i've always like your works! Since youre opening a request Can i perhaps request yandere phainon as a college friend x female reader, well he technically not that close to reader just know each other, they even attending different major, but he always kept himself close to reader which is make reader annoyed, somethings like welcoming himself to study with reader whenever reader try to study alone in library and it turns reader uncomfortable with his presence, the rest plot is up to you! ^_^
Tempest - pt. 1
College!AU, A/B/O!AU: Yandere!Dark!Alpha!Pahinon x Beta!Reader
wordcount: ~5600
tws: MNDI, College!AU, a/b/o!AU, darkfic, yandere, obsessive/possessive behaviour, heat/rut cycles, overall psychological pressure, stalking, scenting, kidnapping, Phainon is kinda ooc here, he knocks you out with a hit on your head, so violence.
(If you find some more, please let me know.)
As usual, thank you all, my dear sweethearts, for your support!
NOT SUITED FOR MINORS. Not proofread. Author does not endorse or condone any of the actions depicted in real life. Not proofread. Also, English is not the author's first language, so there might be some mistakes.
Please remember that you are responsible for your own media consumption.
Ethel Cain - Tempest
The Grove of Epiphany University, nestled within the sprawling, ancient architecture of Okhema City, was a whispered promise. Here, knowledge was currency, traded in hushed murmurs between students hungry for understanding and professors who stood as unwavering beacons, ready to illuminate the winding paths to greater discoveries.
You were one of the unique students.
To be a beta in this era was to be an anomaly. In a society dominated by the primal, often volatile, dynamics of alphas and omegas, your species was a fading echo, a rarity. You were a quiet island in a tumultuous sea of overwhelming scents and unspoken urges, untouched by the searing heats that plagued omegas and the brutal ruts that consumed alphas.
This immunity was your quiet triumph, a shield against the relentless biological tides that dictated so many lives. And your scent, a faint whisper of black tea, was barely discernible to most. It was a quiet counterpoint to the vibrant, often cloying, aromas that saturated the university halls. You’ve been enjoying your quiet life, hanging out with your friends during breaks, and studying under the famous professors.
It was so peaceful.
Up until recently.
He appeared in Professor Anaxagoras’s advanced philosophy seminar, a course you’d taken out of a genuine interest in the elusive nature of truth. You chose your usual sanctuary: a seat near the back, a familiar spot that offered both a clear view of the lecture and a comfortable distance from the bustling symphony of scents that permeated the room. Your own sense of smell, while present, was mercifully weaker than that of alphas and omegas, a small blessing that allowed you to revel in the quiet calamity of your studies. You truly cherished your solace.
Then, a discordant note tore through that everlasting calm.
His scent hit you first, not as a mere intrusion but as a violent seizure of the air itself, tearing through the fragile harmony of the classroom. Bitter bergamot lashed like acid against your tongue, pepper stung sharp as ground glass in your throat, each note striking with deliberate cruelty. The undertone of something burning was a final, merciless blow to your guts. The sweetness that lingered before was obliterated, replaced by a suffocating fog that pressed down on your chest and filled every fragile breath. It clung to your skin, seeped into your clothes, buried itself in your hair, until you could no longer tell where you ended and it began. Heavy as lead, it smothered every thought, dulling your awareness even as it pried open your nerves, sharpening panic to a fever pitch.
This was Phainon. The enigmatic head of the student council, a figure of almost unnerving intelligence and composure. His reputation preceded him like a shimmering halo: brilliant, ambitious, a mind like a steel trap, capable of dissecting any argument with chilling precision. He was the university’s golden boy, practically a living legend. He was a brilliant student, all the tests marked with no less than A. He volunteered at every single event, his presence a magnet for admiration. He aced swimming, cutting through the water like a predator, and had single-handedly brought the coveted gold cup to the university, his triumphs celebrated with almost religious fervor.
So why did Phainon smell of destruction so strongly that even you, a beta, could sense it?
And this golden boy, this paragon of academic and athletic prowess, chose the seat directly beside you. The disgusting stench of his signature scent, that dry heaviness, clung to him like a second skin, a dark aura that pulsed with an unsettling energy, a subtle vibration in the air around him that made your teeth ache and your skin prickle. It was a scent that whispered of hidden depths, of something beautiful gone completely burned out.
So unfitting for someone like him.
By the end of the lecture, your head throbbed with a severe headache that felt like a dull ache behind your eyes. You could barely hold yourself from the urge to cover your nose with your hand, to somehow block out the suffocating stench that had permeated every breath you took. The air felt thick, and it was hard to breathe as if you were sitting in the very middle of a roaring fire. So as soon as Professor Anaxagoras’s voice finally echoed through the haze of your discomfort with a “Class dismissed,” you bolted out of the classroom and into the sanctuary of the nearest bathroom. The cold tiles were a permanent saviour, and you leaned against them, needing to catch your breath, to purge the cloying smoke from your lungs, to reclaim even a sliver of your own air.
But in your panicked hurry, you didn’t notice the way his nostrils flared.
Phainon inhaled you like a drowning man breaching water, chest shuddering with the force of it, his throat working in a slow, deliberate swallow. A tremor coursed down his frame, predatory and obscene, the kind of shiver a beast gives when it finally scents blood. In an instinct too raw, his pupils blew wide, then rolled back into milky whites, a grotesque flash of rapture that left him swaying with restrained hunger. His fingers clawed at the fabric of his perfectly ironed trousers, nails biting through the weave until the seams strained. The tendons in his hand stood out like cords, stark with the effort of holding himself together. His hips twitched in an involuntary motion, a rutting impulse he strangled into stillness by sheer force of will.
You smelled like home.
Throughout the rest of the semester, Phainon’s presence pressed against you like a damp weight you could never quite shake off. He did not speak to you in class, not even once, yet the scrape of his gaze found you all the same, sliding across your skin as though he meant to peel it back and see what lay underneath. In those moments, when the room grew heavy with the scent of roaring fire, you felt it – the awful certainty that you had been singled out, that you were no longer invisible, that something starving pursued.
However, the true terror lurked outside the lecture halls. What used to be yours – your quiet habits, your solitary refuges – became infested with ash scent. The library, once a sanctuary of dust and silence, soured under Phainon's intrusion. You would tuck yourself into a dim corner, paper and ink your only companions, when suddenly the faint bitterness of something aflame would bleed into your lungs. You never heard his approach, not even once. He simply appeared, folding himself into the chair beside you as if he belonged there, his books spread wide, his posture careful, his nearness deliberate. You could swear that every fiber of him strained toward you under the guise of the still water of his appearance.
What could he possibly want from a person like you?
Your stomach knotted tighter each time. You told yourself that he was studying. You told yourself that it was just a coincidence. But the air around the persistent alpha thrummed with a predator’s patience. It felt like a quiet hum that pinned you down no matter how deeply you tried to bury yourself in your pages.
You started noticing the fractures in his mask. The way his eyes, blue as a summer sky gone too wide, tracked not your face but the movements of your hand, lingering on the twitch of your wrist, on the pulsing veins under the skin. The faint flare of his nostrils whenever you shifted, however slightly, as if he could siphon the ghost of your scent from the very air. And it dawned on you, blooming like a bruise you could not press without wincing: he was smelling you.
Why me?
The question became a constant, echoing refrain in the hollow chambers of your mind, a silent plea against the rising tide of paranoia. You were truly unremarkable, content to blend into the background. You had no ambitions that shone like flares, no intoxicating pheromones that drove alphas insane, no omega softness that demanded protection or desire. Nothing that could possibly lure the attention of someone like Phainon
It wasn’t because of your beta nature, was it? Betas were rare, yes, but not that rare. You had seen them scattered through the university, at least eight of your own kind, ordinary and overlooked, blending into classrooms and lecture halls just like you.
So why?
You tried to hide. You changed your study spots daily, sought out new, obscure corners of the university’s sprawling grounds, and even resorted to studying in your cramped dorm room. But like a phantom limb, his presence would always find you. You’d step out of a lecture hall, and he’d be leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for nobody in particular, yet his eyes, sharp and stormy, would lock onto yours, following your every movement with an unnerving precision that suggested he knew your exact schedule.
You’d grab a quick meal at the campus cafeteria, and Phainon’d materialize at the same table, apart from his usual friend group of star students, his fork scraping against ceramic with an almost rhythmic precision, his gaze fixed on you like an invisible thread that pulled at your very soul.
And then, the ultimate violation, a detail that screamed of trespass: a faint, undeniable whisper of that cloying burning scent clinging to your dorm room. A phantom presence on the wood that was your shield against the world.
You cried yourself to sleep that night. Your dorm room, your last bastion of safety, your private world, was utterly violated, its boundaries dissolved. The thought was a venomous seed, growing with every shadow cast by the moonlight, every whisper of the wind against the glass, every creak of the flooring in the hallway. Your once-comforting room had become a stage for an unseen observer, a silent witness to your most private moments. You started checking the lock on your door multiple times before bed in a desperate ritual. You jammed a chair under the handle, a futile barricade against an invisible threat. These measures brought no true comfort, only a fleeting illusion of safety before the terror crept back in. You swore you could still smell him even in your sleep. Even when he wasn't physically there, the ghost of his sickening scent clung to your door, to your clothes, to your bed sheets, to your very bones.
You scrubbed your skin until it bled. You washed your clothes almost every day. You changed sheets regularly. You opened the windows in the evening.
But nothing, nothing, could erase Phainon’s scent.
The psychological toll was immense. Sleep became a fractured landscape of shadows and cloying dreams morphing into waking nightmares where his unnerving gaze pierced through the darkness. You were constantly on edge, your senses hyper-aware, perpetually scanning for the tell-tale sign of his approach, for the first whisper of that dreadful scent, for the subtle shift in the air that announced his presence.
The world, once a place of quiet comfort, had become a hostile entity.
So, in a frantic gesture, you decided to ask the principal, Director Aglaea, to transfer you, to shield you, to do something to protect you from Phainon. Her office breathed deeply with old dust and immense knowledge around you when you told her your fears. The golden light glistened beautifully on her hair, but you found no solace in this enchanting sight.
“I think you are overreacting,” was the thing Aglaea said with a breaking certainty when you stood before her, shaking, on the edge of crying.
“What?...” was the only thing that you managed to utter.
“You know, Phainon speaks highly of you,” she continued with an unwavering gaze and a subtle note of surprise in her tone, “It's quite unusual, you know, for an alpha of his caliber to show such intense interest in a beta. Not common at all.” Her words rang out like a warning, a subtle reminder of your place, a veiled command not to upset the delicate balance of power. Your heart hammered against your ribs like a frantic bird trapped in a cage, desperate to escape, desperate to scream the truth.
But the words died in your throat when she continued:
“Still, it’s quite alright to be wanted by an alpha, isn’t it? Especially by one as influential as Phainon. He's been invaluable to the student council, truly. A remarkable young man...” Her gaze drifted over your shoulder, a clear dismissal as if you were a minor distraction, a fly to be swatted.
“Moreover, the relationships between betas and alphas are not unheard of. Rare, for sure, but possible,” the director ended her speech with a nod that felt more like a guillotine fall, severing any last thread of hope.
“Director Aglaea, I-” you finally found your voice, a desperate, thin thread, “-he... he smells like something burning. It’s sickening. I-I just can't-” You blurted it out, the secret a desperate weight on your tongue, praying for a flicker of understanding, a hint of concern.
Aglaea blinked, her thin smile faltering for a fraction of a second, a ripple in her carefully constructed composure. Her brow furrowed, not with sympathy, but with mild confusion, swiftly replaced by a dismissive wave of her hand, a gesture that swept away your hopes as if they were dust motes, insignificant and easily brushed aside.
“Huh? Burning? My dear, that’s highly unlikely. Everyone, and I mean everyone, finds his aroma quite invigorating, very savoury. Bergamot and black pepper…” Her eyes, cold and assessing, swept over you.
“I think you should see Hyacine. She knows her ways around betas. Some sort of sensitivity deviation, perhaps. Something must be wrong with you.” The casual cruelty of her suggestion, the immediate invalidation of your horrifying reality, felt like a physical blow.
Is something wrong…
Tears pricked your eyes.
…with me?
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend.” She finally dismissed you, her words a sterile validation of your torment, her focus entirely on Phainon’s brilliance, not your burgeoning fear. Aglaea’s indifference hurted like a fresh wound, a stark reminder of your insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe’s power dynamics, a chilling confirmation that no one would help you.
Only Anaxagoras, your professor, seemed to see the truth, the insidious cracks beneath Phainon’s gleaming facade. You caught his gaze across the quad one day, his crimson eye, usually so full of intellectual fire, now clouded with a weary sadness that bent his shoulders. He was a beta himself, and perhaps that allowed him a clearer vision of the insidious nature of Phainon’s desires.
Anaxagoras had seen the darkness blooming in Phainon.
But your professor was powerless, bound by unspoken rules, by the sheer force of alpha’s intellect and influence, by a system that protected its rising stars at any cost. Phainon, the golden boy, the intellectual prodigy, the future of the Grove of Epiphany, was untouchable. Anaxagoras merely offered a small, almost imperceptible nod after you exited Aglaea's office – a silent acknowledgment of your shared understanding, a quiet apology for his helplessness, before turning away.
You were alone in your own misery.
The library was quiet as usual, a cathedral of dust and paper, each footstep muted against the worn floors. You had claimed your usual corner, the nook between two overflowing shelves, a place where the dying evening sunlight barely reached and silence wrapped around you like a soft cloak. For once, you believed yourself unobserved.
Until the smell and liquid shattered that illusion.
You were halfway through highlighting a passage when a warm, sticky spill coated the back of your sweater. Pomegranate juice mixed with milk, a cloying pink against the pale fabric. You yelped, recoiling, and looked up only to see Phainon, hands frozen mid-motion, eyes wide in apology, looking like a soggy puppy caught in a mess he couldn’t comprehend.
“Shit! I- I’m so sorry!” His voice cracked slightly, uneven, “I didn’t mean- I tripped!” His words tumbled out, fast and clumsy, but there was something else beneath them, something you couldn’t place at first. His gaze lingered not on the sports bottle rolling on the floor, but on you who were peeling off the wet cloth from your figure.
“… It’s fine,” you muttered, voice brittle.
“I promise, that wasn’t intentional! I stumbled! I'm so sorry! I- I wash it. You shouldn’t even- here, give it to me,” he said, reaching out with hands that were too insistent, the pressure of his grip a warning wrapped in civility. You hesitated, then handed him the sweater, shivering immediately as the thin fabric of your plain white tee did nothing to shield you from the chill of the library.
“Damn, you’re shivering!” he said,immediately tugging a bomber jacket from his own form. Phainon draped it over your shoulders before you could protest. The weight of it settled like a claim, his scent seeping through the fibers, a quiet declaration you could not avoid. It was thick, warm, and carried the faintest scent of him but you had no choice.
It almost made you gag.
“Th-thank you,” you muttered, your voice trembling, partly from cold, partly from the pressure of his musk on the fabric. His lips twitched in a satisfied smile, eyes darting to your face, then back to the bomber almost as if he were savoring the sight of it on you.
“I’ll wash your sweater and give it back next week,” he said with voice unnerving in its intensity. He folded your sweater into and put it into the backpack with painstaking care. But you’ve noticed how his fingers lingered longer than necessary, curling slightly around the fabric as though memorizing it.
You watched him, trapped by the weight of the bomber, shivering, wrapped in a warmth that was too much, too close, too deliberate. The library’s silence pressed against the edges of the scene, the sound of distant voices from the outside doing nothing to break the oppressive atmosphere that wrapped around the two of you.
“So um… Wanna grab a drink? As an apology.”
Phainon leaned closer, his disgusting scent now tinged with something more sweet, something truly foul, something that you could not identify yet, brushing against your face, a breath that felt like a curse.
“Oh, um… I’m sorry, I… need to go already,” you mumbled out a desperate excuse. You clutched his bomber, your knuckles white, willing him to simply walk away, to leave you to the silence you now craved.
“Oh, I see,” His smile didn’t falter, but something in his eyes darkened, a subtle shift that sent a fresh wave of dread through you.
“Then let me escort you to your room at least!”
Phainon took a step closer, and the smokey scent intensified.
“The campus can be... unpredictable after dark. It would be irresponsible of me, as head of the student council, to allow you to walk home alone… and wet.”
His hand, warm and unsettling, briefly brushed your upper back. A fleeting touch that meant to be soothing felt like a lava on your skin.
“I'm sorry but-”
“I insist.”
Your thoughts would race against each other: what could he possibly do when you two are on the student grounds? Even if he tries something, you should be safe, there are other people around. He already knows where you live anyway, what more can he achieve? Maybe you can persuade him to stay away? Maybe he’ll lose interest in you after this small walk-and-talk? Maybe there is a chance to fix it? Maybe you can talk it out? And you can give him his awfully smelly bomber back.
…
Maybe there is something wrong with you.
And at the same very moment that thought hit, you nodded absentmindedly.
The walk to your dormitory was an agonizing descent into a deeper layer of your personal hell. Phainion walked beside you, close enough that his arm occasionally brushed yours, close enough that the cloying bitterness of something burnt out made your stomach churn.
You wanted to ask him about his antics but he just spoke…
“Phainon, I wa-“
“Right now we are planning the student clubs fair!”
...about the university…
“Please, can we-“
“Being the president is cool, but a little bit tiring!”
…about the student council…
“I wanted to a-”
“Look at this statue! Oh how lucky we are to study in such a university!”
…about the beauty of the old architecture…
“...“
“Oh, and by the way, I got a gold medal from that one swimming competition!”
Your eyes watered with every failed attempt.
As you reached the familiar facade of your dormitory, the relief was a sharp sensation. You fumbled for your keycard with the trembling hands. Phainon stopped beside you, blocking the last sliver of fading light from the street lamps.
You opened the door.
Then, a sudden, brutal shove to your back. The sheer force of it sent you stumbling forward with a yelp, your worn sneakers scrabbling uselessly on the polished linoleum before your knees slammed against the cold floor. A searing pain erupted as skin broke against the unyielding surface, a sharp sting that momentarily eclipsed the terror. Your body seized in panic, every nerve screaming, when the heavy door behind you clicked shut with an ominous finality.
“You know,” Phainon murmured in low rumble that seemed to vibrate through the very bones of the building, echoing in the hollow space of your chest, “It’s taking too long.”
Your breath hitched, caught in a suffocating knot in your throat. The implication was an undeniable truth that slammed into you with the force of a physical blow, rooting you to the spot, blood roaring in your ears.
“Honestly, I tried my best,” he continued, his voice barely audible, a secret shared between predator and prey, the ultimate confession delivered with chilling calm, “but you didn’t even tried to notice.”
With those words, you managed to twist your torso and sit on your ass amidst the growing puddle of your own terror, your blood screaming in your veins upon the sight in front of you.
Phainon stood there, shielding a door with his broad shoulders, perfectly still like some menacing monolith. A sick, toothy smile stretched his lips in an unnatural way, pulling them too wide, revealing too much, like a predator displaying its fangs. Alpha’s face was flushed, forehead slick with an unholy sheen, as if he had a fever, or was consumed by some internal inferno. His gaze was fixed on you, unblinking, pupils dilated, two black pools reflecting your stunned figure. He tugged at his own choker as if it were a noose, or a leash he was about to throw away.
“And my rut is nearing.”
He stilled. The whole room seemed to breathe around you, inhaling and exhaling with the rhythm of your pounding heart, the dormitory room transforming into a claustrophobic cage.
But then you made an irreversible mistake. Your body, screaming for escape, instinctively tried to scramble backward, dragging itself against the floor.
That provoked him.
First, you saw Phainon move, his swift form bolting towards you in sudden shift too fast to follow in the dark of your room. Then, sharp pain of something hitting the side of your head. Then, a suffocating abyss that swallowed you whole, accompanied by the last agonizing whisper of something being burnt alive filled your lungs, your mouth, your very being.
There was nothing wrong with you.
Your weight was barely there in his arms, cuddled up to him like a precious gift. Your scent, that delicate whisper of black tea, was an intoxicating current, pulling him under every time. Phainon buried his face in your bloodied hair first, inhaling deeply, letting the calming aroma fill his lungs, settle in his bones. It was a stark contrast to the cloying smell that clung to his own skin, a scent only you seemed to truly register, a shared secret that thrilled him to the core.
Truth be told, Phainon was almost pathologically self-conscious of his own scent, as though every breath he exhaled condemned him. It clung to him like guilt, like memory, like past that never dispersed no matter how many windows he threw open.
Where other alphas carried the steady pulse of cedar, earth, or leather – anchors that drew others near – his was a suffocating noose of burnt charcoal and bitter ash. It was not an aura but a pyre, a funeral that refused to end. By the age of 16, he had learned to hide it with scent blockers, to disguise it in layers of bergamot and pepper. A masquerade of normalcy, though every drop only reminded him that he was unclean with tragedy.
Phainon remembered the first time they named him Alpha.
It happened after the flames, after the sky lit crimson over Aedes Elysia, after his home became nothing but a charred wound on the earth. His glands had bloomed open in that very fire, thick smoke in his throat, skin sticky with ash and soot, the stench of lives ending etched into him forever. His nature declared itself at the precise moment his world was annihilated.
A cruel joke of biology – what use is dominance, when everything you might have protected lies in ashes?
Phainon lived like a pretender, masking his own scent, clawing at the smelly spots on his body like it was possible to tear them out along with the bitter past that tortured him countless nights. They pulsed and ached under all the scent-blocking balm that he applied every day, always painfully swollen, but never used properly. His rut became a shallow memory from when he just presented. It never happened again, not with the amount of hormonal pills that he was taking. Not with all the masking that he did.
Not until you happened.
The first time Phainon caught your scent in the hallway, his knees nearly buckled. It was not even strong – no commanding alpha flare, no omega sweetness.
Just… you?
This fragile, ordinary miracle – a simple exhale of black tea, soft herbs, wool warmed by skin. Familiar, ordinary, unbearably tender. It smelled like the sweaters you wore, like mornings unbroken by tragedy, like a kitchen light left on for someone expected home. It smelled like the future, his future, that had been denied him once, and perhaps would be again, if he did not cling fast enough.
His chest tightened, his eyes watered before he even understood why. His lungs burned with the need to drag you deeper inside, to memorize that fragile note that cut through the smoke choking him.
For the first time since the fire claimed everything, Phainon felt something stir beneath the wreckage.
You were a beta, he understood later. A rare kin, but utterly unremarkable in the brutal taxonomy of scent and dominance. And yet you smelled like salvation. Like the promise of a life that could have been. And he hated the way his heart leapt, the way it broke inside his ribcage with every inhale he managed to take near you. Because it wasn’t fair. Because you did not know what you carried. Because the more he breathed you in, the more the ruined parts of him stitched themselves to you, thread by trembling thread.
You were not just someone. You were a reprieve, a reprieve he could not, would not, let slip away.
In his desperation he began to dream that if he could only press you close enough, inject himself deep enough, perhaps your calamity might overwrite his ruin. Phainon craved to let his body be consumed by you, to be buried deep among the dark, curled tea leaves at the very bottom of the cup, gently dissolving into the soothing liquid, becoming irrevocably one with your essence.
“Ack-!”
He shivered as the flames licked his loins, a faintly familiar tremor intensified like a visceral hum beneath his skin. His rut was nearing and your scent, so close now, so accessible, was a potent accelerant, fanning the fire of his escalating desire. It provoked him, pushing him closer to the edge, to the glorious precipice of instinct. His canines ached with a phantom bite, an unfamiliar urge to share the future with someone.
Phainon needed to move, or else he would claim you right here, in your unprepared dorm room.
He shifted your weight slightly in his arms, securing his grip. His flat was close, a safe haven near the university, meticulously prepared for you to become one. Every soft blanket, every muted light, every food you enjoyed, curated not for himself, but for this very moment.
Your door clicked shut behind him.
The transition from the sterile lobby to the dim twilight was seamless. His senses, already heightened by the approaching rut, flared. A solitary student, an omega who was heading to a late study session, glanced up, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of Phainon. But then, the boy’s gaze flicked to your form in alpha’s arms, quickly dismissing the unusual scene after a faint smile and a curt nod.
He was Phainon, after all.
He lulled you in his arms during the walk towards his flat, shushing your unconscious form like a great partner, frowning at the sight of blood in your hair. He knew that his method of collecting you was a little bit harsh. A touch unrefined. But how else was he to proceed? He simply didn’t know how to court you properly.
He’d tried to educate himself. He’d spent hours, days even, burrowing into the internet’s obscure corners, collecting dusty, forgotten books on the anatomy and social behaviors of betas. Phainon dissected scientific papers, searching for a tangible manual, a definitive guide to acquiring a beta. But none of it described anything he needed.
Like, seriously, was he supposed to just talk with you? Exchange pleasantries over lukewarm coffee? To just be around you? What about scenting, marking, claiming, utterly possessing?
He’d doubted that those advises would work, but he tried nevertheless. The book had been very clear: betas valued consistency, cherished shared time. Not flashy gestures, not the overwhelming dominance alphas were taught to flaunt, but presence.
So he gave you presence.
Phainon'd lingered nearby in the lecture hall, angled his body so you would catch him in your periphery, brushed past you in the corridors as if by accident. He sat across from you in the cafeteria, quiet and careful, certain you would recognize his patience as a gift.
But you didn’t. You ate faster, shoulders tight, head ducked as if retreat could save you. The sight made his chest ache with something between confusion and desperation. Perhaps, he thought, it was not you but him. Perhaps you simply weren’t accustomed to the strength of alpha pheromones. That would explain the tremors, the watery eyes, the way your breath caught as if the air itself betrayed you.
Another book insisted that familiarity softened resistance. Phainon decided you needed to become accustomed to his scent. He pressed his hands against the glands at his neck after long runs, when his pulse was strong and the musk heavy, then smeared it discreetly along the frame of your front door. It was meant to calm you, to prepare you. You were a beta, and betas were not as sensitive as others, so he reasoned you would need more. He thought you would sleep more peacefully surrounded by his protective musk, even if it smelled of ash.
But instead, Phainon heard you cry.
That first night he lay beneath your bed with his heart in his throat as the sound of your sobs pounded through him harder than any rut. You curled on top of the sheets in your street clothes, trembling like a small kitten in the rain. Every gasp, every hitch of your breath tore him apart, and yet he bit down on his lip until the iron taste of blood filled his mouth. He wanted to purr, to soothe, to let you know that your alpha was there, guarding you against everything else. But he stayed frozen in the shadows under your bed, hand clutching at his trousers as if that could hold him together, chest convulsing with the effort not to crawl out and wrap you in his arms.
What had gone wrong?
Phainon did not understand.
But it didn't matter anymore.
You were here. In his flat. In his nest.
The sight of you there broke him open, left his chest hollowed and trembling with something rawer than hunger. He had arranged the pile with the clumsy desperation of a starving man trying to cook for a banquet, typing “how to make a nest for your omega” into search bar with shaking hands. It had felt strange for an alpha, humiliating even, but betas weren’t supposed to know. Betas weren’t supposed to feel this need clawing through their marrow, this ache to soften space, to prepare, to build warmth until it was enough for two. So, in a desperate attempt to be a good mate, Phainon had done it himself. He had torn through stores, rejected cushion after cushion that didn’t hold his scent correctly, layered his own shirts, his blankets, everything until the air was thick with him. He hoped it was to your liking.
And there you were, unconscious and folded against the worn fabric of his t-shirt, already sinking into him, already marked by proximity.
Phainon’s breath fractured.
For the first time after the destruction of his home, he felt truly complete. His rut was beginning to truly bloom at the feeling, a roaring fire, consuming him slowly. Your black tea scent was a delicious provocation, igniting the final spark.
Soon, you would understand. Soon, you would belong. Soon, your futures would intervene, creating a new, promising destiny.
His hands reached for your clothes.
.
To mate...
Warning: the second part will be much darker.
Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!
Taglist is closed for this one. (sorry~)
So… a little heads-up, my darlings!
Things are about to get a lot darker in the second part. I'm using these requests as a chance to practice for my other fic, Gebo, so be prepared.
Still, I'm writing it so you can skip ahead to the ending.
To make sure everyone stays safe, I'm thinking of posting just the epilogue here on Tumblr and putting the more intense parts on my AO3. That way, everyone will have a safer option.
Hi hi! If its alright with you can I request a omegaverse with alpha!phainon×beta!reader. Please make him as yander as possible the darker the better perhaps.... sorry if it's uncomfortable...
-💙🪽☀️
Tempest - (epilogue)
Previous part
College!AU, A/B/O!AU: Yandere!Dark!Alpha!Pahinon x Beta!Reader
wordcount: ~1050 (only the epilogue on Tumblr, full - my AO3)
As usual, thank you all, my dear sweethearts, for your support!
NOT SUITED FOR MINORS. Not proofread. Author does not endorse or condone any of the actions depicted in real life. Not proofread. Also, English is not the author's first language, so there might be some mistakes.
Please remember that you are responsible for your own media consumption.
ADDITIONAL WARNING:
Here on Tumblr, I will only be posting the epilogue.
If you want to read the full thing, it’s on my AO3 account.
But please, please read the tags at the beginning of the chapter to stay safe.
If you want to read the previous chapter, you can find it here. I warn you the third and the last time that it is very dark, so please, read the tw's carefully (they are stated at the very beginning). If you are not okay with them, you can just skip it and read the epilogue (this part). Stay safe.
Ethel Cain - Vacillator
The stage gleams under the sunlight, banners rippling in the summer wind, gold and white streaking across the open plaza, the university seal bold in the center of each. Graduates sit in meticulous rows, their caps sharp and square, faces full of hope and anticipation, their breaths rising in small clouds of collective excitement. Cameras tilt and pan, lenses catching the glint of sunlight as the crowd murmurs, anticipation rising to fever pitch.
Phainon stands at the podium, his posture impeccable, the embodiment of everything a golden boy should be. He does not need to project, not really; even without amplification, his presence demands attention, a gravitational pull that draws the eyes of the hopeful and the ambitious. His suit clings perfectly to his frame, each crease and seam a testament to careful preparation, to control, to perfection. His smile stretches wide, luminous under the bright sky, teeth white and even, an image of triumph framed in daylight.
…
You lift your hand toward the bookshelf. Dust coats the spines of old novels and journals, a grey haze settling over titles. The motion pulls at your sleeve, and your eyes fall to the pale lines etched across your wrists, slashes long healed. You brush the dust again, moving the rag over the surface, feeling the coarse texture under your fingertips. You let your arm fall back to your side when the washing machine beeps in another room.
…
Phainon’s voice echoes over the plaza, amplified but not needed. He gestures, broad and deliberate, his hands cutting the air as he addresses the sea of graduates.
“Today,” he starts, and the words roll out with slow majesty, “we stand on the precipice of a future that is ours to define. We have endured nights without rest, tests that threatened our resolve, and doubts that gnawed at the edges of our confidence. Yet here we are, triumphant and unbroken, ready to carve our mark upon the world.”
…
You drag the tall basket of laundry across the floorboards of the hallway, heavy with the weight of damp cloth. With a tired puff, you decide to rest for a bit, leaning on the plastic. The basket digs into your hip as you lean on it, forcing a wince from you. The bruised flesh there burns, the marks still tender under the layers of clothing. You glance at the locks on the entrance door only briefly as you limp past.
…
Phainon’s voice rises again, words sculpted with precision, perfect for the ceremonial broadcast.
“We are not merely students. We are visionaries. We are pioneers who have wrestled knowledge from obscurity, who have crafted it into tools to shape our destiny. The path before us is uncharted, yes, but we have the courage, the insight, the audacity to walk it. We will not falter. We will not hesitate. Our names will echo in history as those who dared to embrace the world, to bend it to our vision.”
The applause swells. He leans into the microphone slightly, savoring the resonance of his own voice, a predator at the apex of his triumph, utterly delirious with achievement.
…
You bend down to pick up a small dinosaur toy from the carpet, part of a small collection of toys scattered around. A train, a rattle, a puzzle piece with a missing corner. As you bend, your ankle brushes the pyramid toy, catching on the tender circle of bruised flesh on your ankle. The marks from chains pulse, and you pause only long enough to think, “ I need to put some bruise ointment on this .”
The silver bracelet on the other leg catches the dim light, glittering faintly against the darkness of the bruise. You close the toy basket.
….
Phainon’s hand sweeps through the air, turning to address the parents and dignitaries.
“Our generation will carry the torch. We will innovate, we will lead, we will challenge the old paradigms and build new ones in their place. Nothing can stop us, for our preparation is complete, our vision unwavering. We will claim the future, and it will belong to us.”
His eyes glint with manic certainty as he surveys the crowd. Cameras focus on him, on his fingers, on the small quiver in the corners of his mouth as he smiles for them, radiant as ever.
…
You move to the kitchen, pulling your hair back with one hand, twisting it into a knot as you reach for a spoon with the other. Hickeys bloom in mottled purples and reds, teeth marks pressed into soft flesh, bruises layered atop one another in a grotesque tapestry.
The television flickers in the corner of the kitchen, broadcasting the ceremony. Phainon’s words creep through the silence, rich and resonant, filling every corner of the space. You stir the pot slowly, lips pulling upward from the familiar voice.
A single tear slides down, falling into the thick broth.
A sudden cry pierces the air, sharp and high, slicing through the lull of mechanical motions. The sound pulls you from your trance, and you move down the hall, limping slightly as you go. The nursery door is painted in soft pastels. Inside, the small boy, barely two, lies in the crib and sobs, visibly distressed. You bend over, fingers gentle as you lift your son, cradling him against your chest. His small hands clutch at your shirt, seeking promised safety. You hum, voice soft and almost foreign, and the tears on his cheeks dampen against your chest. He relaxes slowly, breathing evening into your arms, a fragile bond against the crushing weight of your numbness.
When his body goes heavy with a charm of sleep, you lay him in the crib, smoothing the blanket, watching until his breathing steadies fully. The toys are scattered around the room, a kingdom of soft pastel colors and wood, a world you protect with silent vigilance, the last crumb of happiness in your life.
You continue to watch Eosphoros with a faint smile, eyes red and tear-streaked, one hand clutching your swollen belly.
“Two more months and your beautiful Thalassa will be ready to welcome the world,” Hyacine told you five days ago.
Or was it six?
The locks on the front door rattle.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
“Ten ”, you count absentmindedly.
“Honey, I’m home!”
.
Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!
TempestVerse Masterlist
Ok yeah it’s dark. Really dark. I know. But listen… the idea of the golden boy absolutely losing his mind? Snapping in the most fucked up way possible?
Irresistible, heh. i caved. i folded. i sold my soul for the bit. im pretty sure im going to hell now.
Also, anon specifically said “make it as dark as possible” soooooo...
yeah.
hi, um is it ok to request a hurt/comfort fic with phainon?? like some angsty scene where reader just gave in to the insults coming from their family members about being worthless or just a pest so reader isolates from everyone including phainon?? i just want phainon to comfort me im sorry if this is too specific im having a horrible day im sorry
The Sun's Embrace
Phainon x depressed!gn!reader
wordcount: ~1600
tw: hurt/comfort, family issues (reader), emotional breakdown, Phainon is concerned, I haven't played the story quest yet, so there will be some inaccuracies.
The light of Okhema felt like a branding iron on your skin.
The sun, a relentless eye, hanging high in the blue silken sky, pressed down, mocking the chill that had settled deep in your bones. It found every tremor, every flinch, every tear that threatened to spill, illuminating the edges of a wound that refused to close. There was no escape from its relentless gaze, just as there was no escape from the truth that had taken root within you.
What was wrong with you?
Well, you didn’t fit.
Not in a dramatic, defiant way, but in a quiet, unsettling sense of being fundamentally, irredeemably different.
Your family, a tableau of carefully arranged perfection, moved through life with an effortless grace you could only observe from the periphery. Their words, seemingly tossed into the air without thought, landed on you like poisoned darts, each one finding a soft, undefended part of you.
“A burden,” they’d sigh, their eyes sweeping over you with a dismissive weariness that said more than any shout.
“Always in the way,” they’d mutter, your very existence a clumsy obstacle in their pristine world.
And the ever-present, soul-crushing refrain, “Can’t you do anything right?” a question that wasn't a question, but a condemnation, accompanied by a head shake laden with profound disappointment.
To them, you were a pest, a worthless entity, a constant source of their frustration, a discordant note in their carefully composed symphony.
So perfect, so sterile, so utterly devoid of anything real.
And yet, the weight of their judgment became a suffocating shroud, thick and heavy, making every breath a struggle, every thought a desire to vanish. It seeped inside of you, just as the sun finds cracks in raw marble, drying out the poor stone and destroying it from the inside. You began to shrink, to fold yourself inward, hoping to become small enough to be invisible, to hide from the painful, scorching gaze.
The vibrant energy that once pulled you towards Okhema’s bustling heart now recoiled. The common areas, once inviting, felt like a glaring spotlight, magnifying every perceived flaw, every whispered inadequacy. Every outing became an ordeal, a terror of being truly seen.
Because who would want to lay eyes on a disappointment?
“Nobody,” you mused.
What was the point of human connection anyways? Of inviting more hate-filled glances, more empty words, more meaningless conversations?
And so, there you were. Utterly, achingly alone, even amidst the clamor of the blessed city. The sun, once a symbol of life, felt dull, its warmth a physical burden on your skin, too heavy to bear. You sought refuge in the quiet corners of existence like the hushed solitude of your room, the forgotten nooks of the city, the secluded spots where the world couldn't reach you. You cut yourself off, not just from your family, but from the gentle laughter of friends, from the fleeting smiles of acquaintances.
And from him, too.
Phainon wasn't your closest friend; at this point, you doubted you even had friends anymore.
It was you who pulled away and avoided him. Truth to be told, you just felt unworthy of his brilliant presence, a dark stain on his vibrant world. Who were you to stand beside someone so luminous? Merely a shadow trailing behind a radiant light, an unwelcome weight on his brilliant brightness.
Your mind, a fragile vessel, began to crack under the relentless pressure, the constant self-flagellation, the desperate prodding at your own sanity. You needed air. A moment to breathe. A place to be truly, utterly alone, to wallow in these pathetic emotions that felt too immense to burden anyone else with.
That's how you found yourself on the sun-baked outskirts of Okhema, nestled among crumbling ruins of some shrine, staring into the endless, merciless day. The evening sun hung overhead, a callous, golden disk, laughing at your suffering, its heat a cruel reminder of the cold shame inside.
And right there, Phainon had finally found you.
A smallest shard amongst the crumpled stone giants. Your small figure was tucked away in a rarely used cranny of the ruins, gazing out at the relentless blue with your form hunched, as if trying to shield yourself from an unseen force. You looked like a forgotten statue, weathered and silent, swallowed by ivy, but still aching with an exquisite, broken beauty.
He approached slowly, his footsteps barely audible on the warm ground, a quiet carefulness in every movement. A gentle warmth settled on the soil beside you, and you didn't need to look to know it was him.
You mustered up what felt like the last vestiges of your strength to greet your… friend?
“Hel-”
"There's no need to speak,” Phainon murmured, his voice softer than usual, like a whisper carried on a distant breeze. Without a word, he shifted, lying back on the warm, sun-baked earth, “not if the words weigh too much.”
He lied completely still for a couple of minutes and then gestured subtly with a hand, inviting you to do the same. Hesitantly, you eased yourself down beside him, the rough ground surprisingly comforting beneath you. Above, the endless expanse of the Okheman sky stretched out, an indifferent blue.
"Would you look at this…" he said, his voice a steady anchor. "The sky is so beautiful, and it's always there for every citizen of Okhema. Vast and unmovable, yet always changing."
So, was he in the mood for philosophical thoughts?
You kept silent, your gaze fixed on a distant lid, a blur of evening purple and molten gold against the softening blue.
"Sometimes," Phainon continued, his voice a soothing balm, "it's bright and clear, like it is now. And some people… they love this, don't they? They praise its endless blue, its warmth."
He paused, and you could feel his gaze shift from the sky to you, though you refused to meet his eyes.
"But sometimes, the sky doesn't feel like being all sunshine and rainbows, so… it becomes grey and heavy with clouds. It weeps, and its tears fall down on us. Some might curse the sky then for disrupting their perfect day, for soaking their clothes or… whatever, really," he murmured, a wearied sound.
You flinched, the words echoing your own silent accusations. Slowly, but surely, your eyes watered, lips trembling in a quiet attempt to conceal your emotions. Every beat of your heart felt like a drum against your ribs, a frantic rhythm trying to outpace the inevitable collapse.
"Yet," Phainon's voice deepened, a quiet certainty woven into its fabric, "some will look at the rain and see the promise of life. Farmers will know it nurtures the soil, coaxing the fruits and vegetables to grow, ensuring the greatest harvest. Those people see the beauty in the sky's grief, in its grey and and heaviness."
That finally made tears fall, a silent deluge, each drop a weighty betrayal of the composure you’d so desperately clung to. Those words pressed at your chest, a suffocating burden, as if you were buried under the very soil, struggling to breathe. You felt Phainon's hand, a tentative brush of a pinky against yours, and a raw instinct to recoil, to pull away from the gentle affection, moved your arm away. You rested both hands on your stomach, curling inward, as if to contain the breaking pieces of yourself, as silent sobs wracked your frame, tears sliding freely down your cheeks, tracing paths of desperate release.
Phainon stilled for just the smallest bit, a momentary quietness, as if acknowledging the profound unveiling of your pain. He breathed out softly, cooing in understanding.
"And then there's the night sky," he went on, his voice a balm against the sharp edges of your grief, "a velvet cloak stretched over the world. Some hate it, a time of darkness and fear. They yearn only for the sun's return." His voice softened further, laced with a tenderness that made your chest ache, a longing for something you hadn't dared to name.
"But others find profound peace in its solace. They find quietude, and the glittering majesty of the stars, secrets only revealed when the light fades," he stilled for a second, breathing in deeply, as if drawing in the very weight of your sorrow.
"The sky is different, always. And each state, each change, is needed. Each moment it's living through is beautiful in its own way. Just like people," Phainon said, the words delivered with a gentle conviction that seemed to seep into your very bones, softening the fortress around your heart like the first warmth of spring after a bitter winter. Your tears, once a torrent, slowed to a steady stream, each one carrying away a fragment of the heavy cloak you'd worn for so long.
"Your family... they may curse the rain. They may only see the clouds or yearn for a perpetual, unchanging brightness. They may call you a burden, or an inconvenience." His voice dropped to a near whisper, intimate and unwavering, as if sharing a sacred truth.
"But they simply are not farmers. They don't see the quiet solace you offer, the way you nurture everything around you, even when you're weeping. They don't understand that your different states, your unique essence, are not flaws to be corrected, but aspects of a profound and necessary beauty that you share with the skies."
His hand moved again, this time more persistently but still gently, coaxing your smaller palm from its curled position, his rough and warm skin cradling your tired fingers. A comforting weight settled around your hand, a promise of steadfastness.
“They just can’t acknowledge that someone may enjoy your other states. Even love them, perhaps,” he whispered the last part, cheeks slightly flustered, lips stretching into a small but sure smile, a beacon in the storm.
Phainon fell silent then, allowing his words to settle, to breathe in the shared peace. The dusk sun still beat down, a golden presence overhead, but somehow, its weight felt less crushing. It was no longer mocking. The golden eye was simply there, witnessing the truth being spoken, the raw agony now mingling with a fragile hope. You felt a tear trace a slow, hot path down your cheek, a final, cleansing drop absorbing into the warm ground beneath you.
There you two lay, small figures bathing in the soothing warmth.
A gentle hand of your Sun dried the tears on your face, tucking your wounded and precious heart between its callused fingers.