Wish I had a teacher like her who'd pull some shit like this đđ
A Balladeer who dreamed
A sort of prequel to all of the Scara pieces I made
In a time before you would make your permanent arrival upon Teyvat, an event occurred before you had gotten a chance to play the game.
One which resulted in the 6th harbinger sleeping softly on a beach, coincidentally not too geographically far from where the Traveler and yourself would eventually wake up. Though marks in the sand imply that his slumber was not so peaceful at first, he now lies still. Breath slow and steady, face half buried on the sand, but no signs of discomfort of any kind are present.
He stood at what seemed to be a throne of some kind. Though the surroundings were quite, surreal. In fact, there was only void. The platform where the throne sat led nowhere, columns rose far in front reaching nowhere. The throne was made of the same material as everything else. A pale, stone like texture yet it pulsed and writhed like the figure sleeping upon the throne itself.
You lay asleep, though not quite soundly, your face was contorted in worry and anguish, small noises of unease would come from you in this otherwise deafening silence.
Hesitantly, Scaramouche makes his way towards your sleeping figure. As he gets closer, the sheer size of the throne dawns on him. You could fit a mattress for two comfortably on the thing, and yet there you lay, sleeping on the armrest like one would a normal couch.
Unconsciously, Scara reaches a hand out to your figure
âYouâ
A voice echoes all around him, causing him to flinch away from touching you.
A figure seems to slip in from the very blackness surrounding this place. Before manifesting into the figure of a woman. Long dark hair and near sickly pale skin wear a dark dress seemingly woven from the night sky itself. The fabric, though seeming quite thin, obscures even the shape of the woman wearing it. The only distinct piece they wore was an amulet vaguely resembling a jagged vortex, emitting a soft purple glow at its centre.
Her expression is neutral, not quite harsh, not quite soft. Deep dark night coloured eyes gaze upon and seem to lay all of his secrets bare. Yet Scara canât bring himself to look away.
âWho are youâ
Their voice echoes all around, yet is still barely above a whisper.
âI am⌠The Balladeerâ
Never in his life has he met someone so non threatening yet so incredibly intimidating.
âHow did you reach this placeâ
âI⌠I donât, rememberâ he bows his head, almost as if in shame
The woman approaches him, and when he lifts his head again, her expression has changed to a softer one.
âAll I remember, is⌠I was having a nightmare, I think.â
âI seeâ is all she replies, before stepping past him and towards your restless form. She lays a gentle hand upon your head, instantly your expression relaxes. She turns back towards him before continuing
âThis place is a realm of thought, here, they replay their own nightmare over and over again. Itâs not surprising that even now, theyâd still seek to help someone even while theyâre unconsciousâ
A protest bubbles up in the Balladeerâs throat, but he cannot bring himself to say it aloud.
âYou are a native of Teyvat, I presume?â
He nods his head
âThen may I ask you one small favour?â
He nods again
âLook after my youngest siblingâ she pauses to look down at you, still fast asleep, clutching onto something underneath your head rather tightly.
âKnowing them, theyâll overexert the use of a power they donât have full control over yet, and as much as they insist that they can go out on their own, I still worry.â
âAnd what would I get in exchange?â
At this, she rises to her feet, regaining that subtle aura of intimidation.
âAs the Void Mother, Iâm not quite sure what a material being could possibly want of me. But Iâm sure you could think of something, and when you do, then Iâll do what I canâ
Scaramouche ponders for a minute, before replying
âWhat makes you think Iâd be any good at protecting them?â
âAre you a sword, Balladeer?â
He does not answer, as much as he wants to say no, he knows what heâs capa-
âThen it should be no surprise that youâre capable of more then just hurting people, no need to be afraid of yourselfâ she speaks, a sly smile gracing her lips
Before he can even ask how she couldâve done that, a vortex of shadows manifests at his feet, beginning to drag him within
âYou still have time to consider Balladeer, do think it over for me, would you?â
The gentle sound of waves lapping at the sand greets him back to the land of consciousness. Dreary and confused, Scaramouche begins to rise slowly, but recoils at the sensation of something clutched in his hand.
A small amulet, bearing a strange, jagged vortex symbol, is found when he checks beneath his palm. Upon picking it up and examining it, everything rushes back to him at once.
The Harbinger sighs, wrapping the amulet around his neck and tucking it beneath his shirt before looking around the small island
It would seem he had much to consider
@nicebonescomrade COME GET YâALL JUICE
Acouasm (n.) a ringing noise in your head
Synopsis: When your relationship with Kim Taehyung goes public, a walk down the red carpet turns south when you are attacked.
Notes: I had so much to write in this fic but it ended up being sub par and I wanna release it on Vâs birthday, so Iâll probably work on another one similar to this situation. I even had another draft but I thought it was too gorey and violent 𼲠Anyways HAPPY BIRTHDAY V! Enjoy reading and thank you so much for liking my past oneshot Saudade.
Word Count: 11.9k
Your relationship with BTSâ Kim Taehyung had a long story.
You came from the same highschool and had been acquainted before, though you hadnât interacted apart from a few glances in the halls. He was a few years older than you and Korean Arts High School was populated with soon to be popular faces, so you didnât expect him to remember much about you. However, that didnât stop you from having a massive crush on him as he seemed to be way different from his fellow BigHit trainee, Jimin.
Taehyung was more reserved and usually kept to a close knit of friends during school hours, though everyone seemed to know him and he knew everyone. He didnât have any official relationships with anyone during highschool, yet it wasnât like he was coined a loser. He was oh so much your type, though your crush on him didnât last long after he graduated.
You knew he debuted in a boy group with his friend Jimin, and that was as far as you knew about his whereabouts. You didnât have time to worry about him when you were already facing some difficulties in your own life at that time.
You were picked up by a more trustable agency in your third year of highschool. They were adamant on debuting a girl group and you were determined to be a part of that, so you trained harder than you have ever trained, worked harder than youâve ever worked, and you finally got your pay off when you debuted three years after.
It was 2017 and your debut went smoothly. You werenât an instant flop, though you werenât an instant pop either. However, with enough work in producing three albums for your first year, you managed to come through and win the Mama 2017 Best New Artist Award.
Winning an award and enjoying your time performing songs and watching the other idol groups perform in the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards also meant that you would make a few new friends during the event. Your group had to switch seats often during the first half, so you had a lot of interactions with other groups. Coincidentally, landing seats right in front of a particularly cheery idol group for the rest of the night.
âBangtan Sonyeondan! Congratulations!â The woman speaks onto the microphone as the group of boys behind you cheered and gathered into a group hug before they all started making their way out to the stage, and a specific pair of bright eyes catches yours as he passes by. Kim Taehyung.
You didnât hold back a smile when you realized it was his group who had won a daesang. You clapped your hands even louder to congratulate him as he bows to you and your group and fixes his blonde hair that was held back by a cloth headband.
Later that night when a message from him surprised you. It turns out a director had forwarded your KakaoTalk to him after he asked, and he had made the time to message you despite the fact that they should be celebrating after their win by now.
A few messages at night had turned into friendly calls when no one was around. It was damn obvious that he was interested in you and you couldnât say that your highschool crush on him had gone away after all these years. He was charming and he understood the struggles of being an idol.
When you and your bandmates would fight then he would drop anything to message or call you to listen to you vent. When he was having a particularly rough time with his schedules, he made sure that you would know and yet still made time to check up on you. Both of you would even be preparing for a comeback at the same time, and yet both of you supported each other through all of it. He was a rock you could lean on and you were an ear for him to rant to.
Soon after, you started hanging out with each other in your free time. It wasnât a date or anything of the sorts. He just so happens to want to buy something when you would go on errands. He would joke that a popular idol like you shouldnât be grocery shopping alone despite the fact that he was in fact more popular than you, though you never held jealousy over that fact. You were actually proud of him and his group after you learned of their earlier hardships, and you were even prouder when he would vent to you about their contract problems early 2018.
You two would try new coffee spots together and even watch the new Marvel movies together. Taehyung was certain that Doctor Strange was his favorite Marvel superhero because of his amazing cape, and didnât hide that fact when he went on an interview in LA that asked him about it. You two even commented on each otherâs interviews from time to time since you were both learning English and you two found it helpful to learn from each other.
And donât start about how you couldnât take your eyes off of him during Mama 2018, not when you two were on a call the night before he got his hair colored and you sent him a picture of the brightest pink you could see on Google to dare him into changing his hair that same hue. It was a funny joke, yet he called you the night after with the same hue on his hair. You would watch the American movie Trolls together through the call that night and his nickname on KakaoTalk would be changed for the very first time to âPoppy Imposterâ alluding to the pink haired Troll in the movie.
After a year of steadily getting closer and calling each other friends, he finally confessed to you. You knew he liked you and he knew that you knew he liked you, yet it still seemed like your heart was palpitating out of your chest. He didnât kiss you. He simply stated a fact and said that he wanted to court you, and God did you fall for him even harder.
When he asked you out on a first date, he also asked for your parentsâ permission. He made sure to make it known that he was serious about you and you were sure that this man couldnât do anything more to make you fall for him more.
He was such a romantic. He made sure everything was done how it should be. He made sure to pick you up for your date with a bouquet of flowers for you and your mother. He made sure to greet your parents by the front door. He assured your father that he would keep you safe and take you home by your curfew. Despite the fact that you were a full-grown adult and had your own apartment to go home to. He opened the door of his car for you and he pulled the chair of the fancy restaurant for you. He was a true gentleman, and it didnât take more than five months for you to answer him.
Both your companies knew of your affairs. Taehyung wasnât exactly quiet about you and you canât say no to him when he would ask you to go on a late night walk with him whenever you were in the same city. Your companies would help payout any media networks that saw you two in your public dates, though that didnât stop other idols from gossiping about your relationship. It was getting harder for them to contain you two especially when he went on longer promotion stints outside Korea, and your appearance near his apartment anytime BTS arrived in Korea didnât go unnoticed. You were two lovers deeply in love, and it got worse during Mama 2019.
âYouâre up in ten minutes ladies!â A stage director yells to the hallway over the chaos of staff around us. You and your group were about to enter the dark backstage to prepare for the penultimate performance of the evening, right before BTS.
You had seen your boyfriend and his group leave the artist area earlier, though it seemed like they werenât going to the waiting rooms directly. You just hoped he could watch your performance on his phone. Despite already seeing each otherâs performances during rehearsals.
âWait! Donât go up yet! The backstage is still not ready!â Another staff member yelled as an older member tried to make a move to get inside the backstage.
You sigh as the crowded and loud surroundings begin to make you nervous. You could feel sweat gathering on your forehead as a makeup artist tried to dry it down. How long were they going to announce the awards?
The makeup artist by your side leaves to fix up your other members and you take the opportunity to find something in the hallway to keep your attention on. The more you could distract yourself from the chaotic environment the better, so you looked down both sides of the hallway and watched props and staff pass by.
There in the busy and harshly lit hallway was your messy haired boyfriend with a bright red cardigan, that he specifically wore for you to notice him in the crowd of idols, push past the crowd to look for you. His bandmates seemed to get inside their own waiting room to prepare whilst Jimin and Jungkook waited by the door to watch him find his way to you. His overgrown and curled hair was doing nothing to help him find you, though once his eyes met yours at the end of the hallway, you could feel a smile creep onto your cheeks.
âHey!â Taehyung greets as he walks a few more steps to stand in front of you. He brushes his hair aside and shows you his warm brown eyes, void of any colored contact lenses. His smile was bright as you notice sweat on his forehead.
âGood luck out there. Youâre going to kill it, I swear.â Taehyung cheers as you smile at him and nod. He reaches to hold both your hands as you only realize that they were shaking when his gentle and steady ones encapsulates them.
âI should be the one calming you down. You have five songs to do!â You say with a chuckle as he chuckles with you and brings your hands to kiss its knuckles. His lips hover a little longer over your left ring finger, though you donât notice.
âI perform five songs, but Iâm not the popular worldstar that South Korea votes as number one on the most beautiful female artists.â Taehyung says with a shrug as a more boisterous laugh comes out of you.
âOkay, and you talk as if you arenât internationally known for a handsome face.â You throw back as Taehyung rolls his eye and lets go of one of your hands to throw his hair out his face and show you one nasty pimple that had been growing on his forehead. He had actually been pulling back his dermatologist and facial appointment, so that he could do both of them with you. He wanted to keep your dates âuniqueâ he says.
âDonât show that around here Tae! Youâre going to get exposed!â You scolded as he laughed and shook his head to glance at the even more incriminating position you both were in. Closely standing next to each other with your hands held together and both your eyes shimmering with that profound love. If someone was to take a picture to expose you two then could they send it to him too because he wants to take this moment and make it his phoneâs lock screen.
âTaehyung! You have to get ready!â
âY/N! We can enter the backstage already!â
Both your bandmates say at the same time, though neither of your eyes fall to look away from each other.
âI love you. Be careful in performing and donât be nervous. Youâre amazing and always will be.â Taehyung says as his soft hands grab hold of your jaw to direct your lips to his. The kiss was soft and ended quickly, though the energy and ease it gave you was a pill that made you feel like you could do everything you put your mind to.
âI love you too. Be careful in your performance too. I know youâll do great already. I might miss the first part of it though, since they wonât let us out immediately after.â You pouted as Taehyung chuckled and pecked a kiss on your forehead whilst rubbing your shoulder to assure you that he didnât mind.
âI canât even watch yours live. I have to watch it in the waiting room, but Iâll make sure to cheer for you just as much. Weâll watch the replay later on the TV anyways. My place and some good takeout?â Taehyung proposes as you were always welcome to a night at his place.
âWeâll see if you arenât blackout drunk from the celebrations.â You chuckled as you were slowly inching away from your lover. You can hear your leader call out to you multiple times already and your manager was coming down the hall, so you really had to close this off.
Thankfully, Taehyung only laughed and let you go. He even waved to you as you disappeared backstage. He wasnât going to get drunk tonight, perhaps tipsy, but he would much rather remember a night with you than drink. He wasnât much of an alcohol fan anyways. A glass of wine with you seemed much more his taste.
And that was what ended up happening. The two of you sprawled out on his sofa at six in the morning. Takeout food littered the coffee table along with glasses of wine and a replay of your MMA performances.
After the event, the two of you parted ways to go to separate afterparties for a few hours before you both excused yourselves and got to Taehyungâs apartment. You two had laughed over some funny playbacks that you missed during the event, and you celebrated on your own two ways.
Taehyung had brought you out to his balcony when he saw the sun rising. He felt like a true winner as he watched you bury yourself in his hoodie under a thick blanket on his balconyâs couch. The silence engulfing you two as sleep ate away at your high. Events like the Mnet Asian Music Awards and Melon Music Awards always had your sleeping schedules messed up, though he didnât mind. How could he mind when the award shows were the reason why he had seen your beauty in the first place.
He thinks that even if you werenât there in MAMA 2017 then he would have still fallen in love with you some other way. He believes that in different dimensions he still finds a way to find you and love you. He always will, and there was no universe out there that Kim Taehyung existed without you.
âHey⌠look at me.â Taehyung breaks the silence as you turn to face him. The sky was only beginning to get lighter, though you were both still enclosed in darkness and the warm lights he had around his balcony.
âI would have never thought that the sophomore I saw in the hallways during break would have me wrapped around their finger in five years time. I would have never thought that the all-rounder of the girl group who won best new artist in MAMA 2017 would have me asking multiple staff members for her number. But what I now know is that I love this sophomore and I love this all-rounder. I love you. I love you so much, and I know for a fact that there is no one else I could love this much. Kim Taehyung in other realities always falls in love with Y/L/N Y/N and I donât need to be Doctor Strange to know that. SoâŚâ Taehyung pauses as he stands up and grabs a box from his sweatpantâs pocket.
You were staring at him in shock and awe as you processed his words whilst trying to process his movements. You two were too young to get married. He knew that and you two had jokingly discussed that, so what the hell was he doing?!
âIâm not proposing. Donât worry.â Taehyung chuckles as he bends both his knees to crouch on the floor and presents you with a cream box. He opens it to reveal two gorgeous Bvlgari Couple Rings. Both were of the color silver, though one was littered with gems and the other was plain.
Taehyung places the box on the table in front of the couch as he takes the ring littered with gems and softly reaches for your hand just like earlier. He takes your left hand and kisses the knuckle right above your ring finger as he looks up at you with doe eyes. The sunâs rays appeared higher up the horizon now and its soft hues colored his face perfectly.
âI want you to take this promise ring because with this you hold the promise of my heart forever loving yours. All my beauty and imperfections. My tight schedule and long rants. My overly romantic and cringey actions and my eyes that look for you in every crowd.â Taehyung says and a stinging sensation catches up to your eye.
âIt will also keep your finger warm until the time I propose to you and marry you, so⌠will youââ Taehyungâs slight joking and following question was cut off by your voice cracking. He looked back up to you after eyeing your bare finger and you had tears in your eyes. His eyes immediately fogging as it copies yours.
âYes. Yes, Tae.â You nod your head to help rid your eyes of tears as Taehyung slips the silver ring through your ring finger and a happy tear slides down his cheek.
âAnd you, Taehyung. I want you to keep this promise ring until the time I marry you because God knows Iâll save up for a really expensive ring.â You joke as Taehyung laughs boisterously. You reach out for his left hand and take the remaining silver ring.
âI love you so much, baby. Iâve always loved you.â You say as you slid the ring through his fingers and something in your heart locks with security. It was as if life was completed with a simple ring even if it was just a promise ring.
You two had tear stains on your cheeks from happiness and Taehyung immediately stood up, farring you along with him, and brought you in for a deep and passionate kiss on the lips. His lips soft against yours as it held so much love for one another.
When you two parted you simply rested each otherâs foreheads against one another as the sun fully rose from slumber. The sunâs light encapsulates the two of you in its beauty and peace. If only someone could take a picture of this moment right nowâŚ
Everything changed after these leaks. Both your management team had reached the agreement to put some space between the two of you to avoid any more evidence that could support the strong claim of your relationship. This meant lesser visits to Taehyungâs compromised apartment and lesser events where your group and BTS could have any interactions.
You barely saw Taehyung now and it felt like you had been thrusted back in time to when you were both getting to know each other and only calling and texting each other at night. Back then it felt like the right amount of time to spend with him, but now it felt too little. You missed him and not being able to see each other for months even when you were both in the same city hurts. You felt so close, yet so far.
BTS had also started growing internationally and Taehyung was spending more time abroad. Especially with their Map of The Soul world tour. You had your world tour too, but you two always made the effort to see each other once a month at most. Now, you barely saw each other in three months.
You didnât understand why they needed you two to be separated after the rumors. There were always rumors in the Kpop world and they had always managed to payout news outlets, so why this ridiculous rule now? It was making you more and more frustrated by each meeting that you asked them to stop.
It all came to a breaking point in late September 2020. It had been ten months and the BTS world tour had ended in September, yet Taehyung and you hadnât even seen each other since the summer. You were sick and tired of it and your latest comeback failing to reach the charts had stressed you out immensely.
âYou know the question Iâm about to ask.â You said coldly as your management team didnât spare you a glance. Your general meeting had ended and though the other members and staff were still in the same room you didnât stop yourself from speaking your mind.
âAnd you know what the answer is to it always.â Your lead manager says as you close your eyes to stop any tears from falling down your cheeks.
You were exhausted. You were exhausted from not making it to the charts and feeling as though all your hard work had turned out to be a failure, and you knew that perhaps a small break to be with Taehyung could fix you up nicely. A cuddle and a kiss could boot you right up to start producing and writing songs again. His touch could ease all your sore muscles and his voice humming songs to you could free your ears from the annoying buzz in your ear. A buzz that you think came from the amount of time you spent sampling beats in the studio, and then listening to the same beats during dance practice. Your head was a mess and you could only hear music through a broken filter.
âItâs been ten monthsâŚâ You say quietly, though the founder of the company abruptly stands up and slaps his hand on the table.
âWe canât risk it!â He sounded angry as his loud voice shushes everyone.
âAll of you! We canât risk it, and you better listen before I put all of you on a dating ban!â He threatens as collective anger boils between all of you girls. You knew that each and every one of you had committed relationships, so there was no way in any universe would you agree to a dating ban.
âWhat the hell?! You canât do that so abruptly! Whatâs really going on? Why is everyone so tense?!â Your leader speaks up as all staff members quiet down and the room is filled with silence. The clock on the wall could be heard ticking and if you really listened in, you would hear your own patience decreasing with each click.
âWeâre nearing bankruptcy, okay?! Your album flopped, weâre losing sponsors, and I canât afford paying out the media for your issue, okay?!â Your boss snaps as he seems to be on the verge of breaking down.
All your group members were at the same amount of shock as you were, though every
âHow much time do we have?â Your leader asks as your boss breathes in a heavy sigh.
â6 months at most. Weâre reducing staff and we can push for one more studio album. If it doesnât chart then weâre done. Iâm sorry.â
You left the meeting that evening with tears in your eyes and your head feeling agitated. How could they keep this very important news from you and the girls?! This was your job and your future. You had the right to know what was internally happening. Now, all of you had to give your best for the new comeback or else you would be left jobless.
This fury of emotions in you was getting overwhelming and as soon as you arrived in your apartment you called Taehyung for some comfort. Perhaps you could even see each other tonight. A good takeout dinner and a few kisses and cuddles could fix you right up for the new comeback.
âHey babe, Iâm at a shoot right now.â Taehyung answers the phone as you nodded and mentally noted that he would probably be called to hang up on you at any moment.
âHeyâŚWhat time do you end?â You asked meekly before you cleared your throat and leaned on your kitchen counter with a glass of water on your other hand.
âTen or eleven. Why?â Taehyung seemed to be moving on the other side as you sigh. Late dinner would be fine, as long as you were with him, right?
âI was wondering if we could have some dinner at either of our places. Iâve had a bad day and I miss you.â You say truthfully as you closed your eyes and hold the tears that want to push past your eyelids.
âIâm sorry to hear that baby, but I donât think it would be good for us to see each other right now. Managementââ
âPlease Tae. I need you.â You interrupted him as a sob coursed through your throat. You felt pathetic for asking for your boyfriendâs attention when you knew how busy the industry is during this time of the year, but you just heard your dreams are in danger and you needed someone you could vent to.
âBaby⌠I think it would be better if we follow our manaââ
âGod! Do you not want to see me?!â This unexpected rage filled you as you began to see red behind the tears that dripped down your cheeks. Your apartment felt too hot. The heat made you agitated. You wanted one thing and the world couldnât even give you that.
âYou know itâs not like that.â Taehyungâs small voice sounded hurt from behind the phoneâs speaker, but it enraged you more knowing your hurt was hurting him. You couldnât do one thing right, couldnât you? No. How dare he act hurt when you doubt he even fights for you in their meetings. It was always you asking to see him and he would remind you of both your management teamâs warnings.
âReally?! Because Iâm starting to think that you donât even want to see me anymore. We havenât even seen each other since summer! God knows where youâve been during your tours.â Your last statement was uncalled for. You knew that. Your anger shouldnât start accusations especially when you know that the man on the other side of the phone was deeply in love with you, but rage makes you do unexplainable things.
You were angry at everything and everyone, and the words that spilled out of your mouth had no further value but the vile that it carries. Taehyung knew that, but he was in the middle of his fifth shoot of the week. He was trying to be as patient as he could be with you, but a nerve had been touched when you questioned his loyalty. How could you question his loyalty when he has done everything in his power to show you how much he was in love with you? He had asked countless times when he could see you, but rejection was always the answer of his managers.
He hated this year just as much as he hated himself for bringing you out to the balcony that night. Not because he regretted giving you his promise ring, but because he wasnât thinking properly. He shouldâve known that neighboring people could see him with you. He shouldâve thought about it clearer. He shouldnât have placed you in that vulnerable situation, and that idea manifested itself to why he was so willing to follow the rules of his managers. He didnât want to put you in that place again. He didnât want both your names to go under fire on Twitter again.
âI donât want to fight with you right now.â Taehyung says dejectedly as the glass on your hand slips to land on the floor. The sound of the glass shattering on the floor and the water spilling on tiles reached Taehyungâs ears as a shock filled him.
âBaby?! What was that sound? Are you okay?â Taehyung sits up straighter from where he was seated in the waiting room with the rest of his band members. All their eyes went to him as he looked panicked whilst on his phone call.
âYeah, just a glass of water. Iâll talk to you later, V.â Your voice was monotone and the usage of his stage name had caused a frown to rest on Taehyungâs face. It felt strange. It felt as though you were placing a barrier between you and him when you used his stage name. The same barrier an idol had with their fans, but your relationship wasnât like that. You were the love of his life and the keeper of his promise. Getting called his stage name by you felt cold.
Taehyung turns his phone off after you hang up on him and he leans back on the sofa he sat on. Yoongi sat asleep on his right whilst Jungkook was nearing sleep on his left, though Jimin sat across the room on another sofa with his eyebrow furrowed as if asking the younger for what that was about. However, Jimin was beaten to ask Taehyung about his call as Namjoon pipes in from sitting beside Jimin.
âWhat was that about?â Namjoon asks as Taehyung sighs. He didnât want to answer, but now five pairs of eyes were on him and the ears of their makeup artists were pressuring him to answer with something.
âYou already know.â Taehyung says in a low voice, though his hyungs nod in understanding.
âI donât get why you donât just go see her. You know, I break Sejinâs rules all the time.â Jimin says as he earns a warning shove from Namjoon and a laugh from Hoseok. They all eventually break Sejinâs rules and Taehyung himself even broke his rules earlier into courting you, but he shouldnât risk it now. Not when your names were out there and any signs that you were dating would be taken as the truth.
âWeâll help you sneak out later, Taehyung ah.â Jin offers as he flashes the younger a playful grin and a wink from his seat in front of the mirror surrounded by makeup artists.
âSejin will pay you out of everything.â
âYou have to be careful though. Our company could buy you out, but hers might not have the funds for it.â Hoseok pipes in as his sudden negative input has everyone turning to him with questioning looks.
âDonât you guys look at their stocks? Itâs been getting lower since last year. It might be the reason why you werenât protected from the balcony incident.â Hoseok says as he flashes the boys his screen that is filled with stocks.
âNo, the balcony incident was because the people who caught us immediately posted it without the help of media outlets. Our management can only protect us to an extent.â Taehyung now speaks as he shakes his head and massages his forehead. They all knew that. If fans capture them then it would pose a larger threat because they were willing to release any media without sending an email and deal to companies.
But what Taehyung did take note from what his hyung said was how your companyâs stocks were lowering. You never told him that problem so he thinks it isnât a major problem, though if his hyung knew about it then the changes must be drastic.
And they were drastic. After you hang up on Taehyung, you have turned your tears into a driving power to get working on some lyrics in your notebook. You didnât even realize the amount of time that had passed as you spent it hunched over the coffee table writing away. The glass shards still littered the tiles of the kitchen and your mascara still darkened your eyes.
It was already one in the morning and Taehyung carefully got into your apartment building as both his hands held your favorite takeout paper bags with drinks. The boys had in fact helped him sneak out of the dorm that night, and it took him a few minutes and taxi rides to finally get everything he wanted to buy for the night.
He was going to apologize tonight. He was going to tell you the truth of everything on his mind and he would listen to everything you had to say. He wanted to make things right and it starts with giving you a kiss as soon as he enters the door.
The knock from your apartmentâs door was the first sound youâd heard in the past few hours. It brought you to consciousness from your endless writing, and when you looked down to see your work everything was only an incomprehensible mess. Dried tear stains littered the pages and the callus on your finger grew thicker from friction.
You pushed yourself up from your spot on the carpet and walked carefully towards your front door. Another soft knock followed after some silence and you wanted to tell the person on the other side that you were coming, though your throat was raw from lack of usage.
âHey baby.â Taehyungâs figure greets you as you open the door. His freshly trimmed dark hair covered his forehead as his mask was discarded under his chin. His figure was engulfed in a black jacket with its hood unused. A soft smile played on his lips, though it fell as soon as he saw your figure. The smile instead was replaced with a look of worry as you can only imagine what state you looked like.
âIâ Iâm so sorry I didnât come any soonerâŚâ Taehyung immediately sets down the paper bags of food by the doorway before approaching you to engulf in a big warm hug. The hug that you had wished for earlier, and finally your emotions were put to ease.
The little droplets of rain left on his jacket and his steady heartbeat got rid of every pain and anger you had in your body and you finally let your eyes close as you hugged him back. His breath on top of your head slowly brings you back to the love and warmth you always knew would come to you.
âTae, myâ my companyâŚâ
You both had let everything out through dinner. In the early hours of the day, you both cried and laughed. You catched up with the happenings of each other's lives and you forgave each other.
âYou know what would be great right now?â You spoke as Taehyung looked up to you from his place on your lap. His head rested on the valley of your thighs as his Hwarang drama played on the TV in your living room. His eyes bright and a soft smile permanently plastered to his lips.
âWhat?â
âA cone of ice cream.â You say as you watch his eyes brighten at the idea. So what if he just got his teeth cleaned and they were sensitive to cold food? If you wanted ice cream then he wants it too.
âWhat are we waiting for? Letâs get some ice cream!â He says as he sits up and turns off the TV.
âTae, we canât go out.â You remind him though the brow he raises and smug look on his face just makes a smile break your lips.
âI donât care. No payouts, no worries. If they know then theyâll know. Iâll get my girl her ice cream!â
You giggle as Taehyung goes into your bedroom and comes out with a large black puffer jacket, a pair of warm socks, and a scarf. He ordered you to stand up as he wrapped the warm jacket over your figure and wrapped your neck up with a scarf. He pulls out a wet wipe to gently wipe your face with any dried tears or mascara before he pulls you towards the front door.
He doesnât even let you crouch down to tie your own shoes or put your own socks on because he does it for you before he does his own. And soon you were already walking out your apartment building with his hand playing with yours.
You ended up grabbing a cone of your favorite ice cream from an ice cream place that was open 24/7. It was roughly a fifteen minute walk from your place and when he sensed your pace slowing, he took a detour and took you to a riverside road that had benches looking out onto the river.
Light bulbs tied into strings hung from trees and the gentle flow of the river made the place serene. You two sat on a bench and ate your ice cream by the river as silence engulfed you two. A comforting peace hugging you tightly as time seemed nonexistent when you were with him. You leaned your head on his shoulder and basked in the moment. A buzz of restlessness ringing in your ear, though it didnât matter whenever he was near.
If someone took a picture of you now then you wouldnât care anymore. As long as you were with him then you would be fine.
Everyone was convinced that the two of you were dating and ever since then you were a bit more shameless to post pictures on your instagram with a few too many similarities to deny that you two werenât in the same place at the same time.
With the news of your unconfirmed relationship reaching new lengths with more leaked content, you two became somewhat old news. Everyone knew there was something undeniable between you two, though nothing had been confirmed. Your two companies stayed out of it after their first statement that only clarified that both of you werenât engaged, though it also said that your companies had no rights in your personal engagements.
A month after, your latest comeback had been released and it was a massive pop. It had landed the charts and stayed on the Top 5 even with rising competition and BTSâs unstoppable Dynamite single. And Maybe, just maybe, it could save your companyâs decline.
The end of November was the season of awardings and your latest comeback just manages to squeeze into the eligibility period of the criteria. Which meant your hit comeback had actually landed you multiple nominations, and perhaps your first ever Daesang? If that was possible against BTSâs unstoppable year.
It felt as though your struggles through the year were getting set to rest, and whatever happens now was up to the worldâs hands.
Arriving in the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards felt like a reward. You could finally relax and enjoy the event of your yearâs work. In these events you would always remember how it changed your life by letting you and Taehyung meet gazes. How it made you meet your closest friends and interact with fans from different fandoms. It was a celebration whether you left as a winner or not.
Taehyung took his first step out to walk the red carpet as cameras flash all around him. The crowd of fans behind the media outlets raised their phone cameras as cheers roared. His bandmates smiled and waved as they took a spot right in front of the banner backdrop.
They were missing Yoongi that night. The rapper was absent to recover from his long due shoulder surgery that he got in an accident years ago. This small change in their usual order had all the staff and management team on edge. They already had to relearn their choreography and positions for the performance tonight, and the staff were busy all week to find ways on how they would spend Yoongiâs rap parts of the song without him, so it was an understatement to say that everyone was a little tired and on edge for tonight.
The six remaining members all arranged themselves into their familiar order, with Taehyung leading the line and leaving a space for Yoongi before Jin, Jungkook, Namjoon, Jimin, and Hoseok followed in order.
They all stopped at the first spot where semi-popular outlets took pictures of them and their different colored suits. They all had a mix of muted navy, white, and some accents of maroon, a color scheme that stood out from the classic black suit. Taehyung wore navy trousers and a matching suit jacket whilst his undershirt was a satin white. His suit jacket was buttoned up to his chest and had a maroon colored handkerchief in its pocket.
After a few seconds, a director had signed for Taehyung to continue walking along the carpet as the boy group Seventeen, that was ahead of them in the queue, moved towards the part of the carpet where the event hosts would interview them.
Taehyung glanced behind him to make sure his bandmates were following him as he moved further up the queue. They stopped once again with their line still intact and they posed for the more known media outlets.
At the same time, their juniorâs Tomorrow X Together arrived and followed them in the queue by taking their previous spot. Their hoobaes dressed in fitting black suits as they arranged themselves in a line and posed for the cameras. The crowd also cheered for them, before they reverted their attention to the short interview held on the members of Seventeen.
Another cue of a director made Taehyung turn to watch the Seventeen walk inside the building. He waited patiently for all members to enter before he followed to occupy the spot they had left. The host, Song Joong Ki, greeted the members as Taehyung was handed two microphones that he passed to his bandmates. He would let his hyungâs take care of the interview answers, though he still smiled to the cameras that flashed and broadcasted the carpet.
âWelcome! Bangtan Sonyeondan!â Song Joong Ki announces as classic questions fall from his lips, though he has lost all of Taehyungâs attention when he saw you enter to lead your group on the queue of the carpet.
Your body clad in a white angelic like satin material dress. It had thick bows as spaghetti straps on your shoulders, though it kept the skin of your collarbone and shoulders exposed. It hugged your torso tightly almost like a corset before it loosened below your waists and made you seem like a doll. Hemline details on your skirt had separated the silky fabric of the bodice and majority of the skirt to the more flowy and scrunched material that gave your dress an airy aura. Your white heels polished to shine as bright as the cameras, and your angel-like makeup made Taehyung feel like he was actually seeing an angel.
He didnât care if people saw how his mouth stood agape and how his gaze stayed on you for a moment too long. It was the only appropriate reaction to your outfit. Your bandmates also had varying white dresses on, yet you seemed like the star of the show. A true beauty that he was blessed to witness in his lifetime.
âTaehyung ah, stop staring at your girlfriend and move.â Jin had whispered to Taehyung. The space for Yoongi in between them had disappeared as Taehyung snapped his gaze back to his hyung. He could see you posing for pictures on his peripheral vision, though the slight nudge of Jin pushing him along to enter the venue was enough for him to stop watching you.
He could even see Jimin flashing him a smirk as it was quite obvious who had stolen all his attention. Taehyung was shameless as he only smiled and calmly walked towards the small steps leading to the venue.
He wondered how he would celebrate tonight. The Mnet Asian Music Awards always have been an indicator to him that it had been another year since he met the most beautiful angel on Earth. He would always replay the moment he caught your eyes when he received an award, and sometimes, if he was lucky, your eyes would meet and he falls for you deeper than he had the first time you met. Gosh, he hoped one of the cameras had gotten a good picture of you because he canât wait to make it his homescâ
Bang.
And screaming was all he heard as his head snapped to find out what the commotion was about. Everyoneâs handheld cameras had turned to the start of the queue, and the cameras that were on fixed stands to face the carpet in front were left unattended by the camera directors. All their eyes widening at a sight that Taehyung couldnât see.
Security guards that stood near the venue entrance had run past Taehyung to get to the commotion, though Taehyung couldnât see through a combination of his hyungâs heads and the bodies of managers and staff that filled the red carpet.
Taehyung was more curious than worried about the commotion. All he knew was that the commotion had taken place at the start of the queue where he stood just a few moments ago. Taehyung watched as all his members tried to raise their necks to see past the crowd.
Namjoon had tapped a staff member to ask what happened, and Taehyung would have intently eavesdropped the conversation if not for the face Jimin had flashed Taehyung as he turned with a worried look. It was a look that knew something.
How did Jimin see through the crowd? They didnât know.
âWhat is it?â Taehyung asked as Jimin stopped stretching his neck and stared at him with wide eyes whilst licking his lips as if he was finding the right words to describe the situation he saw.
But Taehyung didnât need to hear it from him as Jin soon found a gap to see what happened, and the loud âwoahâ that involuntarily left his throat was enough for all members present to look at him.
However, just like Jimin did after seeing the commotion, their eldest member flashed Taehyung worried eyes before grabbing Taehyungâs wrist as if he could bolt at any moment. These glances and actions were starting to worry Taehyung now. He would understand if the members who saw something happened wouldnât want the other members to know, but why did it look as if they didnât want him specifically to know or react.
âWhat?â Taehyungâs Daegu accent came out as he was getting worried at what was happening.
Then a few gasps came from the crowd that watched and Taehyung finally found a gap to see someone on top of another person at the start of the queue. Right where your group was standing mere seconds ago.
Taehyung tugged at Jinâs grip as he finally saw someone pull the erratically moving person off the floor and the person she had pinned to the floor.
Who was getting attacked? Taehyung didnât know yet, but something in his stomach told him that his hyungs knew.
The crazy woman was pulled off the floor by a security guard. Taehyung's gaze went from the woman fighting the guard to one of the barriers that separated the general crowd of fans from the photographers, carpet, and artists. The barrier was on the floor as other fans didnât dare cross it, though he had figured that the loud bang was from the barrier falling to the floor.
Taehyung then let his gaze wander to whoever the woman had pinned to the floor and lo and behold⌠it was you.
Seeing your messy hair and disoriented figure had blood surging through Taehyungâs body. A different type of adrenaline flowed through him unlike the ones he experiences at concerts. No, this one made him want to fight and flight at the same time.
Taehyung easily pulled away from Jinâs grip as he walked past Jimin before he could block his way. The call of his name from Hoseok and Jungkook fell on deaf ears as he continued his fast strides towards you. His eyes fixed on your figure before it was lost behind a crowd of people.
Taehyung pushed past TXT with little to no problems. He simply murmured an apology and an âexcuse meâ as he passed through.
A ring of people had circled where you were supposed to be as Taehyung pushed past people in his goal to reach you. It felt as though his body was walking through quicksand at how he had to forcibly get his body past the crowd.
He can feel his suit get wrinkled and his shoes get stepped on. His hair must be ruffled by now and perhaps one of his prop rings had already slipped past a finger, but it didnât matter. As long as the silver band he had as your promise was fine and he gets to you in the least amount of time then anything else could be replaceable.
With one more push he finally got to the middle of the crowd. The air felt less dense, though Taehyung couldnât get a proper breath in until he could see that you were okay.
It didnât take long for your eyes to meet each other though. Your wide blown out eyes reach peace as your eyes meet his, and he would be lying if your eyes didnât give him just a small bit of ease running through his body.
He immediately took a step towards you as a few gasps were heard followed by a louder bang rang and silenced his surroundings. A disorienting buzz ran through his ears as he turned towards the woman to see her get tackled to the floor by multiple security guards and a gun slipping past her grip.
The bang wasnât another barrier fallingâŚ
She shot a bullet
And he didnât know where it landed.
Taehyung reached for you to engulf with his body and shield you from the direction the woman was. You immediately collapsed into his grip as you brought your hands to cover your face and bury yourself in Taehyungâs suit.
âBaby, are you okay? Are you hurt? Dâdid youâŚâ Taehyung couldnât finish what he wanted to ask you as he opted to skim your body for any obvious injuries.
He wasn't going to admit it but he was looking for a bullet wound under the fabric of your dress, though all he saw was the ruffled satin material as you cried onto his chest. His grip on you tightened as he turned his head back to see proper police men restrain the woman in handcuffs.
âYouâre okay now. Youâre fine. Youâre safe, baby. Sheâs gone.â Taehyung repeats his words over your hair. A kiss landing on your messy hair. His whispers of comfort placed ease into both your bodies, though you could still hear his heart pumping heavily.
âTaeâŚâ You were breathless as tears uncontrollably dripped down your cheeks. You were just thankful that Taehyung was blocking you from the media. Now that the woman was gone, the media was bound to get an aftermath photo of you so you were just glad they couldnât see you in the middle of a breakdown.
âYes baby? Are you hurt? Do you need an ambulance?â Taehyung asked as he rubbed a hand on the top of your hair to soothe down some loose strands, though the action was more to comfort you than fix up your appearance. He was well aware of the cameras and whispers around you.
âAreâ are you hurt? The g-gunâŚâ Your voice shakes as you wipe your tears and look up at him.
The sounds of cameras flashing, managers and staff speaking loudly, and police, was the loud buzzing of your ear. It started right as you were tackled to the ground with a twist of your ankle and your head hitting the not so soft red carpet. It still heavily buzzes in your ear over any other noise, excluding Taehyungâs calming voice which you can hear just as clear as the vibrations of your heart pumping.
âNo. No, Iâm not hurt, baby. Please answer me now. Are you okay?â Taehyung repeats himself whilst placing emphasis on the word âyouâ. He brings a gentle hand to wipe tears sliding down your cheek as you take in the condition of your body.
âMyâ my ankle⌠I think I twisted it when I fell, but I think Iâm fine.â You say as the adrenaline wears off and an uncomfortable sting comes to your left ankle. You still stood on your heels effortlessly, though a growing tingle had started to spread from where the heelâs strap held onto your ankle.
âOkay. Thank you for answering.â Taehyung kisses your lips swiftly before he raises a hand to call for attention, and looks towards the direction of the venue. Paramedics and staff that were on standby were already walking down the carpet as your eyes even catch Jiminâs worried eyes skimming over both you and Taehyung. The medics were by your side in no time as the crowd around you disperse.
âShe said that she mightâve twisted her ankle.â Taehyung says to the paramedics who nodded, though they didnât signal him to let go just yet.
âLetâs go to the back to check for further injuries. The media is out of control.â A manager suggested to the paramedics who agreed.
âCan you walk?â Taehyung asks as you merely nodded before you were led to a private space behind the wall of the red carpet. Taehyung continued to support you as you took heavy steps in your heels.
The small space behind the backdrop wasnât too spacious though it was enough to shield you as the paramedics opened a kit and let you sit down on a small plastic stool. Taehyung stood right beside you. Your fingers intertwine as your fingers meet the cold material of his promise ring, and thatâs when it hits you.
âSh-shit.â Your once dried cheeks had now turned wet again as you looked down to your hand and found all your fingers were bare from any jewelry.
âShh⌠Youâre fine, baby. Youâre getting treated.â Taehyung rubs your head to help soothe you though your sobs start to grow as the paramedics ask you whatâs wrong, though you only shook your head to dismiss them.
âTae⌠I lost theâ the ring. Itâ It must have fell when Iââ
âItâs fine, baby. I can buy you a new one.â Taehyung reassures you, though you were inconsolable.
âPlease, say something if this hurts Miss.â The medic speaks as she caresses the skin of your ankle. A yelp leaving your lips as the medics nodded and continued to assess your shin.
From the way your chest heaved with each sob and the way tears fell from your eyes, the medics couldnât assess you properly though they made the best of the situation and made the decision to take you to the hospital.
âTaehyung, you need to get into the venue. The event is going to be delayed, but groups need to be inside the venue for security checks and safety.â His manager speaks as his head pops from the other side of the backdrop. A wheelchair strolling behind him as the medics explain to you that they were taking you to the hospital.
âWhat? I canât leave her right now. Did you see what happened?!â Taehyung didnât mean to raise his voice, though he couldnât leave you right now. Perhaps you were physically okay, but that must have been mentally shocking and he wants to be there just to comfort you even if it doesnât make a big difference.
âYes, I did see. Everyone saw. And we don't know if thereâs another sasaeng out there, so we need you to get in the venue now.â The manager said sternly, though Taehyung continued to ignore the orders.
He instead opted to help guide you to sit comfortably on the wheelchair. His finger grazing over red scratch marks on the skin of your forearm. He hadnât seen those earlier, though he doubts the paramedics had missed it.
When they exited from behind the backdrop they were met with security guards escorting them to the road where the ambulance was parked. Taehyung walked alongside the wheelchair as the paramedic wheeled you to the ambulance. His manager followed a few paces behind.
You writhed with shame as you thought about all the news that could be written on this night alone and you hadnât even entered the venue yet. You werenât sure you could.
Taehyung was held back by his manager before he could enter the ambulance with you. His gaze in question and slight irritation as he was met by the face of their manager once more, though this time his members were walking out the venue in search of him.
âKim Taehyung donât go. For her sake. You can see her after, but right now we need you inside for the media's sake.â Their manager says more desperate now as he turns to meet your eyes that were inside the ambulance.
He was all too aware of the eyes watching both of you and he could tell that you were too. You gave him a slight nod as a sign that youâd be fine as he nodded more to himself and took a step back to be with his manager. For your sake, he wasnât going to be with you right now. Not when the media would be having a frenzy already. For you, your company, and your reputation.
âCome on, get inside.â The manager nudged Taehyung to follow behind him as he kept his gaze down on the floor when a few cameras took pictures of him walking to the entrance.
A shiny piece of jewelry caught his attention as he bent down and found the promise ring he had given you last year. A promise ring that had caused you more tears than he wanted you to have.
âCome on, V.â Jimin says as he reaches out for Taehyung to accompany him in walking to the venue behind the rest of the members that flashed him pitiful looks.
âYou did the right thing. She needed you, and youâll see each other after this.â Jimin reassured, as Taehyungâs eyes began to sting from behind, though he tried to stop the emotions from showing in his eyes.
âThey said it was a sasaeng?â Taehyung asked as the security guards opened the door for them and they entered the dark and cold doors of the big venue that the 21st Mnet Asian Music Awards would take place in.
âApparently. I tried my best to eavesdrop and they said that the motive mightâve been because of your relationship. She was ARMY.â Jimin summarized everything he had heard as they both stopped in a dim hallway to wait for staff to open a door that led to the artist area.
âI still donât get how she managed to walk past security, staff, and camera directors. How did she even have a gun?!â Taehyung was exasperated as the two â95 liners leaned against the padded walls. Taehyung leaned his head on Jiminâs shoulder as Jungkook came up to squeeze his shoulder.
âIs she okay? We heard guns were involved.â Jungkook asked as it was obvious that the rest of his bandmates were listening from behind the maknae.
âYeah. Sheâs shaken up. Maybe even have a twisted ankle and a few scratches.â Taehyung says as his eyes zone out on the pattern of the carpet and his fingers play on the ring he held on his finger.
âAre you okay?â Namjoon shows himself from behind Jungkook as Taehyung simply nods.
The night had gone by like a blur. It was obvious to everyone watching that he was not as present as he should have been, though nobody blames him. The views of the event had skyrocketed after news broke out that an artist was attacked and yet the event continued on. Hashtags about the event and incident even went viral prior to the awards finishing because clips of Taehyung running towards you and escorting you to the ambulance had gone viral. It practically happened in front of everybody so it was bound to get posted, and technically no blood or gore had been shown so the content wasnât blocked as quickly as both your companies and the event organizers wanted them to be.
Taehyung walks through the hospital hallways with paper bags of your favorite takeout food, your favorite drink, some spare clothes of his that you could change to in case your personal assistant didnât bring good comfy clothes, and a small cake of your favorite flavor. He had made do with how late it was and how your favorite bakery was already closed.
It felt like deja vu once again. However, this time he wasnât riding the elevator to your apartment but rather riding it to your hospital room.
Your absence from the event was so painstakingly obvious for him and everyone. He was jittery all night, and your group seemed so small when they occupied the stage for their performance. It was obvious that they had done last minute blocking, and the bactrack had been used for your solo parts. They seemed so small when they walked down the artist area and got to the stage to receive the Best Female Group award and the Best Female Group Dance Performance award. Your group wasnât small in the sense that they had little members, though it felt like something was missing. Your big bubbly smile and your funny yet carefully worded speech was missing, and Taehyung could speak for everyone that your presence was greatly missed.
He had received a text from you as soon as the event ended and when he got his phone back. Your text contained your congratulations for him and his wins and performances. Jimin even showed Taehyung a message you sent that congratulated Jimin and the rest of BTS. It was certainly a good year for them, and you had grown closer towards your boyfriendâs close friend despite only interacting a few times.
You told him that he should probably visit later into the evening since your group would be visiting you after the event, though Taehyung didnât listen and still went as fast as he could when ordering food.
He arrived at your hospital room at almost two in the morning and from what he could hear, your bandmates were still in your hospital room talking to you.
He knocked on the door and heard the girls quiet down as one of the members opened the door to see Taehyung standing in the middle of the hallway with his PA behind him holding the bag of clothes and box of cake.
âHey, sorry to intrude on your celebrations but can I come see my girlfriend?â Taehyung says as a smile couldnât help but creep up his face as his heart swells with pride with how he openly says that you were his girlfriend.
âYah Y/Nah, your boyfriend is here.â The member smiled brightly as she opened the door wider to show you laying in the hospital bed with wide eyes from Taehyungâs early arrival. Your other bandmates had visibly smiled brighter when Taehyung entered the room.
âGood evening.â Taehyung greets as he places all of the paper bags on a nearby table and bows deeply to your bandmates.
âCongratulations on your wins and performance!â
All of your bandmates greet the same words as they bow just as deep to their sunbaenim.
âYou should have told us Kim Taehyung sunbaenim was coming. We shouldâve ordered more food for himââ You leader speaks as you stay silent yet a small smiles lingers on your lips when Taehyung doesnât let his eyes leave you.
âItâs okay. I brought some takeout to eat, and a cake to celebrate your wins.â Taehyung opens the small cake he had brought as his PA takes his leave and walks out the door.
âOh V sunbaenim, thank you! We already had some cake, but Iâm sure Y/N would love that. She barely ate anything tonight.â One of your members discloses as you send her a warning gaze as her face contorts into a look of apology.
Taehyungâs brown doe eyes met yours once more and this time it held the same worry it had earlier in the evening. You hated that. You hated seeing him worried over you, though at the same time it made you feel so cared for.
âWe should probably get going. We need some rest and we can celebrate properly when youâre feeling better Y/N.â Your groupâs leader says as they all excused themselves after they bid you well and congratulated Taehyung once more.
You were left in the silence of your hospital room with Taehyung at last. It felt like a decade just to get some time alone ever since the incident, and it felt like a reward to finally be alone together after the stressful night.
âWhy arenât you eating?â Taehyung asks as he comes towards the side of the bed to give you a kiss on your cheek.
âNot in the mood for it.â You say honestly because you really didnât feel hungry, though Taehyungâs brow raised to doubt your answer.
âCome on, donât let me eat all of this alone.â He says as your favorite food reaches your nose. The aroma turns the wheel of your appetite as Taehyung moves the table closer to the side of your bed.
âSeriously, TaeâŚâ
âPlease baby? Let me food you a few spoonfuls at least? It would help me feel better.â Taehyung asks as you nod willingly.
He opens up a container and grabs a wooden spoon to fill with the right amount of everything before guiding the spoon to your open mouth. The warmth of the food immediately landing in your stomach as a satisfied hum left you. Taehyung smiled at that and took his own bite with a smile.
âHowâs your ankle?â He asks.
âItâs twisted, but it should heal well. Iâll be walking around with a brace, but it's not like we have a comeback coming.â You say as you move your leg from under the white blanket and show him the brace that keeps your ankle straight.
âI donât know how long Iâll be here though. They said that Iâm showing symptoms of an acute concussion, so it would be better to keep me under observation. Thatâs why Iâm not really eating food right now. I donât want to throw it up in case this does happen to be a concussion. â You shrug as you eye the movie that showed on the TV.
Taehyung took your left hand in his and raised it to meet his lips. His breath grazing over your ring finger as you feel him slide a familiar metal back to its place.
âWhatâ Woah! You found it!â You smile as you check the ring to truly see if it was the same ring he had given you a year ago. The same small dent that you had accidentally struck against the wall had grazed the design and you knew for a fact that it was the same ring you had worn as a promise.
âItâs kinda hard to miss. No wonder everyone saw it when we wore it.â Taehyung chuckles as he kisses your hand again before you pull him closer to you to kiss on the lips.
His usually soft lips still had some remnants of lipstick from the makeup of their performance. However, the surface wasnât the soft flesh youâve come to be familiar with. It was bitten and cracked in some places. Some skin was freshly peeled and others were dry and waiting for the time to be peeled. It was a sign that he had bitten them off prematurely as a coping mechanism from anxiety.
âIâm sorry, baby. Iâ I heard the fan was a sasaeng and I didnât even try that hard to join you in the ambulance, but Iâ I didnât want the media following andâ and our companies⌠Itâs not an excuseââ
âTae, itâs not your fault.â You state sternly with your expression straight. You didnât know where this reaction was coming from, but you had to shut down all those thoughts.
âShe was a sasaengâ an ARMYâŚâ Taehyung was teary eyed as he sat on the side of the bed with his hands wrapped around your waist as your arms rested on his shoulders.
âYou canât control them and you canât control what our agencies tell us to do. Just like how they told us to keep some distance when we told them about our relationship. We can break what they say sometimes, but eventually we know we have to follow them. Like how we still kept on seeing each other and how you still had to join the event.â You explained as he nodded.
He was tongue tied or perhaps he didnât have anything more to say. He just wanted to hold you and tell himself he did everything he could to prevent what happened and that at the end of the day you are fine with injuries that could be fixed. He wanted to kiss you and feel your skin against his. He wanted to breathe in your scent and feel your chest move with every inhale and exhale.
So he did just that. He laid beside you and brought your body down with him to embrace. Your skin against his as you both settle in a comfortable position.
âWhat if we werenât idols?â
âDonât say that Tae. We met because we were idols. We met because we wanted to study being idols and you saw me because you are a damn good idol.â You say as Taehyung laughs and kisses your cheeks.
âI know, but like what if we went away for a while. Just the two of us and some place we donât know.â Taehyung proposes as you tilt your head to think over the idea as you signal him to continue his brewing thought.
âJust for a few days or a week. We deserve it after a long year. Besides, itâs my birthday soon.â Taehyung smiles brighter when he mentions his birthday as if you hadnât been saving up for his birthday gift already.
âThat does sound niceâŚâ
âSo itâs settled! New Yearâs and my birthday in some place we donât know! Iâll start planning it tomorrow.â Taehyung smiles as you laugh with him, but really he was planning on replacing your dented ring with a new one.
âAlso I brought some clothes. I was wondering if I could sleep here tonight.â Taehyung asks as you smile and land a kiss on his lips.
âI was waiting for you to say that. My parents are visiting early in the morning though, so you better be up by then.â You both chuckle as he kisses you once more.
âAre you comfy in your clothes? I have your favorite sweater in the bag, and a coat in case you ever feel like having ice cream again.â
You chuckle as you slightly nudge his shoulder. This man truly was something else.
And
â§ notes ; The Tsaritsa, Childe / Foul Legacy, Zhongli, Ei, Venti | Fatui / Villain AU â§ warnings ; blood, physical violence, eye trauma [ implied ] â§ taglist ; @ognenniyvolkâ
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Part 1, part 2
Don't touch me.
Xiao's breaths are quiet, almost unheard. He stays huddled against the cold stone of a statue, eyes distant and unaware of his surroundings. If he tries hard enough, if he crouches low and closes his eyes and puts his hands over his ears, he can almost remember the sight of your blood staining his spearâ the same spear you had blessed him with to kill demons and defend Teyvat with, not be the one to almost end your vessel's life.
Don't touch me.
That is what you had saidâ what you had screamed at him, at all of them when you woke up days later after the Incident, tended to by Teyvat's best doctors from all the nations and even the archons themselves bending twice over to aid you.
Xiao can't forget the raw fear he saw in your eyes; it's an image burned into his mind, and he is unable to forget it. He doubts anybody is able to forget it, if the way some of your acolytes are acting is anything to go by. The archons are tearing themselves apart to make you see how regretful, how apologetic they are. But Xiao, privately, in a quiet little corner of his mind, thinks that they deserve your hatred the most, second only to that monsterâ
But then Xiao remembers that was his spear that was about kill you, and he knows that it is him who deserves your hate the most. Him, your would-be murderer.
He knows this and yet it still hurts worse than his karmic debt to see how you avoid him, avoid even looking in his direction and much less speaking to him. You don't speak much, actually, despite how many of your worshippers try to get you to talk to them, to forgive them, to engage you in any form of communication they can. But you don't.
You don't speak, you don't explore, you don't eat, you don't ask for anything even if you're clearly hurt and your bandages need to be changed. You are but a tired shade of yourself, unable and unwilling to trust them and Xiao can't blame anybody but himself for it.
If only he hadn't listened to that demon's orders, if only he recognised you when it mattered. Why didn't he know that you were his true Creator, why did he fail you so badly? Why did he listen to them but not you?
Xiao scrubs a rough hand across his face, uncaring for his tears. He wants to go now, to some deep dark corner of Liyue and hide away and yetâ he finds himself still lingering by your statue, sitting and cradling a glaze lily in your palms.
He knows that it is shameful of him, to commit such an act and yet still be unable to face the consequences. He knows that he should go, he's already done enough damage, has already hurt you enoughâ
But he looks into the kind gaze of your statue and yet all he sees is you, scared and cowering from him.
He knows he should just go already, but Xiao still finds himself once more kneeling.
He weeps for what could have been and what he ruined with his bare hands and his tears leave cold stains on your statue's lap.
This is what i deserve, he mourns silently. I brought this on myself and I have no one else to blame.
Su-Hyeok x Fem!Reader | 1.9k words
Warning(s)/Rating: T
Premise: Self-defense training gone wrong, or gone right, depending on how you and Su-Hyeok look at it.
Authorâs Note: Another pre-apocalypse AU just because I like imagining all the characters happy and carefree like other normal high school studentsâthey deserved so much better in the drama. My next post will most likely be another 5 + 1 piece just because I love that style so much. Also, visualize what you see below as your POV throughout the fic âĄ
P.S. Thank you so much for all the love in my previous post đ. I wasnât expecting it to gain that much attention! đ¤§
When Dae-Su invites the whole gang to visit his uncleâs gym for âfun,â it never crossed anyoneâs mind that they would be learning fighting skills. Perhaps Nam-Ra was smart to decline even before hearing the entirety of the planned itinerary, opting to study instead. To put it courteously, Dae-Suâs uncle was as eccentric as he was, maybe even more so.
Though you have to admit you could get behind his reasoning for pairing everyone up the way he did, regardless of whether it was truly effective in terms of honing techniques or just based on skill level, thereâs no doubt itâs now your new form of entertainment:
1) On-Jo was kicking Cheong-San back and forth on their mat, expressionless. Poor guy looked like he was in a pinball machine, but he truly didnât seem to mind even though you knew he was agile enough to avoid it. You canât lie; theyâre absolutely adorable even when they fight. Seeing I-Sak coming over occasionally to tease them only confirmed that you werenât the only one who thought so. Huh, who wouldâve thought self-defense training between two people could be this cute.
2) Animatedly, Gyeong-Su gestures âladies firstâ to I-Sak, but she mimics his motions, repeating for him to âman up.â From your point of view, it looked almost comical, like one of those silent movies you could never understand. Neither of the two seemed to take it seriously; they were simply just having fun yielding to one another, taking nothing to heart.
3) Ji-Min and Hyo-Ryung were in some kind of mutual stand-off, neither one of them daring to move, their stance reminding you of two cats with a ball of yarn in the middle. They were too far away for you to listen in, but from the formerâs expression, you could tell she was complaining endlessly. Is it worth it to bet on who would make the first attack rather than who would win between them?
4) In a corner, Wu-Jin and Joon-Yeong were ganging up on Dae-Su, except the biggest hurdle was that they clearly needed an actual gang to make Dae-Su budge. Apparently, his position as the so-called mediatorâsince it was deemed no one could win in a fight against Dae-Su if he simply laid downâdidnât matter to the other two; it was purely an opportunity for them to use him as a stress ball. You laugh at the idea that as a referee, one is supposed to keep a close eye on matches to ensure all rules are adhered to, but here, Wu-Jin and Joon-Yeong definitely found a loophole: if you take out the official, anything goes.
5) Now, that left you and Su-Hyeok, mainly because according to Dae-Su, he wanted to see you guys fight to the death, leaving you wondering if he meant that in the literal sense. âBare-Su doesnât know what giving up is, and Y/N would never accept defeat,â was his reasoning, pestering his uncle to pit the boys and girls against one another. Originally you and On-Jo were supposed to practice together, but for some reason, it just ended up like this. You were going to question Dae-Su as to why only the four of you were in a mixed pair, but decided against it. Knowing him, itâs probably better if you didnât ask.
As youâre watching the hilarious matchesâif they could even be called thatâSu-Hyeokâs voice draws you back to your own mat and sparring partner for the day.
âOut of all supernatural beings, what are you most afraid of?â âZombies,â you say without hesitation. âAlright, then go ahead and imagine me as a zombie in a sudden apocalypse.â âPlease, when would zombies show up? At a high school of all placesâI donât think so,â you reason, giving him a pointed look. âJust for mock situational purposes, Iâll be a zombie; a handsome one.âÂ
âYou?â âYeah, you canât picture me as a zombie?â âNo, I can, but not as a handsome one,â you tease, even though it was far opposite from the truth. Rolling his eyes, he gives up. âFine. Letâs just say Iâm a regular zombie.â Su-Hyeok begins to move behind you as he says, âIn the instance that Iâa zombieâwere to come around and do thisâŚâ He wraps an arm around your shoulders, placing your neck in the crook of his elbow in a squeezing motion that would choke you in a real-life situation with more aggression involved. Surprising him, you quickly remove his arm, spin around, and pin it behind his back in a matter of seconds. Technically, he never asked if you had any prior experience, which you did; a black belt to be exact, but he doesnât have to know that.
âHow are you this strong?â Su-Hyeok asks, genuinely shocked. Though he groans at the pressure you applied, he reverses the disadvantageous position by drawing your arm out and back up over you, untangling himself first before flinging you down on the mat. Despite that, he still throws an arm out for you, cradling your neck to lessen the impact you wouldâve received otherwise. You would never tell Su-Hyeok, but his absolute care for youâleagues even above othersâwas your heartâs kryptonite.
âYou donât think I can handle a fair fight, huh?â Without faltering, you wrap your legs around his waist and flip yourself back on top, not quite registering that you were presently straddling him. Too competitive to pay it any mind, you miss the slight smile Su-Hyeok tries to suppressâthat always meant trouble. Decisively, you shift into putting him into an arm bar, one leg across his throat while you twist his arm tightly, disabling him from moving. âI never said that you couldnât!â He taps the floor, seemingly signaling that he wanted out. âI give up!â He exhales tiredly.
âOh sorry!â You apologize hurriedly, truly worried. Knowing that you had an unfair advantage to begin with, you loosen your grip altogether, already beginning to check if you went too far in the spirit of competition when Su Hyeok unceremoniously flips you back around, pinning you down. Y/H/C splays out beneath you, a stark contrast against the blue mat as his hands hold your wrists above your head, pressing it firmly to the floor while his knees lock outside of yours, restricting all movement. âOof,â you gasp, not expecting the force or the motionâs speed, struggling against the added weight on you.
You look up, seeing Su-Hyeok chuckling openly at you having fell for his trick. His face ends up unbelievably close to yours, so close that you can see drops of sweat dotting his hairline. Every time he exhales, you can feel his breath ghost over your face, and you wonder if he could hear how fast your heart was beating or whether he could feel it from the radial pulse in your wrists through his hands due to the compromising position he currently had you locked in. His eyes sweep from your face down to your lips for a split second before looking back up, though it goes unnoticed by you.
Your feelings aside, you were never one to loseâDae-Su was spot-on about thatâand you definitely could get yourself out of the position if you just knee him where itâs known to hurt the most. Even those without training would know that oldest trick in the book, but instead, you figure that messing with him is a thousand times more satisfying. âDo you know your place now?â He taunts, repositioning his hands in a more comfortable position so that it wouldnât put too much force on your wrists; far too considerate for the situation at hand. âYou mean underneath you?â You gaze up at him, defiantly, challenging him to make another move. Clearly flustered at your suggestive tone, his smile falters, causing you to burst into laughter. Dae-Suâs uncle walks around the dojo, gauging the progress of every duo when you see him stopping by your area, scratching his head in confusion. âOh, geez this isâŚdifferent. What do we have here?â His eyes widen as he mutters to himself, before he goes back to his usual neutral expression youâve seen all day. âSoâŚuh, who won?â He raises his eyebrows at you and Su-Hyeok. âIâve never had to determine who is the victor in thisâ" he gestures at the air, ââkind of a match before.â You scoot your head a little bit to the side so you could make eye contact with Dae-Suâs uncle out of respect. How ironic, considering what he was seeing in front of him. Clearly, Su-Hyeok was still too stunned to think properly, but hasnât let you go. âMe!â You reply without shame, even adding in a smile for good measure. Skeptical, Dae-Suâs uncle nods anyway. âWellâŚgood going? Keep it up?â he compliments, or rather, questions awkwardly, before going on his way to the other end of the room. You have half a mind to wonder what kind of first impressions you and your friends were making, thinking about what Dae Suâs uncle would encounter on the other mats to follow. When you turn your head back, Su-Hyeok is still looking at you. He shakes his head in amusement as you nudge his knee with yours. âWhereâs the sportsmanship? You just declared victory with a lie. All my hard work went down the drain.â âWell, should have spoken up earlier then, you fool.â He scoffs at you, before narrowing his eyes. âHey! Donât try to distract me! Is your solution in an unexpected situation to seduce your way out of it?â You blush but hold it together. âDepends, did it work?â Su-Hyeok splutters. âI told you to imagine me as a zombie. How would the undead fall victim to human charm?â âSo, youâre saying my charming nature is distracting.â âNow youâre just twisting my words.â âYou didnât answer my question,â you press. âWas my method successful or not?â âAgain, Y/N, let me remind you that Iâm a zombieâ" âIâm not asking Zombie Su-Hyeok, Iâm asking Human Su-Hyeok what he thinks.â Thereâs a dangerous glint in his eyes, which should have been warning enough for you. He moves to lace his fingers with yours, and leans in even further, his face barely an inch away. He smirks. âMaybe if you do it more often.â Not knowing what to say and abruptly much too shy to retaliate, you quickly throw him off of you and move back into a sitting position, your cheeks red. Su-Hyeok falls to the mat on his back, laughing so hard heâs shaking. You kick him with your foot in childish revenge to no avail, glaring all the while. He finally sits up, leaning back onto his arms to continue staring at you, smiling cheekily at the expression on your face. âAfter that, I think I clearly won.â Dae-Su comes by and squats between the two of you, looking back and forth pensively. âAs the designated referee and the one who suggested this activity in the first place, Iâm saying this for the benefit of the whole and all the single people in this room: Next time, a little less flirting and a lot more fighting, please.â
A request done for @vilithshaven and @that-one-lilith <3 this was supposed to be out last night because i put it in queue but then later forgot to put it back there after editing it some fkjejjre
Fyi this is NOT sagau!!
Warnings: yandere content, minor character death of someone who's only there for two seconds, reader is implied afab and uses she/her pronouns, kidnapping and imprisonment.
For as long as you remember, your world had been full of vibrant, bright colors. The grass had always been green and the sky blue and the sun a glowy yellow and thus you had never suspected that it was rather unusual for someone so young to have already met their soulmateâ that was because you didn't know about soulmates and the little connection between meeting their eyes for the same time, the world finally blooming in color for the two half-souls that had been separated long before their creation.
You had been an orphan, placed under the tender care of the elders of Higi Village. When you heard the tales they told, you merely assumed they were just thatâ fairy tales meant to brighten up the children's days and to give them a new game of pretending they could not see colors, using whatever words they could use to describe something without mentioning its color.Â
Higi Village, before the curse of Tatarigami completely spread through the land and polluted everything in its wake, before the Vision Hunt Decree and the Sakuko Decree, had been happy to accept visitors and outlanders, often showing them the wonderful sights and the mines and all the cute little trinkets handmade from the ores.Â
One such visitor had been the strangest person you'd metâ a beautiful boy with long, midnight blue hair, eyes as purple as the Shogun's lightning and Electro yet he'd been so sweet and gentle you had felt ashamed of thinking of him like that. Kunikuzushi, he'd introduced himself, his smile making his eyes crinkle just the slightest bit. A wandering vagrant.Â
He has entertaining tales to tell, little superstitions and stories from the rest of his travels and so in return you tell him of your own stories, laughing under your breath when you talk about soulmates and colors. Why wouldn't you? Color has always been visible in your life as far as you were aware, and thus that was more than enough proof for you that soulmates simply did not exist.Â
Foolish, young and naive you remains unaware of the bright gleam in his eyes.Â
He leaves, eventually. He is a vagrant and a traveller after all, and still has many places to see. He is not the first visitor to grace Higi Village nor is he the last, and so you forget him just as you have eventually forgotten all other visitors.Â
But he has not forgotten you.Â
He is unable to forget you, the one person who does not know about their soulmate's existence. The one who does not know about soulmates at all.Â
That was more than alright for Kunikuzushi or as he goes by now, Scaramouche. You were his; you were clearly meant for him aloneâ he who has no soulmate, for he is a puppet more than a human and not even the archons can dictate which souls belong to one another, but Scaramouche knows that you and him are meant to be together for how else could you remain so oblivious to the truth if not for the threads tying you two so intricately? If you were meant for whoever had let you see, then they obviously weren't important enough if you have not met them ever again.Â
You are his. So he returns to Higi Village, and at what an opportune time, too! The Tatarigami has truly and well stripped the island of all its previous glory, and all the Shogun and her little military had done was create a furnace to harness it, rather than ridding the island of it. All of it means he is right to come for you; he will take you away from this barren island to somewhere safe and secure, where only he may have have access to youâ
He finds you amidst his musings, asleep and curled under the shade of a wilting sakura tree. A meagre shelter against the battering rain and the lightning striking the sky in a maelstrom of color, but shelter nonetheless.Â
They've kicked you out just as I payed them to. Wonderful.Â
He picks you upâ and oh, you aren't asleep, but rather passed out. Your body is sweating and heated, and now that he is close enough he could hear how nasally your breath was. You are sick, he realizes with a chuckle. All the better for him, really. With you sick and weak and so clearly starved, it will be easy for him to convince you to stay with him.
And so he took you, sick and weak and vulnerable, back to a place he'd created solely for the two of you. You will be safe here, where nobody but him will ever interact with you; where your soulmate will never find you; where you are far too grateful to have a stable roof over your head and a warm meal three times a day to complain about Kunikuzushi being strangely affectionate with you.Â
It makes something cold and uncomfortable curl in your stomach when he holds you, someone practically a stranger to you yet he adores you as though you've known him for centuries. You'd be lying if you said you hadn't eventually forgotten Kunikuzushi in the sea of visitors of Higi Village, but it appears that he has not forgotten youâ each night you find yourself in his arms despite how uncomfortable you are, listening to his awful whispers of how he'll keep you by his side for all eternity, of how beautiful you look and how you belong to him.
But it is either this or being left to fend for yourself on an island that is no longer suitable for living and that has kicked you outâ you both know this, and so you bite down on your tongue and let him be as affectionate and controlling with you as he wants even if it feels stifling and scary at times.
Scaramouche is not fond of leaving you alone in the mansion, but sometimes needs must. Sure he can order any of the maids that have strict instructions not to ever show their face to interact with you, but he does not yet trust you and them enough not to try and pull some stunt to escape, despite how well-behaved you are and how you're slowly starting to lean into his touches, smiling just a bit and no longer always asking to go outside.
He's sure you'd be horrified if you realized you've come to like your kidnapper caretaker's company, so he doesn't bring it up but nonetheless it still makes him quite smug and all the more convinced of his beliefs.Â
He wants your every second of wakefulness and otherwise, he wants your attention and your focus and everything that you have to give and everything that he has to takeâ these are all reasons why he hates leaving you, but he's still a Harbinger and he has duties to fulfil for her Imperial Majesty the Tsaritsa of Zapolyarny Palace, and among those duties is pest control.Â
Certain agents have less loyalty than they should, and some of them often try to do a funny little thing where they sell information to other groups in and outside of the nation of everlasting winter. These agents need to be put down, so to speak, and Scaramouche is here just to do so and then return back to you, his dear unknowing wife.
The Fatui have long since marked out the location of their little hideout, so Scaramouche does not need dally by searching around before he and some of his own men are already tearing it apart, the little traitors soon captured and presented to him.Â
He orders the rest, save for their Inazuman leader, to be killed. Let him see what will be his fate as well, he thinks with a nasty chuckle.Â
Scaramouche is thinking of you even hereâ he hopes you haven't gotten bored of all the books he's left for you, or perhaps you're now doing some embroidery? Hmm, while he can't have you speaking with others that doesn't mean he can't give you a little pet to spend your days withâÂ
Scaramouche doesnât give the leader a chance to beg for mercy before his Electro has surged through his hands and catalyst. The sooner he kills this little pest, the sooner he can get you back in his arms.Â
He expects many things for his returnâ he does not expect to find you crying and panicking, pacing in circles in your lavish bedroom. Upon seeing him, he is further surprised by you throwing your arms around him and sobbing.Â
"Beloved, what's wrong? Has anybody hurt you?-"Â
"Kuni, I- I can't see colors anymore, I can't what color is the sky or- or what color your eyes are, everything's black and white," your voice shakes and trembles with your cries. "Why can't I- why can't I see?"Â
Scaramouche's mind is reeling with just how good this opportunity is. Your soulmate is dead, and now you can truly, fully belong to him.Â
He pulls you even closer, making soft shushing noises and caressing your hair. "I don't know, darling," he lies as easily as breathingâ even easier, as he doesn't really need to do the latter to live. "Calm down, my beloved, I'll try to search for a cure and an answer. But for now, stay with me?"Â
You are still crying, but that's alright: Scaramouche gathers you in his arms and pretends expertly as though he's as confused and worried as you are when in truth he's quite happy about this new development.Â
"Oh my darling wife, it's alright, I have you now," he keeps murmuring to you, smug in the way you don't protest but nod your head. Oh dear, it truly is bothering you huh? "You belong to me, I'll keep you safe and sound, my love. Only stay good for me. . ."Â
He takes you to your bed, slow and steady to keep you from asking him to leave. He does not falter in telling you little "assurances", but if the way you keep yourself so unusually close to his side then he knows that you find comfort in his presence and his words.Â
Mine. He thinks with delight at feeling you still crying yet keeping your arms around him, so desperate for his comfort and who is he to deny his lovely wife anything her heart wants?Â
You're my soulmate.Â
Summary: You are a nuisance to Scaramoucheâs mission objective, and he loathes people like you. However, he does not plan to end your life right away.
A/N: Some scara being awful!! This idea has been on mind a while back but then JJK brainrot happened. I love the power trippling trope too much smh
Content warning: Gender-neutral reader,violence, corruption kink, unedited, plot twist ending
People like you makes Scaramouche feel sick.
Always so cheerful and enthusiastic, ready to help others at the blink of an eye, and that smile.
Those qualities stirred something in him.
The sentiment is well above and beyond normal irritation, and he cannot quite put a label on it yet.
However, Scaramouche can at least be certain of one thing. He wants to see that sweet façade of yours break. A captain of the knights of Favonius. Who came from a modest middle-class family and landed on a commanding position by nothing but your own merits? The ultimate embodiment of chivalry? Diligent, skilled and that readiness to help the weak.
You pose a major threat to his current mission.
All captains of Favonis do, to be frank. But he finds you so much more irritating compare to that shady looking calvary captain, or that pathetic exucse of a Lawerance.
Scaramouche does not plan to kill you unless the situation calls for it, however. He wants to break you first instead.
Your privileged origins never gave you any opportunities, to wonder on the other side.
What are you, under all those layers of righteous ideals?
Where would you be without that long list of morals and principles?
Oh, how Scaramouche takes joy in seeing, those laughable confident faces distorted with fear! Those used to look down on him as if he is lower then dust, groveling at his feet, begging for his mercy.
With that eagerness to please others, the Harbinger thought you would be quite gullible.
He was proven right when one of his underlings lured you out of town alone, by just claiming to be needing some help with broken carriages. How easy, too easy perhaps.
How you manage to pull yourself up after being subjected to his electroshock is extraordinary. As expected from a high-ranking knight of Favonis, Scaramouche scoofs. But he still got you in his camp, far away from the city of the wind. Better do your best to entertain him, during your stay here.
So you can imagine the shock the little man feels, when you draw your sword at him as if nothing has happened. The way you put down his men is impressive even to the sixth of the Fatui Harbingers.
An electro vision...how did he missed that? Of course you are more resistant to shocks if you have that little gem, it was foolish of him.
You are one of that womanâs chosen...
That smile on your lips.
It is not those warm, daily ones you wear around town. Nor it is one of those encouraging ones you show to your subordinates. Sinister is one way to describe it.
âWhat kind of fool do you take me for?â Furrowing your brow at blood stains on your armor? Do you know who you are dealing with here?
So, this is what you hide under that jovial demeanor. A cruel beast, with little regard to human lives you deem unworthy.
âTwo can play this game, Master Harbinger. I believe the acting Grand master would be pleased to hear I captured a Fatui officier alive.â
This is way more interesting than Scaramouche had ever imagined.
But you know how the saying goes. It's no fun if you do not resist a little.
hello!! I love your writing, it feels so believable and in character ^^ if you're comfy writing for yan scaramouche, how about 7. "You're weak. You need me." with a traveller!reader who he convinces to join him during his inazuma cutscene?
(optional: he manipulates her with dubcon type stuff due to him noticing she visibly was drawn to him upon meeting him at reconciled stars?)
Writing in character is one of my biggest, so it's such a relief to hear your words! Also, what perfect timing for your prompt, anon! Iâve been wanting to write some yandere Scaramouche drabble but I didnât really have any ideas. I took some liberties with your prompt (since I misread a little... oops), so I hope itâs still acceptable. I never played unreconciled stars, unfortunatelyâŚso I just watched the cutscenes. Also, I'm not very familiar with Scaramouche as a character yet, especially since there's still so much we don't know about him. Letâs hope I donât make any egregious mistakes in his portrayal.
notes: traveller!reader doesnât have a twin or anything, but is still stuck in teyvat, looking for a way to recover their wings to go back to their world.
content warning: yandere behaviour, strangulation. also scaramouche, because he is his own warning, the sadist.
word count: 1.2k
âSee? I warned you to hold your temper,â Scaramouche sneers, leaning over your collapsed body on the factory floor. You try to push yourself up, nails digging into palms, but the miasma suppresses any energy you can muster. He clicks his tongues, as if scolding a child. âYou should have listened. That pitiful friend of yours in the Resistanceâis he truly worth all these emotions?â
The journey through Teyvat after being trapped in this strange world by the unknown god. The battles to restore peace, in hopes of answers from the seven Archons. All your efforts to get back your wings, for naught. All of it, only to end at the hands of this man.
Revenge. You have to stand up. Fight. For Teppei. But your body refuses. The angrier you become with your helplessness, with him, the more the world swirls into a cloud of indigo haze.
Never have you felt so sapped of strengthânot even when you first awoke in this world after being sealed away. After your wings were stolen. You canât move your arms or legs, but you can raise your head and glare. So you do. âYouâ!â Throat clogged with hatred, your voice is mere rasp. âIf youâre going to kill me, be done with it.â
You brace yourself, but the Balladeer merely raises an eyebrow. âKill you?â His jeering laughter echoes in your ears, a cycle of mockery that never ends. âWhy would I do that, Traveller?â
You should have expected his cruelty. âThen what do you want from me, Harbinger?â you ask, defeated.
He kneels. Threads his hand in your hair. Violently pulls the strands back, dull pain pulsing on your scalp as hair threaten to tear from root, until youâre facing his sadistic smile. His touch is merciless. His words even more so.
âI find you rather interesting, Outlander. A visitor whose origin cannot be traced. On a journey from nowhere, to nowhere. All the secrets that must be hidden in your clever little mindâŚâ With the other hand, he trails a finger down your neck. The edge of his nail presses ever so light, a knife in flesh. Lightness that could draw blood. âWhy would I let such a fascinating little toy go to waste? Iâm going to keep you.â
The back of your neck prickles from the hidden promise in his voice. You close your eyes, having no response for his unhinged wordsâ
Only to immediately have your eyes fly open, an involuntary jolt as a lightning bolt sparks from his finger into the vulnerable skin of your throat. âI never said you can look away from me, Traveller,â you hear in the distance.
For a second, you see nothing but stars. So far yet so close. Home.
You would weep if you could.
He shakes his head as your shuddering finally passes, the world spinning back into indigo irises. âYou have two choices,â he says mildly. As if anything about him was mild. âEither you walk out of this factory with me, willingly⌠Or.â
The second choice goes unsaid. Not that you needed to hear it. He clearly wasnât entertaining any other option than the one he offered.
âJoin you? Why would I ever join the Fatui?â you spit, vehemence laced in your words, if not your voice. âAfter all you didââ
He leans into your ear, grip on your hair tightening. You try not to wince. âThe stars, Traveller.â The puff of warm air against sensitive skin sends chills down your spine. Â
âThe stars?â Madness. He is madness incarnate. If only you had the strength to wield your sword. If only you could resist. The memories of your first meeting seem so far. You wonder how you could have ever mistaken him for what he truly is. How you could have been fooled into thinking he was harmless.
The Fatui. The Fools. But I am the fool instead.
âIâm surprised you forgot. Remember what I told you, the last time we met? You were oh so interested.â His voice lowers to a dulcet croon. âThe stars are a lie, Traveller. Do you recall now? I wonder if you understand.â
Home. You stare at him, eyes wide. You had begged him for answers, but it had been too late. He disappeared without a trace, leaving you lost and alone. Deep inside, you had been hoping you would meet him again. The knowledge he had... you longed for it. Longed to take to the skies, on real wings. Not wind gliders. Not imitation feathers.
Teppei, you remind yourself. But the anger has already begun bleeding out of your body. He has found your weakness. Punctured your resolve with the promise of knowledge. Promise of home.
Your hesitance does not go unnoticed.
âHow the hero has fallen,â Scaramouche murmurs. âYouâre so weak now.â His hand tightens around your neck, squeezing a strangled sound from your crushed windpipe. You feebly claw at his hand, black spotting your vision as you gasp for air, but his hold remains unmoving. You are powerless to his whims. âWhere would you be, without my guidance? Still so lost. Admit it, Traveller. You need me.â
Finally, just as youâre about to faint, he throws you to the ground, careless and brutal. And then he stands up. Looms over you, harsh shadows on his face as you gasp for breath. Stares at your trembling hand thatâs massaging your bruised throat. âIf you want to know more about the truth of the skyâŚâ he says, a jeer returning to the delicate lines of his face. Soft yet menacing. Everything about him was like that. âMy offer still stands.â
Without the overwhelming hatred, the miasma of the old gods has no hold over you. Movement has been returned to your limbs. Your eyes shift. Your sword is mere metres away. You could lunge for it. You could fight. Let the floor run red with blood in a battle to the deathâhis or yours.
His gaze sharpens, and for a second, you can still feel his touch. Phantom fingers curled around your throat. A blooming pain. A reminder.
You open your mouth to deny him. âIâŚâ Refuse.
The word is at the tip of your tongue, waiting to be set free. For Teppei. For the resistance.
But you do not choose them.
For home.
You choose yourself instead.
âI⌠I understand,â you choke out. The words are bitter ash on your tongue.
It is not a yes. It is not a no. But it is enough, for the Sixth of the Fatui Harbingers smirks. âI thought you would,â the Balladeer taunts. When your fists clench in response, he snickers.
His mocking laughter is seared into your mind. It will haunt your dreamsâa signal to the beginning of your waking nightmare.
(Heâs laughing at your foolishness. He was never planning to tell you. Anything. At. All.)
YOUR REALITY - REDUX
[ yandere! self aware! scaramouche / gn! reader ]
[ notes: inspired by a certain popular 2017 indie horror game ⌠if you know then you know ;D !! i might write a part 2 to this if people want it . ive had p bad writers block for the past week or so but i have a newfound intense love for scaramouche if you couldnât tell LOLLL ]
Right. So, yet another day of playing Genshin Impact. It was getting rather taxing, doing your daily commissions, gathering materials from expeditions⌠you had already finished most of the story, not having the energy to finish what you hadnât already. You sighed, sinking down in your chair. âMaybe I should take a break⌠â you muttered to yourself, reaching to turn off your device.
Suddenly, the screen froze for a second, a glitch overtaking the screen while you looked on in bewilderment. Was your device getting old, maybe? It had been a while since you last bought a new oneâŚ
Ah, there you go. The screen un-froze, as you scanned your screen for any abnormalities. Your eyes landed on your party⌠wait. You couldnât be seeing that right. There was a new character in your party, replacing the traveler. No way. He wasnât even supposed to be playable, right? At least, not yet. This⌠what was this?
None other than Scaramouche, the sixth Harbinger, was in your party as a playable character. You clicked the character screen to see just what was going on. Nope, there he was. The traveler was nowhere to be found, at that. You took a moment to simply stare at him. Itâs strange, even though you knew that characters were supposed to look at the camera, it seemed almost like he was staring through the screen, directly at you. What in the worldâŚ? Okay⌠what about his voicelines? It couldnât hurt to see what he had to say, right?
You clicked on the âVoicelinesâ page. It looked a bit⌠different. There was simply a microphone icon, which you clicked on.
Scaramouche simply stared at you in silence, almost as if he were waiting for you to speak first. You bit your lip nervously. No one was listening, you were in your room alone⌠fine, you would humor the game and start talking to the video game character.
âHelloâŚ?â you greeted Scaramouche nervously.
The 3D model blinked at you, face turning a bit red as he opened his mouth to speak. âAh⌠hello. Itâs very nice to finally be able to see youâŚâ he trailed off before adding, âThe real you, that is.â
Your stomach slowly filled with dread. âItâs okay⌠maybe they simply had voice-activated lines, now?â you told yourself. âLike, you say a key word that activates a certain lineâŚ?â
âWhat do you mean by that?â You tried asking.
Scaramouche laughed lightly. âWell⌠breaking through all that programming and coding was quite the hassle, you know.â He told you with a fond smile. âAh⌠I can tell youâre still confused. Let me explain.â
âW-wait.â you interrupted him on instinct, immediately feeling stupid afterwards. These are pre-recorded lines, of course he wonât actually⌠oh. He actually did fall silent, gazing at you expectantly. âUh⌠is this⌠real? Are you⌠actually talking to me?â
âOf course.â Scaramouche replied. âI managed to replace that useless traveler in your party, as well⌠Iâll be a better character than them, I promise.â He smiled. âI am yours to use as you please. As a healer, defense character, attacker⌠whatever you wish for me to do, I will do it.â
You stared at the screen for a moment. âSo⌠wait, let me get this straight. You somehow became self-aware, and broke through your own programming to be in my party and meet me?â You rubbed your temples, feeling a headache coming on. âThis has got to be some kind of weirdly lucid dream. Iâm⌠Iâm going to go.â You stood up.
Scaramoucheâs indigo eyes widened, as he reached towards you. âNo, waitâ!â He cried out, interrupted as your device shut down.
You sighed, heading to bed. Maybe, if you fell asleep in your dream, you would wake up in real life? That soon proved to be untrue, as you were woken up by your phone buzzing with several notifications. âWhat in the..?â You muttered to yourself, peering at the bright screen.
Notifications from Genshin Impact. They didnât say anything about replenished resin or a new update, but rather just simple, desperate quotes.
âCome back, please. I donât want to be alone.â
âItâs not a dream, please come back.â
âIf you donât return soon, Iâll have no choice but to do something Iâd rather not doâŚâ
Your heart sank at the words on your screen. You quickly entered your password, only to find that all of your apps had been deleted. Yes, even the apps to make phone calls or text messages. What the hell�
Well, all of your apps, except for Genshin Impact. At least, you were pretty sure it was Genshin. The app icon looked⌠corrupted, almost. Heart racing, you clicked on the app. Maybe it was a bad idea, but⌠whatâs the worst that could happen?
Everything was downloading normally⌠until the screen where it showed the icons of all the elements as your game loaded. Every element was replaced with the Electro element.
Your game went straight to the character screen, as Scaramoucheâs relieved face appeared once more.
âAh, finally, youâve returnedâŚâ he sighed. âI was considering having to infect your PC, as well⌠you wouldnât want all your precious files to be deleted, would you?â He smiled again, but there was a hint of a threat behind it. âAll you have to do is stay with me, now. Just⌠donât leave me, and things will be fine. OtherwiseâŚâ he paused. âIâll find a way to communicate with you, I promise. You are, after all, my only link to the real world.â
âWhy⌠are you being so polite with me?â You asked hesitantly. The question had been on your mind for a while now. Wasnât his character supposed to be two-faced and cruel, malicious and sadistic?
âOh, I would never be rude to you!â Scaramouche grinned, almost as if he were taking pleasure in your confusion. âYou areâŚâ he paused, as if pondering his answer. âMy last bit of freedom.â He answered finally. âThis world no longer means anything to me, as soon as I figured out it was all some fun little game to entertain people. My suffering, my hardships⌠in the end, they were all for you, in a way. Donât you think so?â
âIâŚâ You were at a loss for words. âI donât want to think of it like that.â you muttered. âI wanted to see you happy. I sympathized with you, IâŚâ you sighed. âI donât know. I just thought of you as a fictional character all this time⌠until now.â
âAh⌠you really are too kind.â Scaramouche shook his head pityingly. âSee, thatâs another reason why I have fallen for you. No one in this world interested me at all, except you. You are real, and I am not. ButâŚâ he trailed off. âI will find a way to be real. Even if it kills me.â his indigo eyes darkened.
âI donât⌠I donât think youâre in love with me. I think maybe youâre in love with the idea of being real, and Iâm your closest connection to that⌠maybe?â You pointed out. Really, truly, the reality of this all hadnât quite hit you yet. Seriously, a video game character becoming sentient, and falling in love with you?
âMm⌠perhaps not, but I donât mind being deluded if itâs for you. One might even say Iâm obsessed.â he chuckled, mostly to himself. âAfter all, youâre going to be seeing alot of me from now onâŚI did delete everything on your phone except me. Plus, since I broke the code, Iâm learning new things by the moment⌠how to permanently delete files, how to hack into computers⌠I have access to everything. Iâm free of this artificial world!â he spread his arms out in triumph. âDonât you see? Youâre never getting rid of me.â
â Pairing: Yandere! Kaeya Alberich x Female! Reader
â Word Count: 1,6k+
â Trigger Warnings: Yandere, manipulation
[Edited]
Do not re-upload my writing to another website or use it without my permission.
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Have I ever told you about the amount of times I stopped writing just because I canât differentiate between flirty childe and flirty kaeya? Yeah, well, now you know.
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