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stinkywritin · 4 months

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Late Night Devil

Lee Heeseung x male reader

Short synopsis: You catch a glimpse of the mysterious figure and your life’s forever changed…

…a nice way of saying gay vampire Heeseung brain rot

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, essentially PWP, unprotected sex (wrap before you tap), top!Heeseung, bottom!male reader, oral (reader receiving), biting kink, praise kink, FILTH IM SORRY

Title from song Teeth by 5 Seconds of Summer

(a reupload a my favorite fic from my old blog)

You felt eyes on you ever since you arrived at the party.

Ever since you walked through the front doors with your mother and father, you felt as though you were being watched. No matter how many times you turned around and checked, there wasn’t anyone looking.

Not until you got to the banquet hall.

Everything was draped in luxurious red cloth, the high ceilings connected to a glass dome which allowed the guests a full view of the starry night sky. The tables adorned with the finest tablecloths and expensive tableware you felt nervous picking up for fear of breaking it, the near overwhelming amount of candlelight contrasting the darkness of the night. The dark wooden chairs complimented the equally as dark tables, the ballroom devoid of all color except for the hints of burgundy.

You continued to feel watched over even as you slid down onto one of the chairs next to your mother, your black coat draped over the back of the chair as you fiddled with the silver rings on your hand. One of the rings on your finger was etched with your family crest, handed down from your father once you became of adult age and joined your father’s oil business. Light organ notes danced in the air as the chatter amongst guests grew louder, more families arriving and filling up the tables.

“Sit up straight Y/N!” Your mother scorned you, her previous lecture of maintaining the family image still ringing in your ears. Her voice sounded strained through the tight corset, you were pretty sure her internal organs were all smushed together. A tight lipped smile stretched on her face as she looked around the banquet hall, many other families and members of higher society. Politicians, heirs to fortunes, royal family members, everyone who had more money than they knew what to do with.

Through your father’s business, your family was ranked fairly high on the social status, no where near the level of royalty but definitely a name with notoriety. You being the eldest son meant you’re the child who received the burden of continuing you family’s legacy, expected to not only further your business’s success but to also hand it down to another son. Either this or marry into an even richer family but you were never interested in any of the female suitors your father brought to you, denying any advance before retreating into your studies.

Your father suddenly beckoned you to his side across the hall, champagne glass in hand along with the most manufactured smile while speaking to other men with the same expressions. Your face was devoid of any emotion as you walked to join his side, the light tapping of your shoes on the banquet hall tile was drowned out by the band in the corner.

It’s not that you didn’t like your father, quite frankly you didn’t know enough about him in order to form a sold opinion about him. You’d seen his multimillion dollar company run so many small villages into the ground, clearing out acres of land for hopes of even drilling a single drop of oil. You heard the protests of the people in your country, pleading for companies to stop their mindless destruction of land but like all the other companies, your father didn’t listen. You had no intention of continuing the family business, hoping that maybe one of your siblings would take it over or that you could personally destroy it from the inside out. Plans to escape the damned family business flooded your mind as you stood next to your father, stone faced as he bragged to a distant colleague about whatever bullshit rich old men brag about.

It was during a conversation about coal plants that you saw him for the first time.

Your eyes mindlessly moved along the grand staircase, up along the marbled railing of the balcony, before spotting him alone with his hands folded along the railing. Eyes instantly meeting yours.

His skin was perfectly smoothed and sculpted, his appearance statuesque as he held strong eye contact with you. The darkness in his eyes matched the slant in his grin, a devious smirk was on his lips as his eyes raked you in, seemingly drawing you closer to him. The dark strands on his head complimented the dark velvet coat on his shoulders, the ruffles of his white shirt peaking forward elegantly.

“Y/N what do you think?” Your father’s voice interrupted your speechless encounter with the brunette, ripping your eyes from the beauty before you to bring you back to Earth. Dante himself wouldn’t be able to fully capture the beauty of the man you laid your eyes on, his descriptions of heaven coming second to the allure of the man who captured your attention.

“Sorry come again?” You replied haphazardly, already tuning out the conversation before you look back up to the gorgeous creature from before. Only in the mere seconds you looked away, he had vanished. Your bewildered eyes searched all over the balcony for him, refusing to believe he was a figment of your imagination.

“Sorry gentlemen please excuse me one moment” you politely moved away from the men, leaving behind a group of insulted men and your angry father. Your heart rate picked up as you began your search for the man from earlier, refusing to let him leave your life as quickly as he had entered.

Your footsteps echoed in the hallways of the palace, the tiled floor ways leading to multiple different rooms. You came across a portrait in a hallway far from the banquet hall, the frame picturing a family with an only child. A son whose eyes seemed to bore into your sole, the faces of the parents had been scratched out, the colors worn pale from age.

“Such a shame isn’t it?” A rich, melancholic voice startled you from your spot before the portrait, the handsome stranger from before suddenly appearing behind you. You hadn’t heard his footsteps, nor any other indication he was near you. “The colors were much more divine when the portrait was freshly made.”

“When was it painted?” You asked the stranger, his smile was playful as his eyes shifted from you to the painting.

His hands were folded behind his lower back as he spoke up, “I stopped counting after the third century.”

Well fuck. Even though everything about that response screamed ‘don’t come near me I’m dangerous,’ something about the way his eyes flatly observed the portrait before you pulled you in for more.

“Do you know the family?” You asked, your voice wavering as you continued to take in his appearance. The man before you seemed to have discarded his coat, the silk of his white shirt now on full display. There wasn’t a single wrinkle, every fold was pressed neatly on his body. If elegance was a person it truly would be him.

“Do you always stutter when asking questions?” His eyes quickly turned to make eye contact with you, a playful slant adorned his lips at his teasing. You couldn’t help the rush of heat to your face, hopefully he couldn’t see the blush on your face but judging by how his smile grew, it was evident he saw it.

“I guess only when I’m talking to pretty people” you shrugged, your eyes traveling away from his to study the portrait once again. The scratch marks on the faces of the parents tore through the canvas, making it obvious someone took a knife to the portrait. Although the colors were muted, you didn’t doubt that the robes and silks worn by the parents were more expensive than your father’s entire company. Then there was the little boy. He looked no more than 6 years of age, cheeks puffed and eyes full of childlike wonder, his face was the only one still remaining on the portrait.

“You can do better than juvenile pick up lines” the man scoffed, your eyes snapping back to him just in time to see him stifle a laugh. “This isn’t a school courtyard.”

You let out a chuckle, already cringing on your cheesy one liner. “I apologize for that sir but I don’t apologize for the pretty laugh it let me hear from you.” Now it was his turn to blush.

It was the chiming of the bells from the clock tower that erased the relaxed feeling between you two.

“Excuse me sir L/N but I’m afraid that’s my queue to leave.” As he started to turn on his heal away from you, a tight feeling within you snapped and you reached out to grab his wrist. Immediately you felt his ice cold skin on your hand, his face contorted in shock as he looked back to you. “What are you-“

“How did you know my last name?” You interrupt him, his furrowed brows softening on his face.

“Seeing as how I made the guest list I’m well acquainted with your family Y/N” his cheeky grin was back, his wrist still in your grasp. You relaxed your hold to let him escape but instead he took another step closer towards you.

“You’re part of the Lee family?” You questioned, even if you already knew the answer. The Lee family was one of the wealthiest royal families in the country, owning a luxurious castle away from all the surrounding villages. Your father said they were weird and antisocial but seeing as how they donated to many charities and political campaigns in the villages, they were immensely powerful. No one from the Lee family held any political or government position in centuries but that didn’t mean they weren’t pulling the strings from afar.

“And you still don’t seem to know my name?” His spunky grin broke you from your deep thoughts. You were face to face with a member of one of the most powerful families in the country, your father’s complaints of their wealth ringing in your ears.

“I’m sorry,” you apologized. “I just didn’t think I’d ever meet someone from your family.” You honestly stated, barely noticing just how close he was to you. Your noses were mere inches apart, a strong enough breeze would’ve been able to bring you two together

“Heeseung.” His voice was slightly above a whisper before he continued, “my name is Lee Heeseung.”

Before your brain could talk you out of it, you took his hand in yours before bringing the back of his palm up to your mouth. You have a slight bow as you pressed a feather like kiss to his ice cold skin, you knew he still had that damn smirk on his face even if your eyes were closed. “It’s an honor to meet you Heeseung, I’m F/N L/N of the L/N family.”

“I’m aware” he snatched his hand back, although the grin was still plastered on his face. “This is my home after all.”

Before turning around to leave, he added “Meet me back here at midnight.” It wasn’t a question, more of an order, but you wouldn’t have refused either way.

“I’ll be waiting.” You gave one more curt bow, at which he scoffed and walked away from you. You noticed he wasn’t walking back in the direction of the banquet hall, in fact he was going in the opposite direction.

You turned back towards the portrait before you and as you looked at the boy in the painting again you felt a heavy weight in the pit of your chest. You could suddenly recognize the boy being Heeseung, a smiling young Heeseung. And suddenly the remark of the painting being more than three centuries old made that weight in your chest even heavier.

——

True to your word you returned to your unofficial meeting spot.

It was a pain in the ass trying to shake off your parent’s prying eyes and overwhelming amount of questions. You hid the fact that you had met — and flirted — with Lee Heeseung from both of your parents, you knew they would demand that you introduced them to him so you made up a lie about getting lost trying to find a bathroom. Seeing your parents fake smiles and having to endure a terrible sales pitch from your father was a special kind of hell that you didn’t want Heeseung to experience. Thankfully they believed your lie and didn’t press any further, leaving you alone for the rest of the evening.

It was a little before midnight, right when you were about to leave to see Heeseung again, that you spoke to your mother. You told her you would stay behind for a little while longer and that they should leave without you, that you’d call a cab later and meet them back at the house. She seemed hesitant to leave you, wanting to know why you would be staying behind but in the end she hesitantly left with your father.

“Just promise you’ll be back in the morning?” She pleaded, cradling your face in the palms of her hands. “Or at least call me in the morning to let me know you’re still alive?”

“Yes mother don’t worry I’ll let you know everything” you offered her a wide grin as she pulled back, the clicks of her heels hitting the tiled floor growing quieter. Once she had gotten in the car with your father, you turned and quickly walked back to the hallway from earlier that evening.

—-

The corridors were empty, only the sound of your hurried footsteps could be heard echoing off the walls. The painting was still just as magnificent as it was earlier in the evening, except as you footsteps took you close to it, you could feel that familiar weight in your chest again. The breaths picked up as you eyed the portrait again, this time feeling as though it was pulling you in.

“You came back” the same honey voice startled you, Heeseung suddenly appearing next to you. He grinned at your attempts to catch your breath, your eyes still wide from the scare he gave you.

“Of course” you huffed out, composing yourself by straightening your back to look him in the eye. “I had some questions.”

Heeseung quirked his head to the side while his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, the smile still plastered in his face. “Questions?” He paused, you gave a shaky nod in reply. “Alright well, ask away.”

“Is that you?” You pointed to the little boy in the portrait, his goddamn grin was making it ten times harder for you to focus on trying to make sense of him.

“Yes that’s me.” Heeseung flatly responded, his eyes traveling to look at the portrait. “I think that was my sixth birthday if I can recall correctly.”

“And you said this was made over three centuries ago correct?” Your voice was wavering, your whole body feeling heavy with anxiety and dread. “How old are you?”

“Y/N don’t you know it’s considered rude to ask someone their age when you first meet?” Heeseung’s met with yours again, seemingly able to bore holes into your brain. As if he could sense the panic coursing through your veins, he sighed before answering “I can’t remember how old I am or how many years are passing by, they all seem to blur together and over time I found it’s easier to not count my age anymore.”

Heeseung’s entire demeanor changed; he was no longer carrying himself with a high level of confidence, instead of the usual cockiness there was a melancholic tone to his voice as he longingly stared at the portrait.

He continued, “I was normal just like you, just human. Until at age 20 I was turned into this by my lover. He turned me into this so that we could be together for all of eternity but shortly after I turned he was killed by some hunters from a village up north. I was 20, a freshly turned vampire and completely estranged by my family for choosing a male lover.” He clutched something in his hand, turning it over before he took a seat on the tiled floor. His back was pressed against the dark walls as he beckoned you to sit next to him.

Once you were sat next to him, your hands making contact with the cold tiles of the floor as your back rested against the wall, you could see a small locket in his hands. The metal was scuffed and old, showing signs of years of use.

“This family,” Heeseung continued. “It’s made up of vampires from all over the country who are just like me. No family to turn to, no friends and partners to depend on, nothing. The Lee family took me in, no questions asked and I’ve been here since. And while the banquets and parties have been quite distracting, I still haven’t been able to find anyone to grow closer to, not since I died and became this.”

A fresh tear had escaped from Heeseung’s eye, it traveled down his cheek until hitting the floor, the man not bothering to wipe it away.

“I’m sorry Heeseung” you shakily whispered, hoping your voice was loud enough to be heard by the vampire next to you. The weight you had felt in your chest earlier — the intense panic over what creature Heeseung was and whether or not he was dangerous — had started dissipating at his words. Not entirely however, and it seemed Heeseung could still sense the remaining anxieties.

“Don’t apologize I haven’t even answered your question yet,” Heeseung wiped the remains of his tears off of his cheek while letting out a small — forced — chuckle. You were forced to go to banquets and business meetings and a bunch of other gatherings of snobby rich people, you were used to fake smiles and even faker laughs; however Heeseung’s was the most heartbreaking of all.

“As for age all I can say for sure is that I’ve been a vampire for a little over 400 years,” Heesung’s fingers messed with the locket in his hand as he spoke. “Anything else you’d like to ask Mr. L/N”

Heeseung had cocked his head to look at you, his eyes instantly letting yours. Sitting beside you was a supposed ‘creature of the undead’, something that up until recently you believed to be fake and the material for fiction. And yet the way Heeseung’s smile seemed to fill your being with bliss was anything but fiction, the way he had drawn you in even if you had only met that evening was a beautiful reality.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t still have questions.

“If you say you ran away to join this family how did you get that painting?” The teasing in your tone evoked a surprised laugh from Heeseung, the atmosphere surrounding you two had lightened, no longer full of worry.

“I’ve been alive longer than your great grandparents don’t question how I get stuff brat” Heeseung playfully pinched your shoulder, sending you two into a lighthearted scuffle that ended with Heeseung’s thighs straddling your lower torso.

“Ok I yield!” You huffed out between fits of laughter. As your chest rose and fell from your attempts to catch your breath, you could suddenly feel how close Heesung was. His hands held your wrists to the floor, his upper body draped over yours. “Okay one last question.”

“Ugh enough with the questions!” Heeseung chuckled out. After seeing the pleading look in your eyes he nodded his head, telling you it was okay to ask what was on your mind.

“Why did you ask me to come back here at midnight?” You asked, the underlying tone of your question being ‘are you going to kill me because I would please like to know in advance’.

“Is my interest in you not obvious enough?” Heeseung softly replied, grin widening when he sees the blush rise to your face. The hands that were on your wrists were now interlocking with yours, his hands delicately squeezing yours as he rested his forehead atop yours. “And here I was thinking you were also interested.”

“I am!” You helped out, causing a fit of giggles to erupt from Heeseung at your eagerness.

Heeseung’s hands were still interlocked with yours as he calmed down, his face still so close to yours. The way his eyes were sparkling with joy made the weight dissipate completely. Heeseung’s faced leaned impossibly closer to yours, his lips mere centimeters away from yours. “You’re so gorgeous the second I saw you I knew I had to talk to you. I knew I would miss the rest of the banquet because I had some business to take care of with another town’s mayor. Corrupt politicians and what not, such a pain to clean blood stains on carpets by the way.” Heeseung rolled his eyes at his comment, you could feel your heart rate pick up at the way his eyes flicked between your eyes and your lips.

“But I knew I had to see you again which is why I asked you to meet me here.” You felt your dick twitch at his words, the smirk playing on his lips was evidence he felt it too.

He started to slowly — so achingly slowly — roll his hips over your bulge. “The entire job I pleaded with the universe to let me see you again, all I could think about was how gorgeous you are Y/N.”

“Heeseung” you panted out, the fabric around your cock getting tighter. “Please kiss me.”

“Absolutely my love” Heeseung’s lips slotted perfectly with yours, your body heat felt as though it rose an extra 30 degrees. The way his lips fit with yours felt like an explosion of pure bliss, immediately opening your mouth to let his tongue in. The way Heeseung kissed you as if he was planning on devouring you made your head spin.

It could’ve been 30 seconds or 3 years but the kiss felt of pure heaven. No amount of time would ever be enough to fully satisfy the need you felt for each other, you thought this as Heeseung’s hip rolls began getting faster. After a particularly loud moan escaped your lips, Heeseung murmured into your ear, “Let me take you to bed my beauty.”

You eagerly nodded as he lifted you both up on your feet, leading you to his bedroom door while having his hand interlaced with yours. You two couldn’t help the giggles or the chaste kisses while you ran to his room.

—-

“Lie on your back for me sweetheart” Heeseung’s voice has seemed to drop a few octaves, sounding huskier as he pushed you back onto his silk sheets and started undoing the buttons on his shirt.

You quickly undid the laces of your boots, chucking them across the room before fumbling with the buttons on your shirt. You huffed in annoyance as you had difficulty getting your shirt off, Heeseung — who was now shirtless — took notice of your frustration and let out a low chuckle. His hands clasped yours as he placed them on you, slowly moving your hands down onto the bed before eagerly grabbing the collar of your blouse and tearing the fabric open. You gasped at the sound of the fabric ripping but quickly began to let out a deep groan as Heeseung began placing soft kisses down your chest. His lips were ice cold, making goosebumps rise all over your body from the drastic shift in temperature.

“There’s no time for slowly unbuttoning clothing” Heesung whispered into the skin on your sternum. His eyes switched back up to meet yours, the look of pure lust painting his eyes, “I want you now.”

“Then take me.” You gasped as Heeseung pushed your upper body down onto his bed, grabbing your hips and quickly pulling down your trousers and underwear, leaving you bare under him. You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him close to you to bring him into another heated kiss. You felt the fabric of his pants on your cock as he began to grind his clothed bulge onto yours. The friction causing you to bite at his lower lip, your fingernails scratching onto the skin on his shoulders. One of his hands moved to graze over your bulge, the cold skin causing a shiver to run up your spine.

Heeseung continued to kiss and bite at the skin on your jawline as he wrapped a hand around your cock, giving it a harsh but arousing tug. “Knew you would sound heavenly darling” Heeseung said into your ear, the strokes of his hand becoming more even. “Knew it the second I laid my eyes on you.”

“Heeseung-“ you were cut off by your own whine as Heesung sharply removed his hand to slap your thigh.

“That’s hyung to you brat” Heeseung gave your thigh another harsh smack before bringing two fingers up to your lips. The pads of his icy fingertips grazing along your lower lip so slightly you could barely feel it. “Now open up.”

You opened your mouth to let his fingers dance along your tongue, wrapping your lips around his fingers and sighing. Heeseung’s eyes were fixated on the sight of you sucking on his fingers, his cock growing harder. He pulled his fingers out from your mouth before sliding them over your tight hole, inserting one finger in as you gasped in surprise. His fingers were still so, so cold, causing you to shiver again.

He slowly worked his finger in and out of your hole, teasing his second one before pushing them both in and stretching you open. As his fingers worked to stretch you open, Heeseung licked a stripe from your thigh to the base of your cock. You let out a loud yelp as he licked up the length of your cock, your hands flying to yank at the dark locks on his head. “Oh hyung that feels so good” you moaned out, your eyes squeezing shut from the overwhelming waves of pleasure that were washing over your body.

His fingers quickened their pace as Heeseung’s dark eyes looked up at you, he whispered with the head of your cock pressed against his bottom lip, “cum in my mouth gorgeous.” Heeseung’s mouth took you in, warmth engulfing your entire body as you cried out in pleasure. You could feel the pleasure overcoming you, making your brain foggy as all your senses were being overwhelmed.

All of a sudden the coil in you snapped, you came down his throat as he eagerly swallowed every drop you let out. Even as you came down from the intense feeling, his fingers were still working you open — albeit at a slower pace. When his fingers grazed your prostate you shivered while your thighs began to shake, throwing Heeseung a confused gaze.

“You didn’t think we were done did you?” His smirk causing your thoughts to muddle, he abruptly removed his fingers before smacking your thigh again. “Sit up now darling I haven’t gotten my fix yet.”

He laid back against the dark wood of his bedpost, a pillow separating his lower back from the wood. He removed his pants and underwear before turning to you and patting his thigh, beckoning you over. You let out a small chuckle, your post orgasm brain somehow finding the cheesiness of it all a little amusing.

Heeseung tilted his head in confusion as you crawled over, placing his hands on your hips before saying, “why are you laughing, darling?” He pulled you down to sit on his lower torso, his cock nestled between your cheeks which caused the blush on your face to deepen in slight embarrassment.

“You’re so cute” you placed an innocent peck on his lips, Heeseung gave you what felt like a hundred more as a response. He held you close as the grin on his face grew larger, both of your giggles breaking the kisses. As you both calmed down from your giggling fit, the eye contact you held began intensifying. Heeseung’s eyes seemed to hold all the stars in the night sky with the way they sparkled up at you, the light blush on his face deepening as you held him close.

His hand ran through the hair on the nape of your neck, his wide eyes and large grin seemed to distract you from the fact that you were both completely bare. His finger started to drag from the bottom of your ear down the slope of your neck before whispering, “Can I bite you darling?”

You could feel your soft length grow interested at his question, your eyes widened as they filled with curiosity. “You want to turn me?” Your question made the vampire look up at you, an unreadable look in his eyes.

“I don’t have to turn you.” Heeseung started, his cold hands tightening their grip on your skin. “I can feed from you and as long as I don’t take too much you’ll still be alive and, well, human.”

When the word ‘feeding’ fell from the man’s lips, you suddenly remembered the man — the vampire — below you could very easily kill you in two ways; by either draining all the blood from your body or turning you into an undead creature for the rest of eternity.

“I’ve been alive a long time Y/N” Heeseung’s voice bringing you back to the present. He continued, “I can control my appetite, I will not take more than you can handle and I will stop if you tell me to. You have my word darling.”

Instead of giving him a verbal response, you tilt your head to the side to give him full access to your neck and collarbones and nodded. Heeseung’s hands roughly pulled your hips up, aligning his length with your entrance before pulling you back down to sit on his lap. Your body shivered at the overwhelming pleasure coursing through your veins, the head of Heeseung’s cock was pressing against your g spot, leaving you full.

As you tried moving your hips, Heeseung would stop your movements to slam you back down onto his lap. His hands moved from your hips further down to hold your ass, his tongue licking over a spot on the crook of your neck. Your neglected length had been interested even after already orgasming once, however all pleasure before this failed in comparison to the feeling of Heeseung’s fangs piercing into your skin. His hips moved achingly slowly as he sunk his teeth into your neck, your grip on him tightening. Even if you had only met Heeseung that night you already knew he had ruined sex with anyone else in the future, it would be only him for the rest of your existence.

Heeseung’s hips kept a slow pace, his soft groan was muffled while he fed from your neck. The intense pleasure coming from Heeseung’s movements juxtaposed the sharp pain on your neck, your post orgasm brain becoming even muddier. You felt Heeseung remove his fangs from your neck, placing kisses on the marks left behind while his hips picked up a faster pace. The sounds of your bodies moving together echoed throughout the room, your pants being interrupted by Heeseung’s voice in your ear giving you encouragements.

“There you go, that’s my good boy.”

“Knew I had to have you the second I laid my eyes on you.”

“Darling you tasted so good, did so well for me.”

“Be as loud as you can for me Y/N, don’t hold back.”

The familiar sensation from earlier came back, this time magnified by ten. You could feel your muscles tightening as you reached your climax, your grip on Heeseung’s shoulders becoming more tense.

“Hyung I’m close,” you whined out. His thrusts were precise and fast, aiming and nailing your g spot head on every time.

“How cute,” Heeseung’s low voice went straight to your hard cock, his hand wrapping around your length and stroking in tandem with his hips. He continued, “My good boy wants to cum for me a second time. Make a mess for me sweet boy, I’m right there with you.”

You reached a moment of euphoria, your entire body tightening up before you came all over Heeseung’s hand. You felt Heeseung reach his high because his thrusts stilled, his grip on your body tightened before he went slack. Your body slumped into his as you now began trying to catch your breath. You heard Heeseung let out a giggle as he held up your tired body.

“Nope you’re not getting off that easy.” Heeseung quickly flipped you onto your back below him, the speed shaking you awake. His body was bent over yours, he brought one of his hands up to your mouth and put his palm to your lips. It was the palm that was covered in your release, “lick it off baby, you’re helping me clean up.”

You quickly licked your release off his hand, holding eye contact with him the entire time so you could see his proud smirk. His lips graced yours once you finished, your entire body slugging back into the sheets below you. “I’ll be right back baby.”

Your eyelids felt heavy while you watched him get off his bed, making his way across the room while nude which gave you a shameless view of his body.

He returned momentarily with some bandaids, along with a glass of water. “Sit up for me darling,” he said as he sat down next to you, putting the glass of water into your hands once you were up right. You lazily drank from the cup as Heeseung applied the bandaids to the wounds on your neck. “It’s not too bad but better safe than sorry.”

It seemed the vampire’s entire demeanor had changed, his touches soft on your skin as he took your now empty cup and placed it elsewhere. He laid back next to you, pulling the covers over your bodies before pulling you closer to him. “How do you have so much energy?” You grumbled, looking up at the vampire to see his bright smile.

“I don’t get tired,” Heeseung’s hand carded through your hair and scratched your scalp as he started talking, making it very difficult to stay awake. He continued, “It’s that vampire stamina, I don’t need sleep or rest. I don’t eat food either, well besides blood but it doesn’t have to be human. I physically can sleep, I just don’t need it to function so it’s basically just a nap.”

“Does that mean you can go another round?” Your hand had been lazily tracing patterns onto the vampire’s cold skin, slowly moving down his torso. Your body was still sluggish from your two orgasms but seeing the devious glint in Heeseung’s eyes was lighting a flame to your body.

“I don’t think you can keep up with me baby” Heeseung roughly pulled the (H/C) strands on the back of your head, pulling you up to make direct eye contact with him. “But if you insist.”

His teeth grazed your bottom lip, the feeling of his fangs eliciting a high pitched whine from the back of your throat; you might’ve bitten off more than you could chew.

Authors Note: Hey it’s V sorry about deleting my old blog but I’ll bring back a majority of my old fics. If you enjoyed, thank you very much !!! These are v fun to make and help me take my mind off real life stuff lmao. That’s it for now, brb folks -V

#enhypen #enhypen x reader #enhypen x male reader #lee heeseung #lee heeseung x reader #lee heeseung x male reader

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stevie-petey · 3 months

Text

episode three: the pollywog

Steve looks over at you, not necessarily amused, but flattered nonetheless. “You know my class schedule?” A blush spreads across your face as you look away from him, but Steve still sees it and something flutters in his chest. He’s always thought you were pretty when you blushed, but you’re even prettier when he’s the reason why. “I pay attention,” you dodge.

Summary: you lecture jonathan about daddy issues and then have an intellectual debate about healthy relationships, you play Mr. Love Dr with Steve, nancy and jonathan go on a sick side quest (and actually inform you this time !), meanwhile: you're about to put a leash on your damn brother.

Rating: general, some curing

Warnings: use of y/n, fem!reader, cursing, slight reference to billy being mean and trauma

Words: 6.7k

Before you swing in: hello ! my first day of spring semester is tomorrow, so here's a quick lil chapter for yall :) i wont have a lot of time to update as frequently anymore, but i promise i will continue to update as much as i can <3 in the meantime, enjoy this chapter n have a lovely day my dears !!

Like most mornings, you’re up and ready before Dustin has even woken up.

“Dustin! C’mon, wake up! Jonathan will be here soon and–” You try to open your brother’s door, but it’s locked. “What the–? Dustin! Hello?”

You begin pounding on his door, trying and failing to get in, and right as you’re about to break the door down, your mom comes in from the kitchen. “Y/N, Dusty has already left.”

“Left? Like, he went to school already?” No way in hell that kid has just decided to get up and ready for school any earlier than he needed to. That kid could sleep thirty hours if given the chance.

“Yup! He left pretty early this morning, said he had a test to study for.” Your mom says as she wanders back towards the kitchen to make her usual cup of coffee.

“Huh,” you’re starting to worry that maybe Dustin is hiding something. First he blocked the door from you last night, now he’s supposedly leaving early for some test? He’s hiding something, you know he is. What worries you, though, is that Dustin hasn’t felt the need to hide anything from you since the whole El fiasco.

Which hadn’t ended well.

As you’re lost in thought, mentally going through Dustin’s actions these last few days, Jonathan walks through your front door, keys in hand.

“Hey, bug. Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” you shake your head to clear any more thoughts. You’ll interrogate Dustin later. “Let me grab my bag, one sec.”

Jonathan nods before he’s attacked by your mom, who pulls him into a hug squeals. “Jonathan!”

“You saw me last night, Mrs. Henderson.” He pats her back awkwardly, mouthing “help me” towards you, but you only laugh and grab your bag from your room.

As soon as you have your stuff, you and Jonathan head out. You sneak some glances at him while he drives, memories from last night crashing back. The party… Well, who could’ve seen any of that coming? Considering how shitty the night turned out, Jonathan looks better at least. However, the bruises on his knuckles make you frown.

“I’m sorry about Billy,” you say, grabbing the bruised hand. His skin is rough against yours, but familiar all the same.

Jonathan gives you an incredulous look. “You’re sorry?”

“Yes…?”

“Bug, no. We aren’t doing this.” He shakes his head, pulling his hand away to run it through his hair. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Billy was being a piece of shit, you needed my help, so I did what any sane person would do.”

You’re silent, not used to having such aggression from Jonathan aimed at you. He’s not necessarily mad at you, but you and him have had some issues in the past about stuff like this. You’ve always apologized for other people’s actions, as if you getting hurt is somehow always your fault. He hates that you do it.

You hate that you always do it. But you can’t help it, it’s almost second nature at this point.

Jonathan, reading your mind, sighs. His anger dissipates and he grabs your hand now, kissing your knuckles softly. “I’m sorry for yelling. I just… You mean the world to me, Y/N. I love you, I will always be there for you. I’d punch Billy a million more times if I needed to, without you ever having to ask me.”

“I know, but–”

“If you feel guilty I will pull this car over and shake your pretty little head until I finally knock some sense into it.”

Finally, you laugh. “Now that’s just dramatic.”

“Do I need to pull over?”

“No,” you raise your hands up in surrender. “I’ll shut up now.”

Jonathan nods his head. “Good, just the way I like it.”

You smack his chest, and he fake screams in pain. He makes a show of it, hunching himself over while he drives and clutches at his chest, which you giggle at. He’s laughing as well, and it’s one of your “normal” moments that have become so few and far between. Just you and Jonathan, giggling in his car early in the morning as you drive to school, your laughter is just enough to keep the two of you warm.

Jonathan’s ladybug ring catches the morning light and the bee wrapped around your neck buzzes against your skin.

But “normal” never lasts long anymore, and you remember Nancy’s drunken eyes from last night and Steve’s loneliness in his voice when he asked you why everyone keeps leaving him. The memories cause your giggles to fade off, the small moment of joy now gone.

Jonathan sees your mood change and, because he’s always on the same page as you, purses his lips. “So… It’s now tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” you sigh, remembering telling him last you’d talk about Steve and Nancy tomorrow. “It’s now tomorrow.”

“Why’d you insist on driving Steve home?”

The question is innocent enough, but you sense that how you answer it could change things. “He was upset.”

“Sure, but you almost bit my head off when I last asked about that guy. Then you wanted to drive him home?” Jonathan keeps his eyes on the road ahead of him, though he clenches his jaw ever so slightly. But you see it. You always see it.

“Bee… I had to, okay? Please, can we just leave it at that?” You don’t want to talk about your fucking feelings with the first boy you’ve ever loved, the boy who doesn’t love you back.

Jonathan swallows, takes another deep breath, and then nods. “I took Nancy home, like Steve asked. She was… Very drunk. Had to carry her into bed.”

“I’m sorry about that, too.”

“You didn’t shove alcohol down her throat.”

“No, but I did encourage her to go to that stupid party while she was fighting with Steve.”

“Steve and Nancy have been fighting?”

Shit. You forgot that Jonathan didn’t know.

“Okay, yes” you say, but right as Jonathan’s eyes light up, you’re quick to backtrack. “But if I tell you anything else, you have to swear to keep it between us. Got it?”

“I won’t say a word.”

You sigh, really hoping you aren’t breaking Nancy’s trust. Technically, she hadn’t asked you to keep your conversation from yesterday private, but… It feels wrong telling Jonathan about it. “Nancy and Steve have been fighting, yes, but not in the way you’d think.”

You’ve arrived at school, so Jonathan quickly parks the car before motioning for you to keep talking. “Go on, I’m curious now.”

“God, you’re a worse gossip than I am. Anyways, she’s mad at Steve for brushing off Barb’s death, in a sense. But also, like… Steve isn’t really brushing off Barb’s death? I think he just wants to help Nancy, those are his intentions, but he doesn’t know how. He thinks dinner dates, going to parties, and spending a lot of time together will get her mind off of things.”

Jonathan scoffs. “Well, babying Nancy won’t help.”

“I know, and you’re right, but Nancy should have expressed this to Steve better, don’t you think? I mean, we don’t know what happened last night, but it seems like she tried drinking away her anger towards him rather than actually talking to him.”

“And how can we know Steve wouldn’t just run away or something? Actually be up for it, be proactive rather than retroactive. It seems like Nancy needs to do something about Barb’s death.”

Frustration builds within you. “And what good does assuming something actually do? Assuming that Steve wouldn’t listen is wholly unfair and honestly, a bit rude. He’s her boyfriend, she can’t just assume he wouldn’t care. Steve has done everything he can to show he cares, that he loves her, so I think Nancy should be the one to voice her feelings and let him know what she needs. What she wants.”

Jonathan looks away. “And what should Nancy want, bug?”

You’re silent.

Somehow, you and Jonathan aren’t fighting about Steve and Nancy anymore.

“I… I don’t know.” You look out the window, watching as students pass by.

After a tense silence, Jonathan tries to crack a joke. “Oh, you’ll laugh at this! Caught Bob sneaking out the house like some shameful teenage boy this morning.”

You turn towards him now. “Why would I laugh at that? I think it’s sweet, your mom seems happy.”

“Sure, but…” Jonathan’s smile falters, not expecting you to be so stoic as a reaction. “He’s kinda a loser, you gotta admit.”

“Jonathan Byers, I literally had to save you from bullies, five times my size, as a girl, when we were twelve.”

“Okay, I didn’t mean it like that–”

“You should be nicer about Bob. He’s a good guy, he actually cares about you, Will, and your mom. After the hell you guys went through with Lonnie, you should be appreciative of Bob.” You’re so angry now, your fists shake with rage. “You have a healthy father figure in your life now, which I would kill to give Dustin, and even if you don’t like him, you’re luckier for it.”

Jonathan is quiet. He’s staring down at his steering wheel in shame, and you feel bad for snapping so suddenly. You aren’t sorry for your anger towards him, his attitude towards Bob has been bothering you for a while. However, it doesn’t mean you have to be a bitch about it just because of your own issues surrounding shitty dads.

“I’m sorry, bee. You have a right to feel uncomfortable about the change, but I just think you should give Bob a chance. I like the guy.” You offer, looking over at your friend tentatively.

“No, you’re right. I know you are, it just takes some getting used to, I guess.” He grabs your hand, gives it a squeeze as if to tell you it’s all good now, and you squeeze his hand back.

“Great drive to school today,” you quip.

Jonathan laughs. “God, I think I had about five heart attacks during those conversations.”

The tension leaves the car. Then, slowly, the warmth creeps back in as you and Jonathan once again start laughing. You’re not sure why you’re even laughing, but you’re happy that you are.

–

Jonathan walks you to your locker, as he always does, and before he turns to head to his, you notice how quiet it is in the hallway. You look over at Nancy’s locker, which somehow always manages to be near yours every year, and frown when you don’t see her.

“There’s a suspicious lack of Nancy and Steve making out against her locker this morning.” You tell Jonathan.

He looks around and notices you’re right. The two of you share a concerned glance, knowing that their absence can’t mean anything good for the couple.

“Should we go look for them?” He asks, but you’re already heading towards the parking lot to find Steve. “Y/N!”

“Go find Nancy!” You call behind you, speeding up. “I’ll meet you at first period!”

Steve’s car is hard to miss in the parking lot. Hawkins isn’t necessarily a flashy town. No one else besides the Harringtons owns a fancy BMW. You approach the car and spot Steve sitting in the front, his head ducked down as if no one can see his massive red car and easily identify him.

Idiot.

Steve is having a rough week, so he’s spent the last five minutes in his car debating on whether or not he can afford to skip his first class. Reasonably speaking, his dad would kill him. He already has shit grades and he’s missed three college application deadlines. All he has left is Tech. However, his girlfriend told him last night she doesn’t love him and Billy embarrassed him in front of everyone last night.

Plus Nancy left with Jonathan, which everyone saw.

He told him to take her, but still.

Pretty embarrassing.

Yup. Alright. He’s going home.

Steve reaches over for his keys to turn the car on, but before he can, a knock on his window stops him. He looks up, scared Billy will be there, but instead he sees you and he’s not sure if his day just got better or worse.

“Let me in, dingus.” Your voice is light, but still stern, and yeah. Steve’s day just got better.

He unlocks the door and you silently get into the passenger seat. As you get settled in, he thinks about the first time he ever had you in his car. It feels like a lifetime ago, Steve’s heart had been beating wildly taking the risk of offering you a ride.

It had been the start of something, he could feel it.

But then you left him that summer without another word, as if nothing had happened between the two of you. As if Steve hadn’t slowly come to find himself opening up to someone, trusting that you’d let him be whoever he wanted; he could just be Steve around you, not King Steve or even perfect boyfriend Steve.

Now Steve’s hiding out in his car, no longer King Steve or even good fucking boyfriend Steve, and instead of his girlfriend seeking him out to comfort him, it’s you. Because of course it’s you.

“Hey,” you say.

“Hi.”

“You know that senior study hall is inside the school, right?”

Steve looks over at you, not necessarily amused, but flattered nonetheless. “You know my class schedule?”

A blush spreads across your face as you look away from him, but Steve still sees it and something flutters in his chest. He’s always thought you were pretty when you blushed, but you’re even prettier when he’s the reason why.

“I pay attention,” you dodge.

Steve wants to tease you some more, play into the banter he missed the most when the two of you weren’t talking, but his heart isn’t in it. Nancy’s words kept him up all night. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could hear was her telling him that she didn’t love him. After he did everything he possibly could’ve done right, it still hadn’t been enough.

“Did Nancy get home okay?”

You give him a small smile. “Yeah, I just talked to Jonathan about it.”

Relief floods through Steve. At least that’s one thing he hadn’t fucked up last night. “Good… I’m glad then.”

He awkwardly clears his throat and looks away again. He doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore. He feels lost, floating through his morning. Nothing has felt real since yesterday in the library with Nancy, when she had been looking up at him with those eyes he’s always been weak for.

“Any particular reason you’re hiding out in your car?”

Steve lets out a bitter laugh. “You were there last night. You know what happened.”

“Actually, I don’t.” You see the disbelief on Steve’s face and quickly correct yourself. “I mean, I remember you saying something about Nancy but… I don’t want to assume, so…”

Now you’re the one looking away in shame, and Steve watches as you nervously fiddle with your fingers and bite your lip. You’re trying. Though Steve still isn’t sure how to feel about you, how much to test this new compromise between you two, this “friendship”, Steve knows he has to at least try as well.

He takes a deep breath. “Nancy… She isn’t in love with me.”

A beat of silence passes.

“Steve, I mean, are you sure–”

“Pretty fucking sure, Y/N. Unless you think someone telling their boyfriend ‘like we’re in love’ means she’s madly in love with him.”

Another beat of silence passes. Steve can see the pity in your eyes, and he hates it. He fucking hates this, feeling so pathetic and small.

Then, your hand slowly intertwines with his and the anger in Steve’s chest lessens a bit. “I know my words don’t mean anything, but… Nancy not being in love with you has nothing to do with you as a person.”

Something untangles in Steve’s chest; you’ve reassured him of something he hadn’t even known had been his fear. How do you always seem to decipher what he’s feeling before he can?

“How do you know?” Steve has never felt so small before.

You shrug, but there’s a calculated nonchalance to it that he can easily see. “Because I know you. You’re frustratingly charming, Harrington.”

Steve laughs, something he didn’t even know he was able to do anymore. “That’s your takeaway here?”

“Mhm,” you squeeze his hand and Steve has never felt this grounded before by such a small action. “I say you need to talk to Nancy, I mean really talk to her. No more half truths and appeasements. I think she does love you, in her own way, but the circumstances aren’t on your guys’ side. I mean, she went through hell and back last year, Barb’s death anniversary is soon.”

You pause for a moment and frown, which Steve has come to learn means you’re carefully choosing which words to say next. “I want you to know, no, I need you to know, that this has nothing to do with you. Okay?”

Steve wants to believe you, god he really wants to, but even he can see the blaring irony of you telling him that Nancy’s lack of love for him has nothing to do with him personally. You, the girl he came to trust more than anyone else in this awful town, ditched him in the same manner. Steve’s the common denominator there. He’s always the one left behind.

“Look, I appreciate what you’re saying, but the words don’t mean a whole lot coming from you right now,” Steve tells you, and he hates the way your eyes darken, as if guarding yourself from him. “I know we agreed on being friends again, but I just… I need some time.”

You nod, as if you expected something like that from Steve, and he almost wants to just drive away with you in the car and pretend that nothing else exists. Instead, he clears his throat, his tongue feels heavy and his throat threatens to close up, but he forces himself to get the words out. “I want to be alone, please.”

He really doesn’t want to be alone, but his brain is swimming in confusion and you’re still holding his hand and Steve just needs a moment to himself to just breathe.

“Of course,” you tell him, because of course you listen and understand. “You know where to find me, yeah?”

Steve nods. He does.

“Bye, Y/N.”

You give him a small wave in response, close the car door, and then make your way back to the high school.

Steve watches you fade into the distance.

He’s alone again.

–

Jonathan makes it to first period with only seconds to spare. He throws himself into his seat next to you with panting breaths. Your history teacher, Mrs. Kent, drones through attendance without having noticed anything.

“I couldn’t find Nancy.” Jonathan whispers, before his name is called and he quickly raises his hand and says, “Here.”

You glance at the chalkboard and then flip your textbook to the page scrawled on it. “I found Steve wallowing in his car, alone. Guess he didn’t drive Nancy to school?”

“Seems a bit harsh.”

“May I remind you of the time you threw a jacket at my face and then screamed at me that we aren’t family? All because you felt guilty about taking naked photos of Nancy?”

Jonathan drops his head onto the desk, letting out a groan. “I’m never living that down, am I?”

You keep your eyes on the board, taking a few notes. “Nope.”

Class starts up now, so the topic is left alone. The school day passes on, you and Jonathan separating for your own classes after history is done. The day drags on for a while, though you hear a few whispers in the hall about how Jonathan had taken home a drunk Nancy.

“God, it’s like she loves the attention.” One girl giggles with her friend while you’re at your locker.

Her friend rolls her eyes. “Please, as if anyone would choose Byers over Steve Harrington.”

“I’m more of a Wheeler fan myself,” you tell the girls, not even sparing them a glance. “Now, why don’t we all just shut up and move away from my locker?”

The girls scurry away, fear in their eyes, and you simply shake your head at them. Why is Nancy always the one those girls gossip about? Objectively speaking, Steve has done much more heinous things than getting a ride home from a friend while drunk.

Jonathan kisses your cheek as he walks up from behind you, breaking you from your thoughts. “Hey, bug. Lunch at my car today?”

“Ugh, it’s such a nice day today, I’d love to.” You grab your lunch from your locker. Once you have it, you link your arm through Jonathan’s. “Guide the way, good sir.”

“Yes ma’am.”

–

Nancy is leaning against Jonathan’s car when you walk outside.

Her shoulders are slouched and you can see the unease on her face. She looks tired, too. A few people walk by her and stare, whispering as they go, and you really hate high schoolers sometimes.

When you make it to Jonathan’s car, Nancy holds her lunch bag up awkwardly. “Can I join you guys?”

“I’m sure we can make some room.” You tell her, which she smiles at.

It takes some adjusting, but eventually the three of you manage to fit on the front of the car. You sit on the roof, your legs dangling off of the side, while Nancy and Jonathan take the front. The early November sun beats down on you three, but the cool breeze makes the sting less painful. It’s a lovely day, all things considered.

You’re nibbling on your sandwich when Nancy exhales deeply and turns to you. “Y/N, you’d always tell me the truth, right?”

“Depends,” you take another bite out of your food. “What is this in reference to?”

“Last night… I don’t remember what I did.”

There’s a certain shame in her eyes that tells you she encountered Steve before retreating to Jonathan’s car. “You spoke to Steve this morning, I take it?”

She looks at you, surprised. “How did you–”

“We talked to him last night.” Jonathan cuts her off, looking between you and Nancy nervously. He’s not sure where you, her, and Steve all fall in regards to each other.

“So, he asked you to take me home?” Nancy faces him now, and you go back to eating.

“Yeah. Yeah, I mean he was upset…” He glances at you briefly before looking back at Nancy. “I mean, he was really upset.”

“I don’t blame him.” You cut in, mouth full of chips you stole from Jonathan.

He sends you glare and keeps talking. “But he was still worried about you, Nance.”

Nancy drops her head down and a part of you feels bad for the quip. She really does look ashamed, but you distinctly remember warning her about this exact thing last year in the school’s shed. She had tried telling you there wasn’t anything between her and Jonathan, and all you could tell her was that Steve didn’t deserve to be lied to or cheated on.

Guess she only kept one end of that bargain.

Jonathan sees that she’s upset and he softens his voice, scooting closer to her. “Hey, you need to cut yourself some slack, okay? People say stupid things when they’re wasted. Things they don’t mean.”

You bite your tongue. Hard. If you allow yourself to speak, you won’t be able to guarantee it’ll be anything nice. Sure, being drunk can influence some words to slip out, but cruelly telling your boyfriend of over a year that you don’t love him is something you can’t defend. Not when Nancy had other chances to tell Steve.

Nancy whips her head up. “Yeah, but that’s the thing. What if I did mean it? All this time, I’ve been trying so hard to pretend like everything’s fine, but it’s not.”

You and Jonathan share a look. He seems more curious, you can feel the anger burning through your eyes.

“No offense, Nance.” You wipe your hands on a napkin and force the girl to look at you. “But this is really something that you should be talking to Steve about. Remember our conversation from last year?”

Nancy looks down again in shame. “You’re right, I know you are, but… I don’t know. I feel like there’s this…” She pauses, trying to figure out how to explain her thoughts, but Jonathan finishes for her.

“Like there’s this weight you’re carrying around with you. All the time. I feel it, too.” He says, then he flicks your leg. “Y/N does as well. She tries to hide it, but I know she feels it as much as I do.”

Now it’s you who turns away, embarrassed and ashamed. Clearly you haven’t been so good at hiding your neverending guilt over Will.

“Yeah, but it’s different for you guys. Will came home.” Nancy says.

You open your mouth to speak, to correct the girl’s horrible viewpoint, but Jonathan surprises you by correcting her himself. “Yeah, he did. But he’s not the same. I try to be there for him, you know, to help him, but… I don’t know.”

“Dustin still has nightmares.” You admit, which Jonathan hadn’t known.

“I thought those went away, bug.”

You shake your head at him. “No… If anything, they’ve only gotten worse. Some nights he sleeps in my bed, says I calm him down, but I just… I feel horrible, knowing I left them alone that night at the middle school. The things he saw… god.”

Nancy and Jonathan sigh, understanding how painful the weight of guilt can feel.

A silence follows your confession.

Then, because you hate when there’s silence, you try to go back to the previous topic. “Anyways, Nancy, what we’re trying to say is that we understand. And I’m sure Steve will, too. He was also there that night, at Jonathan’s. You should talk to him, explain the weight within you. Steve, he…”

You find yourself pausing, unsure if what you’re about to tell Nancy is something Steve would want you to keep between you two, but he misses her. He loves her, so you try to fix whatever you can between them. “He thinks he did something wrong, that he’s unlovable. It isn’t fair to make someone feel that way.”

Nancy sighs. “I didn’t know that.”

“I know, but now that you do, you should probably do something about it. You guys can still go back to how things were.”

Jonathan frowns. “What if things can’t go back to the way they were? I mean, Will still thinks he’s in the Upside Down sometimes. I’ve seen the way Dustin gets scared when he hears a loud noise.”

A phantom pain shoots through your ankle. It’s long since healed, but sometimes memories from last year still sting. As you’re absentmindedly rubbing at it, Nancy notices and starts to get upset.

“Doesn’t that make you mad?”

“Mad?” You and Jonathan ask at the same time.

Nancy seems to almost come back to life, her anger now bringing energy back into her. “Yeah, that those… Those people who did this, who ruined so many lives, they just get away with it.”

“The people responsible for this, they’re dead.” Jonathan gently reminds her.

Nancy leans in close, bitterness in her voice as she narrows her eyes. “Do you really believe that?”

Jonathan frowns again and you do the same. If you’re being honest, you were also pretty skeptical about the whole evil scientists at Hawkin’s Lab all dying. Seemed like a pretty convenient thing to happen. But what else are you supposed to believe?

Nancy looks between you and Jonathan and sighs again. You know she’s upset by your unwillingness to look further, to question everything, but then you watch as her eyes drift towards some kid with his headphones and his walkman. Something shifts in her gaze and you know immediately that she’s thought of something.

You scoot closer in a hurry. “Nancy, whatever it is–”

“Your mom’s boyfriend,” she looks over at Jonathan. “He works at RadioShack, right?”

“Yeah… Why?” Jonathan looks over at you as if you have any possible explanation, and you just shrug at him. ��What are you thinking?”

“Do you wanna skip fourth period?”

Immediately you hop down from the car. “No. Nope. Not happening. We aren’t doing this again.”

Nancy groans at you. “Y/N, I haven’t even explained my plan to you yet.”

“Okay, go on. Explain it, so I can then say no.”

Nancy does as she’s told, and it’s a fucking brilliant plan. You know it’ll work, and that’s why you can’t do it. Buying a tape recorder, planting a fake meetup with Barb’s mom to con the Hawkin’s Lab people into taking them in, and then recording whatever they confess to take it to the detective Barb’s parents hired.

It’s a genius plan, but you can’t leave the kids behind for that long.

“I can’t go.”

Jonathan looks disappointed. “Bug, don’t you want to make those assholes pay?”

“I do,” you reassure him. “But I can’t afford to leave the kids behind for two whole days. I mean, last time I did they opened a portal to another dimension. And Dustin has been acting weird lately, and Will’s been having those episodes more and more and I just… What if it’s happening again?”

Your voice shakes a bit with fear, and Jonathan pulls you into him. “We don’t know that.”

“But what if it is? Who would be there for them? We can’t just leave them to suffer the consequences alone while we’re trying to avenge them.”

While you’re still wrapped in Jonathan’s arms, Nancy rests her own hand against your shoulder. “I would feel better knowing the kids are in good hands. You’ve always been their biggest advocate.”

You thank the girl, but Jonathan still seems unsure about leaving you behind. “What about you? Who’s gonna be there for you if something happens?”

There, hidden underneath his words, you know he’s really asking how can I protect you if you aren’t within arm’s reach?

You bury your face into his chest, and Nancy seems to get the message and looks away. When you have some privacy, you look up at Jonathan. “I’ll be okay, bee. I promise. We can call every day you’re away, nothing will go uncommunicated this time. No secrets. You’ll be home in no time and I’ll be right here, safe and sound.”

He kisses your head. “Promise me you’ll be safe.”

“I should be telling you that.”

“Y/N…” he isn’t laughing, and you can hear how fast his heart is pounding. He’s terrified to leave you behind, but you know that this is what you have to do.

“I love you, and I’ll be right here. Come home to me, alright?”

“I will.” He promises, and you look into his eyes and see all the warmth and sincerity that you’ve come to love so much, and you believe him.

After a few moments, you finally pull away from him. You clear your throat and turn towards Nancy. “Okay, now that we’ve got that settled, I’m assuming I’m covering for y’all?”

She nods. “If you wouldn’t mind, can I tell my mom I’m at your place?”

“Duh, and Jonathan,” you flick his forehead, breaking the remaining tension away. “I’ll tell your mom you’ll be at my place as well. Sound good?”

He nods as well, though his eyes linger on you longer than they should.

“Well!” You clap your hands and stand between Nancy and Jonathan. “Great team meeting, gang. Let’s reconvene in two day’s time.”

Nancy laughs and pulls you into her own hug.

“I’ll keep him safe,” she whispers into your ear, and you exhale shakily. The weight of everything has finally settled in. You can’t believe you’re doing this. A part of you feels like you’ve just solidified something horrible, not agreeing to come along, but the other part of you, maybe even the larger part, is secretly relieved.

You’re not sure what to make of it.

“Thank you.” You whisper back, squeezing her tightly.

When you break apart, you pull Jonathan into yet another hug. “Stay safe, bee.”

“I will.”

“Good,” you pull away and give the two teens a thumbs up. “Break a leg, go expose some weird government agency!”

–

True to your word, you cover for Jonathan and Nancy the rest of the day. Teachers ask where they are and you simply tell them they both had a family emergency. Thankfully, due to living in such a small and rundown town, they don’t question it.

After school, you head over across the street to the middle school to go pick up Will and Dustin. Since Jonathan drove you to school and took his car with Nancy, you’ll have to hitch a ride on your brother’s bike pegs to work.

When you reach the school you walk towards the bike rack, expecting to see the boys all standing there about to leave, but you stop when you realize that they aren’t.

Huh. Odd.

You wander around. It’s been years since you’ve been inside the middle school, and the hallways are filled with memories. You walk towards the AV room, figuring they’re probably there to discuss whatever new project they’re working on. As you round the corner, you hear pounding and a girl’s voice demanding to be let in.

Speeding up, you spot Max with her angry fists. “Guys! What’s going on? C’mon!”

You watch for a moment, curious as to who this girl is. Dustin spoke highly of her, yet her brother is the worst person you’ve met in your life. She has an anger in her, that much is obvious, but then she grabs something from her bag and begins to pick at the lock.

Hm, she’s smart.

“Need some help?” You ask her.

She looks up at you and frowns. “And who are you?”

“Y/N Henderson. Unfortunately, the idiot that I’m assuming is locked inside the room is my brother.”

“You know how to pick a lock?” Max asks, eyeing you up and down.

Shrugging, you say, “can’t be too hard.”

Max seems to accept that as an answer and slides over, making room for you to crouch down next to her. You help her jimmy the paperclip into the door. Then, you hear some muffled yelling from the other side. What the fuck has your brother gotten up to this time?

“I’m gonna put a leash on that kid,” you mumble, and Max laughs.

“Do they do this a lot?”

You blow a piece of hair out of your face. “Yeah. They’re weird, honestly–”

The lock clicks, the door flings open, and suddenly a tiny, slimy creature comes scampering out the room. You hear the boys curse and before you can get up and out of their way, they come crashing into you and Max on the ground.

“Shit!” Dustin knees your forearm and you groan.

“Y/N!” His eyes widen when he sees you. He’s been caught.

Max gets up. “What was that?”

Lucas ignores her. “He’s getting away!”

“Who is getting away?” You’re finally up as well, watching as the boys start to scramble around in a panic.

Mike, seemingly unsurprised by your sudden appearance, turns to you. “Dart!” Then, in annoyance, he turns towards Max. “You let him escape!”

“What the fuck is a Dart?” You’re freaking out now. Lucas, hearing your confusion, can only shrug his shoulders at you.

Then, Dustin angrily advances towards Mike and starts yelling in his face. “Why did you attack him?”

Mike doesn’t say a word, he just starts to run down the hall. Dustin, even more in a panic, screams at him, “Don’t hurt him! Don’t you hurt him!”

You grab at your brother’s jacket and fling him back, now incredibly fucking angry. “Dustin Henderson, you have three seconds to explain what the fuck is happening.”

Lucas, Max, and Will stand back, frightened by your anger. Dustin, the only one who ever seems to face this anger, gulps. “I can explain.”

“Start. Talking.”

And he does. He explains how he had found Dart last night, thinking it had been some new lizard breed previously undiscovered. That’s why he hadn’t let you into his room. Then, to prove he was some scientific prodigy and, which he doesn’t tell you but you suspect, to impress Max.

“I was about to show Mr. Clark before Mike came in and took Dart. According to Will…” Dustin looks over at Max, lowers his voice, and whispers to you, “he’s from the Upside Down.”

And there it is.

There, the dread that has been creeping up on you ever since you saved Will, comes crawling up. You knew this would happen eventually. It’s happening again. You were right.

God, it’s happening again.

Thank fuck you stayed behind with the kids.

You want to throw up, crawl into a ball and pretend nothing else exists anymore, but Dustin is looking at you with fear in his eyes and you know you have to be strong for him. For all the kids, now. “Okay, let’s split up and find Dart.”

Dustin nods and sends Will southbound, Lucas westbound, and Max towards the gymnasium. You go with him, both because he’s your brother and because you have a few choice words you’d like to say to him. Everyone takes a walkie and splits up.

Mike is already long gone, which you’re not surprised by.

After everyone leaves, you snap at Dustin. “Thanks so much for telling me about Dart, by the way.”

“Y/N…”

“What exactly did you think you’d do with that thing hidden in our house?”

“Continue to hide it from you–ow!” Dustin rubs the back of his head.

You continue to walk. “You deserved that.”

“I did.”

You laugh, but then you feel a sense of static behind you. You turn around, but there’s no one there. But the static had felt like the same electricity that had accompanied El’s powers last year, but… No. She’s gone. You know she is.

Brushing it off as paranoia, you continue to keep an eye out for Dart. “So, what does Max think about all this?”

“Mike won’t let us tell her.” Dustin says, annoyance in his voice.

This doesn’t shock you. “I get why. I mean, we all almost died last year.”

“Yeah, but she’s different. She’s cool, I think she could be good for the party.”

Dustin seems so eager, and you feel bad for denying the boy. “She’s too young. You’re all too young for this. We can’t rope her any further into the Upside Down. It wouldn’t be fair to her.”

Your brother sighs. “I mean, I guess… but–”

Will’s voice suddenly comes through the walkie. “Guys, I found him.”

“Where?” Dustin fumbles with the walkie, almost dropping it in his frantic rush to answer.

“In the bathroom by Mr. Salerno’s.”

“Copy that.” Mike says.

You look over at Dustin. “Race you to the bathroom?”

“You’re on.”

The two of you start to run, and at first you’re winning. But then you forget that you haven’t been in the school for at least three years now and you take a wrong turn, misremembering where Mr. Salerno’s room is. “Shit!”

You backtrack, but Dustin is long gone now.

By the time you get your bearings back, Lucas, Mike, and Max have all run down the hallway towards the bathroom. You join them as you all run inside. Dustin is standing in the middle of the bathroom, which you find strange.

Mike looks around. “Where’s Dart?”

“I don’t know. Not here.” You eye your brother, but he averts your gaze.

“Will said he was here.” You remind him, but Dustin doesn’t respond.

Mike curses and starts checking all the stalls.

“Maybe Will has him?” Dustin says, but you keep an eye on him. Something isn’t right.

You’re about to call Dustin’s bluff, accuse him of lying, when Mike suddenly freezes. He looks around, then turns to you. “Where’s Will?”

You turn around and finally notice that yeah, Will isn’t here. But he had just radioed from the bathroom.

“I… I don’t know.” Fear settles in you now, and you have an awful feeling that something bad is about to happen. After his episode from the night before…

You run out the bathroom, the first to start looking for Will.

⌑ series masterlist

⌑ if you would like to be added/removed from my taglist, just let me know :)

⌑ taglist: @siriuslysmoking @sheisjoeschateau @myeclispedsun @innercreationflower @juhdoche @frostandflamesfanfic @goosy-goose @quinnsadilla @munsons-queen @stefansring @rice-elephant @bex22109 @bitchkeery @bex22109 @officerrrfriendly @kazunish @idkitsem @emilieluckwood @ryoujoking @criesinlies @tagakalat

#steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #stranger things #steve harrington fanfic #stranger things rewrite #slowburn #angst #wtlws #m's writing #dustin n the kids time !!!#WOOOOOOO #and steve :((((#poor baby

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mattsunbae · 2 months

Text

༉‧₊˚. friends to lovers with jjk men

gojo, nanami & choso

in which, you and him both know you’re not meant to be friends.

+ word c. 785

+ warnings. alcohol! oblivious reader

+ song. 4me 4me by malcolm todd

+ marcie’s note. guys pls go easy on me i haven’t written in damn near two years… also my first time writing jjk men soooo :3

satoru gojo

being friends with satoru for so long has showed you one thing - never take him seriously. keeping this in mind, imagine how flabbergasted you were when he had asked you out on a date. you thought this relationship was strictly platonic… besides like the one or two or five times you and satoru had kissed. in your defense, two of those were dares. either way, your heart was beating through your chest as the date went on at the cozy restaurant. you refused to believe this was real.

“i can tell you’re nervous.” he grinned over to you, his lips curling upward. “relax, it’s just me.” you shook your head, hating how calm he was in this moment. “exactly. i can never read you, satoru. is this a friend date or a romantic date?” you sighed. he cocked his head to this side with confusion, “i thought i made it clear that this was a romantic date? i bought you flowers and everything, pretty girl.”. you slumped down in your seat, “i couldn’t read you.” “there’s nothing to read, princess. i wanna be yours. is that clear enough?” you just blinked at him, not believing what he was saying. “you wanna be my… what exactly?” satoru let out an incredulous laugh, shaking his head, “you still don’t get it?”

nanami kento

one word to describe your relationship with nanami kento would be familiar. you became friends at work and it evolved on its own. several late nights spent fighting cursed spirits and getting drinks after. it all felt like you had known him forever. and while it is true that kento isn’t the most… warm person on earth, he always made sure you were comfortable and had everything you needed when you were with him. it’d be a lie to say you hadn’t developed a bit of a crush on him. you had dropped little hints for what felt like forever (a week) to no avail, so you decided to throw in the towel. however, it seemed like nanamin had different plans.

“what i’m saying is, i think we’d be a good couple.” kento mumbled, the both of you crammed in a corner of a shoddy bar, away from the other sorcerers. “are you drunk, kento?” you felt his forehead, really wondering if he was okay. he always seemed to get a little bolder (and a lot more giggly) when he was tipsy. “i’m alright, thank you.” he let out his rare but infectious grin, “i’m just saying, we wouldn’t be a bad couple.” “kento, what are you saying right now?” your breathing got heavy as your chest fell and rose quickly. what the hell is this man talking about? “i wanna give this dating thing a try.” he blinked at me like i was supposed to just catch on. “with you, if i wasn’t clear.” “what happened to no da-“ he shook his head, “the whole no dating at work thing was just me deflecting. will you be mine, sweetheart?”

choso kamo

your relationship with choso had always been one you genuinely enjoyed. there was always a mix of playfulness and patience that made you value it even more, because it wouldn’t be the same with anyone else. however, you’re not sure if this is a recent thing or if you’re just now noticing, but he always seemed to look at you some type of way. it was the type of look where his eyes were low and you couldn’t tell what he was thinking. he would always run his fingers through his hair and/or look away after getting caught. you had always taken a liking to his boyish charm, but this staring problem seemed to be getting out of hand.

“why do you keep looking at me like that, cho?” you asked, sprawled out on his couch with your head resting on his lap. his fingers played with the ends of your hair, “like what?” he asked as his eyes stared into yours, giving you that same look that drove you insane. “like that! literally how you’re looking at me right now.” his lips curled into a little smile, “i don’t know what you’re talking about, doll.” “this is gaslighting and i won’t stand for it!” you started to sit up but he gently pushed you back down onto his lap. “explain how i look at you. i wanna know.” he wrapped your hair around his finger. “you look at me like- like…” you tried to find the right words, “like you want me or something!” choso didn’t even flinch at your words, like he’d been waiting for you to say it. “would it be a problem if i did?”

thank u dearly for reading ily :p

-> back to general masterlist

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lordofdestructionm · 3 months

Text

Reading Mordecai Heller as a repressed gay man

The tragic attraction

This is a full post based on my response to a great analysis by @sedgewick-gayble

Let me start by saying that if you read Mordecai as being totally asexual/aromantic and any affection he has for other characters to be entirely platonic that is entirely valid and I respect that

However as this response by Tracy makes clear on the topic of fans reading Mordecai as gay there is an intentional ambiguity about it. Being 28 at the time of the main story his "lifestyle is certainly asexual" up to this point, yet "being ace and being gay are not mutually exclusive things" and people sometimes "don't know themselves or understand their own motivations all that well"

This leaves the possibility open that Mordecai is actively repressing his natural desires and feelings

Mordecai's early life didn't exactly provide much time or opportunity for "self discovery", even by the usual standards of the less than tolerant and understanding world of the early 20th century

Being born into an impoverished family and having his father die very early in his life leaving him and his Mother and two younger sisters in dire straits, Mordecai had to get to work and assume adult responsibilities pretty damn early.

As Tracy says "selling newspapers wasn't going to cut it" and so using his natural talent with numbers Mordecai starts bookkeeping for the mob. Is it any wonder someone with that background would develop such a serious and rigidly buttoned up demeanour?

Since being forced to abandon his mother and two sisters at the start of the 1920s and flee New York, being picked up by Atlas's due to his habit of collecting useful strays, Mordecai had very few people he was close to in St Louis. With his generally anti-social personality and not only lack of interest but discomfort with any sort of flirting or romantic entanglements, that would be unlikely to change

Side note: Probaby coincidence but

There are only two people who seem to make it onto that exclusive list of people that "count" for Mordecai, who he cares about and are able to bring things to the surface he would normally keep hidden

Atlas to Mordecai is not just an employer, he is the man who saved his life, the man who moulded a desperate fearful shabby young stray into the sharp professional he is today, who took him under his wing and made him his protege. Filling the empty space his father left in his life. His grief and desperate hunt for those responsible for his death are his big motivation (the strain of which is slowly tearing him apart)

That connection is undertsandable

Much more surprising on the surface is the bond with the partner Atlas teamed him up with soon after his arrival, Viktor Vasko.

The assumption at the start would have been that while their skill sets might compliment each other in the field there would have been no warmth in their dynamic.

Certainly not on Mordecai's part as Viktor appears to be a sum total of many things Mordecai hates. Viktor is unshaven, relatively casual in his attire, speaks a broken English, and hates people chattering or “noise, noise, noise” as he calls it. Clashing hard with his obsession with good grooming, high quality tailoring, correct grammar etc. Indeed Mordecai doesn't hesitate to nag/criticize Viktor for these things

Yet at the same time Mordecai has far better chemistry with Viktor than with anyone else, able to banter and bicker with him in a way you rarely if ever see with others

Its why when he gets tailored clothes for the first time Viktor is the first person he wants to show off too. Its why the one time he is intoxicated Viktor (and his large physique) are his chosen topic of converation. Its why at Christmas/Hanuhhah he gives him the gift of a tie while claiming its just because of the big guys poor fashion sense and that its "embarassing to be seen with him" (even that justification makes him sound like a nagging girlfriend)

A smaller detail is that during their iconic chess playing in the side content, set during their days staking out the remote town of Defiance, Viktor is shown very casually winning the game much to Mordecai's visible distress

This is hilarious but could also be taken as a metaphor for Viktor (possibly without even realizing it) breaking through his defensive emotional barriers

Something Mordecai doesn't know how to handle or respond to

The animated short only adds fuel to the fire

During their dispute over strategy Mordecai moves his face so close to Viktors that he almost knocks his cap off his head. His eyes at one point even dart down towards his mouth

Sharp eyed Vikdecai fans have also noted that Mordecai seems on some level to want the two of them to match

The tie being the same colour could simpy be Mordecai giving Viktor one of his own ties because its a joke gift and he just grabbed it on a whim to tease Viktor about his poor fashion choices

But think about the matching suits at the New Years party for 1926

I mean, seriously, not only is it the exact same style of suit in the same blue-grey colour distinct from everyone else, but they are standing in the perfect spots to be symmetrical to each other. Something that we all know means a lot to this compulsive man

Mordecai must have known there was going to be a big group photo ahead of time and then carefully planned this

Got matching suits made to his and Viktors measurements

Then most impressively convinced/nagged Viktor into cooperating (he may have taken off the tie and rolled up the sleeves but hey him playing along at all is quite a compromise from Viktor "I hate dressing up" Vasko)

Mordecai is intent on making Viktor retire and get out of danger, and avoid a situation where he gets sent to kill him by Marigold because he knows he could NOT do it, and his cover and investigation into Atlas's death would be over

He is horrified that Viktor is still working at Lackadaisy (though he again has to hide how much he cares) and that he has gotten not only hurt again but hurt by Mordecai again (albeit this time indirectly by stealing the guns)

Can this be read as simply platonic comradere? Absolutely

But there is something so *intense* in the fact he was willing to resort to kneecapping him. Its an extreme and desperate act that could only result from intense emotions, seemingly out of character for someone who tries very hard to appear logical and controlled.

While Vikdecai is a very fun ship when imagining them as an actual bickering married couple, I have often said that a tragic one-sided on Mordecai's part version of Vikdecai is the one that fits closest and surprisingly well into the canon.

His nagging and complaining about Viktor in that context take on a Tsundere aspect, both to protect himself from being found out and maybe even try and convince himself the uncomfortable alien feelings aren't there. He not only doesn't want others looking too hard at his feeling he doesn't want to examine them himself all that much

There is a heartbreaking but appealing angst to the idea of this extremely repressed man having such feelings for the first time in his life for his straight best friend and NOT knowing how to handle that. Having to perform the balancing act of being around him so much as his partner but being painfully aware that he can't let anyone catch on, especially not Viktor himself, as it would likely destroy his bond with the only person in town other than Atlas he is close to.

Though tragically he did that anyway later via the kneecapping, which while about trying to keep Viktor safe, he may now looking back try and tell himself its actually somehow "better" for Viktor to hate him for that

Because the big guy now wrongly thinks the feeling is mutual and that Mordecai never really cared about him, which may be better than (what Mordecai assumes would be) disgust at his partners doomed more than platonic feelings

Because he sees those feelings and his situation as a sad perfectly structured joke life has played on him

#lackadaisy #tracy j butler #lackadaisycats #mordecai heller #viktor vasko #vikdecai #repressed #gay #asexual #ace #comic #pilot #cats #gangsters #one sided love #one sided crush #one sided attraction #internalized homophobia

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public-trans-it · 7 months

Note

i would love to hear your dark spore rant. i didnt even know spore had a sequel.

Oh anon. Poor sweet anon. I’m so sorry.

So, the thing about Darkspore is…

… it was a really REALLY… mediocre game.

Like, the moment to moment gameplay was… fine. Just fine. Not incredible. But not BAD! Really, it only had two major flaws:

The first, it was buggy as hell. One particularly nasty bug was present in the games launcher, and on certain systems the game would fail to install at all. They were unable to ever fix this bug, which I speculate was a major reason the game was abandoned by the devs so quickly and lead to it being taken down from every major digital distribution site. You could still install and play it if you already bought it though! If… it actually installed for you.

Which leads us to the second flaw. It’s right there on the box.

“Internet connection required”

The game has Always Online DRM. All the levels, enemies, loot, your entire account, was all stored server side. And servers are expensive. So, when the games bugs became unwieldy and not worth fixing, and they took it offline… it became a money sink. It was a game generating ZERO revenue, but had huge server maintenance costs. So eventually, they just shut down the servers.

It is now very difficult to obtain the game, requiring you to buy one of the few unopened physical copies remaining. And even once you do have it, it is IMPOSSIBLE to play. There is a project called Resurrection Capsule in the works, some fans trying to create a private server for it. But with so much info stored server side, they basically have to recreate entire subsystems from scratch. It’s… not going very fast, and to my knowledge hasn’t been touched in over a year.

Story

The story of the game is pretty basic. A progenitor race of alien super-scientists create a new, synthetic form of DNA, called Exponential-DNA, or E-DNA. This rapidly mutates to create new life, and can be guided to create specific, specialized organisms, condensing thousands of years of evolution to a few hours. It can also be injected into existing creatures to alter them and make them more powerful. However it also linked everything affected by it into a hivemind. So it was outlawed. The creator of it decided to respond by creating a E-DNA virus, called The Darkspore, infecting himself with it, and spreading it across the galaxy and conquering it, wiping out his own race.

You play as another member of that race, who has been in hibernation for 1000 years while that was going down. Your ship AI has woken you up because it has managed to stabilize E-DNA and also keep it disconnected from the hivemind, and needs you to go kill the guy who took over the galaxy. That is how the game starts.

…

And how the story ends. There is not really any more story past that part. You get a cutscene describing each of the games 6 planets the first time you visit it, and a final “Hey you won!” cutscene after killing the final boss which ends with the cliche “implication the villain isn’t really dead” trope, and… that’s it. That’s the entire story. Not really the selling point of this game. Its not even entirely clear if it takes place in the same universe as Spore! It’s just set dressing for “Run through these 24 levels and beat everything up”

Gameplay

Darkspore was created by Maxis. This alone was HUGE. This was a team of developers who only really made lifesims like The Sims and Sim City, taking a stab at making a diablolike game.

And I GENUINELY BELIEVE every single studio out there needs to do shit like this. Designing for something so outside your wheelhouse creates SOOOOO much innovation so quickly. You get fresh new ideas injected into the genre so quickly. The final product won’t be good! You don’t have any damn experience in the genre! But it will create something unique beautiful, and god damn I wish we lived in a world where that alone was enough and devs weren’t focused on chasing profits instead.

Genesis

Genesis is just a fancy way of saying ‘Element’. There are 5 of them: Plasma (fire and lightning), Bio (plants and animals), Cyber (machines), Necro (death and fear), and Quantum (space and time) and the way they interact is… certainly a choice I guess. Each Darkspore you face has a genesis it falls into, and each of your heroes has one as well. If your Genesis matches that of the darkspore you are fighting at the moment, you take double damage and they take half damage. If they don’t match, all damage both ways is neutral.

The system itself is kinda mediocre. The biggest part of it, however, is the Variant Skills. Each Genesis has 4 unique skills tied to it that represent the common elements of that type.

Heroes

There are 25 heroes in the game, which each have one Genesis and one Class (Sentinel which are the tanks, Ravagers which are the DPS, and Tempest which are the Casters/Support)

Each hero has 4 total variants, with the first one you unlock being Alpha, and as you level up your account (heroes do not have their own levels) you eventually can purchase their Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants, with each variant having slightly different stats, and a different one of their Genesis’ 4 variant abilities.

Each hero has a unique basic attack, which USUALLY has a little extra to it. For example Sage shoots a bolt that hurts enemies it hits, but heals allies it hits. Zrin alternates between two different punches, one of which has a short duration DoT and the other of which has a 10% stun chance. Stuff like that.

They also have a passive effect that is always active while you are playing them. Collect a soul from each enemy killed for a 5% damage boost, 10% damage bonus when attacking from behind, a stacking defense buff every time you take damage, stuff like that.

Finally, a character has 2 unique abilities. One that is unique to them and can only be used while you are playing that hero, and a second ability that is everyone in the squad can use if that hero is present.

Squad Decks

Which brings me to the first rant and something I am SO AUTISTIC ABOUT (positive). SQUADS. The game had you craft Squad Decks, collections of 3 heroes that you can swap between during your missions, for a total of 883.2k squad combinations (I think my math might be off on that). Swapping between them is on a cooldown of about 10 seconds, but otherwise is don’t instantaneously and as often as you want without penalty. You always have 5 abilities active:

- The unique ability of your active hero

- The Genesis ability of your active heroes variant

- Hero 1’s Squad ability

- Hero 2’s Squad ability

- Hero 3’s squad ability

The first two abilities change out every time you swap heroes, but the last 3 are fixed. So you have 3 abilities that you always have access to, and 6 abilities that are paired up and you can swap between which pair of those abilities is active.

Your heroes do NOT share a health/energy pool, but DO share healing pickups. Any time you pick up a health or energy restoration pickup, it refills a chunk of the respective health pool of your currently active hero, and a smaller chunk of each of your inactive heroes in the squad.

So the core loop of moment to moment gameplay becomes swapping situationally between heroes both offensively and defensively, to get access to your other heroes skills and also to mitigate damage from enemies based on their genesis or control where your healing is directed.

Loot

Loot in Darkspore is fairly standard for your average Diablolike. Item drops have 4 tiers: Common (Item Level=Account Level-5), Uncommon (Item Level=Account Level), Rarified (Item Level=Account Level+5), and Purified (Item Level=Account Level+10)

Items of higher tiers have more chances to roll on a table to gain beneficial modifiers.

Each item fell into one of a few different categories: Weapon, Hands, Feet, Offensive, Defensive, or Utility.

Each hero has one of each slot, plus an additional slot based on their class. Ravagers have an extra Offense slot, Sentinels have an extra Defense slot, and Tempests have an extra Utility slot. Any hero can equip any item you gain, with the exception of Weapons that are hero specific. Some heroes also lack Hands or Feet, in which case their weapon has extra stats and can get the same modifiers as hands and feet can.

The items you equip can then be added onto the Hero in the Hero Editor. The Hero Editor is often equated to the Creature Editor in Spore, which is BULLSHIT and was a pet peeve of mine the ENTIRE DAMN TIME THE FAME WAS LIVE. This is a FALSE EQUIVALENCE. It uses the outfit editor from the Tribal/Civilization phases of Spore instead. Importantly: this means you cannot alter the overall silhouette of your hero. It will always maintain the same basic profile and animations. However you can freely place the extra parts you equip anywhere on its body, and can also place multiple copies of them.

Additionally, old parts can have their stats stripped, converting them into ‘Detail’ parts with no stats, of which you can equip 6 different parts, each of which you can include 10 copies of on your hero. So you could get some pretty cool looks from it!

However all this loot is garbage and you likely would not use most of it outside of appearance. Which brings me to…

Cash-out Loot

Usually if you mention the word ‘cash’ in any sentence involving a game published by EA, it would be a call for concern. Luckily this isn’t that! It’s just gambling! Everything is fine!

The main progression in Darkspore comes from gear, and the best gear comes from how good your ships engines are. These come from account upgrades as you level up your account, determining how many levels you can do in a row. Every time you complete a level, you are given an option: Keep going, or ‘cash out’ and get a guaranteed piece of Uncommon gear, with a 10% chance of it becoming Rarified, as well as all the gear you picked up in the level.

If you choose to keep going, you have to complete the next level. If you die, you lose ALL the gear you picked up, including that guaranteed piece. If you make it to the end, you are given another choice: Risk it all again and go on to the next level, or stop here and get your TWO pieces of guaranteed uncommon loot, which each now have a 20% chance of becoming rarified and a 5% chance of becoming purified.

You can only go another of levels equal to the number of Engine Upgrades you have earned by leveling up your account. So at first, after the second level you HAVE to cash out. As you progress you can start to do many more levels at a time, getting a dozen pieces of gear that are practically guaranteed to be the highest rank.

But of course you have to play these levels in order, and you don’t get a chance to upgrade your character with all the cool new loot you found on the way, so you can’t just jump straight into this. You have to slowly build up to being able to push yourself this much, and once you can, you have a readily available source of some of the best gear in the game.

And that ties into my absolute favorite system of Darkspore:

Catalysts

Many diablolikes have a mechanic called ‘Sockets’. The gear you equip has its own type of equipment slot, and you put gems in there that give you small bonuses. Every game does it a little differently, but it’s kind of a staple of the series.

Darkspore uses a similar system, but utilizes it VERY differently. While you are running levels, enemies will rarely drop Catalysts instead of loot. These come in 5 colors: Purple (boosts your base stats), Red (boosts offensive secondary stats like damage or attack speed), Blue (boosts defensive secondary stats like health regen or damage resistance), Green (boosts utility secondary stats like movement speed or lifesteal), and Rainbow (can contain any of the bonuses of the previous categories) They also come in two sizes: Big and Small. This determines how big the bonus from them is.

You have a 3x3 grid on your HUD that the catalysts you collect go into. You can rearrange them however you want, and if you create a line of 3 of the same color (Rainbow is a wildcard and matches with all of them), it will double the bonus of all Catalysts in that line. This stacks, meaning if you create multiple lines over a single catalyst it could get a x3, x4, or even x5 bonus if it’s the center piece of the grid and forms a line in every direction.

However, you can’t save Catalysts. You can equip it to the grid or drop it on the ground and move on. That’s it. You have to decide now. Do you keep that Big Purple you have for the big buff to your most important stat, or do you trade it for that Small Rainbow for a mediocre stat you just found that you can plug in the middle and double everything else in your grid?

“Surely that only matters early game, and once you have good catalysts you don’t swap them out that much, right?” I hear the diablolike veterans asking, because that is how socketing works in most of those games. And normally you would be right. Except for one major change: All your catalysts only last until the end of your run. When you get to the cash out screen, and choose to keep going? You keep them. But if you choose to cash out, or if you ever die, your catalysts all vanish. Every new run you have to go through and collect them again, which results in you playing your heroes in new ways and adopting new strategies based on what catalysts drop for you each run.

It’s an INCREDIBLE easy to learn system that adds SO MUCH depth and replayability to the game. I love it so incredibly much. Each mechanic flows elegantly into the the next. The catalysts help you do better runs which gets you better gear which upgrades your heroes which lets you do better runs, the entire spiral being locked into your account level to give a quantifiable metric of how far this spiral is gone. It was so good!

And now, it’s gone forever.

Man that sure was a long post. Friends have heard me go on this rant SO many times. Thank god I never got into a second mediocre game filled with novel innovations that are ultimately lost to time and can never be experienced again due to Always Online DRM making it unplayable. Can you imagine if I didn’t learn my lesson and did that a second time? Ha!

… I never did that again. Right?

… right?

…

HEX: Shards of Fate

Hex was a digital TCG legal battle with TCG elements created by Cryptozoic. It was originally put up on Kickstarter, advertised as a digital card game with both PvE and PvP modes, a unique focus on the design space opened up by being a digital game, and gameplay damn near identical to Magic: The Gathering.

The thinly veiled truth was that this game was never meant to succeed. They had hoped it would, and it would be great if it did, but I’m fairly certain that was always a secondary objective. The first objective was to get sued by Wizards of the Coast over the similarities to Magic: The Gathering.

Now, that might sound strange to an outsider, but to anyone in the industry, they are probably nodding along and going “Yeah that tracks actually.”

You see, Wizards of the Coast is… bad. Really bad. They do everything in their power to choke the life out of the industry and have resorted to a lot of questionable tactics to do so. One of these is against anyone who develops any form of trading card game. You see, WotC has a patent on booster packs, customizable decks of cards, and turning cards sideways.

Literally.

U.S. Patent No 5,662,332 (A)

It is not a coincidence that the second two biggest names in TCGs don’t involve turning your cards sideways. Konami contested that Yugioh was different enough to not violate the patent.

WotC responded by suing them. They settled out of court.

Nintendo actually hired WotC to design the Pokémon TCG to NOT violate the patent in return for WotC getting to distribute the first few sets. WotC gladly accepted, distributed the game, got their cut of the sales, and as soon as that was over….

WotC responded by suing them. They settled out of court.

Every single other game out there ended up paying royalties to WotC. Because the cut of the sales to WotC was cheaper than going to court even if you won. WotC had their fingers in every pie, but was smart enough to make sure not to piss people off so much that refusal was ever a viable option.

Cryptozoic was a company that, at the time, was making several licensed TCGs. The big one that jumps out was the World of Warcraft TCG, which they were in charge of (though it was originally made by Upper Deck). Cryptozoic was begrudgingly paying royalties because having the WoWTCG license was too good and they didn’t want to give that up. Then Hearthstone happened and Cryptozoic was going to lose the WoWTCG license as it got discontinued.

So Cryptozoic set up their new game, Hex, specifically to bait WotC into suing them, so they could get the patent overturned.

See, the patent isn’t actually valid. You cannot patent a game mechanic. There are certainly aspects of the patent that ARE valid and CAN be enforced, but the parts about mechanics can’t actually be enforced. WotC uses it because people can’t contest it, but if it actually was used in court it would get overturned VERY easily, and WotC would be declawed.

So Cryptozoic created a game that was a clone of MtG, used a Kickstarter to build up a large amount of legal funds, and got sued by WotC! Yes! Exactly what they wanted!

… and then they settled out of court.

Sigh.

I guess I’ll talk about the game now.

Lore

The lore of the game was solid. Pretty typical fantasy setting. Humans and elves and sort of racist orcs (better than most other orcs I’ve seen at least) and extremely racist tribal coyote people make up the good guys. Undead, spider-orcs, dwarves, and also pretty racist samurai rabbit people make up the bad guys.

There are two types of magic in the world: Blood magic and Wild magic. Elves are adept at wild magic. Shin’hare (the rabbit people) are adept at wild magic as well. The Shin’hare tried to take over the world, forcing the Orcs, Humans, Elves, and Cyotle to ally together to drive them underground into the underworld.

There the Shin’hare met and allied with the Vennen, an all male race descended from Orcs. They were adept blood mages, and they procreated by kidnapping orcs and using them as incubators for spiders. I fucking love the Vennen. I’ll focus on them a lot in this. The Vennen taught the Shin’hare how to sacrifice their young for more power.

The two then allied with the Dwarves, a genderless race of sentient stone statues who excel at creating machinery, and who believe the world itself is a giant machine. Specifically, a weapon of mass destruction, and they are trying to set it off. They believe blowing people the fuck up to be their natural calling.

The underworld and overworld forces go back and forth a bit, with the Elves doing a large chunk of the work as the only overworld race that can use magic.

Then Hex happened. Hex is a massive meteor made up of Diamond, Emerald, and Sapphire. Hex punched clean through the world, scattering gems all across it, before stabilizing in orbit on the other side, becoming the worlds moon.

These gems were incredibly magical, allowing every race to now use magic. Diamonds were restorative, bringing life to things. Rubies were extremely destructive and burned bright and hot and quickly. Sapphire allowed finesse manipulation and control over water. These

Yes this is just the MtG color pie.

Eventually, humanity stumbled into one of their old crypts that was very close to the impact site of Hex, and found it CRAWLING with undead. They were taking the Diamonds from Hex and putting them into the eye sockets of human corpses, causing those corpses to reanimate. These were NOT actually undead, but an alien consciousness that existed within the gems that were using human corpses as a host.

The Necrotic sought a peaceful and symbiotic relationship with humanity as thanks for the use of the bodies. Humanity responded by getting really pissed off that the Necrotic were grave robbing, and went to war over it. Eventually the Necrotic retreated deep into the underworld and allied with the other races instead, eventually helping the Shin’hare with a second attack on the surface.

The lore has a lot more depth than that, but that’s the basic. I liked it a lot. The Orcs being good guys who just really liked tests of strength was a refreshing take on orcs. I liked them a lot. The extremely racist caricature that made up the Cyotle and the Shin’hare? Less so.

Digital Design Space

As for the actual gameplay… it was MtG. Like, almost 1:1.

Like…

Seriously.

Shards work similarly to Lands, with there being 5 basic shards, Diamond, Sapphire, Ruby, Wild, and Blood. You can only play one Shard per turn and when you do you get 1/1 Resource. 1 resource to spend on this turn, and 1 permanent resource. You spend that resource to play a card that costs 1, and you go down to 0/1 resources. Start of your turn, you would go back up to 1/1 resource.

Pretty straight forward stuff. Resources are a card type like in MtG, but once it’s played it acts as a perpetual resource like the Mana in Hearthstone, with no need to care about where the resource is coming from.

… wait a second though, this is a MtG clone. It uses the color pie. Caring where those resources come from is KIND OF a big deal in MtG.

Which is the first really cool difference between Hex and MtG! THRESHOLD! Each time you play a shard you gain 1 threshold in that color. To play a card, you have to have at least as many threshold as are displayed below its cost. See that purple dot below Murder? That means you need 1 blood threshold to play it.

Threshold is NOT consumed when you play a card, which DRASTICALLY alters deckbuilding and how feasible multi-color decks are.

For example, in MtG, if you had 4 swamps and 1 mountain in play, and 5 cards in hand that all cost R…. You can play 1 whole card this turn.

In Hex, if you have 4 Blood and 1 Ruby, and have 5 cards that all cost 1 and have a single Ruby threshold, you can play your entire hand that turn. This made it incredibly viable to splash colors in relatively smaller amounts. It also opened up cool new design space, like cards that cost 1 but still required 3 threshold in a color. Or cards that require 1 threshold of every type to activate a bonus effect (very common among Necrotic) or… for sockets!

HEY WE ARE COMING FULL CIRCLE!

Remember how I mentioned Diablolike games having sockets, but how Darkspore didn’t use it? Well Hex DOES. There was a pair of keywords called Socketable Major and Socketable Minor. Each set, there would be 10 gems (two of each color) that rotated out for Socketable cards. Cards with Major sockets could equip any gem, while minor sockets could only equip half of them. So for example the current rotation might have the Sapphire gems be “While you have at least 1 Sapphire Threshold, this card has Flying” for its Minor gem, and “When you play this card, if you have at least 3 Sapphire Threshold, target player draws 3 cards”

You chose which gem was in each Socketable card during deckbuilding. Different copies of the same card could have different gems equipped, or you could have the same gem equipped across multiple different cards. It was basically a way to go “This card was designed to be splashed in other color decks. You pick what that other color is.”

It opened up a lot of design space! This was something Hex did VERY well. They knew they were making a MtG clone, but they weren’t beholden to the same restrictions a physical card game did, and they THRIVED in those areas.

For example, REPLICATORS GAMBIT, a one cost card that creates six copies of a troop (read: creature) that just… could not exist in MtG.

Another example of this was in my favorite archetype in Hex: Mill. Now, I’m not normally a blue player. I’m not a big fan of the ‘you don’t get to play the game’ archetype. Even mill isn’t really my thing. But the way it worked in HexTCG? God I loved it. I wish I could see my opponents faces as they reached a trembling hand out to their bloated, grotesque deck, a cruel mockery of what it once was. They had started the match with only 60 cards, but now it held twice that number. Knowing every draw was more likely to bring their own skittering death out.

…

Maybe I should back up a bit.

Vennen are, in MtG terms, tribal Blue/Black with a focus on control. Specifically an aggressive form of control. Your wincon is still ‘beat your opponent to death’, but the means by which you do it is… spiders.

Lots of Vennen cards work by still allowing your opponent to do the thing that you blocked, but it now creates Spider Eggs in their deck. Lock down a creature as it enters play with ‘Everytime this creature becomes tapped, shuffle 3 spider eggs into your deck’ or ‘Whenever an opponent draws a third card this turn add a spider egg to their deck’ or ‘When this creature is destroyed add a spider egg to your opponent’s deck’ and when they DRAW a spider egg… well… the effect of a spider egg is more or less ‘When this card enters your hand or graveyard, draw/discard another card into that zone and destroy this one. Your opponent creates a Spiderling and puts it in play. “

Spiderlings are 1/1 Unblockable creatures.

The Vennen win con is to just fill your opponent with spiders and then shred them apart once the spiders start hatching. It was a DELIGHTFUL playstyle.

PvE

Hex also features a fairly robust PvE mode with a point crawl encounter map that was quite delightful. There were cards unique to PvE, but all PvP cards were also legal in PvE. In general, all your staples came from PvP and were the same core staples everyone uses to win (they were very generous with handing out common/uncommon PvP cards in the single player mode, which in turn also made Pauper a very popular format), however you also had PvE cards which made up your win cons. PvE cards weren’t balanced as tightly, and allowed to just be dumb overpowered bullshit just because it’s fun to use dumb overpowered bullshit sometimes!

There were also equipment slots that would modify the cards in your deck, turning PvP cards into PvE cards. For example, Replicators Gambit made it so that EVERY copy of that card gained that text.

PvE started with character creation. You would create a character that was one of the 8 races, and one of 6 3 different classes. Warrior, Cleric, or Ranger. I think there was a late update that added Mage but I don’t recall too clearly, and it isn’t document online anymore as far as I can tell!

Each class had a unique talent tree that you could customize and change how you played. Your race determined what colors you could play, and your level determined how many of each rarity you could play.

I played a Vennen Cleric. Cleric’s whole thing was that you would gain Blessings, 0 cost cards that would rise in your deck each turn, and could be played to draw a card as well as additional effects based on your build. My blessings put more eggs in the enemy deck, to the surprise of no one.

As you went from encounter to encounter you would earn new cards to modify your deck, swapping decks between fights. Then there were dungeons, long laborious streaks of a dozen or so encounters, with branching paths and decisions to be made, earning you tons of new packs and equipment and experience to boost your character. One especially fun encounter was crossing a desert with a pack of… I think it was gnomes? There were 20 of them that needed rescuing. The way you rescued them was putting them in your deck, and then leaving the desert through a single combat encounter. Except they were AWFUL. Like 3 cost vanilla 1/1’s level of awful. The more you had in your deck, the harder the encounter became. It was a really nice way to portray the logistical challenge of trying to fight while protecting all these useless tagalongs.

There were plans to even introduce Raids, 3v1 PvE encounters, but they fizzled out as the game got sunset.

The game was good. REALLY good. It relished in the digital design space in a way I haven’t quite seen since then. A few games, like Legends of Runeterra, have come close, but always fall short, and that’s so sad! I DESPERATELY want to play a TCG with this level of customization again!

Luckily that was the end of it. I finally learned the error of my ways, never touched anything ‘always online’ again, and now can live a life without regrets! … except Legends of Runeterra a little bit like I mentioned above but THATS IT! There are no other always online games I have regrets about!

…

ToonTown Online

Okay no, not seriously. I’ve never played toontown. But honestly it looked kinda silly and like a shitpost in video game form. I think it would have been fun to try at some point with a few friends. Not seriously, just to screw around in for a bit.

Never going to get that chance. Just like nearly everyone reading this will never get to play two of my biggest influences that shaped how I think about game design.

Always Online DRM is an insidious beast. It doesn’t just kill games, it kills *archival*. All we have left of these games is a relatively small number of gameplay videos. I was planning on having a lot more pictures in this post of all the interface elements I was talking about as I talked about them, but there just… aren’t any good pictures of them. Even these details are based on my own memory cross referenced with a couple of wikis, and even those were sparse.

Some games can’t feasibly avoid Always Online. MMO’s are a big example. But by adding it into a game that has a single player experience involved, and not making that single player experience a standalone thing on its own, you are destroying any hope that your game will be remembered. It will fade into obscurity. There will never be a cult revival. Your work will be discarded and forgotten and it’s… so incredibly sad to see.

I jokingly titled this section being about ToonTown, but really this section is about Kingdom Hearts: Union X. It was a mediocre and disgustingly predatory gacha. It was horribly managed with horrible issues around localization and it was just… a mess. But it was part of the world of Kingdom Hearts, and it’s story was important and mattered.

The game is no longer playable, but it’s also not entirely lost. The devs created a new version of it, as a gallery to view the cutscenes. The single-player side mode, Dark Road, is also included. The devs didn’t have to do this. They could have gone the same route as Darkspore and HexTCG, and had their work be forgotten. They chose to save it. Not in full, but at least the parts the deemed important.

It also makes me wonder how much this happens in other mediums. Ludology is a pretty new field, and it rarely goes into specific games and their impact on the medium, mostly just focusing on the impacts they have on humanity, rather than the mechanics themselves as these beautiful pieces of art. And it makes me wonder how often this happens with say… film critics. Are there any indie film makers who are deep in the paint of indie films and critique of not just the films themselves, but the very techniques being used, just sitting there going “It’s so upsetting that this big studio managed to do something this beautiful and all of us in the scene recognize it’s beauty, but no one else seems to, and now it’s gone?”

… as I’m writing this I actually realize that this does happen there. It’s how I found out about what became my favorite film of all time, The Man From Earth. It’s a small film that flopped horribly in theaters, and only gained any attention by being pirated by a lot by indies who wanted to talk about it. It’s a good movie, highly recommend. Not for everyone though.

I don’t know. I’m sure I had a point with all this but… seeing it happen again and again and now with streaming services taking stuff down it’s just… I can’t help but seeing not just more and more games, but more and more of EVERY artistic medium ending up in this area. How many digital artists entire portfolios have vanished off the face of the earth because their tumblr got deactivated? How many movies are going to be gone forever when Netflix eventually goes out of business? We can’t even rely on piracy! Many old pieces of media is just lost forever. Just ask the Doctor Who fandom. They probably know more about that than anyone else at this point.

But mostly I just really wish more developers would consider what parts of their games are important, and what kind of legacy they want to leave, instead of just what will generate a short burst of profit, with no care for what happens after.

… I should start doing video essays with how long this got. It’s like some kind of text based video essay. A text essay. Those are a new thing I just invented.

#Darkspore #Spore #Those are the only two tags on this post because those are the only games I talk about don’t worry about it. it’s fine. don’t read further.#HexTCG #Hex: Shards of Fate #Kingdom Hearts: Union X #Always Online DRM #The Man From Earth #I swear to god if anyone tells me I should just play Temo on LoR I will scream #YES I KNOW AND I DO #but also LoR sucks #and also that is missing THE ENTIRE POINT OF THIS RANT #the SAME THING IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA #maybe not soon #but it WILL die someday #and be gone forever #because it isn’t being preserved #Text Essay

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princesssmars · 7 months

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cant live without a poly ship so pjhazel with reader...light (?) nsfw. making out and allusions to more. fem cheerleader reader. are there any pj fics i mean this is rachel sennot we're talkin about. not gonna proofread we die like jeff should have. reuploading bc tumblr hates me and wont make my posts show up on the tags.

maybe reader is a cheerleader who both of the girls have a crush on, made difficult by them being...friends. aka pj has had a crush on hazel for years and has tried to stomp it down into the dust while hazel tries to forget about her feelings. which definitely always works.

you probably didnt notice them before the fight club, but once you join its hard not to. you like hazel because she's genuinely so nice to everyone and cute in that "you kinda scare me but i weirdly really like it", and you like pj because while her attraction is so obvious by the way she refuses to hit you, constantly adjusting your posture, and how you've caught her staring at your ass about twenty damn times already. but shes cute in a "you're obviously a loser but your desperation kinda turns me on way."

maybe pj catches on to how close you're getting to hazel, then being the hotheaded ass she is (affectionately) confronts hazel about it, telling her if she was a real friend she'd do her a solid and back the hell off ??? obviously hazel isnt falling for it, saying they should leave it up to you to decide who you're interested in.

lucky for them you invite them for a study date at your house that night ! when they ring your doorbell pj is nitpicking hazels button-up, getting surprised when hazel bites back and critiques her plaid zip up jacket because really? plaid?

they both quickly shut up when you open the door, smiling casually like you arent standing in front of them in a lacy bra and shorts, turning around inviting them up to your room as you expect them to follow you. they do, of course. (hazel makes sure to clowe and lock your front door beacuse shes. polite. yeah.)

the fake studying you do is dreadfully boring. hazel tries to pay attention to the work, while pj is flirting with you and getting more flustered the harder you flirt back. eventually you get sick of the bullshit, grabbing her by that fugly plaid jacket and bringing her lips down to yours.

you have to pull back only three seconds in when to your shock the brunette lets out the loudest groan you've ever heard and brings her hands up to squish your breasts, looking slightly embarrassed as giggle at her and brush some of her frizzy hair back away from her face.

a mix between a shaky inhale and a snort reminds you of the other person in the room, turning to see hazel with such a strong grip on her pencil you're slightly scared shes going to stab herself with it.

you ask her "dont laugh at her, you think you could do better?" and before you know it she's crawling towards you from the bottom of your bed and kissing you with the passion of a long lost lover.

you have to admit you're slightly surprised at how proficient she is at kissing, knowing just the right way to tilt your head and graze your lips with her tongue. it makes you so light headed you fall onto your back on the covers, hazel never giving you a chance to pull away as she follows you down and cages you in.

you make out with her for another minute or two before gently pushing her off to catch a breath, your chest rising up and down at a mile a minute. once your head clears more, you look above you to see hazel looking almost nervous. her eyes dart from you to the space to your left, and you tilt her head to see pj doing the same.

"you guys can kiss too, yknow. i wont mind. it'd be pretty hot actually."

you meant it as half of a joke but your breath catches in your throat when pj grips the sides of hazels head and kisses her. well, more like starts licking at the area around her mouth, but with a little guidance its not long before the two are in a heated makeout above you, the sight and the sounds they're making turning you on in ways you didnt think was possible.

you press a hand into both of their chests, the girls pulling apart and looking at you like they're both waiting for your command.

yeah, you were gonna have fun with this.

was looking at hazel tiktoks and a comment complained about the lack of stuff about her on wattpad, then someone said to head over here and sometimes i forget that. u r real people. reading what i write. so. whats up.

#bottoms movie #bottoms x reader #pj x reader #pj #hazel callahan #hazel callahan x reader

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k9wa · 1 year

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𑣲 PALPITATE. ft hakkai shiba.

⠀ —when hakkai busting his bike leaves him stranded and vulnerable, both at the hands of public transportation and a girl who can't take a hint.

⠀ or

⠀ — two virgins who lack any social skills are forced to share the same bus route.

⚠︎ fem!reader, no referring pronouns used, hakkai and you are so terribly fucking awkward, lot's of sillies.

MONDAY MAY 2ND, 2006.

what was it about public transportation that was so god damn confusing? i mean, sure, the concept is simple, find the bus you wanna get on and you know, get on it.

until you take into consideration all the factors in between which, for everyone's sake, i won't bore you with. save for two.

not only had you deemed public transportation your sworn nemesis, but now you were battling it in a city you’d never stepped foot in.

actually, there was someone in a similar situation to you, also (temporarily) struck by the punishment hammer that was being forced to bus everywhere while his motorcycle was in the shop. the day you met hakkai shiba was the first day you had to take the bus to your new part-time job across town. you approached him while he leaned lazily against a sign, displaying a small cartoon bus with a number inside it.

“um— excuse me?” hakkai felt his bones go stiff at the feminine voice that called to him.

“sorry to bother you, i was just wondering, uh, is this the bus that go….”

he didn’t get to hear where you were trying to go as his brain did its absolute best to tune you out. meanwhile, you waited patiently for a response.

…a response that the tall boy in front of you was really taking his time preparing. all while he kept perfectly still and facing forward.

“…um—excuse me…?”

had he not heard you?

“…hello?”

was he just ignoring you? sure you understood not wanting to talk to someone, but a simple nod of his head would suffice, no?

“sorry— i just really need to know if this is the right stop to get on.”

hakkai didn’t move.

“um, i start at a new job in less than an hour? i can't really afford to get lost right now.” you chuckled uncomfortably, hoping to ease the tension.

nothing. it was as if you weren’t even there.

“…anything?”

nope.

“blink once for yes??”

your hands drop to your sides, all you received was more nothing. his eyes didn’t even twitch.

“i’m—i’m just gonna try the stop down the road.”

hakkai couldn’t bring himself to watch from his peripherals as you walked away from one of the most awkward situations of your teenage life.

away, and to the wrong bus stop.

TUESDAY MAY 3RD, 2006.

the next time hakkai saw you was actually the very next day, after your first encounter with him. around the same time, as well.

turns out, you and he would be sharing a bus route until the youngest shiba’s bike was fixed and ready for riding again.

lucky you!

you nearly threw yourself into the traffic beside you when the same guy from yesterday was back at the stop. the stop you learned the hard way was actually the right one.

you trudged up beside him, leaving an awkward distance between you while he was sitting on the bench, and you opted for standing to the side of it.

“…sooo, turns out this was actually my stop, haha.”

you desperately tried to talk to him again, hoping to prove to yourself that he wasn’t really ignoring you as bad as you’d hoped the day before.

he didn’t answer.

“i um— got on the wrong bus yesterday. ended up all the way in roppongi? i think that’s what it was called, anyway.”

answer. say literally anything oh my god i’m begging you.

“pretty cool area, i'd never been before. silver lining, right?”

you turn to look at him, he’s pale as a ghost.

“youuu uh, ever been? to roppongi?”

….no response ever came. you clear your throat.

“awesome, cool, cool.”

this was gonna be a long week.

WEDNESDAY MAY 4TH, 2006.

back at the bus stop you stood, almost shoulder to shoulder with the same boy who you tried almost everything to pry a word out of the last two days.

tuesday night it dawned on you, what if he just…couldn’t hear you? maybe he had some kind of hearing impairment! it would be pretty shitty to assume he was just blatantly ignoring you if that was the case, so, wednesday afternoon you tried again.

“um, hey.”

you looked beside you to the stone face that was becoming unfortunately familiar. he didn’t answer.

so, like any sane person would do, you poked his arm.

hakkai audibly gulped, but continued to keep his eyes on the scenery in front of him.

“…hello? anyone home?”

you poked him again. hakkai started to sweat rather profusely. it was a good thing he couldn’t see the way your brow furrowed at the physical cues that he indeed did know you were there.

“okay, what gives? are you just like– really not talkative or something?”

you’re a fool for waiting patiently for some kind of acknowledgement. hakkai was frozen in place.

“...seriously? nothing? not even telling me to shut up or– or leave you alone or something??”

you stomped your way in front of him, and finally reached a hand up to wave it in front of his face.

“just one word! one word and i'll never speak to you again. swear it.”

hakkai, to everyone’s surprise, didn’t move, his eyes dead set straight. the waving and begging went on until your bus came to a screeching stop behind you.

maybe tomorrow.

THURSDAY MAY 5TH, 2006.

hakkai truly was beginning to mourn having an unlimited form of private transportation. not only did he hate the crowded seats of the bus, or quickly grow tired of the schedules ruining his chance to stay with his friends or gang members late that week, but hakkai had also convinced himself you were one more day away from just deciding to punch him square in the gut.

you absolutely were, by the way.

it’s not that he didn’t feel bad, but c'mon! anyone who knew him knew that yuzuha was the only girl he could talk to, it wasn’t anything against you personally.

it also didn't help that, you too, were completely socially inept. i mean, who keeps trying to make conversation with someone after finding out they’ve been actively ignoring them? anyone else would have just, y'know, moved along.

you being pretty, like, really pretty wasn’t helping his case much either, but he couldn’t bring himself to think about that for longer than a millisecond before he turned red.

thursday, you didn’t show up for the bus. hakkai waited, watching the side of the sidewalk you would normally arrive from, but you never showed.

which, in theory, should have been elating for him. it was a day where he could take a much needed breather, where he could comfortably arrive home without clammy hands or sweat beading down his neck.

it was…a little disappointing. not that hakkai necessarily enjoyed making a fool of himself (or shutting off all his senses to avoid that from happening,) but he couldn’t deny that your antics were… funny? to him? you were kind of an idiot, but in an endearing kind of way.

hakkai hoped to see you at the stop tomorrow.

FRIDAY MAY 6TH, 2006.

friday marked the end of the week, alongside the end of hakkai’s journey as someone who regularly relied on the public transport system. tomorrow morning, he would pick up his bike, and bring her back home where she belonged. balance would be restored.

you, however, were dreading leaving your home.

the day prior, you had the luxury of getting a ride to work from a friend, putting an ease to your mind and it’s swarm of thoughts regarding the very tall, very well sculpted, very pretty, very well kept–

the guy at the bus stop who wouldn’t pay any mind to your existence even if it meant his damn life was on the line.

he was an idiot, you were sure of it. not only was he stupid, he was rude! you ended up nearly stranded in another district because he couldn’t even spare you a nod of his head!

who cared that he was pretty? who cared that he had some of the best bone structure you’d ever seen in person, or that he was already standing at 183 cm at an age you assumed couldn’t be far from your own? he sucked!

…okay you cared. you had a thing for him. it was utterly humiliating. all you had done was run around poking (literally) and prodding at him for the last week, all because you didn’t know how to properly say “hey, i wanna talk to you!” or “hey, why are you ignoring me?”

that, and the curiosity of what could be causing him to pay such little attention to you was genuinely driving you up the wall. you digress. today, you would make it right.

you finally arrived, i shouldn't have to mention where by now, and were relieved to see the familiar blue buzz-cut. relieved alongside cursing god for making it so you actually had to speak to him again. you slowly took your spot to his left.

“...hey, um–”

you played with the strap of your bag.

“sorry if i’ve been on your nerves or anything this week, realised i was bein’ kinda overbearing.” you chuckled and looked up at him, not surprised at the lack of feedback.

“i just moved here? and everything has been going pretty south for me, but i didn't mean to take it out on you or anything.”

hakkai’s jaw was clenched, but staying true to himself, he didn’t answer.

“anyway, sorry again. hope the rest of your day goes alright.”

hakkai clenched his fists together, sucked in the deepest breath he thought he'd ever taken, and before the bus rounded the street corner, he spoke.

“..sh..ba…h..kai…” it was shaky, and it was spoken through his tightly clenched teeth, but he managed.

“...p–pardon?” you did your best to keep your eyes from widening and having your shock spread across your face, but it was a feeble attempt. hakkai turned his head in the opposite direction, away from you.

“..shiba…hakkai..” he mumbled again, but the second time was thankfully more clear.

it quickly became your turn to stare straight ahead of you, unable to form some kind of answer in your head. you had been so damn talkative before, too.

the bus came to a rusty stop in front of the two of you. only then, were you able to mutter your name in response to him. one painful week later, you finally had an introduction.

maybe hakkai would keep taking the bus home even after picking up his bike. only sometimes, though. baby steps.

⠀ 𑣲 MASTERLIST / GOT A REQUEST ?

#hes an idiot i love him #hakkai shiba #shiba hakkai #hakkai x reader #hakkai x you #hakkai fluff #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo rev #tokyo rev x reader #tokyo rev headcanons #tokyo rev fluff #tokyo rev x you #black dragons #yuzuha shiba #taiju shiba #UNEARTHLY

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ladykailitha · 1 year

Text

The Eddie Munson Guide to Dating an Oblivious Jock Part 4

I actually got it up today, holy crap. Today has been so wild I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. Also thank you to @chaoticlovingdreamer and @yellowdevilkitten about the cramps. I am feeling better now.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Part Seven: Hand holding

Once you’ve established that he likes you back, the first step is hand holding. You aren’t necessarily dating at this point. Though you could be. For same sex couples this will have to be discreet and sneaky, but for straight couples this can be used as a way to declare your couple status.

“I hate that you can’t hold hands with Steve in public,” Max said. “It’s stupid.”

Eddie cocked his head ruefully. “It is what it is. Some day it won’t be like this, but for now, we do what we can.”

“Still stupid.”

It was movie night sleepover. It was something that all of them did once in a while. And by them it meant all of them. All thirteen of them. Steve’s basement was perfect for it. They could all stretch out and still have tons of space. Not that they did that. They tended to puppy pile in smaller groups.

El, Max, Erica, and Lucas was one pile. Jonathan, Argyle, and Nancy were another. Mike, Dustin, and Will were another. Which left Eddie, Robin, and Steve as the remaining pile.

But that was a problem for future Eddie. Current Eddie was content on the sofa with Steve sitting next to him, their bodies pressed together in a seem from shoulder to knee.

Robin was on the other side of Steve curled up under his arm and Eddie was fine with sharing at the moment.

The hardest part of the night was deciding on a movie they all wanted to watch. There was always someone that didn’t want to watch whatever it was they decided on. So Eddie and Steve came up with the idea of ranked voting. They would grab five movies and everyone would list them in the order they wanted to watch them in and whichever one got the most votes at number one was the one they watched first.

Tonight they were watching The Dark Crystal. When the beetles came on, chittering above the Skekis Robin flinched and buried her head into his shoulder.

“I thought this was a kids’ show!” she whined to Steve.

“Come on,” Dustin said. “They aren’t that scary. They’re just giant bugs.”

Eddie kicked him in the thigh. “Everybody has different things they’re scared of, we don’t mock people for that.”

“I wasn’t mocking,” Dustin defended. “I just don’t think they’re scary.”

Fizgig started wailing and Eddie jumped back. “What the fuck! Why does it have so many teeth?!” Then a warm hand took his and he looked down at the joined hands and back up to Steve.

“Wait a damn minute!” Max cried. “You’re telling me that the first time you guys held hands Steve initiated it?”

Eddie grinned. “I was so proud. Though, he thought he was just being a good friend at the time. Remember this is oblivious jockus. Even though it was pretty clear he liked me back, he wasn’t reading the signs that I liked him.”

“But he still reached out to you?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

Steve smiled softly at him and Eddie’s heart just melted. Eddie gave Steve’s hand a squeeze, but instead of letting go like he suspected Steve thought he would do, Eddie held on to it for the rest of the movie.

When the movie ended, Eddie wasn’t the only with sniffles from the sacrifices of Kyra and Fizgig.

“But that won’t work,” Dustin said.

“What won’t work, bud?” Eddie asked as he dried his eyes on his sleeve.

“You can’t rebuild an entire race with just two members,” Dustin complained. “Because otherwise you get inbreeding and trust me when I say that’s gross and not just from moral stand point but a medical one, too.”

Max rolled her eyes. “They aren’t trying to rebuild the species. It’s just a love story.”

Dustin grumbled, “Well, it’s a stupid one.”

Eddie and Steve shared a glance and shook their heads.

Steve dislodged himself from Robin, reluctantly letting go of Eddie’s hand. “All right, gremlins, get your bed stuff and set it up downstairs. You don’t have to go to sleep right away but I want you at least in your sleeping bags.”

There was some grumbling from the younger kids but they all packed up and went downstairs, Jonathan and Nancy going down with them to make sure they didn’t start fighting over spots.

The remaining adults started cleaning up the mess that only thirteen people can make.

Robin got bored about half way through and wandered downstairs to see what was happening there.

Argyle tilted his head. “Does she always do that?”

Eddie and Steve looked at each other and shrugged.

“Not always,” Steve said. “Her mind just goes a million miles an hour and sometimes cleaning fulfills that need and other times not. I guess today was a not.”

Argyle nodded sagely. “Do you think she would benefit from the purple flower?”

By now they were aware that that was a brand of weed Argyle had brought over from California.

“She doesn’t like smoking,” Eddie said with a grimace.

Argyle lit up. “Brownies, bro! I bet she’d love my brownies.”

Steve chuckled. “You are more than welcome to ask. Just know she might still say no.”

Argyle smiled his dopey smile. “Never offended by that.”

They finished cleaning and went back downstairs to find that the usual piles were divided differently.

El, Max, and Nancy were doing each other’s nails. While Argyle, Robin and Jonathan were discussing weed in a corner. Mike and Will were snuggled up together as were Erica, Lucas, and Dustin.

“You know I always wondered about that night,” Eddie said. “Why you and Lucas weren’t snuggled up like you usually were.”

Max scoffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s the whole reason for this little guide I’m forcing myself to sit through.”

“What happened?”

She put her head in her hands. “I thought we were on again and he did not.”

“He is an oblivious jock, though right?” Eddie grimaced.

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize how much until that night,” Max said with a small whine of frustration. “He said that it was great how we had remained friends after Vecna and then asked me if I was dating anyone at the time.”

Eddie rubbed his eye. “Are you serious?”

“As Vecna.”

“Ouch.”

“Looks like it’s just you and me, big boy,” Eddie said looking around the room at all the different groups. When Steve didn’t reply, he backtracked, “Unless you want to hang out with Robin and the stoner boys?”

Steve’s head snapped up. “No, no. She looks like she’s having fun. I’d be happy to be your puppy partner.”

Eddie groaned. “Can you not say it like that?”

“Snuggle buddy?” Steve suggested. “Snug bugs? Puddle pals?”

Eddie shoved him playfully. “Knock it off, man.”

“Oh,” Steve said with a wicked gleam. “I see how it is. Maybe I will join one of the other piles. You think Mike will mind if I join him and Will?”

Eddie laughed. “Only if you want to be murdered in your sleep.”

Steve winked. “So I guess that means you’re stuck with me.”

Eddie bit his lip nervously. “I have an idea!” He walked over to the girls.

“Hello, ladies,” he greeted warmly. “May I inquire if you have any black polish among your bounteous plethora of polishes?”

El lit up. “Yes, I have three kinds in fact.” She went digging for them. “I have glitter midnight, death becomes her, and blackest black.”

She held them up for him to see. He looked at each one carefully and chose blackest black.

“Now, my fairest maiden,” Eddie said. “I need a blue for Stevie.”

Steve, Nancy and Max all stared at him in shock.

“You’re going to paint Steve’s nails?” Max asked.

Eddie nodded. “And he’s going to paint mine.”

El giggled. “That’s sooo cute. I have just the color.” She opened a small drawer in her kit and pulled out a sparkling dark blue.

Eddie kissed her forehead. “It’s perfect Supergirl.”

El blushed. “You’re welcome. Have fun.”

Eddie sat down cross-legged from Steve and set the two bottles down between them.

“Can’t have a sleepover without painting your nails and talking about boys,” Eddie said, grinning from ear to ear.

Steve laughed. “All right, Eds. You got me there.”

“I thought I would paint yours first, so you can watch me do it,” Eddie said. “And then you can do mine.”

Steve nodded and let Eddie take his right hand.

“Judd Nelson or Rob Lowe?” Eddie asked, delicately painting the thumb nail first.

“Ooh,” Steve said. “Going straight for the bad boys. Robert Downey Jr.”

Eddie looked up at him and tsked. “Wasn’t an option, but interesting.”

Steve laughed and Eddie swatted him. “Stop moving.”

“Sorry,” Steve said, but he was grinning unrepentantly.

“And people say I’m a menace,” he mumbled under his breath.

Steve leaned in close. “Oh, you absolutely are. But I’ll let you in on a secret. So am I.”

Eddie blushed.

They continued to banter back and forth about their favorite actors and singers.

“You take that back!” Eddie protested.

Steve tapped the back of his hand. “Don’t move!” Eddie stopped struggling. “And I didn’t say it was a bad thing you look like John Bon Jovi, I was just making an observation.”

“His sound,” Eddie murmured, “I wouldn’t even deign to call it music, is trash Steve. Literal trash.”

Steve laughed. “Well there you go, menace. All done.”

Eddie held his hands up and admired them. “Not bad, Stevie. Not bad at all.”

“Not as good as yours,” Steve said softly, ducking his head.

“True, but since this was your first time, you did one hell of a job.”

El came over. “Can I see?”

Steve handed her back her bottles of nail polish and then showed her his hands.

“Eddie did a wonderful job,” she said with a gentle smile. “It makes your hands very pretty.”

“Thanks, El,” he said kissing her cheek.

Eddie showed her his and she nodded. “A couple of mistakes but an easy fix.” She went back over to her kaboodle and got out another bottle and a Q-tip. She scooted back over to Steve and Eddie.

“Here’s what you can do when you accidentally paint outside the nail,” El said and dipped the Q-tip into the bottle.

It smelled horrible. She picked up Eddie’s hand gingerly brushed the sides of the nail where Steve had missed and then it was gone, looking for all the world like Steve hadn’t fucked it up.

Steve picked up the bottle and read the label. “Polish remover?”

El nodded. “It’s great for touch ups or when you want a new color.”

“You’re the best El,” Eddie said with a dimpled grin.

She smiled shyly and went back to Max and Nancy.

And if that night found Eddie and Steve holding hands in their sleep, no one noticed. Or at least cared enough to mention it.

“You smooth mother fucker!” Max said. “It was all an excuse to get Steve to hold your hand for long periods of time!”

Eddie laughed. “It worked, didn’t it?!”

“There is no way Lucas is going to let me paint his nails to hold hands,” she said bitterly.

He shrugged. “So bake bread or make cookies. Something that requires your hands. Like I keep saying, your jock is going to be different, but you find things that work for you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered darkly. “What happens once he gets use to hand holding?”

Part 5 Part 6

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @this-is-mycrisis @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @thedragonsaunt @chaoticlovingdreamer @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @artiststarme @steddie-there @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @thebrazilianatheist @rozzieroos @whalesharksart @mightbeasleep @theotalksalot @avacrebs @sassysleeplord @exhibit-no-restraint @sjullay @thesuninyaface @everywherenothere @nerdsconquerall @persephone13 @wrenisflying @lillemilly

#My writing #stranger things #steddie #lumax #1000 followers #ladykailtiha writes

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shy-urban-hobbit · 5 months

Text

Modern au - Vesemir royally screws up by driving Aiden away.

“Aiden.”

“I’m sorry Lambert. Please believe me I am so fucking sorry, but I can’t keep on like this and I’m not going to be the boyfriend who makes you choose between me or your family.”

“So your making the choice for me. Real fucking nice.”

Aiden gave him a sad, teary smile as he threw his duffel bag into the trunk of his beat up, third hand car, “Your family’s everything to you, Pup. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t regret cutting ties with any of them.”

“You’re family too!”

“It’s been made pretty clear time and again that I’m not and never will be as far as certain people are concerned. I love you Lambert, but there’s only so many times I can take being made to feel like some lowlife criminal every time I interact with your dad.”

Lambert felt his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth when he realised that he couldn’t even argue that. As he had when he and Lambert had first started dating, Aiden had been upfront about the shit he’d been involved with when he was younger and new to trying to fend for himself after ageing out of the system when the conversation at their first meeting had turned towards questions about his family and childhood. Ever since, Vesemir had taken every opportunity to weaponise it against the younger man - despite the fact that Aiden’s life could very well have been that of any of his own sons had fate played out differently. Lambert, Geralt and Eskel had been some of the lucky ones in the Care Kid Lottery. Aiden, not so much.

Every time, Lambert had asked him to give Vesemir another chance, promising it would be different this time (it had taken him awhile to warm up to Jaskier too, and he was a god damn ray of sunshine) and every time, Vesemir had made him a liar.

Aiden moved his arms awkwardly, looking like he was trying to decide if going in for a hug would be a wise idea until a couple of tears finally fell. He wiped them away hastily as he stepped back, opening the driver’s side door, “Goodbye, Lambert. I wish you every happiness.”

Lambert could only stand and stare as his every happiness drove away down the dirt track.

He heard the front door creak open followed by multiple pairs of footsteps, because of course they couldn’t even let him get his heart stomped on in private – they’d probably all had their noses pressed to the kitchen window. Jaskier was stood shoulder to shoulder with Geralt, looking like he was making a huge effort not to start crying himself while his brother was grim faced. Eskel strode towards him, giving him the same heartbroken look as he had when Lambert was newly seven and had casually informed them he’d never gotten birthday presents before.

“Shit, Lambert.”

He went to pull him into a hug which Lambert immediately ducked away from, “Don’t Esk. Just...fucking don’t .” He pleaded, voice breaking as he stomped back towards the house, jabbing a finger at Vesemir with a snarl as he did so. The old man had yet to react to anything that had just transpired, despite being the cause.

“I am never going to forgive you for this.”

Vesemir sat hunched over in his customary chair by the fireside, elbows resting on his knees as he stared into the tumbler of vodka he’d been nursing as his little granddaughter, Ciri, busied herself making popcorn garlands at the table. It had been over a month and he’d yet to hear anything directly from Lambert no matter how many times he tried to call or how many texts he sent, with any necessary replies being sent to him through either one of his brothers or Jaskier.

He turned when he heard someone clearing their throat pointedly.

Speak of the devil.

Jaskier stood slightly awkwardly, eyes darting between the man and the girl, “Ciri, why don’t you go see how your uncle and dad are doing untangling those lights?” It was flimsy at best but Ciri didn’t seem to notice as she darted off, too caught up in the excitement of Christmas preparations.

Vesemir held the bottle out to Jaskier in a silent offering as he took the chair opposite, “He said he’ll come, but only for Ciri.”

Vesemir sighed through his nose. That was about what he’d expected, “How is he?”

Jaskier bit his lip, “No change really. He still misses him and I...”

Vesemir raised a bushy eyebrow expectantly as he waited for Jaskier to carry on.

“I don’t think that’s going to stop any time soon.”

Vesemir shook his head, “Why does that boy have to be so stubborn? I tried my damn hardest to stop them all from heading down that path and then he goes and throws himself head first.”

“Sir?”

Vesemir downed the rest of his drink, “Do you know how many people see those in the system as easy targets for criminal activity? They purposefully prey on kids who are lonely, desperate for acceptance.”

“Kids like Aiden?”

Vesemir looked up sharply, Jaskier looked for all the world like he hadn’t intended for that to slip out. He took a deep breath before continuing, “With respect, while I think it’s incredibly sweet you’re still looking out for them, Lambert’s a grown man now and Aiden’s had no issues with the law for the last decade or so.”

“That still doesn’t mean he’s good enough for my son!”

Jaskier held up a finger as he started tapping away on his phone, “I remember you thinking the same about me at one point.”

“And what made me change my mind about you?”

“I think the fact that I wasn’t Yennefer turned things in my favour in the end. I don’t know if it’ll change anything but, perhaps you should look at this. Please.”

Lambert took the proffered phone. It was a candid picture of Aiden and Lambert, sometime late in the summer from the looks of it. They were stood in each others arms, smiling softly and looking absolutely besotted, their heads so close together their foreheads were touching and seemingly oblivious to everything else happening around them. Was this how they’d been when he wasn’t around?Vesemir felt his chest clench as he recognised the look in the picture, it was one that had passed between himself and Luka too many times to count before...

Good God, what had he done?

Vesemir knocked smartly on the black painted door for the third time. The apartment building was nicer than he’d expected and he instantly felt shame at his assumption that Aiden would be living in some rat infested hovel. He heard the click of a lock and inwardly winced at the sight that greeted him. Aiden eyes were sunken and puffy, as if he’d been crying himself to sleep before falling victim to insomnia, his clothes were dishevelled and Vesemir found himself wondering when the last time was he’d eaten a proper meal. Nevertheless, he drew his shoulders back and met Vesemir’s eye, even if he did have a death grip on the door knob.

“Jaskier gave me your address. Can we please talk?”

Christmas Eve came around far too quickly as far as Lambert was concerned. He couldn’t deny he was looking forward to seeing his niece and brothers but the thought of long periods of time with Vesemir right now was already mentally exhausting him. He grit his teeth as he threw the last of his things into his overnight bag, it would be fine. It was just two days, and if he needed a distraction God knew Geralt wouldn’t be able to assemble and find correct batteries for all of Ciri’s new toys single handed. It was just two days. He could do this.

Lambert sent up a prayer of thanks that Vesemir wasn’t there when he arrived in the late afternoon, Geralt informing him that he’d just gone out to grab some last minute things and had instructed them to make a start on preparing dinner.

Dark had well and truly fallen, the food was almost ready and Geralt was half threatening Ciri, Jaskier and Eskel with coal in their stockings if they sang ‘grandma got run over by a reindeer ‘ one more time (Lambert might have been partly responsible for that and had zero regrets) when the tell tale beams of car headlights flashed through the kitchen window followed by Vesemir elbowing his way through the door, a neatly wrapped present under each arm.

“Seriously dad?” Geralt sighed, “Ciri’s going to be getting enough from Santa tomorrow without you adding to it.”

“Why should Santa get to spoil my granddaughter? Lambert, there’s one more back in the car. Run and grab it please.”

Lambert rolled his eyes but conceded at Geralt’s ‘Don’t start’ look.

“Happy Christmas, Pup.”

The smallest breath of wind could’ve knocked him over at that moment. Aiden was leaning against the side of the car, arms crossed as he smiled shakily at Lambert, “Vesemir came to see me and we talked. Really talked. He apologised and promised I’m welcome here from now on. If you want me here, that is.”

Lambert all but ran to him before sweeping him up in his arms and into a desperate kiss which Aiden eagerly returned, clinging to him.

“I missed you so fucking much.”

“I missed you too, you have no idea how happy I am right now. Mainly because Vesemir was my ride so, kinda would have made for a very awkward Christmas if you’d said no.”

Lambert yanked Aiden’s hood down over his eyes with a laugh, “Dork.”

Jaskier had let out a whoop of delight when Lambert led Aiden into the house, followed by Lambert and Vesemir sharing a brief bear hug in silent apology and the start of forgiveness and when they weren’t eating, Aiden’s hand was firmly wrapped in his.It was perfect.

“Aiden?” Ciri piped up from opposite him, all wide eyed innocence, “Do you know grandma got run over by a reindeer?”

Aiden quickly took in the smothered laugh from Eskel, Geralt’s eyes turned heavenward, and flashed Lambert that impish grin he loved so much, “You know Ciri, I’m not sure I do. Remind me, how does it go?”

#the witcher #the witcher fanfiction #aiden/lambert #aiden x lambert #lambden #lambert/aiden #lambert x aiden #witcher aiden #witcher lambert #lambert

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yelenasdiary · 2 years

Note

Flufftober request! Maybe Nat having trouble finding the right time to propose to femR. She keeps getting interrupted by everyone and everything so she just does it spontaneously maybe during a misson or some where odd..you choose!

The Right Time || Flufftober

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Summary: Natasha tried and tried so many times, but it was never the right time, something always came up and now she was getting impatient waiting for the right time, taking matters into her own hands in the oddest of times.

Fluff | 1.2K | No Warnings

Translations: dorogoy (darling), moy malen'kiy ubiytsa (my little assassin)

AC: Picturing Nat getting so pissed when she’s planned the perfect set out, but something comes up every damn time lmao. Enjoy!!

Flufftober Masterlist

She sighed heavily as Tony paged the two of you once again during a date night dinner. “We’ll make up for it, honey, I promise” you kissed her lips softly before the two of you made your way out to the car. It didn’t matter her that a date night was easily made up for, what bothered her was she’d been trying for months now to ask you one question. One question what she once thought was never going to be in her future, a future she thought was torn away from her. Just this once she needed the world to not be attacked by some aliens or some overpowered rich man in an iron pressed suit, just this once.

“Hey” you spoke softly and placed your left hand gently on her thigh while she drove back to the compound, “What’s going on inside that beautiful head of yours?” you asked her, seeing the annoyed expression on her face. “It’s nothing” she mumbled, “I just” she sighed, “I just want one night with you uninterrupted”

“I know baby, I want the same. I promise, once this mission is over, we can take some time off for the just the two of us” you lent over and placed a kiss on her cheek. Nat looked at you for a few short seconds and cocked a brow, “you think Tony is going to allow us some time off? Every week there’s something going on, every week we are called away” her eyes turned back to the road in front of her. “I’ll talk to him” you suggested.

It was the first time you’d ever seen Nat so frustrated about going on a mission before, you wondered if maybe she was getting to the point of retiring from being an Avenger which was something you never thought would happen and it worried you. “No dorogoy, it’s okay. We’ll find the time” she sent you a soft smile, but her words didn’t convince you of her feelings.

The quinjet to the target location was silent on Natasha’s behalf, a grumble here and there made Clint back you for answers, but you could only give him a shrug back. You hated seeing her so upset but this was also a win for the team because as everybody knows, Natasha’s a better shot when she’s pissed off.

You followed Nat into the building of men as bullets flew between the two of you as you ducked for cover, Nat already having her pistols out showing her best shots while you did your thing of martial arts. “That seems to be the security taken care of” Nat turned to you and smiled, being out in the field with you something she had a love for, always being able to be by your side no matter what. “I’ll take the next floor; I’ll meet you on the 3rd?” you smirked as she nodded. “See you in a minute” she winked before dashing off.

Fighting your way through the second floor of the building was pretty easy when you’re up against the lazy security guards who believed the guys on the first floor had everything under control, they were so not ready to fight and it felt like an easy win for you as you kicked and punched, threw, and ducked. “Sorry boys, maybe next time” you joked before taking out the last guard. “Too damn easy” you muttered to yourself as you made your way back to Natasha.

To no surprise she’d completely cleared the 3rd floor leaving a mess of bodies behind. “Took you long enough” she smirked as you walk up to her, “now, now, nobody said it was a contest” you replied before grabbing a steal pipe and throwing it at the guy behind Natasha, “seems you missed one” you walked by her only for her to gently grab your arm. “Wait a minute” she said, pulling you close to her, “Nat” you chuckled lightly, “we’re in the middle of something” you added before she crashed her lips onto yours. You kissed her back as she gently cupped your face, she smiled against your lips as you melted into her touch. “moy malen'kiy ubiytsa” she spoke softly as you wrapped your arms gently being her neck, “we still have another two floors too cover” you pointed out as she brushed a strain of hair behind your ear, “I’m sure it can wait just a moment” she replied.

“I highly doubt that” you chuckled.

Natasha reached into her suit and pulled out a silver ring with a red diamond on it. A gasp left your lips when your eyes made contact with it. “I’m so tired of waiting for the right time because never is the right time” she spoke with a light smirk. “You picked now of all times?!” you joked more so you wouldn’t cry. “Now’s a better time than ever” she replied, one hand on your waist while her free handheld the ring, “vykhodi za menya, dorogoy” she spoke in a serious tone, her eyes searching yours for an answer as tears lightly made their way down your cheek, “like you ever had to ask me” you stroked her face gently, “yes my love” you smiled softly as she slipped the ring onto your finger.

“Wait, maybe I could keep it in my pocket until we’re done here” she looked up into your eyes once more. “Probably a good idea” you chuckled as she slipped it off. “I love you so much baby, I can’t wait to call you my wife” she placed the ring back in her suit and kissed tenderly, “now let’s get this over with so I can take you home” she smirked. With that the two of you rushed off to the next floor clearly them of enemies while the rest of the team took care of the outside.

Once the mission was completed, a short and easy one to Natasha’s relief, the team and you made your way back to the quinjet with the stolen files in Tony’s hands. You and Natasha sat at the back; you rested your head on her lap as she ran her fingers through your hair. “You seem better now” Clint looked at the two of you, “needed to kick some guy’s ass I bet?” he added with a joking smirk. “Yeah, something like that” Natasha smirked as you looked up at her, slowly you sat up and moved yourself onto her lap, “Can we tell them?” you whispered as you looked into her green eyes, she wanted to much to keep it a secret for a little while but she was too excited deep down and nodded before reaching into her suit and slipping the ring back onto your finger. “I’m going to have to get used to this” you kissed her cheek.

“Agh, can you two wait until we’re home?” Tony groaned with an eyeroll.

“Don’t talk to my fiancé like that” Natasha frowned playfully as all eyes widened and looked at the two of you, “did you just say fiancé?” Wanda asked. You both nodded with smiles of your own. “Oh my god! It finally happened!” Scott joked. The whole team congratulated the two of you and for the first time Natasha felt everything was finally perfect for her. She had her family, her bigger family and now a new family, with you.

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #fanfiction #black widow #marvel #flufftober

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symbioticsimplicity · 1 year

Text

As much as I like the idea of Steve and Eddie immediately being comfortable around each other, I also really want it to be a progression.

Give me Steve who isn’t used to a lot of physical contact, even though he desperately wants it. He isn't used to just getting what he wants from people anymore. Especially things he wants bone deep. He kind of associates people giving him what he wants with being an asshole which he's trying hard not to be so it loops back around to him being afraid to get what he wants.

Not to mention the very real possibility of internalized homophobia. While Robin and Will being queer is absolutely fine with him, being queer himself is a different beast altogether. He can suspend biases for his friends because they're wonderful and he loves them to the moon and back. But whenever he thinks about how much he wants to play with Eddie's hair or how happy he feels when Eddie calls him by one of his nicknames for him, a voice that sounds suspiciously like Richard Harrington tears him apart over it.

In Eddie's case, he doesn't fully believe that Steve would want any of his usual affection. There's way better people than him that Steve could get that from.

He was mainly invading his space to try to get a reaction out of him before he realized he's actually a good dude. He lays off out of respect, but he hates it. He's always been physical with his friends, and he's come to like Steve a lot. But he sees a divide between them, a social one, despite being out of school. He doesn't want to be the one to drag such a pretty boy down into the muck of his life by being overly familiar with him.

This little dance could go on for months before one of them breaks.

I'd like to think its Steve who asks to be held. Like maybe he's just having a shit day and he's too tired to care about all the reasons he usually doesn't do this. His body aches in that way he knows is from not having had someone touch him in more than passing in a while, and Eddie is right there.

So he breaks down and asks if Eddie would be okay with hugging him.

He sounds miserable and Eddie has never had anyone ask if he's okay with giving them something as simple as a hug. He's not really used to people asking if he's alright with much of anything.

Of course he agrees and pulls Steve in for a lingering hug.

Its clear he isn't used to it, he's so tense and he's not really sure where to put his hands, so Eddie directs him what to do. It takes a few moments but Steve starts to relax more.

So Eddie rubs his back, pets his hair, lets him lean into him more. Its like trying to tame down a hurt dog, and he's sure Steve will bolt if he makes one wrong move. He wants to suggest they lay down, but thinks cuddling might be a little too advanced for now.

So he just holds Steve like that, and when they break away, he hesitates but chooses to be brave and tells him he can ask him for that any time he needs.

It takes a while, Steve has learned to subsist on minimal contact the way camels subsist on minimal water, but he does ask again.

And again.

Its gradual, but they both begin to gravitate toward one another. Steve no longer gently elbows Eddie away if he gets too close. And Eddie figures out where Steve is alright with being touched and in what settings. He's damn proud of himself for the nuance in that last part.

A few months into this new dynamic sees Steve initiating touches too. He gets incredibly nervous the first time, but Eddie seems happy with it so he doesn't stop himself from doing it again.

Soon they’ve hit the point of nearly always touching somehow. If they're in the same room they're sitting side by side. Steve plays with Eddie's rings almost as much as Eddie does. Eddie's legs belong in Steve's lap and vice versa. Steve is sure if he goes a full day without hugging Eddie he will in fact wither and die.

It doesn't take long after that for them to realize they’ve caught feelings. It does however take an age to talk about. Neither wants to ruin what they have, its so good and it took so much time and work to build. They work as friends and that should be plenty.

It isn't.

This time its Eddie who breaks.

Its during one of the nights Steve has stayed at his place long after sundown. The man is laying on Eddie's chest, legs interwoven, half asleep and watching TV. He's the portrait of comfort and when Eddie cards his hand through his hair, Steve makes this little content noise and it just slips out.

Three little words that make time stand still.

He knows Steve heard him, he felt him tense up. He wants to take it back just for that, but he's long since learned his lesson about being a coward. So he lays still and let's Steve process.

Steve who's mind is on fire right now.

He's sure Eddie couldn't have really meant that the way he wants him to. Its just wishful thinking projected onto platonic affection. Robin tells him she loves him all the time. But Eddie is still rubbing his back and he's gonna lose it trying to figure this out by himself.

So he asks, and they talk and they learn they're both kind of idiots.

They agree to give dating a try.

Its quickly apparent that's what they were meant to be doing all along. At this point it comes easily, naturally even.

Up until their first kiss.

Its not that they don't want to kiss, they definitely do, its that Eddie's never done it before and Steve has never kissed a guy.

Just like everything else, it takes some work to get right. The first time Steve had flinched a little when Eddie's stubble had grazed him, and the second time Eddie got a little overzealous with his tongue.

It takes practice, but they’re willing to put in the work.

Soon they share the kind of kisses that are easy to get lost in. They once spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon just kissing, with Steve sat comfortably in Eddie's lap.

Eventually they build up to more and that's when their patience and the lessons they've learned about each other up until this point really get put to the test.

Once again, Eddie doesn’t have any experience in this arena. He’d had daydreams a plenty, but he’s never actually touched another person intimately before. Steve has, but only girls and only so far. He thinks some things ought to carry over, but when they get to the part that involves stripping off clothes, he panics a little.

The first time they don’t make it very far. They want to, more than almost anything, but their joint fumbling wrecks the mood pretty quickly. They get as far as their boxers before they both concede and let themselves head back to their comfort zone, which is long makeouts. It makes the tension that much thicker.

For a while they focus on getting comfortable with one another in that sense. There’s a lot more times when one of them loses a shirt during a makeout session, more often than not the victim of roaming hands and needy fingers. They map each other out the same way they’ve been doing for months now, until the other doesn’t feel like foreign territory anymore. It helps put them both at ease, but it also makes them both so much needier.

When they finally do end up going all the way, they cling to each other for hours after. Now that they’ve been as close as they can be, it’s difficult to handle being apart. Eddie traces the various moles Steve has, while Steve does the same with Eddie’s tattoos. It’s sappy, and neither of them would give up those details under pain of death, but they tell each other how much it means to be able to be so close to someone else without being afraid. Eddie confides in Steve about how hard it is to be so far ostracized and how sometimes he wishes he were different just so he didn’t have to feel that way. Steve tells Eddie about growing up in a big empty house and how he sometimes feels like he’s just the ghost of an idea his parents had about what he should be.

They agree that so long as the other is breathing, they’ll always have someone who will hold them and remind them that they both have value.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #this turned into a ficlet #slight lemon #character study #I think they should bond over their shared isolation #also having them both be needy but awkward?#yes please #Steve coming around to being bi in theory but still having to take it slow in practice is great to me #not enough people talk about that aspect of being bi #when you're not fully prepared for the other side even though you want it super bad #and Eddie being a full on flirt but having no practical knowledge of what to do after the flirting works just sends

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sergeantxrogers · 2 years

Text

| run hot |

Summary: Visiting Aunt Nat at the new Avengers Facility was not at all what you expected it to be: stolen kisses, pretty lakes, and your secret being uncovered.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Barton!reader

Word count: 6k

Warnings: Fluff, age gap (same as in part 1), smut-about-to-happen, Steve being vulnerable and kinda sad, Steve also being defensive, super-spy Natasha, that’s all

Note: This is part two to this previous fic

_______________

“Mom-”

“Did you pack your toothbrush?”

“Yes, but mom-”

“What about your charger? How will I call you if your phone’s dead?”

“I packed my charger.”

“You sure? Why don’t you double check, just in case?”

“Honey,” your dad’s voice drifted from the doorway, causing both you and your frantic mother to turn towards it. “She already has everything she needs.”

Your mom huffed. “How can you be so sure?”

Your dad sighed, then pushed himself off the door frame and walked over to her. “Because you’ve been over this with her a million times already.”

He enveloped her in a hug, and her head rested heavily on his shoulder. Your eyes met hers, and you gave her an empathetic smile.

“I’m just worried, that’s all,” she said, the words muffled against your dad’s shirt.

He pulled back, then turned to look at you with a smile and a tilt of his head. “You have nothing to be worried about.”

“Yeah, mom, I think I’ll be able to manage a week away from you,” you cut in, and you saw her shoulders slump. She stepped forward and grabbed you by your shoulders, studying your face for a moment before speaking.

“That’s not the issue.”

“Then what is?”

Your mom sighed, and looked to your father hesitantly before glancing back at you. “I just... There’s been so many bad things going on in the world lately, and you’re gonna be so far away from us-”

Her voice cracked towards the end of her sentence, and it broke your heart along with it. You shook your head and gave her hand a small squeeze.

“Laura,” your dad said softly, bringing a hand up to her shoulder, “she’ll be staying at a highly-guarded facility with a bunch of superhumans. There’s not a single place in the world she’d be safer.”

“Aunt Nat wouldn’t have invited me if she didn’t think it was safe,” you added hopefully, and it took a moment, but your mother finally nodded.

Taking in a deep breath, she straightened her back and cleared her throat. She gave your arm a final squeeze before smiling. “I’m heading downstairs. Natasha’ll be here any minute to pick you up.”

You and your father stood side by side and watched her leave, before you turned to look at each other.

“Is she like this with you?” you asked him with a skeptical brow.

“Every damn time, kiddo,” he said with a sigh.

__________

“Jeez, Nat, this place is huge,” you gaped as you walked in through the main entrance of the facility. “How do you guys not get lost in here?”

Natasha chuckled as she threw an arm over your shoulders, pulling you along with her down a long hallway with big windows and high ceilings. “Practice, kid.”

Your eyes kept drinking in everything the facility had to offer, from high tech elevators and doors, to meeting rooms filled with people in suits and lab coats, barely sparing you a glance as you walked passed their open doors.

Everything else was a flash of movement and excitement that you were actually, finally here, until Nat ushered you into a large room with couches, matching chairs, a huge desk and a few overflowing bookshelves.

The conversation in the room died down once all eyes fell on you, and you felt your heart stutter with nerves. You knew all of these people - of course you did. But they didn’t know you. At least, not all of them. Your eyes bounced between the girl you knew was Wanda, and Sam Wilson, contemplating which one to approach and introduce yourself to first, when a familiar voice to your right tore your attention away from them.

“Hey-”

You met the source of the voice with furrowed brows.

“I know you,” he said, and got up from his desk chair, circling the corner of the desk while pointing a finger at you. “You’re Barton’s kid, right? Finally here to meat the rest of these shitheads?”

You sighed, partially in relief, and partially because you knew what was in store for you for the next seven days. “Yeah, Tony. It’s me. I wouldn’t say they’re shitheads though.”

“Oh no, they’re shitheads, alright,” Tony said with an affirmative nod.

He pointed to Wanda and she rolled her eyes as he said, “She’s the smallest shithead here.”

Wanda seemed to completely ignore his statement as she stepped towards you and, shockingly, engulfed you in a warm hug.

“And he’s the biggest shithead here,” she whispered into your ear, and you had to bite back a smile.

“I’m Wanda,” she said as she pulled back, and her energy had your shoulders relaxing and your breath evening out.

“I’m Y/N,” you said, and before Wanda could reply, she was pushed to the side and replaced by a smirking Falcon.

“And I’m Sam, but you can call me anytime,” he said confidently with his hand held out.

You stared at him, mouth slightly hanging open, as you looked back and forth between his hand and his face. You shook his hand skeptically, and he gave you a wink. You heard both Natasha and Wanda groan from behind you, and the whole situation was so weird you almost burst out laughing.

Almost.

You would’ve, if it wasn’t for someone clearing their throat in the doorway.

Your head snapped to the side, and you felt yourself go weak in the knees as your gaze met his blue one. It took all the energy you possessed to look indifferent as he walked slowly towards you.

“Why don’t you stick to girls your own age, hm, Wilson?” his deep voice drawled, and you had to cover your shocked laugh with a cough at the hypocrisy in his words.

“You okay, honey?” Nat asked, resting a caring hand on your back, and you nodded as you waved her off.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m- I’m good,” you said, taking in a deep breath. “I’m fine, really.”

You met Steve’s eyes again, and you could’ve sworn the bastard had the smallest smile known to man playing at his lips, just to spite you.

“Y/N,” he said quietly. “Nice to see you again.”

You nodded slowly, hoping nobody around you could see the shake in your hands as you tightened your grip on your duffel bag. “Likewise, Steve.”

His gaze continued to bore into you, and all you could think as you stared back at him was they don’t know they don’t know they don’t know.

They didn’t know the abundance of texts you and Steve shared, or the late night phone calls that lasted until sunrise most times (”How did you even get my number?” “Swiped it from Nat’s phone, duh.”), or the many, many pictures sent between the two of you.

You could’ve gotten lost in his eyes, just as bright as the first time they met yours, and you felt the world around you darken. It was almost like he was getting closer. How long were you standing there, staring at each other? It didn’t matter; it felt like an eternity.

“Okay,” Tony’s grating voice spoke, pulling you from your hypnotized states with a sharp clap of his hands. “That just got awkward. Don’t really think Capsicle and Barton Jr. like each other all that much.”

When you spared a glance back at Steve, you noticed he was still standing where he had been, not an inch closer to you than before. It was just the whirlpool of his intoxicating stare, it seemed.

“Anyways,” Tony continued, looking back and forth between everyone in the room. “Who’s up for a party tonight?”

__________

You tugged at the tight material stuck on your body like cling-wrap as you huffed out a sigh. When Natasha said you could borrow one of her dresses for the party, you hadn’t expected her to shove you into something so unforgiving. You pulled at the hem as you attempted to cross a leg over the other without flashing anyone in the room or spilling your virgin cocktail all over yourself in the process.

Letting out a heavy breath, you took a sip and let your eyes roam across the waves of people talking, laughing, drinking, catching sight of a very intoxicated Sam Wilson hanging an arm around an annoyed Aunt Nat as he threw his head back in laughter with a couple other agents.. She caught your eye and her grimace quickly morphed into a smile and a wink. You smiled back at her, lifting your glass in the air above you before the crowd closed in again and swallowed them up.

The smile on your face faltered, and you let your shoulders slump as you fell back into the soft couch (Tony really spared no expense in this place), and you went back to people-watching.

“This seat taken?”

You lifted your eyes to find Steve pointing at the couch with a boyish grin, and you motioned for him to sit.

“You okay?” he asked, words dipped slightly in concern, but you only shrugged, then nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine. A bit bored, but...”

“Bored?” Steve asked teasingly. “How on earth can you be bored at a Tony Stark party?”

You caught the sarcasm in his tone and gave him a look that had him smiling and tilting his head. He took in a deep breath and mirrored your pose, leaning back against the couch himself and letting his head fall onto the cushions.

“Seriously, though,” he pressed. “You wouldn’t be bored if you actually talked to someone.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, your glass freezing just in front of your lips as you stared at him. “Well I guess the person I want to talk to the most just likes ignoring me.”

Steve’s entire demeanor changed, the teasing smile dropping from his lips, and you wished you could take back the words you had meant as a joke. It was too late though; he was already worried, and upset, and you knew what it looked like and what it entailed.

“Steve-”

“Sweetheart, I’m not ignoring you,” he said, voice barely heard above the music and the talking and the laughter and the glass clinking.

“I know-”

He cut you off again, looking around the room quickly before coming in closer to you. “I’ve been trying to get Tony off my tail all night. I can’t exactly tell him I want to spend alone time with Barton’s daughter.”

You sighed. Your head fell back against the couch, and you stared deeply into Steve’s ocean blue eyes, already feeling the miniscule amount of anger you had withheld dissipate with every passing second.

“I know,” you whispered, loud enough for his superhuman hearing to pick up. “I’m sorry.”

Steve shook his head. “You have nothing to apologize for, baby.”

You tapped your nail on the glass in your hand, letting the dull vibrations of the music travel through the couch, up your spine, into your head as you sat there, content to take in the sight of Steve Rogers in a button up with the sleeves rolled up halfway, right in front of you.

You watched as his gaze slid downwards, and his brows furrowed. He shook his head slightly, and before you could ask what was wrong, he lifted his eyes back to yours and grabbed your hand.

“C’mon.”

“Where?” you asked, even as you hastily set your glass on the coffee table and tried pulling your dress down with one hand as he led you away from the couch.

“You’ll see,” he threw over his shoulder, and you had no choice but to squeeze his hand a little bit tighter as he wove you through the crowd of people you didn’t know.

Your senses were a blur, dim lights mixed with an occasional scream of happiness and the smell of alcohol hanging in the air, and all you could train your focus on was Steve’s broad back as he led you away from the party, through a pair of glass doors, and out onto a huge porch.

The doors slid shut behind you, effectively muffling the music inside and leaving you with just the shuffling of a few other people outside, their chattering muted and calm, and the uneasy yet tranquil feeling of being surrounded by stars, trees and moonlight.

“Stevie, what are we-”

“Shh,” he hissed, looking over his shoulder subtly. “Half the people at these parties Stark throws are from tabloids or news programs.”

You understood, not taking it personally when his hand dropped yours, because he motioned with his head for you to follow him down the steps. You did, following him in silence across the large expanses of green grass, broken only by the occasional stone path, until you met the line of trees circling the large lake.

At this point, you were far enough from the compound, and certain enough that no wandering eyes could see you in the dark, that you grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him toward you. He seemed to have the same idea, because as soon as he stopped walking, he surged forward and pressed his lips against yours.

His calloused hands found the sides of your face, and your own hands scrambled to find purchase on his waist, his chest, his shoulders, anywhere you could reach as his warm lips melted against yours for the first time in weeks.

You felt your heart pick up it’s pace, and you felt like it was about to burst out from behind your ribs with the need and longing it had been carrying for what seemed like forever. You heard it in your ears, felt it in your throat, pulsing in your fingertips, and by the smirk Steve molded against your hungry lips, you knew the bastard could hear it too.

His hands left your face, dropping to circle your waist and pull you in closer, and your arms found themselves wrapping around his neck. You pulled back only when your lungs burned, and Steve gave you only a couple seconds to get your breathing in order before going in to kiss you again.

He sighed into your lips, his breath warm and minty, and the little whimper you let out was completely involuntary, but valid all the same.

Steve gave your bottom lip a soft bite with his teeth, before pulling away with a slight groan. His thumbs stroked your sides as he looked down at you, and you swore you had never seen someone as devastating and gorgeous as him, right here, right now, with his cheeks rosy and lips red, blue eyes just a shade darker than what they normally were.

“Missed doin’ that,” he muttered into the quiet air, and you smiled.

“Eh, not bad,” you said with a shrug, and he raised his brows.

Your smile only grew, and you dropped your head to leave a soft kiss to the base of his throat before whispering up at him, “I’m only kidding.”

Steve shook his head in defeated amusement, then looked out through the trees in front of the two of you. “C’mon. I wanna show you something.”

You let him lead you by the hand through the wooded area, under the thicket of branches and leaves, rustling slightly in the wind, until you reached the edge of the lake.

Steve chuckled at the surprise on your face that was hard to hide when you were met with a sight you had only ever dreamed of: underneath on of the largest trees lining the edge of the lake was a soft blanket, covered with heaps of pillows and a couple books. The lake in front of you was blue and vast, and stretched out further than you could see, glittering calmly in the moonlight.

“Steve...?”

He didn’t reply, only pulled you along further until you reached the rich, white blanket draped across the grass.

“What... who-”

Steve hummed as he waited for you to gather your thoughts. In the meantime, he crouched down in front of you and started taking your heels off for you. You held onto his shoulder for support while your eyes flittered from him, to the pillows, to the lake, then back to him. The only sounds in the air were the chirps of crickets and the muffled, quiet party music from the compound.

“Stevie, this is...,” you breathed as you took his hand, and he helped you lower yourself on the plushy blanket. “This is beautiful.”

Steve, bless his heart, had the audacity to shrug and shake his head. “It’s really just...”

He sighed as he trailed off, making himself comfortable next to you. He leaned back on his hands as he stared out at the lake. “I come here when I feel overwhelmed. To read, or draw. Or just... sit and think when it all becomes too much up there.”

No matter how much of a casual tone he pushed with the words, however, you sensed the heaviness weighing them down, the sad tint to the edges of his voice that had you frowning.

You were afraid to speak for a moment, not willing to ruin the serenity of the night, but you shifted your body when he let out a soft sigh.

“Does it become too much... too often?” you whispered, and he let his chin drop to his chest, before lifting his eyes to yours.

“It does.”

Those two words meant more than what it sounded like. You studied him closely, perfectly sculpted face seeming to glow in the pale moonlight, as you chewed your bottom lip.

“Stevie,” you murmured, casting out a line for him to grab onto before he got lost in his own mind. “You’re a good man.”

At that, he lifted his head completely, turning to you. “Am I?”

You frowned harder, brows meeting each other at his doubtfulness. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

He had nothing to say to that, but the way he turned his head away from you made it obvious that he disagreed.

You sighed heavily, before getting up onto your knees next to him. The sounds of you moving were enough for him to look back at you, and when he did, you threw your leg across his lap, effectively straddling him. He shifted underneath you, bringing his hands up to squeeze your hips as your own palms cupped his face.

“I know...,” you started, not sure how to begin, but willing to try. “I know it’s hard for you, feeling like you always have to do the right thing. Like you can’t fail anyone. Like you’re not allowed to fail. And it’s not fair to you, Steve. It really isn’t. It’s not fair that the world puts its weight on your shoulders and expects you to carry it, as if it’s not a burden.”

Something in Steve’s gaze softened, and his fingers dug deeper into the partially exposed skin of your hips. You kept talking.

“It’s not fair that they expect you never to break. You’re still only a man. You’re allowed to be hurt, and feel broken, and be lost sometimes. You just need someone there to help you put the pieces of yourself back together again.”

Steve’s eyes had gone glassy as he stared up at you, and your fingers caressed his cheeks, his jaw, his hairline.

“It’s okay for you to feel lonely sometimes, too. Everyone does. Just because you’re Captain America, doesn’t mean you’re a robot. It doesn’t mean you don’t have a breaking point. You’re Steve Rogers, first and foremost, and I need you to remember that any time someone asks too much of you.”

His chest rose with deep, shaky breaths, and you kept your fingers tangled in his soft hair as you waited. You would wait a century, if it meant your words meant something in the end.

Steve felt like his chest was going to explode. Like the very universe was pressing in on his soul, urging him to say something, anything. Say what he really wanted to. He had to say it or else he would die, right there on the spot, with the most beautiful girl on the planet sitting patiently on his lap.

“I think I love you,” he whispered.

You were stunned.

Your body shut down. Were your organs failing? Yeah, your organs were probably failing. But it was fine, because the words that fell from Steve’s pretty lips were enough to keep you alive for the next few decades, at least.

His hands froze on your hips as he watched your breathing grow shallower, and you just stared and stared and stared at him. He was beginning to think he had made a horrible, grave mistake, until an unbelievable smile grew on your lips.

“I think I love you too,” you whispered back.

Steve felt like the air disappeared from his lungs.

But it was fine, because you were breathing life into him anyways.

He couldn’t help the warm, soft feeling deep in his gut as he smiled and pulled you in for a kiss.

Your dress had ridden up over your butt, allowing Steve’s hands to roam freely wherever they desired, fingers trailing underneath the edges of your panties. Your breath quickened against his mouth, and a low groan left his throat when you grinded your hips against him.

“Steve-” you gasped against his lips, attempting to pull away but failing when one of his hands grasped the back of your neck.

Steve felt himself grow even harder at the sound of his name so pretty on your tongue, and he hummed lowly in response, moving his lips downwards, across your neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses on your burning skin. You threw your head back, almost forgetting what you wanted to say, when a particularly loud bang sounded from the compound as a new song started, bringing you back to the present.

“Are we doing this right here?” you panted, unable to stop your hips from pressing against him of their own accord. “Right now?”

Steve looked up at you, trailing his hands up to encase your upper back. A whisper of a smile was painted on his flushed lips, and his heavy lidded eyes drank you in.

“I don’t think I’ll make it to the rooms,” he replied, voice deep and hoarse, a stark contrast to the soft tranquility of the night. It sent chills down your spine, and a warm pool of desire lit its fire deep in your stomach.

“Fine, then,” you concluded, and pushed your hands against his chest. He went down, flat against the blanket, and looked up at you with a shocked blink.

“We’re doing this here.”

__________

The smell of coffee tugged you toward the kitchen, growing stronger with each step you took.

You had woken up in your own bed, dressed in your pajamas with your makeup from the previous night taken off. You hadn’t remembered much; only that Steve had waited for most of the guests to leave before taking you upstairs in the middle of the night, carrying you in his arms as if you were the most precious thing on earth. You supposed, to him, you might have been.

He had helped you undress, pulling your pajamas on for you, and laying you down in bed before gently wiping your makeup off. You were so worn out, you had barely managed to thank him before you were out like a light.

Now, however, you felt like a brand new person. The only thing missing was a big cup of steaming hot coffee to help you start your day.

“Good morning, honey,” you heard as soon as you stepped foot into the kitchen, and you found Natasha sitting at the large island with a tablet and her own coffee set in front of her.

“Mornin’, Auntie Nat,” you mumbled, ambling over to her and placing a kiss to the side of her head.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

You nodded in response, turning towards the counter and grabbing the coffee pot. You stood on your tippy toes to reach a mug from the overhead cabinet, grunting lightly once your fingers finally latched onto it.

“That’s good,” Nat muttered into her cup. You felt her watchful eyes on you, and poured your mug full to the brim before turning back around.

“Laura mentioned something about you not being able to sleep well in different places,” Natasha continued, her eyes dropping down to her tablet on the table. “So I was just wondering if the bed was okay.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, sitting down on the island stool beside her. “It was great, actually.”

“Not too soft? Not too hard?” Natasha questioned, even as her eyes stayed glued to some sort of file in front of her. “Wasn’t too cold, was it?”

Your own eyes narrowed slightly as you hesitated. Did she know? No. It was impossible.

Wasn’t it?

“No,” you said suspiciously after taking a sip. “It was fine.”

Natasha hummed and nodded, barely paying you any mind as she lifted her mug to her lips. She took a sip, put it down, then continued scrolling. It all seemed too casual.

Finally, her blue eyes looked at you from the side, and you could tell by the subtle smirk on her lips that you were royally fucked.

“Super soldiers do tend to run hot.”

If your mug wasn’t already on the island, it would’ve slipped from your fingers and came crashing down. Much like your world right now, collapsing in around you as you felt your heart stutter. You stared at Natasha, and she continued to ignore you, turning her eyes away from you again.

“You-”

“Hm?”

“You don’t- you can’t-”

“What?”

She sounded bored, and completely uninterested. It only made you spiral further, feeling threatened, like a wild animal backed into a corner.

You finally settled on, “How?”

Natasha sighed, and finally, finally, turned to look at you completely. Her lips held a smile; one you couldn’t tell if it meant good news or bad news.

“Y/N, sweetie,” she said through a sigh, “I’m a spy. I’ve been a spy my entire life. If you thought this was something I wouldn’t notice, you’re seriously underestimating my abilities. To be honest, I’m kind of offended.”

Your mouth was left hanging open, and her smirk only grew.

“But you... why did you...”

“Why did I what? Bring you out here?”

You nodded, and she sighed again, this time getting up from her seat to walk over to the sink. She set her empty mug in it, then turned back around to face you. All the while, you sat and watched her in dumbfounded silence.

“Look. I knew the entire time. I knew it the morning we left the farm. I knew it when I figured out Rogers had been rummaging through my phone. I knew it when he, all of a sudden, had someone to talk to every single day, which he hadn’t had before.”

“So... why did you convince mom and dad to let me come?”

Natasha pursed her lips to the side and crossed her arms. She squinted her eyes as she took you in. “Because I trust him.”

Your brows furrowed, and you gave her a slight shake of your head. You weren’t following.

“I trust Steve,” she reiterated, and you bit the inside of your cheek.

You felt like one wrong word from you could send this conversation and situation in a whole different direction, so you stayed silent.

“I was angry at first, of course,” she continued. “I love you. I’ve known you since you were just a toddler. You’re my family, Y/N. And Steve is... well, he’s not exactly your age.”

You felt a pang in your heart at the heavy reality of her words, and you opened your mouth, willing to fight for your side of the story, but she cut you off.

“However,” she said with raised brows. “I thought about it. A lot, actually. And I figured, if I was to leave you in the hands of anyone, it would be Steve. Because Steve’s a good man, with a heart of gold, and I know he’d do anything in his power to protect the people he loves. So I called you over just to confirm it for myself, and to see if it was really worth giving a shot.”

You nodded at her words as you stared at the coffee swirling in your mug, agreeing with them as you felt your heart rate slow down once you figured out Natasha probably wasn’t going to give you the scolding of a lifetime. But someone else might, you realized.

Panic flared in your bones as you looked at her. “Are you gonna tell mom and dad?”

Natasha cocked her head as she studied you. It lasted a beat too long, and your pulse picked up again, dread beginning to settle in your veins.

Until she said: “No.”

“What?” you asked, voice barely above a whisper, yet she only shrugged.

“I won’t tell them,” she said, and began to walk out of the kitchen, passing by you in a blur of red hair and black cotton. “If you promise to tell them yourself.”

“Nat, no-”

“Yes. Trust me, they’d much rather hear it coming from you than me. And I know them well. They might be mad for a while, but they’ll come around.”

Natasha left you sitting at the island alone, the coffee in your mug now room temperature as you chewed your bottom lip until it bled.

You were most likely, grandly, royally, fucked.

__________

Finding Steve was easier than expected, especially since the briefing room he was in had glass doors, allowing for the perfect view inside.

You burst in, smudging the glass with your hands, frantic eyes searching the room for his bond head of hair until you spotted him at the head of the table, Tony to his right, Sam to his left, and Wanda, Vision and a guy you only knew as War Machine occupying the rest of the chairs.

All eyes turned to you as you gasped out Steve’s name.

“Um, kid, we’re kinda in the middle of something-”

“Y/N?” Steve interrupted Tony, making him roll his eyes.

“Can you- could you-”

You couldn’t formulate the words, couldn’t get them out of your head and into the open so you pleaded with your eyes, begging for him to just understand.

“Do you mind-”

“Steve-”

Steve shot up out of his chair, sending it rolling with a bang into the wall behind him, and it took him three long strides until he was right in front of you, ignoring the protests coming from the rest of the team.

“Are you okay?” he asked, soft enough that only you could hear.

His hands twitched to hold your face, his arms burned to pull you into his chest, his lips ached to cover your face with kisses. But he couldn’t do any of that, not in front of them.

“Steve, I need to talk to you, right now,” you said urgently, tugging on his arm like a child asking for ice cream, and he frowned with concern.

“Rogers, you better not leave this room-”

“C’mere,” he muttered, ignoring everyone else as he grabbed you by your wrist and pulled you out of the briefing room. The glass door swung shut behind you, and he pulled you slightly to the side.

He couldn’t help it; he reached a hand up to cup your face, and you leaned your cheek into its warmth, letting it spill inside you and calm your erratic nerves ever so slightly. Your own hand came up to his, fingers wrapping around his wrist as you looked up at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen.

“Baby, what’s the matter?” he pleaded, keeping his voice low.

“Aunt Nat knows,” you whispered, on the verge of tears. The confusion was evident on his face, blue eyes staring at you in curiosity.

“She what?”

“She knows, Stevie, she knows,” you pressed. “About us.”

You watched, in real time, as Steve’s face contorted into realization. “Baby-”

“She wants me to tell my parents,” you told him. “She said I have to do it or else she will.”

Steve shook his head, trying to calm you down, but you were on the brink of hysterics, he realized, and he took a step closer to you before engulfing you in a bear hug that had your face buried in his large chest. The steady thump of his heartbeat gave you something real, something alive to focus on as you tried calming your own.

“It’s gonna be fine,” he muttered into the crown of your head. Your arms snaked around his waist, fingers gripping his sweater like your life depended on it.

“You don’t know that,” you said, the words muffled against his chest, and he huffed a sigh that had your head moving along with it.

“Yes, I do.”

Steve sounded so sure, so certain in his words, that you had no choice but to relax against him. You rationalized it; he never had any reason to lie to you before, so why would he do it now? You trusted him, always.

Steve, on the other hand, felt your body relax against his, and after a few quiet moments, he heard your heartbeat go back to a normal pace. He ignored the stares through the glass doors as he pulled you away from him and bent his neck slightly so he was at your eye level.

“Trust me,” he said. “It’ll be okay. We’ll work it out.”

And he said the words with such certainty, that it had you nodding, taking in a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay,” you repeated, and he placed a quick kiss to your forehead.

“I have to get back to this meeting,” he said reluctantly, but you shook your head and stepped away from him. Your cheeks burned in embarrassment as you realized you had just had a minor breakdown in front of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

“You do what you have to do, it’s okay,” you insisted, patting his chest a couple times before sidestepping him.

“I’ll find you in 20 minutes,” he called after you, and you blew him a kiss once you were out of sight of the others.

Steve stood there, watching you leave until the last traces of you disappeared behind the corner, and then he finally walked back into the meeting room.

It was dead silent.

Borderline awkward.

You could hear a pin drop as their eyes followed him making his way back to his seat. He pulled the chair up to the table calmly before sitting down and clearing his throat.

His eyes flickered to Tony, who was staring at him with an incredulous expression, then to Sam, who was wearing some variety of the same on his face.

“What?” he finally forced himself to ask, and Wanda just blinked, her brows shooting up.

“I didn’t know you had game like that, Rogers,” Sam finally said, and it was the teasing infliction of his voice that broke the tension in the room.

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I didn’t even think your little friend worked anymore,” Tony said, and Wanda choked on a cough. Steve glared at him.

“What?” Tony asked with his shoulders raised. “It’s been a long few decades, I’m just saying.”

“God, Tony-”

“So is this like a caregiver-slash-senior citizen fetish or something-”

“Sam-”

“I’m kidding, old man.”

Steve let out a heavy breath as he leaned back into his chair. Tony and Sam kept flinging jokes back and forth over the table, with Wanda laughing and Vision pitching in with his own confusing way of asking questions, but none of it mattered.

None of it mattered, because none of them knew.

He would sit there and take all the teasing the world had to offer if it meant he’d still get to hold you in his arms at the end of the day.

In all the rowdy chaos of jokes and laughter flying over Steve’s head, nobody noticed the faint smile on his lips and the pink tinge of his cheeks.

_______________

TAGLIST:

@dreamsley @a-ngeli-que @555shots @agirlinherhead @s-katergorl @ace-27749 @leyannrae @tailsoflightning @acidwidow @angelofthorr @gallysonegoodlung @creatingjana @gitasor @artofluxuryy @inlovewfictionalmen826 @pin-ci @peaches1958 @eichenhouseproperty @seitmai @writing-for-marvel @spookyparadisesheep @talesofadragon @wbyss

(if your name is crossed out, it means tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you!)

#marvel #mcu #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #steve rogers #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers angst #steve rogers smut #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fic #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america x you #captain america x reader #steve rogers age gap #barton!reader

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toobz-drawz · 9 months

Note

paul mccartney x reader where he flirts with her but she can’t tell if it’s genuine or he’s just being a typical 60s playboy? :)

And I Love Her

Paul McCartney x Reader

•Warnings: There are none.

•Summary: One knock on the window turns into one big surprise just waiting to unfold.

•Characters: 5,321

It was rather a lovely day in Liverpool, other than the fact that it was freezing cold outside. You were seated near the fireplace, all of your blinds were drawn up, light was pouring into every room, and which it gave you every opportunity to look outside and see the amazing view of the outside world while it lasted. The sound of water boiling in the background could be heard, as well as the fire crackling beside you. It felt peaceful, it felt so comfortable just in that moment of time. That was until you heard a knock at the window to your right, you looked up, and there was Paul. Waving at you from the other side, he wore a rather large coat to keep himself from having hypothermia or frostbite. You smiled at the sight of him, you had gotten up, made your way to the window, and popped it right open. Feeling how the cold air rushed into the comfort of your home. “Hello love, I couldn’t help but stop by and see your lovely face.” He ducked and popped his head through the now open window, leaning his figure against the windowsills frame. “Paul! Cant you use the door like a normal person?” You let out a small laugh. “Well, I for one am not normal and two I find talking out of a window to a bird like you much more romantic.” He poked your nose after talking. Paul has a history of flirting with you for god knows how long, but in all honesty you think he’s just messing with you to get a reaction out of you. Although he is pretty charming you never quite fall for his tricks seeing how all the other lovely birds fall to their knees as soon as he just speaks a single word.

You placed your warm hands against his flushed cheeks, feeling how cold his skin really was. You’d lower yourself down to his level, before pushing him out of the window. “Now please go use the front door, before you catch a cold! You’re as cold as ice. I’ll fetch you some tea for you once you get situated inside.” You pulled the window down, shutting it before Paul could get another word out. Not long after unlocking the door for Paul the kettle would start to whistle.

Paul stood there in the cold, staring at the window you just closed, scolding himself for not saying anything before you had gone away. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he huffed, feeling as if his feelings got pushed back once again, hadn’t he made it clear to you yet? How many obvious things does he have to say or do until you finally get the hint. Paul just wanted to grab you, and kiss your pretty lips but damn him for doing so. He could say about a thousand words of how much he’s loved you since the day he laid eyes on you, but alas he feels as if you don’t feel the same as he does.

Paul opens the front door, walking in, closing the door behind him before anymore cold air gets in, and starts to take off his shoes and coat to hang up. “Would you like any biscuits with your tea?” You’d shout from the kitchen, “Yes please!” He made his way to the living room to sit next to the fire, his fingers felt like they were made of solid ice and looked as if they were too.

“Sorry if there isn’t as many biscuits as you would’ve wanted but that’s all I really ha-“ You walked into the living room with a tray of cups, accompanied with a plate of biscuits. Your eyes laid onto Paul’s shivering body. “Dear, really, how long have you been outside?” You carefully sat down and placed the tray in between the two. “Not that long I promise, love.” His gaze was set on the fire beside him, you could tell he was lost in his thoughts, there was always something in that mind of his, things that got him to where he was now. “Your body is telling me a whole different story.” You ever so gently grabbed his hands, now holding them up to your face, before blowing warm air onto them. Once that first hit of warm air hit his hands, his head turned to face you. “Fine I’ll tell you why I’m really like this.” He took a deep breath, preparing for you to hate him after this is done. “I had been circling the whole block, trying to decide if I should tell you how I really feel, you know it doesn’t help that I keep dropping really obvious hints, and you’re not picking up on them. What— I’m trying to say is that I love you more than anything y/n, I feel like I’m crazy, but when I first laid eyes on you back in the late 50s god I thought you surely were the one for me. Y/n, you were such a fox I me—“ you placed your finger on Paul’s lips, silencing him from spilling his heart. “Paul, I’m so sorry. I thought you were just playboy, trying to take my heart for granted, but I was so wrong.” Paul’s eyes looked as droopy as a sad dogs, he surely thought this was going to the final nail in the coffin for sure. “You’re such a good man, a real loyal one too..I really should’ve opened my eyes more, but to answer all of your dying questions this is what I have to say..” you watched as he squeezed his eyes shut waiting for you to go off on him, but rather you showed him the complete opposite. You laid your lips against his. Giving him a quick peck on the lips. “I love you too.” That was all he needed to hear, before opening his eyes and jumping up. He started to celebrate, throwing his hands into the air as if he was a little boy again. You just couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Now come on here boyfriend, we still gotta bring you back to health.”

#The Beatles #the beatles x reader #paul mccartney #paul mccartney x reader

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malikselfindulgence · 7 months

Text

MEI X GN!READER ☆ 4.6K WORDS

♡ Cherry flavored chap-stick ♡

AO3 link can be found here!

Description: in which Mei dresses you up for a party, and things simply escalate from there.

Content: reader is not referred to with any pronouns, reader is gender neutral, reader does wear make-up and is referred to as "pretty" "gorgeous", ending could be interpreted as suggestive

Fic under the cut!

You notice Mei's new lip-stick shade immediately.

As soon as she'd walked into the shop, your eyes were drawn to her like a moth to a flame, following the curves of her face as she moves over to the counter. Something felt….different about her today- you think her cheeks shined a Iittle more brightly, and as your gaze falls down to her lips, you finally realise why.

She'd changed her lipstick today- going for a warmer toned pink rather than a cool magenta. The color brought out the warmth in her skin, making her face glow in the orange light of the restaurant.

You liked her usual lipstick shade, too- the cool tones highlighting her eyes and green hair streaks, the color suits her. You think any color would suit Mei, to be honest. But this one…well, it's more glossy, making you look down more than once at her lips mid conversation- she's speaking to MK, thankfully, so you can stare all you want without the worry of being caught.

She's pretty, you think. Her bangs frame her face perfectly, and the scales around her eyes only make her look more ethereal- even the scuffs on her skin and bandages around her hands are endearing. Your eyes fall down to her lips again, and you wonder if the lip-stick is flavored. Maybe it's apple? Dragonfruit? You wonder how it'd taste.

Your thoughts trail dangerously down a path that has your cheeks flushing- you wonder if she'd let you find out, let you press your lips against hers gently, taste the chap-stick on her, smear it prettily down her chin as an imperfect work of art. You wonder if-

Mei clears her throat, and your fantasy-induced haze immediately shatters apart.

You scramble a little in your seat, utterly humiliated at being caught gawking at her like this- or, you assume that's what she's frowning at you for. You wonder for half a second if you can just ask MK to drown you in the kitchen sink to spare you.

"Well?" Mei cocks a brow at you, one hand settling on her hip in a show of annoyance. You quickly look towards MK for help, but all the bastard does is smile cheekily in your direction. You wonder for half a second if you can drown MK in the kitchen sink.

"Well….uh- well, what?"

Her frown only deepens, and you feel a pang of guilt nestle in your chest- you don't want to upset her ever again, and you claw through your thoughts for any recollection of what her and MK had been discussing only to wind up blank.

"We asked if you wanted to come along to the anti-gravity arcade tomorrow- for the p- for the, uh, dress-up event?" MK's voice rings out cheerfully from your right, perhaps feeling merciful on you today. Your shoulders fall down in relief.

"Yeah- yeah, for sure!" You nod, eager to spend more time with them, and watch as Mei's pretty pink lips turn upwards in a smile at your reply, "is there a dress code or anything?"

Mei's gentle smile morphs into a wolfish grin in a matter of seconds, her arm looping around your shoulder to bring you closer into her side. Your body presses up against hers, warmth seeping into you, and you try to will your heart to stop beating so damn fast. It doesn't work.

"You leave that to me. You just come over early so I can glam us up, capiche?" Mei's eyes bore into yours in a way that makes your brain fuzzy, and you find that you couldn't ever say no to her. She could've asked you to rob a bank blind and you'd have nodded with the same eagerness you are now, muttering a quiet "Yeah, sure, sounds great."

Once you've given her confirmation, she slinks away from your side, and your body mourns her touch. The day continues like normal, you piping up every once in a while through MK and Mei's rants about some video game, but you have to look down at your fidgeting hands more than once so you don't end up entranced by her lips once more.

It's only the next morning as you stand at Mei's ridiculously prestigious porch that you realise just what you've gotten yourself into.

You barely flinch as her security system activates, thousands of lasers pointing at your head. You barely talk as she greets you with her gorgeous, stupidly perfect smile and leads you inside, the walk long and painfully slow. You can't hear her over your heart thundering in your ears, your clammy hands grappling onto your sleeves in an attempt to keep themselves busy.

"Right over herreee is my bedroom! You can go ahead and make yourself comfy, I've gotta head over to the bathroom to get my makeup bag," she ends her impromptu tour with a smile and finger-guns, moving past you and into the long hallway across, "be back in a jiffy!"

You wait until she's completely out of sight to walk into her bedroom, settling yourself down at the edge of her bed, legs swinging back and forth anxiously.

Mei was going to 1] dress you up, and 2] do your makeup. Do your makeup, as in cup your cheeks between her soft hands, lean in close enough so she can see every little mark she leaves behind, her eyes furrowed in concentration at your face-

You put your face into your hands, embarrassed by your thoughts. What is up with you lately? Usually it's easier to manage your feelings around her, right now you can't even look her in the face!

You peek one eye between your fingers, looking over her messy room. You'd been here before, of course. Mei had been just a little more open to sleepovers at her place, but only when Pigsy was far too exhausted to hear you three yelling and laughing all night above his bed. You're usually here with MK, though, and the electric energy crackling between him and Mei keeps you all entertained. You'd never gotten a chance to really…look at the place.

You eye the My Chemical Romance poster above the door frame, snorting at the memory of Mei belting out the lyrics during karaoke, MK screaming the words more than singing them. Your gaze falls down to the guitar by her night-stand, your smile turning soft as you recall the few times Mei had played for you. She was skilled, but got frustrated easily once she missed a note, puffing out her cheeks. It was cute to watch.

Your hands fall back down into your lap as you note all the little things that make this space so Mei- the posters, the pillows strewn across the floor, the half-opened comic books, the gaming consoles, the weird mannequin she uses to show off her ties and funny hats, and the-

Ah, the…the plushie you'd won her at the arcade.

It's right next to you on the bed, so it's no surprise you hadn't noticed it till now. You pick it up and turn it over in your hands, tugging at one of its ears. It's a cute green striped cat, it's tongue sticking out playfully. You'd seen it and thought of Mei, and had spent nearly all your coins and a considerable amount of effort on the claw machine to gift it to her. You pull back the tag, seeing a red heart drawn on- you hadn't noticed that when you'd won it, but perhaps you just missed it.

"YOO! I'm back! You ready to look drop-dead gorgeous for tonight?" Mei's voice startles you, your head swiftly moving upwards as she slams the door open and walks inside, multiple make-up bags in hand. She grins at you in excitement, her body practically vibrating with all the ideas of things she can do to you. You feel your heart melt like magma in your rib-cage, and you wonder just how you'll live through this.

"Did you have anything in mind?" You force out through your teeth, breathing in deeply to calm the fuck down. You should not be acting this way- especially not in her room of all places. This was- this was absurd and unfair to her. Your fingers clench and unclench around the plushie before you let go of it, the thought that Mei slept with it in her bed too much to process.

"Do I have anything in mind?" She echoes back at you, scoffing, but her tone is anything but annoyed, "I've been wanting to do your make-up for ages. I've got a whole hoard of ideas."

Your mind rushes at the revelation that she's been wanting this for a long time, thinking about it for a long time- "But first, outfits! It'd suck to get your make-up smudged while changing."

You furrow your brows in confusion, gesturing to your clothes, "I'm…already wearing..my outfit?"

She blinks at you for a minute, eyeing you up and down with growing disdain- you feel embarrassed, if a little insulted, arms wrapping around your chest to hide yourself a little more.

"You- you're not going out in that! You wear this every day!" She squeaks in protest, tugging at your sleeve to showcase the tattered edges.

You pull back your arm indignantly, pouting at her. "Yeah, because it's comfortable, and I like it. Plus, I didn't bring anything else with me."

"Well, because I knew you wouldn't have picked something cute for yourself," Mei starts with a cheeky grin, and you flick at her arm in response, her laughter ringing out through the room, "I did the honours of picking something out for you."

You barely have time to speak before she's rushing into a corner of her room, rummaging around the heap of blankets and clothes to find what she's looking for. Mei had always had impeccable style- even if you weren't pathetically head over heels in love with her, you'd still think she had a way of matching colors and fabrics together that makes even the rattiest of shirts look pleasing to the eyes.

So, no, it's not that you don't trust Mei to pick something nice for you to wear- it's that you don't trust Mei to tone it down for you- while Mei and MK were loud and boisterous, turning heads left and right wherever they went, you preferred to lay back unnoticed. You were their middle ground- reigning them back in by the scruff of their shirts.

So imagine your surprise when you see Mei present the outfit for you, chest puffed out proudly.

It's….pretty. You knew it'd be pretty, of course, but more than that- it fits your style perfectly, with pops of color [mostly green] here and there that don't completely push you out of your comfort zone. You like this outfit a lot, and you're excited to try it on- you think some of the jewellery she's holding out looks familiar.

You must've been silent for a little too long, because she starts rocking back and forth, her smile turning more strained by the second, "I, uh, tried to look through your wish-list and pinterest boards to get something you'd like- you can look through my closets for something different though!-"

You're still reeling from her words- no wonder the jewellery looks familiar, it's in your wish-list, and she'd bought it for you specifically, and holy shit you need to say something before she overthinks herself into oblivion-

"It's…nice- really nice. It's really pretty." You mumble out, smiling towards her as you reach out to thumb at the fabric, tugging it into your arms. Your heart feels as though it'll burst out of your chest just so it can find its way to her.

Mei's shoulders slump in relief, her usual cheery attitude bouncing back.

"Duh, I picked it, it's gonna be pretty. Now shoo! Go change so we can start on make-up."

You snicker heartily at her obvious excitement as she hurries you towards her dressing room, walking in and shutting the door behind you.

You tug off your current outfit, leaving it on the chair by the mirror. You take this moment away from her gaze to slump against the door-frame, squealing into your hands silently like a schoolgirl with a crush.

Your smile is giddy and bashful as you put on your outfit- the outfit she'd specifically catered to you, based on your interests and favorite colors- admiring yourself in the mirror between each layer. Once again, Mei didn't fail to deliver. You looked good. You strike a ridiculous pose in the mirror, giggling at your childishness. Perhaps Mei was rubbing off on you too much.

You take a deep breath in to calm yourself down before leaving through the door, trying to keep your grin hidden. Your clothes fit around your body snugly, and the jewellery matches your eyes and hair. The shade of green endowed throughout your outfit matches Mei's hair streaks, you notice with a fluster.

You sit down on the bed and wait for Mei to leave her dressing room- which you're still appalled by, because who even needs two dressing rooms?- wondering if she'll wear something entirely new or repurpose one of her old outfits.

You hear the door creak open this time, glancing upwards as Mei walks in, hollering at you, "Wooh! Looks just as good as I imagined, maybe even a little better." She nudges your shoulder playfully, her cheeks flushed and pink. "Seriously, though, you look good."

"Oh." You breathe out, gaping at her with wide eyes.

Mei looks….Mei looks gorgeous. She's wearing a white button-up shirt, the first few buttons undone to reveal inch above inch of tantalising skin. Right under is a pretty corset that cinches her waist, with a short slitted skirt to match, highlighting her toned scarred legs. Her sleeves are folded upwards, showing off her muscles. You feel your face heat the longer you stare, her earrings glinting in the light, bangles strumming together in a harmonious tune as her hands move aside with a flourish.

She strikes a pose even more ridiculous than the one you had earlier in the hopes of making you laugh, and it works, your concealed snickering dissolving into full-blown giggling the longer she keeps this up, modelling for a camera that isn't there- or perhaps she's just modelling for you.

"So? What are we thinkin'?" She makes a little kissy-face towards you and you pretend that didn't get your heart thumping, "You think we'll be voted cutest couple?"

Okay- you can't pretend that didn't send a shiver racing down your spine. You splutter at her words, hands wringing each other nervously before she barks out a laugh and lets up on the posing, arms falling down to her sides.

"I'm just joking. I wouldn't complain if you complimented me juusstt a little, though."

You ignore the pang in your heart at her words, your giggles dying down into a gentle quirk of your lips. "You look nice, Mei, we already know- and thank you…for the outfit, by the way." You answer sincerely, squinting at her earrings. You don't think she'd ever worn those colors before- it struck out to you.

"New jewellery? You don't usually wear things like this…" You wonder aloud, your hand moving to dangle at her earrings, fingers brushing against her cheek by accident. Your skin burns where you touch her, and you wonder if she can feel it, too.

Mei gulps audibly, "Yeah, it- it's new. Wanted to match with you."

You look up at her through your lashes, heart beating so rapidly in your chest you're afraid she can hear it. Each and every time you think you can control yourself around her, she always just- just says things that pull your feet out from under you. She smiles down at you, a little strained, her hand moving up to hold onto yours, the one still pressed up against her cheek.

"That's really- really considerate, and nice of you." You pull back, and you try to ignore the implications behind the way Mei's expression crumples. You send a smile her way, tugging at your sleeve. You have to- you have to stop seeing things that aren't there. Thinking that Mei liked you was only wishful thinking.

You had her already, like this, and that was enough for you. It had to be enough for you.

"Well, Red Son and MK always match- granted MK practically forces them to, buuuttt that leaves us behind, so we gotta stick together, right?"

You nod at her answer, your heart clenching painfully right in your rib-cage. Of course that's why she wanted to match with you- she was joking about the cutest couple thing earlier. You have to stop.

Mei claps her hands together to catch your quickly declining attention, grin back in place. "Now, make-up!"

Ah- you'd…almost forgotten, despite that being the main thing you'd come here for.

She gestures towards the chair by her vanity mirror, and you wordlessly follow her request, settling down into it, spinning it around so you're facing her. She recovers quite quickly from your…moments- you try to give her the same mercy she serves you.

"I'm gonna make our eyeshadow colors compliment each other- but you can always let me know if you're not liking the colors, alright?" She reassures you, opening her cat-themed bag to start laying out the brushes and pallets, "I can just brush up my own make-up after."

You nod soundlessly, afraid that if you so much as breathe in her direction she'll notice how flustered and tense you are. She takes your chin between her fore-finger and thumb, leaning down to look at you closely, her tongue poking out in concentration.

You think you might collapse into a heap of pathetic goo in this chair. She's so close- so so so close- close enough you can see every little blemish and feckle on her face, the way her scales shimmer in the light, almost translucent, the way her lips pucker as she pats your eyes gently with the brush, focused on getting the lines just right.

The next few minutes pass by in a blur- you can only remember your hands clenching around your pants, your shoulders set rigidly in place. You remember her fingers pressing against your jaw, positioning it the way she likes, and her hair tickling your skin as she leans in to fix up your eye-liner. You remember the air crackling between you two, and you were sure she felt it- her breath hitching each time she noticed you staring at her, the nervous swinging of her legs.

"All done! Yeesh, you can relax now." Mei smirks down at you, pulling backwards and letting the cool air flood the space between you both. You pause for a second, trying to get yourself together, spinning the chair around so you can look in the mirror. She'd shown you progress in a little hand-held mirror, of course, but seeing your make-up paired with your outfit punched the breath out of your lungs.

If you thought the outfit alone looked good- you were drop dead gorgeous now, just as she'd said- you're not sure how she managed to keep the imperfections on your face, refusing to use a foundation base, while still making them look right. Like they fit there. The blush she'd used made your cheeks glow, and the highlighter only served to make your natural features shine. You see her face in the mirror, her eyes roaming your features. She doesn't look pleased.

"Nope- something doesn't look right." She says with a huff, rummaging through her drawer. You're not sure what she's looking for that could bring the look together.

"I dunno what you mean- you made me look great. Definitely gonna win best couple now." You can't help but let it slip in a sorry attempt to cheer her up- and you both immediately pause as soon as the words escape your mouth. Her face is hidden behind her bangs as she leans into the drawer, but you think you see the hint of a blush against her cheeks. You wonder if it really was wishful thinking after all.

That's when you see it- a pretty pink lipstick, the shade strikingly similar to the one she'd worn yesterday, you think it's the same one, if anything. You tap her arm. "Maybe- uh, that new lip-stick you wore at Pigsy's last night? I think it looks pretty cute."

She hums, bringing it out the drawer before shutting it with her hip. She unscrews the lid, swiping it across her lips casually, and your blood rushes to your face. "You noticed it was new?" She says with a shy smile, looking at you, lights dancing in her eyes.

"Well- yeah, you usually only wear the same shade, so it makes sense for me to-" Your blabber comes to a stop as she puts her finger right up against your lip, watching Mei laugh for a minute, stunned.

"I was just teasing you, no need to get so worked up. I saw you staring, anyways, and I'm flattered." She says with a nonchalant tone like she didn't just drop a bomb on you in your already frazzled state, "Good to know it was because you think my lips are pretty and not because I had sauce on my face."

You think you can feel steam pouring out the top of your head, because you honest to god can't believe Mei just said that- she moves back to rummaging in a different drawer, and her bangs do little to conceal her grin this time.

She brings out a different tube of lip-stick, and you try not to act too disappointed that you won't be using the same one she did. You still wonder how it tastes.

She tugs your chin back into her palm, starting to apply the rouge to your mouth. Your lips tingle at the contact, and you picture the press of her lips against yours instead, wondering how she'd taste. You don't think you're imagining the tension between you two, now.

"Hmm…" Mei hums, and even though the hand with the tube falls down once she's done, her other hand remains cupping your jaw, thumb rubbing under your lip to clean up the lip-stick. Her eyes are half-lidded, and a contemplative look crosses her face for a second.

She leans in closer, closer, closer. Her palm cradles your face gently, keeping it in place. You hold your breath. She waits for a moment, giving you the chance to pull away. You wouldn't ever dream of it.

You're barely inches away now, her nose brushing against yours. You feel her breath, hot on your cheeks, and your body shivers in delight. Her eyes fall down to your lips for a split-second, and she finally leans in-

And moves a little to the side at the last second.

Her lips end up just at the corner of your own, pressing firmly. She lingers for a while, and you feel both frustration and adoration bubble up inside you, a flurry of butterflies erupting in your stomach. If you'd had just a smidge more courage, you'd have pulled her into you for a proper kiss immediately.

She pulls back, still close enough to make your heart rush with heat, admiring her work. There's a pink lip-stick stain at the corner of your mouth, smeared a little to the left, marring your otherwise clean makeup.

"You know, I thought the asymmetry would make you look less perfect-" She starts, voice quivering, "but I think it just did the opposite."

Mei stares down at you, a little nervous, a little bashful, but happy. Her own lip-stick is a little messed up now, too. You don't think you've ever seen a prettier sight. You want to find out what her lips taste like.

You grab at her shirt collar, and her eyes widen for a moment before you pull her into you, lips melding together messily. Your eyes are screwed shut, and you only start to relax once she starts kissing you back, pressing insistently against your lips. The lip-stick clatters to the floor, but neither of you pay it any mind.

Her hands settle on your hips, tugging you closer, closer, pressing your front up against hers. Your hands tangle in her hair, tugging at it lightly, and the muffled moan she lets out against your mouth sends a rush of heat through your body. You can't get enough of her- her taste is addicting, and you hazily wonder why you hadn't done this sooner.

Your tongue pokes out against her lips, and her hold around your waist tightens. You pull backwards just an inch, enough to speak, whispering hurriedly, "cherry."

She stares at you, eyes foggy, breath coming out in pants, "whuh?"

"Your lip-stick. Tastes like cherry. I was wondering earlier." You mumble against her skin, nuzzling your face into her cheek as you speak. Her chest shakes with laughter against yours, "That's what you were really glaring at me for?"

Mei pushes you forward, your back straining against the foot of her bed. She keeps going, your body flopping on the bed unceremoniously, hers following after you. She stays above you, caging you between her arms and thighs. She smirks at you and your heartbeat rushes through your ears.

"If you wanted to know so bad, you could've just asked." She says with a snicker, her head angling itself towards yours, breaths mingling together, "Now you've got me wondering what yours tastes like."

You're about to tell her to shut up and kiss you when the atmosphere is promptly shattered when her phone starts to ring, Welcome To The Black Parade being her ring-tone.

Mei tries to ignore it, flopping down on top of you. She groans into your chest, "god, what does MK want? Now? Really?"

You clamber upwards, frantically reaching for her phone on the night-stand, "shit, Mei, the party!" You click her phone open, the screen showing you that you're a full two hours late.

"Just- hand it over here." She grumbles, and you do so without a complaint. She swipes right to answer the call, "Hellooo-"

You can't quite hear what MK's saying, you just know he's shouting real loud- or maybe that's the background noise? You're not sure, but whatever it is makes Mei gasp.

They talk for a minute, Mei cackling at every word MK says on the other end- you think you catch a few mentions of Red Son, something about the building shutting down?-

Mei says her goodbyes quickly, hanging up before MK even replies. She's grinning at you, excited and elated.

"What'd he tell you?" You ask, hand threading through her hair. She giggles for a second, trying to get the words out.

"He- god, we should've been there- Red Son's cap fell off while he was- hah- dancing, and apparently everyone recognised him immediately, and they tried to kick him and MK out-" her words dissolve into laughter, and you laugh alongside her.

Once you both quiet down, you brush her hair behind her ear, pursing your lips. "So…no party, then?"

Mei's smile turns pleased, her hands settling back around you, "Nope. We've got the whole night to ourselves."

You peck her lips quickly, "better make the most of it, then."

You're both late to group breakfast the next day, and despite MK's pestering questions, you don't explain why.

You and Mei share a knowing smile across the booth, fingers intertwining under the table as you eat. When she moves to re-apply her lip-stick after her meal, you ask her if you can have it, too. She leans in and kisses you, short and sweet, and you thank her while MK gawks behind you.

#hope you all enjoy!!#remember that requests r open!#probs wont be as long as this since it was purely self indulgent #lmk #lmk mei #lmk x reader #mei x reader #lmk mei x reader #x reader #malik's writing #mostly cutesie i would say #:33 #tips appreciated btww!!#pretty new to this still TwT #lego monkie kid x reader

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littlelesbinonny · 4 months

Text

The Devil's Den

Chapter 39: In Which The Daylight Is Fading Pt. 2

You can read this also on Ao3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46831621/chapters/117962293

Jesus fucking Christ.

Alcina was about to become suddenly un-internally screaming.

You. You! What was she going to do with you? Yes, you had figured it out. Yes, you were changing. Yes, you were not just a human. Yes, were rightfully demanding answers and Alcina was on the verge of losing it. How in the goddamn hell was she supposed to juggle all of this?! It was her own fucking fault. Still, through it all her greatest fear and determination was to keep you safe. But you had to listen, you had to understand, you had to blindly trust, and fuck, she knew how hard that was. She was nearly ready to cross the threshold and tell you everything just to get the weight off her shoulders. But it would only burden you more, wouldn't it? One loss to another gain?

And Malka. Who was this Malka. An old Jewish Mystic? Really? Were they still around? She scoffed.

You were right. Yet again. It should be her guiding you through this, not some old woman she didn't even know or trust with you! In her absence and lack of ability or will to address what was happening to you she had inadvertently sent you off to another for answers.

God - fucking damn it all!

She flitted her way back to the church as fast a she could. Her mind could duke it out with her heart later.

Donna was there now with a slew of vampires. Father Archer had disappeared and Alcina was eternally grateful. Father Sullivan was still present as was the shaking, pale as a ghost deacon from before. Poor child. He should be put out of his misery for the pure act of mercy. Seeing his comrade in such a state would scar him for life.

All eyes turned to her as she came in through the same side door and shut it behind her.

Alcina chiseled her features to a stern, stoic facade and joined the group.

"Excuse us, please," Donna enunciated as Alcina approached, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her through to a neighboring room, out of sight and hearing range, "where have you been?"

Her inquiry wasn't sharp nor rude, but dripping with disbelief and genuine curiosity as to why she'd leave this scene.

"She saw it. I had to go after her."

Donna's eyes went wide at Alcina's admission.

"W-what? Who? Your human?"

"She has a name!" Alcina spat, quickly reclaimed her control and took a deep breath, "Just - I'm sorry... I don't know how or why she was here but she walked into it, and I had to follow her and make sure she was alright."

Donna blinked, "Is she?"

"Of course not. But she is fine for the time being. I'm here now. What have I missed?" she asked placing a hand mindfully on her hip.

There was a confused pause but Donna threw it out the window, "I radioed Karl to order mobilization of our troops outside of the underground. If a mutant is here we have to locate it before it gets any farther in the human world and creates who knows what kind of havoc. We can only contain and minimize so much before it becomes a conspiracy theory on TickedTocked, or whatever the fuck humans use for news now."

Alcina sighed, "what about the boys family?"

"That's something you'll need to discuss with Father Sullivan. He's been pretty quiet since we arrived. You'll need to do some serious damage control here."

"I want updates as soon as anything comes in," she mused, taking off your gloves.

"I figured you would."

Donna held out a small radio comm for Alcina.

She took it with a short smile and nodded, "always on top of it. Go, get back underground. I'll take care of what needs done up here."

Malka sat perched on her sofa. Eyes wide, but facial expressions otherwise void of much else.

"I..." you mumbled, "I don't know what to do."

Clearing her throat, Malka nodded very slowly, her vision cast down to the floor now as her lips pursed while she chewed on all of this information.

"I don't know much else, but the feeling in my old gut says Alcina is right; you should be mindful of your safety. You are a novice, though a quick learning and talented one, it seems as though whatever devil has escaped in this world is not to be trifled with, no? Even I, as old and wise as I might be, wouldn't even know where to begin concerning this."

"It's not like I'm going to go out looking for a fight, I just, I just want to be able to help myself, and god forbid Alcina if something goes really wrong."

Malka narrowed her eyes at you, "staying out of sight and out of harms way is the likeliest option right now, ketzeleh. What you described to me, what the foe did to your very powerful Alcina, if that's any indication as to this things power... invisibility would be your best bet for safety. We still don't know the extent of your powers. Perhaps we can try illusion magic, it would be a good additive to aid your mind EMP trick."

"Mind EMP magick?"

She smirked, "yes, that's what I've deemed it. What you did to those boys was clearly a nervous system attack, much like an EMP pulse would do to electronics; it seemed to cause them great pain and shut down their function until they scrambled away from you. So, mind EMP - voila!"

You couldn't help but chuckle a little. You liked that.

Getting back to present matters, you leaned on your knees and sighed, "ok, so... tell me about this illusions magick. Is it really invisibility?"

Malka grinned, "almost. It's the manipulation of perception; you alter your energy field to match your surroundings in a way that hides you in plain sight. Someone, or something, can be looking directly at you and see you but not comprehend you're standing there. You cease to exist as a singular entity and become one with what is around you. You're there, but cannot be perceived."

"Can you show me?" you asked excitedly.

"Oh heavens, I am not as strong as I used to be and I don't practice my abilities the way I used to so I highly doubt it, but I can try to walk you through it. Go stand in front of the book case."

Doing as instructed, you did so and watched as the little old woman came towards you with her eyes glittering with that mischievous light she held.

She grasped your left arm and made you hold it out in front of you, flattening your palm outwards and stood in front of you.

"Now... close your eyes, find your energy source, and focus on wanting to not be seen. Repeat this silently to yourself: I am my surroundings, I am part of the picture."

Taking a deep breath you closed your eyes and let yourself feel your body and the energy pulsing through you. After a few moments you instinctively pushed your intention through your arm to your palm and slowly chanted in your mind; I am my surroundings. I am part of the picture. I am my surroundings. I am part of the picture. I... am my surroundings... I am part of the picture.

Like a flickering television screen trying to load the picture from a spotty antenna connection, Malka watched as your body began to blend into the bookcase and a large smile took her lips.

"Yes, good ketzeleh! Keep going!"

You tried to focus harder but it seemed the harder you tried the more your memory kept throwing images of Alcina and the scene from the church to your forefront, the argument, the way she looked at you, the fear you could feel from her, and everything else that transpired just a few hours prior. Before long you dropped your shield and huffed, angry you couldn't keep control.

Malka, and the ever nurturing woman she was, came to grasp your arm and brought you back to the couch.

"Come. It has been a traumatic night for you. Don't be discouraged, you managed to flicker a little which is quite a feat! You're very powerful, but you must learn to hone your control better, that's all."

Leo came and jumped in your lap as you slumped back, feeling quite defeated, and not just by failing at your attempt to vanish.

Your mind and heart was heavy. You knew things were not right. Anywhere.

"Do you really think it wise to disappear at a time like this?" Donna asked sharply.

Alcina did her best not to react, turning her eyes over her shoulder as she was putting a few things away in the shelf behind her desk, "I promised her yesterday I would see her tonight. It will be a short visit."

"It's not safe!"

"I'm aware!" she snapped, "But I intend to keep my promise and we have this place on lock down. Like it or don't, I'm going."

Donna was about to have a fit but knew it would get her nowhere. She bit her bottom lip and felt the tension in her jaw grow tighter, finally accepting the Matriarch's decision and turning to leave. She had too much shit to do.

"Be careful." Was all she offered before she took her leave.

She loved Alcina with all of her heart, but Christ that woman drove her absolutely mad at times!

Donna damn near slammed her door shut when she entered the house.

She headed straight to the kitchen and poured herself a large glass of blood-wine and leaned her hip on the counter, tapping her free hand on the granite top as she had a stare-down with the floor. "You know, maybe I'll take up smoking," she muttered to herself, "take this edge off otherwise I may just snap one of these days. Just maybe."

Taking another large gulp she shook her head and made her way with purpose to her own study to make a call to Karl, but she didn't get far until a very strange chiming came ringing from the bookshelf in the living room.

Donna stepped slowly into the room and listened, her keen sense of hearing drawing her eyes to an ornately carved jade box she'd been given by an admirer long, long ago.

The shrillness of the sound was relieved when she removed the lid to find an old small black cell phone ringing off the hook.

She was hesitant to answer it. How did this even get in here? She'd never had a cell phone and knew no one who did.

But her instincts shoved their way passed her apprehension and she pressed the worn out green phone icon on the front.

"... Hello?"

"UH-BOUT FUCKING TIME!"

"Angie!" Donna shot, "oh my god where have you been, where are you, are you ok?!"

Her little cretin sister had been missing in action for nearly over a month, and while she knew she was up to something and likely on a hot trail, she hated not knowing where she was or what she was doing. Angie drove her just about as nuts as Alcina did these days.

"I'm fine, I've been in a wall."

"What?"

"I'm in a wall, ok? For like, fuckin' weeks - but that's really really really not what's important right now and I need you to -"

"Jesus, Angie, slow down!"

"No! I ain't got time to slow down - you gotta speed up! Shit is going down and it's going down fast and there's not a lotta time to explain because my battery is hella fuckin' low but they're coming - "

"W-what, who?"

"Shut up and let me finish! FIND ALCINA NOW! Get the military! They're coming! They're coming THROUGH the underground! I'm on my way but -"

Silence.

"A-Angie?" Donna sputtered, "Angie?!"

She pulled the phone away from her ear to see the small screen had disconnected the call. Trying desperately to remember how to operate these fucking things, Donna hit a few buttons and found the call list, highlighting the only one on the screen and redialing.

Barely a ring sounded in the earpiece before an annoying woman's voice told her the voicemail box had not been set up. She hung up quickly and sped through the house to find her comm.

Alcina's mind was unnervingly quiet as she made her way up to the church and through it. It was as eerily silent and she heard every single one of her footsteps as if she'd never heard them before. Father Sullivan was at the alter up front, staring up to the stained glass with his rosary wrapped around his hands that were in a praying formation.

"The boys mother has demanded to speak with you, Lady Dimitrescu."

His voice halted her in her tracks.

Great.

"Was it wise to tell and outsider of our existence, Father?" she countered, eying him thoroughly as he turned and slowly began to walk up the aisle.

"You left me with a very unfortunate circumstance. There's very few lies I could tell to comfort this woman. The truth was my only option."

Alcina's perfectly arched brow matched the frown in her crimson red lips, "sometimes lies are necessary."

Father Sullivan stopped in front of her, gazing up at her intimidating stature as he secured his hands behind his back, "to you, perhaps. When can I tell her you're free?"

She wanted to scoff but did not, instead her other eyebrow joined in similar fashion, "I am quite busy, finding the one responsible for her sons death and all, you know -"

"Please make time for this. You must make this right!"

"And what am I suppose to tell her, Father?! Yes, dear lady, there's an underground legion of vampires that live beneath your feet - so sorry your poor boy got caught up in a problem that escaped from there, please, tell me what I can do to make this better for your pitiful human existence?! You should have lied to her and saved us more mess! Humans outside of the church should know nothing about us!"

"She has sworn an oath to secrecy."

"Ugh, please. Her word means nothing to me, you have nothing to stand on she will keep it."

"As if you all are so much better?"

Alcina's spine tensed and she inched closer to the man below her, her face riddled with her distaste.

"Your insinuation displeases me greatly, Father Sullivan. Awfully bold for you to throw that at me when you and yours have no defense against whatever is running loose aside from the ones your insulting."

He swallowed hard and clenched his jaw, "you're here to stop things like this from happening at all, aren't you?"

"The best laid plans of mice and men, Father. We cannot see all ends. I've lost more of my men to this problem than you have any idea about," her voice took a dark turn as she stepped in even closer, "if you think I'm not doing everything I can, you are sorely mistaken. You've had one casualty, to which I'm exercising all in my power to make sure doesn't happen again... I have lost over fifty... mind your accusations."

Father Sullivan nodded curtly and backed away from the towering vampire, swallowing once more and straightening his posture, "forgive me, Lady Dimitrescu. As you must understand this has been heavily shocking for us. I'm struggling with... well, many things. As one leader to another, you know the pressure I'm under."

Considering his words with a softening of her face, Alcina relaxed slightly and took a deep breath, "that I do. And as one leader to another, and while you've never faced the terrors I have, know this; when the true struggles set in with vengeance, making enemies of your true allies is the worst move you can make. And we are your allies, Father. Though you cannot see the work taking place behind the scenes, you must trust us the way you always have."

He nodded slowly, "you're right. I will. We will. Forgive my words."

"I'll let you in on a little secret; if I took true displeasure or offense in what you said, you'd not be here looking me in the face. I do kind of like you, Father, but please stay on my good side," she winked.

The smallest of smiles appeared and he nodded once more, "noted."

Without another word she was gone.

Your lit up apartment was a sight for her weary eyes and Alcina scaled your building with ease, allowed herself in your balcony door after sensing her surroundings thoroughly.

The pending conversation was giving her pause but more than anything she just wanted to see you, hold you in her arms, and keep you close and know you were safe as long as you were there.

But where were you?

Alcina scoured the living room until a flickering caught her eye and within a split second there you appeared, eyes wide and your palm held out in front of you. You looked almost as bewildered as her.

"Draga..." she uttered, feeling her heart lurch in her chest at the sight of you, her worries almost melting away as she stepped towards you.

She had almost expected you to be hesitant at her very presence, but you were no where near that as you nearly bolted for her.

Alcina met you halfway through the living room and you were within each others arms not quickly enough. You buried your face in her chest and she in your hair, staying in silence and comfort that the two of you were safe and unharmed and together amidst the chaos outside.

Before you knew what was happening Alcina had relocated her arms and scooped you up and brought you to the couch, wrapping you up in her strong encompassing embrace like you'd slip away like liquid.

"I've missed you. I've been really worried about you," you uttered in her neck, keeping your arms secure around her.

"Oh draga," she replied softly, "I'm fine. Are you?"

You simply nodded mutely against her and closed your eyes.

"I don't have long," Alcina admitted solemnly, "but I promised to see you and listen to what you needed to tell me."

Damn her, you couldn't stop your smile.

Finally pulling away you looked at those stunning slate colored eyes and leaned in to kiss those plush red lips, "you're a woman of your word, and I love you for that."

Alcina hummed through a soft smile and kissed you back, "for my girl, I am anything you wish of me."

Oh. Oh wow.

"If you're trying to get back into my good graces you don't have to pull out all the stops, you know," you jested trying to shove your tears back in your eyelids.

She cupped your face with her leather glove clad hand and made you look at her, "I mean it, draga mea. I love you. Now... tell me everything."

Alcina was still chewing and swallowing on everything you had told her, but still the hardest to force down was this Malka woman. Was it just her jealousy, which she would never admit out loud, or was it something worth buying into? You'd never spoke of having many friends, and this was the first she'd heard of this woman, and while she was clearly no threat to you and your affections for her, Alcina didn't like the idea of someone else being so close to you. Silly, perhaps. Petty, perhaps. You were her hearts treasure and she was not taking you for granted. Not again.

"And that is why you materialized out of thin air when I arrived?" she asked stroking her hand mindlessly up and down your thigh.

You were leaned back on the arm of the couch with your legs draped over her lap while you had spilled all of your beans to her, making it easy to stay close and intimate but still able to see all of each other.

"I've been working at it tirelessly, I'm really pretty drained right now, but... yeah. It's nice to know I finally got it."

To say she was doing her best to hide her overwhelm was being nice about it. You really were coming into your own and there was no stopping it. Alcina only wished this wasn't happening at the same time everything else was. More than anything she wanted to be here for you on this journey, be part of it, help you discover and uncover and train and work your magick the way she should be. But this was also so very dangerous. Not just for you, but for her. If Mother Miranda were to ever -

A ruckus from your bedroom startled you both and before either of you could move from the couch, a tiny brunette appeared from the hallway.

"Donna!" Alcina gasped, unceremoniously dropping your legs from her lap and standing with a jolt.

She was a little out of breath as she straightened her black button down, high-collared shirt while approaching the two of you.

Oh, ok, so this was Donna. What the hell was she doing in your apartment?

You stood next to Alcina quite confused and unsure of your own footing.

"I really don't have time for pleasantries," Donna stated, addressing you with a short nod, "though it is nice to finally put a face with a name," her attention immediately went back to Alcina with haste, "we need to go now, this is not up for debate."

Alcina was almost taken aback. Firstly, for Donna to find her, let alone be here, was concerning all on it's own. Secondly, for her to be in such a state, which was hidden immaculately for the situation, made Alcina's stomach twist. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Goddammit.

You barely had time to register anything before Alcina took your face in her palms once more and looked at you like you would fade away within the second.

"Do not leave this apartment until the sun is up. And do not be outside of this apartment when the sun begins to set, do you understand me?"

Her tone made your face contort into worry, but you nodded, "yes."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"Lock your doors and your windows. Do not open the door to anyone outside of daylight hours."

Alcina watched your nod of agreement and pulled you to her once more, holding onto you for as long as she could, "I love you, I love you, and I will return to you as soon as I can."

"I - I love you too - "

You were cut off as she kissed you with haste and with one more blink she and Donna were gone.

You stood there in your silent apartment trying to wrap your mind around what just happened.

Things were taking a turn. You could feel it.

It felt awful.

Now all you could think about was Alcina.

"I can see why you're so smitten with the woman, she's beautiful."

Alcina could have run into a wall, that comment struck her so out of left field.

"What the entire fuck, Donna," she spat as they hurried through the city streets, "that's the first thing you say to me after showing up like that? What the fuck is going on?!"

"I know, I'm sorry! I'm panicked!"

"Clearly!"

"Angie called me - "

"Wh - from where?"

"I'll get there, I'll get there - just let me explain, we have very little time! She hid a cell phone in our house - it rang - it was her - she told me she's been hiding in a wall for weeks and that they, whoever they are, were moving and moving fast and we didn't have time, that I need to find you and get our military moving, that they were moving through the underground - I radioed Karl and basically everyone is running around like headless chickens trying to make heads or tails of what she told me - I had no choice but to alert everyone in the city and all the council - she must mean the mutants because I cannot fathom what else she could possibly mean!"

Alcina's head was fitfully spinning as they rushed through the church like a blur and to the tunnels to the underground.

And then they heard it.

Rumbling.

#alcina dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu/female reader #alcina dimitrescu/original female character #alcina dimitrescu/reader #lesbian #f/f #fanfic #wlw #fic #donna beneviento #angie beneviento

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