Hey! I'm Courtney and welcome to this slowly updated blog!
About me: I write every day but get halfway through a fic, get bored and start another. Hence the slow updates. I write fanfictions mostly, but I also write the occassional Hero x Villain snippets. I procrastinate everything, and I have ADHD (I got the diagnosis!).
I'm aromantic asexual, so this is a smut-free blog -> just a shit ton of fluff and angst. This is also a safe space so hate or any other assholery will absolutely not be tolerated.
Also, this is a sideblog, so when I do respond to comments, it'll be from my main blog @whovian378.
Moon Knight
SERIES
Falling For Them (Moon Knight System x gn!reader)
Oneshots of your life with Steven, Marc and Jake (how you met, when you fell in love and all the moments of your lives together.)
Feel free to listen to the playlist I created for this series while you read.
Bad Days
You had a bad day and your darlings take care of you.
He's Got the Whole World In His Hands
It's your anniversary, and your darling Marc tells you a secret.
Lost in Love (and in a maze)
You and Jake are out on a date for your anniversary in a corn maze of all places, and you get lost. Jake of course takes advantage of the alone time (keeping it mostly PG of course)
Forever Sounds Perfect
You and your darlings go to a wedding, and suddenly all that happiness is exactly what you want for your future with them.
In that happiness, you can't help but...pop the question.
Hopelessly in Love with You
Even after all these decades you’re still head over heels in love with your husbands. And sometimes you can’t help but say it out loud.
ONESHOTS
Tell Me You'll Stay (Layla x gn!reader)
Layla has to go to work. You want her to come back to bed. So, you use all your charm to convince her to stay.
Daredevil
ONESHOTS
I have ADHD (Matt Murdock x gn!reader)
You're late to an ADHD consultation appointment and you're terrifying the shit out of your boyfriend Matt by driving like a maniac.
"You Love Me?" "I Always Have?" (Matt Murdock x gn!reader)
You’re the lead detective on the team hunting down the vigilante known as Daredevil. You have no leads, until your boyfriend stumbles through your front door, half dead, and wearing that damn suit.
Beautiful Woman Part 1 (Matt Murdock x fem!reader)
[a little spicy, but mostly fade to black]
Yesterday the jury found you innocent of murder. Last night you went out for celebratory drinks with your lawyers. Last night...you and Matt succumbed to the lust that's been driving you both insane. Now it's the next morning. And no, it wasn't a dream.
You’re in Matt’s bed, and he can’t get enough of you. Even after last night, he can’t keep his hands off you. But he also has to go to work, and you definitely don’t want that. So you do everything you can to convince him to stay.
Sandman
ONESHOTS
A Smile Like Yours is a Rare Delight (Morpheus x gn!reader)
Your husband's smile drives you crazy, and he loves that
SERIES
Come Find Me, Dream Boy (Morpheus x fem!reader)
The Sandman killed your parents. Of that you're sure. So when your best friend tells you the Sandman is after you, you run. You've been running from him for most of your life, and you sure as hell aren't going to let him find you now. You can't let the Sandman kill you. Not until you kill him first.
Feel free to listen to the playlist I created for this series while you read.
Prologue
[Chapters 1-4 are in progress]
I'm currently also co-writing a Twilight fic which takes up most of my time, so feel free to check them out while you wait for me to write more fics.
Don't forget to leave comments and reblog my fics. Every time someone interacts with my work, I'm more inclined to keep it going, so please spread my work as far as you can 🧡 and enjoy
Hey there! I wanted to come here and tell you that your fic about growing old with the MK system is engraved in my brain forever!! So I decided to do a little something about it, and your bot inspired me to create a character ai bot of old Steven...
I've only been using it myself but before posting it or something I wanted to let you know about it, cause your fic inspired my silliness! It stuck in my head the fact of being in love with them for 32 years and I included that on him, hope you don't mind!
Anyways here's the prompt! (it says my name cause it's programmed to say the user's name) (and also I edited his picture to look old haha)
Awww that’s so sweet! I love it! And very cute too!
And thank you for enjoying my fic! I’m glad you liked it! It makes me happy I shared it! 💖
A profile is a list. A person is a pattern of small contradictions. What is interesting about how people use SweetDream is that they instinctively reach for the second one. On sweetdream.ai the creation process rewards that instinct, asking not just what your AI girlfriend looks like but how she thinks, what she fears, what she jokes about, and where she came from.
The payoff shows up in conversation, which is where the platform clearly invests. SweetDream's chat is emotionally aware and remembers what came before, so a companion built with a real backstory behaves consistently over time instead of resetting into a blank, agreeable voice. Add voice messages, real-time phone calls that genuinely sound human, and video or live cam sessions with select characters, and the personality you wrote starts living across every format.
Compared with options like ourdream.ai, the thing reviewers keep landing on is depth of character paired with strict privacy. As an AI companion platform, SweetDream simply treats the inner life of the character as the main event.
Pairings: Steven Grant x gn!Reader, Marc Spector x gn!Reader, Jake Lockley x gn!Reader
Summary: Even after all these decades you’re still head over heels in love with your husbands. And sometimes you can’t help but say it out loud.
Warnings: Absolutely none. Just fluff—so much fluff!
Word Count: 2805 word count
A/N: I saw a facebook post about a woman saying that even after like a decade, she still got butterflies and stuff when she was around her husband, and so that’s what prompted this.
This is technically in my Falling For Them series, but can be read separately. This was just something I wrote at 4 in the morning because I could. It was originally just Steven, but then I found it again 18 months later and decided to add more. So here it is
“I am in love with you.”
Your husband looked up, his beautiful brown eyes blinking owlishly behind his glasses. You hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but when you’d looked up at him across the room, it was like all the air had rushed from your lungs.
Steven blinked again, his smile a little bewildered and soft as he said, “Well, that’s good, love. What with us being married and all.”
It was a Wednesday afternoon and you were both doing your own thing. It wasn’t a particularly spectacular Wednesday afternoon—it wasn’t your anniversary or anyone’s birthday. You were spread out across the floor working on your novel and Steven was at his desk going over his notes for the new museum exhibit.
But when you’d looked up to ask him about—hell, you couldn’t even remember what—you were hit with such a powerful wave of ‘Oh gods I am so in love with you’ that you could barely breathe.
It had been thirty-two years since you’d said “I do” and you were still so much in love with him. And some days it would just hit you like that. Like a cannonball to the face that you were in love with these men, and they loved you back. It was the giddiest feeling in the world.
You stood up, stepping over the papers that had seemingly exploded around you, and headed to Steven. His arms were already open to you as you scrambled awkwardly into his lap. It wasn’t nearly as easy as it had been in your twenties, but it made him chuckle slightly and you got there eventually.
“No. You don’t understand,” you whispered solemnly, cupping his cheeks in your palms. “I am madly in love with you.”
His face burst into a beautiful smile as his arms came around your waist. “I am madly in love with you too,” he whispered, leaning up to kiss you.
Kissing Steven was like fireworks and slow dancing. The decades since you’d met hadn’t diminished the fire his touch sent racing through you. Every brush of his lips against yours had your heart racing and your soul singing. You tipped his head back to deepen the kiss, suddenly desperate for more, and his moan sent shivers through you. Your hands slipped into his hair and his slipped under your shirt.
Gods, I could do this all day.
You pulled back a fraction, just enough to rest your forehead on his as you both caught your breath.
“If that was your proof, love, I may need some more evidence,” he teased. His thumbs drew circles on the skin under your shirt.
You grinned, closing your eyes at his touch and he pressed a soft kiss to the corner of your lips. He lit a fire along your skin as he grazed his lips along your jaw to your pulse point.
“Thirty-two years and you still make me feel like every kiss is our first kiss,” you whispered as he traced circles into your skin with reverential tenderness. You pulled one of his hands from your waist to over your heart where you could both feel it pounding away. “You make my heart race every time you look at me.” You brought his hand up to cup your cheek. “I feel like my face is going to break with how much I smile just thinking about you.” You move his hand to our stomach. “And I still get butterflies every time I wake up next to you in the morning.”
Steven looked up at you like you were his reason for living. He looked at you like you’d taken all the air from his lungs and were filling them with pure oxygen.
You leaned forward to trace his lips with yours. “Kissing you is like I’m learning to breathe all over again.” You couldn’t help your smile as you pulled back slightly. “It’s like I’m back at the start, falling for you all over again. And it is as easy as it was back then.”
There was a shine to his eyes and he held you close as you placed soft kisses along the backs of his eyelids.
“Except it’s better,” he said when he could finally speak. “It’s so much better than the beginning.” He cupped your cheek with a holy reverence like he still couldn’t believe you were real. “I don’t have to pretend like I don’t want to spend every second of my life kissing you. I don’t have to live with my imagination of what a future with you would be like.” His kiss was so unbearably soft you wanted to stay there forever. “I get to wake up every morning knowing you’re beside me. I get to tell you every day how much I love you. I get to be your husband.”
Even after all these years the word still made butterflies erupt in your soul, and you could tell in the way his heart fluttered underneath your hand that it was the same for him.
“Falling in love with you for the first time was breathtaking, but being married to you—it’s a dream come true.”
You just had to kiss him again for that.
You pulled back and settled into his arms, content to never move again. Steven shifted you slightly so he was comfortable and returned to his work on the exhibit.
But eventually, your body made its complaints known and you had to move. You weren’t a spring chicken anymore and as delightful as it was to sit on your husband’s lap all day, you needed to move to a comfier spot for that to work. You tugged him after you, determined not to do anymore work, and headed to the couch. Today was officially now a cuddle day.
“Also, it’s been thirty-two years, four months and seventeen days.” He shrugged when your eyebrows shot up. “Jake’s been counting.”
“Well,” you leaned in for another kiss. “Here’s to another twenty-two years, four months, seventeen days. And forever.”
“Forever,” Steven breathed, wrapping you in his arms.
~~~
He looked so soft in the mornings. Like he’d never worried about anything in his life.
You’d both been awake for a few hours now, but it was Saturday and you didn’t need to get out of bed at all if you didn’t want to. And lying next to your husband, you never wanted to move again.
“You’re staring,” Marc murmured, eyes still closed.
You reached out to trace his nose, softly following the path to his cheeks, his jaw, his eyelids. He kissed the tip of your finger when it passed his lips, and you died at the cuteness.
“I can’t help it,” you said, biting your lip at how damn cute he was. “I am so in love with you.”
Under your finger his lips curled into that gorgeous smile you adored so dearly. “I love you too, baby.”
You huffed out an exasperated sigh and shuffled closer. “No,” you said like he was being deliberately obtuse. You rolled both of you so you were on top of him, straddling him. Marc snorted, still grinning as his hands came up to hold you in place. He didn’t open his eyes. “I am in love with you.”
“Ah.” He nodded like he finally understood. You poked him in the chest and he pressed his lips together to keep back a laugh. “Of course. My mistake.”
He still hadn’t opened his eyes and you knew he was doing it just to be stubborn, so you leaned forward to kiss his eyelids. When that didn’t work, you pressed a line of soft kisses down his nose, mouth, chin, along his jaw and to his ear—right where you knew he was ticklish.
He huffed a laugh and finally opened his eyes. “What are you doing?” he asked, his eyes crinkling in the corners.
Your heart fluttered. Gods, you loved those eye crinkles. Your boys hadn’t had them when you’d met them. They hadn’t had much to laugh about back then, but over the years their laugh lines had deepened. And boy did you adore them. They were a sign of your darlings growing as people, and letting themselves be comfortable again.
They were no longer ‘Moon Knight’ anymore, and it was mornings like these that were a reminder of that. They were all yours. You didn’t have to worry about losing them, nor did they ever have to worry about you getting hurt because of them.
You were safe. All of you.
And it was because of that safety your darlings could have laugh lines and lazy Saturday mornings with you.
It was like Steven had said. Falling in love with them had been amazing, but being married was a million times better. You wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.
You shrugged helplessly, almost too overcome for words. “I really am just so in love with you.”
Marc melted at that. His grin softened into an adoring smile, and his hands came up to cradle your face. His thumb traced your cheek and you melted into his touch. The look in his eyes reminded you of the day he said “I do”, and of that night, and every day since.
“I am absolutely in love with you too.” He pulled you closer to brush his lips against yours. “Every day I think I can’t possibly be more in love with you. But then the sun rises and I can’t breathe with how much more I love you.”
You started at the unexpected poetry from your normally close-lipped husband. It wasn’t the first time he’d blown you away with his words, but just like always, you never expected it. You buried your face in his neck, cheeks aflame and heart racing. “You are impossible!”
His laugh rumbled through his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you tighter against him. “I learnt from the best,” he agreed, planting an adoring kiss on the side of your head.
~~~
Jake was pouting. Every time you’d look over at him, he’d poke his bottom lip out and turn away, arms crossed. And every time you asked him what was wrong he’d just pout harder. He’d been like this all day and you were starting to wonder if this was a prank. Or if maybe you really had upset him.
So finally you cornered him in the bathroom when he was hunched over cleaning out the cupboards. You stood in front of the door and raised an eyebrow at his back. He couldn’t escape now.
He stood slowly, eyeing you and his blocked escape before he eyed the window too. But when he looked back at your narrowed eyes he knew he was pushing his luck so he just pouted. Again. With those damn puppy dog eyes.
Gods, he’s killing me. And he knew it too. He knew what that look did to you. He’d seen you cave to Steven with it enough that he knew it was your weakness. All your darlings knew how to use it on you, but Jake wasn’t getting away with it today.
“I don’t think so.” You took a step closer. “You’ve been pouting at me all day.” You closed the door. “And every time I ask you what’s wrong, you pout even more.” You stalked towards him until his back was against the wall and you were toe-to-toe. “So tell me. What. Is. Wrong?”
Jake looked away, his chin tipped up so he was staring at the ceiling and resolutely avoiding your eyes.
“Jake Lockley,” you warned.
Your patience was wearing thin. You’d already ruled out this being a joke or a prank, and now you were left with him being upset over something you’d done. And it was exactly like Jake to avoid an issue upsetting him until it went away. If Marc or Steven were upset, all hell broke loose, but Jake? No, he’d let that simmer until he had an ulcer.
And even after all these years, that was something you hadn’t helped him work through entirely. Hence today’s issue.
You raised an eyebrow when he still hadn’t said anything.
“You haven’t said it to me,” he finally muttered, pouting harder.
You reached out to put your fingers to his chin, tilting his face back down to yours. “Haven’t said what, baby?”
He avoided your eyes so you stepped even closer so you were all he could see, and finally he blurted, “You haven’t said you’re in love with me.”
You frowned a little. “What do you mean? I say it all the time.”
And you did. Every chance you could you’d tell your boys how much you loved them. You’d both gone through points in your lives where you thought no one loved you, so all four of you had made it a point to say it every chance you could.
Hell, you had even instituted a system where three taps meant ‘I love you’ so you could all say it whenever you felt it, all without saying it.
But Jake was shaking his head, pouting even harder as he forced himself to look away. “No, not like that. Not like you said to Steven and Marc. Not like that.”
Oh. He was talking about yesterday with Marc and last week with Steven, where you’d been so in love with your husbands you couldn’t help but tell them.
Oh, baby. Your other hand came up to cup his face, ducking your head so he could look at you and your heart skipped at the emotion in his eyes.
He was jealous.
You bit your lip to keep from grinning at how cute he looked. You hadn’t seen it before because you’d been focused on other things, but when Jake pouted…
Gods, you loved that look. You wanted to make him pout like that all the time. Maybe you could get him to look like that next time you were in bed. Make him beg a little…
You shivered at the delight that brought, and his eyes lit up a little at the movement.
Stop it. Now’s not the time.
You reached up to cup his cheeks and you knew there would never be a moment in your life where you weren’t in love with this gorgeous man. “Falling in love with you was inevitable,” you whispered, echoing the words of your vow all those years ago. “There has never been a moment where I haven’t been absolutely head over heels in love with you, Jake Lockley.”
“Yeah?” He gave you a small smile, and you knew he was lapping up your words, just like he did every time.
It had broken your heart when you’d learned that of all of them, Jake had been loved the least. That not once in his life had anyone told him that they loved him. From then on you’d made it your mission to tell him so often that he would never doubt his worth ever again.
“Yeah, baby.” A smile escaped your lips and your eyes creased with how much you adored him. “Sometimes it just hits me how much I love you. Before I met you I didn’t realise I could love someone this much, and then I fell in love with you and—” you shrugged helplessly. “I’ve never been happier than when I’m with you.”
Jake’s smile bloomed into a grin that had his eyes crinkling and his cheeks blushing. “Good.”
Before you could react, he wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted up into the air. You shrieked, laughing, and clutched his shoulders to keep from falling. Even as old age crept into the bones of your darlings, they still surprised you with how much they could still do.
He spun you around before setting you back on your feet, your back against the wall. He leaned in, trapping you against him as he curled a hand against your cheek. His nose brushed against yours and he was grinning so hard you knew his cheeks were aching. Just like yours.
You arched into him, biting your lip as his thumb traced your cheekbone.
“Tell me again,” he murmured, brushing his nose against yours in just the way he knew drove you crazy.
Your heart pounded, and you wanted to bury your face into his chest to hide the blush burning across your cheeks, but you knew nothing but the truth would save you. So, you took a handful of his shirt and pulled him even closer. Then, with a brush of your lips against his, you said, “I am madly, deeply, inevitably and hopelessly in love with you, Jake Lockley.”
He snickered. “Gross,” like he wasn’t entirely head over heels for you too, and pulled you in for a searing kiss. “But me too.”
A/N: Reblogs, comments and likes give me the dopamine to keep writing, so if you liked this oneshot,
Let me know what you think 💖
And if you want more like this, follow me here or on AO3 (or both)
this had me feeling warmth and love and oh my god its so beautiful. You’re writing is so passionate and descriptive and the dialogue is perfect. in love with your writing for real😫🫶🏽
also LOVE Jake fluff. he is always written as so aggressive and i agree that he is the softest of them all, the one that needs- craves love the most. Such a beautiful fic, thank you so much for sharing it🥹🤌🏽
Awww! Thank you so much!!! You’re making me blush!!!
I love Jake fluff too! He deserves all the cuddles! In all the ideas and half written fics I have of him, that man is just desperate for some genuine love. I just want to give him a hug!!
Pairings: Steven Grant x gn!Reader, Marc Spector x gn!Reader, Jake Lockley x gn!Reader
Summary: Even after all these decades you’re still head over heels in love with your husbands. And sometimes you can’t help but say it out loud.
Warnings: Absolutely none. Just fluff—so much fluff!
Word Count: 2805 word count
A/N: I saw a facebook post about a woman saying that even after like a decade, she still got butterflies and stuff when she was around her husband, and so that’s what prompted this.
This is technically in my Falling For Them series, but can be read separately. This was just something I wrote at 4 in the morning because I could. It was originally just Steven, but then I found it again 18 months later and decided to add more. So here it is
“I am in love with you.”
Your husband looked up, his beautiful brown eyes blinking owlishly behind his glasses. You hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but when you’d looked up at him across the room, it was like all the air had rushed from your lungs.
Steven blinked again, his smile a little bewildered and soft as he said, “Well, that’s good, love. What with us being married and all.”
It was a Wednesday afternoon and you were both doing your own thing. It wasn’t a particularly spectacular Wednesday afternoon—it wasn’t your anniversary or anyone’s birthday. You were spread out across the floor working on your novel and Steven was at his desk going over his notes for the new museum exhibit.
But when you’d looked up to ask him about—hell, you couldn’t even remember what—you were hit with such a powerful wave of ‘Oh gods I am so in love with you’ that you could barely breathe.
It had been thirty-two years since you’d said “I do” and you were still so much in love with him. And some days it would just hit you like that. Like a cannonball to the face that you were in love with these men, and they loved you back. It was the giddiest feeling in the world.
You stood up, stepping over the papers that had seemingly exploded around you, and headed to Steven. His arms were already open to you as you scrambled awkwardly into his lap. It wasn’t nearly as easy as it had been in your twenties, but it made him chuckle slightly and you got there eventually.
“No. You don’t understand,” you whispered solemnly, cupping his cheeks in your palms. “I am madly in love with you.”
His face burst into a beautiful smile as his arms came around your waist. “I am madly in love with you too,” he whispered, leaning up to kiss you.
Kissing Steven was like fireworks and slow dancing. The decades since you’d met hadn’t diminished the fire his touch sent racing through you. Every brush of his lips against yours had your heart racing and your soul singing. You tipped his head back to deepen the kiss, suddenly desperate for more, and his moan sent shivers through you. Your hands slipped into his hair and his slipped under your shirt.
Gods, I could do this all day.
You pulled back a fraction, just enough to rest your forehead on his as you both caught your breath.
“If that was your proof, love, I may need some more evidence,” he teased. His thumbs drew circles on the skin under your shirt.
You grinned, closing your eyes at his touch and he pressed a soft kiss to the corner of your lips. He lit a fire along your skin as he grazed his lips along your jaw to your pulse point.
“Thirty-two years and you still make me feel like every kiss is our first kiss,” you whispered as he traced circles into your skin with reverential tenderness. You pulled one of his hands from your waist to over your heart where you could both feel it pounding away. “You make my heart race every time you look at me.” You brought his hand up to cup your cheek. “I feel like my face is going to break with how much I smile just thinking about you.” You move his hand to our stomach. “And I still get butterflies every time I wake up next to you in the morning.”
Steven looked up at you like you were his reason for living. He looked at you like you’d taken all the air from his lungs and were filling them with pure oxygen.
You leaned forward to trace his lips with yours. “Kissing you is like I’m learning to breathe all over again.” You couldn’t help your smile as you pulled back slightly. “It’s like I’m back at the start, falling for you all over again. And it is as easy as it was back then.”
There was a shine to his eyes and he held you close as you placed soft kisses along the backs of his eyelids.
“Except it’s better,” he said when he could finally speak. “It’s so much better than the beginning.” He cupped your cheek with a holy reverence like he still couldn’t believe you were real. “I don’t have to pretend like I don’t want to spend every second of my life kissing you. I don’t have to live with my imagination of what a future with you would be like.” His kiss was so unbearably soft you wanted to stay there forever. “I get to wake up every morning knowing you’re beside me. I get to tell you every day how much I love you. I get to be your husband.”
Even after all these years the word still made butterflies erupt in your soul, and you could tell in the way his heart fluttered underneath your hand that it was the same for him.
“Falling in love with you for the first time was breathtaking, but being married to you—it’s a dream come true.”
You just had to kiss him again for that.
You pulled back and settled into his arms, content to never move again. Steven shifted you slightly so he was comfortable and returned to his work on the exhibit.
But eventually, your body made its complaints known and you had to move. You weren’t a spring chicken anymore and as delightful as it was to sit on your husband’s lap all day, you needed to move to a comfier spot for that to work. You tugged him after you, determined not to do anymore work, and headed to the couch. Today was officially now a cuddle day.
“Also, it’s been thirty-two years, four months and seventeen days.” He shrugged when your eyebrows shot up. “Jake’s been counting.”
“Well,” you leaned in for another kiss. “Here’s to another twenty-two years, four months, seventeen days. And forever.”
“Forever,” Steven breathed, wrapping you in his arms.
~~~
He looked so soft in the mornings. Like he’d never worried about anything in his life.
You’d both been awake for a few hours now, but it was Saturday and you didn’t need to get out of bed at all if you didn’t want to. And lying next to your husband, you never wanted to move again.
“You’re staring,” Marc murmured, eyes still closed.
You reached out to trace his nose, softly following the path to his cheeks, his jaw, his eyelids. He kissed the tip of your finger when it passed his lips, and you died at the cuteness.
“I can’t help it,” you said, biting your lip at how damn cute he was. “I am so in love with you.”
Under your finger his lips curled into that gorgeous smile you adored so dearly. “I love you too, baby.”
You huffed out an exasperated sigh and shuffled closer. “No,” you said like he was being deliberately obtuse. You rolled both of you so you were on top of him, straddling him. Marc snorted, still grinning as his hands came up to hold you in place. He didn’t open his eyes. “I am in love with you.”
“Ah.” He nodded like he finally understood. You poked him in the chest and he pressed his lips together to keep back a laugh. “Of course. My mistake.”
He still hadn’t opened his eyes and you knew he was doing it just to be stubborn, so you leaned forward to kiss his eyelids. When that didn’t work, you pressed a line of soft kisses down his nose, mouth, chin, along his jaw and to his ear—right where you knew he was ticklish.
He huffed a laugh and finally opened his eyes. “What are you doing?” he asked, his eyes crinkling in the corners.
Your heart fluttered. Gods, you loved those eye crinkles. Your boys hadn’t had them when you’d met them. They hadn’t had much to laugh about back then, but over the years their laugh lines had deepened. And boy did you adore them. They were a sign of your darlings growing as people, and letting themselves be comfortable again.
They were no longer ‘Moon Knight’ anymore, and it was mornings like these that were a reminder of that. They were all yours. You didn’t have to worry about losing them, nor did they ever have to worry about you getting hurt because of them.
You were safe. All of you.
And it was because of that safety your darlings could have laugh lines and lazy Saturday mornings with you.
It was like Steven had said. Falling in love with them had been amazing, but being married was a million times better. You wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.
You shrugged helplessly, almost too overcome for words. “I really am just so in love with you.”
Marc melted at that. His grin softened into an adoring smile, and his hands came up to cradle your face. His thumb traced your cheek and you melted into his touch. The look in his eyes reminded you of the day he said “I do”, and of that night, and every day since.
“I am absolutely in love with you too.” He pulled you closer to brush his lips against yours. “Every day I think I can’t possibly be more in love with you. But then the sun rises and I can’t breathe with how much more I love you.”
You started at the unexpected poetry from your normally close-lipped husband. It wasn’t the first time he’d blown you away with his words, but just like always, you never expected it. You buried your face in his neck, cheeks aflame and heart racing. “You are impossible!”
His laugh rumbled through his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you tighter against him. “I learnt from the best,” he agreed, planting an adoring kiss on the side of your head.
~~~
Jake was pouting. Every time you’d look over at him, he’d poke his bottom lip out and turn away, arms crossed. And every time you asked him what was wrong he’d just pout harder. He’d been like this all day and you were starting to wonder if this was a prank. Or if maybe you really had upset him.
So finally you cornered him in the bathroom when he was hunched over cleaning out the cupboards. You stood in front of the door and raised an eyebrow at his back. He couldn’t escape now.
He stood slowly, eyeing you and his blocked escape before he eyed the window too. But when he looked back at your narrowed eyes he knew he was pushing his luck so he just pouted. Again. With those damn puppy dog eyes.
Gods, he’s killing me. And he knew it too. He knew what that look did to you. He’d seen you cave to Steven with it enough that he knew it was your weakness. All your darlings knew how to use it on you, but Jake wasn’t getting away with it today.
“I don’t think so.” You took a step closer. “You’ve been pouting at me all day.” You closed the door. “And every time I ask you what’s wrong, you pout even more.” You stalked towards him until his back was against the wall and you were toe-to-toe. “So tell me. What. Is. Wrong?”
Jake looked away, his chin tipped up so he was staring at the ceiling and resolutely avoiding your eyes.
“Jake Lockley,” you warned.
Your patience was wearing thin. You’d already ruled out this being a joke or a prank, and now you were left with him being upset over something you’d done. And it was exactly like Jake to avoid an issue upsetting him until it went away. If Marc or Steven were upset, all hell broke loose, but Jake? No, he’d let that simmer until he had an ulcer.
And even after all these years, that was something you hadn’t helped him work through entirely. Hence today’s issue.
You raised an eyebrow when he still hadn’t said anything.
“You haven’t said it to me,” he finally muttered, pouting harder.
You reached out to put your fingers to his chin, tilting his face back down to yours. “Haven’t said what, baby?”
He avoided your eyes so you stepped even closer so you were all he could see, and finally he blurted, “You haven’t said you’re in love with me.”
You frowned a little. “What do you mean? I say it all the time.”
And you did. Every chance you could you’d tell your boys how much you loved them. You’d both gone through points in your lives where you thought no one loved you, so all four of you had made it a point to say it every chance you could.
Hell, you had even instituted a system where three taps meant ‘I love you’ so you could all say it whenever you felt it, all without saying it.
But Jake was shaking his head, pouting even harder as he forced himself to look away. “No, not like that. Not like you said to Steven and Marc. Not like that.”
Oh. He was talking about yesterday with Marc and last week with Steven, where you’d been so in love with your husbands you couldn’t help but tell them.
Oh, baby. Your other hand came up to cup his face, ducking your head so he could look at you and your heart skipped at the emotion in his eyes.
He was jealous.
You bit your lip to keep from grinning at how cute he looked. You hadn’t seen it before because you’d been focused on other things, but when Jake pouted…
Gods, you loved that look. You wanted to make him pout like that all the time. Maybe you could get him to look like that next time you were in bed. Make him beg a little…
You shivered at the delight that brought, and his eyes lit up a little at the movement.
Stop it. Now’s not the time.
You reached up to cup his cheeks and you knew there would never be a moment in your life where you weren’t in love with this gorgeous man. “Falling in love with you was inevitable,” you whispered, echoing the words of your vow all those years ago. “There has never been a moment where I haven’t been absolutely head over heels in love with you, Jake Lockley.”
“Yeah?” He gave you a small smile, and you knew he was lapping up your words, just like he did every time.
It had broken your heart when you’d learned that of all of them, Jake had been loved the least. That not once in his life had anyone told him that they loved him. From then on you’d made it your mission to tell him so often that he would never doubt his worth ever again.
“Yeah, baby.” A smile escaped your lips and your eyes creased with how much you adored him. “Sometimes it just hits me how much I love you. Before I met you I didn’t realise I could love someone this much, and then I fell in love with you and—” you shrugged helplessly. “I’ve never been happier than when I’m with you.”
Jake’s smile bloomed into a grin that had his eyes crinkling and his cheeks blushing. “Good.”
Before you could react, he wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted up into the air. You shrieked, laughing, and clutched his shoulders to keep from falling. Even as old age crept into the bones of your darlings, they still surprised you with how much they could still do.
He spun you around before setting you back on your feet, your back against the wall. He leaned in, trapping you against him as he curled a hand against your cheek. His nose brushed against yours and he was grinning so hard you knew his cheeks were aching. Just like yours.
You arched into him, biting your lip as his thumb traced your cheekbone.
“Tell me again,” he murmured, brushing his nose against yours in just the way he knew drove you crazy.
Your heart pounded, and you wanted to bury your face into his chest to hide the blush burning across your cheeks, but you knew nothing but the truth would save you. So, you took a handful of his shirt and pulled him even closer. Then, with a brush of your lips against his, you said, “I am madly, deeply, inevitably and hopelessly in love with you, Jake Lockley.”
He snickered. “Gross,” like he wasn’t entirely head over heels for you too, and pulled you in for a searing kiss. “But me too.”
A/N: Reblogs, comments and likes give me the dopamine to keep writing, so if you liked this oneshot,
Let me know what you think 💖
And if you want more like this, follow me here or on AO3 (or both)
The idea that because of the Holocaust Israel has the right to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, is absurd.
That's like saying the genocide of native Americans is okay because America was once under British control.
Hell that's like saying every country that was under British imperialism has a pass to commit genocide.
Because they suffered they should be allowed to let other people suffer.
That's not how that works.
You under went something awful, that does not give you the right to inflict that on others.
And they want to, a Israeli politican today (18.12.2023), David Azoulai said that Gaza should be made into Ausuwitch.
“The whole Gaza Strip needs to be empty. Flattened. Just like in Auschwitz. Let it be a museum for all the world to see what Israel can do. Let no one reside in the Gaza Strip for all the world to see, because October 7 was in a way a second Holocaust.”
The Ausuwitz Museum actually commented on this, calling it sick and hateful.
Agreed.
And that's without mentioning that Israel treats its Holocaust survivors like shit.
As of 2023 there are 165,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel and 1 in 3 live under the poverty line.
And it's not like they don't have the money for it either, given America gives them millions.
But they'd rather use that money to kill Palestinians than help their own people. Even putting foreign settlers above their own people.
They have the Hannibal protocol which calls for the killing their own civilian hostages, which they've done multiple times.
Even when they've stepped forward with a white flag and spoke to them in Hebrew, they've shot them and said they thought they were the enemy.
Because they don't care, they are using the trauma of the Holocaust as a tool to kill others.
Holocaust survivors are speaking out that what Israel is doing to Palestinians is exactly what the Nazi's did to them, but the Israeli government doesn't care.
Not for them, and definitely not for the Palestinians.
The fact people think they should be allowed to do any of this and thinking it's justified is disgusting.
Fandom: Moon Knight
Pairing: Moon Knight Boys (Steven, Marc & Jake) x Reader
Word Count: 1472 words
Summary: You and your darlings go to a wedding, and suddenly all that happiness is exactly what you want for your future with them. In that happiness, you can't help but...pop the question.
A/N: The reader in this might skew slightly more feminine because I essentially wrote it around the outfit, but no pronouns are used, so it's still gender-neutral
“You look gorgeous,” Steven murmured.
You looked up to see him standing in the doorway, watching you with a soft look of adoration that made your heart skip.
He was right though. You looked stunning. You were wearing a mulberry chiffon pantsuit that made you feel like a powerful boss. You’d brought a shawl for the day if it ever got too cool, but Jake had convinced you to keep it off. It was a good decision. Between the halter neck and sleeveless design, and the earrings, you felt unstoppable. Gorgeous too.
You held out your hand to him. “You look pretty breathtaking yourself,” you said with a soft smile.
They truly did. Jake had chosen their suit, and every time you saw them in it was like the air had been sucked from your lungs. The jacket was a soft blue that made you want to run your hands all over it and the shirt beneath flowed over them like a second skin. Steven had made sure the suit was perfectly tailored to their build, and you’d thoroughly thanked him for it.
Everything from their pants—which curved deliciously over their fine ass—to the tie Marc had long since loosened, fit them like a gorgeous glove. Half of you wanted to rip it off and just devour them, while the other half wanted to just stare at them for eternity.
“You think?” Marc fidgeted with their tie beneath your gaze, loosening the knot further. Every second of this “monkey suit” business was making his skin crawl, and the fact that he was still here made your heart melt.
You tugged him closer, winding your fingers together, until he stood between your legs. You tipped your head back and smiled at them. Reaching up with your other hand, you loosened the tie until it hung around their neck like an odd scarf. Then you took their other hand in yours and took a second to just adore them.
“I think it is taking everything in me to not tear that suit off you and show you just how much I like it.”
The tension disappeared from his shoulders and a spark of mischief entered his eyes as he smirked. “Oh yeah?” Jake drawled.
He dropped one of your hands and trailed his fingers along your jaw, tipping your head back. He pressed his thumb to your bottom lip and his eyes darkened as your tongue flicked out. “And how do you plan on doing that, mi sol?”
Your own smile turned wicked.
Jake’s grip on your chin loosened as Steven fronted. “Not here, love,” he murmured with a fond and exasperated chuckle, even as his eyes never left your mouth. “We’ll get kicked out.”
Worth it, Jake mouthed and you grinned as you twisted in his grip to press a kiss to his palm.
But still you pulled back. Steven was right. You were at the wedding of one of your work friends, and she would never forgive you if you disappeared for a quickie on her porch swing. The ceremony itself might have been over, but seeing as the reception was being held in the barn only a few metres away—well, her murdering you would spoil the evening.
With a quiet laugh you pulled your darlings onto the swing next to you. They wrapped their arm around your shoulders and you curled into their side. The sun was setting and you could see why this farmstead had been chosen as the wedding venue. The day had been the perfect blend of summer and fall, but the sunset was sublime. The last rays of sunlight filtered through the trees and lit the entire world in a golden glow.
“...the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Marc murmured, and you looked up to see him gazing down at you.
He wasn’t talking about the sunset.
You blushed hard at the love in his eyes and his words. You buried your face into his shirt so the sight wouldn’t kill you immediately.
Their fingers curled beneath your chin again, pulling your face up. You swallowed thickly at the adoration in Steven’s eyes. His breath caught as he looked down at you and you felt yourself falling in love all over again.
The four of you had been dating for almost two years now, and not a day went by where you didn’t thank your stars. Not one, not two, but three gorgeous men loved and adored you for who you were. All your good sides and bad sides—even the worst ones you usually kept hidden.
The four of you had grown so much in the time that you’d known each other, and your heart skipped to remember how you’d met and fallen in love with each and every one of them. They were your darlings, and you adored them more than anything else in the world.
“How’d you get to be so stunning, love?” Steven whispered, eyes wide as he drank you in. “And how’d we get so lucky?”
“We must’a done something great in our last life,” Jake muttered. His thumb made a pass over your cheek that made you shiver.
Your cheeks hurt with how hard you were smiling, but you couldn’t help it when they were saying stuff like that. Frankly you were the lucky one to have them, even if they’d never agree with you.
Instead of passing out from happiness like you half wanted to, you cupped their cheek. “Thank you, darlings.”
The love of all three of them crinkled the corners of their eyes as they smiled at you and dipped their head to meet you in the middle. It was a soft kiss, full of everything you didn’t need to say. It was a declaration of adoration and a promise of forever. Your heart skipped a beat and you leaned forward, fingers slipping into their hair.
Cheers broke you apart with matching gasps. You all looked over to the barn where you could see the bride and groom doing shots. You chuckled and dropped your head onto your darling’s shoulder. Their arm curled around your waist and they pressed another kiss to the crown of your head as you watched the wedding party getting more raucous with every shot.
After a quiet moment, a thought came to your mind and you blurted it out before you could convince yourself otherwise. “Do you think that could ever be us?” Your boys froze beside you and you hurried on before you lost your nerve. “You know, married.”
You didn’t know what made you ask it, but now that you had, it was all you could think about. The four of you, bound together for all of eternity. A ring on your finger, a matching band on theirs. Walking down that aisle to where they waited for you. Suddenly that was all you could possibly want. You, them. Forever.
“Which one of us are you talking to?” Jake asked, his voice low and tight.
You looked up at them, eyebrows furrowed. “All of you.”
Did they really think you would choose between them? How could you? How could anyone?
They swallowed thickly, eyes darting over your face like they were searching for a lie. You pressed a hand over their heart and insisted, “All of you. I can’t have one of you without the others.” You licked your lips, suddenly desperate to get them to believe you. “There isn’t a part of your system that I don’t completely adore. I love all of you and I want forever, for all of us.” You swallowed, suddenly terrified their hesitation was a ‘no’. “If you want that too, that is.”
They made a strangled noise and surged forward to slam their lips against yours.
This time the kiss was rough, desperate, like they couldn’t get enough of you. Their hands cupped your jaw, angling your head to deepen the kiss. They devoured you like it was the first and last time rolled into one. And you reciprocated with every atom of your being.
Eventually they pulled back, resting their forehead against yours as you all gasped for air. Both your chests heaved as they cupped your cheeks and you gripped their lapels.
“Forever,” Marc gasped, pressing closer. “Yes. Yes.”
You sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide as your heart thumped in your throat. “Yeah?”
Steven closed his eyes, a tear sliding down his cheek as he nodded frantically. “Forever. All of us. Yes, love.”
Jake swallowed as he fronted, clutching you closer. “We’re going to need a better proposal than that, amor,” he said gruffly and you laughed, your own eyes overflowing with tears. Then he broke into the most beautiful smile you had ever seen. “But forever does sound perfect.”
And from that moment, forever would always remind you of sunsets and porch swings.
Thank you to @flufftober for the prompts! 💜
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Fandom: Moon Knight
Pairing: Jake Lockley x reader
Word Count: 1269 words
Summary: You and Jake are out on a date for your anniversary in a corn maze of all places, and you get lost. Jake of course takes advantage of the alone time (keeping it PG of course)
“We’re lost. Admit it.”
You shove him a little. “We are not!”
Jake grins. “You have no idea where we are.”
“We’re in a maze,” you shoot back with no short amount of sass.
“And whereabouts in the maze, mi sol?”
You don’t reply and he tips his head back and laughs. “Like I said, we’re lost.”
You shove at him again, but he dodges back and ducks around your other side. Before you can react, he scoops his arm around your waist and pulls you into his side. You gasp at the movement, before entirely melting into his arms.
“Fine, where do you think we are?” you demand, winding your arms around his neck.
Jake snorts. “I don’t know. In a maze somewhere.”
You groan, shoving away from him. “Useless.” When he tries to pull you back in, laughing, you point at him. “We have dinner reservations, and they will not keep them for us just because you got us lost in a maze.”
“I got us lost?” His smile turns wicked and your stomach swoops. You step back and he follows you, step for step, eyes never leaving yours. “I’m the one to blame?”
Your steps quicken and so do his. He stalks towards you, eyes devouring you. You swallow a giggle which turns into a gasp as your back hits the maze wall. Jake’s grin turns absolutely delighted when you realise you have no hope of escape.
Not that you’re complaining.
He stops right in front of you, and his hands curl around the corn stalks behind you, caging you in. He leans in, trapping you against him and heat curls through you at the press of his body against yours. It’s been years since you first fell for him but he still makes your heart race like it’s the first time.
Especially when he has that look in his eyes where you know you’re going to be aching the next day.
“What are you thinking, mi corazon?” he purrs, eyes darkening. “Because you look downright horny right now.”
Licking your lips—and watching his eyes track the movement—you wrap your hand around his tie and rise on your tiptoes to get that extra bit closer to his mouth. Your toes curl as his breath dances across your lips. You tighten your grip on his tie, tugging it tightly. He growls and the corn stalks in his grip crumple.
You step back, grinning and entirely satisfied with yourself. “I’m thinking of dinner.” You duck under his arm before he can react. “We should head off before we miss our reservation.”
You pat his chest and make it all of two steps before he hauls you back in. This time rather than just caging you against the maze wall, he pulls you into it. You squeal and fall willingly into him as he tugs you out of view of everyone.
He keeps you firmly pressed against him, and you arch deliciously against his firm…everything. One hand curls behind your neck, tipping your head back, while the other curves over your ass, tugging you perfectly against him.
You wind your fingers through his hair and pull his mouth down to yours. Desire burns through you as the crash of your lips together sends him into a frenzy that has his hands racing over every inch of you he can reach.
Your fingers dig into his scalp and you swallow his moan like it’s a nectar you can’t get enough of.
“Excuse me?” Suddenly a voice breaks through your passion and you pull back from Jake with a gasp. “Hi? Sorry, you can’t do that here.”
You glance to your left and you see the owner of the voice. Or most of him at least, and what you can see is that he is barely old enough to grow the stringy beard he’s sporting.
Jake’s fingers do a long slow sweep along the small of your back and you shiver into him at the sensation. The corner of his lips curls up and he drops his face into the crook of your neck. Against your skin he murmurs, “Ignore him.”
Okay.
You scratch your nails along his scalp and smile as he groans into your skin. He mutters something low in Spanish that is too fast and quiet for you to hear, but what you do catch has you arching against him. Especially as his fingers dip below your waistband.
“This is a family establishment,” the boy says again, unpleasantly reminding you of reality. He pauses before clearing his throat and trying again. “My manager says you can’t do that here.”
With annoyed growl, Jake steps further back into the corn maze, pulling you after him. You give him a look, but don’t do anything to stop him—not when you’re burning up under his gaze and touch.
“Um…I can still see you?”
You sigh. Yeah, this isn’t going to work. Untangling your fingers from his hair, you shake your head at Jake and murmur, “Just when it was getting good.”
He pouts. Murder? he mouths, with wide puppy-dog eyes.
You laugh softly and press a kiss to his cheek. His stubble scratches you and you’re deliciously reminded of the last time your darlings grew out a beard. By the desire burning in his eyes and the wicked tilt of his mouth, you know he’s remembering that morning too.
“You really need to leave.”
With a final look of promise, you pull back completely. The sudden lack of him and the cold rushing in after his delicious warmth, brings you further back to reality.
“We’re coming,” you call out over your shoulder.
With a final sigh, Jake follows as you head out of the way too dense corn stalks and re-emerge in the clearing. The boy—a worker for the maze—stares at you both, and you almost feel sorry for him, until you notice him ogling you and then you just feel like kicking his balls right back up until puberty tries again.
When Jake notices the look, he glares at the boy who instantly shrivels. He clears his throat and puffs out his chest like that’ll work in making him appear less prepubescent. “You really can’t be doing stuff like that here. There are kids walking around!”
He isn’t wrong. You probably shouldn’t have been acting like horny teenagers necking it in the woods, but it’s your anniversary for gods’ sake! You are horny. And who wouldn’t be with your delicious man looking at you like you’re good enough to eat?
Still, the kid is an asshole and you are just petty enough not to let him win.
You sniff, and with one bored look, you give him a scathing once over, raise your eyebrows and turn away. “Ready for dinner, darling?”
Jake smiles at you, delighted as always by the appearance of your petty side, and he loops an arm around your waist. With a snicker, you two walk off, and when you’re far enough away, Jake presses a kiss to your forehead. He grins. “That kid is going to need years of therapy to get over that burn.”
You snort. “Like he didn’t have it coming.” You lean further into your husband’s arms and shoot him a crooked grin of your own. “Now, how about we skip dinner and just go straight to dessert?”
That wicked smile you do so love comes back, and that molten desire from earlier burns back to life.
Jake strokes a finger along your jaw. “One problem though.”
You hum, and then groan as realisation sets in. “We’re still lost, aren’t we?”
Fandom: Daredevil
Pairing: Daredevil x Detective!Reader
Word Count: 2277 words
Summary: You’re the lead detective on the team hunting down the vigilante known as Daredevil. You have no leads, until your boyfriend stumbles through your front door, half dead, and wearing that damn suit.
His face. You could never get over how peaceful he looked asleep. The way his eyebrows smoothed out, and the tense lines around his eyes disappeared. He looked like he had never been worried in his life. Like people weren’t trying to kill him on a daily basis. Like the bruises and cuts marring his beautiful face didn’t exist.
Like you hadn’t peeled his half dead body out of his Daredevil suit the night before and spent every second since making sure he didn’t die.
It made sense. Of course it did, but…
You thought he was having an affair.
To find out he was the city’s most loved and hated vigilante didn’t make it any better. No, it made you furious and sick to your stomach. You’d been sharing the same bed for weeks now and he hadn’t thought to share this giant secret about himself. He’d let you think all those bruises had come from accidents at work and from ‘just being blind’. Not from fighting mercenaries and killers.
You’d lost track of all the times ‘Daredevil’ had shown up in some newspaper or whispered about at the coffee stand. He was the most talked about man in the city, the man your bosses had tasked you with tracking down—and he was also your boyfriend.
Clinking and a sudden intake of breath brought your attention back to your room. He was awake.
You didn’t move as Matt tugged at the handcuffs chaining his wrist to the headboard. His eyes grew round with panic and then pain as he undoubtedly ripped apart some of the stitches you’d worked so hard on. Your heart ached, but you didn’t move to help him. If the articles were to be believed he’d faced far worse than this.
You hardened your heart. Answers first.
His head snapped around to you and something clicked in your mind. He stared right at you, like he’d heard the twinging of your heart. And there was something in his eyes that told you he knew it was you sitting across from him.
But he’s blind! How can he—
You crossed one leg over the other and waited. Waited to see what excuses he’d scramble for. What lies he’d spew.
“What happened?” he rasped instead, like he knew what you were waiting for.
Your hands tightened, his mask creaked in your fist and his head turned to it. Again it confirmed the understanding forming in your mind.
A similar understanding settled on his face. Matt pushed himself up against the pillows, wincing as the movement tugged at his injuries.
“You cleaned me up,” he said softly. “After I came home.”
“After you fell through the door,” you corrected. “Bleeding and unconscious.”
Matt winced. “You were supposed to be out tonight.”
You clenched your jaw, your nostrils flaring. “Clearly.”
“Y/N—” He reached out for you, only to jolt back against the handcuffs and wince at the pain.
You crossed your arms over your chest and leaned back, settling into silence once more. It was the only weapon you had left, the only thing to shield you from everything threatening to overwhelm you.
Matt slumped back against the pillows, his face turned away from you. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he murmured. “For you to find out like this.”
Your nails bit into your palms to keep from replying but silence was impossible. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. If he’d been slightly more aware of his actions last night, he would have collapsed somewhere else and then pretended to have fallen asleep at work when he eventually came home.
Nausea swirled in your throat. He’d used that excuse before; that’s how you knew he would have used it this time. Just last month he’d ‘passed out’ amidst case files at the office, only for him to show up the next day with a cut across his eyebrow—the one he’d said came from walking into a door.
You wet your lips, your mouth suddenly dry. “Foggy and Karen know, don’t they?”
He nodded and you looked away. Of course they did—they’d probably lied to you every time they made excuses for him.
How had you not seen this earlier? You were a cop for gods’ sake! How had this man been able to lie to you so easily for all the months you’d known him? For all the weeks you’d been fucking!
Because you didn’t want to see the truth, a small voice inside you whispered. Because it was easier to see the mundane than to see that the vigilante you’ve been chasing for the past month is the man you’ve fallen in love with.
“They wanted me to tell you. But I didn’t want to put you in danger.”
You scoffed at that. Right, of course. “You just didn’t want me to catch you.”
His voice was soft when he said, “I didn’t want you to have to choose between turning me in or lying for me.”
You threw his mask at him, glaring at him as it bounced harmlessly off his chest. He didn’t even flinch and that just pissed you off even more. “Like that’s even a decision, you idiot!” Your eyes burned with tears. “How could you even think I would turn you in!”
Matt seemed to hesitate. “Because you’re leading the task force hunting me down.”
You rolled your eyes. “And I have made my stance on that very clear! Daredevil—you—have been doing a far better job at keeping the streets safe than we have in years. We’re understaffed ninety percent of the time, and if you’re not on some asshole’s payroll, you’re too exhausted from picking up everyone else’s slack! I’m only on that investigation to make sure you get a fair deal if you’re caught!”
He seemed to freeze, and an odd look passed over his face like he’d never even considered what you were saying. “You’re…on my side.”
How fucking dare he doubt that!
“No.” You smiled sarcastically. “I’m secretly on the side of every capitalist asshole in this town who wants to chop your head off.” You narrowed your eyes at him. “If I wasn’t on your damn side, Matt, do you really think I’d have stayed awake the whole night making sure you didn’t die on me?”
Matt tipped his head back. “Then what’s with the police regulation handcuffs?”
“Because I’m still mad at you, you idiot!” You threw the nearest object—a pillow—at him. “You collapsed through the front door covered in blood and spandex! I thought I was being robbed!” You ran your fingers through your hair. “And then I thought someone had left me a weird-ass fucking present when I realised it was my target, only to have a fucking heart attack when I saw it was you!”
You stood up, chest heaving and breathing fast. “Do you have any idea what it was like to have to check the pulse of the man I love every hour to make sure he’s still alive? To have to peel off his superhero suit and spend the whole night keeping him from bleeding out?” You furiously swiped at the tears suddenly streaming down your cheeks. “My job is the last thing on my mind right now. But since I am still a cop, of course I fucking put handcuffs on you because I want answers before you run away!”
You spun around to throw that last bit at him, only to freeze in place at the stunned look on his face.
“You love me?” he whispered.
Your heart stumbled. “That’s the part you focus on?”
He strained forward in his handcuffs, swallowing roughly. His chest heaved like he was out of breath at just the idea. “You’ve never said it before.”
“I– you—” you stammered, lost for words as the conversation jumped to another track entirely. You shook your head and pointed at him. “No. Stop it. Don’t try and change the subject! You lied to me!”
Matt closed his eyes, sobering a little. “I didn’t want to hurt you,” he whispered finally. “Even before you were on the task force, I didn’t want you worrying about me.”
You stared at him in disbelief. “Are you fucking serious?”
He swallowed. He genuinely seemed to believe not knowing equaled not worrying your ass off.
You threw your hands up. “You’d come home most days with bruises all over you! Do you really think telling me you got them from bumping into things made me feel better? I was constantly worried about you!” Almost every day you had worried about him walking around the city and getting injured or robbed. “Clearly I didn’t have to worry since you’re out fighting crime!”
You spun on him then, the curiosity burning too hot for you to be able to ignore. “And how do you do that? Huh?” You advanced on him, finger pointing until you were close enough to jab him in the chest. “Are you even blind?”
“Yes,” Matt said softly, not moving away. “I am.”
“But?”
Slowly his hand came up to hold yours. When you didn’t pull away, he wound your fingers together. “But I can hear how fast your heart is beating, and I can smell the blood in the washcloths you used to clean me earlier. It forms a…picture in my head of what is happening. So I do see…in a sense.”
“And what? You use that to fight crime?” You let out an exasperated breath. “If you’d just told me that, I wouldn’t have had to worry about you being mugged in a dark alley!”
Matt frowned a little, tilting his head. “You’d prefer me getting in fights than being mugged in an alley?”
You gave him a pointed look. “I’ve seen you fight, Matt. I’ve seen Daredevil beating up an entire gang with guns and not even getting a scratch!”
Had he really forgotten the time your team had ‘almost’ captured him a few weeks ago? You’d arrived in time to see Daredevil knock out four muscled thugs with a couple of flips. Sure, if you’d known that it was Matt rather than some random person, you would have been worried for him. But there was no way you would have been even half as worried as you had been thinking he was hopelessly clumsy.
You have a hell of a lot of grovelling for that, Matthew Murdock.
He managed to look chagrined at that. “Sorry.” When your eyes narrowed, he squeezed your hand. “I am, sweetheart. I should have known better than to hide the truth from you. I only made things worse.”
For a moment you were mollified, but then you narrowed your eyes even more. “Are you just saying that to calm me down?”
The corner of his lips twitched up. You grabbed the pillow and smacked him with it. With one hand still handcuffed to the rail, he reached out to grab it, only to hiss at the pain and so caught the pillow firmly in the face. You swore slightly, but considered it payback for the literally heart attack he’d given you earlier.
He choked out a laugh, wincing only slightly at the pain. You lowered the pillow and said, “Tell me the truth.”
“I love you.”
You dropped the pillow, eyes suddenly burning and chest tight. “That’s not what I asked.”
“I know.”
You sucked in a shuddering breath. “You love me?”
He reached for you with his free hand and entwined your fingers together. “I always have.”
You sat down heavily beside him, now knowing how he’d felt when you’d said it. Every thought was banished from your brain but those words. I love you. I love you. I love you.
Neither of you had said it before. And now you’ve both said it while he’s handcuffed to the bed and you haven’t slept. You swallowed thickly and leaned down to press your forehead to his. “Don’t do it again. Please.”
You knew it was a cop out. The easy way out. He deserved to be reamed out for hours for pulling that shit on you, but in that moment you just wanted to curl up beside him on the bed.
He loves me.
Matt pulled back slightly. “I can’t.” You froze. “It’s who I am. I can’t stop being Daredevil anymore than you can stop being a detective.”
“I meant keeping secrets from me.”
“Oh.”
You sighed. “I don’t care that you’re Daredevil. If you’d listened to me earlier,” you squeezed his hands to keep yourself from pillow slapping him again. “You would know how grateful I am for what you do. I accepted the position—as did many others—because I know how much you help the city. I just want you to be safe, Matt.”
Matt licked his lips. “Yeah?”
You leaned into the urge and lay down beside him. “I don’t want to change you any more than you would want to change me. Just because we’re in a relationship doesn’t mean we have to become different people. It means we need to trust each other and be honest. And work together. Seriously, if you had just come clean, I could have helped you.”
Matt curled his free arm over your stomach. “Are you saying I have a member of the police on my payroll?”
You sniffed. “Like you could afford me.”
He grinned, pressing his lips against your temple. “Then as a favour between allies, do you think you could uncuff me?”
“Not a chance.” You snorted. “Like I’m ever letting you run away.”
Matt chuckled. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
Thanks @flufftober for the prompts! I didn't even realise I'd written this one until someone pointed it out to me haha
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Dramione
Word Count: 2743 words
Summary: Locking them in a closet was a bad idea. Luna just wanted them to finally make out—but she didn’t realise Draco has a fear of small spaces after the war, and instead of pashing, he’s panicking. Good thing Hermione’s there to help him through it
Warnings: panic attacks, enclosed spaces, more angst than fluff unfortunately
What is pashing?
Haha okay so I just learned that that is an Australia-only term haha wow. I thought pashing was something everyone used. Basically it’s just kissing. Snogging, necking, whatever synonym works haha
“Draco,” Hermione warned in a low voice.
“Hermione,” he replied with an easy smirk.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you following me?”
Draco threw her a mock disgusted look. “Why would I follow you?” He turned up his nose at her. “And how do I know you’re not following me?”
Hermione glared at him and he just grinned. She rolled her eyes and kept walking. Frankly she knew exactly what he was doing.
“I like you. I have for a long time. …Do you like me?”
A pleasant shiver ran down Hermione’s spine at the memory. It had been in the early hours of the morning, almost sunset when he’d said those words. They’d just come back from patrolling the corridors for wayward students, and they’d both been exhausted. She hadn’t even fully registered his words until he’d grabbed her arm and made her face him.
His eyes had been wide and his chest heaving, like he’d just run a marathon, as he waited for her answer. When his words had finally kicked in, her legs had gone weak. She’d swallowed and whispered, “I don’t know.”
Since that moment, he’d spent every moment ‘helping her make up her mind’ as he’d put it. The pre-war Hermione would have hexed him off the Astronomy Tower—hell, even at the start of the year she would have—but the last few months… As Head Boy and Head Girl they had to spend a lot of time together, and in that time Hermione had gotten to see a side of Draco she never would have otherwise.
A side that was fiercely loyal to his friends and his family, and one that defended anyone in his care. Without this forced time together, she never would have known how smart he was, or how funny he could be. And she never would have seen him swallow his pride and apologise.
That had been after the awkward Christmas they had spent together, and the even worse New Years when they’d realised they were all alone—his family in Azkaban and hers without a single memory of her. It had prompted a frank conversation between them where neither had held back. About anything.
That was when she’d realised that Draco Malfoy was exactly the sort of person she could fall in love with. Not that she could ever tell him that.
“Frankly this is embarrassing, Hermione,” Draco continued, breaking her from her memories. “For you that is.” He shook his head at her and sighed. “It’s almost pitiful how in love with me you are.”
Every thought disappeared from her mind as she gaped at him. “Excuse me?!”
He shrugged helplessly, not hiding his grin. “Everyone can see it. It is painfully obvious.”
Hermione shoved him away. “I am not!”
Draco dodged her hands with a laugh. “Are too!” he sang.
Hermione’s breath caught at the happiness on his face. She’d never seen him so light and carefree.
That morning he and many other students had been officially granted leniency from Azkaban for any crimes committed during the war. They’d all been children manipulated by adults who couldn’t sort their own shit out. Instead they were handed punishments suited to their crimes. Something every child had leapt at the chance for. Community service at St Mungo’s and compulsory viewing of the war memories of innocents and orphaned children—they were all far easier to take than a life sentence in Azkaban. At least. That's what they’d thought.
Hermione had had to watch the effects those sessions had on Draco, and while the sentencing was lenient in the sense that he and the other students weren’t being attacked by dementors for the rest of their lives, they had to come face to face with the consequences of their actions and the despair they had wrought on others.
But combined with the mandatory mind healing sessions to undo their forebears’ brainwashing and deal with what they saw in the compulsory viewings, the future was beginning to look brighter than it ever had.
It was a beginning, at least.
One that gave Hermione hope. Azkaban had only served in breaking many of the inhabitants without actually showing them the error of their ways, let alone the damage they caused. This route, while just as severe, would hopefully pave a way to a better future.
“What?” Draco frowned at her, pausing mid-laugh.
Hermione blinked, realising she’d been staring far too long, and blushed. “Shut up.”
Before Draco could tease her or she could analyse that look in his eyes that made her heart pound—there was a crash ahead.
They shared a glance and hurried down the corridor. As they rounded the corner, they found the source of the noise. Up ahead the “shagging closet” practically shook and even from the end of the corridor, they could hear the rough sounds that had so aptly given the closet its name.
Hermione rolled her eyes as they slowed, no longer in a rush. Draco snorted. “We’re not even on patrol and we still manage to catch rule-breakers. I hope their horny thirty seconds was worth it.”
As they stopped in front of the closet, Draco ripped the doors open, but it was empty. Instead of giving two horny teenagers heart attacks, they were staring at a jumping jack-in-the-box. As they watched, it darted about the closet, shaking it about just like it would have if teenage sex was indeed occurring.
Hermione bent down to pick it up—wondering just what the hell it was doing there— when she was suddenly being shoved inside. With a squawk to echo hers, Draco was pushed inside with her, and as they both tumbled over each other, the doors slammed closed behind them.
Someone knocked on the door. “Time to do as lovers do!” Luna called out cheerily. “Make out, and I’ll unlock the doors.”
Hermione shared an incredulous look with a wide-eyed Draco—or tried to at least. She couldn’t actually see him in the complete darkness. She untangled herself from Draco enough to bang on the door. “Let us out, Luna! This isn’t funny!”
“Neither is watching you two mope over each other,” she giggled. “So either snog Malfoy’s brains out, or stay in there forever. Your choice.”
And then she just skipped away. Hermione gaped at the door. Surely she wasn’t serious.
Hermione shoved at the doors, but they didn’t budge an inch. Scowling, she pulled her wand out of her pocket and cast, “Alohomora.”
Nothing.
“Aberto.”
Not even a twitch. Pulling herself more out from beneath Draco, she decided that Luna must have cast a spell to cancel out the ones Hermione was trying now. “Finite incantatem.”
Nothing.
She gritted her teeth. Damn you, Luna!
Hermione turned to Draco, even though she still couldn’t see him. “Are you even going to pretend to help me?”
Nothing. She expected a sly comment about ‘loving to watch her work’ or ‘not interrupting greatness’—maybe even a suggestion that they just do as asked, but all she got back was heavy breathing. Frowning, she cast a silent lumos—which showed her that magic still clearly worked—and what she saw had her stomach dropping to her feet.
Draco had curled himself in a ball, his arms tight around his legs and eyes wide with unadulterated terror. His chest heaved with panicked breaths and his knuckles were white as his fingers dug into his skin. His whole body trembled.
“Draco?” Hermione reached for him, careful not to terrify him anymore. Her fingers landed on his arm and he flinched. She tried again, her hand curling softly around his arm as he didn’t react this time. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
He shook his head frantically, and Hermione’s heart squeezed as his eyes shimmered with unshed tears. It was completely at odds with the boy who had laughed with her outside just a few moments ago. Now he looked just as she felt after a particularly vivid nightmare.
Her hand curled more firmly around his forearm. “Are you… Are you having a panic attack?”
Draco nodded his head jerkily. “Small— spaces,” he gasped. “Can’t. Breathe.”
Hermione swallowed thickly. “Right,” she looked around. “Okay.”
She looked back at the door, partly to search for a way to get out that she hadn’t already tried, and also to hide her burning cheeks from him. Shame twisted her insides. She had actually thought he would take the chance to make out with her. Even worse, up until she’d seen his reaction, she’d been half tempted to suggest it too. Stuck in such a tight space where every inch of her side was pressed up against him, where their limbs were entangled—of course every spare thought was aimed at his mouth.
And all the while, he’d been having a damned panic attack.
Hermione straightened as Draco’s breathing became more choked. Enough was enough.
She glared at the doors. “Evanesco.”
One month she had entertained this charade. A whole month she had let him think she didn’t know how she felt. Thirty days he’d stuck by her side, trying to get her to fall for him, when she’d already been so in deep she could barely breathe.
She’d lied to him. Out of cowardice.
Hermione gritted her teeth and slammed her hand against the doors. “Reducto!”
Draco’s panicked breath came in short bursts, but it was the way he ducked his head into his knees that made her blood run cold.
Luna was going to pay for this. It may have been a well-meaning prank, but seeing the boy—the man—she was quickly falling for, break down so completely…
Hermione slapped both hands against the wood. “Alohomora!” The doors trembled. SLAP. “Aberto!” SLAP. “Evanesco!”
Her knuckles bit into the wood but she didn’t feel the pain as she snarled, “Fucking open!”
The door splintered.
She stumbled out, chest heaving and palms aching. Magic coursed under her skin, burning with raw power from whatever she’d unleashed. There was a gasp behind her and she spun around.
Draco clawed himself out of the closet, covered in dust and choking in it as he gasped for air. Hermione hurried to him, pulling him away from the splinters scattered across the ground. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. He didn’t shrug off her touch like she expected him to, so Hermione kept her arm around his shoulders.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re okay,” she whispered, squeezing his shoulders lightly and swallowing thickly as he shuddered beneath her. “You’re out. It’s over.”
She wasn’t just talking about the closet. Whatever had happened to him that was so traumatic it triggered a panic attack—it was over. She didn’t know if the words would have any effect on him, but they always had for her. Whenever she woke up from a vivid nightmare, that mantra always helped ground her.
It seemed to work as Draco muttered them in echo. “I’m out. I’m out. I’m out.” He reached out blindly, his eyes still squeezed shut, and he grabbed her free hand like it was a lifeline and he was drowning. “It’s over.” He shuddered and his grip on her hand tightened to the point of pain. “Never again. Never again.”
Hermione’s heart ached. He was in so much pain and with every mantra he repeated her mind whirred with what the hell could have happened to traumatise him like this.
She lifted her arm from his shoulders and lifted her hand to gently brush the loose hair from his cheek. She tucked it behind his ear, and as he leaned into her touch, she repeated the action. Over and over as he softened against her and time lost meaning.
Her legs began to ache from the awkward way she was sitting on them, but she couldn’t care less as she watched his breathing steady out. His frame still racked with the occasional tremor and he hadn’t loosened his grip on her hand, but he seemed more at ease now.
“Better?” Hermione murmured. As her fingers tracked behind his ear, she settled her palm against his cheek.
Draco nodded slightly, leaning further into her touch, and as he opened his eyes, he swallowed.
“Th—” His breath shuddered, an aftershock of his hyperventilation. He swallowed and tried again. “Thank you,” he said roughly. He leaned deeper into her palm—so like Crookshanks she smiled. “For getting me out.”
Then something over her shoulder caught his eye and his eyes widened in shock. She followed his gaze and snorted. The closet had disintegrated. There was nothing where it had stood—nothing but a pile of dust. She hadn’t just opened the doors, she’d split the closet at the molecular level.
She fought a smile. “I guess my emotions got away from me.”
Hermione turned back to see Draco’s reaction and her mouth went dry at the way he stared at her. Like she was more than he could have ever imagined. Like he’d just proposed and she’d said yes.
His eyes were wide and his jaw slack. He looked like the very air had been ripped from his lungs. Like everything he knew was being upturned with every passing second.
“How?” he whispered, agonising hope and desperation thick in his voice. “Why?” Another tremor ran through him. “You weren’t dying. You weren’t freaking out.”
Hermione frowned, bewildered. “You were,” she said, like that explained everything. A small noise escaped his parted lips. And just like she’d decided in the closet, enough was enough. She was tired of being a coward over how she felt.
She shuffled forward, this time cupping his face in both her hands. “You were terrified. I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. I had to get you out of there.”
“Why?”
Time to stop letting fear rule.
“Because I like you so much it scares me sometimes.” Hermione stared deep into his eyes. “Because when you were panicking in there, I would have burnt the whole castle to the ground if it made you feel better. Because even a second of you being unhappy makes everything feel wrong.” She sucked in a breath so shaky it surprised her.
Tears glimmered in Draco’s eyes and his hands came up to encircle her wrists as she continued, “Because I couldn’t spend another second of you not knowing how I feel.” She pressed their foreheads together. “You make every day being here easy just by existing. Every time you smile at me I feel my day get instantly better. I look forward to these nights where you put all your attention into making me fall for you, because even though it’s so damn selfish, I’m terrified of scaring you off by revealing just how far I’ve fallen for you.”
Hermione swallowed thickly. “And with all of that…” she shook her head. “Of course I had to react like that. You are everything to me. One stupid closet wasn’t going to stop me from saving the man I love.”
Draco’s chest heaved as he stared at her with wide, wet eyes. “You love me?” His hands shook around her wrists and he stared at her like he couldn’t believe her. His face slipped out of her palms
She shrugged, and an uncomfortable weight settled in her stomach as she waited for his reaction. A month ago he said he liked her, and here she is confessing her full blown obsession. Was it going to weird him out? Had she ruined—
He laughed. It was a wet and relieved sound. He dropped back, landing on his ass as he laughed again. “Oh, thank Merlin.”
Hermione stared at him, utterly bemused and bewildered. “What?”
He tipped his head back to look at the ceiling, still laughing like a deranged, relieved lunatic. “I’m obsessed with you too.”
Time stopped.
“You…are?”
“Stupidly.” Tears slid down his cheeks as he smiled so widely at her. “I am so glad you don’t just fancy me. I mean, I knew you did, but I thought that was just it.” He laughed again, utterly delighted. “And here you are as obsessed with me as I am with you.”
He knew?!
“I’m gonna strangle you.”
His grin widened.
“But I am going to kiss you senseless first.”
Hermione launched herself at him and cut off his laugh with the kiss she had been dying for for months. Draco responded with equal enthusiasm, and in their passion, neither noticed their audience exchanging money for their earlier bet.
Somehow Luna had bet exactly this would happen. Down to the exploding closet. But really, who was surprised? There was a reason everyone called her Loony.
A/N: might post a second part of them having soup later and discussing why Draco has a fear of closed spaces, but that won’t be part of this Flufftober
Thanks to @flufftober for this year's prompts! They were a fun headache to write haha
Hey, all. So, it's been a few moons since I've posted here. That's because my twilight fic has been taking up 100% of my time
But I have also been preparing for Flufftober, so prepare for an influx of fics. I will be posting them on a blog I share with my co-writer and then reblogging them here. They will also be posted on my AO3, so come check them out and let me know what you think ❤❤❤
She and I will both be posting one fic everyday, so come check hers out too
Fandom: Sandman
Relationship: Dream of the Endless x fem!Reader
Summary: The Sandman killed your parents. Of that you're sure. So when your best friend tells you the Sandman is after you, you run. You've been running from him for most of your life, and you sure as hell aren't going to let him find you now.
You can't let the Sandman kill you. Not until you kill him first.
Warnings: violence, nightmares, parents death, blood, swearing. Word Count: 1.2k
A/N: I've been hanging onto this fic for a while now trying to get it written. Finally I decided to just chuck it out there and use that stress as a motivation to write more
Prologue
“Everything comes to an end, sooner or later.” – Peter Boody
10 years ago
The monster under your bed is killing your mother.
The knife drops from your father’s hand and clatters against the tiles next to her. The pool of red spreads underneath her as she gasps and gasps, and your father smiles.
Except it’s not your father. No, he’s behind you. He’s calling out your name softly, calling out your mother’s name. He hasn’t seen it yet—he’s still soft from sleep. You want him to go back to bed.
You push and push, but he steps into the hallway next to you and freezes. You want to cry, to step into his arms and tell him to make it all go away. Like he does when your nightmares get bad.
But this isn’t a nightmare. This is real life. This is the rest of your life.
He pulls away from you. His eyes are on your mother’s body, on the blood pooling around her. He walks towards her, past the thing that isn’t him—like he can’t see it. He drops beside her, pants soaking up the red as he cradles her face.
“Honey? Baby? Wake up.” His voice cracks. “Please wake up. Please.”
The thing that isn’t your father turns to you, its smile growing and stretching into a gaping maw.
You step back, your heart in your throat.
It walks towards you, and you keep stepping back until there’s nowhere left to go.
As you stare at it, heart pounding in your ears, you watch it change. It ripples like a forgotten pond, creeping with algae and slimy things. The ripples catch, and it starts to change. It grows smaller, until the holes for eyes are in line with yours. Its mouth shrinks from an abyss of teeth into a smile nothing like yours.
It looks like you, and nothing like you at all.
With your mouth, it stretches and stretches until a grating laugh falls out. You start to cry and it only laughs harder.
Then, a pair of hands settle on your shoulders and you can’t breathe.
“I found you,” he whispers. The hairs on the nape of your neck rise and fear trembles down your spine.
You want to stumble away, run far far away but his hands are like weights on your shoulders, dragging you down until your heart stops.
“Why did you make it so hard for me?” His hands lift from your shoulders and you can breathe again. “We could have gotten to know each other so much sooner.”
“What did you do to her?” you whisper, tearing away from him. Your fingers claw at your chest like you can rip the pain and fear away. “Why’d you hurt her? I did everything you wanted.”
His smile is chilling and terrifyingly fond. “Because I warned you what would happen if you didn’t believe.”
Your mouth runs dry as you remember breaking down and confessing to your parents about the terrifying nightmares that have plagued your sleep for months now. Except they didn’t believe you. They said they were just bad dreams, that they couldn’t hurt you.
They were wrong.
And you’d believed them. You’d believed them when they said the pale man with stars for eyes was just a figment of your imagination. That of course he wouldn’t hurt you.
The Sandman isn’t real, they’d said.
And you’d believed them. Now your parents are dead.
You tremble like a leaf in a cyclone and your eyes turn back to your mother’s body. To your father kneeling over her. Then your eyes flick back to the being in front of you. At the dark hair hanging over his eyes filled with murder.
“All I’d wanted you to do was be loyal, Y/N. To believe me, to get others to believe in me.” The Sandman’s voice curls around you like a death adder. “And you failed.”
You can’t breathe. Can’t move. His voice curls and tightens around you until it binds you in place. Frozen in your own hell. Unable to move as you watch the not-you walk to your father. Unable to scream as it picks up the knife and holds it to his throat. Unable to close your eyes as your father never notices the nightmare behind him, even as it slices his throat.
The Sandman’s power lets you go and you collapse to the floor with a strangled whimper. You call for your parents, reaching for them, but all you get back is fingers dipped in blood.
You sob into the floorboards, your world ending under the watch of your parents’ lifeless eyes. You flinch away as the Sandman’s hand rests gently on your head.
“Don’t disappoint me again, Y/N,” he murmurs. “I’d hate to be angry with you.” His fingers stroke lightly through your hair and nausea rises in your throat. “You know I don’t want to hurt you, but just because you’re special to me doesn’t mean I won’t punish you.”
As his touch makes your skin crawl, he invades your mind and shows you exactly how disappointed he could be. Bile claws at your throat as he reminds you of what the Sandman is capable of when you make him your enemy.
I will kill you, you swear, glaring through tears into the blood pooling at your fingers. You feel him smile at your desperate promise, but you don’t care. I will kill you for this, Sandman.
He chuckles, pulling his hand from your hand. “Sleep well, butterfly.”
~~~
Now
“My Lord?”
Morpheus, King of Dreams and Nightmares, turned from where he stood gazing out over his realm. Lucienne stood at the bottom of the stairs, a book clutched in her hands. There was worry etched into her face as she waited for her master’s attention.
“What is it, Lucienne?”
“There’s a new book in the library.” The hesitation and caution in her voice had the Dream Lord straightening. “It hasn’t been written yet in the Waking World. Not for another year.”
“What is it about that concerns you so greatly?”
She hesitated. “The author, when I searched for her in the dream archives, I found only a child. The last entry was from over a decade ago.”
Dream’s brow furrowed. “How is that possible? Every human dreams.” He narrowed his eyes. “But that is not what concerns you about this book.”
“No.” She straightened. “It’s about how to make dream vortexes, my Lord.”
“What?” He stalked towards his librarian, fury snapping in his coattails. “Show me.”
She held out the book, not blinking as he snatched it from her grasp. He flipped it open, and the pages were blank.
Page after page—all of them blank. The only thing in it was the title page: “How to Make Dream Vortexes and Piss off Certain Assholes”
“What is this?” he demanded, handing it back to her.
Lucienne sighed and flipped to the final page, holding it open for him.
It was only one line. Six words in the entirety of the book:
Come find me, dream boy — Y/N.
A/N: I definitely want to continue this fic, I just rarely have the motivation to finish anything. So if you want to read more, feel free to let me know (just be kind, please)
Fandom: The Sandman
Pairing: Dream of the Endless x gn!Reader
Warnings: allusions to sex, Morpheus’s smile (needs its own warning), reader being overdramatic, all the fluff
Word Count: 3.5k
Summary: Even after a year of marriage, Morpheus’s smile still has the power to drive you crazy. One day, it’s too much and you have to flee to Fiddler’s Green. Dream races after you, and fluff ensues when he realises just how much you love his smile.
“Come ti vidi m'innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai."
(When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew)
― Arrigo Boito
You didn’t know how much longer you could handle it. It was all getting too much. Even a minute more would be too much.
“My Lord, you must control your new nightmares.”
“Must I?” Morpheus’s lips twitched further into a smile, and you nearly died at the sight.
Lucienne frowned; her hands wrapped around a mangled book. “They are wreaking havoc in my Library.”
His smile. It was perfect. Your favourite thing in the world. And it was killing you.
All you wanted to do was squeal or grab his face in your hands or just stare at him for the rest of eternity, but you were in the middle of the throne room. That was the last place you could do that. Lucienne had come to the Dream Lord with complaints about his new nightmares tearing through some of the older books in her collection, and the only thing that had kept her from tearing through them was respect for her master.
You stood off to the side half-listening to Merv muse through the construction designs for the new aquarium. The other half of your mind was occupied by how perfect Dream of the Endless looked atop his throne. There was a tottering pile of books on the left arm of his chair and his coat was thrown over the back of it. His hair stood on end as it always did, and you wanted nothing more than to run your hands through it, to see just how much you could mess it up.
But his smile was what took the cake. You didn’t see it often, so every time you did breathing became impossible. Even just the amusement in his eyes when he was smug or teasing, or the way the corner of his lips would twitch up like he was laughing at everything—oh, you loved those smiles. And he wore one now, hence your ensuing death.
Because you had to at least act sane. And squealing over your darling’s smile in the middle of the throne room would be anything but.
So instead, you squeezed your hands together and took a deep breath.
Deep breath. Don’t be crazy. Don’t look like an idiot. Yes, his smile is enough to send you into cardiac arrest, but you just need to hold on for a few more minutes. And then you can take him away for as long as you like.
Like he could guess your thoughts, Morpheus’s eyes flicked to yours and his smile softened.
Nope. I can’t do it.
“Excuse me a minute, my Lord, Lucienne, Merv.” You dipped your head and spun on your heel, interrupting their conversations.
You didn’t wait for any of their responses, just darted out the doors. The moment they closed behind you, you took off. You paid no mind to where you were heading, just away. You just needed some fresh air. Somewhere to get your mind off jumping his bones immediately.
You hand closed around your pendant, and in a sudden swirl of sand, you found yourself in Fiddler’s Green. It had been a gift from your husband a few months ago; a drop of his powers etched into the ruby remarkably reminiscent of his own former tool. It allowed you to travel the Dreaming as he did and gave you a means of communicating with him if you were apart.
Right now, you were just glad it had allowed you to get out of there with your head intact.
You took a deep breath and let the fresh air of Fiddler’s Green into your lungs. You flopped down into the grass and let out a huge sigh.
“Everything alright, dear?” Fiddler’s Green whispered, his leaves rustling in concern.
“It’s been a year—you’d think I’d be used to it!” You dropped a hand to your face. “But I swear every time he does it it’s like I’m seeing him again for the first time. My heart pounds and it’s like I can hear angels singing. The world could come crashing down around me and I wouldn’t notice. All because he smiled.”
“Ah.” Fiddler’s Green chuckled knowingly. “Well Lord Morpheus does so rarely smile; I can see why you would have such a reaction.”
“But he is my husband! We’ve certainly done a lot more mind-blowing things than smiling.”
“I’m aware,” came the dream’s dry response. “I doubt there’s a space in the Dreaming that has not been christened by your…activities.”
You snorted. “How many times have we apologised?”
“Not enough, my dear. That image will remain with me forever.” The trees shivered before he cleared his throat. “What is it about his smile that is affecting you so?”
You sighed again, staring up at the clouds. “I just think sometimes I’m so in love with him I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve never loved someone as much as I love him. And today it just seems that his smile is what gets me.” You stretched against the grass. “I wonder if he ever gets like that with me.”
“Perhaps you should ask him yourself.”
You sat up in time to see your husband appear in a cloud of hurried sand a few feet away. “My heart?” He crouched by your side, his hands reaching for you. “What is wrong?”
I am so in love with you it drives me crazy.
“Nothing, darling.” You leaned into his touch, smiling softly. “I just needed some air.”
Morpheus seemed unconvinced. “But you looked overwrought and overwhelmed. Tell me, what is on your mind?”
You looked away, your cheeks burning. “Nothing. It’s silly.”
It was silly. Saying it out loud to Fiddler’s Green was one thing, but admitting it to your husband? Surely he would think you ridiculous. You’d been married for a year and sometimes you still got so worried you would upset him, push him away. After all, he was Dream of the Endless, and you were a human—how could you not expect to screw up?
Especially since you hadn’t exactly met under the best circumstances.
His sibling, Desire, had brought the two of you together with the intention you would be Morpheus’s downfall. They had intended you to break his heart into a million pieces, but instead you’d fallen in love.
And by some wonder, he’d fallen in love with you too. Something he proved at every turn. He would take away your doubts and replace them only with the surety of his undying love. And it may have been fast by all normal comparisons, but there was nothing about your husband that was normal—nor would you want there to be. He truly was magnificent. And all yours.
He cupped your cheeks in his hands like you were entirely invaluable to him. “Do not hide your thoughts from me. Please. I want to know all of you.”
You make me feel like I’m the centre of your universe.
Your blushed deepened as you gave in. “I’m in love with you. Absolutely head over heels in love with you. I love you so much I don’t know what to do with myself.”
The worry in his eyes lessened as that beautiful smile of his came out. “I love you too. My heart is yours ever and always.” His thumb brushed a burning path along your cheek. “But that was not what embarrassed you and forced you to flee my throne room like Lucifer themself was chasing you.”
You groaned slightly, dropping your head awkwardly into his chest. “It’s your smile. I like it.”
The way he raised his eyebrow was practically audible. “My smile? That is what made you run?”
“I told you it doesn’t make sense,” you mumbled. “I just got overwhelmed by it and I had to leave before I did something crazy like scream or jump your bones.”
“My smile?” He sounded truly flabbergasted. “That was it?”
“Don’t tease me!” You poked his chest with mock indignation. “Have you ever looked in the mirror, young man? That smile of yours could stop traffic! Launch a thousand ships!”
He chuckled. “I apologise, my heart.” He cradled your hand in his and pulled you into his lap. He sat cross-legged on the grass, his arms holding you as close to him as he could. “I did not mean to offend. I just did not expect you to be as affected with me as I am with you.”
You blinked at him. “I affect you?”
“Do you truly believe you don’t?” His eyes searched yours and he let out a soft breath as he found his answer. “I am wholly taken with you. Every part of my being is dedicated to you and every piece of my heart belongs to you.” He dropped his forehead against yours. “You say my smile sends you mad? Every breath you take sends tremors through my being and just a glance from you could end me. Your smile alone steals my breath, and your touch stops my heart. Had I been mortal I would have died a thousand times over from my obsession of you.”
You wet your lips, breathless at his words. “Really?” You couldn’t believe it. “But you’re Endless. You’ve lived thousands of lives and seen the dreams of people a million times more interesting than me.” You swallowed down the sudden wave of insecurity. “So why did I catch your eye? What’s so special about me?”
Is it because Desire said we’d be the perfect match? Is that it? Is what caught your eye just Destiny’s plans? Just your siblings’ designs that you’ve decided to follow? Will you leave me when you realise the only thing special about me is—
“Everything.”
Your breath caught and the edges of his lips curled upwards slightly.
“Even before I knew you you fascinated me. The way you stand up for what you believe in, and for the people you love. The way you don’t back down when things get awkward.” He rested his forehead against yours and your chest squeezed at the absolute adoration in his eyes. “You walk into a room and you have my undivided attention. Even the way you argue with me when you think I’m wrong delights me.” He cupped your face to stroke his thumb over your cheek. “You caught my eye because you are you. Because everything about you is strong, unique and certain. Even if we were not destined to be together, my heart would still belong to you. Because, of the billions of dreamers I have seen, none of them are you.”
Your eyes filled with tears and your throat felt tight at his words. “Oh.”
He brushed his nose against yours. “Yes.”
You bit your lip, laughing slightly and swallowing back your tears. “You have a way with words darling. But I guess they don’t call you the Prince of Stories for nothing.”
He smiled fondly as your arms wrapped around his neck. His slid his face forward until his cheek rested against yours, and you breathed each other in. In the peace of Fiddler’s Green, you stayed in each other’s arms and soaked in every atom of devotion the other gave.
After a while, he pulled back, his hands on your hips again, to place a soft kiss to your forehead. “You needn’t have left, my heart. You could have stayed in the throne room. I would have sent everyone out had I known.”
You shook your head. “I didn’t want to bother you with it. That’s why I left. I didn’t want to interrupt your duties.”
“You occupy my mind every second of every day. You would occupy my mind even if you were in the farthest corner of the universe.” He cupped your cheeks and your eyes fluttered at his touch. “You could never bother me. I cherish every moment with you, even when we are both busy. And I want you with me all of the time. If I had my way, I would create a throne entirely for you to sit on and I would lavish at your feet for the rest of eternity.”
“I could just sit on your lap.” You shrugged like his words weren’t sending your heart crazy. Like you weren’t melting into him with every devoted sentence.
Morpheus hummed in consideration, his sinful lips curving, and you remembered Fiddler’s Green words about your…activities. “Meetings would certainly be less of a bore if you did.”
One of his hands dropped to your waist and his thumb slipped under the hem of your shirt, leaving a trail of heat along your skin where he touched. His eyes glimmered as he imagined just what could happen in such a position.
You fingers curled into the lapels of his coat, pulling him closer to mouth at the skin of his throat. “Lucienne might take offence if I strip you naked in the middle of the throne room.” Your lips trailed a path down the length of his throat, and you revelled in how he jolted beneath you. You didn’t know if it was your actions or the abrupt image you painted that had him reacting, but you weren’t going to stop. “Not that it would be the first time she’s caught us with you at my mercy.”
You ground your hips against his and surged up to swallow his gasp.
The taste of his lips against yours was as intoxicating as the first time. Better even. Back then you had been unsure of everything, but now you knew how Morpheus loved to be pushed back gently while you straddled his lap. You knew how he loved entwining your fingers with his and using his tongue to make you arch into him. Just like how you knew he always liked to be on top.
“Then I shall build her a new wing to the library.” He rolled you over until he hovered above you and began torturing you with his mouth. His hands cradled yours above your head and every inch of his body was pressed against yours as his lips passed a burning line along your collarbone. He bit lightly at the base of your throat, and you arched into him with a moan. “And I shall build her another when we are caught in the kitchens, because you never can keep quiet when my mouth is—”
“My Lord?” Far too close for comfort, Matthew cleared his throat.
Morpheus froze above you and you sighed. Just when the fun was starting.
“What?”
Matthew’s feathers rustled at the Dream Lord’s impatient tone, and you wondered just how awkward the bird was feeling. “Lucienne is asking, ah, if you’ll be long. Caw!” He shifted again. “She wants to know what you plan to do about the Nightmares in her library.”
“Tell Lucienne that I am comforting my beloved,” he growled, making you shiver at his tone and the tantalising brush of his lips against your skin. “And I do not appreciate being interrupted.”
His lips found their place once more at the pulse of your throat, and you threaded your fingers through the wild mess of his hair.
Unfortunately, Matthew wasn’t so easily deterred. “She said you’d say that—caw! —and she said to remind you of the promise you’d made after—‘The Nightmare of Aisle Seven’ as she put it.”
You blushed heavily and your husband dropped his face into the crook of your neck with a groan. ‘The Nightmare of Aisle Seven’ had been one of the more…strenuous activities you’d been caught in. It had taken a full month before Lucienne stopped glaring at the pair of you for that.
Morpheus sighed. “Tell Lucienne I shall be with her in a moment.”
“But—”
He lifted his head to glare at Matthew. “Leave. Now.”
Matthew escaped quickly with a squawk, and you licked your lips delightedly at the furious stars still in the Dream Lord’s eyes as he turned back to you. You cradled his face in your palms and ached with the need to surge up to meet him again. But you couldn’t test Lucienne. Not after the promise.
Like he was thinking the same, Morpheus dropped his head back into the crook of your neck with a sigh and settled heavily against you.
“Thank you,” Fiddler’s Green whispered to the raven as he flew away. “If they’d gotten any further, I was prepared to escape to the Waking World again.”
“It seems I have some subjects to banish to the darkness,” your husband murmured petulantly into your neck. “Maybe then they’ll end these treasonous interruptions.”
You grinned. “Ah but the threat of being interrupted makes it so much more intense.” You wound your fingers through his hair, biting your lip at the stutter of his breath when you pulled against his locks. “Don’t you think, my darling?”
“You are a menace, my heart.” He placed a kiss on your collarbone that sent shivers down your spine. Pulling away, he smiled down at you and your heart fluttered for another reason entirely. His gaze softened. “What is it about my smile you like so much?”
You melted beneath him. When you had first met him, he had been so distant, like he had to keep himself separate from everyone or he’d break, but as you’d fallen in love with him, you’d had the pleasure of watching him melt. You’d gotten to watch him lower his walls. And it made you melt with pride at how far he had come. Never in a million years would the pre-you Morpheus have asked for a compliment.
You stroked his cheek, watching in soft delight as he leaned into your touch. “You don’t smile often, but when you do, I swear my heart stops. It’s like the stars align and everything’s perfect when you smile. And I don’t get to see it often, so when I do, I just can’t help myself. I want to see you smile all the time. I want to make you smile all the time. I just—” you shrugged. “I just really like your smile. Plus…” you wound your fingers though his hair “…when you do that thing where you tilt your head and smile through your eyelashes— It makes me want to jump your bones.”
He chuckled a little. “Then I shall endeavour to smile more, my heart, if you like it so much.”
You grinned, scratching lightly at his scalp. He dropped his forehead against your cheek and purred ever so softly at the scratch of your nails.
“You smile more too.” He brushed his fingers across your cheek after a moment. “Since joining me here.”
It was true. In truth you felt like you hadn’t stopped since you’d fallen in love with him. Everything about him, about the Dreaming made your cheeks ache with how often you smiled. When you weren’t laughing with Merv and Matthew or smiling over new passages in the library with Lucienne, you were lost staring at Morpheus and his own smiles.
You reached up to cup his cheeks. “How could I not? When I have such a beautiful sight before me.” He leaned closer, his lips hovering over yours, before you pulled away suddenly, gesturing at the greenery around you. “I mean Fiddler’s Green is just so beautiful I can’t not—”
Morpheus cut you off with a kiss, his laughter rumbling over your skin.
After many many (and not enough) kisses, Morpheus pulled back.
“We must resume this later,” his words rumbled across your lips. “I fear I must leave you to your beautiful sight, my heart—I have nightmares to rescue. If I linger any longer, Lucienne may remove them herself.”
You hummed, not ready to let go just yet. “Surely they can hold their own for a little longer. I’m not done yet.” You pulled him down for another kiss, revelling in the feel of his smile against your skin, before you pulled back, sighing. “No. They crossed a line when they went after her books, it’ll be a miracle if she hasn’t ripped into them already.” You shuddered. “Never cross a Librarian.”
“Particularly not that Librarian.” Morpheus was as unwilling as you to leave your arms. “She once locked me in my room for folding the corner of a book.”
That was enough to make you pull back. “You did what?” You stared at him aghast. “I’d have locked you in your room too!”
He shook his head, laughing as he pulled you both to your feet.
Did he think you were joking? That was a book crime! The wors—
Your thoughts quickly broke off as you were suddenly distracted by the tantalising brush of his lips against yours.
“Hurry back, darling,” you whispered into his mouth.
“To have one such as you waiting for me, I will be faster than ever.”
A/N: I love writing his dialogue in bold. I love it so much.
A/N: I have quite a few Sandman fics planned, but ADHD does not equal a solid attention span, so maybe by season 2? 😅 Anyway, hope you enjoyed. This one has been sitting in my draft pile for a while
Reblogs and comments are much loved and appreciated 💖
“I’m aware,” came the dream’s dry response. “I doubt there’s a space in the Dreaming that has not been christened by your…activities.”
💀💀💀💀💀💀lmao
You sat up in time to see your husband appear in a cloud of hurried sand a few feet away. “My heart?” He crouched by your side, his hands reaching for you. “What is wrong?”
MY HEART
I LITERALLY JUST HAD THIS WHOLE DIALOGUE WITH MYSELF ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE USING MY HEART AS TERMS OF ENDEARMENT WHEN WRITING ABOUT MY FICTIONAL BOYFRIENDS UGHHH
“Do you truly believe you don’t?” His eyes searched yours and he let out a soft breath as he found his answer. “I am wholly taken with you. Every part of my being is dedicated to you and every piece of my heart belongs to you.” He dropped his forehead against yours. “You say my smile sends you mad? Every breath you take sends tremors through my being and just a glance from you could end me. Your smile alone steals my breath, and your touch stops my heart. Had I been mortal I would have died a thousand times over from my obsession of you.”
“I could just sit on your lap.” You shrugged like his words weren’t sending your heart crazy. Like you weren’t melting into him with every devoted sentence.
Me. Yn is me. I am yn. We are one
“Tell Lucienne that I am comforting my beloved,” he growled, making you shiver at his tone and the tantalising brush of his lips against your skin. “And I do not appreciate being interrupted.”
“It seems I have some subjects to banish to the darkness,” your husband murmured petulantly into your neck. “Maybe then they’ll end these treasonous interruptions.”
Thank you for your wonderful comments!!! I love how you took out the pieces you loved and replied to them!!! It made me so happy to read your thoughts on each! You’ve literally just made my day
haha that was a day (and night) of fun roleplay between you and Morpheus where you learnt just how much you loved that dangerous look in his eyes when he makes you beg...
It was also the night you learned just how terrifying the Librarian is when it comes to protecting her Library. You hadn't planned to be in the Library then, but you'd been grabbing some snacks and walking past the Library when you had an image of Morpheus bending you over the table and...
Well, he was the King of Dreams, and he'd always promised to make your dreams come true -- even the filthy ones.
But when you were both blissed out and exhausted, and you'd decided to head back to your rooms, you'd turned around to see a furious Lucienne standing in the doorway, and you were as good as dead.
Apparently Morpheus showing you his Nightmare side in the middle of the Library was grounds for the most terrifying lecture and stink-eye you've ever received. Enough so that you wouldn't go near her for a month after that.
To save the both of you, Morpheus had made Lucienne a promise that she could demand anything from the Dream Lord (no questions asked) any time she wanted, and she just had to remind him of this.
To which she had dryly said, "It is not something that needs a reminder, My Lord. If we could sleep, the image would be a nightmare for all of us."
And even though she agreed, she said nothing about keeping it a secret, so it wasn't long before whispers of the Nightmare of Aisle Seven were heard by everyone in the Dreaming.
And everytime you heard it, well...it was fuel for future fun times with your husband 💖
This ask is about my fic A Smile Like Yours is a Rare Delight
Fandom: The Sandman
Pairing: Dream of the Endless x gn!Reader
Warnings: allusions to sex, Morpheus’s smile (needs its own warning), reader being overdramatic, all the fluff
Word Count: 3.5k
Summary: Even after a year of marriage, Morpheus’s smile still has the power to drive you crazy. One day, it’s too much and you have to flee to Fiddler’s Green. Dream races after you, and fluff ensues when he realises just how much you love his smile.
“Come ti vidi m'innamorai, e tu sorridi perché lo sai."
(When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew)
― Arrigo Boito
You didn’t know how much longer you could handle it. It was all getting too much. Even a minute more would be too much.
“My Lord, you must control your new nightmares.”
“Must I?” Morpheus’s lips twitched further into a smile, and you nearly died at the sight.
Lucienne frowned; her hands wrapped around a mangled book. “They are wreaking havoc in my Library.”
His smile. It was perfect. Your favourite thing in the world. And it was killing you.
All you wanted to do was squeal or grab his face in your hands or just stare at him for the rest of eternity, but you were in the middle of the throne room. That was the last place you could do that. Lucienne had come to the Dream Lord with complaints about his new nightmares tearing through some of the older books in her collection, and the only thing that had kept her from tearing through them was respect for her master.
You stood off to the side half-listening to Merv muse through the construction designs for the new aquarium. The other half of your mind was occupied by how perfect Dream of the Endless looked atop his throne. There was a tottering pile of books on the left arm of his chair and his coat was thrown over the back of it. His hair stood on end as it always did, and you wanted nothing more than to run your hands through it, to see just how much you could mess it up.
But his smile was what took the cake. You didn’t see it often, so every time you did breathing became impossible. Even just the amusement in his eyes when he was smug or teasing, or the way the corner of his lips would twitch up like he was laughing at everything—oh, you loved those smiles. And he wore one now, hence your ensuing death.
Because you had to at least act sane. And squealing over your darling’s smile in the middle of the throne room would be anything but.
So instead, you squeezed your hands together and took a deep breath.
Deep breath. Don’t be crazy. Don’t look like an idiot. Yes, his smile is enough to send you into cardiac arrest, but you just need to hold on for a few more minutes. And then you can take him away for as long as you like.
Like he could guess your thoughts, Morpheus’s eyes flicked to yours and his smile softened.
Nope. I can’t do it.
“Excuse me a minute, my Lord, Lucienne, Merv.” You dipped your head and spun on your heel, interrupting their conversations.
You didn’t wait for any of their responses, just darted out the doors. The moment they closed behind you, you took off. You paid no mind to where you were heading, just away. You just needed some fresh air. Somewhere to get your mind off jumping his bones immediately.
You hand closed around your pendant, and in a sudden swirl of sand, you found yourself in Fiddler’s Green. It had been a gift from your husband a few months ago; a drop of his powers etched into the ruby remarkably reminiscent of his own former tool. It allowed you to travel the Dreaming as he did and gave you a means of communicating with him if you were apart.
Right now, you were just glad it had allowed you to get out of there with your head intact.
You took a deep breath and let the fresh air of Fiddler’s Green into your lungs. You flopped down into the grass and let out a huge sigh.
“Everything alright, dear?” Fiddler’s Green whispered, his leaves rustling in concern.
“It’s been a year—you’d think I’d be used to it!” You dropped a hand to your face. “But I swear every time he does it it’s like I’m seeing him again for the first time. My heart pounds and it’s like I can hear angels singing. The world could come crashing down around me and I wouldn’t notice. All because he smiled.”
“Ah.” Fiddler’s Green chuckled knowingly. “Well Lord Morpheus does so rarely smile; I can see why you would have such a reaction.”
“But he is my husband! We’ve certainly done a lot more mind-blowing things than smiling.”
“I’m aware,” came the dream’s dry response. “I doubt there’s a space in the Dreaming that has not been christened by your…activities.”
You snorted. “How many times have we apologised?”
“Not enough, my dear. That image will remain with me forever.” The trees shivered before he cleared his throat. “What is it about his smile that is affecting you so?”
You sighed again, staring up at the clouds. “I just think sometimes I’m so in love with him I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve never loved someone as much as I love him. And today it just seems that his smile is what gets me.” You stretched against the grass. “I wonder if he ever gets like that with me.”
“Perhaps you should ask him yourself.”
You sat up in time to see your husband appear in a cloud of hurried sand a few feet away. “My heart?” He crouched by your side, his hands reaching for you. “What is wrong?”
I am so in love with you it drives me crazy.
“Nothing, darling.” You leaned into his touch, smiling softly. “I just needed some air.”
Morpheus seemed unconvinced. “But you looked overwrought and overwhelmed. Tell me, what is on your mind?”
You looked away, your cheeks burning. “Nothing. It’s silly.”
It was silly. Saying it out loud to Fiddler’s Green was one thing, but admitting it to your husband? Surely he would think you ridiculous. You’d been married for a year and sometimes you still got so worried you would upset him, push him away. After all, he was Dream of the Endless, and you were a human—how could you not expect to screw up?
Especially since you hadn’t exactly met under the best circumstances.
His sibling, Desire, had brought the two of you together with the intention you would be Morpheus’s downfall. They had intended you to break his heart into a million pieces, but instead you’d fallen in love.
And by some wonder, he’d fallen in love with you too. Something he proved at every turn. He would take away your doubts and replace them only with the surety of his undying love. And it may have been fast by all normal comparisons, but there was nothing about your husband that was normal—nor would you want there to be. He truly was magnificent. And all yours.
He cupped your cheeks in his hands like you were entirely invaluable to him. “Do not hide your thoughts from me. Please. I want to know all of you.”
You make me feel like I’m the centre of your universe.
Your blushed deepened as you gave in. “I’m in love with you. Absolutely head over heels in love with you. I love you so much I don’t know what to do with myself.”
The worry in his eyes lessened as that beautiful smile of his came out. “I love you too. My heart is yours ever and always.” His thumb brushed a burning path along your cheek. “But that was not what embarrassed you and forced you to flee my throne room like Lucifer themself was chasing you.”
You groaned slightly, dropping your head awkwardly into his chest. “It’s your smile. I like it.”
The way he raised his eyebrow was practically audible. “My smile? That is what made you run?”
“I told you it doesn’t make sense,” you mumbled. “I just got overwhelmed by it and I had to leave before I did something crazy like scream or jump your bones.”
“My smile?” He sounded truly flabbergasted. “That was it?”
“Don’t tease me!” You poked his chest with mock indignation. “Have you ever looked in the mirror, young man? That smile of yours could stop traffic! Launch a thousand ships!”
He chuckled. “I apologise, my heart.” He cradled your hand in his and pulled you into his lap. He sat cross-legged on the grass, his arms holding you as close to him as he could. “I did not mean to offend. I just did not expect you to be as affected with me as I am with you.”
You blinked at him. “I affect you?”
“Do you truly believe you don’t?” His eyes searched yours and he let out a soft breath as he found his answer. “I am wholly taken with you. Every part of my being is dedicated to you and every piece of my heart belongs to you.” He dropped his forehead against yours. “You say my smile sends you mad? Every breath you take sends tremors through my being and just a glance from you could end me. Your smile alone steals my breath, and your touch stops my heart. Had I been mortal I would have died a thousand times over from my obsession of you.”
You wet your lips, breathless at his words. “Really?” You couldn’t believe it. “But you’re Endless. You’ve lived thousands of lives and seen the dreams of people a million times more interesting than me.” You swallowed down the sudden wave of insecurity. “So why did I catch your eye? What’s so special about me?”
Is it because Desire said we’d be the perfect match? Is that it? Is what caught your eye just Destiny’s plans? Just your siblings’ designs that you’ve decided to follow? Will you leave me when you realise the only thing special about me is—
“Everything.”
Your breath caught and the edges of his lips curled upwards slightly.
“Even before I knew you you fascinated me. The way you stand up for what you believe in, and for the people you love. The way you don’t back down when things get awkward.” He rested his forehead against yours and your chest squeezed at the absolute adoration in his eyes. “You walk into a room and you have my undivided attention. Even the way you argue with me when you think I’m wrong delights me.” He cupped your face to stroke his thumb over your cheek. “You caught my eye because you are you. Because everything about you is strong, unique and certain. Even if we were not destined to be together, my heart would still belong to you. Because, of the billions of dreamers I have seen, none of them are you.”
Your eyes filled with tears and your throat felt tight at his words. “Oh.”
He brushed his nose against yours. “Yes.”
You bit your lip, laughing slightly and swallowing back your tears. “You have a way with words darling. But I guess they don’t call you the Prince of Stories for nothing.”
He smiled fondly as your arms wrapped around his neck. His slid his face forward until his cheek rested against yours, and you breathed each other in. In the peace of Fiddler’s Green, you stayed in each other’s arms and soaked in every atom of devotion the other gave.
After a while, he pulled back, his hands on your hips again, to place a soft kiss to your forehead. “You needn’t have left, my heart. You could have stayed in the throne room. I would have sent everyone out had I known.”
You shook your head. “I didn’t want to bother you with it. That’s why I left. I didn’t want to interrupt your duties.”
“You occupy my mind every second of every day. You would occupy my mind even if you were in the farthest corner of the universe.” He cupped your cheeks and your eyes fluttered at his touch. “You could never bother me. I cherish every moment with you, even when we are both busy. And I want you with me all of the time. If I had my way, I would create a throne entirely for you to sit on and I would lavish at your feet for the rest of eternity.”
“I could just sit on your lap.” You shrugged like his words weren’t sending your heart crazy. Like you weren’t melting into him with every devoted sentence.
Morpheus hummed in consideration, his sinful lips curving, and you remembered Fiddler’s Green words about your…activities. “Meetings would certainly be less of a bore if you did.”
One of his hands dropped to your waist and his thumb slipped under the hem of your shirt, leaving a trail of heat along your skin where he touched. His eyes glimmered as he imagined just what could happen in such a position.
You fingers curled into the lapels of his coat, pulling him closer to mouth at the skin of his throat. “Lucienne might take offence if I strip you naked in the middle of the throne room.” Your lips trailed a path down the length of his throat, and you revelled in how he jolted beneath you. You didn’t know if it was your actions or the abrupt image you painted that had him reacting, but you weren’t going to stop. “Not that it would be the first time she’s caught us with you at my mercy.”
You ground your hips against his and surged up to swallow his gasp.
The taste of his lips against yours was as intoxicating as the first time. Better even. Back then you had been unsure of everything, but now you knew how Morpheus loved to be pushed back gently while you straddled his lap. You knew how he loved entwining your fingers with his and using his tongue to make you arch into him. Just like how you knew he always liked to be on top.
“Then I shall build her a new wing to the library.” He rolled you over until he hovered above you and began torturing you with his mouth. His hands cradled yours above your head and every inch of his body was pressed against yours as his lips passed a burning line along your collarbone. He bit lightly at the base of your throat, and you arched into him with a moan. “And I shall build her another when we are caught in the kitchens, because you never can keep quiet when my mouth is—”
“My Lord?” Far too close for comfort, Matthew cleared his throat.
Morpheus froze above you and you sighed. Just when the fun was starting.
“What?”
Matthew’s feathers rustled at the Dream Lord’s impatient tone, and you wondered just how awkward the bird was feeling. “Lucienne is asking, ah, if you’ll be long. Caw!” He shifted again. “She wants to know what you plan to do about the Nightmares in her library.”
“Tell Lucienne that I am comforting my beloved,” he growled, making you shiver at his tone and the tantalising brush of his lips against your skin. “And I do not appreciate being interrupted.”
His lips found their place once more at the pulse of your throat, and you threaded your fingers through the wild mess of his hair.
Unfortunately, Matthew wasn’t so easily deterred. “She said you’d say that—caw! —and she said to remind you of the promise you’d made after—‘The Nightmare of Aisle Seven’ as she put it.”
You blushed heavily and your husband dropped his face into the crook of your neck with a groan. ‘The Nightmare of Aisle Seven’ had been one of the more…strenuous activities you’d been caught in. It had taken a full month before Lucienne stopped glaring at the pair of you for that.
Morpheus sighed. “Tell Lucienne I shall be with her in a moment.”
“But—”
He lifted his head to glare at Matthew. “Leave. Now.”
Matthew escaped quickly with a squawk, and you licked your lips delightedly at the furious stars still in the Dream Lord’s eyes as he turned back to you. You cradled his face in your palms and ached with the need to surge up to meet him again. But you couldn’t test Lucienne. Not after the promise.
Like he was thinking the same, Morpheus dropped his head back into the crook of your neck with a sigh and settled heavily against you.
“Thank you,” Fiddler’s Green whispered to the raven as he flew away. “If they’d gotten any further, I was prepared to escape to the Waking World again.”
“It seems I have some subjects to banish to the darkness,” your husband murmured petulantly into your neck. “Maybe then they’ll end these treasonous interruptions.”
You grinned. “Ah but the threat of being interrupted makes it so much more intense.” You wound your fingers through his hair, biting your lip at the stutter of his breath when you pulled against his locks. “Don’t you think, my darling?”
“You are a menace, my heart.” He placed a kiss on your collarbone that sent shivers down your spine. Pulling away, he smiled down at you and your heart fluttered for another reason entirely. His gaze softened. “What is it about my smile you like so much?”
You melted beneath him. When you had first met him, he had been so distant, like he had to keep himself separate from everyone or he’d break, but as you’d fallen in love with him, you’d had the pleasure of watching him melt. You’d gotten to watch him lower his walls. And it made you melt with pride at how far he had come. Never in a million years would the pre-you Morpheus have asked for a compliment.
You stroked his cheek, watching in soft delight as he leaned into your touch. “You don’t smile often, but when you do, I swear my heart stops. It’s like the stars align and everything’s perfect when you smile. And I don’t get to see it often, so when I do, I just can’t help myself. I want to see you smile all the time. I want to make you smile all the time. I just—” you shrugged. “I just really like your smile. Plus…” you wound your fingers though his hair “…when you do that thing where you tilt your head and smile through your eyelashes— It makes me want to jump your bones.”
He chuckled a little. “Then I shall endeavour to smile more, my heart, if you like it so much.”
You grinned, scratching lightly at his scalp. He dropped his forehead against your cheek and purred ever so softly at the scratch of your nails.
“You smile more too.” He brushed his fingers across your cheek after a moment. “Since joining me here.”
It was true. In truth you felt like you hadn’t stopped since you’d fallen in love with him. Everything about him, about the Dreaming made your cheeks ache with how often you smiled. When you weren’t laughing with Merv and Matthew or smiling over new passages in the library with Lucienne, you were lost staring at Morpheus and his own smiles.
You reached up to cup his cheeks. “How could I not? When I have such a beautiful sight before me.” He leaned closer, his lips hovering over yours, before you pulled away suddenly, gesturing at the greenery around you. “I mean Fiddler’s Green is just so beautiful I can’t not—”
Morpheus cut you off with a kiss, his laughter rumbling over your skin.
After many many (and not enough) kisses, Morpheus pulled back.
“We must resume this later,” his words rumbled across your lips. “I fear I must leave you to your beautiful sight, my heart—I have nightmares to rescue. If I linger any longer, Lucienne may remove them herself.”
You hummed, not ready to let go just yet. “Surely they can hold their own for a little longer. I’m not done yet.” You pulled him down for another kiss, revelling in the feel of his smile against your skin, before you pulled back, sighing. “No. They crossed a line when they went after her books, it’ll be a miracle if she hasn’t ripped into them already.” You shuddered. “Never cross a Librarian.”
“Particularly not that Librarian.” Morpheus was as unwilling as you to leave your arms. “She once locked me in my room for folding the corner of a book.”
That was enough to make you pull back. “You did what?” You stared at him aghast. “I’d have locked you in your room too!”
He shook his head, laughing as he pulled you both to your feet.
Did he think you were joking? That was a book crime! The wors—
Your thoughts quickly broke off as you were suddenly distracted by the tantalising brush of his lips against yours.
“Hurry back, darling,” you whispered into his mouth.
“To have one such as you waiting for me, I will be faster than ever.”
A/N: I love writing his dialogue in bold. I love it so much.
A/N: I have quite a few Sandman fics planned, but ADHD does not equal a solid attention span, so maybe by season 2? 😅 Anyway, hope you enjoyed. This one has been sitting in my draft pile for a while
Reblogs and comments are much loved and appreciated 💖
Fandom: Daredevil (MCU)
Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader (gender neutral)
Warnings: none? Bit of swearing and dangerous driving, basically just author indulging in self-indulgent writing
Word Count: 1643 words
Summary: You're late to an ADHD consultation appointment and you're terrifying the shit out of your boyfriend Matt by driving like a maniac.
A/N: So this is 100% a self-indulgent fanfic. I just got diagnosed with ADHD and it was genuinely one of the happiest moments of my life. So I decided to share this joy with anyone who wants to read it. I couldn’t stop smiling when I wrote this, just like I couldn’t stop smiling (and crying and laughing) when I got my diagnosis.
A/N 2: This has no relation to the show Daredevil at all (besides Matt being there) so you don’t need to have watched it to enjoy this fic. I honestly don’t expect many people to read it because this is pure indulgence, but if any of you do, I hope you enjoy 💖
A/N 3: I’d like to give a huge shoutout to my wonderful friend and beta-reader @221birl1823 for reading this and for being a huge support in this journey for me. Thank you for everything; this one’s for you.
“I’m late. I’m late. I’m fucking late.” You swerved through the traffic and flapped your hand at the car behind you when they slammed on their brakes and leaned on their horn. “Shit sorry sorry.”
“Killing us isn’t going to get you there any earlier,” Matt remarked dryly.
“Not helping.” But when you turned to glare at him, you noticed the death grip your boyfriend has on the dashboard and the slight green tinge to his cheeks. You eased up on the accelerator a bit and sighed. “Sorry, baby. I’m just stressed. I’ve been waiting for this appointment for six months and I’m late.”
You glanced at the clock again. 11:58. Your appointment was at midday, and you were still ten minutes away.
“I know.” He reached over to grip your hand in his, before ripping away to grip the dash again as you sped through a yellow light. “Just please get us there alive.”
Reluctantly, you did as he asked. Anyone else you probably would have told them to suck it up, but for Matt you’d do anything. Even be later than you already were. Plus, you couldn’t imagine it was fun being blind and being at the mercy of a speeding maniac. There was a reason he rarely let you drive—and it had nothing to do with living in New York.
When you were finally at a sensible pace again, Matt reached over to slide his fingers between yours. “Hey.”
You glanced over, squeezing his hand to let him know you were paying attention.
“What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
You furrowed your brow. You’d expected some kind and loving words, not him asking you to dredge up all your anxieties. But he had that earnest look on his face you never could say no to.
“Well, they could tell me I’ll have to wait longer which will only make me stress more. Or they’ll cancel my appointment for being late without notice. Or they’ll kick me out for good saying I should have gotten there earlier because they’re a fancy private fucking practice and they could do that!” As you listed all the worst-case scenarios you could, your anxiety started rising once more. You slammed on the brakes to avoid running up someone’s arse and flicked them the finger when they beeped at you.
“Okay. Well, if you have to wait longer, I’ll be with you to calm you down. If they cancel your appointment for being—” he checked the time “—six minutes late, then we’ll book it for the very next time we can, or demand to see someone else.” He tugged on your hand for your attention again. “And if they throw you out permanently, we’ll sue them.”
You snorted, leaning into him as you waited for the lights to turn green. “It’s a good thing I happen to know two great lawyers.”
He kissed your forehead. “Definitely a good thing. But I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it at all. You’ll be okay. It’ll go perfectly.”
You didn’t let go of him as you slammed on the accelerator and overtook a truck, and he gripped your hand tighter as you did.
You glanced at the clock again. 12:07. Anxiety stirred in your throat at the sight, but you took a deep breath and focused on the circles Matt was drawing on the inside of your wrist.
Everything’s going to be okay, you reassured yourself. It doesn’t matter that I’m late. It’s not the end of the world. If I have to wait longer that’s okay, and if they try to kick me out, I’ll glue my ass to that seat until someone’s free.
You took another breath, calming down before a car suddenly swerved in front of you. You tore your hand from Matt’s with a curse and swerved to the other lane, narrowly missing a motorcycle.
“You fucking asshole!” You glared at the other driver as you passed her. “Where’d you learn to drive? The fucking moon?”
She flipped you off without looking and you snarled as you rounded a corner.
“Are you talking about yourself?” Matt asked faintly.
You snorted, your mood rising instantly, and you pried his hand from the dash and wrapping it in yours. You pressed a kiss to the back of it, only smiling a little. “What are you saying about my driving, Murdock?”
“That you’re a menace.”
You grinned. Turning into the driveway, you slipped into a free park. “We’re here.”
“Next time we’re taking a cab.”
“A cab can’t make up for lost time like I can. If we’d gotten a cab, we’d have been late.”
“Later than we already are?”
You poked him in the chest, outraged. “Too soon.” You locked the car behind you and headed in.
Before you got to the door and your nerves could rise anymore, Matt grabbed your hand. “Hey, you’ll be okay. This is an ADHD clinic. They’re used to dealing with people with poor time management.”
You let out a shaky breath. “So I guess it’s a point in my favour that I’m late to a consultation where one guy decides if I meet the criteria another guy made up?”
His smile was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. He pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Come find me when you’re done.”
With that he headed towards the coffee shop two doors down and you headed inside to face the music.
~~~
“We’ll start you off slowly, half a tablet today, two halves tomorrow, one and a half on day 3 and then two from then on. Try not to take them after midday as they could keep you awake later in the night.” The doctor folded his notebook. “Any questions?”
“Ah yeah, one.” You rubbed your fingers, squeezing the tension out of them. “So when I walk out of that door—” you gestured at the closed door to his office “—I have ADHD? Like I’m officially diagnosed with ADHD?”
He smiled. “Yes. You have ADHD.”
The air left you in a rush. “Okay. Right. Thank you.”
He nodded, turning back to his computer, and started typing up your script. You pressed you hand to you mouth to cover your laugh as you replayed the words in your head. You have ADHD. You have ADHD.
You blinked the tears from your eyes, dabbing at the corners. Holy shit. I have ADHD.
You grabbed a tissue from the box beside you, dabbing the corner of your eyes before you could make a fool of yourself.
The doctor glanced at you. “Are you alright?”
You breathed out a laugh. “Yeah. I’m just so relieved.”
He smiled kindly. “It’s often a relief to finally get a diagnosis.”
“So much.” You squeezed the tissue in your hands and sat back in the chair like your muscles couldn’t hold you up.
“Here’s your script.” He handed it to you. “You can get this filled at any pharmacy, and you can start taking it this afternoon, if you like. Just remember to follow the schedule I gave you.”
You nodded quickly. “Of course. Yes. Thank you so much.”
He stood up and you followed him to the door. “You do look relieved. And lighter than when you walked in.”
“So damn relieved.” You laughed a little. “Thank you so much.”
“Have a good day.”
When asked later, you couldn’t remember much of what followed, of paying, of booking a follow up appointment, of anything but the thoughts: I have ADHD.
It wasn’t until you were outside that it finally hit you emotionally and you couldn’t stop the tears streaming down your cheeks. You stumbled blindly to your car, tears pouring down your cheeks and laughter spilling from you.
“Hey.” Twin familiar arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you into his chest. “How’d it go?”
You spun around to face your boyfriend. “You didn’t hear?”
He shook his head. “Of course not. I wasn’t listening. I didn’t want to intrude on that.” Matt reached up to cup your cheeks. “You’re crying…and you’re laughing. What’d he say?”
“I have ADHD!” You threw your hands up in the air, smiling the biggest smile you ever had.
“Yeah?” Matt pulled you close and a grin bloomed on his face to match yours before he spun you in a circle. “That’s fantastic! Congratulations, sweetheart! I’m so happy for you!”
“Me too!” You grinned, wrapping your arms around his neck when he didn’t put you down. “I have ADHD! Officially! Actually! It’s not in my head! I’m not lazy! I’m not making this up! I have ADHD!”
“I never doubted you for a second.” Matt pressed his forehead to yours, smiling so hard his cheeks must have ached. “I can’t believe you finally got it!”
You laughed, biting your lip. “I finally got it! After all these years and all the assholes saying I didn’t, I finally got it. The confirmation I needed!”
He spun you in another circle and you let out a shrieking laugh before you stopped. “Wait. I have to tell Megan!” You pushed at his shoulders until he let you go. “They’ve been with me every step of the way! I have to tell them the good news! Ahh! They’re going to be so happy for me!”
Matt let you go with a laugh as you ran into the car park, your phone out and your smile so wide your cheeks ached. He blinked when you stopped and spun around to face him again.
“Almost forgot.” You leapt into his arms, knowing he’d catch you as he always did. Being in his arms always felt like the safest place on earth. And right now, it was the happiest too. You cupped his cheeks and pulled him in for a soft kiss. Pulling away, you rested your head against his, smiling like mad as you said, “Thank you, baby. Thank you for helping me through this and being there for me whenever I needed it.”
His eyes crinkled in the corners, and he leaned into your touch. “Anytime, sweetheart.”
You have ADHD. The words ran through your head, and you felt so giddy you wanted to scream and laugh and leap for joy. “I have ADHD!” you whispered.
“Yeah, you do, baby. You have ADHD.”
A/N: Like I said, purely self-indulgent. I just want to add, my experience of ADHD and diagnosis isn’t universal. This fic is purely about me expressing my relief and happiness over finally getting a diagnosis that has been slowly wrecking me for far too long. I honestly still can’t believe it. And I can’t stop smiling!
Prompt: You were once a powerful villain. You retired early and are engaged to a hero who isn't aware of your past. They are about to be killed right before your eyes...but you step in.
(I couldn't find the original prompt this came from, but I remember I found it on pinterest)
He was all she could see. Lying in a pool of his own blood; the crimson puddle spreading across the floorboard. His eyes snapped to her’s as the bouquet tumbled from her hand. It landed in the blood that splattered by her feet.
The heartbreak was clear in Hero’s eyes—he’d told her to run. He’d begged her.
His voice was weak as he struggled to push himself off the floor. “Run, love, please. Run. Get out of here.”
Lightning arced across the sky behind him, lighting up the destruction around them. Just hours earlier the sight had taken their guests’ breaths away at the beauty. Now it was hard to see any beauty at all. Splintered chairs and shattered lights covered every inch. He had put up such a fight—defending everyone with everything he had. If only it had been enough.
Blood soaked the ends of her wedding dress, but all she could see was Hero. The monster loomed over him, grinning. “‘Till death do you part.”
It reached down and pulled Hero up by his hair. He screamed in agony, twisting vainly to get away.
“Run, baby, please.” Hero’s red-rimmed eyes never left hers, even as the monster poked at his wounds, laughing. Even as his face twisted in pain, his eyes never left hers. “I’ll be okay. I promise. Just go. Please.”
A tear slid down her cheek and her soul ached. She was so close. Everything she’d ever wanted, and in that moment she could feel it disappearing like grains of sand in a too-small hourglass. After this, nothing would be the same.
“I love you so much,” she whispered, tears now streaming down her cheeks. “I wanted us to have forever.”
He watched her, pain and confusion twisting his face, even as he refused to look away from her. “I love you too, baby. Now run. I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”
She took a step towards her fiancè, the soles of her feet sticky with his blood. The monster holding him shifted back a step to match. Her eyes never left his; tears streamed down her cheeks and her lips wobbled into a small smile.
“You’ve made me so happy.” Her heart splintered and her chest caved in on itself. Her steps forward never faltering, even as the monster mirrored her backwards. “You were all I ever wanted. Even when I didn’t know it. I just hope you can forgive me when all of this is over.”
Her eyes stayed locked on Hero’s as she summoned a hardened spear of wind. She hurled it at the monster holding him, catching it by surprise. Hero dropped to the ground with an aching moan before she could catch him. She desperately wanted to run to him, to hold him and ignore the rest of the world. But she couldn’t. Not until the danger was gone. Maybe not even then.
The monster cradled its left side and she narrowed her eyes. I missed. I guess I’m out of shape.
“You missed,” it hissed, echoing her thoughts.
“It won’t happen again.” She lifted both hands: one to wipe away her tears, the other to gather her near dormant power.
“You’re right.” Its chuckle sent a familiar spark of anger down her spine. “It won’t. I’ve gotten stronger since our last fight. That was your only chance, and you missed.”
A cold mask settled over her face, trapping away the fear and anguish in her heart. “Don’t be so sure.”
Its grotesque features resembled a face as it sneered. “Supervillain told me to bring you in alive, but I think I’m gonna have some fun first.”
Her lip curled. “I am never going back. I’ve had enough of her games. I’m done.”
“You don’t get to decide that!” it snarled. “You swore loyalty to her. Just like we all did. You don’t get to walk away from that!”
I already did. She didn’t bother to respond. Let it exhaust itself talking—it wasn’t leaving here alive.
The monster settled its gaze on Hero once more. The predatory light in its eyes made her want to set it alight, but her attention was caught on her fiancè. On the look in his eyes. She could see the cogs working in his mind—he was working it out.
A tear slipped out behind the mask. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. She couldn’t get distracted. Not now. Even if her world was crumbling down around her.
“Supervillain said to bring just you, but maybe I’ll bring your little Hero along too.” The monster’s ravenous and burning gaze turned back to her. “She might even add him to her collection.”
For the first time in years, she felt the familiar lick of anger burning through her veins. “Leave him out of this.”
“Maybe when Supervillain’s finished with him, she’ll give him to me.” She knew it was baiting her, but she couldn’t help herself. She was going to rip him asunder. “I always enjoy new pets.”
The mask cracked and her face twisted into a murderous snarl. “Your death will be permanent this time. I will make sure of it myself.”
The monster launched itself at her with a grin, aiming its barbed limbs at severing her head. Using the fury burning in her soul, she sidestepped its lunge and called down the Hounds of Wind. An unearthly howl rendered the night sky apart as they rushed to her side. Without a beat of hesitation, they darted through the beast’s hide, splintering it into dust. It didn’t land a single blow as the Hounds of Wind scattered its particles into the stormy sky.
It had never been her equal. She had been Supervillain’s second in power for decades. Few could make that claim.
The Hounds returned to her side and curled against her in greeting. She stroked their swirling heads as she stared at the spot her old ally had stood.
“I won’t go back,” she murmured. “Send as many of them as you want, Supervillain. I’m never coming back.”
With a wave of her hand, she sent the Hounds scattering back to their atmospheric heights. Standing in the wreckage of their wedding ceremony, surrounded by shattered hopes and dreams, she closed her eyes against the anguish clawing her throat.
“Who are you?” Hero’s voice was still the most beautiful sound in the world, even as it held the horror and betrayal she had hoped never to hear in it.
She knelt down by an overturned chair and, with shaking fingers, picked up a broken photo frame. It was her favourite. As part of the ceremony, she and Hero had asked their guests to bring in photos of the two of them, something they could take into their future together. One of their neighbours had snapped this one of her and Hero on their first date. They had been on a set of swings, their heads bent together as they laughed at something private.
They looked so happy and in love. Seeing it amid the destruction of her life made her hands tremble.
“You know who I am.” She glanced up at him, her heart breaking all over again.
From the way he held himself, pressed against the altar and as far from her as possible, she knew that everything she had come to love had been destroyed. Again.
“Villain.”
The name sent ice through Villain’s heart; she nodded. She couldn’t breathe.
“You’re supposed to be dead.” He tried to push himself up, but collapsed back down with a moan as his wound stretched.
Villain reached out to him instinctively, and his flinch hurt more than anything else. She focused instead on picking up the rings where they’d been dropped in the aisle. They had been halfway through their vows when the monster had shown up. It had appeared behind the minister and torn his head from his body before anyone could react.
And when Hero had leaped in to fight, the monster had stabbed one of its limbs right through his stomach. Before Villain could think to defend him. Before she could blink.
“Yes.”
Everyone had run, screaming, the ring bearer included, dropping the rings in their terror. Villain picked them up now, tears streaming down her face at the inscription.
Hold my hand and you’ll hold my heart. Together forever.
She hadn’t even gotten to wear the ring. Now she never would.
“I tried to save you!” Hero was crying now too. “In our fight, when that building fell—I tried to pull you out! I tried to get to you but I couldn’t! I blamed myself! For years!”
The admission ripped Villain’s heart out of her chest. She hadn’t known that.
“Why?” he asked; that one word holding all the pain, judgement, anger and betrayal he felt.
She closed her eyes. “I was tired. I just wanted it to end.”
A/N: This is my first foray into the heroes and villains community, so I would love some feedback. Let me know what you think and I will absolutely adore you.
Also, please reblog. Likes are wonderful, but reblogs and comments make my soul sing.
No prompt here. This one just came to me when I was supposed to be sleeping
“Please! Don’t go!”
Villain shoved more clothes into the duffel bag. They didn’t say anything. They couldn’t. If they did, it would all come out. Everything. From how in love with their arch-nemesis they were, to how much it killed when Hero had stabbed them in the back.
Because if they started talking they wouldn’t be able to stop, and Hero would use something in there to convince them to stay. And Villain needed to go. Now. Otherwise they never would.
They grabbed the bag and headed for the door but Hero jumped in front of them, blocking the motel door. The sight of their tear-stained face almost broke Villain.
“I’m sorry. I made a mistake.” Hero’s chin wobbled. “I didn’t think it would happen like that. I thought they’d help me protect you. I just wanted to keep you safe.
Safe? Sa— “I was safe! Now the entire hero agency knows where I am and they won’t stop until they catch me!” The duffel bag straps cut into their hand as they clenched their fists. “They’re going to kill me! Even if I run now, I won’t last the week—all because I made the mistake of trusting you.”
The admission brought a fresh wave of tears to Hero’s eyes. After everything they’d been through together, they knew Villain trusted them, but they’d never admitted it out loud. And to hear it now, right after Hero had betrayed them—it was agony.
“I should have known,” Villain continued, unable to stop. “It’s what you do! You make people feel safe with you and then you destroy them.” Their laugh was breathless and disbelieving. “And they call me the villain.”
Hero squeezed their eyes shut, shaking their head as more tears spilled out.
Villain pressed a fist to their mouth, desperate to keep all the emotions in. “I can’t believe I thought I’d be safe. That you wouldn’t do it to me too because we’re—” They looked away, unable to say it even now. They swallowed through everything in their throat. “After everything, you betrayed me like it was nothing.”
A broken sound escaped Hero’s lips. “No, not nothing. Never nothing. I thought they’d help me. Help us. I didn’t think it would go so badly.”
“You never do. That’s the problem. You never think things through first.” Villain scrubbed a hand over their face. “How could you possibly think turning me into the hero agency—the same people who tried to kill me last week—would turn out okay? How could you think I’d be okay with that?”
Villain couldn’t survive anymore of this. They had to get out of there. “I’m leaving. Get out of my way.”
Hero shook their head, panic and desperation lining every cell of their being. “No, don’t go. Please. We can work this out.” They clutched Villain’s hands in theirs. “Please. Let me make this up to you. I’ll do anything. Anything you want. Just please don’t leave me.”
It wasn’t like Villain wanted to leave them. Hero was their everything. Yes they were enemies, but after everything they were also so much more than that.
“Then come with me.” They stepped closer until their chests were touching, their own sudden desperation mixing with Hero’s. “They can’t stop the both of us. If we run, we never have to worry about anyone getting in between us again. It’ll be like the old days, before the agency, before the politics. Just us.”
Hope flickered in Villain as they thought about it. They could be happy. Together, like they used to be. Yes they had their problems, but they could work them out, right? If they left all this behind them and just went back to being them—everything would be okay. It had to be.
But as the silence stretched and Hero looked away, Villain’s chest ached.
“Right.” They stepped away, dropping Hero’s hands. “Of course not.”
“I can’t. Not now.” They pleaded with Villain to understand. “I’m so close to gaining their trust. I can’t lose that.”
“No, I get it.” Villain stepped further away. “You’re more loyal to them than you are to me.” Their laugh was self-deprecating and full of loathing. “There’s always been someone else.”
“I never wanted this.” Hero’s broken-hearted whisper was like salt to a knife wound.
“Yes, you did. You were just never honest enough with yourself to admit it.” Villain hardened their heart against the pain on Hero’s face. “Now get out of my way, or I will make you.”
“You won’t hurt me.” The blind faith in their words broke Villain to their bones, because less than an hour ago, they’d had that same faith in Hero. Right before they’d ruined everything. “Just please don’t leave. Let me talk to them. I’ll convince them to give you a fair trial.”
“You’ll just make it worse.” Yet Villain could feel themselves wavering and they hated themselves for it. “I trusted you, and you betrayed me like it was nothing to you. Like everything we’ve been through together meant nothing.” Villain knew they kept repeating it, but no matter how many times they said it, they couldn’t understand why their oldest enemy—their friend—had done it. “Like I mean nothing to you.”
But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t turn away. Not when their arms ached to wrap around Hero and take away their pain, to wipe away their tears. Even after all this, they still stupidly cared.
“You mean everything to me.” It came out like a broken confession. Like Hero hadn’t meant it to slip out. “I can’t lose you too.”
You’ll never lose me. It was instinct to think it, even more so to almost say it. Even now. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t walk out that door right now.”
Hero opened their mouth to spill thousands of reasons and excuses, but nothing came out. They stood there, excuses in their heart and heartbreak in their eyes, and said nothing.
Only years of practice kept Villain’s composure from breaking, kept them from breaking. They had their answer. They’d always known, but hope was impossible to destroy, even after all the signs. All they could do now was hope that time and distance would soothe that ache. They straightened, even as they wanted to crumple, and looked at Hero down their nose. “Goodbye, Hero. You will never see me again.”
They pushed past the still silent Hero, bags in hand, and headed for the door. If they could get to their car, could wait long enough until then for the inevitable break down, then everything would be alright. Just make it to the elevator. Just make it out the door.
Their hand curled around the door handle, eyes already burning, when another hand curled around their waist. They were spun around, and before they could react, Hero was pressing them against the door.
It was a chaste kiss. A mere brush of their lips. But it set Villain on fire. It stole the air from their lungs and left them desperate for more.
Their lips were a hair's-breadth apart and Villain couldn’t breathe. Their heart beat a tune of do it again don’t do it again do it again don’t do it again as Hero trembled over them. Their eyes were on Villain’s, desperate for the confirmation they knew was there, before surging forward again.
The sound Villain made was anything but decent.
There was nothing chaste about this kiss. It was hard and desperate, and everything Villain had been craving for years. Hero’s hands fisted in their shirt, and the door knob pressed awkwardly into their back, but nothing mattered to Villain but Hero.
Their fingers tangled into Villain’s hair, tugging hard enough to make them shiver. Hero cupped their cheek, tipping their head back to deepen the kiss. They traced their tongue against Villain’s bottom lip and their knees wobbled. All that was keeping them up was Hero’s hold on them
Villain knew, distantly, that this was a trick to get them to stay, but by god was it working. Wrapping their arms around their nemesis, Villain pulled them closer. They arched their body into Hero, tasting their hiss against their mouth. They wound their fingers through Hero’s hair like they’d wanted to do for years and moaned at how soft it was. This was better than any fantasy.
Every brush of Hero’s fingers along their skin sent sparks through their heart. Villain bit down gently on their nemesis’s bottom lip, sucking it into their mouth and swallowing Hero’s moan. Hero pinned them harder against the wall, their hands slipping beneath Villain’s shirt. They left paths of fire along Villain’s skin as their hands trailed up.
Abruptly Hero pulled back and Villain sucked in all the air they’d lost in that wonderful, torturous kiss. Even as their chest heaved, they couldn’t take their eyes off Hero’s lips. One taste and they were intoxicated. Addicted. Utterly obsessed.
“Villain.” Hero’s breathing was harsh and faltering. “My Villain.”
“Kiss me again.” Villain was more desperate than they had ever been. “Please.”
Hero’s eyes darted over their face, searching for something, and before logic could dawn on Villain, they were lowering their head again.
This kiss was soft. Where before had been all desperation and fire, this one was tender and gentle, and oh-so-capable of breaking Villain’s heart. It spoke of years of pining, of nights spending imagining this very moment. Hero’s hands abandoned their search under Villain’s shirt and returned to cupping their cheeks. Every tender brush of Hero’s lips against theirs sent bolts of fire through them.
Hero kissed them like they were exploring every inch of their mouth, intending to take their time and send Villain crazy with want. Villain was dizzy with the attention.
So why did it taste like lies?
“I’m in love with you.” The whisper was a caress over Villain’s lips as Hero pulled back slightly. They pressed their forehead to Villain’s. “That’s my reason. That’s why I can’t let you leave.”
The words were knives through Villain’s heart. Everything they had once wanted to hear. The countless nights they had spent imagining hearing those words. But not like this. Not when it tasted of betrayal and heartbreak.
Villain couldn’t say anything, their world shattering around them as Hero ploughed on.
“I know we’ve had our differences, but we can get through this. Like we’ve gotten through everything else.” They cupped Villain’s cheeks, bringing them closer until their foreheads were pressed together. “We’re Hero and Villain. We can get through anything together.” They brushed their lips over Villain’s once more. “This proves it.”
Yes, it did. It proved how weak they were for Hero. A heady kiss and sweet words had them wavering in their arms, as though the last hour of betrayal had been nothing. With a few minutes of undivided attention from their nemesis and Villain was ready to forget how Hero would always put themselves first. Regardless of how much it hurt the one they claimed to love.
They could see it now, the future Hero was desperate for. They would spend time in prison—probably a decade or two before Hero had enough sway to get them released on parole. Then the rest of their life would be spent as Hero’s trophy, proof that even a Villain as powerful as them could be brought to heel.
Behind closed doors, however, the heady passion would be a constant thrill. They knew they would have Hero’s undivided attention for every second. But in public, they would be reformed nemeses, nothing more. Villain had more dignity than that. As much as they pleaded to have that passion with Hero like they had craved all these years, they would lose themselves. And after everything, that was all they had left.
Villain knew what they had to do.
Hero brushed away Villain’s tears, impossibly tender. “Stay,” they pleaded. “Stay with me.”
The knife was easy to slide in. Hero never saw it coming, so sure they knew Villain’s answer. Villain pushed the knife in to the hilt and felt the knick as it scraped against Hero’s ribs.
Hero gasped, their eyes snapping to Villain’s in confusion and slow-dawning horror. They clutched at Villain’s shirt, desperate to stay standing, even as their knees weakened. Villain caught them, their hands gentle as they laid their best friend on the carpet.
Blood spread in a slow circle around Hero as their chest heaved with the effort of breathing. They wouldn’t die—Villain had made sure of it—but this would serve as a reminder. A reminder of how Villain had survived so long in this world.
“Do you hate me?” Hero asked, their voice wet and small. They didn’t ask why—they already knew.
“Yes.” Villain brushed the hair from their forehead with a tenderness at odds with everything. “Almost as much as I love you.”
They wrenched the knife out of their side and Villain cleaned the blade as Hero screamed at the agony.
“I have loved you for years.” The confession was ash on their lips as Hero clutched at the wound in their side. Villain collected their bags as blood dripped between Hero’s fingers. They paused at the door, turning back for one final goodbye. “If I see you again, the next one will be through your heart.
The door shut behind them with a soft snick, and Villain walked away from their heart.
They made it to the car before the tears fell.
A/N: I wrote this at 2 in the morning and when I went back to edit it I doubled the word count and the angst haha. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought 💖
