#//we could prob close this for our next

[ashlee-bonfamille-lyons]

Ashlee nodded, she wouldn't miss it. Even if her start date had been before it she would make sure to come back for it. The same way she would find the time in the future to come back for Simba and Berlioz's birthdays, for Holidays when she could. After all she wouuld have lots of performances.

Well that was the goal.

"I'm sure its gonna be great but trust me. I know I can always come home. This is my home."

Meant For Greatness {Simlee}

[biteyoubiteme]

mango flavored.

yeonjun x fem!reader

synopsis: yeonjun and you work at rival companies and he’s always looking for a way to prove you wrong.

warnings: 🔞!!! yeonjun and reader pick on each other, rivals to lovers, mentions of fingering, unprotected sex, pull out method used, choking (f!rec), handjob, mirror sex, prob forgot some sorry

wc: 3.1k

an: posting early because I can't keep anything in my drafts thats done and if I look at it too much I wont like it. also this one kinda got away from me it was supposed to be hate sex but I don't think it really turned out like that lol so sorry about that and also more rivals to lover and not enemies to lovers ;-; forgive me pls feedback is appreciated :)) [m.list]

this is apart of my mini kinktober event check out the other fics here! [dumdum m.list]

It had only been a summer since you had last seen yeonjun and you would have been better if it had been longer. Even just thinking of the last event the two of you had attended together made your blood boil. both of you sneering at each other waiting for your cars, “I mean the numbers aren't looking too hot for you, down two percent in just the last quarter,” 

you had rolled your eyes arms crossed as you cursed the valet for being so slow, “well some of us don’t fudge the numbers to make our company look good,” 

his scoff was stone cold, “If you think- no I'm not even going to tolerate that accusation,” his hands shoved deep into his pockets, jaw tight. 

“Then don’t start with me,” you had fallen into silence, both of you having fought all night. Every time you tried to rub elbows with another firm, Yeonjun was right at your side trying to wedge himself into the conversation, to steal anyone away who was willing to talk to you. 

This late after the event you couldn’t think of anything better than going home as soon as possible and yet your car still wasn’t here; Neither was his. 

“I'm so sorry for the inconvenience but it seems there is a problem with one of our cars,” the valet states, their hands folded apologetically in front of them, “we only have the one left unless you’re willing to wait forty minutes. We did check the routes and both of you seem to live on the same street and if you’re willing-“ 

“no,” you start at the same time yeonjun says, “That’s fine,” 

“I don’t think I’d be able to survive a car ride with you, you’d take up all the air,” the valet looked mildly uncomfortable as yeonjun and you stared each other down. 

“well if you’re willing to wait then by all means don’t let me stop you,” 

"I am not waiting,” you would call someone before you let yeonjun watch you stand here in his rearview mirror feeling like he won the night. 

“Well I’m not waiting so suck it up,” you huff a humorless laugh at the way he waves you away. “we will take the car it's fine,” 

“We will compensate you both for the inconvenience we are so so sorry,” the valet apologizes wanting to be done with the situation.

“it’s okay we’re friends,” his cocky grin adds to your annoyance. 

“the day i’m friends with you is the day you’re sucking up to me after my company absorbs yours,” 

“Please we both know it will be the other way around,” 

you don’t even try to fight back, you're too tired from the day ready to get the ride over with so that you can cozy up in your apartment and think about anything else besides yeonjun. For the short car ride you could play nice. You didn’t even say anything when he was quick to get Into the car first. Both of your companies always rented out the same car place after events that had drinking involved. The sleek blacked-out suvs provided layers of privacy from the outside in. The divider separating the front and back seat when closed made the back seat seem like you were truly secluded, important calls could be made without the driver hearing so long as you made sure the window was closed. The driver wasn’t able to see into the back unless it was open. It wasn’t an ideal place to be seated next to someone you didn’t like. 

“The pavilion is first for drop off. Does that work for you two?” the driver asks both of you nodding as he closes the divider leaving the two of you in complete silence. 

“When did you move into the pavilion? If I had known we were neighbors I would have sent a basket of something,"Yeonjun asks, sitting back and getting comfortable for the drive, his legs spread knee knocking yours. 

“Only a month ago so if you’re still handing out gifts i’d like you to keep it so I’m not indebted to you in any way,” 

“I’ve seen the penthouse layout the place is huge you couldn’t possibly be sharing that whole space alone,” 

“if that is some way of asking me if I have a partner-“  

he cuts you off. “I was asking if you were going home to anyone or your vibrator because someone or something needs to work out the tension the stick up your ass gave you,” 

“you’re a fucking dick,” you roll your eyes 

“I’m just saying only uptight people don’t get laid maybe that’s your problem, you haven’t gotten off,”

“If you’re suggesting it be you to do it I’d rather go with the vibrator. i’m sure all the girls who find themselves in your bed fake it only because they don’t want to bruise your ego,” 

he laughs, “If you think I can’t get a girl off-“

“I would bet money, pretty boys like you don’t work too hard in the bedroom besides maybe a little nipple play but that’s only if you’re a boob guy,” 

“I’ll prove it,” 

Now you’re laughing, hand over your mouth to try and catch the sound but it keeps bubbling up, “What?” 

“I’ll prove it,” he repeats, shrugging like it’s nothing at all.

“Okay prove it then,” and he was digging in his pocket and pulling out his wallet. He pushed open the divider and told the driver to do a couple laps around the street leaving him a few bills before shutting the two of you back into your bubble. 

You’ve never confessed to anyone what happened in the back of that car. Not even when you were a few drinks in with your friends and they giggled about their best orgasms. You kept your mouth shut and prayed you would never stumble across yeonjun again. 

It was hard to admit he was right. Even just thinking about the way he looked as you got out of the backseat, that grin so devilish before he licked your wetness clean from his fingers. You had egged him on and now you found it impossible to cum without thinking about the way he completely shattered your world. His breathy voice pressed right to your ear, “I want to hear you, I want to know just how good I’m making you feel,” how when you moaned he praised you, every “good girl,” adding to the build-up to your climax. Only now can you look back and hate on the moment because that was exactly what it was; a moment you desperately wanted to forget. No man, not even yeonjun deserved to have that moment hanging over your head. 

It was only the next day when someone in your company brought up his name and you hated how you felt yourself ache in remembrance. How even a week later you tried to sleep with someone else and they failed miserably to get you anywhere close to what yeonjun made you feel. At least not until you started to imagine it was him on top of you. Just that confession itself was enough to make you believe he ruined your life. It was always a good day when you could successfully push away that night from your memory. Then it was nighttime and flickers of that car ride flashed in your mind. Even your own hand down the front of your shorts couldn’t satisfy the craving. 

Anyone else and it would have been fine even if they were all you could think about but with yeonjun, he was the only competition you had at any other company in your field or at least a competitor that actually made your job worth the effort. If he wasn't there to beat there wasn't much to the day-to-day monotony. If anything it was annoying that he one upped you in something where the playing field was so uneven, if you wanted to match the score you would have to return the orgasm and speak about the fact that he had won in the first place. But you wouldn't be the one to bring it up even if the thought of sucking him off made your mouth water. 

For the past few events your companies have participated in you've missed meeting each other at least face on. Any across the room glances were quickly avoided; neither of you looking out for the other. Even this late into the night with so many people already leaving you've yet to stumble across yeonjun. The event hall was loosely filled with people waiting for cars instead of making their way outside to wait, the early fall breeze already setting in. Everyone you've needed to impress tonight is gone giving you the excuse to sit at the bar without worrying people hovering. 

Stirring your drink you watch the way the ice clinks against the glass, the faint music covering up the sound of yeonjun sitting down on the leather stool next to yours.

“Are you avoiding me?” the question just on the edge of teasing. You don’t even have to look up to know he’s smirking.

“no,” but even if the one word comes out confident, your pulse is hammering. 

“hum, you know for a second my feelings were a little hurt but then I thought about how embarrassed you must feel,” 

you finally turn to look at him, his suit tie undone and hanging loosely around his neck, hair uncut since the last time you saw him this close. “Embarrassed? In all the updated stats I've widened the margins between us. you should be embarrassed,” 

“my mind has just been so preoccupied thinking about how embarrassing it would be to cum in under three minutes,” 

all the blood rushes to your face, not because it’s anything to be embarrassed about but because it’s brought the image right back to you. Your nails digging into his forearm, knees trying to press together as you came. His lips right against your ear, that breathy, ‘look at that,’ still haunts your dreams. and it wasn't only once, he kept going, the heel of his palm pressed right against your clit, ‘too easy I'm sure I could get two more out of you,’ 

it’s like he can see right into your mind, follow the scene like a script he had memorized. “Just like I said that night, I hate you,” you toss your drink back, not even bothering to push in your seat when you stand. 

“Nooo, don't go now,” he chuckles and you roll your eyes. He’s matching you step for step making sure not to leave you alone. 

“my cars out front,” you lie not caring that you can see the exit and clearly empty parking lot. 

“Perfect I needed a ride and you look like the perfect one to do it,” 

you can’t help but laugh, stopping in your tracks making him bump into you, “as if I would put in that much effort to please you,” 

“I'd just let you use me,” he shoves his hands into his pockets, “I'm sure you would get a kick out of that,” 

“if you want to sleep with me you'd have to do all the work but if you thought I came ‘embarrassingly’ quick,” you roll your eyes “I'd hate to think about how long you would last,” 

“If I want to sleep with you? So it’s my choice?” his brows raised lips teasing a small grin. 

“I don’t think it would go well,” you’re stalling trying to think of every reason why it was a bad idea to sleep with him. If he had already ruined sex for you without trying if he did put in the effort you’re sure you would never be able to look back. You wanted him, needed him, and yet he was the worst possible option in terms of survival. You would never get over him. 

“I can last, I can even prove it,” your eyes go to his lips, watching the way his tongue peeks out to wet them. 

“We shouldn’t,” 

“I didn’t ask if we should I offered to prove you wrong or if you’re lucky prove you right then you could hold it over me,” 

he wanted you desperately to say yes, knew he shouldn’t, and still couldn’t help himself. His memories of that night did little to satisfy him anymore, he needed the real thing. Every night since he could hear the way you whimpered, craved to feel you clenching his fingers again. 

“Fine, prove it,” and you don’t think he actually will, not here at least but he’s grabbing your hand leading you to the furthest bathroom in the building. 

You hardly have time to process what's happening between the twist of the lock and his mouth on yours. "We shouldn't be doing this," you mutter breathlessly between kisses.

“then tell me to stop, tell me to leave you alone," but his words meant nothing to you as your hands worked on his belt. His lips trailing down your jaw, teeth scratching down your neck. 

The restroom is a single stall with little space for two to move around much, and the mirror and sink are right in front of the door. You can see yourself in the reflection pressed against the door, yeonjun sloppily kissing over your pulse. When you slip your hand into his pants, fisting his hardening cock. His moan is pressed right against your collarbone, his hand pressed right next to your head using the door to steady himself. You can feel precum starting to bead up and you swipe it up with your thumb. You give a few loose tugs watching the way he reacts, his lashes fluttering as you circle your fingers over his tip. 

“Now look at that, you really do know how to be quiet. Who knew this was all it took,” you tease free hand reaching up to pull on his tie. His head dips until his nose is brushing yours, mouth open in a silent gasp. 

His free hand slips right past your waistband, slim fingers finding your clit with ease. Your hand tightens on his tie and he gives a throaty chuckle at your gasp, your brows coming together as you try not to make any more sounds. 

“no, I told you last time I wanted to hear you, I need to hear you,” his precise circles on your clit give him exactly what he wants, and you’re unable to keep your whimpers to yourself. He is no better off with his hips bucking forward into your hand, every little noise of his caught on your lips. If you kept up the pace you were at he definitely wouldn't last long, every brush over his sensitive tip was making his knees want to fold. 

yeonjun had dreamed about his fingers slipping through your slick again, tasting you, even watching you slam the door as you left; his laugh mixing in with your flustered i hate you. he went through every event fighting the images of that night. But tonight was enough to break him with you dressed in the same skirt you wore then, the fabric smoothed down right over your ass. He wasn’t strong enough to turn away. 

Pulling his hand away from the door he reached down to stop your movements needing a fighting chance to last. 

“I wanna feel you cum on my cock, do you think you can take it?” and you’re nodding following him to the sink. 

The two of you in the mirror look disheveled, lips slightly swollen from the kissing. “I’m kinda glad we don’t work together because I don’t know how I would get work done sitting across from someone this distracting,” his hand slides down the back of your thigh before he lifts your leg. with one hand bracing yourself on the countertop your other goes to the back of your knee to keep it in place while he pushes your panties to the side. 

yeonjun wastes no time in running the head of his cock through your folds, taking the time to slap his tip on your clit making you jerk back against him. “if you don’t-“ but you’re cut off by the stretch of taking him in even an inch, your words caught in your throat as he watches your reaction in the mirror. 

“hum? What was that?” he asks with a cocky grin looking right back at you, his hands wrapping around your waist, as he pushes all the way in. 

The angle has him pressed deep inside you, far enough to make your thighs shake.  your head falls forward as he starts to thrust, hips knocking against yours pushing you further to the countertop. “fuck- you feel so good,” 

The praise makes you clench around him, his moan echoing in the small space. He pulls out almost all the way before snapping his hips back against you the force sends you down to your elbow. 

yeonjun wants to see your face, needs to see the way you come undone for him again. Taking one of his hands he loosely wraps it around your throat guiding you back up to lean against his chest. “Look at us, look at the way you’re taking my cock, don’t we look good together?” his mouth is right next to your ear as he asks, his fingers tightening enough to feel every vibration from your moans. 

“Are you going to cum for me? I wanna feel it,” the hand on your hip goes to your clit helping the build up of your climax. You can’t even form words to reply before you’re falling over the edge. 

yeonjun has to slow his pace as you cum, your gummy walls sucking him in as he helps you ride out your high. He has to drop his hand from around your throat when he pulls out giving the last few tugs on his cock before he spills hot streams of cum on the back of your skirt. 

“I think I won,” he smiles, watching you stand up straight catching each other's gaze in the mirror after you’ve come down for your highs. 

Although you know he’s right you roll your eyes turning your hip so that he can see the mess he’s made. “this was one of my good skirts,” 

“Whatever,” he shrugs, hand coming back up to your neck and tugging your mouth to his kissing you sweetly like he hadn’t just rearranged your organs. “just bill me for the dry cleaning, and next time i’ll just make sure I get you nice and full so you won’t complain,”

🏷 taglist: @kissmekissykissme @bts-txt-ateez @apeachty @stwq2349 @isa942572 @tomorrowxforever @beestvng @soobingf-blog @lovinjjong @lola-horore-553 @cypher-03 @midnight-mochii @hueningwhy @choibeomning @soobinbunnie5 @yunjinswifee @cupidtaehyun @bamgeutsz

[supernovafics]

hiiii i just read your entire i’ll be there for you universe and I’M OBSESSED❤️❤️ Friends to lovers is my favourite trope ever and I love how you wrote a cute slow burn without characters being toxic and mean towards each other bc that happens a lot!

I was wondering how would their parents react to them being together?? And when do they decide to tell their parents, and how it goes down? It’s totally okay if you don’t want to write it but I thought it might be cute!🌸🌸

𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

"i'll be there for you" universe masterlist

pairing: bestfriend!roommate!steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 2.3k words

warnings: explicit language, fluff, implied smut, very slight parent drama

summary: in which your parents finally find out that you and steve are dating 

author's note: thanks for the request! (also for @hippiefairy02 since you requested basically the same thing like a week ago lol). i didn’t really know how to end this one so it kinda just ends lol<3 enjoy though<333

general note: everything in this universe/series can be read as standalone oneshots but to understand the full “lore” it would prob be best to read the other stuff too<333

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Spring 1986

The movie became long forgotten after only the first twenty minutes, which was somewhat of a routine at this point. It was a good thing that you both had seen this one already. 

If you were to look back at who started everything this time around you’d toss the blame onto Steve for initiating the first kiss, but he’d put the blame on you for settling yourself close into his side and giving him a “certain look.”

You were far from thinking about who started what, though, because all you could focus on was the feel of Steve settled on top of you and his mouth against yours. 

Your hands started traveling underneath his plain white t-shirt and one of his took hold of your hip, teasingly slipping a finger or two beneath the waistband of your small pajama shorts. Your legs were tangled with his in a way that was a bit awkward because the couch was way too small to do anything completely comfortably, but you two were okay with making it work for the time being. 

You maneuvered a bit, attempting to push up so that your head could find the pillow that was leaning against the arm of the couch, and the abrupt movement made your forehead bump his.

It didn’t even hurt, but Steve still pulled back and looked at you concerned. “You okay?”

You nodded as you tilted your head up a bit to press a quick kiss against his nose. “I’m fine. You okay?”

“‘M good.” He nodded too and then slotted his lips against yours again.  

You were pulling away after only a second. “Wait, let’s switch. I feel like I’m gonna accidentally knee you or something.”

“Or we can just go to one of our rooms,” He suggested as his lips found your neck, which immediately made your eyes slip shut and you had to bite your lip to hold back the contented sigh that you wanted to let out. 

You almost said yes to Steve’s words, it would’ve been so easy to say yes, but you were trying to keep your thinking somewhat rational, so you shook your head instead. “If we do that, we’re not gonna come out for the rest of the night. And we said that we’d at least try to study for the test we have on Thursday once the movie’s over.”

“The movie we’re not watching,” He mumbled against your neck. 

“Still counts,” You said, lightly pushing him away, and he conceded as you shifted things around so that you were on top of him, settled nicely in his lap with your legs on either side of him. “See? Much better.” 

Before he could potentially say anything in response, you pushed a hand through his hair and leaned down to kiss him. His fingers started teasingly playing with the hem of your t-shirt before simply finding a home on your hips and squeezing you there. 

It was almost too obvious what should’ve happened next and both of you could feel the energy shifting into something a bit more heated, more needy. You would’ve lifted from his lap for a second so that he could slide down his sweatpants and boxers, and then you’d simply pull your underwear and shorts to the side because it would’ve been too much work to fully shimmy out of them. 

But then the phone started ringing in the kitchen and everything that felt like it was right on the verge of happening was pushed out of the window.  

You detached your mouth from Steve’s and sat up. “I’ll get it.”

He let out a groan, head falling back against the throw pillow and hands still on your hips. “Don’t.”

“We have six needy kids and a Robin, I think we have to answer it.”  

“Sadly, that makes sense,” His grip on you loosened and you finally maneuvered off of him after pressing a quick kiss against his forehead. 

You went to the kitchen, where the phone was, and picked it up. “Hello?”

“Hi,” It was easy to decipher your mom’s voice on the other end of the line. “What are you doing Saturday?”

It wasn’t surprising to you that your mom completely skipped past any sort of small talk; the “How are you’s” and “How’ve you been’s.” She always got straight to the point. 

“Me and Steve are gonna be out of town this weekend,” You answered. “I planned this whole date thing and we leave Friday night.” 

It was completely accidental; so accidental that at first, you didn’t even register what you had just told her.

“You and Steve are what?” 

“We’re gonna be in Chicago this weekend for—” You stopped abruptly, finally realizing what you said before. “Oh. Oh, yeah, um, we’re dating.” 

Her gasp was immediate. “Oh my God.”

You couldn’t decipher what that reaction was. She sounded surprised, definitely, but you couldn’t tell if it was a happy kind of surprise or upset.

“How long has it been?”

“A few months.” You shut your eyes then, bracing yourself for what you knew was about to be nothing short of an interrogation.

“What? Why haven’t you told us sooner?”

In all honesty, it wasn’t like either you or Steve were planning on keeping it from your parents forever, it had just never come up in the handful of conversations you’d had with them over the last few months. 

“It’s just, I don’t know. It hadn’t come up yet,” You ultimately answered. “And plus, you never really cared that much about my other relationships.”

“Sure, but Steve’s completely different. This is great!” She told you, and you inwardly sighed in relief that she was happy about the news; even though you were certain that you wouldn’t have cared about having her “approval” either way. “Does Christine know?” 

“No.” 

“Okay, I’m gonna call her right now,” Your mom told you, and you were actually perfectly okay with her ending the call with you right then to go call Steve’s mom instead. “Oh, this is so great!”

She was hanging up before you could say anything else and you were sighing as you placed the phone back on the hook.

“I’m sorry,” You told Steve as you joined him back on the couch. 

He looked at you, confused. “What happened?”

“I accidentally just told my mom that we’re dating, and now she’s calling your mom to tell her too.”  

“Oh, okay, that’s not that bad,” He shrugged. “I guess it had to happen eventually.”

“Yes, but I was kinda hoping that that day would be years from now. Like, when we sent out wedding invitations or something.” 

In your head, telling your friends about you and Steve was one thing, but telling your parents was something entirely different. Your friends were heavily involved in your life, and you knew that you couldn’t keep it from them forever because of that; and then it eventually just felt right to finally be honest about it, anyway. 

Telling your parents, on the other hand, was the farthest thing from your mind. 

“They would probably kill us if we did that. Especially our moms because you know that they’re gonna wanna be involved in the whole thing,” Steve told you, and you knew he was right. 

There were some few and far in-between moments where your parents would switch and pretend to be real parents that were actually involved in their kid’s life. Usually, it only happened during the holidays; Christmases spent pretending that you were a happy and normal family or Thanksgivings that were used to prove the same thing. In a way, it made sense for this news to warrant that same kind of treatment.

You groaned as you leaned further into Steve. “I hate that you’re right.”

Your mom was calling back barely twenty minutes later, right as the two of you were in the middle picking up where you had left off before the first call. Steve answered that time, pulling his sweatpants back up and heading over to the kitchen, and you slipped your shirt back over your head.

“Oh, um, yeah, that’s fine. That night is good,” You heard him say. “We’ll be there.”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion at whatever he was agreeing to right then.  

He hung up a few moments later and gave you an apologetic look. “Okay, now I’m the one that needs to say sorry.”

“What happened?”

“It was your mom,” Steve started as he sat next to you again. “She said she talked to my mom and they’re both really happy about us dating. And they decided that they wanna have a “celebratory dinner” kind of thing with us.”

“No.”

Steve nodded. “It’s gonna be at your parent’s house on Thursday since she knows that we’re going to Chicago for the weekend. I couldn’t think of an excuse on the spot, so I was just agreeing.”

“Oh, God. I feel like this is gonna be like Thanksgiving all over again.”

“Hopefully the dessert is better this time around,” He said, attempting to lighten the mood, and you let out a laugh. 

“If not, then we will definitely be ending the night at Third Street,” You told him and he nodded in agreement before pulling you into his lap. 

“Can we please go to my room?” He asked, arms circling around you. “I feel like the couch is cursed.”

You smiled, lips finding his for a brief second. “Okay, yes, I’ll allow it.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

This night didn’t feel anything like the Thanksgiving dinner that you and Steve had been forced to have all those months ago; at least, not at first. During that night, your parents had gone on and on about their ski trip that was coming up and there were barely any moments where the conversation was focused on you and Steve. 

Now things were different because all they cared about was talking about you two, which did make sense given the reasoning for the dinner. But still, you knew your parents, and this amount of excited fanfare surrounding the two of you felt entirely unexpected. 

Your dad was jokingly giving his “stamp of approval” for the relationship, and Steve’s dad was saying something about how you’d always been a good influence on Steve. And then your moms went on tangent after tangent going down memory lane and telling stories about you and Steve as kids. 

“I’d been hoping this would happen ever since the cruise,” Christine said, a happy smile on her face. “You two were practically attached at the hip the entire time, and that still hasn’t changed.” 

“Yes, you guys were always so cute together. Oh, and remember when you took each other to your proms? I think I still have the pictures somewhere,” Your mom said, smiling happily as well, and you honestly wouldn’t have even minded if she brought out the pictures. 

Eventually, though, things shifted, and toward the end of dinner, the conversation moved away from you and Steve. Instead, your parents started reminiscing about old moments from their collective friendship that didn’t involve you and Steve at all. This made sense to you; you knew that it could only be a matter of time before they finally started talking about themselves.   

With the topic of you and Steve long forgotten, you two slipped away from the table, no one noticing or stopping you, and retreated to your old bedroom that was just down the hall. 

You sat at the foot of your old bed and watched as Steve simply walked around, taking a look at the things that you had decided to leave behind and not bring along to the apartment. 

You kicked your shoes off and crossed your legs under you. “Tonight actually hasn’t been completely unbearable.” 

“Yeah, weirdly, it hasn’t,” Steve agreed as he walked over to you and leaned down to press a kiss against the top of your head. “There’s no dessert though, so we’ll have to go to Third Street.”

“Do you think they’d notice if we slipped out of my window right now?” 

He laughed a bit. “Fifty-fifty shot.”

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind taking those odds,” You said, smiling up at him. 

“I would say okay, but I think I have to be the reasonable one here and say that we should just walk out the front door like normal people.”

His words only made you smile wider because usually, it was you who would say the logical thing to do in situations.

“We’ve swapped roles tonight,” You said as you stood up and put your shoes back on. “I think you do a great job as the reasonable one.” 

“I don’t like it. You can have that job back after tonight,” He told you, smiling as his hand found yours.

You only nodded as you and he headed out of your bedroom. Your parents were still at the dining table, laughing about something that you didn’t hear. 

“Hey, we’re gonna head out. We have to wake up early tomorrow, so yeah,” You said, pulling their attention onto you and Steve. It was a lie, but it felt like it would be a plausible enough excuse. “Thanks for tonight.” 

“Yeah, it was great,” Steve agreed with a quick nod. 

A slew of “Goodnight’s” and “Drive safe’s” came from your parents, which you two nodded and smiled at before exiting your house. 

You let out a sigh of relief once you were sat in the passenger seat of Steve’s car. 

The night hadn’t been horrible, you’d experienced much worse dinners with your parents. But that didn’t mean that you weren’t glad that this one was over. 

“So, are we gonna be basic tonight and do milkshakes, or have whatever pie Mary made for the night?” You asked as you played with the radio and then left it on a station that you’d probably end up changing in a minute or two. 

Steve took a quick glance at you and smiled. “If she made apple, then I think the answer is obvious.”

“Very true,” You nodded and smiled back at him. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

let me know ur thoughts<333

(requests are open for stuff you wanna see in the universe/series!🫶🏾)

[artandshid]

*found this in my drafts and i was prob heartbroken when I read this lmaooo*

Eddie Munson didn’t do girlfriends, he didn’t do love outside of the platonic kind for that matter. Eddie loved girls, he loved sex, but the romantic bullshit just wasn’t for him. He didn’t have the money to pay for expensive dates, he didn’t have the maturity for a real relationship, and he didn’t even have anyone to bring a significant other home to. He had no family, I mean sure he had Uncle Wayne and Wayne was a great guy. But Wayne worked a lot and he was often grumpy when he came back from work, not the friendliest guy to meet. As a matter of fact, the only person in Eddie’s life who met Wayne was Y/n.

Y/n was someone very dear to Eddie. Y/n was Eddie’s fuck buddy, the girl that maybe he loved a little more than platonically, but most of all, Y/n was Eddie’s best friend.

The whole fuck buddy thing started after a horrible hookup on her end, and Eddie was certain that he could be better than whatever scumbag she went out with that night, and he was. He would never admit how proud he was of that, though.

Eddie is slightly aware of his feelings for his best friend, he’d never tell her, but he would be lying if he said her presence doesn’t make him feel better. That the sight of her doesn’t just have him turned on, but brings him a sense of inner peace. He knows what these feelings are, but he also knows that they’re wrong. People like Eddie don’t deserve to feel those feelings, especially towards someone as great as Y/n. So he’s just letting them be for now, because he knows that she’ll find better eventually and he’s going to be okay with that, because having her as his best friend is good enough.

“Oh fuck Eddie.” Y/n moans from underneath him, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

Eddie rocks above her, panting and moaning the entire time. “Fuck babe I’m close, so fucking close. Oh shit, here I come babe.” He says as his eyes squeeze shut and he fucks his orgasm into her, her climax quickly approaching.

He pulls out and rolls next to her, both of them panting. They make eye contact and smile, both of their stomachs doing flips, neither one knowing about the other.

“We did good, huh?” Eddie says jokingly and pulls a cigarette out, offering her one, which she happily takes.

Y/n laughs out loud and lightly hits his chest, “Shut up.”

“No I’m serious, that was one of our best rounds yet.”

She laughs again, but slowly goes into a trance.

Eddie lightly shakes her shoulder, “What’s wrong y/n/n?”

You look him in the eyes and Eddie gulps, “Eds, I think I’m in love with you.”

Eddie freezes, even though he’s in love with you, he also knows that your feelings aren’t real. Maybe you guys have slept with each other too many times that you’re just getting confused. But you can’t love him and you can’t be in love with him. You’re far too good for him.

“Eddie please say something. Please tell me you feel the same way.”She now has tears in her eyes knowing that she’s going to lose him.

“Y/n, baby, you know I can’t. I’m sorry, but you’ve known me for how long, I’m not a relationship guy.” He says and he shrugs you off.

You look at him incredulously. To not reciprocate feelings is one thing, but to completely blow you off by saying ‘i’m not a relationship” guy after all of your history together, is what makes you mad. And the tone he said it in, too, like an arrogant prick.

“So that’s that? You can’t say anything else.” She says with tears now streaming down her face.

Eddie is feeling a lot of things right now and that’s never good. When he feels too much he gets overwhelmed and deals with it by being angry. He’s never been angry at her before, though, but seeing her cry, mixed with her “confession” and he’s still dealing with his feelings for her, Eddie is feeling more than overwhelmed.

“What else do you want me to fucking say? You’ve known me for how many fucking years? Never once have I done relationships, and you’re no fucking different. What did you think just because we have a bit of history it would make any difference.” He yells at her, taking another puff of his cigarette trying to calm his nerves.

“‘A bit of history’ is that what your chalking up our years of friendship to now? You never act like this with me, and I try to be honest with you and you just lash out on me? I’m your best friend, not some asshole at school, try treating me with a little respect.” She says, finally putting her clothes back on while he stay naked under the covers. Even with the clothes covering her, she’s never felt more exposed in her life.

“Respect?!” Eddie laughs out loud. “I just had you a moaning mess underneath me and you’re demanding respect?” He instantly regrets saying this at the pain on her face, but again, he won’t let her see that.

“You are such a selfish dick, I’m leaving.” She says and starts walking out with tears and mascara streaking her face.

“I may be selfish, but at least I didn’t sleep with my best friend and catch feelings, ruining years of friendship!” He yelled back even though she’s already almost out the front door. Now he’s not only selfish, but a selfish liar.

[maplesyrupsainz]

˖⁺｡˚⋆˙lover | DR3˖⁺｡˚⋆˙

pairing: daniel ricciardo x reader y/n (she/her)

genre: social media au, established relationship

warnings: extreme fluff i fear LOL

summary: in which you and your boyfriend are each other's "lover"

a/n: i made a kind of more angsty dr fic with a pregnancy announcement (HERE) so this is baso a way more fluffier version!! based on taylor's song lover🩷 hope it's not trashhh & also not sure if it's obvious that it all takes place over a period of time

request!!!: danny ric x female reader anouncing shes pregnant maybe idk and theyre so in love idk

fc: various brunette girls from pinterest

my masterlist

instagram ->

yourusername

liked by danielricciardo, yourbff, and 432,784 others

yourusername we could leave the christmas lights up till january 🎄

tagged: danielricciardo

view all 5,887 comments

user1 AWWWW the lover lyrics😭

user2 THIS OUR PLACE WE MAKE THE RULES 🥺👏

yourbff this is sickly sweet

yourusername just living my truth😊😊

yourbff im not jealous at all

danielricciardo i love you my sweet girl!!

yourusername i love youuu best christmas everrr

danielricciardo here's to many more 😝

user3 make them stopp🥺🥺🥺

user4 this is our placeee we make the ruuules

user5 there's a dazzling haze 🥰 a mysterious way about u dear 😍

user6 she rly said..... have i known u 20 seconds or 20 years?

danielricciardo

liked by yourusername, landonorris, and 812,203 others

danielricciardo can i go where you go?

tagged: yourusername

view all 9,012 comments

user7 no way😭😭😭

user8 CAN WE ALWAYS BE THIS CLOSE

user9 FOREVER AND EVER

yourusername my lover 🫶🫶🫶 forever and ever

danielricciardo you are beautiful

user10 she looks so beautiful

user11 what are they doing to us😭😭😭

yourbff never felt so lonely at the holidays as i do right now

danielricciardo my bad

user12 she's just like us😭😭

user13 next thing u know they'll be letting their friends crash in the living room coz this is their place they make the call

user14 dont give them any ideas

user15 ENOUGH!!

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, danielricciardo, and 389,998 others

yourusername everyone who sees u wants u

tagged: danielricciardo

view all 4,891 comments

user16 are you highly suspicious y/n

liked by yourusername

user17 THE TEDDIES

user18 tbh they prob do want him

user19 yup. i do

danielricciardo i only want you

yourusername & you have me

danielricciardo good

maxverstappen1 staging an intervention for you both to stop being so in love on the tl

yourusername you're just jealous because you're in love with my boyfriend & you cant have him

maxverstappen1 keep your voice down y/n.

yourusername everyone knows max. sorry

danielricciardo 🤔

user20 MAXIEL

user21 maxiel crumbs.. world peace is restored

danielricciardo

liked by maxverstappen1, yourusername, and 781,572 others

danielricciardo loved u three summers now, but i want them all ☀️

tagged: yourusername

view all 11,682 comments

user22 🥹🥹🥹🥹

user23 can 😭 i 😭 go 😭 where 😭 u 😭 go 😭

user24 can 😭 we 😭 always 😭 be 😭 this 😭 close 😭

yourusername there will never be another summer where u dont have me!!

danielricciardo ❤️ forever & ever

user25 why r they sooo cute

user26 ladies & gentlemen will u please stand 😝 with every guitar string scar on my hand 🖐️

user27 i take this magnetic force of a mannnn

yourbff not more

maxverstappen1 i know it is getting ridiculous now

landonorris let's break them up 😊

yourbff good idea

danielricciardo you guys are awful and mean

yourusername 😮

landonorris my bad

user28 LOL

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, yourbff, and 881,724 others

yourusername all's well that ends well to end up with you 🥹💍💍💍

tagged: danielricciardo

view all 18,023 comments

yourbff my babies🥹🥹🥹

landonorris you switched up rq...

maxverstappen1 🤨🤨🤨

yourusername shush every1

danielricciardo my wifeeee

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user29 my heart's been borrowed and urs has been blue 💙

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liked by yourusername, danielricciardo

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liked by yourusername, danielricciardo

danielricciardo

liked by yourusername, landonorris, and 987,802 others

danielricciardo at every table i'll save you a seat

tagged: yourusername

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user31 loverrrr🥺

yourusername i love you omg omg omg

danielricciardo i love you forever and ever

user32 god this is sick & twisted !!!

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yourusername love u more than words

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liked by danielricciardo, yourusername

landonorris congratulations guys thanks for inviting me 🍾

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yourusername

liked by danielricciardo, yourbff, and 789,973 others

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tagged: danielricciardo

view all 12,902 comments

user34 NO WAYYY

danielricciardo i am so so blessed and lucky

yourusername no mee

user35 OMGGG congrats to everyone's fav f1 couple

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landonorris can i babysit

danielricciardo probably not safe

yourusername how is a baby going to babysit

landonorris age shamers. im 24!!

yourusername then act like it maybe 🥰

maxverstappen1 so happy for you both!

liked by yourusername, danielricciardo

danielricciardo

liked by landonorris, lilymhe, and 912,673 others

danielricciardo could we always be this close? our life since baby was born. sorry for being so silent 🥰

view all 17,921 comments

user36 omg never apologise for that congratulations to you both

yourbff congratulations again to the most beautiful family in the world

danielricciardo we love you!

user37 omg look at them😭😭

user38 we've come so far

maxverstappen1 you guys really won at life

danielricciardo 😘 means a lot coming from you

user39 my maxiel heart

yourusername my lover ❤️

danielricciardo forever & ever ❤️

THE END 🤍

[foolinafable]

v. i miss you, i'm sorry

SYNOPSIS: He doesn’t know how to love. You know this and yet you would still give everything just to be with him- even for just a moment. Or the story of how you and Keith finally get together. PAIRING: Keith Kogane x Altean reader WORD COUNT: 5.4k TAGS: Slowburn, Angst, extreme cannon compliance, fighting SERIES LINK: a love as cold as ours

← PREVIOUS | NEXT →

NOTE: edited this tipsy and with Grammarly so don't mind mistakes!

You were focusing on trying to heal Shrio's new body in hopes it would encourage it to fully accept Shiros conscious using skills you had learned from the white lion on Oriande. Not daring to look up to face the eyes of the two galrans who both watched your every move with intrigue.

Allura was also helping, trying to take off as much of the burden as her powers would allow leaving you both exhausted as the hours ticked by.

You were sat by Shiro’s body hand held up eyes closed as you tried to focus on the feeling of Shiro’s consciousness within the body trying to pull it further inwards when Allura spoke

“I’m afraid the clone’s body is rejecting Shrio’s consciousness” 

“There must be some way you can help!” Keith pleaded and it hurt you for him to sound so distressed opening your eyes to see him staring right you in despair 

“I don’t think there's anything more we can do” you confessed “I can feel him slipping away” voice hoarse as you looked away from the black paladin unable to watch his heartbreak, jumping when he banged against the glass separating you from Shiro 

“Shiro please” he begged as he banged against the glass again “Please fight!” as he began to sob making your heart clench “You can’t do this to me again” he continued when a faint coughing was heard from inside the pod you all quickly looked up at Shiro as the encasing disappeared Keith called out to him quickly when he eyes opened 

“Keith- I was dreaming” he spoke delicately in between breaths “You saved me” he confessed looking at the boy as he hugged him 

“We saved each other” Keith corrected 

You simply looked to Allura and smiled tiredly but before anything else could be said the rest of the paladins along with Coran and Romelle finally returned all looking shocked as they saw Shiro up the three paladins running towards him in glee

“Shiro’s looking better! Alright!” Lance exclaimed 

“Where were you guys? We couldn't get a hold of you?” Keith asked 

“Well, we were shrunk by a magic skunk, but we ended up using that sparkly dust that makes electricity bigger or whatever” Lance tried to explain but the five of you just looked at him confused “So ready to charge up the lions?” Lance continued clearly unphased by your lack of understanding. Shiro simply sighed before laughing to himself

 “It’s good to be back.” 

── ✧

“Why are you tired” Lance probed as he walked towards you causing you to open your eyes to look at the Cuban boy from your position lying on Shiro's metal shoulder- the only part left of his mechanic arm

“I dunno maybe it’s from saving all your arses and transferring Shiro’s conscience into a new body?” you replied dryly as Shiro rubbed your shoulder with his working hand in thanks. At the same time, you gave Lance a pointed look with a small drowsy smile on your face that made him falter in his teasing realising that you were in fact not joking, still looking a little worse for wear even after you finally healed the large gnash on your forehead from Shiro's clone.

You closed your eyes again as you felt his violet ones staring you down clearly trying to get your attention but you ignored it- what more could he possibly have to say to you? More reasons why you aren't capable you nearly scoffed at the idea but simply pursed your lips trying to feign sleep when Shrio nudged you to open your eyes as Pidge approached, she sat on the other side of Shiro when the older man questioned

“Where you able to get into contact with Earth?”

“No luck,” the smaller girl replied glumly. “The low power levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance but I'll keep trying as we get closer to Earth.” 

“I can't believe we’re finally going home” Lance admits softly looking down at the ground almost in thought

“I’m going to hug my parents and never let go.” Hunk claims as he hugs himself imaging how it would go

“I can’t wait to see how dad integrated Altean and Earth technologies together” Pidge exclaimed seemingly in a better mood just thinking of going home. You smiled at her excitement but it didn't reach your eyes as it reminded you that your home was gone and after the war was over you didn’t have a family to come home to- rather Voltron was your family. Shiro seemed able to sense your thoughts looking to you with a sad smile as he once again rubbed your shoulder with his working arm in comfort.

“And my mom” Pidge continued before stopping to think her face suddenly becoming cloudy with apprehension “She is gonna be so mad I ran away, I hope I’m not grounded” 

“How long do you think it will take us to get home?” Keith finally tired of being ignored by you turned towards Coran who was seemingly already doing the numbers in his head

“I was just calculating that now” the altean admitted “Without the luxury of a wormhole and with diminished power cores, let me see-” he started mumbling to himself “if I carry the one” staring at his fingers as he did the maths “oh, it’s going to take us 150,000 earth years,” he replied nonchalantly you quickly sat up from your position on Shiro’s shoulder as everyone gasped in shock 

“One-hundred-and-fifty earth years?!” Keith exclaimed 

“Coran, I think your finger counting is a bit off” Pidge stated “It’s going to be 1.5 years” causing everyone to groan in annoyance 

“Oh right I didn’t carry the three” Coran realised 

“Well you never said you were good at finger counting” you replied to ease the annoyance he caused in the group

“And it’s not an exact science anyways” he defended and you swore it gave you deja vu

“It's going to be a very long and difficult voyage, but It’s our only chance at replacing the Castle of lions” Allura concluded  

“There were times where I thought I would never see Earth again” Shiro admitted “To be able to go back-” 

“Well, what are we waiting for guys!” Lance quickly interrupted, “Let's hit the space road!”

“I suppose we need to figure out who’s flying with whom,” Krolia announced and she was right.

You weren't really looking forward to it. You were already so exhausted you were unsure you would be able to handle certain people for the time being and hoped that whoever ended up with you would give you some peace to recharge. 

“And what about the animals?” Coran reminded you all

“What about them?” Pidge questioned

“Well the wolf can't go with Kaltenecker, wolves eat cows and the cow can’t be in the same area as the mice because aren't cows scared of mice?”

You nodded at his words they made complete sense to you 

“No, elephants are afraid of mice.” Lance corrected 

“Elephant?” you mumbled in tired confusion

“Yeah, They’re giant grey animals with long noses that grab things,” Lance exclaimed trying to show what an elephant looked like by pinching his nose and using his other hand to act as its snout 

“Giants with long, gabbing noses? Earth seems so strange” Allura echoed your thoughts out loud what a preposterous creature that must be. 

“The wolf is riding with me” Keith decided “That means Hunk will have to take the cow” as he had the second biggest cockpit so was able to fit the cow easily.

“Me with the cow? Not a good idea” Hunk protests 

“Hunks right” Lance decides “Keith, you're keeping the cow. Someone else is gonna have to take the wolf” Everyone looked to Pidge 

“Not me. I am allergic.” 

“I’ll take the mice” Allura exclaimed clearly not wanting to take the wolf

“How come you get the smallest passengers?” Keith questioned arms crossing over each other in annoyance to which Allura just pulled a face

“I say we go old school and draw straws” Hunk decided 

“Or I can just take the wolf” you commented breathlessly honestly just wanting to get into the sky, the quicker you get going the quicker you can be left alone. 

“But I am terrible at drawing” Allura sulks causing you to laugh as Coran agrees “She really is” 

“Guys you’re all overthinking this. I know exactly where everyone should go.” Lance decides and for some reason, maybe to stop the arguing, everyone lets him place them into the ships.

── ✧

This decidedly in your opinion was the worst idea ever, why did you let Lance decide who went whereas you were stuck for who knows how long in your lion with Keith's mother- Krolia.

To say it was awkward was an understatement but you guess you got what you wanted as it was quiet. But you could cut the tension with a knife.

Clearly the woman wished to speak with you but she didn’t say a word as if she wanted you to initiate conversation. But you have no idea what to say to her.

It’s not as if you can be honest ‘oh hi Keith’s mum yeah no I totally don't have a massive unrequited crush on your son who would probably rather be stuck by one of Haggar’s spells than even think of me that way’ and what if he told her about your argument during the kral vera so she knows you as the one who believes her son is according to your own heated words a ‘cold excuse of man.’

You shudder at the thought of the stoic woman hating you. The idea only makes you feel even more anxious being left in a ship with her for 1.5 earth years.

Luckily the other paladins don’t seem to be faring much better with Allura shouting at the wolf, Romelle trying to touch all the buttons on the spaceship leaving Lance annoyed, and Coran trying to teach Keith and Shiro the altean alphabet by singing a song that haunted your dreams as a little girl. 

“Keiths told me a lot about you during our time in the quantum abyss” Krolia commented clearly aware that she would get nowhere if she waited for you to start a conversation 

“I can only apologise for whatever you have heard from him, I assure you-” you began damage control only imagining the lovely choice of words he must have had to say about you, especially after your disagreement when she cut you off

“You are much more pretty than he described” was all she said causing a flush to creep up your cheeks as you turned away from her 

“Thank you” you whispered in confusion, eyebrows furrowed as she continued to speak 

“He seems to have underplayed a lot of things about you. But I am glad my son has found someone like you- you are quite similar to his father, willing to give everything to others” she spoke softly at the mention of her lover but you were sat shocked facing forwards, her words ruminating in your mind.

Clearly she liked you- approved of even which made no sense because why would she feel the need to approve of you- someone who isn't even really friends with her son. Not anymore. And with the mentioning of you being similar to his father- it didn’t make any sense!

Lance’s voice cut into the comms before you could think on her words further 

“Guys, I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers” only took him this long to notice. Why on earth would he split up Keith from his mother? Lance’s logic was beyond you and now clearly himself 

“I think he thought by choosing the pretty altean he could charm her and have an easy time” You voiced your thoughts to Kroila who was watching Lance through the comms link and she laughed slightly

“Clearly that is not the case” she agreed humorously and you simply smiled in reply as Keith turned on his comms so everyone could hear Coran’s rendition of the altean alphabet upon hearing it Romelle joined in which just as much enthusiasm causing you to chuckle as you sang along under your breath not noticing how a certain black paladin was watching your screen like a hawk having a not so nice hand gestures and eye conversation with his mother when she caught him staring at you with a soft smile at your antics.

Eventually the singing and not knowing what his mother was saying to you got too much for Keith. Her smirks at him made him extremely nervous as he screamed

“That’s it we are changing passengers!” to which Allura agreed quickly 

“I second that!” clearly fed up with the wolf drooling everywhere even though Keith told her he likes to drool several times.  

“Agreed” Lance called out trying to keep Romelle away from the buttons again

“Whatever you guys want” you called out trying not to seem rude towards the older woman 

“Hey guys, why haven't we heard from Pidge?” Hunk announced   

“Yeah. Wait, who’s in her lion again?” Lance questioned 

“No idea” is all you said

“Yeah Lance, you’re the one that came up with this grouping” Keith added to your point 

“Well, she must have– no, they're with Keith. And the wolf is with Allura and I have the mice” You suddenly laughed as you realised what's happened 

“She's all alone” you spoke laughing a hand covering your mouth as the others quickly realised that you were in fact correct.

 The team quickly used the wolf's transportation techniques to transfer all the passengers into Pidge's ship except for Shiro and Krolia who were now on Keith’s ship.

“Oh come on guys this isn't fair!” Pidge complained but you all simply ignored her amused by her suffering.  

── ✧

Krolias voice sounded out from the comms

“This is the Klii-Nyn System. There’s a Blade of Marmora rally point located on a moon here. We should check in with them and get an update on their operations.”

“Team, we're going to make a quick stop. Everyone follow me” Keith called out and you followed closely behind.

You all landed on the moon with Krolia unable to make any contact with the base so you all quickly got out of the lions to check it out as something clearly wasn't right.

Allura used her strength to open the door allowing Krolia to go in first as you hovered into the base. It looked completely empty, dark and decrepit with no sign of life at all within its walls.

“It doesn't look like anyone’s been here for years,” Keith commented while Pidge tried to press buttons on the control panel

“The system won’t boot. Looks like the power has been out for a while” She agreed with Keith's observation the place had already been deserted a long time ago. 

“If the Blade of Marmora abandoned this place, that means something really bad must have happened” Hunk theorised 

“That's impossible” Krolia admitted “This base was still fully operational during my last check-in with the Blades.”

“It doesn't make any sense even if they left within the last three days it wouldn't look like this” you exclaimed, twirling around and looking at the area it just looked old, not destroyed but before you could voice anything else a large explosion was heard from outside causing the area to shake.

“Enemy ship! Incoming!” Coran called out 

“Everyone back to the lions” Keith commanded as you all flew back towards the entrance you quickly came back to your lion and flew off with the rest of the team noticing the galran ships surrounding the area 

“It looks like a small fleet. Mostly Galra fighters” Keith commented 

“That's good. We should be able to take them out pretty easily” Lance responded

“Yeah, but remember, we’re not flying at full power” Pidge warned 

“Pidge is right” Keith announced “everyone stay sharp.”

You flew quickly trying to avoid the blasts

“Keep an eye out” Lance reminded you all “Where there are fighters there’s usually a cruiser nearby” 

“Some of these ships look like they belong to Lotor’s fleet” you heard Romelle shout out from Allura comms making you pull a puzzled face wasn't she in Pidge’s lion?

“How did you get in here?” Allura asked confused you were about to voice your own concerns when a blue light appeared behind you in the cockpit to reveal Keith's wolf who quickly bounded up next to you to give you some support 

“Thanks, buddy” you whispered nudging your head against the world slightly causing him to push back in happiness for some attention before you grunted as a beam nearly knocked you off your path sending the wolf down with you “Sorry, it’s not going to be an easy ride”

“We need to get out of here” Keith called out warningly as more and more fighters seemed to appear out of nowhere 

“We’re getting our quiznacks handed to us. We need to do something.” Lance complained “we need to form Voltron”

“Okay” Keith agreed “everyone in formation”

You tried to form Voltron but the depleted energy cores made it impossible.

You tried to escape but they backed you into a corner with the pirates behind you, crystals surrounding you and a cyclone at the exit. 

“We have no choice” Keith decided “Everyone into the cyclone”

After formatting a plan you quickly left the cyclone trying to take your way towards a nearby unstable ice planet in hopes it could grant you the upper hand.

You descended onto the planet with the fighter ships right on your tail using the landscape to the best of your abilities to lose the pirates, weaving around geysers, and flying through underground tunnels but it still wasn't enough as soon as you made it out the cave without any of fighters pilots following behind you were immediately captured by a large magnet pinning the lions to the floor- there was no escape.

── ✧

You were quickly taken into a holding cell, arms bound by handcuffs, you were sat next to Allura with Keith right above you, none of you saying a word as Lance pranced around the cell pulling faces.

“What are you doing?” Hunk asked annoyed

“I’m feeling for secret passages” Lance responded as if it was the most sane idea ever, you looked up at him incredulously- was he serious

“You’ve watched too many movies, Lance. There’s no secret passage.” Keith complained 

“And why on earth would they put one where they keep the prisoners” you questioned the Cuban boy still in disbelief that he wasn't joking 

“Oh really?” he questioned moving to the middle of the cell “Then how do you explain this?” he quickly hit the side of the cell with his foot before whimpering in pain- clearly not an area for a secret passage you simply rolled your eyes at him not failing to notice how Keith smirked at your reaction making your eyebrows furrowed in confusion as to why he seems to care so much about you now. 

“Will someone shut him up?” Krolia asked after Lance hit his other foot on another area that he thought would be a secret passage but wasn't now holding his foot for dear life as he tumbled around in pain.

“There's only one guard patrolling out there.” She observed “If we can get this door open, we can overpower him” 

“What happened to Coran?” Hunk questioned 

“He must of managed to hide when we were captured” Krolia guessed

“At least we have one ally out there still able to fight for us” Allura spoke relieved 

 “Are you saying our fate rests in Coran’s hands?” Pidge asked, causing you all to look down in worry.

“I will help you look for that passage” Pidge comments to Lance clearly believing his idea would have a better shot at getting them free than Coran ever could. 

Your head snapped up at the sound of the door opening when two very familiar faces appeared from behind their guards leaving you all shocked it was two of Lotor's generals

“Look who's here. It’s Voltron” Ezor mocked 

“We’re going to have a little talk” cackled Zethrid 

“Hey you’re the guys that Lotor shot into space” Lance stated the obvious clearly not reading the room

“And the ones that were trying to kill us” Pidge finished off for him

“Yeah sure, but we're all friends now right?” Hunk questioned and you started at him 

“I don’t think they would’ve captured and locked us up if we were friends Hunk” You tilted your head at him as he gawked in understanding 

“I’m glad one of you has a brain,” Ezor smirked. “Makes it so much more fun when we torture you!”

“Where have you been all this time? And what happened to Lotor?” Zethrid questioned 

“What are you talking about” Shiro responded cooly 

“We’re talking about your little disappearing act.” Ezor clarified 

“Disappearing act? We followed Lotor into the quintessence field and then came back out not long after” you replied confused “Not sure how that counts as disappearing” 

“Answer the question!” Zethrid seethed, clearly not impressed by your answer “How did you survive that explosion?” she continued 

“Don’t you know? You were there.” Hunk questioned cautiously 

“I think there’s a little confusion about how the ‘we ask questions, you give us answers scenario works.’” Ezor commented

“Enough of your games. Where is Lotor” Zethrid asked 

“Lotors dead. We left him in the Quintessence field” Keith answered

“Yeah that doesn't really add up. Why aren't you dead?” Ezor probed 

“Because of the power of teamwork?” Hunk responded unsure of himself 

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” Zethrid challenged “and then we are going to have to take a more extreme approach. What happened to Lotor and where have you been all this time?”

“How many times do we have to say it to get it through your thick skulls? We haven't been anywhere and Lotor is dead:” you shouted in annoyance.

“Fine” Ezor replied 

“You leave us no choice but to apply pressure” Zethrid commanded 

“Who is the first victim?” Ezor asked excited 

“How about the smart loudmouth witch Lotor was always telling us about, let's see if she is really worth all his praise,” Zethrid responded, clearly referring to you. Ezor started to make her way towards you when Lance tried to attack her from the side

“Don’t you touch them!” He shouted as he swung his joined together hands as Ezor who quickly dodged his attack sending him to the ground with a kick a guard with a gun was placed in front of him before he could make another move

“Your defence is adorable and so very misguided” Zethrid comments with a laugh 

“Leave us alone” Pidge shouted which resulted in Ezor slapping her with her hair and wrapped it around your hands dragging you to her Hunk called out your name in worry as Ezor’s hand went around your throat as you groaned and thrashed trying to get away 

“Let her go!” Keith commanded but was stopped by a soldier with a gun before he could try anything 

“Answers” Ezor commanded as she held you up against the wall a deadly tight grip on your throat barely leaving enough room for air 

“We told you, he’s–” Keith began to answer them his voice pleading when a large boom rattled the area and alarms started blaring making them all need to leave to check out the security breach.

Ezor quickly let go making you fall to the ground hard, you groaned in pain as you were held up leaning against Allura for support as the rest of the paladins watched her leave. Keith quickly helped you up, eyes looking alarmed as they assessed your neck clearly it looked as bad as it hurt but Krolia started talking before he could say anything much to your relief

“This is our chance, the next time that door opens, overwhelm the guard.” she strategies you'll quickly go on either side preparing yourselves but when the door opened no guard came in, you all looked to the door to see the mice who had taken down the guard 

“Hello little friends” Allura spoke crouching down to them they spoke to her and she gasped “Coran is trying to rescue us and he’s got help- Axca” She turned towards Keith whose eyes lit up with recognition 

“What” was all he could muster.

You all quickly ran to find Coran quickly finding him fighting this large soldier purple and barely conscious from his efforts Lance and Keith quickly grabbed him helping him move along as we made our way towards the hanger that our lions were kept in while Keith went after Axca.

Once you were all inside the lions Keith called out to shoot on his location which you all quickly did resulting in a massive explosion that Keith and Axca fled and ran into the black lion's cockpit then the team quickly made her get away following Axca directions to one of her safe houses. 

── ✧

You were all sitting in her cave, a fire brewing as she turned to speak to you “I don't know what Ezor and Zethrid were on about with Keith because you're my favourite paladin.” you smiled at her compliment 

“Well not that you are up against any tough competition but you always were my favourite of Lotors generals- the only level-headed one” you joked back hitting her with your shoulder as she laughed back

“You're not wrong there” you continued to banter with the galran when Hunk came back with more firewood causing you to halt the conversation but both of your eyes twinkled with the idea that you were far from done speaking.

“I just looked at the lions and they’re in worse shape than ever.” Hunk worries

“We should probably give them some time to recharge before we head back on our way” Shiro decides

“Wow a lot has changed over the past few weeks” Lance comments

“Weeks?” Axca questions “what are you talking about?” 

“The last time we saw you. You were fighting alongside Lotor” Allura responds confused 

“That was three deca-phoebs ago” Axca tells you “No-one has seen you since your fight with Lotor.” 

“That impossible” Kieth stated 

“It’s true” Axca declared “After Lotor jettisoned us, we managed to make it to cover a meteorite. There we saw both Voltron and Lotor disappear. Eventually, Voltron re-emerged… alone. But, then there was an explosion and after that… nothing. That was three deca-phoebe ago”

“So, as far as everyone else in the universe is concerned, Volron has been gone for three deca-phoebe?” Allura clarifies 

“That would explain the discrepancies in the star charts in our lions.” Pidge realised “I thought they were off because of our inter-dimensional jumping which I guess they were in a way- because if you think about it, that must have been the cause of the time slip between our experience and that of the rest of the universe.”

“So how did you end up here, helping us?” Keith questioned the girl 

“Zethrid, Ezor, and I were stationed on the meteoroid for days. Finally, a Galra ship came to investigate Lotor's last known whereabouts. We took it over. With Lotor gone, it was clear that there was a power vacuum in the Galra Empire. Zethrid and Ezor wanted to exploit that for their own gain but I knew I had to find my own path. And it led me to you.” she replied gesturing to the team 

“Thank you for saving us” Keith smiled 

“I hope that this makes up for some of the wrongs I’ve done.” she clarifies you grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze as you smiled

 “We understand” gesturing to you and Allura “How easy it is to believe in him” 

“I realise now that Lotor wasn't the man I thought he was. He preached unity, but in the end, he sought only power.” Axca continued “I’ll do everything I can out here to help the Voltron coalition.”

“Wow, so everyone that was helping is thinks we’re dead” Hunk thought aloud 

“Wait” Pidge called out in a panicked voice “I haven't been able to get ahold of my dad on Earth or Matt and the rebels. What's happened to them in the last three years?”

“And if Ezor and Zethrid became warlords in that time… what else has changed?” Allura questioned.

The revelation that you had been missing for three deca-pheobes settled deep within you all as you sat in silence trying to gather the courage to speak- worry clearly covering all of your faces.

You quickly stood up looking down at your feet as you left Axcas cave and made your way towards the lions sitting on the edge of the cliff they were stationed on trying to steady your breathing as you began to spiral at the idea of all the coalition being gone, all the people that Voltron had let down as you were presumed dead.

You could the lions humming in your brain quieter than last time thanks to their run-down state trying to ease your discomfort- it was still a new feeling every time you closed your eyes you could feel them- like your life force was now integrated with their own, your pain was there and their discomfort yours just as Alfor prophesied. You hoped he was proud- that it was all worth it.

The buzzing of the lions in your head was probably what made you unable to hear his footsteps as they approached you only noticed him when he came to sit next to you the lion’s voices leaving you alone when your eyes stared into his violet orbs echoing your pain of lost time a feeling your sure he is a lot more familiar with. You turn away from him after a moment eyes going to your feet as they dangle from the cliff 

“How do you do it” you mutter to him unsure of how to ask for comfort from him now, after everything

“Hm?” He prompted trying to seem as calm as you for the first time since the Kral Vera started a conversation with him sacred if he said too much it would send you further away than you already where

“Forgive yourself for not being there, for not being able to protect the people you promised I guess” you replied eyes welling up as your throat tightened 

“I think” he took a deep breath as you looked up at him “you just need to remember that there was nothing you could do that could’ve got yourself there, we can’t go back in time” he explained voice soft as he took in your features as you sat there staring at the boy in silence the guilt and remorse finally caught up with you at all the things you had said that day- none of it was true, not to you any way she wasn’t  a sorry excuse of a man rather he was everything you ever wanted and while he may have been cold at times he never was to you- the scene right now proving it, even more, he never turned you away as you did to him that day

“M-sorry” you muttered “for what happened during the Kral vera it wasn’t true- not to me” you began when he interrupted you similarly to how he did that day 

“It’s okay” he smiled a little “I mean you were right I was being overprotective and cold- I had a lot of time to think about it when I was stuck in the quantum abyss with my mom” 

“I don’t want to fight” is all you said, almost whispering 

“I know” he grabbed your hand as you both looked forwards “It’s okay” he repeated squeezing your hand “We’re okay” 

Maybe you were okay but your mind couldn't seem to stop thinking about his words ‘you were right’ a thought you also had these past few months but rather about what he had spoken about you.

You knew what you had said was wrong you even told him that but he hadn’t taken his words back. So that still must be how he thinks about you. Clearly you need to listen to what he said and then continue as you have been barely speaking- anything to avoid his ire and keep him as he is now- content.

[susiekern]

2. the one with the stalker

warnings: swearing, mentions of alcohol

word count: 1,457

masterlist

previous | next

Yuji was walking on thin ice. Why? He forgot to mention it was a four-person outing, not just three. Yes, when you and Nobara walked into one of your go-to bars, Yuji was already there with none other than Megumi. Surprisingly, aside from one or two snarky comments, the first hour went well. You all had a drink or two by this point, and you could feel yourself getting relaxed, even with the raven-haired man sitting on the opposite side of the booth. Until you see a familiar face in the crowd, and you duck to hide yourself behind Yuji.

“Cover me, please.” Seeing confused looks, you sigh and sneakily point towards the bar. “Noritoshi is here.” Itadori and Kugisaki nod in understanding, while Megumi looks only more confused.

“He follows y/n on every social media platform she has and asked her out like a year ago. He was always active on her streams and seemed cute, so they went for a coffee. Big mistake. He turned into an actual stalker. Once he showed up at our door, God knows how he found out where we live, with like a hundred roses, and refused to leave until y/n goes on another date with him. Yuji had to scare him off.” Nobara explains as you hide behind Yuji, who now turns sideways to make a human wall out of himself.

“He said I owe him one more for all the donations he made. Do I look like a fucking cam girl or something? 100 for a coffee date, 1000 for a blowjob?” You sigh and lean your head on the table.

“I can see how he got it wrong, honestly.” Megumi says with a smirk, referring to your outfit for the night. With the mission laundry on the go, something that you and Nobara sucked at, you weren’t left with many options. Hence why you’re now sitting in a bodycon black dress that didn’t leave much to the imagination. Something that Megumi pointed out as soon as he saw you, obviously. You’d still choose that over a hair-dye-stained t-shirt that Nobara had on.

You decide to leave his words without comment this one time, peering above Yuji’s arm. Noritoshi’s gone, and you relax a little, grabbing your empty glass that definitely needs a refill. Quickly telling the rest you’re going for another one, you get up and make your way through the people. One nod at the bartender is enough of a sign, and you watch how this pretty blonde girl prepares your negroni, hoping it’ll be more spicy than her look. Her pace is impressive, but that’s what you’d expect on a busy night. It’s not fast enough, though, you think to yourself when someone takes a seat next to you and says your name.

“Y/n! I thought I saw you earlier.” Noritoshi Kamo smiles at you innocently, putting his hand on the bar, just a few centimeters too close to yours.

“What do you want, Kamo?” You decide to cut the bullshit. This wasn’t the first time you’d seen him here, accidentally bumping into you or your friends and taking every occasion to talk to you. Even if every time he gets rejected.

“To talk. You’ve blocked me everywhere, y/n. How are we supposed to address the situation if I can’t text you?” There’s a genuine consternation both in the voice and on the face of the man next to you. You can’t help but laugh. His delusion could make the teenage girls jealous, really.

“When someone blocks you, it’s usually because they don’t want to talk to you.”

“But you’re not like that. I know what you’re trying to do, y/n.” He furrows his brows. A sigh of relief escapes your mouth when the bartender finally sets a drink in front of you.

“The problem is that you don’t know. Or you refuse to. Either way, I’m not interested.” You pay for the drink and get up from the stool. “It was extremely unpleasant, let’s not do it again.”

Noritoshi stops you, grabbing your arm with a lot more strength than ever.

“I’m not done talking to you.” He says, his voice filled with something you haven’t heard before from him. Anger? Frustration? Whatever it was, it made you feel uneasy, probably more than his grip on your elbow.

“But she’s done with you. Seriously dude, can’t you take a hint?” The third voice joins this drama episode, and you feel relief flooding your body, recognizing it’s Megumi. Noritoshi definitely didn’t expect anyone to interrupt, and thanks to that, he drops his hand from you in shock. You can feel Megumi’s body behind your back as he stands close and leans forward to grab your negroni, the other hand landing gently on your shoulder. “And I’m not even sorry for stopping this… lovely chat, but we need her back and away from you.”

With one last look at your stalker’s face, you let Fushiguro lead you back to the booth your group was occupying. Far gentler than you’d expect, he sits you down at your spot, sets the drink on the table, and takes his spot opposite from you, just like before. Only then do you notice the absence of the other two.

“Where are Yuji and Nobara?” You ask quietly and take a sip, letting the alcohol slowly soothe your nerves.

“Yuji went to the bathroom, and I think Kugisaki is dancing somewhere.”

“Thanks. You know, for saving me there.” Your words are so quiet that you start to wonder if he can even hear you, but when he leans back on the leather couch and smirks, you know he did.

“You might be annoying, but I hate when people don’t understand what no means.” Megumi shrugs and moves his gaze towards the dance floor. You sit in silence for a minute before he decides to add “You owe me one.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll be your prince in shining armor when your stalker throws herself on you.” You laugh, and for a moment he actually smiles too. Unfortunately, before you can tease him about it, Yuji comes back and unknowingly starts telling you everything that happened to him in the past minutes, making you forget both about Noritoshi and Megumi’s smile, at least for a moment.

It was Tuesday afternoon, your workday. Sort of.

Video games were always something you enjoyed, and back in 2020, when the pandemic locked everyone at home, you started streaming for fun. You didn’t expect it to become anything more than a fun activity for free evenings, and even now, four years later, sometimes you couldn’t believe it was your full-time job. In the first few months, you’ve managed to build an incredible community that grew bigger each day, and then you’ve made your first money, and it kept going.

That’s why now, you’re sitting in your comfortable chair, headphones discarded on the desk, after almost four hours of playing. It was your tradition to spend at least the last half an hour just interacting with chat, answering questions, and talking about everything.

“Yeah, Yuji will join me on Sunday for the new Call of Duty. We’ll be testing the multiplayer since critics had a lot to say about it.” You answer one of the followers and smile seeing the reactions.

Yuji joined you once about a year ago when you did “Drunk Among Us” and needed a partner, and your followers absolutely loved him. Now he was growing his own channel, but you still often did streams together. Every time you announced a stream with him, your chat was ecstatic and filled with questions about you two. Yeah, people ship you; there are even edits somewhere on the internet, no matter how many times you both said you were just friends.

Somewhere in the middle of telling how much you hated the movie you’ve seen recently with Nobara, your background music starts to mix with another sound. Guitar, coming from behind your wall. You furrow your brows and stop the music to make sure you’re not going crazy. But no, it’s still there, and you even recognize the song.

“Sorry for that, guys. My new neighbor can get loud and annoying, and his room is literally behind my wall.”

plushie87: OMG, is that Starlight by The Fallen???

yusshi: TASTE

zeyde_: as a guitar player, respectfully, SHEESH

viviaaan: I just know he/she is hot, only hot people can play this solo so well

You roll your eyes at the comments, but you have to agree with some of them. It’s one of your favorite songs, by your favorite band, and you know how tricky that guitar solo is. And by the sound of it, Megumi played it perfectly. Asshole.

[doodlenoodleboi]

Hello! I have a request for Sal Fisher! Can you please write something about him with a reader who suffers from anxiety and that leads to her eating a bit faster than other people? She feels really embarrased when someone points it out. Comments like "Are you done already?" get to her, but she doesn't say anything and instead ducks her head because she is too shy and non-confrontational to stand up for herself. Thank you! <3

Sal Drabble

The vibe

Sal

It was a high school summer, these summers you could choose to either be a kid again or grow as an adult. We have a difficult time choosing these things. Why must we choose things that we don’t want to why not just live the moment?

“Hey! Hey! Bro, wake up!” I was Welcomed by the faces of my two best friends Sal and Larry, a rather interesting duo. The night before or rather shall I say a couple hours ago we had a sleepover at Larry’s house. I was tired and confused by the sudden disruption of my sleep.

“What?” I said, practically still asleep, rubbing my eyes from the crusty buildup of rheum.

“We’re leaving!” Sal said his smile evident in his voice, even though his prosthetic covered his face. I had never been out at night, especially with these two friends. Apparently it was a common thing amongst Larry and Sal. Sal even took off his prosthetic couple times. Nobody could see you in these dark streets, nobody was there to breathe in the air instead of that suffocating mask as Sal described.

Funny enough, Sal might dislike his appearance but the only thing that he truly appreciates about it, it is how it finds him real friends. Ones that couldn’t care less about his appearance. Those ones still tight, so now we’re strolling late at night down these streets I can’t remember. Soon I’ll never see the streets and will have to go away we have to be independent adults. Maybe even barely seeing each other and that sucked, just even the thought.”

The cold air braised everyone’s skin, obviously cool, but nothing close to freezing. Sal’s shoulder, blue hair covered his face for the most part. The way his face had been obscured as a child scared the creeps away but kept his friends closer. The way his right cheek torn reminded me of Mileena (MK reference).

The walk down the cold streets were quiet the only interruption being Larry every so often comments. And the sound of Sal’s skateboard against the road, streetlight and moonlight being to be only source of illumination.

I simply followed, along like a lost puppy going along with the flow, not wanting to ruin the vibe. It was uncomfortably quiet until Larry made his extroverted comment about being hungry. We stopped at a (insert place), probably close to our destination.

Larry ordered for everyone being the extrovert, he is of the group. Then we left, soon we made it to our destination. An abandoned skate park, right next to it was a building covered in graffiti. It was a comforting vibe about the place, because even if it was abandoned, I’m sure many people have still came here even though such information had been given.

I sat on the top of the Quarterpipe, a rather vacant area until Larry decides to sit next to me. I wasn’t fond of eating in front of people, maybe feel uncomfortable and watched. They could have absolutely no interest in me, but for some reason, I feel like all eyes on me. I am the best person in the world because I could be the absolute worst. I’m scared of people’s perception of me.

I started to eat next to Larry not wanting to confess that I am uncomfortable with the situation. I had been made fun of in the past because of my eating habits. As I ate my food, almost finished with it, Larry responded. (damn little lady you sure can pack it away. Jk) “Yo Bruh you look like Kirby right now, fucking that shit up.” in between the time of now and then, Larry was high, and that truly made me laugh forgetting about the previous situation given his state.

“Shut up Larry.” sal had said as he skated over to him. “He’s probably just high don’t mind him.” For a while, I would be dealing with a high Larry and a Sally who couldn’t care to do more than skate to get his mind off everything.

That night she realized she was surrounded by people. She wouldn’t have to worry about being embarrassed around. After all, they all are flawed.

(I am so sorry this was so rushed and so last-minute)

[givethemsmut]

Cody Rhodes x Reader

Made of Gold | Chapter Four

Trigger Warning

- Mention of abortion (not how you think, prob why I hate to give trigger warnings)

C O D Y ‘ S P O V

I was riding the high of being the first man between her legs, still wearing her orgasm on my cock when I yanked the door open enough to see who was standing there.

A middle aged man stood there, dark wild eyes, when his shrill voice hit my eardrums. “Where is my daughter? I know she’s here.”

Barging past the door I gripped the blanket hanging low on my waist, securing it from exposing myself. I was in a state of shock and the urge to fight ignited from the bottom of me like a brush fire. “Excuse me?”

Stepping toe-to-toe with me, whiskey on his breath, “Don’t play dumb. I know she’s been hiding out here. I’ll find her myself.”

He went to move past me but I side stepped, blocking him from the stairs altogether. “I was trying to be nice but I guess you’re picking the hard way. I wouldn’t step another foot inside my house, you might see something you don’t wanna see like your daughter in bed.”

“She’s under age,” his finger dug into my chest and my hand closed into a tight fist. I wanted to lash out but he had a point.

“And ruin the most important night of her life so far? I’m not naked for the fun of it, pal. You are the last person she wants to see after losing her virginity.” My words were sharp, heavy, assaulting the way I meant them to be.

Her father looked up at me as I took another step, towering over him now, “I want her home before I press charges for kidnapping.”

“Family dinner sounds great. How about Friday at your place?” I smirked knowing I won and her father did in fact hate me the way she wanted. I was a family’s dream unless you’re a few months shy of eighteen and a virgin than I’m considered a nightmare.

Heading upstairs I took two at a time and without even making it past the threshold I heard the light sound of her snoring. Wrapped in a blanket that covered only her boobs and pussy she was curled up on her side fast asleep. Exhaling I could sleep easy know she didn’t hear a single part of that chat.

Now I had to convince her to go dinner with people she had been avoiding. People who didn’t make her feel safe or happy.

Hell, I even hated them and I didn’t know them.

I wanted to protect her, keep her from every ounce of harm and I didn’t care how fucking wrong it is that I’m older than her. Age was bullshit concept when we fit together like we did twenty minuets ago before her dad stormed my house like a maniac.

The next morning we fell into our routine of me working out before she woke up and her joining me in the shower. She was washing the shampoo out of her long hair while I scrapped soap around my muscles. “I want to meet your parents…”

She turned out with a hostile look on her face, “Why?”

“You know so much about my family, my dad, my brother and sister. Hell, last time I FaceTimed my mom she wanted to talk to you but I don’t know much about your family.”

We swapped spots under the water and I could feel her resentment on the topic. “They aren’t like your family. There’s not enough good to even tell you about. Let’s just drop it.”

Exhaling I let the water beat on my face, swiping it off, I pushed. “Please. Just call them. Let’s do dinner on Friday.”

“Cody. Why are pushing this? Do you regret what we did and this is your way of pushing me away?”

Fuck.

I had pushed and now she created some monster of an idea why.

Turning around I dragged her close, holding her against me, her perfect ass wedged against me. “I’m sorry, okay? I don’t regret anything. Your dad showed up last night… he’s gonna press charges unless we go to dinner Friday.”

Pushing me away in anger, she shout, “Are you fucking serious?”

Before I could even answer, she had exited the shower, grabbed a towel and slammed the bathroom door. It was our first fight.

Giving her space, I showered like normal and wrapped a towel around my waist all too similarly to last night when her dad showed up. Leaning against the door frame of the bathroom I watched her franticly get her makeup on.

“Babe. I didn’t wanna have to tell you he showed up.”

“You want to meet them so badly then let’s go to dinner tonight. I’m not doing anything on his terms, why, so he can be in control? I don’t think so. Get eady for all your demons to served up with dinner.” Texting furiously, her fingers clicked against every button, before dropping it in her lap.

Moving closer, standing behind her, I softened my face even more. “Just talk to me. I wasn’t going to let him storm our fucking room and harass you ten seconds after losing your virginity. This was settling, a family dinner.”

“You don’t know him. That’s not settling, it’s what he wants and probably to ruin us.” She was still running hot when I gave her space, letting her decompress while I occupied another part of the house. If dinner was all we had to do to make them leave us alone I was willing to do it. I was willing to do a whole hell of a lot more actually.

R E A D E R S P O V

Did I want to be drunk for family dinner? Absolutely. I knew exactly the kind of tactics that would be weaponized for not coming home then to be found with Cody, someone older and not of my father's choosing.

It made our love story seem like a tragedy, the forbidden, albeit taboo relationship when Cody was so much more than that.

He felt safe, something I haven't truly felt since I got old enough to talk back.

My father didn't have expecatations - he had demands and when those demands weren't met, well, than he had retalation. It wasn't a dynamic I wanted Cody to witness and think of our age difference even more.

Doning a simple black maxi dress with an open back and a pair of comfortable heels I finished smearing my lipstick in while Cody changed his tie for the millionth time. He was nervous and I didn't want to make it worse for him.

Taking my hand, wordlessly, I stood up and took the lead down the stairs. "We should do a shot before we go. We both need it," I suggested it but knew my tumblr was already coated in whiskey I had been drinking.

"Maybe you had enough babe."

Disregarding him entirely I poured two healthy shots of Wheatley Vodka and pushed the shotglass towards him. "I don't want you to get in trouble when I pushed you to take my virginity... that's the only reason I am doing this."

Not yet shooting his back he came closer, hands hoovering and his face full of concern. "Just tell me what I need to know before we go over there. Why are you scared of your father? That’s not normal.”

My eyes started to well up rapidly and I kept looking up, avoiding eye contact and the unavoidable tears ruining my makeup. It was too much to explain, too much to live through again as I explained it and the way I knew he could judge me felt like a deathwish on us.

"Let's just go,” I mumbled before downing another shot.

Cody opened every door until I was safely tucked inside his car, foot pressed down on the gas in his truck that felt more like a tank. Sitting back with one hand on the wheel I could feel his eyes glance over at me. His vest tight to his frame and the white button up with the subtle tie only made him look more like a dirty secret. His features were haunting and his toned body only made the threat to devour you seem so much more real. Everything about him scream predator yet all of him was nice enough to care.

“It sounds silly saying it out loud… Every boyfriend I had he would blackmail into dumping me, every friendship ruined, every chance he had to isolate me he did. Controlling, overbearing, abusive. I remember he drugged me just to keep me home after I vanished for a week. I was at Layla’s but it didn’t matter, no permission, no warning was all it took to earn his wrath. I’ve been at your house for much longer, wonder what kind of punishment it will be this time.”

His hand shook my leg like he wanted to wake me up, “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Do you know how hard it was to not hurt him when he showed up? Hurt him for just wanting to drag you away from me.”

Forcing myself to relax, I tried to melt into his touch, keeping my mouth closed and wishing I was more drunk.

By the time we got past the gate that protected their castle I felt my heart pick up speed. I wanted to burn the whole place to the ground and hope the memories went with it.

Taking his hand, I followed his lead, knocking at the door like a gentleman. The door flew open and my mother presented her best rendition of perfect housewife. “Come in, you must be her friend, Cody, right?”

“Yes, ma’am, Cody Runnels.”

She nudged me out, leading him inside and leaving me by the door like discarded trash.

Not bothering to pick up the pace to catch up I strutted behind them, watching her try to dazzle him the way I expected. “Tell me about yourself. Come have a seat.”

“I’m a legacy wrestler, I wrestle for WWE now, I grew up here, my father passed away last year, and I’m falling in love with your daughter.” He sounded so sure and I felt hit by his confession like a ton of bricks.

He falling for me? Did I even want that?

I wanted him to take my virginity so badly I had thought of what I wanted next.

I whispered a warning cry, “Cody…”

His 1000 watt smile flashed in my direction as his hand came up my leg. “We can talk about it later.”

Feeling the air sucked out of the room my father’s signature glass of ice and scotch pierced my ears. “Falling for my daughter? Does she know all the skeletons in your closet, son? No woman should fall for just the good version. They have to love the bad too.”

My mom placed the last dish down on the table and sat down with us when my eyes tried to beg her to hold him off but it was no use. She was brainwashed by the good life and ruining that was never going to happen.

“Everyone had demons, sir.” Cody wasn’t afraid and the puddle in my panties now was distracting. “Like tracking your daughter to my house after losing her virginity? Storming my stairs trying to ruin that moment? Like those kind of demons.”

“Watch your mouth, son. I did some digging on you. Don’t forget you’ve lived a lot of life that my daughter hasn’t at seventeen.” He paused dramatically and Cody goated him to continue. “There’s been a long string of woman, hasn’t there? A few virgins, a few abortions, a dropped compliant after a bar fight with a female. Sounds like you can’t treat woman well so you imagine my surprise when you say you plan to love her.”

Cody shifted in his seat but still not scared of my father the way I was taught. “I can’t warrant any response to that. I’ve been with virgins when I was younger, of course. Are you implying I can tell by glancing at them? Absurd.”

Sipping his scotch until the end, my mom bounced up to get him a refill. “No, son, I’m saying you have a habit of liking young woman who are guaranteed virgins.”

Cody shot up from his seat, “We’re leaving. Come on.”

Dragging me behind him to the door my father matched his energy. Standing with a new glass, shouting after us, “She’s still seventeen, son. That’s still against the law.”

Stopping at the door, he swiftly turned around, taking the steps to stand toe-to-toe with my father. “I already took her virginity, cats out of the bag, she’s eighteen soon and you can’t do anything about it.”

“Son, she’ll get bored of the thrill of you like she always does. This is just a long string of bad behavior to piss me off.”

“Trust me, sir, no one was thinking of you while she was screaming my name.” Cody stood there proudly of those details and I could feel my cheeks flare up red.

“Least wear a condom son, she doesn’t need to be one of those girls you paid to have an abortion,” my dad shouted after us as Cody yanked the door open and the cool night air felt like new oxygen to our lungs.

Neither of us had talked about skeletons, neither of us shared the uncomfortable traits we carried, not yet.

Climbing into the truck Cody nearly did a burn out in the driveway before leaving, scaring their perfect castle. “I didn’t pay anyone to get an abortion. Let’s make that clear. I helped pay for a mutual solution.”

Every part of him was tense, even the muscles around his perfectly chiseled jaw. “Okay, how many?”

“Two.”

Keeping my voice just above a whisper I watched his hands grip the steering wheel hard, “I didn’t expect to be the only virgin, Cody. No one is questioning you. Everyone has a past.”

“He’s trying to imply I seek out fucking virgins. You’ve seen my dick, do you think I need virgins to get off? I didn’t even want to hurt you last night.”

“Cody,” I said sternly trying to keep last night out of my mind because every time I thought of it I got goosebumps and the space between my legs would ache for more.

Glancing over at me he caught me lightly rubbing my legs together and biting my lip. “Oh, shit, babe. You’re still riding that high.”

I felt like I could come just thinking about his cock, about being inside me, feeling those memories wash over me like I was there again. My legs started shaking a little and I tried to compose myself in the passenger seat.

Requested Tags:

@alyyaanna

[cultofdixon]

What Happens Next

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • The archer was given the best news of his life, and one would say he’s one of the more involved in every single thing that has to do with his future child • ANGST/SFW/NSFW • TW: Pregnancy & Birth / Anxiety / Scars / Injuries / Sleep Deprivation • Ignoring Canon, cuz I can

Requested by: Anon

Daryl stared at her dumbfounded and a little taken back by what his wife had just told him. He had to sit down and the silence started to worry Y/N.

He doesn’t…

He doesn’t want this

We should’ve been more careful

Fuck he’s probably mad

What am I supposed to do—-

“Hey…hey…darling, what’s wrong? You’re crying” Daryl frowns as he has risen from his seat when the tears rolled from her cheeks abruptly. He carefully took a hold of her face wiping away the tears that kept falling. “Sweetheart…”

“I should’ve been more careful…”

“Y/N”

“You don’t want this—-“

“Love—-“

“Daryl I’m so sor—-“

“I want this, I want this if you do” Daryl states holding her face as the tears came on faster but no longer from her anxiety. He couldn’t help his own as he wipes the happy tears away before bringing her close in his embrace. “We’re gonna be parents”

“We’re gonna be parents”

First Trimester

“Are you going on the run tomorrow?”

“I’ll have to ask Y/N” Daryl states helping Rick pack up the truck for the overnighters as the retired sheriff gave him a confused look.

“Ask Y/N? Really? You usually never asked her before you did anythin’. Tell her yeah but—-“

“Things have changed. No more worrying of Negan causing hell on us anymore. I ain’t leaving her in the dark of anythin’.” Daryl shuts the trunk before making his way back to the house. “I’ll ask and let yea know”

“Okay…” Rick continues to have some suspicion about what’s hidden behind his words.

As Daryl enters the home he spotted Y/N immediately as she was sitting on the kitchen floor. He quickly ran over to her thinking the worse but she gave him a reassuring look that made him sit with her instantly.

“Are you alright?”

“Just felt icky when grabbing something to eat…had to sit down”

“Quickly I assume”

Y/N hums tiredly in response as she rests her head on his shoulder feeling his instantly rest on hers. “Did you tell anybody yet?”

“Am I allowed to?”

“Yes…but I wanna tell Carol. You can literally tell anybody else but this is my one. And Maggie.”

“If I tell Rick or Michonne what makes yea think they won’t tell others? Rick also doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut” He laughs making Y/N do so as well snuggling into his side. “He’s going on a run tomorrow, wondered if I’m going”

“What’s stopping you?” She asks as the silence gave her her answer. “Oh, me? I never stopped you before”

“Mm. Told him I’d ask yea if I could go…” By the way he said such, Y/N knew he didn’t want to go. Leave her for too long…she couldn’t help the smile on her face.

“I don’t want you to go”

“Then I’ll stay. Take care of yea”

“Speaking of such…I’m hungry, but I don’t want to lose it instantly”

“I can make yea toast. Prob one of the few things I can make without burning it” He smiles listening to her laugh to such before slowly getting up and offering a hand to help her up but she shook her head. “Still icky?”

“Mhm. Besides I like the view” Y/N winks smiling up at her man while he groaned to the comment.

A few days went by and today was the perfect opportunity to tell Carol. Alexandria took a big hit after the Saviors War along with the Kingdom that they have been going back and forth to help rebuild each other’s communities with the help of others. It was the Kingdom’s turn to come to Alexandria which meant Carol coming by. But Y/N went on an infirmary run with Siddiq to the other communities. This meant Daryl has to bite his tongue from telling Carol.

Even though Daryl’s silent moments that was him biting his tongue, concerned Carol.

“How’s the house holding up?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well this place was set on fire and our first job was fixing the houses. Was wondering how yours and Y/N’s is doing. Anything you add since I’ve moved to the kingdom?”

“Nope” Daryl lied of course because he can’t talk about the nursery they are starting early before Y/N can’t help physically. “Only got the guest room set up for you. That’s pretty much the only thing we did to the place”

“Uh huh” Carol squints at the man waiting for him to reveal more but he didn’t. “Well, the crops aren’t going to take care of themselves and you’re certainly not helping by drowning the potatoes” she had to take the hose away from Daryl since his mind was elsewhere and that made her worry even more.

She was even more worried and a bit suspicious when Daryl stayed outside that night with the universal radio talking to who she assumed to be Y/N.

“You feelin’ alright, darling?”

“Yeah…Maggie made sure I didn’t overwork myself once I told her”

“She happy?…for us?”

“Why wouldn’t she be? She’s a bit surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Given yknow. The times she walked in on us”

“Do I still have to apologize for the first time in Alexandria or?” Daryl smiles listening to her laugh on the other end. “It’s about to get harder to hide certain things. You better get your ass back before I blab”

“You better fucking not Dixon”

“It’s either I—-Or Rick”

Bingo. Carol knew exactly who to go to and it’s the blabber mouth. Rick can keep secrets when it came to death level situations but life? The man will fold.

“Rick!” Carol calls out to the retired sheriff while he was carrying Judith on their morning walk. “Want some company?”

“Uhm. Sure?” Rick sets Judith down as she instantly reached to hold Carol’s hand as well as her dad’s. “What’s up?”

“Daryl is keeping a secret from me and I overheard him last night talking to Y/N on the radio”

“Why are you eavesdropping on the two?”

“Because they are my family and if something serious is happening…I want to know. I’ve lost enough” She knew playing the guilt card will get Rick to fold but Judith, as young as she is, knows when her father is about to fuck something up.

“I WANT MOMMY” She screams and let go of the two’s hands to sprint in the opposite direction they were heading.

“Sorry Carol I gotta—“ Rick gestures to where his kid is running as Carol waved him off.

As Rick catches up to Judith he quickly picks her up once again as she held her hand out. He immediately took out a hard candy from his back pocket giving it to her.

“You’re a life saver”

“Can you open it daddy?”

“Of course, sweetheart” Rick smiles helping his kid on the way back to their house.

Finally, Y/N returns home with Siddiq who on the drive back was telling her about the pre-natals they had and if she ever got too sick to move that she should see him right away. He was freaking her out really with everything he was talking about. The baby book that Maggie gave her already stressed her.

“Siddiq, I love yea. But please shut up”

“Sorry. Did I go too far?”

“Yes…” Y/N sighs laughing after.

Siddiq drove up to the infirmary and parked, Y/N quickly stepped out grabbing her duffle. “Let me get you the vitamins before you head back home, okay?”

As Y/N waited on the porch, it didn’t take long for Daryl to reunite with his partner knowing she would’ve stopped there first. He was also getting restless not being able to tell Carol the news and needed her to tell her. But she looked exhausted when Daryl drew close.

“You alright?”

“Been doing check ups all day…and driving back from the Sanctuary was physically and mentally exhausting…”

Daryl didn’t know one of their stops was the Sanctuary and felt awful knowing she went there. He took her bag for her and the timing was perfect when Siddiq came out tossing the bottle to the archer.

“How many times a day?”

“It says it on the bottle, but should be once. I’d take it around noon” Siddiq advises patting Y/N on the shoulder before going to unload the truck for them.

As the two made their way back to the house, they were welcomed by Carol standing obnoxiously in the middle of the foyer.

“So what’s going on between you two?”

“Daryl didn’t tell you anything right?” Y/N asks watching the confusion grow on her face. “I’ll take that as a yes…but I’m so exhausted…”

“Carol can she tell yea in the morning? It’s nothin’ bad” Daryl frowns rubbing circles on Y/N’s back as Carol’s expression softens before inevitably nodding.

“But if you forget, I will yell at you”

“Promise” Y/N gave her a soft smile approaching her and hugging her family. “I’m so happy you’re here”

After their small moment, Y/N didn’t wait any much longer to climb into their bed and get comfortable. Daryl brought himself to her side of the bed helping her get out of her shoes and her jeans so that she could be more comfortable.

“Yea need anything from your bag downstairs?”

“Mmm. Besides my shorts, can you get me water while you’re down there?” Y/N smiles as Daryl snuck in a quick kiss to her lips before doing such.

As the archer made his way downstairs he spotted Carol at the dining room table where he put Y/N’s bag…and the bottle.

“Shit”

“You fucking hid this from me?! I wouldn’t have reacted badly—-“ Carol stops when Daryl started shushing her. “Excuse me?”

“Y/N wants to tell yea. She even got mad at me about it. She really wants to be the one to tell you that she literally gave me a list of who I could tell and you were off limits. Same with Maggie.” Daryl took the bottle from her and stowed it away in Y/N’s bag. “You can’t say shit”

“Well can I say—-“

“You can say it in the morning when she tells yea”

When he turned toward his best friend he saw the permanent smile on her face as he clenched the shorts Y/N had him get for her.

You’re gonna be a dad Carol mouths to Daryl with her smile following as she held in her squeal to hug him just for a moment before letting him get back to what he needed to do.

The morning came and Carol anxiously waited at the dining room table for the two to emerge. But only Y/N woke out of them and by the looks of it, she woke up to puke and Carol couldn’t help the worried look.

“I’m pregnant”

“I know”

“I’m too tired to kill Daryl”

“He didn’t tell me, love. I found the prenatal bottle in your bag because Daryl wouldn’t tell me anything that I had to investigate. Even Rick didn’t tell me”

“Mmm…that’s impressive” Y/N was a bit proud of Rick for not spilling the beans. Then she started tearing up which lead to her close friend rising to her feet and making her way to her. “I’m so scared Carol…” she sobbed hugging Carol back once she wrapped her arms around her.

“Oh hun that’s normal. Trust me. You are going to be a great mom, and I know that man of yours is going to be a great dad by how over protective he is and the little one isn’t even here yet” Oh Y/N knew that the archer was looming around the corner as he didn’t want to ruin their moment but also didn’t want to leave her alone in case of anything. “Now come on. You go back to sleep and take it easy today. Dad-to-be and I will hold down the fort” Carol directs Y/N back to the stairs as she stopped to hug her husband feeling him tighten his grasp on her kissing her temple.

“Come find me if yea need anything”

“Mhm” Y/N hums happily parting from him to head back to bed.

“You are going to be difficult to ask for help that takes you away from Y/N, huh?” Carol smiles watching Daryl nod. “Then go! I’ll tell Rick you’ll help out later”

The first three months was a breeze even with the morning sickness and overly tired days. Daryl wouldn’t leave when the days were bad even if Y/N insisted he’d do something other than watch her sleep. But he didn’t care. He’d even catch up on some sleep as long as it meant being with her. Carol started visiting more and Maggie would give her items that helped her during her pregnancy with Hershel Jr. She’s honestly relieved that Y/N wasn’t pregnant during all the chaos, all that was happening was just rebuilding the communities. Some part of her really wanted to physically be there but couldn’t for reasons.

“Y/N, Carol is making me read this and it’s already fuckin’ terrifying” Daryl thought something like the prison flu or another asshole threatening their lives would be the thing he worries about. But there’s so much more to it and the new world changes a lot of it.

“You don’t have to read it if it gets too much” Y/N grumbles to herself as she struggles to her favorite jeans on.

“I wanna be prepared. Even if I have no idea what colostrum is…” Daryl stops reading the page he was on when listening to Y/N’s annoyance get louder. He dog-eared the page he was on setting the book down on the dresser approaching his partner to help when he noticed. “Stop. Wear something else”

“I’m working on the farm all day. I want to be comfortable”

“If comfortable is crushing my baby, I don’t want it” Daryl unbuttoned her jeans as Y/N looks at him confused feeling her face flush when he pulled her pants down low enough to show her in the mirror. “You popped”

“Don’t ever say that again” Y/N laughs resting her hands on her small bump feeling Daryl’s gaze burn into her as she took his hand to rest on it. “Your big ass hand makes it look like nothing”

“It’s still somethin’” Daryl couldn’t help his smile forming as Y/N kisses his temple while he continued to hold her bump.

Second Trimester

It was the first deer she has seen in a while, given she usually gets rabbits and squirrels once she learned how to use her bow. Y/N snuck up on the creature perfectly as she readies her bow, the first time she had to readjust given what she was carrying. She took the shot once it was clear and managed to get the deer.

“Yes!” Y/N cheers putting her bow back on her back approaching the downed deer, pulling the arrow out once she put it out of its misery. She heard the walker approaching and given her knelt position it was going to take her a minute to get up but she was going to take it out before it got near dinner.

Then an arrow shot past her taking the walker out as Y/N quickly turns around finding her man had took the shot and gave away his position.

“I told you I could’ve done this alone”

“But yea ain’t alone, and I didn’t make any promise to the peanut. Ain’t leavin’ her alone”

“You really want a girl don’t you?” Y/N smiles ignoring how she felt a second ago to gush over the fact that Daryl really wants a little girl and how cute it was that he did.

“I ain’t calling the baby an it that’s for sure” Daryl scoffs going to retrieve his arrow and help her carry the deer back, and by help, do it himself. “Yea feel anything yet?”

The archer has been reading the baby book given to him non-stop. He’s already protective of those who’s he cares about, and the book only made it 100 times worse because of all the scary things that could happen. But there are good parts. In this regard, the baby kicking.

“I just got to five months. It won’t magically happen instantly”

“I know…but I wanna be there”

“You most likely will. You don’t leave me alone for more than a minute” Y/N laughs quietly as the two got closer to where they’ve been staying for a month. The Sanctuary. Rick had asked Daryl if he could watch the Sanctuary for a few weeks just until they’re comfortable knowing not another Negan will emerge. He also promised Y/N that it would only be a few weeks and then they can be back home enjoying their lives just the two of them before their new addition joins.

It’s been a month and Daryl hasn’t seen anything happen with the ex-saviors but has seen his wife become more anxious the longer they stay there.

“I’m talkin’ to Rick tomorrow about going home. I think the place is fine without supervision. Just as long as someone checks in every now and then…” Daryl frowns looking at Y/N who was actively ignoring the conversation knowing Rick is only going to ask for another couple days. But he was persistent this time. “Y/N. We’re gonna go home. Not have to worry about anythin’ else but gettin’ ready for the little peanut”

She really wasn’t there mentally when Daryl would talk about that. All she did was give him a small smile before hesitantly heading inside the place.

“You can go back if it’s that bad”

“Rick fuckin’ owes me this time. It’s one thing dealin’ with my own shit. But Y/N not saying more than five words a conversation while in this hell, I ain’t having it anymore Carol” Daryl frowns gripping the radio in his grasp as he tried not to lose it while he stepped outside for a moment even if his anxiety was telling him to not leave Y/N. “I need to go back inside”

“You should”

Daryl looks up from his lap finding Carol in the protective gear that Kingdom guards wear as she brought herself to sit beside him. “When did yea—-“

“You’re not the only one with access to that radio.”

“She’s talkin’ to yea and not…Carol if something serious is—-“

“Don’t. Don’t jump the gun. It has nothing to do with her state or the baby. For the most part” Carol set her pack down going through it and handing Daryl a few things at a time. They were all baby related and some clothes for Y/N that would make her more comfortable even if wearing Daryl’s sweaters were enough. “We talk about her and the baby in good terms. Whenever I do bring up the Sanctuary, she goes quiet and doesn’t want to talk about it at all. She doesn’t want to be here. So I am helping y’all get out of here and if whoever has an issue with it, they’ll talk to me”

“Or me. I don’t want Y/N to stress just from being here.” Daryl frowns holding a Fox plush that was in the pile. “Rick should’ve thought this through”

“Mm. He should’ve. But right now? We have our priorities”

Y/N was sleeping uncomfortably in one of the rooms at the Sanctuary as she would wake to every noise she heard and didn’t like being so close to the cells knowing where Daryl has been held captive for weeks. Her anxiety was the worse that night Daryl and Carol decided to sneak her out in the middle of it, the door opening lead to Y/N taking her gun out from under her pillow.

Daryl held his hands up watching Y/N relax but also break out into tears. “Hey…no I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have snuck up on yea or anythin.” He frowns sitting on the side of the bed wiping away her tears. “We’re going home, not waiting for Rick or anybody else for that matter. We’re going now”

“But—-“

“Nah. I need my wife and baby safe, and even if everything is fine here. You don’t feel safe. I need yea safe” Daryl presses his forehead against hers resting his hand on her belly and that’s when it happened. Right at that very second, Daryl suddenly pulls back keeping his hand cemented on her belly as Y/N rests hers on top of his laughing through the tears.

“Timing couldn’t be more perfect”

“Peanut didn’t like it here either” Daryl kept his attention to the movement until it stopped for the time being as he brought Y/N close to hold his family. “We’re gonna be okay. I promise”

Nobody questioned their return, and Rick definitely didn’t bother asking because he knew he’d get chewed out. But a huge part of him was thankful to have them back.

“Daryl told me to check on yea while he’s gone, but by the looks of it…” Michonne enters the nursery. “You’ve been busy” she smiles seeing all the work Y/N had managed to get done.

The walls were already a grey and Daryl found paint cans in one of the garages that matched the shade enough to fix the spots. The one part he didn’t let Y/N do because of fumes. Even though he did try to convince her to let him move furniture but she would yell at him every time he tried. It’s the simple stuff. The closet had the extra supplies, there was a dresser that held the baby clothes Daryl found and hand me downs from Maggie, a basket on top of such that held cloth diapers and burp clothes, a crib, and the rocking chair Y/N was currently sitting in that was gifted to her by someone at Oceanside. There was still much to be done but she was exhausted when Michonne came in.

“He’s on a gas run but knowing my partner he’s going to come back with things. He never comes home empty handed” Y/N shifts a bit getting used to being a growing planet of a human being as she rubs circles on her belly. “Wish he’d be back already”

“You want company?” Michonne smiles watching her friend’s eyes light up to those words.

The party of two became three and then four. That being Rosita joining once she heard a girls night was commencing in some way and Carol joining after she came to visit to do her usual check in on Y/N. Daryl isn’t the only hoverer. At first it was talking about the changes happening in the others’ lives and then the talking became talking and working on the nursery with the directions given by Y/N.

By the end of the night, Daryl came back with Rick as the two were heading toward the Dixon residence.

“You excited?”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“I was terrified with Carl and that was before the outbreak happened. Then Judith, same feelin’ but with the undead around. Y’all having a kid with the sickos still walking. Just thought you’d be a bit more—-“

“Scared?” Daryl chuckles gripping the strap to his crossbow. “Never said I wasn’t scared and as much as hell continues to surround us, as long as they’re safe and well, our bubble can stay intact.”

“You did seem to be a natural with babies when Judith was small. I know for a fact you’ll be great” Rick pats his brother on the back watching Michonne step out of the residence with a smile on her face and immediately hugging her man.

“Have a good night” Daryl tells the two as he enters his home seeing Carol and Rosita in the kitchen cleaning up their mess but also enjoying dinner. “Hey”

“Hey, look who’s back”

“Y/N misses you. Should go check on her” Rosita states watching Daryl give her a questioning look by how she said such before doing exactly that. Since it was his plan the second he entered Alexandria.

Daryl’s first stop was the bedroom half expecting her to be in bed already. But since she wasn’t there, he knew to check the obvious and he was surprised by the finished nursery. It was very gender neutral even if he was convinced and convinced Y/N that they were having a girl. But he loved everything about it.

“You’ve been busy”

“I had help from my girls” Y/N smiles happily from the rocking chair that now had a blanket resting on the back of it. It had little woodland creatures on it. “Do you like it?”

“I love it, love it even more if you didn’t lift a finger”

“I didn’t. All the moving was done by them and Carol told me off every chance I tried” She laughs leaning forward when Daryl brought himself over leaning into her to kiss her as she met him halfway. “How was your day?”

“Found enough gas for a few more trips. Gonna try Maggie’s alternative and see if we can eventually change to that” Daryl brought himself to sit on the floor beside her enjoying the feeling of her hand running through his hair. “Did get more stuff for her”

“I figured. But you should look at one of the shelves before you bring the new items in” Y/N states watching Daryl get up with a slight groan after having an exhausting day as he goes to the shelves finding some of the plushies but books they found on display.

But there was a solo shelf above the dresser that held knickknacks. He felt a warmth in his chest finding little wooden carvings that represented each member of their family. Crossbow…arrow…sheriff hat…katana…knife…baseball cap…and the last item was a framed Polaroid that the two had taken with their family all the way back to the prison.

“Eugene whittles and got them done perfectly in my opinion. He also felt like he owed me for the time I was three months and he made me cry for an hour” that got a laugh out of Daryl even though he remembers the day perfectly where he didn’t even know his own strength by how he managed to lift the poor guy off the ground for scaring him in thinking he hurt his wife. “I think it’s perfect but we’ll need something temporary to mount them”

“I’ll think of something but they’re fine where they’re at for now” Daryl smiles returning the picture back on the shelf.

Third Trimester

I’m a fucking goddamn planet Y/N thought as she tries to look down at her feet from sitting on the bench at the end of their bed. Seven months wasn’t so bad. Eight is fucking hell.

Daryl came upstairs once he stood at the front door for too long waiting for Y/N. He thought she was right behind her but she wasn’t.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m huge. My back hurts…and I can’t tie my shoes” Y/N frowns lifting her feet up and setting them down gently as she readjusts from her seated position holding her belly.

“You should’ve just asked for help, love” Daryl knelt down once he got close enough and helped tie Y/N’s shoes feeling her distract herself by messing with his hair. “Why are you even wearing this pair? I got you shoes without laces”

“You found shoes without laces and I forgot where I put them” Pregnancy brain is a bitch. “Why are we doing this again?”

“It’s a walk around Alexandria. It’s five to ten minutes top. You also bugged me to remind you of such the past few days we’ve been doing this” He tried really hard to contain his laugh but his grin was prominent. “Helps the swelling in your legs”

“Sometimes I wish you’d listen to my tired brain over my screaming one from a few days ago”

“When we get home I’ll rub your feet”

“Sold” Y/N stops messing with his hair, fixing it quickly before he stood to his feet holding his hands out to help her off the bench.

Daryl gave her a quick kiss, then one to her bump. He’s been doing that every day since her bump became more noticeable.

It was a cool fall afternoon that the two were walking around Alexandria as Y/N watches all the familiar faces go about their day along with the new ones. This community expanded like the others and her heart swelled over the fact that this little one has a village in case of anything. But boy did her man make sure everything would go smoothly.

“I’m not naming our kid after any dead relatives”

“Middle names are fine. But you also have to give me boy names” Y/N watches her man roll his eyes as she was just preparing for that just in case. “C’mon baby. We don’t know the gender and our already huge list of girl names over power our list of boys that is literally nothing. It could happen”

“It ain’t but fine. What are yea thinking”

“I really like Shepherd”

“Done. That’s the name if we have a boy—-“

“Daryl!” Y/N smacks him in the chest lightly. “Actually come up with one instead of instantly agreeing with me. What would you like for a boy that would be on the same level with your favorite girl names?”

“Robin can go both ways”

“Okay, fair. But come on” Y/N returns her hand to holding Daryl’s as he was silent for a long time before actually thinking of one.

“Andy ain’t bad”

“Short for Andrew? That’s cute. Andrew Glenn Dixon” That sounds nice.

“Mmm. Gregory”

“No” Y/N immediately shot down. “Steven?”

“Not my first option, but an option. Mmm….” Daryl looks around the place thinking something would inspire him as Y/N tugs at him to take a seat at the gazebo. “Josh—Nah that didn’t sound right leaving my mouth”

“I had an ex named Josh in the old world”

“Then that’s a fuck no” Daryl leans back into the bench resting his head on top of hers once she placed herself on his shoulder. “Can we just agree on Andrew or Shepherd for the boy names?”

“Then Robin or Evelyn for our top girl choices” Y/N sighs happily knowing she doesn’t have to stress about that. “Glad we got that covered”

The two were simply enjoying themselves as a party of two for a little while longer. Listening to the wind of autumn…watching life continue even while outside the walls was a scary place…Daryl couldn’t help but think about the future. Would he mess up? Would he turn out like his father? But those thoughts washed away every time Y/N would look into his piercing blue eyes with her beautiful E/C ones. She’s always been the light that lead him back to reality. He knew he’ll be fine with her by his side every step of the way.

A few nights have past since that calming moment, Daryl brought his arm around his love bringing her close even if it meant her back flush against his chest. Y/N shifted slightly in her sleep out of discomfort from the size of her belly and the movement of the baby. She brought her hand on her belly hoping rubbing circles would soothe it but instead the discomfort got worse.

“D…”

“Hm?”

“Your baby won’t stop moving” She sighs feeling Daryl shift behind her enough to bring his hand to her belly. Her hope was dad’s touch would do something but it didn’t.

Daryl got up entirely from the bed moving himself to her side watching the discomfort in her face grow as she tries to hide in her pillow.

“Imma get Siddiq”

“Please don’t leave me…” Y/N sobs feeling his calloused hand brush the hair out of her face before taking care of the on-going tears.

“Hun if you’re in labor we need the doc”

“My water hasn’t broke yet…”

“Y/N. I don’t want to take any chances here” Daryl frowns hating that she was already experiencing a lot of discomfort that they both knew was only going to get worse. “The second it breaks I’m getting Siddiq. But what do you want me to do right now for you? Just name it”

Early stages of labor was mainly discomfort and the body preparing itself. Daryl didn’t like anything Y/N was suggesting they’d do before her water breaks.

Like the walk they were taking at 3AM and Daryl growing frustrated every time Y/N would smack his hand away when he tried to hold her in some way. She was starting to feel crowded in her own person making her stop suddenly in the middle of the street.

“What’s happenin’” Daryl frowns resting his hand on her back as she tensed to the touch. “Y/N. Tell—-“

“Shut up. I don’t want to walk anymore” She groans turning herself around and waddling incredibly slow back to their place.

The sound of a door opening caught the archer’s attention as he quickly noticed Rosita stepping out of the house she shared with Eugene and Gabriel. She looks at the two confused as Daryl tried his best to tell her what was happening with hand gestures. Rosita is a smart woman she caught on without Daryl’s gesturing as she went back inside to get her shoes on and leave to go get Siddiq for the Dixons.

“She’s in the bath”

“Hm. That makes sense” Siddiq rubs the sleep out of his eyes as it was now around five in the morning and her water hasn’t broken yet. “How do we know these aren’t Braxton?”

“The fake ones? She’s in a lot of discomfort. I doubt it’s fucking fake” Daryl frowns his anxiety was spiking his rage slightly. “I gotta check on her. Just. I’ll come and find yea—-“

“I’m already here. I’ll just be on the couch until anything. Okay? But if it gets worse, I have to check her myself to see how dilated she might be”

“Alright” Daryl quickly went back upstairs, surprised Y/N even wanted to be back up there. But it meant having their kid in their bedroom if it comes to it.

Y/N was comfortably uncomfortable in the bath as she didn’t say a word when Daryl entered, only looked at him with tears still blurring her vision.

“How bad is it?” Daryl sat on the edge of the tub taking her hand into his, feeling her crush his hand instantly. “Fucking hell”

“You should’ve told me sooner if you were a big baby.”

“I wasn’t?” Daryl knew her emotions were going to be all over the place, and her anger is starting to get there. “I was premature.”

“You gave me a big ass baby” Y/N squeezed her eyes shut and the grip on his hand got tighter indicating the pain getting worse. These weren’t fake. These were real contractions. “God she’s going to fucking rip herself out of me”

There’s a mental image Daryl is never going to forget, and the man has seen Alien. Okay now it’s worse applying a chest buster to labor.

“Siddiq has to check yea to see how dilated you are”

“Only you can see me fucking naked. I need to get the fuck out and put a shirt on before that happens”

“Are you even ready to—-“

“NO” She snaps wanting to remain in the tub for a little while longer.

Word got out that Y/N was in the early stages of labor and as more of their family entered the living room, the more it progressed. Siddiq had left to get everything he’ll need from the infirmary given this is now happening in their home. Oh what the doc would give for a hospital right about now. He knows what he’s doing but he still feels inexperienced every time.

Y/N wore one of Daryl’s shirts covering most of her as she felt like a tiny person carrying a planet even more now that her water has broke all over their floor. She leans against the bed gripping the sheets trying to distract herself, appreciating Daryl’s hands working their magic on her back to ease the pain while she took deep breathes.

“I hate you”

“Mm. Fair.”

“No don’t agree with me I’m not serious” she started to sob again. Nice job Daryl. “I love you…I love you so much and I’m excited for this chapter but HOLY FUCK DOES IT HURT” she screams as it startled Daryl a bit, especially their friends in the living room.

“I’ve gotcha love” Daryl brought himself beside her resting his head against hers feeling her lean into him. “Just a few more hours and it’ll be all over”

“I can’t…Fucking, I can’t” Y/N sobs into him feeling his arm wrap around her shoulders to bring her closer.

“You’re the strongest person I know. You can, and you will.” Daryl states kissing her temple before helping her back into the bed.

A few hours have passed and Siddiq checked how dilated she was once more before giving Daryl and Y/N a look that it was time. While he got himself prepared, Y/N gave her partner a horrified look.

“I’m not ready”

“Love, it’s time”

“Daryl I’m not ready” She cries. “What if I’m a terrible mom? What if I mess up so bad that she’ll resent me? I-I…”

Daryl squeezes her hand bringing it up to his lips kissing the back of it before resting his forehead against hers. “You’re going to be great. No one is ever ready. I’m scared shitless. But I know I’ll be great with yea, Y/N. We’ll be great. We’ll mess up and take care of it along the way. It’s bound to happen but again, we’ll be great. We have a village. Have each other. I’m right here, sunshine”

His words made her cry even more but in ease. Siddiq was finally ready and bringing the blanket up checking her once more when Daryl got an idea. He kicked his shoes off and had Y/N sit up enough for him to slip in behind her. She instantly presses herself against his chest feeling his hand move to her knees after instructed to do such.

“Okay, push on the next contraction” Siddiq states letting the nature take its course.

Y/N started to get anxious when the contraction hit her like a truck which lead to her pushing given her instruction. Daryl felt her hands grip onto his forearms as he moved one of his hands off her knee a second to grab her hand letting her squeeze the hell out of it while he brought her leg back into position.

“Good. Good” Siddiq made sure everything was happening smoothly. “Only push on the contractions, Y/N. Or you’ll tear”

“I want to push now…” She sobs feeling Daryl rest his chin on her shoulder.

“Just wait love” Daryl squeezes her hand and her knee with the other one as she rests her head against his.

Push

Push.

Push!

It felt surreal, like how the hell did this even happen? How did they manage to create this perfect little human being that was currently crying up a storm on Y/N’s chest…Daryl couldn’t help the tears that breached from his eyes as he watches their little girl sob into her mother’s chest.

“We did it love…”

“You did it, sweetheart” Daryl kisses Y/N’s temple continuing to keep his full attention on their little one. “She’s perfect”

As the day progresses and the news of little Robin Elizabeth Dixon spread through their entire family, the day felt as if it slowed for just a moment. That moment being Daryl holding his little girl for the first time, letting his wife rest as he took care of her.

Daryl hasn’t stopped smiling since he first saw his daughter and how perfect she came out. He didn’t have to worry about losing either of them during the process, and she was a healthy little girl that calmed instantly in her father’s embrace.

“Are you happy, Daryl?” Y/N smiles tiredly watching the two from her spot seeing his smile grow.

“Yeah, yeah I am”

[onlyymirknows]

When Jean Met Karina

My submission for Reijean Christmas Week, Day 1! Prompt: meeting each other's parents.

Read on AO3 (link)

Word Count: 7.1k AU: Modern, they're adults in an established relationship Genre: Angst w/ a happy ending (plus fluff and reijean banter) CWs: Reiner gets triggered, past emotional abuse, past character deaths (car accidents), past suicidal ideation, past homophobia, dropping of the f-slur

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Reiner handed Connie a small notebook, “Everything you need to know is in here but feel free to text me if you got any questions.” He leaned down and traced a small heart on the glass tank, leaving visible smudges. The small turtle near his fingertip glanced at its owner for a second before lazily paddling away to rest on some driftwood.

“I’ve watched him before, remember?” Connie reminded Reiner with a small, exasperated laugh, “He’s in good, capable hands. Don’t worry.”

Jean, noticing the way Reiner’s jaw clenched, squeezed his boyfriend’s shoulder. This was their first time leaving town for Christmas and thus the first time they had to get someone to pet sit in the winter. The scariest season for a reptile keeper.

“Babe, I know what you’re thinking but we specifically got you a native species so you don’t have to worry about the heat as much. Besides, he’s a tough little guy.” Jean forced a grin, hoping to mask his own tense mood. Reiner returned a small smile accompanied by a soft exhale. Bingo. 

Then Jean turned to Connie, “Thanks for watching Bertl for us, Con. We’ll text you when we’re on our way home.”

“No prob, guys,” Connie beamed while ushering the couple to the door, “drive safe and see you next year!”

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When Jean slid into the passenger seat of Reiner’s truck he noticed a text from Connie, “try not to lose ur mind on reiner’s crazy mom k?” He scowled.

“What’s wrong?” Reiner pulled his door closed and started buckling his seatbelt. He turned the key in the ignition, the car engine purring to life.

“It’s nothing,” Jean muttered while buckling his own seat. He fiddled with the air vents while Reiner picked out some music on his phone. When Last Christmas began playing Jean couldn’t help but shoot a glare at his boyfriend.

“What’s with that sour expression?” Reiner asked incredulously, “It’s literally the 21st of December.” After a pause he added, “There’s no Mariah Carey on this playlist, okay? Just let me have this, Jeanie.”

Sighing, Jean looked out the window at the now moving pavement. “Okay, but once we get through this I get to choose the next playlist.”

Reiner laughed. “Yeah, yeah. As if I was going to torture you with 8 straight hours of Christmas music.” He glanced at Jean for a second with a warm smile while they waited at the red light letting out of their apartment complex. “Y’know, I love you in spite of the fact that you hate fun sometimes.”

Jean cracked a genuine smile for the first time that day. Maybe he did hate what many people would consider fun but it was only because he had taste. Unlike most of these Christmas songs that felt gaudy and artificial. Yet it was hard to deny the joy they seemed to bring his boyfriend so Jean disregarded his own preferences in the second half of December. Sacrifice and all that.

Indeed, his high school friends were confused when he brought a more “lowbrow” guy back with him from college. Then they saw the way Reiner made Jean loosen up and it all made sense. Somehow Reiner could convince Jean to try something new or give another thing a second chance. As if the blond were a siren and Jean a sailor who never dreamed of diving into the ocean.

Sometimes diving into the ocean to swim with a beautiful siren meant meeting a shark. In this case her name was Karina Braun and, as far as Jean was concerned, she was his enemy. Someone to challenge and fend off and—

“We can’t keep avoiding this, Jean,” Reiner paused the Christmas playlist, “do you want to talk about it now or when we’re closer to my hometown?”

The question broke Jean out of his thoughts and he bristled once the words registered in his mind. “What’s there to talk about?”

Reiner didn’t say anything as he merged onto the interstate. Instead he looked over his shoulder to check his blind spot before roving his gaze between his mirrors.

Jean rubbed his eyes, yawning, his own gaze fixed out the passenger window. When Reiner’s silence continued after they’d settled into the flow of traffic he turned his head. He couldn’t help but frown seeing the way Reiner’s fingers gripped the steering wheel, digits clearly tensed. Knuckles turning white.

“Rei, you good?”

“I’m fine.”

“Ugh.” Jean crossed his arms with a huff. “Look, I know I’m not the best at hiding my frustration. But I also don’t see what there is to discuss when you know damn well how I feel. I would’ve rather invited your cousin to come visit us. If it weren’t for the mem—”

“Don’t,” Reiner cut in firmly, his grip on the steering wheel tightening further, “we shouldn’t talk about that. Not right now… Maybe after we swap.”

“Right,” the brunet replied hoarsely, cheeks red, shoulders aching from suddenly tensing them hard as stone. He bowed his head, ashy brown locks slipping down and obscuring his face from view.

“But I shouldn’t’ve suggested talking bout all this right now,” the blond grumbled, “I shouldn’t’ve even said anything to begin with but I’m a dumbass and… yeah.” Reiner turned the music back on, keeping his eyes glued to traffic the whole time.

The two sat unspeaking for a moment, allowing the dulcet tones of Andy Williams to fill the space. Was it really The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? It certainly didn’t feel like it and, well, Jean knew he wasn’t helping. 

Despite his genuine intentions to help, Jean recognized how his stubbornness and results driven mindset could push the envelope at times. Sometimes to the point of causing more harm than good. And selfishly, he didn’t want to alienate his favorite person, so,  as the next song began, he placed a gentle hand on Reiner’s shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze.

“You’re not a dumbass,” Jean reassured, voice regaining its warmth, “I think you’re being proactive and I’m proud of you for how well you’re handling this situation in spite of my bad attitude.”

“As if you’re usually a ball of sunshine,” Reiner muttered, though Jean saw the way the corner of his boyfriend’s mouth twitched. “I guess I want you to at least try being nice. Just try. You know?”

“I will try,” Jean murmured, “but let’s talk about all this later so you can focus on the road. I think that’s a good idea.”

Reiner nodded, his fingers still wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. Jean turned up the stereo before reclining his seat and looking out his window. The snowy landscape rushed by, filling his vision with a blurred field of white. It was oddly beautiful. Mesmerizing, even. Maybe that’s why his eyelids felt so heavy… though it was probably just last night’s insomnia finally catching up to him.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

A sudden blast of cold air rushing into the cabin jolted Jean from his slumber. He looked up to see Reiner standing outside his open door and the expression on his boyfriend’s face instantly perked him up. Unbuckling himself he turned in his seat to tightly wrap his arms around Reiner who fell into the embrace with a shudder.

“I.. I’m so s-sorry for waking you, Jean,” Reiner whispered breathlessly into his ear, “I just… traffic slowed down to a crawl and I g-got this feeling that..”

Jean hushed him while running a hand up and down his back. Looking past to the world outside he noted they were in an empty parking lot attached to what was probably an office building. Perfect. He took a deep breath before turning his attention back to his partner. 

“It’s okay, I’m glad you woke me up. You did exactly what you’re supposed to, Rei. You did good. Really, really good.”

They stayed in each other’s arms for a couple of minutes while Reiner calmed his shuddering breath. When Jean felt that his boyfriend was sufficiently recovered he insisted on taking the wheel. Originally the two planned on each driving about half of the way there but Jean assured that he didn’t mind driving extra.

“You get full music privileges,” Jean announced as he buckled himself into the driver’s seat, “hell, even Mariah.”

“Jean… it’s o-okay..” Reiner protested while wiping his eyes, “you don’t have to listen to music you hate just for me.”

“But I want to,” he grinned and gave Reiner’s shoulder a playful shove, “I know you would do the same for me.”

“I think I already do that, actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean. I don’t really hate any of your music but obscure 80’s ska and Medieval French battle hymns aren’t my favorite,” Reiner hesitated, “sometimes I’m not really in the mood but… I mean…” he trailed off, his mouth forming into a thin line across his face.

“Let me guess, you don’t ask me to change it because you don’t want to be a bother?”

Reiner turned to look at Jean head on and nodded, his lips curling into a faint smile.

Jean huffed. Of course his self sacrificing boyfriend would listen to literally anything Jean wanted. It was true that Reiner was a lot less picky than him. Yet he also felt like a bit of an ass for never asking if Reiner actually enjoyed his more niche music choices.

He reached over to ruffle the hair on the back of Reiner’s head, rolling his eyes as he did so. “You gotta work on this with your therapist more, hon. I want you to tell me stuff like that. I’m here to please you as much as you’re here to please me. I expect some god damn equality in my relationship. Got it?”

The blond’s smile grew wider. “Loud and clear.”

Without another word, Jean leaned over the console while pulling Reiner towards him. Their foreheads connected with a gentle bump and a renewed smile on both of their faces. Jean tilted his head slightly, making a point to nuzzle the crook of his boyfriend’s nose. 

Reiner sighed contentedly in response. He lifted his hand to cup the side of Jean’s face before pressing a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. A silent thank you from one to the other, sweet, but also vulnerable. Like a hesitant knock on the door of Jean’s world where Reiner sometimes felt out of place. Such as now when his emotions were still dizzying and fraught.

Recognizing the call, Jean pulled Reiner in closer, and began peppering kisses all over his face. Forehead, brows, nose, cheekbones, jaw, chin. And the lips, so many flurried pecks to Reiner’s chapped lips. Every one meant to convey the same thing—I want you. I love you.

“Aghh!” Reiner exclaimed through the attack. He let out wonderfully delighted laughs that set Jean’s soul alight with elation. “Mercy, mercy!”

After one final kiss on the mouth, Jean let Reiner go to lay back against the passenger seat. The blond heaved deep breaths, latent laughs slowly dying on his lips. “I love this side of you,” he mused while buckling himself in, “I’m honored whenever you let me see it.”

“Oh shut up,” Jean chuckled, “you make me sound like some humorless dolt.” He turned the key in the ignition then threw the car into reverse.

“Humorless dolt? Not at all. In I fact think you’re very clever,” Reiner replied smoothly, “witty, droll, piquant—”

“That’s enough, Cyrano. Now where do you want to stop for lunch?”

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

The rest of the drive was relatively smooth. Free flowing traffic, no heated discussions, and Reiner chose a music genre both of them could agree on—80’s glam metal. Jean liked the fashion and showmanship while Reiner appreciated the cheese and catchy hooks. It wasn’t until Jani Lane started singing about secrets he just couldn’t tell that the dreaded topic returned.

“Are you sure you’re okay pretending to be roommates in front of my family?” Reiner asked after turning down the stereo. His voice cracked at the end, prompting him to busy himself with his water bottle to soothe his scratchy throat.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Jean sighed.

“Are you positive? We don’t have to keep it a secret if you really don’t want—”

“I’m positive, Reiner. It’s seriously not a big deal.”

“And you’ll try being nice, right?”

“Oh course,” Jean insisted, albeit gently.

“…Okay,” Reiner moved to turn the volume back up when Jean covered the dial with his hand.

“Do you not trust me, Rei? To keep my cool?”

“It’s not that I distrust you, Jean. You have a cool head. I mean, I was surprised when your friends mentioned how much you fought with Eren growing up.” The thought of teens Jean and Eren fighting brought a smile to Reiner’s face. “But I know how strongly you feel about my mom. I don’t really blame you, either, it’s just that she’s not actually a villain.”

“I know that,” Jean responded tersely in spite of himself. In his periphery he noticed the way Reiner winced and he sighed again. With a softer voice he added, “I understand that she’s a person.”

“But will you keep that in mind when she says something ignorant? Or even just a little frustrating?”

“Reiner, I promise you I will do everything in my power to make this experience as stress free for you as possible. Trust me.” Jean glanced over at his boyfriend with a smile before returning his attention to the road. They were back on surface streets by now, mere minutes away from the Braun household.

The front door of the house flew open upon their arrival, before Jean finished pulling into the driveway, even. It was a teenage girl absolutely beaming from cheek to cheek, eyes scrunched closed in joy. From the passenger seat Reiner let out a quiet gasp and, without a word, hopped out of the car to meet her.

“Reiner!” She squealed excitedly, throwing her arms around his neck and letting him lift her up from the ground. “I’m so happy you came!”

“And I’m so happy to see you again, Gabi. You’ve grown so much!” He gave her a twirl before setting her back on the ground, his own smile dazzling brighter than the strings of twinkling lights surrounding the open doorway. 

Jean hadn’t seen his boyfriend this happy in weeks and he couldn’t help but stare in grateful awe at the scene. Then his eye caught another figure approaching from inside of the house and his mood immediately soured. 

It was Reiner’s mother, Karina. She was short with drabby blonde hair, deep set eyes, wrinkles, and a very familiar nose. Not exactly the face of evil but he knew how looks could be deceiving.

Reiner turned and hugged her with what looked like a beat of hesitation. Jean quickly got out of the car to join them, his protective instincts kicking into high gear. He heard the tail end of a sentence on his approach that made his jaw clench.

“…you’ve gotten so big, Reiner.”

Thankfully he caught himself before his face formed into the nastiest scowl, remembering the promise he’d made minutes earlier. Besides, Jean reminded himself, maybe Karina didn’t mean anything negative by it when she called her son big. Perhaps it was a comment on the fact that Reiner had gotten into weight training since his last visit.

“Thanks mom,” Reiner replied with an awkward chuckle, “I started going to the gym more regularly. So uh, let me know if you need me to lift anything for you while I’m here.”

Okay, so he was right to give her the benefit of the doubt. Except then Jean’s resolve almost faltered yet again when Karina greeted him, leaning past Reiner and smiling at him.

“Ahh so this is your roommate Gene, I take it? It’s nice to meet you, dear.” 

Of course she said his name wrong. Fucking Gene, as if he were a pair of denim pants. His hazel eyes narrowed dangerously, preparing the most passive aggressive response possible when Reiner suddenly jumped in with a correction.

“No, mom. It’s Jean. Kind of like fawn but with a J.”

“Oh!” She exclaimed with wide eyes, “I’m sorry, I had no idea. It’s wonderful to meet you, Jean.” Her expression softened back into a smile as her gaze moved to Reiner’s truck. “How about we get everything inside? It’s starting to get chilly.”

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

“So Jean’s bags should go into the guest room, then?” Reiner asked as they carried the last few things inside with them.

“No, dear, that’s where Gabi’s staying,” Karina responded, “your aunt and uncle are out of town on a couple’s trip with the Grices. I offered to let Gabi stay here.”

“Isn’t it great, Reiner?” Gabi hopped excitedly between each foot, practically jogging in place. “Just like old times! Remember how my parents and I would stay over for Christmas Eve and we’d all wake up together the next morning?”

Reiner nodded, “I do remember. You’d kick me out of my room and I’d sleep on the couch.” Though the wording sounded bitter the smile on his face indicated he felt quite the opposite. “So I’m guessing I’m on the couch while Jean’s in my old room? I’ll take my stuff to the living r—”

“Ahh, no,” his mother interrupted, “Falco will be on the couch.”

“Falco?” Jean found himself asking, trying to place the vaguely familiar name.

“My boyfriend!!” Gabi practically shouted. Reiner looked surprised before quickly recovering into a warm smile.

“Also a family friend,” Reiner elaborated, “his parents are the ones traveling with my aunt and uncle. I’m guessing my mother agreed to let him stay over, too.”

“I did, yes. He’s currently visiting his brother out of state but he’ll be here in a couple of days. I know it’s… unusual but do you mind sharing a room?”

“I don’t mind,” Jean replied, practically holding his breath. Was this for real?

Karina lowered her voice so only the two men could hear her, “Thank you. I obviously can’t let those two share a room, even if they’re both 18. It wouldn’t be decent.”

Oh. Of course it was a concern about the teenagers having sex. Jean held in a sigh while Reiner hurriedly ushered him upstairs to his childhood room, saying something to his mom about coming back down soon for dinner.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

“Looks like we lucked out,” Reiner muttered after closing the door shut behind him, “though I’m surprised she didn’t insist on finding me a sleeping bag so we didn’t have to share the bed.”

“Maybe she’s trying not to push her luck,” Jean sat down on said bed and looked around the room. Any decorations Reiner may have put up as a teenager were long gone. Her son had been out of the house for close to a decade at this point so perhaps that was warranted but it still rubbed him the wrong way.

“Did you know your mom sanitized your room like this?”

Reiner shrugged and plopped down on the bed next to him. “No, but it doesn’t bother me, either. I don’t want to be reminded of the old days, anyway… it’s not like they were good.” As nonchalant as he probably tried to sound, the edge in his voice gave him away.

Jean frowned and wrapped an arm around Reiner’s shoulder, pulling him in for a sideways embrace. “Don’t say that, Rei,” he leaned over to whisper into his partner’s ear, “maybe you didn’t have any good days in this room but we wouldn’t be here right now if your entire life before college was exclusively miserable.”

“You’re right,” his boyfriend pressed their foreheads together gently, amber eyes closing, “I owed Porco a visit, anyways.” A single tear rolled down Reiner’s cheek as he took a shuddering breath, “Sometimes I can’t help but still feel like they’re both my—”

“Hey, hey, don’t go there,” Jean cut in, hands quickly cupping the other man’s face, “I… I understand, you know that. And I also get you can’t exactly help it sometimes but I’m also not gonna let you just say it. Because it’s not true. It was never true. Never.”

In his mind Jean thought the words he wouldn’t dare speak aloud right now. Not as Reiner began weeping quietly, tears seeping into the cracks between his own face and Jean’s supportive palms.

It’s not true, no matter what your mom told you.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

Over the next couple of days Jean found himself on high alert. Despite the fact that Karina never said anything outwardly hostile, he couldn’t help but notice her frequent attempts to get her son alone. As far as he was concerned, no good could come from such an interaction.

Thus he made sure to intervene every single time, practically gluing himself to Reiner’s hip. Somehow he managed to do so without any pleading expressions from his beau. No desperate glances silently screaming for Jean to behave.

Instead Reiner thoroughly enjoyed himself, catching up with his baby cousin and introducing her to Jean. Gabi, while initially a shock to the senses with her loud voice and frequent exclamations, quickly grew on him. She was spunky, reminding Jean of a younger version of himself.

All the while Karina stood on the sidelines, watching. Occasionally she made some attempt at joining in on the conversation but often failed to connect. Gabi also made some efforts to bring her in on some topic or another but the old hag was usually too clueless to contribute. Talk about satisfying.

Jean smiled every time she made eye contact with him, imagining how much Karina probably hated him for not letting her sink her claws into his man.

Everything changed when he woke up alone on the morning of the 24th. The moment he realized Reiner wasn’t there he grabbed his phone to check the time. It was 7:18, meaning he hadn’t grossly overslept. Then Jean noticed a text message from Reiner from around an hour ago.

“Gabi begged me to pick up Falco from the airport with her. Should be back before breakfast.”

He sighed in relief, happy that Reiner was occupied by Gabi and not his mother. Speaking of, Karina usually served breakfast around 8, meaning the three should be back soon. 

Jean got up from bed and commenced his morning routine: showering, brushing his teeth, skincare, and of course haircare. By the time he wandered downstairs in some comfortable clothes it was already 7:55. Reiner and the kids were due back any minute. He sat down at the kitchen table and did a crossword on his phone while he waited.

Karina stood by the stove cooking up something for all of them to eat. If Jean had to give her credit for something, it was her cooking. Even something as simple as scrambled eggs and bacon smelled absolutely divine coming out of her kitchen. Had she been any other person he would’ve jumped at the opportunity to learn her secrets.

“Here you go, Jean. I’ll pour you some coffee, too.”

A plate with some eggs, sausage, and toast suddenly appeared on the table before him. He looked up at her, surprised that she would serve him breakfast before everyone else was present. The past couple of mornings they always waited for everyone, no matter how much Gabi insisted she was dying of starvation.

As if reading his mind Karina spoke up again, “Gabi told me they were running late and would grab breakfast on the way home. So it’s just us two this morning.” She placed a decorative mug of black coffee next to Jean’s plate. 

The mug was Christmas themed with little reindeer flying through the sky pulling Santa’s sleigh. Except instead of being cartoonish it was elegant and minimalist. White silhouettes on a black background with smooth looping script wishing him a Merry Christmas. Okay, maybe he had to give her credit for her tastes in drinkware, too. It was a wonder where Reiner got his adorable but tacky tastes.

He sipped on the drink, still piping hot from the coffee press, while Karina brought her own plate over and sat across from him. They ate in silence, Jean practically gluing his eyes to his phone screen to avoid catching her gaze. Without Reiner’s presence there to rein him in, the temptation to tear into her only grew. 

He just had to hold out until Reiner and the kids came back.

“They probably won’t get here until lunch,” Karina suddenly stated right as Jean finished the last bite of food on his plate. The way she said it sounded so certain. Probably? That was definitely a lie for appearances. She knew they wouldn’t be back for a while.

Jean swallowed hard, eyes finally snapping up to look at Karina. “Why do you say that?”

“I asked Gabi to buy me some time, and so she lied to Reiner about when Falco’s plane landed,” she replied, expression stony, “I thought, if you won’t let me talk to my son then I might as well talk to you instead.”

“Oh yeah?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, “What did you want to talk about?”

“Are you the reason my son won’t answer my calls anymore? Why he blocked me on social media? Why I haven’t seen him since my mother’s funeral several years ago?”

“You’re damn right I’m the reason,” he declared, feeling a fiery heat ignite in his soul, calling forth the fury he’d contained over the past few days. One built up by years of watching his best friend suffer from deep emotional wounds primarily inflicted upon him by this woman. Jean clenched his fists, mentally preparing himself for what felt like an ensuing battle. 

She frowned, the wrinkles in her forehead growing more pronounced. “Why did you do that?”

“Why?” Jean laughed haughtily, his almond eyes brimming with deep disdain. “Because you make him absolutely miserable. He can’t help but love you as his mom but I saw the way Reiner deflated after every phone call with you. How he’d get so anxious about every little mistake he made. And, unlike you, I got Reiner the help he needed. I supported him through that process and eventually helped him find the courage to finally cut you out.”

“Then why are you even here?” She asked, eyebrows furrowing further in what looked like frustration, “And why for so long? Why stay here until after New Years?”

Jean scoffed, “It’s not to see you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“For Gabi, then?”

“No, if it was just about Gabi then I would have invited her to come visit us for the holidays. Falco, too. He sounds like a nice kid.”

Karina pursed her lips, mouth forming a thin line across her face. To Jean’s surprise, though, she stayed silent, evidently waiting for him to continue.

He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to elaborate. None of this was any of her business, after all. Except he wanted her to feel bad. To feel guilty for all of the cruel and messed up things she did and said to Reiner over the years. And, well, he only promised to make the trip stress free for Reiner who wasn’t there to bear witness… What if Reiner just never found out?

“We’re here to pay our respects to Marcel and,” Jean gazed at her with all of the intensity he could muster, “Bertholdt. Though you might know him better as that wretched sinner or, I don’t know, that disgusting faggot?” He paused for a moment, taking in the way she winced when he repeated her words back to her.

“I could scarcely believe it the first time Reiner told me about their deaths,” Jean spat, “how you screamed at him for killing Marcel. I mean, how dare you blame him for that? And for what? Because if he hadn’t skipped his extracurricular that day then he wouldn’t have been there to cause the accident?”

She bowed her head, staring intently at her hands to avoid confronting the deadly look on Jean’s face.

“As if Reiner had any control over the driver who ran the red light when they were all crossing the street. As if he chose to have his friend push him out of danger to take the hit himself! Marcel, a dear friend, died and you had no sympathy, no compassion for your son. It’s been 15 years and he still carries that guilt with him. Still blames himself.”

Tears of indignation started welling in the corner of Jean’s eyes but he quickly blinked them away. It’d be a cold day in hell when he showed any signs of weakness to this witch.

“And you didn’t even get him help! He watched a friend get hit by a car and you couldn’t be bothered to get him in to see a therapist. And I know you had the resources. Unlike Bertholdt’s father who wanted to get his son into therapy after also witnessing the accident but just didn’t have the right insurance. You realize that Reiner and Bertholdt practically held each other together after that, right?”

Surprisingly Karina responded with a single nod of the head. Yet she continued staring at the table, her expression unreadable. He knew he could stop here, having likely gotten his point across but fuck that. It wasn’t close to enough.

“If you knew how much your son relied upon that friendship then why did you tear them apart? Huh?”

Karina hunched further forward in her seat, elbows now propped up on the table so she could hold her head. She didn’t even attempt a response, which only served to piss Jean off more.

“We both know it’s because you walked in on them sharing a kiss! A simple peck on the lips and you lost your goddamn mind! You grounded your son for the rest of the school year and forbade him from seeing his best friend! They didn’t even know how they actually felt about each other but you didn’t hesitate to demonize an innocent teenager! One you’d known for years at that point, no less!”

Jean banged his fist on the table with a frustrated grunt, causing the dishes to clatter from the force. She flinched in response but still hung her head low, refusing to face his fury. He took a moment to catch his breath before continuing his condemnation. “The night Bertholdt died he was driving here to see Reiner. Not to have some secret affair but because your son was at the end of his rope.”

Finally she raised her head, looking at him with a hollow, wide eyed expression. 

“That’s right. Reiner started talking about hurting himself and his best friend rushed here despite your warnings in order to save your son…” for the first time Jean hesitated, temporarily uncertain if he should throw the finishing blow. Then he remembered the look of devastation on Reiner’s face the first time he heard this story and he knew it had to be done.

“Did you know that they were on the phone together? Bertholdt didn’t want to leave Reiner alone for a second, afraid of what might happen if he did. As a result Reiner heard all of it. The crash, the screams of pain, and then the emergency workers frantically pulling Bertholdt from the wreckage, shouting about the blood loss and—” 

“Stop!” Karina sobbed desperately, her suddenly visible eyes pleading with Jean to grant her mercy. The look on her face, the hint of remorse he sensed in her, made him take pity and skip the rest of the gory details.

“The only reason we’re even here talking right now,” Jean growled, “the only reason your son is still alive, is because he had other people to carry him through. First he had his friends here in town and then he went to college and found me. I saw how much he was hurting and I encouraged him to finally talk to a professional. Now he’s flourishing and I’ll be damned if I let you undo any of his hard earned progress!”

What he heard her say next didn’t make any sense. Jean couldn’t help but think he’d misheard Karina through her sobs and gasps for air. But then she said it again and again. So many times that it became unmistakable.

“Thank you.”

“What? Why the hell are you thanking me?”

“Because,” Karina suddenly reached across the table to grab one of Jean’s hands. In any other situation he would immediately pull away but his instincts told him to wait. “Jean, dear, I’ve been trying to get Reiner alone to ask if he would consider going to family therapy with me.”

“Wait, what?”

“After Reiner cut me off.. I was a complete mess. At first I was so angry. How could my baby forsake me like that? After everything I sacrificed to raise him. But then the anger, it turned into despair and I could hardly function. When I went in for a medical appointment, the doctor convinced me to see a therapist for my depression. It took years but eventually I realized how much I’d let down my dear son.”

Jean stared at Karina, too stunned to even notice that now he was crying. Not from righteous anger but from utter confusion. For all of the times he had daydreamed about putting this woman in her place he never imagined such a response.

“If you hadn’t convinced Reiner to shut me out I never would’ve gotten the help I needed. I never would’ve worked on my own issues and understood how I took them out on him. I failed him as a mother. I know that now.” She let go of Jean’s hand to grab a tissue box and set it on the table between the two of them.

“Hold on,” he watched as she pulled a tissue to dab at her eyes, “if you already knew you’d done wrong by Reiner then why did you let me tell you off like that?” Jean grimaced now as he thought back on the comments he’d just made. The fierce condemnations. The unapologetic jabs.

Karina smiled weakly, “Well… I guess I wanted to understand how you saw the situation as my son’s life partner.”

“That’s reasona— WHAT,” Jean bolted up from his seat, “what did you just call me!?”

“Reiner’s life partner,” she repeated gently, her smile widening.

“You knew this whole time!?”

Karina nodded.

“How?!” Jean slammed his palms down on the table, rattling the tableware yet again. 

This time, instead of flinching, Karina couldn’t stop herself from laughing. A goofy, genuine laugh that rumbled from her stomach and up through her chest. A laugh that sounded exactly like Reiner’s when he felt light and carefree. When he was happy.

“Gabi and Reiner are friends on social media, dear,” she finally explained after containing her amusement. “He isn’t shy about your relationship. And Gabi isn’t shy about, well, anything. I don’t think she realized that I wasn’t supposed to know when she told me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well,” Karina sighed, her smile quickly fading, “I… I didn’t want to stress Reiner. Or you, for that matter. With how bigoted I used to be, I wasn’t sure if either of you would believe me if I said I was okay with it, either.”

Jean nodded, finally allowing himself to smile. He sat back down at the table and leaned back in the seat. Without saying anything, Karina grabbed Jean’s nearly empty cup of coffee and brought back a fresh pour.

“We have a few hours still,” she reminded him, “If you’re up to it, I think it would be nice to start over.”

He considered her offer for a second, a smug smile crossing his face. “Sure but on one condition.”

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

The last thing Reiner expected to hear when he threw open the door of his mother’s house after hours of waiting around at the airport was raucous laughter. Especially not Jean’s laughter, at that. He kicked off his shoes and hastily ran into the kitchen where he discovered Jean gleefully laughing at a photo album.

“Oh, that picture of him dressed as a yam?” Karina asked with a chuckle. She was back at the stove, putting the finishing touches on their lunch.

“Is that what that is?” Jean questioned with a wide, mischievous smile. His eyes were glued to a polaroid of a young Reiner wearing a lumpy reddish-brown blob of a costume. “Was this for some Thanksgiving play or something?”

Reiner froze in place, mouth hanging open. Wide eyed, he glanced back and forth between the duo, too shocked to speak.

“No, no” she replied cheerfully, “that was for Halloween. Reiner really, and I mean really, loved sweet potatoes back then. I borrowed his aunt’s sewing machine and tried throwing something together for him. It admittedly wasn’t very good.”

Jean cackled. He flipped to the next page, grinning at more pictures of the yam costume while sipping on some water.

“Hello Ms. Braun, thank you for hosting me,” a gentle voice suddenly came from Reiner’s side and drew everyone’s attention. Falco stood in the doorway of the kitchen holding a small tin. “Colt baked these cookies for us to enjoy.”

Without skipping a beat Jean got up from the table to shake Falco’s hand and introduce himself. Then he gestured for the young man to follow him to the stove where Karina once stood.

Reiner looked down to see his mother gazing up at him, a nervous smile adorning her face. She gently grabbed his arm and led him to the next room while Gabi passed them to join the others.

“Mom, what’s going on?” He asked quietly, eyebrows still stuck high on his forehead.

“I asked Gabi to keep you busy for a while so I could talk to Jean,” Karina let go of her son’s arm to rest her hands at her sides. That alone was unusual to him, having grown accustomed to his mother clinging to him when they were in such close proximity. She continued, “I’m sorry for the tricks but I realized I needed to get your boyfriend on my side if I wanted to talk to you. And yes, I’ve known this whole time. Gabi told me a while ago.”

“Gabi told you I had a boyfriend? But then why—” Reiner cut himself off and shook his head, realizing that it really didn’t matter why his mother played along with the roommate story. Not when she referred to Jean as his boyfriend without a shred of contempt in her tone.

“Reiner, I’m so sorry,” Karina looked away for a moment to wipe her watering eyes, “I know I hurt you so much.”

He blinked back tears of his own. Was this real? “It’s… it’s okay, mom, r-really…” Reiner stammered, suddenly overcome with an indescribable feeling of guilt. One that he often felt when thinking about his mother but never understood.

“My dear boy, it’s not okay. I am your mother and I failed you. After talking to Jean I realized that I failed you even more than I thought. I wouldn’t blame you if you never forgave me.”

“Wait,” he protested, “that man, my dad, took advantage of you when you were still just a teenager and then abandoned you with his child. And then.. grandma and grandpa, I didn’t see it back then but I see it now. I see how disappointed they were. You hardly knew peace a-and they treated m-me like an extension of you. I… I can’t b-blame you for wanting me to meet their expectations.”

Karina shook her head, choking back tears. Reiner could see the way she fought against her own desire to pull him into a hug and it broke his heart. As often as Jean had encouraged him to be angry at his mother, he rarely ever could. 

That guilt, he suddenly realized where it came from. And that was from the knowledge that his very existence made Karina’s life infinitely harder. How every little mistake he made was weaponized against her by his grandparents. The only ones he ever knew and also the ones who silently saw Reiner as a mistake. 

It’s not like they were wrong, either.

Yet Karina didn’t stop shaking her head in disagreement, fighting against her own emotions to find her voice. “None of what you said, about your father or my parents or my age,” she croaked, barely understandable, “none of that was your fault.” She muffled a sob with her hands. 

“You didn’t choose to be born, Reiner. And maybe… maybe I didn’t choose to give birth, but it’s not an excuse for how I treated you. Or how I treated poor Bertholdt. You were just kids and I… I had n-no idea th-that you… or that h-he… it’s all m-my f-fault…”

Reiner sucked in a sharp breath, immediately understanding his mother now knew about that awful night. Without hesitation he pulled her into a strong embrace, unable to contain his own sobs. Karina whimpered innumerable apologies and for once he let her without protest. 

Deep down Reiner somehow knew that both of them needed this. His mom needed to apologize for her wrongdoings. He needed to forgive himself for every one of those wrongs for which he had ever accepted the blame. This was them, finally healing. The first step of countless many in a journey that already felt infinitely easier.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

That night five of them sat around the kitchen table, laughing and playing some of their favorite board games. Karina sat out of some of the rounds but, unlike the previous days, she was very much part of the conversation. Jean still struggled at times to hold his tongue after she said something questionable but he cut himself some slack. He knew this was a process for him, too.

When he and Reiner finally retired to their room his heart felt much lighter. As did his boyfriend’s for that matter, (though he was a little tipsy, too.) It didn’t take long before Jean felt Reiner lightly snoring into the back of his neck, the latter insisting on being the big spoon that night. He smiled to himself as sleep gradually came to claim him, too.

Never in Jean’s dreams did he ever imagine liking Karina Braun. Perhaps it was a Christmas miracle. Or perhaps, as was sometimes the case, he assumed the worst of someone he never met in the process of fighting for someone he loved. He didn’t question it, however, just happy that he agreed to give her the chance.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! If there is enough interest I might write a second part where reijean go on a double date with pokupiku and pay their respects to Marcel and Bertholdt.

[project-sekai-facts]

PREDICTIONS AHEAD! I noticed how the second arc enders were all closer to each other and after analyzing a bit, I then came to the conclusion that the odd enders are more spaced apart than the even enders. 1st arc enders Resonating with you - E21 Magical Showtime - E 25 What Lies Behind - E 38 MORE MORE CHRISTMAS - E 42 Power of Unity - E 54 [Amplitude of 33] 2nd arc enders STEP BY STEP - E 98 Farewell My Mask - E 100 Our Constelatoin of Song - E 101 On Your Feet - E 103 Our Happy Ending - E 104 [Amplitude of 6] 3rd arc enders Over Rad Squad - E 135 Our Hands, Covered in wounds - E 150 [Amplitude of 15 so far]

I would then risk to say that the next arc ender could be Wonderlands Showtime, with a Rui event. We can see from the 1st arc ender that the space between events varies between little jumps and big jumps. We had a big jump now [150-135 = 15] similar to the leap between the WxS and N25; and MMJ and Vbs arc enders. Considering we just got Nene5, 5/6 events from now we should get Rui5, like how we got mizuki5/ena5 with 5 events of interval. It cannot be mmj since Shizuku5 is right at the door. And meanwhile, Rui4 gets closer to EN Server.

For future predictions, I would risk either Haruka 5 or Shiho 5, both as arc enders of their respective units. But considering how Shiho had an event just now, along with being a 2* on both Ichika's and Saki's events, I'm leaning toward her side. (but I would like to mention how Hona5 as ard ender is also a possibility) Shizuku was also featured at said event, although 2 events later she's ready to go.

As for closer events I would like to recall that Honami is dangerously close to focus jail so having her somewhat soon could help fill events.

I would also like to mention our boy Toya who is also getting close to jail. He has gotten many events and cards, his ocean orchestra and 4th anni limited leave me somewhat confused but, considering An5, Kohane5 were limited. Along with Toya getting featured on the 4th anni makes me think he is a permanent event. As for the New Year's. We have 13 Contestants: Ichika; Saki; Minori; Airi; Shizuku; Akito; Toya; Emu; Nene; Rui; Kanade; Mafuyu; KAITO We take out Ichika and Saki immediately for they have gotten hairstyles just a month ago. Followed by Shizuku who is getting her event just now. That leaves us with Mafuyu, Emu, and KAITO as the ones with the least hairstyles, whose dynamics match. Throw in Ichika, whose last 2* was the Sanrio collab, and who knows Mafuyu, their last event dates back to February with Relax Tea Time. Finally, Nene had her last 3* in the 2.5 anniversary. Not to mention that with Ichika and Emu, the dynamic is assured. For Bloom, we can start by looking at Len, the VS with less hairstyles. If we assume that clpl will follow any pattern, we cannot link him with An or Toya since he is a starter VS of VBS. Looking back, neither Shiho, Airi, nor Toya can be, since they got hairstyles from the 4th Anni leaving us with Haruka, who got her Colorfes a long time ago. Similar to Kanade and Rui. If we instead go from the OC with fewer hairstyles, we get Toya. He cannot be linked with Len, and Miku has gotten her hairstyle sooner than Luka. Miku got in ORS while Luka in Wedding Live

This is probs all wrong, it's 5:30am now, have a good day!

aaaa i'm so sorry i'm so late to answering this, i've been meaning to for like two weeks i just kept forgetting orz

okay so for arc enders i definitely think the remaining three will be the next 1 or 2 events for each unit. if we assume 6th anniversary to be arc ender 4/graduation we don't want some units to be speedrunning their conclusion again, which would likely happen if we don't finish up very soon. (how wxs managed to be rushing arc 2 in the first place is a mystery but what's done is done. this is mainly about vbs taking 1yr 8 months to finish arc 1).

my guess is that the next mmj and ln events are arc enders. it'd make sense given the way their recent stories have played out. wxs i'm less sure about. i'm fairly certain next event will be emu and not rui, due to some stuff that happened in emu's card story. given that every troupe we've visited so far has had two dedicated events, we can assume next event will still be the opera company, so it depends on if they want that to be the arc ender or have a conclusion event/rui5 afterwards.

i don't think emu/mafuyu/kaito + nene/ichika NY is very likely at all. emu and mafuyu had a mixed event focused on them only a few months ago, and kaito would have to be an MMJ lim (we literally just got N25 Meiko last month) meaning we need an MMJ girl on the banner, who is most likely to be Airi, though Minori is not impossible. Mafuyu and Nene both already have trained NY cards as well, so they're off the table entirely. Ichika being 2* wouldn't actually be surprising to me though. I think Kanade or Akito is likely to fill the last 4* slot.

bfes has to be Len or he will end up really far behind everyone else bc the mmj girl will break lim cap. also he's really due one anyway so i agree w you there. the pairing character has to be from ln, mmj, or vbs. from those units, the character with the current oldest lim is An, who also doesn't have 7 lims yet either. she's my pick since then you don't have to give her another lim until her 5th anni banner card either. however, she's also possible for vday or wday if we go by the theory that the vsinger cant match with a starter unit member.

i don't think haruka is a likely pick, since that would make 3 out of the 5 rateup characters total be mmj unit (kaito/haruka/either minori or airi), something that only 1 fes gacha has done before (rise as one + fes, but that was an exception anyway due to the need to include saki on wxs fes). if i had to go with anyone other than An, I'd pick ichika or akito or toya.

[weeeeeekly]

“are you okay?” – mark lee x gn!reader

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blurb On Earth-127, Mark is an ordinary biomed major at Neo Culture Institute of Technology, but when he’s not studying for class, he’s out saving New York City as Spider-Man. The job is hard, but he manages it. It also doesn’t hurt that his new friend is just his type.

But instead of a sweet confession to Mark you decide to tease his masked persona.

info no afab/fem mention, mainly gender neutral, no reader body shape mention, no use of Erika, swearing, non-idol au, college au, college student!mark, spiderman!mark (obvi), reader is assigned lactose intolerant. johnny & jaehyun as mark’s besties. mark & reader are 22 and johnny & jaehyun are 24. everyone else is 21. ft. 00 line of nct/riize as frat bros. loosely based off a combo of the mcu spider-man movies, ncit house, 200 music video, & superman ii

WARNINGS!!! NSFW but MDNI 18+ blog, VERY explicit in this bonus chapter compared to the main story, gender neutral language, use of “hole”, swearing, mentions of violence, dirty talk, praise kink maybe, reader & mark are experienced, reader receives oral, cowgirl/riding position, soft dom!reader, sub!mark, not proofread just pure free flowing thought

wc 2.3k

author’s note !! you can read this without reading the main story, but it might flow better if you read the entire thing

blah blah blah proper name, place name, backstory stuff

this is FICTION!!!!! everything is made up by me or inspired by the mcu spider-man movies, ncit house video, & mark’s 200 music video. the stuff written out is not meant to be a representation of the people, places, or ideas mentioned. also, prob not accurate to real life counterparts – idk sex.

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You’re sitting on Haechan’s bed next to Mark as Haechan is duct taped to his gaming chair.

Haechan smirks, “I’ve had this dream before. Less clothes though.”

Rolling your eyes, you get up to grab the duct tape.

“Oh? So, this is what you’re into.”

“I’m going to tape your mouth shut.”

Haechan lets out an exaggerated moan as you rip a piece off to shut him up.

“This isn’t Challengers.”

Mark sits uncomfortably on the edge of the bed as you sit back down. Haechan continues staring at you both as you wait for Jeno and Jaemin to come back upstairs to babysit.

Turning to Mark, “I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you something, but it’s going to have to wait because somebody decided it was a good idea to get on the fucking roof while drunk.”

Haechan rolls his eyes at your jab at him. Mark nods at you as you stare into his beautiful brown eyes.

The door opens as 2J, Jeno and Jaemin, walk in with armfuls of snacks.

“Party’s here.”

“Okay, we’re going to head out now. See you guys tomorrow.”

The two of you find Johnny and Jaehyun beating Renjun and Shotaro at beer pong. A crowd of party goers cheering J² on. Holding Mark’s hand, you nudge Johnny to see if he was ready to leave.

“Yeah, I can take you home right after this game.” Johnny tells you as he sinks another ball into a cup making Shotaro drink again.

“Or we could walk to our apartment.” Mark suggests. “It’s a 5-minute walk.”

You two ending up walking to Mark’s shared apartment with J². He fills you in about a project he was having trouble with in one of his classes.

When you make it to apartment 721, Mark gives you a tour of the place. The kitchen and living room when you first walk in, Mark’s room to the left next to the bathroom and Johnny and Jaehyun’s rooms to the right. Mark’s room was cozy, decorated with pictures of friends and family, an acoustic guitar leaning against a dresser, a small tv, piano, a Canadian flag on the wall next to his closet, and his bed facing the giant window.

“So,” Mark starts as he closes his door behind you, “You wanted to tell me something.”

You take a deep breath as you begin, “I’ve got a lot to say so please hear me out for its entirety. Mark, I have a crush on you. I thought you were cute the first time I saw you after that basketball almost took me out. I was so excited when we ended up sharing a class together and you sat next to me the next class after we met. Then when you comforted me after Spider-Man saved me. That was the moment I knew that I liked you. I like you, Mark. Maybe even more than that.”

Mark looks to you with an endearing look in his eyes. He opens his mouth to respond to your heartfelt confession to him. You watch as his mouth suddenly shuts and his eyes narrow as his attention veers off.

“Mark?”

You take a step in his direction when the sound of sirens approaching distracts you. Both of you look out the window to see 2 firetrucks zoom past the building and in the direction of a nearby bank that was on fire. Mark turns on his tv to the local news channel showing live footage of a person dressed exactly like Spider-Man, but in black and white.

“That’s not Spider-Man…”

You turn to look at Mark but he’s not there. The window is wide open, and you’re left alone in his room. A minute later, Spider-Man shows up on the tv throwing a trash can at the villain.

You were 100% sure that Mark was Spider-Man now.

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The sound of Mark’s window opening wakes you up from the nap you ended up taking while waiting for him to get back. You stay as still as possible in the dark room as you watch him, clothed in his suit, stumble inside. He lets out a groan as he clutches his right side.

Gripping the edge of his sheets, you watch as he sits down on the edge of his bed. You take this opportunity to throw the sheets on him as you cling to him like a koala to a bamboo tree. Mark is caught off guard as he stumbles around his room trying to get the sheet off himself. You manage to pin him to the ground as he trips over your bag near his bed.

Successfully duct taping his hands and legs to his body, you bring him to the bathroom. Mark, or Spider-Man, stays silent as you sit him down on the toilet.

“I know you’re injured so is it okay if you tell me where so I can treat it?”

“Y-you just kidnapped me.”

“Is it really kidnapping if I never took you to a secondary location? Don’t answer that.”

“Can I have Spider-Man’s consent to administer first aid?”

“Yeah.”

You quickly work on washing his hands where his suit had been torn. Mark only lets out only a hiss when you apply saline before applying a bandage.

You giggle to yourself as you think about one of your dream scenarios — You walking to your room and complaining, “Oh no, wouldn’t it be terrible if there was a hot, sexy shirtless guy tied up who was whimpering and crying with a beaten, bloody face.” And Spider-Mark, with only boxers and his mask on, bruised and bloody from winning a fight and tied to the bed.

You and Haechan did have a similar fantasy and he was technically right, but you would never tell him that. You couldn’t have his ego inflate anymore than it already is.

“What’s, ow, so funny?”

“Just thinking… do you need an ice pack or something?”

“No, I’ll be healed in a bit.”

“Woah – like super healing?” 

He nods as you continue looking over the torn or burnt parts of his suit for any more injuries. Thankfully, Mark doesn’t have any serious wounds that would need a proper medical professional because you doubt he would let you take him to the hospital in full red and blue spandex get up. Especially since you’re not supposed to know his secret identity.

It wasn’t your fault that you were able to piece it together due to knowing him.

“Okay, you’re done Spidey.” You pat his shoulder as you turn to wash your hands again. “I can’t believe I was able to take you by surprise! Me – a regular civilian.”

“My spidey sense didn’t go off because you’re not a threat.” He huffs as you walk him back to his bed.

“I can be threatening.”

Mark laughs at this.

If you hadn’t realized before, then hearing Mark’s signature laugh would knock it into you. This is the laugh you love to hear. The laugh you try your best to hear every day. It’s one of his best qualities.

He plops down on the bed as you stand above him, trying your best to quell the absolutely batshit inappropriate thoughts you’re currently having.

“What’s with that look on your face?”

You force a neutral look as you bite back the smile fighting its way. “What look?”

Mark begins to say your name, but then he catches himself. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about my crush on you, Spider-Man.”

“And?”

“And,” You begin as you sit down at the edge of the bed. “how much I want to fuck him.”

The silence between the two of you is deafening, even the noise of car horns and yelling becomes faint. It feels like an eternity before Mark breaks the silence by ripping the duct tape and sheet prison you put him in. One second, he’s restrained, you blink, and next thing he’s free and cupping your face with his hands.

Honestly, you’re turned on more because the fact that he let you duct tape when he has heightened levels of strength speaks volumes.

“Do you really mean that?”

“Yes, a million times yes.

Mark scoots closer to you as you smile at him.

Wrapping your arms around the back of his neck, you bring your lips next to his ear and emphasize each word, “I need to fuck you.”

Next thing you know, Mark is pining you down as he hovers above you. You smile at him as see Mark falter for a bit.

“It’s going to be hard to kiss you through your mask.”

“I can’t take it off.”

“That’s okay, I’ll kiss you elsewhere.”

Freeing your dominant hand, you drag your hand from his neck to his crotch, the fabric tight around his length. Your hand cups his dick as he lets out a gasp.

“You know the traffic light colors.”

“Mhmm.”

“If you’re okay with this…” You hover your hand, pausing the teasing you were doing.

“Green.”

“Great!“

You lick your lips as Mark brings your hands back to his body. Your free hand takes off the top part of your outfit as you continue palming him.

“Wait, let me take off my suit.”

Lying back on his bed, Mark taps the Spider logo on his suit causing the spandex costume to loosen around him. He takes off the suit in one piece just leaving him in his mask and matching red and blue boxer briefs.

“Cute.”

You can bet that he’s blushing under the mask.

You can bet that he’s blushing under his mask, and you want nothing more than to see it.

In response, you stand up to take off the rest of your outfit leaving you almost bare for him, just the thin barrier of underwear stopping direct skin to skin contact. You settle back on top of him and continue your palming on his boner as your other hand plays with the elastic of his boxers.

Mark breathes out a shaky “Wait.”

You pause tilting your head to the side in confusion removing your hand. You kept silent as Mark readjusts his position to have his body on his bed with his head leaning down. He looks up at you as he removes the bottom of his mask off.

“I need to taste you.”

Well, you certainly weren’t going to pass him up on that offer. You stand in between his face as Mark spreads your legs open and rests his hands on your ass.

“Do you – ohmygod – want me to also help you?” You throw your head back as he begins kissing your inner thigh.

“Don’t worry about me.” He speaks between kisses, “Let me take care of you.”

Moaning in response, Mark slowly begins giving you head. Taking his time to lick every inch of your hole making you hold his shoulders to steady yourself from the pleasure. You want to keep talking to him, but you cannot form a single coherent thought as Mark brings you closer to cumming.

Marks begins humming as he continues working magic with his mouth allowing you to cum with his tongue.

He moves his head away from you as he helps you sit back on the bed due to your legs shaking.

“Damn.”

“You liked that, huh?”

“Don’t be cocky but speaking of cock.” You smirk as you reach over to his crotch and lightly squeeze.

Mark moans in response and lays his hand on top of yours removing your hand.

“How did you recover so quickly?”

“Built differently.” You say as you straddle his thighs, centimeters away from the one thing you want inside you. “You got a condom?”

He nods as he holds one up. You’re not sure where he got it maybe used a web to get it or something.

Shaking the thought away, Mark rolls the condom on his erect dick. You allow him to hold your hips as you sink down on him, your eyes rolling back with each inch you take.

“Fuck.”

Letting a gasp out when you finally take all of him inside you. The stretch hurting a bit, but you begin sloppily making out with Mark as you allow him to rock your hips rhythmically. You can taste yourself and it almost makes it hotter when you begin biting on his bottom lip causing Mark to whimper. This gets you going more as you ride him faster hoping to have you both cum at the same time.

“You work so hard saving people.” Pausing to have your tongue explore the inside of his mouth more. “You deserve to get rewarded.”

His hands grip your ass as his hips start to stutter, signaling to you that he’s almost there. You start kissing his neck and when you feel the pressure building up inside you, you raise your hips to the tip of him and slam down as you pull his body flush against yours.

“Cum for me.”

Mark lets out a deep groan as he cums into the condom as he hugs your waist. You allow yourself to ride out your high before you become overstimulated.

Smiling at him, Mark helps you get off him and back on his bed. You lay next to him as you both slow your breathing back to normal. The silence of the room is broken by a notification from your phone.

You had to go back to your dorm soon since you picked up an extra shift at the bookstore tomorrow morning.

Getting up, you grab your clothes and shoes to put them back on. Making sure to grab your bag with your phone inside.

Once you’re redressed, you climb back on the bed to straddle Mark’s thighs, kissing him one last time.

“Bye Mark, see you tomorrow!” You say as you pull his mask back down.

“W-what?”

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”

Smiling at him, you close his door behind him as you walk past Johnny and Jaehyun passed out on the couch.

masterlist | main story

author’s note sorry i've been so busy. i got to see dream in concert recently & my pcd was so bad. i miss them. i miss mark!!! then i got busy with school & work, but now i'm free because of the hurricane. hopefully the power won't go out so i can write more.

does anyone else use head gender neutrally??? because I do. everyone gets head! you get head! you also get head!! also tell me why this took me forever to write the actual smut. i genuinely don’t know what i’m doing.

now “are you okay?” is done!!! woooo!! time to focus back on the inheritance, kinktober, & an untitled uni monster txt fic.

[omgrachwrites]

I Love You So - Dalton Lambert

Dalton Lambert x Reader

Warnings: spoilers for insidious 5, lil bit of fluff, angst, probs ooc Dalton, mentions of possessed!Dalton

Summary: After Dalton accidentally puts you in terrible danger, he makes a difficult decision.

A/N: Soooooo, I'm in love with another fictional character, never saw myself writing for this franchise! Please excuse the poor gif, this was the first one I've ever made! Hope you guys enjoy and please let me know what you think! I love you all xxx

I'm gonna pack my things and leave you behind This feeling's old and I know that I've made up my mind I hope you feel what I felt when you shattered my soul 'Cause you were cruel and I'm a fool So please let me go

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

You stared at the clock on the wall behind your Professor as you willed time to go faster, you were just so restless, you needed to see him. It felt as though you hadn’t seen your boyfriend in weeks. In reality, it was only a few days, but a few days without any form of contact from Dalton felt like forever. You knew why you hadn’t seen or spoken to him, he felt guilty.

As soon as the bell rang, you packed up your things as quickly as possible, causing your friend to laugh at you. “that desperate to see your little Picasso?”

You rolled your eyes, “well I haven’t seen him for a few days, he’s been sick,” the lie fell from your lips so easily so you fooled even yourself into believing it was true, “I’ll see you later,” you waved at your friend before heading in the direction of Dalton’s dorm room on the other side of the school.

The door was open and he was standing at his easel when you walked in, his long hair loose around his shoulders. You smiled and kissed him on the cheek, “hey.”

“Hey, Y/N,” he smiled and turned to face you, letting you give him a proper kiss, paint smudged across his forehead and along the bridge of his nose. He looked so gorgeous like this.

“Are you okay? You sounded freaked when you called,” you started as you sat at the end of his bed.

He sighed and sat next to you, fiddling with the frayed material of his jeans, “I guess that I’m just worried that the door won’t stay closed.”

“We’ll get through it together, just like we always do.”

A warm hand cupped your cheek, a thumb brushing over the cut on your cheek, “it’s going to scar,” he whispered, “I can’t believe that I hurt you.”

His big blue eyes welled up with tears and you placed your hand over the one he had on your cheek, “it wasn’t you. Dalton, I love you.”

He bit his lip as he stood abruptly, his fingers tangled in his hair. You let him pace around the room in silence, it looked like he was at war with himself. Finally, he looked at you sadly, “I can’t do this anymore, Y/N.”

Your heart plummeted as you stared at him, trying to process his words, “what?”

“I can’t let what happened last week ever happen again. I won’t let it happen again.”

You stood up and walked over to him, cupping his cheeks, “it won’t ever happen again.”

“Y/N, I can’t…” he trailed off, almost breathless, “I can’t take the risk. I have to let you go, I love you.”

“Who are you to make the decision for the both of us? You can’t just end our relationship just like that,” you snapped your fingers, “just because something bad has happened!” your voice was rising now but you couldn’t help it. It was like he was giving up.

Dalton took your hands in his, “do you think that this is easy for me? Y/N, I almost killed you.”

“But you didn’t!”

“But I wanted to!” he shouted, causing you to take a couple of steps backwards, he closed his eyes for a brief moment, looking pained. When he opened them they were full of tears again, “I could feel how much he wanted to hurt you. Wanted to kill you. I love you Y/N but I can’t put you in danger again, I won’t.”

The bitter words that had sprung to your lips had died on your tongue as you saw how broken he looked, “fine,” you whispered as tears rolled down your cheeks, “it seems as though you’ve made up your mind,” he opened his mouth to reply, tears streaming down his cheeks, “I don’t want to hear it, Dalton,” your voice broke, “just stay away from me,” you sniffled and quickly left the room.

As soon as you were in the safety of your own dorm, you broke down and sank to your knees, crying into your arms, you can’t believe he would just give up.

As the weather started to get warmer your heart seemed to mend itself, it was difficult, at first it the pain was unbearable and you didn’t know how you would be able to get through it, but you did. You and Dalton virtually lived on opposite sides of the school, you didn’t have any classes together and he hated parties so you didn’t come across him. Dalton hadn’t even tried to call, but maybe that was for the best. You wouldn’t have picked up if he had.

Soon yours and Dalton’s relationship seemed like a distant memory, like something out of a summer dream and just like she had the year before, Dalton’s mom invited you to their Fourth of July party. You debated on not going but you decided that you couldn’t avoid him forever. Sooner or later you would run into him.

That’s where you found yourself at the precise moment, you were in the Lambert’s back garden, speaking with one of their neighbours. As you went to get a refill on your drink, a tall handsome figure went to stand at your side. You looked up at him, it looked as though he hadn’t slept in months and he’d cut his hair.

“I can’t dream without you,” he mumbled and you raised an eyebrow.

“I thought that was the point.”

He shook his head, “no I mean, I can’t sleep without you. I need you Y/N. I’m so sorry.”

You cupped his cheek, your thumb stroking across his skin gently, you still loved him, a part of you always would, “I can’t Dalton,” you sighed as his heart visibly broke and you stood up on your tiptoes to brush your lips against his.

That was the last time you saw him for a very long time.

[thedgeoftheuniverse]

AND IN THEIR TRIUMPH DIE | chapter 2

— Seven years after the Outbreak, all efforts to find a cure have been unsuccessful. Nearly a forgotten pipe dream, it's kept alive by a small team of scientists scattered across the country and fiercely guarded by what remains of the military. It was coincidence that brought the missing piece to the cure into the hands of Levi Squad. It was sheer misfortune that it would carry him across the country.

[ WORD COUNT: 4.1k ]

[ levi ackerman x fem!reader ]

[ TAGS/WARNINGS: violence, mentions of loss of a limb/severed limbs, cursing, mentions of contamination from germs, levi definitely has anxiety, is prob OOC. mentions of a gun/gunshots, mentions of levi not eating, more zombies! please continue with caution if these are sensitive subjects for you <3 ]

The room was mostly quiet when Levi returned to consciousness.

His hearing was the first to come back. The only sounds that his slightly ringing ears picked up were ragged breaths and distant groans of Infected on the other side of the door. They were no longer beating at the door, but they were still nearby.

The next to return was the heartbeat in his ankle, which had been wrapped and iced. The compression felt heavenly on the aching joint.

“Welcome back,” Though he still felt far away and his vision had not returned, Levi could recognize Erwin’s voice in his sleep.

“Piss off.”

He seemed amused. “It seems you may need more rest, Captain.”

“Fuck you.” His vision began coming in. He noticed Erwin by his side, who had swept back his bangs and gently rested his hand on his forehead. “How long was I out?”

“A few hours.”

“ What ?”

He shot up. The sudden change in posture caused a wave of nausea that made him have to lean back on his elbows and close his eyes for a moment. He always hated nausea. A glance around the room told him that Erwin was the only other person awake. Hange slept against the wall with their mouth open and glasses sitting crooked on their face; Eren’s head was laid in their lap as he took in shallow breaths. His complexion was concerningly pallid, though the cauterization appeared to have been successful given the makeshift bandage hadn't been changed or entirely bled through yet. You were curled on the floor with your back against the wall and soft snores leaving your lips; much to Levi’s dismay, you were unrestrained.

“Levi, you need to eat.”

“We need to get out of here.” 

“ Levi. We are not going anywhere until you have eaten. The last thing we need is for you to faint again.”

He hated being coddled. “Oh, spare me the lecture, eyebrows. In case you’ve forgotten, the rest of our rations were in Hange’s pack.”

“Blue has offered us some of her food. You would be wise to accept it.”

“I’m not taking shit from that rat.”

If the look on his face was any indication, Erwin was tired of his temper.

“Levi,” the authority had returned to Erwin’s voice, and Levi knew he was not going to make compromises or use the watered-down version of himself that was given to the rest of the group. “You’re a liability as it stands. We need you to be able to make it back. I need you to make it back. You cannot manage that in your current state.” 

“Fine— after we figure out what to do with her.” 

“ Now. And we will figure that out when everyone is awake. We could all use extra rest after today.”

He knew it was fruitless to try persuading Erwin—his orneriness was both his most admirable and most infuriating quality. Levi was not ignorant of the fact that he needed to eat, and he knew it was a poor judgment call to refuse his rations from the previous days. He was sure Erwin knew he saw his errors and chose to forgo the lecture, though he would not budge on the necessity of him eating. It was reasonable. All of it. What he could not see as reasonable was the Commander’s determination to trust you—a stranger he owed no loyalties or love to—over him. Levi was sure that after everything they braved together, Erwin would hold his instincts in higher regard.

“You think I don’t trust you.” He hated when he read his thoughts. 

“No, I think you trust her .”

“And why do you think that, Captain?”

“Because she’s still alive... and don’t call me that.” His frustration was evident in the furrow of his thick brows and a deep inhale through flared nostrils. “What’s the plan here, Erwin?”

“She lives here.” Levi couldn’t stop the annoyance crossing his face, not understanding what his friend meant and not caring to decipher it through the swimming in his head.

“She knows the town better than any of us. She must be able to fight if she’s been around this long, and we’re going to need all the help we can get to bring Eren back home...” he trailed off for a moment, as though the words he needed to say turned to ash in his throat. “And if she turns on us, I trust you’ll have no hesitation in putting her down.” 

(Like a dog.)

(Like him .) 

“So, you think it’ll be necessary?” 

“It’s a contingency, Levi. Now eat the damn granola bar. I will not tell you again.”

“Sir.” He acknowledged with a curt nod and a glare from under his brows. The noticeably audible growling of his stomach solidified Erwin’s point, making Levi feel more impudent than he already had and prompting his friend to throw the highly debated protein bar in his lap.

The packaging was almost pristine, free of dust, debris, and discoloration—he could not recall the last time he had seen something like it. It would have to have been before the outbreak. Likely the last time he went to the grocery store, which was in the middle of the hottest July in living memory, with eighty dollars in his pocket and a bandage wrapping his face. The colors were still vibrant—orange and white and black, advertising a peanut butter and chocolate flavoring with peanut and caramel topping and a low sugar content, in a striking, bold font that he knew would have grabbed eyes on the store shelves. 

In fact, he may have seen the exact one on the shelves.

When he tore the package with weak fingers, the smell of the bar elicited another growl of his stomach, but Levi still felt hesitant in taking the first bite. It felt too normal, like he had to have been overlooking the most obvious signs of contamination. He almost felt afraid.

“It’s not gonna bite you. That’s their job.” The sound of your voice immediately diverted Levi’s attention to you, having almost forgotten your presence in the examination of his food. “Sorry, bad joke.”

But you were still smiling.

“You’re awake.”

“Yeah. Have been for a couple minutes.” He noticed a slight twang in your accent that didn’t seem perceptible earlier.

“Care to explain all of this?” he said, gesturing to the entirety of the room. “Where’s the rest of your people?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Oh, how he fucking despised your attitude.

“Listen here, you damn rat—” “ Levi! —” Hange interrupted in a sharp whisper, “Erwin and I checked. The building’s empty; all the exits are boarded up. She’s telling the truth.”

“Where did this come from?” He demanded, the half-opened granola bar still held in his hand. The warmth from his palm began to make the chocolate melt, sticking to the foil packaging and threatening to dirty his hands. 

“It was here when I found the place.” “And how long has that been?” “A few weeks.” “ Bullshit. Nothing lasts that long now, least of all food like this.” He could feel his temper beginning to boil over. Levi couldn’t remember the last time he spoke with someone so irritating.

(Yes he could.)

“What does it matter where it came from?” “Because I don’t trust you.” “The door is right there, then. You’re welcome to take your chances out there. I’d take some food before you go, though.”

“Don’t be a brat.”

A low, throaty groan from the opposite corner of the room interrupted Levi’s verbal sparring with you. Hange immediately jerked awake, having been anxiously waiting for any signs of life from Eren aside from labored, shallow breaths. He took in a deep breath—his first one—wincing in pain as his legs fought against themselves to stretch with the rest of his body.

“Is that…” You looked nauseated staring at him, your eyes glued to Eren’s severed calf a mere few feet away from them. “Does that stop the infection?”

(Has it smelled like that the whole time?)

(Like death?)

“Most of the time.” Hange responded, their voice uncharacteristically quiet as they gently ran their fingers through Eren’s sweat-matted hair. They removed the hair tie to allow his head to rest more comfortably on their lap. “If you catch it soon enough.” “And how soon is ‘soon enough?’ 

“It’s different every time.” Levi noticed something similar to failure swirling in their eyes. “Eren here lasted almost thirty minutes. But I’ve seen someone bitten and turned in less than fifteen. It’s never the same.” “So how did you know it would work?” “We didn’t… but we had to try.” The room was silent for a moment as they all spared a few moments to glance at Eren. They were all beginning to think the same thing.

(It was always the kids to suffer the most.) 

Erwin’s somber voice cut through the silence, hardly a whisper. “How’s he doing?” Levi could see the regret on his face. He blamed himself. 

He was just a kid.  

“Stable—for now. But he needs fluids, antibiotics, painkillers… a blood transfusion, maybe two. We can’t do any of that until we get back, and we can’t feasibly carry him the whole way. It took us four days to make it this far without him on our backs.” 

He could see the realization finally hit them. 

It might be impossible to bring Eren home. 

The room fell silent again as they measured humanity versus reality.  

There were a lot of things Levi could stomach, but he wasn't sure this would be one of them. And facing Mikasa and Armin would be another demon entirely. 

“There’s a car.” 

A collective gasp filled the room. Your voice was barely above a whisper as you breathed hope into the air. “It’s about two, maybe three blocks down. I think it still runs—I can make a break for it, get it around front.” “You think it still runs?” Levi spat. He hated that it was their only option. At least, the only one that included Eren. “When’s the last time you checked?”

There was an uncomfortably long beat of silence before your response. “About three weeks... and it was in pretty rough shape then. But it’s our only option for getting out of here.”

( Fuck , he hates you too.)

“‘ Our?’ No, no, no. You’re not coming with us.” 

“Yes, Levi, she is.” 

“What happened to your democratic bullshit? I didn't vote.” 

“Hange and myself did. Majority rules, even under my bullshit democracy.” Between Erwin’s matter-of-fact, smart-asses statement paired with that smug grin he loved to wear, Levi was ready to hit him. It seemed everyone was determined to push his buttons. 

You seemed eager enough to ignore his protests. “Look, I can make a run for it. If I’m not back in thirty minutes, you can assume I’m dead and make a new plan from there.” 

He did not remember you being so mouthy.

“Or you took the car and bolted while those freaks were distracted with us in here.” A hefty sigh left you. Levi thought it amusing that you were getting frustrated. “Tell me where it is, and I’ll go.” 

“You’ll never make it with your ankle, Levi.” He shot a lethal glare in Erwin’s direction. 

“We can’t send Hange—it’s bad enough they were allowed on this run in the first place.” They looked like they wanted to protest, but Levi gave no room. “And someone has to stay behind to keep them and the kid safe. Not to mention, you're loud as hell and slow—freaks’ll hear you before they get the chance to smell you.”

They knew there was no room for argument. They knew he was right, regardless of how little anyone liked the plan.  

He knew he had a higher chance of death than success. 

“I’ll go with you.” 

“ No .” 

“ Yes. I can lure them away while you make a break for the car.” He might have hated the logicality of your plan more than you. “I don’t care how fast you are; you can't outrun them with your ankle like that.” 

A scathing glare and full-chested sigh were his only responses to you.  

“Just don't leave me behind.” 

“No promises.” 

It had to have been the most insane, asinine, downright fucking disgusting plan Levi had ever been subjected to. 

“I am not covering myself in that shit.” 

“Yes, you are.”

“I know how it sounds, but it covers your scent. There's no way we're making it to the car smelling very much alive—and it's not actually going on you , just on the cloak.” 

That was not much better, in his opinion. 

The aforementioned cloak, a vibrant shade of emerald green with an obscure logo on the back that he could not recall seeing before, could not protect his skin from the overwhelming amount of bacteria and disease carried by those wretched corpses. It sure as hell was not thick enough to prevent that gore from seeping through the fabric. 

“You're the one that insisted on going, shorty.” Hange looked disgustingly amused. 

“Can it, four eyes.” 

He was going to be sick. He was sure he looked nearly as pale as Eren. 

As you reviewed the plan, drawing shoddy diagrams on the ground with an old marker, Levi realized how truly doomed he was. The alley they entered was a dead end on the other side, blocked off by a ten-foot-tall gate—likely installed by the military to prevent strays, both living and dead—with barbed wire curling around the top. Carefully designed to prevent their exact motive, there was no chance they would be scaling the fence. The only option was to exit the same way they entered, which included passing through roughly fifteen to twenty remaining Infected meandering through the alleyway and streets. 

With limited ammunition and energy between the two of you, Levi—with intense nausea and somehow revitalized disdain towards you—knew the intestine-soaked, bacteria-infused cloak was the only option.

“This is fucking insane.” 

He was still going to complain. 

“Yeah, it is. It’s also our only shot of getting out of here since you all rang the goddamn dinner  bell for every freak in the next five miles.”

“Would you like to say that again?” 

“Actually, I have something else in mind for you.”

“ Don’t be a fucking brat.” 

“ Don’t be a fucki—”  

“Levi. Blue. That is more than enough.” Erwin's commanding baritone cut through the altercation. “You two will have to work together out there if you have any hope of making it to the car.” 

Levi grumbled a "yes, sir.” You resumed your review of the plan.

“Okay, one more time: Levi and I will pass back down the alleyway and make our way here—” you pointed to a matchbook, symbolizing an old pharmacy, “—together. Once we hit the pharmacy, I split off, toss the cloak, and make as much damn noise as I can to lead them away.”

 “What if they don’t follow you?” Hange questioned. Levi hadn’t thought it was possible for the room to become more tense, but it did. “Abnormals aren't too common, but they’re not exactly rare either.” 

He hadn’t thought about that.

Then again, he never had to think about the intricacies and exceptions of live baiting Infected.

“Trust me, they’ll follow.” Hange seemed to accept your vague answer. “Worst case, we’ll both have weapons.” 

Levi had the growing suspicion he would be dead before the pharmacy was in eyeshot. 

“Once we split off, Levi—you’ll make a run for the car. Give me at least a minute to lure them far enough away and then pull around front. The four of us will load in. We’ll be golden.” “How are you getting back around without leading those freaks right to us? I’m not trying to have my face torn off in a piece of shit Honda today.” 

“I have a ladder set up around back. I’ll get to the roof, drop down inside, and run out the front—done it a dozen times. And it's a Camry.” 

“Even better.” 

Erwin looked deep in thought, with his thick brows furrowed so deeply they nearly touched in the middle. “And there's no other way?” 

“No.” 

“It’s settled then. I trust you can do this, Levi?” 

“Fuck off.” 

“I’ll take that for ‘yes’.” 

“Erwin, we need to talk.” 

“After.” 

(Will there be an 'after’ for him?) 

In all actuality, three hours of rest was not enough to mitigate the severe sleep deprivation and physical pain Levi had found him in. 

But it was better than nothing.

The food he reluctantly ate from Blue’s stores (one protein bar and a can of mostly normal white meat chicken) replenished a good enough portion of his energy, while the water (which Levi insisted on boiling, seeing as he did not trust you or anyone else’s competency in the matter. Erwin gave in.) did not feel refreshing; the hydration was not a matter of question.

His ankle, however, was, and Erwin showed no hesitancy in making his awareness of the fact known.

Levi told him where he could shove it.

Now, covered in entrails and intestines, and God only knows what else by your side, a woman that he trusted less than his uncle (which was a considerable statement), Levi wished he’d heeded his companion’s warnings.

 The pair were waved out of the door with a cheerful “Good luck!” and a dismal “We’re counting on you.”

“Okay,” you whispered, your voice no more than a shadow, “just follow my lead.”

He responded with a turse nod, too focused on maintaining the lightness of his feet, while you loudly scuffed and scraped and shuffled your feet across the pavement. 

(Heel. Toe. Heel. Toe. Heel. Toe. )

He wanted to scream at you and tell you that your noise was ringing the dinner bell—as you so eloquently phrased—when he realized the cloaks were working and you were acting like one of them. The Infected crowding the alley, at least six in number, paid little to no mind to the pair of you, nor did the dozen or so on the way to the pharmacy. Levi would have almost believed you had done this before and did not feel even a quarter of the sheer terror coursing through him were it not for the single glance he spared at you. 

(But still—heel. Toe. Heel. Toe. Heel toe.)  

(He would not die today.) 

Your hands were balled into fists so tight he thought your fingernails would draw blood, your jaw was clenched to an extreme degree, and your legs slightly trembled with each of your noisy steps. 

There was a single, tense moment of eye contact where Levi offered you a nod with raised eyebrows. 

( You've got it. ) 

(He didn't believe it.) 

( Heel. Toe. Heel. Toe. Forever and ever and ever. ) 

The walk to the pharmacy felt like an eternal walk into Hell. 

The walking corpses smelled of decomposition. Levi smelled of decomposition. Their groans, clicks, and cries filled his ears and made him sick to his stomach, but they made it nonetheless. 

The two of you kneeled behind a wall of sandbags on the road. 

“Okay,” you spoke, another shadow of a whisper, “I- I’m going to fire this bad boy off a few times and scream a bit.” You motioned to the pistol in your hand. “I think I can buy you about five minutes.”

 Another nod from Levi. It felt like he forgot how to speak.

 “Please, hurry.”

 Your hands were shaking.

 For a moment, he wanted to steady them, but the thought of touching you felt almost repulsive.

 Without another word, you bolted. Once you were around thirty feet away from Levi and already had several undead heads turning, you began shouting. Mostly profanities and insults, rage, he guessed, had been long repressed, finally having an outlet.

“ HEY, FUCKFACE!”

“ YEAH, YOU—YOU NO GOOD SON OF A BITCH. ” 

“ GODDAMN DISEASE RIDDEN, FUCKING UGLY, WORTHLESS, FILTHY, ROTTEN SACKS OF SHIT!”  

He didn't think you held such a voice.

After you rounded the corner opposite the car, Levi heard three successive gunshots and took that as his sign to make a break for the car.

And if Levi felt his luck could not get any worse, two stragglers were waiting for him around the corner. 

Two Abnormals.

Two freakishly strong, horrifyingly intelligent Infected with incredibly honed senses and reflexes like a cat. 

Two of them, in the direct path to the car.

Tch. “They'll follow,” my ass.

The way he saw it, there were two options. 

Option one: run straight into them, machete in the air, and hope he was able to hack at them fast enough and with enough power to take them down without being bitten or torn to shreds. 

It seemed unlikely. 

Option two: rely on the cover of his cloak and make a wide berth around the opposite side of the car, climb through the passenger seat, and avoid them entirely.

It also seemed unlikely, but he liked his chances better with option two with the first. The nagging, searing pain in his ankle hadn't let up, and Levi knew with the utmost certainty that he could not run or even jog, much less charge two Abnormals and live to tell the tale. 

He knew with little certainty he would pull this off, but he had to try—for Hange and Erwin; for Eren, who might have already died in the ten-minute crawl to the pharmacy; for all of the insufferable brats back home that had become more of a family to him than his own ever hoped of being. He knew he could not live with himself if he ran, and if he failed, then he would be thankful for the reprieve of his own death rather than burying Eren. 

You can do this.  

With a deep breath, he began his crawl to the car. 

Heel. Toe. Heel. Toe.  

It felt like their groans echoed off the walls of the barren city. He couldn't take his eyes off of them. Every step as he slowly approached the car felt like it would be his last; every twitch from the Abnormals felt like a warning. Don't come any closer. But he had no choice. 

But it was so close. 

The car was just right there , but God, it was still so far. Still at least twenty feet away, and he was walking at a snail's pace. He couldn't go faster—dead people don't move like that, and neither do sprained ankles. 

And then, for the second time that day, Levi couldn't believe what his own two eyes and ears were telling him. 

A boom from the sky. 

Thunder?

A shrill scream in the direction that you ran off in.

Did they get you? 

( Who gives a fuck?)

Did he just gasp?

Is it fucking raining ?

Another piercing wail, this time from them.  

And before he could understand what happened, they were on him in a flurry of motion and wails that left him with no option but to sprint as best as he could to the car. It hurt worse than anything he felt in recent years. His ankle was pounding to the rhythm of his heart as he swung open the car door and slammed it behind him. 

  “There’s only one catch—”  

“Fucking great.”

You shot a glare in his direction. “The key might not have been left with the car... If not, you’ll have to be able to hotwire it.”

“Fantastic.”

Levi frantically searched the car for the key, running his hand through the crack of the seat, and was pouring through the center console when one of the Abnormals slammed against the window, causing him to jump. Were he taller, his head would likely have hit the car roof. The beast pounded the window, gaping maws of rotting flesh and gnashing teeth, trying to bite at him through the window. Its’ screams echoed in his head as the second one came to its’ side and began its own bashing.

And then he saw it.

A hairline fracture in the center of the window, steadily growing and expanding with each second of pressure, and Levi couldn't find the damn key. 

All he could do was yell.

His hands were too shaky to hotwire the car, and he wasn't sure he could think clearly enough if that were not the case.

And then the window shattered.

[this is abysmal in quality, i will be coming back to edit later but i needed to get this out. hope you enjoy anyways!]

[ghostwrittenmadness]

I heard your talking about your Oc's, can I hear more about James and Clara?

I don’t have favorite characters, but there are definitely ones I prefer to draw and ones I prefer to write…

If you take a quick scroll through my acc it will surprise no one that James and Clara are SO fun to draw. I adore these two endlessly :)) I know TM//MA as a written story is more focused on Kai & Robin atm, but within the next few chapters it's definitely going to shift lol

Bit of a ramble butttt- Platonic relationships are my absolute favorite thing, they’re incorporated into so many of my stories. I feel like when a lot of people think of /p they picture “oh they’re like a sibling to me” and don’t get me wrong I love those relationships! I’m guilty of mlm/wlw solidarity with a side of sibling bickering hostility myself, look at Clara and Cooper. But I also have such a soft spot for relationships so close that they have all the care and intimacy of a romance,,, but without the romance. Just, this is my person and I love them endlessly. I know them better than myself and we could spend the rest of our lives together as friends and be happy. 

And I shoved all that into Clara and James,,,then made it g/t

They’re best friends who trust each other blindly. James is the only one who can bypass Clara’s need to feel independent. He’s the only one she allows to pick her up and carry her places- nobody else gets that permission. Even though my major//minor sillies are one big friend group, they are definitely their own little duo. James’ backstory is super relevant to the next few chapters and we’re gonna learn why he’s so protective of his friends. He’s that way with everyone he loves, tiny or not,, but Clara is his person. When he’s got her, he knows she’s safe, and that security helps him relax. 

They’re always together and physically touching in some way. If they’re at a table, Clara is leaning against his arm. If they’re walking, she on his shoulder or in his hands. Don’t see Clara? Prob in his pocket. This makes them so fun to draw and I cannot stop doing it. 

As always, ask me about my ocs, it makes my day :)) than you anon!!