#(despite being in a place that is actively stressing him out)

[royalarchivist]

Pac: Take care of Ramon, take care of Richas, ok? See you on the other side, big boy.

Fit: [Laughs] Take it easy, big boy. Take it easy, big boy. Actually, nononono– You can't just say "big boy" and then just expect me to not drag you outta here. [Fit tries to lasso Pac] You're coming with me.

Pac: No, I need to leave!

Fit: You're coming with me. You are not dying today! You are not dying today!

Pac: I need to leave, Fit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Ironmouse: Are you guys like, having sexy time?

Fit: There's homosexual activity going on Mouse, don't worry about us, ok?

Ironmouse: You guys, we don't have time to be gay right now.

[ Full Transcript ↓ ]

-

Pac: I'm just here to say goodbye to you, Fit.

Fit: Goodbye? We're not– we're gonna be fine, we're going to get out of here, don't worry.

Aypierre: Yeah, don't worry!

Pac: I know, but like– I will sleep until the end, you know? I will pass through this moment sleeping, man. I won't be able to be awake for the moment.

Fit: [Laughs] You know, it's– I mean, if that's how you wanna go, but– I mean, that- I mean, isn't that bed kind of like.... I don't know, it's–

Pac: No no, I will be staying on the sofa, you know, I will be staying on the sofa.

Fit: Oh the sofa. Ok, that's a nice sofa! Yeah, that is a pretty nice sofa.

Pac: Yeah, it's a nice sofa right? No, yeah– I'm going to stay on the sofa, you know? So, since I will be going Fit... [Pac starts tossing Fit all his items]

Aypierre: [Not paying attention to their conversation] Is that bigger cell? I don't think it's a bigger- biggest one.

Fit: Oh... Thank you Pac, thank you.

Pac: Everything you need to survive, ok?

Fit: Wow.

Aypierre: Wow.

Pac: And if you need this one also, maybe, who knows? [Throws him more items]

Fit: Ohhh, well hey– just take this to remember me by, ok? [Tosses him a photo of himself – the same one Aypierre was carrying all day yesterday]

Pac: [Laughs] Ok, I will sleep holding the picture you know, like this. You know, I will dream about you, Fit. And I hope this is gonna be good dreams. I see you in the other side. Good luck, my friend.

Fit: The other side... Yeah, you know, yeah, we– we– you know? It's been an honor, Pac. It's been an honor, you know?

Pac: Yeah, for me too, you know? Take care of Ramon, take care of Richas, ok?

Fit: Ok.

Pac: See you on the other side, big boy.

Fit: I will sing your praise– Oh yeah, hey– [Laughs] Take it easy, big boy. Take it easy, big boy. Actually, nononono– You can't just say "big boy" and then just expect me to not drag you outta here. You're coming with me.

Pac: No, I need to leave!

Fit: You're coming with me. You are not dying today! You are not dying today!

Pac: I need to leave, Fit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Fit: Sorry, there's–

Pac: I'm sorry!

Ironmouse: Are you guys like, having sexy time?

Fit: There's homosexual activity going on Mouse, don't worry about us, ok?

Ironmouse: You guys, you guys– we don't have time to be gay right now, come on. There's no time.

Pac: No, there's no time! Oh, goodbye Fit...

Fit: Ok, c'mon, no no no, come on, we got this we got this!

Pac: Goodbye Fit, I'm sorry!

Fit: [Laughs] Oh no...

[instarsanddyke]

but i'm not supposed to scratch

[morning-fragility]

🔊 Sleep Token — The Apparition 🔊

What remains of you and me so far:

[ Check out the first post about this AU ]

Hii, my mind has been running every direction all at once lately, so RAW BULLET POINTS IT IS! 💥🔫

● It all starts when Jimmy asks Grian to help him with bore holes for their survey last fall.

(In his head, Grian agrees the very first time Jimmy comes to him, but enjoys taunting him for another week nontheless)

The place is in the middle of nowhere, and the entire way there — the entire long, tiring, mostly off-road way there — Grian wonders how they found this valley to begin with. Locals in the last village they pass smile at them condescendingly; forester is a bit more straight-forward: they look like three presumptuous idiots, Joel, Jimmy and himself, with their car getting stuck miserably at one point.

The very first bore hole drills directly into a human skull.

The complex swirl of emotions on Jimmy's face is like nothing Grian has seen before.

And so it was settled.

● (Yes, the skull they drill into was Jimmy's.)

● Next summer Grian brings along Mumbo, his fellow geologist and dear friend ever since their university times; he has never worked with archeologists before and is, naturally, chuffed to bits.

Scar has been eager for some kind of vacation for a long time, too, and gladly takes the opportunity to try something new.

The only other wild card in otherwise pretty well-established group of archeologists is Tango, who lost a bet to Skizz and is now stuck helping his boys.

(Cub was invited by multiple people as well, but sadly he's too busy with work and couldn't make it, despite planning to. Scar calls him every time he's able to catch the signal).

● At first everything goes normally. They get to the place, set up their camp near old cabin of local gamekeeper, move their provisions and most of the equipment inside the cabin, check out the river and find a good spot to get down to it easily. The weather is pretty nice, the nature around is gorgeous. The first time they go to take a proper look at the site itself Grian feels a bit dizzy, but he doesn't pay much attention to it and quickly joins the discussion of outlines of the buildings visible on the ground.

● The oddities begin a couple of days later, when they finish with the camp and start the actual work.

Specifically, Grian starts acting weird.

Not like it's out of character for him, but neither Scar, nor Joel or Mumbo recall him having, say, troubles with hearing; now, often he's not reacting when someone calls out to him directly, but mentions hearing people talk when nobody spoke. Sometimes he looks openly lost or suddenly stops in his tracks and gives them confused glances, as if wanting to ask something or surprised to see them. A couple of times he wonders off into the woods alone (to "check what's out there" )

The gang are reasonably worried about him, but hesitate to confront him openly. Most of them are not exactly familiar with Grian's personal life and don't want to overstep, and each time someone who is tries, he brushes them off.

● At some point in the beginning of the second week, Grian suddenly breaks into laughter when they uncover yet another skeleton. It's loud, abrupt. Hysterical.

Scar, who's getting real concerns now, steadies him by the shoulders and leads him away from the sun, back to the camp; but Grian barely notices.

On their way from the site, Grian locks eyes with Scott, who goes pale and stays that way for the rest of the day. That's enough for Grian to gather he's not the only one who's rapidly going insane.

● And Grian starts thinking he's going insane. At first he blames it on the nerves. The last couple of months have been stressful, the weather is hot lately, he's not getting enough sleep, he must have overworked himself...

But this barely explains what he's actively hallucinating, and eventually it all sinks in. The realization, the deja vus. The dread. The feeling of being trapped, helpless, stuck in a loop he had no idea existed and likely has no control over.

He withdraws into himself and starts avoiding people; particularly Scar, because oh, Grian is terrified of visions of him. Of hearing his voice say words he can't understand, of echo of his laughter carried through the valley, of his silhouette following him along the treeline. Of seeing what remains of his bones and trying not to throw up.

There are visions of others, too, and they mess with Grian's head all the same, sure, but Scar is just... different. Too much. Grian can't look him in the eye now, can't stand the warmth of his touch. But can't get away either.

They must've loved eachother then, too. He can tell.

This revelation makes Grian feel relieved and betrayed at the same time, and all he can think about is the question of free will.

● Scar is very confused by this change, even when he starts getting visions of his own.

Grian doesn't kiss him anymore. Doesn't smile at him. Often doesn't even sit near him or Mumbo at breakfast and lunch, too deep in conversation with Big B. He refuses to talk about this; ignores Scar only to suddenly brush shoulders or lean into him, and then act like it never happened.

Worst of all is the way Grian is looking at him lately — well, mostly he doesn't, — but when he does, it's with an emotion Scar can't identify. A mix of anger, sorrow, longing, guilt, and something else, much softer, tender. It drives Scar crazy.

Most of the expedition members don't even know there's something between them. Although they were never officially together, so even Scar himself is not sure anymore. He thought they were fine, but apparently he messed something up, didn't he? Overstepped somewhere, misunderstood something, rushed, did something wrong... Otherwise why would Grian be like this when they're clearly meant to be together, what in the world is he doing to both of them? Is he blind??

● (I really liked how poetically Birdie put this when I rambled about it to them):

● And so, while Grian is staring at visions of Scar from the past with fear and sorrow, Scar chases the visions of Grian, curious about this version of him, needing to know more. He feels uneasy about some of the hallucinations at times, sure, but they intrigue him nevertheless.

● The expedition carries on, nevermind the awkward silences between people, half-truths, shared looks of confusion and deep, unspoken sadness.

● Scar paints local views, trees, mountains, the riverbank. Sometimes Bdubs or Pearl join him and they disappear together for hours, only to later return with hands full of sketches, wet canvases and Scar's trusty painter's case, with smudges of oil paint all over their hands and faces, laughing and chatting.

He tries to be a bit more sneaky about this, but he also draws people, Grian chief among them: little portraits of him are scattered all across his sketchbook, both real and the one from the visions. Along with Jimmy, Lizzie, Mumbo, Bdubs and others.

● They find a couple of old fishing rods in the cabin, and with a bit of tinkering and Etho's professional fishing kit, there's an impromptu fishing club on the weekends. Grian finds some peace in these evenings.

● The work goes at a fast pace; there are very few problems with identifying artefacts and deciding where to expand the excavation next. Nobody bothers asking questions anymore.

Pearl stops talking to Scott. Martyn doesn't seem to leave Ren's side. Cleo frowns at them and sticks to teasing Etho and Bdubs.

● The breaking point comes when the weather gets bad. There are several rainy days in a row, and they're forced to mostly stay at the camp and busy themselves with cleaning and cataloging the artefacts. Grian sorts through things that used to belong to some other version of him and decides he can't take it anymore. He wants to leave. As soon as possible, as far as possible. This prompts a heated discussion amongst archeologists, but Cleo gives Grian a knowing look and backs him up, assuring Martyn she'll deal with the paperwork herself when they return at the end of the season (and will personally make sure Grian doesn't get a single penny out of this). Besides, they've been planning on sending Joel to the store anyway.

● Scar is not as nonchalant when he learns about this, — did Grian even plan to tell him?

He's mad, in fact.

Upset and done with playing this silent game with ever-changing rules, he confronts Grian about what's going on; about them and their history (both as they knew it and the one discovered more recently).

(here's a little snippet):

They fight outside as the rain gets heavier and heavier, and Scar storms off to "check if the site is properly covered", secretly hoping to see a vision of Grian from the past there; he'd be much more pleasant to deal with right now, that's for sure.

Grian doesn't follow.

He returns to the camp alone. Joel tells him there's no way they're driving through the mess that are the forest roads right now, and nobody sees him for the rest of the evening.

● The next day Scar wakes up with a nasty cold. The sun comes out, though. It's getting hot again.

● The worst of the puddles and the mess on the road dry out in a day, and Grian and Joel set out for the trip. They're worried about Scar (Grian feels so, so bad about this) and propose taking him to the hospital, but Cleo gives them a look ("it's a bloody cold, Grian, he's not dying. Although he might, if you try taking him on that hellish roller-coaster with a fever") and waves them off.

Mumbo stays; he's glad to find Scar asleep when he comes to check on him.

● The entire way to the nearest village with a convenience store — the entire gloomy, bleak, mostly off-road way there — Grian contemplates on existence in general and the last several weeks of it in particular. On the concept of soulmates. On what Scar had told him. On assuring himself he's in charge of his own life, and living said life without Scar in it.

Joel curses his car on every bump and tries to pull Grian out of his thoughts. It works, for a while. But when they finally get to the store, all Grian can think about is the pack of pistachios on the shelf and every time Scar said he wanted some this month. About how Scar is wallowing in his tent right now, sick and miserable, in the middle of nowhere. How this is Grian's fault entirely, how he made this choice for both of them, and now runs like a coward.

How unimportant and not right everything seems suddenly, when Scar must be heartbroken and so lonely — bright, kind, handsome and mischievous Scar...

● Joel pays at the checkout and joins Grian at the stairs in front of the store with two cans of coke.

The moment Grian thinks he's about to be lectured, Joel is already starting his "alright, Grian, what's blummin' wrong with you, you stupid arse". So Grian grins into his can and enjoys playing dumb. Because oh, he's got no idea what Joel's talking about, who's going where? He never said he's leaving-leaving, just volunteered to help a friend with groceries, he's nice like that.

When he senses he's about to get punched, possibly in the face, Grian gets up and starts loading Joel's car with grocery bags and boxes (maybe that's what saves him from a bruise after all).

● Joel gets his first flashback when he and Grian are getting out of his jeep late in the evening, talking about families and prospects of Joel settling down and starting one with Lizzie. He's very confused, but his experience is the least traumatizing of them all :'D

● (another snippet):

And Grian stays, truly. He tries not to run from visions anymore, but searches for Scar's hand every time he feels panic crawl into his chest instead. It's not that he stops contemplating the questions of fate and free will in all of this, as much as he finds it doesn't really matter anyway.

They leave together with half of the group two weeks later, causing several surprised gasps (and a cheerful whistle from Mumbo) when kissing on the site one last time, as a goodbye to it and whatever happened there.

(And what exactly happened there? Nobody knows yet, and nobody will never know for sure. That's history for you, baby >:] )

________________

There you go! Most of this is directly from my notes, so hope it's not too chaotic and maybe even understandable :'D

[acid-ixx]

if you guys are interested, send in an ask or comment!

will anybody be willing to hear out neglected child reader who was another one of zeus's bastard children. you're out there chasing for your stepmother (hera's attention), whilst zeus just lets you run around without his care, clearly too wrapped up in his affairs. your other siblings aren't as good to you, too, thinking another half-deity isn't worth their time—

so you'd give up, pretty much choosing to bestow the mortal world with your presence instead; because if you can't be loved by your own family, then let yourself be worshipped by passionate mortals instead.

how about romancing telemachus? what if you both learn what it's like navigating through his godly favor with athena, and you with your own powers? what if you have odysseus and penelope be the actual parent-figures you always wanted? their overprotectiveness skyrockets every time you propose to being elsewhere in ithaca, to the point you forget that it's you who has the godly powers to oppose, but how could you when a darker side of them appears every time you allow yourself to be disrespected within their palace?

how about in another place? what are you to many of the great warriors, if not for a forgotten, yet mysterious and whimsical deity? why is your name muttered in all the regions? surely, with just how much you deny your god-like origins, but still manage to capture the hearts of hundreds of suitors, you'd gain quite the infamous name despite your closed-off attitude.

imagine enough attention was garnered on your presence, that that's what was needed for them to finally notice you? but you're not quite the same child who used to pull on their robes, or look at them as brightly as the sun— no, now you deny them of any of your love. your mother, hera, finally sees you and urges you to return to olympus away from the prying eyes of many suitors and back into the domain of safety. she calls you her baby, fuzzing over you even when you openly and spitefully try to rip her hands away from fixing your 'messy' robes. zeus isn't any better, now he calls you sweet names and pretend like he hadn't actively bashed on you for your weakness back when you were begging on his throne for just a sliver of attention? he wants you to sit in between his throne and hera's? you're significantly smaller than him, he's gigantic in nature, and it doesn't help that he treats you like you could be easily squashed by him (which is every damn right possible, and it's intimidating and makes you want to cry).

and there's the issue with the others, too. so many of them used to deny you in favor of focusing on their own domains. now apollo wants to carry you off in one of his chariots to ride off the skies with him while he plays his lyre to you? artemis wants to teach you the way of the hunt under the dark, gloomy skies you used to wish under for a moment of their time? aphrodite used to spitefully shut you out of her own doors, but now she invites you in her room to gossip and play pretend while she coos and braids your hair?

and all the other gods, now wanting to take you away from the underserving - as they say it - mortal realm? that the people who built sculptures of you, who held you more lovingly more than those you grew up with, aren't worthy of your divine presence?

what a joy to be a being looming between the lines of mortal and divine, right?

a/n: this concept is better off and more coherent in my head i swear. now i don't often diverge from my main fandom, but the similarities between this and the yan! batfam is quite hilarious to me that ngl i want to make a crossover of it. and yes, this is me coping with the stress of having to deal with the sudden influx of hate in the yan! dc community, so i'm taking a short break from it to focus on this.

[ybklix]

stressed out

★ pairing: dr!chrisbang x fem!uni student reader

✦summary: Your session with Dr. Bang gets interesting when he kindly decides to relieve the stress you're carrying from the last days of university before the summer break, without knowing that all the tension in your body is due to the great desire you have for him.

✭ content - tags - warnings: MDNI 18+ , smut, oral sex, cunnilingus, fingering, unprotected sex, slightly dirty talk and praise kink, use of nicknames.

word count: 7.7k

—masterlist—

a/n: yk me, a little story that leads to smut.

It was your last day at the university, one more semester finished. You were so close to free yourself from that heavy semester at the university, but somehow you didn't feel so free at all, you were still worried about getting good grades, you knew you would pass everything without difficulty but you were a little demanding with your grades, so you were nervous, and you left your last class a little crestfallen, something that the rest of the students celebrated non-stop, you sighed, you had heard in the distance of the infinity of parties planned, the perfect vacations of the rest, but you could only think about packing all your things without worrying and your mother who would be waiting for you outside the university to spend the summer at home.

Despite being a bit stressed and upset about the soon to be released grades, you had dressed up to finish a cycle feeling cute; you had a nice outfit and your makeup intact so you thought about calling your friends to hang out for a while, who had skipped the last class downplaying it and self-assigning them the break, you checked your group chat and read that they would be in the coffee shop across the building if you wanted to join them... but in the midst of the campus and student chaos, you realized it was Friday. Friday. Of which usually aren't just those days for you. You knew so well what day it was in the morning so you picked the perfect outfit for it, but between the stress and caos of being the last day, you became unaware of the rest of your activities.

Every Friday, at least since this semester, since for a long time it used to be Wednesdays, you had counselor sessions with Dr. Bang, an overworked psychiatrist with four jobs at once, director of a mental institution, his own consulting room, professor and simply student counselor, Bang didn't want to take the big job of being a therapist for the students but upon detecting any alarming problem he was well within his rights to ask the student for professional help, with their cooperation and consent, clearly. You met Dr. Bang just at the worst time of your life, but the timing was perfect, he managed to break you out of a hole that seemed to have no way out.

You had a very painful loss just before finishing high school that altered your mental health completely, your father passed away and a month later you finished your high school studies, so that did not affect so much your streak of student excellence, by that time you had everything ready for admission to any university of excellence for which you applied. Until the university you always dreamed of accepted you and in a short time you were dealing with grief and the pressure and stress of a new place and environment, you moved away from home promising your mother to continue being a good student, but you were in a deep depression and had recurrent anxiety attacks, terrified that you were not good enough, which complicated your studies… and more when without thinking, you planned and considered leaned for health sciences, pushing you to the limit. You were so embarrassed because all your life academically you were a complete overachiever and suddenly you couldn't cope with college, you felt more awful, a total disappointment; so with a mediocre grades -for you- you passed the first semester and continued the next one, this time committing to do your best and going to therapy, plus your mom noticed the obvious alarming signs the few times she saw you during your winter break, she understood the magnitude of things and offered you to take a break, but you were not like that, you couldn't take it or you would feel things would get worse. You switched dorm buildings and that's when you met him… in one of the study halls near your building, one random Wednesday afternoon when you decided to study, 'Counselor Dr. Bang', engraved on the plaque on that door at the end of the hallway… it sort of caught your attention, you thought if counselors in high school was the same as in college and that if anything... he could give you more of a vocational orientation than a psychologist; since you had tried everything, your old study method, countless other techniques, going to study in groups with your smug classmates with superiority complex, but nothing worked for you to retain important information, you thought that maybe you needed someone mature who could guide you.

After that day, you tried to get together to study again in a group, exactly in the room of that building and out of mere curiosity you asked what in particular does 'Dr. Bang', to which you remember perfectly that suddenly all their eyes were focused on you, “Oh, he's also a psychiatrist, he helps a lot, from what I've heard”, you remember their answers.

You then asked how come you could get close to his help, but you were surprised by the sudden exaltation of one girl out of the other 3 in the group.

“Girl, don't go see Dr. Bang, he's mine” you remembered that time your classmate started joking. The others laughed however you found it strange.

“I'm not kidding, I'll finish med school and marry him,” the girl continued.

Another of your girl classmates replied, “Good luck with that. I don't think he would settle for just a girl finishing med school… I mean he has been working here for a while and he's never been known to have a single affair with a student or a recent graduate, you don't even know for sure if he has a wife or kids, he's very private. But I do hear he's important in every job he has.”

“For him I'll find the damn cure for cancer if that's what he wants…wait, when is he going to be our professor?”

“Mmm, I guess until senior…”

“I can't wait” replied the girl excitedly for Bang.

“I honestly don't think you'll make it until senior” added another girl there amused.

One guy rolled his eyes as he overheard the conversation and called for your attention to forget the little twisted comments, “He's really nice, you can go with him anytime, but… to have recurring sessions with him, I think you need to validate that you're really fucked up, since he has a pretty busy schedule.” You nodded, paying attention to him.

“Next week I'll prove I'm a psycho to see him all the time” the girl joked again.

That afternoon the other guys simply laughed, but in you a seed of curiosity had been planted and…. you didn't want to be rude, but their study group was not helpful to you and was not bearing fruit at all, so the next day you went to the mental health department of your university and requested meetings with Dr. Bang, while presenting your long history of appointments with your therapist and your difficulty with learning, so initially the manager suggested you go directly to a female counselor, to make you feel more comfortable... so you didn't have the slightest problem, however he mentioned that he would tell Dr. Bang, as he cleared each of his students beforehand and on Monday you received an email confirming your schedule with Bang on Wednesday afternoons.

And since then your adventure began in late February two years ago. It wasn't until you finally got in and met him that you understood all of your classmate's comments, he was an incredibly attractive and intelligent man. Bang was about to quit after considering working long enough as a counselor, he wanted to focus on less work and prioritize the ones he considered more important… as well as organize and relocate his social life, he wanted to focus on making a life, meeting a woman to marry since his last relationship lasted but was unsuccessful, one of the few things Bang was unsuccessful at was love, Bang was beginning to give up on the search for a relationship, and even considered devoting himself completely to his work and studying another specialty. To cope with the loneliness he used to have casual sex with naïve, young, pretty nurses that made them lose their sanity, but he never took anything seriously, until he met you. You made him stay and he didn't want to admit it, until recently.

Bang saw you, so helpless and vulnerable… and he found something in you that he had never felt before. He saw himself in you, an overachiever. Bang in his early days also had his problems that had caused him to lose focus on what he fought so hard to achieve. Listen to your story was like listening himself.

And so two years went by, he taught you absolutely everything he knew, having study sessions which motivated you and your meetings were reflected in your good grades… however, Bang's admirers found it a little strange that after so long he never officially discharged you, so they began to speculate small rumors that did not pass away from your classmates, but he couldn't, you both enjoyed each other's company so much. So just at the beginning of the year, he decided to move your typical Wednesdays to Fridays, when he usually did not attend the university, but he did it exclusively for you, plus being almost the weekend, students did not resort so much to the study hall, making your visits more discreet.

After so long, the two of you created a purely professional union… until recently, last year before your winter break, when the little flirtations finally began, the complicit glances, the double entendre comments, the slight friction when sitting so close to each other and… for the first time, this year, his touch towards you. He was always there, a year after your meetings you confessed to him your deepest sadness and the reason why your mental health and ability to concentrate were affected, to which he saw you as he had never seen you before, so bad and down, so that every anniversary of your father's death you made a small comment which Bang immediately comforted you and made you feel good, until a little over a month ago, you were more than sad, you were stressed in some way, you lived with the burden of knowing that your mother was sad and lonely, you wanted to focus completely on the university and you still had the pain of the departure of that someone, so Bang slowly persuaded you to tell him exactly how you felt and… slowly and gently he began to massage your shoulders, an act that surprised you but helped too much, you hadn't had contact or that kind of attention in years as you were too busy at school and suddenly the pressure of his fingers on your tense muscles felt so good; after massaging you, he said a little awkward and with a nervous chuckle if that was okay with you, so you couldn't agree more. And his massages continued, but the next time you felt it differently, maybe because you were ovulating and you really liked Dr. Bang, but from then on you left his office feeling aroused.

With him everything was easier for you, you felt that it was unfair to others, but you were still incredibly lucky to have him, every week he would sit with you and help you study every single complicated topics of extremely important subjects, he was your individual tutor, you admired him more and more, he was a know-it-all. Then you got to know more about his personality a little bit… he was quite kind and tender, a little bit strange, nervous and rambled too much with what he wanted to say but, he helped you so much that now you stood out among the whole student body and you even felt that you changed your habits, suddenly you were more tidy and… you would occasionally listen to his favorite music to feel close to him, even though you weren't, when you left that office you didn't see him again until your next session, you rarely saw him walking around the campus, but, it was enough time together that, you got to know each other so well as you slowly let out slight details about yourselves.

You didn't know if he would be there, you had no fixed thing to communicate on other than e-mail and it wasn't something that young people your age regularly use as a purpose of communication… you just waited for him to open the door, you were hesitant to knock… you had both said goodbye last time with a “see you next week” but you had completely forgotten that it would be the last day of school. The study room was a mess, more students celebrating and behaving childishly while you stood outside of your mature counselor's door, wanting to see him one last time before you went home, you knew Bang wouldn't be able to try anything with you so you don't want to waste energy trying to flirt but… seeing him was enough for you, living in the delusion of a life together kept you a little human and not just an academic machine.

You knocked on his door softly, with the same pattern of knocks you unconsciously put together over the years, two knocks, one second and the third knock. Your hopes didn't even manage to dampen, as he opened the door immediately and your nerves escalated out of all proportion. He smiled at you as he saw you, forming two soft dimples below his mouth, there you were, in front of him waiting for your session with him. You looked up to get a better look at him, Dr. Christopher Bang, looking so breathtaking and masculine, you wanted to let out a sigh but didn't let yourself do it. Bang stepped aside to let you pass and closed the door behind you.

You observed the place, his office decorated in gothic architecture just like the rest of the university, full of wood and bookshelves and, in his chair behind his desk, you noticed his medical gown overlapping on the back of it, you assumed he must have come from the hospital, Chris was wearing dark cloth pants, perfectly ironed white button down shirt, tight to his muscular body and a thin black tie. Just when you couldn't find him more attractive, it was only enough for you to turn to see him again, to make your heart race and your breathing become heavy, sometimes you wondered if for him it was visible the effects he had on you, after all he was the studied doctor.

“Welcome” he said softly.

You walked into the small living room area in his office, into his leather couches, the light was very bright from his large window behind his desk and in front of his living room.

“Hi” you replied, smiling lively.

Chris placed his hands behind his back and walked over to you.

“I thought you weren't coming today, weren't you supposed to be at some party celebrating your last day of school?” he teased you a little.

He always joked that you weren't the party type of girl, you liked to get drunk once in a while but a party full of sweaty college kids wasn't a fun or hygienic option for you, Chris found it adorable.

You let out a giggle and turned your whole body to face him.

“I couldn't miss my last session with you, Dr. Bang” you commented seductively to which Chris swallowed nervously, he was so turned on when you suddenly got that way but as an adult, he had to concentrate.

But even pretending to be flirtatious you couldn't hide your slight grimace at being stressed, your head hurt a little, and uselessly you thought that being with Chris would take the pain away eventually. He knew you so well that, his slight nervousness at being excited changed in a second to concern.

“Everything okay?” he changed his tone and softened the movement of his eyebrows.

You opened your eyes in surprise as he recognized something happening and sketched a smile. You sighed and walked a few steps to the elongated couch and plopped down.

“Yeah… just… same old same old, I'm worried about my grades” you replied worriedly.

Chris let out a chuckle, he couldn't believe the obsessive little monster he had turned you into, you were twenty one years old and you should be worrying about more banal things like… the launching of some celebrity's new makeup line, since makeup was one of the things you were interested in besides being the best.

“You'll do fine” he spoke sweetly to you. Chris was about to approach you but had another idea, heading to his little liquor area. “Well… if you won't go party with guys your own age, then I'll party with you, here's to another successful semester” you heard him say behind you followed by a sound of glass clinking softly.

You turned your body to see him pouring alcohol into two glasses. Your nerves escalated further, it was the first time you would have that kind of activity.

“What is it?” you asked curiously as you watched him attractively approach you with the two glasses ready.

Chris smiled sideways in amusement and sat down next to you, handing you your glass.

“Whiskey, but drink it slow, sweetie.”

You blushed immediately upon hearing him call you that, he gently raised his glass in toast and you clinked your glass with his. Chris didn't drink from his drink until you did, which surprised you. He watched you intently as you brought the glass to your mouth.

“Like this, slowly, and then quickly…” he said in concentration.

You watched him as you did it and found it so appealing, however you closed your eyes tightly grimacing in disgust as you felt the alcohol burn your throat, which distracted you completely. He let out a chuckle as he saw your expression and quickly drank his without difficulty, just a slightly grimacing with his mouth.

“It's a bit strong for many people” Chris added.

“It was for me” you replied pushing the glass away and setting it down on the small table in front of you.

“Are you stressed?” he said suddenly, trying to make conversation.

You nodded softly, running your tongue around your mouth trying to forget the taste of alcohol.

“You know I am… I'm really nervous about the grades, I think they'll be posted tomorrow.”

“Will you be here in the city for tomorrow?” he asked to which you softly shook your head, Chris didn't like that, he could see you every day… but you were a student and practically his patient, it was completely unethical. “And what will you do once you're back in your hometown?”

You smiled at him.

“I don't know, it'll be boring, I'll look for a job, I'll try to be useful.”

Chris looked you straight in the eye and blurted out without thinking.

“My consulting room needs a receptionist… I mean, it's a job and…. you can keep learning.”

He lied, but he could fire his receptionist without thinking if you took him up on the offer. You looked at him puzzled more however you didn't remark your expression so well.

“Dr. Bang… Sorry, I don't have anywhere to stay in the city” you confessed apologetically, not knowing what to say.

Bang lowered his gaze to the glass and his long fingers intertwined in it, he was dying to tell you that that wasn't a problem, you could stay with him as long as you wanted… but once again he had to set limits.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, sorry. Still the offer is well standing.”

“Thank you.”

“Feeling a little more relaxed already?” he asked again, you nodded. “You know… I still remember my last day of the semester when I was twenty-one, there was this party at Delta Psi fraternity… it was a little… weird, I hope things have changed now” he counted animatedly.

You frowned, ready to hear more of his anecdote and founding sweet that he wanted to distract you, but a loud knock on his door followed by noise from outside startled you. Chris sighed in annoyance.

“Will you excuse me?” he stood up, holding his tie and headed for his door.

You stirred in your seat, he looked so fine pissed off and backwards as he walked to the door. Once again you were beginning to tense up, but this time from sexual frustration.

“Can you please stop making noise? You are in college, behave accordingly, or go outside and make noise you want” exclaimed Chris, scolding those outside, he turned to you “Sorry… the noise.”

Chris locked the door as a reflex and sat down again next to you, this time closer to you, you were about to ask him and tell him to resume his anecdote, but you lost yourself in the closeness of his face, and you analyzed the harmony of it, his dark hair, his straight eyebrows, sharp and small eyes, his prominent and attractive nose in combination with his full pink lips; you tensed again and your heart beat got stronger. Chris admired you too, from your perfectly detailed face with makeup, even the nice outfit you were wearing, Bang licked his lips… feeling the tension and a myriad of dirty thoughts crossing his mind and everything he would do to you, if only he would put his morals aside. Chris recalled his vivid memories of being twenty-one… the gentleness and sweetness that girls that age tasted… Chris closed his eyes and gently turned his head away from you, trying to clear each of those thoughts. Of the anatomy of your pussy prostrate on his cock, of you in genupectoral position with the vulnerability of your ass and needy pussy at his mercy.

Fuck, Chris thought, for the first time in all your encounters -and in his entire career- he was getting hard, they were just innocent little flirtations… but just not today, today his body was betraying him as it never had before. Chris cleared his throat and reacted in seconds, he didn't want you to suspect something was wrong so… just this time he decided to put his morals aside and pay attention to his human needs and carnal desires. He was going to fuck you so good that would make you get a fucking apartment just to do it with him every day.

“I'm glad you're okay but…” he said slowly sitting back up and bringing his hands to your weak shoulders, “I still feel you a little tense.”

You almost sighed at his sudden touch, but it was true, your muscles were stiff from being so excited and unable to do anything; Chris wasn't an idiot, this was just a excuse to touch you but he got a big surprise to really find you stressed. But for you more than stress it was frustration.

Chris kept squeezing your muscles until he squeezed a little too hard, causing you to moan; that was it, that alone was enough for Chris to fully sexually arouse him, he was hard and, if it wasn't because you were so focused on yourself not to screw up and not look like a horny mess, you would notice that Bang was in the same situation as you.

“You're so stressed, honey, look at you” he spoke in a thick voice of which surprised you.

You had your eyes closed in embarrassment and it occurred to you to open them as you heard him a little different… concentrating to Chris looking at you with dark eyes of pure desire, weakening your body more in seconds, you saw his strong arms near your shoulders and…. unconsciously you looked down, finally discovering his prominent erection that surprised you at how big it looked. He was as aroused as you were.

“Fuck, y/n, you're so tense… I can feel it… all over your body…” he spoke again excitedly, making your attention focus on him.

You saw him bite his lip and started to lower his hands squeezing your arms.

“Are you stressed, sweetie?” he asked again, until his hands reached your thighs squeezing them.

“Yes” you moaned.

“You’re so tense, I can feel it… more in this place” Bang said squeezing your thigh and directing his fingers to your already wet pussy, “Let me make you feel good, babygirl” he moaned.

Your body jolted as you felt his hands gently spread your legs apart and brush his fingertips across your panties. You couldn't process that he had finally decided to cross that line, but it felt so good. You always wore only underwear under your skirt on purpose for Dr. Bang.

“Relax, relax, make yourself comfortable, babygirl” he spoke softly in his therapist voice combined with desire, making you lean your back against the back of the couch, “Spread your legs, let me make you feel good, are you okay with that?” he raised his eyebrows waiting for an answer.

“Y-yes” you gasped again.

Bang smiled sideways and quickly got down on his knees between your legs, he gently lifted your skirt and admired the fabric of your wet underwear from the situation.

“I'm going to take all the stress off you, okay babygirl?”

You nodded, completely blinded by desire as you watched your chest rise and fall heavily. Chris began to stroke your clitoris over the thin white fabric of your underwear, making you explode in pleasure with his fine touch, he squeezed your entrance and labia, gently stimulating them. You bit your lip trying not to gasp loudly, finally he pulled the fabric aside and looked with estimation at your entrance lubricating itself, so helpless and needy as he opened your folds, making you let out a high pitched whimper.

Chis licked his lips again hungrily, he had never seen another pussy as appetizing and juicy as yours, he was dying to taste it but wanted to focus on your pleasure. He slid down your panties, leaving you bare of your bottom part and you gasped as you felt the cool air brush against your throbbing, exposed pussy.

“Let me make you feel good” he repeated, stroking the length of your folds and labia, “Feels good?”

You nodded again with difficulty, you were beginning to tremble with overstimulation, Bang began stroking your clitoris again, leading to your body, satisfaction and little twitches. You saw his hand play with your pussy from your angle and how he smiled with satisfaction, the sensations were getting stronger and newer for you that you were feeling desperate and so good at the same time.

“Just relax your body, let yourself go, babygirl” he whispered in a low, lustful voice. “I'm going to stick two fingers in you, okay?”

“Yes” you said again this time more yielding, trying to relax your stiff body a bit more, at the same time struggling to keep your legs open as you had no fixed support to leave them on.

Chris again pulled your folds apart to get a better view of your soaking wet little entrance, making you shudder, he gently brushed your entrance and watched your every reaction, so excited and fighting your instincts, then he realized that seeing your pussy was not enough, he wanted to see all of you and touch every corner of your body. Chris stopped touching your pussy for a moment to which you felt as if something was missing. You saw him, his gaze conveyed desire, yet he didn't leave his gentle and sweet countenance.

“But first, babygirl, let your whole body calm down, go on, undress for me.”

You slowly sat up and toke off your blouse as you stared at him while he looked at you expectantly.

“That's it, good girl, undress. I'll do the same, alright?” you bit your lip and heat came to your ears and stomach as you heard him tell you good girl, unsure what he meant after that, you finally took off your bra as well.

Dr. Bang bit his lips at the sight of your bare chest and admired the shape of your tits with nerve and desire, you smiled slightly in satisfaction knowing you had him so turned on too and understood everything when you watched his hand go to his belt, all your attention focused on his deft long fingers unbuckling his belt and then opening the button of his pants, slowly sliding the zipper all the way down, and finding with his tight black boxer and his protruding hard bulge with little drops of precum, suddenly your mouth felt so lonely, you wanted to make him feel good too but didn't know how to say such boldness and, as anxiety consumed you, he finally pulled down his underwear relieving of his big wiggling and growing cock all by itself. You had never felt so eager for a cock this much in your life, you wanted to taste the softness of his red swollen tip coated in his precum and feel every pumping vein of his length. You thought his cock was so attractive and clean looking, just like the bearer of it.

Chris gasped at finally having his cock free, yet he would feel freedom and at the same time captivity when his member is buried deep inside you making you feel good. Only then would he be free, when your muscles completely relax and you overflow your sweet orgasm on him. He smiled mischievously as he saw you not taking your eyes off his cock, Bang knew clearly that he was well endowed and could hurt your tight sensitive hole if he didn't do it carefully, after all he knew perfectly well the anatomy of both sexes and knew the sensations of a big intruder inside a woman's vagina. Chris didn't want to take you and fuck you wildly, his whole life and career was based on discipline and dedication, so he wanted you to enjoy every second of what the sexual act entailed, besides he loved to help you in every possible way, you were always very well behaved with him, you innocently followed his little flirting game but never dared to throw yourself on him, he had to reward you somehow for your good behavior.

Bang came up to your face and looked tenderly into your eyes.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked softly and gently.

You looked into his eyes and then at his full lips in a second and, without even answering him, you joined your lips with his; you found it incredibly tender and ironic how he could ask you such a thing when he had literally seen and touched your pussy just a few minutes ago, plus you looked so docile and submissive, it was clear that you were willing to whatever he wanted to do with you right now, you were so vulnerable. Chris took your face with his left hand which was slightly clean of your fluids, trying not to let his fingers fall completely on your face and gently pulled you away from his lips for your impulsive action, he gave you small sweet sounding kisses, feeling every particle of your organ, enjoying every second as he always dreamed of feeling them and then he kissed you passionately, so intense and united that you felt the pressure of his nose on your face, and made you open your mouth wider to boldly explore your cavity, and feeling your tongue, managing to elicit from both of you heavier gasps and breaths. With his right hand he caressed your neck a little and moved it down to your breasts and nipples, you were so excited and sensitive that you were afraid of cumming at any moment. His nimble hand continued down to caress your pussy again, this time making you moan between the intimate act you were both sharing and leaving you breathless, so he pulled away from you, now moving his mouth caresses down your neck to your sensitive tits, kissing, licking and sucking them delicately while his left hand was in charge of feeling the other one. His hot kisses moved down with his hand, as he kissed your abdomen, his hand squeezed your waist and his grip stopped at your left thigh, until his lips reached your mons pubis where he finally pulled away from you a little after kissing you gently.

Chris happily watched your expression of pleasure, your eyebrows down and your slightly open mouth; his thumb took care of stimulating the sensitive spot of your clitoris as he gently rubbed, once again, along your labia and without warning and with agility, he inserted two of his long digits that you had previously allowed, into your tight entrance, to which you whimpered in shock and pleasure.

Chris could take no more, his cock throbbed more and more with increasing intensity, but he had to hold out a little longer, as he knew that female pleasure could last longer and had to be carefully worked into it. He skillfully fucked your insides, exploring and feeling his fingers slide into the softness of your walls as you gasped with pleasure, harder and harder.

“Shhh, just keep a little quiet, okay, babygirl? I won't stop and I'll keep making you feel good until you cum” he whispered to you.

You pressed your lips together and bit them hard, just emitting gasps full of air coming from the strength in your chest. He was right, you had forgotten all about it once he started touching you, there were people outside his office… and a large window next to you, yet you were on a second floor and between his large desk obstructing the view, you couldn't see clearly.

Chris continued to turn you on and take such good care of your pussy while his fingers were in you; you felt on cloud nine but every now and then you thought if he would let you taste his cock or if you would feel it inside you today, you needed him so bad, your pussy throbbed just thinking about it.

“One more finger, okay?” gasped Chris inserting his ring finger before you could even answer him.

You whimpered again trembling a little in pain, you wanted him to fuck you all at once, you felt incredibly tense and excited that you were no longer thinking straight, but Chris just wanted to get you ready before he was inside you.

“Fuck my fingers, babygirl, c'mon, move on them” he groaned, looking at his fingers stuck in your pussy, then looking at you while you felt his hot breath near your cunt.

You brought your left hand near your mouth trying not to moan so loudly and started to move your hips enjoying his fingers inside you.

“Fuck” you whispered excitedly feeling his bony fingers moving and touching your internal organ.

“Good girl, you're doing it so good, fucking my fingers so well, you're such a good girl, are you enjoying it, sweetie?”

You gasped in response unable to formulate words. Chris smiled proudly, bit his lower lip and inhaled air between his teeth watching the obscenity of his hand at your entrance and your sweet fluids escaping.

“Fuck, you're so fucking wet, look at you. I'm gonna make you feel so good babygirl, I'm gonna taste you” he warned you almost in a whimper.

With his free hand he positioned your tired legs on his broad strong shoulders, bringing his face close to your pussy and, leaning a little closer, he pulled out his thick hot tongue running it all over your wet vulva making you explode, closer and closer to your orgasm. Chris gently sucked on your labia and withdrew his fingers from your entrance splashing some of your liquid on his chin.

“Mmm you taste so fucking good, babygirl, what the fuck, so good” he whispered.

Suddenly Chris found himself lost deep in your pussy, he was so loaded of you and he was enjoying it too much, giving you off little vibrations as he tasted you with his hot 'mmh', making your legs tremble, you were so close to orgasm finally. He continued, placing little kisses on your clit and with the tip of his tongue stimulating you quickly in a series of motions, you were so desperate you didn't know where to rest your hands calmly, so you directed your right hand to his head, stroking his hair for the first time. Chris caught your gaze instantly as he felt your hand in his hair and he stared at you as he tasted your clitoris and with one finger gently penetrated your entrance.

You broke eye contact with him as you again felt his tongue and lips run down the length of your folds, you closed your eyes in pleasure and shook your head ready for your orgasm that was slowly contracting in your body. Bang continued, never leaving your sensitive spot once he withdrew his tongue of it, his fingers now caressing it as he was lost in the glorious slurping sound of his mouth in your pussy, until he reached your entrance, parting your folds for better access of his tongue, making you scream, he was eating you out so well you wanted to cry.

You couldn't hold it in any longer and finally released all the tension, climaxing in his mouth as you held back your gasp biting down hard on your lip. Chris pulled away and watched in detail your glistening fluids slide out and your hole throb, he smiled and took it upon himself to clean you, running his tongue one last time before standing up. Cleaning himself around his mouth too, licking his lips.

“I'm gonna fuck you, now, alright?” he moaned, his cock was still hard and needy and his precum droplets ached to come out as he was holding back his orgasm.

You saw his sex, so foreplayed and red; you began to get excited and lubricated yourself again by the obscenity of his cock. Chris accommodated your body, putting your head on the couch cushion and doing his best to make you very comfortable and positioned his body over you, he spread your legs a little more and you saw his tender but intimidating expression of concentration as he inserted his cock into your hole. Bang was a doctor with a specialty, he knew fucking well he was about to have unprotected sex, but he was so lost between desire that, feeling your insides with his fingers and tongue was not enough, his sensitive and swollen cock had to feel it on its own to check how good you feel, thus bare, he wanted all his discharge in you, your vagina unrecognizing his sperm and, he seeing it struggling to squirt the unknown cum, he wanted to fill you completely for being so good with him and studying so hard, you deserved it, finally a great break. And you, always so dedicated, were more than willing to feel Dr. Bang's raw cock inside you.

You gasped and shuddered as you felt his cock enter you, Bang gasped at the sensation of your hole slowly opening to make way for his cock, it was huge, you knew it and you were feeling it, but you still wanted every inch of him in you. Chris had inserted half of his hard limb and you were already gasping with pain and pleasure.

“God, you're so tight, so fucking tight, I want to fuck your pussy so bad” Chirs spluttered panting and excited, bringing out the vein in his neck and forehead.

And slowly, he entered into you fully until you felt his balls gently rubbing against your pussy, you let out a stifled little whimper, even inside you, you could feel his large size and you noticed him bulging in a soft lump in your belly. Chris began to slowly penetrate you, his whole cock inside you, thrusting his hips; you whimpered at the sensation and held yourself entwining your arms around his back still wearing his shirt, feeling the tingle of his tie as it fell and brushed against your chest. He moved his body closer, brought your foreheads together for a moment, staring at you as he kept ramming your pussy hard and sweetly kissed your lips, pulled away from you and positioned his head in the hollow of your neck, feeling and hearing his hot, light moans, turning you on more and, when you thought you were completely sexually satisfied, you felt his hand caress your clit, causing you to reflexively close your legs, squeezing his broad lower torso. Your pussy was so sensitive to every movement and stroke of Chris's cock, you felt his thrusts change a little as you were mindful of the sensation of his cock sliding through your core, you sighed, you were so stressed that you couldn't moan so loudly at the feel of his big dick. The sound of both wet sexes colliding was so obscene, both of you completely devoted to each other.

“You feel so good, fuck, y/n. Moan for me softly.”

Chris loved the feeling of your tight walls squeezing his cock, and your small orifice dilating adapting to his size, after minutes of the incredible sensation, Chris could feel your second climax close; but only this time he would 'punish' you, as he also fantasized about you fucking him yourself, he wanted to see you so overwhelmed jumping on his cock; so he suddenly pulled out of you causing a small mess of your fluids.

“I want you to fuck me babygirl, sit on my cock please” he asked you demanding but soft.

You bit your bottom lip as you watched Chris sit up, you stood up and, quickly Bang found the zipper of your skirt, unzipping it and making it fall gracefully, finally leaving you naked, which made him lick his lips lusting after you; you spread your legs and positioned yourself over his lap, you took his wide hard cock with your left hand to guide it to your entrance as you held onto his shoulder. Chris smiled admiring your flushed cheeks and your face of concentration, until you both gasped once feeling joined; first you slid his glans and then you let yourself fall completely on his cock, squeezing down to your cervix, you were one hundred percent sure that your poor vaginal canal was no match for Chris's cock length, who you looked at and also had a moaning expression on him, you admired again his closeness, every small and almost non-existent pore of his well-kept face and the roughness and manliness of the texture of his neck, you also wished to see him completely naked so you awkwardly played with his tie trying to take it off.

“Do you want to unbutton my shirt, sweetheart?” he said tenderly noticing your actions.

You nodded encouragingly, “Yes, Dr. Bang.”

Chris was turned on by you speaking to him formally, making his cock throb more of which you resented inside and let out a moan. He loosened his tie, tossed it aside and helped you unbutton his shirt faster, exposing his muscular, hard-working body.

“Move for me, ahh, that's right, good girl.”

You began to stir yourself on his cock, moving with it all the way to his testicles sweetly squeezed by your weight, as you held onto his marked pecs and gradually lifted your body to keep a rhythm to the frantic bouncing on his cock. You eagerly and between gasps felt his cock rise and fall up and down the tract inside you, trying to take it all, making you sweat a little from your exertion. Chris squeezed your waist tightly, helping to propel you forward.

“Oh that's it, fuck me, you're doing excellent, good girl, fuck, taking so well my cock” he whimpered as his eyes were fixed on your tits moving and his cock burying into your tight pussy.

His words turned you on more and encouraging you to keep going. Accelerating your squats more and more, causing Chris to widen his eyes in surprise, increasing the intensity of his heartbeat and suffocating his cock more.

“Fu-fuck, I-i'm gonna cum inside of you, I'm gonna fill your pussy like the good girl you are.”

Chris let go himself completely, he had held back his orgasm long enough so followed by shuddering whimpers, he ejaculated inside you, feeling his warm shot of cum; you were so close too, which he could predict so he continued to praise you softly.

“Keep it up, beautiful, cum on my cock, come on, you can do it.”

You buried your nails a little into his chest and cum, spilling your second orgasm down the length of his cock, making both of you a mess, your combined fluids slipping and sliding down his balls and lightly onto his thighs. You both tried to catch your breath. Chris remained holding you tightly around your waist so that you stayed right there and so on top of him, he didn't want to give up the feel of your core in him, he wanted a little of cockwarming in you.

“Wow… that” Chris tried to say, slowly coming back to his senses, realizing he had finally fucked you, reality suddenly hit him, you were still sitting on his cock and over his lap with your cheeks red and your babyhair slightly tousled and glistening in a minimal layer of sweat from your exertion, he let out his typical nervous chuckle, “…that was wonderful. You know… anytime you need help relaxing, we can do it whenever you want. Maybe next time you can do all the noise you want.”

You stared into his eyes perplexed that he had just implied that from now on, you could fuck anytime you wanted.

“But you'll leave tomorrow, right?” he spoke again.

You nodded disappointed, he was right, you had to go back to your hometown tomorrow; you sighed and hugged him gently, leaning your head on his shoulder, tired and breathing in his scent, thinking you didn't want to leave him, your summer would be boring anyway, you needed him, the feeling of his cock inside you, filling you up felt so good, you were going to miss him. You've never had your stress taken away like that before.

----

dividers by chilumitos ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ ♡

[blue-ink-pearls]

So, I know people are really desperate for Sandra Lynn to have hooked up with Pamela Dawn instead of Bobby Dawn, and I completely understand that!* Bobby Dawn is slimy and awful and we don't know much about Pamela, so maybe she's better? But it is 100% Bobby Dawn for two very clear reasons:

Sklonda literally said it was him

Bobby Dawn has always been a predator

The first thing we learn about Sandra Lynn's affair during Spring Break Sophomore Year was that she had just left Aguefort (she dropped out her senior year and got a diploma later on) and she was very young. She was asked to join an established adventuring party of people who were older than her and that had lost one of its members. She fell in love with another member of the party that was already in a relationship, they had an affair, and then when the affair was discovered, Sandra Lynn was blamed, kicked out of the party, and her name was smeared as far and wide as possible by the person who had taken advantage of her so that person could absolve themselves, likely in the eyes of their partner and the party.

So what we can immediately deduce from this is that Sandra Lynn was an outsider to her new adventuring party, likely looked down on as "just a kid", maybe disdained for being a dropout, and most definitely resented for taking the place of the (presumably) dead party member. She was in actively dangerous and stressful situations while questing with the party and she probably had little support from the group during that time.

Sandra Lynn was very very vulnerable.

When he met Sandra Lynn, Bobby Dawn would have been about 20 years younger than he is now, likely in his late 30s/early 40s.** Probably still handsome, still a "dashing" active adventurer. He was married to Pamela already (not just in an established relationship), since he had a child by then that was close to grown and I don't think the Church of Sol would be very happy about a child out of wedlock. He would have been a cleric of Sol and probably still preaching "the good word of Sol" but it likely wouldn't have been constant. You can't give sermons while fighting monsters. I'm sure he even saved Sandra Lynn's life a few times!

The thing about Bobby Dawn being a televangelist now, but not then, is that when he was young, he was probably just as good at persuasion, at finding vulnerable people and exploiting their weaknesses to get what he wanted, and yet he hadn't made a name for himself as a televangelist, so people wouldn't know to be wary of him trying to convert or manipulate them.

The scene between Bobby and Kristen, when Kristen is pretending that Cassandra died shows exactly what kind of terrible person Bobby really is. He is happy to find Kristen devastated, that she is having "a real dark night of the soul" and needs guidance. He refuses to help Kristen stay at Aguefort (something that's within his power), despite knowing how beneficial that would be to her well-being, because that goes against his own goals. He is smug and condescending and cruel. He is preying on Kristen's devastation and vulnerability (not knowing it's an act), to draw her back into the fold of the Church of Helio/Sol.

The person who did that to Kristen, is the exact same person who took advantage of Sandra Lynn when she was still basically a kid, just out of high school. He took advantage of her feelings for him, her inexperience and isolation. And then, when they were discovered, he threw her away and made her the villain so he could get away with it.

He ruined Sandra Lynn's life. Yes, she's happy now with her daughter, her partner, and the beautiful home they've made at Mordred Manor with Adaine, Kristen, Lydia, Ragh, Tracker, Zayn, Aelwyn, Boggy, and 15 cats. But Sandra Lynn ended up with self-esteem and relationship issues that she is still dealing with to this day. Those issues ruined her marriage, could have ruined her relationship with Jawbone, and likely played a hand in the difficulties between her and Fig in Freshman Year, as Sandra Lynn saw her daughter take her first steps into the world of adventuring.

Because Sandra Lynn first wanted to be an adventurer and Bobby Dawn took that away from her, just like he tried to do to Kristen.

Bobby Dawn has shaped his career as a high priest of Sol and as a televangelist by portraying himself as the epitome of righteousness. He is rotten to the core, a predator in a job where he is meant to help people, and I CANNOT WAIT to see the Bad Kids take him down.

*I don't really understand it. Pamela Dawn is likely just as bad as Bobby. She's the chief paladin of the church of Sol, her husband is a televangelist and a High Priest of Sol, and she would have been around the same age as Bobby and having an affair with a vulnerable young girl who she then kicked out of the group and slandered. It being Pamela would still be awful!

**Even with the assumption that both Bobby Dawn and his child had their kids at a young age, the math still has to take into account that Sandra Lynn's daughter is the same age as Bobby Dawn's GRANDSON.

[violettaskies]

Of Books & Beasts

Prompt: virginity

Paring: best friend!steve harrington x f!reader

Genre: romance, slow burn, friends to lovers, one bed trope

Notes: wc 9.1k // my first kinktober story (one of five) // hope everyone enjoys it // it’s very soft // a little scary movie night sleep over // reader falls asleep next to steve and things get a little steamy // i wrote everything to have as much consent as possible // steve is a bit of a perv lol

Warnings: MINORS DNI, 18+ ONLY, NSFW // slight somnophilia, dry humping, virginity loss, vaginal fingering // masturbation // smut // 'just the tip' is used once or twice // please let me know if there is anymore that need to be added!

ao3 // kinktober masterlist // full masterlist // lazy ghoul’s kinktober prompts

-:-:-:-:-

The night was meant to be a simple one. After weeks of assignments, exams, quizzes, and extracurricular activities at college, all you wanted to do was relax. Well, you still had one more assignment left to do, but maybe you were able to kill two birds with one stone, right? 

Luckily, this assignment was one that you could easily ask for help with from your friend. Someone who always stole movies for you to borrow on many weekends anyways. With your class being based on books which turned into film adaptations, it means a lot of time spent reading and watching. In truth, you felt bad for your classmates who had to rent out the tapes for extended periods just to finish analysis for assignments; all while you didn’t even need to bat an eyelash in Steve’s direction for him to hide movies in your backpack while his manager wasn’t looking. 

With the theme of this particular assignment matching the season and going with horror films, a movie night was something that you craved. Thick sweaters, even thicker blankets, a bit of hot chocolate, and candy from the grocery store that had the orange and black packaging — they were all of the aspects to the marathon you proposed when you walked into Family Video on a Friday afternoon after you got off the bus. Despite all of your convincing tactics, your friend already had his answer long before you began to ask.

“Anything for you, dove. I’ll get everything on this list for us,” Steve smiled at you, after looking at the assignment rubric, as you stood on the other side of the cash register. 

“Alright, maybe I should place a pizza order now so that we don’t starve during the Friday dinner rush tonight,” you said sweetly as you nervously thought about what to order. 

“Don’t you worry about it, it’s on me. Let me treat you a little.” 

“I��m the one who asked you to have a movie marathon with me, I should really be the one paying,” you insisted while you brought your hand closer to the telephone. 

But, quickly, the man was able to grasp it lightly to stop you from moving towards the numbers. You could never admit just how much your skin tingled at the touch. “I’m serious. This shift finishes in twenty minutes, then I can drive us home and I’m all yours. Do whatever you want with me, dove. I can even help out with your stress relief later. Maybe I’ll bend —” 

“Please don’t continue that sentence,” you cut him off easily. Steve always loved to tease you and any eavesdroppers who may be listening in and theorizing if you two were dating or not. The town is full of gossip fiends. “Any louder and people will start to believe you.” 

The younger Harrington chuckled as he got out from behind the counter to stand fully in front of you. He adored to see the way you outwardly pretended you hated the fake moves he would pull. From him putting his arm around your shoulder whilst walking around town, whistling every other time he picked you up from the city bus stop, to intimidating every guy who looked in your direction for too long. However, both of you never knew the other wished for it all to be real. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll be good and stop teasing you,” he chuckled lowly. 

“Thank you,” you smiled to yourself before looking up at Steve with wide eyes. “So will you also be buying garlic knots tonight too?” 

“Yes, as long as you promise to stay awake until the final movie, sleepy girl.” 

-:-:-:-:-

You, in fact, did not stay awake the whole movie night. It wasn’t Tim Curry’s fault either. Normally, it was tradition for you two to end off every evening like this with one musical or something more lighthearted to offset the mood. But the day just exhausted you from every angle, that once you finally got to relax and watch a movie for leisure — you relaxed a little too hard. Adding the components of the cold pizza and Steve putting a blanket on you while continuously keeping a grasp on your knee, you were bound to knock out before the movie ended. Later, it was Steve who woke you up with a whisper in your ear. The sound shocked you at first, and then when you opened your eyes to see the man kneeling in front of you, it did cause a slightly loud gasp to escape your lips. After some groaning on your end about not wanting to intrude, you finally gave in to the invitation Steve gave to let you sleep over tonight. The main contributing factor had to be the fact that the man had a really nice blanket and pillow set that felt like it came from a hotel. 

However, as you both ended off the night in your room, it was Steve who began to groan — although, it was due to pure frustration.

“I don’t have any clean clothes,” your host said as he rummaged through his drawers. 

“How about any sweater and some of those long johns your mother always buys you?” you giggled as you sat on the bed now, reading a book you recently checked out from the library. 

“Or you could always sleep naked, I heard it’s really healthy for you. Plus, I would not mind at — ow,” Steve was on his little sarcastic joke before you threw an old pair of socks at his head. 

“Maybe I should just head home, this feels like such a nuisance to you,” you smiled and whispered shyly. 

Steve really was trying hard to find you something to sleep in. So much so that it caused some sweat to drop on his forehead. But, truly, the man was standing there trying to work up the courage to ask you to put on one of his old swim team sweaters and a cotton pair of shorts he knew would hug your body beautifully. 

Yes, you have slept over before when you were younger. However, those were all planned out with you bringing something from home. Well, there was one emergency where you stayed the night due to a horrific snow storm; but, Mrs. Harrington was there to give you your Christmas present a few weeks early and allow you to sleep in some pyjamas which were covered in cute bunnies. This was the first time you would be here spontaneously alone with Steve — and god, did he feel like all of his prayers were answered. The amount of times he has imagined you laying on his bed, committing the most sinful acts, in various positions and scenarios, could be seen as absolutely perverted. So to have the opportunity to have you on his bed, wearing his clothes, covered in his blanket; it all seemed unfathomable to the man. 

“Here,” Steve exclaimed quickly so that you would actually stay. “Maybe you would be alright with this sweatshirt and some shorts?” 

“This is more than alright. Thank you, Steve,” You skipped off to the washroom to finally get ready for bed and let your friend change into his own pyjamas. 

However, when you got the clothing on, it was so embarrassing to stare into the mirror. Everything fits fine — and on a normal day at home, you would probably wear something similar. But remembering the fact that you would be sleeping next to your best friend was so nerve wracking. It was just a lot shorter than what you would usually wear around him if you did wear a skirt or shorts. You just thanked the heavens that the blanket would be covering your legs so that you didn’t feel as exposed. 

Not that you believed Steve would try anything; not that you didn’t want him to try anything either. But, you were scared of getting so cold and cuddling too close to him like you did last December during the winter storm. Waking up in Steve’s arms caused your heart to flutter so harshly that your heart rate didn’t go down for days. It made you think about how badly you wished you could wake up to his handsome face everyday. Most especially, it made you think about how nicely his leg felt right in between your thighs, and the way it massaged your — 

No. 

This was an innocent sleepover like the thousands that other best friends have had over the years. All you had to do was sleep next to him with a pillow between your bodies and hope you didn’t accidentally roll your way into his arms again. You weren’t sure if you were ready for the heartbreak of knowing that being entwined in each other’s arms would not last forever. 

“Do you want the left or right side of the bed?” Steve called out from the other side of the door, startling you out of your thoughts. 

“Anything is fine,” you replied whilst opening the door. Seeing that Steve was laying in the middle, ready to roll over to whichever side you preferred. The image of him with arms and legs spread out made you giggle. 

“The left side is closer to the lamp if you’d like to read a bit before sleeping,” he said as he shifted over to the ride side of the bed and patted to your new spot. 

“Are you a mind reader or something?” you chuckled between steps.

Steve put the book in the air as you tucked yourself into bed, a nice distance away from him. Once he saw you were comfortable, he placed the book gently in your lap and said: “no, but I could tell your little nap will probably have you staying awake for the next hour or so.” 

“Oh, if the light is gonna bother you then I can turn it off and head to sleep too.” 

The concern in your eyes was absolutely beautiful. As you started up at him with the lamp glowing behind you, you looked like a nymph in the night. And oh how Steve knew he would be the luckiest man alive to sleep next to you. 

“Go ahead, dove. I can sleep through anything,” he whispered lowly whilst rubbing your thigh that was covered by the thick blanket. “What’s it about anyways?” 

You took a deep breath to calm down before speaking. Steve’s touch caused you to feel warm, even more so when he squeezed your thigh every few moments. “Not too sure about the entire plot since I’m only on chapter two. But it’s about a prince and his beast companion. They’ve been best friends for a long time and are going on adventures. This was in the romance section so I’m guessing the best friends fall in love,” you rambled, getting quieter with the last few words. 

What a dream. 

“Is it dirty?” Steve teased as he sunk further underneath the blanket. 

“No, I-I’ve never read a story like that before,” you said sternly. 

“Oh, I believe you,” his voice got deeper and slower with each word, only indicating that he was bound to fall asleep any second. “Have fun reading.” 

They were the last words he said before drifting off to sleep peacefully next to you. Luckily, that meant it was a lot easier to read the rest of the book until you felt your own eyes start closing and the words on the page started to become blurry. 

It was a beautiful story, full of lore and love, a mix of historical fiction and mythology. After reading and watching stories based on the horror genre for a few weeks now, it was nice to have a little bit of a break and just read about love. Your heart started to feel warm and giddy as each page passed — even going as far as quietly giggling when you felt your cheeks feel warm as a result of the prince’s romantic actions throughout the book. You didn’t even notice that you were sinking further and further into the blanket because you were so engrossed in the imaginary world. It didn’t even matter that the angle made your back hurt a little. 

Well, not really. Once you started to feel stiff, you moved into a straighter position. However, you were interrupted by a low and groggy voice. 

“You want to get under here?” Steve asked you through half-lidded eyes and his arm moving to invite you to move even closer into his body. 

Wordlessly, you accepted the offer and went right up to Steve’s body. The book was on his chest while your cheek was at his side. Everything felt so comfortable and domestic — a part of you wished this could last forever. 

But right then, the storyline of the book went on a different path, to say the least. 

You see, the prince got hurt whilst fighting off some evil spirits. He was bleeding everywhere and in so much pain. But the companion, a beautiful wolf-demon, was able to heal his wounds to the point where it wouldn’t be so life threatening. It was so simple, to use a little magic and bandages in hopes of survival, but the author was able to portray it wonderfully. To thank the woman, the prince moved his arms around her to hold her a warm embrace. It was so sweet, just like the position you were in now. However, it took a turn for the romantics. A little too romantic. An activity you definitely were not currently doing with Steve. 

The man kissed her sweetly: from her shoulders, up to her neck, then finally landed on her plump lips. It was beautiful, so serene, accompanied by a drawing of the two in bed with locked lips and legs. Slowly, she started to rock against his leg, adoring the pressure against the place no one had touched before. As she gasped into each kiss, the prince smiled in tandem. Even moving his hips to help the lady feel more pleasure. You wondered how that felt, it was only a slight movement of the hips — there was no way it could feel that good.

But you were so wrong. 

Just as you tried to move positions, Steve moved his leg upwards, moving his thigh right against your heat. It felt so good, to the point where you bit your lip to suppress the whimper that was about to escape your lips. The man next to you, tried to find a better position to sleep in too, moving his legs some more until it found solace as it intertwined with your own legs. 

Fuck, it felt really good. You tried so hard not to move your hips in tandem so that you could amp up the pleasure. So instead, you continued to read, trying to focus on the writing techniques and nothing else. However, you only began noting the things the characters did with one another. How they whispered sweet nothings as they continued their game to see how long it would take the lady to climax. And you noticed the way you felt warm between your legs, a slight throbbing to seal the deal. 

Maybe in another world you would wake up Steve and ask him to let you out of his embrace so that you could excuse yourself to the washroom and down. But not in this one. In this world, you were at peace in his arms. In this world, you really didn’t care about the throbbing ache between your legs because you were extremely sleepy. In this world, you would convince yourself that it would pass. In this world, the sound of both your hearts beating as one was enough of a lullaby to cause even the most stubborn of characters to sleep. Just as you did now, with the book still on Steve’s chest, and your bodies squeezing closer together. 

-:-:-:-:-

Steve was an extremely heavy sleeper when he was with you. Most of the time, you would be awake first during these little sleepovers and do something before he even pried his eyes open and then decided to keep them shut because of the sun seeping through the windows. It wouldn’t surprise Steve to see you reading at your desk or braiding friendship bracelets when you had that arts n’ crafts phase a couple years ago. This time, however, he was the one who awoke in the middle of the night to movement from beside him. Maybe it was due to some level of paranoia he has gained over the past few years regarding a life that he wishes you would never need to experience. It’s funny that you were reading books with monsters the world has nightmares about, while he was one of the people who was facing them. He wishes so badly to protect you from all of it. So when you started moving in your sleep, something you never do, Steve felt his body wake up in an instant. 

His eyes were having trouble fully opening themselves as he could hear faint whimpering sounds coming from you and slight movements near his thigh. It was enough to turn his head to the left to see what was wrong. But nothing was wrong per se. If anything this was right out of a perverted fantasy he has had millions of times before. 

As his eyes finally came into focus at what was in front of him, Steve could only smile and thank the heavens. You were laying in the same position you initially fell asleep in: book held in your hand, it being face down on Steve’s chest on a particular page, while your own face was on the side of his chest. But, the thing that surprised him the most was the grip your thighs had around his own. Slowly, your hips were thrusting back and forth against his leg, humping over and over. Whenever your body hit the perfect spot against your clit, you would mewl against his chest, sending a vibration through his body. Your hard nipples would poke Steve’s stomach once in a while too. 

Good Lord, he was so distracted by the vision of you thrusting against his thigh, that he didn’t realize just how hard he had become. He only noticed it when your leg tensed up and moved towards his crotch, touching the underside and head in the process. 

You were about to become the death of him tonight. 

Curiously, he picked up the book you were reading to put it on the bedside table, when the words jumped out at him. 

“And then the prince lifted the dress of the maiden beast. How scary she was to the eyes of the kingdom, but how beautiful she looked with swollen lips and lust-filled eyes. She was wet, so wet that it seeped through the layers of clothing.”

Just then, Steve looked down to notice how your wetness was doing the same thing. Your arousal had gone past your shorts and went onto the cotton bottoms he was wearing. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The man skipped a few paragraphs to see just exactly what the prince and his lady were up to. Words of biting, screaming, thrusting harshly against the wall, even scratches along one another’s backs. It was pornographic, it was beautiful, and Steve was shocked that your virgin eyes read through some of this before falling asleep. 

If only he could recreate it with you. Seeing you moan and move to your lust-filled slumber was more than enough of a dream come true to the man. But this was wrong. So wrong. You both were best friends. He loved you, wished he could be more with you. But he believed that wasn’t worthy of you. You were the princess this whole town adored while he was just a former playboy many people seemed to dislike sometimes. There was a part of him that wanted to see how long it would take for you to come against his leg. However, his guilt took over quickly. 

“Wake up, my dove. It’s getting hot in here.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. The mixture of blankets and his arousal made Steve sweat through his clothes easily. 

“Hm? What?” You rolled more onto his chest, your weight atop his body nicely. It would have been the world’s most comfortable position, one that would start off most of his perverted fantasies about you; however, he had to stop himself from thrusting against your thigh that was now perfectly on top of his hardness. “Feels so nice, Stevie,” you murmured, still half-asleep. 

“Fuck — you really like that, huh?” The man whispered as you looked up at him with glazed eyes. You were still not cognizant that what you were doing was not in a dream. 

“I feel so warm down there, your leg is massaging me nicely,” you moaned whilst humping some more. “Kiss me, please.” 

Every move you were doing, every word you were saying, every whimper that came out of your throat — the man has imagined it all before. You were all of his greatest fantasies come to life. He wished so badly to ravish you on the spot and satiate all of the pent-up pleasure your body needed to release. Your lips were swollen now from all of the biting you’ve been doing to quiet down your moans; but, good god, the man was going to memorize it all for the sake of his future sessions with his right hand. 

Steve really needed to stop this, and fully wake you up as soon as possible. This wasn’t the normal you, you didn’t even realize exactly what you were doing. “Pretty girl, no matter how much I want to continue this, we can’t.” The words fell from his lips painfully. 

“Why not? You don’t feel good?” You whimpered as you reached up and put your arms around Steve’s neck, stopping your hips’ movements all together. 

“Feels so good, baby,” Steve moaned loudly this time as he thrusted against your leg like he imagined a million times before. It wasn't helping that you thought your face closer to his in order to hear his breathy moans easier. The man was so close to leaning forward and kissing your plump lips. “But, this isn’t a dream, and you’re not fully awake. I don’t want you to regret this—”

The man was going to ramble on and continue to comfort you into waking up fully. However, you got the message loud and clear. So much so, that your heart dropped and you gasped. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I’ll move over t-there — ah.” The moan coming out of your mouth was completely involuntary as you lifted your body up and intended on moving down and away from Steve’s figure. 

“Did that feel good?” Steve teased, now that you were both fully cognizant of your sleeping status. 

“I don’t know why I did that, I’m sorry.” If only you could apologize a million times, because you would; your guilty conscience would make sure of it. 

“You probably had some sweet dreams, huh?” 

Just as you were separated from the man, you heard his words and looked over at his figure. Through the dim lighting of the lamp, you could see that he was holding up the novel you were reading before bed, and it was open to the very scene that inspired any of your hormone-induced movements tonight. 

“Oh no,” you whispered. Looking down, there was a wet spot on Steve’s thigh where your heat was pressed against. He was admiring it as if he were memorizing just how it looks. And he was. “This is so embarrassing,” you though out loud

“It’s no big deal, dove. Guys have nudie magazines and a video here and there. I would never judge you for a little novel,” Steve chuckled as he sat up to the headboard to mirror your actions. 

“I didn’t know it was going to be like that in the story,” you whispered. 

“Did you like it?” Your friend was genuinely curious. Throughout your history as friends, you had never even asked him for advice about relationships — this erotic chapter of the novel must have been a shocking first exposure to it all. 

You thought about the question for a few moments. Remembering the emotions and fire you felt in different parts of your body, you could really only tell him the truth. “Y-yeah, I suppose so.”  

“Then don’t feel embarrassed or bad about it,” Steve nudged your shoulder sweetly to make you feel less embarrassed over the situation. “Never thought you were into reading it in front of other people though.”

“Don’t tease,” you pouted, putting your head under the blanket to hide from the embarrassment. 

“I’ll stop, I promise. But, you did give me a wonderful way to wake up,” you could hear him smiling just by the sound of his voice. 

Those words made you slowly peek your way out of the thick blanket to see Steve looming over you with a smirk that teased your soul. The lamp in the room made him glow, while the moon’s beams that were seeping through the blinds made him look like one of the many drawings of the prince in the book you were just reading. It took all the strength within you, not to squeeze your thighs together and satiate the throbbing between them. 

“Let’s never talk about this again,” you whispered, the blanket still covering your mouth. 

“If that’s what you would be comfortable with,” Steve chuckled as he laid back in his spot. 

“Y-yes, I would be.” 

After a moment of awkward silence, you both in regular sleeping positions, Steve wanted to break the ice a bit. “It is a well-written book. Maybe I could borrow it sometime.” 

“You’re so annoying,” you giggled, grabbing a small pillow on the bed and lightly hitting his chest with it.

“Learn anything while reading? You could use me as a practice dummy.” The man laid on his side now, looking at you as he put on a seductive tone. 

“You’re just a dummy, Steve,” you playfully scoffed with a giggle. 

“That was the last one, promise. Sweet dreams, dove.” 

In truth, Steve wanted you to sleep as quickly as possible so that he could make his way to the washroom and get rid of his hard problem. It was hurting now, even as he tried to think about anything else that would possibly subside his arousal. Your movements and moans will never be erased from his mind. Steve’s imagination was running wild with how you actually sounded as you were feeling pleasure. 

No one has ever thanked a book more in the history of mankind. 

“Is that what sex is like?” You whispered into the night, cutting off the man’s thoughts. 

“What do you mean?” Steve replied as he turned to his side to look at you staring up to the ceiling.  

“In the book, they talk about it like it happens so fast and hard,” you said the words with a concerned tone while turning your body towards his to face him. 

“Well, it can be fast and hard if the couple wants it that way. But, taking it slow is nice too,” the man next to you chuckled sweetly. 

You felt dumb asking the question. For years, you have known that Steve was a lot more experienced than you in the department of relations with the opposite sex. There have been countless times where Steve would tell you about any dates that he has gone on, or imply lewd acts he committed with his girlfriend of the week. And all you would do is nod out of pure curiosity. However, this was the first time you outright spoke about sex with him. 

“Right, right, that makes sense. It must feel really nice,” you continued your thoughts. 

“It does. Everything is so warm and wet. The noises too are something you’ll never forget. My hand and imagination does not do it justice sometimes.” Right then, Steve’s mind went through flashbacks of times he has laid in bed with the image of you stuck as his muse. He has imagined the way you would react and moan to things he would do with you. Would you bite your lip whilst looking down between your bodies? Would you whimper in the same way you do when you beg Steve to drive you somewhere and he just had a long day at work? Anything you would do would be erotic, and enough fire for him to reach the happiest of endings. However, by the end, he would pray for the day he could experience the real thing with you.  

“I wonder what it will be like for me,” you giggled, bringing the blanket close to your face again. 

“You got a good idea a few minutes ago,” Steve teased as he looked you up and down. 

All you could do was hit his shoulder then hide your face into it as he leaned back onto the bed. “It did feel really, really nice, Steve. I’m so sorry.” 

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. You liked it, didn’t you?” he said, trying to soothe your embarrassment of it all. As he squeezed his arm around you tighter to have you closer to his chest, Steve realized that your bare thighs had found their way around his again. You looked so beautiful cuddling next to him, tightening your legs slowly. “Then, maybe I can help. You didn’t get to finish, sweet girl.” 

The deepness of Steve’s voice resonated through your entire body as you looked up at him with desperate eyes. His proposal sounded so good. You felt this constant throbbing between your legs that only increased ten-fold every time you and Steve accidentally breathed too close together. As you gripped his chest with your hands, and his thigh with your own — you really craved to continue the pleasure you were feeling moments before. 

“I didn’t even know that I started,” you pouted. 

“Oh, but finishing is one of the best parts,” he teased whilst moving his thigh upwards to massage your cunt slowly. 

“Steve—” you moaned like music to his ears.

Your friend began to move his thigh up and down to stroke your pussy, hitting your clit from the right angle to make you bite your lip in between whimpers. He held your face sweetly, making sure that he could see how every movement affected you. Steve was sure that the image of your pupils getting darker would be engraved in his mind forever. 

“My best friend needs help, and you know I would do anything for you,” he whispered, hovering his lips above yours. 

“More, please.” 

“So polite,” Steve teased, quickening his pace and moving one hand to your breasts. “Doing such a dirty thing and now you’re being so nice.” 

“I feel so — I feel like I need more,” you said quietly as if it were a desperate plea. 

Steve squeezed your right breast sweetly, pinching your hardened nipple through the thick sweater fabric. He noted how you thrusted yourself against his thigh and nearly fell onto his lips as you moaned. 

“Is your body on fire? You feel nice, dove,” he smiled, kissing your cheek to tease you. 

“So good. Kiss me, Steve, please.” You weren’t sure what took over your body in that moment, but you gripped onto his hair and leaned your lips towards his. Yet, he was the one who kissed you first. It was a kiss that made the angels sing above you, one that you both have been imagining for years and years. Hearing all of the stories of girls in school raving about his talents with his mouth and tongue — a part of you could never believe that he would be that amazing.

But, you were wrong, so wrong. 

As he kissed you deeply, poking his tongue through to taste you more, you couldn’t help but whimper loudly into the kiss. Steve adored it, promising himself to try everything he could to hear every variation of your beautiful sounds. Just when he brought a hand down to your back, urging your hips to move forwards on his leg, you swear you were about to see stars. This is what all the magazines were talking about. This is what all the whispered conversations during girl talk were giggling about. This is what the novel you were just reading was writing about when it came to the pleasures of the flesh. You remembered what the lady did in the book, and decided to emulate her actions. Although you were slowing down your kisses, your hand found its way to Steve’s clothed hardness. It was nearly peeking out of the sweatpant elastic by now which made you gasp in surprise. 

“God, what did you learn in that book?” Steve moaned as he felt your delicate hand on him. 

“The characters in the story were really good friends too. She was always tempted to be the one who helped him out when he was really stressed out.” You smiled into the kiss, noticing how teasing him only made you wetter. 

You hand gripped his hardness some more, focusing on the large head that could be felt through the fabric.

“Here I thought that was going to be my job tonight,” Steve’s voice was low now as he kissed you down your neck and moved the hand that was previously on your back, to your front. The shorts you were wearing rode up to tighten upon your cunt. The fabric squeezed your clit, and caused your arousal to get all over the place where your thighs met. 

Steve pushed the fabric to the side, noticing how you didn’t wear panties to sleep, and started to lightly massage your clit. “Oh God,” you moaned into his mouth while arching your back. 

The movement made Steve want to lay you down on your back to have easier access between your legs. Although you whimpered in slight disappointment when you didn’t feel the pressure of his thigh, that all went away when the man teased your wet entrance with his fingers before going up to your clit again. 

“No panties, huh? You’re bound to be the death of me.” 

“I normally don’t wear any to bed if I’m wearing shorts,” you whispered, moving yourself to feel his fingers more against your nub. 

“Is it alright if I take these off?” He barely got the question out before you began to nod. 

Looking at you in all your glory was absolutely mind blowing to Steve. He swears that he felt his cock twitch in excitement when he saw your arousal dripping on his sheets. The light from the lamp made you look like you were glowing, and the man was so tempted to taste what he has been craving for so long. But, he took it slow, circling your clit faster and faster as he leaned down to kiss you deeply. As every moan was swallowed by him, Steve began to thrust himself upon the side of your hip to satiate his arousal. 

The moment he stopped kissing you for a moment, he wordlessly looked you in the eye, teasing your entrance now with his fingers. With a nod and smile through bitten lips, you gave him full permission to fill your hole that has been desperately throbbing around nothingness.  

“Feels so good, Stevie. Keep doing that, please,” you groaned as he fingered you deeper and deeper. 

“Are you close, dove? Are you gonna come? You’re so tight, can barely fit these two fingers,” Steve teased as he kissed your neck to make you moan louder. 

“More — need more.” The grip you had on his hair became tighter as you pushed yourself down on his hand, nearly fucking yourself on his fingers. Feeling so stretched out was a brand new experience. You were never one to masturbate, even when everyone mentioned it was so much fun. Everything from seeing a hot guy at the mall, a rockstar who was shirtless on the cover of a magazine, or the angle of a showerhead accidentally focusing on a sweet spot — none of those experiences ever happened in your life. In truth, nothing ever made you curious enough to even try to see if other things would have a similar effect. But something about this night made you want to experience it all with Steve. 

The man quickened his pace with his fingers, using one hand to thrust into you while the other massaged your clit sweetly. Your moans echoed through the room as you arch your back in ecstasy. The feeling of Steve’s lips on your throat made you want to thrust against his hand harder, but you were too overwhelmed to move your hips in tandem. Instead, you lifted up your shirt and started to squeeze your lonely nipples. 

You aren’t sure what took over — all you knew was that everything felt so good. 

“Fuck, you really do have the most perfect tits,” Steve whispered to himself when he got up from your neck. He felt your movements and thought something was wrong. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of your swollen nipples, eager for some sort of touch. When he saw your fingers squeeze your right nipple, he could not handle it anymore and dove down to suck on them, leaving marks on your smooth skin. 

“Steve, everything you’re doing feels so good,” you moaned. 

“Are you gonna come for me, baby? I know you can do it.” 

And you did. Loudly. Just those words, working in tandem with his fingers and mouth, were more than enough to make you orgasm into oblivion. Steve had two fingers inside of you whilst his thumb was massaging your clit in small circles. You barely had the strength to tell him how good it felt since you were shaking below him in pleasure. All you could do was grasp Steve’s hair as he kissed one nipple of yours to the next. It was your very first orgasm, and you were welcoming it with open arms. 

“So nice —” you whimpered incoherently. 

Steve kissed you, swallowing in your moans of ecstasy. “I’m never gonna get tired of that sound,” he teased as he took out his fingers from inside of you and just massaged your clit as you got down from your high. 

“So much better than reading a book,” you giggled as your body calmed down. 

“Maybe we gotta find you crazier books then,” Steve smiled with you while kissing your soft lips. 

The kiss became deeper as you embraced one another. Your friend found his way on top of you which felt so surreal. Throughout your friendship, you never believed that some of your naughty dreams that you pushed to the side, would ever come true. Steve was having the same thoughts; however, he never pushed those dreams to the side. More likely, he would take care of any hard problem that was in between his legs. But, kissing you only made him throb harder. Especially now that he knows what your pussy felt like on his fingertips, 

“Again — I can take more,” you whispered between kisses. 

“Needy girl, you really want to?” Steve asked, making sure this wasn’t a dream for him now. 

“Mhm, yes, what if we slipped it in?” your hand moved down his body and to the waistband of his pants. Without even stretching the fabric, you looked up at him with sweet eyes. “Would it feel good too? Maybe just the tip?” 

Fuck. 

Steve needed to calm himself down. He was already on the verge of cumming in his pants, watching you orgasm on his sheets. Even now, as the remnants of your arousal covered his fingers, he wondered how it would feel against his hardness. But, Steve couldn’t do that to you now. Especially knowing the fact that it would be your first time. However, the lust that clouded your eyes as you pouted up at him, was convincing him slowly. 

The conflict on Steve’s face was so apparent that you whispered: “oh, we don’t need to—”

“Fuck, I want to,” Steve kissed you sweetly. “Are you sure, baby? Sure that you can take it all?”

“Yes, yes, I promise you that I can,” you smiled up at him and then bit your lips out of a mixture of excitement and nervousness. 

You kissed one another again, not being to stand the time your lips were apart from each other’s. As you did so, Steve brought his hands under your sweater to nearly rip it off of you — leaving you beautifully naked on his plaid sheets. His hands were calling to him, telling him that one day he needed to take a picture of you like this. But, there is going to be another time, surely. Right now, he wanted to satiate your body’s cravings. As you stared up at him and squeezed your thighs together, Steve was truly about to combust. 

“It’s kinda cold,” you giggled as you stared down at your hardened nipples. Then, you sat up slightly to meet his lips again, but not without whispering close to his mouth. “Can I take off your clothes too?” 

With those words, Steve helped you take off his tight shirt and sweatpants. You’ve been teasingly touching it throughout tonight’s escapades; however, seeing his hardness in all its glory, stunned you. It was a lot thicker and longer than you initially believed. In truth, there were countless moments where you had gotten a glimpse of his size. Like the times he invited you to his backyard to swim, and he always seemed to choose tighter swim shorts every week. Or the one time he forgot to bring a towel into the shower so you brought one to him, thinking that he was going to keep the shower curtain atop his body for some modesty; however, when you were on your way out the room, he let go of the plastic curtain a bit too early and you saw a definite outline from the side of your eyes. Every single time, no matter how crazy the situation may be, you felt warm all over your body. This time, however, seeing the way it hung and the precum leaking out of it, you were hypnotized to say the least. 

“One sec, dove,” Steve whispered as he saw that you were about to touch it. You looked to see that he bent his body to reach his nightstand and take out a little clear bottle. 

“What is that?” You asked innocently as you began to stroke him while he wasn’t looking. 

“I-it’s — fuck — it’s lube. We could use a little if you wanted to,” Steve said seriously before bringing a hand to your arousal and massaging your clit sweetly. “Not sure if we will need much,” he teased. 

Steve kissed you again, having you lay down on the bed fully. He thrusted his hardness against your pussy a few times, seeing how you reacted to the feeling. You adored it, mewling every time the head of his cock coincided with your clit. In truth, you both could have been doing this for the rest of the night until you two came; however, you were throbbing around nothing and you craved to feel more stretched out than with Steve’s fingers. 

You broke away from the kiss, eyeing the bottle of lube curiously, before Steve grabbed it and put it in your hands to look at closer. There were times you saw a similar bottle in the drug store and noticed they were next to the condoms and pregnancy tests. You saw that there were big bold letters on the front: ‘for her pleasure,’ which confused you slightly. But, you decided to give it a try anyways — it must be something good, you guessed. 

“Let's use a little, Steve.” 

“Yeah, sure. You want me to put it on?” He asked sweetly as he outstretched his hand. 

“N-no, I wanna try something,” you smiled up at him before putting a dollop of the gel in your right hand. “You’re so big, Stevie. You’re gonna stretch me out so good.” 

Your words were hypnotizing the man above you as you circled your hand over his cock and stroked a few times. And to think that he believed that he was to be taking the lead tonight. 

“F-fuck, dove. Your hands are so soft.” Steve’s moans were making you wetter by the second. You felt your heat throb harshly around nothing, before you moved your hips upwards a little and guided his cock into you. 

Just the tip — you said the words before. 

But, fuck, it felt so nice that you both needed so much more. Steve stayed still above you as he watched the way you move your hips to bounce on his cock from below. Inch by inch, you thrusted yourself upon his lube-covered hardness, causing moans to echo through the room as you got stretched out. 

This was so much better than you both could have ever dreamed of. 

“So hard,” you whispered as you got in the last inch and took all of Steve’s cock in. 

“You’re taking me so well, dove. So fucking wet,” he said as he kissed you and let you get used to the large size. 

“Feels nice.”  

“Tell me if you don’t like it,” Steve whispered as he kissed your lips one last time before moving his mouth down your neck and finally thrusting his hips into you. 

Everything seemed to amplify ten-fold. All of the pleasure, moans, tingling, stretching — it all felt so nice. It was if you two were the only people in the world, with the sky changing from a navy blue to a bright orange. Sweet nothings were whispered into the air as you both wanted to give each other the poetic justice you deserved. 

Steve kissed you every time he heard your moans get louder and louder, wanting to taste your ecstasy. He moved back and forth from kissing your lips, to your neck, to your breasts. It all made you grip his hair tightly no matter where he was focusing on your body. 

“Keep going please, Steve. Everything feels so full,” you screamed incoherently.  

“God, you're throbbing around me. I don’t think I can take it.” The man above you was thrusting into you at an increasingly faster pace, missing the feeling of your warm pussy every time he was even an inch out of you. 

“Steve, I wanna feel you cum,” you whispered before grabbing his hair to have him stop sucking on your nipples in order to look at you. 

He adored how needy you were. “Dirty little mouth, Princess.” 

“Need more — need you to go faster.”

“You know I've been dreaming about this moment time and time again. Who knew all it would take is a dirty novel, isn’t that right?” Steve teased as he reached town and pinched your clit playfully. 

“You’ll never regret driving me to the bookstore from now on,” you giggled in between whimpers.

In truth, you didn’t notice the way you were moving yourself upwards to meet his thrusts. It made Steve bite his lip to stop himself from cumming inside of you prematurely.  “Dove, you're taking me so well — fuck — better than I’ve ever imagined,” he moaned. 

“What have you imagined? What were we doing?” you asked it so innocently, stroking his chest as he continued to thrust into you. 

Where did you learn how to do that? — was what he really wanted to ask. Instead, his mind started to blurt out his fantasies. 

“Sometimes I’d have you like this: fucked out and cock drunk in the middle of the night. Other times it would be me bending you over while you’re studying. Always wearing those tiny skirts with the slit.” 

“For you, I wear it for you. I know the yellow skirt is your favourite, isn’t it?” You teased him now. 

You always noticed the way he would ask you pick things up from the floor, mention that your shoes were untied while he was standing behind you, or the way he would always take off a piece of lint from the back of your skirt — even if you had just used a lint roller on it a few moments before. He loved the way the fabric would sway, and you loved the way he looked at you. It made you feel so warm even on the windiest and coldest of days. 

One thing was for certain, it definitely felt like such a tease in comparison to how your heart and body felt right now.  

“You little minx,” Steve moaned as he thrusted into you faster. 

“Do you think I don’t imagine you ripping my skirt into a million pieces every time you stare at me?” the words fell from your lips breathily while Steve’s pace increased more and more. “You’re not so good at recognizing mirrors in front of you when you’re staring at the back of my tiny skirt, huh?”

“God, you like it when I’m being your perv, naughty girl,” Steve stated.

“Makes me feel nice. Just like this.” 

Just then, Steve made sure that his thrusts and massages on your clit were working in tandem with the way your pussy was throbbing on his cock. He could tell with the way you were arching your back more and closing your eyes, that you were bound to orgasm soon. “You’re so beautiful, dove. So beautiful and taking me so well.”  

“Oh my—” your voice sounded so sweet as you looked up at him with desperation in your eyes. 

“That’s it, let it happen,” Steve grunted, making sure to stop himself from cumming so that he could time it with yours.  

“Faster, please,” you nearly screamed now as everything was hitting you in all the perfect spots. 

Steve took that as his sign to move faster: from his hands to his hips. He loved to see the way you were reaching your climax on his cock — an image he would never get out of his mind for the rest of his life. You were squeezing his hardness tighter and tighter, with your moans getting louder in tandem. And so, Steve angled his cock upwards to try and hit your sweetest spot inside of you. 

And he did. 

Good god, he did. 

“That’s it, that’s my dove.” He chanted over and over as you were shaking beneath him, orgasming harder than you did previously. 

“S-Steve, fuck.” You rarely swear, but to know that he was the one to cause this little word to fall from lips with such grace — it was the final straw for Steve. 

He began to cum inside of you, your pussy milking him with each thrust. All of his arousal was filling you up to the point where it started to spill out and glisten all over your thighs. “So tight,” he whimpered above you. 

For a few moments, you both came down from your highs. With a few thrusts and kisses, you allowed your bodies and heart rates to calm down as one. It was beautiful and so bewitching to experience it all. You weren’t so sure what it would be like now. Being friends for so long meant that you both knew so much about each other. However, now, you two seemed to see a lot of each other too. There was no turning back to what it was before. Not after everything felt so good in this way. 

You both looked into each other’s eyes before kissing sweetly, enveloping each other in one last kiss before breaking apart under the morning sun’s rays. 

“You are so beautiful,” Steve whispered as he moved to lay next to you. 

“So are you,” you smiled while cuddling close to him. 

“Are you alright?” He asked sweetly, kissing your forehead in the process. 

“Yeah, I guess I feel a little sore,” you giggled as you moved your head upwards to feel your lips on his again. 

Steve gasped into the kiss, breaking it apart to get some tissues from his nightstand. “Do you need a bath, some water, or food?” He asked whilst wiping the remnants of his climax away on your thighs. 

“I’m fine, Steve, I promise.” You smiled as he looked at you with the biggest hazel gaze. 

Truthfully, you looked like a goddess glowing next to him with the dawn reflecting on your skin. He wasn’t sure if there were enough words in any dictionary to describe your beauty. Maybe not even from the book you were reading before bed. “How about you sleep for a bit and then when you wake up, I’ll have all your favourite breakfast foods on the kitchen table?” The offer was so tempting coming from Steve’s lips. 

“Hmm, what if I want to help you?” You giggled. You weren’t sure if you wanted to be separate from him for too long. The place in between your thighs was begging for his touch again. “There is a scene in that book where the prince and the lady were eating breakfast and then—”

You stopped speaking when you saw Steve reach behind him to find the novel on his nightstand, before flipping pages in the book to see what you were talking about. “Maybe you should read this story to me another day and I can help you every time you get really excited during a scene,” he winked. 

“Another day?” 

“Yes, for now, we could get started on writing the beginning of our newest story, dove. If you would like to, of course.” Steve whispered the words as he hovered his lips above yours, teasing you with each breath that tickled your skin. 

“I’d really, really love that,” you smiled up at him, bringing your arms around his neck in the process. 

If one thing was for certain after tonight: both of you found comfort and love in each other’s arms — and later on in a few different sections of the book store too. 

-:-:-:-:-

[emo-batboy]

Things Battinson Totally Did During His First Year of University

Using Unhinged or Odd Things I Also Did as a College Freshman :D

Note: for this list, let’s believe Bruce was living in an (admittedly expensive and swanky) dorm because it is required for first-years, especially those entering at a young age, and Alfred told him he needed to make friends. Also yes I did every single thing on this list. I never claimed to be a role model

Bruce, to his TA: I’m so sorry I’m late to class. I gave blood a few hours ago and almost fainted on the way here, but it won’t happen again.

Signs up for a class called “Age of Dinosaurs” despite it not being required whatsoever and proceeds to work his entire schedule around it

Bruce: Your mental health is super important. If you think you should see the on-campus therapist, go see them. Friend: Fine. I’ll sign up for therapy if you sign up for therapy too. Bruce: Hold on-

Finds a loophole in his housing contract that allows him to get a pet frog, calls him kermit :)

Gets a second frog because Kermit was lonely, names it Constantine after Muppets Most Wanted, then realizes that they’re gay for each other. Wonders if the rainbow-colored rocks he got them triggered anything

Swings dramatically between calling Alfred every single day and ghosting him for weeks, cries when he realizes what he did

“Accidentally” joins the student body council, doesn’t know what he’s doing, gets re-elected anyway

Molds a dragon out of Laffy Taffy instead of doing his work

Bruce: *joins Honors, gets all A’s, takes the max amount of classes, has several minors, overachieves* Also Bruce: I’m a failure.

Breaks into a building after hours to study because NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AT THE LIBRARY

Bruce: I will not get seasonal depression this year. Bruce: *gets real and seasonal depression that year*

Meticulously schedules his day with a color-coded planner because if he sits down for too long, the thoughts will consume him

Gives a presentation to his rhetoric class on how much he likes Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (it is 20 minutes long)

Successfully allocates funding from the student body council to pay for free feminine products in the dorms OUT OF SPITE because someone said it couldn't be done. fuck you, Andrew

Bruce: It is not an all-nighter if I go to sleep before my first class. Friend: It is 7:30am, the sun is in the sky, and your first class is at 12:30. Bruce: But I am getting sleep.

Refuses to go anywhere without his backpack because what if he needs three notebooks at once

Loses over 20 pounds because ✨stress✨ and scares the shit out of Alfred when he comes home for Thanksgiving

Argues with his TA over the one (1) question he got wrong on his Dinosaur exam

Bruce, calling Alfred: Hello father figure. How do I do taxes? Do I have to do them myself? Also, I think I’m having a panic attack.

Joins in on a charity arts-and-crafts project that gives kids books with matching activities made by volunteers, proceeds to commandeer the project because “it’s not color-blind friendly” and rewrites the instructions for everyone

Makes a murder wall

Goes to one (1) sports game and proceeds to leave in the first ten minutes because it’s way too loud wtf is wrong with people

Professor, addressing the lecture hall: I dare you to write an essay about these two sentences. Bruce: *writes an essay about six words, gets a 100, never even read the book*

Crawls into the ceiling for some alone time

Ghosts someone after a date because he’s too scared to tell them he didn’t know it was a date in the first place and now he feels bad

Classmate: How tf does he walk across campus that fast? I go in the same direction he does on my bike, and he’s always ahead of me. Bruce: *is gay sprinting to Dinosaur class*

Refuses to let others use his Favorite Pen TM

Constantly gets mistaken for a Grad Student because he is “so wise and mature” (bestie, that’s the autism)

Alfred: *casually mentions he got into a car accident through text* Bruce: *replies with a meme while hyperventilating because he doesn’t know what to do with that information??!*

Wears a suit to one of his finals

Regularly eats non-organic food for the first time in his life, proceeds to learn about several allergies Alfred forgot to mention he has

Writes “What is a Hot Pocket?” in calligraphy and proceeds to laugh his ass off alone in his dorm because he is so exhausted he’s reached the point of delusion

Locks himself out of his dorm right before class, frantically asks the floor group chat if someone can help, proceeds to tell the nice gay man on the floor who saved him “I love you” because his social skills have hit rock bottom

Makes a little music album display next to his desk for his favorite band (Nirvana) His friends call it a shrine, and they are technically correct

Has a blacklist of people he refuses to interact with because Reasons

Counselor: What do you want to do when you graduate? Bruce: *gestures vaguely*

Refuses to take the bus because there are people in there and he doesn’t like those

Loses one of his frogs, how tf did he do that, they’re fully aquatic, oh fuck, this is probably why they got rid of that loophole a year later because unbeknownst to Bruce, he accidentally started a frog revolution in the dorms, btw he SWEARS he did not mean to do that

Has two trash cans in his room: one for the Good Garbage, and one for the Bad Garbage. Only Bruce knows which is which

Bruce: *writes a creative piece about a ship’s final thoughts as it sinks, bringing its passengers down with it* TA: Absolutely lovely, Bruce, but are you okay?

Goes on Night Walks, keeps himself safe by maintaining a level 12 resting bitch face at all times

Earns the nickname “8th floor cryptid” after pacing the halls at 3am when it’s too cold for Night Walks (honestly tho how tf didn’t he get the nickname earlier?)

Bruce: Do you think a depressed person could do this? Bruce: *has a manic episode*

Okay that's all love you BYE

[sorryimananti-romantic]

The Leaders | Chapter IX

"maybe a place where light and darkness meet, the choice between truth and lies is mine."

masterlist

ot8!ateez x f!reader, mafia au

chapter warnings: drinking, smoking, illegal businesses, mentions of war/military, drugs, gangs and corruption, impending doom arrives, first date with wooyo, lots of tension, smut mdni!! (fingering, oral f! receiving, p in v and all the good stuff).

chapter wc: 14.5k

chapter synopsis: with the illegal shipment and resultantly, the crescents under investigation, you are all on the move. despite the stressful and tense atmosphere, you manage a successful first date with wooyoung. jaebeom confirms that madame tiffany is involved with the elites and you confront hongjoong and seonghwa who remind you that the crescents are a power to be reckoned with. you learn the identity of the last anonymous funder but it threatens the weapons channel and the crescents gather to strategise. the night ends on an intimate note with yunho.

prev chapter recap: jaemin informs you that the sirens have turned on president lee because of his involvement with the hala official, major sung, who you learn from seonghwa is the pseudo-governor of strictland. you can’t shake off the feeling that president lee might be involved with the elites. you go to the bar to confess to yeosang and he talks in detail about what being in a relationship with the boys entails. you understand and agree, finally sharing a kiss with him. the boys gather at the bar to congratulate you for officially becoming a leader, and you take the opportunity to tell them that you would like to be their partner as well. they welcome you and afterwards, you steal a romantic moment with yunho who tells you that there is trouble at the port. someone tipped the navy and they made the crescent’s illegal shipment of black shadow come back, which is odd because in doing so, the navy bends some international waters laws. you have a romantic moment with seonghwa before you go with his guard yuta, and jaemin to meet up with mingi to hide all the crescent’s illegal documents. you learn that mingi, san and jongho were in the same platoon as you during the war though you don’t recognise each other.

Things had never been busier at the Crescent Company– at least not in the past couple of years since you became an employee of the business empire.

The office was, of course, the one that took the brunt of it. With the navy’s tip about the Crescent’s illegal trading now becoming a full-fledged case in the Edenary Station, which just so happened to be the biggest police station in Eden, a follow-up investigation was being carried out. You had to deal with a lot of investors wanting to opt out, inquiring about their safety when they were wholly aware that the Crescent Company was never a very moral and legal business to begin with. You were getting tired of convincing the investors that this tip wasn’t something that could shut the business down when its foundations were still strong.

For how long, they wondered? That question nagged at your brain too. Technically, an illegal trading caught would only result in a trade ban with the concerned country, or worse, a total trade ban for a few years. If you were right, from what you had learned about the Crescents so far, they always had a second plan and a third in case things went south. You and everyone at the Crescent Office were aware of this, yet it hardly did anything to quell the chaos. 

The Crescent Bar was as active as before, though with an influx of new customers hoping to get a whiff of what the Crescent’s future looked like. The warehouse, however, put a halt to most of its illegal production and was sticking with the legal and licensed business in case of a raid by the police. With the production slowing, the trading with Utopia was ultimately going to get affected– if the Crescents couldn’t export the promised amount of weapons parts, they wouldn’t get their share of Black Shadow, which would generate loss at the Bar too.

Hongjoong made sure to assure you that things like these happened all the time, though it couldn’t be denied that the severity this time was perhaps greater. However, every business had to deal with losses. The important thing was to be able to recover from that, stand back up and keep functioning like normal. He was anxious, which was a given, but he was also navigating this catastrophe with an objectivity and a level-headedness that you were starting to admire. 

It had been a good few days since you went to hide the official documents with Mingi. You were on standby at the office while Hongjoong and Seonghwa went out for a meeting with one of the RV spies– for some reason, the RV spies weren’t ready to meet you. Or maybe, the boys did not want you to meet any of the RV spies considering the thing about these spies actively protecting you. 

Yunho and Yeosang had been the only ones to tell you about the spies’ role in your life,  insisting that you did not need to worry about them but you couldn’t help but wonder– who were they? How closely were they watching you? And if they were watching you closely, why did they not protect you the uncountable times you were in danger?

Or had they protected you without your knowledge? They were spies and assassins for a reason– you wouldn’t know if they were watching you right now. Whatever their reasons to protect you were, you couldn’t help but feel exposed. No matter how much you tried to hide or live in the shadows, you were always under observation, and no matter how much you pondered, you couldn’t come up with a reason strong enough to justify your circumstances. 

You could finally understand why Hongjoong was adamant at bringing you out of the shadows. Now that you were in the light, things were slowly and certainly coming to a clarity and you could not wait to see the whole picture, even though the prospect of it sounded downright scary.

The silence in Hongjoong’s office room filled with the loud bell of the phone and you picked the receiver with your usual greeting, physically relaxing when Jaehyun’s voice greeted you instead of one of the investors.

“How have you been?” You asked, leaning against the table. “What’s the news?”

“All good. The news, well… we divided and conquered, Ten and I,” Jaehyun said and you hummed in response. “Our image does not look good, that’s a given.”

“Yeah, you can imagine how chaotic it’s been in the office,” you said.

“The partners and investors are jumpy, yes, but I don’t think this is the right time to pull out. They won’t, rest assured. However, they’ll try to find openings and try to target the business itself.”

“Ah…” you recalled Yunho talking about something like that a few days ago. “That makes sense. Strike while the iron is hot.”

“Exactly,” Jaehyun said. “I’ve got some interesting proposals, though. General Wi is willing to help us in any way that he can, which is… odd but understandable. He’s just trying to secure someone who will have his back at the time of the elections.”

“And he’s worried that his secrets might get leaked,” you added. “Does he have any ideas?”

“He’s looking into the source. We unfortunately could not find that out.”

You paused for a few moments, absently playing with the cord of the phone, before answering, “Yeah, that’s okay. If it was this easy to find out, they wouldn’t have attempted this. Anything else?”

“Yeah, there’s one thing and it might be of importance,” Jaehyun began and you urged him to continue. He took a deep breath, “Inspector Gong is looking into you– your background, specifically.”

“Inspector Gong?” You frowned, straightening. “Why?”

“I thought you’d know?” Jaehyun asked. “Maybe because you’re a Crescent now? I mean, he’s aware of our history, but not yours. And it’s probably nothing, but I just thought you should know in case it is something.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” you sighed. “Actually, can you do me another favour and find out when exactly Inspector Gong was demoted to Sector 1?”

“Oh, I can tell you that,” Jaehyun said. “Some time after President Han got assassinated. I remember because he was one of the few detectives hell bent on investigating officially, because a public assassination happened under his jurisdiction.”

“Did he ever get to the end of the case?”

“He was demoted because the higher-ups wanted to close the case. President Lee apparently had his own private team because he couldn’t trust the police force with this. It was a hot topic back in those days.”

“That would be right after I came to Sector 1 too…”

For a few moments, you both had the receiver in your hands, listening to the static as you processed this information. It was Jaehyun who finally broke the silence and asked, “Do you think you’ve encountered him while you were in Edenary? Before or after your stay in Wonderland?”

“I might have. A very high possibility. I’m not sure if he remembers me, because I don’t,” you admitted. “Why would he look into me, though? And why now?”

“Strike while the iron is hot?” Jaehyun repeated. “He might be doing this to target us. He’s been after us for a long time.”

“Yeah, well, I hope he finds something,” you scoffed. “I’d love to know what secrets I might be hiding.”

Jaehyun laughed, aware of your situation and your involvement with the business. “I think I should look into you too. We might find something of importance.”

“Ha, ha, sure,” you shook your head. A knock sounded at the door and Seonghwa entered, settling on the couch when he noticed you were on call. “Okay, I’ve got to go now. Thank you for the update, Jaehyun. And do look into me– specifically with Secretary Park’s connection. Let me know if you find something new.”

“Sure thing,” Jaehyun said, hanging up. You exhaled deeply and turned in your chair to look at Seonghwa who was stretching while trying his hardest to stifle a yawn. You were getting used to seeing that sight now.

“Was that Jaehyun?” Seonghwa asked.

“Yeah. He didn’t find the source, but Inspector Gong is looking into me these days.”

“I had a feeling he would when you went to see him with Hongjoong,” Seonghwa tsk-ed. “Anything else?”

“Nothing. How did the meeting go?”

“Awful,” Seonghwa smiled in defeat. “They don’t know who the source is either– or they’re lying. It was cryptic but I think if they knew, they would have been gloating about it.”

“A person capable of putting the RV spies off their scent…” You thought out loud. “We’ve had quite a few of those happenings recently. Makes me wonder if the RV spies are all that good.”

“Oh, they are, trust me,” Seonghwa raised his brows for emphasis and you shrugged, not fully convinced. “But you’re right. They might be losing their touch– Hongjoong was sure to let them know. You can imagine what happened next.”

You curbed a smile at the prospect of Hongjoong talking back to the group of assassins but you would expect nothing less from him. A thought gnawed at you. “The RV spies don’t know about the anonymous weapons funder’s identity, right? Do you think that person could be the one who tipped the navy?”

Seonghwa folded his arms in thought. “Whoever did this… their goal must be to cause damage to our business, right? I think the funder would have been better off exposing our weapons channel, because there would be no coming back from that. Someone has a bigger problem with us– at least, I think so. The timing of this… someone must be aware of our new deal and is trying to sabotage it.”

That made sense. You nodded slowly. “A mole?”

A topic everyone was avoiding talking out loud about, yet was being investigated cautiously. Seonghwa glanced at you, silently nodding. 

You got up and went to sit beside him on the couch, your thighs brushing against each other. You poured him a drink and he accepted it, downing it in one gulp. 

“Have you ever had a mole before?”

“A few, yes,” Seonghwa admitted. “I can’t help but wonder if it’s someone from the inner circle– someone we personally know. Usually, it’s someone new or a person with very strong opinions.”

“Which is why the RV spies may not know who the source is,” you concluded. “Because it might be an insider job.”

Seonghwa nodded grimly and you decided to change the topic, taking his hand and squeezing it in hopes of comforting him. “How have you been?”

Seonghwa’s lips curled into a smile and he shifted to pull one leg over the couch, giving you his full attention. “I’m okay. How have you been?”

You suppressed a giggle at the way he searched your eyes. “I’ve been well, thank you for asking, Mr. Park.”

“Would you like to go for dinner tomorrow night?” Seonghwa asked, pressing a kiss on your knuckles.

“You’re just a few hours too late,” you let out a wistful sigh. “Wooyoung’s booked me for tomorrow night.”

“Can’t I join?” He pleaded and you raised a brow, knowing he very well could. Seonghwa shrugged. “He wants you all to himself, a little one-on-one with you. He’s never had that, right?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “I’m not too worried. He knows how to get me talking and I’m really comfortable with him.”

“That’s good,” Seonghwa smiled, taking a deep breath and looking down. “You know, I’ve been wanting to take you out on dates too. I want to be a proper gentleman. Bring you your favourite flowers, take you out on walks. All I seem to do is give you more burden.” 

“That’s work,” you corrected. “That’s what we do. And it’s not like I’ve been doing this alone– we’re all in this together.”

Seonghwa sighed deeply, “I suppose you are right.”

You understood where he was coming from. “Even if we’re stuck up in this office room worried about and preparing for the worst case scenarios, you’ve still been a gentleman. You bring me chocolates from the reception, a flower from the pot outside–”

“I can do better than that,” Seonghwa interrupted with a laugh. “I just haven’t had the chance.”

“I know,” you nodded. “But I want you to know that you don’t have to feel obliged to do that. You probably want to go out of your way because we– we’re new, right? I don’t see you doing that with the rest of your… lovers. With the boys.”

“That’s because with them, it’s been a long time– and I do that with them too, just in private,” he confirmed and stifled a grin at the twinkle in your eyes. “You can’t stop me from doing that. It isn’t because what we have is new, it’s because I want to. I want to treat you better because I know I can do better than this.”

You supposed that it made sense. “Alright, you can bring me an actual bouquet of flowers and treat me to a dinner date when we have time. So far, our dates have mostly happened in the office, huh?” You pondered. “I think we might be past the stage of wooing each other…”

“I haven’t tried wooing you properly yet, though,” Seonghwa leaned in to whisper in your ear, making heat creep up your cheeks. “There’s only so much you can do in the office room.”

You shook your head. “You and Yunho… it’s the proximity getting to your heads, isn’t it?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Seonghwa feigned innocence, earning a smack to his chest. “What did he do?”

“He’s just…” you brought your knees up, unable to meet his gaze as you recalled all the times Yunho got romantic in the office. “So full of energy.”

Seonghwa laughed loudly. “He is. I get worried if I see him tired.”

You turned to Seonghwa, your eyes brimming with curiosity. It had been a while since you got to talk to him about such mundane stuff, anything that was not work and business. Seonghwa leaned in to share a sweet kiss before straightening.

“Ask away. I know you must have a lot of questions.”

You inhaled deeply, wondering how to make sense of the tangle of questions that you were harbouring in your head for days now. Seonghwa rubbed your hand assuringly and waited until you were able to form the words. 

“How is it like having so many partners, Seonghwa? I mean… how does it work between you guys? It looks like you hardly have time for each other– especially these days.”

Seonghwa smiled knowingly. He knew this question was long coming and he was glad that you were opening up and asking him– perhaps, hearing the answers would make you feel more at ease. He wanted to clear your confusions away as best as he could.

“It’s… great to have people I can depend on. People who have my back and who I can trust blindly,” he began and you smiled. It was truly a blessing to have utmost faith in someone, knowing you would never get hurt by them.

“After the war, we found each other over a period of time. I think some of us like San, Mingi and Jongho knew that we could never find a home except with each other. We all gladly accepted each other– as brothers and partners at first. As a family. We rebuilt Eden, starting from Sector 5 which took the worst of the war.”

“Because of the Eight Hills– it borders Strictland and Halaland,” you recalled hearing news about Sector 5 long after the war was over and he hummed in confirmation. 

“It was a tough time, I’ll admit, and we naturally found a safe haven with each other. There was no judgement, no jealousy, no restrictions. We were one and we were each other’s, yet free. It wasn’t until we became a gang in ‘64 when we finally talked about it and realised that we would always want to be with each other.”

“That… sounds beautiful, actually,” you whispered, in awe. “Was there really never a fight or some drama?”

“Not really. Someone would complain if they thought they weren’t getting enough attention from someone else, but that’s about it. We all lived together so it wasn’t a big deal at all. We only got separate housing a couple years ago.”

“Can I ask why?” 

Seonghwa chuckled. “It’s hard to live with 7 men and take care of them all at once. It was a unanimous decision.”

“And… how did you pick your housemates?” You asked, intrigued.

Seonghwa stifled a grin. “How do you think?”

“Don’t tell me it was a random pick,” you narrowed your eyes but when he pursed his lips in guilty admission, you shook your head in disbelief. “I figured– you all make the most unbelievable bets when you’re drinking,” you commented. “Can I ask another thing?”

“Sure,” Seonghwa looked at you with curiosity. “Don’t hold back. Transparency is appreciated here, Luna.”

“Are the sparks still there? After all this time?”

It was such a candid question that Seonghwa found himself smiling, moving his hand to cup your face and caress your cheekbone, his heart bursting with affection at how your eyes were just a little wide as you anticipated his answer, looking like you were holding your breath.

“Sounds like an important question, eh? Have you ever been in a relationship, Luna?”

“Tried and failed. Very casual, but it’s been a while,” you told him and he nodded.

“Did you feel sparks?” He asked and you raised your brows at his counter-question, but you felt at ease– there was no mockery in his tone.

“I think? You have to feel something in order to be with someone, right?” 

“I suppose that’s true,” Seonghwa rested his head against the couch, tired. “When you are with the right person, or people, Luna… there are no sparks. Sparks are meant to be exciting but eventually, they die out. It’s what is left after the initial sparks that makes all the difference. For me, personally… it feels like I’m floating freely among the clouds when I’m with them. Untrapped and unbound. That is what love feels like for me.”

His answer made perfect sense. Sparks were only an indicator of a beginning of something– what really mattered was what was left after the smoke cleared. 

You scooted closer and rested your head on his arm while he shut his eyes to rest them. 

Unguarded, vulnerable and exposed, yet… radiating with warmth and gentleness.

You truly were the luckiest if the mafia underboss let you see these sides of him.

There were times when you wondered if you should have never come back to Eden.

After all, would it have been so bad if you forgot about your past, your family and moved on? Was Wonderland not good to you?

Living in the mansion at the outskirts of the Capital, surrounded by expanses of lavender fields, learning about world history, politics and business with Madame Cha, and occasionally practising self defense of shooting with one of her boys– it wasn’t a bad life at all. You were looked after. Madame Cha cared for you as if you were really her niece, and you cared for her as an aunt.

And her boys– Jaebeom and his gang– they would always bring something for you whenever they came around. A flower from the field, an odd scarf that stood out to them in the marketplace, a dagger (which would immediately be confiscated by the Madame) or a ruffle to the hair, a kiss to the top of the head. You were their little sister. Their friend. 

So, would it have been selfish of you to want to continue living with Madame Cha? She sometimes joked about how she would like to pass her establishment to you– she did not have any family of her own and she claimed that her blood relatives were all ‘vultures’. She pretty much ran her trade business with Jaebeom and often mentioned that if you agreed to cut ties with your father, she would take you in as her own. Of course, it took a while before she warmed up to you, and she was awfully suspicious of you when you first arrived.

So, after spending three years in Wonderland when you decided to go back to Eden for good, she wasn’t surprised. She said that she always found you staring at the horizon with a wistful look on your face, looking as if you were wondering what could have been and what could be. She asked you something that would stay with you like a weight on your shoulder–

If you had really cut ties with your father, what was really calling you back to Eden?

At that time, you had no answer to that. When Jinyoung, the second-in-charge of the gang heard, he wondered if you were finally going to look for your birth mother. You told him that according to your father, she was dead and no good would come out of learning about her, but Jinyoung said that if she really was dead, your father should have no reason to hide her identity from you.

And that got you wondering if it really was true. Upon arriving back to Eden, you tried snooping around to find something, anything, but it was always a dead end. Even your half-brother Sunghoon did not know your mother’s identity. So that left your father–

And your father announced himself as your enemy as soon as you joined Kihyun’s company, a partner to the Crescent Company.

You initially speculated that it was Kihyun your father had a problem with. After all, he protected you far too many times from your father. But when you learned that your father still often met up with Kihyun regarding pharmaceutical-related dealings and that the MX Pharmaceuticals also distributed Park Pharma’s products, you started to wonder if your father simply hated you. 

And it was perhaps true, but there was also another answer– your father had a problem with the Crescent Company, and it wouldn’t have been obvious if you had no knowledge about silver light, because it changed a lot of things.

The Crescents would be rivals of not only the pharmaceutical businesses but basically every high-profile man who consumed silver light as a drug, or every person of power to whom the drug was merely a currency to exploit this world’s resources. You could not even fathom out just how extensive their network was. Could an organisation like Ateez really expose their propaganda and stop the exploitation of silver light as a pleasure drug or currency?

If that network had lasted so long without the name of silver light coming out of the mouth of a common man, you were pretty sure that it would be extremely challenging, even with Madame Tiffany’s partnership– and you couldn’t shake off the feeling that Madame Tiffany was going to be the source of the Crescents’ demise rather than salvation…

“I go to make tea for you and you look like you’re drafting a plan to take over the world,” Wooyoung scoffed, having proven himself true when he said that you were distracted the whole evening.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I saw you staring at the tea leaves for a solid two minutes before you moved,” you countered and he smiled guiltily, settling down next to you and bringing you in for a kiss to your temple before he handed you the cup.

“Now, what’s got my girl all bothered?”

Your response stopped midway when you heard the jingle of the keys and in came Hongjoong and Jongho, discussing something in a low voice and taking off their shoes in the foyer. Their eyes lit up at the sight of you–

But you were busy shaking off your initial surprise. Of course they could come here. This was their house. 

You just didn’t expect them to come back so early, and it seemed like Wooyoung didn’t as well because he let out a frustrated ‘you’re interrupting my date!’, which led to Hongjoong rolling his eyes and Jongho threatening to throw him out, the air filling with friendly squabble as they all settled down in the living room.

The date had truly not been without distractions and interruptions, but considering the circumstances, you would say that it went pretty well. You took the evening off and went to your apartment to get ready, borrowing a cap-sleeved black dress from Wendy who was simply pleased that you were going out with someone, no matter who it was. You promised to tell her who it was some other time but she was pretty sure it was one of the Crescents from the office. You let her believe that and she styled your hair with a jade pin, adding a deep brown fur coat on you as a finishing touch.

Wooyoung came to pick you up, an absolute gentleman to the bone who kissed your knuckles in greeting and opened the door of his car for you. You had dinner at one of the fancy restaurants in the food street of Sector 1– a lavish dinner that reminded you of what you used to eat back home in Edenary. 

Wooyoung was talkative and kept you engaged in conversation, but the two of you were consciously trying to avoid discussing work. You talked about your likes and dislikes, about your past and your relationships, and unsurprisingly, you found a lot in common with him. You both were the type to speak your mind about things so the conversation flowed naturally, drifting from preferences to some stories of your pasts.

But you could tell that the recent happenings were weighing Wooyoung down, even though he did his best to make sure that you were comfortable and having a good time. With a gentle squeeze to his hand as you took a walk in his area, you told him that if he would like, he could talk to you about anything that weighed on his mind. He invited you for tea and here you were, joined by his housemates.

“How was your first date?” Jongho asked, wiggling his brows teasingly and your eyes darted over to Hongjoong who was sitting comfortably on the sofa in front of you, an eyebrow slightly raised indicating his anticipation to hear your answer.

“Well,” you glanced at Wooyoung who was eagerly awaiting your answer. “Let’s just say you all have some competition now. The bar has been set.”

Wooyoung clapped loudly while Hongjoong snickered under his breath, clearly amused. “See? I told you I would set her standards high. Good luck crossing the bar, folks.”

“I’m happy to hear you had a good time,” Hongjoong looked at you earnestly and watched your smile drop. He shook his head and added, “You needed that. It’s not good to be so stressed all the time, and I heard that our little secretary has been zoning out at work a lot.”

Your lips formed into a pout as you folded your arms. “I can’t help it. We tried hard not to get distracted by the work stress during our dinner too, but… decided to give in and just talk at home, with some tea.”

“You guys want some?” Wooyoung asked and when the two nodded, he muttered something about how he brewed extra just in case and in no time, you were all in a deep discussion of the recent updates.

The situation was nowhere near dying down hence the pressure looming over everyone’s head. With the illegal trades put on hold entirely while the Edenary Station investigated the case in collaboration with the prosecution, Hongjoong was worried if Madame Tiffany was going to retract from their recent deal and if rumours about the Crescents’ possession of silver light were going to get rampant.

“They could easily charge us on the basis of illegal drug trade and confiscate all our possession of silver light if it comes to that,” Hongjoong explained. “That’s the worst case scenario but I’m preparing to make it look like our hands are clean. They can charge us but they will never find the evidence that we possess the drug.”

“We’re going to have to contact some underworld dealers in that case,” Jongho clarified. “For now, we’re just hoping we can get away with a heavy fine and they do not dig further.”

You nodded along. “No idea about the source of the tip?”

Hongjoong shook his head grimly. His knuckles almost whitened as he clenched his fists, clearly agitated. You looked towards Wooyoung who was already staring at the boss’s hands, no stranger to his mannerism.

“We’ll get to that,” he assured with a smile in an attempt to lighten the mood again. “I’m getting my boys to sniff around. They’re like hounds so we’ll know in no time.”

“I don’t think it is that simple this time,” Hongjoong admitted, making both Jongho and Wooyoung shift uncomfortably in their seats. Perhaps, this was the first time their leader expressed his opinion about the matter. 

Hongjoong glanced over at his capos and then at you. “Something tells me that this is the beginning of the end.”

You frowned. “The end of what?”

“The end of our attempt to present ourselves as something we are not– a legal, respectable business organisation,” Hongjoong said, straightening his shirt and leaning forward, meeting eyes with the youngests. “I’m coming back from hearing whispers in the wind– someone is trying their damned best to bring Ateez out of the shadows.”

“If they want us back that bad, they can have us,” Wooyoung started. “We can call ourselves the Crescents as much as we want, but we will always be Ateez. A gang.”

“I hope they are just whispers,” you said, your own voice sounding unconvincing and Hongjoong caught that. 

“I hope so too,” he said earnestly, and something told you that he knew about how you would be getting a confirmation soon. You gulped uneasily, checking your wrist for the time.

“Don’t let that keep you up at night, Captain,” Jongho said, getting up and clapping, breaking the tension in the room. “Everyone knows who we are, and this isn’t the first time someone has attempted to trigger us. Once we find the source, everything will fall into place. Business will get running.”

“He’s right,” Wooyoung nodded. “If they want us back so badly, I’m happy to go back to my old ways. It gets tiring to act like a refined gentleman when I’m anything but.”

Jongho laughed mockingly and you frowned at him. What he said next had you covering your mouth.

“You’ve never been a refined gentleman.”

Wooyoung put his hands over his hips, challenging Jongho while Hongjoong got up, sliding between them and joining you in a corner before they started squaring up, finding you thoroughly amused by the scene in front of you.

“I don’t know what I expected when I joined the inner circle, but this…” you watched Wooyoung patting Jongho’s arm aggressively, pleading for him to stop between laughs while the younger had him in a chokehold. “This was certainly not it.”

“They’re still young boys at heart,” Hongjoong smiled rather proudly. “I wish I can protect their spirits forever.”

You glanced over at Hongjoong, curiosity piqued. 

“And what about you?”

Hongjoong’s lips curled in a surprised smile but the only response he gave was a subtle nod– perhaps, a gesture of gratitude that you thought about him at this moment. He clapped loudly and immediately, the boys straightened.

“Take your date home, Wooyoung. You and I have places to go in the early morning.”

“Yessir,” Wooyoung straightened his clothes and beckoned you to follow him outside and you exited the house, joking about what happened moments ago.

It was during the short car ride that Wooyoung took a deep breath and said, “Thank you for today, Luna. I really needed a breather.”

“So did I,” you smiled, playing with the straps of your purse. “It was a wonderful first date, Wooyoung.”

Wooyoung grinned. “Had to do our new member some justice. The hyungs keep you holed up in their office, though…” He stole a glance, shaking his head in amusement. “I’m sure you like that too.”

“Hey,” you smacked his arm, no longer shy. “I spent almost two years at the bar too.”

“But Yeosang did not really realise how much he liked you until you left the bar,” Wooyoung shared. “I knew he liked you, though. I told him that he should make a move, but he was wary of you. Makes sense now.”

“Wary of me?” 

“Imagine if he started dating you and found out who you are much later. I’m not sure he would have liked that– he doesn't like secrets,” Wooyoung said, stopping the car when he reached your street.

“Noted,” you shrugged. “I’m not sure I would have accepted at that time either. I had secrets to protect, after all.”

“And are there more secrets you’re keeping, Luna?” 

Wooyoung’s eyes always seemed sharp, however, there was a certain glint to them as he asked that question, almost of a protective nature. If it would have been anyone else, you might have been a bit offended, but since this was Wooyoung, a fierce protector of his group, you did not mind the apprehension in his eyes one bit.

So you slid your hand over his and squeezed it in assurance. “Nothing of importance. I’m a pretty open book now. Especially with Seonghwa and Yunho– I don’t know how they do it, but I find myself speaking my mind and baring my soul when I’m with them.”

The corner of Wooyoung’s lips tugged in a small smile. “I’m glad to hear that.”

You smiled back and he kissed the back of your hand, the tension breaking as you both broke into laughter. He got out of the car first and opened the door for you, spreading his arms and bringing you in for a nice, warm hug. 

“Don’t stress too much about what’s happened, sweetheart,” he said as he swayed you back and forth in the hug. You squeezed the material of his coat in response. “Things like these happen all the time. It’s just that people forget that we made our way up all the way from rock bottom.”

“And rock bottom never scared you,” you finished and he pulled away with a proud smile. 

“That’s right,” he cupped your face. “I sure hope things get better, but if they don’t, we’ll be okay.”

“I have faith in that,” you said and he kissed the top of your head in farewell.

However… faith can only get you so far, for things get worse before they get better. Just like the cold winds in Sector 1 shifting to an icy breeze with the telltale signs that it had snowed in the mountains, the Crescents’ fate took a darker turn when Jaebeom arrived at the Crescent Office bearing news of confirmation. 

You welcomed Jaebeom into Yunho’s office with a heavy heart, and it did not help that he was struggling to smile. Your stomach twisted in knots, hand almost shaking as you poured fresh tea for the man.

As Jaebeom spoke, the walls of Yunho’s office room felt like they were closing in on you, suffocating you as if you were trapped in a small space. You listened to his every word carefully, nodding along and when he apologised for not bringing good news, you told him that it was something you already expected– it was as if deep down, you knew that a storm was coming.

Only you didn’t realise the storm would be in the form of a typhoon, threatening to shake the ground from underneath your feet. Jaebeom got up to leave and patted your head, sharing your sentiments and telling you that he would be in contact for further updates, and that if the Crescents ever needed a helping hand, Jaebeom’s gang along with Madame Cha were at their service. 

That did nothing to quell the unease in your heart. After being left alone, you slumped down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, wishing the sky would burst open and take you away from this dark, wretched world. There were no tears left to cry– with each passing second, you mustered up the little fragments of strength that threatened to leave your body. With each passing minute, you straightened up as you let the information and its implications sink in.

And with each passing hour, you waited. Waited for the underboss to arrive so that you could deliver the news to him. 

Strangely, it made you recall that night when you risked everything to obey Yeosang’s orders and get the contents of his locker safely out of the Crescent Bar, when you were under attack. Except… 

There was nowhere to escape now. No gambles to make, no tables to turn.

It must have been around midnight when the boss and his underboss arrived at the Crescent Office to store some documents and get some ledgers before moving to their house to get some rest. Upon finding the light of Yunho’s office on, they wondered if Yunho had already arrived back from Sector 8– the consigliere had been out all day tracing the source of the tip with Kihyun’s men and had ringed the office to let them know that he might not be back tonight.

But when Seonghwa found you curled up on the couch with your head resting against your knees, he immediately knew something was wrong. Seonghwa glanced at Hongjoong to confirm if he was the only one who got that feeling and when he found the boss’ brows scrunched with worry, he gently approached you.

You straightened at the sight of Seonghwa, sighing in relief but your heart quickly twisted with anxiety at the sight of the Captain. How were you to tell him that you both had doomed the Crescents, perhaps, with no return?

“Did something happen?” Seonghwa held you by your shoulders and scanned your figure. You pursed your lips and took a few deep breaths, motioning at Hongjoong to take a seat. 

“I finally heard back from Madame Cha,” you looked at the Captain and he raised a brow, leaning forward, eager to hear more. You wondered if you were the only one feeling bile rise up your throat.

Surely, Hongjoong had no idea who Madame Tiffany was, right?

About a minute of silence passed with the men exchanging glances between each other. Hongjoong exhaled, slumping back in resignation.

“Just tell us how fucked we are, Luna. I’m ready to hear it.”

A short laugh escaped your mouth and Hongjoong resisted the urge to comment on the sarcastic tone of it. “Fucked would be an understatement, Hongjoong. Tiffany is involved with the elites who are pushing for Strictland’s nuclear operation to become successful.”

“Strictland’s nuclear operation,” Hongjoong repeated, his gaze sticking on the teacup you had been drinking from. 

“Their end goal is triggering a regional war so Eden and Halaland get distracted. Strictland can test their nuclear weapons around that time, but there are rumours that as soon as Strictland makes that move, Eden or someone else from this continent might attempt its annexation,” you added and Seonghwa cursed under his breath.

“Triggering a regional war– they could achieve that through a lot of ways,” Seonghwa deliberated. “Either blow Strictland’s cover and make it known that the nuclear base has been active, or find another reason important enough that turns Eden and Halaland against each other. Either way, the Treaty of the Eight Hills gets violated.”

“If they need to test their nuclear weapons, a war could be a good time to do that,” Hongjoong shook his head in disappointment, head hanging low in defeat. “I can’t believe we’re close to seeing another war in our lifetime.”

Silence filled a room at his statement before Hongjoong spoke again. “Madame Tiffany signed on the silver light deal with us while knowing exactly who we are. The question remains– did she agree on silver light’s medical distribution to have the upper hand as she controls the world of the elites, or does she intend to end us– our company?”

“If she was the one who tipped the navy about the shipment to Mist Island…” Seonghwa said what you both were thinking out loud. “It would be the very first step to trigger our doom. She must be working with an insider to know exactly how much damage this would do–”

“We don’t know that yet,” Hongjoong looked at the underboss and your eyes twitched at his statement. “It could be anyone–”

“It can not be anyone, and you know that, Captain,” you declared and Hongjoong cocked his head at the stiffness of your tone. “Think about the timing of this all. Tipping the navy right when we’re about to launch the silver light drug? Too big of a coincidence.”

“I’m trying to give her the benefit of doubt and see if we have another enemy– someone who might be far worse than Tiffany,” Hongjoong counter with narrowed eyes. “Tiffany might be a bait even in their game if she really signed the deal of silver light for another, much sinister purpose.”

“Don’t be fooled, Hongjoong,” you told him. “The elites– they all work together, not against each other. If Tiffany is part of the elites who intend to make sure that silver light never sees the light of the day as a medicinal drug, then you don’t have just one enemy but an entire group of people with power, from all over the continent–”

“You think I did not consider that when I shook hands with that woman?” 

Hongjoong’s tone was so cold and sharp that it made you hold your breath. 

“I needed someone with power to be our partner on this. Someone with a status that could match that of the elites. So what if they are a member of the elites themselves? If that means that they protect us when we launch this drug into the market, it doesn’t matter who they are.”

“You know how limited our options were, Luna,” Seonghwa said in a soft tone, sliding his hand over your clenched fist and rubbing it assuringly.  “Sure, signing with Tiffany could be a big mistake, but we don’t know that yet, and we cannot take the next step until we confirm that Tiffany intends to destroy our company. You know how important this deal is to us. You understand, right?”

“I do,” you took a deep breath, trying to swallow the lump stuck in your throat. “I just… I keep seeing my father’s cocky smile when he learned that we’re aiming to partner with Tiffany. It’s as if he knew.”

“We’ll start looking into it properly now that we have a potential lead,” Hongjoong said, this time much gently. “We will also make preparations for what could be another attack on the Crescent Company.”

You nodded in gratitude and Hongjoong held your gaze– if this was just another day, he would have reprimanded you for talking to him like that, but he understood how anxious this made you considering you already had an inkling of what the elites had been planning all this time. 

“Can your source…”

“Lim Jaebeom,” you told Hongjoong and he nodded, memorising the name. 

“Can Jaebeom name all parties involved in this scheme if possible?”

“I’ll send him a message and arrange a meeting,” you said. “He shifted his focus on Madame Tiffany now but he’s been looking into this for a while so his information can be trusted.”

“Good. I trust you, Luna,” Hongjoong said, getting up. “Let’s go home and get some rest. We’ll start planning in the morning, okay?”

You nodded weakly and Hongjoong gazed softly at you, drawing closer and resting his hand on your cheek. 

“Look at me, sweetheart,” he almost whispered and you mustered up the remnants of your diminishing strength to meet his eyes. “We are warriors, all of us. Not just the nine of us, but the rest of the employees of the Crescent Company. All of us share the same goal– to protect this homeland and to provide the next generations with some sense of security. If that means that we have to fight the very people who wish for the demise of the entire continent… so be it. They may be the leaders of this society, but we…”

“We are the leaders of the underworld,” you quoted him and watched his lips curl in a satisfied smirk. “The underworld that no one escapes from.”

“That’s right,” Hongjoong said, planting a chaste kiss on your temple. “Straighten your shoulders and never look back, you hear me?”

You looked in Seonghwa’s direction, finding him smiling almost proudly. He passed a subtle nod and you finally managed a smile on your own.

These men would remind you time and time again that no matter how dark it gets, you rule the darkness. You had no reason to be afraid.

That did not help the stress too much though, and naturally, you found yourself standing outside the back exit of the Crescent Bar yet again, staring at the dim lights that peeked from the frosted windows. You debated going home instead but your heart knew what it wanted so you discreetly made your way to Yeosang’s office, not bothering to knock but slightly opening the door to check who was inside.

San spotted you, seated on the chair in front of Yeosang and he smiled at the sight of you, urging you to come inside. Yeosang’s eyes lit up as soon as you entered but when he found your shoulders sunken and form weary, he immediately knew something was wrong.

“Are you okay?” Yeosang asked, hesitantly getting up as if unsure what to do.

“Not really,” you let out a short laugh, looking up at the ceiling and willing yourself not to break down. Now was not the time. 

San and Yeosang moved in synchronisation as if they had done this several times already. San took your bag from you and placed it on the table, taking off your coat next and going to hang it on the stand. Yeosang gently brought you in a hug, caressing your head silently. 

You took a deep breath– the warmth of his hug was definitely helping with the ease of your mind. You felt San’s hands on your shoulders, gently massaging the tension out of your body while you stood still. The two of them waited until you broke apart, feeling a bit refreshed. 

“You wanna talk about it?” San asked, hands still on your shoulders and a light kiss planted on your cheek.

“I already did, with Seonghwa and Hongjoong. Things will be okay, they assured me. I’m just…” you sighed, meeting eyes with the both of them.

“Tired?” Yeosang suggested and you laughed in admission. “Sick of it?”

“You can curse at them if you want to,” San squared up, making you laugh harder. “We’ll join. Hongjoong can be an ass, right?”

“Stubborn ass–”

“An extremely stubborn ass,” you interjected Yeosang and they smirked in victory. “What makes it more frustrating is that he’s always right.”

“This!” San clapped in agreement. “If he rubbed this in our face, that would perhaps be better than the silent victory judgmental glare thing that he does.”

You chuckled under your breath– so it wasn’t just you. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s easier to deal with someone pompous than to deal with someone who doesn’t realise their own power.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Yeosang assured, but then glanced at San. “Or not.”

“You don’t get used to it,” San corrected. “You just learn to live with it and deal with it.”

“Sounds tiring,” you sank down on your chair and Yeosang poured you a drink, the duo snickering at something. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” San smiled. “It’s just nice to know that you found your way here.”

“Yeah, it’s on my way home. Don’t make too much of it,” you teased and San poked your shoulder before settling down on the chair next to you on your left, clasping his hand around yours. 

You made small talk, getting some recent updates on how the bar was functioning (without you, you made a point to highlight). The conversation shifted to your recent date with Wooyoung and how he could not stop boasting about being the first and only gentleman in the group.

“It’s funnier this time because usually, he’s an absolute goner who can’t keep his hands off a new partner,” San revealed and that piqued your curiosity. “He’s taking his time with you. He must really like you.”

“He’s always liked me, don’t be mistaken,” you told him and the duo agreed– Wooyoung was perhaps the only one of the Crescents who was friendly with you before you became a bookkeeper. “I thought he’s a bit sceptical of me, but maybe that’s just me?”

“How so?” Yeosang asked.

“He asked if I have any secrets that I’m keeping from you guys. He seems very protective of you all.”

“That’s just how he is,” San chuckled. “It’s not scepticism, not really. Just his protective nature.”

“He probably wanted to see how you would respond,” Yeosang snickered in amusement. “He knows right away if someone lies.”

“I… will keep that in mind for the future,” you said and San narrowed his eyes.

“Who do you plan to lie to?”

“Not him,” you said and the boys laughed. “You seem gullible. You’d be my target, San.”

“Not fair!” He tried snatching his hand away but you kept your grip tight around his hand. 

The sound of your laughter filled the room. Outside, a woman with silver hair hiding the little of her face that was visible from her cloak stood near the door with her own drink in her hand, her lips threatening to curl into a smile. As soon as the door of the office opened, she shifted her body towards the shadow in an attempt to appear inconspicuous.

As you said your goodbyes to the men, San escorting you to the exit, you thought you heard Yeosang’s voice– ‘winter’, he said. You turned to look but there was no one in the shadows anymore.

However, the next day as you switched your belongings from one bag to another, you found a crumpled piece of paper. Being the kind of person who usually folded paper instead of crumpling it, you flattened the paper and found a message written on it.

You read it, once, twice. And then you tossed it in the fireplace.

“What do you mean it was Secretary Oh Jungse?”

Hongjoong’s voice practically boomed in the room as he spoke into the receiver, making you and Seonghwa pause in the middle of arranging the documents. Seonghwa looked at you but you shrugged, not recognising the name.

“And you’re positive about the source?”

For a moment, you straightened, heart beating with anticipation. Did you finally have the source of the tip? Had it finally worked out? 

But Hongjoong’s tight grip on the receiver revealed that it was perhaps something else, probably of a more alarming nature. As if to confirm, Hongjoong slammed the receiver down to end the call and you shivered, the temperature in the room noticeably dropping.

It was another gloomy morning in the Crescent Office with you and Seonghwa compiling some reports to present to the Edenary Office to help with the illegal shipment case. The ringing of the telephone had started to sound ominous for a few days now. You had stopped expecting to hear any good news, and watching Hongjoong clench and unclench both his fists and his jaw while his gaze fixed at the revolver lying on the table had you squirming in your seat.

“What is it?” Seonghwa asked, but Hongjoong shook his head, still processing the information.

Seonghwa got up and moved towards the main desk where Hongjoong sat. He gently approached him with an assuring squeeze to his shoulder, rubbing it to provide some comfort. You watched as the tension in the boss’ body started to dissipate with each gentle rub, and you could see that Seonghwa was muttering assurances, fixing his hair and caressing his face every once in a while.

Hongjoong took a deep breath and looked towards you, motioning you to come closer. You dropped the files on the table and took the seat in front of him, waiting for him to catch his breath.

“It was Yunho– someone is deliberately targeting our business. Remember the anonymous funder for our weapons project? The one whose identity we could not find out?”

“That’s Secretary Oh?” Seonghwa frowned. “Isn’t he…”

“President Han’s secretary,” Hongjoong confirmed and your jaw went slack after hearing the connection. “The man who supposedly went into hiding when President Han was assassinated. He was supposed to deliver the funds to us but got arrested on suspicions of treason. He’s under interrogation right now.”

“I remember hearing things about that man,” you leaned forward. “Things like how he might have been involved in the assassination itself, or how he was targeted after the assassination as well.”

“I don’t think he was involved in the killing of the president, but you can never be too sure,” Hongjoong pursed his lips in thought, holding Seonghwa’s hand and squeezing it to let him know that he was okay now. “The Edenary Station is now aware of our weapons project and is going to proceed with investigation, but… I’m not sure if they learned that from Secretary Oh or if this was pre-planned.”

“They must have tortured him quite a bit for him to confess,” Seonghwa winced at the thought. “Secretary Oh has done a lot to hide his identity. To be caught now of all the times…”

“Or someone found out about Secretary Oh and decided to use that to expose our weapons dealings,” you countered and Hongjoong agreed. “I’m going to ring the Edenary Office and get Jaehyun on the move. I know how the Edenary Station will proceed with this case.”

“You do that,” Hongjoong passed you the receiver and you called Jaehyun, requesting him to keep watch over Secretary Oh and see who visits the man or if anyone bails him. Jaehyun assured that he would keep an eye and check the public sentiment while he was at it.

“So now…” you said when you ended the call. “All of Eden will know that the Crescents have been smuggling weapons.”

“Not so quickly, no,” Hongjoong shook his head. “Edenary Station will make sure the public does not learn about this. The public will be with us on this because the majority of the war veterans believe that our current office isn’t doing a good job with the nation’s security. And President Lee’s position will not look good if the public learns that a ‘gang’ is doing more for national security than the office.”

“Plus with Major Sung’s recent visit, people are already condemning the president,” Seonghwa added. “They wish to learn what they talked about, but President Lee is keeping mum.”

“As he should be,” Hongjoong stretched his neck, producing cracks. “The boys are on their way here, all of them. It’s time we get things straight and retaliate against whoever is targeting us.”

You finished compiling the report with Seonghwa while you waited for the rest of the Crescents to arrive. Yunho, San and Yeosang were the first ones, having been out making sure that the silver light batches were safely moved to a different location in case the recent happenings were a scheme to stop the Crescents from trying to manufacture the drug into the market. The warehouse boys arrived next after making sure to get rid of any tails that would lead the Edenary Station to find their base for weapons dealings. 

You were all chatting among yourselves, catching up and exchanging updates when Hongjoong clapped to get everyone’s attention. The boys started to settle down, but you pursed your lips in amusement when you saw Yunho, who was standing next to Hongjoong, shoot subtle glares at anyone who had not shut up yet. He caught you stifling a smile and you watched his eyes twinkle with a hint of mischief.

“How’s it looking at the warehouse?” Hongjoong asked Mingi.

“Pledis has agreed to pause all weapons-related manufacturing until things settle down. They won’t back out. We spread the word in the underground network and all weapons dealings and exchange will be put to a halt until further notice.”

“I met up with Changbin,” Wooyoung said and you asked Jongho, who was sitting next to you, about who Changbin was. You learned that he was a member of Chan’s gang– Wolfgang. “They’re also going to pause all dealings because they fear that they might get exposed, and they are open for a chat in case we want to team up and find whoever is behind this.”

You were surprised to hear that. You had kept the little chat with Chan back at Edenary from the boys since they were rivals, but hearing that they were open to being allies for once had you intrigued. 

“Team up?” San scoffed. “That’s new.”

“They wouldn’t want to get involved with the police either,” Jongho mused. “They may be our rivals but we share the same goal.”

Hongjoong nodded, revealing the contents of his phone call with Yunho and a string of gasps and curses sounded across the room. “Now… what do we make of this?”

“It can’t be denied that we are being deliberately targeted,” Wooyoung started. “I would like us to focus on why Secretary Oh, of all the anonymous funders, was the one chosen to be exposed like this– he was attacked, you say, and arrested? His life could be in danger.”

“Sounds like a good place to start,” San agreed. “It can’t be a big coincidence– not anymore. Someone is trying to attack the very foundation of the Crescents. Of Ateez.”

“I feel like we’re missing a big link among all the things that have happened recently,” Yeosang spoke with a sense of sobriety and you looked at him, grateful that he felt the same. “With Tiffany’s possible connection to the Strictland programme and our deal with silver light which, by the way, she’s awfully quiet about… I’d like to have some eyes on her too.”

“I agree,” Seonghwa began. “Either she does not fear a tarnished reputation, or… she’s involved somehow. I still don’t get why she would opt for this route– tipping the navy and then exposing an anonymous funder. If she wants silver light all to herself, she could have gone for a less messier option.”

“I doubt that,” you commented, making everyone look at you. “These elites… they have a way of operating, especially when they aim to create some significant damage. The quicker, less messier options do not sound appealing to them.”

Hongjoong nodded in consideration. “Either way, we have to take a step back and secure our footing. Yunho, if you will?”

Yunho nodded, getting up and looking around the room in thought. “I think first and foremost, we need to make sure that the weapons channel remains safe and unexposed to any outsiders. That means that we must form partnerships with other gangs and we should start contacting the funders to let them know about the situation– anonymous ones too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Hongjoong exhaled. “Mingi, Wooyoung, and Luna– you can work on this since the three of you have the most connections. If you need some help, Yunho or Seonghwa can join.”

You agreed, meeting eyes with your new partners who passed you a nod and a cheeky smile. 

“Next, San and Yeosang should continue to make sure the silver light medicinal production begins at one of the MX Pharmaceuticals’ factories. It doesn’t matter if someone is targeting us to stop the launch of this medicine because the only people who might be behind this must want to keep the current status of silver light intact– a pleasure drug.”

“The elites,” you sighed and Yunho nodded. “Do you reckon that these are the same people who are working for the Strictland programme?”

“That’s what me and Jongho will start looking into,” Yunho said. “We’ll get General Wi and other Edenary figures to start sniffing around too and see where it takes us. We might need you to join us in that case, Luna.”

“Happy to help,” you assured.

“Hongjoong,” Yunho looked at the Captain. “I think you are due a meeting with President Son. If there’s one person who might know where Secretary Oh’s loyalty stands, it’s him. And make sure we know what Madame Tiffany’s stance on this is.”

“Fine, I’ll contact them,” Hongjoong groaned. “Can’t say President Son will be pleased to hear that we want to meet him.”

“I don’t think he’ll be that mad to see you,” Wooyoung chuckled as the Captain’s pout deepened. “You’re just a tiny bit intimidated by him, admit it.”

“Yes, so what if I am?” Hongjoong pulled out his pipe to everyone’s amusement, Seonghwa automatically retrieving a lighter from his pocket and helping Hongjoong. “It would be unwise not to be intimidated by the person who ran this country for the majority of our lives.”

“Well then,” Yunho clapped in conclusion. “I think we’re all sorted now. Captain?”

Hongjoong took a deep smoke, meeting eyes with all of you before he started. “I think it is about time we stopped acting like the Crescents and started acting like Ateez. Do you get what I mean?”

Silence filled the room and you watched how each one of them shifted in their seats at Hongjoong’s proposition. Hongjoong leaned forward, taking another smoke and clearing his throat. 

“Some fucker out there has forgotten that we rose from nothing, and we are not afraid of the darkness, yeah?” Hongjoong’s voice had significantly deepened and you were surprised at the change in his demeanour. “Get your weapons out. Show them what we are made of. We will not allow our establishment to fall, you hear me?”

There was another moment of silence and Seonghwa took the lead then, straightening his coat. 

“We will probably get attacked more often– our bases and offices might get compromised, so let’s be careful and on guard, okay? We have to stay one step ahead now, so everyone… get to business.”

“And it’s probably not one person,” Hongjoong completed his train of thought, saying out loud what everyone suspected. “I really don’t think it’s just a single entity anymore. We’ve got a mole, that’s for sure. Find them immediately and report to me, and make sure our people are protected before you step out in the field, got it?”

A chorus of ‘yes boss’ and ‘yes captain!” echoed in the room, the men immediately starting on breaking and dividing tasks while you went to take the now empty chair beside the Captain who offered you his pipe jokingly. He was surprised when you accepted.

Hongjoong watched you blow the smoke, the noise in the room almost fading momentarily and he shook his head lightly. You asked him for a favour and he raised a brow in question. You explained that it was something that weighed over your mind and you always wanted to do, and he agreed. 

After the meeting, you finished your tasks for the night and informed Eunha and Jihoon about the shift in your duties. They took over your work, assuring you that they got it covered and prayed for you– anything to end this mess, they said. If your presence at the warehouse would speed things up, they would gladly let you go. 

After sending Hongjoong and Seonghwa home for the night, Yunho joined you in the office, watching you fret over the unfinished work. He assured you that it was okay, but you weren’t having any of it. When he shut the folders to your protests, your pout deepened and you folded your arms.

“Do you want to come over at my place?”

“At your place?” You narrowed your eyes and he laughed discreetly. “What are you planning?”

“Ramen and cuddles, if you will?”

You pretended to think for a moment but agreed. How could you resist the offer–

“And some kisses if we can squeeze that in too.”

Right. 

“So you’re just lovesick, huh? None of the boys giving you attention lately?” You teased, getting up and gathering your things. 

“Oh, Wooyoung almost killed me with affection earlier,” Yunho recalled with a laugh and you scoffed. That sounded like Wooyoung, alright. “I just miss you. Is that so bad?”

“I miss you too,” you said, linking your arms, too tired to continue teasing him. The two of you started downstairs. “We haven’t had one stress-free moment ever since you decided to give me some space, Mr. Jeong.”

“That’s when you were still pretending to make up your mind about us,” he said, opening the door of his car for you and you gasped scandalously. Yunho got in himself, looking at you before starting the engine. “Hope nothing holds you back tonight.”

With a wink, he started to drive, stifling a grin when you smacked his shoulder and folded your arms. You tugged your coat closer, still feeling the cold from when you stepped outside the office and you looked outside of the window, finding not a single star in the sky.

“Looks like it’s going to rain soon.”

“Or snow,” Yunho whistled. “Would love to see some snow soon.”

You looked over at him. “Seems like someone has some fond memories of the snow.”

He smiled and nodded in answer, the rest of the short trip passing by with talks about your weather preferences when you reached a small house in the same neighbourhood where San’s house was. 

“I heard that you came up with the housing arrangement very randomly,” you said as you got out of the car and Yunho chuckled at the memory. “Do you like how it turned out?”

“It never mattered who we got paired with,” he admitted, unlocking the door for you and turning on the lights. You took off your shoes, greeted with a surprisingly homey vibe with warm-toned interior and furniture. “We only really come here to rest. Plus, we crash at each other’s house too often anyway.”

You nodded, taking off your coat and hanging it on the stand before following Yunho to the kitchen. While it almost looked unused, there were still signs that someone was taking care of the house. You stood near the counter and watched Yunho quickly make work of the few ingredients that he found, tossing the ramen in the pot. You offered help but he insisted that he was fine so you decided to set the table.

“Is Yeosang not home?” You asked and he shook his head.

“He’s probably with Mingi tonight– I saw the two of them leaving together earlier.”

“Do they still have some work, or…” 

Yunho glanced at you. “They’re probably going to blow off some steam before they start working tomorrow.”

“Ah, right– oh,” you subconsciously put your hand over your mouth when you realised what Yunho had implied and he laughed loudly. 

“Is it strange to hear things like that?” 

“No, not really,” you confirmed. You had seen your fair share of open relationships in Edenary– and half of the time, you had been too young to fully understand what it meant. “It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to picture some of you together.”

“Well, you’ll be quite surprised to learn how closely knit we are,” Yunho finished cooking and brought the pot to the table, the two of you settling down with a few cans of beer. “Took us a few years to get here, I’ll say, but it has never been better.”

You nodded, asking if he could tell you more– as much as he was comfortable with, and he was pleased to find you eager to learn more about them since you were a part of them now too. You learned that Mingi and Yeosang were quite alike, often seeking solace in each other’s company, even if it was just sitting together in silence.

“And how are you with everyone?” You asked, resting your face on your hands as you gazed at him with curiosity. Yunho found that adorable and his eyes curved as smiled at your question. “What sort of a relationship do you have with everyone?”

“Hmm… let’s see,” Yunho pondered for a moment, drinking a few sips of his beer. “Mingi and I have always been together so he’s someone I’m always looking for in a room full of people, if you haven’t noticed already.”

“Yeah, you two absolutely love each other,” you agreed. “Moral loyalty and all that.”

Yunho grinned. “I think with Yeosang, it’s… more on the comfortable side. He takes care of me a lot, especially now that we live together. His presence… you know how comforting it is to sit in one room with him, right?”

You nodded. “I keep finding myself going back to the Crescent Bar and to his office when I’m overwhelmed.”

Yunho smiled. “With the younger ones, I’m able to have fun and let go, be adventurous and wild. But with the hyungs, they just need someone to take care of them and I’m happy to be that for them.”

“It’s surprising because they appear very calm and put-together, very refined,” you started, producing a snort out of Yunho. “But they’re just like the rest of you. Worse, if I have to say.”

“That’s true,” Yunho laughed heartily. “They are worse. The younger ones always take care of them, but don’t you be mistaken, Luna. The hyungs can be quite… dominating when they want to be. It’s almost scary.”

“Dominating,” you repeated, drinking as you analysed the implications behind that word. “How nice.”

“What’s going on in your head, sweetheart?” Yunho chuckled in a low tone.

“Nothing,” you feigned innocence, finishing the last of your beer. “Absolutely nothing.”

Yunho narrowed his eyes but you took a deep breath, looking around. “It’s just really nice to sit and talk. Haven’t done that in a while, even with Wendy.”

“We’ve all been far too busy,” Yunho agreed, getting up and quickly cleaning up before taking your hands and making you get up, twirling you around once which made you laugh out loud rather uncharacteristically before he steered you to the living room. 

“It’s always like this though,” Yunho continued as he settled you down on his lap and you wrapped your arms around his waist, resting your head on his shoulder. He took off your hair clip and began to smoothen your hair, running his fingers through the strands occasionally. “Something is always happening. Not one peaceful moment ever since we started, but that became the norm for us. That’s why we always try to find some normalcy while we can.”

You let his words sink in, just like you let the warmth of his skin seep through his clothes and into yours, just like you let the sound of his breaths sync with yours. The contact of his fingertips on your scalp as he lightly massaged it made you close your eyes and snuggle closer until the tip of your nose met the crook of his neck.

“Well, this is nice,” you whispered, the feeling of being in his arms almost intoxicating. “It’s going to be a while before we get to be like this again, isn’t that so?”

“I suppose so,” Yunho sighed. “You’ll be very busy with Wooyoung and Mingi, and I’ll be busy with Jongho hopping from one place to another–”

Yunho paused mid-sentence when he felt the soft skin of your lips press against his neck lightly and he shifted underneath you. “We might still see each other– well, I’ll try to make time for you if you want–”

He stopped talking yet again when you moved closer and craned your neck to kiss the curve of his jaw. Yunho held your hand and peered down at you, finding your eyes laden with something he had definitely not seen before.

“Love… what do you think you are doing?”

“Squeezing in some kisses?” You responded and Yunho shut his eyes as if in pain, shaking his head. 

“If you tease me like that, I don't think I’ll be able to hold back. I am very sensitive these days, Luna.”

“And where did you get the idea that I want you to hold back?” You pulled away to look him in the eyes. “I thought we both wanted each other.”

“Of course I want you,” Yunho’s brows furrowed in concentration as he cupped your face. “But… I want you to be comfortable first. I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you or… I don’t want you to think that I’m demanding something from you. I would never–”

“Jeong Yunho,” you cupped his face, caressing the curve of his cheeks and swiping the dark tendrils of his hair away from his forehead. You locked eyes with him, finding hesitation if the slight shake of his voice wasn’t already a sign. “I want this– I want you. Is that okay?”

“That’s okay,” he nodded slowly, visibly gulping. “Do you know what you are getting into?”

“Yes,” you nodded, unable to resist pecking his lips. You lingered at his bottom lip purposely. “Do I have to say it out loud?”

“Are you sure?” Yunho asked yet again, inching closer until the tips of your noses brushed.

“Absolutely,” you whispered, “I– I want you. I want you so bad that it’s killing me–”

Yunho did not need to hear another word. He let his hand crane your neck as his lips met yours in a kiss like none other, deep and demanding in every sense now that there were no boundaries. You sighed in relief, kissing him back and sucking at his lower lip, gladly opening your mouth for him when he swiped his tongue across your lips.

Yunho slid his tongue inside your mouth, switching between licks and kisses and you found yourself letting loose with every little groan that you earned, getting more comfortable with each kiss to your lips or on your face, your body moving in tandem with his hands that traced your curves. Before you knew it, you were straddling him, your skirt riding up and Yunho’s hands found purchase on the bare skin of your thighs that your stockings didn’t cover, causing you to break apart and look at each other in surprise.

“Is this okay?” Yunho asked, hands unmoving. “Use your words, love.”

“More than okay,” you breathed, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him sweetly. “You can touch me. However you want.”

Yunho nodded, joining your foreheads and matching the pacing of your breaths, his thumb starting to trace your bare skin. You shifted in his lap, feeling the telltale signs of a bulge and met his eyes, exchanging a kiss to assure him that you were okay before rolling your hips on his bulge, making him throw his head back and laugh in disbelief.

“You like that?” You asked, making the same movement again and he looked at you challengingly, daring you to do that again.

That did nothing to stop you.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, sweetheart.”

“Whatever,” you shut him up with another needy kiss and this time, Yunho let his hands roam over your upper body, both of you making quick work of unbuttoning each other’s shirts. You made him take his white dress shirt off completely, running your hands against his toned muscles while he traced his fingers against the outline of your black bra, looking almost entranced, his chest rising up and down in deep breaths.

Before you could make a move, Yunho was bringing you closer, kissing you once before he let his lips trail along your jaw and down your neck, breathing in the scent of you. You squealed in surprise when he picked you up effortlessly as he muttered, “Fuck this. I’m taking this to bed.”

You wrapped your legs around him and between fits of laughter and some teasing jabs, he reached his room and gently laid you on his bed after taking off your shirt and throwing it to the side. While he stared at the sight of you in his bed, imprinting it in his mind, you took a quick look around.

“Nice room,” you commented. It was quite simple with monochrome decorations. 

“That’s all you can think of right now?” Yunho pressed his hand in the middle of your chest, feeling your heartbeat and smirking in satisfaction. 

He had his answer. He pulled you up and removed your bra in a matter of seconds, swallowing any other comment with a heated kiss and soon, you lost yourself in how his lips felt against your own. On how his lips felt as they left a searing trail down your neck, making your back arch when he started fondling your breasts and sucking on them, alternating between kisses and littering your skin with a reminder of what you were doing tonight. 

You curled his hair between your fingers and when he paused near your belly, you pushed him downwards– a sign that it was okay. He looked at you for confirmation and when you nodded, he took off your skirt, leaving you in a soaking wet underwear.

Yunho continued to trail kisses down your thighs, pulling the stockings down, and something inside him broke when he traced his thumb on the wet patch on your underwear.

“Someone’s been enjoying this,” he commented, locking eyes with you. His gaze was dark and you could tell that he was doing his best to take this slow.

“Clearly,” you scoffed, knowing fully well how hard he was as well.

“Tell me, love. Tell me what you want me to do to you tonight.”

You took a deep breath at his commanding tone, feeling a fresh wave of arousal course through you as his breath caressed your thighs. “Touch me, Yunho.”

“How?” 

You looked at the mafia consigliere, almost in disbelief. Did he want you to say that out loud too? 

Oh, but what a sight he was, looking up at you from between your thighs. 

“However would you prefer… Lieutenant Jeong?”

The last thing you saw was Yunho’s smirk before he looked down, his hair hiding his face as he pulled your panties down in a swift motion and you barely had time to shrug them off before he spread your legs apart, cocking his head in satisfaction at the sight of you before attaching his mouth to your core.

The moan that his action produced out of you came from somewhere so deep within you, quickly masked by another as he continued to suck on your aching clit, providing you with both relief and edging you to no end. You dug your fingers in the sheets, in his hair, anywhere as he continued with his ministrations, licking a stripe up your wet folds and teasing with his finger before crawling up and meeting your lips in a kiss, making you get lost in how you tasted on his tongue. If that wasn’t enough, he inserted his finger inside you, making you squirm in pleasure. 

He watched you intently as he pumped his finger inside and out, exploring your cavity and muttering praises. 

“Yunho– I don’t think I can last very long, fuck–”

“That’s okay,” he caressed your head with his free hand, inserting another finger inside you and holding you in place as you squirmed with need. “I need to hear your pretty little sounds some more– don’t be shy. You’re doing so well for me.”

As your breath started quickening, a telltale sign of an approaching orgasm, Yunho started to rub your clit in circles and pump his fingers inside at a rapidly growing pace, and perhaps the last straw was the way he kissed the top of your stomach because you came crashing down, your moans filling the room. All the while, Yunho muttered praises about how good you were, how you did so well for him, how pretty your moans sounded to him, and how he wanted this so bad too.

He got up to grab a towel from the stand and wiped his fingers before he got back on his position on top of you, kissing you deeply as if he had nowhere else to be, the movement of his lips leisurely but full of desperation. You traced your hands down on his abdomen and he broke apart to look you in the eyes and make sure you were okay once again.

“I want you,” you told him and he exhaled as if still in disbelief. “Please. Don’t make me beg.”

Yunho bit his lips before unbuckling his pants and taking them off, leaving himself in just his boxers that struggled to hold the sheer size of him. Your lips parted in surprise at the sight of him– you were aware that the man was big but this? Your mouth felt dry yet your core throbbed, knowing what it wanted. 

As Yunho took off his boxers, you sucked your breath when his cock sprang free, riding upwards and painfully hard. You met his gaze, sharing a small laugh before he moved to take something out of his pocket–

“Of course,” you shook your head at the packet of condom. “Always keeping it on you, eh?”

“Just in case,” he teased. “But really. My intentions tonight were only to feed you and take care of you.”

“Squeeze in some kisses,” you quoted him, reminding him of what he said earlier. “And… some orgasms?”

“Never said that, but I’m not complaining. Are you?” He raised a brow and you told him to shut the fuck up and get started. That had him snickering and after he finished wearing the condom, he slid between your legs, letting his hard length slide against your wet folds as he peppered kisses all over your face. You wrapped your legs around his hips, your body aching with need all over when he started to suck on your neck. While he kissed you, he started to slide his length inside you and when you winced painfully, he stopped right away.

“It’s just been a while,” you assured him. “Be gentle.”

“Of course,” he nodded, understanding and caressing your head, planting a kiss on your forehead. “Just relax, okay? Breathe.”

You obeyed, following his movements. He caressed your thighs, easing the tension out of them and when you fully relaxed, you finally realised how much you had stiffened. He pushed a bit more inside, this time caressing your abdomen and easing the tension from there.

“You’re doing so well,” he whispered, continuing to rub your thighs, switching to your abdomen every once in a while. “Deep breaths. Just let go, and if you want to stop, let me know, okay?.”

“Yessir,” you managed, relaxing some more.

“You’re safe with me, okay?” He kissed your head again. “I would never hurt you. Let me know if it’s too much.”

Somehow, those words were what made the remaining tension in your body snap and Yunho found himself sliding in easier, though he made sure to monitor your reactions, slowing himself considerably. Once he was fully sheathed inside, he cursed out loud.

“How does it feel?” He asked, unmoving. “Fuck, you’re so tight, love.”

“So full,” you breathed shakily simply because you were finally starting to feel the arousal come back with full force. “Move, please.”

Yunho nodded, sharing open mouthed kisses with you as he started moving rhythmically in and out of you. His movements remained gentle until you felt comfortable enough to take control, wrapping your legs around him once again. That was when he started to pump inside you harder, your kisses growing sloppier and moans intermingling with your breaths. 

“Fuck,” he muttered, holding your face as he pumped inside you harder, the interval between your breaths growing shorter. “Wanted this so bad, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” you breathed. “So long. I– I needed you. So long now,” you managed to say.

“God, you’re amazing,” he said, resting his lips against your cheek. “I’m not going to last long.”

“Neither am I,” you breathed, “you’re doing so well.”

“Fuck,” Yunho latched his lips on the crook of your neck as he pumped harder. “Cum for me, darling. Cum all over my cock.”

You nodded, moments away from a shattering orgasm which you achieved exactly when Yunho put some pressure on your clit with his thumb, your loud gasp echoing off the walls, the dim lights of the lamps filling your vision as your eyes widened and you came with a force that made you wonder if you would even be able to stand up again. 

Yunho, however, was not done. He kept pumping you through your orgasm, his own breath shaky and with his hands holding your hips and a few harsh thrusts, he groaned deeply as he came, riding out his high and dropping on top of you, peppering kisses on your neck as if thanking you for the ride. 

It took you both a few moments to recover before he lifted himself up, making sure you were okay. You nodded and he caressed your face lovingly.

“I know people say that you shouldn’t say these words with your dick inside someone,” Yunho laughed. “But lord help me, Luna. I love you so much.”

You laughed at his admission, kissing his cheek. “I think I love you too, Yunho. Very, very much.”

Yunho grinned, sliding out of you and quickly discarding his condom before bringing some towels to clean you up. You let him take care of you, watching him with a smile.

“Or maybe it was the sex,” you teased, poking his thigh with your toes.

“Hey,” Yunho almost whined, pulling you by your legs and making you laugh out loud in surprise. Yunho attacked you with kisses all over your face until you admitted that it was not (just) the sex but also actual feelings. 

You really did love him. You told him that he was blind if he didn’t see that in your actions already.

So he picked you up and took you inside the shower. You let the big, scary army man bow down on his knees as he cleaned you up and kissed your skin. You let the gangster wash your body, holding you as if you were fragile. You let the consigliere hold you close, wrapping you both in one big towel as you struggled to make your way out, teeth chattering with cold as you put on whatever you found and got inside the covers, quickly.

You let the man– your friend and your partner– hold you protectively as you both fell asleep in the warmth of each other’s embrace.

next chapter

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[sanchosgf]

gentle reminders

in which jude can’t seem to understand the weight his injuries have on his girlfriend

word count: 1.2k!

warnings: none i think! this isn’t proofread and i’m a little rusty so go easy on me please

heat tricked down your spine as you observed jude, his hand clasped in the medics as they moved his shoulder around. you knew he’d still play, they could tell him his arm had fallen off and even then you knew he’d be determined to continue the game.

your heart remained in your throat for the remaining minutes, unable to appreciate your boyfriends game as your whole body shook with nerves anticipating the weight of his injury that he seemingly was unable to grasp.

this wasn’t the first time you were left worried as jude played through an injury, each time ending in an inevitable argument as you pleaded for him to rest and take care of himself, and you were sure this time would be much the same. however thoughts of fighting were lost upon you as you finally spotted jude walking down the tunnel, his eyes lacking their usual post game spark as he pulled you in for a tight hug, his head nestled comfortably in the crook of your neck.

the hug was short lived, as you pulled back swiftly, hands settling on his cheeks as you inspected every inch of him, noticeable worry swirling your eyes.

“i’m okay baby, promise, just a little hit yeah?” jude comforted, placing a soft kiss upon your forehead a gentle reminder of his love for you. his attempt to console you however was futile, shaking your head back and forth as you peered up at him - now standing back at his full height as your fingers slipped from his cheeks.

“but it wasn’t a little hit jude, you shouldn’t of played on it!” you tried to keep your voice down as you admonished him, arms crossed over your chest, his missing warmth and the physical disconnection making your heart twist.

jude sighed, shoulders slumping as he looked at you before swiftly looking around. “let’s not do this here, please.” his eyes bore into yours, pleading almost as his hand rose to stroke your cheek, catching a tear you didn’t even know had slipped from your eye.

hesitantly you nodded, leaning into his hand and kissing it gently as a silent apology, one he swiftly accepted, throwing his arm around your shoulder and leading you to the car. no words were shared between the two of you. the silence filled with small glances and shaky breaths, neither of you willing to address the impending argument.

silence followed the two of you into the house, the air tense as you actively held your tongue, wanting nothing more than to get cosy in jude’s arms and forget about the game - jude however had other plans.

“are you going to say what’s on your mind, or continue trying to knock my head off with your mind each time you look at me?” judes voice was heavy, sleep coating ever syllable as he looked at you with hooded eyes.

“it doesn’t really matter if i say what’s on my mind, we know you never listen to me when it comes to your injuries. it’s like teaching a baby to drive jude, can we just go to bed?”

jude’s eyes widened significantly at your sudden admission, all sleep leaving his body as he stared at you, mouth agape. though it wasn’t an unwarranted statement, jude knew he dragged you through hell and back with stress each injury, continuously playing on each injury despite your incessant pleas for him to rest. each time ended much the same - you being right and jude being out longer than necessary.

despite the truth jude scoffed “tell me how you really feel babe” his tone was snarky, sending daggers straight to your heart as you finally looked up at him.

“j you know i didn’t mean it like that, but you also know that each time we end up in this situation i end up being right! i’m sick of watching you exhaust yourself and play on injuries which only leaves you out for longer. i hate seeing you hurt and i hate that you can’t see how much it hurts me. i’m tired of it jude.” your voice wobbled slightly as you spoke, desperate to feel jude’s warmth against you, however all you were met with was his icy glare.

“maybe i should sleep in the guest room tonight, let us both cool off.”

his suggestion saw another bout of tears gather in your lash line, eyes searching his own for any trace of a joke.

“if that’s what you want” you choked out, defeated and too tired to argue further. jude’s facade cracked at your defeated expression, however with a lingering kiss to your forehead he left you for the guest room, leaving you with a cold bed and tear stained cheeks.

neither of you could sleep, and as the clock hit 2 jude finally got up, desperate to make amends with you and let you know how much he truly cared for and loved you, disappointed that he failed to do so earlier.

his cold hands met your cheeks softly, thumbs rubbing comforting circles under your eyes as they opened slowly.

“hi baby…” jude’s gentle whisper cut through the silence of the room, as you sat up slowly pulling jude beside you and placing your head right against his heart. it was shameful how quickly you folded at the smallest of touches, however you’d been craving his touch for hours and close now was not close enough.

jude’s lips pressed small kisses to your forehead, knowing how much you adored the small action, and making a note to shower you in an abundance of forehead kisses the next day. “im so so sorry my love… i hate putting you through this, and i don’t show you enough how grateful i am for all you do for me, especially when im injured. i hate that im the reason for you tears tonight sweetheart.”

your eyes fluttered open at his admissions, head tilting ever so slightly to catch his gaze, moonlight illuminating his features. “it’s okay, i get that it’s hard and you just want to play, but you deserve to rest as well y’know? i just wish you’d give yourself a break”

jude nodded at your words, one of his large hands coming up to cradle your cheek, tilting your face up until his lips hovered over yours. impatient with his slow movements, your hand wove to the back of his neck, pressing his lips onto yours as you relished in the warmth the provided, a gentle caress of his own over yours that sent your heart into overdrive.

the kiss spoke volumes for the two of you, as you both lost yourself in it, basking in the intimate connection after hours without any touch.

jude was the first to pull away, forehead leaning against yours as he looked at you intently.

“i love you, y’know? more than anything.”

his words were solidified as he placed his lips against your forehead once more, not faltering as you spoke the same words back, voice slurred as you felt your body succumbing to sleep.

“can we sleep now? i’m tired and i’ve finally got my favorite body pillow back.”

jude let out a tired laugh at your statement, nodding his head as he guided the two of you to lay down, your head nestled right over his heart and under his chin as his arms wrapped securely around you - your small fight long forgotten. his lips provided a gentle pressure against your forehead, a small reminder that even though you two fought, you truly were his best girl, and he’d do all he could tomorrow to show you just how much he loved you.

[warpedpuppeteer]

It's interesting how Buck's love interests are all written in a way that ends because of the reason they meet/happen in the first place and then of course, we have Eddie.

Abby, who changes Buck's view of a healthy relationship but then turns around and ghosts him, making him wait for months on end and letting him realize she's not coming back on his own.

Ali, who meets Buck during a dangerous situation in his line of work and then leaves him for how dangerous his work is.

Taylor, who lashes out at Buck for using her as a fake date and saying she thought she could trust Buck to be a friend who then ends up using him for her career and chose to put his friends in danger.

Natalia, who's there to help him embrace and deal with his temporary death but it leads to their break up because of the constant talk surrounding death when Buck's not comfortable with it.

We can't confirm for Tommy till it ends but it's important to note how he offers to get Buck into his interests like flying and muay thai yet doesn't show effort with Buck's interests like dressing up according to the bachelor party theme despite Buck being stressed about it. And we also have the fact that the entire reason they got together was due to Buck's jealousy for Eddie which he then claims to be was for Tommy. Makes me think they are either going to end because of differing interests OR because of the jealousy issue popping up again.

Funnily enough, every scene above has an Eddie parallel:

Eddie co-parents with Buck and not only does this not stop after a dangerous event but Eddie also has Buck down as a legal guardian (healthy relationship - Abby).

Eddie is in the same dangerous line of work and they have each other's backs. This happens right off the bat too.(dangerous job - Ali).

The Lawsuit era and The Dispatch era - both where they "betray" each other but manage to work through it (betrayal/lie - Taylor).

Eddie doesn't pressure Buck to talk about his temporary death until Buck's ready and is more focused about him living than in his death (death doula - Natalia).

Eddie who has different interests than Buck (poker, basketball and UFC/MMA) but also manages to show interest and actively takes part in whatever Buck comes up with; he suggests their outfit for the themed party AND ends up staying there for Buck even when others leave (different hobbies & showing interest/taking part - Tommy).

Absolutely fascinating when you start noticing that Buck's relationships keep failing for one reason or another and then we have him and Eddie who face the same sort of situations but they still come out of it stronger together.

It's clear that there's a reason Buck is able to overcome anything when it comes to Eddie (that conversation with Maddie about being there for each other even at their worst 👀) and we've already established that everything Eddie looks for in a partner is already something he has found in Buck. So really, all that's left is for them to realize that hey, the one I'm looking for is right in front of me! 🤷🏽

And yes, it's been said to death (hah) but you don't find it son you make it. And Buck and Eddie have already made it.

[pucksandpower]

Achilles Come Down

Charles Leclerc x soft dom!Reader

Summary: sometimes you have to take control to get Charles out of his own head

Warnings: 18+ content

Based on this request with some little hints here and there that the reader is Charles’ race engineer (inspired by him getting a new race engineer all of a sudden in real life)

The garage is eerily quiet as you make your way towards Charles’ driver’s room, the usual buzz of activity muted in the wake of his DNF. His familiar red race suit is marred by streaks of oil and rubber, a physical reminder of the mechanical failure that ended his race prematurely.

Charles stalks ahead of you, his body taut with frustration. You can practically see the negative thoughts racing through his mind, the self-recrimination and second-guessing he’s so prone to despite the circumstances being completely out of his control.

“Charles, wait up,” you call out, struggling to match his clipped pace. He pauses with his hand on the door handle, jaw clenched.

“What is there to say, Y/N? My race is over before it could even properly begin.” The defeat in his voice cuts you deeply.

“This wasn’t your fault,” you insist, placing a gentle hand on his arm. “A rear brake malfunction is out of your hands.”

He shrugs you off, throat bobbing with repressed emotion. “I’m the one behind the wheel. I should have sensed something was wrong, made adjustments ...”

“You can’t control every little thing on that car, no matter how talented you are,” you interrupt firmly. “Sometimes factors outside your control are going to screw things up. Dwelling on it won’t change that.”

Charles lets out a harsh exhale, raking frustrated fingers through his sweat-dampened curls. “Easy for you to say. It’s not your championship hopes slipping away with every botched race.”

You resist the urge to snap back, knowing his irritability stems from disappointment rather than any real malice towards you. Taking a calming breath, you change tacks.

“Okay, let’s go inside and get you out of that suit at least,” you suggest in a gentler tone. “We can debrief the data after you’ve had a chance to reset.”

Charles hesitates, chewing on his full lower lip in an unconscious gesture of indecision. You frame his face with your hands, forcing him to meet your gaze.

“Trust me, baby. Let me take care of you for once.”

The rigidity finally seeps from his stance as he gives a jerky nod of acquiescence. You push open the door and usher him inside, the familiar smells of his favorite Dior cologne and heat-weathered leather enveloping you both.

Once the door clicks shut, blocking out the distractions of the paddock, you move in close to begin unzipping Charles’ kinetic race suit. He stands stiffly as you peel away each layer until he’s stripped down to just his snug fireproof undershirt and shorts.

Running soothing hands over his tense shoulders and neck, you knead at the knots of muscles corded there. A low exhale shudders from Charles’ lips as some of the pent-up stress bleeds out of his frame.

“That’s it, let it all go,” you murmur. “Your only job now is to relax and let me take over for once.”

“Yes ma’am,” he mumbles, the barest ghost of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

You circle around to face him again, hands roaming over the lean muscles of his chest and abs through the thin fabric. Leaning in, you capture his lips in a deep, probing kiss, slanting your mouth over his again and again until his tension fully dissolves and he melts into your touch.

“Better?” You ask with a quirked brow as you finally pull back, taking in his dazed expression.

“Getting there,” Charles replies, pupils already blown wide with arousal. He surges forward to recapture your lips hungrily.

You allow him to control the heated kiss for a few indulgent moments before taking charge once more, pushing firmly against his chest until the backs of his thighs hit the edge of the sleek, ultra-modern sofa. He flops back with a breathless chuckle as you crawl over him, straddling his waist and rocking your hips against his in a pointed grind.

“Just relax and let me handle this,” you rasp against the hinge of his jaw, relishing the full-body shudder that wracks his frame.

Your hands deftly slip beneath the hem of his undershirt, pushing it up and over his head to expose his toned upper body before latching your lips to the hollow of his throat. Charles tips his head back in blissful surrender as you lavish hot, openmouthed kisses along the thunderous pulse point and down the sculpted grooves of his chest.

His hands struggle to find purchase as your mouth trails lower still, tracing nonsensical patterns through the trial of hair. Every swirl of your tongue is deliberate, thorough, a reminder to him to stay grounded in the present moment, focused solely on the exquisite sensations you’re lavishing upon his body.

You pause with your face hovering inches above the waistband of his shorts, reveling in the pure want burning in Charles’ lust-darkened gaze as he watches you through his veil of tousled chestnut curls. Hooking your fingers into the stretchy material, you ease it down, never breaking that heated eye contact.

Charles is already achingly hard, hips twitching upwards in search of some kind of delicious friction. You blow a teasing stream of air over his length, relishing the way he squirms and lets out a guttural moan. Only then do you take him fully into your mouth, swirling your tongue around the velvety crown before sinking down in one smooth glide.

“F-Fuck ...” Charles’ head thrashes against the armrest as his hands scrabble uselessly at the supple leather, trying and failing to find purchase. You hum in satisfaction around your mouthful, the vibrations jolting through him with dizzying intensity.

Knowing he’s dangerously close already, you ease off with one last lingering lick. Charles whines in protest, hips canting upwards to chase that incredible heat and suction. But rather than continuing with your talented mouth, you throw one lean leg over his body to straddle his hips once more.

Charles swallows hard as you reach behind to unclasp your lacy bra, shrugging it off your shoulders and allowing it to puddle onto the floor. He tracks the motion with rapt attention, fingers twitching with the overwhelming need to touch.

Before he can make a move, you halt him with a stern look and guiding hand wrapped around his wrist. “Nuh-uh, I’m in charge here, remember?”

Charles makes a thin, desperate sound but complies, allowing you to pin both wrists above his head. His chest heaves with each shuddering inhale as he watches you shimmy out of your skin tight jeans with your core hovering just above his straining length.

Then, maintaining that heated eye contact, you sink down unbearably slowly until he’s sheathed fully inside you. Charles’ mouth drops open in a low keen as you begin to move in an unhurried grind, savoring each delicious inch.

“You feel that?” You rasp, leaning down to capture his plush bottom lip between your teeth. “You’re not alone in this, baby. I’ve got you.”

Charles nods frantically, hips jerking upwards in a broken rhythm to chase that incredible friction. You release his wrists in favor of framing his face, anchoring him to this intense connection amid the swirling sensations.

“Don’t think about the race or the championship,” you order in a low murmur. “There’s only you and me, here and now. Got it?”

“Yes ...” Charles moans in affirmation as your pace picks up the tiniest bit, guiding him closer and closer to that blissful edge.

Perspiration sheens over both your bodies, slick skin sliding together in an intoxicating glide. His hands roam hungrily over every inch of you, mapping each sculpted curve and plane like a long-cherished map. You snake one hand between your joined bodies to stroke him in counterpoint to your rolling undulations, determined to shatter him into a million ecstatic pieces.

Charles’ breath grows increasingly ragged, each strangled cry of pleasure driving you higher towards your own shattering peak. “Look at me,” you demand, cupping his stubbled jaw. His glassy emerald eyes lock onto yours obediently. “I’m all that matters right now.”

He shudders beneath you, mouth dropping open in a choked groan as his orgasm slams into him with full force. You bear down harder, chasing your own release to the soundtrack of his gasping whimpers. White-hot pleasure detonates through your nerve endings, leaving you breathless and trembling in its wake.

Collapsing bonelessly atop him, you nuzzle against the slick hollow of his throat, placing a tender kiss over his pulse as you both struggle to catch your breath. Charles’ arms envelop you, his frame still quivering with aftershocks.

“Better?” You murmur against his salted skin, unable to resist a teasing smirk.

A breathless laugh huffs from his lips. “So much better. I ...” He pauses, seeming to search for the right words. “Thank you, mon ange. For not letting me spiral.”

“Always,” you vow simply, tilting your head to capture his lips in a deep, searing kiss. When you finally break apart, his eyes are warm and clear, no longer clouded by that self-destructive darkness.

A tender smile tugs at the corners of your mouth as you brush back the damp chestnut curls from his forehead. In this quiet moment, with his body and soul laid bare before you, you know the roles have switched once more. He’s gone from race driver to simply Charles — your Charles — and you’ll protect that brilliant light within him with everything you have.

“We can debrief the data later,” he murmurs, mirroring your earlier words with a contented grin. “For now, I just want to stay right here with you.”

[quietplace26]

Furina!MC au: That's My Emotional Support Noodle!

NOTES: Different first meetings. Tiny noodle!Neuvillette. Again, using the name Leviathan as pre-Neuvillette's Sovereign name.

WARNINGS: OCness of the characters. Cringe worthy content.

This mostly goes the same way as the original au but instead of meeting a human looking Neuvillette... Furina!MC finds a tiny snake creature? A wiggling, blue noodle that bites!

This happens only a decade or so after Furina!MC's 'birth', so Neuvillette was reincarnated much, much earlier.

But because of that, he was stuck in a smaller, weaker form. (He looks like this)

Furina!MC feels like she recognizes the soggy noodle but due to it being a decade or so after her transmigration into Furina and being constantly stressed out by both her role as the Hydro Archon and Focalors, her memory of certain events or people in Genshin Impact have faded somewhat...

...Furina!MC stares worriedly down at the small snake-like creature she had safely tucked in a box in her room. Compared to earlier when she found it at her usual hiding spot, a beach hidden far from the court of Fontaine and mortal eyes, it looked to be in better condition.

However, it was still glaring and hissing up at her. It even bit her when she picked up. But its teeth were so small it didn't hurt that bad. A little band aid fixed it up.

Furina!MC didn't have the heart to get mad at it. It was scared and hurt. She would've done the same thing if she was in its place...

"I know you're upset being here, but its only for a little while, ok? I promise to release you back into the sea once you're better..."

The adorable noodle hisses one last time before staring at her and making a huff sound and disappears under the small blanket she placed in the box, signaling the end of the conversation.

So, for the next few weeks, Furina!MC actively took care of the small creature she saved. Slowly nursing it back to health whenever she had any free time.

She affectionately calls it 'Neuvi' cause his coloring reminded her of Nevuillette's color scheme from the game.

It honestly improved her mood. Having been forced to smile and act the last decade or so had put a lot of mental strain on her mental health...

For this small hissy and bitey noodle brought Atrue smile on her face.

Meanwhile curled up in his box, the small 'noodle' was absolutely miserable. Him, the great Leviathan, the Lord of Hydro, the beating Heart of the Primordial Sea, the Hydro Sovereign himself, was stuck in this humiliating form and being treated like a hatchling!

And his caretaker was a usurper! And the Hydro one at that! She had his authority! Wretched woman! If only he was in his true form, he could-

He squeaks then as a soft finger gently scratches down his back, making him flops down into the nest of soft blankets and little purrs leave his throat in bliss.

He hears a familiar giggle and knows it was the Hydro usurper. His rhinophores twitch in annoyance at that, the urge to bite her finger was strong but the female's magical touch made it impossible to move. Curse his body for being so sensitive to touch!

"Hm... it looks like you're almost healed, little one."

Leviathan squeaks indignantly at being called little and squeaks again when gentle hands carefully scoop him out the box, holding him directly in front the usurper's face.

She was smiling, seemingly happy with his recovery, but also... she looked sad.

It was one thing that he reluctantly noticed while stuck under the Hydro usurper's care, the female always had an aura of tiredness and sadness around her despite always smiling and being loud and dramatic.

She pads over to her own nest (bed), settling down on it and places Leviathan on her chest, a finger trails down his back again, annoyingly making him purr again.

"...I'm going to miss you once I return you to the sea."

The Sovereign freezes at those words. Miss him? What was she-

Oh. Oh. Her face... why was water dripping down her face. And her eyes, they look even sadder...

Confused, and a little curious, Leviathan wiggles closer to her face and licks at one water droplet falling down from her eyes... and he nearly curls up in pain at the sheer sadness and misery he felt from that one droplet.

Those were how she actually felt?! How can one being hold so much misery?! The only ones he could think of was himself when he was killed along with his fellow Sovereigns. The sheer anger and misery he felt then...

"A-ah are you alright?" The soft, familiar hands of the Hydro usurper curl around his now trembling little form, holding him with such care as she cradled him against her chest, over her beating heart... where he feels his authority coming from.

He... he could use this chance to steal it and then kill her... he was so close... but...

Lifting his head, the Sovereign gazes into the worried eyes of the Hydro usurper... and licks her nose, making her let out her own squeak, which sounded... cute. Yes, it was cute.

But nothing beats the giggle he hears next along with the soft, but real smile.

And just like that, things change between them, or at least for the Hydro Sovereign.

He became much more tolerable with Furina!MC's touch, even actively seeking it whenever she comes over to his box.

He even manages to sneak into her pocket one day while she went out to do her duties as Hydro Achon.

Furina!MC only notices this as she was practicing a recital and just so happens to glance down to see a familiar little head poking out her pocket, making her nearly mess up.

And even after she warned him not to do it again, she still found him in her pocket again the next day.

At this point Furina!MC gave up after 7th attempt and her little noodle friend wrapped himself around her neck like a scarf, scaring the hell out of one the makeup artists when he hissed at them when they came too close.

But the boiling point came when it was time to released Furina!MC's little noodle friend...

Furina!MC was holding in tears as she placed the secret Sovreign on the beach, right where she found him hurt all those weeks ago.

She tries to smile, but it was forced.

"W-well, this is goodbye, Neuvi." Nevui. It was her little name for the Hydro Sovereign. He found it to be too cute for someone like him, but came to like it because, well, she gave it to him.

And goodbye? No! No, no, no-

"Neuvi, please!"

Furina!Mc pleaded weakly as her little noodle friend wraps his long noodle body around her ankle, and looks up at her with pleading, sad eyes.

And it begins to rain then.

Fearful about leaving Neuvi out in this weather after just healing, Furina!MC sighs, picking her little noodle up again.

"Ok then. Back home we go... But tomorrow you have to return to the sea, ok?"

Needless to say, that doesn't happen.

From then on 'Neuvi" becomes a staple in Furina!MC's life. A positive one at that.

One could say he was her emotional support noodle.

But in all seriousness, Furina!MC didn't think this happiness wouldn't last long. Her little friend wouldn't be able to live as long as she would... would he?

Fast forward to almost a 100 years later and her little 'Neuvi' was still there, perched cutely on her shoulders. He literally was her ONLY emotional support by that point.

Whenever she was sure Focalors wasn't listening in and in the safety of her room Furina!MC would crawl into her bed, placing her little 'Neuvi' on her chest, and quietly lets everything pour out.

This leads to the Sovereign finding out her secrets. From the she remembered another life where she was just a normal human girl. A life where all of this, all of Teyvat and its inhabitants were nothing but work of fiction.

Tells him about how scared she was of the future. Of meeting someone called Neuvillette, who, as it turns out... was the Hydro Sovereign himself.

Him? She was scared... of him? Why would she be scared of him, he'd never hurt her! After nearly 100 years, he knew without any doubt she was a precious treasure!

His savior who saved him at his weakest point. His friend, his treasure, his... just his everything!

He's then brought back out of his thoughts when Furina!MC starts to tremble, tears falling down her cheeks as speaks more about the future, of the thing she feared the most.

Betrayal. She was afraid of being betrayed, and hearing what would happen, Leviathan felt sheer rage.

Him? Betraying Furina!MC? Taking a stranger's side without hesitation? Let her be humiliated in front of all Fontaine?! Never!

But despite his current anger, something kept popping back up in his thoughts. Him becoming a human. Thats how Furina!MC described him. A dragon reincarnated in a human form.

But he didn't reincarnate as a human. He reincarnated as this in this tiny, humiliated form reminiscent of his true form. And besides, why would he even want a human form? It would be a disgrace for him to become one!

...However, the more he thought about it, having a human form would make looking after the Archon easier. He was still too weak to return to his true form, but a human... yes, he could do that.

After all, the power of water is its ability to take any shape, and he was a being made completely of the element of Hydro...

Furina!MC sniffles, smiling shakily when she feels the familiar feeling of her little 'Neuvi' licking her cheeks dry.

"A-at least when everyone abandons me, I'll at least have you, Neuvi..."

She frowns then, sighing.

"I need to finish that letter tonight..."

Leviathan perks up with a questioning squeak as Furina!MC carefully places him on the bed and stands up, padding over to her desk. Letter? What letter?

"Focalors said it was time to summon the Hydro Dragon to Fontaine... I hope I can handle meeting him. Ugh, he's probably going to hate me..."

She had no idea the Hydro Dragon himself was currently on your bed, squeaking 'I am here!' and 'I would never hate you! but no good, she just thought he was being cute like always.

She eventually finishes the letter, setting it to the side with the reminder to send it tomorrow. ...It made her wonder how the original letter even got to Neuvillette in the game. It didn't make sense, but she wouldn't dive into it.

Yawning she wanders back over to her bed, crawling in, and shuts off the light. Little 'Neuvi' was curled up on her pillow beside her head, staring at her quietly.

"Night Neuvi." Furina!MC presses a gentle kiss to her little noodle's head and drifts off to sleep, meaning she never notices that her emotional support noodle started to glow afterwards... only finding out the next morning when she wakes up to a special surprise.

That surprise being a NAKED man in her bed, clutching her to his chest like a teddy bear, and that's not even the biggest surprise. Oh no, she recognizes this man. Because even after 100 years, she would never forget her favorite character, Neuvillette.

But that doesn't explain why he was here in her bed! And where's Neuvi?! Where's her precious, little noodle?!

[thatsmooji]

time for ΦΒΣ connie! 💙

sigma!connie who has been giving his brothers HELL ever since rush week

sigma!connie is always trying to bend the rules of the house; constantly seeing what he can get away with

sigma!connie who is surprisingly not a fan favorite amongst his college crowd, despite his extroverted personality

sigma!connie who only really rocks with his brothers, alpha!ony, eren (who refused to pledge to ANYONE), and you, of course!

sigma!connie first caught glimpses of you during rush week. you were pledging AKA, and you were beyond pretty enough to match their motif

however, after the first two days, he lost sight of you. you weren't at any of the events, and sigma!connie worried that you had gotten cut. that made his goal of meeting of you way harder now. you could be anywhere in the sea of thousands of college students, and he didn't even know your name!

after his probate, sigma!connie immediately began searching for you at every event and party; even stopping a couple of active AKA's in hopes of finding you

sigma!connie FINALLY saw you again in the campus bookstore of all places, and near damn tripped over his own feet trying to get to you

once he (very smoothly and nonchalantly, might i add) introduced himself, sigma!connie decided to ask what happened to you pledging. you explained to him that you realized it just wasn't your thing. too many restrictions for your liking

he could get that. sigma!connie was ALWAYS stressing his chapter advisors with his recklessness when it came to parties and performances

after the brief meeting in the bookstore, you and sigma!connie started to meet up every other day! he quickly learned that your poised, snobby demeanor was not just for show. you were spoiled and borderline rude. this, for some reason, did not deter him in the slightest

sigma!connie followed you around like a lost dog; helping carry your bags whenever you went shopping, adding his two cents in whenever you shared some campus gossip, and going out for drinks with you and your roommate (who was just as bad as you)

past your harsh and standoffish exterior, though, sigma!connie knew you were his. from the way you'd apologize to him whenever you said something particularly rude in his presence, to the way that you would buy him expensive accessories to go with his greek event outfits

you loved sigma!connie so much that you even started showing up to his performances! you weren't a fan of crowds, but you wouldn't dare miss seeing your connie up on that stage

sigma!connie was surprisingly good at stepping, and it didn't take long before he worked his way up to being in the front of the group during strolls and shows

sigma!connie who would drunkenly shout "LOOK AT MY HOT GIRLFRIEND!" at any given moment, and would be in genuine despair whenever he lost sight of you at a party (alpha!ony would wearily call you to "come get your damn puppy")

sigma!connie would only mellow out slightly (and i mean VERY slightly) when he was around you

sigma!connie's first gift to you was a royal blue and white michael kors purse. he was afraid you wouldn't like it since it was way below the price of your other purses, and you bursting out into tears didn't really ease his anxieties

so imagine his surpise when you enveloped him in a hug, sobbing about how sweet he was and how no one had ever gifted you something so nice 🥹 yeah, sigma!connie was all yours by the end of the fall semester 💙

[sweeneydino]

can you pleaas give us random facts about woh au? I really love it i can hear you (will read you talking to be more correct) all day long! But I don’t have and certain things to ask

I will eat anything (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))♡

Of course ^^

This might be long…

Not really accurately shown here, but their general heights are: Weapon! Raph(Red)8 ft. , Don(Purple) and Leon(Blue) 7ft. , Mikey(Orange) 5”7 and April(Yellow) 5”4. Their height varies a-lot so don’t mind it much :)

Due to their very flashy and quite destructive arrival, the Hamato Clan was created centuries earlier. The original Foot is still older, and their rivalry is still bloody.

The weapons got a-lot of nicknames over the years, but for some reason, it always loops around to their colors.

While their surroundings differ for each individual, their realms always consist of a cherry blossom tree and Japanese bellflower.

Donatello and Michelangelo sneak out alone a lot, often either coming back with scrap or covered in paint stains.

Their visits happen during meditation or sleep.

Michelangelo learns how to cook a lot quicker, especially after the incident™️…. He is much more ready to bounce, hop, and swing around with his chains. He CANNOT stand still, especially after mystic discharges.

Quite often, he picks up his brothers without thinking. He is also more likely to act without thinking(wow this place is really quiet, let's scream-)

Donatello watches a lot of melodramas and often paints his weapon a bright purple despite his brothers teases. He always has his weapon near him at all times and talks out loud more than his brothers, rivaled by only Mikey.

He was the first to have a conversation with his weapon.

His sass is immeasurable, but his social skills are 0.

He always has a project in the works, and it's always more grander than the last.

Yes, he might have committed a few crimes, but if there is a purple fuzz blocking the view of the cameras, clearly, it didn't happen.

Leonardo has gained an annoying habit of leaning on his sword and often leans too far and falls. He also experiences insomnia after his portals activate and hates being alone in the dark.

April and Donnie start out as friends. I.e I have been infected by this beautiful post .

Apriltello/Capriltello/Jonatello/Capril or any other ships will not be the main focus, dw. Also, leo and karai will not have that whole… situation. Only friendship to bffs to siblings, thanks to the fruity sword 👍

Leonardo and Raphael fight less often, but when they do, it gets quite messy. Doesn’t help they have a hard time opening up.

Fear his puns.

Leo is very spiritually inclined and is usually sleepy, sometimes falling asleep during katas. He gets the most visits because of this. Not in season 3 tho-

He has to clean his sword(s). Daily.

Raphael still paints and has a giant collection of teddy bears. When Michelangelo asks him why he has many teddy bears, he is often pelted by a few. It doesn’t seem like he made them for himself.

Raphael suffers from chronic brothers-climbing‐on-his-shell syndrome. Literally. There is no brick left unsmashed when he gets into a fight, and at least on bone must be cracked. Why? Stress release.

Strangely, after activating his mystics, Spike gets a bit hissy for a while. And he stinks.

He shows a bit more affection to his brothers, mostly Mikey, but only hugs.

She hangs around much more often in the lair because of a familiar pull. She's a sucker for romances, and all the shows the turtles show her. Her favorite is, of course, SRMFF(Super Robo Mecha Force Five!)

Similar to canon, April hates being belittled and her family being in distressed. After her dad is mutated, she does try to take some time away from her friends. Including her weapon, much to their chagrin.

Once she starts training, April becomes an adrenaline junkie. Sometimes, she invites one of the boys to join her, albeit with a disguise. Leo and Raph often try to avoid those outings.

She's a little introverted, but becomes more open towards others when she meets the turtles. Especially when she gains her weapon.

Due to her being psychic, it's a lot easier for her to discover a new friend, with a few... setbacks, of course.

Yoshi has seen the weapons outside of their weapons. So has Saki.

Splinter is a bit more laid-back, not enough to not be extremely worried every time his kids come home with bruises, but enough that it's easier to convince him they may go topside. Maybe because he too, likes the TV.

After he uses his own mystics, he usually disappears to the dojo. Snores always follow

When the turtles leave Splinter with their weapons, either from being grounded, a lesson, or end of training pre-episode 1, he usually looks annoyed, amused, or tired. And it's not because of his kids.

Splinter is able to wield their mystic weapons masterfully, but their ninpo ones are a different story.

Like always, some of these might be different in the future but I think I got it right for now ùvú

[thenewgirl76]

Though I'm pretty fond of mer designs and au's in whatever fandom I'm a part of, not once have I ever actively participated in Mermay. So despite being so preposterously late in joining the party, here's a little something I more or less thought up on the fly to fix that.

After discovery of the Iceberg Lounge illegally housing a mer, Robin with Nightwing's help storms the place to rescue the sea creature. To their surprise Penguin gives him up without a fight, practically begging them to take the fishboy off his hands while lamenting over how he was bad for business and just not worth the trouble.

Taking the black and white mer back to the manor Dick and Damian settle on keeping him in the pool for now until he can be taken to a reserve. It doesn't take long for their new aquatic resident "Danny" to win everyone over, Bruce included, with his close to human intelligence and friendly and playful demeanor.

That all changes however once Steph eventually comes by for a visit. The first time they meet, Danny is instantly enamored with the previous Batgirl, and from there things start to fall apart.

Alfred and Damian being the exception, no one can physically interact with Steph when Danny's around, as the previously outgoing mer will immediately become all teeth, growls, and hisses. When it's just them he gets exceptionally cuddly while trying to offer her one of his scales. And every time she leaves he'll lay in the pool screeching at the top of his lungs in misery for hours on end.

With everyone so stressed out and near their wit's end over his behavior, Steph does the first and only thing that comes to mind, ask Danny what it is he wants from her. His response is to once again offer his scale, which she takes hoping that will be the end of it all.

That turns out to be the wrong move. As the moment it's in her hand Danny's on her again, grinning from earfin to earfin before poking her stomach and saying two words that suck all rational thought out of her. "Babies now?"