#second chapter

You had unfortunately been anticipating this day. Picked out the outfit in advance, looked into the restaurant to figure out what you'd order, and thought about what you'd even talk about

Now you look back and wish you never said yes. And maybe he knew you would. Knew you were easy for him.

Maybe you weren't as good at reading body language as you thought. You did say it wasn't a superpower, there were possibilities for error...

Maybe this was all an illusion, like a mean spell to test you. Well, you think you may have failed it then.

And maybe, you shouldve spent even longer figuring out what to wear, or reevaluated because the dress you were wearing wasnt quite perfectly aligned with how the weather was today.

The cold rain started plunging down, almost there as a reminder of your imprudence. And of well, your lack of umbrella. Seriously, why didnt you check the weather??

You just hoped Steve was getting a good laugh out of this if he could see you, hell you'd even laugh at yourself. Unfortunately though, as the rain poured down harder, roaring fiercely, all you could muster was a small cry that was muted by the dramatic rainfall today, as you started to walk back to your place

Of course you walked to the restaurant, it wasn't far, why would you have drove?? Why anything to be honest??? Why NOT hex his entire bloodline?? It's only fair at this point because this is just becoming depressing, as you walked away from the restaurant looking like a bafoon. A pretty soaked bafoon but still one nonetheless. Maybe even more so

You wouldn't even be surprised if Steve jumped out a bush like a surprise party and started harassing you for even THINKING he wanted to hang out with you. How he'd tell all his friends about it, about how you were shaking like a cartoon character, which is fitting with how comical this really all was

This is what you get for going outside your comfort zone, away from your home, where you shouldve stayed

Suddenly a loud horn goes off and you jump, looking back to see a maroon BMW, and who's gets out the car?? No other than Steve the hair Harrington. You suppose he came to laugh at you, but when he registers the mascara running down your face (what's left of it) and tears, his face drops. Not that he looked very happy when he first got out in the first place for some reason

He looked like he just came from running a marathon, and maybe he did. Maybe that's how he likes to spend his free time while he stands up women he promised to see. Who knows? Were you willing to hear him out, just for a second? Maybe....just to hear what bullshit would come out his mouth. Maybe you could laugh about it later

You stand there with your arms crossed to look less vulnerable than you feel, well and because you're cold as hell but it can be both. "Start talking Harrington."

You say, voice clipped with no sort of warmth, cold like the rain. You almost need to yell for him to hear you

Steve looks like he got shot now. Shot after running a marathon.

"Please I'll explain, first just get in the car, you're drenched..."

You scoff "Yeah, what do you care?" You ask humorously

He looks so genuinely guilty that your read would probably tell you he didn't mean for any of this to happen, but you feel like you're done trusting that thing. Either that or he realized he took it too far

"Tiffany, I swear to you, I didn't mean for any of this to happen, something important came up and I- look just please get in, you'll catch a cold or worse. I'll tell you everything."

The thought of being in a nice car with comfy seats and a heater sounds like paradise right about now, the only thing is you'll be in the car with Steve Harrington. Hmmm decisions, decisions....

You think you'll take your chances, so you reluctantly walk to his car, almost stomping on the way like an upset child. Steve looks relieved and runs to open your door for you to get in.

You look at him with your arms crossed as you approach the door, giving him the dirtiest look ever despite the nice gesture and get in, half giving a fuck about all the water getting on his nice seats and half not

As he gets in the driver's seat, he looks to you, still looking absolutely guilty as shit, his big brown eyes resembling those of a sad puppy almost, they were dangerous. A trap that you have no doubt has gotten him out of similar situations, much worse likely, so you look away to avoid falling under his spell

"Tiffany, please just look at me...or don't I guess it's what I deserve, but....I want you to see my face when I'm saying this. So you see I'm being real with you, okay?" He says softly almost like he'll startle you if he speaks any louder

You sit there being stubborn for a bit not acknowledging him. Once again like in Family Video, you just want to get home. His face falls even more, when he sees you aren't responding to him, but as he sees you shivering he quickly starts the engine and turns the heater on, so quick that he looks like he might break something

Then he takes off his jacket and throws it around you like a shield, you flinch a bit but allow it.

"Did you want to go to my place?" Steve asks weakly

Is he serious? Why the hell would you want to go to his place after all of this? You don't even say anything to such a dum question, continuing to ignore him, and getting water all over his seats. It's not like he couldn't afford a new car. Hell you'd take this one if he doesn't want it anymore

"Uh...or we could go to yours...or I just take you home and leave you alone forever??" He says awkwardly with a raised brow

Steve didn't know what to say or what she would even want to do with him after this. He could start with telling her what happened but if he told her he had to protect the freak of Hawkins, who has a bounty over his head for a murder he didn't commit, and how it was somehow connected to an interdeminsional world under there's, full of goblygook and man eating monsters, you might actually jump out the vehicle.

He had promised to tell you the truth though and you deserved that at the very least. You probably think he did it purposely and he hates that. Hates that this probably reinforced everything you already thought about him. Hates how now he's trying to think of a way to make up to you, his plans to make it up to you.

Perhaps he could tell you the truth just not all of it

"Look...I promise you there's a very good reason I didn't show. I had everything planned out, what I was going to wear, what id get to eat, hell even where we'd sit...." You look over slightly

"This uh- friend of mine, you might know him, he's gotten into a bit of a pickle...like a big one actually. Like a big mutated genetically engineered pickle. He really needed my help. I didn't expect it to happen especially not today, I just....I had to help him. There's weird shit going on in Hawkins, if you've lived here long enough you know what I mean."

You listened, you really did. You were just a teeny bit less angry but unfortunately all you could think about was him going to get Tommy or one of the other dick heads out of jail or something not as important as he made it seem, with people you couldn't care less about. Maybe you were just extra angry because you were soaked after getting all dressed up for someone who didn't deserve to see you dressed up.

You wondered though what he meant by weird shit going on in Hawkins. Of course there was but what type of weird was he referring to specifically?? You didn't care enough to ask

The car was just sitting there in park, he waited for you to say something, just anything. Wherever you wanted to go he'd take you. The silence was heavy as the two of you sat there unmoving, the raindrops hitting the car the only sound. You sigh and speak up, just not really giving a fuck anymore. You take a risk because you didn't do all of this for nothing

"Do you like movies?" You ask

He pauses and raises an eyebrow

"You're asking the guy who works at a video store??"

"Hey, you asked me if I liked food." You respond humourously

"Fair...." He responds

"Wait, why?" He then questions shortly after

"You wanna come over?" You ask neutrally

"Really?" He asks, his face lighting up but also skeptical

"Yeah, my place is close by." You say looking out the window

"Wait but actually?" Steve questions further

"Go before I change my mind." You say

"Oh right...okay..." He quickly shifts the gearshift like his life depends on it, backing up out of the place like an Olympic sport, not waiting for you to change your mind

He finally pulls off away from the Italian place, now tainted by a bad memory for you. A quite embarrassing one actually. It's fine though maybe you'll sleep with him and then never hit his line again. Not that you do that often, or do you find Steve to be attractive in any way, not at all...

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When you get to your place, he looks sort of surprised, analyzing the outside. The greenery that encapsulates the outer perimeter like a hug that never stops, the cottage esc look to it, making it feel cozy, like he's at home, your poor flowers at the front were getting drenched unfortunately though.

You two quickly run towards the front door, Steve having to grab your arm when you're about to trip face first into mud on the way there, blame the heels. You unlock it to get in, Steve now a little soaked himself. When you close the door shut away from the raging storm, Steve looks around your place, it immediately feels like you, something you curated just to your liking. A perfect reflection he thought, maybe, if he knew you better he'd know for sure

You don't just like to wear velvet, it's all over your home too along with silks and laces. Shades of deeper purples, burgundy's, blacks, hints of gold. You definitely had a certain taste and it showed throughout everything to do with you.

You didn't waste any time as you came in, throwing off your heels immediately, going straight for towels and blankets.

"Welcome to my home Harrington, I guess…"

You throw him some towels

"We're back to Harrington huh?" Steve jokes attempting to lighten the mood

"You wanna be back to outside, huh?"

He starts drying himself off best he can

"Uh no....ma'am?..." He responds carefully

You go into your room to take off his jacket which is actually very comfortable despite your drenched state, laughing a bit at his use of ma'am, poor thing sounded more terrified than anything.

Maybe you'd lay up off of him a bit. Just a bit. Or maybe you'd fuck with him for entertainment. Depends on your mood after you clean up

Meanwhile while you are cleaning up in the shower, washing away the nasty rain water, and the past few hours, Steve is giving himself a tour of your home to kill time.

He hasn't quite been in another woman's home that looked like this. It was a little freaky looking but also elegant?? Charming, but edgy. Romantic almost like a dark fantasy. Just from looking around he learned new things about you

You enjoyed music, more than he would originally thought. Tons of vinyls and a vintage looking record player to put them on. Prince, Bon Jovi, U2, Metallica, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Micheal Jackson, it just went on.

Unsurprisingly more plants, lots of them. All very well taken cared of.

Candles everywhere for mood lighting, makes sense.

Books, a wall of them. Now if that was for show or you actually read them, he doesn't know. He's leaning more towards you read them.

He decided to take one and actually open it to look through, crazy, he knows. He rarely opens books willingly but he wanted to know more, about you specifically. So yeah if he has to open a few books to do it, who cares??

*Some time goes by*

He gets a little wrapped up in the book, it had a bunch of interesting stuff about astronomy......or was it astrology?? He doesn't really know the difference, but it was captivating either way. Maybe he'd ask you about it once you came out. He started to understand Dustin a little more with his little nerdy books.

Steve decides to grab a different book and the one he grabs is a little weird looking, he hasn't seen anything quite like it, he supposes everything in your home is unique along with you

He opens the strange worn book, the pages just as worn, some even ripped a bit. He wasn't sure what he was looking at. It was a bunch of peculiar symbols and shapes he wasn't familiar with. Maybe it was advanced astrol-astronomy...whatever it is, it was lowkey freaking him out.

He turned a few more pages and this one was actually titled.

“Incantations” it reads in bold ink

Steve freezes

No this can't be....

Is what he thinks he'll say when he figures out what that word actually means

"What are you doing?" You say with a raised eyebrow as you come out your room

Steve jumps so much that he ends up dropping the book completely like an idiot

You look down to see your spell book and your heart drops. You didn't think he had the mental capacity to even pick up a book let alone open it. What the hell made him want to open that one??

Steve looking guilty again for what might be a new record for him in one day, scratches the back of his neck. You stare at him with your arms crossed and walk over in big strides, Steve goes down to pick up the book but you beat him to it.

"Sorry I was just-" He blurts out, but you cut him off

"Snooping through my stuff?" You ask, clearly annoyed as you put the book back where it belongs

"No?" He says almost like a question

"Is that a question or a statement?" You ask, stepping to him with your arms crossed

A pause

"No??..." He responds with what definitely sounded like a question

"Steve..." You seriously say, titling your head

"Im sorry I was just looking arou-" the words die on his tongue, now that you're close to him

Steve didn't quite get a good look at you when you came out, mind more on the book and you catching him, red handed or more fittingly dusty handed

You looked...good. Your hair still damp, curls even more defined now, your skin glistening from the shower, or maybe thats just you. In black shorts that go to just above your knees and a black tank top to match. Nothing crazy, just...you. but that was more than enough in his eyes. He really couldn't ask for more

You raise your eyebrow at him, confused on why he stoped talking and is now just staring at you. And people thought YOU were the weirdo back then?? Unfortunately though, this weirdo is making your stomach do black flips right now. Damn him and his big brown eyes. They just might actually be magic...

"Hello?? Steve, what are you looking at?" You chuckle a bit, fiinding his new behavior a little weird, but there was also a little nervousness behind it too

He searches your eyes and you feel as though you can't look away. Crazy how you came in here, both nervous and annoyed and now you're just nervous and flustered. You hated how in such a short amount of time he somehow had a hold on you, like a fucked up puppet spell you didn't know how to undo

"Steve??" You question again

His eyes flicker to your lips for a second before going back to your eyes. Your voice hitches against your will. Fuck...he's not even trying. Maybe you are easy, you think....

"I'm- look I'm sorry about going through your stuff, it was an invasion of privacy, and I should have asked you before doing that. I was bored, and decided to get a book, and yes I know that sounds crazy coming from me." He says genuinely, voice softening

You giggle a bit because he's exactly right, he read your mind.... or he's just self aware. A small smile forms on his face as he sees you giggle, even better that he was the one that caused it

"Hey, it's okay...actually that was a bit rude of me as your host to not make sure you were comfortable before I got in the shower. Left you in your wet clothes and everything, I apologize..." You say sincerely

"How about I take those actually, I can throw them in the dryer and give them back to you afterwards."

"Uh, yeah. It is a bit uncomfortable, but I guess it's not that crazy after what I put you through..."

You study him for a bit, actually quite surprised by his maturity. Not to get you wrong, he's still a doofus but it's still quite the contrast from back then in highschool. Maybe he has changed for the better, on some Wicked shit.

"Strip." You tell him

"I'm sorry-?? What?" He questions, his eyebrows raising

"Strip for me." You say seriously

"Uh okay. I- I think we're moving a bit too fast but-" he says tripping over his words, going red

As he strips, you leave to go get some kind of clothing he can wear in the meantime, you're not sure if you have anything for that big ass man but you'll try.

"Uh Tiffany??, W-where are you going???" He shouts genuinely confused

"To get you some clothes dingus!" You shout from your room as you sift through your closet, God he's so dumb it's almost adorable.

"Oh!" He shouts back

"oh..." He says quieter to himself, feeling a little stupid

You end up finding one shirt that might be big enough but you think it might be just a little too tight for him, so well...you cast a tiny little spell to make it bigger. Nothing fancy. How the hell would he know any different?? You do the same with the shorts

You finally bring him his clothing, that is your clothing, but it will be his for now

Your eyes quite willingly go to his abs and figure, taking it in unashamedly. Like looking at a piece of art at a museum. Steve smiles half smugly, half shy as he sees you checking him out. He doesn't think he's seen someone look at him the way you are right now, he almost wishes he saw the look more

Or maybe it's because you're the one giving it to him

You throw him the clothes before his ego grew too much for you to bare, and took his old ones to the dryer like nothing happened

When you come back Steve's wearing the clothes you gave him and, thankfully they fit

A pause

"Oh good they fit." You say

"Yeah it's a little surprising, to be honest, it's almost perfect." He says looking at the clothes

You laugh nervously. "Uhhh yeah I guess you got lucky..."

"So uhh, you said movie?" Steve asks

Right, yeah movie. I did say that. I uh have a lot of them actually.”

"Of course you do." He says with a little smile

"Huh?" You question as you go to your shelf lined with tapes like your own mini home Family Video

"Oh it's just I had saw your stack of vinyls in the corner, super cool by the way, while you were showering, you know, being a snoop and stuff-”

"Mhm yep." You agree

"And you know, the likelihood of someone owning a lot of music, brings the chances of them owning a lot of movies, up."

You look back from the shelf you're browsing and squint your eyes at him, tilting your head to the side. "Did you read that from a book or something??"

"Actu-" You cut him off

"Wait, don't answer that." You say looking back towards your selection of home movies. "The last book you've read in the last 6 months was probably the ones on my shelf. Maybe even in the last year" You humorously say with a smirk, chuckling a bit

"You just loooove making fun of me huh, so very mature of you." Steve says

"If I'm not mistaken you used to be the same with me." You state playfully, but Steve seems to take it more seriously.

Steve sighs looking down and shaking his head. "God what was wrong with me?"

"Do you want a list?" You ask

"No, but thanks." He says with a tight smile

You hold up a movie to him to see if he likes the selection

"Naked Gun?" You ask

"Nah just watched it last week." Steve says

You hold up another

"Scarface?" You ask

"Not in the mood." He responds

"What are you in the mood for then?" You question, raising an eyebrow

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AN: Lmk what you think of the dialogue. Like I said I'm new to this, so tell if it feels natural enough. Were you immersed or no? Also does Steve's dialogue feel like him?

Also guys I just figured out about the keep reading thing omg my first chapter didn't have it so I put it on I'm sorry if that was annoying 😭

“Last time we came, your mayor fed us lamb. Rag, our leader, has been obsessed with meat ever since his first bite. However, no sheep live near us. In exchange of few lamb, your mayor is having us teach people here how to blacksmith,” 

  you remember Rag and his sharp predator glare, the thought of him being obsessed with lamb made you smile slightly, and the thought of Grom staying made you smile brighter, “how long do you think that’s gonna take”

  “A few weeks. Hopefully. We even moved our beds here!” you couldn’t believe it, a few more weeks with him! Orcs will have to be integrated into your villages and by the looks of it, there seems to be more orcs than last time! Christmas came earlier than you thought.

  You laugh remembering the stone beds he said he slept on “bet those were tough to carry”

“You have no idea!” he jokes as he bends back to crack his back and laughs too, his golden eyes meet yours as he straightens back up before sliding down to your stand's products, his handsome face tainted with confusion .

  “What hell are these?”

  You track his gaze to the knives “stone knives” you reply “my father whittled them”

He snorts amused ”stone? Weakest material”

  You chuckle sad “well thats why theres a lot”

  He huffs “this wont do, it will break before you even use it! Tonight is our first demonstration, 

We will be in forge, first lesson is daggers after these sorry excuses your father made”

  “Wait..are you…inviting me?” you ask in shock

  “Of course” he responds as if its obvious before

  “I…women don’t usually forge”

  He rolls his eyes, unsurprised and annoyed “if anyone asks, I invited you, personally”

˚₊ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚✧ ˚₊ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚

You come to the forge early, fixing your hair before entering the building, one of the only ones you’ve never been in. Although you were interested in it, the only building that barely uses any wood for obvious reason, always hotter than every other building, and huge. You enter the door and sigh in relief from the warmth, taking off your scarf and coat. Keeping your head down so no one notices you-

  “y/n!” you jump at Grom’s happily loud bellow as he quickly approaches you, leaving the other orcs at the forge fireplace. you jump in surprise and look up, “you came, wonderful wonderful!”

All the orcs that arrived this morning were there, and to your horror, Rag is the one who comes over

  “Ah, our first student, welcome” he says in a deep rough voice as he towers over the both of you, his accent more clear than Groms, offering his hand for a handshake, you hesitate too long and end up not taking it. He raises a brow confused. You feel bad but can’t help it, why are they all so…casual, why is no one shocked at the fact that you’re here. When you don’t end up taking his hand but he just drops it casually. His skintone was dark but more of a cooler tone than Groms. His hair is longer with three braids instead of one going down his back. The first thing you noticed about him was the thick scar that ran across his forehead. 

  “Tch this wont do” Grom tsk’s eyes trailing with disdain at your skirt. “It will light in flames if it is touched by a spark, I will get her some leather slacks”

  “Grom, women here do not usually wear pants, especially around these parts” Rag tells Grom and you perk up in surprise that he knew that detail.

  Grom waves his hand casually “Nonsense! Get your head out of your bum and tell me where goddamn pants are”

  You jerk back at the vulgar language but Rag just rolls his eyes annoyed like an irritated child would “dresser, i must admit” starts Rag to you “I am impressed you that you are here-”

“ Grom invited me!” you say in your defence too quickly and worried, making Rag’s brows widen in surprise 

  “I…i see that, but typically women do not partake in these activities, this village must be more progressive than the last time i have seen it” you perk up noticing his use ‘the’ but he still doesn’t you compound words like Grom

  “O-oh no it's not, I was actually planning on hiding in the corner when everyone else comes.”

His brows widen and you look down, feeling cowardly “well, at least you are willing learning, I doubt anyone else will come, folks from last time seemed to proud to learn from orcs,”

By now Grom had returned with the pants, “do you know how to put them on?” he asks gently

You blush “i can figure it out”

  “Theres an empty storage room over there, go change” he nods to the door and you wordlessly go to the room

  You put your whole weight on the door and lift your skirt up a bit, sliding the leather up your legs, huh, warm you think as you tie it around your waist, really warm, the material was thick, the leather a bit baggy on you since it was met for a man, but as you drop your skirt down you couldn’t really notice it. 

  You walk out, Grom perks up from where he was leaning on the wall near where you were changing “they fit good?” he looks down at your skirt and his brow raised

  “Yeah, they're warm, really warm, they would be so great to have for the winter”

  “Take off your skirt-”

  “No” you say sharply

  He inhales sharply in irritation “If you do not, sparks will fly and touch your skirt and set it ablaze” 

  “Its not like i’ll be close”

  He widens his brows surprised "I thought you were staying”

  “I am but ill be in the corner, i told you women don't usually go to these kind of things”

He sighs almost looking disappointed “fine.” he wordlessly says annoyed before walking back to the rest, muttering words in orcish. You grimace at his disappointment

  You then walk out and pat down your dress so it's not as noticeable before taking a seat at a table near the dark corner of the forge. It was now ten past 5, and you were still the only one there. Maybe Rag was right and you would be

  The slamming open of the door causes you to jump in startled as a few men messily stumble in. your eyes widen at the view of your father, he stiffs and straightens up at the sight of one of the orcs, you trace his gaze back to Rag, who was matching his gaze.

  “Are you here to tell me to go back to where we came from…again?”

  Your father scoffs, wait is that where he was the night they first arrived? “No, Mayor James forced me to come”

He takes a seat with the others far enough in front that he can’t see you, you hope that he doesn't notice you here.

  “Well! Shall we start?” asks another orc, he was louder and happier with a small excited smile on his lips, the shade of his skin was a lighter green and on the yellow side, larger skinnier tusks than Grom but not Rag and he was the shortest.

  Grom huffs “I suppose we should, now!” he claps his hands as he projects, “today we will be learning how to make dagger, “ he subtly nods to you in the back and you shiver back into the darkness, your father perks up surprised and turns his head slowly until he eyes you.

  “Y/N?!?!” he blurts in surprise, making you shut your eyes and jerk your head down, “the hell are you doing here?!”

  “I-i un” you stutter nervously, you couldn ‘t tell him that you were interested, “i-i was um…cold! I was cold! Please can’t I stay for a bit to watch? It's freezing out there and mother hasn’t finished knitting my cardigan

  He huffs “fine, you can stay for a bit”

  “Th-thank you father” you keep your head down until he turns back around the whole forge, keeps quiet for a minute too long and you silently pray one of the orcs starts the demonstration again.

  “Right! Let us start” continues the small excited orc to your relief. He starts with showing how to make the handle, and then warming up the metal, a combination of copper bronze and iron, you finally take a peak up to see Grom deep in thought as he stares into the forge's fire, his jaw tensed, while the smaller orc was happily oblivious while teaching, he seemed to really enjoy it.

  “Now! The dagger is made but it needs to be sharpened, could I have volunteer?" 

  No one else’s hands raise for a while, then annoyed, Grom's hard eyes land on you “why not Y/n?” you perk up surprised and panicked, eyes darting to your father who's already looking at Grom with a flabbergasted expression.

  “Uh Grom I do not think that is a good idea” mentions Rag 

   Grom scoffs in response “well no one else is volunteering, Y/N is only one who has been actively listening, we make anyone else do so they will burn their finger tips off” he says bluntly, and it was true, three out of your fathers four friends were still sleeping through the whole demonstration, 

  “What do you say y/n?”

  “I um-”

  “ABSOLUTLY NOT” demanded your father 

   Grom scoffs “well you do not seem to be volunteering”

  “Just show us yourself!"

  “What is point of us being here if you want to learn?”

  “WE DON’T NEED YOUR HELP we never did”

  “You were starving before we came! You would have starved were it not for us”

  Your father scoffs but its true, times were tough, you stand up and walk over to your father  “father it’s okay, just let me do it” you whisper

  “Are you talking back?” your father demands slow and applaud and you stutter

  “i-i just want this conflict to end”

  He huffs “fine, I highly doubt you could do it better than any of us anyway, don’t let her burn herself” he says the last part specifically to Grom.

  You smooth down your skirt nervously as you walk over to the sharpening wheel, one you’ve 

seen before, you sit down on the stool and scoot closer to the wheel

  “Take off your skirt” Grom leans down to whisper in your ear while the shorter Orc demonstrates on a separate sharpening wheel. You shake your head while watching him carefully

  “Please no” you beg, your voice wavering with emotion.

  He pauses, and though he's not in your peripheral vision you think that his expression softens 

as he sighs “You did put pants on right?”

  You nod, still watching the smaller orc “promise”

  He sighs “fine” and straightens up, and wordlessly gives you an leather gloves and a facial cover

  And then it's your turn, the smaller orc turns to you with a smile, lifting up his own facial cover 

“understand?”

  You nod confidently as you tug your facial cover down with your gloved hands. You take the dull 

dagger he offers you. You put the edge of the knife to the wheel, your foot to the pedal and start 

to wheel the pedal. As the sparks fly, a focused calm expression on you but you smile as you pull back to see the sharp gleaming side of the dagger.

  “Exellent! Now turn it over” you nod and turn it over to finish the other side, sparks fly but you have no care, dopamine fills every edge of your brain from the sight of those sparks and- 

  “WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THOSE FROM” you father makes you jump and you sharply pull the dagger backstop the wheel as he marches over to you

  “You put my daughter in pants?!” 

  You look down and tug the mask off you, the edges of your skirt still burning off you, leaving your front open and the leather pants revealed, you didn’t even feel it 

  Grom scoffs ”of course! and thank gods I did! She would have burned her skin-”

  Rag silences him with an arm on his shoulder and speaks in a calm tone  “we promise you sir, we were only trying to prevent injuries”

  “You both set this up!? Didn’t you!? How will she get a husband now”

   Grom scoffs with a deeply annoyed and flabbergasted expression “marriage?! What? Are you afraid no one can tell she is woman" he says sarcastically “Yes!” your father condemns making Grom have to snort to hide a laugh. 

  “You think this is a joke? This is immoral! God might as well smite you down y/n!”

  while Rag looks worried, its an unusual look “we would have given her a leather skirt if we had one-”

  “What if the mayor was here?! We cannot afford to pay another fine!” as he speaks Rag wraps his apron around the front of your skirt to cover the pants off up “take them off, right now!”

  You quickly leave to do so in the storage room, leaving them on the floor as you rush out of the room, your fathers hand on your arm as you're tugged away. You feel the eyes of Grom and even though you desperately want to look behind you, you don’t dare to. Your father harshly tugs you away while the forge remains silent behind you.

  “Not a single word to mother,” he murmurs “you will tell her that you had a mishap while watching”

  “Yes father” you say in a shaky voice.

  “That goddamn Christian cannot come any sooner” he huffs finally, “do not talk to any orcs again, we will make do without their help”

  “But father-”

  “Do not! Speak back to me!”

  When you get home, your jaw is already clenched, your father rushes you to his room “Elizabeth, out” he says sternly to your mother as she obeys without a second thought, your father harshly kicks the door closed and slides his belt sharply from his ants. The belt cracked against your back before you could even open your mouth

  Afterwards your body was weak and sore from the punishment. You were now sitting at your bed tub, the warm water removing the ache from your belt wounds. When you suddenly hear a knock, footsteps of your father and the door opening

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE” your father demands making you jump in the tub. 

“i wanted to apologize,” your heart skips a beat Grom his voice sounds so calm and sad “I am sorry, I am not used to your way of life, this is my first time ever being around humans and it was wrong to assume that everyone lives same way that we do, forgive me please I only wanted your daughter to be protected”

  Your father huffs, “huh, well I respect that, thank you” you notice how he doesn’t say that he forgives him.

  You hear grom grunt before heavy footsteps and then the creek of the door closing. You pressed your forehead against the wooden wall of the bath.

  He came back. 

  Despite everything.

  He came back. To you

  when you’re finished with the tub and walk out of the bathroom your father says “perhaps you can take his money when he buys to you, I suppose he can’t be that much of a brute if he can understand what an apology is and have mostly good grammar” 

  You try not to grimace could you have decided that before my beating and quickly say thank you and leave before your attitude could get the best of you

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As same as before LIKE COMMENT SHOW PROOF OF LIFE EVEN IF ITS A FUNNY GIF PLSSSS