#//HE was the one who pushed Luc; HE was the one who approached him while grieving. Thus HE deserves all the blame for what happened

[dutybcrne]

As far as the people of Mondstadt are concerned, what happened that night of Diluc's eighteenth birthday in terms of the results of The Confrontation between Diluc and Kaeya, is instead a fabrication that a grief-stricken Kaeya had recklessly tried to clear a domain on his own only to be attacked and hurt by a Pyro Abyss Mage. The only reason he survived was being blessed with his Cryo Vision.

Each and every time the lie is brought up, especially in the Angel's Share, Kaeya feels the urge to find that 'Domain' and lock himself in it.

[aissa-snapped]

I JUST WANT TO BE LOVED

Sirius Black x reader, James Potter x reader

word count: 2844

summary:When reader gets approached by James Potter and gets offered a deal to make Sirius jealous, things don`t turn the way they planned. Or, do they?

It was no secret that everyone at Hogwarts had a crush on the infamous star boy. With his high prominent cheekbones, fluffy curly hair as dark as his name indicated, prestigious behavior, he carried himself around the grounds aspiring from everyone an air of royalty of some sort. To be fair, his charm did work on the girls, and as for the guys, well, it couldn`t cross past their jealousy. So when sometime during 5th year you found yourself getting shy around the boy when he would simply greet you in the common room, you instantly knew the Black charm has made its effect on you too. 

   You wouldn`t say you were in any way friends with the mischievous boys, but since you all shared a house and a common room, you interacted with each of them at times. James was easy to talk to. He was friendly and always ready to help any feeble person at a given time, which made him the spokesperson for the group. 

   Remus was decent enough, though, you only talked about homework and assignments. There wasn`t a lot you could talk about with him. He tended to stay close to his safe haven surrounded by his friends and that was good enough for him. 

Peter was, well, a combination of James and a bit of Remus. It was clear to anyone who paid even the slightest attention that he was constantly running in James` shadows, trying to mimic his gestures, copy his confidence, but it wasn`t his genuine personality. He was prone to fall into the introverted category. He did enjoy talking to you, but he would stumble upon his words at times, making you wonder if he was just nervous or maybe he developed a sort of infatuation for you. You hoped it was the former. 

Now, Sirius. Dear Sirius... He outshined them all. In your eyes, his smile alone could brighten up the whole sky. He had an alluring presence. When he entered a room, he would involuntarily gain the attention of any other present person in the area. 

The only problem with this was that, with all this fame came along the fangirls too. The whole of Gryffindor and who knows how many from other houses fawned over Sirius. He was constantly approached by some hopelessly in love girls, trying to get him to go on walks with them. He, of course enjoyed all this treatment and would often be seen spending time with a different girl every Saturday.

  You couldn`t lie. This bothered you to no extent. Seeing the oldest Black brother spend time with almost every girl at Hogwarts, made you feel even more insecure. If he spent time with one of the most beautiful girls, how could he ever look your way?

  Unfortunately for you, this little crush of yours did not go unnoticed. Little did you know, that Sirius black`s complice himself has taken notice of your infatuation. He often times caught you staring at Sirius during classes, or your eyes searching for his figure unconsciously when you would enter the Great Hall.  He would smirk your way and then glace back at Sirius, just to see him devouring a chicken leg and not paying attention to the rest of the people.

   Seeing as neither you nor Sirius would take the first initiative step of striking up a conversation, he decided to give both of you  a little push from behind.

" Oi, Y/L/N, wait up." James stopped you in your tracks, jogging up and catching up with you. Frowning, you turned shyly towards him, silently asking him what the problem was. 

" So here`s what I`ve been thinking...-"

" Oh no." You commented involuntarily making him chuckle. Putting one of his arms around your shoulders and bringing you closer to him, he began explaining what has been on his mind for a while now.

" So I couldn`t help but notice how you have been constantly staring at Sirius lately, I mean, in the common room, you would try so hard to get a good luck at the lad, or in class, or the Great Hall. And- alright don`t give that look- No don`t even try to deny it." You tried shrugging his arm off your shoulder, but he didn`t even budge, instead trying to stop you from trying to come up with a good lie against his observations.

"- So I cooked up a plan that might work in the benefit of both of us." Now you turned your head fully at him, analyzing his face for answers. 

" You better start spilling, now you`ve got me all curious." 

" Well..." He trailed off, half grinning and looking down at the ground, avoiding your intense gaze.

" How about you dated me instead?" He asked bluntly.

Blinking your eyes rapidly, you weren`t sure if you heard it right. " Excuse me? Are you saying you fancy me Potter?" 

" Oh no!! Oh no no no. No offense, you seem nice and.. you are a bonnie las, as they say but, I`ve got my eyes set elsewhere."

More confused than ever, you scowled at him, waiting for a proper explanation.

" Well then? What is your deal? What is the meaning of all this then?" You pressed.

" We will be FAKE dating. That way, you will make Sirius jealous and I will make my Lily flower jealous as well." He explained proudly, nodding at his own words, as if agreeing with what he was saying.

You put on a straight face, masking the confusion and the doubtfulness that was swirling in your head at the moment.

" I- I don`t know what to say about this. Why would you even think that Sirius would care that we are dating in the first place?" You questioned warrily.

" Beacaaause. I know my best mate and I can guarantee you it will work."

    The morning after the whole conversation with James felt weird. This would be the first 'official' day on which you were dating the popular Gryffindor chaser. Feeling giddy, you slowly followed your typical morning routine, trying not to think too much about what was about to happen once you set foot in the warm cozy common room.

   Taking your time putting effort into looking your best, ( definitely not for James), you took shaky steps down the stairs. Once arriving at your destination, there he was, the bespectacled boy, laughing at something Sirius was saying. Neither one of the four guys noticed your presence only until after a few delayed moments, when Remus was closing up his book and threw a casual glance towards you, and nodding your head towards you, as a form of greeting. The other lads noticed his actions, following his gaze, curious as to who`s gotten his attention. Peter widened his eyes, smiling shyly your way, Sirius merely stared at you, and James started grinning, taking quick and steady steps towards you. 

" Morning love. Did you sleep well?" He asked in a raspy voice, clearly trying to lower it down so he would sound hotter.

You blushed, not knowing how to react. " Y-yeah. Pretty good. Mhm." He swung an arm around your shoulders, similarly to how he did it the other day, bringing you as close to his side as physically possible, guiding you back to the trio, who were sitting there dumbfounded. Once he took his previous spot in between Sirius and Peter, ignoring the stares of confusion coming from his friends, he continued on with the topic they were previosuly discussing, with a casual kiss on your cheek.

"- We could then use my invisibility cloak to-"

"-Uh.. Prongs... Care to... explain.. this?" Sirius had the courage, or so it seemed, to get some answers from the curly haired boy regarding the reason why he was so touchy with you, when they all knew damn well he`s been in love with Lily Evans for many years.

" Wha'? Oh, you mean my new relationship? Oh right I forgot to tell you lads but i am now dating Y/N." He boasted.

" WHAT?" "Excuse me?" " Huh?" were the responses he got from the boys. Remus seemed to be the most unbothered by this confession, as he just widened his eyes but then quickly went back to his book. Peter seemed flustered and his cheeks went a hint redder. And Sirius, ( being the drama queen he is) threw his arms in the air,  and hitting James softly on his chest. 

" But.. but Prongs, weren`t you obsessing over Ev-"

" Enough Pads! I am no longer obsessing over anyone other than Y/N." James argued back, shutting the boys down. If anything, it was that much clear that it was he who ran the group, by the way he was capable of calming a situation.

Sirius frowned slightly, but gained his composure quickly when he made eye contact with you, turning his head the other way and asking Remus something about the history of magic homework.

A few weeks into this fake relationship, and all you could say was that you were starting to get used to it. James being affectionate towards you, kissing you on the cheek and holding hands became a regular gig you would perform in the presence of any of the marauders, especially Sirius. What made you sad one day was, when James ran up to you claiming he had something to tell you. You could say you were surprised to hear about Lily finally confessing his feelings to James, but you weren`t. It was obvious they both liked eachother, but it was Lily who constantly put off James` advances.

What bothered you was the fact that after two months of fake dating his best friend, he never once tried to talk to you, nor befriend you. He would greet you each morning with a quick nod, not caring to even pay you much attention.

If James got what he wanted, what would remain of you?

" Maybe we should break up, and see if he will try to comfort you. After all, he did spend almost as much time around you as he spent time with me." James suggested, with a comforting tone.

" Yeah, you`re right, I think. At least one of us got what they wanted." You sighed sadly, eyes dropping down to the floor. You were about to cry, but wanted to hold it together, at least until James was clear and you were left alone.

James noticed your defeated state, and took you by surprise by hugging you. This time, it wasn`t like those ones when he would do it for the show, but it held a genuine  emotion. He left bad for you, and wanted to assure you silently that everything will be all right.

Patting you back softly, he broke the hug, he took a hold of your upper arms, squeezing it lightly. 

" Hey, it will be fine, right? If he comes to you that`s good, and if not, then he`s a loser." He smirked, noticing a faint smile lighting up your face.

" Yeah yeah whatever Potter. Now leave me be and go grab your lady." You joked.

James gave you a thankful nod, departing from the common room, not before yelling out a " YOU WERE THE BEST FAKE GIRLFRIEND I`VE EVER HAD".

The following day felt as if a real breakup hit you in the heart. When you got to the common room, in the usual spot taken by you next to James, stood Lily, as bright and cheery as ever. James was clinging to her, like a child after he finally got the toy he had wished for all winter, and was afraid of losing it. You smiled, they both deserved eachother, however you couldn`t help but feel jealousy creeping up in the pits of your stomach, at the sight of another happy couple. When would be your turn?

You quickly jogged towards the door, wishing to go unnoticed by the group, but in your rush, you caught the attention of the curly haired boy, who watched your frame leave the common room in a chaste sprint.

You skipped breakfast, having lost your appetite very early in the morning. Instead, you decided to take a walk on the grounds, seeing as it was a sunny Saturday. 

You were so lost in your day dreams, that you completely missed the footsteps carried by someone who was following you from behind. You seated yourself under a nice tree, giving you a bit of shade, but you barely sat down when another presence appeared at your side. You jumped slightly, having been spooked at the sudden person. You checked the newly arrived stranger,or so you thought, recognizing the very person you were running away from.

" Hey. I, I`ve heard of the breakup. And I wanted to check on you, since you ran away like that, without even a hello."

" I`m fine Sirius." You murmured.

" Really? I can confidently say you do NOT look fine. What happened to the two of you? One day you were just fine and then the next you just- broke it off..." He trailed off, his voice getting smaller towards the end.

" It`s none of your business yeah? We didn`t work out. That`s the end of it." 

" Ok..." Sirius and you let a deep silence get in the way. No one was making a sound, other than the birds chirping and the wind whooshing.

You were hyperfocused on a fixed point somewhere in the distance, not wanting for one second to look at Sirius. As for him, you could see from the very corner of your eye that he would look around his surroundings, then slowly glance back at your face, waiting for your next move.

A few minutes later, you sighed, alerting Sirius, who brought his attention back on you and widened his eyes, for this was the first sound you made after such long dead silent moments.

" You don`t have to stay here with me. I`m sure you have better things to do." You pressed, getting annoyed with his presence.

" Oh no I`m good thanks." And with that, he clasped his hands together, continuing to stare at you, with those deep and expressive eyes, that any other day you would love to stare into, but now he was getting on your nerves.

You were finally losing your temper, not being able to keep your cool any longer.

" LISTEN. I WANT TO BE ALONE. I JUST GOT DUMPED AND I NEED SOME TIME TO MYSELF OKAY?" You shouted, making Sirius lean away from you, scared of what you might do.

You let out a sob, and that was the cue for the tears to start falling onto your face, like a chain reaction. Sirius stood there awkwardly for a few moments, not knowing how to react, then he leaned back in and brought your face to his chest, nestling your head in the crook of his neck. With one hand wrapped around your waist and the other one on your head, patting it softly, you let out a few more sobs, releasing some of that pent up energy, until you were able to hold it back together, stopping your tears from littering your face any longer. 

You pulled back, sniffling and taking a deep breath, you rubbed your eyes clear of the remnant tears and started muttering.

" I just want to be loved." You confessed, more to yourself than anyone else. You didn`t want his sympathy. You wanted genuine love.

" Don`t we all?" He replied, in the same tone you previously used. 

" Maybe, we can find comfort in eachother. What do you say?" He proposed.

Not being sure what he meant, you frowned.

" And what would that mean?"

Rolling his eyes playfully, he started explaining. " I mean, be with me. You know, like a real couple, not a fake one like you and James."

You were mortified. This was so embarassing, him finding out about the whole plan. You were going to hex James later.

" Yeah, Prongs told me today at breakfast. No need to hide it." He confessed. " You know? If you liked me so much, you could`ve just said so. It would have been so much easier."

You blushed, hiding your face from his view. He laughed at your shy demeanor, choosing to drag you close to him, hugging you a second round, only this time he held you tighter and longer. You both spent a few minutes in the comfort of eachother, when he kissed the top of your head and nudged you with his chin, making you look up at him.

" Well then?" He was  waiting for an answer to his previous question.

" Be with me? And I`ll give you all the love I have to offer."

A nod from you was all he needed and he leaned down, sealing the deal with a kiss.

[invisibleraven]

The race to 500!! It's always been you, peterpatterlina

NUMBER 500 Y'ALL! Seems fitting to do it with my OT3 and my favourite trope. I hope you enjoy!

Ser Reginald wiped the sweat from his brow, beaming at the chanting crowd. The tourney had gone well, and the purse was as good as his. It had been a good day.

If only he had someone to share it with.

Then he felt it, the tug of his heartstrings, meaning his fated love was nearby. He entered every tourney in hopes of this moment. Travelled far and wide, searching for them. To finally gaze upon his other half and proclaim his love.

Frantically he searched the crowd, eyes finally landing on the royal box where the fair Lady Julianna and her faithful guard Ser Lucas were sitting. Sharing a smile between them as he caught their eye. Could one of them be for him?

He approached slowly, not daring to hope, but the tug felt stronger and stronger as he got closer. Close enough to see the gap in the lady’s smile, the sparkle of the knights eyes. He gave a deep bow, but never broke their gaze.

Lady Julianna flushed and giggled, Ser Lucas shooting him a smirk. And Ser Reginald accepted the token-two cloths twined together, a brilliant royal purple twined with the deepest regal blue.

Oh.

Reginald looked that them then, and felt a tug at his heart… two tugs. For the two hearts opposite his own that were meant to be his. And he theirs.

He took the red cape from his back and tore a length from it, twining it with the one in his hand.

And just like that, three hearts beat as one.

~

Juliet grinned as she pushed her way through the crowd towards the Globe Theatre. It was rare that she got time off of her position as a lady in waiting to the Lady Caroline, but today the King's Men were premiring a new Shakespeare play. She had quite liked the last one what with her sharing a name with one of the characters.

Even if it made her weep uncontroallably at the end. She was glad this one was supposed to be a comedy.

And a comedy it was, Juliet finding herself laughing uproariously at the quips of Beatrice and Benedick. Booing Claudio when he disgraced Hero. Cheering when the happy ending came and all the lovers were wed and happy. It had been a lovely story.

Yet something changed when the actors came out for their bows. The role of Benedick had been played by a brash youth she had heard of; Lukas, the son of a wealthy Earl. His story had been passed amongst the maids, how he had run away to pursue trodding the boards. Juliet found it all rather foolishly romantic.

But the man playing Beatrice she did not know. He was introduced as Reginald, ward of Lord Peters, and she had to surpress a shiver at that. She had met the aforementioned lord at a ball once and he was a most unpleasant creature. She didn't think he would have the heart to harbour anyone, let alone take on a ward.

However, when the men joined hands to bow, their eyes met hers for a moment and it was as if lightning struck. Suddenly the world was filled with colour, bursting forth.

They looked equally startled, leaping from the stage and wading through the assembled audience until they met her. Lukas pressed a kiss to her hand, and then Reginald the other.

Juliet remarked on their glorious eyes, a spring time green and a sparkling topaz. They grinned, informing her that hers were the most enchanting shade of brown.

And nothing Shakespeare could write would ever top that love story.

~

Luc grinned as he and his fellow revolutionaries marched through the square, proclaiming liberty, equality, fraternity to all who would listen. The royal family cared not for them, so why did the people need a king who was content to feast while his subjects lay dying in the street from sickness and starvation?

Luc had been a student once upon a time, from a good family. Able to study poetry, music, history to his heart's content. He never wanted for anything and happily shared what he could with those who had less.

But then a childhood friend came back from war unable to work, unable to pay for food or medicine. And Luc found out too late, held poor Robert in his arms as he took his last breath. And vowed to make it right.

Sure, his parents had all but disowned him, but Luc wanted-needed-to fight so that no one else would lose their Robert.

So here he was, shouting alongside his brothers in the fight for freedom, pleading their case to a wealthy and unfeeling crowd. But some were listening, some were joining them. Even one more voice could lead to triumph.

Then a wealthy couple came into the square, and Luc swore the whole world froze.

They were beautiful, as the rich often are. But there was something about them that drew him in. Closer and closer until he was right in front of them.

"Oh, hello," the lady said, a genteel smile on her face.

"Lovely day," the man said with a tip of his hat and a genuine smile. "Strange that everyone else seems to be too still to enjoy it."

Luc looked around, and sure enough, no one was moving. Time had literally stopped for the three of them.

"Well that shouldn't stop us from taking advantage. Means first pickings for rowboats and picnic spots," he suggested.

The lady-Julietta he later learned, and her companion Reginald loved both of those things.

And yes, Luc still pledged to fight for the revolution, but his heart wasn't in the fight right this moment as it was busy entertwining with the two souls before him.

~

These three souls kept coming back together, lifetime after lifetime, always finding one another.

A trio of bandits in Edwardian times that felt a spark at the first touch of their hands all grabbing for the same display of jewels.

A nurse and soldiers admist the Great War who had been hearing each other's voices in their dreams since birth.

A gang boss, his girl and their trusty barkeep offering a refuge from Prohibition that had come together when an unruly waterfowl chased them together on a stroll through the park.

Three hippies who had lived with the tastes of each other's favourite foods on their lips that met at Woodstock.

They always found each other, had full and lovely lives together as often as they could.

And now it was their turn again.

~

Reggie was bored. He usually loved history class, but today the teacher was going on about the legend of reincarnated soulmates, and all the documentation surrounding the theory.

Don't get Reggie wrong, he is a romantic at heart, but he knows that all this soulmate nonsense is just that-nonsense.

At least for him.

Reggie has never felt a tug of strings, tasted something without food being there, heard voices or melodies. His world has been full of colour and sensation. He has no names scrawled on him, no handprints from a first touch or words first exchanged.

Reggie is a blank, and he's learned to live with it.

He has his friends, his band, what more could he ask for?

Apparently the sense enough not to eat street dogs.

But instead of getting reborn into a new life, Reggie, Luke, and Alex become ghosts. What's up with that?

Worse yet they end up 25 years in the future. Like... the hell universe?

Only now, Reggie thinks there might be something to the whole soulmate thing, watching Luke and Julie interact. How smitten they are, despite none of them being able to touch. How his heart longs for the both of them and he can never say.

Now matter how right it feels to play with them both while Alex is off with Willie (who he's fairly certain is Alex's soulmate, but the drummer hasn't said much either way). How when Julie smiles or Luke grins, Reggie's stomach does backflips.

How when Luke does that weird half kiss thing, it takes everything in Reggie not to reel him in for a real one.

How he longs to take Julie into his arms at The Orpheum when she sends him the softest most loving look he's ever been on the receiving end of.

And then later, when they can touch, literally glowing as they hug, Reggie takes a step back. Lets Luke and Julie have their moment. Alex is already gone to find Willie, and Reggie idly wonders if this means Ray and Carlos can see him now. Maybe some family type bonding would make him feel better about being the fifth wheel.

Only instead of some big sweeping kiss, Luke and Julie hold out their hands to him. Pull him into their embrace.

"Wh-what's going on?" Reggie stammers.

"Do you remember when we learned about past lives and soulmates in school?" Luke asks.

"I think I almost fell asleep in that class, but sure," Reggie replies.

"I have memories from mine," Julie says. Which is-almost unheard of. "And in every one, I had the two of you there with me."

"Me?" Reggie squeaks.

"It's always been you Reg," Luke replies.

"It's always been us," Julie amends. "Lifetime after lifetime, the three of us together. It wasn't until tonight that it really became clear, everything was fuzzy before. But when you guys poofed off stage, they all came rushing back, clear as day."

"I knew the second we all hugged, it was like an electric shock straight to my system," Luke admits. "Before we died, I had words on me-but neither in a language I could understand."

"Spanish?" Julie asks with a giggle. Luke shrugs with a sheepish smile.

"It said te amo?"

"That's Spanish for I love you," Julie confirms. "What about the other?"

"It was a bunch of symbols or something?" Luke says.

Reggie breaks from the embrace, grabbing Luke's notebook and quickly writes אני אוהב אותך. "Did it look like this?" Luke beams and nods.

"How did you know?"

"Because that's Hebrew," Reggie says. "For I love you."

"You know Hebrew?" Julie asks.

"I'm Jewish on my mom's side," Reggie says. "Not really devout, but I remember the language well enough." Then he frowns. "But I didn't have anything when we were alive. No signs or symbols, nothing."

"Reggie you and I met when we were in diapers," Luke says. "You probably knew it was me right from the start-no sign needed."

Oh.

"But... I don't have anything now either," he says.

"That's okay," Julie says, pulling him in. "We still love you no matter what." With that she perches up on her tiptoes and kisses him. It's sweet and gentle, the most perfect first kiss Reggie could ask for. Then when they break apart, Luke pulls him in for a kiss as well. Cheeky and playful, and Reggie grins into it.

Finally he steps back, and oh, Reggie can see the string that leads them together, just for a moment as Luke and Julie kiss. Can see everything birighter and clearer, can hear everything crisper.

Including their three hearts, finally beating in synch.

Wait... their hearts?

He reaches for Julie's hand, and places it on his chest, the other on Luke's.

And he knows it's real when she starts to cry happy tears. Can feel her relief, Luke's confused joy admist his own elatment.

He's still confused as to why all the soulmate signs are showing up after he found them, but he doesn't really care.

He's got a whole lifetime, and hundreds more after this one to figure it out.

And with Luke and Julie at his side for every single one.

[therealaves-blog1]

I want the void to hear my takes about Star Trek: Coda

Final part, lets go.

So Bashir makes it to Data and Lal and they seal up the room. The Borg are banging on the door and Lal gets to have a crisis because shes a child. Data comforts her and its sweet. The Defiant picks up Crusher and Picard and manages to flee back to the future without being destroyed by Borg Cubes. Worf and his not wife have sex and talk about their feelings and decide to enjoy themselves as the end of time approaches, thats nice, good for them. Geordie and Data tell each other they love one another and how much they wish they could be together at the end. Its sweet, platonic but sweet and honestly im fine with that. Data is doing the equations or whatever while Bashir and Lal keep watch. Kid is good with a rifle. Bashir is nervous as hell but keeps a lid on it for the child.

Kira is pissed with Dax because shes still not going in the wormhole even tho the weird energy has broken up the formation of enemy ships. Dax points out they need to get her inside and not be exploded and since the mercs are still there even tho bajor is gone they may be working for the devidians. She's waiting for a good chance to do so. On Titan Riker is back to normal and apologizing, he apologizes to the the senior staff and everyone aboard ship is like 'dude we get it, this isn't even the first time you've been possessed on this ship' which he finds very touching. They start going faster to the black hole in the hope of helping out. The Defiant returns to the present and the remaining jauntship tells them the deal. They go to the log buoy and seeing how there isn't much sign of anyone assume the worst. This is confirmed when they go in and are immediately attacked while pushing through the wreckage. The Hope shield's them and allows the Defiant enough time to ram into the station with everyone coming out shooting with all the fun gear. They all head for the core with everything they've got shooting time ghosts as they go. Crusher finds the escape pod with Rene and its on their path so they manage to save him. He's okay, but Luc Picard gave him the last of his air and hes dying while cradling dead altTroi. He says goodbye to his XO and tells her to do everything she can and dies. Wesley gets released by an older version of himself, who hands him his omnichron and points him to what he should do. Wesley makes his way to the big Oblivian's Gate (title drop baybee).

The Borg are attacking harder and the door finally gives way, they're also coming through the floor so Lal takes floor and Bashir takes Door while Data works. The other team reaches the core, which seems to be one of those weird death star pylons thats just connected a bridge (but three of them) and set up defences and gadgets and prepare to fight. La Forge manages to get the controls works and calls Data that they're ready. Data says he is too, but they need a few minutes for the event in the past to happen so it can be stopped and Kira needs to get in the wormhole to use the orb of time as a beacon to make it all work. Kira relays this to Dax who is trying to find an opportunity when Spock and Savik arrive with 6 ships. Dax immediately raises shields and runs with them. The ships take heavy damage but get the Defiant in the wormhole and keep most of the mercs occupied. They reach the centre and Kira goes to get the orb ready, some of the mercs and a bunch of Dominion ships are coming from both ends and Dax prepares for a rough fight to buy Kira some more time.

Kind of funny that both the mercs and Dominion are still guarding the wormhole as reality falls apart around them. But I guess they arent paid to think huh. Dominion it makes sense, mercs less so but eh. Honestly surprised you didnt just try hailing and saying we can stop the apocalypse if we sit in the wormhole, a half lie but might be worth it to try lol. Lal and Bashir are 86 drones left and right, no starfleet in this reality means no countermeasures for any of their shit which is buying them time. Data silently thinks they wont have time to do anything as more flood in through the door. Lal fucking snaps a drones neck which is hard core and throws grenades into the floor hole. Julian takes a hit and can see his organs and shit. He grabs a grenade belt shoots a path through the drones and blows up the entire outer corridor. He goes out thinking about his life and how the good did outweigh the bad, he also think about Garak last and how he wished he'd told him more and been with him as 'good friend'. Gay in every universe baybee. Lal takes over door and floor duty but all the drones killed outside have bought them more time.

Wesley tells everyone he's still alive and La Forge and Data both express a need for more time. So he goes to the gate, despite his mother trying to stop him over the comm. He gets there and futzes with his O.C. and uses his powers to cut its link and do some time breakdown shit which causes it feedback into him and explode. Crusher breaks down but Rene calms her when he points out he can still hear Wesley, Crusher does to, and they have a quick chat where he's ascended to a higher plane of existence. He says they'll be together again soon so maybe he's implying he can now save something from this huge collapse. Idk, doesnt come up again and he is functionally dead. So another for the pile. Their lil fallback position is becoming overrun as more and more time ghosts and snakes attack. They're almost overwhelmed when they here phaser fire and Riker and a security team come in to help them. Picard hugs Riker and its sweet and they buy them more time. Meanwhile aboard the Titan, the ships falling apart from sustained fire. Vale is dead at her post so XO Sarai plots a course into the station and rams it.

Troi, still aboard with her daughter, links herself to Riker and allows them to say goodbye while hiding how bad its about to get from her. She and her kid die instantly when the Titan vaporizes on the station, doing some more damage. Riker resolves to shoot these feelings away. Kira in the wormhole gets the orb glowing, which allows Data to start finalizing his work. The ship is under heavy attack from both sides and Dax decides to buy as much time as possible by making it a hard to hit target. She is assisted by the Gorn and the Jem'Hadar when they start shooting at each other. In the hangar bay Kira is getting it working but the hangar starts disintegrating so she goes sicko terrorist mode and grabs the orb demanding time stop. It works, presumably using the infinite power of Kai Winn spinning in her grave to give her a bubble of time. A prophet wearing Sisko's face talk to her and explains some things. Apparently she is the most special Kira of all the Kiras because she is the only one that is the Hand of the prophets, and this was always her destiny. They say they will always remember all of it, forever, which eases Kira's mind.

They blow one of the bridges to make it easier to defend and most of the security team dies. Rene is a pretty good shot given his whole terror and new body thing. Worf, Alexander and K'Ehlyer go Klingon mode on the last bridge, with Worf and Alex being mortally wounded and K going fucking off with a Bat'leth. She's eventually taken out too and they lie their dying. Riker and the others at least manage to keep the waves of Dividians back. Geordie gets a shot through the back and dies instantly, leaving Picard to trigger things, with Riker, Crusher, and Rene basically shielding him. Lal does a sick move where she knocks part of the wall down onto the floor and corridor giving them peace. Data sends the final equations to Picard through the Orb of Time and has a rapid speed conversation with his daughter in their mind link about how much they love each other. Picard pushes the button and everything ends.

In a weird no time zone, Picard is looking at all waveforms that represent his path's through history. He starts moving through them seemingly at random, into some he's seen and lived, some he hasn't and many that contradict each other. He eventually reaches one that seems like he can use to help learn how to navigate it and then keeps jumping through his history. I guess this is a literal version of the whole thing Q said to him at the end of TNG. Which I guess is a fun call back. Neat that they kept Q out of this whole thing, was surprised the resisted the temptation to throw him in at the end to say mon capitaine honhonhon.

There's also an epilogue called Grace Notes. Which follows Benny Russel (Far Beyond The Stars) some time after he was released from psychiatric care in the late 60s. He's written tons of further additions to his stories, despite no one still wanting them and finishes his work on his current piece (the story of this timeline). He then begins working on a next piece, which again follows these characters in their other lives and histories (its seemingly the opening to the Picard show which started the new continuity). And I am...conflicted about this.

Benny is so intrinsically tied to Sisko that it doesn't feel right to use him here? Like he was specifically writing DS9, his characters were based on himself, his dreams and his workmates. His story is so intrinsically tied to race and what that means in american and what could be, it feels a little fucked to have him conclude his saga focusing on Picard and then start writing about Picard again?

How much of this lil epilogue is literal? because then its saying that Benny wrote the whole thing, but this trilogy is clearly focused on TNG and Picard in particular. And that seems a wild thing for Benny to do? Like the pseudo mystical/spiritual aspects of the events of Far Beyond The Stars left questions about the nature of Benny and Sisko that were never answered. And that was the right way to do that. But it feels like this is supposed to be a nice conclusion of 'the story goes on' but Benny doesn't fit like this? Not even on a meta 'he was writing it' way. It just feels kind of hollow? Like its backpacking on Benny as 'author' which doesnt feel earned.

Additionally the whole tone of this one creates a weird clash. Prior its fight against the impossible for the future. And the shift here to 'we have no option but to erase our whole history for the betterment of the multiverse' is too rapid for it to work. Like, the scale is so large that you need more of a focus on everyone's mental state, but we get so little time for everyone and all the processing of emotions it just doesnt land for me. rather than a noble 'the needs of the many' go down swinging moment, it feels almost like they're going through the motions. and its not emotionally satisfying.

I respect the choice to just go all in on it, but the central premise creates the problem that all the stories and adventures and stuff dont matter and dont count. You can make vague interpretations that the events (sans the apocalypse) happen in a new stable timeline from like two things? but doesnt that sabotage the whole point of going so hard on it? it's a weird catch 22 of neither option working but the restraint is placed on the story by the authors.

And the final Picard thing: is that happening just to him or to everyone from this timeline? If so, why does he get to persist? Is it just cause hes the main character? Is everyone from the first splinter now freely exploring every possible path their lives could take? just the people involved in the core retcon boom? Is Wesley now a cosmic being or does he no longer exist as well? If it was written a little differently this would be fun stuff to ponder on, but here it just feels like gaps. Missing pieces that cause issues from their absence. Like how Casidy Yates doesnt show up once. Or Janeway and most of Voy being sidelined and off screen. Surely Janeway at least deserves to go out doing one last time crime? Let her Year of Hell this shit.

Not super satisfying as a conclusion to this little continuity, for me at least. It felt like the TNG show ft. Star Trek, and having it conclude with a bit of 'oooohhhhhh, hes writing Picard' sucks. Just the more you think about it the harder it starts to fall apart.

Why the hell is Benny at the end here? What is that even supposed to mean? The adventure continues? not these ones tho, just those ones over there, with Patrick Stewart, remember him? hes back! Do not recommend, unfortunately. A sudden pyrrhic victory without the pyrrhic or the victory.

[genshin-no-simp]

Diluc x Reader - Birthday Boy (Smut)

Pairing: Diluc x You/Reader (Female)

Sexual conent below the cut

Warnings: semi-public sex, tummy bulge? fluff ending.

---------------

It took a weeks worth of preparation on your part to get everything in place, all for this one day. This one special day. But it was worth it.

After all, Diluc did deserve rest on his birthday.

You made sure there was nothing that needed doing, nothing that warranted Diluc to leave the comfort of the Manor. You were exhausted but you knew this was only a fraction of the work that Diluc did. It was your motivation to make sure everything was in order, of course with the help of Elzer and Adelinde.

And when the night before his birthday approached, you reassured him that he could take this chance to sleep in for once. Diluc wasn't against the idea but he wasn't sure if his body clock would allow him to sleep in. But little did he know, he was exhausted and only once he hit this pillows did he realize this.

When Diluc had finally woken, he groaned softly bringing his hand up as he ran his fingers through his unruly morning hair, that's when he noticed you weren't beside him. In an instant he shot out of bed, looking around. You never got out of bed before him. About to leave the bed himself his door opened and your figure came into view. You were still in your night dress. Diluc sighed in relief, then raised his eyebrow at the tray.

"What's this?" His voice low and husky since he had just woken up.

You weren't going to lie, his voice was enough to set a fire burning inside you. But today was about him. You smiled with a giggle.

"What does it look like? Breakfast of course. So sit back in bed." You came to his side of the bed.

From this close up Diluc could see properly just how little your night dress left to the imagination. Then he realized, you went to the kitchen like that, and he frowned, anyone could have seen you, which seemed to pissed him off.

"Don't worry I had the kitchen to myself, only Adelinde, Moco and Hillie are here at the moment." You knew what was running through his head. Diluc had a tendency to get overly possessive sometimes. But it's one of his faults that you fell in love with regardless.

Diluc looked away, half embarrassed and half ashamed that you knew without a doubt that he didn't want other people, especially men to see you like this. You gave another soft giggle setting the bed table down.

Diluc cleared his throat and looked at you, "what's the occasion?" He then lowered his gaze to the food and didn't know where to start, everything looked so enticing. He smiled at the eggs that you put a little extra effort in to make look like hearts.

You sat on the opposite side of him careful not to knock the glasses of grape juice over on the tray. You gave a little hum.

"Well what day is it?" You asked him instead. Diluc tilted his head, pulling the fork from his mouth. Once he was finished chewing he spoke.

"Friday." He stated matter of factly.

"Yes, but what date is it?" You cocked your head to the side, watching him. He totally forgot about his birthday didn't he? You thought to yourself.

"Um..." Diluc didn't know why but he felt pressured, as if you would give out to him, if he got this wrong.

Was it your birthday? No that's not till a few months.

Was it your anniversary? No that just passed.

At this point you were struggling to keep your laughter in.

"Luc, come on. It's your birthday." You rolled your eyes laughing.

Then it clicked, it suddenly made sense, from why you told him to sleep in, to breakfast in bed.

"That's it?" He asked, indifferently.

"What do you mean 'that's it's? You only get one birthday, and I'm going to make sure you get the most out of it." Diluc could hardly deny you, not with how passionate you were about it. But it's just another day, birthday or not.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but there's still work-"

"I do believe there is nothing for you to do today. Everything is already taken care of. It's you day." This time you were much more calmer as you smiled sweetly at him.

Now he definitely couldn't say no. He had a feeling you did a lot to get him this day of peace. Besides it's been so long since he's actually celebrated his birthday. Not that he cared to remember it considering what happened all those years ago...but maybe now is the time to move on from that, it's getting real tiring anyway.

Diluc smiled at you, yes from now on he will celebrate his birthday with you.

Diluc had to admit, it was nice, having all this free  time AND getting to spend it with you. The two of you spent most your time outside, walking through the vineyard and occasionally eating a grape or two, at one point you started playing hide and seek. Instead of finding it childish, Diluc found it oddly refreshing. Just being able to let loose for once.

Currently he was hiding, making sure to keep his eye out for you and staying on the move, it was cheating of course but it added to the fun, but you were an expert at hide and seek and knew all the tricks in the book. Just as he turned around, you seemingly popped out of nowhere.

"Found yooou~" you giggled tackling him into a hug.

Caught of by both your sudden appearance and the hug he fell backwards onto the ground.

"Thought you could escape me huh?" You nuzzled into his neck.

Diluc chuckled holding you close to his body.

"I thought I would've had a better chance than that." He admitted.

You sat up on his chest, while he propped himself up his elbows. The light from the sun creeped through the cracks of the vineyards many grape pergolas. It wasn't the most private of places but nobody would notice the two of you unless they looked.

Cupping Diluc's cheek, you leaned down to kiss him, which without hesitation he accepted. It was a delicate kiss, both of you could feel the love and affection that you held for each other. It was truly something.

When you went to pull away from the kiss, Diluc pulled you back for more, shifting his weight onto his left arm, his right arm snaked around your waist his hand pressing agaisnt the middle of your back, giving you no chance to move. Diluc wasn't done with you just yet.

Gripping his shoulders you pushed him back down onto his back, Diluc gave a mental sigh finally able to take the pressure off his left arm. Now he had both his around wrapped around you securely. He made you feel so safe, you never wanted to leave his arms but lucky for you, he wasn't going to let go anytime soon.

It wasn't long before his hands started to wander, touching and caressing your body. Soft gasps and pants escaped from you, Diluc used every opportunity to dive into your mouth. The intensity of the kiss was making you lightheaded, but in a good way. Your body burned and your heart was racing. You could tell Diluc was the same, you could feel his heart pounding against his chest right under your hand, not only that but at how brazenly he lifted your pale mint dress up to touch your bare skin. It made you shudder, Diluc had opted to be gloveless today, it was certainly a change in pace compared to his usual leather. Being able to feel his skin on yours right away was making you feel impatient.

Finally allowed to pull away from the kiss, a string of saliva followed. Diluc gazed at you with hooded eyes, his normally bright ruby eyes, dark and heavy with lust. You licked your lips, sitting up on him once again. One of the straps on your dress slipped down your shoulder. Diluc held back his growl and his urge to flip you over. You weren't even trying to seduce him and he was already under your spell.

Gripping your thighs he pushed you lower down until your clothed womanhood rubbed against the bulge in his pants. You failed to catch the moan before it fell from your lips. Diluc smirked, knowing you were just as excited as he was right now.

Diluc was planning on teasing you some more before you had decided to take back some control. Abruptly you grinded yourself against him, biting your lip. It was Diluc's turn to let out a surprised moan as his hips bucked up into yours.

"Ah~ Diluc." You fumbled for his belt buckle. If Diluc wasn't as impatient he would've chuckled and teased you. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the free time or maybe it was just you. But he wasn't complaining. Diluc hissed in relief, feeling his member finally free of its painful confinement.

You were going to lower yourself further but he grabbed your arm pulling you into a kiss.

"No time for that." He breathed heavily between kisses. Of course there was time he just wasn't interested in that right now, he just wanted you, in which case he used his Vision to burn the sides of your underwear and discard the rest.

Now with your underwear out the way, Diluc could feel how wet you really were. It was cute how excited you had gotten without any foreplay, perhaps the fact that you were technically out in the open played a part but regardless, he was happy that it was him who made you feel like this.

You moaned against the kiss feeling the tip of his member push against your awaiting hole. Breaking away from the kiss you pushed down against him, taking him all in at once.

"Fuck!" It was so strange hearing Diluc swear but it filled you with a strange sense of pride knowing you were able to break his nobility.

The stretch of taking him all at once burned but it felt good. It was certainly much greater compared to when he would prepare you first. But you weren't complaining at all. Tilting your head back with a moan you began to bounce up and down, your slick made it easy to slide up and down. You gripped the front of Diluc's shirt for support as he snapped his hips up into yours. A series of wanton moans escaped your lips, the harder and faster Diluc went.

Your head fell forward your eyes glossy and your pupils blown wide with pleasure. Now both your dress straps had slid down your shoulders, making Diluc lose his mind. He gripped your hips so tight, there wasn't a doubt that there would be fingerprints even through the dress. You choked on your moans as you swore you could feel Diluc in your stomach. He was reaching places you never thought possible, or your were so drunk on pleasure it just felt that way, but it didn't matter what was the truth, it was fantastic.

"Ngh, haA~ mm close..." you struggled to get the words out.

Diluc grunted thrusting upwards even faster, you had struggled to keep up before but now it was just impossible. It wasn't long before you came all over him. Diluc wasn't too far behind, feeling your release edged him into his, you felt his hot seed fill you up more than your already were, you threw your head back with a shameless moan of his name. You were certain everyone around and in the Manor had heard you. But Diluc didn't care, let them know who was and had made you feel good.

You panted heavily as your body shook from the after math of your orgasm. Diluc too was desperately gasping for air as he came down from his high. Letting a soft puff of air, you looked down at Diluc and grinned leaning in to kiss him. He chuckled kissing you back.

Getting off Diluc he fixed his pants as you picked up what was left of your underwear.

"Luc." You pouted, "you ruined my panties." You huffed and rubbed your legs together, you could feel some of his cum dripped down your thigh.

"My love, they were ruined before I even touched them." He winked with a cocky smirk.

Your face flushed a deep crimson as you looked away from him, Diluc smiled wrapping his arm around your waist tenderly.

"Come on, let's go take a bath." He smiled gently, ushering you back towards the Manor. You snuggled into his side contently.

During the short trip back inside, not one of the employees dared to look in your direction. Instead of it making you feel better you felt embarrassed. You weren't surprised that they heard you but they didn't have to make it so obvious.

"Luc, nobody would look at me." You sounded more mortified than you intended as you pulled your dress off, which only added to Diluc's amusement.

"Good, they shouldn't be looking at you in the first place." He stated stripping himself of his own clothes.

Upon returning to Diluc's private quarters, you were both pleasantly surprised by the already drawn bath, with scattered rose petals and scented candles. It seems Adelinde knew exactly what the two of you needed. You were the first to settle into the bath despite Diluc's confusion, usually he got in first so you could rest against him, it felt weird that he was resting against you.

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy against you?" It was the fourth time he asked now.

"Oh for Celestia's sake Luc, I'm not made out of glass, I'm fine. But you won't be if you keep asking." At least you gave him a warning which he took to heart, despite not having a Vision yourself, you were very capable of looking after yourself.

"Alright, alright." Diluc sunk a little lower into the tub, his head now resting between your boobs.

"Oh." He said softly, he hadn't expected this to be so comfortable. You giggled softly.

"Someone looks content." There was a lot of fondness in your voice that made Diluc's chest flutter. He let out a soft hum and closed his eyes when he felt your fingers massage some herbal shampoo into his scalp.

Diluc couldn't help but think about how lucky he was to have someone like you. Someone so caring and aware of his needs. He didn't expect to meet someone like you, or anyone in general for that matter. He thought he was going to be alone, forever, and he was okay with that. Until he had met you, he didn't at the time realize just how important you would be to him, but he knows now and he's incredibly grateful towards you and towards himself, for letting him step out of his comfort zone and let someone in again.

Before he knew it, Diluc had fallen asleep, between the soothing heat of the water, your massaging and the sweet sound of your voice, they had all lulled him into sleep.

"Luc? You listening?" You asked softly, "Luuuc~" you cooed. Perplexed with his quietness, you tilted your head to the side to peer into his face, where you noticed he had fallen asleep. You grinned with a giggle.

You were so preoccupied with talking, you didn't notice the change in his breathing, as it steadied out. But now you didn't know what to do. You knew you couldn't stay in the bath but you didn't want to wake him either. But you also knew the water wouldn't go cold anytime soon thanks to Diluc, placing a kiss to his damp hair, you decided to let him sleep for a little while longer. After all he deserved it.

[space-helen]

Mistletoe

Words: 993

Pairing: Captain Picard x Reader

A/N: Can be read as either the reader is sober or drunk but everyone else is certainly tipsy…

Request: Picard x reader getting caught underneath the mistletoe 😏 ❤ - @kelsthekat​

______________________

You were offship for December and early January for the ship to undergo some repairs which meant you actually got a Christmas on Earth.

Most of the crew were excited to go home and the excitement increased when Riker announced he’d be hosting a Christmas party.

Honestly you had know idea whose house this even was at this point. It was large and most of the furniture had been pushed to the sides to give everyone more space.

Music played loudly as you tried to push your way through the crowds with your drink in your hands. Spotting Data you approached him “How are you feeling Data?”

“I am intrigued.”

“Yeah it's quite the spectacle.” you said as you took a sip of your drink “It actually started out pretty tame.”

“Earlier is what you would call tame?”

You nodded ��For Starfleet Officers back on Earth yes. On the ship we can’t really party like this no matter how much we want to.”

The man simply nodded “I understand.”

You smiled “You don’t have to stay if you’re uncomfortable Data. I for one will probably be calling it a night soon.” Although you were enjoying yourself you were starting to feel tired.

“I may listen to that advice.”

“Who’re you staying with? Geordi?”

The man nodded.

“I’ll go try and find him for you. Stay put alright?”

“I am able to find him myself.” 

“No” you pointed a finger at him playfully and wiggled it “Stay here.”

The man was silent and watched as you walked away into the crowd.

The search for Geordi was harder than expected, getting from room to room even harder. You could see a relatively quiet corner and squeezed through some more people.

Standing in the space you took a couple of breaths and then remembered your drink. It was no longer in your hand; you must have put it down somewhere on the journey.

A familiar voice calling your name had you looking up. “Are you alright?”

“I’m ok.” you smiled at the Captain who was now standing in front of you 

“Are you sure.”

You nodded “Yeah I found a quiet corner.” you gestured to the space around you, the corner felt isolated from the party and like it existed in another dimension, it was exactly what you needed right now.

“Good I’m glad. I haven’t seen you in a while and I was wondering where you got to.”

“Well here I am.” you laughed. You took in the drink that he had in his hand as he placed it down on the small side table beside the two of you.

“Don’t accept whatever Bev is giving out. It’s horrible.” The man stood next to you and watched the crowd just as you were.

You laughed again “Noted. Have you been enjoying yourself?”

The man was looking around as you spoke before looking back at you and smiling. “Yeah I was. Y/N?”

“Jean-Luc?”

“I think I know why the corners are quiet.”

“Why?”

The man pointed a single finger to the sky. Following it your eyes met the mistletoe above you. “Oh.”

“Indeed.”

“It is tradition, y'know.” your words trailed off. You’d harboured a crush on the man for a while and you couldn’t deny it. 

“It is.” He shrugged.

“And who are we to go against tradition.” you shrugged facing him.

The man was facing you now too. His eyes moving from your lips back to your eyes “It would be incredibly rude of us wouldn’t it?”

You nodded slightly and smiled. Before you knew it his lips were pressed to yours. The kiss was brief and lingering yet sweet but when he pulled away slightly and you didn’t he went back for more. It became more passionate this time around. 

The two of you were soon breaking apart when you felt someone else enter the space. “Y/N!”

Pulling away fully you took in Geordi standing with smirk before you “Well I could’ve seen that one coming.” 

You playfully swatted at his arm as the Captain laughed. “Shut it La Forge I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“It doesn’t look like you were doing a very good job if you were stood here kissing-”

You gave the man a pointed look and he stopped “Ok, ok I get it Y/N/N. Have you seen Data by any chance? I have a feeling it’s time for me to take him home.”

“Yeah that was actually what I was trying to find you about. He’s by the big painting of a clown with a bunch of grapes.”  you knew how weird it sounded but it was true and the easiest way to explain to him where he was.

“I gotcha. I’ll catch you tomorrow. Be safe you two.”

You sighed and smiled as the man walked away before turning back to Jean-Luc “About the-”

He simply put his hand up “As Geordi so kindly said it was a long time coming.”

“Oh.” it took a second for what he said to properly register “Wait.”

“I like you Y/N. A lot. I was too much of a coward to say anything about it though.”

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Barely anything I’m practically sober now.”

“Did you plan on catching me under the mistletoe Captain?” you teased.

“I would never do such a thing. But I did use it as my sign that it was now or never to make a move. It was probably the worst way I could have done it.” the man laughed at himself.

You shook your head. “I think I was the one who really initiated that kiss.”

He looked at you with wide eyes “Oh really?” his tone was playful.

“Yep. Just like how I’m going to initiate the next one.”

“We wouldn’t want the mistletoe going to waste now would we?” He began to move in closer as you did and your lips met again.

Tag List: (open)

Picard:

All Star Trek: @morganofthecoves1​ @livenerdyandprosper @allthetrek​ @mrs-l-mccoy @huntheimpossible @therapieliteratur

[prettyboybarzal]

Dancing with Our Hands Tied

Pairing: Pierre Luc Dubois x Reader

A/N: this is a multi-part fic for PLD!!! we all simped over him for a hot minute and i decided to capitalize on it because i mean......... look at him. so, enjoy a little enemies to lovers trope w/ one of my favorite frenchmen. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!! and thank you to @bandgirlsclub​ for all the help w/ my lil writers block. love u bb. she elevated my dialogue so much. if you don’t follow her, please go follow her now. and then enjoy chapter one!

Word Count: 2.6k

Masterlist // Next Chapter

Pierre didn’t like you because you didn’t like him and no one disliked Pierre Luc Dubois, especially in the city of Columbus. He was a legend. He was the star player, the future of the Blue Jackets. Everyone loved him, except you, so he hated you.

The feud started during his rookie season. He marched into the city of Columbus with his shoulders squared, his head held high, and his ego the size of Nationwide Arena itself. On his very first night out with your friend group, he’d gotten you kicked from a club after starting a fight and then poured his entire drink down your back as you waited for Ubers on the curb.

Out of frustration, you ended up foregoing the car to walk home, despite the protests that came from the other boys. And Pierre laughed as you walked away, amused by the liquid stain on the back of your favorite going out shirt.

No apology ever came, and that was a wrap on any potential friendship with him.

Three years later, nothing changed. Though these days, as Pierre’s comfort around you rebounded, he didn’t avoid you and instead made it his job to antagonize you whenever you were around. He made comments about your outfits, flirted with your friends that had clearly been told to steer clear of him, and fucked up your drink orders whenever he bought rounds for the group. Mostly, you took it in stride with a few choice curse words slung his way, but over time you started to antagonize him right back.

“Asshole at three o’clock.”

It took a moment, but your eyes followed the metaphorical clock of the bar and fell on the group of Blue Jackets pushing their way through the crowd. Leading the way was Pierre sporting a cocky smirk on his lips. He made his way around the group of girls, hugging each one before reaching you and ultimately opting not to say hello and just head for the bar. As soon as he stepped away you were making retching noises with your mouth.

“Back at it again, I see,” Josh Anderson spoke as he wrapped his arms over your shoulders. “You two would get along really well if only you tried.”

“I don’t want to try,” you responded. This earned the laughter of their other teammates, Seth and Boone, as they sat in the open seats at your bar top and joined the conversation that had been on hold for hugs hello.

When Pierre returned to the table, he was toting a tray of drinks. One by one, he placed each glass down with its rightful owner until the last two remained. And then he placed a Shirley Temple in front of you.

“It’s virgin.”

“Just like you,” you spat. While the table erupted in laughter, you stood to get a drink of your own. Preferably one that was heavy on the liquor.

---

Despite everything else, going out with him wasn’t all bad because after a while he just got distracted. He would slink away from the group and find himself surrounded by a bunch of local university students and you were free to enjoy your night without him chirping in your ear. While Pierre and Seth scouted the bar for hot single girls, you stayed back at the booth with your girlfriends, Josh, and Boone.

Drinks flowed as easily as the conversation, as usual, and up until about 11 p.m. there was nowhere else you’d’ve rather been. Until Charlie texted you.

“Uh oh, Chuck’s at it again.”

Josh was peaking over your shoulder.

“Would you stop being nosey?” you growled, angling your body away from him so he couldn’t read your texts—most of which were ‘u up’ texts. “And stop calling him Chuck. It makes it sound like I’m sleeping with a father of three.”

“You might as well be,” Boone said. He dodged the rolled-up napkin you sent his way with a chuckle.

The boys always liked to chirp you for your taste in guys, but Charlie was by far their favorite to make fun of because of the eight-year age gap you shared.

“Remember when YN would stay out past midnight?” Boone mused.

“Yeah, I do,” Josh sighed dreamily. “But then she got wifed up by a silver fox.”

“A silver fox?” you asked, trying your hardest to suppress the grin on your lips. “He has black hair.”

“That’s because he probably dyes it.”

More giggles fell from their mouths until you glared at them and their mouths snapped shut.

You met Charlie on a dating app and while things hadn’t progressed past that one night of dinner and drinks, you didn’t mind the casual sex that resulted from it. It was exactly what you needed at this point of your life—no strings attached.

I just called you a car. Should be there in 10 minutes.

You took the final swig of your drink and stood. The boys’ eyes followed your movement, knowing smiles on their lips.

“I’ll see you guys later this week, yeah?”

You said your goodbyes, ignoring the last-minute jabs the boys wanted to get in, and began to search the bar for Seth. You spotted him at a table across the bar with a gaggle of petite girls and Pierre by his side. The moment you looked over at them, Pierre caught your eye.

You started walking over as he checked the time on his watch. 11:45 p.m. You never left before midnight.

Seth opened his arms as you approached and you folded into them as you said your goodbyes. Something about the interaction had Pierre turning away to talk to the girls they’d met. It was the same pit in his stomach type of feeling he got whenever you were around, whenever you embraced the other boys with a quick peck on the cheek or laughed at one of their shitty jokes.

He heard you say your final goodbye to Seth and your shoulder brushed against his back unknowingly as you avoided saying goodbye to him. He almost let you go unbothered, but his need to talk to you just once more was overwhelming. At the very last second, he turned and caught your elbow.

“Who’s got you running off before midnight, Cinderella?”

“It’s funny you think you deserve an answer to that question,” you growled, pulling your arm out of his grasp in disgust. He leaned back against the table with a smile. Your eyes flickered to the girls behind him, one with a glare set on you as she sipped her drink. 

A lightbulb went off above your head.

You stepped forward, squeezing yourself between Pierre and Seth’s bodies to get a word in with the girls around the table. 

“Can I offer you all some free advice?” you asked, even though you were going to give it to them anyway. “This one,” you spoke, nodding to Pierre. You dropped your voice to a whisper and the girls inched forward to catch your words. “He’s been around the block, if you know what I mean. I’d make sure he wraps it before he taps it. Who knows the last time he’s gotten tested?”

You slipped out from between the boys, ignoring the curses that fell from Pierre’s lips as you walked away.

---

You left Charlie’s at 7 the next morning. Although you tried not to make a habit of sleeping at his apartment, there were some nights that you ignored the voice inside your head. You dressed yourself in the outfit from the night before and stepped into his bathroom to check your make-up and fix your hair before allowing the world to see you in all your one night stand glory.

Last night was one of the worst nights you’d spent with him. He was off from the moment you got in the door to the moment he fell asleep after finishing. You ended up completely unsatisfied and if you hadn’t been as tired as you were, you probably would’ve gone home to bring your own self to orgasm since he so clearly couldn’t.

As you shut his front door behind you, another door in the hall shut. You looked up to see which neighbor had entered the hallway and immediately felt your stomach drop.

“This? This is the place you ran off to last night?” Pierre was standing at the next door over. He looked astounded, eyes flickering between you and the door you’d just come out of. “You’re fucking my neighbor? Isn’t he like 40?”

“You live here?” you asked, eyes wide as you took in the sight of Pierre in front of you. His hair was still messy from sleep, but he was dressed in his Blue Jackets workout gear and on his way out the door.

“I moved in at the beginning of the season,” he answered. He stepped forward and you stepped backwards in response. “But you wouldn’t know that because you didn’t come to my housewarming party.”

You didn’t think he was serious when he extended the invite, and you were almost positive your response was along the lines of ‘I’d never step foot inside your house.’  

With a scoff, you turned and continued down the hall. He was hot on your heels the entire way to the elevator and slowed to a stop to wait beside you when you pressed the down button. You were surprised when he didn’t immediately start digging deeper about your night. He was more preoccupied with whatever was on his phone than you, thankfully, though you were certain once he had you in the enclosed space of the elevator he’d start prying.

When the doors of the elevator finally opened, Pierre stepped in and held his hand out to keep the doors open for you. You stayed put.

“I’ll wait for the next one,” you said stubbornly, crossing your arms over your chest. He let out a dry laugh, eyes rolling before grabbing your arm and pulling you into the confined space with him.

The doors shut.

“You’re fucking dramatic.”

The elevator began its descent to the lobby and, all the while, you could feel him watching you.

“Can you stop?” you spat, shooting him a glare from the other corner of the elevator.

He studied you for a moment before asking, “Quiet in bed?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you quiet in bed?” he asked, slower this time, like you were too stupid to understand what he said before. You couldn’t find the words to answer, jaw ajar as your brain tried to catch up to his question. “I’m only asking because I’m pretty sure Charlie and I share a bedroom wall, and his place was completely silent last night.”

“You’re a pig.”

Pierre chuckled, satisfied with the reaction he’d gotten out of you, and continued talking, “Unless he can’t get you off.”

“Familiar with that problem, huh?”

“Not in the slightest,” he answered.

“As far as you know,” you muttered under your breath, just loud enough for him to hear. The last place in the world you wanted to be was with Pierre in this elevator and you wanted him to know that.

“Not that you will ever get the chance to experience it yourself, but I know my way around the bedroom,” Pierre countered easily. Too easily. 

“Mmm,” you hummed, “I’m sure, what, with your body count in the hundreds probably. Statistically, you would have to have gotten at least 50% off.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know how many girls I have in my bed every week,” Pierre grinned, his ego oozing out of his every word.

“Not even a little bit,” you sighed. Your fingers came up to your temple as you tried to rub away the migraine that was beginning to take form. “Where you put your dick is of no concern to me, unless you decide to put it in a blender. Then, and only then, will I give a shit.”

“See, I think you care an awful lot more than you let on, princess,” Pierre said. Your face twisted in disgust at the pet name. “And I think that no matter how much you want to hate me, you really don’t. You’re just jealous that I’m not fucking you.”

That pushed you over the edge, the ounce of patience that you had left in your system had been blown to pieces with that comment. 

“Would you pull your head out of your ass for once in your life, Pierre?” you spat. “I wouldn’t let you touch me with a ten foot pole, much less your filthy dick. My sex life is none of your god damn business. Actually, scratch that, my life is none of your business. I only put up with you because we run in the same group of friends, so don’t try and get cute with me. If I had things my way I would never have even met you, much less learned your name.”

Pierre opened his mouth to speak, likely to try and counter everything you had just said with a dig, but you held your hand up to silence him. 

“We don’t have to like each other, Pierre, but you don’t have to be such a raging asshole about it. I thought at some point you might get tired of being a complete dick but your endurance is impressive, I’ll give you that. So listen to me carefully when I tell you I want nothing to do with you.”

The elevator stopped at the lobby and you made a beeline to the front door of the lobby to begin your walk home in silence. Beautiful, peaceful, Pierre-less silence.

---

The silence didn’t last long. 

You were halfway through your skin care routine when your phone rang, piercing through the otherwise quiet apartment. Across your home screen, your sister’s name flashed over a goofy photo from New Years.

“What do you want?” you asked after swiping to accept. Your sister’s face filled the screen with a fake offended look on it. You giggled. “Listen, Sadie, the only time I’ve heard from you since you moved back to school has been because you needed me to do something for you.”

“Okay, well,” she started. You raised your eyebrows at her in amusement. You knew this was coming. “It’s not really me who needs something.”

“Which one of your friends needs something then?”

“Mom,” she said with a laugh. Confusion flashed over your features, so she continued, “My friends are all going home next weekend and I decided I’d do the same because why would I want to be here without them, right?” You nodded as she rambled on. “But when I told Mom I wanted to come home, she told me that her and Dad are going to be out of town.”

“They’re going away?”

“Yeah, and she doesn’t want me home alone.”

You laughed out loud. It was so typical of your mom to not trust Sadie to be home alone for a few days. She turned 21 months ago and yet she still wasn’t trusted by your parents. You couldn’t say you blamed them. Sadie wasn’t exactly the most responsible. 

“Stay at school then.”

“See, I was gonna do that,” she trailed off. “But she already bought me a plane ticket to see you.” Your jaw dropped, but you closed it at the sight of your sister’s apologetic face. “I’m really sorry, but on the brightside, I can finally party with you and all your boy toys! Especially the French one you hate so much,” she said his name in a French accent, “Pierre Luc Dubois, or whatever his sexy ass name is.”

And that was exactly what you were worried about.

[butgilinsky]

nothing else matters // ab

warning; fluffy fluff fluff

summary; nothing else matters when the four of you are together. a dad!tito fic 

word count; 1.4k+

anthony thought that he had given you every single ounce of love he had to offer. he thought that it was physically impossible to love anything as much as he loved you. he’d spent three years giving you his absolute everything, only to find out that he was wrong. he had more love to offer, and it came in the form of the smallest little girl he’d ever seen in his entire life. 

her cheeks were chubby, and her hand curled perfectly around his index finger when he offered it to her. the sight of tears stinging her eyes brought tears to his own, and the way that she crawled into him when she was in search of comfort never failed to bring a smile to his face. 

elaine, or ellie as anthony liked to call her, was the absolute light of his life. for a while, he wasn’t sure if he could have another child, worried that he had spent all of his affection on elaine. she took up all of his time and energy, and he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. 

she hadn’t come long after the two of you had finally gotten married, but that didn’t matter once she was with you. the smile she’d give you anytime she laid her eyes on one of you had you forgetting all about how she practically stole your first anniversary from you, and you wouldn’t have traded it for anything else in the entire world. 

‘papa’ was elaine’s first word, but that didn’t surprise you in the slightest. on top of her being attached to anthony, he had been repeating the phrase every chance he got. 

she held his entire world in her hands, and she didn’t even know it. there was no way for her to understand how much her parents loved her, but neither of you had any problem telling her over and over again. 

she had more jerseys and shirts with her last name drape across the back than she knew what to do with. anthony liked to tell her how good she looked in blue, despite her not quite understanding the compliment but loving it regardless. she would giggle every time, though, and it became one of anthony’s favorite sounds the first time he ever heard it. 

she loved watching anthony play, spending as much time with her hands pressed against the glass as you’d allow her. anthony gave her a puck for every game she attended, being sure to shove mat every time he was chirped about it. 

she loved mat, too. she pulled on his hair for as long as he’d let her, especially when it got really long and curly. the two of them would take elaine out for hours, leaving you to wonder what trouble they were getting into until they came home with too much candy and toys that elaine surely didn’t know. 

anthony couldn’t contain his excitement when she showed an interest in hockey. it gave them another thing to bond over, another thing that made their relationship just that much more special. 

the two of you were ecstatic when you found out you were pregnant again. you had practice now, assuring yourselves that parenting was another skill you had perfected to a science. you were thrown for a bit of a loop when you found out you’d be having a boy, but you were just as excited as you had been when you had elaine. 

though mat feigned annoyance every time you denied his proposal of naming your son after him, luc fit right in with the team. only two years younger than his little sister, he practically grew up at the rink. anthony wanted the three of you at the rink as much as you would go, which was a lot more than you cared to admit at times. 

you were home with the kids a lot, given anthony’s less than steady schedule, but you wouldn’t have had it anyway. they got used to you being around all the time, and quickly learned the sound of their father’s voice through the speaker of your phone.

“hi honey.” you answered the call with a smile, knowing it was only a matter of time before the kids started barreling into the kitchen. 

“hi baby.” his voice was soft, and you picked up on the fact that he was back in his hotel room by the bare shoulders you could see in frame and the way he leaned against the headboard. “are you making dinner?” 

“yeah.” you smiled softly. “lainey wanted pasta so-”

“papa!” elaine sprinted into the kitchen and reached up to grab your elbow, trying to get you to move your phone enough for her to see her father. 

“elaine we talked about this, didn’t we?” you quirked an eyebrow at her as she reset and racked her brain for the way to approach this situation. 

“can i talk to papa, s’il vous plaît {please}?” you smiled softly and kissed the top of her head before handing the phone over to her. 

“good job, baby.” 

“hi papa!” you laughed at her excitement that shot through her at the sight of her father. 

“hi ellie. are you helping mama around the house while i’m gone?” she nodded excitedly, a wide smile spreading across her face. 

“mama?” you looked down at the small girl who was looking back at you with wide, curious eyes. “can i show papa ma photo {my picture}?” 

you laughed at her switch between languages but nodded, watching her run out of the room with your phone in her hands. you moved the pot of noodles onto the back burner before stepping out of the kitchen in search of your son, who you found soon after, sitting in the middle of the living room watching cartoons. 

“petit ours {little bear}.” the boy looked at you with wide eyes, flashing you a grin once he processed that you had called for him. 

he lifted his arms but made no move to stand himself, so you lifted up from underneath his arms and secured him on your hip before following the voice of your daughter that carried through the house. you smiled when you saw her trying to hold the phone and the few pictures she had colored this morning, though she wasn’t doing very well at it. 

“lainey let me hold the phone so you can show papa your pictures.” she shoved the phone in your hand and flashed her pictures in front of it, her smile lighting up anthony’s entire world in a matter of seconds. 

moments like this were hard for anthony, seeing the three of you like this in a scenario he’d kill to be apart of while he was halfway across the country. it was far more difficult than he cared to admit at times, but it all washed away the second he got home. 

he’d walk in the door at a late hour, dropping his things onto the ground beside the door as he lifted whichever child got to him first. he would scold elaine, given that luc was usually asleep by the time he got home, and told her that it was far past her bedtime. she’d giggle, knowing the pout on anthony’s face was anything but serious. 

she’d beg him to read to her, and of course he would, just minutes before crawling into bed beside you and lying a majority of his weight on you. you’d wrap your legs around his back, and run your fingers through his hair while his head laid gently on your chest. 

it was a moment of serenity you always looked forward to, and anthony couldn’t say that there was a better feeling than coming home to the three of you. there’d be a moment of silence between the two of you, neither of you needing to fill the silence as you felt content by just being wrapped within each other. 

you’d stay like that until luc started crying, and while you sighed heavily, anthony smiled up at you and pressed a soft kiss to your lips. 

“i’ll get him.” he’d move to roll off of the bed but you’d catch him, bringing his lips back to yours one more time. 

“i missed you.” you whispered softly, smiling when he gave you another soft kiss, and another, and one more until you were laughing and pushing his chest softly. 

“i missed you too ma chèrie.” 

though you knew how to manage with anthony away from home, it never amounted to how the two of you worked together when he was home. nothing seemed out of place or too difficult to handle when the two of you, when the four of you, were together. 

nothing else mattered. 

[petri808]

We’ll Take Back Heaven a Nalu Yakuza Au

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

A loud slam of the organization’s front door caused Levy McGarden to pop her head out of her own office. Curious, she walked down the hallway and saw a light on in her boss’s, Lucy Heartfilia. Had the noise been Lucy returning? That was strange because it was too early for the woman to be back so soon. The party should have kept Lucy out of the office until morning. Levy knocked at the cracked door before entering.

“Lu, why are you here? Are you okay?” Levy quickly added when she saw her boss’s forehead leaning on the table. “Did you drink too much?”

“No… I ran into Natsu, and we had a fight,” Lucy answered without lifting her head. “He just makes me so angry sometimes, so I stormed out of there.”

“Aww, Lu.” Levy walked over and put a hand on her friend’s head. “I’m sorry.” Both Lucy and Natsu were childhood friends of hers, so she knew the history between them. It was just like a made for television movie plot and hard to stay neutral in at times because she loved them both. “Do you wanna talk about it? Need a drink?”

Having heard the loud noise, another associate Cana Alberona also came looking for the source and stumbled upon the beginnings of the conversation. “Did I hear the word drink?” She popped her head into the office. “Oh, baby what’s wrong??” She questioned at seeing Lucy upset. Cana quickly joined Levy next to their friend. “Who do I gotta kill?”

“It’s just Natsu,” Lucy mumbled. “So, no killing.”

“Oh… him.” Cana plopped her butt onto Lucy’s desk. “Ya sure? I bet I could get one of my girls to take him out of your misery.”

“He wouldn’t be interested,” Levy piped in.

“Right… he’s still—”

Lucy sat up groaning, cutting them off. “That’s enough. I really don’t wanna think about that shit right now.”

“Fine, fine, then drinks it is. Relax, babe,” Cana playfully pushed on Lucy’s shoulder before plopping off the desk. “Then you’re gonna dish about tonight.” Cana always kept a stock of liquors at her desk. So, she grabbed a bottle of high quality flavored junmai daiginjo sake, glasses and set the girls up for a gossiping session.

It was reasons like this that really spoke to the heart of their organization. Everyone in the top level of this girl’s gang had known each other from childhood or high school. They were close, a found family of sisters who all had one thing in common— a real dislike for Japan’s outdated notions of gendered norms, well that and a desire to make money. But not in a conventional way. None of them wanted to work a boring office job only to what, be subservient to the male status quo? No, thank you. So, it had been Lucy who’d first approached everyone with the idea of creating their own high-end crime organization. It was amusing at first to think about an all-girl gang similar to the Yakuza… Oh, they all knew why Lucy came up with the idea to spite Natsu and the Yakuza’s rules, but it was an appealing idea. Everyone except for Levy’s family had some kind of ties to the Yakuza, so they were in essence raised in the lifestyle without ever being able to be a part of it because of their sex.

Together they brought their strengths into play and under Lucy’s business savvy thanks to her father, within just a short couple of years they were on the road to making a real name for themselves. Levy McGarden was at the heart of the organization as a tech person, and her skills in computer language is the reason they’re able to control a massively successful money laundering operation. Cana Alberona had great people skills, so she handled the escort services. Another, Erza Scarlet was the security expert who oversaw anything to do with the protection of their assets and employees. She also kept contacts with law enforcement. Mira Strauss handled the bookkeeping and financial side, and finally Juvia Lockser managed their soapland operation. Lucy herself held everything together but was the face of the group when dealing with knew contacts and clientele. Six primary women running the organization with underlings or regular staff to manage, they were nicknamed the Yosei girls because of the various fairy-type tattoos they all had somewhere on their bodies. Lucy preferred not to show hers to outsiders, but it was a pair of fanciful fairy-like wings that took up a large portion of her upper back. Natsu used to call her his angel back in the day…

The three girls sat huddled around Lucy’s desk after Levy dragged over a couple extra chairs.

“Seriously?” Cana knocked back a shot of sake and planted it on the table. “So, you didn’t have a chance to hit any marks?”

“Nope.” Lucy sipped from her glass. “Sure, I talked to some people, but I never made it past my first cocktail. He even blocked me from getting some action tonight from the hot bartender.”

Cana cringed. “That’s even worse!”

Levy giggled at her friend, “of course, you’d take offense to that Cana instead of the job.”

“Well,” Cana shrugged nonchalantly, “girls gotta take care of needs too, right? And if he was hot, that’s a real shame.”

The comment sent both Levy and Lucy into a giggle fit. Lucy may have started this out irritated but leave it to her friends to bring her out of her despair.

“Oh,” Lucy sighed and finished her glass, “the guy Loke was a total playboy too. Perfect for a no strings attached night.”

“Loke?” Cana questioned. “Orange hair and glasses?”

“You know him?— of course, you know him,” Lucy chuckled. “Why am I surprised.”

“I’ve seen him at other parties bartending. Flirts with all— the pretty girls. Very easy to get into bed, and not bad while in it. I got his number if you want it.”

“Natsu scared him pretty bad. I think Loke recognized him.”

“Hmm, that’s possible too. But hey, what Natsu doesn’t know…”

“Oh, my Kami, Cana! You are just too much sometimes!”

“Hey, just tryin’ to help out my bestie here,” she winked.

“Nah, I’m not in the mood tonight, Natsu really killed my joy.”

“He really thought that the guys there were gossiping about you?” Levy questioned. “Just because you didn’t have an escort?”

“Yeah, and you know even if he was right, he didn’t need to be a dick about it.”

Levy sighed, “he was probably right. It sucks, but that level of men, they look down on women like us. You provide a service, so to them they’re still using you which makes you beneath them.”

“And how dare a woman show up without a man by her side,” Cana rolled her eyes. “Oh well, less guilt for me when I’m taking their money,” she laughed.

Levy and Lucy laughed too, then Lucy raised a glass. “To taking their money! Cheers!”

“Cheers!” The girls clinked their glasses together and shot down their drinks.

“Speaking of escorts, how are things going Cana?” Lucy asked. They called their employees escorts because that’s the only service they provided. Think of them like high-end modern geisha without the traditional look. Their employed women provided companionship for events or business executives trying to look good and we’re trained well in hospitality, etiquette, and such to keep their dates happy. The women were highly compensated for what they did, so it was very lucrative for everyone. Sex was forbidden on the job and if a client ever tried to pressure an escort or roughed them up, they would be immediately barred from the service. However, if the infraction were bad enough, that’s when Erza would step in and handle things. The group was lucky this rarely took place because the male clientele they had wouldn’t want the shame of embarrassment either.

“Going great. We’re already getting booked up for the holidays and that still 4 months away. I guess they wanna make sure they can get certain girls before it’s too late.”

“Suckers.” Lucy snickered. “We’re using their own social norms against them, and they don’t even realize it.”

Between the three friends, they drank about half the bottle before slowing down. The conversation switched between work related topics, private lives, and back to Natsu until Lucy would switch the topic again. She knew of her buddy’s willful infatuation in her decades old battle with the man, but she just wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. Lucy still had a lot to process privately about the issues and though she loved Cana as a sister, Levy was the only one she’d really tell her deepest feelings to and now wasn’t the time to rehash anything. A few hours passed by when a knock at the door came. Another of their group was dropping by before heading out to work.

“Hey Juvia!” The three tipsy girls giggle at the same time.

“Wanna join us?” Cana questioned.

“Juvia would but she needs to check on Faerieland.”

“How is our soapland operation doing? Any problems I need to know about?” Lucy asked Juvia. The Faerieland bathhouse was the lowest level of their operations since flesh services were considered distasteful. But nevertheless, it was a highly profitable and legal one. What set them apart from all the others was the high-end quality of services offered to guests, providing both male and/or female “bathers” that clients could pay extra for to have a sexual experience. However, for that service, the client was required to be vetted by an inhouse doctor prior to a booking to make sure they were free of STD’s. Again, that was just one reason Faerieland was considered so high end and very exclusive. Some might have found it inconvenient, but most of the regulars appreciated the health factor. It’s what kept them coming back. All the employed bathers were screened regularly by an in-house doctor, and contrary to societal belief, were there by their own choice. So, the combination of anonymity, safety, and level of service kept the soapland business running with very little down times in between.

Juvia shook her head. “No problems, just busy due to the heat this time of year. Private bookings are scheduled out into next month.”

“That’s good to hear,” Levy smiled. “It’s nice that things have been running so smoothly.”

“Agreed,” Cana and Lucy chimed in.

“There is one thing Juvia should tell Lucy.” Her voice lowered, hesitant. “Mr. Natsu has an appointment booked for the end of the month. And he… just made it tonight.”

Lucy rolled her eyes and her voice dripped with irritation. “So, who’d he sign up to bang?”

“Nobody. Mr. Natsu only booked the deluxe bath and massage package. No sex.”

“Oh—” Lucy caught her surprise before she could show it, waving her hand nonchalantly as if she didn’t care. “W-well good for him. Not that I care if we’re making money of it.”

“Juvia is so relieved! She was worried you wouldn’t like him using our bath house.”

“It’s rare that he does,” Cana tapped her chin. “Hmmm, I wonder why he made the appointment tonight of all days…”

Levy slapped Cana on the arm, glaring at the woman to behave and Juvia just stood there wide-eyed and confused.

“What?!” Cana laughed. “I thought it was funny.”

“Ha-Ha,” Lucy mocked Cana. “What Natsu does is his own business and it’s not like he was trying to relieve himself tonight, the appointment is what, two and half weeks or so away? I’m not gonna lose sleep over it.”

“Okay… Juvia is confused but needs to go. Someone can fill Juvia in tomorrow.”

“Sorry, Juvia,” Levy apologized for the others. “I’ll fill you in later. But don’t worry! Everything is okay.”

“That’s good. Well then. Goodnight, everyone!” Juvia waved as she left the office.

“Goodnight!” The three waved.

“Cana,” Lucy reignited the debated now that Juvia was gone. “I don’t care if Natsu sleeps with other women, how can I when I have no problem sleeping with other men. We’re not a couple. But what does irritate me is that of all the bathhouses to choose, why mine??”

“It’s probably because of our services…” Levy threw in to diffuse the tension. “We do provide the best.”

“Yeah, I know,” Lucy sighed, “it just— it feels like he’s doing it on purpose.”

“You know I’m just teasing you, Lucy.” Cana retorted. “But I think you’re also reading too much into it. He’s a guy and history has shown a clueless one when it comes to women, so I doubt he’s masterminded going to the bathhouse as a way to irritate you.”

Lucy exhaled. “You guys are probably right. I guess I’m just still too wound up because of the party.”

“Maybe what you need to do is to unwind Lu,” Levy suggested.

Lucy sat back for a moment mulling over the idea. Yeah, maybe she should. It sure as hell wouldn’t hurt. Maybe let off some steam and stop thinking about Natsu, and a one-night fling could do just that. “You know what…” she turned to Cana with a new resolve. “What’s Loke’s number?”

Cana whipped out her phone. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

[hookingminor]

cardigan - pierre-luc dubois

a/n: another folklore fic for you all, spoiler it’s sad and unresolved (much like the song)

word count: 2.8k

summary: based on taylor swift’s cardigan

warnings: cheating? not exclusive but still

*italics are flashbacks and it’s like half flashbacks

-

It took you a long time to process why it happened. You didn’t know why he did it, the way he acted was so contradictory to everything he’d said to you over the course of your relationship.

Pierre acted like he was in love with you. You two acted like a couple; you were even seen with him in public multiple times. He often spent the night at your apartment and vice versa. You went to games, were on a first name basis with a few other girlfriends, met him after the games and engaged in very public embraces. Sure, you’d never exclusively declared the nature of your relationship, but it seemed, to you at least, that you were more than just a fuck buddy. You couldn’t comprehend what made him walk away from all of that.

-

When you entered the bar after Pierre texted, asking you to join the team, he immediately caught your gaze from the booth tucked away in the corner. He reached out when you approached the table, pulling you onto his lap by your waist.

It wasn’t unusual for him to be affectionate around his friends, but this looked like an obvious claim if you ever saw one. Pierre seemed unbothered by his sudden boyfriend-ly behavior, bringing the hand that wasn’t holding your ass to rest on your thigh.

Your eyes widened a little at the unsolicited contact, catching the eye of Josh’s girlfriend, who gave you a suggestive smirk. She was constantly prodding you about your relationship with Pierre, but you could never give her a real answer.

A few of the guys exchanged some looks. Pierre’s adoring face and actions hadn’t gone unnoticed by them, and they were a little shocked to see him like this.

“Hey, baby, glad you could make it,” he said, greeting you with a kiss on the cheek.

“You didn’t really give me much choice. You kept drunk calling me, idiot,” you said with a scoff.

“I just wanted to see my girl,” he mumbled against the skin of your neck, taking the opportunity to press a few kisses there.

“Alright, Luc, leave the poor girl alone,” Josh teased, his girlfriend lightly jabbing his side, “Are we doing shots or what?”

Whoops sounded around the table at the sound of shots, and Pierre took his attention off you to focus on the drinks being poured. You grabbed the one he pushed in front of you, joining the rest of the team in throwing it back.

One shot became two shots, two shots turned into four, and after four was when you stopped keeping track. The night blurred past, and soon you were stumbling outside of the bar entrance, a drunk and laughing Pierre clutching onto you.

“Pierre, you gotta pick yourself up a bit. You’re too heavy for me to carry,” you said slightly out of breath, his weight threatening to crush you both. It seemed to work, though, because he stood himself up with ease, using your body to keep him steady as he walked.

Despite the shots you’d done, you were considerably more stable than he was as you steered yourself towards the direction of his apartment. Pierre draped his arm over your shoulders, tripping occasionally as you walked through downtown Columbus.

You dragged him through the sidewalks that ran along the river when he suddenly stopped walking.

“We have to keep walking, bud,” you say with a sigh, but Pierre breaks out of your grip to run down the grass toward the river.

“Pierre!” You call out, glancing around to make sure no one is noticing the drunk man running amuck.

“Come down here!” He shouted back, animatedly moving his hand to wave you over. You chuckled to yourself before following him down the grassy hill until you met him on the bank.

“Skip some rocks with me,” he said, waiting for you to cup your hands so he could place the rocks you hadn’t seen him gather in them.

“You’re drunk and these are not skipping rocks,” you replied with a laugh when he dropped the roundest stone in your hands.

“Watch me. I’ll make it work,” he slurred confidently, pulling back his arm in preparation for a throw. You watched him wind it up and launch the pebble into the river. It took half a second, but you saw the rock in the distance plop into the water, only ripples instead of skips emanating off the surface.

You doubled over in laughter at the pathetic attempt to skip a rock. Pierre glanced down at your crumpled form, a frown appearing on his face.

“It’s not nice to laugh,” he said in mock offense, but you couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in your eyes.

Due to your inebriated state, the alcohol threw you off balance when you bent over, and now you were falling on your ass. You hit the ground with a thud, your hands flying back to catch yourself.

It was Pierre’s turn to laugh at you now. You brushed off the dirt you’d gotten on your hands when you fell, glaring up at him.

“It’s not nice to laugh,” you retorted with a scowl.

His laughter died down slightly, and then Pierre was lowering himself into a crouch before he flopped down next to you. He laid out onto his back, folding his arms behind his neck. You watched him lay on the ground, a laugh leaving your throat at the sight of him splayed out comfortably in the chilled grass.

He turned his head to give you a playful look, and you took the hint to join him. You curled yourself into his side, resting your head on his chest as your hand wrapped around his abdomen.

“You’re my favorite person, you know that?” He said quietly while you two started up at the starry Columbus sky. You knew he was drunk and that, given any other sober situation, Pierre wouldn’t be telling you this, but you reveled in the way your stomach fluttered anyway.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” you replied with a smile, soaking in the silence of the city at two in the morning.

Another half hour passed laying out underneath the stars, the two of you taking turns to trace fake constellations with your fingers. Pierre took your hand in his, bringing your finger to the star where he swore he could see the outline of a duck.

You laughed out loud as he kept moving your arm around, but no matter where he pointed, you couldn’t see anything more than a cluster of dots in the sky.

“Okay, babe, we need to get you back to your apartment,” you announced, moving into a sitting position.

With newfound energy, Pierre hopped up onto his feet, reaching down to offer you a hand. You gladly took his hands, using his body to pull yourself up.

“You’re spending the night, by the way,” he stated when you resumed your walk to his apartment.

You hadn’t expected to go home tonight, but the fact that he was telling you to stay made your heart clench at his softness. You walked the rest of the way with a smile on your face, feeling lighter than you had in days.

-

Everything felt so natural between you. There were no awkward phases of “what are we?” conversations. One day he was calling you over for a late night booty call, and the next day he was inviting you to spend the night. Nights turned into mornings, mornings turned into breakfast, and breakfast turned into days spent cuddling on the couch.

It wasn’t just sex. It couldn’t be.

-

“Baby, stop moving,” Pierre whispered into your neck. He was in the middle of pinning your body to the couch, but you were too busy wiggling out of his grip.

“No, your hands are cold!” You exclaimed in laughter at the feel of his hands attempting to slip under your shirt to warm them up.

“They’d stop being cold if you let me warm them!” He retorted in his own fit of laughter, successfully pressing them beneath your back.

Your body shivered at the cold contact, a small squeal escaping your lips. Pierre ignored your complaints as he shuffled his body into a more comfortable position so he was laying on top of you, nestled between your legs.

“I love your boobs. They’re, like, the perfect pillow,” he said with a content sigh, nuzzling his head deeper into your chest.

“Are you comfortable now? Can we finish the movie?” You asked in fake exasperation.

“I didn’t even want to watch this movie but, yeah, I’m comfy,” he muttered against the cotton of the shirt you wore, which was actually his shirt that he always set aside for when you came over.

You pressed play anyway despite his comment. You were excited to watch this movie, and you weren’t going to let Pierre stop you from seeing it.

It took all of two seconds for the movie to resume playing before Pierre was lifting your hand to his head, encouraging you to play with his hair.

“Pierre, you said you’d—,” you huffed, running your hands through his hair the way you knew he liked.

“Shh,” he hushed, “I lied. I’m going to take a nap instead.”

You rolled your eyes at his comment, though you knew he couldn’t see. You should’ve known better than to expect him to sit through a two hour movie with you. He fell asleep almost immediately after you two had sex. He was constantly on the verge of falling asleep.

Not even five minutes had passed before you felt his breathing even out, and as much as you liked to tease him about it, you liked it when he fell asleep around you. It always felt more intimate than what you knew your relationship was, like he trusted you more than anyone else to let himself sleep on you.

Even after he’d fallen asleep, you continued stroking his hair for the rest of the movie, your heart skipping a beat every time he unconsciously tightened his grip around you.

-

You couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment where it started to go wrong. It was a combination of things, really.

It started with him brushing you off. The texting slowed down until he was only inviting you over for sex. Afterwards, he ran the same lines he used to say when you first started hooking up: “I have practice in the morning,” or “I gotta pack for an upcoming road trip,” or the classic “Do you need me to order an Uber?”

The worst thing about it was you knew the lines were all fake. He knew you knew the lines were all fake, and yet he told them anyway.

And if the brush-offs weren’t bad enough, then came the straight up ignoring. He stopped inviting you to games and out for drinks altogether, and when you asked some girlfriends what was going on with him, none of them had a clear answer. Everyone was just as in the dark as you were.

At first you blamed it on the stress of the season. Maybe he just didn’t have enough time, but then came the rumors of him sleeping with other women.

Now, you weren’t dense enough to believe that he didn’t have women chasing after him, but you thought you were close enough to where Pierre would admit he was seeing other people.

You were wrong about that.

It built up for a couple months. You let yourself believe that he was just busy, but clearly he wasn’t. He just didn’t want to see you.

So, you showed up to his apartment one day to demand answers.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” He asked with furrowed brows when he saw you on the other side of the door.

“We obviously need to talk,” you replied, pushing your way into the foyer, “You’ve been ignoring me for a while now.”

“No, I haven’t,” he said, having the audacity to lie to your face. You rolled your eyes.

“Yes, you have. It doesn’t need to be a complicated thing, Luc. I just want to know what’s going on,” you said, crossing your arms.

“I’ve been busy is all,” he muttered as he avoided your eyes.

“Stop with the lies!” You said with a loud groan, “I know we were sleeping together, but I thought we were friends at the very least! You can’t just drop me, drop what we have, without an explanation!”

“What we have?” He repeated, “We didn’t have anything, Y/N, we were just casual.”

Even as he said that last part, you both knew he was lying.

“We were more than casual, and you know that,” you said, tears springing to your eyes.

He didn’t respond, so you took a chance to say what you’ve never said before.

“I love you,” you breathed out, “But I’m sure you knew that already.” And still, he said nothing.

“Can you at least tell me why?” You asked, trying one last time.

“We’re young, Y/N,” he said finally, “I’m only twenty-one, I can’t tie myself down right now. Yeah, you’re cool, but you can’t be the only girl I see.” He didn’t meet your eyes, keeping his gaze trained on the floor beneath his feet.

“Is that what you think or is that how you feel?” You asked.

“I don’t know, Y/N. What’s the difference?” He said with a sigh, clearly ready to have this conversation be done with.

“Just checking, I guess,” you said, resigned, “Well, I’ll stay out of your way then. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

You left his apartment without waiting for his response, and you made it all the way back to your car before the tears finally spilled.

That was a year ago.

To say your “breakup” didn’t affect you would have been a lie. He was, probably, the most important person in your life, and you knew he felt the same. He felt the loss of you the minute the door closed behind you.

You went through your own stages of grief after that. First, you were mad. So unbelievably mad you wanted to call him up just so you could yell at him for letting you go.

Then came the sadness. It hit you in waves at random times, your throat closing in on itself whenever you walked downtown past the river or saw a bulldog. You missed him more than you cared to admit, missing the way his sweatshirts smelled or the way he would wrap his arms around you from behind. You missed the kisses he placed on your forehead when you watched basketball games on the couch and the way he would try to distract you by slipping his hands underneath your shirt.

And finally came acceptance. Not the acceptance that he was over you and time would heal all wounds, but the acceptance that he was making a mistake and would come back to you.

You spent a lot of time the first few months cursing him and crying into your pillows. You saw the pictures he posted on social media, you saw the girls that tagged him in posts, but even with everything telling you otherwise, you knew he’d be back.

Sure, you weren’t the instagram model of his dreams, but you knew him better than anyone else. You knew that when the thrill ran out, he’d miss the way you played with his hair and baked his favorite cookies before roadies.

And he did miss you.

It only took a month before he realized what a dumbass mistake he’d made. Pierre would dial your number without a second thought, ready to call you and tell you about his day before he realized that he couldn’t anymore. You were the only one he wanted to talk to.

Every time he went to get dressed in the morning he would see your favorite t-shirt folded away in the corner, untouched and unworn. He never put it on, but every time he saw it, he felt his heart flip in his chest.

And more than anything, he missed the comfort you brought. He missed having someone to sleep with and cuddle with and cook dinner with. He missed having someone to walk the dogs with and eat ice cream with. His apartment felt empty without you in it and his heart felt empty knowing that you loved him and he rejected you.

It was only a matter of time before you heard from him.

He planned it out for months, playing and replaying scenarios in his head. Pierre tried calling you a few times, but it always went to voicemail. Left with no other option, he showed up at your place unannounced, in a similar fashion like you did all those months ago.

It was after a particularly bad loss, another addition onto a string of bad losses. The Blue Jackets were in a painful losing streak, and he wanted nothing more than for you to hold him in your arms and console him.

So, he knocked on your door, just like you knew he would, and waited for you to answer.

“Hey, Pierre,” you said, your face expressionless.

“Hey,” he said meekly, “Can we talk?”

[slapshot-to-the-heart]

Breakable Heaven (pt. IV) - p.l. dubois

part I part II part III

Oh my gosh, I seriously can’t believe this little series has come to an end. I’m so so happy with how it’s turned out, and want to thank anyone who’s stuck with Laurel and Pierre-Luc throughout this month. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done, and it’s yours to enjoy now. Please please let me know what you think of this part, what you think about the series - getting anon comments is amazing, my inbox is always open, and I LOVE reading tags. Reblog if you like what I’m putting out, it helps me know that!

Warning: Smut (It’s light, but it’s there, so no one under 18 please!)

Part IV (7.8k)

September 23 (thurs)

Laurel was running through the Toronto airport, her carry-on bag bouncing on the tile behind her as she frantically searched for her gate. Thank God Air Canada domestic flew from the international terminal; her layover was only an hour and ten minutes and even more time had been shaved off by a departure delay in Montréal. She had forgotten that flights from Toronto cleared U.S. Customs in Canada, and if she hadn’t been able to skip the line and slap her American passport on a kiosk reader she would have almost certainly missed her connection. 

No matter how many times Laurel had tried to insist on an economy ticket when she and Pierre were booking flights for her visits, he refused to cave. “They don’t include a checked bag in economy, but they do if you fly business,” he had said, shrugging, with a small smile on his face. “Baggage fees alone would make it pretty much a wash.” Laurel doubted that, and she doubted that she’d need a checked bag for a four-day trip, but her husband had made it clear that he wasn’t budging. 

So needless to say, she was more than a little bit out of breath as she finally arrived at Gate F66, which was conveniently almost as far away from her arrival gate as humanly possible while still being in the same terminal. She handed her boarding pass and passport to the gate agent, smiling apologetically as she hurried down the jetbridge. It was barely past noon, but there was nothing in the world Laurel wanted more than to sleep. Maintaining a full-time schedule at the hospital while also trying to organize a trip to Columbus that lasted more than two days meant she had to switch shifts. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue; that week, however, the only open slot was the 12-hour overnight shift on Wednesday. Which meant that she’d been awake for some twenty hours straight, but almost all of that had been on her feet at work, or walking from the parking lot to the check-in counter in Montréal, or running through the halls of Pearson Airport in Toronto. She took her seat, half-listened to the safety briefing, and passed out as soon as her head hit the headrest. 

Much to her chagrin, the flight itself was only just over an hour, and she was really only able to get in a generous nap before their descent into Ohio. Sitting in the second row, she exited the plane in record time, flicking her phone off of airplane mode and waiting for a text from Pierre-Luc. At least she didn’t have to go through TSA again. He wrote back in record time, letting her know he’d be in his car at the curb right outside the terminal. She waited at baggage claim, grabbing her forest green suitcase; the same one she had when she’d moved to Toronto for university, fresh-faced and 18 and so, so unaware of what the world had in store for her. If only she could see herself now. Laurel ran her thumb along the side handle for a moment, pulling at a loose thread, before hefting it onto the floor and turning towards the sliding exit doors. 

As promised, Pierre was waiting right outside the door, flashing her a bright smile and throwing the driver’s side door open as soon as he saw her. “Welcome to Columbus, babe!” he exclaimed, wrapping Laurel into a deep hug and kissing her on the cheek. 

She laughed as the trunk popped open, each of them grabbing a suitcase. “It’s a little bit funny, don’t you think? That I’ve lived in the Midwest for almost my whole life and the first time I go to Ohio it’s because I’m living in Canada?”

“Maybe just a little bit,” Pierre said, holding his thumb and pointer finger about an inch apart. “I’m really happy you were able to come, though, Laurel. I got used to having you around.” His face was softer now, looking over at Laurel with an expression that wasn’t quite placable but seemed like it was somehow communicating so much in a single glance. 

“Me too,” Laurel replied. The ride to Pierre’s Columbus apartment took just over ten minutes, and Laurel was in the door, petting the dogs, before the clock struck 3:00. 

Pierre approached her from behind, his hands on her shoulders as he leaned around to kiss her on the cheek. “You want to take a nap?” he asked. “We’ve got that thing with the team at 7, and I know you’re probably running on fumes right now.” 

Laurel nodded, giving him a weary smile, dropping her bag on the floor of the master bedroom with an all-too-satisfying thump. “Nap sounds good.” 

---

The nap was good, so good, and Laurel woke up at half past 6 feeling like she’d just had the best sleep of her life. She yawned, rubbing her eyes, and looked around the room to see Pierre with his back towards her, buttoning up his shirt. He turned around, catching her eye, and grinned. “You like the view?” he asked, gesturing to his half-naked torso. 

Laurel rolled her eyes, pulling the sheets up to poorly conceal her embarrassment at being caught. “And if I do?”

She heard a loud laugh, peeking her head out from under. “I’d say my wife has every right to appreciate it.” He walked around the bed while fastening the last few buttons, holding his hand out for Laurel to take. “I let you sleep as long as I could, but we’re going to have to get going in fifteen minutes or so. I was told that ‘we’ve waited this long to meet her, the least you could do is get your damn wife to the party in time,’” he said, adding air quotes for emphasis. 

Laurel nodded, tossing back the covers and walking over to her suitcase, intending to rifle through the stacks of clothes to find something for the night’s festivities. Instead, she was greeted by an empty bag. She wheeled around to look at Pierre, who was sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at her suitcase. “I unpacked your stuff,” he said, nodding over towards the spare dresser. “It’s in there. I’m sorry if that seems weird and I won’t do it again if you feel like that was pushing your boundaries, but I know for me when I’m on roadies I like to unpack, even if it’s just one night. Makes it feel more like home.”

Laurel was too overcome with how sweet the gesture was, small as it may have been, to realize that that meant he had touched four days worth of bras and underwear. It shouldn’t have bothered him anyways, and if he hadn’t said anything about it, it clearly hadn’t. So instead, she pulled him into a warm hug, standing on her tiptoes to bury her face in the crook of his neck. “Thank you, P. One less thing I have to do.” 

“You do still have to actually get dressed, though,” he added, giving her sleepwear an appreciative once-over. “Unless you’re planning on wearing that.” 

She let out a giggle. “As much as I love wearing a massive Cloquet High Lumberjacks t-shirt and no pants, somehow I don’t think that’s the move,” she said, ambling over towards the dresser. She found the tops on the first try, pulling out a wine-colored wrap shirt and grabbing the same pair of light-wash jeans she had worn on the plane. Pierre moved to duck out of the room, presumably to give her privacy to change. Laurel made a split-second decision to call after him. “You don’t have to leave.” Pierre stopped in his tracks.

Laurel slipped the shirt on, tying it in the front, and fastened her jeans. Mascara on and booties zippered, and she was good to go. “So what is this thing, anyways?” she asked Pierre as they drove to Foligno’s house. 

Pierre tilted his head. “Little bit of this, little bit of that. Half the typical beginning-of-the-year preseason party, half the wedding reception we never had. They were very insistent on bringing gifts, so be prepared.”

“Will do,” she said, laughing. “And by they, you mean…”

“Some of the guys, but mostly the wives and girlfriends. Their parties are the stuff of legends, so you can imagine how excited everyone was when I told them we never had a proper reception.”

“But they don’t know why we didn’t have a proper party,” Laurel reminded him. 

“About that…” Pierre started, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. 

Laurel froze, her thumb hovering over her phone screen, halfway through composing a text to Kristen. “Pierre,” she swallowed, her voice deadly soft, “did you tell someone?”

---

It was the Saturday before, and the team had gone out to celebrate the end of the first week of training camp. Sunday was an off day, so Saturday night found all the over-21s — and anyone who could get a good enough fake — at a bar in the city. Pierre had just crossed the line into tipsy, and as his captain was about to find out, tipsy Pierre was an oversharer. It was common enough for families to be a topic of discussion on nights out or in the locker room; that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that, as the old adage goes, drunk words are sober thoughts. And, if he was being honest, Pierre was still harboring some guilt from having to hide the truth of his and Laurel’s marriage from everyone, Nick included. Pierre hated that he couldn’t tell Nick the truth. He was his captain and his friend, and he felt the least he owed to him was not to lie. 

“It’s just so weird being away from Laurel, away from Montréal, for this long,” Pierre sighed. 

“Sure,” Nick said sympathetically, “but you said you’d been friends for a few years, so you’ve had feelings for her for a while, no? It’s obviously not ideal, but you’ve been away from her for longer.” 

Pierre turned towards Nick, some of his beer — his fourth of the night — spilling out of the cup. “Can I tell you a secret?” 

Nick rolled his eyes, thinking he was going to be hearing some dumb high school confession, that he had asked out a senior girl when he was a freshman, or filled his QMJHL captain’s gloves with shaving cream or something. He didn’t expect what he heard next. 

“We got married so she could stay in the country, for her permanent residency. I never met her before June.” 

Nick sucked in a breath. “You’re not fucking with me, are you?” 

“Nope.” 

“You realize how much trouble you guys could get into if they figure out, right?” he asked. 

Pierre nodded, looking down at his clasped hands nervously. “We both do. But you’re not going to tell anyone, right?” 

“No, of course not,” Nick said. “I trust you, and I know you and Laurel were just doing what you thought was the best and most logical thing given the circumstances.” Pierre let out a somber nod. “But,” he continued, “I feel like this whole...situation just leaves open the opportunity for things to get really messy really quickly.” 

“Messy how?” Pierre asked. 

Nick shifted uncomfortably in his chair, looking at a spot just beyond Pierre’s head. He didn’t want to, not really, but it was his job as Pierre’s captain — more importantly as his friend  — to make him consider every angle. “Someone catching feelings, one of you falling for the other, or God forbid, someone else. There’s already so much at stake in a ‘normal’ marriage, but yours just has added complications.” Pierre felt a twinge in his heart. He didn’t want to admit it, he really didn’t want to admit it, but Nick was right. “Do you love her?” Nick asked softly. 

Pierre sunk back into his chair. “I don’t know. She means a lot to me, more than I ever thought she would, but I don’t know. Plus, I have no clue how she feels about me, and I wouldn’t want to say something like that only to have her pull away.” 

“Did you guys talk about that?” he asked. 

“About what?” Pierre responded. 

“About what would happen if one of you caught feelings. Because I’m assuming it was supposed to, is supposed to, be a strictly platonic thing.” 

Pierre shrugged. “Not really. We didn’t like make a pact or anything, if that’s what you’re asking. We really didn’t talk much about it at all,” he said, finishing his beer. “I mean, obviously we agreed that we wouldn’t be seeing anyone else, dating or hooking up or anything like that. It was just too risky. But no, we never really addressed how we’d deal with it if one of us ended up...falling for each other. I guess it was just supposed to be a ‘we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it’ type of thing.” 

“And have you come to it?” Nick asked. 

“I don’t know.”

---

Pierre finished the story, hazarding a glance over to Laurel, who was wringing her hands as she looked out the windshield. “I’m not mad at you,” she said finally. “If Nick said he wouldn’t tell, I trust you when you say he won’t. One of us was bound to let it slip eventually.” 

He turned his eyes back towards the road, still feeling a pang of regret. She was almost being too good to him. “We’ll be okay,” he said, saying it just as much to himself as he did to her. 

Laurel gave him a small smile as they pulled into the Foligno’s house, parking on the stone-paved driveway. “We will be.”

Janelle opened the door practically the second after they knocked, greeting Pierre and Laurel with warm hugs. “Laurel, it’s so wonderful to finally meet you,” she said, squeezing her hand. “We know how hard it is to find the time off and make the trip down, and everyone’s excited to see you.” She led them through the entryway to the living room, where Laurel was passed around to some twenty-odd players and their partners, where she introduced herself over and over again as “Pierre’s wife, yes the nurse from Minnesota who none of you knew existed.” 

Dinner was a barbeque outside, Nick, Pierre, and some of the others manning the three grills as Laurel helped set up the drinks table. He held her hand under the table as they ate, his thumb gently rubbing across her thigh every so often in reassurance. “You good?” he murmured in his ear as Laurel sipped a beer, half-listening to some story Korpi was telling about a near-miss incident with a water ski back in Finland during the summer. 

Laurel nodded, squeezing his fingers. “I’m good.”

Plates were cleared, dishes were washed, and everyone was herded into Nick and Janelle’s enormous family room, where a small mountain of wrapped boxes and bags sat in the far corner. “I don’t know if you know this,” Janelle said conspiratorially as Laurel sat down, “but NHLers make more than a little money.” 

She laughed. “So I’ve been told.”

“Which means that, clueless though they may be, you’re going to be getting some very nice presents.” 

And very nice presents they were. A wine club membership, a set of dutch ovens from Seth — “It was my mom’s suggestion”  — Jones, an espresso machine from Boone, a set of matching, personalized dog bowls for Phil, Georgia, and Piper. Laurel honestly wasn’t sure how it was all going to fit in the car, let alone how she was going to manage to stay under the baggage limit on her way back to Canada, but the thought and kindness that went into each gift was what really made it special. 

“From me and the other girls,” Janelle said, passing Laurel a bag. 

“Oh, this is too much,” Laurel said. “You already got the knives and the mixer, I don’t need anything else.”

Cam’s wife, Natalie, shrugged. “Would it help if we made it, didn’t buy it?”

Laurel’s brow furrowed in confusion, her fingers moving to undo the ribbon that tied the handles together, taking out the tissue paper. “Oh!” she gasped quietly as she pulled out a denim jacket, a Blue Jackets logo ironed onto the back, Dubois embroidered where a name bar would be. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“You’re still a part of the family,” Natalie said, smiling. “Even if you’re not here all the time. We want you to feel as included as anyone else.”  

Laurel folded up the jacket carefully, tucking it back in the bag as Josh walked up to Pierre, holding out a small box, clearly wrapped by himself. “Well now I just feel silly.”

Pierre shook his head, smiling at his friend. “Don’t, Josh. I’m sure we’ll love it.” He thumbed open the folds on the wrapping paper, setting it aside before pulling off the top of the box. He fell silent. 

Laurel peeked over, trying to catch a glimpse of the box’s contents. “What is it, P?”

Instead of answering, Pierre just held the box upside-down. Condoms of all colors and sizes rained down onto the hardwood floor as Pierre stared at Josh, clearly trying very hard not to laugh. The side of his mouth twitched. “Interesting choice of gift, you don’t think?” he asked.

Josh shrugged helplessly, his cheeks red. “It’s practical?”

 November 28 (sun)

 Laurel caught every Blue Jackets game she could on the TV, even the ones in early November when Pierre was out for a few games with a mild concussion. She was his wife, but she was also a nurse, and made sure to get daily updates on his condition, restraining herself from FaceTiming him to help limit his amount of daily screen time. But he had been back for a few weeks, making second star of the night with a goal and an assist, so naturally he was pulled away for a few postgame interviews. 

Laurel watched the screen, trying not to get distracted by the sweat drenching his Underarmour. Reporters, the good ones at least, were usually considerate with steering clear of asking personal questions, but sometimes an injury, or the birth of a child, or, as luck would have it, a wedding, begged an answer. “So, Pierre, I think a lot of us were surprised to see you announce on Instagram that you had gotten married this summer. Congratulations, by the way,” the journalist from the Dispatch said. 

“Thanks,” Pierre replied, smiling. 

“And I hope I speak for everyone here when saying that we entirely respect you and your wife’s decision to keep things quiet and announce it in a much more subdued fashion than usual. Players often speak a lot about how integral support from family and friends is, and just how important it is to have that kind of a support system in place.” Pierre could see where the question was going. “Obviously you’ve got the boys down here, but it doesn’t look like your wife Laurel is based in Columbus like you are. Is there a reason for that, and do you think that’s affected your game?” 

Pierre sucked in a breath; it was a fair question, and a reasonable assumption to make, but that didn’t mean he liked answering it any more. But it was almost suspicious how quickly he had an answer. “Uh, yeah, it’s been interesting for us to have to navigate. You’re right, Laurel’s back in Montréal, she spends most of her time at our place in the city. She’s a nurse in the intensive care unit of CHU Saint-Justine, so she does pediatrics there. She loves what she does, and she’s so good at it, and it just wouldn’t be right of me to ever ask or expect her to leave on my account. I know we’ve got a great hospital at Nationwide Children’s, but she loves where she is. We both do. So yeah, it’s rough being away sometimes, but luckily she’s able to move shifts around and make it down twice a month or so when we’re not on the road. But we keep in contact daily, obviously, and I’m able to lean on the guys, especially the other married ones, on how to deal with the stress of being away for so long. But it’s rough. I miss my wife,” Pierre finished. 

Laurel clicked the remote, turning the TV off, her hand scratching behind Piper’s ears, and tried not to replay his words in her mind as she crawled into bed and fell asleep. 

 December 18 (sat)

 Laurel stumbled through the door of Pierre’s Columbus apartment, laughing breathlessly as she tried to lock the deadbolt. “You need some help there, L?” Pierre asked, raising one eyebrow. 

“I’m good,” Laurel said, taking two more tries before it would actually lock. The eggnog from the Christmas party was starting to take its toll; Pierre had agreed to be the pair’s designated driver for the night, so she had had maybe a glass too many. The night had genuinely been so much fun, Laurel had initially been worried at how well she might fit in with the group in a more casual situation. As much as she loved being able to hang out with the team and the other WAGs when she was in Ohio — and she did — she couldn’t help but be nervous that she didn’t have the same level of camaraderie that could help turn a night from good to great. Laurel couldn’t have been happier to be wrong. She was embraced from the moment she walked in the door, a glass of wine pushed into her hand and her Secret Santa gift deposited on the entryway table. 

Laurel used to always roll her eyes at the idea that “time flies when you’re having fun,” but that couldn’t have been more true for the party. It seemed like only minutes had passed, but suddenly it was almost midnight, and the couples with kids had to head home to relieve the babysitters, and Laurel and Pierre were headed home. 

“Let’s get some water in you, no?” Pierre murmured, walking to the kitchen and opening the cupboard. 

“Thanks,” Laurel said softly as she took the glass from him, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet under her on the couch. 

Pierre perched on the arm, absentmindedly playing with his watch. But while a tipsy Pierre was an oversharer, a tipsy Laurel was always emotional in one fashion or another. “How’d you like the party?”

“It was great,” Laurel said. “I’m not sure why Alexandre thought I’d be into a Blue Jackets scarf, but I guess it’s the thought that counts?” She pulled the offending object out of her bag, running her fingers through the fringe on the edge. “Seeing how amazing so many of those couples are, Janelle and Nick especially, it was awesome…” She trailed off. “But it was hard.”

His brow furrowed. Why would it be hard? “How so?”

“I always thought that, when I got married, it would be once and that was it.” She screwed her eyes shut. “And that’s not to mean I’m not grateful for what you’ve done, it’s so incredible and goes so far beyond just plain kindness. I just thought it would be a forever thing.”

Pierre’s heart dropped. Of course she’d feel like that. If marriage was something she wanted to take that seriously, how could she not feel like she was cheapening its meaning by treating it as nothing more than an arrangement of convenience? It wasn’t even like he felt any differently; hockey was obviously still his first priority most of the time, but he’d always seen himself as someone who wanted to settle down and have a family one day. He guessed that he just hadn’t let himself think about it. “Laurel,” he said quietly, reaching out to her. But she wasn’t done. 

“It’s just,” Laurel sighed, one hand tugging on her hair, tears threatening to escape her eyes, “knowing this is all temporary. Knowing that in a couple of y-years, when I g-get my citizenship and we get d-divorced, this is all going to end,” she said, hiccuping through her words. “I won’t be able to come to your Christmas parties and fly down for games and sit up in the WAG box with my friends and that jacket and a jersey with your name on it. I won’t be able to do any of that any more because it wasn’t real, it wasn’t ever real, and that fucking kills me inside, P.” Laurel sat on the corner of the couch, a spot as precarious as the words tumbling out of her mouth. 

“Why?” Pierre asked, even though if he was honest, he’d stake his career on the belief that he already knew the answer. “Why would it hurt so bad?” His voice was so quiet that if Laurel hadn’t been sitting two feet away, she wouldn’t have heard. 

“Because I’m fucking in love with you,” she whispered. “And that’s the single most terrifying sentence I’ve ever said in my life.” Even though Pierre somehow knew that’s what she was going to say all along, it didn’t stop her words from stealing the breath out of his lungs. Laurel looked up at him through her tears, her eyes beginning to redden. “Say something, please, P.”

Pierre knelt in front of her, his thumb resting gently on her cheek, wiping away her tears. “God, Laur, how could I not be in love with you?” She blinked rapidly at him, trying to process the words that were coming out of his mouth. “I wasn’t lying when I said you were one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. You’re so caring, not just for me, but for everyone in your life. You’d give a stranger the shirt off of your back. You’re probably the smartest person I know, way smarter than me.” A giggle escaped Laurel’s mouth. “The dedication you show to everything in your life is amazing. At your job, you treat every patient like they were your own sibling or your own child. You make the trip down to Columbus once a month, twice a month. That’s not easy, all the flight time and having to leave Piper and switching shifts around so we can see each other. You’re gorgeous, not just on the outside — though you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen — but the light in your eyes when you talk about a new book you read, or how happy you look when you let me taste a new recipe you’re trying, or how passionate you get when you see something wrong and know there’s something you need to do to change it. So what if we’re doing things a little backwards? First comes marriage, then comes love.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I fell in love with you awhile ago. I think it just took me a second to realize it.”

 January 26 (wed)

 Laurel thought the distance and space between them would be easier now that she knew how he felt, now that they both knew how they felt. She couldn’t have been more wrong. So the All-Star break, and the Blue Jackets’ bye week, couldn’t have come at a better time. Pierre had made plans for the break a few months earlier, but after everything that happened over Christmas, it didn’t seem right to ditch Laurel for a boy’s trip with Alexandre and Seth. So Hilton Head was traded in for Saint Lucia, and his teammates were traded in for his wife. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Laurel was using three of her paid vacation days and Pierre was able to make the schedule work just right to get five nights in the Carribean. “A belated honeymoon, if you will,” he had said, cracking a grin over FaceTime as they booked the flights. The flight from Columbus was much less straightforward than hers from Montréal, but by a chance airline scheduling his first layover was in Toronto. Laurel met him at the gate, hauling her own green suitcase behind her as he flung his arms around her, kissing her with everything he had in him. They may have missed the not-so-subtle fans taking pictures that later circulated around Twitter that may or may not have led to some grade A chirping in the team’s group chat. But Pierre didn’t care. He cared that for a few days, he could forget about the stress of hockey and trying to make a playoff run and all the rumors floating around and just be with his wife. And, Pierre thought as they walked through the airport door into the Carribean sun, there really wasn’t anything else he wanted. 

They hailed a taxi, the twenty minute drive to their resort rushing by in a blur of palm trees and seas so blue Laurel thought she could fall into them just by looking. Pierre jogged into the main office to check them in, coming back with their key cards before the taxi continued on its way, dropping them off in front of their villa. Laurel spun slowly as they got out of the car, smiling up at the sky as Pierre pressed a few bills into the taxi driver’s hand with a nod of thanks. “You okay there?” he asked with a grin. 

“It’s so warm,” Laurel said in wonderment. Even in January, the weather in Saint Lucia hovered in the mid-70s, a far cry from the twenties and teens of a Montréal winter. Laurel was no stranger to the cold — Cloquet had seen temperatures pushing thirty below when Laurel was in high school — but the idea that she could be somewhere and wear shorts while it was snowing in her hometown was a concept so novel she hadn’t quite grasped it yet. 

He nodded, looking at Laurel with a gaze so soft she thought her heart would maybe burst. “We’re in the Caribbean, L. It’s warm all the time.” 

She rolled her eyes, bending over to get her suitcase, but not before Pierre snatched it up himself, holding the key card between two fingers. “Are you going to just stand there, or do you want to check out our honeymoon suite?” Laurel’s words dripped with suggestiveness, her sandal-clad feet dragging their way up the path to the villa with tantalizing languor. 

“Coming.” 

Even after the six months of their marriage, and even after everything that happened over the holidays, they hadn’t had sex. They’d gotten close a few times, both on her trip in December and in ones since, but never managed to go all the way. First Laurel needed a new birth control prescription — the last thing she would do would be have sex without being extra safe about it — and then she was too tired after a night out, and another time Pierre had scored a hat trick and they had partied way too hard to even think about sex. So needless to say, it had been a while for Laurel since she’d gotten release by any hands other than her own, and even longer for Pierre. And it certainly wasn’t because she didn’t want to. Laurel was well aware that her husband was hot as fuck, and she’d be lying if some of her lonelier nights weren’t filled with thoughts of exactly what she wanted him to do to her. But it felt different than any of her other relationships. Obviously, it felt different, she hadn’t been married to Oliver or Ryan or Carter. And that didn’t mean she wasn’t invested in those, but just that the stakes were so much higher and she had fallen so much harder for Pierre than she ever thought imaginable. She didn’t want to have sex with him until she was sure. Sure that it was going somewhere, sure that it would last, sure that he loved her in the same way that made her heart ache every time he dropped her off at Columbus International Airport. 

---

By the time they had unpacked, eaten, and gotten a few rum punches in their system, it was well past 7 and the sun had long since set. Laurel peeked out the door onto their balcony, nodding at the private plunge pool. “We’ve got quite the setup here.”

She walked over to the dresser, grabbing a swimsuit out and crossing over to the bathroom, her hand hovering over the knob. “Just something to think about.” Pierre put his swim trunks on in record time. Laurel padded out of the bathroom, the top straps of her bikini dangling, the swell of her breasts peeking above the cups. “Do me up?” she asked. 

Pierre’s fingers brushed the baby hairs at the base of her neck as he tied the straps of her white-hot bikini. “Sure you don’t want to go out to the beach?” 

Their villa came with a stretch of beachfront, and it seemed like such a shame to let it go to waste. Laurel shook her head, a smile playing on the edge of her lips. “We’ve got a couple of days to enjoy the beach. I’d like to stay somewhere a little more...secluded.” She bit her lip as she opened the door to the balcony, dipping her toes in the pool and sighing at the warmth of the water. Laurel looked back at Pierre, one eyebrow raised. “You coming?” Pierre couldn’t follow fast enough. 

They stayed in the water for a while, lazily kissing and staring at the stars and sipping drinks that had lost their potency hours ago, but neither of them really cared much. Sometime during the night, Laurel had made her way onto Pierre’s lap, where she reached over to the balcony, lofting herself out of the pool and wrapping a scarf around her body. “Getting a little cold,” she said, bending down and giving him a soft kisss. She walked into the room, drying herself off; he followed. Laurel threw the towel over a chair in the corner of the room, walking over towards Pierre, stopping when their noses were almost touching.

Laurel’s wrap fell from her shoulders, pooling on the wood floor. Pierre’s hand skated up her arm to rest on her cheek. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She stood on her tiptoes as her left hand tangled in his hair, her right pressed against the back of his neck. She whimpered into his mouth; it took everything in Pierre’s power to keep the blood from rushing south. The kiss got more frantic, tongue and teeth clashing against each other as he walked her back to the bed. The back of her knees bumped up against the edge. 

Pierre pulled away slightly, letting out a moan as he saw Laurel’s face. Her lips were puffy from kissing, her chest heaving with the force of her breath, and her wild hair had long since been taken out of its ponytail. In other words, Pierre was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Laurel, in that moment, was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. “You sure you want to do this?” Pierre murmured. He wanted to. God, he wanted to. But he’d never do anything without making sure that she was absolutely comfortable. Laurel nodded, biting her lip. “I need to hear you say it, babe,” Pierre said, taking a step forward, their noses almost touching. 

“I want you to ruin me.”

Pierre audibly groaned, capturing her lips in his before throwing her back on the bed, his hand moving to her back to undo the tie of her bikini top as his lips trailed down her neck. He threw the top off to one side, paying exactly zero attention to where it landed, as his hands slid up her waist to cup her breasts, his thumbs ghosting over her sensitive nipples. Laurel’s breath hitched in her throat. “You like that, baby?”

“Mhm,” Laurel whimpered, unable to form a complete sentence. 

He smirked, lowering his mouth to her chest, flicking his tongue over her right nipple as his hand pinched her left. The air was filled with breathless sighs from them both until Pierre’s hands left her breasts. Laurel whined in protest until she felt his fingers toying with her bikini bottoms, his head lifting just enough so that his eyes could meet hers. “This okay?”

It was all Laurel could do to choke out a single word. “Please.”

Pierre pulled them down her legs, kissing down, down to her hips, down to her inner thighs, down to everywhere except for where she needed him. “You need something, Laurel?” Pierre asked, his voice dripping with sex. 

Laurel groaned, not wanting to give in but also knowing that Pierre could stay where he was for hours if it meant teasing her. “Your mouth.” 

“As you wish.” And then his tongue was on her, and in her, and she couldn’t help but let out a moan. And Pierre was loving every second of it. He stayed down there for a while, long enough to finish her twice. 

Laurel pushed on his shoulder, trying to get him to turn on his back so she could return the favor. Pierre shook his head as he shucked his shorts off, pulling her head down to kiss her roughly. “I’m going to cum right here if I don’t get inside you in the next two minutes, babe.” He reached over to the nightstand, grabbing a condom. “Guess I’ll have to thank Josh for these when we get back home.”

She raised one eyebrow, clearly unamused. “If you do that, I can promise you I’ll never put your dick in my mouth. Not now, not ever.”

Pierre held his hands up in surrender, the foil packet shining between two fingers. “Alright, alright. I won’t.” He paused just before bringing the wrapper up to his teeth. “You want this?”

Laurel nodded frantically as he rolled the condom down his length. He looked so hard it was painful. “So bad.” He leaned down to kiss her, propped up on one arm as he pushed into her, hair falling into his face as he closed his eyes. He was too blissed out to be able to focus on anything other than how good she felt around him, how tight and warm and how well she fit, like Laurel Elizabeth Klerken was made for him and him alone. 

“More,” Laurel cried softly, and that was all it took for Pierre to grab one of her legs, throwing it around his hips as he increased his pace, head dropping to her neck as he nipped at her pulse points. It didn’t take long for Pierre to reach his high, Laurel right behind him. He pressed a sweet kiss to her forehead before getting up from the bed, going into the bathroom to tie off the condom and grab a washcloth. He cleaned up between her legs as Laurel lay there, trying to steady her breathing, absolutely spent from the night’s three orgasms. “Why didn’t we do that earlier?” Laurel murmured. 

Pierre laughed, throwing the cloth in the laundry basket and tilting down to press a kiss to the crown of her head. “I don’t know. But it was worth it.”

 February 20 (mon)

 Laurel had learned early on in her relationship with Pierre that she couldn’t put much stock into what was said on Twitter. Or Instagram, or any social media for that matter. So much was speculation: about draft picks, about trade rumors, about Pierre-Luc Dubois’ secret wife, that it just wasn’t useful or healthy for her so spend much time looking around. She still had her accounts, but Instagram was the only one she went on with any regularity nowadays. And she rarely checked her phone during the work day anyways; unless it was an unusually slow day  — which was never a good sign in the medical world — the only time she was even able to spare a glance was during her lunch break or when she’d run to the bathroom. So when her phone buzzed with a text from Pierre as she sat at the nurses’ station, her brow furrowed as she unlocked the screen. 

Are you free right now? I need to call you. 

Laurel bit her lip, nerves threatening to boil over. He knew her schedule, he knew she was at work. What could be so important that it couldn’t wait? Are you okay? Did something happen?

He typed a response as soon as her text showed as delivered.  I’m not hurt, it’s not bad, really, I just need to tell you something and I don’t want to have to do it over text. 

Laurel checked her watch. 11:18. It was early for a lunch break, but as long as she wasn’t needed, she could take her half hour any time between 11 and 1. She caught the eye of her charge nurse. “Claudette? I’m taking my lunch if that’s alright with you.” Claudette nodded, and Laurel quickly made her way to the locker room to grab her leftover pasta, texting Pierre on the way. Headed to the changing room now. Are you going to tell me what this is about?

Her phone rang a minute later, when she had just closed the door. She tapped the green button. “You’re going to have to tell me what’s going on here, P, because I’m kind of freaking out,” Laurel said, laughing nervously. “You don’t tell a girl what to expect, she starts assuming the worst.”

Pierre let out a heavy breath. She could imagine him running a hand through his hair on the other end. “I know, and I’m sorry if I worried you. I just needed to tell you before it breaks.”

“Before what breaks, Pierre?” Laurel’s anxiety was coming to a head. 

“I’m coming home.”

Laurel screwed her eyes shut, even more confused than she was before. “Yeah, Pierre, I know you’re playing here next week. Why would that be news?” 

“When’s the trade deadline, Laurel?”

“Last Monday in February, but I don’t see what that has…” She pulled the phone away from her ear, looking down at the screen, eyes locking on the date. “You got traded?” 

She could imagine him sitting down on the edge of his couch, one hand dangling off the side, Georgia trying to jump up and goad him into giving her a pet or two. “They’re breaking it right before the noon deadline, but you deserved to know before everyone else did. You needed to know.”

Laurel leaned up against her locker, hand over her mouth. “You’re coming to Montréal?” She had seen it mentioned offhand on a few Twitter accounts she followed the handful of times she had logged on in the past week, but nobody thought it would actually happen. Even the concept of trading him seemed so far-fetched with the type of season he was having in Columbus. He was sitting near 30 goals and 40 assists, with one of the best plus-minus scores on the team. It just didn’t make sense. 

“As of twenty minutes ago, I’m officially a Montréal Canadien,” Pierre answered. 

“Oh God,” Laurel said, sympathy lacing her voice. She couldn’t let herself be excited, wouldn’t let herself be excited, until she knew exactly how Pierre felt about it. He had just been uprooted from the team that drafted him, where he’d played for four seasons and made friends and where everyone saw him as the future of the franchise. 

Pierre let out a single laugh. “They let me know what the deal was, apparently Montréal really wanted me. First round pick next year, a second-year defenseman, some prospect from Laval.”

Laurel settled on the bench, tucking the phone under her chin. “Of course they really wanted you, P. You’re an incredible player, you’d be an asset to any team and you’re going to do great things in Montréal.” She paused. “But how are you feeling about the move? I know it’s not what you were expecting. Or what anyone was expecting, really.”

“It’s weird,” Pierre said after a moment. “Obviously yeah, I won’t lie, it’s a shock. But almost every player, even the really good ones, get traded at one point or another. Gretzky was traded to L.A.”

“Are you comparing yourself to Gretzky?” Laurel asked playfully. 

“No,” Pierre chuckled. “But just trying to remind myself that it was almost inevitable. I’m allowed to be sad about it — and I am, it’s going to fucking suck leaving the boys — but I’m not as torn up as I thought I’d be if this ever happened.” He felt more than a little bad about it, but his first thought when his agent called and broke the news wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t despair at having to leave the team he had been brought up in and the men he considered his brothers. It was relief. Relief that he could be closer to his family, relief that he’d be back with Laurel, relief that he was going home. “And hey,” he said, catching Laurel’s attention. “You know what?”

Laurel rolled her eyes. “What?”

“I don’t even have to marry someone to move.”

---

Pierre’s flight got in late Tuesday night, just after Laurel’s shift at the hospital had ended. He had said he wouldn’t mind taking an Uber home so she didn’t have to rush over and stress about traffic, but Laurel didn’t care. She wanted to be at the airport to pick up her husband, even if it meant she’d still be in her scrubs doing it. 

She saw him exiting the sliding doors of the international terminal before she even turned the corner, practically slamming her car into park as soon as she hit the curb. Pierre dropped his bags when her car door opened, paying no attention to the thump of the suitcases as they hit the ground or the wandering eyes of passersby. Airports hadn’t always been his favorite place. They meant leaving the people he loved, going away from what was warm and familiar and safe. They usually meant uncertainty. But that had changed, Pierre thought, as his wife jumped into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as their lips met. Airports might just have become one of his favorite places. He pulled back from the kiss, their foreheads just barely touching. “Hi,” he said. 

Laurel smiled, the kind of smile that lit up rooms and made crying babies giggle and that Pierre was pretty sure was his favorite thing he’d ever seen in the world. “Welcome home.”

[peaceoutofthepieces]

shut up kiss but make it the ✨first kiss✨ (if that makes sense) and any ship works but one that hasn't been done a lot would change it up yk

imma attempt it with lukes because I’ve never gotten to write anything for them 🥺 so thanks for the free pass skdjsksks

4. Shut Up Kiss

Lucas feels pleasantly tipsy (and also a little high). There’s a haze around him, leaving him lax in his reclined position, sprawled out in one corner of his couch. He feels almost peaceful.

The only disturbance to this peace is Kes, who’s sat at the other side of the couch with a pout on his face. Lucas keeps staring at it and being stuck between two constant desires — to punch it or kiss it. He can never quite make up his mind. This time, though, he’s leaning towards the latter. He thinks that’s only because he doesn’t quite have the energy for anger, though. He can only be mildly frustrated, at the moment.

Kes is pushing him into a more dangerous zone, however.

“What’s wrong with me, Luc?” Kes sighs, staring up at the ceiling.

Lucas lolls his head against the cushions to look over at him, to skim his eyes over too much smooth skin and the usual scruff, then directs his eyes up towards the ceiling. “You haven’t smoked enough.”

Kes huffs, and stretches his foot out to knock it against Lucas’s leg, and it’s not as amused or agreeing as Lucas had hoped. “It’s been forever since I was with Ies, and I fucked that up, and nothing has been the same since.”

“What d’you mean?” Lucas knows he’ll probably just regret asking, but he’s also slightly hopeful. Silently praying. He’s looking at Kes again now, intently.

“I haven’t felt anything else like that. And now no one’s even interested in letting me try. Months, Luc. I haven’t hooked up with anyone in months.”

Lucas blinks. He supposes he should have noticed this, but well, he wasn’t with Kes all the time. He couldn’t manage to be — some days it was too much. He needed to give himself a break. There have been times that Kes went out with Jayden or others and Lucas hadn’t joined him, holing up in his room with the company of Netflix instead and avoiding his phone at all costs. He’d assumed Kes was meeting people then. Pretty girls he could dance and laugh and make out with.

It’s a little surprising to think he was wrong.

“You haven’t?”

“No,” Kes sighs. “They’re not interested.”

Lucas doesn’t quite buy that. “They’re not? Didn’t that blonde one hit on you at the last party?”

Kes blinks now, tilting his head as he stares at the wall. “Did she?” Instead of waiting for an answer, he drops his head back and sighs again. “Whatever. Maybe I’m not interested.”

“Okay.”

“I can’t be like you.”

Lucas falters. He pauses with the joint raised halfway to his lips, mouth suddenly too dry for it to seem appealing. “What’s me? I mean, what am I like?”

“So cool about all of it. Like, you can just approach whatever girl and know exactly what to say and they’re putty.”

Lucas wouldn’t say that, but he’s also probably not a good judge. He also can’t explain that he manages to stay cool because he doesn’t get nervous around girls. He doesn’t care what he says, doesn’t care if they turn him down, because he’s never genuinely interested. If he cops out with one he can just try another. Likewise, if someone’s hitting on him, he’ll notice.

Unlike Kes, apparently.

“Probably just lucky,” Lucas shrugs,

“I think it’s your charm. And the fact you’re a fucking pretty boy. It’s the eyes or the curls or something.”

Lucas doesn’t say how that doesn’t make any sense, that if anything Kes is the pretty one with the nice eyes and curls and everything else. Kes is all chill, all charm. There’s no one more appealing, to Lucas. He definitely can’t say this though. Instead, he finally brings the joint to his lips. Afterwards, while he’s letting out the smoke, he holds the joint out to Kes and the boy refuses.

This is when Lucas understands he’s actually being serious.

“You’re charming,” he says then. Kes won’t believe him anyway, not in the way Lucas means it. “And pretty.”

As expected, Kes huffs. He rolls his head around and looks at Lucas. “Yeah, okay.”

“Why’s it matter? You don’t have to hook up with someone all the time.”

“What if there’s someone I want to hook up with?”

“Then they’ll probably agree,” Lucas admits. “When do you ever have trouble?”

Kes’s eyes flicker over his face. “Doesn’t matter.”

Lucas is getting tired of this conversation. He takes another drag of the joint and realises it has burned down to his fingertips. He stubs it out with a heavy sigh, then twists around to look at Kes properly, drawing a leg up onto the cushions and wrapping his arms over his stomach. “Okay. What’s the actual problem?”

Kes seems taken aback. He mimics Lucas’s position, sitting sideways and facing him, but he’s still looking at the wall. “Nothing. I’m just lonely, Luc. Don’t you ever get that?”

Always, Lucas thinks. Just not with you. Especially with you.

He hums, nodding slightly. “We can be lonely together.”

Kes snorts, finally looks at him. He looks sad. “I don’t think you get it. I think I’ve given up. Like, everything with Ies was great and then it was shit. Everything has been shit. I don’t think I’m meant for that. Relationships. Love. I think there’s something wrong with me.”

Lucas’s chest feels tight. His throat is clogged. He closes his eyes. “I think maybe you actually smoked too much.”

“I’m right though, aren’t I? Like even if that girl was hitting on me, it was to hook up. I haven’t found anyone who likes me like that. And I know like, that’s fine, and you don’t have to have that, but I want it, Luc, and what if I never—“

Lucas can’t listen to this anymore. He can’t bear it. He can’t accept the idea of Kes not believing he’s desirable. Of not knowing how much he’s wanted. Lucas can’t let him be that stupid, so of course, he takes over the role of complete and utter dumbass.

He leans in and kisses him.

He kisses Kes, just to shut him up, just to make him see, but with it comes years and years of pent up emotion and repressed feelings and suddenly he’s pressing Kes back against the arm of the couch and cupping his face and kissing him more relentlessly than he’s ever kissed anyone else.

Because at some point, almost right away, Kes has started kissing him back.

He stiffens first, freezes at the first press of lips, but the instant Lucas’s fingertips brush his cheeks he springs to life. He raises a hand to the back of Lucas’s head, tangling in his hair. The other latches onto the side of Lucas’s shirt, knuckles brushing against his hip and sending a shiver through him. Kes’s initial stutter of surprise dissolves between them, turns into a pleased hum as Lucas guides him into an easy rhythm.

Lucas is too lightheaded to think clearly. The only thought he can really conjure is fuck.

He’s also too lightheaded to drag the kiss on for as long as he wants to, and he pulls back, and his heart spasms as Kes follows him, leaning after Lucas like he doesn’t want to detach. It’s for this sole reason that Lucas only allows himself one sharp breath before he’s kissing him again, choosing to appreciate how dizzy it makes him, realising he’d never expected to feel like this while kissing anyone.

Then he realises he’s kissing Kes. Who is a little high and probably equally tipsy and obviously upset. Who is Lucas’s best friend. Who he really should not be kissing or taking advantage of like this.

He pulls back as far as he can with Kes still holding onto him. “Shit,” he breathes. Then, “Sorry.”

Kes’s lips are parted, and Lucas notices his pupils are blown as he blinks at him. His grip slackens on Lucas’s shirt and in his hair, but he doesn’t entirely let go. “Why’d you do that?” He doesn’t sound upset anymore, and he doesn’t sound mad. He actually seems a little nervous.

Lucas supposes it’s because he might have just royally fucked everything up.

But he still wants to be honest. For once, he wants to admit it — to both Kes and himself.

“Because I wanted to, and because you were being stupid and annoying and still way too pretty and I don’t get why you think no one wants you like that because...”

He pauses, refraining from finishing that thought as he avoids Kes’s gaze. He can’t quite admit that much, at least not in words.

Kes does it for him.

“Because you do?”

Lucas looks at him again. He catalogues the hesitant curve to Kes’s lips, like he’s unsure whether he should frown or be allowed to smile, and the gleam in his eyes that seems something, impossibly, like a little glimmer of hope. Lucas swallows and manages a nod.

Kes’s lips — the ones that Lucas has now kissed — split into a grin. “Fuck, I was really hoping that’s what it meant.”

“I — what?”

Kes licks his lips, eyes flicking down to Lucas’s own and then back up, wide and bright. “Luc,” he says quietly. “Can I kiss you again?”

Lucas stares. “Why?”

“Because I want to, too,” Kes rolls his eyes. “Have for a long time, but thanks for finally noticing, I guess.”

Lucas’s lips part, then shut again.

“Can I?” Kes repeats.

“I dunno,” Lucas finally gets out. “Can you? Because you seemed to think that no one—“

This time, Kes shuts him up with a kiss of his own.

send me a ship + kiss

[pawthorn]

Eyes of Nein

Six vignettes of reactions and conversations revolving on the strange connection between Lucien and Caduceus Clay.

Part 6: Veth

Veth barrelled into Caduceus' room without knocking.

"Alright, where are those fuckers?" She yelled. "Are they in here? Are you hiding them?"

She slammed the door behind her as Caduceus and Jester looked over. They were sitting together by the fire, looking cozy, comfortable, and completely innocent.

Which Veth found extremely suspicious.

"Uh…" said Caduceus. "No?"

"You didn't even ask who I was talking about," she said as she approached the couch, crossbow loaded and ready. "If you're not hiding anyone, how do you already know who I'm looking for?"

"I don't," said Caduceus. "But I'm not hiding anyone. So I don't have to ask who you're looking for to know I haven't hid them."

Veth did a little verbal math before nodding.

"Alright, you're off the hook," she set her sights on Jester. "What about you, Lavorre? You're awfully quiet over there..."

"Who are you looking for, Veth?" Jester asked, calmly sipping her tea.

"Why are you asking!?" Veth demanded. "Like Caduceus said, an innocent person wouldn't need to ask!"

"To be fair," Caduceus said. "She might be hiding somebody you're not looking for. Seems wrong to force her to give that information up, if it's not what you need."

"That's true, Veth," Jester nodded. "Do you really want me to divulge all my private contacts, when you might not even care about them?"

Veth hesitated.

"I mean, yeah," she said. "I kind of want to hear who's on that list…"

"Veth!"

"Okay, okay," she disarmed her crossbow and threw herself into a chair across from the Clerics. "It's Beau and Yasha! Beau and I had it all sorted out. I was going to take tonight to spend some quality time with Yasha, and Beau was going to do the same with Caduceus. But I've been searching this place since after dinner, and I can't find either of them anywhere! So, do you think we should tell the others? Form search parties?"

Jester and Caduceus shared a look of… amusement maybe?

"I think that Beau probably misunderstood you," Jester shrugged. "Maybe she and Yasha are hanging out somewhere and you just missed them."

"Maybe," Veth said, accepting the tea Caduceus poured out and handed her. "These Tomb Takers are dangerous though. None of us should be running around playing hide-and-seek while they're here. And we definitely shouldn't be alone with any of them."

At that, Caduceus winced and Jester nervously sipped her tea.

"Okay, what was that?!" Veth said.

"What!?" Jester said.

"Jester," Veth said, leaning forward. "Have you been alone with one of them? It's the halfling, isn't it? You're trying to cut me out of the detective agency!"

"Stop," Caduceus said. "It wasn't her. It was me. I had tea with Lucien. Nothing happened. It's fine."

"What!?" Veth said. "Why would you do that? He murders people, Caduceus!"

"Well, he didn't murder me," Caduceus said, bristling slightly.

"But we don't know what other powers he has," Veth said. "He could have brainwashed you. You could be one of his hive-mind now!"

"Then I guess you shouldn't drink any more of that tea," Caduceus said mildly, sipping from his own cup.

Veth looked from her cup to Caduceus and back again.

"Kidding," he said. "Honestly, Ms. Veth, we had a perfectly normal, reasonable conversation. Nothing to worry about."

"But you didn't even know Molly," Veth said, still trying to wrap her brain around unassuming, mild-mannered Caduceus having tea with Lucien. "What could you even talk about? You have nothing in common!"

"What do I have in common with any of you?" Caduceus said sharply.

The statement landed like an anvil. Silence stretched uncomfortably for a long moment.

"Oh!" Jester said with forced cheer. "I know something the three of us have in common. We've all got families who love us!"

Some of the tension drained from the room, but a new heaviness replaced it. A heaviness Veth knew she shared with Caduceus.

"You're right, Jester, we do," Caduceus said, eyes sliding from Veth's. "How are things with Ms. Marion? Has she heard from the Gentleman recently?"

It was a good deflection, and Veth was grateful for it. As Jester launched into her answer, Veth took a moment to breathe through the sudden tide of emotions that gripped her. Longing, worry, love, guilt… And looking at Caduceus, she knew she wasn't the only one feeling it.

Caduceus understood what the responsibility was like, not just to have a family, but to have a family waiting for you. A family to go back to . It was different for Jester. Her parents didn't expect her to return, not permanently, anyway. After all, she was a kid, and kids are supposed to be free to go out into the world…

She stumbled in her own thinking as she looked at Caduceus. He wasn't a wise old sage, not really. She had known it when he first tried alcohol. When he sat, shivering and small, on the deck of a ship. When he played that ridiculous bone flute. When he ran to his mom and she scooped him up in a hug. When he didn't notice that he was being propositioned. When he had tea with a dangerous stranger and thought nothing of it. He was as young as Jester, really.

"...And you know, I just realized, I still have some spells left," Jester was saying. "I think I'm going to go Send some messages to my parents!"

She hopped off of the sofa, and started toward the door. Caduceus rose to walk her to the doorway, and stayed there to watch her ascend safely to her room. Closing the door with a gentle click, he returned to his place and settled with a sigh.

"She seems happy," he said. "That's good. The last few days have been hard on her."

"Not just her," Veth said.

"True," Caduceus sighed. "Sorry for snapping earlier."

"No, no," Veth waved him off. "I shouldn't have pushed."

Veth took a moment to study Caduceus. He looked small in this room. It was the way he held himself, Veth realized. He was used to taking up less space, keeping everything contained to fit surroundings that weren't built with him in mind. In a room filled with furniture his size, he seemed diminished, swallowed up. She wondered if the opposite was true for her. Maybe she no longer fit in little halfling chairs and tables, or the little halfling home she had once loved. It certainly felt smaller, these days.

"I'm glad she could Send a message to your family," Veth said. "So that you know they're safe. I'm sure you miss them."

"Of course," said Caduceus. "And it is good to know that they're safe. I'm glad that you could spend some time with your family, although I know it wasn't much."

"It was alright," Veth said. "Honestly, it's kind of strange to spend time with them while we're in the middle of adventuring. It's nice to be able to see them, and I love them both very much, but I love all of you as well. I end up feeling like I'm cheating them and the Nein. Like I'm letting everyone down, in some way. It's like being torn in two."

"I understand that," Caduceus nodded. "Believe me, I do."

"Is that why you made a clean break with your family?" Veth said. "Sent them back to the Grove with Reani instead of us taking them there?"

"I mean," Caduceus shifted. "You all had already spent enough time on me, there were other things to do."

"We would have made time, Caduceus," Veth said. "We spent, what, three days getting your family business sorted? Maybe four? It wasn't the rest of us who were in a hurry."

"I know," Caduceus said, ears drooping. "It's easier to tell myself that. But you're right. It's… uncomfortable to be with them and with the Nein. But not like being pulled in two. It's like… like being two people at once. Who I was with them, and who I am with you. It was strange."

"You could have taken some time with them though," said Veth. "We'd have given you space. Ten years is a long time to be apart."

Something flashed in Caduceus' eyes. For a moment, Veth could see the weight of those years, usually tucked away and borne secretly. It reminded her of Caleb, the way he sometimes lost himself in the past. It reminded her of her own eyes, reflected up from still and threatening water.

"Do you know what my mom said?" Caduceus spoke quietly, eyes focussed on his tea. "She said she thinks I'm the only one who could have saved them. Saved the Grove."

"It sounds like she's proud of you," Veth thought of Luc and her hopes for him. She thought of the  kindness and help Caduceus continually showed. "I know I would be."

Caduceus looked up in surprise, ears lifting.

"But if that's true," he said, brow furrowed. "I shouldn't have waited ten years to leave. I should have been the first to go."

Veth thought about that, really thought.

"Look," she said. "I don't know about fate and gods and all of that. I do know that parents don't always get it right. We try. But sometimes we mess up. And it's the worst thing, to mess up in a way that hurts your child. But it wasn't your choice to stay, not really. Not when everyone else was choosing to leave. And Caduceus, you should not have been left alone for so long."

Caduceus' eyes were wide and wet. Veth could see his throat working, though no sound came out.

"I don't mean to judge your parents," she said. "They couldn't have known what would happen. But you were left in a terrible situation. And I'm glad that you ended up with us, but there was nothing good about the circumstances that brought us together. And it took a lot of faith and courage on your part to trust us, to leave with us and help us. No parent could expect more from their child. Not even a Wildmother."

They sat in silence as Veth's words settled. Caduceus gazed into his tea, looking a bit shattered. Tentatively, Veth left her seat to climb onto the couch beside him. Standing on the seat next to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, petting his hair as she did with Luc when he was hurt or afraid. She felt Caduceus relax into the circle of her arms, breathing deeply as he worked through his feelings. Eventually, she pulled away, holding his face in her hands. She produced a handkerchief from her pocket and blotted away the wet streaks in his fur.

"Thanks," he said, smiling and unashamed as he met her gaze. "I think I needed that."

"Any time, Ducey," she said. "We're here for you."

She patted his head one last time before hopping down.

"I think we should both get some rest," she said. "I'll see you in the morning."

Caduceus nodded and walked her to the door. He kept watch as she ascended slowly through the center of the Tower. Once she was out of sight and she heard his door click shut, she paused.

Down, she thought, silently.

Quiet as a shadow, Veth drifted back to Caduceus' floor. She looked at his door, and Yasha's. Then, she turned to glare at the guest room door.

Standing there, Veth thought about family and responsibility. She thought about dangers, both internal and external, and how a person could drown on dry land under the weight of it all. She thought about her friends, how badly she wanted them all safe and cared for.

Then, gingerly, Veth extracted a banana peel from her bag. She carefully placed it in front of the guest room door.

Nodding to herself, she turned away, rising through the center of the tower to a peaceful night's rest.

Read Part 1

[nomanwalksalone]

JOBS? NEVER!!

by Daniel Penny

A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed when I came across the trailer for Jobs? Never!!, a new skateboarding film directed by, and starring, Jim Greco. Through its nefarious algorhythm, Instagram has correctly pegged me as a former skateboarder and distant fan of the sport, and so these kinds of clips pop up in my feed pretty often. Still, this one seemed different. The video didn’t show any tricks–no flashy 360 varial flips, no nollie crooked grinds–just a man pushing through the streets of L.A., a dusty suit jacket flapping open in the breeze.

This was strange enough to entice me to click the link to see the whole film, which I finished in a state of awe. Greco plays a semi-fictional version of himself who seems to be skateboarding as a way of spending his astonishing energy and keeping at bay a stultifying ennui. In the opening scene, he takes a brutal fall, and the rest of the film is a kind of dream sequence from his hospital bed, in which Greco, approaching 40, mulls over his fading career, old addictions, and persistent love of a sport that may one day kill him.

Instead of giving viewers the usual march of technical virtuosity set to the latest trap anthem, Jobs? Never!! emphasizes raw physicality and atmosphere, unrolling these languorous shots of Greco skating through LA, sometimes accompanied by friends, but always in his mind, alone. The meandering 16 mm camera work makes the film seem as if it were discovered in some kind of time capsule, while the old fashioned soundtrack is Lynchian in its contrast with what you see on screen. My favorite scene is a surreal sequence of Greco watching TV in a sparsely furnished loft with a young women who seems to be his girlfriend, then restlessly skating around the apartment and catching air over his refrigerator. And yet, the beauty and absurdity of these moments are laced with a melancholy, existential quality that stays with you long after the credits roll. If Jean-Luc Godard were to direct a skateboarding film, this would be it.

Throughout Jobs? Never!!, Greco appears improbably steezed, sporting vintage tailoring and gold Supra shoes of his own design. (They call to mind Dorothy’s red slippers.) Just as viewers at home should be warned against imitating his stunts, Greco’s sprezzatura is beyond what most men are capable of–his jackets are so lived in, they’re practically bursting at the seams, his shirts sometimes so tattered they might serve better as rags. Yet all of this wear somehow adds up to a picture of charming insouciance? Many of the film’s best sequences were shot in LA’s Skid Row, but you would never mistake Greco for a vagrant; he has one of those genetically ordained, athletically trim frames–with a slightly weathered, but still handsome face. And Greco’s graceful movements make the weathered state of his attire seem neither an embarrassment nor an affectation. His movie seems to suggest: “This is just the way I dress, dude.”

Quality content, like quality clothing, ages well. This article first appeared on the No Man blog in 2019.

[ms-rampage]

Family Reunion 4

Warnings: Light swearing, Light smut (towards the end) 

Word count: 2k+

Characters: Sam and Dean Winchester, Castiel, Lucifer, Gabriel, Paige and Kate Winchester (OCs).

Summary: Paige and Kate are brought back to the bunker by Castiel and get some serious news from him where they can be protected by two Archangels.

I'm gonna make this into a series!!!. I'LL BE WORKING ON PART 5 SOON. There's an actual plot!!!!!!!.

Note: I've said Sam, Dean, Paige and Kate aren't related but each others counterparts. FUCK IT THEY'RE RELATED. 1ST COUSINS.

******************

Arriving back into the bunker by Castiel, and being greeted by their cousins. Paige and Kate are somewhat relieved from being saved from the Archangels.

The two sisters are in Paige's room talking about their encounters with the two Archangels.

"What did Gabriel do to you?!" Paige asks, sitting down on her bed, leaning against the headboard.

“Uhh, well he took off my pants. Only halfway. He sucked on my neck, kissed it. It felt, it felt kinda. Really nice. We were- we were in a really nice hotel room" Kate says, hesitantly, "So what did Lucifer do to you?!". 

"He pushed me onto a bed, he put his hand between my legs, fingering me, and he fucked my neck" she says.

"Uhh you mean he sucked your neck?!?" Kate asks, furrowing her eyebrows. 

"Yeah, well it felt like he fucked my neck with his mouth" Paige says, trying not to think, or get into detail about it. 

Kate narrows her eyes in confusion, "Umm okay?. Did Lucifer say, or mentioned why he took you?!". 

Paige shakes her head, "Nope, did Gabriel say why he took you!??!". 

Kate shakes her head, "No, but he did mention that I'm "clearly not like the other two Winchesters" meaning Sam and Dean". 

Paige chuckles, smiling "Yeah, we're somewhat different from Sam and Dean. But we still carry the bloodline, and the last name". 

"Yeah we do" Kate says, chuckling softly. 

From down the hallway Dean calls out to them "Paige!, Kate!. We got takeout!".

They leave the room, walk down the hall towards the library, and see Sam and Dean with burgers, and fries. 

"Eat up" Dean says, as he eats his burger. 

They sit down at the table, and eat their food. Their first meal for that day, looking like a couple of starving children, scarfing down their food. 

"So" Dean says, mouthful, and balling up his burger wrapper. 

"What did Gabriel and Lucifer want with you two?!"

"We're not sure" Paige says, shrugging. 

"Cas said he found you guys underneath them?!" Sam says, with an uncomfortable tone. 

Dean looks at him with wide eyes. He turns to his younger cousins. 

"They wanted you two for sex?!?" he asks them. 

"Most likely, but we're not sure why" Kate says.

"I'm just glad Cas showed up when he did. I didn't feel like carrying a Nephilim" Paige says, somewhat relieved.

Wings flutter, and a slight breeze catches their attention. Castiel steps into the room. 

"I got some information" he says, walking over to them.

"About what?!" Sam asks, concerned. Castiel takes a seat next to the two sisters. 

"On why Lucifer and Gabriel took them". 

Paige turns to her cousins, and back to Cas. 

"Why?!" she asks, furrowing her eyebrows at the angel. 

He sighs, "It doesn't make sense. To me at least, but they apparently wanted you two because-" He trails off trying to find the right words, and put them together. 

After a few minutes, Dean speaks up. 

"Because of what Cas?!?" he asks, breaking the dramatic, and painful silence. 

"Because they-they wanted to, I guess "mark" you. If that makes sense" he says, still trying to find the right words. 

"Mark us?!" Kate and Paige ask in unison. 

"Mark them?" Dean asks, narrowing his eyes at him, "Mark them as what?!. Their property, or something?!". 

Cas rubs the side of his head, "I'm guessing as theirs, probably a territorial thing, but it could mean they wanted to protect them". 

They all look back and forth at each other, confused and not understanding what the angel is saying. Protect them? Protect them from what?!. Territory? They're humans not land, or property!. Apparently Archangels see them differently only because humans are inferior to them times 100. 

"Protect them?" Sam asks. 

Cas sighs again, "From what I've heard. I thought it was just a misheard rumor, or something that the demons made up". 

"The demons?!" Paige exclaims, her eyes wide, "What rumor?!?!".

He takes a deep breath, "Apparently, Paige is Abaddon's true vessel, and Kate is Lilith's true vessel" he says with a hint of shame in his voice. 

"What?!!?" Dean exclaims, getting up from his seat. Running his hand through his hair, pacing back and forth. 

"Wait, wait, wait Cas?!" Sam stammers, trying to piece everything together, "You mean like how I'm Lucifer's true vessel, and Dean is Michael's?!?". 

He places his hands over his face, and moves them away, "Yes. I didn't want to believe it. But that's what I heard. Heaven, the angels were talking about it". 

"I thought Lilith was dead?!?!" Kate asks, wanting all this to be a nightmare. 

"And Abaddon!!!" Paige adds. 

"Yes, but apparently, Crowley, Asmodeus, Alistair, Cain or some other powerful demon. I'm not sure who, is planning on bringing them back" Cas says, "And they need vessels that are strong and-and worthy enough to carry them".

Piecing everything together, and connecting everything. Paige and Kate start to feel anxious, worried. No words can describe how they're feeling. They're both the true vessels to two powerful demons. 

"So let me get this straight. Abaddon, a Knight of Hell is supposed to be in Paige's body?!?" Sam asks, pointing to his younger cousin, "And Lilith, the first demon to be created by Lucifer, is supposed to be in Kate's body?!?". 

Before Castiel could answer Sam's question, a way too familiar voice from behind them basically answers the question for him. 

"That's right!", they all turn around, and see Lucifer standing in the doorframe to the hallway. "She wasn't my favorite to be created"

He pushes himself off the doorframe, and approaches the group. 

"And yes Lilith is her other half" he says pointing to Paige. 

They all look at each other in confusion. 

"I thought Abaddon was my "other half"." Paige asks, cocking her eyebrows at the Archangel. He slowly approaches her with his head tilted to the side. Sam and Dean stand on either side of them, and Castiel stands in front of the two sisters.

"Aren't you Kate?" he asks, pointing to Paige again. 

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, "No, she's Kate" she answers pointing to her younger sister, "I'm Paige'' she points to herself. 

"It's not hard to tell them apart, Luci" another familiar voice says behind the 4 Winchesters and Castiel. 

They turn around and see Gabriel standing on the opposite side of the table. 

"You almost get into her pants, and you forget which one she is" he mocks him.

Sam and Dean both have their guards up, angel blades ready in hand and are willing to protect their younger cousins. Probably the last ones of the Winchester family, the last ones of the bloodline

"Kate is the short, cute one, and Paige is the taller, slightly aggressive looking one." Gabriel says walking around the table towards his older brother. 

"They both look alike" Lucifer responds, crossing his arms. Tilting his head to the side while staring at Paige.

"No we don't!!" the two sisters say in unison, making everyone look at them. 

"Anywho. Yes I wanted to mark her, and I still do" Gabriel says winking, and pointing to Kate, "To protect her from Lilith". 

"Why?!" Dean asks annoyed, glaring at the Archangel, "Why do you want to protect her from Lilith?!". 

"They're both dead" Sam informs them, "We killed them!". 

"Well!" Lucifer says, stepping closer to them, "A few demons, or some of Crowley's, or Alister's lap dogs have been busy". 

"But why have sex with us to mark us?!" Paige asks, "Isn't there another way to mark us humans or something?!?". 

They both shrug, "Yeah, but sex is always the fun way of marking humans. Instead of the proper way" Gabriel says. 

"A hand print is the proper way" Lucifer adds."A hand print??!?" Paige asks, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, a hand print" Gabriel says, "So if we could get on with the marking in the fun way. That would be great". 

Sam and Dean stand in front of their cousins, blocking them from the Archangels. Castiel glaring at his older brothers. 

"That's not happening!" Dean snarls, "We promised to keep them safe, and we meant it". 

Lucifer rolls his eyes, stepping closer to them, and says "Okay Dean enough with the whole tough, macho man bit. It's not working". 

"We're not gonna let you take them again" Sam says, narrowing his eyes at them. 

"I think they should decide for themselves" Gabriel speaks up, crossing his arms. He looks over at Kate, "What do you say honey?". 

Both Archangels look over at the two sisters. They turn to each other, and whisper to one another. 

"What should we do?!" Kate asks, her whisper sounding like she's mouthing her words.

Paige shrugs, "I don't know". 

Lucifer whistles at them, mainly at Paige, "Come on cupcake I don't have all day!!". 

Sam and Dean turn to their cousins, "You don't have to go with them" Dean says to them. They both nod in agreement, 

"We don't want them to hurt you" Sam tells them. 

"They don't need protection from Abaddon, and Lilith" Castiel speaks up, "Sam and Dean killed them before, and they can do it again". 

"Umm no they can't, because from what I've heard. They're both gonna be stronger than ever!, and I mean stronger. That's why they need your little cousins as their vessels" Lucifer explains to them, “Because they’re “worthy”, and “strong’ enough to carry them”.

The 4 Winchesters and Cas exchange looks, not knowing what to say, and put everything together. 

"Come on Katie, ya know I can keep you safe" Gabriel says in a flirty tone. 

Kate shakes her head, and says in a nervous tone "No I'm fine". 

Lucifer pats Gabriel on his shoulder, "Whelp sucks for you little bro" he says, "Sooo Paige, Paigey, Paigey Sue. Come on I can keep you safe. From Abaddon". 

Paige shakes her head as well, "Sorry Luci, but I can protect myself from Abaddon". 

Both Archangels scoff. 

"Ya know we can just take you, or I can just take you" Lucifer says in a threatening, but also somewhat “friendly” tone. 

Sending shivers down Paige's spine. The elder Winchesters were able to banish the two Archangels out of the bunker. Accidentally banishing Cas as well (Sorry Cas). Knowing they aren't gonna be very happy about it. Might end up killing Sam and Dean later. 

------------------

A few hours later, Paige and Kate are in the library. 

Kate's working on a psychology assignment, or that's what Paige thinks she's working on, and the elder sister is doing research for a case. 

Sam, and Dean went to investigate a case, and Cas stayed behind to make sure Lucifer, and/or Gabriel didn't show up, and snatch their cousins again.

"I just find it weird that they chose us to be their vessels" Paige says to her sister. 

"Yeah, yeah that's odd" Kate mutters, not looking up from her laptop screen, concentrating on her "assignment".

"I just don't understand it. Sam killed Lilith all those years ago, and Dean killed Abaddon with the First Blade" she says, tapping her nails on the table.

"Mmhh" Kate hums, still not looking up from her laptop, looking at something that is memorizing.

Paige grabs her laptop and turns it to face her. 

She glares up at her younger sister, "Really? You're researching Lilith?!". 

"I'm nervous!!!" she exclaims, "Okay I do worry whenever someone is after us. Why don't you?!?". 

She grabs her laptop, and faces it towards her. 

Paige sighs, "Because they need our consent to enter our bodies". 

Kate corrects her knowledge, "That's Angels. They need our consent to enter our bodies".

Paige lets out a soft huff, "Whatever, the bottom line is, I'm not gonna let Abaddon harvest my soul, and let her take over my meatsuit. That ain't happening!!".

Half an hour later Sam, and Dean return from their case, just your typical heart ripped out of your chest kind of thing. Nothing big, or unusual for them at least. 

That night they all get ready for bed. The two sisters in their rooms, the two brothers in their rooms. 

Cas went back up to Heaven to get more information on the whole Lilith and Abaddon situation. Both sisters fall fast asleep, Kate wakes up 3 in half hours later around 1:30 am, and goes to the restroom. Half asleep, walking down the somewhat dark, cold corridor.

Sucks her bedroom doesn’t have a bathroom like the others do. Stepping inside, doing her business. Afterwards, a cold breeze makes her whole body shake, goosebumps all over her body. 

Once again, walking down the corridor, she power walks back to her room. Wanting to get back into the warmth of her blankets.

She makes it back, closing her door, locking it. She goes back into bed, and closes her eyes. Drifting off to sleep, she hears shuffling movements, thinking it's all in her head, she ignores it.

Then an extra weight next to her, makes her open her eyes. She gasps softly, looks next to her, waking up to an empty bed. She sits up and looks around the room. Confused, thinking her imagination is messing with her, or perhaps a certain Trickster is messing with her to get her attention.

A voice next to her, makes her fall out of bed.

“You got that right sugar”.

Kate falls out of bed, getting tangled in her sheets, and sees Gabriel laying on her bed. Struggling to get up, and untangle herself from her bedsheets. She manages to get out of it.

“What are you doing here?!?!” she whispers, angrily. 

He smirks at her, and says “Oh you know exactly why I came here”.

She squints her eyes at him, “The marking?!?”

He nods his head, then wiggles his eyebrows “The fun way sugar”.

Kate rubs her face, hoping that this is all a dream. When she opens her eyes she’s back in bed with the Archangel lying next to her.

“So. Let’s get busy” he says, laying on his side, resting on his arm, “But first. I need your consent”.

She looks at him confused, “What? Consent?. You didn’t ask me before”.

He bobs his head side to side, and says “Yeah well, I’m gonna be inside you, and I need your consent. I need your permission”.

He looks at her with a look of sincere, wanting her to trust him. This isn’t for him to get a piece of action from a human. He’s her guardian angel, he wants to protect her especially from Lilith.

“You need my protection. They won’t be enough to save you” he tells her, moving her hair away from her face, looking down at her with those bourbon color orbs. 

“Okay” she whispers, giving him permission to mark her, or to her, have sex with her. 

Marking her from the first demon. He snaps his fingers, making his clothes, and hers as well disappear. Gabriel climbs on top of her hovering over her. Aligning himself with her, and slowly inserts himself inside her.

Making her gasp, and moan softly. Her hands immediately go to his shoulders, looking up at him as he slowly thrusts inside her. He starts to pick up the pace, his grunting gets slightly louder, making her bed squeak. As it starts to get hot and rough. Kate wakes up to an empty bed and fully clothed. She looks around her room, and no one in sight. Empty room. 

"That felt so real" she whispers to herself before falling back asleep. 

[intoanothermind]

Beauty Queen - Chapter 2

B E A U T Y  Q U E E N

Synopsis: You are the Ice Princess of Narnia during the Long Winter. Your sister Jadis, the White Witch, hates that you’re always helping Narnians escape prision. She decides to hunt you down and you have to run away from the palace. What happens when you find the four humans lost in Narnia?

- Edmund Pevensie x reader

Masterlist

<Chapter 1 | Chapter 3>

(This chapter is focused on the four Pevensie, but I’ll be posting the next one soon. Just to remind you that the dialogues were translated from Brazilian verson, so you might them a bit different.)

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C H A P T E R  T W O

“Peter, Peter, wake up!” shouted Lucy, turning on the light and jumping over sister him. “It’s there! It's right there!”

“Lucy, what are you talking about?” mumbled Peter, fidgeting in bed.

“Narnia!” said Lucy happily. “It’s in the wardrobe, like I told you!”

“Oh, you 're just dreaming, Lucy.” Susan said, approaching.

“But it wasn't a dream!” insisted Lucy. “I saw Mr. Tumnus again! And this time Edmund did too.”

Susan looked at Edmund in disbelief. Edmund looked at them, thinking about what he would say.

“Did you... Did you see the faun?” asked Peter.

Edmund didn't say anything, just shook his head.

“Well... - started Lucy, getting up from Peter's bed. “Actually, he didn't go there with me. He...” She turned and Edmund frowned, a little suspicious. “What did you do, Edmund?”

Edmund wished he could say that he found a charming girl, but he knew that Susan and Peter would think him as crazy as Lucy.

“I wanted to... Play a little.” said Edmund.

Lucy looked quickly at Peter, not knowing what to think.

“Sorry, Peter.” Edmund continued, proudly. “I shouldn't have encouraged it, but... You know how kids are nowadays.” Lucy already could feel the tears starting to fall. “They don’t know when to stop pretending.” he said finally, sitting on his bed, but getting up soon after.

Lucia was already crying freely. She ran out the door while Edmund stood up with a victorious smile. Susan went after her and Peter got out of bed and when he passed his brother, he knocked him over. They ran after Lucy, listening to her sobs. Lucy wanted to run away from them. She bumped into someone. She barely saw that it was Professor Kirke and hugged him around the waist.

“You are just about to go to sleep in the bulls!” Mrs. Macready complained, but when she saw Professor Kirke, she hurried to say. “Professor. Excuse me. I told them you didn't want to be disturbed.”

“Okay, Mrs. Macready, I know there is an explanation.” he said, looking directly at Susan and Peter. “But first I think the little one needs a hot chocolate.” he said, pushing Lucy slightly towards Mrs. Macready.

“Come on, honey.” said Mrs. Macready to Lucy softly.

Lucy went with Mrs. Macready, but she could still hear Professor Kirke clearing his throat. Lucy could imagine him giving a speech to his older siblings.

~ * ~

“And Peter is preparing another big shot!” said Peter, running a few steps and throwing the ball, which hit Edmund's leg.

“Hey!”

“Oops!”

They were in the backyard.

Peter, Susan and Edmund played baseball, while Lucy was sitting on a nearby tree, reading some book. However Edmund wasn’t concentrating enough. He thought of his brief time in Narnia, but what intrigued him was Y/N and all the mystery around her.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!” said Peter.

“Why don't we play hide and seek again?” asked Edmund.

“Didn't you say it was a child's game?” Peter asked ironically, taking the ball and going back to the mark.

“And here we can play outdoors.” Susan said.

“It isn’t fun to stay here outside.” complained Edmund.

Peter straightened up and stood so that he could throw the ball freely.

“Are you ready?” Peter asked.

“And you?” asked Edmund.

Edmund hit the grass twice with his bat, while Peter got ready and ran, throwing the ball into the air. Edmund hit back, but the ball went through a second floor window. The four looked at each other, startled. Everyone ran as fast as possible to the second floor, in the room where the glass was broken and armour was knocked over.

“I can't believe it, Ed!” said Peter.

“You broke it!” said Edmund nervously.

“Guys, calm down.” Susan said. “It's just Mrs. Macready not discovering it.”

“What is happening up there?!” they heard Mrs. Macready's voice from below, with the sound of her shoes hitting the wooden stairs.

“Come on!” Peter said, running all through a side door.

They ran down the hall, past the study room. But they stopped when they heard the footsteps go again.

“No , wait, wait! This way, this way!” said Edmund, pushing them by the way they came from.

They ended up in another corridor. They went up another ladder and Susan tried to open a door, but it was locked and the steps were getting closer. The tension was suffocating them. Everyone kept trying several doors, and the sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer. Edmund, then , had an idea. He ran to the door that led into the wardrobe room. He threw it open and ran to the wardrobe. The others followed .

“Come in!” said Edmund.

“It can only be a joke!” said Susan.

But then they heard Mrs. Macready's footsteps coming down the hall. Everyone entered the wardrobe and seconds before Mrs. Macready opened the wing door, Peter was walking back, pushing everyone.

“Get back!”

“Oh, my foot!” complained Lucy, being pushed backwards.

“I’m not stepping on your toes!” Susan said.

“You're hurting me!” said Edmund.

“Stop pushing yourselves!” said Peter.

“My foot again!” said Lucy.

“Sorry, Lu.” Susan said.

Everyone pushed, until they saw some branches.

“Branches?!” Susan asked.

“Why would there be branches in a wardrobe?!” asked Peter.

And then they all fell on top of each other, on top of the newly fallen snow. Peter, who fell on top, got up and helped the sisters to get up. Edmund stood up and brushed the snow off his clothes. He looked around, wondering if Y/N was around.

“Impossible!” exclaimed Susan, looking admired around.

“It's all right.” said Lucy, looking for others with hidden snowball behind her body. “It’s only your imagination.”

“I imagine apologizing isn’t enough.” said Peter.

“No , it's not.” said Lucy. Soon after, she threw the snowball at Peter, hitting him in the face. “But that's enough!” she shouted, turning to get another snowball.

And then the war started. Peter and the girls were having fun. Snowballs thrown here and there, until one hit Edmund’s arm and the playing ended.

“You liar!” accused Peter, getting angry.

“You also didn’t believe her.” said Edmund. “None of you did.”

“Apologize to Lucy.” Peter ordered.

But Edmund did nothing. He just looked at Lucy and looked back at Peter, but said nothing. This irritated the blonde deeply.

“Apologize!” Peter insisted.

“Okay!” and turned to Luc . “I'm sorry.”

“It’s okay...” said Lucy, making everyone turn to her. “Some kids don't know when to stop pretending.”

“Funny.” Edmund sneered.

“We better get back!” Susan said, afraid.

“We should at least take a look...” Edmund said, indicating the trees, praying silently to find Y/N, since he was there.

“I think that Lucy should decide.” Peter replied.

“I don't know...” said Lucia, undecided. “I wanted you to meet Mr. Tumnus!” she said, turning to the others.

“Let's meet Mr. Tumnus!” said Peter cheerfully.

“But we can't walk through the snow in these clothes!” said Susan.

“No.” said Peter, returning from the trees with several coats in hands and handing them all. “But I bet the Professor doesn't care that we wear coats. If you think logically...” he handed one to Susan with a winning smile on her face. “We're not even taking it out of the wardrobe.”

“But it's a girl's coat!” complained Edmund when receiving his.

“I know.” Peter frowned, still extending his coat to the brunette.

They found themselves in front of a canyon, where there was an opening in the front, like a cave.

“There's a lot of delicious food here and we're going to drink a lot of...” Lucy told them, but when she saw that the door was broken, she quickly stopped where she was. “... tea.”

Everyone stopped, watching the metal door fall towards the shelter, broken open.

“Lu?” Peter called.

A second later, Lucy recovered from the shock and ran towards the house.

“Lucy!” shouted Peter, following with others after her.

They passed the door frame and saw that the place seemed pleasant. It was completely messed. Tables and chairs overturned on the floor, books on overturned shelves, papers on the floor, broken dishes. The place had an melancholic and depressing air.

“Who would do such a thing?” asked Lucy, more to herself than to others.

She walked through the rubble, looking for any clue as to what really happened. Edmund stepped on a glass and looked down, seeing a portrait of an old faun. The photograph, which was an inked canvas, was torn by claws.

He was about to say something when they heard a noise in a door stuck at the end of the cave.