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence, going still in your arms.

“Just? Just what?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Clearly it’s not nothing,” you said pointedly, giving one of his dog ears a gentle tap. He fidgeted a little, but didn’t move away from your touch.

He shook his head. “No.”

“No?”

“It’s going to ruin everything.” Jeno just sounded utterly defeated now, refusing to look up at you. “I’m going to ruin everything again.”

You were ashamed to say that you were gobsmacked in that moment. You took a deep breath, desperately trying to throw together any kind of acceptable response.

“What are you talking about, Jeno?” You needed more information.

“I always break stuff, and I get too excited, and I don’t stop, and I’m too much and that’s not even on the full moon!” Jeno rambled. “I always have to replace my stuff because I tear it or break it or chew it or crush it and I don’t even realize and—”

“Jeno, Jeno, Jeno, woah, woah,” you shushed him firmly but kindly, hearing in his voice that he was getting himself too worked up. “It’s not like you’re Godzilla out here leveling cities or anything, okay? You’re not ruining anything, and you’re not too much or whatever stupid stuff you’ve been told before. Don’t be offended, but I honestly can’t imagine you as some big bad wolf blowing houses down and eating little piggies.”

The dog ears on his head perked up, and he sniffled again. “Really?”

“Really,” you confirmed, scratching behind one of the animal ears. Under the sheets, you could see that the dog tail had started wagging back and forth. “I mean, you’ve been curled up in my arms like an overgrown puppy for over twelve hours now.”

You had expected him to have some kind of objection to you calling him an overgrown puppy, but instead he just seemed to melt even more into your hold, his eyes fluttering shut as a lopsided, content smile took over his features. Seeing him so relaxed almost made you rethink your want to press the issue.

“Was that it? Do you think that’s what was wrong to make you pupsick?”

Jeno let out a heaving sigh, and his eyes opened again as the smile fell from his face. “No. But fixing my pupsickness is just going to ruin something else. Something really important.”

“You can’t stay like this forever, Jeno.”

“What? You don’t like the ears?” He joked with a dry chuckle.

“They’re cute, but not so much if they’re a symptom of you being so sick.” You habitually checked for his temperature on his forehead again (hot, as expected), then wrapped both your arms around his shoulders tightly. “Now, humans don’t exactly have pupsickness, but when we get really stressed out in work or school, it puts too much stress on our bodies and our immune systems, and we get sick more easily too. It makes us take a break and take care of ourselves. Whatever’s wrong, it’s not sustainable for you and clearly your body knows that too.”

“Yeah… I know.”

“So? What is it? Can I help?”

The werewolf shifted in your hold, and you loosened your arms to let him sit up from you completely. You followed his lead curiously, the two of you now sitting cross-legged on his bed facing each other, knee to knee. He brushed some of his hair out of his eyes, other pieces sticking up in random directions around the two fluffy white dog ears. Now that the covers had fallen off both your bodies, the tail rested beside him, no longer wagging happily as he gave you a forlorn look.

“Y/N… please remember that in order to cure the pupsickness, I just need to get this off my chest, okay? My health is not dependent on your response at all, it’s all about my internal state being stagnant for too long. So… don’t feel obligated to respond any one way for my sake.”

Your heart picked up speed in your chest, and there was no doubt that he could hear it. But still, you put on an encouraging smile for him. “Okay. Go ahead, Jeno.”

He kept his gaze down on his hands, seemingly messing with a seam on one of his blankets. And after one more deep inhale, he finally admitted, “I really like you, Y/N. Not coworkers, not friends. And I’m really sorry that I just—”

“You didn’t ruin anything.”

“What?”

“Do you think I really would’ve done all this for like… just anybody?” You confessed weakly. “I like you too.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, Jeno, I do.” You couldn’t help but laugh at his constant disbelief in what you were saying. “Why do you just think I’m constantly lying to you? Like— Oof!”

Your sentence was cut short because in that moment, you were caught in a tackle-hug and nearly smothered under the weight of a very excited werewolf. Laughter poured out of you as you wrapped your arms around his neck, squeezing your eyes shut as you just let the happiness in your chest get bigger and bigger with each passing second.

“You really are just a big puppy, huh?” You teased, reaching up to scratch behind the dog ears on his head. Except, they weren’t where you were expecting them. You couldn’t find them by feeling around in his hair, and opened your eyes to look for them. The only thing on his head was his mop of dark hair, fluffed up by your fingers, but otherwise, entirely typical. Peering around his shoulders, you couldn’t spot a tail either.

“Jeno!” You gently pushed on his chest to encourage him to get off of you for a moment.

“Mm?”

“The ears and tail are gone! You’re not partially shifted anymore!” You pushed a little harder, and he seemed to finally get the idea, rolling over and flopping onto his back instead. You shot up to a kneeling position beside him, looking down at him excitedly. “How are you feeling?”

He seemed to think about this for a moment, and you couldn’t help but put the back of your hand to his forehead once more, relief washing over you when it was just a little warm compared to your skin, but pretty much the usual difference between humans and werewolves this time.

“Feels like your fever’s broken,” you announced giddily.

“I still feel a little yucky, like I’m getting over a cold,” he informed you, grabbing your hand that had been feeling for his temperature and resting your linked hands over his middle.

“Aw, poor pup,” you cooed, squeezing his hand, and not missing the way his cheeks flushed, but he didn’t reject the nickname entirely. “Well, we do have today off anyway. I can stay, if you want?”

“Please?”

“On one condition.”

“Anything!”

You leaned over to grab something off the nightstand, the werewolf protein bar you had snagged for him yesterday. It hadn’t been touched at all the night before, and you now held it out to him.

“You eat.”

He nodded. “I think I can make that work.”

Jeno was still feeling off by the end of the day, so you called Minseok and explained most of the situation to him—that Jeno was getting over pupsickness and you were helping take care of him. Your boss was understanding, and easily gave you two the next day off as well, sending the werewolf well wishes to get better soon.

Slowly but surely, Jeno’s appetite was coming back, but your mind wouldn’t truly be at ease until he was back to eating six meals a day, no matter how many times he reassured you that he felt fine.

Jeno wasn’t sleeping as much, but now he’d finally taken one of his rare naps on the couch—he’d fallen asleep trying to show you one of his favorite movies, which you’d paused as soon as you’d realized he was asleep, so that you could finish it together later. You were snugly in his arms, head resting on his chest and now contemplating attempting a nap of your own.

Then the front door opened. You would have sat up to look at who it was, if your position allowed for that at all, and if you didn’t know well enough already who that definitely was.

“Jeno?” A voice carried through the apartment from the front door easily. “Thanks for picking me up from the airport, asshole! I had to get a ride from His Highness, so now I owe him one! Which, by the way, you’re so going to help me repay when he comes to collect—Oh!”

The dryad had finally made it to the living room and stopped in his tracks as soon as he spotted the two of you. He was in a hoodie and sweatpants, a duffel bag over his shoulder and towing a suitcase behind him. Clearly fresh off the plane back from his month of study abroad.

You and Jaemin just stared at each other for a moment. Jeno hadn’t stirred.

“Uh, hey,” you greeted him awkwardly, cringing internally at the crack in your voice. “I’m uh… I…”

“Y/N, right?” Jaemin grinned down at you. While you had seen each other in passing when he'd come into the bakery on occasion, and of course knew of each other through the still slumbering werewolf with you, you'd never really been properly introduced.

“Yeah, I’m Y/N,” you smiled back at him, not-so-subtly smacking at Jeno’s arms to try to wake him up. “It’s nice to meet you, Jaemin.”

“It’s so good to finally meet you, Y/N.” Jaemin gushed. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good. Uhm, how was your trip?”

“It was great! Saw lots of sights. Still seeing some more now that I’m home, too.”

The werewolf under you had finally come to at that point, and groggily looked between you and Jaemin, eyes snapping open with alarm when he realized what was going on. “Jaemin! What the hell?”

“Could ask you the same thing, Jeno.” The dryad threw a hand over his chest. “I was abandoned at the airport and had to call Chenle for help—a fairy! And then I finally make it home, thinking the whole time that surely you must be injured; in the hospital; dead! to have gone back on your promise. Only to come home and find you napping with the Y/N. I mean, I was only gone for a month, what the hell happened?”

Jeno single-handedly chucked a pillow at Jaemin’s head, which the dryad easily dodged.

“I was sick, you little shit,” the werewolf groaned, rubbing his eyes with one hand, and keeping his other arm firmly wrapped around you. “I got pupsick like two days ago, I’m still recovering. I’m sorry about forgetting about your flight.”

“And what did I tell you before I left?” Jaemin put his hands on his hips, staring his roommate down pointedly. “I hate to say I told you so but—”

“No you don’t.”

“—but I told you that you were going to get yourself pupsick if you didn’t do something about Y/N.”

“You’re lucky I don’t have another pillow to throw,” Jeno covered his face with his hand.

“And you just brushed me off like everyone else does.” Jaemin threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “Dryads aren’t just a bunch of hippies, you know. Nature and your connection to it is very important, it’s nothing to mess around with. I hope you know better now, Lee Jeno.”

A low grumble started in his chest at the scolding he was getting from his friend, and you bit down on your lip to stifle your giggles at the scene that had been unfolding around you.

“Yeah, Jaemin, I know that you’re always right and I don’t know anything ever and should always listen to you. Happy?” Jeno retorted sarcastically.

“Quite.” Jaemin smiled back with the same amount of sass, but you could feel that the tension was dissolving in the air. He grabbed his bags again. “You're also helping me repay the favor I now owe His Highness, by the way."

Jeno groaned again, but didn't argue.

"Anyway, I’m jetlagged and exhausted. I’ll leave you two alone. Lovely seeing you as always, Y/N. So sorry you had to deal with a pupsick Jeno for this idiot to finally confess to you. Goodnight!”

“Hey!” Jeno cried out indignantly.

“Goodnight, Jaemin,” you replied humorously, taking a look at the clock. It was only 11:00 a.m.

And with that, it was just you and Jeno again.

“Ugh, sorry about him.” The werewolf readjusted his hold on you, pecking your forehead.

“Don’t worry,” you chuckled. “I had a pretty good idea of what he’s like.”

“I know, but he didn’t have to make a scene like that.”

“I think he was entitled. You left him for dead at the airport, after all.”

“Oh my god.”

“He had to get a ride from Chenle.”

Jeno scrunched his nose, presumably remembering that he and Jaemin now jointly owe the fairy a favor. “Yeah, I probably should’ve at least arranged for one of the other guys to pick him up.”

“Mhm…” You picked up the remote again. “So, ready to finish the movie, pup?”

sequel :･ﾟ✧｡･:･*

⤷ blog masterlist  ⤷ anthology masterlist

#nct x reader #nct dream x reader #jeno x reader #jeno #lee jeno #nct #nct dream #nct imagine #nct dream imagine #jeno imagine #lee jeno imagine #lee jeno x reader #i: jeno #f: pupsick #au: strawberry sunday #writing #text #mine #g: fluff #*100

[seabirdtxt]

Event batch 4

a little later than i anticipated, but the next batch is here!! only two batches left 🤗🩵 thank you to all my requesters!! and apologies if i deviated from your original prompt these things really take on a mind of their own when i write 🫡

🩵 Check out my other event requests! 🩵

for Anon || Scaramouche x Reader - Modern AU, urban fantasy, monster hunters (not main characters), rivals to friends (implied potential for more)

for @resident-cryptid || Foul Legacy x Reader - SAGAU, imposter hunt

for Anon || Tighnari x Reader - Canon setting, Tighnari x reader, Life & Death trope, reader is a mortician, mention/discussion of deaths

----- ⚘ -----

Of the Night

You clutch your side as you dart down the nearest alleyway, foot splashing into a murky puddle. You haul yourself up the fire escape with one arm, doing your best to move quickly. Once you reach the roof, it’s just a matter of speed.

You jump from building to building, hoping beyond hope that your pursuers aren’t parkour experts. There’s only one place that you can think of, the only place nobody will look for you. Your chances of survival either way seem slim.

You find the building you’re looking for, sliding as quietly as you can off the roof and onto the tiny balcony you hope belongs to the correct apartment. Keeping your fingers crossed, you knock on the window of the sliding glass door.

There’s a shuffle of movement inside, and then the blackout curtains move to the side just enough to let a blade of light hit the corner of your eye. You squint into the brightness, offering an apologetic smile around your elongated canines.

The door slides open and a pale hand reaches through to grab you, yanking you inside. You stumble over the door track, whimpering as the movement jostles the arm that’s holding your wound.

“What the hell happened to you?” Scaramouche hisses, his nose wrinkling at the stench of wolf blood.

“... Hunters afoot,” is all you can say before you collapse from exhaustion.

---

You awake some time later, probably not all that long, with a thick padding of bandages around your torso. You sit up, ignoring the screaming pain from your injury, to take in your surroundings. The room is dark, hardly any decorations on the wall, and the bed you’re stretched out on is plain and uncomfortable, as if it’s never been used.

Scaramouche sits at the end of the bed, wiping blood from his hands with a wet cloth. You snort, drawing his attention. His eyes are electric in the low light.

“I’m surprised you didn’t sneak a little taste, leech,” you taunt. The vampire’s expression darkens and he throws the soiled rag in your face.

“As if I want to know what dog tastes like. That’s the thanks I get for patching up your clumsy ass, mutt?” he demands, his insult not quite landing with how worried he looks. “How did you even let it get this bad? Why didn’t you, y’know, wolf out or something?”

“You can’t climb fences with paws, dummy,” you tell him, wiggling your thumbs in front of his face. He pushes your hands back down with a look of annoyance, the tip of his fangs peeking out over his lip with the expression.

It’s the city’s favourite public scandal, that senator Ei and her son are creatures of the night. Due to their standing, and some pretty hardworking PR agents, they’ve been working on fixing the reputation of monsters year by year. Despite some of the new anti-discrimination laws in place, nothing will stop a very determined hunter from going after random citizens they decide aren’t human enough.

Beastfolk like Doctor Tighnari, and Ei’s own partner Miko, don’t get nearly the same kind of bad rep as werewolves. People like you are still heavily stereotyped, despite the countless arguments that you all retain your sound mind during the transformation.

That’s why you’re here, in your old highschool rival’s apartment on a full moon night instead of running around in the park like you’d originally planned. Everybody knows of the age-old feud between vampires and werewolves. Plus, it’s been years since you last saw each other, nobody will associate you with him these days. Nobody will think to look for you here.

You look at the curtained window, then at Scaramouche, who’s still sitting on the bed. His back is to you, a little bit broader than he used to be when you kicked his ass at track and field. You don’t resist the urge to extend your hand, shifting your nails just a tiny bit, to touch the sharp angles of his shoulder.

You don’t make it, of course. Little bugger had lighting reflexes in school too, even if you were the faster runner. He turns and grabs your wrist before it even comes close to touching him. With surprising strength, he pulls you close by your arm until your noses are almost touching.

“Paws off,” Scaramouche mocks you, his slit-like pupils barely visible with his narrowed eyes. He gives you a smirk. “Bad doggie.”

You snatch your hand back quickly, growling softly under your breath. You look down and test the bandages, finding them to be holding firmly.

“... So when d’you want me to get out of your hair?” You ask, knowing that you’ve definitely overstayed your welcome by now.

“You can hide here for the rest of the night,” his answer comes, much too quickly to be anything other than impulse. You raise your eyebrow at that, knowing he definitely sees you with his night vision. He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just say you owe me one later, okay?”

You whuff and kick him gently, which earns you a pillow to the face.

Tomorrow morning he’ll make you breakfast, and you’ll probably eat enough to put him out of house and home, and you’ll tell him all about the hunters who chased you down last night, and sometime over the week you’ll hear through the grapevine about some college kids going missing but you won’t think anything of it.

Sometime during the week, you’ll get a text from an unknown number telling you to use the front door next time, and a six digit passcode for an apartment building security system.

But tonight, you let Scaramouche baby you (as much as he denies it) and you fall asleep in his dumb, uncomfortable bed to the sound of him saying you haven’t changed a bit.

----- ⚘ -----

Blood in the Water

You don’t have gold blood, or super strength, or special powers. What you have is the clothes on your back, a pocketful of change for your bus fare, and a dead phone.

And the face of Teyvat’s omnipresent god, apparently. Not that that’s done you any favors since you got here. There’s been an order to bring your head to this Creator person. Preferably on a silver plate. Maybe a spike, if they’re feeling artistic.

That’s how you find yourself being chased by dozens of people who you thought were your favourite videogame characters. You surely regret it now, having upgraded them and kitted them all with best-in-slot weapons and artifacts. You’re not sure you want to test whether or not you’ll revive like the traveler, so you just run.

You’ve accumulated a plethora of wounds, doing your best to keep them clean and wrapped until you can figure out how to get back home. You move only at night, taking care to avoid places you distantly remember being inhabited. You even avoid the monsters, too afraid that they’d cause a ruckus and attract attention.

You find a cave. It’s not much more than a hole between the cliff face and the ground, but it's a shelter at the very least. You tuck yourself into it eagerly, hoping that the unremarkable location will save you from waking up to a knife pointed at your face.

You wish you could say you slept well, but you woke up barely an hour later to the sound of something scraping against the dirt outside. You risk a peek, and immediately shriek and retreat to the back of the cave.

Just outside, trying to dig his way in, is Childe’s Foul Legacy form. You briefly send a thought to whatever powers that be, hoping you can somehow get out of this alive.

The man stops his scratching, face leaning down to peer into your burrow. You can’t see him, but you get the sense that Childe is smiling behind his mask.

“Wakey wakey, little impostor,” he sings, reaching in to claw at the walls of your hideout. “Come on, I wanna play a little before we bring you in!”

Just as he finishes saying that, he gives a strange choked noise and yanks his arm out of the hole, clutching at his head. You don’t question it, taking the opportunity to make a break for it. You hear a frustrated snarl behind you, and the sound of heavy footsteps quickly follows.

You don’t stick around to find out what happened.

You’re not sure which direction you’re going anymore, your sense of direction completely messed up now that you’re seeing Teyvat in person. As a result you’re not paying attention to where you’re going, which is a nice way to say you Wile E Coyote’d yourself straight off a cliff.

You let out an undignified shriek, limbs flailing as you plummet down toward the frothing ocean below. Is it better to drown than to be stabbed, you wonder? You glance over your shoulder and watch in dread as Childe leaps down after you, arms outstretched. You close your eyes, and pray it will be fast.

---

You open your eyes one at a time, mostly surprised you’re still alive to do so. You take quick stock of yourself, and find that you miraculously still have all your limbs and belongings. Next, you look around for-

There he is, sitting on a rock behind you. Childe watches in silence as you check yourself over, which you think is a little bit creepy. You wave hesitantly, offering a wonky smile.

“Your Grace,” a deep, raspy voice emits from Foul Legacy, definitely not Childe’s.

A little stupidly, you look around and behind yourself, before turning back to Foul Legacy and pointing at your own chest. The creature nods.

“We have been waiting.” it rumbles, standing up and walking toward you. It’s much more imposing now that you have a good look at it, and you shrink back instinctively. “Be not afraid, Your Grace. The people of Teyvat are ignorant of your status, but the Dark knows.”

“What… what does that mean?” you squeak as Foul Legacy finally stops in front of you, talons reaching up to gently caress your face. You freeze, unable to will yourself to move when you’re so close to getting your head sliced off.

“You are the true Creator,” Foul Legacy says, surprisingly patient. “It is difficult to tell, as your divine presence is faint, but those who know will recognize it immediately.”

The creature reaches into your pocket with its thumb and forefinger, pulling out your dead phone. It gives the phone to you, so you take it mutely. You watch as Foul Legacy activates Childe’s electro Delusion, tapping the black screen with one claw.

Immediately, your phone blinks to life.

“Woah! That’s useful,” you gasp, unable to help your surprise.

“Your divine focus, Your Grace,” Foul Legacy nods. At its encouragement, you open up the lockscreen.

It loads into the Genshin Impact game immediately, and the first thing you notice is the plethora of new buttons available to you. You look up at Foul Legacy curiously.

“Teyvat is yours to command,” it states, then stiffens and flexes its hands. “I cannot hold him at bay for much longer, this is where I take my leave.”

‘He’ must be Childe, trapped inside the living armor of Foul Legacy. Internally, you wince at how lowkey degrading that must be. You wave as Foul Legacy bounds up the cliff, taking Childe somewhere far away from you.

Once the creature is gone, you open your phone once more and stare at the new UI. Well, you think, might as well give it a shot.

Your thumb presses down on a button.

----- ⚘ -----

Memento Mori

Many people question how Tighnari can stand to be so close to you. He, who’s study in biology brought him into the light, into an affinity with all things life. Meanwhile you, who studied the same Amurta major as he did, delved into the field of sickness and decay and death.

You chuckle and close the icebox, letting the body of a departed grandmother rest before it is her time to be returned to the earth. As one of Sumeru’s few morticians, it’s your job to respect a good death, and to help the family in their time of suffering.

But there is also beauty, and life, in death. You see it every day, when people come to visit their loved ones at their gravesite. There is much love and sadness, yes, but there is blossoming and growth in it as well. They plant bushes and flowers to mark the resting places, and with each new shoot the visitors continue to grow as time passes.

Likewise, Tighnari knows that his job as a forest ranger is not just about preserving life, as much as he tries his best to keep fools on the right path. To preserve life, you must also respect death. The bodies of dead animals will feed their peers for days, and the decomposition of fallen trees will nourish the soil for years to come.

People don’t know how you and Tighnari can coexist so well, and it’s because they don’t realize that the two of you are each other’s perfect mirror. You balance each other out; where Tighnari is strict and hotheaded, you are patient and soothing. When Tighnari laments the decline of a species, you are the one who brings him the skull of their ancestors to show him that these creatures have come a long way and will persist under his care.

When the two of you come home after a long day apart, you share stories and gripes about your daily work, smushed together on your too-small couch and watching over Collei as she studies her letters.

“I had to stop a would-be explorer from wandering into the Withering zone again,” Tighnari sighs, his ear flicking down to brush the top of your head.

“Unfortunate,” you muse. “I’m assuming you succeeded, given you’re in a relatively good mood.”

“Oh, of course,” he waves his hand at the notion. “No thanks to the idiot’s lack of compass, or common sense. How about you? You are terribly lucky you don’t have to suffer fools the same way I do.”

“A grandfather who passed last week was visited today,” you tell him. “His family requested that he be cremated, and have given me a pouch of his late wife’s ashes to send with him on his final journey.”

“That’s very kind of them,” Tighnari replies, the pad of his thumb rubbing over the back of your hand. Despite your love and respect for your job, and how many requests and wishes you fulfilled, there is always a vague sense of melancholy that follows you home.

“His granddaughter will be enrolled in school this year,” you continue, holding his hand in yours. “Her father said she seems to take an interest in her grandfather’s old books. She likes the pictures.”

“The cycle keeps moving,” Tighnari nods. The two of you are distracted as Collei exclaims in joy, leaping up from where she’s sitting on the floor (and isn’t that amazing? She regains a bit of her strength every day) running to you to show you the perfect score she’d gotten from her homework.

Yes, many people question how Tighnari can stand to be so close to you, but who else besides you two can perfectly balance life and death?

#genshin modern au #genshin scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #vampire scaramouche #genshin isekai #genshin sagau #sagau #self aware genshin #genshin self aware au #sagau cult au #sagau impostor au #genshin childe #genshin foul legacy #foul legacy x reader #genshin tighnari #tighnari x reader #seabird.txt #birdy.thanks

[wild-karrde]

"The Price You Pay" by @dragonrider9905 is INCREDIBLE. Its only one part thus far, but it's thrilling and suspenseful and ALSO Hunter finding out the mc's secret while they're unconcious and instantly feel uber protective of them has me absolutely WEAK. AH.

Oooooooh a Fantasy AU!! I completely agree with you about the suspense and then Hunter IMMEDIATELY feeling and protective is just LOVELY! I adore how he’s so accepting of the fact that he didn’t know. A very cool concept! Thanks so much for sending it in!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

#FANDOM FRIDAY #creator appreciation #fic Rec #fanfiction #fan fic #Star Wars #the bad batch #tbb #fantasy au #hunter #hunter x reader #Hunter x oc