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kayjayjwrites · 26 days

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Like Bugs in a Rug: Chapter One

Summary: Azriel Shadowsinger, mysterious pretty boy extraordinaire himself, was head over heels in love with you for years. Everyone in the room could see it, except for you of course. A series of connected one-shots.

Chapter Word Count: 6,350

Chapter Content Warnings: fluff, some cursing, one bed trope, awkward but wholesome communication, AFAB Reader, Reader (You), some details about Reader's appearance but overall vague, canon plot spoilers as this is canon compliant-ish, reader low key being thirsty for Azzie

Note: Hello! Welcome to my first fic in like 10 years! This idea came about when I was having a hard time falling back asleep. I sometimes draft fanfiction when i'm trying to sleep. I don't often remember the plots come morning, but the memory of this one remained intact enough for me to jot down. I’m thinking this update is gonna be the longest chapter because it's both prologue and the first chapter, but I have terrible self control with word count limits. So I guess we’ll see what the next chapters bring, but they may be shorter!

Enjoy me 2am fugue state musings, there are likely typos~

It was all worth it. The decades of patience and silent suffering. The centuries of loneliness paying off just as you lost hope of ever leaving The Court of Nightmares. You and your father, Kier, expected a typical visit from the Inner Circle. The High Lord would threaten your father to keep him in line, you’d go unnoticed in the back of the throne room monitoring the interaction. Just like every other time they visited.

Except, the High Lord and his Inner Circle asked about you like you were the reason behind their visit. You had clocked the visit as odd as soon as only Rhysand, Feyre, and Mor arrived. The absence of both The General & Shadowsinger at the same time a rarity. Despite being related to Rhysand and Mor, you didn’t think they knew your name, so when they asked Kier about you, by name, your heart damn near fell out of your ass.

They wanted you to leave Hewn City to work with them. A Courtier of the Night Court, working alongside Nesta, Lady Death herself, of all people. They wanted you to start immediately now that the war with Hybern was over. Relations between Courts were strained, and upon learning of your talent, the High Lord deemed it a waste for you to be hidden away down here. He and the Inner Circle believed you did not belong in The Court of Nightmares. To anyone else, having the High Lord speak so highly of your child would have been an honor.

It was the most furious you’d ever seen Kier. Which was saying something. His emotions grew volatile in a blink of an eye, outraged by the absolute gall of the High Lord. How dare he come to his city and tell him that you weren’t meeting your full potential down here? At some point Kier stood up, snarling at Rhysand and the others like a wild animal. Kier, so lost in his anger, let his mental shields falter. Just for a second, but it was more than enough time for your powers to draw his wayward thoughts to you, like a magnet, his unspoken intentions seeped into your own mind. You were always terrible at blocking him out when he got like that.

Power. Kier's thoughts whispered to you. A spy for him in the Inner Circle. It disgusted you how predictable your father was, his intentions were always about how he could best use you for his own gain. It was the driving force behind your excessive training habits, desperate to protect yourself from the toxicity of his intentions. The more you failed at keeping him out, the more you hated him, and by default hated yourself.

Rhysand was right, you were wasted down here, and it wasn’t that your father didn’t see that, he didn’t care. He wasn’t furious with the High Lord for taking another daughter away from him, he was mad about losing a tool.

Well, your father could rot down here alone for all you cared.

You felt a lot of things in that moment. Intimidated by the prospect of working with Nesta, unsure of Mor’s morals and the rumors surrounding her, apprehensive of Rhysand and Feyre’s power, and not to mention all the unknown dynamics between the rest of the Inner Circle. But, despite all that uncertainty, you did not feel nervous about leaving Hewn City with them.

The first task Kier ever appointed you was to report on Rhysand and his Inner Circle’s intentions every time they visited. Either they all had flawless control over their mental shields, or their icy behavior was an act from the beginning. You never dared to share your suspicions with Kier, your father only wanted ammo for his hate, and he never took kindly to evidence that didn’t support his biases against High Lord Rhysand.

It felt a little too much like blind faith and a hunch for you to be 100% comfortable with the decision, but you decided to put your trust in these strangers anyway.

You would take the job.

Not to be a spy for Kier.

Not out of some duty to your High Lord or older sister.

It was time to live your life for you. Consequences be damned.

But, the focus of this story was not about moving to Velaris with Mor and getting to know the Inner Circle. It wasn’t about how much you rock as a diplomat for the Night Court. It wasn’t about how good it felt the first time sunlight touched your skin upon leaving the underground city. It wasn’t even about how you and Nesta became best friends. However good those stories may be.

However, this story is about Azriel Shadowsinger, and how the mysterious pretty boy extraordinaire himself, fell head over heels for you without you ever picking up on it. Yeah, that’s right, the girl who struggled to control her talent for hearing unspoken intentions never puzzled the pieces together. For literal years everyone else in the godforsaken room could tell the Spymaster was in love with you, except for you.

It all started with an argument with Rhysand a few assignments into your career as the Night Court Courtier. You felt like you could handle traveling between Courts without needing an escort, especially if you’d be meeting up with Nesta at the destination anyway. Rhysand did not agree, basically threatening to ground you if you didn’t allow someone to accompany you.

That was how Azriel had become your full-time travel partner. Rhysand appointed Azriel as an additional escort in case Nesta was pulled away.

You’d take this to your grave before ever admitting it, but Rhysand wasn’t wrong to be worried. There had been a good number of times where just that had happened. Nesta would be working the other side of the room, and having Azriel lingering nearby eased your nerves. Prythian was a vast Realm, and Rhys had been right in worrying about your adjustment.

It didn’t take too long for you to adapt once you had visited all the different Courts a few times. Yet, Azriel continued to go out of his way to accompany you to events. The first obvious sign of his affections for you came a couple years into your career.

The event was in a small Day Court town on the border of the Night Court, just under a day’s travel from Velaris on foot. Home to one of the libraries hit hardest by Amarantha’s looting, the entire town was celebrating the return of a sizable chunk of the stolen volumes. The gala was advertised to be a quaint dinner and cocktail hour. You suspected that scholars and book enthusiasts would be the bulk of those present. Although interested in going, Rhysand had High Lord duties to attend to that involved Nesta and the other Archeron sisters in the Summer Court. With a promise to fill everyone in on anything of interest, you packed a small overnight bag and waited for Mor to arrive home. You never developed the ability to winnow, so you needed someone to bring you.

Fussing with your hair in one of the numerous mirrors decorating Mor’s walls, you couldn’t help but smile at your reflection. Your time in Velaris, just over two years, had already begun to sooth a deep sadness you hadn’t realized had settled under your skin. It was obvious in the gentle way you gazed at your reflection, the healthy flush of your cheeks, and the warmth of your thoughts. Velaris looked good on you, and as you smoothed a hand down the shimmery sapphire blue fabric of the dress that clung to your curves, you thought the new formalwear looked good on you too.

Giddiness bubbled up in you at the idea of modeling the new dress for Mor. The excitement felt foreign still, after spending centuries believing Mor didn’t care to know her own little sister. You never thought you’d ever get the chance to gush over dresses with her. Kier hated everything Mor represented, and was cruel to her in ways that made you feel lucky in a perverse way. Your father may have manipulated and alienated you, filling your head with lies about your older sister, but it was never public. Kier made sure everyone in the Court of Nightmares knew that Mor was a useless whore and a traitor.

When Mor became a core member of the Inner Circle, and Rhysand put her in charge of Hewn City, you would wait for her to acknowledge you during her visits. Decades turned into a century, but the same hope would always rise up when Mor was due for a visit, only to be crushed when she ignored you. She never paid you a second of her time, just a fleeting look in passing as if you were another spectator. Knowing that she wasn’t ignoring you out of ill intent stung more, because you couldn’t bring yourself to hate her.

Kier may be your father, but that didn’t mean you had to be a fan of his intentions. You never believe the rumors he spread about Mor.

And then, the big reveal came. It turned out that to Mor, you were just another spectator. Mor didn’t know she had a younger sister at all. Keir hid you so well that no one realized you were related to him. A detail that made you feel so small when it came to light. You were just the shy woman in the background, taught to be pleasant when spoken to, a pretty little wallflower the rest of the time.

Later, when you asked about who first realized your identity, you got mixed accounts from the Inner Circle. Rhysand insisted that it was he who put the pieces together first. Stating that it came to him suddenly after Azriel submitted a report from a surveillance mission detailing an overheard conversation between you and Kier about your talents. Rhysand claimed that your powers reminded him of a variation of Mor’s. The rest of the Inner Circle credited Feyre for noting the resemblance between you, Kier, and The Morrigan the first time she noticed you loitering at the back of a council meeting.

When the truth was confirmed, and you agreed to go with them, Mor wept. She vowed to never leave you alone in The Court of Nightmares ever again, even for a second. That promise was your first experience with making a deal in the Night Court. Your clear surprise at the intricate tattoo that branded itself over the center of your sternum clued Mor, Rhysand, and Feyre in on how out of touch you were with common lore from your own Court. Mor wasted no time in winnowing you out of there after that. The both of you had heard enough of Keir’s nasty sneers and low-blow comments to last a lifetime.

Now, Mor’s cozy little home was also your cozy little home, if not a bit tight for two people. If someone asked you a decade ago if you thought you’d ever have a relationship with Mor you would advise them to seek out a healer.

And yet there you were, vibrating with things to tell her, anticipating her arrival with an almost goofy grin when…Azriel of all people winnowed into the living room.

Perplexed, but not totally disappointed, “Oh!” you said, clearly taken aback. “I was expecting Mor.”

Azriel huffed a low chuckle, dimples bracketing his amused half-smile. “Sorry to disappoint.”

You looked him over, dark circles under his eyes, droopy eyelids, posture leaning forward in a slight slouch. “Az, didn’t you just return from a long mission? Why aren’t you resting?”

“Wanted to escort you to the Day Court Library Gala, of course.”

The tenderness in his voice had warmth bubbling up from your chest. “That is very kind,” you started, making sure to meet his gaze so he knew you meant it, “but you look so tired, Az. I’ve visited the Day Court a bunch of times now and only need someone to winnow me there. As much as I enjoy having you accompany me to these things, I don’t want you to stretch yourself thin on my account. I’ve got this.”

“I know you’ve got this,” came his immediate reply, “as you’ve pointed out I’ve been gone for a few weeks. What if I offered to escort you because I missed you, hm?”

Despite yourself you felt a flush of heat in your cheeks at his teasing. You refused to use your powers on anyone in the inner circle, unwilling to violate their privacy without explicit consent. But you didn’t need your powers to read Azriel’s sincerity. It made it hard to meet his gaze, you turned back to running your fingers through your hair in the mirror, taking a moment to compose yourself. “Well alright then, I don’t think I can do anything more to tame my hair, we should be off then.”

You felt Azriel at your back, a gloved hand coming up to gently grasp your elbow, guiding your arm down as his hand trailed down the bare skin of your forearm to hold yours, turning you to face him. “Stop fussing, you look stunning, this dress is new, right? I think the color suits you.”

You smiled. “Thank you, I suppose you would like this color, now that I’m thinking about it,” with your free hand you held up the skirt of the floor length dress to the siphon on his wrist, marveling at the color match, “it looks like I did it on purpose.”

He hummed in acknowledgement as he pulled you closer into an almost embrace. “We should go now. Wouldn’t want to miss the opening speeches.”

You suppressed a shudder. Definitely from the way his breath tickled your ear, and not from the way his voice sounded as he tucked you into his chest. “You hate opening speeches.” You pointed out, remembering all the times he complained about how boring they were.

“I do, but you like them.” You’d never said as much aloud, but you did enjoy listening to people talk about things they were passionate about, and opening speeches tended to be just that. Of course the Spymaster had noticed.

If Azriel saw your smile before you hid your face against his leather-clad pec he didn’t let on. You pulled your hands free and looped your arms around his middle, clasping your fingers together under the base of his wings.

“I’m ready then, thank you for coming with me.” Your voice was muffled, unwilling to tilt your head up to talk to him in case your maddening blush was there. It didn’t seem to matter how many times you winnowed with Az, your whole face would go cherry red. Something Cassian never failed to poke fun at whenever he witnessed it.

Azriel wrapped his arms tightly around you, your body now flush to his. You focused on the sound of his wings rustling as he tucked them in closer. Anything to distract from the way your pulse spiked when you felt his lips brush against the crown of your head, his hold on you gentle, yet firm and protective as darkness folded around the both of you.

XxXx

Neither you nor Azriel realized the issue with your room reservation until much too late. Upon arrival in The Day Court the both of you hurried to the event. The gala wrapped up around midnight, and like most of the other guests staying in town, you and Azriel retired back to the nearby Inn. With your strappy heels in hand and a pleasant buzz from the alcohol, you felt positively bubbly. Paused in front of your room, you let Azriel rummage through the small black purse at your side for the key. After almost leading them into the wrong room, Azriel took it upon himself to find the correct room and unlock the door.

Minutes later you were still trying to suppress a smile at how Azriel reacted with such mortification when he realized you’d led them to the wrong room. The mental image of the great Shadowsinger so frantic in his efforts to stop you from further jostling the doorknob, had you letting out a laugh before you could stop it.

“It’s not funny.” He grumbled as he swung the wooden door to your room open, leading you inside. You were on the verge of poking fun at him some more when you caught a glimpse of the interior layout. Right, you had RSVP’d expecting to attend the gala alone. The realization sobered you up real fast.

The room was small, burgundy curtains concealing a sizable window, antique desk with tourist flyers stacked in a neat pile on top. A queen sized, four post bed situated in the middle of the room.

“I’ll take the floor—” Azriel started saying.

But you interrupted him. “—you should have the bed.”

“Absolutely not, what kind of gentleman would I be if I let a lady sleep on the floor while I hogged the whole bed.” He nodded, as if the conversation was over, and you had to fight the urge to roll your eyes at him.

“There’s not even enough space on the floor for you to stretch out Az. The room is basically only bed. It’s fine, I can use my extra clothes—”

You inhaled sharply, tensing at the thought of your overnight bag, left forgotten back at Mor's apartment. Your eyes darted to Azriel, meeting his gaze out of the corner of your eye, and you knew you didn’t need to say anything about it as he scoffed under his breath.

“You forgot your bag.” He observed.

Sighing, you ran a hand through your hair, your tight dress feeling like it was constricting around your chest as you contemplated sleeping in it. “I did indeed forget my bag.”

“We could just go back, we don’t have to stay here for the night.” Azriel pointed out, but the thought of cutting the trip short caused a ripple of disappointment to drop in your stomach.

“Or,” he continued with a hint of amusement, “I have an undershirt beneath my leathers. I changed before I met you at Mor’s, so it’s relatively clean. I was going to sleep in it tonight, but I would sacrifice my shirt for you if it meant you’d stop frowning like that.”

If you thought you were anxious before, Azriel’s suggestion sent your anxiety through the roof. You had always found Azriel attractive, even when you were still living in Hewn City. Who wouldn’t? That attraction grew into a bit of a crush when you first arrived in Velaris. He treated you with such care as you adjusted to living above ground, quiet, patient, and thoughtful.

Once it was apparent that you would be working closely with him you shut that shit down. You and him had spent a lot of time traveling together the last few years, always with separate sleeping arrangements, and never sharing clothing. You went out of your way to respect his privacy, give him space, all in hopes of being someone he one day could trust, like how you trusted him.

You could handle one night, sharing a bed, borrowing his shirt. That wouldn’t totally backfire on you in any way, right? Nodding to yourself once, you tried for an air of confidence as you talked around the nerves that have bloomed in your chest.

“Okay,” you agreed, “but if I change into your shirt you definitely can’t take the floor. I won’t let you sleep shirtless on the ground while I’m all tucked in and cozy in bed. I’ll only take up a sliver of it by myself anyway.”

He opened his mouth to object, his intentions written in the way his brow furrowed at you. But you barreled on anyway, “So, we share the bed tonight. Are you comfortable with that?”

His mouth snapped shut, eyes studying you for a tense moment as if you may be tricking him. You clasped your hands together in front of you, the longer you waited for him to respond the clammier your palms felt. Each second felt like an eternity and in no time at all you found yourself scrambling for a way to play off your idea as a joke.

Of course he wouldn’t want to share a bed with you. What in the world had you been thinking?

Maybe you could blame it on that deliciously fizzy drink you downed before leaving the gala, say you weren’t in your right mind. Pretend to not remember in the morning, as if this wasn’t going to be a moment you cringe about decades later. Would you be able to just laugh it off? Would Azriel be chill enough to let you live this down? You were probably so screwed.

He was still a little tense, but just before your panic truly took root Azriel began to nod his head like he...agreed with you?

“Yes, I think that is the most logical solution. The bed can definitely fit two.” Azriel finally said, and you tried to keep yourself from gaping at his response. But your surprise must have been all over your face because he went on to say, “I didn’t suggest it myself because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Wiping your hands down the front of your dress did little to help with the sweat. The pit that had been taking form in your stomach churned, your dread morphing into jittery nerves.

Then, as if you weren’t having a nervous breakdown right in front of him, the handsome lunatic started striping his leathers off. Dept hands tossing his gloves to the desk, he unclasped the chest pieces of his leathers, they fell to the floor with a thud. Then, the promised black undershirt was up over his head, and you were drinking in all his tattoos and corded muscles like you were a tactless teenager instead of a 300+ year old female.

A flash of movement from him, and you flinched when his shirt hit you square in the face. It was so big it draped over your head. You made a disgruntled noise, ignoring how delicious the shirt smelled as you removed it from your face, “Hey—!”

“If you’re done gawking at me like you’ve never seen a shirtless male, you can get ready for bed first.” He headed further into the room, collecting his chest piece off the floor and approaching the desk to place it with his gloves. He turned to face you, his butt propped against the desk as he gestured to the door his wingspan had been blocking from view. He crossed his arms over his bare chest, flexing his biceps, and you almost swooned at the sight. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Your fist tightened around the shirt, fighting the urge to toss it back at him out of spite. Embarrassment felt like hot iron under your skin, so instead you snapped your attention to the door he had pointed out–the bathroom. You knew you’d averted your gaze much too fast to seem unaffected by him. He chuckled, and you glowered at him as his head tilted to the side, watching you with a bemused expression. He looked about ready to comment further, but you waved him off with faux-annoyance and an exaggerated roll of your eyes. Clutching his shirt close to your chest, you escaped into the bathroom.

Subtle.

Pressing your back to the door, it closed under your weight. You paused there for a moment to focus on your breathing, your frazzled mind going a mile a minute. This was all so far out of your comfort zone, it wasn’t even funny. You never had to deal with handsome males in The Court of Nightmares, Kier didn’t let you socialize long enough for it to even be on your radar. Dating hadn’t quite made your list of top priorities upon arriving in Velaris either.

What little experience you did have was with a male named Allistair. You’d met him at Rita’s within your first year above ground. It was a fling of sorts that lasted a few months before you decided casual dating wasn’t for you. He was a perfectly adequate lover. At least you think he was. He was also your only lover. A nice enough companion as you acclimated to your new life. The times you had been intimate with that male had left you feeling…bereft. Seeing Allistair shirtless had been nothing like seeing Azriel shirtless.

And Azriel calling you out for ogling him so blatantly? Mother have mercy.

So now you were just expected to fall asleep next to him wearing his shirt after that? The situation almost made you want to laugh at the absurdity of it all. The last thing you wanted was to draw his suspicion by loitering against the door for too much longer, so you moved to the sink. Maybe splashing lukewarm water on your face would reveal that this had all been a weird ass nightmare.

Cupping water into your face a couple more times, you took in the smeared makeup dripping down your face in the mirror. Definitely not a dream.

Azriel was going to think you were in love with him for fucksake.

Snatching the nearby hand towel from the rack on the wall you soaked it, and got to work on scrubbing your face clean. You had to have a little more faith in Azriel. He wouldn’t let a single weird moment ruin over two years of amicable teamwork. But your personal relationship with him felt fragile to you at best. You can't let some tattoos and abs mess up what you considered to be the most solid friendship you’d made among the Inner Circle.

So what if he was hot as hell? You could co-exist with attractive people, it was legit a part of your job. You could salvage the situation, just change out of the dress you accidentally matched to the colors of his siphons, put his shirt on that smelled so strongly of him it gave you a headrush, and face him like you hadn't just been drooling over him.

You know, simple.

The hem of his t-shirt landed just above your knees, and the comfort you found in it was criminal. The black fabric was very soft and so baggy that you worried the wing slits in the back would shift forward in your sleep. It could reveal a little more than what you’d considered 'tasteful side boob'.

Resisting the urge to fuss in the mirror (because it wasn't like you were trying to look cute for anyone, right?), you exited the bathroom clean faced and a bit more settled than when you had entered.

Your bravado, however, was short lived. Azriel faced away from you in only his underwear, the rest of his leathers added to the pile on the desk. He was organizing his various knives on the bedside table closest to the main door.

He looked over his shoulder at you. Totally not catching you checking out his butt in the tight underpants. Cauldron boil you. Would it be weird if you marched yourself back into the bathroom to try the whole “not affected by sexy, almost nude Illyrian warrior” thing again?

Azriel inhaled sharply, and you snuck a glance at him. His attention was back on his knives, but there was a tension to him, almost like he was brooding. There might have been a light blush over his cheeks, but you felt weird analyzing him anymore than you already had out of habit. You clocked the change in his body language for what it was the instant he saw you in his shirt. Clenched jaw, tense shoulders, spine ramrod straight, wide eyed before averting his gaze, elevated heart rate–classic signs of attraction. Reactions he clearly didn’t want you to notice.

"I'm taking this side." He informed almost absently, patting the mattress. Leaving you with the window side.

You wandered to the desk to avoid observing him further, wishing that you could turn off the part of you that always seemed to be prying for more information. And then you felt it, his thoughts getting louder, his emotions growing wilder, reaching out to you. You slammed your mental shields up hard, a gross feeling taking root when it was too late.

Protect. Azriel’s intentions conveyed to you. Protect. Comfort. Provide. Here you were invading his private thoughts without his knowledge, while he was concerned with your wellbeing. What was the point of all that effort Rhysand put into teaching you how to better control your mental shields? It never worked when you needed it most. The failure stung, and you had to busy yourself with folding your dress in a neat square so you had something to keep your hands from shaking.

It was quiet for too long, and you struggled with recalling what he had said to you before you’d lost control. Something about the bed. "Sounds good to me." You decide on saying, placing your dress next to his leathers.

Azriel didn’t seem to find your reply out of the ordinary. Small mercies.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, then." His voice was rougher than before, and it sent chills down your spine. As soon as you heard the bathroom door click shut you scurried into bed. You couldn’t get under the covers fast enough, pulling the blankets up to your neck with a hefty sigh of relief.

It felt awesome to be laying down after such a long evening on your feet. Too bad you couldn’t enjoy it more, instead drowning under waves of shame. Maybe you’d never get a full handle on your powers. Maybe the Mother was teaching you a lesson in this life? You couldn’t fathom what the moral could be. You wanted more than anything to be able to mind your business.

You wished you could turn your brain off. Alas, even your guilt couldn’t stop you from reflecting and organizing what you’d just observed. Not only had you heard his intentions, but you also felt them. Unlike the sweet warmth of his thoughts, his gaze had felt like desire and bad decisions.

He didn’t seem like he was actively seeking to bed you. You reasoned that you were also an available female wearing nothing but his shirt and a pair of panties. You could only imagine how all of that must have chafed against his Illyrian instincts. Rhysand had once mentioned that Illyrians were possessive and protective at best, controlling and jealous at their worst.

Surely those possessive instincts were what you were picking up on, then. You were covered in his scent after all. That was the only logical explanation for his reaction, his instincts were telling him to protect you because you were vulnerable and wearing his clothing. Even if it didn’t quite sound right to you, it was the only explanation you were willing to entertain. You were barely friends, there was no way Azriel wanted to court you. The thought sent a fleeting pang of disappointment through you that you refused to examine.

Whatever. There wasn’t anything you could do to make the situation less messy right now. You were exhausted, and stewing on scenarios that would never amount to anything real was unlike you.

Snuggling further into the sheets, you decided it was best to just pretend you hadn’t noticed shit. The damage was done, Azriel wasn’t dumb, he at least knew he had flustered you. You weren’t going to draw any more attention to that tonight. Or tomorrow. Or ever. Everything about this night was a fluke.

Azriel returned from the bathroom, and you kept your focus on fluffing your pillows. Sitting up you tossed an extra pillow onto the floor, and you could feel as soon as his eyes landed on you that some of his…instincts…were still acting up. You pulled the comforter back up to your neck as he got into bed next to you. Turning on your side to face him you were determined to be normal. No more awkward gawking allowed tonight.

He stretched his arms up above his head, his joints popping a million times as he groaned in relief. You couldn't help chuckling at him, the fearsome Shadowsinger of the Night Court, doing something so mundane.

Scooting further onto the bed, Azriel rolled over to meet your gaze, his wings tucked close to his back as he settled. Most of his wingspan spilled over the side of the bed anyway. He surveyed you, eyes lingering along your tired but genuine smile, and you saw the stern tenseness slowly leave his body. "You sure you're comfortable with this?" He asked.

Your smile turned a tad warmer. This male was just so kind, so different from what you knew in Hewn City. "I am, I trust you Azriel." It was the truth. You didn't have friends growing up, and although you may have a long way to go before Azriel truly called you his friend, you considered him a dear (sexy) friend.

Your words seem to settle something in him, and you could have sworn you saw something almost affectionate flash across his face. You blink, and it's gone, but the fuzzy feeling it left in your chest remains.

Like he sensed your mushy thoughts, he ruined the moment. "So I have to ask you something, it’s serious.”

Your brows raised in bemused interest, the scenario with him wishing to court you snapping to the forefront of your mind again. He’d always been very attentive to you, but in a worried protective way. You’d never picked up on any romantic intentions from him before, and he’s not the type to make a decision like that on a whim. The chance was small, but you couldn’t 100% rule out him wanting to ask you out. Could you say no to him? Would you even want to say no? You’d never considered this as an option before!

He held your gaze, as if for dramatic effect and then with the seriousness of a top notch spymaster he asked you, “You have seen a shirtless male before...right?"

Maybe it was a mistake to consider this male kind, he was a menace all along.

You had never rolled your eyes so hard at someone. Unbelievable.

Turning away from him with enough force to toss your hair in his face, you are rewarded with the sound of his indignant grunt.

"Can you turn the light off please?" You snap, unable to rein in your annoyance. Unsettled by how it tasted almost like rejection.

"You didn't answer my question." He goaded, and you fell right for it.

"Yeah, because it's a silly question." You fire back.

He hummed at your response, "Doesn't seem like you think it's a silly question."

You would rather swallow your own tongue than admit to Azriel that you’d seen shirtless males, but he had been the first you’d enjoyed seeing shirtless.

Done with the line of questioning, you blindly flung your arm back, swatting at him. He startled at the contact, and he exhaled a scoff when you didn't stop flopping your arm at him after the first blow.

He caught your wrist, stilling your flailing. "Fine, fine, I'll drop it," He let go of your wrist, “for now.”

You shifted to burrow further into your pillows, totally not dwelling on how his big hand wrapped around your wrist made you feel dainty. The texture of his scars hadn’t made your heart skip a beat either. Nope. Not at all.

"Could you shut the light off please." You asked again with more venom than you intended. It bothered you how easy this male could get under your skin. He wasn’t even trying.

You felt his weight shifting, the bed frame squeaking a bit as he moved. "Anything for you, Princess." He shuffled a little more, and then the light went off, casting the both of you in darkness.

The nickname made you grimace into your pillow. No one had ever called you that before, and you really didn’t want it to catch on.

You felt him return to the position on his side facing you. Some moments passed in loud silence, and although you were the one that let the conversation drop, the residual tension in the room was killing you. There was no way you would be able to fall asleep, and you would bet that Azriel was stewing in the tension too.

"Az?" You whispered. His response was quick like he’d been waiting on edge for you to speak, "Yes?"

"Goodnight." And you found yourself meaning it. You hoped he got some sleep tonight despite the turmoil he had so effortlessly sowed in your stomach with his teasing. The prick.

You could practically hear the mischief in his voice. "Sleep well, princess."

Ugh. Your stomach coiled, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. Very dangerous. It was an inappropriate reaction, and you wrote it off as stress. However as hard as you wished to forget it, you wouldn’t be forgetting how Azriel had made you feel that night anytime soon.

Even your racing thoughts couldn’t stop sleep from finding you, putting you out of your misery.

And if you woke up to the sounds of song birds that morning, your face pressed against Azriel's neck, your body sprawled atop him while he slept on his back, then that was your business. No one would know if you relished being in his arms a few minutes longer than necessary. You wouldn’t confirm nor deny if one of his hands had looped through a wing hole of his borrowed shirt, his fingers resting just under your breast.

And so what if it had been the best sleep you'd gotten since leaving Hewn City. And if Azriel seemed more well rested than usual on your return to the Night Court, you certainly didn't notice that either.

XxXx

Next Chapter

#azriel x reader #acotar #azriel x you #friends to lovers #slow burn #one bed trope #one shot #one shot series #azriel #my writing #kayjaywrites #like bugs in a rug

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thelonelyshore-if · 2 months

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DEMO

Update Wordcount: 59,904 Total Wordcount: 114,296

Finally, the chapter one (part one) update is here! I've been fighting tooth and nail against my own perfectionism, but my partner assures me that the chapter is good and I think I'm finally happy with where it's at. In this update you can:

Wake up!

Have a conversation with your host (Jay, Ravi, or Dr. Jones)

Go for a drive!

Return to the lake, or check out a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

Eat Breakfast! Meet Beck & Perri!

And that's it, nothing else weird will happen at all, I promise <3

There's a good amount of branching in this one. Three starts, two distinct middle paths, and it all comes together at the end. Because of that it might feel a little shorter than its almost 60k words (somehow the edit made it longer this time???), but I'm feeling good with the length.

Apologies in advance, but you'll need to start a fresh save for the update. I ended up changing the variables in the prologue quite significantly. Additionally, the content warnings page has been updated for chapter one, part one, and can be found here. Feedback is always welcome! My askbox is open, and the forum post for the WIP is another great place for feedback. That can be found here. Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy!

#interactive fiction #updates #the lonely shore #the lonely shore if #if updates

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violetsrxse · 3 months

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Just How I Remember - Azriel x Rhysand's Sister!Reader

Summary: After 50 years of being trapped Under the Mountain you, your brother and Prythian are finally free of Amarantha's rule. After all the suffering, you finally get to return to not only your home, but also your mate.

Warnings: Mentions of UTM, just some angsty fluff ig.

Word Count: 1,442

A/N: This is my first ever piece that I have ever posted and the first thing I've written in a while, so I'm a bit nervous. I'm thinking of making this into a series though and tbh this is more of a prologue than anything. It's a bit shorter than I would've liked but I'm still getting back into the feel of writing.

Amarantha’s reign was over, she was dead.

It was a lingering thought as you walked through the halls of what was once Prythian’s sacred mountain, now a hollow shell, the walls imbued with the agonised screams of Amarantha’s victims.

Your mind wandered to the time before this mess had occurred. Before you and so many others had been deceived and caged like animals, reduced to cattle under a sadistic monster's rule.

After walking for some time you reached a spiral staircase, venturing upwards, closer and closer to the light that filtered through an opening in the rock. You reached the top, being met with a doorway carved into the stone, leading to a balcony overlooking the forest surrounding the mountain.

Amarantha hadn’t let you leave, not even once. For fifty years you hadn’t been anywhere but under the tons of rock.

Walking through the door, you took a deep breath of the fresh air, your eyes stinging slightly at the brightness.

You couldn’t remember the last time you saw the sun. The sweet warmth of its rays on your skin, the leathery membrane of your wings. Couldn’t remember the feel of the wind as it brushed the hair over your neck, your shoulders.

You gazed in the direction of Velaris, though so far away, you could almost see it. The distant memory of the beautiful snow capped mountains, the bustling streets of the city that you and your brother gave everything to protect. You’d be returning soon, you’d be home.

You hadn’t yet worked up the courage to tug on the bond in your chest, the nerves had gotten the best of you. You knew it was irrational to be nervous, knew he’d be happy with just knowing you were okay. Alive. It had been so long since you closed down the bond, shutting him out. Not only for his safety, but also your sanity, not wanting him to know the horrors you had been subject to.

What you had been made to do to others.

It wouldn’t be long before Rhysand was finished meeting with the other High Lords and you would both winnow home at last.

Your mind spun, recalling all that had happened in the past three months. The arrival of the human girl, her undying determination to save her love. Your brother’s growing interest in her, the way he’d tried to protect her. He hadn’t yet told you anything about why he’d done it.

But you had a good idea of what it was.

He was your twin after all, he was basically an open book.

The sun was high in the sky by the time Rhysand appeared at your side, looking to you before furrowing his brows in concern. Taking your face in his hands, your brother wiped tears you hadn’t even realised were falling from your cheeks.

“Don’t cry,” he said softly, pulling you into his chest. “It’s over now, we’re going home.”

Sniffling, you wrapped your arms around him, willing your tears to cease.

“I know, it's just been so long since I’ve been outside,” pulling away you trained your attention back on the scenery before you. “I’d forgotten how good the sun feels.”

He stayed silent, tucking you into his side. For several moments, you simply watched the clouds go by.

Rhys broke the silence, “Let’s go home.” His words were rushed as if he couldn’t stand one more moment away from home, from your family. You couldn’t either.

Nodding, you took his hand before night swirled around you, jarring but familiar.

And before you knew it, you were home.

𓆩♡𓆪

Velaris was as beautiful as you remembered.

When the darknesses whorled away and your sight was no longer blocked, you got an undisrupted view of the city you had missed so much. The sounds around you faded away as you beheld the people walking the streets, free to live safely. Untouched.

With your gaze fixed on the rainbow, the Sidra. You didn’t sense the presence of several people entering the room before a warm hand was pressed to your shoulder.

Released from your stupor you whipped around, a set of hazel eyes meeting your own violet ones. There were tears there, primed to fall down his tanned cheeks.

Without a moment's hesitation, you were flinging yourself into his arms, gripping tightly to him as heart wrenching sobs tore their way from deep in your chest. Arms wrapped tightly around you, supporting your weight as your knees gave out under you.

His soft voice broke through the onslaught of your cries, a hand brushing over your back. You only gripped him tighter.

It seemed like forever before you finally gathered the strength to pull your face from his chest, meeting his eyes once more. Your lip trembled as those gentle, scarred thumbs brushed the tears from your cheeks.

Words escaped you as his eyes scanned over your face, taking note of every new scar. The flicker of rage in his eyes was short lived as you brought your own hands to his face, smoothing over his skin. He was the first to speak, his voice uncharacteristically shaky.

“My love.” Was all he said before tugging you back into his chest, brushing his nose against your hair, inhaling your scent.

“I missed you so much,” you finally managed to choke out, “I thought I’d never see you again.” The sentence ended with a hiccup of a sob, it only made him wrap his arms tighter around you.

Up until this point, the others had given you the privacy to reunite with your mate, leaving the room with Rhys in tow. You hadn’t even noticed.

Pulling away slightly, you looked up at him again. His eyes first, then his lips. He understood immediately, leaning closer slowly before pressing his lips to yours in a soft kiss. Brows pinching together with the effort of keeping your tears at bay you kissed him back, fingers drifting into the hair at his nape.

You held him, relishing in the closeness you were deprived of for half a century. Never wanting to pull away you kept kissing him, but he kept it soft as if he were scared to break you.

After what felt like several minutes you finally pulled away, regaining your ability to speak.

“Azriel.” You whispered, near unbelieving that he stood before you.

“Y/N.” He answered with a small smile on his face you hadn’t seen apart from in your dreams in such a long time.

You can’t help but smile back at him and though it is small, it makes him beam nonetheless. Finally pulling away from each other you remember the rest of your friends- your family.

“Where is everyone?” You inquire, scanning over the space around you. The soft crackle of the fire in the hearth, the faelight spread throughout the room creating a warm atmosphere, the couches situated in a crescent shape for weekly game nights. It was the exact same as you remembered, as if it hadn’t been touched since you left.

Perhaps it hadn’t.

Watching you closely as you take in your surroundings, Azriel answers “They wanted to give us a moment alone,” A pause “they didn’t want to overwhelm you. Rhys went with them.”

Nodding, you just now acknowledge the low voices flowing from the other side of the door, leading to the kitchen. You smile fondly at the slightly louder voice, it was Cassian.

Walking over to the door you open it, smiling as you take in your family. Mor in her usual red, Amren in her grey set and Cassian clad in the Illyrian leathers that may as well be moulded to his skin at this point.

It’s Mor who reaches you first, pulling you into a bone crushing hug that you quickly reciprocate. Followed by Cassian, picking you right up off the ground in a bone crushing embrace. Even Amren hugs you briefly, the only sign of her relief.

Azriel stands close to you, a fond smile on his face and a barely there pinch to his eyebrows that most would miss with a glance. It concerns you, but you understand the guilt that he and the rest of the Inner Circle must feel. Over what you and Rhys had done to protect them, what you would’ve done until your last breath as long as it meant that they were safe.

Rhys waits until you part before a serious expression washes over his face, his eyes hollow. You know that he’s going to say something to sour the mood, and that he’s feeling guilty to have to do so.

You understand though, because it isn’t over.

#azriel x reader #azriel shadowsinger #acotar #azriel acotar #acotar fanfiction #just as I remember #azriel angst #azriel fluff

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vapolis · 6 months

Text

You’re a mercenary, gun for hire, assassin, information extractor, delivery person – call it what you want, because the people that hire you for your services don’t give much of a shit what you call yourself as long as you actually get them what they want.

Your last delivery ended with you – or rather the body you have decided to take over that day – as well as your delivery getting killed. The boss is pissed now and demands you fix your mistake or else you’ll be a head shorter. Not really a look you think you can pull off so you set out to fix what you fucked up, if it just weren’t for that mask wearing asshole that wants to cut your adventure – and life from the looks of it – short.

REMEMBER, YOU WILL DIE is an interactive novel playing in the fictional city Vapolis, where you take on the job as a mercenary with a very special ability, looking to find out who has their deadly sights set on you.

gender & sexuality choice

five unique romance options, including one whose gender you can decide

a club called saints & sinners (yes, really) that becomes your second home

and the choice to wear heart-shaped sunglasses all day and if that doesn’t interest you, I don’t know what will

ORLA [ female ] your boss and the owner of the saints & sinners. orla has been around for as long as you can remember, always working from the safety of her club und gathering as much dirt on people as she can get her hands on. she never tells you what she does with the info she has, but if you know her at all, you can guess why no one tries to run her off the streets of vapolis.

JAX [ male ] as bouncer of the saints & sinners and right hand man of orla, jax knows what is going on in the dark underbelly of the city. he is the man you call when it is time to get rid of a body or you need extra firepower, seeing he is almost as mysterious as he is good with a gun in his hands.

ROYAL [ non-binary ] royal is a little bit of everything. bartender and hacker, they know how to track you down wherever you are. often underestimated, they have learned to see the positives in flying under the radar and are incredibly good with a SocialLink in their hands and a couple of minutes of uninterrupted time.

DANTE/DELILAH [ gender cust. ] only having recently met them in this life, you are not yet quite sure what to think of them. there’s a certain darkness in their mismatched eyes you grow to recognize in your own.

ECHO [ non-binary ] as the arms dealer of your choice, echo has been around quite a lot. their shop has become somewhat of a safe haven to you when jobs got too much, or you simply needed Intel no one else offered for the right price. their disdain for anything orla or the saints & sinners isn't lost on you, though, and it's a mystery you hope to uncover sooner rather than later

THE MERC [ main ch. ] taking on the role as the merc in vapolis, you are somehow infamous for your approach to jobs and are never out of work. you might be a terrifying character on the streets of vapolis, but you’re by far not the deadliest.

prologue + chapter one, two & three

126k

DEMO - PLAYLIST - FAQ - CHARACTERS - FORUM

#remember you will die #rywd #interactive fiction #choice of games #if wip #**mine

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back2bluesidex · 3 months

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Where Do Broken Hearts Go - Chapter 4 (18+)

Pairing: Model, ex-boyfriend!Jungkook X Child psychologist, Fem!Reader X Lawyer, Single Dad!Hoseok.

Summary: Jungkook stripped your emotions naked, left you bare in the chilly wind of despair and self-doubt with an unending heartache. You tried your hardest to move on from him, to live for yourself but failed miserably. Each night you had to come back to your empty home where memories and broken dreams were scattered all around the floor, until one day a little angel and her unbelievably beautiful father came into your life. Finally, when you find yourself healing, maybe falling too, Jungkook had to show up! Again!

Theme: Angst, pining, heartbreak, break-up, implied smut

Warnings: Mentions of school bullying, multiple pov changes, the budding tension is everything.

Word count: 3.2k

Taglist requests are closed.

Minors and karens are not allowed in this blog

A/N: sorry for being so late and still coming up with a shorter chapter. but we progressed a lot in this!!

Main Masterlist

Chapters:-

Prologue/Masterpost || Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7 - Finale

A wave of nausea hits your gut as soon as you step into the elevator.

Your eyes are full to the brim but you are determined not to let a single tear slip, not for the man who invalidated you and your feelings by falling for someone else. So you laugh instead.

A sarcastic, loud laugh escapes your throat as you realize you have spent the better part of your day trying not to run into him but you failed. Just like you failed the relationship and just like Jungkook failed your love.

Shutting your eyes tight, you take in deep breaths.. One, two, three.

You have a session, Y/N.You can’t let your personal issues unsettle you now. You tell yourself again and again until the elevator touches the ground.

And then your eyes fall on him as soon as you exit the building.

Hoseok looks beautiful today. He is sporting a purple floral shirt, which might have looked bizarre on anyone else, with baggy jeans and a cute bucket hat. He regards you with his signature heart shaped smile and a wave upon seeing you.

Right then and there, you feel your heart being repaired. You feel as if your fresh wounds have been cleaned and stitched.

Your heart thumps in your chest as you realize, all your distress just vanished with just one smile from Hoseok. One look at him and you completely overcame the negative feelings that you had been suffering from since coming across Jungkook.

You also realize that Jung Hoseok is most definitely different from the other guardians of your counselees. He is more, much more than you are proud of admitting.

“Hey” Hoseok chimes in. His eyes fall on yours and they gradually dip down to your collarbones and then to your cleavage.

Heat settles on your face. You hope you are not appearing to be too flushed.

“Hi.” you reply when you find his eyes locking into yours again. But he doesn’t smile this time, rather there is a tinge of darkness inside his brown orbs. The tension is palpable. So much so that you had to divert your eyes and look at the car.

“Let’s go.” Hoseok murmurs, you nod.

And then he places his hand on the small of your back, guiding you towards his car. Goosebumps travel all around your body. God! Were you always this sensitive? Or is it because you have been touched deprived for so long now?

Or is it because of the man himself?

You try not to show any difference in your posture. Walking steadily you reach the car and settle on the passenger seat.

Sua breaks into a big smile seeing you and greets you with her usual cheery voice. When you greet her back and take her in you realize that this father-daughter duo is twinning.

“Oh my- You guys look adorable!” you giggle reaching out to pat Sua’s head through the small-sized bucket hat she is wearing.

“You are twinning too! Your dress has flowers just like ours!” Sua exclaims and her voice is a pure serotonin boost, you can’t help laughing out loud.

“Well” you take a look at your dress, “I guess you are not wrong.”

Feeling a pair of eyes on your figure again, you look up and you find Hoseok staring down at you again. Even though he diverts his eyes, you still feel the weight of his gaze on your chest.

“The audition though.. Is in the US” Jungkook sighs. His face finds the hollow space created by his palms. His shoulders drop and he feels as if his career is approaching an end.

“And?” You place your question carefully.

He sighs again, “You know, Y/N. I can’t afford flying all the way to the states!”

“But we can.” there is a small smile lingering on your lips.

“What do you-”

“What I mean is, Jungkook, you pay as much as you can, I can take care of the rest.” leaning towards him, you place a sweet kiss on his cheek.

“But, Y/N, I- I don’t wanna be a burden on you.” the words choke on his throat but his mind eases as he looks into your eyes.

“Kook” you hold both of his hands with both of yours, “It’s okay to ask for help, especially from the people you love and who love you back. I am a part of your life now, we have a long way to go together, so you can pay me back anytime you want. Okay?”

Jungkook’s heart soars and soars and soars in his chest. His emotions spill through his eyes and you wipe those ever so gently.

When he locks his lips with yours, you taste like forever.

He is such a traitor. He left the person who was with him through thick and thin.

When you got three different offers from three different clinics, he only got rejected in auditions. When you started sending money to your parents every month, his agency got bankrupt. When you reached new heights everyday, jungkook only fell lower and lower.

But you never once looked down on him, never once treated him like the inferior one he was. Rather you are the reason why he is at his current position. But he couldn’t pay you back.

He failed.

He fell.. For someone else.

And it’s only justified for you to hate him but still the thought only stings him, it angers him, unsettles him.

But more than everything… It hurts him. And he doesn’t know if he is brave enough to find out the reasons.

“Jungkook! Jeon Jungkook! Are you even listening to me?” Jimin’s scream brings Jungkook back to reality.

“Yes? Yes. Yes I am listening.” He tries to overview the situation, trying to find out what the elder has been talking about.

“No you are not. This is the third time I have asked you if you want me to pack some kimchi or not.” Jimin fusses standing on the opposite side of the kitchen counter. His eyes suggest the fact that he has a very clear idea about what’s going on inside Jungkook’s head. “You are thinking of her, aren’t you?”

“You should definitely pack some kimchi for me.” Jungkook ignores Jimin’s question, completely changes the topic.

The elder only nods, deciding not to pry anymore.

Never in a million years you would have known that a bakery can be this fancy.

But then… you met the Jung duo.

The sweet aroma of buttery goodness envelops your senses as you step inside.

The vanilla scent perfectly matches with the white interior of the bakery and you are forced to think if you're underdressed for a bakery session or not.

Sua tugs at your hand when she sees you scanning the place with utmost attention.

"Is it your first time here?" She asks sweetly.

"Yes. Never thought bakeries could look this fancy." You giggle a little.

When your eyes fall ahead, you find a young waitress guiding Hoseok towards your table.

Maybe he had reserved a table earlier.

The table is situated at a nice cozy corner of the bakery, which is good since you're here to counsel Sua and it's better to keep things within an invisible barrier.

Hoseok has been trying.

He has been trying his hardest to keep his eyes away from you, to keep it on only your face when it’s needed but oh boy!

It’s not his fault that you are looking so gorgeous today or the fact that your dress has a low neck or that it is fitting you like a glove emphasizing your body curves more than he can take in innocently.

It’s not his fault that he caught your eyes shining when those fell onto his, or the way you smiled at him a little intimately today. He doesn’t know how his thoughts or observations make sense but here he is feeling like a giddy teenager getting to share a desk with his crush for the very first time.

“Mr. Jung and baby Sua, how are you doing today?” It's the waitress who usually attends them during their visit.

Hoseok smiles at her and she smiles back wider than needed.

“We are doing fine, Ms. Shin, what about you?” he returns the courtesy.

“Same here. You have got a friend today, I see.” she now regards you, taking a good look at you from head to toe.

You smile at her kindly but refrain from saying anything.

“Yeah we do. About the order please go as usual for me and Sua and” he looks at you and finds you captivating yet again, “what about you, Y/N?”

“Just a cup of hot chocolate please with a side of marshmallows.”

“Sure” the waitress notes down your order with another weird glance and you notice it this time.

Sua starts giggling as soon as she leaves, when you two look at her she stifles her laugh with one of her tiny hands and says, “she thinks you are daddy’s girlfriend. She is offended. She thought she could flirt with him forever.”

If Hoseok is seeing things right then you are blushing. Your cheeks and the tip of your ears turn red as Sua mentions you as Hoseok’s girlfriend.

Honestly, he ain’t doing any better. Hoseok feels as if someone has uncaged ten million butterflies in his stomach. He can’t help staring at you yet again.

“So shall we play a game till the food arrives?” You break the tension by finally starting with your session.

“Game? Here? Right now?” Sua enquiries innocently.

“Yeah. Let's play a word game. I will name a word and you will have to tell me the first thing or person that comes to mind. okay?”

“Wow, that sounds fun!” Sua replies expectantly.

“So, let’s start. I will go first and ask you five words, then you can do the same.” hoseok sees you preparing for a bit and then finally uttering the first word, “favorite”

“Blueberry!” Sua answers immediately.

You chuckle, “Oh! So blueberry is Sua’s favorite fruit, I see.” pausing for a bit you say, “happy”

“Drawing” sua’s reply comes within an instant again.

“Great. Love?”

“Daddy” Hoseok’s heart fills at his daughter’s answer. He smiles on his own as his eyes become a little moist.

“That’s so sweet” you coo at her. “Umm.. next is scared”

Sua’s face dulls at this as she says “Jaemin” softly.

“Are you scared of him because he pulls tricks on you?” you place the question carefully. Sua nods.

“What does he do to you, Sua? Tell me so that I and Hoseok can help you.” You place a hand on top of Sua’s.

Her head hangs even lower but she says, “he- he told the entire class that I am an illigimate child, that daddy is not my real dad and that is why I don’t have a mom. No one talks to me anymore. Not even my best friend Yoo Ri. They don’t play with me, call me an outskirt and laugh at me. Jaemin locked me in the room for a whole period and told me if I complained to the teachers he would tell them what I am and get me expelled from the school. I didn’t tell anyone. Not even daddy. I was afraid that whatever he said was true and dad is not my dad. He even threw my lunch out of the window and made me starve.”

Hoseok sees red.

His eyes are full of tears and he is ready to set the world on fire today. The way Sua could not even pronounce illegitimate properly yet she knew what it meant, is absolutely heartbreaking.

He slaps the table out of anger and both of you and Sua jump out of surprise.

You look at him, placing a hand on top of his, you whisper softly, “Calm down. I have got this. Don’t worry.”

And he actually calms down.

Is this what it feels like having a partner beside you through your high and low?

Is this what it feels like having you as his partner? If yes then he would kill to have you, even if it’s unethical for him to even think of that.

“Sua, do you trust me?” you ask the little one.

She nods.

“Then do you believe me if I say that you are not an illegitimate child and Hoseok is your real dad?”

“Is that right, daddy?” Sua asks softly.

Hoseok stands up from his table, kneels down in front of his girl, holds his little hands with his bigger ones and says “Yes baby. I am your dad. I swear you are my real daughter, I made you with my blood and flesh.”

Sua breaks into a loud sob, as she hugs her dad tightly.

“Y/N, we still have a word left?” Sua speaks with a mouth full of blueberry cheesecake.

“Oh right.” You sit straight again, taking a sip from your hot chocolate. Your red lips attach to the edge of the cup, looking perfectly pouty and kissable.

Hoseok finds it tough to breathe all of a sudden.

“So the next word is.. Hate.”

“Mina aunty.”

Fuck! Sua had to mention her out of everyone.

“Who is Mina aunty?” you ask the kid.

“She is actu-” hoseok tries to handle the situation but his daughter is faster than him apparently.

“She is daddy’s friend. She often comes to our home whenever I am asleep. And she sleeps there! Does she not have a home or something? Oh I hate her.”

“Oh I see.” you divert your eyes towards hoseok with a knowing look. His face reddens and he has to avoid looking into your eyes.

“Now it’s your turn.” Sua chimes in and Hoseok feels relieved when you stop staring at him.

“Yeah, let’s start.” you take another sip.

“Color?”

“White.”

“Drink?”

“Coke.”

“Love?”

“Jungko-” you pause. You seem to surprise yourself with the name you were about to take.

“Oh? Why did you pause? Is that your boyfriend’s name?” Sua giggles.

The tightness that Hoseok feels inside his chest is unjustified.

You definitely have a boyfriend. Why did he even think he had a chance with someone as appealing as you. Why did he even start thinking there’s something cooking between you two?

On the other hand, you seem to be quite uncomfortable with Sua’s question.

“No. He is someone I used to know, someone I should not be taking the name of, anymore” you reply finally.

Your expression turns somber and you start biting your lower lip.

Maybe you are as broken as Hoseok is.

And maybe.. Just maybe.. Hoseok has a chance to fix you.

The air inside the car is heavy with tension again.

You wanted to avoid Hoseok. You wanted to avoid this fuzzy feeling you feel inside your chest whenever you come closer to him.

He has a girlfriend after all (or maybe a friend with benefits, not that you are keen to know) and you are not totally over your ex-boyfriend.

But hoseok and Sua insisted on dropping you, which brings you here to the passenger seat yet again.

Sua is asleep, which makes things between you and Hoseok even more tense. So, you keep your eyes on the window the entire time and sigh out of relief when your apartment comes into view.

Taking in a deep breath while unbuckling the seat belt you say, “We’ve overcome the toughest part today. Sua will be fine soon.”

“Yeah- yeah. Thanks for today.” Hoseok fumbles with his words.

“It’s my job. Anyway, good night. Drive safe.” and you are already climbing out of the seat and shutting the door.

Another second in the car and you may just ask him who the fuck Mina is.

Just when you are about to take steps towards the entrance, Hoseok calls you from behind.

You stop in your tracks as Hoseok comes to stand right before you.

“Y/N, I- I actually wanted to clear up that Mina is just my colleague and we, you know, take care of each other at times.” He reasons.

That’s what you thought too but you don’t know why he is even explaining this to you.

“That's fine, Hoseok. There is no need to explain your personal matters to me. I am Sua’s therapist only.” yes that’s what you are, just a therapist of his daughter, a temporary addition to his life. You can’t want more. You should never want more.

“I know but I felt the need to explain this to you. I don’t know why.” Hoseok takes a step towards you and you take a step back. Your back hits the car.

The look in his eyes is absolutely dangerous. Your heart can’t decipher it. You mind can’t read what the man wants from you or what you want from him. But it’s addictive. You want more of his eyes, more of him.. Fuck.. all of him. Even if it’s a little too early.

You are free falling… again.

“Are you okay? You seemed to be uncomfortable with Sua’s question earlier.” Hoseok speaks again. And this time his breath hits your face.

“I am fine. I should be fine.” you reply avoiding his eyes.

“Correct me if I am crossing any lines but is that your ex-boyfriend?”

You nod.

You usually don’t like messing up personal and professional boundaries but with Hoseok things are different. With Hoseok you feel different.

“He broke up with me recently after three years of relationship. He-” your voice chokes at the thought of that day when Jungkook confessed things you never even dreamt of, “he fell in love with someone else.”

Hoseok lets out a low chuckle. When you look up at him, his eyes pierce through yours.

“How can anyone even fall out of love with you?” His voice reaches a few octaves lower than usual.

“What- what do you mean?” you murmur.

“I mean that it’s hardly possible to leave you. Anyone would kill to have you as theirs.” Hoseok’s eyes drop on your lips. Your eyes are fixed on the mole right above his lip.

“Anyone? Really? You too?” your voice comes out confident, mouth runs before mind can comprehend.

“Fuck.” hoseok comes even closer, “Yes.. Yes I would too.”

Hoseok leans down and your heart beats out of your chest in the prospect of what’s gonna happen next.

But before your fantasies can take shape, the car window slides down and Sua peeks out and says, “Daddy, are we home yet?” while rubbing her eyes.

You push Hoseok away lightly, he stumbles back replying to his daughter that they are at your apartment right now.

Everything feels fuzzy and light but..

You are completely unaware of the pair of eyes that are watching your every movement through a sheer layer of cigarette smoke.

Taglist:-

@phenomenalgirl9 @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @sukunabitch @chimchimmarie @coffeedepressionsoup @meowstake @vonvi-blog @nochuel @xjoonchildx @justmewondering-recs @cuteipat @miakey98 @purpleanchorcrown @chimmisbae @ane102 @junniesoleilkth @terjeonbebas @kookssecret @appleh4ad @kayleeshinee @whoa-jo @definetlythinkimanalien @lovelgirl22 @agrika

#bts angst #bts smut #jungkook angst #jungkook smut #hoseok angst #hoseok smut #bts x reader #jungkook x reader #hoseok x reader #bts fanfiction #jungkook fanfic #hoseok scenarios #jhope angst #jhope smut

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merrybloomwrites · 3 months

Text

I Hear Them Calling (Chapter 2)

Story Summary: Alpha Harry Styles and omega Y/N Y/L/N meet under less than ideal circumstances. Overtime their paths will cross and they will be drawn to one another in ways they never expected.

Chapter Summary: Y/N & Harry separately reflect on the event that brought them together and cope with the feelings it raised.

AN: It's a bit of a shorter chapter than I originally planned, guess I'm still getting back in the swing of writing after a very crazy week. This chapter is very introspective I would say. Less action than I normally include, but I thought all this was important to set up future chapters, if that makes sense.

Previous Chapters: Prologue ; Chapter 1

CW: Mentions of a previous attempted assault

Word Count: 3.2k

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On Sunday morning you wake up in a cold sweat. You certainly hadn’t had a peaceful night of sleep. You’d been plagued with nightmares of the alpha and what he had done.

It’s early, the sun is just starting to rise, but you give up on sleep. You know that if you close your eyes, you’re just going to keep seeing that man and the paralyzing fear will come back. Distractions are the way to go.

As always, you make yourself a cup of tea to start the day. But it doesn’t sooth you the way it normally does. In fact, you’re feeling even more anxious. You’re confused why a scent you now associate with Sarah, one of the nicest alphas you’ve ever met, is causing such a negative reaction in your body.

You start to run through everything that happened the night before. It all comes back in vivid detail. Up until one point when it suddenly went dark, and your memories become fuzzy and confusing.

What the hell had even happened there? Because it wasn’t a drop. You had dropped twice before, and this was different. You’re completely unaware during a drop and have no memories after. Instead, you’re just left feeling dizzy, and so, so alone.

But this time wasn’t like that. It was hazy, sure, but you were still somewhat aware of your surroundings. You were aware that even after you practically lost consciousness, he still moved closer to your neck and tried to forcibly scent you. You remember falling, knowing you wouldn’t be able to catch yourself. But someone was there to break your fall and help you sit.

That’s when you were surrounded by the tea scent. At the time you had no idea it belonged to such a kind and gentle person. You just knew there was still an alpha touching you, and you had no clue what their intentions might be. But then you became aware of the calming pheromones they were releasing. This immediately helped you relax and made you start to trust this unknown alpha.

You had picked up on the presence of another alpha nearby. One who was releasing a bitter, angry scent before quickly switching to a calming one as well. Now you know that it was Harry, though his scent at the time was nothing like the wonderful one that permeated his dressing room.

The next memories are quite embarrassing to remember. You’re happy that Rachel had taught you about Harry’s band before the show. Because at least you could identify that the man who’s lap you were in was his guitarist, Mitch.

And then you think about how wonderful they all were. How they took care of you and made sure you were okay. Especially Harry.

You still can’t figure out what that was about. He was so protective, so worried. That alone had your omega trying to stake claim on the man. Never before had someone cared that much about you and your wellbeing. And then his scent. God, it was amazing. You’re eternally grateful you didn’t see him again after the show. You know you would have said or done something stupid. His smell would probably be more prominent after a show, sweat washing off the extra scent blockers he obviously wore in public.

Your mind starts to wander thinking about how delicious his scent probably is when it’s direct and unmasked. It’s a good thing your phone dings, pulling you back to the present before your thoughts can turn into inappropriate territory.

It’s Jada, sending you the videos she took the night before and informing you that Harry will set aside up to 6 tickets for whichever day you choose. You thank her for the videos and let her know you’ll get back to her after talking to your friends.

You’re not ready yet to talk about what happened at the show, so you hold off texting your friends for the moment. You know you’ll need to explain what happened, since you don’t want to lie about why you’re getting these tickets, but it can wait a few days.

Getting back to your distractions you spend the day deep cleaning your apartment and running errands. Anything to keep your mind busy.

You send the videos to Rachel and make plans for her to come over for lunch Saturday. You’ll tell her the truth about the concert then. Violet reaches out in the group chat, checking that you and Ameila will still be coming over for your usual Friday night hangout that week. That somehow leads to a discussion about favorite types of soup and by the time you’re all done debating broccoli cheddar versus tomato basil, it’s time for bed.

You’re exhausted from the sleepless night prior and you hope that you’re so tired you won’t have any dreams. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. Of course not. No, you once again have nightmares of the alpha. Unlike the night before, when it had just been repeats of what happened, now it was what could have happened. All the worst-case scenarios.

Monday morning rolls around, and you might actually be more tired than you were before bed. You go to make your cup of tea and see hot chocolate mix on the shelf. For a moment you hesitate and then grab the container, making a mug of cocoa. It’s a bit of an odd choice, since it has zero caffeine and it’s August, but it feels like the right thing to do.

The smell of the chocolate immediately settles you, and you feel more at ease than you have in days. You have a theory why, but you try not to think too deeply about it as you continue your morning routine.

You sit at your desk to begin working for the day. You normally love that you have a completely remote job as a data analyst. But it’s a rough morning for you. You’re restless, completely unable to sit still, like there’s ants crawling under your skin.

Nothing gets done, so when it hits 1PM and you still haven’t crossed a single thing off your to-do list you decide to leave the apartment to get lunch. You pack up your laptop, thinking maybe your afternoon will be more productive with a change of scenery.

You grab a sandwich from the local deli and walk to the nearby park. You sit at a table next to some rose bushes. Their fragrance is strong, and it settles you. You sit for hours, completing all the work you wanted to accomplish that day.

It’s obvious why the roses helped you feel better. For the same reason the chocolate smell calmed you that morning. You’re embarrassed that Harry’s scent, even just reminders of it, has such an effect on you, but you lean into it.

There’s a boutique by the park that you know sells candles and other scented things, so you go in with one goal in mind. After smelling way more candles than is probably socially acceptable you find one that you think will work. It’s woodsy, and just a little floral. It’s missing the chocolate component, but you figure it’s as close to Harry’s scent as you’ll get. It also comes as a reed diffuser and a room spray, so you purchase all three.

That night before bed you set up the diffuser and have another cup of hot chocolate. You finally sleep peacefully through the night and wake up refreshed.

You follow this routine all week, switching your normal tea to hot chocolate, working outside by the rose bushes, and ensuring your home smells like Harry.

On Friday night you head over to Violet’s house. The night starts off as usual, take out and a movie that you barely watch as you catch up and talk about your weeks.

“So, how was the concert?” Amelia asks.

For a second you nearly lie. Almost say, oh it was great and show the videos Jada took for you. But they’re your best friends, the people you can tell anything. You take a deep breath and say, “He definitely puts on a good show. But unfortunately, I didn’t really see it.”

“What do you mean?” Violet asks.

“There was this alpha in the audience,” you begin, and your friends immediately tense up, knowing where the story is likely to go.

“I noticed him the second I got there and moved to blend in with the crowd. I thought I had lost him, but I went with some girls to the bathroom and apparently he’d followed me and waited outside. When I walked out of the bathroom he used his alpha voice and made me follow him to a secluded area.”

“What a bastard!” Amelia interjects and Violet nods her head in agreement.

They see the tears welling in your eyes and move closer, each wrapping an arm around you before you continue.

“Once he got me alone he used his alpha voice again. I couldn’t move or say anything. He tried to scent me, and honestly was probably going to do a lot worse things. But I went into a half-drop or something.” You pause, taking a deep breath and they hold you even tighter to comfort you.

After calming down again you say, “And then things got weird.”

“I’m sorry, they weren’t weird already?” Amelia asks.

“Honestly, no. They were awful, but as an omega, not unexpected. What was weird, was waking up literally sitting in Mitch Rowlands lap with Sarah Jones and Harry Styles watching me from across the hall.”

“Harry Styles?” Violet says incredulously.

“Yes,” you reply.

“The Harry Styles?” Ameila adds.

“Yes, guys. The real Harry Styles.”

“Why was he there? Wouldn’t security be taking care of the situation? Not the performer?”

You realize Amelia makes a good point. Why did Harry and his band members respond to this incident? Wouldn’t it make more sense that they stay far away from potentially dangerous situations?

After thinking for a moment, you say, “He and Sarah are alphas. They probably sensed something was wrong and came to help. I wasn’t able to say anything, but I was able to send out some distress signals, so I guess they responded to that.”

“And this all happened before the show?” Violet asks.

“It was while the opener was on. And then they took me to Harry’s dressing room to talk to a police officer and have a medic check that I was ok. I was planning to go back to the crowd once they finished but Harry wouldn’t let me.”

“Wouldn’t let you? Sounds like another controlling alpha,” Violet says.

“No, no, that was bad wording. I mean, yea, he didn’t want me going back to the crowd again but not in a controlling way. He wanted to protect me. He said his alpha was still worried about me and he wouldn’t be able to perform if he didn’t know that I was safe.”

“Wow, that’s kind of intense,” Amelia says. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Mostly. I think.”

They both give you a look and you explain, “I mean, it sucked, obviously. I hate that alphas have that kind of control over me. And I keep thinking about how much worse it could have been. But nothing too bad ended up happening. Plus, I got to meet Harry Styles so that’s a win.”

“What was he really like?” Violet questions.

“Well, he’s just as kind as everyone says. Most of the time he gave me space since he’s also an alpha, but at one point he held my hand for like, a second, and it felt like it’d been burned. I literally couldn’t believe his skin had touched mine. And the way his alpha was still on edge even when the danger was gone, I still don’t know how to explain that. Plus, his scent, God-” you cut yourself off before you can embarrass yourself about your obsession.

“Oh no, you can’t stop there!” Amelia says. “What is it like?”

For some reason you want to keep the specifics to yourself, so you reply, “I dunno, but it has this warmth to it, and like, a fresh outdoorsy smell. Anyway, uhm, I watched the concert on a TV in his dressing room. He’s giving me some tickets for any of the other New York shows, and I want you two and Rachel to come so we need to pick a date.”

You guys start to look at your calendars and write down a few of the shows that will work.

“When I see Rachel tomorrow I’ll see if any of these days work for her too,” you say once you have a short list.

“Does she know what happened?” Violet asks.

“Not yet. She doesn’t even know I’m an omega. I’m going to tell her everything tomorrow.”

“Are you comfortable with that?”

“Yea, I mean I trust her. She’s a good friend. She’s just a newer friend and it takes me awhile to open up about my, you know, status.”

“If you need us, for anything at all, you call or text and we’re there okay?”

You nod and smile, knowing that you have the two best friends in the world and that everything will be alright. You guys finish the night with some ice cream, and if your friends are curious about you picking chocolate when strawberry has always been your favorite, they don’t comment on it.

Lunch with Rachel the next day is a little more nerve wracking, but by the end you feel so much better. You explain everything about yourself and what happened at the concert the week before. She’s more knowledgeable about omegas than you expected, and she explains her favorite cousin is an omega.

“Y/N, I’m sorry I encouraged you to go alone. I know how dangerous outings like that are. Seriously I think a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders when my cousin officially bonded her alpha and had protection from him.”

“Rach, I’m a big girl, I chose to go alone. I thought my suppressants and scent blockers would have hidden my secret, but sometime alphas can still literally sniff us out.”

“Do you think the medicines are losing their effectiveness? Like you’ve built an immunity cause you’ve been on them so long?”

“They’re supposed to last a decade before that happens, I’ve only been on these eight years.”

“Probably couldn’t hurt to check though, right?”

You agree with her and make a mental note to at least put a call out to your doctor soon.

“And no concerts alone, got it?” You smile at her protectiveness and nod in agreement.

“Definitely not alone, but I am being given tickets for us to go to another show since I basically missed the first one.”

“Seriously? When?”

“I invited Violet and Amelia, and we have some dates that work for us. Can you do any of them too?”

You settle on September 10th and you text Jada later that day to let her know. She responds almost immediately which surprises you because you assume they’re getting ready for his show that night.

After talking to all your friends you’re feeling much better than you have all week. Plus, knowing you get to see Harry’s show soon has you excited. You don’t think you’ll get to see him again, but maybe just being in the same room will be enough to settle your omega. And hopefully it can show your omega how truly unattainable the alpha is, and you can stop obsessing over him.

***

Harry’s pacing in his dressing room. It’s Saturday, night five of his NYC residency, and exactly one week since he met Y/N. And it’s been one week since he’s seen Y/N. And his alpha is restless.

“Harry, I’m sure she’s fine,” Mitch says firmly, ever the voice of reason.

“Then why hasn’t she texted Jada back? It’s been days!”

“She probably just hasn’t been able to coordinate with her friends yet,” Sarah says as she tries to soothe him.

Harry sits on the couch and sighs. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I don’t know why I’m like this right now. Why I’m so worried about her.”

“Well, it’s probably because she’s an omega. And you are a good alpha. Your instinct is to take care of her. And she nearly got hurt. Here. At your show. And I’m thinking you feel like you are at least partially responsible, which is dumb, because you’re not. But you’re a good person, and you care deeply, which makes you maybe a bit emotional about things like this?”

Harry takes in Sarah’s words. She’s right. He didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he feels guilty. He’s devastated that this happened at his show, a place that he always thought was safe for his fans.

“What if it’s more than that?” Harry asks quietly.

“What do you mean?” Mitch questions.

“What if she’s not just an omega?”

Sarah and Mitch expect him to continue, so when he just sits there silently they share a confused look.

“Care to explain?” Mitch says, encouraging him to open up to them.

“I feel like maybe she’s special. I mean, my alpha has definitely taken a liking to her. I was ready to rip that other alphas throat out when I saw his hands on her. And the only way I was able to do the concert was because I knew she was basically locked away from everyone else with security outside the door. I had to know she was safe. And I hate not knowing if she’s okay now. Plus, there was a moment.”

“A moment?” Sarah presses.

“Yea I uhm, we were alone in the room right before the show. And I held her hand. Just to like, reassure her I guess. It was only a second, but I swear to God there were sparks. I’ve never felt anything like it, especially not from just holding hands.”

“Do you feel connected to her, or is your alpha connected to her omega?” Sarah asks to clarify.

“I honestly don’t know. Normally I can separate the two, but the situation brought my alpha out more than usual.”

Before anyone can ask more questions there’s a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Harry calls out and Jada enters the room.

“Hey Harry. Y/N just texted, she and three friends are planning to come to the show on September 10th if that still works.”

“Yes, of course! Please send her four VIP tickets. In a box or somewhere sectioned off if possible. And passes to come backstage before the show, okay?”

“Got it, I’ll send her everything they’ll need.”

“Wonderful. Thank you, Jada.”

She smiles, waving to Mitch and Sarah as she walks out of the room.

“Well, there you go,” Sarah says. “She is obviously fine if she’s texting and making plans. And you’ll see her again on the 10th!”

“If your alpha can last three weeks,” Mitch says teasingly.

“Shut up,” Harry drawls out, smiling at his best friend.

Mitch may think it’s a joke, but Harry truly doesn’t know if he can go three more weeks without seeing Y/N. Maybe three weeks will be enough to calm down his alpha, and shake this obsession he has with the lovely omega.

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AN: Thanks again for reading this story! Chapter 3 is already in the works, and I am very excited for the Harry & Y/N reunion.

Taglist: @akkatz @pandeebearstyles @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite@theekyliepage@numafarawayglxy @booberry019-blog @hillzrry@ssareidbby @gem1712 @acesofspadess@houseofdilfs@shaquille-0atmeal-1@kissitnhekitchen @amateurduck @poguestyleskye@n0vaj3an@snwells@drunk-teens-doing-drugs ; @fdl305 @creativelyeva @daphnesutton @selluequestrian @lovingfurypanda @stardream14 @tbsloneely @eversincehs1

#harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x you

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friendofcars · 1 year

Text

I finished my data analysis for POV distribution in TRC! Figure captions are in the alt text. Other observations, discussion of the analysis and results, and some supplemental figures are under the cut. This is perhaps the most self-indulgent project I've worked on <3

Other observations: I went into this analysis with the hypothesis that each of the four protagonists would have the most chapters and/or pages in the following pattern: Blue for TRB, Ronan for TDT, Adam for BLLB, and Gansey for TRK. This mostly held true, although Blue had more chapters and pages than Adam in BLLB. This trend was more significant in terms of page distribution compared to chapter distribution. Mean chapter length differences were infrequent and did not follow the expected pattern, although I did see trends towards shorter chapters for antagonists not grouped into "all others."

There is a relative lack of back-to-back chapters for the same POV character, although this does occur in all books (twice for Blue in TRB; once for The Gray Man, twice for Adam, and six times for Ronan in TDT; five times for Blue [two of which are back-to-back-to-back], once for Gansey, twice for Adam [one of which is back-to-back-to-back], and once for Greenmantle in BLLB. I mention all of this to say that in TRK, this occurs once for Ronan, once for Blue, once for Adam, and thrice for Gansey- but in one of these instances, Gansey has SIX chapters in a row. Nine of the chapters from 48 to 58 are from his POV. The Raven King indeed!

Analysis notes:

For each book, I counted how many chapters each POV character had and how many pages each POV character had. Page numbers are based on the UK paperback editions of the series. In the figures, I show raw # of chapters and pages, as well as the proportion of chapters and pages attributed to each POV character over the total number of chapters or pages. I also compared POV characters’ pages/chapter ratio and tested for differences in mean chapter length with a one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons.

For most measures, in cases where chapters had multiple POV characters in sequence, I divided the chapter by # of characters. For example, chapter 44 in TRB starts with Adam, switches to Whelk, and ends with Blue. This chapter counted as 1/3 chapter for each character. In BLLB, only the prologue contained multiple discrete POV sections (Persephone, Calla, and Maura) and Piper only had her POV featured in the epilogue so I grouped these two chapters as “All Others” and excluded them from statistical tests. For TRK and TRC, I did include the "All Others" category in the analysis. (“All Others” includes chapters/pages with ambiguous POV (Kavinsky’s text in TDT- are we reading it from the sender or the recipient’s POV?), mixed/omniscient POV (the Gray Man’s tarot reading in TDT – we get internal thoughts and feelings from multiple characters), and in TRK, any character aside from Blue, Gansey, Adam, and Ronan.)

In figures that represent raw counts of chapters or pages, the dashed horizontal line represents the expected number of chapters or pages per POV character if the distribution was equal. The p values on these figures represent the results of a Chi-square test to test whether the actual distribution of pages or chapters was different from an equal distribution.

For the pages/chapter ratio data and the Chi-square tests, I did not apply this calculation and counted each discrete POV as a full chapter because I needed counts and sample sizes to be integers for the statistical analysis (Gansey having an n = 8.5 was not making GraphPad prism very happy with me). I had to do a bit of rounding to the nearest number which was not ideal, but I did this as little as possible. (There is probably a workaround for this, at least for the ratio data, but I am not a statistician). To at least approximate what results would look like without the skew towards a lower pages/chapter ratio, I also ran the ANOVA only with chapters containing a single POV character, which is why you’ll see two figures for the pages/chapter metric for each book (except for BLLB).

I am considering p values < 0.05 to be significant; I have included non-significant p values on some figures to provide additional context. If there is no p value on a given figure, you can assume I found no significant differences amongst POV characters’ chapters and/or pages in my analysis.

If you have questions about the analysis please let me know! :)

Supplemental figures: TRK data shown for all unique POV characters (these figures do not have captions in the alt text; the four on the left depict distribution of chapters and pages across the 19 different POV characters in TRK; the vast majority of the chapters and pages are attributed to either Blue, Gansey, Adam, or Ronan. The two figures on the left show mean pages per chapter for all characters, with no clear/statistically significant trends across the data. The demon's chapters are noticeably short.)

#rchl #trc #trc data #the raven cycle #the raven boys #the dream thieves #blue lily lily blue #the raven king #this was sooooooo fun btw do we want setting data next maybe?#im also working on a more language driven project about usage of camaro vs pig #also i have reached self parody by including a supplemental section like that is truly absurdly me

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lizard-on-a-window-pane · 6 months

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OMG😵‍💫 LITERALLY TRYING TO KILL ME… could u do a 5, 16, and 29 for your kinktober masterlist with sirius and remus… im actually going insane rn but anyways hope ur doing well and remember to take a break🪩 thank youuuu beautiful writer

5: first time 16: threesome 29: anal

my. god. seems like you want to kill me! this is one i'd been thinking about trying for so long actually...

okay, so i started writing it, and was going to write a brief lead up, and ended up writing too much. so. i'm posting that here now as a kind of prologue since i'm itching to get something out there and people seem to prefer shorter bits. then i'll write the proper request tonight and link it here when i post later today or tomorrow

UPDATE: link to the actual smut fic

(thank you for requesting! so so love to hear from you🫶)

so to start:

pre- remus x sirius x reader

word count: 1.4k

Prologue

It was for the best, you’d all decided.

“We’ll all still be friends no matter who you choose,” they’d both said when months of sexual tension and emotional turmoil had finally climaxed in a conversation.

Sirius and Remus: your two best friends in the entire world. Jaime, too, but it was different. He’d been quite preoccupied lately since getting together with Lily, and he was the only one you saw in a brotherly way. Sirius and Remus, your two best friends in the entire world… well… your feelings for them were less sisterly.

And, it so happened, they felt the same. Both of them.

The attraction, the affection, it had all finally become too much, had begun to strain the friendship. And since protecting the friendship was the purported reason none of you were acting on your feelings, you’d finally had that colossally awkward conversation.

Their proposal: you choose. That way at least two out of the three of you get what you want, and the other can start trying to get over it; all three of you promise to prioritize your friendship even if it takes some readjustment.

Your response: you couldn’t. You loved them both too much to hurt either of them or, honestly, to even be able to make the choice.

So, you’d all agreed, it was for the best if you continued as you were. At least now things were out in the open, relieving some angst, some awkwardness.

Open conversation had done nothing to relieve your feelings, however, and not just the fluffy ones. Those, at least, you could still indulge with your best friends. You could laugh together and talk and go out and even snuggle up on cold nights. But your lust for your boys you could not indulge, and in the pit of your stomach — and a bit lower — it grew and grew.

Some nights, it became just a bit too much, and you’d opt for a bit of… personal time. You’d touch yourself to the thought of them; one suddenly swapped for the other in your fantasies then back again and so on, not even your mind ever picking a preference.

You have plans with them later but are at their empty flat quite early. They have more space than you, so it’s not uncommon for you to hang out here without them. They’ve even given you a key.

James is out with Lily, and Remus and Sirius are out on some errand, hunting for some part for Sirius’s motorbike or something. You hadn’t paid too much attention, to be honest, just knew they’d be home in — you check the clock — a couple of hours.

Enjoying the peace, you read a while, snuggled up on their sofa, Remus’s big, fluffy blanket too inviting to ignore. You stretch out our legs and hear something fall onto the floor. Looking over, you see you’ve knocked over Sirius’s favourite leather jacket. Picking it up, feeling its familiar texture in your hands, in the privacy of your solitude, you bring it up close and inhale. It smells so distinctly of him, and Sirius’s scent has always intoxicated you.

At the thought of his arms wrapped around you when he’s wearing this jacket, you get a bit warm. You shift Remus’s blanket partly off of yourself, but rather than cool you down, this gets you thinking about his arms around you the many times you’ve shared this blanket. The way his body feels up against yours. The way he’ll often pull your legs on his lap. The way Sirius will come complaining about him hogging the blanket — and you — and sit on the other side of you, resting his head on your shoulder. His long, raven locks tickling your neck.

Before you realize you’ve really decided to do this, you’ve slithered your body prone; your hand has slipped into your trousers; your eyes have fluttered closed, and your mind is reeling at the thought of them, one on either side of you, doing more than snuggling.

I can be quick, you think. They’re not meant to be back for ages anyway, and I can’t very well hang out with them when I’m already all flustered.

A minute later, your trousers are partly off, and you’re properly touching yourself, completely absorbed in the textures, the smells, the fantasies of the jacket, the blanket, the boys they belong to, the boys whose bodies you want all over yours, the boys whose key you don’t hear because you’re so caught up.

As the door flies open, so do your eyes, and they meet each of theirs in turn, both sets wide and starting. You yank your pants up and pull yourself together, jumping off the sofa.

A mess, your voice is raspy when you say, “I thought you weren’t going to be home till later.”

A beat. They’re both still staring at you, their mouths agape, their feet seemingly glued to the entrance.

Then Remus awkwardly clears his throat.

“Um,” cough, “yeah. Bloke canceled. Didn’t have the part.”

“Were you just touching yourself?” pipes up Sirius before Remus is even through with his short explanation.

“I…” You’re mortified. “I’m sorry! Fuck. I thought I had the place to myself for a while! Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed.” You cover your burning face with your hands. “Ohmygod ohmygod. Please, is there any chance we can just forget this happened?” you plead.

“Fat chance,” Sirius barks, and you glare at him. “Okay, okay,” he yields, hands up, “We can pretend.” He smirks.

“Pretend what, arsehole?” you say.

He opens his mouth to respond, but Remus cuts him off, saying “— that we didn’t see anything…” Even he is struggling to choke back a laugh as he pats Sirius on the shoulder and adds, “Right, mate?”

Sirius, sarcastic seriousness smeared across his features, just nods.

“Oh my god,” you say again, seemingly having forgotten the rest of your vocabulary, shaking your head at the situation and plopping back down onto the sofa, face back in your hands.

They come over, laughing now but comfortingly, and sit on either side of you. Sirius’s arm comes around you, and Remus’s hands take yours and pull them off your face. Surprising you, Sirius is the first to speak.

“It’s fine, love,” he chuckles. “Honestly.” He rocks you back and forth a bit.

“It’s not like either of us haven’t had a wank on this sofa.”

“On the sofa??” Remus retorts. “Your room is right there for fuck’s sake.”

“Alright, I stand corrected,” Sirius continues, completely unfazed, “It’s not like either of us haven’t had a wank in this flat.” He laughs again, and Remus scoffs, shaking his head, but can’t help but also chuckle.

“Okay, okay,” you rush, not wanting to start thinking about them wanking, “Can we please talk about something else before I die of embarrassment?”

They agree and let up, and you turn on the telly, desperate for some distraction. The three of you start watching, and after a few tense minutes, you attempt some casual conversation, asking about their days and such. They answer, but the strange mood never quite seems to dissipate. There’s a charge in the air that mere time is no match for.

You flip the channel and, to your horror, are met with a couple kissing passionately. You turn it off, much too quickly to be at all subtle. You shift slightly in your seat in between them. They’re both much tenser than usual, keeping more distance than usual but somehow pretending not to with an awkward graze here or there. Sirius is squirmy; Remus is too still.

“How about some music?” you try, getting up and beelining for their record collection and putting something on.

Realizing it will be even weirder to sit somewhere else, which you never do, you sit back down between them.

Except for the music: silence.

Until Sirius whispers, his voice gruff, “So who were you thinking about?”

Your head whips toward him, and you’re met with an expression you’ll never be able to erase from your mind. His stormy grey eyes are blown almost fully black and slightly hidden under heavy lids. His mouth is slightly open, but at seeing your face, his eyes scanning your features, he bites his lower lip. There’s lust in every feature, certainly, but there’s desperation too.

You turn toward Remus. He looks equally wrecked.

His eyebrows furrow, and you’re unsure whether that’s meant in question to Sirius’s query.

You look back and forth between the two men, the air around you heavy and electric.

“Honestly?”

They both nod.

“Both of you…” you confess.

continued in this smut fic

#marauders #marauders x reader #sirius x reader #remus x reader #sirius x remus x reader #wolfstar #wolfstar x reader #marauders smut #sirius black #remus lupin #james potter #kinktober2023

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lvis44 · 11 months

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Sweet Escape - Pt. 4 // LH44

Lewis Hamilton x Y/N

Warnings: Swearing, 18+ (mentions of sexual acts), alcohol, angst, regret, slightly derogatory/degrading speech, not edited

Word Count: 3.5k+

Summary: Paradise is supposed to be fun and relaxing... a Sweet Escape, but when unspoken feelings and jealousy rise to the surface, everything can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

Notes: Slightly different format for this chapter but it felt the best way to get a glimpse at Lewis. This part is a bit shorter than the others but I wanted to break it up into two parts for the sake of flow, next part is a very important moment...

I am not a professional writer and all of this is a work of fiction and is strictly for fun. Enjoy! xxx

Previous Sections: Prologue - Part One - Part Two - Part Three

Lewis

The house is still quiet as he makes his way through the front door, it's still early, the birds just starting to wake themselves. He pushes the door shut behind him quietly, doing his best not to attract any attention. Slipping his shoes off, he softly makes his way deeper into the house, hoping no one is awake yet.

“Really? Again?” He hears Charlotte's voice as he steps into the kitchen.

He lets out a sigh, knowing he’s trapped, he makes his way over to where she sits at the kitchen island. He should have known she would be up, she’s always been an early riser, usually giving him a run for his money.

“You at least knew where I was this time.” He says, sitting down next to her.

He can feel tension flowing off of her in waves, unsure where it’s coming from. Last time she had been mad because she didn’t know where he had gone, this time she knew exactly where he was. He almost expected she would know he probably wouldn't be home until the morning.

“Whatever.” She grumbles, getting up to refill her coffee cup.

“Why do you seem so mad at me?” He asks, confusion evident in his voice.

“Why don’t you tell me?” She turns around to look at him, leaning against the counter with an almost disgusted look on her face.

“What? Marina and I had a few drinks while I was playing with Leon. I ended up sleeping on the couch after we put him to bed. What’s the big deal?” He truly couldn’t decipher where her animosity was stemming from.

“It’s not about Marina and you know it.” Her voice was stern, making him wrack his head for what he could have possibly done.

He shakes his head slightly, still unclear on the anger being directed at him. At this point he had been in more arguments over the course of this supposed vacation than he had in months, maybe years. He was getting rather drained.

“Are you that fucking dumb?” Charlotte's voice is almost bewildered, shocked that he could be so naive, “You fucked up, big time, and now you don’t even remember? God that's even worse.”

Then it hits him, Y/N has talked to her. He’s not necessarily shocked, they tend to tell eachother everything, but he was hoping he could work it out with her before it became front page news around the house. He opens his mouth to speak but Charlotte doesn’t let him.

“You can do whatever you want with whomever you want, I won’t ask questions, but how dare you do that to Y/N. You absolute fucking asshole.” She scoffs as she shakes her head.

“Everything seemed fine, she seemed okay and then all the sudden it wasn’t. I didn’t realize how bad it was going to be.” He tries to explain.

“Seriously? That’s not the point, you shouldn't have done anything in the first place. Not only is she one of your best friends, your fucktoy was still in the goddamn house!” Charlotte exclaims, still keeping her voice down to not attract attention.

“Fuck, I know, my timing was horrible but she just always looks so goddamn perfect. Everytime I see her I can’t keep my eyes off of her, I want her all the time and I don’t know I took a chance and she didn’t seem to particularly reject it.” His voice is almost sarcastic as he finishes his sentence.

“Her pushing you away and not speaking to you was a green light to you?” Charlotte scoffs with disgust.

“I mean up until then, everything seemed fine, she seemed into it, then everything just flipped.” He tries to reason.

“Have you ever considered that she wasn’t thinking straight? That you, being you, may have clouded her judgment? The second her brain caught up she pushed you away Lewis.” Charlotte argues, disgusted that he’s trying to share the blame with Y/N.

“How the hell is that my fault?” He asks, baffled.

“How is it not your fault?” Charlotte throws back at him.

“Okay, so you’re saying that because I’m Lewis Hamilton she let me just about fuck her but then she realized she didn’t want to? I think we’re pretty far past Y/N being amazed by the fact that I can race a fucking car.” His voice is sarcastic, he’s becoming more defensive, clearly done with his friend meddling in the situation.

“No Lewis, it’s not the fucking fame or the racing. It’s the goddamn charm that you turn on every single second you’re around her. You flirt with her like it’s your job, you’re constantly finding ways to be close to her or touch her in some way. You act like a boyfriend half the time and then turn around and go fuck some random model for a week. You can’t have both and you need to realize that before you hurt her even more. You’re confusing her and she doesn’t fucking deserve it.” Charlotte lets out a deep breath at the end of her rant, staring directly into his eyes to make her point.

He takes a moment, taking in what Charlotte just said before speaking, “I don’t know how to not be like that with her. It’s just natural, I don’t know why but anything else would feel so… foreign I guess.”

“Ah so trying to fuck her was just what? Natural? You just couldn’t help yourself?” Charlotte rolls her eyes, disgusted by her friend.

“No, I mean, I don’t know. Fuck. It just felt like the moment, I realized a while ago that I kind of wanted more and it just felt like the time to finally act on it.” He tries and fails to defend himself.

“Lewis, if you want more, try, I don’t know, asking her out? Telling her how you feel? The way to fucking act on it is not fingering her out of the blue just because she’s infront of you in a fucking swimsuit.” Charlotte hisses at him.

“What you wanted me to go up to her and say ‘hey I really want to fuck you’. Charlotte, be real, we would be in the exact same situation.” Lewis laughs cynically.

“You don’t just want to fuck her and we both know that Lewis. You’re allowed to have goddamn feelings once in a while.” Charlotte says, sounding almost defeated.

He pauses, swallowing heavily. He knows she's right, he cares about Y/N much more than he would care to admit. It’s not that he doesn’t want her to know, it’s that he doesn’t know how the hell he would tell her, and now it feels like that ship has sailed. He fucked everything up and he’s well aware.

“First of all, let it be known that if she wants to toss you to the fucking curb and never speak to you again, I will fully support her on that, I’m not groveling on your behalf. Second of all, you hurt her more than I think you realize and you need to put in some goddamn work if you think you’re coming back from it. She told me last night that she wanted to go home, she doesn’t even want to be around you Lewis.” Charlotte tells him sternly.

“She wants to go home?” He asks quietly, his voice cracking, the reality of the situation truly setting in.

“Yes Lewis, she does. She’s questioning every single second she’s been around you, she barely believes you ever even wanted to be her friend, that this was all some fucking long game to you, and I don’t blame her.”

That hits him like a ton of bricks. He would never want Y/N to second guess anything about his friendship, all of it has been genuine. He truly cares about her, loves her so deeply in ways he can’t even process. Never throughout the friendship has it ever been a game, he needs her in his life, however he can have her.

As if Charlotte can read his mind, she speaks up one last time, “If you want to keep her around in anyway shape or form, you have a lot of fucking work to do. Talk to her because she doesn’t deserve to feel used. Fix it or you’re going to lose her and I’m not going to stop her.”

With that Charlotte leaves the room, leaving Lewis to sit at the counter in silence. He feels ashamed and broken, so scared that he may have permanently lost one of the most amazing people he has ever met, all because he let a cloud of lust overshadow his emotions. He can’t lose Y/N, but he knows in order to keep her, he has to come clean, and that terrifies him. For a man scared of so few things in life, the one thing that paralyzes him, is realizing he just might be in love with his best friend.

Y/N

“Good morning sleepy head.” Charlotte's light voice sings through the room when she notices you’re finally awake.

“Hi.” You groan into the pillow, making her laugh.

“C’mon, get up, we’re going on a hike.” She says, swatting at your leg in attempts to get you out of bed.

“You really don’t know how to get me out of bed.” You laugh, rolling over to finally look at her.

She’s showered and dressed, clearly having woken up much earlier than you.

“Oh stop, it’ll be fun, it’s beautiful out.” She continues to convince you.

You don’t respond, just roll over once again and burrow further into the pillows.

“You have five seconds to get your ass out of bed before I call in reinforcements.” Her voice is playfully stern.

You let the five seconds pass, hoping to have called her bluff. Much to your dismay, she was dead serious.

“Miles! Come get Y/N’s butt outta bed.” She yells out the door, much louder than you were ready for first thing in the morning.

“Coming dear.” You hear him yell down the hall before his loud footsteps quickly approach.

“Come on, up ya get.” He says, pulling your blankets back, making you curl into a ball to try to preserve your warmth in the air conditioned room.

He just laughs, attempting to grab your ankle and pull you out of the bed, making you kick him right above his groin, a narrow miss.

“Close call,” He chuckles, “okay, you leave me no choice.”

You're confused for only a moment before you feel his arms wrapping around you, quite literally removing you from your bed and throwing you over his shoulder. You let out a shriek, hitting his back as he walks you down the hallway to the kitchen.

“Well that’s quite the wake up call.” You hear Lewis laugh from somewhere in the room.

“Put me down.” You whine, not entirely amused at your abrupt removal.

“Fine, fine.” He huffs out behind a laugh, finally placing you on one of the bar stools, “Coffee?”

“Cocaine.” You joke through a groan as you burrow your head into your arms against the counter top in front of you.

“I mean that could be arranged but I think coffee may be a better option for eight o'clock in the morning.” Lewis laughs.

You peek your head up just enough to see him placing a mug in front of you, giving him a small smile of appreciation before properly sitting up. You’re slightly confused at how normal he’s being, almost as if nothing ever happened. Part of you enjoys it but the other part of you is still beyond angry at him, you can’t decide which one you want to win. When you finally take a sip of your coffee you almost want to roll your eyes, it’s exactly how you like and you immediately know he made it.

“I would like to make it known that hikes are not something I consider a vacation activity.” You say, hoping maybe you can dissuade them.

“You and I both, it’s only Lewis and Char that want to go.” Steph says, giving them a look. You can tell she has also only just gotten out of bed.

“Well I hope you two have a lovely time.” You say with an exaggerated smile, looking at the both of them.

“Oh come on, you guys will love it once we’re there.” Lewis argues with a smile.

“Maybe, but I also love the pool that's outback and that doesn’t require climbing a mountain.” You fire back at him.

“It’s not even a mountain, more like a big hill.” He tries to reason, not quite convincing you.

“A big hill with bugs and snakes.” You continue to argue.

“There’s bugs and snakes outback too,” He points out, making you groan, “and there’s a gorgeous waterfall and a big swimming hole at the top of this big hill.”

That finally piques your interest, growing slightly warmer to the idea.

“Eat something and go get ready, I want to head out soon.” Charlotte says, knowing they’ve won the argument without her even needing to join.

You do as she says, quickly eating a bowl of fruit and finishing your coffee. You don’t speak to Lewis anymore but you're still slightly confused by the interaction, unsure why you let it be so normal. You decide it must be that subconsciously you didn’t want to make a scene in front of your other friends, you just hope he knows that all is not forgiven, not even close. As you get ready, you go to put on a swimsuit under your clothes. You grab the first one you see in your bag before freezing, looking at the swimsuit in your hand makes your stomach churn, it’s the one you had worn the other day, the one Lewis had apparently liked so much he decided to make a move on you. You quickly grabbed a different one, something much more modest, not wanting to show more skin around him than necessary. You hated that you felt that way around him all of the sudden, usually you wouldn’t care, he and Miles were always your hype men making you feel even more confident about whatever you chose to wear. Never had you felt the need to cover up around him but you couldn't help it. You hated that he now had the power to picture exactly what was under your suits bottom, that’s not something your best friend should know, if that's actually what he is.

When you finally arrived at the trail you couldn’t help but be annoyed that Lewis had been right, it was absolutely gorgeous and you hadn’t even started the hike. He had also been right that it was more like a big hill than a mountain and for that you were grateful, you were still drained from everything that had occurred over the last few days and a proper hike wasn’t something you had in you. As you started the trek you found yourself walking slower than the rest of the group as you admired the surroundings, taking everything in. The tree's canopy was letting through only dappled sunlight and you could hear frogs and birds all around you.

“Hey, slow poke, you comin?” Miles’ voice snapped you out of your trance, looking up to where he stood with his hands on his hips and a teasing smirk on his face.

“Yup, sorry.” You said as you jogged up the hill toward him, winding you slightly.

He took note of your struggle, laughing at you, “You gotta start training with Lewis and I, we’ll whip your ass into shape.”

“Oh fuck off, I’m perfectly fine.” You said as you caught your breath. You were in pretty decent shape but being friends with professional athletes, that didn’t cut it at times like this.

He just laughed at you as you made your way up to the group that had slowed down to wait for you.

The hike itself was uneventful and rather short. You were still amazed by the beauty around you as you kept to yourself, your friends joking and laughing ahead of you. Miles stayed with you for the most part, he kept looking at you out of the corner of his eye as if he was checking on you. It seemed like he could tell something was up with you. When you finally made it to the waterfall you were at a loss for words. It was stunning, almost majestic, so powerful it drowned out all the sound around you. As you looked around, you saw Lewis drop his stuff, already taking his shirt off. He noticed you looking at him, offering you a tight lipped smile. You didn’t return it, looking away from him quickly as you found a place to put your own things. It took only a few moments before you heard a large splash from behind you, followed by another shortly after. When you turned you saw that Lewis and Miles had both promptly jumped directly into the water, completely drenching themselves and Steph who was standing at the edge. She did not look amused as Lewis attempted to apologize through a fit of giggles. Her response was to jump into the water after him, landing almost on top of him and taking him underwater with her. He came up from the water, sputtering slightly with a shocked look on his face before bursting into another fit of laughter. You silently thanked her for the accidental payback for the day at the beach when he threw you into the wave. You watched for a moment as he played around with your friends in the water, he looked like a kid without a care in the world and for a moment you wondered if the situation between the two of you bothered him at all. How was it so easy for him to act like everything was perfectly fine? Miles called out to you, telling you to join them.

When you jumped in the water it was much deeper than you had expected, going much further down than anticipated. You came back up, sputtering much the way Lewis just had. You shook your head while you treaded water, enjoying the coolness of the fresh water.

“Good?” You heard Lewis ask, much closer to you than you had expected, you hadn’t seen where he was when you first jumped in.

You nodded before he swam away from you, when he stopped you could tell he was standing even with his chest still submerged in the water.

“It’s shallower over here.” He called out to you, beckoning you over.

Against your better judgment you paddled over to him, wanting to be able to relax instead of treading water the entire time. When you made it over to him you noticed that he was right, the water was still deep but you were able to stand flat footed, the water coming up just above your shoulders.

“Having fun?” He asked softly, his voice slightly unsure.

Once again you nodded, still not entirely sure how to navigate a casual conversation with him.

“Good, I’m glad.” He said with a soft smile.

He stood there with you for another moment, staying silent as he looked up at the canopy of trees above your heads. You admired him as he admired the view. His braids were loose, pushed back from his face with the water they had been soaked in, there were a few droplets of water just barely dripping from his beard, his necklaces danced in the sunlight from where they hung around his strong neck. You watched as his prominent Adam's apple bobbed when he swallowed. He brought his head back down, looking over at you, catching your stare but not acknowledging it as he usually would.

“Beautiful.” He said quietly. The way he said it made you feel like he was talking about more than just the view but all you did was agree, also talking about a little more than the view.

“It is.” You nodded.

You didn’t stay with him much longer as Charlotte called over to you to make you come explore the waterfall with her. She gave you a look, checking that you were alright as you approached. You just nodded, telling her not to worry about it as you joined her in making your way around the back of the waterfall to find Miles. You all enjoyed the water for more than an hour before deciding it would be best to head back to the house. You felt more content than you had in the last twenty four hours but still unsure of how to navigate your relationship with Lewis. You knew you needed to talk to him but that was one of the last things you wanted to do at the moment. However soon enough, you would have to pick yourself up and confront him, you owed it to yourself at the very least.

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rubberonmyduck · 2 months

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Lust's Sexiest Couple (Part I)

[Prologue] [I] [II] [III] AO3 Link

Weakened angelic powers and one mishap with a rogue exorcist later, Lucifer is injured. As the looming threat of war with Heaven hangs above his head, and the delay of getting a healing spell from Stolas, Lucifer is forced to make a decision. New to the Pride Ring, you land yourself a job at I.M.P.-- the Immediate Murder Professionals. Desperate to make some money during a client-low, Blitz agrees to contract out a bodyguard for Lucifer Morningstar, the King of Hell. The catch? You're the one Blitz picks for the job.

Curse Stolas for being right– curse him for always being right!

Lucifer paced across the lobby, his sour mood reflected in how his face scrunched up, and how his heels hit the tiles exceptionally hard. It was almost as if he were expelling some angelic energy from him, warning those around him to stay clear. Not even the Radio Demon had bothered to tease the man this morning.

Oh, how Lucifer wished he could call this whole ridiculous plan off. A bodyguard? How pathetic! The news sites were sure to drag him once they caught wind of this, just like how they did when she decided to leave. Dramatically, might one add! Lucifer glanced at the golden ring on his finger. Yet he was too much of a pussy to take it off. Lucifer let out a huff, shaking his head.

He had the whole trip downward to think of some lie to conjure up. Sure the Sins– most of them– would be understanding of Lucifer’s predicament, but he couldn’t say the same for anyone else. Not that he cared about a sinner’s opinions on him, it just hurt his pride a little bit.

Okay, maybe he cared.

Charlie, bless her soul, had been nagging Lucifer all week about this new arrangement. She was concerned, and she wanted nothing more than for Lucifer to just stay at her hotel, letting Charlie keep an eye on her dad while he healed. She even offered to accompany him on his ventures downward, but Lucifer stood firm in his decision, no matter how much he hated it. He’d feel like a terrible dad bringing destruction to Charlie’s dream. To quell her worries, he offered to introduce the imp before he left. Meanwhile, Lucifer planned to stay back at the barron mansion he called home– if anyone attempted anything at the king, they’d be swiftly taken out by the demonic security he placed a long while prior.

“Do you at least know who it’ll be?” Charlie’s voice knocked Lucifer out of his thoughts, prompting him to look over at his daughter who was standing a few feet away, one of her hands resting on the wall.

“The boss, uhm– bits or something– informed me yesterday.” Lucifer wracked his brain for the name, coming up short. He couldn’t even remember it– Lucifer fished out his phone, tapping around to try and open up his previous conversation with Blitz. Just as he was about to speak again, there was a knock at the door. Lucifer froze.

Charlie’s attention went to the door, the girl quickly rushing over to greet whoever stumbled upon the hotel. As she opened it, she was greeted with the sight of a shorter imp.

“Good morning, Princess Charlotte!” You set your bag down and gave the woman in front of you a slight bow. The pictures didn’t do her justice, you noticed.

Charlie flashed you a grin, quicking moving forward to grasp your hands in her own, shaking it loosely but quickly. “Please! Call me Charlie!” She was quick to inquire your own name, complimenting the tactical outfit you had on. After responding to her, you noticed the king come into view. You gave him a bow, much like the one you gave Charlie.

“Your Majesty.”

“I informed your boss you’ll be out of the office for a few days,” he started, stepping past Charlie and out of the hotel, motioning for you to follow him. “You’ll be accompanying me to the Lust Ring.”

You picked your bag back up, rushing to get back to Lucifer before the two of you halted, hearing Charlie call out to her dad.

“Dad, wait!”

Lucifer turned his head, his body twisted just enough to see her. She rushed over, giving him a tight, side hug. Lucifer returned the hug.

“Stay safe! Bye!” Lucifer grinned at his daughter.

“Goodbye, Charlie.”

The sight was cute, and despite the pure awkwardness that came with standing only a foot away from the interaction, you couldn’t help but smile. Charlie rushed back into her hotel, waving at her dad once more before closing the door. Charlie had a very bubbly personality, and you couldn’t help but hope you’d see her again sometime.

Your attention turned onto Lucifer, who held a derpy smile as he stared back at the building. Somehow, the sight made you feel a bit queasy “So,” you started, distracting yourself from the feeling as you mentally ticked off a box list in your head.

“The bodyguard isn’t for your daughter?”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at you, his face falling to a more neutral, unreadable position. The queasiness you previously felt drifted away as he did so. “No.”

“It’s for you.” You pressed on. You remembered the alleyway once again, now almost completely certain it was from that incident you witnessed, but you knew you couldn’t say anything about it unless Lucifer himself told you. You weren’t that dumb. But a part of you wondered if there was more to this than that golden blood you saw that night.

“I can’t exactly leave the Pride Ring with a target on my back.”

“But why?”

Lucifer simply ignored you.

You held your bag close to your body as you stood next to Lucifer, your legs burning from having to keep up with the man’s long strides. Between the annoyance of how fast he walked and how many terrible shortcuts he insisted on taking the two of you, you still noticed how all the other sinners seemed to part whenever Lucifer came into view. You were certain it was more out of fear than respect, though, knowing how a good portion of the people down here in the Pride Ring were terrible.

A few days ago, you took it upon yourself to research a little more about Lucifer. Despite his status as a Sin and the Ruler of Hell, you knew little about him. In fact, you knew more about that tacky clown, Mammon, than King Lucifer. Regardless, you quickly learned a few key ideas about him.

People did not respect Lucifer. Like at all. Sinners, Hellborn, even hellhounds and imps all thought the man was an absolute joke when it came to running this wretched place. Part of you didn’t blame him though, but you could see the anger the denizens had. He barely made any appearances in Pride, and even few in any of the other Rings– no wonder you barely knew who he was at first. Apparently the only thing he did for his people in the recent years was allowing a yearly extermination to happen in exchange for his family’s and Hellborn’s safety. What a guy.

Speaking of exterminations, there had been one only weeks prior to your occupation of the Pride Ring. You remembered Blitz mentioning it once or twice, where he would quickly follow up with how it didn’t affect them anyways, so there was no need to worry. But he did advise you to make living arrangements elsewhere that day. You found a few news articles on it, and one of the videos that came up was of the King himself. He looked more demonic, a pair of crimson horns jutting out his head, his eyes a shade of red and a whole bunch of eyes that honestly creeped you out. Sinners seemed to have a similar reaction, outright stating their newfound fear of the man. Well, most of them did anyways– some of the reactions were rather horny.

Regardless, the whole situation is how you landed yourself in this exact moment, first in line to the hellevator down to Lust. In fact, you noticed the original departure schedule had changed to fit Lucifer’s needs the moment you two walked into the building. Convenient.

At the sound of a ding, the elevator doors opened, revealing a similar golden pattern the rest of the building had. As the two of you stepped into the empty elevator– that no one else dared to even try and get in,” Lucifer spoke to you once more.

“I have a meeting with Asmodeus. I couldn’t find anyone willing to drive us there,“ Lucifer rolled his eyes, “and I don’t suppose you know how to drive?”

Despite being slightly insulted by his assumptions, you shook your head. He was right, afterwall. The doors closed. You felt the tiny compartment shift, starting its descent.

“Then we’ll walk.”

“How far exactly?” You set your bag down on the ground, leaning down slightly to open it and dig through. You pulled out a tiny pistol.

“I have this for a short, five minute walk, but,” you set the gun next to your bag, reaching in with both hands to pull out another weapon, similar to the first but much bigger. You pointed the barrel to the sky. “I also have a bigger version should it be longer.” Lucifer stared at you, the spot where his nose would be scrunching up.

You bit your lip at the look, your face slightly heating up. “Do you prefer knives?” You suggested, searching through the bag yet again. “I think Millie gave me some–”

Lucifer reached out, placing his hand on your arm and gently pulling it out of the bag.

“It’s– It’s a ten minute walk,” He stuttered, concern laced into the words he spoke, “The small gun will be fine.”

You shrugged, giving him a grin. “If you insist, Your Majesty.”

The elevator dinged once again, a robotic voice coming out a shitty speaker to announce their arrival at the Lust Ring. You quickly shoved your weapons back in your bag, opting to place your pistol in one of your pockets. The doors opened slowly, revealing a lobby similar to the once in Pride. This one, while still decorated with subtle apple and snake motifs, had blue accents replacing the shimmering gold you saw before. The place was filled as much as the one above was, but it seemed to have more succubus than regular imps.

Lucifer led you out of the building. The first thing you noticed as you walked outside was how blue everything else was. Even the sky! It made sense the more you thought about it– Greed was similar, but its whole get-up was the color green. Hell, the Pride Ring had its own red theme going on too. Though the Lust Ring seemed much cleaner than both the Greed and Pride Rings. You noticed the shift in Lucifer’s demeanor, his shoulders relaxing and his face falling into a more chilled expression. Perhaps he enjoyed the cleanliness as much as you did.

You maneuvered yourself to the King's left side, pulling your pistol back out of your pocket. “I’ll take the alleyway,” you announced.

This way, if anybody were to attempt something in a less than visible spot, you had easier access to them. Lucifer seemed to catch on, giving a nod and started his walk on your right without complaint.

#hazbin hotel lucifer morningstar #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer morningstar #lucifer morningstar x reader #hazbin hotel lucifer x reader #immediate bodyguard professionals

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yesimwriting · 7 months

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⋆｡°✩ yesimwriting's masterlist⋆｡°✩

Below the cut is a full list of all my work :) (updated 10-10-23)

also sm love to the person who helped me out by making this!!

SCREAM 1996

Final Girl

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

To be continued.

Final Girl fic-verse:

First Impressions

Sick Day

———————

Final Girl fic-verse blurbs:

Drunk Y/N

Stu saying the L word

Billy saying the L word

Little Rituals

Time of Need

Talking about Y/N

Stu’s thoughts about Y/N and POV

Gingerbread

Billy Loomis x S/O with Panic attacks

Stu waiting for Y/N and Casual Intimacy

Billy and Stu with S/O who cries a lot

Billy and Stu Scaring Guys Away

People noticing their friendship

Driving with Stu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SCREAM VI

Ethan Landry

One of Them

Ask about Ethan

Noticing they like Y/N

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LAST OF US

Joel Miller

First Rule

What Follows

Y/N gets hit on - Protective Joel

Purpose

Pulling Away

Pulling Away similar story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STAR WARS

Anakin

More Than This

Promise

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Tate Langdon

Modern day fic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DC TITANS

Jason Todd

Resurgence

Slow Nights

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ELVIS THE MOVIE

Business Practical

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STRANGER THINGS

Steve Harrington

Movie Club

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Times Have Changed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DAREDEVIL

48 Hours

Chapter 1

A Red Widow

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SPIDER-MAN

This Time it’s Different

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

TASM Peter

Domestic Assertiveness

Hobbie Brown

Ask about Hobbie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOU

Bloodroot in the Suburbs

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Babysitter

Chapter 2: Kill Habits, Not people

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SIX OF CROWS SERIES:

Searing Starlight

Searing Starlight Chapter 1

Searing Starlight Chapter 2

Searing Starlight Chapter 3

To be continued.

—————-

Kaz Brekker:

Blurb series: The Promise of Rain (i define a blurb series' as a series with shorter chapters where each chapter correlates but can technically be read as a stand alone)

The Promise of Rain (blurb 1).

The Promise of Rain (blurb 2).

The Promise of Rain (blurb 3)

To be continued.

—————

Falling Angels:

Falling Angels Chapter 1

Falling Angels Chapter 2

To be continued.

———

Anastasia (Prologue)

Bookworm reader

A Knife in the Back

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SHADOW AND BONE:

The Darkling:

Solace (part 1)

Solace (part 2).

———————

To Be Alone (smut).

Solutions

All the Good Dreams (might be getting a part 2)

—————

The Needs of Pain (part 1)_

The Needs of Pain (part 2, smut).

—————-

Corridor Moments

darkling x shy! reader HC

Comforting the darkling HC

Playing Vices

Darkling x anxious! Reader

Kirigan x Soft Girls/Similar personality

Crossing Lines

Darkling x Pregnant! Reader

Possessive/Breeding

Nikolai Lantsov:

Tranquility.

Handmaid reader x nikolai. childhood best friends to

lovers fic

Enemies to lovers Nikolai HC (i'm thinking of making a series based on this

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SHADOW AND BONE X SIX OF CROWS:

The Problem With Light Chapter One

To be continued.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RED QUEEN:

Maven Calore:

Dying Starlight

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muniimyg · 14 hours

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prologue // series m.list

note: no concussion will stop me … hi jus making sure u all still love me </3

🏷️ permanent taglist: @joonsjuice @pamzn @defzcl @maryy1300 @whoa-jo @taetaecatboy @jksusawife @un06 @firesighgirl @rrosiitas @butterymin @parkinglot-nights @musicjournalsjdb @kissyfacekoo @jkslvsnella @vampcharxter @bloopkook @kekerrreke @somehowukook @bbystarcandykoo

Jungkook hates studying.

Although his grades prove to differ, a part of him has always thought it was simply good luck. For the most part, he’s an A student… Truth be told, he’s more of a cram-it-all-at-2AM kind of guy. On the odd days that Jungkook felt like he needed to prepare more, he liked studying in the University’s nest. There’s a good coffee cart there and it’s definitely much more social than the hideous library.

Yet, the nest and his bedroom ceased to exist when he met you.

When he met you, Jungkook stepped into the library for the first time in nearly three years.

It was so odd.

He felt like a new student. It was a whole different world in that stuffy library of yours... He wanted to understand it so bad. Maybe that's why he kept coming back. Sooner than later, he realized that it wasn't the library he was trying to understand; it was you.

And it felt weird right off the bat. He felt so... Confused? Alone? It occurred to him just then that no one really talks about what happens when you develop feelings for someone... How you begin to alter your routine just so it can match theirs and how every little thing that you see becomes an excuse for you to use to see or talk to them about.

Since when did he care about who was in your Instagram story?

Since when did he care about which parties you were attending?

Since when did he give a shit about sitting next to you?

Oh, and not to mention the sudden change in preference... But let's fucking talk about the preference change.

He used to really like going down 3RD Ave to go home from the library, but you said it was too busy of a path. Going down 5TH Ave takes 5 minutes longer, but it's okay. The scenery is prettier. The walk is calmer. It's also conveniently closer to your place.

He used to not give a shit about oat or soy milk. Regular milk is fine. He's not even lactose. But since you prefer oat milk; so does he. You're right. It does make drinks taste better.

He used to only get haircuts once every 2-3 months... But you said he looked handsome when he cut his hair shorter than usual. Now, his barber asks him, "Seriously, bro, what's her name?" once a month.

It's mindblowing.

There are so many things he's changed about himself before he even realized he liked you. There are so many things that changed in his life just for the mere chance of you liking it or noticing it.

Like, fuck.

He's such a fucking loser.

Jungkook doesn’t know why he feels this way... He just does. It swirls in his stomach and presses on his chest. Simply, he’s confused about whether he can control it or not.

This feeling.

This change.

Truly, all he knows is that if you like something, he likes it too.

If you hate something, he hates it too.

If you do something, he will do it too.

A part of himself can’t even be upset at this change. At the end of the day, he was studying better. He was seating himself in a less overstimulating environment and above all; he was always with you.

How could he be upset at that?

His thoughts pause as he feels you squeeze his arm for his attention. Gladly, he gives it to you.

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm all done for tonight—oh gosh—" Your words are cut off as you turn your face and meet his. He's so close! It caught you so off guard that your phone slipped from your hands.

"S-sorry," you apologize, pushing your chair back, bending down, and getting on the floor to find your phone. Jungkook quickly follows you, getting off his seat and meeting you under the table. "I didn't realize you were so close—"

"I was?" he asks, voice a little shakey. From the corner of his eye, he sees your phone and reaches for it. Just as he's about to give it to you, you laugh in response.

"I guess that's how close you usually sit to me. I was so focused on my work and when I finally turn away it was like boom! Jungkook!"

His facial expression remains blank as you ramble. You look at him softly, feeling a little confused. "Did you get another haircut, by the way? It looks good!"

He blushes.

You smile at him warmly, inching backward to get up from under the table.

"This? It was whatever—"

Jungkook's words cut off as a muted thud interrupts. He saw it happen. It happened so fast. Your forehead collides with the table's edge, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain.

He reaches for you, placing his hand over your forehead and hissing. "Shit, ___! Are you okay?"

Blinking away tears of discomfort, you wince as Jungkook presses his hand to your throbbing temple. "I'm okay," you murmur, trying to downplay the pain, though your voice trembles slightly.

It's in this moment that you take in how Jungkook looks at you. His eyes soften with concern as he studies your flushed cheeks and furrowed brow. Leaning in closer, he brushes a strand of your hair away from your face. His touch is so gentle and reassuring at the same time. It must be the bump because for some reason... You're dizzy.

You meet his gaze. Jungkook offers you a small smile and you melt. Despite the throbbing ache in your head, a warmth spread throughout your body at the sight of his fucking smile.

It's not even his best one.

His best smile happens when you say something under your breath and he catches it. Teasing you relentlessly, you've grown to accept his behaviour in exchange of seeing that damn smile of his.

It was worth it.

"Here," Jungkook takes your hand, “let’s get you an ice pack—owh, fuck."

Unsure if it's because he was nervous and distracted by the fact he was holding your hand, Jungkook clearly got ahead of himself. He doesn't time this right. His body jerked up too early, swiftly attempting to escape. Instead, a similar muted thud noise causes a muffled curse to escape his lips. The pain radiates through his skull and you look at him, knowing the feeling all too well.

Jungkook is stunned.

Jungkook is stupid.

What kind of genius hits his head trying to get out from under the table too?

As your eyes widen, your hands fly to the back of his head. You rub his head and lean in closer. Jungkook places his hand on your wrist, biting the inside of his cheeks.

He didn't know what emotion he felt more of... Was he embarrassed or was he was just super pissed at this fucking table right now?

Or was he kind of loving this?

You're so close to him that he can take your scent in. You smell so good... And you're so pretty up close. He pouts, and utters; "fuck, that really hurt."

You throw your head back and laugh. "I think we're idiots," you tell him. “Seriously, are you okay?”

“Yeah..” He snickers. "Wanna keep this a secret? Let’s never tell anyone about this... Ever."

He offers you his pinky. With your free hand, you intertwine them and make your promise.

At that moment, as you two locked eyes, everything began to fade away. Jungkook wasn't pissed anymore.

Why should he be?

There was solace in your gaze. It was a good reminder that you care for him... And wow, did that make him feel good.

His heart beats faster and faster.

Then, it skips a beat.

As Jungkook feared, you had truly done it now.

With the slightest touch, the softest smile, and kindest eyes... You mesmerize him and he finds it difficult—impossible—to get himself out of this.

“Is this even helping—“

Jungkook catches your hands, keeping them on him. You tilt your head but smile shyly. He clears his throat.

“Y-yeah,” he lies. “I think I hit my head harder than you. Can you just.. Yeah?”

You nod, moving in closer. At this point, there’s no space between you two. You continue to rub his head and he does everything he can to memorize this.

Every detail on your face.

How your touch feels.

How you touch his heart.

The way he feels right now… Oh, god. It’s too much. It’s a kind of high he has never felt before.

For a moment you two sit there and it’s like there is no world aside from the one you two found in each others presence. Under the table, laughing and comforting each other—oh, it felt golden. Jungkook couldn't believe it... He couldn't believe how this fleeting moment changed everything he ever felt about you. There was no going back. There was no way out either... There was just... This.

Here.

Now.

What bliss? How slowly, then all at once, you bloomed for his gaze.

#bts fic #jungkook scenario #jk uni au #jk x yn

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