#[ if you think he'd say 'don't we all' you're ENTIRELY inaccurate he will look at you as if you have just spoken french and he is

[ivarlover]

UNPREDICTABLE

Part 2 (sequel #4 to UNLEASHED, UNDENIABLE, and UNEXPECTED)

Alex + Modern Ivar

Mentions of Female Reader + Hvitserk

NSFW 18+ ONLY

If you're new here and want to catch up, just go to my pinned master list. The first chapter is UNLEASHED, then UNDENIABLE, then UNEXPECTED, and now UNPREDICTABLE...

This was supposed to be just a one-shot, but here we are. At this point, I have no idea how many chapters this will end up consiating of. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!🔥

Summary: During a hot weekend with your classmate, Alex, and his best friend, Ivar, the two of them had their own fun together. And now, it had turned into an entire relationship between the two of them that neither of them had seen coming. Now, that reality has set in, they navigate the relationship, and all that comes along with it, the good, the bad, and the unexpected. Now that they were just getting into the swing of things and finding their groove, Ivar's ex fiance comes back into the picture, and it seems she is sure to shake things up.

Warnings, The sequel in general: Totally NSFW, Unprotected anal sex (male receiving), oral, male to male contact and more, a bad case of the feels, language, smut, with me, there is ALWAYS smut. 🤣 Each chapter will have it's own warnings.

This chapter: Language, smut, of course, oral, major case of the feels, *inaccurate medical descriptions, diagnosis, and practices,* a disgusting pervert, Ivar being Ivar

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Words: I don't know, but WAY TOO MANY

*Let me know if you want on or off the tag list!*

Note from me: My apologies for how long this has taken, but hopefully, the length of this chapter will make up for it.... ok, who am I kidding? The length of this chapter needs an apology of its own, too. Oops! Sorry!

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The last few days had basically been hell: hell for Ivar, hell for Alex, and really, even hell for Katia. Ivar had been trying to be the patient, understanding boyfriend, but the longer he was away from Alex, the angrier he was becoming.

After Alex had left Ivar's that night, Ivar spent most of the night trying to get him to answer his phone. He decided not to drive to Alex's apartment, no matter how tempting, because he knew if he'd been so upset that he'd left without a word, that he clearly needed the time to himself. And besides, he wasn't sure, exactly, why he'd left anyway, because he thought they'd cleared everything up when they were in the car.

He also knew that if Alex was pissed about him getting Katia out of the bathtub while she was naked, he'd have to wait until Alex was calm, because while Katia wasn't someone he wanted to be with, she was still the mother of his child, and Ivy loves her. He couldn't sit back and let something happen to her just because she wasn't dressed. He didn't see her that way anymore and wasn't even thinking about her body. Thus, he knew if that was why Alex left, then maybe it was best they didn't see each other just yet. He didn't want to say anything out of anger that he'd later regret. Just thinking about it pissed him off, and he definitely didn't need to make things way worse by actually telling Alex to kiss his ass if that's what he was mad about. No, he needed a better approach. Surely, Alex knew his feelings for him and how he wanted to be with him and him only.

Ivar had finally talked to Hvitserk and Y/N about it and got some advice. He knew Alex had talked to Y/N about everything by now. Y/N had a way of putting things into perspective for Alex.

"Look man, all I know is that I sure as fuck didn't leave my room or my comfortable bed at your place to come couch surfing a few days between Y/N's and Ubbe's just so fucking Katia would have you all to her fucking self! I'm sure she's over the fucking moon happy, thinking she's won. You better find Alex, and you better fucking fix this!" Hvitserk spat out to Ivar. "Like, how the hell did you even find yourself in this situation to begin with? You should have let her ass go back to Russia, and you could have just flown out there in the jet to see Ivy every weekend, Shit for Brains! If you'd just ever fucking listen to me, I mean, I am the big brother here, you'd be fine! But no, you fucking think you know everything. I'm telling you, you better fix this! That man loves you!"

"Hvits, you know we have the club to tend to on the weekends. It would have just not been possible to leave here every weekend. Plus, who the fuck says I want to only see my child on the weekends? Oh, and Hvits?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you haven't been sleeping on Y/N's fucking couch! Not once!" Ivar laughed.

Hvitserk snarled and...

Snatching the phone from Hvitserk, Y/N told Ivar, "Look, just go to him, what was it, Shit for Brains? Seriously, you two are so difficult and for no reason. Do you know how lucky you are to have found a love like yours? Now, don't piss it away!"

"But, umm, what if..."

"Ivar, stop. You know I've talked to him. Just go. Do you need me to come watch Ivy for you? I will."

Ivar considered it, thoughtfully, "Umm, you seriously wouldn't umm, mind?"

She sighed, "Get ready. Hvits and I are on the way. We'll be there as soon as we can. And yes, we can stay the night if you need us to."

Hvitserk elbowed her, and gave her a dirty look to which she scolded him by simply looking back at him sternly. He dropped his head and smiled. He knew he was whipped.

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"Katia is already sleeping, and I just laid Ivy down. It should be pretty quiet here," Ivar told Y/N and Hvitserk, standing in his doorway about to practically jump out of his skin. "And if you need anything..."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll call you. Go already before I change my mind and take Y/N back to her place and have my way with her," Hvitserk half laughed.

"Yeah, like you won't still do that anyway here in your room," Ivar laughed. "I just ask that you wash your own sheets this time!" Ivar grinned, and patted him on the back.

"Fuck you!"

"Love you, too, brother," Ivar said as he hugged Y/N. "Seriously, thank you, Babe."

"Hey! She's not your fucking babe!" Hvitserk snarled, "Anymore at least. Not since she found the best Lothbrok," he grinned, smacking Y/N on the ass.

"Ok, ok. Enough already. Go, Ivar, and stop stalling. It's going to be ok," Y/N said, shoving him on out the door. Winking at him, she added, "Go get 'em, tiger!"

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Ivar had been gone for maybe 30 minutes. Y/N and Hvitserk were settled and snuggled on the sofa together, watching TV, when they heard the sound of a bell.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Oh, it must be Katia. Alex told me she had a bell to ring if she needed something during the night and Ivar didn't hear the baby monitor," Y/N informed Hvitserk. "Stay here. I'll go check it out."

"The fuck you will! I'll go with you. She's toxic, Y/N. The last thing I need is her getting in your head. And a baby monitor? Really?" Hvitserk seemed to know her better than anyone.

"At least my stupid baby brother had enough sense to make her room downstairs and not on the same floor with his. I can only imagine the shit she'd try to pull," Hvitserk said under his breath as they got to her door.

Putting her finger to her lips, Y/N whispered, "Listen!"

Behind the closed door, they could hear Katia, "Ivar? Ivar, can you hear me? I just woke up from a really bad dream," Katia whinned. "Can you please bring me a glass of water and my pills?"

"Is this bitch fucking serious? Surely my fucking brother is not this fucking stupid and gullible!" Hvitserk's face was of complete disgust. "It's time she learned tonight."

"Hvitserk! Don't!" was all Y/N managed to get out of her mouth before he slammed the door open.

"Ivar?" Katia asked in the dark.

"Nope. Even better," Hvitserk turned on the lights.

Holding up her hands to block the bright light, Katia asked, "Hvitserk? Wh-what are you doing here?" Y/N walked in the room. "Oh and Y/N? What's going on?"

Ivar isn't here tonight, so we're playing nice. What do you want?" Hvitserk grinned, knowing she was shitting gold bricks.

"Umm, well, I had a bad dream and umm..."

"What are you, fucking 12? Roll the fuck over and go back to sleep. You don't need to call Ivar because of some damn dream!"

"Hvitserk!" Y/N scolded him.

"No, you know I'm right, Y/N, and someone needs to set her ass straight." He turned back to Katia, "He let you stay here because of Alex! Ok? Let's not forget that! Alex convinced him it would be better than you leaving for Russia again. And then, without any apparent conscious of any kind, you go and start playing all the stupid games."

"Games? What games? What are you even talking about, Hvitserk?" Katia tried playing innocent, but she quickly realized it wasn't going to work with him.

Walking a little closer to her, Hvitserk answered her, "You know, damn good and well, what I'm talking about."

"But, Hvitserk, I really d...." She began again.

"Whatever. I really don't give a fuck, anyway, so just whatever," Hvitserk cleared his throat. "Now, what did you need? When you thought it was just Ivar here?"

"Umm, I just l need uh, my medicine," she responded, sounding a bit embarrassed. "Oh, and Hvitserk?"

"Yeah?"

"Despite what you may think of me, I do love your brother, and all I want is for him to be happy."

Y/N name tried to step in front of Hvitserk, but he was too fast. He bent down above Katia, pointing his finger at her, "If that was true, you'd leave him alone. Anyone, who has any sense at all, can see my baby brother is happier than he's ever been. Like it or not, he's in love with Alex, and you, of all people, should know that when Ivar loves, he loves hard. Why would you want to destroy that? You've had your chance, Katia."

"But how can you be so sure Alex can make him happier than I can? He can't provide Ivar with a big family, like he's always wanted. I can."

"Well, for fucking starters, he's never lied to him or manipulated him. He doesn't play games with him and toy with his emotions. He just loves him. Simply. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him, actually."

"But, Hvitserk," Katia began.

"Ok, that's enough, you two. We're obviously not making any progress like this," Y/N said, finally interrupting her. "Hvits, could you please go get her a glass of water?"

Katia was relieved that Y/N had intervened, "Thank you, Y/N. I'm not sure how much more of that I could take."

Knowing Katia had assumed wrongly of her, Y/N quickly replied, "Oh, just because he left the room doesn't mean you're in the clear. Look, he's right, and you know he is. If you truly love Ivar as much as you say you do, then finally do something selfless for him for a change, and just let him go. You know he's happy. That's why you're doing everything in your power to destroy it, and look, I understand. He's a pretty magnificent man, but you need to come to terms with the fact that your time has passed, and move on." Y/N stared straight into Katia's eyes, making her uncomfortable and causing her to look away. "Katia, I'll be straight forward with you, here," she grinned, "The truth of the matter is, I'm sick of your shit! Period. And where the boys, Alex, Ivar, nor even Hvitserk, can do anything to you, you know they'd never lay a finger on you, I can. It's not beneath me to resort to violence. So, let that sink in, why don't you?"

Hvitserk came in with the glass of water. "What the hell did I miss?" he asked as he saw the scared look on Katia's face and the snarl across Y/N's.

"Oh, nothing," Y/N looked away from her to Hvitserk. "Katia was just saying how sorry she is for all the trouble she's caused." Looking back at Katia, she asked, "Isn't that right, Katia?"

Katia swallowed, her mouth dry, and reached for the water from Hvitserk. "Oh, umm, yes? I guess?" She took her pills and drank nearly all of the water.

"Good. Now, all you need is to stop calling Ivar over a fucking dream like a little girl, and pull your shit together. Good night," Hvitserk said as they walked to the door, and he turned the lights back off. "You can still call if you need anything," he said as he began to close the door, "But, it sure as hell better be something real that you actually need and not some crybaby shit!"

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Ivar got out of his car and leaned back against it, looking at Alex's front door. He started to walk toward it, but then he turned back to his car. He did that at least two more times. What if Alex was still mad? Or worse, what if Alex didn't want to see or talk to him? He knew he couldn't handle much more heartache. He was worried Alex had finally saw what he'd always felt, that he wasn't good enough. He held his head down. What the hell was he even doing here?

He turned around to his car again and opened the car door.

"Are you going to come in, or are you going to dance around in my front yard all night like a mad man?" Ivar heard from behind him.

Ivar turned around, "Oh, umm, Alex. I-I'm, umm, I was just..." Ivar stumbled over his words.

"Pacing a hole in my yard?" Alex half laughed. "Well? Are you gonna come inside?"

Ivar looked up, blushing, "I, umm, I'm sorry. Yes. If that's ok with you?"

Alex motioned at the open doorway, "Ya think?"

Ivar smiled and went to the door. He walked inside and gently closed the door behind him. He stood there at the front door, looking around nervously.

"I won't bite, ya know?" Ivar heard Alex from the kitchen. "I mean, not unless you want me to." They both laughed, and Ivar's nerves eased a little. Alex stuck his head around the corner, "Come in here with me."

Ivar walked into the kitchen and found Alex at the counter with the blender. He sat down on a stool.

"I was about to make some mixed drinks. Want one?" Alex looked at Ivar tentatively.

Ivar swallowed loudly, "Umm, yeah. Uh, yes, please." He watched Alex as he turned around and made the drinks. Alex always made some of the best mixed drinks. He was actually known for it at the bar.

He moved around in the kitchen with flow and ease. He turned back to Ivar for a quick moment and smiled a smile that could only be compared to that of an angel. Damn, Ivar loved that man! He had to make this right.

Alex poured the drinks and turned to give Ivar his. As Ivar grabbed the drink, his hand landed on top of Alex's. He didn't move it but continued to hold onto Alex's hand as they sat the drink down and stared into eachother's eyes. As they let go of the glass, Ivar held Alex's hand in his and never turned away from Alex's gaze.

Holding onto Alex's hand, Ivar pulled him around the counter until he was standing in front of him, still sitting on the stool. He put both of his hands around Alex's waist and pulled him a little closer.

"I'm so sorry," they both blurted out at the same time. "You can go first," they both said, again, at the same time, smiling.

"Ok, ok can I go first?" Ivar asked. Alex nodded his head yes.

Ivar ran his hand through his hair, "Look, Alex, I'm unbelievably sorry for everything with Katia. I promise you that I don't love her anymore. You should know this by now. I only want to be with you. I didn't mean to hurt you, and I hope you can forgive me." Ivar placed his hand on Alex's cheek, and Alex leaned into it before placing his hand over it and gently squeezing. "I'm sorry for how things must have looked. I'm so sorry. But, Alex, I don't want her. I don't love her."

"But it just looked like you did and..."

"Alex, she's the mother of my child. That's all. It's not like that. I..." Ivar interrupted.

"Ivar, let me finish." Alex dropped his head. "It just looked like you did, and Katia knew how it would look, so she just made it worse by rubbing it in my face. I'm so sorry. I overreacted, and I know that. That's the reason I left. I knew I was overreacting, but I couldn't help it, and I didn't want to say something I'd regret." Alex swallowed nervously.

"I do know you better than that, Ivar, and it's embarrassing how I acted, how I let her get under my skin. I hope you can forgive me. It was my idea to move her in, and you even warned me, and then, I turned around and still let her get between us. I'm so sorry."

Ivar was completely stunned. "I, uh, th-this isn't, umm, this isn't exactly how I thought this would go."

Alex stiffened and stepped back away from Ivar. "Oh? I'm uh, I'm sorry."

Ivar stood immediately, recognizing that Alex misunderstood him. "No. No, Alex, that's not what I meant. I, umm, I mean that umm, I was worried that you were still mad with me," he dropped his head in shame. "I know it's just a matter of time before umm, before you finally realize that I'm," he continued to stutter, "That I'm umm, just not good enough, Alex."

Alex stepped back to him, "For what? For me?"

Blushing, Ivar nodded.

"You can't be serious. Of course, you're good enough for me, Ivar! I was mad at you. That doesn't mean I'm no longer mad about you. It doesn't mean I don't want to be with you, or that I don't still love you." He placed his hand under Ivar's chin and raised his head back. "Hey, look at me."

Ivar looked into Alex's eyes, and he instantly pulled him to his chest, his arms wrapping tightly around him. "I love you. I love you so much," he softly said into Alex's ear. "Thank you for loving me." Ivar's heart swelled inside his chest. Saying that he was relieved was an understatement. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Alex pulled back from Ivar and held his face between his hands before leaning in to kiss him. His lips softly grazed Ivar's as they let out all the love and emotion he was feeling.

The unspoken words between them flowed effortlessly through their movements, soft kisses, and gentle touches. Completely lost in eachother, they held eachother tightly, breathing eachother in. "Damn, I've missed you," Ivar whispered.

Alex smiled, "As I have you. I don't want you to leave, but how long can you stay?"

"Y/N and Hvits are at my place. I can stay as long as long as you want."

"Umm, would you, uh, do you want to stay the night?"

Grinning, Ivar answered, "I thought you'd never ask. Of course."

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Both in sweatpants, they crawled into Alex's bed. His head in his hand, propped up on his elbow behind Alex and looking down at him, Ivar softly spoke, his voice small, "Umm, Alex?" He leaned down and kissed Alex on his temple.

"Yes?"

"Umm, would it be ok if we just laid here together, and I held you in my arms?"

Alex's heart skipped a beat. "Of course. You know that's my favorite way to fall asleep."

"Well, umm, I just mean, well, I didn't want you thinking I'm just after one thing. I just want to hold you."

Alex turned in his arms and raised up and kissed him on the cheek. "After all this time, still worried about my virtue?" He placed his hand on the back of Ivar's neck, smiling.

"It's not that I don't want you," Ivar smiled back. "God knows I do. And I hope I don't disappoint you, but more than that, I've just missed you," Ivar blushed.

Alex pulled him closer and gave him a quick peck on the lips before turning back around in his arms, "I've missed you, too, and I can't think of a better way to sleep. I love snuggling with you. It'll have to be better than the last few nights."

"Oh? You, too? I haven't slept at all the last few nights," he ran his hands through Alex's hair. "Actually, I'm quite exhausted."

"Then you better get some sleep, Mister. We have a birthday party to finish planning," Alex squeezed Ivar's arm, wrapped tightly around his waist.

Warmth spread throughout Ivar's body. Alex truly was an amazing man.

As they laid there, wrapped in a blanket of love, they both finally dozed off to sleep.

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Surprised, Ivar woke up the next morning to find Alex still sleeping. He glanced at the clock and noticed it was 9 am. He never slept in.

As if sensing Ivar was awake, Alex stirred in his arms. "Good morning," Alex mumbled.

"Good morning, sleepy head." They both gave a chuckle.

Alex turned, facing Ivar and kissed him. "So the clock already struck midnight, and you didn't run away, so what's on the agenda? Do you have to leave yet?" he laughed but then saw a more serious look on Ivar's face.

Ivar grinned as he pulled Alex into a kiss and then pulled away. "Well, first," he kissed Alex's cheek, "I thought," he kissed Alex's neck as he rolled over on top of him, "We could," he nibbled Alex's ear and then whispered into it, "Make up for some lost time," and he lightly bit the side of Alex's neck just below his ear, sending chills all over Alex's body.

"Oh-ok," Alex said, surprised.

Ivar raised up above him, "Is that ok with you?"

"Definitely," he reached to the table beside the bed, as Ivar rolled to his side, and took the pills. "You have a few minutes to wait, though, don't you?"

"Of course," he smiled lovenly. "I wanted to run something by you anyway."

"Shoot," Alex ran his fingers along Ivar's bare chest.

"Well," Ivar looked down at Alex's hand, "That may be a bit distracting, but I'll do my best." He smiled and grabbed Alex's hand and brought it to his mouth where he kissed his palm. "You know how we were discussing remodeling my basement and making a playroom for Ivy?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, what would you think of making our own playroom instead? We could use one of the spare rooms upstairs for hers. I mean, she's small and wouldn't need the entire basement anyway."

"What do you mean" Alex's eyes widened, "By our own playroom?"

"Exactly what you're thinking," Ivar smiled his devilish grin. "An adult 'playroom,' if you will, for just the two of us. I'd add a keypad with a pass code to get in, and the door would lock automatically behind you. Only the two of us would have the code so we wouldn't have to worry about anyone coming in on us."

"Wow! Aren't you the naughty one! So if it's a playroom, what kind of 'toys,' would we have?" Alex asked as his curiosity grew. He grabbed a handful of Ivar's ass and squeezed. "Would there be toys I could use on you?"

Ivar gulped, "Umm, we could uh, talk about that. And umm, we'd obviously, need a bed and..."

"Not necessarily," Alex's hand moved around to the front of Ivar and grabbed his already hardening cock through his boxers. Ivar's mouth dropped open with a gasp. "We could always use the floor," he began working Ivar through his boxers, "Or the wall," he breathed hot air against Ivar's lips. His lips brushed against Ivar's as he spoke, "And isn't there some kind of work bench already there?"

"Umm humm," was all Ivar could manage to say as the heat rushed through his body.

"Well, we could use that, too. I'd really love to bend you over it." Alex laughed into his ear. "What was that?" he gently slipped his hand inside Ivar's boxers and grabbed him tightly again. "Was that a yes?"

Ivar only breathed heavily, not exactly capable of producing words as Alex's hand moved briskly along his shaft. "Like that, do you? It's been too long, humm?"

Ivar, shifting to his side, managed to reach to his waist with one hand and slip his boxers down and Alex helped him take them the rest of the way off as Ivar's heartrate increased. They then repeated the same with Alex's. Ivar moved back above Alex, caging him with his body and lubing himself up and then Alex.

As he looked down into Alex's eyes, he said, in a sultry voice, "You talk a big game. Now, it's my turn to try to render you speechless." He lined himself up with Alex's twitching entrance.

"Oh? You promise?" Alex flirted.

And with that, Ivar thrusted his hips forward, hard, straight into Alex all at once, only stopping once he bottomed out. Alex's back arched, his eyes closed as his head dug into his pillow, and he yelled out, "Oh, God!"

"No, it's still just me, Ivar, but I can understand how you could be easily confused," he answered, his evil grin looking back at Alex when his eyes sprung open.

Alex smiled at him and rubbed his hand down his back, sending chills all over him.

Ivar began slowly rocking his hips forward and back languorously, watching Alex's every expression. Feeling embarrassed, Alex covered his face, but Ivar grabbed his hand. "Don't. I want to see your beautiful face," Ivar's voice was soft. Alex felt heat rising to his cheeks. "Nothing is more sexy than knowing your pink cheeks are because of me." He placed his hand on Alex's hot cheek as he leaned down and softly kissed his lips, gently nibbling on the bottom one. "I love you."

Alex was taken back by Ivar's tenderness. Although, Ivar was usually like that with him, there was something sweeter about this that Alex couldn't quite place.

Suddenly, Ivar's movements stopped, "What's wrong, Love? Did I hurt you? Are you ok?"

Alex brushed Ivar's hair back out of his face and tucked it behind his ear lovenly. "Nothing is wrong. Actually, I'm kind of perfect, umm, and it's all because of you. Don't worry. And Ivar?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too."

Ivar suddenly felt different somehow. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew he just wanted to please Alex. That's all that really mattered to him; not even his own pleasure and release, and that was new to him during sex. He'd always wanted to please Alex, but this was different because he wasn't the least bit concerned about himself.

He slowly began his movements again, never taking his eyes away from Alex's. With every slow stroke into Alex, he just enjoyed the closeness. He interlocked his hand with Alex's that was laying beside him as he rubbed the side of it with his thumb. He held most of his weight on the same elbow as his other hand feathered across Alex's chest, causing goosebumps to appear.

"I can't get enough of the effects I have on your body," Ivar smiled. He ran his fingers lightly across Alex's chest again, admiring, not just the definition, but the flushed red color. "It's intoxicating." All the while, his soft touches were driving Alex wild with desire.

His steady, long, slow stokes into Alex were building the tension in Alex's gut and he knew he was close already. "Maybe you should go a little harder or faster," Alex moaned. "I don.., umm, I don't know how much longer I can last and I want you to finish, too," Alex practically growled the last part.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Just let go. This is about you, not me. I just want to pleasure you. I'm not worried about myself, Love."

"But, Ivar, you deserve to..."

"Shhh," Ivar's lips crashed into Alex's with overwhelming passion. Alex grabbed a handful of Ivar's hair with his free hand and held him forcefully in place, not wanting to break the kiss. They breathed eachother in as their lips massaged the other's. Ivar's hand trailed down Alex's torso to his swollen, throbing cock.

Alex quickly moved his hand out of Ivar's hair and grabbed Ivar's wrist to stop him. Breaking their kiss, he studdered, "N-Not yet. I-I'm too close and sensitive. I want this to last as long as it can."

Nodding in agreance, Ivar moved his hand back up Alex's sweaty chest, stopping to squeeze his nipple between his fingers. Alex's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Ivar continued his feather like touches back up to Alex's cheek, where he rubbed his thumb across Alex's mouth, his plump lips popping lose beneath Ivar's thumb. Smiling at how red his lips were from the kissing, he did it again.

He stared into Alex's eyes intensely, while still slowly moving himself in and out of Alex as his tight walls clinched around him.

Alex took a moment to let his mind wander. He knew that would help him last a few minutes longer, too, and God knows how he wanted it to last! He was enjoying how good he was feeling just a little too much.

He hadn't thought, before now, how erotic it could be with Ivar if they did it all this slowly. But he was surprised. As wonderful as things had been with Ivar, he always remembered how he was when it came to sex. Alex remembered, on more than one occasion, actually, how Ivar had even skipped eating because he was going to have sex with some girl and getting off had always been one of his main priorities.

This was why everyone was so shocked when he'd settled down with Katia. Nobody could believe he was giving up all the one night stands. If Alex was being honest, that was even one of his worries about Katia now. He knew how important she had been to Ivar for him to have given up all that scattered ass.

Now, for Ivar to say he was only concerned about pleasing him and wasn't even worried about himself, Alex knew that it was a major deal. As he thought about the significance, he realized just what Ivar meant by it. He began to really understand just what he meant to Ivar, and he was overcome with emotions. He held back his full emotions, though. He knew that tears during sex with Ivar would not go over well.

He squeezed Ivar's hand, and as Ivar asked, "Are you sure you're ok? Do you need me to stop?" But, not answering Ivar, Alex pulled Ivar to him, hot and sweaty, naked chest against hot and sweaty, naked, chest, and kissed Ivar.

First, he gently grazed his lips, still looking deeply into his eyes, but as he got a taste of Ivar's sweet mouth, he parted his lips with his tongue and let it enter Ivar's mouth to explore. His hand held the side of Ivar's face as the intensity of the kiss increased and their passion grew.

Their breathing sped up, and Ivar reached down between them and grabbed Alex again. He began moving his hand up and down on Alex's length in rhythm with his thrusts, causing Alex to thrust his hips up into Ivar. Alex broke their kiss as he moaned and groaned with pleasure.

Ivar watched intently as Alex's body whithed beneath him, and his face contorted. Alex clawed down Ivar's back, causing his pumping to falter, and his head fell forward, as Alex mumbled out, "Ivar!" between panting.

Ivar continued with his relentless slow movements of hips into Alex as Alex gasped for air. Alex found it so incredibly erotic when he opened his eyes to find Ivar still staring him down as if he was going to devour him like his next meal. His heart skipped a beat. The fierce look in Ivar's eyes made Alex sweat as his toes curled, his legs stiffened, and his back arched again. He dropped his hand from Ivar and gripped tightly into the sheets as his other hand squeezed Ivar's, threatening to stop all blood flow to Ivar's fingers.

Ivar smiled and bit his lip as he realized just how beautiful Alex was as he was coming completely undone. He watched Alex's every muscle tighten and twitch as he slowly drove into him before pulling nearly out and then slowly doing it all over again. He continued to tug on Alex with his sweaty hand acting as lube, his knuckles brushing against Alex's stomach, causing Alex to gasp. As he pressed himself into Alex, inch by inch, Alex made noises that even Alex, himself, did not recognize.

Ivar had never seen a more attractive sight than Alex laying beneath him, squirming and whimpering, unable to form a complete, coherent thought. As he grinned at how he had, indeed, rendered Alex speechless, Alex moaned out, "IVAR! I'm com-coming!" as his chest heaved, and his hand practically dug a hole into the mattress. After reaching his boiling point, Alex's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he lost all control and before he knew it, white streams of his cum shot between their hot, sweaty bodies. Alex started to apologize to Ivar, but Ivar collapsed on top of him, still inside him and ignoring the mess between them, and kissed Alex with overpowering emotions. Alex felt the mixture of love and desire, passion and extasy all wrapped up in the sweet kiss.

Resting his forehead against Alex's, some hair stuck to the side of his face from sweat, Ivar barely broke the kiss and breathed Alex in. He let go of his grip on Alex's hand, and he brought both of his hands to either side of Alex's face. Pushing Alex's hair back away from his face repeatedly for a few seconds, Ivar stared into Alex's eyes again for a long moment before kissing him softly again. Alex's heart melted at Ivar's intense tenderness. It was truly the icing on the cake.

"That was amazing, Love," Ivar softly spoke, almost in a whisper, as he broke their kiss.

Alex cupped his cheek. Desperately trying to catch his breath, he began, "How can you even say that? You haven't had your turn yet." Feeling Ivar still hard and still inside himself, Alex then added, "You know, just because I've already finished doesn't mean you can't keep going. I can handle it."

"Shhh. I told you, this isn't about me. I'm fine. It was amazing just watching you. I enjoy seeing how you react to me. I just wanted to please you."

"Oh, so it's just a power trip for you, humm?" Alex smiled jokingly and then gulped when he saw Ivar's serious expression spread across his face.

"No. I umm, I just love you that much," Ivar dropped his head into the nape of Alex's neck and then turned and kissed his neck with his hot, wet lips. "I just love you."

Alex immediately wrapped his arms around Ivar and held him tightly, "And I love you." He knew he'd think about this entire thing later and analyze the shit out of it. It was so much more than just hot sex with his hot boyfriend. But for now, he'd just enjoy his wonderful, vulnerable, hot boyfriend laying in his arms.

Wild emotions ripped through Ivar like a storm. Of all of the incredible sexual moments he'd had with Alex before, this was, by far, the most unbelievable. And yes, how odd that he hadn't even had his turn, as Alex had put it, but it wasn't even important to him! He just laid there, tightly snuggled up in Alex's arms, and that's all he cared about right now.

Interrupting Ivar's thoughts, Alex, asked, "Hey, all those questions if I'm ok? What about you? Are you ok? You're kind of worrying me."

Ivar raised his head so he could look at Alex again, "I am wonderful, Love," he smiled, warmly. "Umm, you make me, umm," he studdered, "You make me the man I've always wanted to be."

Alex was speechless. Again. As Ivar continued, "Just let me lay here with you. Just let me hold you and just breathe you in."

Alex let Ivar's touching words wash over him like a warm spring in chilly air. He held Ivar even a bit tighter, unable to respond to such tenderness with words. He kissed the top of Ivar's head and ran his fingers through his hair as Ivar snuggled back into the nape of his neck.

They laid like that until they both slowly dozed back off to sleep.

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To their surprise, they didn't wake up for another hour or so. After more sweet caresses and gentle kisses, they showered and got dressed for the day. It took a lot longer than usual because they just weren't able to keep their hands and lips off of eachother. It was like it had been during their first days of being a couple, taking every and any opportunity to touch and feel the other.

"I don't want this to ever end," Ivar smiled shyly at Alex as his face flushed light pink.

"Well, it doesn't have to," Alex responded with a sweet kiss to Ivar's cheek.

Ivar had spoken with Hvitserk earlier. He and Y/N had decided to spend the rest of the weekend with Ivy while Sara worked with Katia. Taking their turn to spoil her was how he'd put it. They'd also volunteered to work at the bar for he and Alex that night. "Y/N thinks you guys just need some more alone time."

Ivar had been concerned about Hvitserk working so closely with alcohol, but he reassured him that he'd be fine because he'd be distracted with the work, and he would have Y/N there for extra support. Only after speaking with Y/N directly and giving her very specific directions did Ivar finally agree to it.

"So, we have the day together? That's awesome! We've finally got some time to ourselves. What do you want to do?" Alex asked him, excitedly.

Ivar raised his eyebrows and grinned at Alex.

Shocked, Alex answered, "You can't be serious."

He walked to Alex, put his arms around his waist, and yanked him to him forcefully as Alex tried to catch his breath. He gave Alex a light kiss, "First, I want to do, again, what we did this morning." He smiled and kissed him on his cheek. "Then, I suppose, we could go see what's going on in town, if you want." He lovenly kissed Alex's jawline. "After that, I want to take you out to dinner somewhere nice," he licked up the side of Alex's neck. "And then, I want to BE dinner. Nothing too crazy. What do you think?" They both laughed.

Alex then realized how very serious Ivar was as their lips smashed into eachother's, their hands interlocked, and Ivar was slowly walking him backwards, toward his room.

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After they spent the rest of the morning in Alex's bed, enjoying eachother, they finally emerged from their blissful haze and actually left Alex's. There was a carnival in town, so they decided to go check it out.

They felt like teenagers again. They played games, ate too much carnival food such as cotton candy and funnel cakes, and, after much convincing that the rides were safe on Alex's part, rode a few of the rides.

As they were in line to get drinks after their last ride, they ran into one of Alex's and Y/N's friends from class. He was with his sister and her two children. "Hey! Alex! How are you? Who is your friend?"

Alex introduced them and they chatted while in line. He was surprised that the two of them were there, but without a kid.

"So the two of you just came to have fun by yourselves?"

Ivar, feeling, surprisingly, a bit territorial of Alex for a reason he couldn't quite pinpoint, answered, holding up their interlocked hands, "Well, this is kind of a date weekend for the two of us. Our daughter is with my brother." He smiled devilishly, and Alex didn't miss it.

Alex was shocked by Ivar's choice of words when referring to Ivy. "Our daughter." It made him feel especially warm and proud.

"Oh, umm," Alex's friend, Paul, answered, "Alex, I umm, I didn't know you were, umm.."

"In love?" Ivar interjected with his intimidating smirk.

Paul looked at Ivar and then back to Alex, "And wow, you two have a child?"

"Yes, her name is Ivy. Her birthday is actually this upcoming week," Alex answered, hoping to calm whatever was going on with Ivar.

"You should come to her party, and bring, who is that? Your children?" Ivar interrupted, to Alex's complete surprise.

"No, they're my niece and nephew and that's," pointing to the woman with the kids, Paul continued, "My sister. My boyfriend and I actually just broke up because he wanted children, and I don't. You guys don't think you're too young to already have a child yourselves? Doesn't that interfere with your relationship? And which of you is her actual, real dad?"

Ivar grinded his teeth together, showing his clinched jaw, and looked to Alex to answer, knowing it was best he didn't at the moment.

"Like Ivar said, she's both of ours. We're both her real dad," Alex squeezed Ivar's hand. "And no, we're not too young. This means we're still young enough to play with her. And she's part of our relationship. She makes everything between us even that more special. I'm sorry you didn't want to experience that with your partner." He raised Ivar's hand that he was still holding and kissed the back of it.

Ivar felt so proud of how Alex answered Paul's questions. Seriously, who did this guy think he was? With his most intimating smirk, Ivar asked, "So, you think you'd like to come to the party next Saturday?" quickly changing the subject.

"I'll talk to my sister and let you know Monday in class, Alex?" Paul finally got the hint.

"Sounds great and I'll bring you an invitation."

He walked away, and Alex turned to Ivar, "What was that all about?"

"What do you mean?" Ivar played innocent.

Alex just looked at him. "What?" Ivar smiled.

"You know exactly what."

"Well, it's obvious he wants you."

Shocked, Alex answered, "What the? Huh? No way! We're just friends. And I didn't even know he was interested in men until right now. "

"Yeah, and now that he's seen you with me, he thinks he has a chance," Ivar snarled.

"Ivar, you seriously have nothing to worry about."

"Oh, I know," Ivar grinned, "I would have never invited him to Ivy's party if I'd thought otherwise." He kissed Alex on the cheek.

"So you were serious?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Of course. You know, keep your friends close and all that shit?" Ivar laughed.

Alex rolled his eyes and took the drinks from the cashier as they walked away. "So Ivy's our daughter, humm?"

Taking his drink, Ivar asked, "Well? Isnt she?"

The rest of the day, into the evening, was spent with them just enjoying eachother's company. Ivar watched Alex's joyful smiles and giggles, and grabbed him up, completely off his feet, to hug him several times. His playfulness was contagious, and Ivar couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so carefree and happy.

He watched Alex play some of the games and how frustrated he'd get when he didn't win. It was really cute. Alex play punched him in the arm, "Stop laughing at me! It's not funny."

Ivar grinned, "Yes, it actually is."

Alex rolled his eyes and continued playing, determined to win. Ivar realized that he was more in love with Alex now than when they first started dating. He didn't know how that was even possible because he'd already never felt like this with anyone else before, but it was true. He'd give his life for Alex. Next to Ivy, there was nobody else on this Earth that he loved more. It kind of scared him, but more so, he was just thrilled to have finally found his soul mate. And that was exactly it. That was why he'd been different with Alex that morning. That's why he didn't care about himself. Alex was his soul mate, and he'd spend the rest of his life making him happy as long as Alex allowed it.

Feeling too emotional for their surroundings, he pushed everything to the back of his mind to deal with later and tapped Alex on the shoulder. "Here, let me show you how it's done."

"What?"

"Watch and learn, Love. Watch and learn." He gave the attendant his money, and she gave him three darts. Looking at Alex and grinning, he threw the first one. He hit one of the balloons, and it pooped.

"You've got to be kidding me," Alex sighed.

"How many do I have to pop to win?" Ivar smiled at the attendant.

"All three for your choice of prize or one more for one of the small stuffed animals."

"Go big or go home. Right, Alex?"

Alex rolled his eyes, "If you say so, but hitting all three isn't as easy as it looks, Ivar."

"Well, let's try and see," Ivar was sure he could get all three. He and Hvitserk used to play this exact game with darts and cans in their backyard when they were younger. When they got too brave and started aiming at cans on eachother's heads, Aslaug stepped in and took the darts away from them, telling them how dangerous and irresponsible it was. It was for this reason that neither of them ever told her about how they'd snuck the darts from her kitchen cabinet and played, secretly, resulting in Ivar having an unwanted ear piercing. He smirked at the memory of how scared Hvitserk had been and how he'd milked it for all it was worth, basically having Hvitserk wait on him hand and foot for the next week until Hvitserk caught on to what he'd been doing.

Ivar aimed and thew the second dart and then the third, popping both balloons. He turned to Alex, "What were you saying? It's not as easy as it looks, humm?"

Alex stood, dumbfounded, "Oh, shut up."

"Well, pick your prize, Love."

Alex smiled and kissed Ivar on his cheek as his face lit up. He picked out a huge, stuffed, pink bear.

Smiling as Alex wrapped his arms around the fuzzy bear, Ivar asked, "So, pink huh? Where are you gonna put it?"

Alex looked at him and laughed, "What? You don't think pink's my color?" He held the bear up to his face and smiled innocently. After laughing at Ivar's curious face, Alex finally said, "Duh, Ivar! This bright pink bear isn't for me! I think it's cute, and I have to admit, I love how soft it is," he cleared his throat as he noticed the strange look in Ivar's eyes, "But it's for Ivy, obviously."

"Oh? Umm, yeah, obviously," Ivar mocked him, smiling.

"It is. That's why I was so frustrated that I kept missing the damn balloons," Alex sighed. "I just thought this would be a nice birthday gift for her from this great day we've had together." And there it was again, that strange look in Ivar's eyes, making Alex nervous. "Umm, did I uh, did I say something wrong? Are you ok? Umm, are we ok?"

Ivar was lost in his thoughts. "Umm, Ivar?" Alex stepped closer and placed his hand on Ivar's shoulder. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Oh, umm," Ivar shook his head as if to snap himself out of whatever trance he was in, "What?"

"Ivar, what's wrong?"

"Wrong? What? Nothing is wrong. Seriously, absolutely nothing."

"Where were you just now? You worried me. You know you can talk to me."

Looking Alex deeply in the eyes, Ivar placed the beer on the counter beside them and pulled him close to him. He wrapped his arms around Alex's waist tightly. Alex wasn't sure what was going on, but he liked it. Ivar finally moved his right hand to Alex's cheek while the other still held him. Just as Alex was beginning to feel even more nervous, Ivar whispered, "I love you," and gave Alex a sweet, passionate kiss, causing him to feel weak in the knees.

When Ivar pulled away from the kiss and rested his head on Alex's, Alex looked up in a daze, licking his lips as if he could still taste the kiss. He wasn't sure what the strange look had been about or why this was how Ivar reacted when asked about it, but he was too lost in a haze to think about it any further.

Still looking into his eyes and practically panting for air, Ivar whispered, "We should go. I've got reservations for us."

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They went back to Alex's to shower and change for what Ivar said would be a nice dinner. They made sure to take their showers in Alex's two separate bathrooms because Ivar said he didn't want to miss their reservations, and he knew if they were together, they definitely wouldn't be leaving on time, if at all. They both laughed in agreement and went to get ready.

Alex finally came into the living room where Ivar was waiting for him. When he saw Alex in his shiny, black suit and opened, white, collared shirt, he gasped.

"What? Do I look ridiculous?"

Moving to his feet and immediately by Alex's side, "No, never. You look quite the opposite, actually. You look stunning."

As Alex's face flushed red, he looked Ivar up and down. He stood there in a dark, grey suit with the collar also open to it. Alex answered, "Well, you don't look too shabby yourself."

Ivar blushed and told him, "Well, I'd really like to kiss you. You don't know how badly. You're so smoldering hot and quite frankly, irresistible, but umm," he licked his lips, "Like I said earlier, I don't want to miss our reservations. The driver is already out front, waiting for us."

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They arrived at a very elegant seafood restaurant just on the outskirts of town. Ivar knew Alex would love it, sushi being his favorite of favorite foods, so he wasn't at all surprised at Alex's reaction.

"Oh my God! Are you serious? You got us reservations here?"

Ivar simply smiled back at him.

"You know how long I've wanted to come here. How did you even get the reservations? Every time I've tried, the closest date is always like six months out. At best."

"Well, I know a guy who knows a guy," Ivar laughed. "You ready?" But Alex was already jumping out of the car before the driver had even opened his own door to get out. "It's ok, Mike. We'll manage. Thank you."

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Dinner was great and their conversation flowed easily, as it always had. They talked and laughed as they ate what Alex said was the best sushi he'd ever tasted and drank some of the most expensive wine. Alex had protested about the wine, but Ivar said, "I want only the best for you. Don't worry about the price. That's none of your concern. Now, drink."

"Yes, sir," Alex smiled warmly, turning up his glass.

As their dinner was nearly over, the lighting in the place got a bit dimmer, and strobe lights came on, illuminating a dance floor. Alex's face instantly lit up as he looked at the dance floor and then back to Ivar. "Don't even think about it, Love. It's not happening," Ivar hadn't even given him a chance to ask.

Alex looked at him with pouty eyes as he saw several other couples make their way to the dance floor, and Ivar glared at him. "Ok, ok. You're not ready," Alex's eyes casted downward, he quietly said, "I understand." He took a big gulp of the last of his wine. "We should probably go then," Alex said, placing his glass back on the table and standing.

"Wait. What? No," Ivar panicked. He hadn't meant to hurt Alex's feelings. But he may have been too vague with his response. "I"m not ashamed of you if that's what you're thinking. I-I'm, ugh, I just..."

"It's ok, Ivar. I'll meet you in the car." Alex began to leave before his emotions were too obvious and took over. "Where you can be with me, and nobody sees you. I've got to get out of here!"

Ivar was immediately up and by Alex's side. He placed his hands on either side of Alex's cheeks, making Alex look him straight in the eyes. "Hey, hey. Wait. Calm down. What is it, Love? Why would you even think I give a fuck about people seeing us together? You know I love you, and I could care less what anyone else thinks about that."

Alex blushed and pulled back from Ivar. "Well, it's obvious that you're embarrassed by even the thought of dancing with me." He cleared his throat, "So, you're off the hook. You don't have to." Alex looked away from him.

"Alex, I'm not embarrassed by you. I'm umm," he began to stutter, and Alex looked back at him, confused. "I'm embarrassed at the thought of dancing in front of all these people. You know I can't dance."

Alex's snarl softened into a smile. "Oh, Ivar," he placed his hand on Ivar's cheek,"You don't have to do anything fancy, and we could wait for a slow song. Nobody is paying us any attention." Ivar leaned into Alex's hand. "But it's ok. Let's just go. I want you to myself anyway."

Ivar knew he'd hurt Alex's feelings, and he felt really bad about it. It hadn't been his intentions. He started to walk with Alex, reaching down to hold his hand, and then he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He pulled Alex to him. "I'm not going to get in my head about this. You want to dance, let's go dance." He kissed Alex on the cheek and turned back around and pulled Alex in his direction.

"Wait. Ivar. No, it's ok," Alex said as he was trailing behind Ivar, but Ivar didn't even acknowledge he'd spoken and continued walking until they reached the dance floor.

As Ivar stepped onto the floor, Alex stood there in shock. Ivar held his hand out and said, "Well, come on, Love. What are you waiting on?"

"Umm, ok. I guess we're doing this," and Alex joined Ivar who pulled him flesh with his body and wrapped his arms around Alex's waist. "What changed, Ivar?"

"Umm, I just realized what I already knew. If I'm with you, umm, well, nothing else matters." He placed his head in the bend of Alex's neck and rested his head on his shoulder as their two bodies began to sway in sync.

Then, a familiar song began to play. "All My Life." That was the song that Ivar had said made him think of Alex, and he instantly smiled. He raised his head up as he rested his cheek against Alex's. With his left arm around Alex's back and shoulders, he squeezed him a little tighter. His right hand held Alex's, and he brought it up between them, against his chest, and held it there, leaning down and kissing the back of Alex's hand.

Ivar began humming along with the song as they slowly danced. Alex's heart was pounding so hard he was sure Ivar could feel it against his own chest. Then, as if an angel singing a hymn from the heavens, Ivar began to softly sing along into Alex's ear. "All my life I've prayed for someone like you. And I thank God that I finally found you..." A single tear slowly rolled down Alex's cheek. Ivar never sang in front of anyone intentionally, and Alex knew this. To say he was surprised that Ivar was singing, not only to himself, but directly to him, right in his ear, was a major understatement. Alex didn't say a word but just listened to the beautiful, angelic sound.

As the song was ending, Ivar turned his head toward Alex. As Alex froze, Ivar leaned down and gently kissed his lips. It was only a matter of seconds before Alex was kissing him back, both lost completely in the other.

For a moment, it was as if the two of them were the only ones in the room. Their dancing stopped and all movement, as well, except for their kiss.

Eventually, Alex noticed the song had stopped, and now there was a more upbeat song playing. He slowly opened his eyes and reluctantly pulled a little away from Ivar's delicious lips. Around them, he saw the people dancing in rhythm along with the fast music while he and Ivar stood motionless, forehead against forehead, arm in arm, hand in hand, bodies still tightly snug against eachother.

Alex looked at Ivar, who hadn't taken his eyes off of him, as he smiled and said, "We're the only ones not moving, aren't we, Love?"

Blushing, Alex answered, "Yes."

"We should probably go now," Ivar laughed, and the two of them walked back to the table to get their suit jackets. Ivar leading the way, hand in hand, they walked out to find their driver and left for Alex's place.

The car ride to Alex's was intense. Ivar scooted closer to Alex and wrapped his arm around him, pulling him close. "I want you so badly," he whispered into Alex's ear and licked down his neck with a gentle graze of his teeth, causing Alex to shiver.

"The feeling is mutual," Alex softly said back to him. Placing his hand on Ivar's cheek, he leaned over and kissed him quickly on his other cheek. "I can't wait to get you home."

The rest of the ride was spent with gentle touches, heavy breathing, intense stares, and deep kisses. Just as they both felt they could take no more, they finally arrived at Alex's.

As Alex finally unlocked the door, Ivar practically shoved him into the apartment, backwards into the wall, frantically kissing him. He was instantly removing Alex's suit jacket and then his own. As they dropped to the floor, Alex leaned forward and locked the door behind Ivar. "I've seriously missed this," Alex softly said just as Ivar's lips crashed into him again.

Pieces of their clothing went flying, one by one, as they made their way to Alex's room. "I'm all yours," Alex said between kisses, "Have your way with me."

"Fuck!" Ivar panted, "I fucking plan on it."

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Standing in the kitchen and trying not to sound as sad as he actually felt, Alex said, "Well, I guess we're back to reality, huh?"

"What do you mean? This entire weekend has been our reality, Alex."

Alex hesitated, "Well, you know what I mean. You leaving to go back home, and me just dropping by to visit you and Ivy after class."

Ivar didn't really get what Alex was insinuating.

"Ivar, umm," Alex's hands were sweaty as he tried to put everything in the best way he could without hurting Ivar, "I think I should give you three some space. You know, just give Katia the time she really needs to accept that we're together no matter what kind of fit she pulls, and let her see that it won't change even if I'm not always there."

Ivar's mouth just dropped as he listened to Alex in disbelief. "Also, maybe it will do her some good for me to not be there as much and her maybe feeling like I'm constantly rubbing it in her face. Maybe that's why she got so defensive and territorial over you to begin with."

Ivar couldn't believe how selfless Alex was, selfless, yes, but it was a very naive way of of thinking.

He stood up and walked around the counter and placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, "Love, how very thoughtful of you. Really, it's one thing I really love about you. But, umm, you do know who we're talking about here, dont you? You're so very considerate, but I honestly believe she's going to do whatever she thinks will win me over whether you're there or not." He kissed Alex on the forehead. "And I, personally, would prefer you're there with me. Maybe the better choice is that I talk to her again, and make sure she remembers that she's only there on borrowed time."

Alex shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I understand you being apprehensive. How about this? What if I talk to her, and we just play it by ear. If you think things are too tense and would prefer to come back home, I won't stop you. You're already here a couple of nights a week anyway, so if you absolutely have to add another or two, I'll try my best to understand and not take it personally. This will be a busy week anyway with getting everything finished for Ivy's birthday party next weekend."

Ivar pulled Alex into a hug. "Just promise me that you won't umm, leave for good, that you won't leave me." Ivar shuddered at even the thought. "I can't handle even thinking about life without you. I love you, and I need you in my life. Always."

Alex choked back a tear, "Ivar, please don't tell me that after the amazing weekend we've had, you actually still think I could leave you," Alex said into Ivar's chest, still wrapped in his strong arms.

Ivar pulled him back and looked into his eyes, "I, umm, I feel it's just a matter of time before you see what I already know." Ivar dropped his head and looked away.

"And just what is that, exactly?" Alex gently turned Ivar's head back toward him so he could see his face.

Trying to avert Alex's piercing eyes but eventually giving in, Ivar finally answered him. "Umm, well, that you-you're umm, you're too good for me and deserve better." His face flushed bright red as he tried to pull away from Alex, but Alex tightened his grip around Ivar's waist.

Placing his hand on Ivar's cheek, Alex told him, "Ivar, what are you talking about? There's never been anyone more perfect for me. My love for you isn't that shallow, and I can't see me happier with anyone else on this planet. I love you. Ok? That's not going to change over some ridiculous argument or anything like that." He pulled Ivar to him and gave him a tight hug. "Do not worry about such things. You're stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily," Alex laughed.

Ivar smiled despite himself. Alex's words helped him, but he knew the thought would remain in the back of his head. He'd just have to push it far back and try to ignore it.

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Ivar was right. The next week was really busy. No matter how much Katia protested, and Alex couldn't tell if she was being sincere or not, Ivar pulled out all the stops for his baby girl. Katia told him how she was too young for anything to matter to her, and that she wouldn't remember any of it anyway, but Ivar insisted that nothing was too big or too much for his princess.

Ivy loved bouncing, so Ivar rented out a small, indoor trampoline park for the entire Saturday afternoon. There wasn't a large amount of people coming to the party, just close friends and family, but Ivar also had a catering company lined up to bring food.

Ivar spoke to Katia as he'd told Alex he would. She didn't say much. She just listened to him. He wasn't sure she really accepted the gravity of his words, so he told her, "Katia, I get that you wanted things to work out a different way and I'm sorry it hasn't, but you're going to have to accept this. It's not going to change. I also need you to understand that Ivy is the reason youre here at all. I can't have you living in my home, and this is temporary, remember, and treating Alex the way you have. It will not be tolerated anymore." Katia had only nodded her head and told him ok. He saw her expression chnage, but she nevwr said anything else. That made Ivar a bit nervous for what she really meant, but he decided to just leave it alone. For now.

Ivar and Alex spent most of their evenings that week at the trampoline park, decorating for the party. Alex had went home to his own place almost every night, against Ivar's will, but Ivar didn't protest against it like he said he wouldn't.

Admittedly, that had been very difficult for Ivar, so he was extremely pleased when Alex told him, "Do you mind if I stay at your place tonight? I'm honestly just too tired for us to go all the way back to my place when yours is so much closer."

"Oh, so it's just a matter of proximity, humm? That's the only reason you'll finally stay with me?" Ivar mused.

"Oh, you know better than that," Alex smiled. "I mean, yes, your place is closer, but umm, I also miss you."

Blushing, Ivar pulled him close and gave him a kiss, "Well, let's go."

To Alex's surprise, Katia had seemed mostly nice all week when the three of them had been together. She did seem a bit on edge, but he'd noticed, just when he thought she may say something, she'd retreated to her room, saying how she was really tired suddenly. She hadn't said or done anything out of the way. Yet. He knew he'd never trust her again. But he also hadn't stayed over night all week either, so he knew this would be the true test.

When the two of them arrived at Ivar's, Alex hesitated by the car door. Ivar walked over to him, "Everything ok, Love?"

Wiping his sweaty hands on his pants legs, Alex answered, "I, umm, well, I just don't want any problems. I hope she's already in bed."

Ivar hugged him and reassured him, "You have just as much a right to be here as she does. This is my house and if I have to remind her, I will. You don't have anything to worry about, Love. I told you, she seemed to understand everything when I talked to her. You'll be fine."

Alex gave him a quick kiss and told him, "Thank you, and I'm sorry for adding more stress for you."

Ivar grabbed his hand and told him not to worry about it as they headed to the front door.

Katia was in the kitchen as they walked inside. "Hey, Ivar, sweetheart," Alex just squeezed Ivar's hand as he heard her, "I made some of your favorite food for dinner and was just cleaning my plate. Please come in, and have a seat. I'll make your plate. I figured you'd be really tired."

She continued talking as the two of them stood at the kitchen counter behind her. Ivar cleared his throat as Katia turned around. "Alex is staying the night because you're right. We're exhausted."

Her eyes widened as Ivar pulled a stool out for Alex, and the two of them sat down. "Umm, ok. Uh, hey, Alex. Would you like a plate, too?" Katia asked him as she sat Ivar's plate in front of him.

Alex looked to Ivar, who nodded to him, then answered, "Umm, sure. Thank you, Katia."

She made Alex's plate and gave it to him. "Umm, Ivar, you can clean up here when you two are finished? I'm going to bed, and Ivy's already asleep in her room."

"Umm, uh, sure. Thank you, again, for dinner, Katia. And umm, Ivy?" Ivar asked her.

"Sara took her up before she left. Umm, good night, guys." Katia left the room without another word.

Alex stared blankly at Ivar who had the same expression on his face. They sat for a moment before Ivar finally said, "Think she is finally getting the picture and understanding that you're not going anywhere?"

They both sat for another moment, and as Alex smiled, they both said at the same time, "No way!" They laughed and finished their meal.

After eating, they cleaned up the kitchen together and then went to bed. It was only minutes before they were wrapped in eachother's arms, passionately kissing. Ivar pulled away and softly said, between panting, "I missed you."

"We were just together Sunday, Ivar."

"I know. A lifetime ago. I've missed you," he laughed and kissed Alex again, wondering if he would even last until he could get Ivar's boxers and sweats off of his glorious, hot body.

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It was finally the day of Ivy's party. They closed the bar for the night to be able to properly celebrate. You would have thought it was Ivar's Odin himself was coming to visit or something. He was running around in nearly a panic.

"Ivar," Alex stopped in front of him and placed his hands on his shoulders, "I know it's her first birthday, but it's going to be perfect. Everything is going to be fine. I've got everything in the car already. Breathe."

"But what about her dress for the pictures?"

"I have it."

"And the other clothes that she can mess up when she gets her birthday cake and to play in?"

"I've got that, too."

"And her shoes? And oh my God, I almost forgot my camera. How am I going to take pictures if I forget my camera?"

"Ivar, I have her shoes and your camera and your camera bag along with the charger and even batteries as a backup. I've got it. Just relax."

"What about..."

"Ivar, the candles, lighter, and knife to cut the cake all comes with the cake order. Remember?"

Ivar finally stepped back and sat on a stool at the kitchen counter. Alex smiled at him as he saw him take a deep breath and run his hand down his face.

"Chill. We got this."

At that moment, Katia came out of her room with Ivy. "Dada!" Ivar was by Katia's side immediately, as Ivy reached for him, and took her into his arms.

"She's ready. I just need my purse, and I'll be ready, too."

"How's daddy's big girl? Humm? Are you ready to celebrate?" Ivar kissed her on top of her head, and she smiled up at him. "Happy birthday, my little princess."

As Katia came back out of her room, Alex looked over to her and saw his same expression of adoration spread across her face. It unnerved him, but he looked back at Ivar and Ivy and instantly felt better. He knew now wasn't the time. Breaking him from his thoughts, Ivar asked, "Shall we go, now?"

"Actually, can I give Ivy her gift from me first? Well, I guess it's from us, really, isn't it?" He laughed. Ivar had forgotten about it, and looking at his watch, he told him yes.

Alex ran upstairs and came back down, quickly, with the big, pink bear Ivar had won for him the Saturday before. Ivar took Ivy over to Alex in the living room floor as Katia stood and watched.

"You want to see what Alex got for you, Sweetheart?"

"What we got for her," Alex corrected him.

Ivy reached for Alex, saying, "Ale!"

Ivar stood her in front of the huge stuffed bear, holding her sides, and she looked up at them both and giggled. She flopped forward with her arms stretched wide, saying "Mine."

Ivar and Alex told her yes, and she enjoyed rubbing it by moving her face back and forth into it. It was so cute, Ivar kissed Alex, and told him, "Thank you, Love. That was so thoughtful to think of her during our date."

Katia cleared her throat, and Ivar looked over to her, still standing and watching, critically. He saw the look of disgust across her face. He glared at her, but didn't say anything. "I'm going on out, guys." She said rolling her eyes.

Alex completely ignored her and continued playing and laughing with Ivy. Ivar clinched his teeth together to prevent himself from saying anything to her on Ivy's birthday. He didn't want to ruin her day before it had really even begun.

Alex, knowing this and seeing the look of murder across Ivar's face, finally said, "I think we should get going, right, Ivar? We don't want her to be late for her own party."

Ivar, recognizing Alex was right, scooped Ivy up and into his arms and told her it was time to go. She only giggled at him. They finally got Ivy in the car and headed to the trampoline park.

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Aslaug was already there and greeted them at the door. She took Ivy to change her clothes for pictures as Alex and Ivar unloaded the car. Katia came in with her.

For as long as Alex had known Ivar, he'd had an eye for capturing the perfect picture. He just naturally knew how to take the simplest scene and angle the camera in such a way that the lighting would look chosen and fine tuned, and he'd then produce the most beautiful pictures, people always being his favorite thing to photograph. You could always see his passion for photography in his finished product, but with Ivy as the subject, Alex knew the pictures were going to be outstanding.

Aslaug brought Ivy out, and Ivar had her place her on the mat with the small, colorful balls that he'd brought over from the ball pit. Her dress was purple velvet trimmed in sparkling black with tights and shoes to match. As Alex watched her pick up one of the balls and smile too widely for her small face, he couldn't deny how absolutely adorable she looked. He looked over to Ivar, who exuded love and excitement mixed with pride and a ball of nerves, as he snapped picture after picture. Alex stepped to him and softly said, "She's absolutely gorgeous, Ivar." Ivar glanced at him and smiled. "Just like her daddy," Alex added as he kissed Ivar on his cheek, causing him to blush.

At that moment, Ivy threw the ball towards them and then clapped her hands as Ivar continued snapping away.

Alex rolled the ball back to her and said, "Catch, Sweetheart." As the ball rolled right up to her, she grabbed it and said, "Ale!" melting Alex's heart.

Aslaug covered her mouth in surprise, "I didn't know she could say your name, Alex. That's precious." She winked and smiled at Alex, thoroughly surprising him as he felt his cheeks redden.

"Ale!" Ivy said again, this time reaching toward him.

"Aww, she wants you, Alex. You should go to her. I'm sure Ivar will make some incredible shots of the two of you."

Still surprised, Alex answered, "Oh, uh, no. This is Ivy's day. That's ok. I'll just watch from here."

Ivar turned to him as Ivy threw another ball in their direction, laughing and clapping. "She's right, Love. Ivy wants to play with you. It will make for some sweet photos. I mean, if you want to."

"Ale!" Ivy reached for him again. "Puh-ease," she motioned for him to come to her.

"That's another new word, sweetie," Alex encouraged her. "You're such a smart girl." He sat with her, and they began rolling the balls back and forth, Ivy's small giggles filling the room. Ivar's heart swelled as he continued snapping pictures.

Katia entered the room and stood, watching. Aslaug noticed how she was visibly on edge, and she could only assume why. Aslaug stepped closer to her. "Ivar will take photos with anyone else who wants them with Ivy, too, Dear. You should be next," Aslaug said softly as she placed her hand on Katia's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Thank you," Katia batted away tears.

"Are you ok?" Aslaug asked, genuinely concerned.

"It's umm, you know. It's uh, it's just hard. I'm trying, but it's just so hard."

"Oh, I know, Dear. Just take it one day at a time."

"I know I really messed things up, and it's too late, now. Watching him, umm, it just breaks my heart. That should've been me. I'll never find anyone who loves me like he did, and I just threw it away like it was nothing."

Aslaug hugged her, "Oh, Katia. Dear, never say never. You have no idea what the future holds."

Katia's eyes lit up. Was it possible that Aslaug wanted them back together, too? Oh, of course she did. Alex can't give her anymore grandchildren. That's basically what Aslaug was saying, right? Maybe she should continue her plan to make Alex's life difficult enough that he'd just finally leave without Ivar ever even knowing she'd done it. She'd be there for Ivar afterwards, and he'd see how much she truly loves him.

Without warning, Katia went to stand at the side of the mat where Ivy and Alex sat, playing. "Umm, could I get some pictures with our daughter, too?" She asked, looking at Ivar.

Surprised at her tone, he answered, "Sure, in just a moment when she's finished with Alex."

Alex looked up at Katia and then to Ivar. Feeling bad for the way she'd just thrown Ivar in the middle of whatever game she was playing at now, he said, "Umm, no. It's ok. We can take more pictures later. I need to get up from here anyway before my legs fall asleep." He nervously laughed as he stood.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Alex," Katia began with false sweetness dripping from her words, "I can definitely wait until you're finished."

He walked to Ivar, as Ivy called for him several times. "No, you go ahead. It's fine. Ivy, we'll play again shortly. It's mommy's turn now." When he reached Ivar, he sat down beside him with a sigh.

"Thank you, Love. I'm sorry. That was so rude."

"It's ok. She's Ivy's mom. I can understand her wanting to be with her."

"And this is just another reason I love you," Ivar smiled.

People began coming, so Alex left Ivar to greet them. Ivy's birthday gifts began to pile up as people passed the gift table to go pose for photos. Alex loved that Ivar got to use one of his favorite pass times with his beloved daughter.

As he watched them and all the cute faces Ivy was making, a voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, Alex. You remember my sister, Emilie, don't you?"

Alex turned to see Paul, from class, with his sister and her two kids. "Hey, Paul. I'm surprised you actually came. Come on in. The kids are getting ready to go jump. Finally." Pointing to Aslaug, he told him, "That's Ivar's mom. See her for the socks and have a great time."

Paul's sister stuck her hand out to shake Alex's, "Hi, umm, he insisted that we were invited and should come for the kids to enjoy themselves. I hope it's ok."

"It's definitely ok. Ivar invited you guys personally last weekend." Alex motioned toward Aslaug for them to get socks.

Suddenly, the kids went running to the jump space. There weren't many, maybe 8 or 10, and all so tiny, but they nearly knocked Ivar down as he was walking with Ivy in his arms, toward Alex. "Hey, hey, guys, slow it down some," Ivar said to them in vain as they passed.

Just as Ivar reached Alex, the front door swung open. There stood Sigurd, a young toddler, maybe 2 or 3 years old, and a pregnant, blonde girl. Ivar stopped in his tracks, in complete disbelief. "Hi, Ivar. Umm, this is Anja, my girlfriend, and this little guy is Mika."

"What the fuck are you doing here, Sigurd?"

"Nice to see you, too, little brother. Hey, Alex. And uh, Mom invited us."

"Of course she did," Ivar shook his head. He pointed his finger in Sigurd's face, "I promise you, if you do or say anything to ruin my Ivy's birthday, I will personally end you. I'll mutilate and dismember your body so badly that not even mom will be able to identify your mangled body in the morgue. I'll fucking gut you myself!Understood?" Alex gulped and Anja swallowed loudly. Ivar turned to her, "Nice to meet you, Anja. You're welcome to come in. Get some socks for Mika and let him play with the other kids." He glanced at Alex, "I'll be back. I'm taking Ivy to play."

Alex began to speak, but just at that moment, Hvitserk walked up. As he turned to Alex, he noticed who was standing on front of him. "What the fuck!" Trying to disregard Sigurd, Hvitserk said, "Alex, I was coming to tell you that your mom is here and was looking for you, but before I leave you," he turned to Sigurd, "You better not start your shit with Ivar today. You understand me? I won't hesitate to kick your fucking ass right here in front of," he looked to Anja, "Your girl and your kid and whoever the fuck else wants to watch. Got it?"

Sigurd smiled and began to speak, but Hvitserk held his hand up to his face, "Save it," and he walked away.

Sigurd told Anja, "That was my other brother, Hvitserk. Isn't he lovely?"

"Wow! When you told me you weren't too popular with your brothers, you weren't joking, were you?"

-

The party seemed to be going well. Everyone was talking and laughing and the kids were still jumping. Alex left Ivar and Ivy to go get a glass of water.

As Alex turned to go back, he noticed Katia with Ivar and Ivy, so he stopped. He stood and watched them. He knew she needed to spend time with them together, too, but it sure stung.

Alex then felt an arm on his shoulders and a hand on gently squeeze. "It's a wonderful thing you're doing for him, Sweetie," his mom's voice said softly beside him. "That's true love. I know it's not easy, but Ivy can only benefit from the three of you loving her like you do and doing your best to get along."

"Thanks mom. It's, umm, well, Katia doesn't always make it the easiest."

"Oh, I'm sure. Just be strong. She's just testing you. And Alex?"

"Yes, mom?" he answered, watching Ivar and Katia walk along the trampoline, holding Ivy's hands so she can easily jump.

"You know how much that man loves you, don't you?" Completely surprised at what he'd heard her say, he turned to look at her. "Because everyone else around you two, including Katia, can see it. Have faith in that, sweetheart. He's not going anywhere." She kissed him on his temple and walked back to his dad.

Alex just stood there and let his mom's words wash over him. He felt really proud at how accepting she clearly was of the whole situation of him being with a man and, now, one who had a child and a crazy ex. It warmed his heart, and she just didn't know just how badly he'd needed to hear everything she said.

As he watched Ivar and Katia more, he noticed how she just actually seemed to be there for Ivy. Several times she'd placed her hand on Ivar's arm or shoulder, and he subtly pulled away from her each time. She appeared to just stop trying to get his attention and began to focus hers on her baby girl. Things didn't seem so bad when she was with Ivar like that, just as Ivy's mom and nothing more. He sincerely hoped they'd eventually get to a place when that really was all that was there.

"Is that broad the mom of your daughter?" Paul was suddenly at Alex's side, disturbing his thoughts.

"Umm, yeah. That's Katia, Ivar's ex and Ivy's mom."

"Woah! Man! I thought she was your child. So her mom is his ex?"

Annoyed, Alex simply answered, "Yes."

"Wow, man. I'm impressed. I don't know how you do it. That would kill me, seeing my man with his ex and their baby. How do you not feel like the third wheel?" He looked over to Alex, "I guess I mean, the fourth wheel. I mean, look at them. The three of them look like a happy little family. I'd never known they weren't still together had I not known who you are to him. Dude! I'm amazed that you don't just feel like crawling under a rock somewhere. You must really love him, huh?"

Alex could only hope that Paul meant well, but his words hurt like a double edged sword. He was just a bit daft and obviously, completely without tact. Alex began to walk away from him before he lost his cool as he heard Ivar call his name. He turned to see Ivy in Katia's arms, but reaching for him as she called out, "Ale! Puh-ease! Ale!" How could he say no to that?

Ivar motioned for him to come to them and then, to his surprise, so did Katia.

Alex joined them back on the trampoline mat, leaving Paul where he stood, and Katia instantly said to him, "She really wants you, Alex. You want to take her?"

He tried to hide his surprise with Katia's generosity as he held his arms out. Ivy practically jumped to him, and she giggled as they laughed at her.

Alex and Katia each held one of Ivy's hands and let her jump up and down. The smile across her face was contagious. Alex tried to ignore how nervous he was at Katia's kindness. Surely, this was sincere and not just another way to maneuver herself into Ivar's life the way she wanted to be. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, looking over his shoulders. Alex turned to see what she was looking at, and he saw Y/N and Hvitserk standing there, pretending not to be watching them.

Of course, Hvitserk had said something to her. That definitely explained her change in attitude. It made Alex feel sick, but as he looked at Ivar's smiling face, watching them getting along for the sake of their love for his daughter, he couldn't really do or say anything. Now, wasn't the time.

Hvitserk brought Ivar his camera and winked at Alex. Ivar instantly began snapping more photos. Defeated, Alex gave in and just enjoyed the moment. No matter how fake it actually was.

Unbeknownst to them, Sigurd was watching them. "I can't tell, exactly, which one is faking it. Is it Katia or Alex?" he snidely asked Ubbe.

"Oh, it's definitely Katia. Don't you remember how she's always been? Don't let the kid fool you. She's still just as manipulative as she was back then."

"Is Ivar still a blinded fool?"

"I honestly don't think he is. He's in love with Alex, and her shit doesn't seem to phase him anymore."

"Yeah, this thing with Alex? When did that happen? Who would've thought our little brother would be a queer?"

Ubbe smacked him in the back of the head, "Don't start your shit, or I promise you, I'll.."

"Beat my ass yourself?" Sigurd finished Ubbe's sentence. Ubbe smiled and nodded yes. "Actually, I see Ivar differently. He does look genuinely happy and in love. It's fucking disgusting." They both laughed.

The rest of the party had been a lot of fun. Alex got his turn with Ivar's camera when Ivar sat with Ivy and helped her open her gifts. She clapped, smiled, and giggled at nearly every gift. It was precious, and Alex was proud Ivar trusted him to capture the moment as Ivar had been teaching him a little about photography.

By the time everyone had eaten and had cake, several people were already leaving. Ivar invited whoever wanted to come back to his place for, "the adult part of the party," and they began packing up to leave. Alex and Ivar both were really happy that Ivar had the foresight to have paid the little extra for someone else to clean up after the party and bring it all back to Ivar's. They were both pretty tired.

As they made their way to the door, they were met by Alex's parents. Thank you, Son, for having us. We enjoyed our time with you all, but I think we're going to head on home," his mom told Ivar as she hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Aww, won't you drop by my place for a bit? We'd love to have you. Just have one drink with us, and then, we'll let you go if you want,"

She looked to Alex and then to his dad, who both nodded. "Well, if you're sure we won't be intruding. I know most of your guests will be your family, Ivar."

"Mama Hogh, you're Alex's family, therefore, you two are my family as well," he said as he hugged her again. "You've always been my family, but you didn't realize that you seriously do have a second son, now?" Ivar laughed.

Alex felt his heart swell. He didn't have words for how Ivar's words made him feel, but he sure did love hearing them. He grabbed Ivar's hand and kissed his knuckles as they headed to the cars.

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Once at Ivar's, Alex scanned the room. The few who came back were really just Ivar's family and Alex's parents. As he continued looking around, he noticed Paul sitting on the sofa. He was surprised, but Ivar had actually invited everyone so he walked over to him. "Hi Paul."

Paul stood, "Umm, I didn't realize this was just a family thing, Alex. I'm sorry. I'm gonna head out."

Alex handed him a beer, "Don't worry about it. You were invited just like everyone else." He took the drink and sat back down.

Ivar took Ivy to her bedroom upstairs. She didn't even wake up when he got her out of the car. He knew she'd be tired after such a long day, but he was kind of surprised at just how tired. Once he had her settled in her bed, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Happy birthday, Baby Girl. I love you."

As he walked to her door and gently closed it behind him, he turned into Alex. "What a day, huh?" he said as he smiled at the sweetness he'd just witnessed.

"What?" Ivar shyly asked.

"You know how I love seeing you with Ivy. That's all." Ivar's cheeks reddened, but he didn't say a word. "Actually, I just wanted to let you know that Paul is here, too. I didn't know how you'd feel about it, so I just wanted to tell you."

Ivar's jaw clinched as he spoke through his teeth, "I told you what he's after. You just watch yourself around him. I'd hate to have to dismember him." He didn't even smile as the words rolled so easily off his lips. "I don't trust him, but it's ok. I mean, I did invite everyone." He then backed Alex into the wall and kissed him. "He's just jealous that he can't do that," he laughed.

In a bit of a daze, Alex smiled. "He definitely can't. That would be gross." They both laughed and returned to the party.

Everyone was talking, laughing, and having a good time. Alex looked around and decided to pick up the empty bottles and take them out to the recycle bin in the garage. From the kitchen, talking with Ubbe and Hvitserk, Ivar saw him and turned to offer to help. Alex told him not to worry about it, that he could get it, so Ivar continued his conversation with his brothers.

As Alex rounded the corner with the box of empty beer bottles, he heard Katia and Aslaug talking. Instinctively, he stopped and listened. "Yeah, well, I know, but how could Alex ever provide you with any more grandchildren, Aslaug? I know Ivar has always wanted nothing more than to have a home full of little ones running around. I can give him that. And I know that would make you just as happy as it would him. You know he still loves me. He'll always love me. I gave him his first child."

"I, umm, well, I can't say if you're right or not," Alex heard Aslaug's response. "I know he'll always love you in his special way, Katia, but.." she stopped talking when Alex stumbled just outside the door, causing the bottles to bang together. "What was that?" Aslaug asked Katia as Katia basically disregarded her.

"I don't know, but you were saying you also think Ivar still loves me? Doesn't that mean he just needs to hear it from you? Maybe he just needs to know how you feel about him being with Alex, a man of all people. What was he thinking? I'm sure if he knew how you really feel, he wouldn't be so sure about their relationship. I mean, if that's what you want to call it." Katia continued talking as Aslaug moved around the work table in the garage, toward the door. "I mean, don't you think you should tell Ivar the truth about what you think about him and Alex?"

"What? Oh, uh, umm-humm," Aslaug was finally standing at the doorway just as Alex was stepping through it, and they nearly ran into eachother. "Oh! Alex!"

His eyes full of tears that he was desperately trying to hold back, he stepped around her and placed the box of empty beer bottles on the table. "Umm, I was, uh, just bringing this to the recycle bin. Umm, I-I'm uh, I didn't mean to umm, to interrupt your umm, conversation." Alex quickly sat the box down and turned to walk out.

"Oh, Alex, Dear," Aslaug began, but Alex held his hand up, palm facing her, in an effort to tell her not to waste her voice and to back off. He turned and immediately walked out of the garage, hearing both Aslaug and Katia calling after him.

As he entered the bathroom in the hallway, he faintly heard Katia's lies, "Alex, come back. I'm sorry. I can explain. It's not what you think."

He didn't bother to open the door or to answer her. He knew he needed to pull it together. This was not the time for Ivar to learn of the shit Katia and his own mom were spitting about the two of them.

It completely broke Alex with the cold and heartless way Katia had spoken about him as if she were discussing the weather and that Aslaug never once even attempted to defend him or even her own son. He could at least spare Ivar from the same pain, at least for now.

He wondered if what Katia had said was true. Did Ivar still love her? Is that why he had agreed to let her stay? Was she the one Ivar should be with after everything? She was right about one thing, though, for sure. He definitely couldn't give Ivar more children. They'd never talked about any long term goals. He didn't know if Ivar really longed for more children or not. How could he stand in the way of that if it was really what he wanted?

Standing in front of the mirror, hands gripping the sides of the sink, Alex looked at himself and wiped his tears with the back of his hand. Flipping on the water, he splashed cold water on his face. "Get a grip, Alex. You've got this," he lied to himself.

After a few more minutes in the bathroom, he finally came out to find Y/N standing there, waiting on him. "What the fuck happened? What did she do this time?" She asked him, anger visible across her face.

"Nothing. It's fine. I-I'm fine."

"Alex," she began.

"Not now, Y/N. I can't. Not now, ok?" he continued walking and grabbed himself two beers and headed to the sofa. Ivar noticed he'd returned and gave him a questioning look from across the room. Alex held his hand up and signaled that everything was ok as he turned up the first beer.

Sigurd and Anja sat across from him with Paul on one side of him and Y/N on the other. Sigurd began talking and thankfully, Paul and Y/N were quick to engage in conversation with him, as Alex turned up his second beer already.

Alex looked around and noticed Aslaug was at the kitchen counter without her smart-ass side kick for now. He saw his mom walk up to her and begin talking, and he could only hope Aslaug wouldn't say anything to her. He knew his mom, at least, was definitely what you would call a, "mama bear," and for the first time in a long time, he was quite proud of it.

"Hey, Aslaug. How are you? I've been meaning to talk with you all evening," Mama Hogh said to her.

"Oh, it's so nice to see you. I'm great. How have you been? I feel like it's been ages since I've seen you guys," Aslaug said.

The two of them made small talk for a few minutes before Alex's mom said, "What do you think about our boys? Who would have guessed that the two of them would have fallen for eachother, right?"

Aslaug thought before speaking and trying to choose her words wisely, finally answered, "It's funny. I kind of always thought my Ivar would end up with Alex's sister." Aslaug smiled and offered her a drink that she turned down.

"Oh, she is engaged now," Mama Hogh grinned, "But can I offer a word of advice to you?"

"Sure," Aslaug answered, intrigued.

"We have to let them go. They're not ours anymore. They're our babies, and we always think we know what's best for them, but there comes a time when we just have to let them go to make their own choices, and support them when they do."

She saw Aslaug's face harden a bit. "Trust me, I almost lost Alex because of trying to make his choices for him, thinking, 'Mama knows best,' but I learned the hard way, it's just not worth it. If they're happy, we have to be happy for them. And have you noticed how happy they clearly are with eachother? What mother could want more than that? Love comes in all shapes and sizes, and yes, sexes, Aslaug. Who are we to tell another who to love?"

Aslaug was clearly deep in thought. "How very insightful. Umm, thanks. I think." Aslaug leaned forward and hugged her as she told her that she and Thomas were leaving.

They returned to say their goodbyes. When Alex's mom came to him, he tried to stand but stumbled back onto the sofa, laughing. She smiled at him. "Just make sure you don't drive, Hun," and she hugged him goodbye as she told Y/N, "Take care of my boy, ok? I think he must need it." Y/N was surprised at how intuitive Alex's mom was, and she agreed.

Paul had been giving Alex beer after beer, and now Alex was feeling pretty good. Sigurd and he were intensely talking about being with someone they loved who already had a child. "It's so fucking beautiful how much you can love someone that you automatically love their offspring as if they're yours, right?" Alex slurred his words to Sigurd.

Sigurd smiled and agreed with him as he squeezed Anja's leg. He looked over and noticed one of Paul's hands on Alex's leg and the other rubbing his back. It didn't quite set well with Sigurd, but he told himself not to get involved. He'd definitely remembered each of his brother's warnings to not get shit started.

Alex continued talking, as Y/N got up to use the bathroom. "But you, you Sigurd, you have the luxury of having a baby of your own with umm, was it Amy?"

"Anja," she corrected him.

"Right. Anja. I'm sorry." Paul handed him another beer which he turned up and finished in 3 seconds, flat. "So you'll have your own little offspring soon. I, umm," he held his head down, "I can't provide that for Ivar."

Handing him another beer, Paul said, "Oh, there are other ways around that, Sweetheart." Alex turned up the beer as Paul's hand moved up his leg a bit more. Alex was so out of it by this point, that he didn't even notice, but Sigurd it did not miss it, nor did he miss the "sweetheart." He sat up to the edge of the couch and listened.

Paul continued, "If you were mine, I wouldn't make you feel any kind of pressure like that. Maybe the problem isn't that you can't give him another child. Maybe the problem is either who you're with or that he should be fucking happy with what he's got." Paul placed his hand on Alex's cheek while his other remained practically on his inner thigh, obviously headed toward where it definitely should not be.

Alex attempted to pull away from Paul's hand. Even in his drunken stupor, it didn't feel right. "Oh, umm, I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," Paul told him as Sigurd watched and tried to decide what to do. He looked to Anja, but she was now standing behind them, talking with Torvi. "I just hate to see you not appreciated, Alex," Paul continued. "I'd never let you feel inadequate, especially when it came to my fucking ex. I'm sorry he makes you feel that way. Are you sure that's love? Because I'm not." He dragged his hand up Alex's leg further and squeezed as he handed Alex another beer.

Alex turned the beer up and his head began spinning. He suddenly jerked away from Paul and moved over on the sofa. He tried to start another conversation with Sigurd to distract himself from Paul's words, but he kept hearing what he'd said ringing in his ears and it came out to Sigurd, "I'm uh, I'm inadequate, huh? That's it. That's why he still loves her. I'm not good enough."

Paul scooted over closer to him and placed one hand on the small of his back and the other back on his leg again. He pulled Alex into a hug and kissed him on the top of the head. "You're not inadequate at all, Alex. You're perfect."

Sigurd had finally seen enough, "That's enough, man. Back the fuck up. You've gotten him just drunk enough that he has no idea what you're up to. I think you need to leave. Now."

Paul looked up to Sigurd as he stood and said, "Who the fuck are you? Alex is grown and can make his own fucking decisions."

"You've conveniently taken his decision making skills away from him and I'm Ivar's fucking brother, that's who the fuck I am! Now, back the fuck up!" Alex's head fell over onto Paul's shoulder and Paul placed his hand at the nape of Alex's neck, and wrapped his other around his waist, completely disregarding Sigurd.

Trying not to be the one to make a scene, Sigurd stormed to the next room, looking for Ivar. When he found him, the look of utter hatred and disgust was plastered across his face. Ivar instantly felt his defenses go up as he was used to that look.

Expecting him to spill whatever bile he had stored for him, Ivar sat his drink down and balled his fists up, ready to knock him out and then kick him out. So, he was very surprised when Sigurd began talking.

"Ivar, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but this is about Alex." Ivar sighed at Sigurd. "No, it's not like that, Ivar. I'm pissed. That Paul guy, whoever the fuck he is, has gotten Alex super drunk. Alex doesn't even know what's going on, and he's talking out of his head about you still loving Katia."

"Oh, what the hell! Let me go talk to him," Ivar started to leave Sigurd.

Sigurd stopped him, "No, Ivar. That's not even what I'm talking about. It's just that, well, Alex is drunk and talking out of his head like I said, and that fucking Paul is using his words against him."

Ivar saw red, "What? What the fuck do you mean?"

"He's twisting Alex's obvious insecurities about the two of you to his advantage and basically telling him how he'd treat him better. And Ivar, he's groping him up. Alex pulled away several times, but this mother fucker keeps putting his fucking paws all over him. It's disgusting. I fucking told him to leave, and he completely ignored me. And since I promised you guys I'd behave, I thought it better to come get you."

"Fuck that! You should have kicked his ass and thrown him out!" Ivar spat through gritted teeth. "Where the fuck is this piece of shit?" Ivar felt anger like he hadn't felt in a long time course through his veins. He followed Sigurd, his unlikely ally.

When he found Alex, Y/N was arguing with Paul as he sat with his arm resting on Alex's shoulders. Alex was slumped over with his head in his hands.

Ivar walked up, "Thanks, Y/N. I can take it from here." She looked up to him with a sigh of relief and backed away, bumping into Hvitserk, who had the same murderous stare that Ivar had.

Paul looked a bit nervous as Ivar walked to Alex's side. Squatting down to Alex, he calmly said, "Hey, Love. I think you've had enough. Why don't we call it a night?"

Alex raised his head from his hands and looked into Ivar's worried eyes and smiled warmly. He said, "Hey, my Ivar. Umm, well, you are still my Ivar, aren't you?"

"Yes, of course, I am. Let's get you to bed, shall we?" Ivar gently said.

Alex looked at Paul and reached for another beer. Paul handed it to him as he rubbed his back. Ivar placed his hand over Paul's and squeezed it as he removed it from Alex's back. "That's enough touching, now. I think it's time for you to go," Ivar said sternly to Paul.

Alex turned back to Ivar and said, "But he's my friend. We were just talking shit, Ivar."

"So I've heard. Well, he has to go home, now, Love. And you can go with me to rest in my room."

Ivar placed his hand on Alex's cheek and Alex leaned into it. "Nah, I don't think I'm ready for bed just yet. I was enjoying the party. Have a drink with us."

Ivar stood up and told Paul, again, to leave. Paul answered, "I don't think Alex wants me to leave."

Ivar didn't have a chance to answer before Alex said, "No, don't leave. The party's not over yet."

Ivar helped Alex to his feet, "The party is over for the two of us. Come on. I'll help you up the stairs."

Alex still protested, "Ivar, we still have guests. I'm not ready to go to your room yet. C'mon, one more drink."

Sigurd and Hvitserk had everyone else go to other rooms, telling them they didn't know how this may play out, and that they didn't want anyone getting hurt. Aslaug stood in the doorway, watching, though. She knew that Alex's current state was because of him overhearing her and Katia talking. She knew she needed to talk with him and explain.

When Ivar noticed his brothers had cleared the room, and Alex was still rambling about one more drink, he bent down and scooped Alex up and threw him over his shoulder, completely ok if he vomited down his back.

Alex kicked and then laughed, "Oh, you Tarzan, me Jane. Bedroom. Now." He laughed even harder, "Hey, I may like this game after all. Bedroom, now, my Ivar." He grabbed his head, "But fuck! I can't be Jane!" Ivar even struggled not to laugh at that.

"Ok, Alex, let's go."

When Alex complained that he still wasn't ready to leave, Paul stood in front of Ivar. "Man, he said he doesn't want to leave. Put him down. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Ivar felt a surge of anger hit him like a lightning bolt.

With Alex still over his shoulder, Ivar grabbed Paul by the shirt collar with his right hand and spoke to him through a clinched jaw and murderous eyes. In one of the most menacing voices Hvitserk had ever heard him use, Ivar growled at him, "What the fuck is wrong with ME? What the fuck is wrong with YOU?! You're in my house. You don't get to tell me to do anything! Now, get the fuck out of my house before I throw you out. Step aside before I destroy you." Ivar let go of him and he stumbled backwards a bit. "Don't make me peel your disgusting skin from your pleading body like a fucking potato! NOW, MOVE!"

Finally feeling proud of his baby brother, Sigurd giggled from behind them. Hvitserk's mouth just dropped in complete shock.

Paul winced at the images Ivar had put in his mind without even blinking. This man was ruthless, and he couldn't understand what Alex even saw in him, but he was not backing down. He wanted to be with Alex, and he was determined to show Alex who the better choice was.

When he got his balance, he, again, stood in front of Ivar. "I said put him down!"

With Alex still draped across Ivar's shoulder and back like a jacket, Ivar tightened his grip around him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such a need to defend someone he loved.

Before anyone in the room even had time to register what was happening, Ivar drew his arm back, and he suddenly punched Paul right in the face with what felt like the strength of a twenty. Paul instantly stumbled back and fell over. He was completely knocked out.

Ivar looked down and stepped over Paul, and as he took the first step on the stairs, he turned back to his brothers. "Hvitserk and Ubbe," who had just entered the room a few minutes before, "Can you show the rest of our guests out and give my sincerest apologies?" Sigurd looked up to Ivar questionly. "And Sigurd, will you umm, can you take out the fucking trash? If the piece of shit gives you any problems, do whatever you fucking want with him."

Sigurd smiled, "Happily." He rubbed his hands together with anticipation, and leaned down and kicked Paul to see if he was conscious yet. Ivar smiled and went about carrying Alex up the stairs, to his room.

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

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Ivar laid Alex down across the bed and smiled when Alex stretched his arms out and said, "Good morning, sunshine."

"Love, it's night. We're getting ready to for bed," Ivar chuckled at him.

"Oh, are we, now? I like the sound of that," Alex leaned up and reached for Ivar's crotch, but Ivar moved away from him, just out of his grasp.

Alex fell back onto the mattress, "You do t wnat me, do you? So, it's true, huh?"

"What's true?" Ivar asked, having no clue what Alex was talking about.

"You are still in love with Katia. Did you tell her? Because she already knows, too. Too bad I was the last one to fucking know. Might have saved me the humiliation of having to hear it from her," Alex turned his gaze away from Ivar, "It's ok, Ivar. You're off the hook."

Then, sitting up, or rather, trying to sit up, Alex told him, "I should go home. This, uh, this isn't right." He slung his legs over the side of the bed, and when he tried to get up, he fell forward.

Ivar rushed to his side. "Shit! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I've said it before, I like to get all the breaking done at once," Alex half laughed.

Ivar didn't know what had happened, but his mind could only guess Katia had told Alex some vile story that wasn't even true. "Whatever she's said or done, Alex, I'm sure it's all lies. You can't let her get to you and you can't believe her." Ivar tried. "You know how manipulative she is."

"Fuck that!" Alex raised up and tried to get to his feet. Unsuccessfully.

"Here, let me help you," Ivar offered and then helped Alex back to bed.

"You're, you're so fucking lucky I don't have the energy right now. I'd fight you on this one. You don't want me. I'd umm, I would, I, umm, nevermind. Can we talk tomorrow, Ivar? My head's splitting open. I, umm.." Ivar smiled at Alex's stuttering, but still worried about what he was saying. "Yeah, uh, you know what I'm saying, right? Umm humm."

Ivar brushed Alex's hair from his face to see he was passed out that quickly. He said his name a few times to check and yes, he was out.

Ivar pulled Alex's arm up from dangling on the side of the bed and took his shoes off for him before removing his own shirt and pants and crawling in bed beside him. He leaned down and kissed Alex on his temple, "Man, you're gonna feel this one in the morning." Ivar smiled.

As he laid back onto his pillow, he thought about the evil that Paul had attempted with Alex. He knew Hvitserk and Sigurd had taken care of everything downstairs because neither had came for him. Sigurd. What an unlikely person to have his back! He couldn't believe he'd welcomed someone like that into his home. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't worried about what Alex would do when he learned how he had to throw his friend out, but he knew it had to be done. He then began to worry about all the things Alex was saying. What was he even talking about? How could Alex possibly think that he was still in love with Katia?

As the rage began to build in him again, he turned to Alex and brushed his fingers through his hair in an effort to calm himself. Then, he began to wonder what had gotten Alex this upset to begin with.

As he continued to brush through Alex's hair, Alex turned to face him, barely opened his eyes, and smiled when he saw Ivar's eyes looking back at him. He mumbled, "Hold me?"

"Of course, Love. Come here."

They scooted into each other as their bodies intertwined and Ivar's arms wrapped tightly around Alex. He kissed Alex on the top of his head as Alex snuggled into him. "I love you," Ivar whispered, and the two of them finally fell asleep.

@istorkyou @chapada010101010 @vero-maris-zamo @lostasalice-thisway @covidinducedsocialreject @tessakate @lonewolf471 @noway4u @galaxy-1000 @twistergirlie

[newwwwusername]

Awesome! I'm glad that you enjoyed it ^^

So for the request I was thinking of a little bit of an AU where, at the party, they have an argument about Sam, but James Storm's off to talk to him anyway and Isaiah doesn't see him for the rest of the night as the regular events of the episode takes place

When Isaiah, Jane and Isabella find him he's more worse for wear then he is in the show (concussion, broken arm, gonna leave it up to you ^^) and when Isaiah helps him up and out of the hole he was thrown in he admits that, with the way the two of them left off, James wasn't sure if Isaiah would even look for him

They reconcile and Isaiah takes James to get checked out at the hospital and something to eat afterwards, and that's where my ranting ends lol 😅

Author's note : Tbh I'm kinda surprised anyone even saw my other Goosebumps (Disney+) fic cause, at the time of typing this out, the fandom still hasn't been canonized on AO3 lol but I am very happy to pioneer the tag for it 💪 Hope this suffices as a request fill. Also keep in mind that, at the time of writing this, I still haven't watched episode 6, so (while I doubt any of this stuff will specifically come up in episode 6 since we're well past it by now) if anything is inaccurate due to context in that episode, just keep that in mind.

"I just don't think you should be lying to him about liking something if you're tryna get closer with him" Isaiah told the shorter boy. James scoffed and rolled his eyes. Isaiah was supposed to be proud of him for finally making a move on Sam, not scolding him for the iffy way he went about it!

"You don't get it" James replied, glad that everyone around them was drunk and not really paying attention. "I really like this guy and I don't wanna mess it up"

"And you think the best way to go about that is to start on a lie?"

"I don't get all the chances you do, Isaiah!" James said, exasperated. Isaiah leaned back, confused.

"The fuck does that mean?"

"It means that you're a conventionally attractive straight dude" James went on. "You have the entire pond of fish to pick from. I'm limited to about five dudes. Honestly it's a miracle I even like one of them"

"Look, all I'm saying is I think that-"

"I don't need your advice, Isaiah" James cut him off, annoyed. He stood up and began to walk away. "I got this. Just leave me be"

----------

James really wasn't doing well.

For one, his stomach hurt (a mixture of hunger pains and the pain that naturally comes along with eating/drinking dirt water for sustenance) really bad. His left arm had also been broken at one point by one of his duplicates, and his focus was just on not dying in that mine, though that seemed hopeless.

Isaiah wouldn't want to come look for him, not after the fight they had last time they spoke, and no one else was as close to him as Isaiah, so they wouldn't want to waste their time looking for him, if they even realized that something was wrong to begin with (it didn't take a genius to figure out that he probably had some duplicates taking his place in the real world).

Then, Isaiah did arrive and promptly smacked him in the head with a rock.

James saw stars for a moment and was sure that he had a concussion or something, but that was hardly his focus at the time. No, his main focus was that Isaiah was there. Isaiah found him. He'd be okay.

----------

After all the duplicates were killed, James was helped out of the mine and back into town.

Margot and Isabella seemed to get the hint that James wanted to talk to Isaiah one-on-one, so they walked a little bit ahead to give the two of them space, which James was quietly grateful for.

"I didn't think you would look for me" James admitted, his speech slightly slurred (something which tipped Isaiah off to the fact that the boy probably had a concussion).

"Why wouldn't I look for you?"

"Hm?"

"Why wouldn't I look for you?" Isaiah repeated.

"We got in a fight" James shrugged. Isaiah felt his heart break. Sure, that argument hadn't been fun, but something like that would never prevent him from looking for the other boy should he go missing.

"James, I care about you so much" Isaiah told him. "A little fight isn't gonna change that. Friends fight, it happens. You matter to me more than that"

"Oh"

"Now, let's get some food in your stomach, and then we're taking you to a hospital" Isaiah said, patting his friend lightly on the back. "I think you have a concussion, and also your arm is definitely broken"

"Yeah, you're probably right" James chuckled. "We can be broken arm buddies!"

"Sure, bud"

[eri-mergo]

“Scapegoat?” Eri was telling Matthew a lot more when the fallen deity read between the lines. While the comparison to his deity superiors was annoying and entirely inaccurate, according to Matthew, the deity’s sentiment when he ranted said a lot.

“And what, pray tell, am I really fucking bad at? What do you know about me and my life that gives you the right to assume?” Matthew asked, genuinely curious even as he was itching to set the other man’s hair on hellfire just for the heck of it. Here Eri was spouting nonsense and projecting his own anger on Matthew but the fallen deity was not about to take it lying down. “You are just like us, Mergo. Perhaps it is you who has to look in the mirror to see yourself for what you truly are too. You’re pathetic.”

"Scapegoat. Which I am not. It's normal to make mistakes. What isn't normal is to hold them against me for centuries!" Eri took a deep breath, trying not to get rattled again. Or, he tried not to show that he was getting there again. He'd wanted out of this conversation as soon as it started.

"You're really fucking bad at everything. You're stupid. Nothing but a big bully who needs to shit on other people so you can feel better about yourself." Eri turned the selfie mirror onto Matthew, letting him get a good look at his own reflection. "Do you think any of this is normal? Do you think it's normal to say what you said to me when we bumped into each other? I'm honestly fucking curious."

As much as Eri wanted to leave it there, to just give up on Matthew and just leave, he found that he couldn't. He still had a lot more to say, and he couldn't make himself drop it and go. His blood was up, and he couldn't leave it alone.

"I'm not just like you! I'm actually trying to be a good person in spite of you and my bosses! You can call me pathetic all you like. I take it as a personal fucking compliment! I love being pathetic in your twisted fucking eyes! It's better than being on the same level as you! And before you start again, no I don't mean on your level as a demon. I mean on your level as one person to another."

“Scapegoat?” Eri was telling Matthew a lot more when the fallen deity read between the lines. While the comparison to his deity superiors was annoying and entirely inaccurate, according to Matthew, the deity’s sentiment when he ranted said a lot.

“And what, pray tell, am I really fucking bad at? What do you know about me and my life that gives you the right to assume?” Matthew asked, genuinely curious even as he was itching to set the other man’s hair on hellfire just for the heck of it. Here Eri was spouting nonsense and projecting his own anger on Matthew but the fallen deity was not about to take it lying down. “You are just like us, Mergo. Perhaps it is you who has to look in the mirror to see yourself for what you truly are too. You’re pathetic.”

"Scapegoat. Which I am not. It's normal to make mistakes. What isn't normal is to hold them against me for centuries!" Eri took a deep breath, trying not to get rattled again. Or, he tried not to show that he was getting there again. He'd wanted out of this conversation as soon as it started.

"You're really fucking bad at everything. You're stupid. Nothing but a big bully who needs to shit on other people so you can feel better about yourself." Eri turned the selfie mirror onto Matthew, letting him get a good look at his own reflection. "Do you think any of this is normal? Do you think it's normal to say what you said to me when we bumped into each other? I'm honestly fucking curious."

As much as Eri wanted to leave it there, to just give up on Matthew and just leave, he found that he couldn't. He still had a lot more to say, and he couldn't make himself drop it and go. His blood was up, and he couldn't leave it alone.

"I'm not just like you! I'm actually trying to be a good person in spite of you and my bosses! You can call me pathetic all you like. I take it as a personal fucking compliment! I love being pathetic in your twisted fucking eyes! It's better than being on the same level as you! And before you start again, no I don't mean on your level as a demon. I mean on your level as one person to another."

[kazewhara]

"you seem to be in quite a hurry." spider-man's voice bounces off of the walls in the alleyway. "what's the occasion, dove?"

you stop walking and turn to your left to see the masked vigilante leaping down a fire escape to your position. spider-man had just finished rounding up some criminals nearby and you got to see the entire thing. he was as breathtaking as always; he was outnumbered, but he outmatched his opponents by a long shot.

there were a few moments where you thought your heart would stop. the criminals were all armed in some way. it was nothing spider-man couldn't handle, but you still flinched each time a gun fired and squeaked each time a knife was swung. but in the end, he came out on top, and the city was safe.

"shouldn't you be finishing up your job with the police?" you raise a brow at spider-man, who you can only assume is grinning beneath his mask. you can feel the playfulness radiating from him. you want to give in and smile, but you decide to keep up the act just a little while longer. "something could still happen, y'know."

spider-man makes a noise of hurt. "i did everything perfectly, but you're still not confident in my abilities... you wound me."

you can't help it; you snicker. "that's the opposite of my job, actually."

"my feelings, dove. can't you be nicer to me?"

"nope." you say, popping the p. spider-man reaches out to swat at you, making you giggle and swat back. "hey, hey! what would the people say if they saw their beloved spider-man hitting a civilian?"

he huffs. "i'd consider this self-defense." he quickly pinches your nose and chuckles when you groan, the sound nasal. "there. i'd say we're even."

"you're annoying," you grumble, rubbing your nose.

"and you're adorable."

the two of you laugh softly, after which there is a comfortable silence. now you're really sure that spider-man is beaming at you. you can practically see his face now. he leans back against the building and crosses his arms. "aren't you at least a little bit proud of me, dove?"

"fishing for compliments, are we?"

"i've got to get them from somewhere," spider-man shrugs. "jameson doesn't seem to have any in store for me."

you wrinkle your nose at the mention of j. jonah jameson. his content is so factually inaccurate (and just plain old stupid) that it almost hurts to hear his voice sometimes. you have no idea why spider-man bothers listening to someone who clearly hates his guts; masochism, maybe?

you snort to yourself. since he's still doing this vigilante thing, it really just might be masochism.

"fine, fine," you concede. "you did good work today, spider-man. happy?"

spider-man waves a hand in the air, prompting you to speak more. "and..?"

you scoff. "...and i'm proud of you for not getting hurt."

"i suppose that's good enough." spider-man eases off the wall and looks out towards the street. "how about you think up some more compliments and tell me later, dove? i should get going."

your eyebrows twitch. you don't know why you were expecting to spend more time with him. you probably would if you were in the comfort of your own home, but you're not. he can hear more out here; odds are that his senses are telling him of something.

you must be quiet for a little too long because you feel him tap at your chin. it startles you. "i'll see you soon, okay? don't miss me too much."

"as if..." you grumble. spider-man chuckles and steps back before hopping back up the fire escape. he almost makes it to the roof of the building before you're calling for him again. you didn't mean to, but you can't let him leave just yet.

rather than head back down normally, spider-man lowers himself to you on a web and hangs from it upside-down. "you called?"

"i really am proud of you." you say lowly. you were just playing earlier, but you couldn't let him leave without him knowing just how relieved you are. you don't know what you would have done if he'd been injured right before you. it's hard enough having to deal with his wounds after the fact — you don't ever want to see how he gets hurt so badly. "you did great today."

spider-man is quiet for a moment before he asks, "can i get a kiss then?"

you blink. "what?" you're not going to say no, but--

"a kiss," he repeats himself, "for a job well done. it's a fitting reward, don't you think?"

honestly, you think silently, being in that suit really makes kazuha more audacious than he already is.

you step closer to kazuha and reach for his mask. you pull the fabric to reveal his mouth and see the smirk already curling his lips. "i have a boyfriend, you know." you tease. you gently press your thumb against his lips. "he wouldn't like this very much."

kazuha's smirk only grows. "what he doesn't know won't hurt him. now, my reward?"

you roll your eyes and place your hands on either side of his face. "you're the worst," you whisper.

"i love you too, doll." kazuha mutters.

you lean in and peck his lips once, then twice before kissing him properly. he sighs and kisses back slowly, as though he's trying to make the moment last longer. you break it before you get carried away, though. "later," you mumble breathlessly. "you can get the rest later."

once you fix his mask for him, kazuha sighs, content. "i'll be back soon."

he zips back up the fire escape in a blur. he's gone in an instant, off to (hopefully safely) stop the next crime.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

@gayfertilitygoddess i've thought about it pretty extensively. Before I got popular-ish for being a real life eskimo in the fandom, i made a passing coment about the headcanon and it was my most requested topic until people started asking more cultural questions (names and language-related questions seem to be more popular now).

Funnily enough, and I do try to keep this blog otherwise drama free, this was springboarding off of discussions about headcanons with Jin in sex work, which got an absolute brat calling me a "pathetic, sexist loser" in a reblog of the post. I kept it off the main tag and tagged it "sex work mention" (as I do with all of these posts) so I have no idea how she found it to make gross accusations at me. I reblogged to say that her insisting that objective discussions of sex work were inherently slut-shaming was really hurtful as someone who had to consider it from a young age (home isn't always safe and favors/cash are useful at -30°F, we'll just leave it at that). She sent me asks to say that she "didn't mean to be hurtful" but also wouldn't apologize for what she said. She didn't have a damn thing to say about headcanon'ing Jet resorting to sex work, despite it having much more to do with his personality and the way he presents himself than with Jin, where it was entirely about her circumstances as someone in the poor side of a big city. She's since been blocked.

But yeah, Jet's most marketable asset to civilians who just want to escape violence is his charisma. His own comments and Smellerbee's suggest he promised that he'd stop fighting and stealing for the time being. He tells Zuko-as-Lee that "We [outcasts] have to watch each other's backs. Because no one else will." Zuko had his uncle to be his rock and managed to rely on the kindness of strangers when he went on his own. Jet had two friends whom he felt responsible for as their leader. We don't even get canon confirmation that he's fully literate. All of these things combined make finding any kind of employment very difficult, and that doesn't even take into consideration that he can't set down roots. He's trying to get to safety. He can't be obligated to stay in any one place that isn't his destination. There aren't a lot of options.

I feel like this would add to him needing to get out of territory that could be occupied by thee Fire Nation, given the comics explained that Firelord Sozin was a homophobe and worked that into the law. "You know what they've done to boys like me this past century," Jet would probably say. "And those were the ones on their own side." I can't imagine it wouldn't add to the amatanormative mess I write between him and Smellerbee. He shouldn't have to do this at all let alone by himself, and she tries to offer to help, to pitch in, but he scolds her for it so harshly that she cries. He apologizes later and and tells her she needs to just let him worry about it. Girls are supposed to like it when boys are fiercely protective and self-sacrificing, right?

Another thing about this headcanon is sex workers do and historically have done a lot more than most people tend to think. It's one of the reasons phrases like "selling their body" are grossly inaccurate. There is a lot of emotional labor involved. Some people who hire sex workers do so mostly for the company. Not in an "ahem [*eyebrow wiggle*] company, if you catch my meaning [*wink*]" way, like just actually having another human being in the room. Talking, smiling, laughing at their jokes. People get lonely, so it's only natural to pay someone for intimacy. Sometimes, more often than you might assume, they end up using that time more for emotional intimacy than physical intimacy. Sometimes that's the intention.

I wrote a scene with a situation like that. Jet is hired by an old widow because she claims he looks just like her husband did when they were that young. She holds his hand and kisses his cheek, laughing about how that was the farthest the old man had let her get before they were married, and asks him to help her make dinner. She sings and talks about how they used to walk by the river and how handsome he was, how very shy. At some point she stops saying "he" and starts saying "you," addressing Jet as if he was the man she married all those years ago.

"Am I still pretty?" she asks absentmindedly. "Am I as pretty as you'd say I'd be with lines on my face, a hunched back, and hair like clouds?"

"Of course," Jet says. "You're beautiful."

And she looks at him, but that seems to shatter the illusion. She mentions something about making too much food. That she hadn't had to cook that much since.... Silence. The sad kind that seems to suggest another tragedy. She tells him he should take some for his friends and thanks him for all he's done.

(There was also an OC concept I had who was a gay sex worker sharing his home with queer artist friends at the tail end of Firelord Sozin's reign, but this post is already long enough)

[smol-nevi]

I don't generally make this kind of thing a habit, but I think if you happen to be on the Crystal RP Discord, aka @crystal-rp-ffxiv, you should probably be aware of this kind of behavior, so here goes.

If you're on Crystal RP and the admin team decides they don't like you, you're going to be living under a microscope while they wait for you to mess up, if not bait you, probably while making up conspiracies about you as well. As for how I know this, I was a moderator for about a week's duration and saw it first-hand.

Unapologetically lengthy post. Receipts in the link above, long version below the cut.

From the first time I looked in the mod chat I knew something was wrong. I read backwards in the channel, thinking I'd acclimate myself and see what kind of rules precedents had been set and that sort of thing. I mostly just found out that they had it out for a particular member (at the time using the name Jericho) for not much reason. They'd spent a troubling amount of time over the past few months watching him and another member like vultures, believing them to be the same person and waiting for them to make some kind of mistake that would justify banning both of them...despite keeping different schedules, having different personalities and typing habits, and visibly being two different people. The admin team had come to the conclusion that Jericho was a troll who wanted to make them look bad, and anything he said or did was scrutinized to a ridiculous degree for evidence that would corroborate their belief.

Except none of the things they believed at all were true: he'd had a minor argument via DM with the head admin Benjimir Thursby's wife, Tessariel Aerlinn, who had made an overly broad statement about anime and Asian culture. Jericho had told her that overgeneralization about 'Asian culture' is potentially racist, and she became extremely angry, saying that because she's Asian, she can't be racist against Asians. After that, it seemed that Jericho was considered fair game for whatever retaliatory actions the two of them could justify.

Even a cursory glance at actual racism in Asia pokes Tessariel's statement entirely full of holes, and having personally read the conversation I didn't see anything actually inaccurate in his statement even if she believed it didn't apply to her. I asked what he had done that would merit such a response, because it felt very disproportionate to anything I'd ever seen him do publicly, and that was what I was told. The exchange via DMs had been screencapped and kept in a channel for evidence, and while I didn't get a copy of it, I did read it, and I said that I thought it sounded awfully one-sided and punitive and would have been much better as an actual conversation. I also expressed that I was concerned how much of the channel had been solely devoted to what was basically a witch hunt, considering that some of the server members had over the course of the past couple of months commented that the admins' behavior towards Jericho seemed biased.

I basically got a pat on the head and told that my opinion was "valued" but wrong. This would happen a lot over the course of the week.

Shit continued to escalate. Their favorite punching bag, who was acutely aware of the grudge by now and probably trying to be nice and discuss something that he thought they could all talk about, brought up some articles that stated that LOTRO might be having a graphical overhaul. This actually ended in him being put into some kind of time-out mute, because "everyone knows those articles are debunked already" despite them still being hosted on reputable games news sites. Back-channel, the admin consensus was that he was in fact trying to bait Benjimir and Tessariel into somehow looking stupid in public, because [paraphrasing] 'he knows how important LOTRO is to them.'

Benjimir in fact went off publicly about how he knows the dev team and they sent him 'personalized swag' for 'being himself' and that everyone should just listen to him because he's right. Someone else made a reasonable request for sources on statements that Benjimir made about the LOTRO improvements not happening, and they immediately became the team's private #2 punching bag.

The whole time I reiterated that this was really uncomfortable and I had serious concerns about the way they were handling Jericho. And as always I received a pat on the head and was told to not worry about it, there were really good reasons for it, really. He was 'bringing down the quality of discourse' on the server somehow. Benjimir decided that the only way he would unmute Jericho is if Jericho talked directly to him, and that Jericho tried to talk to any of the more level-headed members of the team first was taken as obvious evidence that he wanted to evade rules and create problems. I asked when we planned to unmute him, and Tessariel immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had messaged me, which wasn't incorrect but the way she worded it felt highly accusatory and I was beginning to feel that I was also in trouble somehow for not agreeing with the rest of the team.

Things came to a head quickly when I woke up and looked at the mod chat and they were having an animated conversation that started with Benjimir asking if it was 'bad that he was laughing at Jericho' and most of the rest of the team talking about how he was stupid, uninformed, a troll, etc. for the sin of having some misgivings about cryptocurrency, of all the things. One of the mods self-described their behavior as bullying. I said that this was extremely unprofessional and that I thought they should keep conversation to actual moderation matters, and if they had a personal disagreement with a server member they should handle it in a personal venue, not via official server moderation channels.

I was, for the final time, patted on the head, and told that this was not something they would consider, because the moderation team 'needs to be able to vent for their mental health' (never mind that the job was not stressful except for the rest of the team committing worse behavior than the server members) and that maybe I was in fact too sensitive for the job. Benjimir heavily implied that I had become too close to Jericho and was being manipulated, managed to misgender me somehow despite my having used solely male or neutral pronouns the entire time I'd been on the server, and after relating a story in which a couple of years ago a well-liked moderator left after having the same complaints as I did (which he saw nothing at all troubling about), suggested that I should be demoted to babysitting the lore channel.

So I took some time to collect receipts, which are linked at the top of the post, and told him where to shove it.

Since that time, things have actually somehow gotten worse on Crystal RP. Benjimir posted an entire page screed vaguely talking about "rampant negativity" that stated anyone with questions should DM him.

Upon DMing him with questions, Jericho was banned, the only reason given being that he was a 'poor fit' for the server in some vague way. I was immediately banned afterwards for calling out this decision as being driven by a personal vendetta in the feedback channel and let him know afterwards via DMs in no uncertain terms that I had logged everything I needed and would be building my case (and that he is an asshole). Jericho was reinstated, though I'm not sure what the conditions of his return were as that was after my ban and I didn't ask since I didn't want to stress him out further. Benjimir also reprimanded someone for discussing asexuality, stating in a DM to them that the conversation was somehow ERP related. I called him out on this via DM as well. Tessariel was not much later caught posting my last DMs to Benjimir in an entirely unrelated server, though she didn't include the part after that where I brought up his aphobia (during Pride Month, in a server with a rainbow icon no less). Benjimir for some reason decided to suddenly start following my FC's Tumblr well after our falling-out.

And as of today (6/24), Crystal RP now has seven pages of draconian rules, because it wasn't micromanaged hard enough before or something. Notably, a lot of these rules describe behaviors that they wanted to punish Jericho for but couldn't at the time justify, or that they'd like to punish me for but have nothing they can do to me. Or they exist to justify their own behavior, as now seen in the very beginning of the channel:

"This approach also provides our volunteers with leeway to act in good faith without the burden befitting a professional occupation."

"So we afford them the means to speak openly, vent, lament, candidly and yes, sometimes crassly and raw about everything and one."

Not only did they behave unprofessionally and shit-talk before, they have now encoded in the rules that this is acceptable and even good moderator behavior, because they saw someone else do it so it's fine (a lot of this wording is very similar to what I was told when I protested it). So rather than address anything I ever said past or present, Benjimir is choosing to double down and giving himself and his team explicit permission to be shitty, right in the opening paragraphs where you'd have expected a mission statement or at least some sort of welcome.

Which is about all you need to know about that server and its owners, in my estimation. I'd considered not even posting to Tumblr about it, but given that it's only getting worse, I think it should be generally known that this is how you can expect to potentially be treated.

[secret-citrus]

*cracks knuckles* Okay, SO! Largely headcanons, but this is based on as much canon as can be piece mailed together. This is gonna be long and extremely influenced by brain rot, so I'll save some dashes with a read more. You're welcome.

Branch is canonically somewhere in his 20s in the first film, though it's always been heavily debated, he's meant to be more towards his mid-20s than Poppy. I say 25 because it just feels right to me, but he could easily be anywhere between 23-27, dealer's choice really. The evidence of my claim for JD's is the caption of a TikTok video posted back in November (see below). This would make the age difference between himself and Branch 7-4 years, in which case he'd have been, at most, 10/11 when he left. I guess! This is good enough for troll society! I dunno, maybe they assumed he got eaten and moved on. There's a lot of things that could've happened.

Please note that this TikTok caption could easily be inaccurate and don't come for me when an art book or something says he's older (almost everyone, including myself, agrees he's in his mid-late 30s or even his 40s, I have a feeling the actual character designers probably agree)

I do fully believe that Branch is rounding the number of years since Brozone broke up, thank you for bringing that up! It's absolutely possible since he seems to have been so young at the time. So, all this considered, here's my personal headcanon the full timeline.

Brozone's final concert and breakup (I say Branch is likely 2/3 years old at this time, and JD is 10/11)

JD leaves Bergen Town on his own at this time (I'll get into why I think this later). Notably, the other brothers also left home, but I do not think they left the tree. Both Clay and Bruce seem to express some knowledge of the Last Trollstice, Floyd doesn't really but this leads to my secondary reason behind keeping them on the tree, i.e. the thought of a child between JD and Branch's ages leaving on his own is outrageous to my mind, so I'm just gonna. Set them onto another branch of the same tree. It's a decently big tree, totally possible to live entirely separate lives with no contact for multiple years.

Branch lived with his grandmother for at least two additional years after Brozone broke up (I'm not really basing this on anything, I just think he looks to be about 4 or 5 when Rosiepuff is eaten, which leads us too...)

Rosiepuff's death. If you look closely in the background of the flashback in the first film, you can sort of see blurs that appear to be the cage around the tree in Bergen Town. This would set Rosiepuff's death as happening prior to the Last Trollstice. It does make sense in context, as we can also obviously see other trolls pods above Branch as he falls. If this took place after the Last Trollstice, why would Chef have chosen not to report back to the Bergens when her entire plot was she spent 20 years looking for the trolls to earn back her power in the Bergen kingdom?

About a year later, we have the Last Trollstice. Branch and the remaining three of his brothers make the escape separately. We know that the Putt Putts (Clay among them) were left behind when the tunnels collapsed, however, they both said they went back for all the trolls who were left behind, so it's likely Bruce and Floyd weren't among those. They could have made the full escape with the rest of the Pop Trolls and then elected to leave on their own at a latter point, or gone down other alternate pathways that let out at other spots, leaving them alone. Who's to say? (fanfic writers)

Some time after the Last Trollstice, JD returns to the tree to find it completely abandoned. Based on his words ("I did come back, but no one was there"), it seems he had no idea about that event happening, so it's probable that he left before it was a known plan among the trolls. He also kinda implies in this moment that he presumed the Bergens had potentially eaten everybody else when he couldn't find anyone in the tree. Angst writer can and should use this concept more :)

Twenty-ish years go by, and we have the franchise's timeline, we're all caught up.

On the topic of trolls and Bergens ageing, we've gotten very little information (and likely a few retcons) on troll ageing, but I believe it has been stated that every baby troll is unique in their process, so who knows really. Bergen ageing seems to be extremely similar to human ages. I don't think Dreamworks is thinking too hard about any of this or the implications of it at all, but I fucking am.

I need the Trolls: Band Together fandom to understand that, according to the official Dreamworks TikTok account, John Dory is supposed to be in his late 20s at the time of the movie. Furthermore, Band Together is apparently meant to take place just a few months after the first Trolls film where Branch was meant to be 25 (he may be 26 now, but I digress)

[d-noona]

MAKE OVER

Chapter 10: Changing Crime Scenes

Jung Hoseok x Reader

Reader as Kang Hyeonji

SUMMARY: When Kang Hyeonji transformed herself into a striking redhead, the entire male population of Seoul stood up and took notice. But her make over was for Jung Hoseok’s benefit alone. He began to show interest in the new look but not in the way she wanted. Suddenly he was over-protective, perhaps a little jealous. It seemed that the idea of having a relationship with her couldn’t be further from his mind. The girl however wants more. So it was time for an ultimatum. If Hoseok didn’t want Hyeonji to lose her virginity to another admirer, he had no option but to make love to her himself.

Hyeonji would be eternally grateful that other people pounced on Hoseok as soon as they entered the club, because she was in a state of shock. Good manners had her smiling and saying the right things on automatic pilot, but it was a real relief that she couldn't have a private conversation with Hoseok at that point. She needed to assimilate what had just happened, what he'd agreed to. She needed time to calm the panic within.

But time brought little calm, only the most debilitating cluster of nerves. Her mind whirled with a possibly inaccurate memory of saying which was perversely apt for the occasion, and went something like this: Careful of what you might want, because one day you might just get it.

Naturally, she could not eat any of the dinner placed in front of her. Not a bite. Hoseok, however, was not similarly stricken. He ate his food while chatting casually with the others seated at the official table, acting as if nothing untoward on his mind. Clearly, his agreeing to deflower his best friend after the dinner was over did not rate sufficient reason to go off his food. He might have lost his head but he hadn't lost his appetite.

Men, Hyeonji decided with growing cynicism, were a different breed altogether. Their egos, never their feelings, dictated all their actions. Hoseok was only taking her to bed because he could not bear for Jungkook to. It had nothing to do with desire for her and everything to do with male competitiveness.

She moved her food around the various plates, trying to make it look as if she'd eaten something. She found comfort in continuously sipping her wine, an easy task since her glass was never empty. The very attentive waiter kept topping it up, perhaps because from his elevated position he could peer down her cleavage.

When he went to top it up again during dessert, Hoseok's hand suddenly appeared over the glass barring the way. Not a word was spoken but the waiter got the message. After he'd moved on to attend to others at the table. Hoseok leant towards her.

"Under the circumstances, a reasonable alcoholic consumption would be beneficial," he said quietly. "Too much, however, would definitely be counter-productive. Unless of course, you wish to be close to unconscious when I take you to bed," he added on a dry note. "I do realize I'm not your first choice for this honor, but I would like you to at least remember who was responsible next morning."

Hyeonji felt totally miffed. So she'd been right. Hoseok's decision to be her first lover was just a matter of ego. She vowed to find something cutting to say in return, nut floundered abysmally.

The Master of Ceremonies' introduction of the night's guest speaker put Hyeonji out of her misery. Hoseok rose up from his chair to walk up onto the stage which had been set up at one end of the long rectangular room, standing to one side of the podium while the MC ran through praise-filled resume of Hoseok's achievement in business. She was too busy staring at Hoseok, at this absolutely gorgeous man whom she adored for many many years, and who in a couple of hours' time, would hopefully do what she'd always wanted him to do.

And she'd been stupidly sitting there, finding fault with him and indulging in all sorts of insecure female rubbish. Good God what was wrong with her? This was the stuff romantic dreams were made of. She'd accuse Hobi once of never stopping and smelling the flowers yet here she was, letting panic and pride spoil what should be the happiest night of her life.

Well, from this moment in tonight, she was going to stop and smell the flowers. She would not question Hoseok's motivations for making love to her. She would not worry about tomorrow. She would simply enjoy each moment for what it was and let the rest of the world go by.

Her eyes softened as they watch Hoseok step up to the podium, looking so sophisticated and impressive. With her silly anger gone, she listened to every word he said, quickly rapt in power and sincerity of his speech. He spoke of achievement in terms of faith in one's own ability and that unswerving tunnel vision which refused to accept defeat and called every seeming failure an experience. He did not gloss over the necessity of hard work, nor the difficulties of the present economic climate. He was passionate and inspiring. You could hear a pin drop in the room. Hyeonji felt so proud.

That's the man I love, she wanted to call out to everyone. But of course she did not. She sat there silently, vowing that tonight she would show Hoseok that love, in every touch, every caress. She might not have Tinashe's expertise in bed, but she would give him something the other woman could not. True love. And true passion. Nothing feigned nor faked.

When Hoseok finished his speech, the room erupted with applause, Hyeonji clapping as enthusiastically as everyone else.

After that, it was time to get on with the award-giving, Jungkook coming lucky at last. When he strode up on stage to accept the award, Hyeonji tensed a little. But no one would have guessed the two men were anything but best of friends, both of them smiling broadly while the photographer snapped them together.

But Jungkook whispered something after the photographer had finished, something which had Hoseok frowning momentarily over at Hyeonji. He said something back to Jungkook, who made another remark then laughed and slapped Hoseok on the shoulder. By the time Hoseok sat back down next to Hyeonji, she could not contain her curiosity.

"What did Jungkook say to you just then?" She asked tautly.

"When? Jungkook never says anything of importance." Hoseok replies. "But you did frown at me afterwards." Hyeonji pushed.

"It was nothing. Just Jungkook being Jungkook. He's always a bad loser. Come on. Let's go." When he stood up abruptly, Hyeonji gaped at him. "Now? You want to go now?"

"Yes. Why not? Surely you dont want to stay here and make meaningless chit chat? It's already ten thirty. It'll be nearing midnight by the time we make it to my place. If I'm to deliver you back home before the dawn. I think we should shake a leg, don't you?" Hoseok smirked at Hyeonji.

"Well, I...I..." to tell him that her mother would not worry if she didn't make it home before dawn would have met with much skepticism. "Fine," she finally said, her voice not much more than a squeak.

Swallowing, she stood up and let Hoseok propel her shaky legs from the room and the club. "Where exactly is your place?" Hyeonji queried on their way to the car. "Just bought a new apartment in one of those new inner-city high rises a couple of months back. I only moved in this last week though."

"A new car, and now a new place," Hyeonji remarked casually, though her heart was singing with the thought that if he'd only moved in this last week he'd never spent time alone with Tinashe there, never slept with her in that particular bedroom. Who knew maybe even the bed was a new one?

Thinking about bedrooms and beds brought resurgence of nerves which reminded her forcibly of her empty stomach. Maybe she should have tried to eat something. The last thing she wanted was her hunger pains making embarrassing noises while Hoseok was making love to her.

They reach the car and Hoseok opened the passenger door for her. Their eyes met and Hoseok's were irritatingly unreadable. If he was nervous about the rest of the evening, he certainly wasn't showing it. "You're not the only one who's decided to make changes in their life," he said matter-of-factly. "Turning twenty five made me realize time was moving on."

Oh my God, she though. He is thinking about marrying Tinashe. "Twenty five is not that old Hobi," she said hastily. "I mean, not for a man. Now it might be for a woman because she has to have babies, but in a man's case there's no need for him to rush into marriage."

"Marriage? I wasn't talking about marriage! I was talking about enjoying some of the money I've worked so hard to make. Oh, do just get in. And don't gabble me all the way to the apartment. I like to listen to music when I drive. And I like to concentrate."

Hoseok slotted a Bangtan Sonyeondan CD into the built-in player before easing out of the parking space. Maybe he founf their music relaxing and upbeat, but Hyeonji discovered that these Idols were one of a kind. Singularity playing on the background, Hyeonji found the music disturbingly erotic in several ways.

The next hour seemed eternal. Hyeonji stared through the passenger window, first into the blackness of the countryside, then later the city lights. She tried every method known to mankind to still her churning stomach. Deep, even breathing. Meditation. More common-sense reasoning of the type she'd soothed herself with at dinner.

This is what you've always wanted. Stop being a silly ninny. Hoseok knows what he's doing. He's and experienced lover. It won't hurt. It's going to be wonderful. These last thoughts had small measure of success till they drew close to Han River, after which butterflies in Hyeonji's stomach reached plagued proportions.

"You know, you don't have to do this is you don't want to," she blurted out. His side ways glance carried total exasperation. "If you think for a moment I'm going to let you back out now, then you have another thing coming!"

"Yes, but if you don't really want to..."

"Don't want to?" He grated out. "Are you mad? I'm sitting here in fucking agony, I want you so much. Hell, I've thought of nothing else all night!"

"Oh" Hyeonji was stunned, then thrilled by the dark frustration in his voice. She would certainly never have guessed by his manner. Maybe he wasn't doing this just because of ego after all. Maybe he really wanted her, Kang Hyeonji.

Or maybe any attractive female would have done as we, came the added dampening thought. Clearly he'd been celibate since his separation from Tinashe started over four weeks ago. Maybe he was just dying for some sex, and she tipped him over the edge tonight with her provocative dress and flirty manner. Hadn't he said he'd agreed to sleep with her that he'd lost his head?

"Look just in case you're languishing under misapprehension here," Hoseok went on quite irritably, "I am not sacrificing myself on the altar of friendship tonight. It's passion that sends men to bed with women, not compassion. I wanted you the moment I saw you tonight."

Hyeonji took little comfort from his confession. It sounded like a case of uncontrollable male frustration to her. "So you can stop sitting there worrying I might stop this time," Hoseok informed her with a savage sideways glance. "My conscience is well and truly routed. And you can stop acting like a nervous bride on her wedding night. You kew exactly what you were doing tonight, you wicked little minx. I finally realize that. No one comes out on a date dressed like THAT without a preconceived game plan. You were determined to seduce some poor, unsuspecting male tonight no matter, weren't you?"

"Something like that," as Hyeonji answers.

Less than twenty seconds later he was easing his Mazda into the allotted parking space for unit 3234.

Hyeonji swallowed hard.

The curtain was about to go up on the biggest show of her life. For once, she was center stage, the heroine of the play, with Hoseok her hero. Ten days ago this would have been unbelievable, unthinkable. Yet here she was.

This is your one last chance Hyeonji, a voice whispered in her head. Don't waste it.

Suddenly, the knots in her stomach began to unravel and a strange calm overtook her. Without waiting for Hoseok, she reached for the door handle and let herself out of the car. She felt oddly ethereal as she watched him climb out of the car and walked around to join her. Almost as though she was having an out-of-body experience. She was here, yet she was also watching from afar.

"Are you alright Hyeonji?" Hoseok asked, frowning. Her smile was dreamy. "Yes, I'm fine." His frown deepened. "You're not drunk, are you?" Hyeonji simply answered him by shaking her head.

"You knocked back a lot of that wine over dinner and you didn't really eat much."

"I didn't have much appetite," she admitted. "I was thinking of you, Hobi. And this." Again without waiting for him she slid her arms around his neck, reached up on tiptoe and Pressed herself against him.

He just stood there, deliciously acquiescent, while her lips found his in a series of light kisses which fluttered over his mouth like angels' wings. Hyeonji was in seventh heaven, making soft satisfied little noises in her throat. Her fingers stroked the back of his neck, her thumbs caressing the soft skin behind his ears.

Finally, Hoseok's lips parted as he sucked in a long., quivering breath. Hyeonji's tongue immediately darted forward, connecting with his own tongue tip before it could retreat. She felt his hesitation, ruthlessly ignored it, snaking her tongue deep into his mouth then winding it around the full length of his.

She was the original Eve, tempting Adam with the pleasures of flesh, but combining her seduction with an even more subtle force. Her love for him. It gave her power she could never have guessed at. And the will to exercise that power. She undulated her tongue and her body against his, and urged him on as females had been urging their menfolk since time immemorial.

His tortured groan startled her as his hands came up to grip her shoulders. His fingertips dug into her flesh and for a few moments his tongue took over and gave her a glimpse on how Hoseok would make love.l, once he really lost his head.

Just savagely he yanked her away from him, holding her at arms length while he glared down at her with a blistering reproach in his blazing brown eyes.

"No, damn it," he ground out. "No!"

"But you said you wouldn't stop." She cried in dismay.

"I'm not stopping, you little fool. I'm changing the scene of the crime." And taking her hand, he began dragging across the car park. "The crime?" She echoed.

"Yeah. What you were doing to me just then was criminal. But don't worry, Miss Moving On. I'll let you do whatever you fancy once we're in the privacy of my bedroom. In fact, I'll insist upon it."

Chapter 11

Masterlist

[knightfailed-a]

&& incorrect quotes

someone: i love you fitzroy :) fitzroy: ,,,, i don,, don’t know what you’re saying to me but i can provide whatever services you need as long as it isn’t too degrading i’m fairly sure