#And honestly I won’t either because it’s been over a year since I took this lol

[rollinouttahere-writes]

It took the better part of a year, but I've finally figured out where to go with Joyride. A lot of people have been asking for this, so I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Joyride (Part 2)

Part 1

Yandere Ace x GN Isekai Reader

4.8k words

Warning! This contains pretty much every Ace related spoiler btw!

When going into a world you already know everything about, you don’t exactly expect to be surprised by anything. Sure, there will be slight changes and alternate interactions now that you’ve been unceremoniously dropped in, but you had been anticipating for the story to follow all the same beats.

Which is why you were really thrown off when Ace didn’t go his separate way when he was supposed to.

Luffy had succeeded in defeating Crocodile and stopping his plan for dictatorship of Alabasta, but Ace was still here. Granted, having Ace around was hardly the worst thing that could happen, but you didn’t understand what was going on with him.

After your downright bizarre interaction during the little joyride he took you on, you’d honestly had every intention of avoiding him going forward. Then he threw a curveball at you by sincerely apologizing later that night. With everything going on right now he just got a little carried away, that’s all, he won’t harass you about it again. Or so he claimed.

You were skeptical initially, but true to his word, he hasn’t brought up you joining the Whitebeard Pirates since. Between that, and him having an unknown advantage over you by being a favorite character of yours, it was easy to find it within yourself to forgive him. You two have been borderline inseparable since, much to the chagrin of your crewmates. 

While Ace hadn’t openly made further attempts to convince you to join his pops’ crew, he’d found a thinly veiled loophole in the form of telling you all kinds of stories about them. You knew this was in and of itself, a method to win you over, but deemed it not worth calling out. Besides, who were you to refuse the opportunity to get some Whitebeard Pirates lore?

There were many late nights filled with quiet conversations about various shenanigans the crew got up to in their free time, of which there were many. An unsurprising fact because of course having that many sibling jam packed onto a ship would turn it into a vessel of chaos. 

If you had a weaker resolve, these stories might have won you over. But no, you need to go home.

Even though you weren’t convinced on switching crews, or even just staying here, there was a different problem arising from all your quality time together.

The longer you spoke and goofed around with him, the deeper and more intricate the conversations became, the more human he became to you. Or course, he’d technically always been a human being, but your mind had always registered him (as well as everyone else here) as a “character” first and foremost. A figure in a fictional story which you just so happened to be in temporarily. 

Now? After spending so much time with him, aftering seeing him make decisions based off his own experiences and preferences rather than being dictated by some omnipotent author, things have changed. He wasn’t Portgas D. Ace, the fan favorite character from One Piece. He was just Ace, your friend.

With this came something you never saw coming. Guilt. An all consuming, agonizing guilt that picked away at you every single second of the day.

You knew what was to come. You knew what was going to happen to him. What were you doing about it? Absolutely nothing. And for what? For the sake of preserving a story that’s already been altered from your mere presence?

What a disgusting excuse of a friend you were.

The internal conflict you were going through hadn’t gone unnoticed, not when it was taking such a high toll on you. Nami was the first to start grilling you on it. Naturally, she immediately started pointing fingers at Ace as being the cause, which while not wrong, she wasn’t correct in the way she believed herself to be either. It was hardly his fault that you had a heavy conscience. 

Sanji had also picked up on your struggles and was very concerned about the bags under your eyes, even offering to make some tea to assist with sleeping. An offer you turned down perhaps more harshly than truly necessary, but being trapped in a deeper sleep sounded awful with the nightmares you’ve been having.

It had been upsetting enough to watch Ace die through a screen, but in your dreams you were right there. It felt so real.

A suffocating heat burned at your skin and seared your lungs with every panicked breath, which only became more frantic as hot blood splattered over your face. Life was rapidly draining from Ace’s eyes as he collapsed into the waiting arms of his now deeply traumatized brother.

Your feet were rooted to the ground, all you could do was stare in horror as he looked up at you with tearful, pleading eyes. “Why?” The word was more so coughed out than spoken, spraying out more blood that he couldn’t afford to lose. An arm extended towards you, the hand locking onto your own. His nails dug into your skin, drawing out blood of your own to mix with his into a revolting cocktail. “You could have stopped this. How could you do this to me?”

The last word was wheezed out and his body went limp as his dead, lifeless eyes stared through you. A soul wrenching scream tore its way out of Luffy’s throat, only to morph into your own as you were mercifully ripped from your slumber.

The screaming damn near gave Ace a heart attack, you’re sure of it. This nightmare had occurred after you and him had become separated from the rest of the group while traversing the desert, and you had found a compact cave for the two of you to pass the night in.

What made it worse was how he reacted. He was so concerned, even fretting over you as you desperately tried to get your breathing under control. The compassion in his eyes had done nothing to comfort you, it only served to further sicken you. Here he was wanting to save you from something as trivial as a nightmare, yet you couldn’t be bothered to speak up on and prevent his upcoming demise.

The guilt was killing you, and the solution was not only clear, but easy. So why couldn’t you bring yourself to just tell him? To plead and beg for him to give up the chase and not throw his life away. Yet your lips remained sealed. 

All of these elements came to a boil and demanded your attention, so you did what seemed to be the easiest thing to do in your situation. Drink it away.

Now that Luffy had awoken from his brief coma after fighting Crocodile, Alubarna Palace was hosting a lavish party in celebration and thanks for what everyone had done. And what high end party would be complete without absurd amounts of alcohol?

It started with one, purely to help ease your nerves. However, when it didn’t, you poured yourself another. And then a few more. Zoro had initially been thrilled to have you as a drinking buddy, but apparently even he had his limits and had cut you off.

“The hell’s gotten into you? You’re drinking like you’re trying to run from demons,” the bottle of expensive liquor had been moved out of reach when you tried to go for it again.

“You have no idea,” you slurred out, head spinning from your evening of poor decision making.

Zoro shot you a questioning look, but didn’t press it, likely knowing full well that getting a coherent conversation out of you right now would be impossible. He heaved out a sigh and stood up, “I’m going to get you some water, stay right there.”

Thoroughly defeated, you slumped back into your chair. After all that, you still couldn’t get your dilemma out of your head. Your “demons” continued gnawing at your soul, and all that your drinking had done about it was ensure that you would have a miserable hangover in the morning.

Your head lulled to the side, and you caught sight of a familiar orange hat. Speak of the devil. While you were in the throws of self inflicted misery, Ace was happily taking advantage of all the food being offered. Good for him. He deserved a nice night. 

As if acting on its own, your body managed to get up onto its feet. You shambled towards him, doing your best not to fall flat on your face with each uncoordinated step. Whatever invisible force that had been helping you to make the walk to Ace failed you at the last second, and you crashed into him from behind.

“Shit! Wha- Oh, it’s just you,” Ace whirled around, visibly agitated, but his features relaxed when he realized who it was. He appeared to be ready to say more but you cut him off.

“I need to talk to you.” 

Ace quirked a brow, “Yeah? What’s up?” 

From the expectant look he was giving you, it’s clear that he’s waiting for you to spill your guts here and now. You shook your head, “No, it’s… It’s a secret. We have to go somewhere else.” Realization flashed across his face and he nodded. Fortunately for you, he led the way. You honestly did not think you’d be able to scout out a place for this discussion. You were finally going to come clean and tell him everything before you could sober up and come to your senses.  

It was going well. At least it was, until he passed out and took you down with him. You both collided onto the floor with a resounding thud, him on top of you. The hall you’d slipped into was empty, meaning there was no one here to help you. 

You groaned as you attempted to move, the fall had hit you harder than it should have thanks to the copious amounts of alcohol in your system. You were also mentally kicking yourself for not seeing this coming. He was eating when you stumbled into him, of course it was only a matter of time before this happened.

Whatever, there isn’t time to be bemoaning a minor inconvenience. You manage to shimmy out from under him and use the wall to get to your feet. Ace is snoring on the floor, not a care in the world. Hopefully he’ll wake up soon. 

Taking a look around, you see a door just a couple steps away. You inch your way over to it and try the knob. It clicks open, and you peer in. Looks like some sort of guest room, and it’s empty. Perfect.

Pushing the door open fully, you turn back to Ace. He’s still asleep, but you don’t want to wait around for him to wake up on his own and run the risk of being seen. You lean down to grab the closest part of him, his right foot, and pull. You’re not sure if he’s actually heavy, or if you’re just too drunk for this, but you tip over while trying to do this and fall flat on your ass.

“Huh?” Ace’s head snapped up and he looked around owlishly. The second his eyes connected with yours, he remembered what he was doing before his narcoleptic tendencies took the wheel. He laughed, a light blush on his face, as he got to his feet, “Sorry about that, you alright?”

“I’m fine, get in here,” you urged him to hurry, which he did. In the time it took you to stand again, Ace had already slipped into the room, closed the door, and flicked on a lamp so you two wouldn’t be talking in complete darkness. You eye the door for a moment, then grab a chair and drag it over to wedge it under the doorknob. Someone walking in on the conversation you were about to have would be something of a worst case scenario.

Ace watched this curiously, “Is everything okay?”

This probably looked weird, but oh well, it’s about to get a lot weirder. You decide to sit on the bed and motion for Ace to join you, which he does. You take one of his hands in both of yours and stare at him intensely, “I need to tell you something. It’s going to sound insane, but you need to promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.”

He repeated his previous question, asking again if everything was okay, but you cut him off, “Promise me, please!”

Your desperation got through to him, “Okay, I promise! What’s going on?”

Here goes nothing. You take a deep breath and take the leap, “You need to stop going after Blackbeard.”

Ace recoiled immediately, and if you hadn’t been holding onto his hand for dear life, he probably would have backed away from you. “What? I can’t do that, why would y-”

“Let me finish!” You snapped at him, only to immediately regret it. You sighed, “Please. There’s more, please let me finish talking first, and then you can talk.”

While he did not look happy about it, he did relax his shoulders and settled back into the bed. You took this as your cue to continue, “You need to stop going after Blackbeard because you will die if you do.” Ace exhaled sharply and rolled his eyes at this, assuming that this was coming from a place of fear and doubt.

“I know this because,” you took in a shuddering breath, steeling yourself for what was to come. “I know this because in the world that I came from… This world is a story.”

Ace stares at you wide eyed and slack jawed. He laughed, but was very clearly uncomfortable, “I, uh, I think you’ve had a little too much to drink tonight. How about I take you back to your room to sleep it off, okay?” 

He tried to stand, but you yanked him back down, “No! I’m not drunk! Well, I mean, I am, but I know what I’m talking about! I can prove it.”

His expression was nothing short of incredulous, but he indulged you, “Yeah, okay, sure. Go ahead, prove it.”

“You’re hunting down Blackbeard because he murdered Thatch so he could steal his devil fruit,” you started light. Ace had told you about Thatch being the one he was avenging, but he’d never mentioned the devil fruit before, likely not deeming it an important enough detail. His brows knit together and his eyes drifted upwards as he racked his brain to remember if maybe he actually had said something about it.

“Before you were with Whitebeard, you were captain of the Spade Pirates. Your first member was Masked Deuce, who you met while being stranded on an island together. It’s where you found your devil fruit and built Striker,” he hadn’t told you anything in regards to his old crew, and his face reflected that. You definitely had his attention now.

“You and Luffy were raised by mountain bandits because Garp couldn’t raise you two himself. It wasn’t just you guys, though, you had another brother named Sabo, but he was killed when he tried to set sail and got shot down,” at this point, you were saying whatever came to mind with no regard to whether or not it was a good idea to say this right now. You couldn’t bring yourself to keep looking him in the eye, so you settled for staring at his hand in yours. It was completely slack.

“Your parents are Portgas D. Rouge and Gol D. R-”

Before you could finish the sentence, Ace’s free hand clamped over your mouth with such ferocity that you almost fell off the bed. Forcing yourself to make eye contact again, you see that his are blown wide and wild. The color has been drained from his face and he looked physically ill from hearing everything you just threw at him.

An extremely tense moment passed with nothing to be heard beyond his labored breathing. Then, he hesitantly let go of your face and with a shaky voice said, “Okay. I’m sorry. I believe you. What… What’s going to happen if I keep pursuing Blackbeard?”

You attempted to swallow the lump in your throat, but it refused to go away, “When you catch up with him, you’ll fight, but lose. Your powers are no match for his, you don’t stand a chance against him. After your loss, he turns you in to the marines. 

“Because of who your father is, they decide to make an example out of you and sentence you to death.”

“That bastard turns me in and I get executed?” He sounds like the wind has just been knocked out of him. Disbelief and bitterness are the two most prevalent emotions in his tone, but many others brew beneath the surface.

“Not exactly,” it’s true that he gets turned in and killed, but it’s nowhere near that simple and straightforward. “Luffy comes to your rescue at Marineford, and so does Whitebeard and a lot of his crew.”

Before you could go more into detail, Ace speaks up, “They… W-Why would they do that?”

“Why would they- You have to ask?!” Your voice raises and you have to remind yourself of just how much character development he has to go through in that arc to finally realize and accept the fact that he’s genuinely loved. “Because you’re family, their family! They care about you and don’t want to see you die!”

Your outburst shocked him, but not as much as seeing you start to cry did. His hand is abandoned and you lurch forward to bring him into a suffocatingly tight hug, “Y-You are so loved, you know that? They l-love you so much! A lot of people do! I do! We all want to see you live and be happy!” You limply hang off of him as more tears bubble to the surface, greedily taking the chance to escape with every sob as you finally let out everything you’ve been keeping in. Ace makes no move to return your embrace, he just sits there stiff as a board. 

“A-And, at that battle, you’re killed by Admiral Akainu while protecting Luffy. He’s devastated by it, being forced to watch you die hurts him so bad,” you cling onto him tighter upon feeling him flinch from your words. “Whitebeard dies there too.”

“What?! How could anyone kill him? That can’t be right!” You’re wrenched off Ace violently and his stare is almost as unhinged as it was when you said his parents’ names.

“Blackbeard does it,” Ace freezes at this. “That should give you an idea of how strong he is. If he can kill Whitebeard, fighting you is nothing to him. Besides, you of all people would know how hard it is to kill him,” you chuckle but it’s humorless, empty even.

A heavy stretch of silence follows after that. Ace’s eyes don’t leave your face for even a second, desperately searching for anything that would tell him that this is all one big, sick joke. But there’s nothing of the sort. 

Slowly, he releases your shoulders and he shifts away from you to rest his head in his hands. Without his support, you allow yourself to fall back onto the bed. Between all the alcohol and your emotional outburst, you’re exhausted and want nothing more than to sleep. You try to force yourself to stay awake, but it feels like an insurmountable task. 

“Hey, Ace?” There’s no answer, but you continue anyway, “I’m sorry. I know that was a lot. If, um… If you don’t believe me about knowing what’s going to happen, stick around until after we set sail again. Bon Clay- Mr. 2- is going to bring the Going Merry over here so that we don’t have to backtrack. Marines will be all over the place, but he sacrifices himself so that Luffy and his crew can get away. Once they’ve lost the marines, Nico Robin will reveal herself to have been hiding on the ship and joins the crew.”

Ace continues to not react to what’s being said, you’re not even sure he’s listening to you at this point. As much as you want to comfort him, your limbs feel like lead and your head is swimming. The last thing you see is the jolly roger of the Whitebeard’s staring you down as you fade into darkness.

—

Consciousness comes back to you slowly. Painfully so. Before you can even make out your surroundings, you’re assaulted by the worst headache of your life. The stabbing pain behind your eyes is crippling, all you want is to retreat back to the comfort of sleep, but you know that’s not going to happen.

It doesn’t help that your mouth is so dry that you feel like you’re back in the desert. One hand comes up to gingerly massage your eyes. The action brought more discomfort than relief, but it did clear up your sight a little. 

As your senses ebb back into you, you hone in on the pressure all over your body. It takes considerable effort, but you manage to lift your head enough to take a look. Your nose is less than an inch from bumping into someone else’s. Chopper’s to be exact. He was curled up into your side and using your chest as a pillow. Looking past him, Luffy was sprawled across your lap, belly up. Both of them were still asleep.

You prop yourself up on one arm. Chopper shifts, but doesn’t wake. Off to your side is a bedside table with a glass of water on it. Oh, thank God. Using the arm you aren’t propped up with, you grab it and bring the cup to your lips. The water is divine, an absolute blessing for your dry throat.  

As you enjoy your drink, your eyes glance around to observe the rest of the room. It’s the one you all have been staying in since saving Alabasta. Most of your friends are in their respective beds, except for Chopper and Luffy, obviously. Zoro was also not in his bed, instead being slumped over in a chair next to your own.

Your eyes flicker over to the massive windows of the room, and you spot Ace sitting in the windowsill. From the way he’s positioned, he appears to be awake already. Your gaze narrows as you focus on him. Something tickled at the back of your mind, demanding to be remembered. But what?

“Y-You are so loved, you know that? They l-love you so much! A lot of people do! I do! We all want to see you live and be happy!” 

The water going down your throat is suddenly going out of it when you choke. Memories come back and hit you like a train as you realize what exactly it is you did last night.

Naturally, this wakes up Chopper and Luffy, who are both jolted from their once peaceful sleep by you choking on your drink. Chopper immediately starts to panic, “AH! Don’t die, (Y/N)!”

—

It was crucial that you speak to Ace again, but it seemed like the world itself was committed to making sure that didn’t happen. Ace slipped out of the room while everyone was fussing over you, and it honestly felt like he was avoiding you now. Everytime you thought you might be able to catch him alone, either he vanishes, or someone else comes out of nowhere to drag you away.

Today was the day you all set sail from Alabasta, and while that did put you in close proximity with Ace, it also put everyone else within earshot of you two. And considering the delicate nature of what you needed to talk about, that was extremely inconvenient. 

The only good thing was that the events following leaving Alabasta played out exactly how they were supposed to. Hopefully that meant that Ace would believe you and give up hunting down Blackbeard, but you won’t be able to confirm that unless you speak with him. 

You were so stressed that you’d barely been able to focus on Robin being here. She “introduced” herself to you as if she hadn’t had an extremely uncomfortable run in with you in an alleyway back in Rainbase, but all you could manage was a half-assed handshake before excusing yourself.

For probably the fifteenth time today, you checked to make sure that Striker was still tied to the Merry. It was, much to your relief. But where was Ace hiding? You haven’t seen him since Robin showed herself.

The stress of trying and failing to corner him was doing nothing to help with your hangover, your head felt like it was about to explode. Did you still have Advil in the bag you got isekai’d here with? Maybe. Pushing off the railing, you march to where your room is while praying that you’re right about the painkillers.

You open the door without much thought, only to stop dead in your tracks when you catch sight of Ace rummaging through your belongings and stuffing them into his backpack. The door opening did briefly make him stop and peer over his shoulder to see who it was, but the second he saw it was you, he went right back to pillaging. 

“Can I help you? Why are you robbing me?” You stomp over to where he’s crouched down and shove his shoulder. 

“I’m not robbing you, I’m packing for you,” Ace mumbled, sounding lost in thought.

“Why would you be packing for me? Actually, you know what? That’s the least of my concerns right now, we need to talk about last night.”

“We’ll talk about it later, not here.” He still hasn’t properly faced you, and you were getting sick of only making eye contact with his tattoo and not him. 

“Where else would we talk about it?!” You hissed.

Seeming content with his work, he stood up and kicked the dresser drawer shut, “On the Striker. Or maybe the Moby Dick, I guess. I’m going back and you’re coming with me.”

You can’t believe what you’re hearing, “Excuse me?”

“I’m going back to the Moby Dick, and you’re coming with me.” Ace had finally turned to face you. His eyes were sunken and vaguely bloodshot. 

The sight catches you off guard, “Did you sleep at all last night?”

He shook his head, “No, we’re going to have to stop somewhere else to sleep before going the rest of the way back home.”

“Ace, I’m not going with you. Look, I’m happy that you’re calling off your hunt, relieved honestly, but I’m staying here.” You will ideally be figuring out how to go home sometime soon, there’s no sense in hopping around from crew to crew now.

One of his eyes twitched, and he looked exasperated, “You can’t stay here. You aren’t safe here.”

“What are you-”

“Let me finish,” the words were spoken calmly, but very firm. “I don’t think you understand how serious this is. You apparently know everything about this world and what’s going to happen in it, do you have any idea what will happen to you if word gets out about this?”

“You’re the only person I’ve told, so as long as you keep your mouth shut, I’ll be fine.”

“Until you get drunk again and tell someone else, then what?” His words were just as scathing as his gaze.

Your face flushed in shame, “That won’t happen again.”

“You don’t know that!” Ace snapped at you, then sighed and dragged a hand down his face, “This is for your own good. Nothing good will come from anyone else learning about this. If it ever got back to someone like Big Mom, she would send every single one of her children after you so she could have you on her side. And that’s the nicer option. I’m sure the marines would be more than happy to kill you off so that no one else could have you if they can’t.”

Throughout this entire conversation, his face had remained uncomfortably neutral, but now it cracked. Fondness peaked through the exhaustion as his expression softened ever so slightly. He steps forwards and brings you against him in a crushing embrace. His skin is hot to the touch, effectively chasing away any chill that you may have had.

“You said you wanted to see me live, and I want to see you live, too.” The words are hushed, you wouldn’t have been able to hear him if he hadn’t been speaking right next to your ear.

Reluctantly, he pulls himself away. His face is serious again, “We’re leaving tonight, be ready to go.”

“But-”

“If you don’t come willingly, I will make you. The only thing that you resisting will accomplish is making this messier than it needs to be. Even if you don’t like this now, you will thank me for it later.”

Ace spins on his heel and heads for the door. All you can do is stand there gawking at him as he leaves. Just before the door closes behind him, he spares a glance over his shoulder to say, “I’ll see you tonight.”

[angstywaifu]

The Lost Sister - Part 8

Synopsis: Xaden is known as an only child due to his sister who 'died' during the Rebellion. Little do they know she didn't die and has been so close this entire time.

Garrick Tavis x OC A/N: Wasn't going to double post today but I'm feeling generous with it being Valentines Day. Sadly nothing super romantic about this one, but I promise some really good stuff is coming soon! I also have a few more one shots, but my requests are open if you have any more you guys want to send through! The Lost Sister Masterlist | Masterlist

The rotunda is empty as Imogen and I enter. Everyone in the dining hall eating. The feeling of being alone should unsettle me given recent circumstances, but after today I feel like that’s behind us.

Usually I would feel her eyes on me, but as she approached me in the hall I had no idea. Though I had been a little distracted at the lack of Garrick, Xaden and Bodhi at dinner.

She leads me over to the edge of the rotunda, and sits on the ledge, leaning up against one of the pillars. I copy her on the opposite side. For a few moments we sit in silence, looking out over the trees and mountains. It’s beautiful under the moonlight. In the distance I occasionally see dragons flying around. I wonder if one of them will be mine come threshing.

“I’d say I’m sorry for how I’ve acted towards you and what I did today. But I’m won’t. It’s just my weird way of processing this I guess.” She finally says, still looking out over the trees. “But, I can’t assure you it won’t happen again.”

I slowly nod my head. “Thanks, I guess.”

She looks over at me as if confused by my response.

“Not going to lie I was expecting a different response out of you regarding this. Also kind of surprised Garrick isn’t attached to your hip after what I did.”

I can’t help the laugh that escapes my lips. “Yeah well I kinda ran off after he told me he had feelings for me and I haven’t seen him since.”

She narrows her eyes at me and the look she gives me is like she thinks I’m crazy. Which honestly, I definitely am.

“You ran off?” She emphasises each words.

“Yeah.” I lean my head back on the pillar and sigh. I was such an idiot. “I ran off. Like an idiot. And now he’s nowhere to be seen.”

She shakes her head and laughs at me. “Well if it’s any help, I don’t think you haven’t seen him because of what happened. With Bodhi and Xaden also both gone, and from what I could see their dragons to, I think something’s come up.”

I nod. She’s right. In the last few weeks it had become almost normal for the boys to disappear some nights without much warning. But it still felt like it had to do with me. Maybe they went out to help Garrick clear his head. But if that was the case I’m sure either Xaden or Bodhi would have come to see how I was.

“I’m sure Garrick has told you are history and why I’ve been the way I’ve been?” She finally says after a few minutes of me swimming in my own thoughts.

“Yeah, only took me weeks of asking and then snapping at him in the healers quadrant before.” I tell her, earning a laugh out of her.

“I knew I’d like you. Even if I hate how much you have Garrick wrapped around your finger, I can see why.” She says with probably one of the first genuine smiles I’ve seen on her since I’ve been here. “And honestly I did this to myself. He always said he couldn’t give me more than something casual. That his heart lay elsewhere. He never said who, just that they were part of the rebellion casualties. And then you showed up.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any issues. Though was inevitable with everyone thinking I was dead for the last few years. Though I didn’t know Melgren’s plan till the night before conscription day.” I look away from her back out over the valley below us.

I catch the sad look that passes over her face as she studies me. “Don’t be sorry. You being back, as much as its annoyed me in one aspect, has been good the the guys. But can you promise me one thing?” She says as she stands.

I look over at her and nod.

”Don’t fuck it up. He deserves to be happy. And you definitely make him the happiest I’ve ever seen him.”

And with that, she turns and leaves me alone in the Rotunda with my thoughts.

Imogen’s words hang over my head. Don’t fuck it up. Easier said than done. Part of me is over joyed that Garrick shares the same feelings. Though looking back I’m an idiot for not seeing it sooner. I just put it down to us being best friends. Yes he wasn’t like that with Xaden, but I was a girl. Of course our friendship would naturally be a little different.

But part of me is also terrified. What if it goes badly? What if it puts a divide in the dynamic of our group. I couldn’t live with myself if I came between Xaden and Garrick. As much as Xaden is extremely loyal to Garrick, Xaden would pick me over him without a question. It would destroy him. But he would do it. And that’s not something I’d want him to do.

So I do the stupid thing and avoid them. Which sadly is quite easy with how little they are around. They’re in our daily battle brief class, wedged up in the back corner. I know cause I feel their eyes on me despite not turning around to see if they are there. But when it comes to challenges, their appearance is few and far between. And if they are there I do my best to blend into the crowd. As best as I can with my hair colour. Though I haven’t dyed it since arriving, and at nearly 2 months in my natural dark hair has started to shown through. Rhiannon and Violet keep telling me to let it grow out as it looks good with the dark red.

But outside of classes, I rarely see them. I get glimpses of them, but most nights they aren’t at dinner. Imogen makes comments about them being sent out for drills and such. Must be part of being a third year. Though I do notice they are gone more often than the other third years.

A few times Garrick tries to catch me after battle brief or find me at challenges, but somehow I manage to get away. I’m not quite ready to have the conversation he wants to have. But I can’t avoid it forever. A few times I nearly cave when I see the pained look in his hazel eyes. Pain I was causing. Pain I’d seen in Xaden and Bodhi’s eyes as well.

Soon our gym time turns into Gauntlet training with presentation day around the corner. So far our squad has done pretty well. Only one casualty so far. One I had to watch Violet almost be apart of. She hid it but I knew how much it killed her on the inside. She was yet to fully complete the gauntlet and today was our last day of training before presentation day tomorrow.

As we walk up the stairs to the gauntlet my heart drops. Not only is Xaden standing off to the side, Garrick is with him. It wasn’t uncommon for leadership to watch their squads do training on the gauntlet, so far neither had turned up for ours. Of course they show up on the last day.

Rhiannon who is next to me must notices something is off and follows my eyes to where Xaden and Garrick are.

“Why do you look so scared to see Xaden and Garrick?” She asks.

I hadn’t quite built the relationship with her that Violet had, but it was getting there. But I hadn’t told her about my interaction with Garrick after the challenge with Imogen.

“Remember how he took me to the healers after my fight with Imogen?” I whisper to her so the others around us don’t hear. The last thing I need is gossip spreading about this while I’m still figuring my own feelings out.

She nods. “Yeah I remember. Practically rushed over and scooped you up in his arms before you could get off the mat. Was quite romantic.” I roll my eyes at her.

Our group comes to a stop in front of the gauntlet, Xaden and Garrick making their way over with Emettiro. Both their eyes locked on mine.

I lean closer to her. “He might have confessed he’s essentially been in love with me for years and years despite me being dead and I kind of panicked and ran off and have been avoiding him ever since. Which also means avoiding my brother.”

She shakes her head and chuckles at me. “Girl I could have told you he was in love with you. No one looks at someone the way he does with out being in love.”

I go to reply but Emettiro calls us to start running the gauntlet. And I’m glad Rhiannon and I end up near the front, being one of the first ones to go. Though I doubt Xaden and Garrick are here to try talk to me, as much as they may want to. At the end of the day, they want the wing to do well.

I step up as Rhiannon takes off, my eyes meeting Garrick’s. His face is a mask and I can’t read it at all. I can tell he’s upset though. He’s never like that with me. I’m one of the few he never puts a mask up for. Xaden on the other hand is intently focused on Violet who is behind me. Before I take off up the gauntlet I offer Garrick a quick smile. For a brief second before I take off, his mask falters and his eyes soften as he gives me a tight lipped smile. The entire way up the I feel his eyes following me. He’s yet to see me climb it. And probably won’t tomorrow as most of the leadership wait up top for their squads and wings to pass the gauntlet.

I reach the top with ease. Yet again Melgren’s training had really prepared me for this. I’d barely had any issues getting up the gauntlet in the first day. And most times I caught up to or passed the person in front of me. As much as I didn’t want to think it. I was grateful for his training over the years. I turn around to look down the gauntlet to see both Garrick and briefly Xaden looking up at me. Both look happy with how easily I made it up. Xaden’s gaze drops to something below me. Violet is yet again stuck on the last parts of the gauntlet. And dare I say, does Xaden looks concerned? His eyes shift up to mine. We both know she needs to find an alternate way up the last part of the gauntlet.

Part 9

@riorgail @going-through-shit @fw-gt @bbkissme99 @xceafh

[stanfanfiction]

Taste of You - Ken x fem! reader - PART SIX.FIVE

Six is my lucky number so hopefully you all enjoy the new only-exists-for-smut .5 🫠🫠🫠 sorry this took forever. I kept wanting to end it on a story-building note but couldn’t ever settle on one that I liked, so it is what it is for now.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY / sex toys / bondage / fingering / p! In v! / oral f! & m! Receiving / multiple orgasms / it’s a .5 chapter it literally exists solely for the sake of smut so have fun besties / super jealous Ken / rough sex / possessive / spanking / pet names (baby girl) (good girl) / praise / edging / overstim / exhaustion

Ooooohhhhh no no no no….

It was the first day of your Fall flex term class. You still had your normal Fall/Winter full time classes happening but you had decided to sign up for the new four-week course as well, since the professor was a favorite author of yours and you didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to learn from her.

Ken had been with you most of the day. His job at the bubble tea shop was fascinating to him and he asked if he come come to campus with you to explain how magical his first day of work was because he felt being stuck at home would be too boring.

You got to your classroom and turned to Ken. “Alright, you can go hang at the library or something, it’s right next to this building and I’ll come get you when class is over.”

Your new professor heard you as she was walking down the hallway to the classroom herself.

“Oh, he can hang out in class, I don’t mind,” she smiled. “It’s a huge classroom so I’m sure one of seats towards the top back corners will be available if you wanted to stay.”

You wanted to ponder this invite for a moment but Ken had already smiled back and was walking in front of you into the classroom. He was able to have a seat towards the back like the professor had suggested, and he settled in to see what a day in class looked like.

The classroom was one of those giant theater-like seating arenas and echoed a decent amount anytime anyone was talking, so it was definitely echo-y today as students filed in and began sitting down and visiting with their new classmates around them.

The clock was about to hit what was the start time for class when a last person walked into the room and you suddenly regretted choosing a seat towards the front, only because maaayybbee he somehow wouldn’t notice who you were and then Ken wouldn’t have a nervous breakdown of finding out who this guy was. Because of course Ken is attending a class…with you in it…and your ex Dave was now walking over to the professor as she handed him some papers.

The professor introduced herself to the class and motioned towards Dave, who sat near the front of the room as well, and told everyone he would be her TA for the semester.

“Don’t notice me,” you pleaded in your head. You weren’t worried about him, oh no. Dave was honestly a super cool guy and even though your relationship had mostly focused on having fun and sex, you had both parted ways awhile ago on good terms and you hadn’t even considered that he probably still attended school here, as, if you remembered correctly, he would probably be graduating either later this year or early next year. It made sense why he was here, but what was going to not make sense was probably how jealous Ken would get if he found out that this Dave was the Dave he had already had a mild breakdown over.

“Holy….y/n?” He did notice, fuck.

You smiled and greeted him softly, knowing Ken could easily see everything but hearing might be a different matte- oh wait no, the room echoed.

“It’s so good to see you again!”

“You, too! I forgot you hadn’t graduated yet so seeing you is a surprise,” you said cheerily.

“A good surprise, right?” He chuckled and winked.

“For sure.”

He handed you a piece of paper. “This is today’s sign-in sheet. Can you start it and then pass it around?”

“Of course.” You took the paper from his hand and began scribbling your name down.

“Hey, this guy won’t stop looking at you.”

You looked at Dave then looked over your shoulder. Yep, of course Ken had noticed.

“Yeah, uh, that’s my boyfriend. He gets kinda fixated on something at times.”

“Like you?”

“That’s…accurate.”

Dave laughed. “I love it. He looks fun. I wish I could pull pink off as well as he does.”

You laughed a little then and smiled at Ken before turning your attention back to the sheet and passed it once you had finished writing your name and email.

Your phone vibrated against your hip and you pulled the phone from your pocket, already knowing who it would be. You had bought him a phone last week and he wasn’t usually on it very much but he was most definitely going to be using it during class now….

“Do you know him?” (Ken)

“Yes. Old friend. Just saying hi.” (You)

“Old fiend named Dave.” (Ken)

“Old friend, not fiend.” (You)

“Same Dave that I know about?” (Ken)

“And this is important because..?” (You)

“Because you’ll be in a class with him for three days each week for the next month.” (Ken)

“Yeah that’s how class works, Ken.” (You)

“I don’t like it.” (Ken)

“You don’t have to.” (You)

“What if he wants to study together?” (Ken)

“He won’t. That’s not how TA / student relationships work.” (You)

“But he still goes to class here? So he would want to study for another class.” (Ken)

“Baby I gotta put my phone away, they’re not really allowed to be active on during class. Don’t worry. You know I love you.” (You)

“Come sit with me, at least.” (Ken)

You had already silenced your phone and put it in your book bag before the last text got sent so you could focus on the lecture. Ken knew you hadn’t seen the last text and tried to keep his internal anxiety at bay.

He wished this awful man from your previous affairs wasn’t sitting in class, distracting every fiber of his being, because the lecture actually sounded interesting, especially since the teacher kept referencing a book called “Black Beauty,” which was apparently about a horse. Ken would have to ask you about it later, and definitely check it out of the library.

Ken noticed every little thing Dave did, as apparently the TA sat at the front of the class as well close to the teacher’s desk and facing the class. Ken set his jaw when he saw Dave subtly glance your way multiple times, and most definitely watched the one time Dave’s gaze focused just a *little * too long in your direction. Ken knew from personal experience was it looked like to fuck someone with your eyes.

Class wasn’t *that* long but felt like an eternity for Ken. The moment the professor dismissed everyone, he was by your side, picking up your book bag for you and holding you close to him by your waist.

“Hey baby. Did you like the lecture?” You asked, genuinely wanting to know since you had assumed he would have loved it, but were also attempting a distraction as you two were walking out of the room. You intentionally didn’t bid the professor or Dave goodbye, simply leaving the class like everyone else.

You cursed under your breath when Dave caught up with the two of you right as you were about to exit.

“Hey, man, I’m Dave.” He flashed a million-dollar smile and extended his hand at Ken. Thankfully Ken had become a little better at hiding his emotions due consistent socialization between your friends and working at the boba tea shop, but he could only keep his disdain for this man hidden so much.

Ken shook his hand but his blue eyes glanced at you, wanting to see your reaction to Dave standing so close.

“I have to get to my next class,” you said nonchalantly. “See ya next time.”

Dave nodded. “I look forward to it.”

You walked briskly out the door, knowing Ken would follow because he wasn’t about to release his grip on your waits, and the two of you exited the building into the day’s sunshine.

“I don’t like him,” Ken repeated.

“I know, baby. Listen,” you sat on a bench and Ken sat beside you, his leg pressing into yours. “I know this stresses you out, and that’s okay, but you can’t hold this over me.”

Ken’s eyes met yours, and you could tell he was trying so hard to maintain his anxious composure, to make sure you were happy with him.

You took his face in your hands. “I love you. I don’t care about Dave. I haven’t in a really long time. These flex term classes are short, but they’re intense. I have to be in every class and studying is going to take up a lot of my time, so I need you to understand nothing is going to happen between me and Dave.”

Ken nodded, but you could tell it was as if he felt like you had verbally slapped him in the face. You knew he needed more validation than you might be able to offer him for awhile, and despite how much that made you sad, you were also trying to set a boundary so the fact that you were attending this class wouldn’t be something that stressed *both* of you out every day.

“I don’t think that *he* is thinking that way,” Ken said, trying to hide the jerkiness in his voice.

“That’s not my problem to worry about. I won’t let him do anything to me.”

Ken seemed almost sheepish in his reply, as if knowing he shouldn’t say it but he couldn’t stop himself. “You promise?”

“More than anything.”

Ken’s shoulders relaxed a little, and he nodded. “Okay.”

You gave him a chaste kiss before taking your book bag from him. “I gotta get to my next class. I’ll see you at home, alright?”

He smiled and nodded as you walked away, and you felt irritated that he didn’t have work today. At least that probably would have helped distract and maybe even calm him.

Your phone rang right as you were about to enter an elevator.

“Hey, Ken.”

“Do you want anything from the store?”

“I’m good, thanks though.”

Ken’s chest grew tight again when he heard a now-familiar voice in the background of your phone.

“Hey, hold the door!” Dave called out.

“Don’t hold the door for him.” Ken had a lightning bolt of anxiety rip through him.

“Ken, it’s fine. I love you.”

“Don’t hang up, please.”

You had dropped your phone back into your book bag before hearing his last words, but unfortunately, your finger hadn’t tapped the End Call button hard enough, so the phone call remained on. The conversation was muffled, but not muffled enough to where Ken couldn’t make out every word.

“Sup.”

“I honesty don’t miss hearing you saying that,” you said lighting in a joking manner.

“Ahh!” Dave made a dramatic show of gripping his heart with his hand. “That hurt.”

“Knock it off, Dave.” Your voice remained light. He wished you had sneered instead.

“So how long you been with blondie? He legit gives off vibes that you captured him on the beach.”

“Is he a student here?”

“No, but we live together.”

“Ah, cool! I heard awhile back from Amber that you had moved off-campus.”

“Amber would be correct.”

“So, you two, uh, doing well?” Dave leaned into the elevator wall, shoulders hunching a little, trying to look relaxed.

“Very.”

“Cool, cool. Just asking.” There was a long silence until, “If you ever, like, need anything -“

“Thanks, Dave, I’ll let you know.” Ken knew you had smiled at him. He knew the sound of your voice when you did. Fuck, if only he hadn’t left campus and knew what building you were in.

Ken heard the sound of shuffling and he held his breath as he heard Dave’s next words.

“You look, like, really fucking good, y/n.”

“Dave -“

“You have just a little, uh, strand of hair -“

“I got it, thanks.”

“I could get it for you -“

“I’m good.”

“Fine,” Dave relented, and the elevator bell dinged, indicating you had reached your floor. Right before the doors opened, however, “You’re not planning on regulating that pretty pussy of yours to beach guy forever, right?”

For whatever reason, the phone call cut off then. Ken stood on the sidewalk, frozen.

He sat at home on the sofa that sat in the living room, facing the front door, willing you to walk in early despite knowing you never missed a class and that you were never home before 6:30 on Tuesdays.

He knew he shouldn’t but he had called you multiple times, every call going to voicemail. He knew you never answered during class, but fuck it, he had lost his will to care today. Sitting in the silence of the empty house only fueled his imagination.

The call cutting off because you had noticed it was still on, and Dave touching you in the elevator. You deciding to miss classes for the first time in your life to have him fuck you in his dorm room, doing whatever the hell Amber had subtly referred to. You laughing about him, for whatever reason, with Dave as the two of you lay in a naked, tangled heap.

The front door finally opened, Ken having lost track of time as he had stared at it, lost in his thoughts that had become more and more upsetting as the seconds ticked by. His attention was drawn back sharply as he heard the door close, and he realized he had been gripping both of his thighs tightly with his hands.

He must have looked as unhappy as he felt because your face immediately became concerned upon seeing him.

“Hey, Ken, are you okay?”

He was on you in a moment, rage tearing through him. “What did he do to you?”

You legitimately looked completely confused, having no idea he had heard the call, and also having zero guilt about anything having happening during the day.

“What are you talking about?”

“Dave. What. Did. He. Do. To. You.”

“What…how would he have done anything to me?”

“I heard you. And him. Your phone didn’t hang up.”

Ohhh. “If you heard it then you know nothing happened.”

“It hung up when he mentioned your hair.”

“He didn’t touch me.”

“Promise?”

“Goddammit, Ken, I don’t have to promise.”

“He tried, though. He wanted to touch you. He wants you to leave me.”

“I mean, yeah, that’s fair. That doesn’t mean- “

Ken picked you up roughly, wrapping your legs around his waist and holding your ass as he slammed your back into the door. “Mine.”

You whimpered as his teeth sank into your neck. You always internally battled on whether you should be firm with him and tell him to grow up or if you should encourage this behavior, and somehow the middle ground always won, at least for now.

“Ken, we’ve been over this,” you said, your own moan cutting you off as he sucked hard on your skin, bucking his hard clothed budge into into your panty covered core. You really needed to stop wearing short skirts so often.

“Mine,” he growled again, storming into the bedroom, throwing you onto the bed. He pulled his shirt over his head, his chest flexing and puffed out.

“I fucking know, Ken,” you threw back at him before your back arched and you cried out, Ken having pushed your legs open and brought his hand down to spank your pussy. You saw stars as he did it again and you writhed underneath him as he pressed his hands into your hips, holding you down.

“Ken,” you whimpered again as he snuck two fingers under your panties, rubbing them back and forth firmly.

“You’re already so wet,” he panted, eyes on fire. “Were you this wet in the elevator?”

You visibly rolled your eyes but shut them tightly when his hand came down on your core again. You gripped his forearms in your hands when he dipped two fingers into your opening with ease, and you moaned loudly as he pushed them roughly deeper into you, immediately curling them into your special spot.

“Are you thinking about him right now?” He seethed, and you shook your head, unable to verbally reply through your moans, your head swimming with how sudden all of these sensations were.

“You’re only thinking about me?” He persisted.

“Yes,” you managed to squeak, his fingers quickening their pace.

“You’ll only think about me?”

You cried out loudly when he leaned over to wrap his hand around your throat as his hips leaned against his own fingers buried inside you, thrusting them into his hand so he could easily finger-fuck you harder.

“I asked you a question.”

“Yes, Ken,” you choked out, your body already nearing shudders.

“You’ll prove it to me, then.”

Your legs began to shake a little, your walls clenching around his fingers. He could tell you were about to reach your peak.

“How long can you hold out on me? To prove you’ll only think about me because you’re so exhausted from begging for your release, staring in my eyes, knowing every single touch is coming only from me?” He pulled his fingers out of you then, and your eyes shot open, your body in shock from being suddenly ravaged to being denied its release.

“Oh, fuck, Ken.” Your head fell back into the mattress, already frustrated beyond belief. “Please, please -“

“Good girl. We’re off to a strong start.”

He flipped you over onto your stomach, pulling your legs to hang over the bed so you were bent over for him. His hand came up between your legs to spank you again and the sharp sensation on your clit had you instinctively close your legs, your back arching as his other hand down your lower back down.

“Keep them open for me,” Ken warned, a shudder running through you at his tone.

You slowly began to do as he said when he nudged his legs between yours, opening them for him and keeping them open by planting his feet firmly on the ground.

His hand snapped up to meet your clit again and you gripped the sheets tightly as it came back for a third time, your legs beginning to tremble.

Ken had his plan - exhaust you, give you the most amazing orgasms of your life, maybe you wouldn’t want to go to class tomorrow, even though me know you would go. So, make sure every time you moved even the slightest movement that you’d feel him - make you sore, but just the right amount to where you’d try not to squirm in public but maybe you’d get wet from remembering how good he could make you feel.

You felt his hand that was holding you down remove itself from your back and he kneeled between your shaking legs, pulling your panties aside. You cried out loudly, your body in awe, as he pressed his full tongue into your clit, the warmth traveling all through your core.

Oh, fuck, you didn’t know anything could feel like this. Your nerves being so violently stimulated beforehand Made you be about to feel absolutely everything as his lips wrapped around your bud and sucked gently. He moaned into you when he heard the high pitched noise you made, very pleased with himself, and he gently held your hips as his tongue ravaged you.

“Holy fuck…Yes…aahhh…yes, Ken…oh…thank you, Ken…”

You could have cried when he pulled back, kissing up your spine then flipping you onto your back again.

You weren’t used to actually being edged. You had only experienced it once with, of all people, Dave. It had been fun but also absolutely mentally and physically exhausted you, and right now you were insanely frustrated, especially after feeling whatever that was.

“You should just let me come,” You huffed, looking Ken right in the eye as he brought the ties out from the drawer, his muscles clenching.

“Mmmm, maybe later.” He ripped your clothes off except your panties before grabbing one of your arms, deciding to tie you up differently tonight. Instead of tying your wrists together, tied your single wrist to the far side of the headboard. He straddled you as he reached for your other one and began wrapping the tie around -

“By not giving me my orgasm, you’re only encouraging me to think of Dave.” If he wanted to play jealousy games, fine. You’d fuel them then.

Ken gave you a dangerous look, his eyes darkening, waiting in silence for you to explain.

“So tie me up, edge me, then. Have your fun.”

“You know I’m waiting for you to finish that thought.”

“Mmmhmmm.” You tried not to grin up at him.

“So,” he slammed your wrist onto the bed above your head, lowering his face to hover above yours, “fucking finish it.”

You sighed with intention. “It’s just that, nobody has ever edged me before. Except Dave.”

You don’t think you could have explained the energy that washed over Ken in that moment if you tried. But you had won. If he was going to keep struggling with jealousy towards you, then you would make it work in your favor instead of stressing you out…at least for now. Ken was already too far gone when you’d come through the door to calm, so, hey…seeing what he’d cooked up in his mind wouldn’t hurt anyone, right?

You felt your arm being jerked upward as it was securely fastened to the opposite side of the headboard, and you wanted to protest for the fun of it but you were actually tied up to where you couldn’t move your upper body, save for being able to lift your head.

“Looks like I have a little more work to do than I had originally thought,” Ken spat as he knotted the remaining ties around your ankles, also securing them to the foot of the bed so you were splayed out naked for him, unable to move.

“You better make this worth it,” You sighed again as if bored. “I’m supposed to be studying -“

You were cut off as you moaned loudly, Ken pulling the strip of your panties covering your heat to the side as his mouth clamped onto your clit, sucking hard. Ken’s mind was a rush of anger, of passion, of - goddammit, would this stupid fear of you leaving him actually ever leave him - and all he could see in his mind’s eye was Dave doing this to you, holding you hostage in your own bed, tasting your juices, feeling your perfect skin and muscles under his tongue, taking in your scent as you moaned and squealed and attempted to writhe despite your restraints.

He was so easily lost in you. He thought of untying you then, wanting to feel your hands in his hair, feeling the different tugs when he hit different areas of pleasure, holding your hips up to him in an almost bruising grip. But no, he had to remember his plans for you for now.

He felt dizzy as he licked thick stripes up and down, your vocal reactions becoming louder, and he lost track of time when he began to tongue fuck you, getting into a rhythm that was making you feel crazy as you got lost in the pleasure as well.

He pulled back only enough to speak, his lips still brushing against your folds. “Tell me how good I make you feel, y/n.” He dove back in immediately, desperate to hear your voice as he consumed you - it made him feel so warm and so hard, your breathy, often barely coherent words soothing his anxiety, making him get lost in you even more.

You didn’t reply, at least not with words. Your moaning continued for a moment then paused with another frustration huff from you when he pulled back again.

“Tell me how good I make you feel,” he commanded a little louder. Maybe you hadn’t heard him the first time.

You remained silent other than your breathing, which you were working to calm down.

“Tell me how good I make you feel,” he said for the third time, his voice betraying his anxiety when the last word ended on a note that sounded like a question.

He stood up when you kept quiet, leaning over you. “Y/n.”

You looked at him. “Yes, Ken?”

“Why won’t you say it?”

“Why won’t you stop being jealous over things that don’t matter?”

He hardened again then. “They matter to me.”

You stared up at him.

“You’re still thinking about Dave?”

“It’s honestly hard not to when you won’t stop talking about him, Ken.”

He growled. He couldn’t argue with that logic but he hated you pointing it out. He got off you and went back to the drawer and pulled out something you couldn’t see. He walked back to lean himself over you again, holding himself up with his forearm alongside your head.

“Fine, but I’m going to replace your memory of him denying your release with my own.”

You cried out loudly, your body shaking when you felt a strong sensation suddenly being shoved into your panties and pushed onto your clit. Ken held the vibrator on you, watching your reactions, loving how quickly you got lost in them, at how surprising overwhelmed you seem to become within the first few moments.

“You like this?” He breathed.

You couldn’t form words and answered with a string of noises instead, your head thrown back into the mattress as all of your limbs strained desperately against their bounds. Still leaning over you, Ken kissed your exposed throat, sucking ever so gently. He just wanted you to feel him around you.

He knew your orgasm was coming simply by the way in which your breathing was quickening and removed the toy from your panties, the buzzing noise filling your ears and mixing with the white noise swimming inside of them.

“Ken, please,” You started, your voice already sounding raw. He set the toy down on the bed beside you, not bothering to turn it off, so his hand could travel up your waist to your breasts as he kneaded one in his hand and began sucking on the other. Your body seemed to almost relax a little, thankful for the pleasure after having it taken away again.

“Remember when I said you’d have to beg me?” He mumbled around your hardening nipple, swirling his wet tongue around it.

You whined.

“That doesn’t sound like begging.”

“I shouldn’t have to beg for what’s rightfully mine,” you whimpered as his teeth sunk into your tender skin, pulling on the nipple ever so slightly.

Ohh. This was a new mood coming from you, but he loved it.

“Have it your way, then.” He watched you as he inserted the vibrator in your underwear again and you cried out, your entire body doing a delicious shudder, and he got up to straddle your waist. Your panties were snug enough to hold the vibrator against you so he could let go.

“You’re going to beg me, baby girl,” he said as he planted his hands above your head and slowly lowered his cock into your mouth. You moaned loudly, your arms and legs pulling against the restraints as best as they could as he slowly fucked himself into your mouth, watching the way your wet lips wrapped around him as you struggled with the pleasure the vibrator was giving you, tears beginning to form in your eyes.

Fuck, he loved you.

He felt himself grow impossibly harder as he watched his clock disappear into your mouth again and again, your loud moans and tiny screams from the vibrator vibrating themselves around his member, and he shuddered. Your eyes flicked up to meet his and he melted, his hand reaching down to wrap in your hair not to hold you still but just to touch you.

He knew you were close again when those high pitched noises started emanating from your throat, and he pulled himself out of your mouth and removed the vibrator from your panties.

You screamed in frustration.

“Why?” You wailed.

“Because I’m not finished with you yet.”

Ken tore the area off your panties apart that covered your opening with his hands and you jumped, surprised. He left the top part intact though, and you cursed loudly, knowing why.

When he sunk his fingers back into you, you wanted to do whatever he wanted just to make sure he kept them there. Maybe you could hide your orgasm approaching…

Your body jerked in the minor ways that it could due to your restraints and Ken watched you, memorizing every way you twitched and moaned.

“Look at me, baby girl,” he cooed, and you did as he asked. “Such a good girl for me.”

“Please, Ken, please let me come this time.” Your voice was a little hoarse again.

“You know how to make that happen.”

“I’m begging, please, please.”

“That’s hardly begging at all.” He slowed his fingers down just enough to where they were caressing inside you, and once again somehow you felt every little movement. Your body felt like it was singing at the immense pleasure washing through you, and your head became so overwhelmed with it that you became completely lost, eyes closed, mumbling and moaning softly as Ken watched you. He’d have to remember to do this to you again, you seemed in absolute bliss.

He had planned to edge you further again with this one but now struggled with the idea. He didn’t know you’d react this beautifully to this, and fuck, you were a perfect angel splayed out so willingly for him, and your body has already taken so much…

Ken fingered your through your orgasm, your body shocked with the fact that it was finally being allowed its climax, and you cried a little as the best orgasm of your life overtook every fiber of your being.

His name escaped your lips in a gorgeous, exhausted whisper during the last few moments of your pleasure, and Ken’s heart danced.

He pulled his fingers out of you softly, your body limp, and climbed on top of you. He kissed you deeply, the back of his knuckled grazing your cheek bone.

“Thank you, Ken,” your words were swallowed by his lips.

“We’re not done yet.” His tongue dipped into your mouth and languishingly explored.

“I’m so tired, Ken.” Your voice cracked as he pulled away just long enough for you to catch a breath before consuming your lips again.

“Good. That’s how I want you to feel.”

“You went sex toy shopping?” Your giggle faltered as soon as it began, head resting itself on Ken’s as his mouth found your neck.

“Mmmhmmm. Which reminds me…”

“Oh, please, please, I can’t-“ You couldn’t form words again after the first few seconds of the vibrator being placed inside your panties again.

“Say my name.” You felt Ken’s hands reach between the two of you to unzip his pants.

“Ken,” you mewled.

“Again, y/n.”

“Ken,” your voice sounded on the edge of tears again.

“One more time.”

You screamed his name as he bottomed out into you with a single thrust, him holding his hips fully against yours without moving for a moment, groaning into your shoulder at how amazing you felt already clenching and spasming around his cock so so damn tightly from the sensations of the vibrator.

“Ohhhh, y/n.” He purred into your neck, remaining still within you, feeling as if you could push him over the edge just like this.

“Need…to…breathe…”

He kissed away a single tear as it rolled down your face. He pulled out the vibrator again, keeping his cock deep inside you.

You thanked him, gasping for air. “It’s…. it’s so much.”

“Mmmhmmm.” He nuzzled his nose into your hair.

How far could he push it? What was your cutoff point?

He pulled himself out of you then slowly thrust back in again, a strangled noise escaping your throat. He did it again, and again, maintaining this slower pace.

“You’re doing so well, y/n. My good girl takes me so well.”

Your lower lip trembled and he took it between his lips, sucking gently as his hips slowly picked up their pace. You made little kitten noises with every thrust, Ken’s head swimming with them.

“Need….it’s…too…”

Your mouth opened into a silent scream when you felt the vibrator placed back onto your clit, Ken’s hips still bucking into you.

“You’re going to be fine. Just a little bit longer,” He soothed. He reached up to untie one of your restraints, your arm falling onto the bed, and he intertwined his fingers with your own. He knew you were definitely nearing what you could take because your grip was almost non-existent, just barely closing around his hand.

“I’ve got you,” he breathed into your ear. “I’ll give you what you want if you-“

“Please.” Your blissed out, weary voice was barely a whisper.

“Good girl.”

“Please, please let me come, Ken.”

You climaxed just then, Ken forcing himself to not let his own happen as you tightened so effortlessly around him, calling out his name over and over.

You felt barely coherent as Ken untied you, your eyes closed, feeling your limbs one by one being returned to you. The vibrator was removed and turned off and Ken took off the remainder of the fabric that had once been your underwear.

You felt Ken wrap his arms around you gently, still on top of you, hips still nestled between your legs.

He kissed you deeply as he sunk his cock into you once more, your body shivering with cold sweat.

“Just one more time, y/n.”

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[alaskan-wallflower]

Your swings hc was adorable, do you have anymore hcs about what the gang (all) were like as kids? 😁 sorry I’m asking for sm today my own brain doesn’t feel like working 😭🎞️

Of course!! And PLEASE don’t apologize :(( I LOVE answering things like this!! <3

Darry was absolutely the fattest fucking baby you’ve ever seen and you wouldn’t even know it by looking at him now

He also hates looking at baby pictures of himself

Soda came out with a full head of hair and they used to joke that was the first thing he ever used his head for

His hair was the finest most light shade of blonde ever. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis would’ve thought he had albinism from his light his hair was (it darkened later tho)

Pony was absolutely the cutest baby though. If he looks at baby pictures he’ll kinda just wrinkle his nose but he had the biggest eyes ever and he was always giggling

Teh first time Darry held either of his brothers he cried (they both hold this close to their hearts when Darry is working hard)

Johnny was actually a really cute baby. He was just really tiny and frail honestly. They thought he wasn’t gonna make it because Mrs. and Mr. Cade did NOT take good care of him in the womb.

As a result he kinda had a lot of physical issues and would’ve probably needed PT and OT (Mr. and Mrs. Curtis help him out with this honestly)

Johnny and Soda actually became friends before he met anyone else because Soda kinda took him under his wing because he and Steve noticed Johnny was alone at recess one day and he was just like “hey you wanna come and play with us?? :)”

Pony and Johnny met at the park one day when Soda invited Johnny over and IMMEDIATELY y clicked

When Pony and Johnny got closer Soda used to fake cry and say “they grow up so fast…”

Additionally when Pony was born Soda tried to roughhouse with him a lot (because he kinda had really bad impulse issues as a kid) and the Curtis parents had to sit him down and tell him Pony was really fragile and they couldn’t roughhouse like he does with Darry and if he hurts Pony then he won’t ever be able to play with him again

They said something like “do you want something bad to happen to him?” and he started crying and kept saying no over and over (poor baby :( )

Darry was always kinda the unofficial “leader” since he was the oldest

Darry and Two Bit actually got along really well because they were kinda opposites (even tho Two is 2 years younger than Darry)

So they kinda had their duo, Steve and Soda had each other and Johnny and Pony had each other

Steve and Soda had been friends since they were born. Steve used to hold the fact he was six months older than Soda over his head.

“Why can’t I be the red car?” “Because I said so!” “That doesn’t count!” “Well I’m idle so I get first pick!”

let’s be real they still do shit like this

Dally came into the picture when Darry was around 14 or so and immediately he thought Dally would hurt his brothers and he told them to stay away from them

Dally actually stuck up for Pony and Johnny one day at lunch against some older Socs and they thought he was absolutely awesome

Ever since Darry has begrudgingly allowed Dally in the group but the longer time went on the longer things became smoother

Sofa kept a scrapbook and absolutely cries whenever he looks at it (he most looks at it when Darry and Pony fight and it makes him sad to remember all the times they used to get along)

The three get their appetites from Mr. Curtis. The first thing Soda did when he came out of the womb was cry because he was hungry and Pony would cry almost all day because he was hungry

Mrs. Curtis hated seeing little Johnny come over after a bad night with his parents because he looked so sad and so beat up and his tummy was rumbling and she just felt so horrible for him. So she patched him up and kissed over his injuries. He misses her every single day because of this

Dally was kinda surprisingly rude to the Curtis parents teh first time he met them (Darry kept sending him death glares) but Mrs. Curtis took no shit. And Dally actually shaped up because of this. He was so used to everyone just taking his shit and she didn’t. It made him respect her.

I think that’s all i got for now!! i may need to make a part 2 because I can’t think of any yet haha

[whereianonymouslypostfics]

Birthday

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~4.5k

Summary: It's your birthday and you and Wanda have big plans

A/N: Wanda, Wanda, WANDA. Sometimes you don't think things through...part 2/3 of Wanda getting in trouble with her SO

Warnings: Angst, conflict, sketchy behavior

You turned 25 today and besides being old enough to rent a car, you hadn’t ever expected this birthday to be special. You hadn’t given a lot of thought to it honestly, but at this point in life, you hadn’t expected to really be dating anyone, especially not a criminal. You are still trying to come to terms with that despite it being more than a year since you met Wanda. You wonder sometimes how different your life would have been if you hadn’t noticed her that day. Would you even be dating anyone? Would you have met at any point? You'll never know the answer to either of these questions and you didn’t really care.

All you cared about was that tonight Wanda had promised to take you to dinner and then spend the rest of the night with you doing whatever you wanted. You had considered what this could be because you had a lot of options. You’d concluded that whatever you did was going to involve food, cuddling, dogs, horror movies or sex. You’d like them all, but you knew what happened when you got greedy.

The only thing you really wanted was to spend time with your girlfriend who you didn’t see nearly enough. Sex would be nice too since it had been over a week, and it was your birthday, but sometimes you just took what you could get.

You frown again as you look to your phone for the fourth time in ten minutes. Wanda had been very communicative this morning when she’d wished you a happy birthday and told you that she’d pick you up tonight at 6. You’d talked to her a little more before she’d gone to work, and now that classes were over and it was 5pm, she wasn’t answering your texts or calls.

You tried not to worry because you knew that she couldn’t have her phone in front of her all the time. You just hoped that she wasn’t going to be late.

“What do you mean you can’t make it?”

You hope you sound as annoyed as you really are because it’s 6:10 and Wanda is just now calling you to cancel. Not just dinner either. She’s cancelling your entire night with her and you are very close to blowing up at her and crying right after. You listen to her excuse; her normal work excuse and you suddenly feel as insignificant as they come. You frown deeply and try not to cut off Wanda’s rambling apology. You've heard it all before, and despite hoping that tonight would be different, you're reminded once again that you're not a priority for her.

“I’m so sorry, detka, but this is something that can’t wait. If it doesn’t happen tonight I won’t have another chance for months and I’ve been working on it for almost a year. I promise we’ll do something tomorrow, okay?”

You don’t respond immediately because you don’t know what to say. Rather you don’t know how to say it without sounding as deeply disappointed as you are. You’d been looking forward to this day for weeks because you were certain that if any day you’d convince your girlfriend to ditch work, it would be today. Still, you suppose there’s nothing you can do about it now but pout, and you sit back down at your dining room table with a sigh. You’re wearing a nice dress that you know Wanda likes, and you’d actually done more than just run a brush through your hair. Still, it didn’t matter, you were sure that you’d just spend the night on the couch now that it was just you.

“Okay. Good luck, Wands.”

You don’t say anything else before you hang up on her. Sure it’s a little childish, but you mostly don’t want her to hear you cry. You sit in the kitchen for a few minutes feeling sorry for yourself before you go to the fridge and get one of the cupcakes your friend had brought to class for you. You smile slightly at the reminder that you do have people who love you and would spend your birthday with you. You practically inhale your cupcake before opening your phone and going to the group message you have for your friends.

Hey. Someone had to work tonight, so now I’m all alone :(

It only took 2 minutes for two of them to text and then the third to call you to make plans. They weren’t going to let you sit home alone and depressed on your birthday. They were taking you out and you were going to celebrate whether you liked it or not.

Wanda was still feeling guilty when she met with her client a little while later. She knew it was futile to hope that this would go quickly and that she would be able to see you before an obscenely early hour. She couldn’t help it though, and she clung to this thought just to get her through the nearly two hours-worth of drinks and smelly cigars. She was actually thinking she could go home around midnight when negotiations were finished, but afterwards she’d been promised a celebration and was escorted to a club.

Wanda decided that she’d drink more at this one because she had a bad feeling that she wouldn’t be seeing you tonight.

“Come on Y/n! You only turn 25 once!”

You are still cringing when you and your friends arrive to your third, and hopefully last, stop of the night. You’d been taken to dinner at the place that you’d reserved with Wanda and despite it being ridiculously expensive, your friends covered it all. Then you’d gone to a bar and had a few drinks and spent a couple of hours laughing and forgetting that you’d been ditched tonight. You were so grateful that your friends had your back and you had been ready to call it a night after that when you were told that you had one more stop.

“We’re getting you a lap dance for your birthday!”

You’d been stunned and sightly horrified by the prospect of this once you’d realized they weren’t joking. Something like this didn’t interest you, and even as you walked into the club and saw a lot of beautiful women, you still weren’t comfortable with the idea. You figured you could buy yourself some time by dragging everyone to the bar for drinks. You might be able to make them forget why you were here altogether if you got them drunk enough.

“You’re not serious.”

Wanda looks to her left to where Steve is standing next to her looking as uncomfortable as she is incredulous. She did not guess this is what ‘celebrating’ would entail, and she’s already planning a hasty exit when she and Steve follow the group of men into the gentlemen’s club. She’s never been here before and she’s eternally grateful when she’s immediately hit with the too strong smell of perfume and faint cigarette smoke that hits her as she walks through the doors. She sighs inaudibly as she looks to the large booth that the group is starting to fill. She barely spares the vast room a glance as she tries to decide how much she’ll be able to drink.

“Sit, please. We’ll close the deal with a little celebration.”

Wanda doesn’t have time to ask what that means when three women, three dancers walk over to them. She has to keep her mouth from dropping at the fact that they are basically naked. They have tiny triangles and strings that comprise their tops, and thongs that leave nothing to the imagination. Wanda watches in muted horror as 2 of the men are led away from the table and the third woman holds a hand out to her. She’s already trying to come up with an excuse when the client she had to impress spoke up.

“I-.”

 “Ms. Maximoff. Please, enjoy yourself. On me.”

Wanda flounders and looks to Steve for help but he can’t really do anything. He can’t speak up just like she can’t refuse without seeming rude. This deal is too important for it to fall apart now, and Wanda takes a deep breath as she stands up slowly and takes the blonde’s hand. She hopes hers isn’t sweaty but she’s so nervous she feels like she’s sweating bullets. This is not what she planned on doing tonight, and she tries not to think about how you'd react to this.

Wanda looks back to Steve who understands and stands up to follow her. Polite or not, Steve was Wanda’s security detail so he went where she did.

“I’ll just stand outside.”

Wanda tries not to panic at the thought of being alone with a dancer who’s been paid who knows how much to do who knows what. She knows that this place is higher-end than the normal strip club, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t about to get an eyeful. She tries not to think about how she should be at home with you right now watching a terrifying movie. Instead she’s here trying not to watch as she’s given a lap dance that she’s only accepting for the sake of being polite.

“Relax, dear. You’re so tense. Let me help with that.”

You’re laughing at your friend’s joke when you notice him. You’d glanced around the club just out of curiosity, and you stop cold at the sight of a familiar face. You frown and try to figure out if you can sneak away to talk to him. You finish the rest of your drink before excusing yourself and insisting that you’ll be right back.

You hurry across the room and look around for the bathroom before trying to get the man’s attention.

“Hey! Steve, what are you doing here?”

When Steve hears your voice, he begins to panic. He turns to see you shooting him a confused look, and he takes a moment to wonder what he’d done wrong to be put into this situation. You’re dressed up, probably out with some friends since Wanda had to change her plans, but why you ended up here of all places, he’ll never know. Steve tries to offer a small smile, but you speak up before he can ask what’s on his mind. He has to swallow the lump in his throat at your suspicious look.

“Wait, who are you here with?”

Steve doesn’t really need to answer. Not when his eyes widen before his gaze goes to the boring black carpet beneath his feet. He avoids your eye contact successfully for only 3 seconds before he has to look back up at you.

“Is-is Wanda here?!”

You look around for your girlfriend, but you don’t see her anywhere. You don’t see anyone you recognize and you’re about to start looking in every room for her when a door opens nearby. Wanda spots Steve and nearly runs to him, but the sight of someone in between the two of them makes her stop short. When she realizes who it is she nearly vomits.

“Steve, let’s--.”

You turn around slowly at the sound of your girlfriend’s voice, and you see someone barely clothed leave the room that she just left over Wanda’s shoulder. You just stare at Wanda and she stares at you for a minute before you feel the urge to cry overwhelm you. You spin around on your heels and head back to the bar to tell your friends that you’re going home.

“Y/n, wait!”

You realize that Wanda’s following you and you spin around again to shoot her a glare so vicious it stops her in her tracks.

“Don’t fucking talk to me. I’m leaving and you better not fucking follow me.”

You get a minute alone to thank your friends for taking you out before claiming to feel sick. You stay with them long enough to book a ride home, and show them that you’re not going to get murdered before you head outside. Despite being able to relax briefly to hug the trio, you feel yourself tense immediately when you realize that someone’s followed you out here.

“Did I not make myself clear?”

It was hard to misinterpret what you’d said, but Wanda was desperate for you to understand what happened tonight. She hadn’t skipped out on celebrating your birthday with you to come to this glorified strip club. Well, she had, but she really hadn’t wanted to. She would have much rather spent the night with you.

“Y/n please. Let me explain. I’m here with those stuffy looking men for work. I didn’t want to come here tonight, I promise.”

You’re not looking at her. You’re staring out into the night and looking between your phone and the stagnant parking lot waiting for your ride to get here. Still, you can’t ignore her completely and you take a few seconds to process what she’s said. You’re not sure what to believe. You’re angry because Wanda left you alone on your birthday, and in an attempt to salvage the night you’d run into her at a freaking strip club of all places. You honestly knew way too little about her work because this is not something you would have ever expected your girlfriend to do.

You’d imagined her in shootouts and torturing lowly criminals. Maybe she’d sit around and drink with a bunch of old white guys and discuss their business of murdering people as casually as if they were talking about the weather. You hadn’t expected them to frequent places like this, but putting a little more thought into it, you realize it’s not completely unreasonable. You hate it, but you could see why a group of ‘stuffy men’ might want to end up here.

That said, there was no circumstance where Wanda could justify what she’d just done to you. She could tell you it was a for work, or that she had to just keep up appearances but you didn’t care. It was betrayal any way you looked at it, and for this you didn’t even want to look at her.

“Did you also not want a lap dance because it looks like you got one?”

Wanda falters for a second time as she tries to come up with an explanation. She knows that you might not believe her, but it’s the truth and she can’t tell you anything else.

“I didn’t. Detka, please. I swear I didn’t. I just--.”

You realize that your ride is pulling into the lot and you thank whoever is listening that you’ll get to escape this conversation. You already feel tears starting to fall as you consider what Wanda did, or swears she didn’t. You squeeze your eyes shut and shake your head before you take a deep breath and step toward the lot.

“Why should I believe you, Wanda? You never told me what your work involved but I can’t imagine that cheating is part of it. I don’t care what you have to say. We’re through.”

You don’t look back as you get in the car that pulls up to you and asks for your name. You ignore Wanda’s pleas as you slam the door behind you and turn away from the window. Wanda watches as you drive away and she curses under her breath before turning around to run back inside to find Steve. She doesn’t care what happens with her deal anymore. It should be closed and if not, well she’ll figure it out later. Right now, she needs to do whatever she can to make this right with you.

You don’t make it easy for her. The next day, you go to class like usual, but otherwise you’re locked in your apartment with the deadbolt in place so Wanda can’t get in. You listen to music to both block out her voice and your intrusive thoughts whenever you’re at home, so you barely notice as Wanda comes and goes. Rather how she doesn’t leave at all. She spends hours sitting outside your door calling and texting you, but it all goes unanswered. She spends nearly 24 hours trying to get you to talk to her before you even look at her.

“What is it, Wanda?”

You barely pay her any mind as you walk down the flight of stairs to the parking lot to your car. You have class soon and you’re probably going to be late, but you’d known she was out here so you didn’t want to leave. You’d delayed it as long as possible and you hadn’t been prepared for the sight of Wanda outside your door. Despite knowing she was there; you hadn’t expected her to look so haggard. She was still wearing what you’d seen her in at the club, and she looked exhausted. You were pretty sure that if you tried you could knock her off balance with just a touch.

“Y/n, please, can I just tell you what happened?”

You continue down the stairs and start rifling through your purse for your keys with a shrug. You don’t even want to go to this class, and the closer you get to your car the less motivated you are to even bother.

“You can talk all you want, Wanda. I’m just not really interested.”

You open the car on just your side, watching as Wanda stops behind you and considers her options. You get in your car and watch as Wanda steps closer, nearly falling as she loses her footing. She’s barely hanging on and despite being angry at her, you don’t want to see her hurt herself.

“Well, um-like I told you it was for work. We’d closed the deal but Mitch had wanted to celebrate which I hoped meant drugs or something. I didn’t expect a fucking lap dance and I didn’t get one. It was horrible. I just sat there and talked about you for a few minutes before she took pity on me and said she’d tell them I cooperated.”

You start the car but stop short when she says this. You can tell that she’s telling the truth. She’s crying and you’d listened to enough of her rambling voicemails to match what she’s telling you now. You sigh in defeat as you roll up your window as Wanda continues to cry. You’re not going to class anymore. You don’t care enough and you’re too worried about Wanda to leave her alone right now.

Wanda barely notices you roll up the window or turn off the car as she wipes her eyes. She’s so tired and crying now is making her already existing headache excruciating. She needs to lie down and probably eat something, but she can’t leave. She can’t leave until you know how sorry she is and that she won’t give up on you. She needs you to know that she loves you.

“I’m so sorry, Y/n. I love you. P-please don’t leave me.”

Wanda is startled by the sound of your car door slamming again and she jumps at the sight of you. You’re standing in front of her as you sigh in defeat, and reach out for her with a frown.

“I’m not leaving. I hate this class anyway.”

Wanda doesn’t know how to respond, but she just follows as you lead her back upstairs to your apartment. You wrap your arm around hers to hold her steady as you open your door. She’s started to sway dangerously and she just watches wide-eyed as you lead her into your place.

“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

You sit Wanda down on your bed as you search for a change of clothes for her while the tub fills. You figure sitting down will be better than trying to get Wanda to shower now, and you know she’ll feel better if she gets clean before falling into bed. You find her clean clothes and set them and a towel in the bathroom before waving her in there. You make sure she has everything she needs before leaving her alone. She’s a little confused by your change of heart, so she only manages a stunned ‘thank you’ as you head to the kitchen.

You’re making food for you and Wanda when you hear her come out of the bathroom. You’d figured she’d stay in there longer, but the sound of her footsteps coming down the hall tell you that you thought wrong. You look up from the pan in front of you to see Wanda’s clean and changed into more comfortable looking clothes. She still looks tired, so you hurry to finish up her food as you gesture to the counter.

“There’s some water for you. I’m sure you’re thirsty.”

Wanda nods as she goes to sit at the counter with a sigh. She leans on it heavily as she tries not to fall asleep before she gets to eat. She’s starving, but she’s also very aware of the fact that you’ve barely responded to her pleas and explanations of what happened. She can tell you’re still upset, but she doesn’t know what you’re thinking right now and it’s stressing her out.

“Stop stressing. I’m not just getting you back on your feet before I kick you out.”

Wanda looks up in surprise and you can’t help but smile slightly at how stunned she looks. You hate that she’s so worried, but you’re not going to lie to her. You finish up plating her food before you walk over to the counter to hand it to her with a smile. You grab her a fork before sitting down beside her with a sigh.

“I’m still angry and despite how much I want to just make it about my birthday, I really just hate that I had to see you at a fucking strip club.”

Wanda cringes slightly at this but she just waits for you to finish. She’d spent a couple of hours lying against your door last night wondering how she’d feel if she’d been in your place. She would have been furious and she probably would have dumped you on the spot too. That said…she knew you’d never do something like this to her. She didn’t care about the circumstances; you’d never entertain anything so suggestive if you were in a relationship. It was a little complicated and difficult to really rationalize because of it. You sigh again as you run a hand through your hair. You’d been doing this nearly all day and you’re sure you’ve pulled out a fair amount at this point.

“I don’t want to know about the details of your work, Wanda. For both of our sakes, but I want to be able to trust that you won’t do something like this again.”

Wanda’s already nodding but you don’t give her a chance to speak up. She’s still holding her fork and not eating as she waits for your verdict. She wouldn’t blame you for not wanting anything to do with her after this, but she prays that you’re more forgiving than she’d be. She knows you are. You’re also not as prideful as she is, so again, it’s not fair to try to judge you based off her own standards.

“So don’t do something like this again, or we’ll be over, okay?”

Wanda reaches out for your hand and you only hesitate for a second before you take hers. She squeezes it and you take a deep breath as she promises to not fuck up like this again.

“I won’t. I promise. I won’t step foot in there again, or any place like it.”

You nod and offer Wanda a smile as you push her glass towards her. She gets the hint and she starts to drink and then eventually eats what you cooked for her. She’s not sure what she did to deserve you, but she’ll be damned if she does anything to lose you for good.

“Good, well eat up. I haven’t slept in almost 24 hours and would like to go to bed.”

You can’t help but laugh as Wanda near shovels the food into her mouth, and you reach out to stop her as you shake your head. She looks to you nervously with a mouth full of food and you can’t help but sigh in defeat. You love this idiot and you hope she doesn’t give you a reason to leave her.

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[tojiscumdumpster]

CHAPTER TWO - READER

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀✧ summary page

 Last night felt… good. Well, with the exceptions of that loser creep that keeps bothering me, it was good. Refreshing, to be exact. Thanks to a certain someone, I won’t have to worry about that perv anymore. And now, my mind will be onto other things when I go to the bar.

 Toji Fushiguro. 

 I almost didn’t go out since it was Sunday. Usually, I keep that day reserved to relax and prepare lessons for my students. However, I decided to take a break. I’m thirty years old, and although I love my career, I dedicate a little bit too much time to it. For once, I wanted to live a little. 

 And I haven’t felt that rush through my veins in a while until those two hours I spent with Toji. 

 There’s something about his demeanor that immediately made me attracted to him. His presence screams confidence in a humble yet arrogant way. How he talks with charm unintentionally is calming. 

 I just admire how our conversation flowed well. Never a moment of silence. I listened to him, and he listened to me. The touch of vulnerability he showed me was unexpected, but it showed his comfort. 

 It didn’t feel like that was our first conversation either. It sounds silly, and I can’t put my finger on it, however, Toji feels… familiar. 

 The chemistry. The flow of us talking… Why didn’t he feel like a stranger? 

 And when he kissed me? I never thought I had that much strength. 

 I wanted Toji to fuck me so badly, and I know he would take care of me good. Those calloused hands that gripped my ass while kissing me, made me wet beyond measure. 

 Fuck it being a school night, or even if we didn’t leave so late, I would’ve been jumping on his cock last night. Maybe I should’ve allowed him to have his way with me in the bathroom at the bar. 

 It didn’t take long to realize we were sexually attracted to each other. It’s just the kiss solidified it. 

 Toji gives me rough yet passionate lover vibes. He would pull me by my coils, fuck me from behind and call me his good girl…

  Y/N, why are you so damn responsible?

 I honestly don’t know. The unhinged thing to do would be to let Toji come over to have sex. But I’m still trying to open up my shell a bit, especially after my recent engagement. 

 Well, ex-engagement. 

 Part of me feeling alive again was to do something that would help get my mind off my ex-fiancé that’s currently in front of me presenting a budget plan to me and the rest of the teachers. 

 “So, for this academic year, we’re looking to…” I fade out the voice of Nanami Kento. 

 Actually, Principal Nanami. 

 My relationship with my ex-fiancé, who’s also my boss, is… complicated, to say the least. We didn’t end on bad terms, but we didn’t end on good terms either. 

 We were together for five years, engaged for a year until I broke things off four months ago. Our arguing increased, which is normal in a relationship. However, it’s what we were going back and forth about that I was getting tired of. 

 Nanami (because I refuse to call him something as familiar as Ken) makes me look like an idler compared to his workaholic personality. And it wasn’t always like that. 

 Our relationship was perfect in the beginning. Fairy tale like. We would go on vacation, dates, road trips, and so much more. But as years passed, I truly believe he got comfortable. 

 It’s like he was burnt out from all the fun we had, and I blame that because of work. 

 I’m a teacher. He’s a principal. I have my fair share of demands being a teacher, but I know Nanami being a principal is far worse. Having to look over students, teachers, other staff members, constantly attend conventions on the behalf of the school—it took up a lot of his time.

 A lot of his personal time. 

 It meddled into our relationship. I was tired of doing things alone. Tired of not feeling loved and appreciated. Tired of fucking not getting any sexual pleasure from him. 

 And don’t get me wrong, sex with Nanami was amazing. It’s just we only had it once every blue moon. There’s certain things a vibrator can’t do that he’s an expert at. 

 So a few days before our fourth anniversary (I know that’s shitty), I decided to break up with him. Let’s just say Nanami wasn’t having it.

 Again, we argued. Some tears were shed, but the night ended with a proposal and a promise to change. 

 Too bad that promise was made with emptiness. We lasted about two months before he went right back to his workaholic ways. I was over it at that point. 

 Now here we are, months later where I try to avoid him as much as possible like he’s a plague. 

 It’s kind of hard to do that when these meetings are held at the beginning and end of every month. 

 “Any questions before we conclude the meeting?” he asks. 

 Nanami looks around for a response, eyes stopping at me. He tries to give me a small smile, but I look away. 

 He continues, “Okay. That’ll be all. Don’t hesitate to follow up with me if you all have any questions, concerns, or suggestions. I’ll be sure to take them down to pass along to the superintendents.”

 After Nanami dismisses us, I quickly gather my belongings to head to my classroom, but he stops me the minute I’m at the tip of the door. 

 “Miss L /N. May I have a few minutes of your time?” 

 “I have to prepare for homeroom, Principal Nanami. Can this wait until later?” Later, meaning never. 

 “It won't be long… I promise,” he says, earnestly.

 Like I don’t know the result of his promises. 

 I deeply sigh to myself and return to the meeting room. Nanami passes me to close the door and the smell of his cologne invades my senses. 

 Clean, minty with a touch of lemon and vanilla. 

  That’s the cologne you brought him . 

 Great. 

 “Everything’s okay, Principal Nanami?”

 “Y/N…” Every time he says my name it’s filled with such tenderness. Like that’s the only thing he knows how to say. 

 “You said you wanted some of my time. Is everything okay, Principal Nanami?” I repeat. 

 Nanami leans against the desk, hands in his pockets while looking at me. I take notice of the three piece suit he’s wearing and think how handsome he looks. It fills out his body perfectly. 

 “You haven’t been answering my calls.”

 “Because you call me outside of work hours,” I argue. 

 He hums. “So if I call during work hours, you’d answer?”

 “Ken, what do you want?”

 “Can I take you out for dinner this weekend?”

 I knit my brows. “Why?”

 “To talk, Y/N… To see how you’re doing.”

 Why are my cheeks suddenly getting warm? 

 I would be lying if I said I didn’t still have feelings for Nanami. They aren’t as strong as before, but something is still there. At one point in my life, I was madly in love with him. Despite us not working out, I genuinely wish him nothing but the best. 

 And maybe we can get to being friends again. 

 I just don’t know if now’s the time. 

 “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

 “Can you at least think about it?” His voice is still soft. “Please?”

 Before I can answer, the late bell rings. 

 “I have to go.” I’m already halfway through the door.

 “Would you let me know?”

 I look at him over my shoulder. “I… I’ll let you know.” 

 Class on Mondays is always the hardest for me. The day feels sluggish, and it moves like a snail. Again, yes, I love teaching, but I seriously cannot hang. Midnight was far too long for me to be out. 

 Actually, I have no reason to come since I had the company of a handsome fella. 

 How am I able to teach class while thinking about Toji? I don’t know, but I manage. My mind is split between today's lesson and the distinctive features of him. 

 Those rich emerald eyes. His dark locks. Pale yet a pretty shade of rose for his lips that’s accompanied by a scar that left me with questions. 

 Toji wore a baggy black outfit that had me guessing how his physique looked, however, from the looks of his hands and how they felt on my ass—I know it’s probably mouthwatering. 

 I’m honestly disappointed that I didn’t give him my number. I’m not a hundred percent ready for a new relationship, but also not opposed to one because I was checked out of my last for a while. But I do want to see Toji. 

 What’s the likelihood of me running into him at the bar again? Slim to none. 

 I guess we’ll see. 

 Anyways. 

 One of my students was reading a page of this week's book, a young adult psychological thriller, when the classroom door opened. 

 A boy stands there. Spiky hair, about five-foot-nine and green eyes. He looks at me, then around at the classroom before walking toward my desk. 

 “Hello,” I say with a smile. “Did you need help?” 

 He nods. “I’m a new student. Sorry for being late.”

 “No, it’s okay. I didn’t realize I would be getting a new student today” I told him. “It must’ve slipped my mind.”

 He stays silent. 

 “What’s your name? Do you feel comfortable introducing yourself to the class? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

 “Megumi.”

  No… this could be mere coincidence. I’m sure Megumi is a popular Japanese name. 

 “Nice to meet you, Megumi. I’m Miss L /N. Glad to have you here.” I’m left with no reaction. No expression. Just a blank face. “So, we’re reading right now. I only had a set amount of books. For now, you can share with one of the students, then I’ll be sure to get you a copy. Sounds good?”

 “Okay.”

 “Why don’t you go sit next to Yuji? He’s sitting in the back with pink hair and a red hoodie,” I said. “Yuji, raise your hand for me.”

 “Megumi, here-” I called him to retrieve his schedule that he left on my desk. But before I give it to him, his full name catches my attention. 

  Fushiguro, Megumi. 

 This is no longer a mere coincidence, and now that I’m looking at Megumi, he resembles Toji— a lot. The features are uncanny. I can almost guarantee that’s how Toji looked when he was Megumi’s age. 

 Who knew the new student in my class would be the son of the man I’ve been thinking all morning? 

 Will I use this to my advantage? Most definitely. 

 It’s that time of year for me to schedule parent-teacher conferences, anyways. 

 “Miss L /N. Did you call me?” 

 “Ah, yes. Here. You left your schedule.”

 Megumi takes the paper from me and returns to the direction where I told him to sit. Yuji tries to whisper, but his whispering is on the verge of an outside voice. I can hear the excitement in his voice when he finally has a student that’s open to sitting next to him. 

 Yuji is a sweet kid, but I know he had a rough time growing up based on the little information he shared with me. It’s just him and his older brother. 

 Teenagers are definitely more judgmental than elementary schoolers, so I notice students avoid him as much as possible yet he still gives them the kindest smile. Megumi seems quiet so I think him sitting next to Yuji will help out a bit.

 “Yuji, you want to read the next page?”

 He stands up eagerly. “Yes, Miss L /N!” Giggles and whispers around the classroom, causing me to shoot a glare. 

 “Okay, sweetheart. And remember if you come across a word you don’t know, take your time or ask for my help.” He nods and begins reading. 

 I pay attention for the most part, but I can’t help but think about another chance at seeing Toji Fushiguro. 

 It thrills me, even. 

 I hope he feels the same. I would like to think he does. 

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

[aliteral-ghost]

This is a fic I wrote for the 100 minutes challenge! This one was themed around adventure, and I took inspiration from the prompts childhood and treasure! You can find it on ao3 here!

Ren and False reminisce about their first failed expedition after failing to find treasure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were not successful in their attempt to find the buried treasure. After looking for several hours, nearly digging up the entire beach, Ren and False decide to take a break before heading back to the ship, sitting on the knotted roots of a nearby mangrove tree. 

“We haven’t had an expedition this bad since we were kids, have we?” Ren muses, pulling at a loose twig and starting to snap it into tiny bits.

“No,” False says. She likes things to go right, and is pouting a bit because of it. The map said it was going to be at this spot, and it lied. She doesn’t like that. She doesn’t like uncertainty. 

“That time… it sure went badly, didn’t it?” Ren asks, laughing. “Didn’t we manage to get lost in a mineshaft and completely waste time and energy before we ran out of time and had to go home?”

False laughs as well, remembering the amount of dirt and cobwebs they were covered in. “And you-didn’t you nearly fall into a cave or something, and I had to pull you out?”

“The first of many, many times you’ve saved my ass.”

This is true. False and Ren are inseparable from each other, but they’re also inseparable from trouble. In their many years of exploring and collecting treasures, they’ve met challenges that would kill explorers with less conviction and experience. A massive kraken, hordes of other pirates, they’ve seen it all. But their first exploration didn’t go quite as well.

“We…” False pauses, trying to remember what had happened. “We heard about it from Bdubs, right? He was bragging about this treasure he had hidden one day and said that no one would ever be able to find it.”

Ren huffs a laugh. “You were so convinced we could find it, because we’re so much better than Bdubs, and I just wanted to do anything that you were doing.”

“You were like a sad puppy, always following me around,” False stares off into the horizon, where their ship is waiting, bobbing on the waves. “It was kind of cute, honestly.”

“You thought I was cute?” 

She looks over at him and sees that Ren’s eyes are the largest puppy dog eyes she’s ever seen. “You were so small!” False exclaims. “And you kept tripping all over yourself to keep up with me!”

“I was, wasn’t I?” Ren laughs. “It came in use in that adventure, though, we would have never gotten out if I hadn’t managed to squeeze through those fallen beams.”

“Sure. That’s the only reason.” It might have been, if she’s honest with herself, but False would never tell Ren about that. She’ll never give him a win like that. “We never found that treasure, though, did we? I can never remember.”

“Nope!” Ren claps his hands. “And we never told Bdubs that we even tried to, because we knew that he would hold it over us for the rest of our lives. We’re not gonna tell anyone that we haven’t found this one either, are we?”

“Absolutely not.”

Ren laughs. “That’s what I thought. Come on, the rest of the crew is gonna start worrying if we take much longer.”

They hop down from the tree roots, headed for the beached dinghy nearby. They may be older, but it feels like they’re kids again. As they’re walking, nearly at the waterline, Ren trips over something. It’s the edge of a gilded box, poking out of the wet sand. 

“No way. It was right here?” False throws her hands up in exasperation. The shovel she’s been holding goes flying, and nearly hits Ren in the head where he tripped and fell. Better the shovel than her sword. 

Ren stands up and pulls her away from the buried treasure. “Not a word of this to the crew,” he insists. “They cannot know about what an utter failure this has been.”

The crew knows full well that Ren has a proclivity for being clumsy, even though they won’t say it, but False just nods and laughs. “Of course, captain. Anything to protect your ego.”

They return to the ship, Ren complaining the whole way, and don’t say anything about it to the rest of the crew when they arrive. There are some adventures that don’t need to be shared.

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Can you believe that this is part 10? Because I can’t. Well, some of you knew this was coming, and some of you didn’t. Either way please don’t kill me…

Pairing: Jake Kiszka X Danny Wagner *slash

Warnings and tags: 18+ ONLY! Adult content including: grief, loss, separation, little bit of codependency, processing of emotions and hidden feelings, some smut including: kissing, m/m sex, dad Jake AU, uncle Danny AU

Word count: 4k

“Nashville?” Josh bellowed, his objection towards the whole idea evident. “You’re going to move? I don’t even know how far away that is?” He quickly pulled out his phone and frantically typed away into his maps app, pulling up the quickest route. “That’s like eight hours away!”

“By car, Josh you can always fly to come see me. Luna and I will probably come stay with you for every holiday anyways”. Jake tried to encourage him to accept this news. It was good news after all.

Defeatedly Josh lumped back into his couch with a sigh. “So that old man’s retiring then?” He was referring to Jake’s father in law, whom he had just finished having lunch with and then immediately made his way over to his twin's house for further discussion.

“Yeah, something about wanting to travel and needing someone he trusts to step into his position as head of the foundation since he won’t really be readily available anymore”. Jake repeated to Josh the same thing that was just explained to him. “I asked him if he really wanted me to take over. Surely there are plenty of others who deserve it more than I do…”

“Hey” Josh promptly cut him off, already knowing where he was going with this. “Just because you married his daughter doesn’t mean he’s showing you any special treatment. Don’t you remember how hard on you he was in the beginning? He’s handing the foundation over to you not because it’s an inheritance or anything, but because you’ve earned it”.

Jake took a few moments to reflect on his brother's words. He knew Josh was right, he had earned this. Years of dedicating himself to his current position and really establishing a strong foot hold for them here in this region had proven he did have a knack for this. It wasn’t like he didn’t like the job either, providing musical opportunities to children was something he was passionate about, but since losing his will to create music of his own he didn’t really have much else to focus on.

Leading the foundation would mean a lot more opportunity for him though. More networking, less time planning their events and more time simply approving schedules and endorsing their programs. It would mean more travel for him as well, but Luna was getting old enough now that it was easier to get a sitter, and between events he would have a lot more freedom to spend that time however he wanted.

“And his only condition was that you move to Nashville?” Josh asked for clarification, now that the initial shock was gone. Jake nodded, the main office was in Nashville so it was a reasonable ask. Besides, Jake had visited his in-laws in Nashville often and he did quite like the city.

“Sam’s not going to be happy about you leaving either” Josh continued, thinking about how he could possibly help break the news, then it hit him. “Wait, what about Danny?”

“Danny?” Jake repeated.

“You haven’t told him yet have you?”

Josh watched as the confident composed face Jake had practiced having on the drive over here started to crack. He had purposefully avoided allowing himself to think about Danny yet, first he just needed Josh’s approval.

“Come on, you can’t tell me that you two haven’t been getting serious. What’s he going to think when you tell him that you’re leaving?”

“He…” Jake trailed off. Honestly he didn’t know how Danny was going to react but he knew, just like Josh, that he should probably tell him sooner rather than later in case this changed anything between them.

“It’s not like I can just ask him to move with me. He just recently started to work on his relationship with his parents again. And his sister,” Jake sighed in frustration, already resolving himself to acknowledge that he’d have to leave him behind. “His sister is pregnant. I can’t ask him to leave his family behind”.

“I’m your family Jake” Josh pointed out, “and I don’t feel like you’re leaving me behind”.

Jake spent all week going through the motions. His father-in-law wanted him to arrange to move as soon as possible, but Jake told him he at least wanted till the end of the summer. Even with the agreement made, there was still going to be a lot to prepare for. He needed to list his house for sale, get a moving company, find the time to go down to Nashville and house shop, and school zones were an important factor for him. It was all a little overwhelming, and he hadn’t even spoken to Danny about any of it yet.

Saturday morning came and Jake made Luna breakfast before cleaning up the areas of the house he didn’t get to during the bustle of the week. With the chores done he settled into the couch for a break when the doorbell went off.

“I got it!” Luna jumped up from where she had been coloring at her desk, and Jake followed protectively behind her to the front door. “Danny!” She squealed when she successfully got the heavy wooden door open.

Smiling from ear to ear Danny scooped Luna up, easily holding her against his chest with one arm as he reached with the other to pull Jake into the same hug. “Hey!”

“Hey, I didn’t think you were coming over until tonight?” Jake commented as he stepped aside and allowed Danny to carry Luna back inside.

“I umm, finished at work a little early and rushed over here” Danny replied, setting the toddler down and letting her run back into the living room to get her coloring page for him to see. “I hope you don’t mind. I missed you”. The last bit came out softly, quiet, like Danny was a bit embarrassed to say it aloud.

“No, it’s perfectly alright” Jake glanced down the hallway to make sure they still had a second alone and lifted up onto the tips of his toes to plant a kiss on Danny’s waiting lips. “I missed you too”.

“You think Luna is asleep?” Danny questioned as he pulled the collar of Jake’s shirt to the side so he could kiss at the top his shoulder from behind.

“Hmm,” Jake hummed as he closed his eyes and leaned back into Danny’s touch. “I checked on her earlier, she was out like a light”.

“She’s enjoying her summer then?” He continued letting his hands slip down Jake’s shoulders and running his palms soothingly down his arms.

Goosebumps raised in the shadow of the places Danny touched him. It had been so long since he’d allowed someone to be so close to him, so long since he’d let the intimacy of another’s warmth penetrate the fibers of his being. He wasn’t sure how he was going to go back to surviving without it again.

“She has” Jake reminded himself to stay in the moment. To not lose out on any of the time they still had left.

Danny’s hands moved from Jake’s arms to his stomach, and his fingertips teased the hemline of his shirt next. “And you? Are you enjoying the summer?”

“I’m-” letting himself go from all the stress and worry that had gathered in the front of his mind all week, Jake leaned back against Danny’s chest for support. Danny’s hands slipped underneath his shirt, caressing the soft skin there now. “I’m enjoying this”.

Moving his kisses from his shoulder, to his neck, and then to his ear where he pulled the lobe between his teeth, in a low tone Danny replied “me too”. Jake turned in Danny’s arms and captured Danny’s lips with his own, sighing into their kiss as he backed them up to the bed.

You need to tell him, soon. Rattled in Jake’s head as he hit the mattress, leaning back and bringing Danny down with him. He opened his mouth and Danny took the invitation, dipping his tongue inside to taste him deeper. Well, maybe later…

Later came in the form of Jake fully prepped, straddling Daddy's lap with one hand buried in the thick of curls at the nape of his neck while the other reached around behind to line them up. Jake sank down slowly but easily, and Danny groaned past the open mouthed kisses he scattered across Jake’s chest.

“Fuuuuuck” he wrapped both arms around Jake’s torso once he was settled, and Jake began to barely rock his hips.

They had managed to get their first few hard fucks out of their system and out of the way, so this time around wasn’t wild or frantic. Instead it was steady, calm, with both of their chests pressed together and Jake’s cheek resting on the top of Danny’s head. Passion overcame them as Danny’s hands slipped lower and he pressed his palm into Jake’s lower back trying to bring him closer, deeper.

“I missed you Jake” Danny admit again in an exhaling release of breath and dopamine, “I’ve never felt so good with someone else before. You’re like a drug my body craves and my mind is too weak to deny”.

Jake’s already barely there movements came to a halt and he reached down to cup Danny’s face, tilting it upwards as he spoke. “Have you ever loved someone? Someone you would give anything to, do anything for, be anyone for?”

Danny had to think about his reply for a moment. If someone had asked him this question merely months ago he would have easily answered, no. Sure he had a strong liking for others in the past. Evie, his ex girlfriend whom his parents adored, had probably come the closest. At least until Danny woke up and realized his life was quickly falling down a path he didn’t want to see himself get tripped up in any longer. Thankfully that realization had come quickly for him, before he did have the chance to truly fall in love and get his heart broken.

Jake’s brows furrowed as he waited for a response, and Danny wondered why he wanted to know right now. Of all times to be having a deep conversation, it had to be when Danny was actually physically buried deep inside him. Maybe, he hoped at least, it was because Jake had been feeling the same sinking feeling in his chest as Danny had when they were together like this. The feeling of his rib cage filling with water and his heart being carried off somewhere unknown, but sought out nonetheless. His only breath of air above the water coming with each ardent kiss from his lover.

“No, I haven’t ever been in love” Danny eventually came around to answering, “but Jake I-”.

Jake cut Danny off with a brisk kiss to his lips. “Shhh,” his angelic voice was hushed to a near whisper as he pressed their foreheads together and started to pick up his pace again. “Don’t say it”.

Danny wasn’t quite finished with the topic, but his mind quickly lost its place as Jake started to grind down harder on him, languidly bringing them both to a shared climax. Jake continued to sit still in his lap, even as Danny softened inside him, and he wrapped his arms tightly around his shoulders in a strong embrace.

“Hey?” Danny gently ran his hands up and down Jake’s sides in a soothing manner. He could tell something was wrong, and his mind was going rampant with the possibilities of Jake having hurt himself, despite the blissed out look he had on his face when they came together. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“Danny I need to tell you something” he mumbled into the crook of his neck. “Something I don’t want to tell you right now because I’m afraid it’s going to ruin everything, and I’m not ready for that”. He squeezed Danny harder, harder than he’d ever hugged him before like he was trying to make up for all the times he’d been too shy or reserved to let himself feel this way.

More worried thoughts rushed through Danny’s head, trying to brace himself for whatever it was Jake was about to drop on him. The worst thoughts came first.

He doesn’t love me. He thinks we’re going too fast. He’s realizing this was all just a big mistake. Danny tried to reel it back as he wrapped his arms around Jake as well, telling himself that he wouldn’t still be glued to him if any of that was the case. “Tell me,” He pleaded, “I promise whatever you say won’t change the way I feel about you”.

“I know it won’t, and that’s why I feel so bad”. Jake finally leaned back again, but his eyes were raised towards the ceiling as he rounded up the courage to tell him without being able to actually look Danny in the face now. And then it all came flooding out.

“I’m moving. At the end of the summer. My realtor is coming by tomorrow to put the house up for sale and I’m flying to Nashville next week to look at a few places”.

“Moving?” Danny repeated to make sure he had it right even though Jake had been pretty clear. “W-What’s in Tennessee?”

With the news broken, Jake slipped off of Danny’s lap to give him the space to process as he tried to explain. “My in-laws mostly, at least for now. They’re retiring and putting me in charge of the foundation”.

Danny was quiet for a bit, and Jake anxiously counted how many times he’d blinked before he tried to talk again- seven times. “How long have you known?”

“Just since the beginning of the week. I wanted to tell you sooner, but you asked if you could come over this weekend and I thought telling you in person would be better. I’ve just been so stressed out about it, I needed you to hold me like that one more time before… everything changed”.

Change? Danny thought to himself. Ok, this does change things. But what exactly? Besides their geological locations, the knowledge that Jake was going to be moving away came as an initial shock, but Danny was honest when he said nothing would change the way he felt about him.

“So we still have until the end of the summer though, right?”

A small hopeful smile cracked the hard line that had formed on Jake’s face. “Yeah, nothing is set in stone yet, but I know I’ll want to get settled over there before Luna starts school again”.

“Of course” Danny straightened the slump in his shoulders, suddenly coming back to life as he remembered there was a lot more piled on Jake’s plate to worry about with the move rather than just him. “Whatever you need Jake, I’ll help you”.

“Just-” Jake pulled the covers back and Danny followed as they both slipped underneath them and got settled in each other's arms. “Be here? With me? Until I go”.

In the month that came Danny did stay with Jake nearly every night. He could have practically moved in by that point with a toothbrush here, extra changes of clothes there taking up room in the closet and getting washed along with the rest of the household laundry. Jake had already started packing up his own things though, so instead Danny lived out of a duffel bag which he didn’t quite mind as long as he was able to spend this last bit of time together.

The house began to feel less and less like his home to Jake as the weeks went on, and more like an empty shell of the life he had built here. Especially now as he walked around in the empty rooms, going on his last run through to make sure the movers hadn’t left any boxes behind. His realtor was on the way soon. All he had left to do was hand over the keys and the new owners of his once well loved home would be coming in to make it their own.

He got to meet them the day before at the closing office. It was a beautiful family with two boys and a little girl on the way. They had a dog too, one of the little boys had excitedly explained to Jake who was more than willing to listen, and the backyard was much bigger than their old house so he was excited to have more room to be able to play fetch. Jake was glad he was selling to them, it made it easier to leave his past behind when he knew that this home was going to be a good beginning for someone else.

After slowly making his way through, reminiscing about all the good and the bad experiences he’d had here, Jake finished his trip down memory lane at the large piano still sitting in front of the wide bay window. He had specifically instructed the movers to leave this here. Pianos, especially one of this grand size and stature, were expensive to move but that wasn’t Jake’s reasoning behind not wanting to take it with him. Even if it was difficult to leave this all behind, Jake was trying to take this opportunity to start fresh as well. The storm cloud that had previously once inhabited his thoughts and darkened his emotions he hoped wouldn’t follow him to sunny, humid, Nashville.

Despite its beauty, he knew this piano would only be a constant blaring reminder of his loss. Its glossy white finish too reminiscent of the striking white marble stone that laid atop that hill, the words etched into its face: loving, daughter, wife, and mother.

Hopefully this new family could give it some use again. He could picture it now, the boys fighting over the keys as they sat side by side on the solid wooden bench, or maybe when she was old enough the little sister practicing her recitals in the gleaming afternoon sun that peered through the window.

Jake heard the front door opening and closing, but he dismissed it as the realtor and went back to brushing his fingertips against the ivory afraid if he tried to play a note now it would ring through the empty house, shattering the utter silence that had settled despite his presence still clinging to its lingering bit of warmth and comfort.

“You going to miss it?” An unexpected, but welcome voice called from across the room once they found where Jake was.

He turned to see Danny leaning against the wall, his arms folded over his chest and one leg crossed over the other at the ankle. “Yeah, I am, but it’s also time. It’s been time for a while now”.

Danny nodded his head, he hadn’t quite accepted it yet, but he understood where Jake was coming from.

“You know I really have you to thank for that” Jake began, gathering Danny’s undivided attention. “I’d been trying to move on for a while now, but nothing seemed to work. No one was able to break through that barrier I’d put up to keep myself from getting hurt again, until you. It was unexpected, and I fought it at first, but you were patient with me, and so incredibly kind. I- I don’t know how I’ll ever properly tell you how much you truly affected me”.

Jake's voice started to quiver as he spoke, but he swallowed down the knot in his throat. He wasn’t going to allow himself to cry now, not this time, not when he had made the decision to part.

Danny hung his head as he mulled over all Jake had said. He had come over with the intention to send Jake off with a smile, maybe a kiss, but his mind was racing with everything he still had left to say, never having found the right time to say it.

I love you Jake, just say it back that’s all I want.

“Well it wasn’t easy, but you know I never thought that Jake Kiszka would be easy” Danny teased lightheartedly as he pushed off the wall.

“Hmmph, that’s right” a short chuckle broke through Jake’s solemn mood. That’s what he was going to miss most about Danny, his irrefutable ability to make him smile. Well, amongst other things as well. He would have to get used to sleeping alone again after all these nights of drifting off in another’s arms.

“So what’s next then?”

“Well,” Jake leaned against the piano now, his weight alone not even enough to make the piece move an inch across the hardwood floors. “I’m just waiting on the realtor to give over the keys, then pick up Luna from Josh’s before heading to the airport”.

“Oh, that’s right”. Danny reached for his set that hung from a carabiner on his belt loop, unlatching it and pulling a singular key to hand Jake who took it with a quiet nod.

Jake hardly even remembered giving Danny a spare key. It had happened as a quick thought one morning when he left for work before Danny got up. Not wanting to wake him after the long night they had shared, Jake rummaged through the top drawer where he kept a few things hidden from grabby little toddler hands. His fingers brushed against cool metal, but it wasn’t the key first. Instead he retrieved his wedding band, still looped through the chain he’d kept it on for years. Though he hadn’t gone searching for that it was good to know it was still safe, so with a kiss he placed it back inside and fished around again until the spare was found.

Jake left it on the nightstand with a simple note.

Have some breakfast, lock up, I’ll see you tonight.

All my love

It was hard to think that so much time had already passed since then, and Jake was suddenly filled with an overwhelming feeling of regret. Of course he had tried to make the most out of the time they’d had left to spend together, but he worried that the closeness had only made it harder to separate now.

He felt selfish for asking Danny to stay with him night after night, having taken advantage of his kindness. Craved his comfort without heed to how it would affect Danny when he was gone. Well now the time had come, and Jake had to face the reality of the situation.

“Can you do one last favor for me?” Jake extended his self-serving requests once more. Danny didn’t need to respond, he only needed to take Jake’s hands in his own and look down at him with those eyes that said he would do anything he asked. “I’ve mourned someone before. Please, don’t mourn me. I’m alive and well, and I’ll take care of myself for Luna’s sake”. Jake turned his hands over and latched onto Danny’s wrists, a physical exclamation to his begging words. “You take care of yourself for my sake”.

Danny felt his body losing gravity, the only thing still holding him to this plane being Jake's tight grip. He knew what this was, he expected a goodbye, but this was more than that. This was Jake’s way of telling him not only was he leaving, but he was going to be gone entirely from Danny’s life now. He would be reduced to nothing more than memories in the home of Danny’s empty heart. It would be better that way, Jake thought, to not string him along and allow him the opportunity to move on just like he had.

“I will” Danny weakly succumbed. How could he deny Jake anyways? He agreed, and once his reply was heard Jake let him go.

Even with his departure, Danny knew Jake would never truly disappear. He would always remain with him, in his thoughts, his dreams, in the way he lived and loved. It was Jake who had taught him how to in the first place, and Jake would always be a part of who he was.

Thanks for reading!: @kultavalo @sanguinebats @gracev0609 @lipstickitty @lyndz2names @freyjalw

[0utpost-alpha]

Personal Thoughts On Red vs Blue: Restoration

Alright so, it’s been a few weeks since Red vs Blue Restoration hit the internet. I’ve had time to sit, think, cry and process RvB and Rooster Teeth as a whole ending. As I stated on a previous post, I got into RVB around 2015? I think Season 13 had ended then. So I haven’t really spent as much time with the Sims Troopers as many others have. But those 9 years were wonderful and I’m grateful for finding such an entertaining show and fandom. Any show that can make me laugh my ass off and also make me full on sob my eyes out is 10/10 in my book.

Anyway, moving on. I said I’d put out my own personal thoughts and feelings for Restoration in the form of a Pro’s and Con’s post; so here it is:

THE PROS

The AI Fragments: I LOVE them going back and focusing on the AI fragments again. I remember hearing that Miles was talking about how he was going to do something similar with them after the Chorus Trilogy but things happened and Jason ended up taking over after Season 14. I personally always adored the idea of the Reds and Blues each getting one of the AI fragments that suited their personal needs and would lead to more character development for them later on down the line.

Tucker and the AI’s: On the subject of AI’s, After Season 13, I remember reading a lot of fan theories and fanfics that often brought up what possible side effects Tucker could go through with Epsilon not only shattering but having all those fragments at once helping him power the Meta suit. And it looks like a lot of them weren’t far off! While we will never know what actually happened once those doors were opened, at some point either immediately or not long afterwards, the AI took control and ran off with poor Tucker.

Caboose’s Voice: While it was a little jarring at the beginning, being so used to Joel’s, Michael Malconian did a phenomenal job as Caboose’s voice. I feel like he got that child-like, not all there, but still ready to help out however he can personality down perfect. NGL, I think I actually prefer this voice to the old one. I’m just sad that we won’t get to hear more of this Caboose.

Speaking of Caboose: I love how they had Caboose have a big brain moment. Instead of bringing back Church, something he wanted more than anything, he knew Tex was their best chance against Meta!Tucker. Also, destroying the Memory Unit. Talk about huge character development for Cabooses character. (It’s also possible that this was what Church asked Caboose to do when he was whispering to him in the ship? I need to go back and rewatch it)

Simmons: I know there was already an image or video around showing Simmons with the robotic arm, but I kind of fell off the RvB bus after Zero came out so I missed a bit of content that was floating around on the internet. So me and @yourscientistfriend were tickled pink when we noticed his arm for the first time. It’s small, but nice to know that RT remembered that specific detail about Simmons.

Sarge’s Sacrifice: alright, this one is probably on a lot of peoples Con’s lists but I personally feel like, if any of them were gonna be killed off Sarge was the best because; he died doing what he loved. Fighting. He protected his boys and went down on his own terms. His farewell to Grif definitely hit the hardest. I think deep down we all knew Sarge cared about Grif, but actually hearing him say it was so satisfying.

Memory is the key: the boys sitting around the campfire reminiscing about everything they had been through together in the last 23 years was such a bitter sweet nostalgia blast. The fact that they also got BNL to do a song over it was kind of a nice surprise too.

THE CONS

A lot of characters didn’t really get a chance to shine. It mainly focused on Simmons, Grif, Tucker and Caboose for a majority of the movie. Donut was only there in a thought bubble for a gag, Carolina didn’t even show up till the very end, and Wash didn’t even get to fight, he honestly didn’t really even serve a purpose except to fall off a fucking cliff to get Carolina’s attention and I feel like that wasn’t even necessary. Hell, I think they even forgot about Lopez after that one scene at the beginning. I honestly feel for the Donut and Doc fans. They seriously got screwed over.

“Come With Me”: So. Grimmons didn’t become canon. I am, severely disappointed as I’m sure a majority of the fandom is. I wasn’t expecting a kiss or a make-out section or anything that extreme. But I feel after all these years of teasing us they could have given us SOMETHING.

Tucker Trauma: As I said in the Pro’s, I loved the set up they did with Tucker and the fragments. However, what I didn’t like was how they didn’t address the trauma Tucker went through with them controlling him. They forced him to kill innocent people, attack his friends and mentally tortured him in order to get him to cooperate or wear him down enough to take control. But after they remove the fragments, he’s just ok now? Back to his regular bow chika bow wow self? Don’t get me wrong, like with many of my other cons I realize that a lot of things had to be scrapped or cut because of time and that because Season 19 had to be turned into a movie instead of a full blown season they couldn’t properly address a lot that they probably wanted to. But I wish we could have at least got something along the lines of Wash taking Tucker back with him to get physically and mentally checked out.

Also, wtf is up with Grif just up and leaving. I know Season 15-17 was retconned (update: they weren’t retconned) but damn man, Grif really doesn’t care about any of them? Even after the whole reminiscing scene? It just feels out of character for him. I feel like after everything was said and done he would have taken those papers and shot them or something. Said something about how someone’s gotta give the new leader of the reds a hard time, said something about not leaving till he figure out why they were there!?  Anything than whatever the hell that was.

Thing’s I’m sad will never happen now that Red vs Blue is officially over:

More time with Locus’s character as well as character development and redemption (as well as possibly becoming one of the Reds and Blues)

Grimmons

Simmons’s getting an arc that better fleshes out his character and would give us more background into his history (I mean come on. From the bits and pieces we got over the seasons, it’s very clear Simmons’s had a shitty past. Yes, I’m still mad that his labyrinth was turned into a alien probing joke)

Never seeing an actual conclusion to the fight at the end of Season 13. (I get they wanted to let the fans play around with ideas on what happened but it still bugs me).

Wash and Simmons bonding during a knife training session

Wash and Tucker bonding over AI Trauma

Tucker and Junior bonding

Overall, it was an ending. And probably the most decent one we could have gotten considering everything that was going on. A lot of other shows didn’t even get that. So I honestly can’t complain too much. They also deliberately left the ending pretty open so the fandom could easily write their own ending if they wanted to which is awesome of them.  

[eyeofnewtblog]

Things that happen at home:

So, my youngest sibling got their first tattoo today, a week after their 18th birthday and a month after getting their GED.

First and foremost, I’m so freaking proud of this kid, they deal with a lot of anxiety/panic attacks, but they still managed to get through it into adulthood.

So, basically the story with the tattoo is that 4 years ago, when I married my now husband, I asked both of my younger sisters (now sister and sibling) to be bridesmaids, and offered a “matching” tattoo as their present from me for saying yes. M was 14 at the time and I knew for a fact that Mom was not about to sign a waiver, but I had the money specifically set aside to get me and Middle Sister done before the wedding. The idea was that we would both be there for M when they were old enough. It didn’t exactly work out that way, (middle couldn’t be there and honestly this last year has been a financial nightmare for me plus I wasn’t expecting youngest to go on a two week trip out of state) BUT! We got it done today!

The artist was fantastic, super chill dude who was calm and informative and was wearing a “tattoos are stupid” T-shirt, hilarious in a dry humor way. He took us in and did great work with only a day’s notice.

The shop had a stuffed unicorn plushy that they called The Tough Guy Cuddle Buddy and my sibling said, immediately upon being offered it, “YES, I want that!” And made grabby hands.

So, youngest is pretty touch adverse? Like they allow me specifically to sit in closer proximity to them than others, but it’s kind of a mutual thing where they understand that my physical boundaries with family are practically non existent and I acknowledge that their bubble is about double a normal person’s, so we compromise with sitting on the couch several feet apart BUT I’m allowed to be touching them in some way. Usually I just tuck my toes under their thigh while we both scroll. There has to be a layer of fabric between us, because I have “scratchy feet” but otherwise that’s the norm.

Today was definitely different though.

My youngest sibling hasn’t let me full on comfort cuddle them since this kid was like, 8 years old. (To be fair, I moved out of state around that time, and by the time we were back in the same city I chose to do “sister dates” where I’d pick them up from from school on half days and we’d just go to our favorite restaurant that was right up the street from our favorite ice cream shop, so all public spaces and zero cuddles)

I FINALLY GOT TO COMFORT CUDDLE! The kid I used to wake up for in the middle of the night when they were having a nightmare and wanting to be cuddled, the kid I told to scream at anything or anyone that made them think of monsters (kiddo oddly spent like a solid month going up to random bushes, sticking their face as deep in as they could go, and full on Viking Battle Screaming into The Void) LET ME HOLD THEM IN A FULL ON CUDDLE FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR FIRST TATTOO.

This is one of those moments where I’m genuinely in awe of the fact that we still have such a strong relationship (nothing bad has happened, but time either heals all wounds or leaves a lot of nerve damage) But I seriously thought, over the last 18 months or so, my sibling is growing up and won’t need me as much, if at all, anymore. I have never been more happy to be proven wrong.

Kiddo straight up said that this is probably the only tattoo they will ever get, but also, I really fucking hope not because they are an absolute cuddle bug when they’re in pain and need affection, and as selfish as it is to say, I hope they get a million more and that I’m just as worthy of being invited to the latest as I was to the first.

[idontplaytrack]

Capri x (Darby’s sister) Reader (Future, Late 20’s/early 30’s)

Reader is cooking in the kitchen waiting for Capri to come home

Capri is absolutely exhausted after a long day of coaching for cheer camp

Their daughter (4) is out with her aunt (darby) giving the couple some alone time

👍

This life thing

Capri Donahue x Harper!Sibling fem reader

Warnings: coarse language, fluff, smut

Into the future, Capri and reader’s love had grown, so did their family. (Bonus chapter to the ‘My Charmed One’ series)

You were in the kitchen, making dinner while waiting for Capri to come home. Today’s been the quietest the house has been in ages, seeing that Adelaide yours and Capri’s 4-year old was out with Darby and Alex for the day. You knew Capri would be exhausted, she’s been coaching at a cheer camp for the last three days. As much as she loves her job, it still takes a toll. Rest was much needed no matter how motivated she was.

Capri got off work around 4:45, and it takes her about an hour to get home. So, judging by the time on the clock right now, you had quite awhile before she was home with you. She did send you a text on her way home to let you know that she was going to be back soon, so that made you more excited. In the meantime, you were making her favourite pasta dish for dinner.

You were done cooking, so you went to tidy up the house some more since you had time to kill. While you were wiping the TV console with a rag, Capri returns home. “Hi, baby!” Capri gasps, running up to you. You abandon your task, stood up and hugged her. “Hey, honey.” You kissed her on the cheek, chuckling over your words.

“Wow, it’s quiet around here.” She noticed.

“Darby and Alex took Addy out. Won’t be back until after dinner.” You pressed another kiss, to her lips.

“I know, it’s just…been awhile since we got any alone time. The house being so quiet’s a little weird.” Her hands fall onto your hips, she gazes into your eyes, brushing the stray hairs out of your face.

“How was work?” You asked.

“It was good, but of course, I’m tired and just glad to be home with my lady.” She grins cheekily. You laughed, resting your forehead against hers.

“Aw.”

“So…what’ve you been up to today?” She asks, leading you over to the couch to sit down.

“Honestly, once they picked Addy up after breakfast, I went back to sleep, took a shower and just didn’t do anything until I had to make dinner and tidy up the place.”

“Hey, well, as long as you’re doing what you gotta do and you’re happy and rested? You know?” Capri said back.

“It’s so weird though. I’ve never had them or anyone spend the whole day with her.” You sigh.

“She’s fine, I’m sure of it.” Capri assured.

“I know, but it’s like— she’s never spent this much time apart from either of us.”

“When she left, did she throw a tantrum or cry?”

“No, she immediately ran and jumped into Darby’s arms.” You chuckled at the thought.

“Which is great, she knows and trusts them. She loves them both.” Capri continues.

“That makes sense, but I’m just not that used to it because like I said, too quiet. But it’s nice.”

“Nice?” She asks, chin leaning on your shoulder.

“Of course, my brain doesn’t feel like it’s gonna shut down like when she screams and squeals whenever I try and get her to pack up her toys, eat her food or try and get her to shower?”

Capri laughs, “That’s true. It is frustrating when those things happen sometimes,” Sneakily, she pressed a kiss to your neck which made you gasp. “It’s been a minute since we…”

You nodded quickly, the desire quickly washing over you. You had no idea how much you wanted to do something like that again until it was initiated. It’s always been the last thing on your mind these days. Or, in months, even. You two were always so tired with work and looking after Addy that nothing else was on your minds than the usual routine.

“I think…we should have dinner first.” You squirmed, fighting a laugh.

“Oh.” Capri replied teasingly, “Are we still going with the sex being dessert thing?”

That did it for you, you laughed. “I don’t know. I just— want you to have your food before we do anything, y’know? You just got back from work.”

“Unbelievable, I can still make you so flustered after so many years together?” Capri asks while squeezing your thigh.

“Always.” You admitted with a bit of a laugh, “Let’s eat dinner first, don’t want it to get cold.”

“Okay.” Capri agreed, taking your hand and walking into the kitchen with you.

————

Capri manages to kick the door close quickly, almost as quickly as she plopped you onto bed. “I’m so lucky.” She smiled, gazing into your eyes lovingly as she hovered over you.

“You’re lucky?” You scoffed, “Please. I’m the lucky one. Still don’t know how this happened.”

She grins. “Are you always gonna be all flustered when I do this?” Tease.

“Always.” You admitted.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on. That’s not the only thing I love about you.”

Your heart fluttered.

“You know it. We’ve been through so much together.” Capri says, hands trailing down your front, “You’re so strong, so motivated, so intelligent and so loving and kind. The best partner and mother I could’ve ever imagined for myself and my kid.”

You’d pursed your lips together, cheeks growing hot, “I love you.”

“I love you too, darling.” Capri presses her lips against yours. Straightening up, her eyes gazes down at you, tracing your body. You start to avoid her gaze. “Hey.” Her hand stops on your hip, “Look at me, y/n.” And you did, immediately. Your heart melted at that, it always does. You loved yourself, you did. But the attention always makes you feel things.

“You wanna do it?” Capri asked softly, “You’re sure?”

“Mhm.” You nodded in confirmation, “I’m sure.”

With that being said, she begins to attack your skin with kisses, all over. Expertly, she was working over the spots that made you tick. “Shit.” You cursed, “Shit, that feels so good.”

Capri hums in approval, continuing her ministrations, sucking at your neck with just the right amount of pressure to make your arousal grow. When she’s heard that you were ready for more, she starts to move lower. Her hand reaches underneath your shirt, holding onto the hem as she looked at you for an answer. You swiftly nodded, allowing her to remove the clothing. Once that was out of the way, your pants and underwear were off too, abandoned along with your shirt in some corner of the room. You whined as you palmed your breast and groped it before she wrapped her lips around the tip. “Ugh, fuck.” You groaned, “Fuck, that— keep going— keep going—”

“Of course, baby. Of course my darling’s gonna get whatever she wants…” Capri’s hand slides down your front, cupping your cunt, her fingers in your folds, “and definitely whatever she needs.” As she uttered that last word, two fingers plunged into you, hitting your sensitive spot and caused you to scream. Capri took great pleasure and pride in that.

A breathy whimper made her coo at you, and made you so frustrated because she was doing it on purpose to rile you up. And it always worked. Always. She never failed to have her way with you, you’d fold all the time.

“I know, I know…” Capri spoke to you sweetly as her fingers carried on their push and pull, fucking you into oblivion. You had zero idea what kind of god forsaken noises you were even making but they sure were working in your favour because you were getting closer and closer to your high.

“Mm— fuck— fuck— fuck!” Your chest heaved, back arching off the mattress pushing her deeper. Capri only smiles at you, knowing exactly how you were feeling.

“Keep going.” Capri whispers, thumb now pressing onto your clit every time her digits pushed their way into your tightening walls. “Let me hear, huh? Am I making you feel good, darling?” Words get caught in your throat as you swallow painfully, eventually moaning. She slaps your cunt when you didn’t verbally respond, you yipped, toes curling. “Fuck!” You exclaimed, “Fuck. Yes. Yes. Yes, you’re making me feel—”

Finger number three slid into you without resistance, you gasp, begging her to go faster. Capri obliged, basking in the filthy filthy noises coming from your mouth and the juncture between your thighs. At the same time, she fondles with your tits which made your head spin. You were finally pushed into overdrive when her lips made a return to your nipple, sucking it like her life depended on it. Barely straddling you, her fingers fucked you while her mouth gave your sensitive nub the much wanted attention. Your climax hit, causing your hand to clutch her shoulder for support as you cursed and cried through every single moment. You felt your whole body literally convulsing but no, Capri doesn’t just stop. She never does, she would only gradually slow down. Which helps, usually. But right now, you were bordering overstimulation given how long it’s been since you two had been intimate.

Right before you told her to stop, she did. She stops before you asked. “Let me help—”

She shushed you, “All good. I don’t feel like it. Took care of myself last week and I’m settled for awhile.”

Your eyes widened in bewilderment for a split second but you quickly regained your composure, “Okay.” She lays down beside you, brushing the hair out of your eyes and kissing you softly on the lips, “You good? Did I hurt you?”

“I’m okay.” You nodded, “Didn’t hurt me. It’s just been awhile and damn, that was— crazy. Almost forgot how good it felt.”

Capri giggles, “Really? That’s…not very nice for me to hear.”

You sulked.

“Kidding, kidding.” She gasped, eyes meeting yours before she engulfed you in a hug, “I get it. You said they’re getting back at 9?”

You nodded, head snuggled against her chest.

“Thirty minutes.” Capri noted, “Let’s get you cleaned up. You’re showering with me.”

“How nice.” You poked her chest playfully, “One more minute though.”

————

Hearing some chatter from the other side of the front door, followed by a familiar jingle of keys, the front door swings open. “Hi, mommy!” Addy attacked Capri first with a hug— to her legs, given her height. Capri quickly picked her up. “Hi, my love.” Capri grins, kissing her on the cheek, “Did you have fun?”

“Uh-huh.” The kid nodded excitedly, “We played mini golf and we had milkshakes after dinner.”

“Hi, baby.” You walked over to them in the kitchen.

“Mama!” She squealed, turned around and hugged you while Capri was still holding onto her. Capri lets her go once you held on.

“Thanks…for spending all day with her.” You told them.

“We always love spending time with her.” Darby chuckles, “Sometimes a handful, definitely takes after your wife.”

Capri snorted, laughing.

“We always have a lot of fun.” Alex quipped, “And I always have a lot of fun seeing Darbs run after her.”

“Alex!” Darby chided quietly while you excused yourself and took Adelaide into her room to her a new outfit before you gave her a bath. “Yeah, well…she’s thrilled to be staying up past her bedtime, obviously.” You heard Capri joke while you exit the living area.

“You sleepy, lovey?” You chuckled as you got her dried off and dressed. Adelaide nods, nuzzling her head in your chest once she was fully redressed. You carried her off the counter and walked over to her bed, tucking her in.

Once she was actually sleepy, she wouldn’t be as chatty or be wanting to get out of the bath when you weren’t done.

“You want a story, baby?”

“No, mama.” She shook her head, “Can you lie here? With me?”

“Of course, baby.” You agreed, quickly climbing into the bed with her, letting her snuggle with you. You stroked her hair as she had her head on your chest, lulling her to sleep. “Good night, lovey.”

“G’night, mama.”

Capri showed up in the doorway, watching you both. “Hi.” She smiled, mouthing to you.

You smiled back, looking between her and Adelaide. Your heart swelled, she was a spitting image of Capri. Capri walks on and sat down with you in Addy’s bed. “She looks so much like you.” You remarked, patting the girl’s back while you glanced at Capri.

Capri nods, then shrugs, “I see a lot of you in her too. She’s a good mix of us both.”

You slid out from beneath Addy and left the room which Capri, leaving the door ajar. After saying bye to your sister and Alex, you and Capri turned in for the night. “You know…some nights I just lie here and think about how far we’ve come, how much we’ve done together, been through together. All…for what we have now. A family of our own, giving her all our love, giving her the best. We have so much love, Capri.”

Capri pulls you into her arms, “We do. We do have so much love to give, that’s why we had her. She’s everything to me, like you are. You two make me feel so happy, motivate me to get up everyday and give it all I’ve got. You two are my world.���

“Well, you guys. Are my entire world.” You said back, “I’m so lucky. To have you and Addy, my sister, Alex. To be able to have gotten married to you, the love of my life. Have a kid, start a family. It hasn’t been easy. We’ve worked so damn hard and I’m proud of what we’ve overcome and achieved.”

Capri kisses you on the side of your head, “I’m proud of us. We’re doing a fucking great job at this life thing.”

“Yes we are.”

🏷️ Tag list:

@ashecampos @auliisflower @cheesysoup-arlo @frogs00 @ludoesartandstuff @pda128

💭A/N:

Loved writing this one hehe. Thanks sm for the request and waiting🫶🏼 wasn’t sure if you wanted smut but it seemed like the right direction to take for a part of it😶‍🌫️

[tobythewise]

toby!!!! so excited you're doing this uwu naturally gotta request fenders, anddd the dialogue prompt of “You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?” stood out to me <3

Thank you so much for this prompt! I want you to know that I’ve been thinking about it all week 🤣 I was super indecisive on how I wanted to go about it because part of me wanted to go full smut but instead I went head first into introspective fluff! I hope you enjoy! 💚

Written for @dadrunkwriting

Gentle, barely there fingers run down Anders’ spine and a shiver goes through him. His body is pleasantly sated, his mind practically blank for the first time since he can remember. He’s not sure if that’s because of the thorough fucking he just received or if it’s from being in the presence of Fenris’ lyrium but either way he feels content. He knows it won’t last but he plans to enjoy it while it’s here.

For once, he embraces the moment of quiet that’s meant just for him instead of planning his next underground mission or the next page of his manifesto. They’ll keep until tomorrow.

The fingers running along his back are soft as they trace the spattering of scars they find. There was a day that Anders used to be embarrassed by the scars left behind in his skin. He used to keep them hidden from Karl. He used to attempt to hide them while sleeping with other people, always keeping them under him instead of behind him. Now? Now he doesn’t see the need to hide, especially from Fenris who bears his own marks of past oppressors.

Anders still can’t believe he’s here, naked in Fenris’ bed. By the Maker, how did they end up here?

When Anders imagined this happening, it was always a heated arguement that instead of coming to blows, came to heated kisses. Or maybe a drunken mistake they’d both pretend never happened the next morning.

Instead, it was comfort given during a trying time. It was a slow build of trust. It was leaning on each other when the others around them didn’t quite understand what it meant to find freedom and then hold onto it so tight it hurts.

In the past, Anders fell quick. His affection would come fast and it would burn hot and bright. This time it took him by surprise, growing slowly over the span of years until it was a part of him, the same as breathing or the same as Justice inside him.

“May I ask you something?”

Anders turns his head slightly so he can look over at Fenris. He’s sitting beside Anders with his one leg curled up to his chest, the other laid out in front of him. He has one land on Anders’ back, tracing over his scars, the other outstretched on his knee. The blanket covers Anders’ ass and flows over Fenris’ groin. He looks so carefree like this, so much so that Anders feels tears spring to his eyes. By the Maker, he’s getting sappy in his old age.

“Anything.”

“You have thought of this, haven’t you?”

Anders looks away for a moment, biting back his first reaction. In the past he would have made a joke to break the tension or sent out sharp barbs to keep himself safe from being vulnerable. He doesn’t want to do that with Fenris. Letting out a long breath, his eyes meet Fenris’ once more.

“Yes,” he says honestly, daring to give Fenris a soft smile. “It’s almost embarrassing how often I’ve thought about this, about you. I would lay awake at night, aching for you.”

Anders stomach swoops at the sound of Fenris sucking in a harsh breath. Fenris’ hand on his back stills, his palm laying hot and heavy on one particular scar. A mark left behind from a knife into his back. That particular one coming after he was joined with Justice.

The moment stretches and Anders waits, for once staying just as still as Fenris.

As Fenris goes back to touching him, this time playing with the ends of Anders’ hair, he finally responds. “Don’t be embarrassed by your desires. We have earned our right to have them and embrace them.”

Anders smiles up at him, his chest warm with affection. There’s something beautiful about being with someone who understands the magnitude of moments like this.

He reaches over and wraps an arm around Fenris’ waist, forcing him to lay back. Then he flips over, hovering over Fenris. Not that long ago Fenris would have fought him, pushed him away, snarled in disgust. They’ve come so far.

“I’m in love with you. I’m not sure if you realize that,” Anders says softly, “but I want you to know.” He cups Fenris’ face, his thumb caressing his cheek.

“Why does it sound like there is a but coming?”

“You’ve suffered so much at the hands of mages. It feels wrong to bind you to me when I fight for the things I fight for.”

Fenris closes his eyes, breathing through his nose. This close, Anders can feel Fenris’ heart picking up speed.

“I knew your fight when I kissed you. My eyes are wide open. I know of your plight, mage. That did not stop me.” Fenris swallows thickly while Anders feels hope blossom inside his chest. “I would still have you, Anders. If there is a place for me at your side, that is where I want to be.”

Anders can’t stop his smile from spreading. He rests his forehead against Fenris’ for a moment before taking his lips in a fierce kiss.

There’s so much coming that Anders isn’t sure he’s prepared for. There’s a storm blooming and one way or another things have to change. Who better to change things than a man with a limited life thanks to the blight inside of him who also has a spirit of Justice inside of him?

But right now he doesn’t need to think about that. Right now he’s allowed to just be Anders.

[autisticlancemcclain]

Eighteen (Crazy) Chapter 8

“Okay,” Shiro says, assuming his Dad Posture. 

(He denies that he has a Dad Posture, but he really does. He holds his hands in front of him, clasped together, expression on his face like he already knows they’re going to whine at him and he’s ready to guide them in the right direction.) 

“...and then we’ll meet back here, okay? Repeat my instructions back to me.”

And the Dad behaviour continues. Shiro would make an excellent kindergarten teacher, Lance thinks. Maybe that’s his retirement plan. 

“Go to our rooms, shower in case the lake water had weird stuff in it, get dressed in warm clothes, grab leftovers from the kitchen, and meet you in the common room in thirty minutes,” everyone recites dutifully, which is wonderful for Lance because he wasn’t listening. 

Lance hides a smile in his hand. Having a dad is so cool. 

Since Lance know he has spent the day being particularly stressful (he’ll admit that the pod racing was unkind to Shiro’s poor heart), he chooses not to complain, instead pressing a kiss to Shiro’s cheek with a loud ‘mwah’ sound and an overly-enthusiastic “sure thing, Pops! Love ya!”

“You are nine years younger than me,” Shiro grumbles. He tries for approximately three seconds to look grouchy, but then he sighs. “Love you too, menace boy. Go. Shower off the lake filth.”

Lance rushes to his room, chucking off his flight suit and turning to water to cold. He’s going to regret that, probably a lot, but if he lets the water stay warm there’s a thousand percent chance he’s going to get distracted, and his shower alone will take him forty-five minutes. And, yeah, Lance is not the most punctual person around, and the team is well used to his shit, and he’s the birthday boy so he won’t get in any real trouble, but –

Lance wants presents, okay? He’s excited. Sue him. By the time he’s cleaned and has rushed through his skincare routine, it’s only been 17 minutes. 

Hell yeah. 

He sprints down the halls – too much energy to walk – careening through the doorway of the common room and skidding to a stop when he sees he’s not there alone.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith greets, tilting his head back so he can see Lance from his position on the floor, grinning brightly. “You’re early.”

“I’m on time,” Lance says huffily. He looks at his watch to double check. “Yeah! Shiro said be here in a half hour, and I only took eighteen minutes!”

“You have never been on time even once in your life, dude, so on time for you is early. With the exception of missions, Hunk calls you fifteen minutes early for training every day and somehow you’re still late. Honestly, it’s a little impressive.”

“You are mean to me,” Lance whines, throwing himself with as much drama as he can manage on the couch, arm over his eyes and everything. “Horrible, rude, unfair. A bully, even –”

Keith makes a loud groaning noise, flopping his head back on the couch and going cross-eyed in his attempt to give Lance a Look.

“I will do anything in the world to get you to stop,” he says. Lance kicks him in the shoulder as punishment, only Keith’s reflexes are faster than Lance’s, so he manages to grab Lance’s leg and yank on it, pulling Lance forward with a yelp. He barely manages to catch himself on time, ending up with his legs on either side of Keith’s torso and his hands in his hair.

Lance grins wickedly.

“I have decided on the anything in question,” he announces. He slides his hands through Keith’s hair and tugs.

Keith groans. “No.”

“You said anything! That includes braiding your hair!”

Lances starts to brush his hands through Keith’s hair, scratching his nails over his scalp in the way he knows makes Keith all melty. 

Keith sighs. “Fine –”

Lance cheers, immediately sectioning Keith’s hair and tying one half to the side.

“–but you cannot do pigtails.”

“Aw, hey,” Lance pouts. “But pigtails are so cute and fun!”

“Case in point.”

“Please please please please please please –”

“You think that’s going to work on me, Lance, but you’re wrong. I pulled that shit on Shiro all the time. I’m immune.”

Ha, that’s what he thinks. Keith may also be an annoying younger brother by trade, but Shiro is a softie like none other. He has the biggest bleeding heart than anyone Lance has ever met. You ask him anything and you’re almost guaranteed it if you pout well enough. But Lance grew up with Veronica. With Marco. 

With Hunk.

He could out-annoy Keith braindead and with duct-tape over his mouth. 

“– please please please please please –”

“Alright fine!” Keith shouts. “Jesus. I thought I was good at that.”

“I am the queen,” Lance says primly. He goes right back to weaving strands of Keith’s thick hair together, humming a song that he hopes conveys a mix of smug and happy. It doesn’t take him long to finish the hair, poking Keith in the side with his foot when he needs one of the many hairbands on Keith’s wrist. “All done! You look adorable.”

“I am supposed to look cool,” Keith grumbles. He reaches back and pats his head, tracing his fingers over the woven strands. “But I suppose I will indulge you.”

“You do that a lot.”

Lance means it to be teasing, to make Keith roll his eyes in exasperation and maybe smack Lance with a pillow. That’s what he’d usually do. 

But that doesn’t happen. Instead Keith leans back onto Lance’s legs, reaching up to grab one of Lance’s hands, and squeezes once, twice, three times in quick succession. 

“Yeah,” he says, voice soft and eyes warm and sparkling. “I do.”

Lance flushes, pushing down the giggles bubbling up his throat. “We had a deal, you scoundrel. Not on my birthday. You are making this very hard.”

Keith turns around to face Lance and grins teasingly. “That’s my goal, Blue.” He crawls up onto the couch, leaning right into Lance’s space, so close their breathing mingles together. “I’m good at the long con, Leandro. And I’ve only got to wait ‘till midnight.”

“So actually wait until midnight then, Romeo,” Lance teases, but his voice is breathy. “Weren’t you calling me the impatient one, earlier?”

“Mhm, sure, and –”

“Oh, Lance, I want braids too! Dibs on being next!” 

At the sound of Allura’s voice, Lance shoves Keith off him on reflex, who tumbles to the floor with a yelp. “Sorry,” Lance says with a wince, glancing down at Keith’s sprawled form. 

“Really feeling the love,” he says drily. Lance rolls his eyes and turns back to Allura. 

“Come sit, ‘Llura. I’ll braid while we wait for everyone else. We can talk shit about Keith while we do it. He’s been very dramatic, lately, have you noticed?”

He braids Allura’s hair, and then Pidge’s, to the backdrop of Keith whining about not getting enough attention (he’d rather die than admit it, but Keith is like one of those cats who hisses when you touch it but then sits on your laptop and refuses to move, even when you have gigantic essay that you left until last minute and only have twenty minutes to finish). Shiro comes in at some point and narrows in immediately on Keith’s sprawled form, deciding to pull a Lilo & Stitch and flop over Keith to drive him insane. 

It’s hilarious. 

“Where’s Hunk and Coran?” Lance asks once he ties a pink bow to the end of Pidge’s braids. He tries to keep the impatience out of his voice, but it doesn’t work too well, judging on the knowing grins on his friends’ faces. 

“Getting your presents,” Allura says, unable to stay calm any longer. “All of them!”

“Well, I’m trying to, but this damn thing is heavier than you are and fourteen times more dangerous, Lance. Well, unless you’re armed.”

Lance whips towards the door, where Hunk is painstakingly trying to lug a truly magnificently sized potted plant into the room, Coran skipping into the room with a massive armful of gifts right after him. 

Lance gasps. He rolls right off the couch, barely missing elbowing Shiro in the face, slamming on the floor first before somersaulting to his feet and rushing over to Hunk. 

“Did you bring me a friend?”

“It’s a Dilofius surtus, or essentially a space venus flytrap,” Hunk explains, both to Lance – who is paying about 3% attention to Hunk and 97% attention to the most gorgeous, toothy, sharp, slimy, wonderful new friend in the universe – and their very amused friends. “I know you miss your danger plants back home. This one spits venom, so I figured you’d be particularly fond of it.”

“Oh, look at this darling girl!” Lance coos. He runs a finger over the curve of one of the biting heads, laughing delightedly when it snaps at him. “She’s so playful! I love her so much. Hunk, you have been replaced as my best friend. Yes, Clarita, you are! You are my new best friend, beautiful girl!”

“Why do you think he’s like this?” Pidge asks the room. 

Hunk presses a kiss to Lance’s hair, whispering a “happy birthday, you dorkus,” and then walks over to the couches. “He has a thing for strays. When we had car rides that drove past any kind of alley, someone had to be tasked with keeping him distracted so he wouldn’t look out the window and catch sight of a homeless dog, or whatever. Going on walks after the rain was impossible because he would stop to pick up every worm.”

“– oh you sweet thing, look at your teeth!”

“Lance, dear,” Coran calls. He pats the seat next to him. “Come open the rest of your gifts. You can play with the death plant later.”

“‘Kay,” Lance says, pressing a kiss to one of the heads and skipping over to the seat Coran patted. He throws his feet in Hunk’s lap, beaming at him brightly. “Hunk, I love you. You know me so well. I love you double. You are the bestest. You are –”

He’s cut off by a small box sailing through the air and nailing him in the face. 

“Write Hunk a letter about how great he is later,” Pidge snarks. “If we let you wax poetic all you want then we’ll be here all night, and I have a project.”

“Aw, Pidgey,” Lance says. “Is that emotions allergy acting up?”

She gets up immediately, reaching for the present. “Alrighty, I’ll be taking that right back –”

“Kidding! Kidding! Don’t take my present! Hiss!”

“Open it then, you goober.”

At her permission, Lance does, tearing through the wrapping paper and opening a metal box. Inside is a beautifully intricate bracelet, shiny silver, a stone pendant with several moons and stars carved carefully in the metal. Lance traces the delicate designs with his fingers, mouth open in shock. 

“Did you…make this?”

“Press your pinky to the back of the pendant,” Pidge suggests. Lance does, and his jaw drops when it sends a projection of dozens of photos in the air in front of him; photos of the whole team after the dorky food fight, photos of him and his family, photos of all of their fun and silly and careful moments. 

A selfie of him and Pidge, cheeks pressed together, grinning so wide their eyes are nearly squeezed shut, ecstatic after finally getting one of Pidge’s projects to work.

“Pidge…” Lance says, chin trembling.

“Do not cry,” she demands, eyes already wet, “because if you cry, I’ll cry, and then we’ll both look dumb and my eyeliner will run –”

“C’mere!” Lance wails, pulling her close and hugging her tightly. Pidge squeezes his ribs just as tightly, burying her wet face into his shoulder. 

“I know I don’t always say it, but I love you,” she whispers. “You’re my best friend and my brother. I’m glad you’re up here with me.”

“Me, too,” he says, pressing a kiss to her hair. 

She sniffs, pulling away and decking him lightly in the arm to offset the mush. “It’s powered by a thin crystal wire that runs through the metal, so it’ll never die or need charging or anything. If you want more pictures, ask me, I’ll add ‘em for you.”

Lance grins. “Thank you, Pidge.”

“Me next!” Allura calls. She crawls over the couch (and several people, including poor Shiro and Hunk, who both make faces of choked back pain when Allura’s wayward elbows dig into their flesh), grabbing a sparkly pink box and thrusting it forward. “Happy Birthday!”

Lance beams at her, ripping open the sparkly paper – getting sparkles all over Coran and Hunk as well as himself – and takes the lid off a cardboard box.

“Are these – Earth movies?”

“Yes!” Allura cheers. “You’ve talked so much about how much you love movies, so I’ve stopped by the Earth store every movement and gathered up whatever’s available!”

It’s the most random assortment of movies Lance has ever seen. A couple animated classes, several black-and-white old Hollywoods, more foreign – can he still call them foreign in space? – films than he can count. 

“Allura, you are the queen of my heart. I adore you.”

She laughs, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek. “We will watch them all together, and you can tell me all about the strange history!”

“I can’t wait, ‘Llura. Oh, you’re gonna absolutely love Anastasia. It’s magical.”

Next is Coran, who wrapped his present so complexly that he has to put on his reading glasses to help Lance unravel it. 

“You got him…rocks?” Shiro asks, tilting his head in confusion. Lance squeals, flapping his hands rapidly. 

“A rock shelf! With fancy shmancy labels! Oh, Coran, you’re the best!” He leans over – bent nearly in half – to carefully inspect every single rock, face going serious as takes in every detail. 

“One more thing, dear,” Coran says. He hands Lance a leather necklace with a small, smooth pink stone on it. Lance takes it and puts it over his head immediately. 

“What is it?” he asks, looking at it curiously. 

“It’s calcified quintessence,” Coran explains. “A rock nearly as old as the universe itself. It lines up with your energy. It will absorb your energy, reflecting back your highest energy when you need it.”

“Cool! A space mood ring!” Lance slips it under his shirt, over his heart. He leans into Coran’s gentle pat on the head, and then Shiro clears his throat. 

“It’s nothing fancy,” he says, passing Lance a bag. He looks shy, embarrassed. “I did my best, but it’s kind of goofy-looking.”

Lance shoots him a smile, then yanks the tissue paper out of the bag, tossing it at Pidge to hear her grumble at him. When he reaches in the bag, he touches something soft, and then he’s pulling out what can only be described as the ugliest stuffed shark he’s ever seen. It’s grey in some places, patched in others, with misplaced fins and wonky eyes. The stitching is sloppy and wide, stuffing spilling out in some places.

Lance bursts into tears. 

Again.

Shiro startles. “Oh, Lance, I know it’s ugly, I’m sorry –”

“I love him so much,” he sobs. He hugs the shark to his chest, squeezing as tightly as he can and rocking back and forth. He tries to find the words to reassure Shiro that he has nothing to worry about, and Lance loves it, but the words are caught in his throat. He looks at Shiro with wet eyes, trying to convey his gratitude, trying to express how happy he is to finally have something soft to sleep with again, how it would fit right at home with all his other stuffies; the rejects he couldn’t bear to leave behind. 

“Aw, kiddo, c’mere.” 

Lance does, bawling, crawling into Shiro’s arms and letting the man smooth back his bangs and press a kiss to his forehead. 

“You – you listened, when I told you about the –”

“Of course I listened, dork. That’s the whole point of this family thing. You look sad about not having a myriad of stuffed animals, I make you one, although my sewing skills leave something to be desired.”

Lance sniffles. “I like it better ugly.”

“Because no one else will love it?” Shiro asks, grinning wryly.

“Mhm.” 

Lance stays safe in Shiro’s arms for a while, collecting himself and taking a quick breather from all the excitement. His day has been wonderful, there’s no mistaking it, but it’s been long and there’s been a lot of it.

“You good now?” Shiro whispers. Lance nods, pulling away.

Time for one more. 

He turns to Keith, who’s grinning softly at him, holding a long, thin box.

“Happy birthday, Blue.”

Lance takes the box, wiping his eyes and smiling. 

“Thanks, Red.”

He carefully pries open the box, having to wiggle it a bit when the corner gets stuck. 

What’s inside takes his breath away. 

“A knife?” Lance asks quietly. 

“I know you’re a gun guy,” Keith says. “But – I’ve been using Hunk’s scrap metal for the past few months to make it, so I made sure it’s balanced and everything, and this way if you ever get cornered you’ll have another line of defense. And I figured you and me could train with it –”

“Keith,” Lance says breathlessly, “shut up.” He surges forward and practically tackles Keith in a hug, squeezing him tightly and trying so hard not to cry again. “You made me a knife. You nerd.”

Lance doesn’t need to see him to know he’s rolling his eyes. 

“Nerd who wants to make sure you can protect yourself, maybe.”

Eventually Hunk pulls Lance off, depositing him on the couch and throwing a blanket over his shoulders. Hunk squishes him from one side, Keith on the other, everyone else squeezing themselves around him somehow. They watch the movies Allura got him, joking and teasing, laughing with each other and teasing anyone at any given time. One by one, everyone drops off to sleep – starting with Coran, who dropped off somewhere around movie number one – until the only ones left art the eternal insomniacs themselves: Keith and Lance.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith whispers, readjusting the arm he has over the back of the couch. “Guess what.”

“What?”

“It’s five past midnight.”

“Hm? Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Lance. Hey. Look at me.”

Lance does, turning his head to face Keith, resting on Keith’s extended arm. Keith is grinning, widely, brightly, sparkling. 

“It’s not your birthday anymore, sweetheart.”

It takes Lance a moment to get it – look, he’s been awake for so long his neurons are barely firing – but when he does, his smile matches, just as excited. Butterflies flutter in his stomach. 

“No, it’s not,” he agrees. 

Keith’s hand comes down to cup Lance’s face. “Is five minutes past midnight long enough to satisfy your specialness requirements, your highness?”

Lance leans into the hand, tangling his fingers in Keith’s shirt and pulling him closer. 

“It is,” he whispers. 

“Good,” Keith whispers back, and their lips finally touch. 

It’s the best present of them all. 

[llliiinnnaaa]

Reprisal | Chapter Nineteen

coriolanus snow x gaul oc

Summary: Ten years after the Tenth Hunger Games, Coriolanus Snow is under Dr. Volumnia Gaul’s wing as a Gamemaker alongside her niece. Unbeknownst to either of them, they’re both being prepared for a much greater task.

Warning: This story will contain explicit violence against adults and children alike (I mean, it’s Dr. Gaul AND Snow) as well as explicit language, and sexual situations.

***This fic is in no way, shape, or form, me endorsing or co-signing the horrific shit Snow does, nor am I trying to romanticize it. Also, apathy and will be the main driving force of any remnants of a relationship between my OC and Snow’s character. So if you’re interested in something very romantic and fluffy…it’s not gonna be this.

Thank you for reading, I hope you like it!

     Livia Snow watches solemnly as her husband hands off his bag to Philo, his blue eyes meeting hers once they’re left alone in her bedroom at her mother’s house. 

Sitting up on the plush mattress, legs crossed underneath her, fingers nervously wringing at the floral comforter. . . 

“It will only be for a little over a week, Darling.” He assures her, hands in his pockets as he slowly steps closer to her. “I’ll be back before you know it.” It’s added with his finger tips grazing her chin, a sweet smile spreading across his lips. 

Her face is more painful today, bruised more than it was the night of the incident. 

He wants to wince each time she has to move her mouth, knowing she’s in pain. 

Livia doesn’t try to speak, just as she hadn’t the last three days since losing so many teeth. 

So, she nods. 

Kissing the top of her hair while reminding her, “I love you,” he leans down and kisses her pregnant stomach, “Goodbye, dear.” 

Again, she nods, not wanting to try to speak. 

Not wanting him to see how horrid she looks now when she speaks. 

Truth be told she doesn’t mind not speaking to him at the moment, anyway. 

Frustrated and hurt that he would leave her side now of all times. 

She tries not to let it hurt her feelings or bother her too badly as he shuts the door behind as while he goes, a few stray tears trickle down her swollen cheek. 

     Philo and Snow arrive at the train station after Tawny, her father already handing her bags off to the luggage attendant as the two men step onto the platform. 

Snow grows frigid when unwanted memories slip through the seams of his mind, his lip threatening to curl with its intrusion. 

“You have everything you need, right?” Tiberius asks his daughter, clearly worried senseless about her traveling to the Districts. 

“Yes, I do.” She tells him, a small smile coming to her lips before she’s hugging him tightly. “I’ll be perfectly fine, dad. We’ll have security at each stop, and we won’t be mixed with the public at all. These are merely discussions with Mayors and whatnot.” It does little to ease his concern, but he nods, kissing her cheek. 

“I love you,” he says, next, to which she replies, “I love you, too. I’ll see you in a week.” 

“See you in a week.” He mumbles as she and Philo head toward the train cart, leaving Snow and Tiberius. “Keep an eye on her.” He adds to him. “They have yet to release Dr. Pinnacle. She’s getting more and more frantic over it as the days pass. . .I took her cigarettes out of her bag but I’m sure she has more somewhere. If you see her with one please take it. She’s been smoking quite a bit more recently, and was coughing and hacking yesterday morning.” He continues, his words bringing a slight furrow to Snow’s brows. “My father died with a tumor the size of a grapefruit in his lungs. Volumnia said it was more than likely because he smoked so much. . .me and Mini have lost so much already between our boys and our granddaughter. . .if anything were to happen to our Tawny Owl, they’d have to put us down like mad dogs.” Tiberius explains, honestly.  

Snow nods, assuring him, “I’ll take care of her, sir.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Snow.” He pats his shoulder, turning to go, but stops himself to say, “I appreciate what you said at that debate. So many people suffered just as much here as we were in the Districts. Thank you for reminding certain people of that.” 

Snow accepts his compliment from someone he actually respects, saying, “I’m glad I could do so, sir.” 

With one last smile and nod from Tiberius, he’s leaving the platform. 

Snow enters the rather lavish train, the last time he had traveled to the Districts, it was mere benches and wide windows — though he supposes those are for public citizens, not potential Presidents. 

This one is laid out like a regular living room, a sofa and leather parlor chairs, rich, mahogany side tables that match the coffee table, a thick, fluffy area rug that’s beautifully woven. 

A gas fireplace is the finishing touch. 

“. . .The dining room is through this door,” he points to the door along the wall in front of them, sleeping quarters are here,” he motions to the door in the wall behind them. 

“What about bathrooms?” Tawny asks, raising a brow. 

“Each bedroom has a private restroom.” The attendant informs her. 

She only nods, glancing around their living space for the next week. 

She and Coriolanus both feel the room spinning at the idea of being In such close confines with one another for so long. 

“Who gets what room?” Tawny asks, next, crossing her arms. 

“All the rooms are the same, so it doesn’t particularly matter I suppose, Dr. Gaul.” He replies. “If you’d like me to take your luggage, I can—”

“That won’t be necessary.” Snow interrupts him. 

Her eyes flicker to Coriolanus to see he hasn’t broken his gaze, her throat going dry. 

“Thank you, Mr. Siphon.” Snow extends a bill, a generous tip that the attendant gladly accepts. 

“You’re more than welcome, Mr. Snow. Do ring anytime you need me.” He motions to the phone on the wall beside the window, and takes his leave. 

The three of them are left in an awkward silence, Philo more than observant of his boss’ attention toward Tawny.

“I’m going to my room.” Philo clears his throat, grabbing his luggage. 

Neither person acknowledges him, glaring at one another, instead. 

Once Philo goes, leaving them be, Snow’s stepping closer to her, leering down his nose at her.  

“I expect we will keep this trip civil, Dr. Gaul. Which means bickering, petty comments, ugly looks and smart remarks stay to a minimum—and don’t happen at all while we’re working.” He says plainly, sternly. “Don’t fuck this up for me.” He adds. 

She looks at him, her tongue running across the inside of her bottom lip before she says, “‘Don’t fuck this up for me’.” She quotes him. “The first time I’ve heard you acknowledge there’s nothing left of mine to fuck up.” 

“The actions of Crane and Pinnacle and your blind devotion to them has nothing to do with me.”

“My husband, who you framed for murdering the President, and my fiancé, who you deliberately pushed at publicly—on national television—until he snapped.” She states. “Do you see the common thread the disintegration of my personal life has been woven with?” 

“I did what had to be done for the sake of Panem—”

“Oh, fuck Panem!” She outbursts, anger clenching at her fists that curl up until her hand shakes. “You do not snuff out every relationship I’ve been in for the sake of the country—you do it all for yourself !” 

“It’s my fault that you just so happen to crawl into bed with treasonist bastard after treasonist bastard.” He harshly states. 

“Pias didn’t commit treason by having an opinion different than yours!”

“He committed treason by bombing that arena and killing Capitol children!” He barks back. 

Her brows furrow deeply, her beautiful face twisting in disgust at his words as her stomach drops. 

“What?” She asks just as he adds, “It was a plan to shift the layout of the arena in the tenth games—to make it more challenging—” 

“You’re lying.” She shakes her head, feeling lightheaded as she stumbles back, turning from him. 

“It worked, but not without killing Tullia Gaul, Felix Ravinstill—”

“—Enough.” She holds her hand up to get him to stop, but he continues with, “Your aunt knew about it, Pias Pinnacle knew about it—”

“Enough!” She screams, tears falling to her cheeks as she squeezes her eyes together as he shouts back, “—Because they planned it!” 

He watches the realization wash over her face, the confusion following, all mingling with tears. . .he watches her for minutes it seems, the time dragging by, slowing down. 

Eventually, she hears him leave once she turns her back, and with the closing of the door behind him, she’s allowing a quiet sob to rack up her throat. 

     Over a day passes before Coriolanus sees her.

She’s pushing her breakfast around her plate as Philo goes through the itinerary. 

“Tonight we arrive in town in Nine, and then Eight by noon Tuesday, then Three Wednesday evening, and Six by Friday morning, and then—” He stops reading off the paper Dr. Gaul had left him with, his eyes catching on the last District to visit. 

“Then what?” Coriolanus presses. 

“This one was written it, it seems. An annotation—”

“What does it fucking say, Philo?” Tawny spares no feelings in her hoarse tone, tired of the bullshitting and dancing around corners. 

Tired of the lies, the coverups and the sugarcoating. 

“It appears the order is Nine, Six, Three, Twelve, and Eight.” He reads off the edit made by hand in Volumnia’s handwriting. 

“ Twelve .” Snow repeats, realizing why Philo had hesitated to say it, his fists tensing as he restrains from throwing his glass of orange juice at the wall and pitching a fit. 

It’s a sick joke that Gaul’s making at his expense. 

“Three, Six, Eight, Nine, Twelve.” She repeats, pushing her unkept hair out of her face. “The districts plotting rebellion are the ones my brothers and your father got murdered in.” Tawny dryly says to Snow, eyes watering, anger once more rising within her. “After all those ungrateful bastards have taken from us, yet they still feel entitled to peace separated from the Capitol.” She grimaces. “And it’s us they send out here to endorse that peace when all I want to do is blow them off the fucking map.” She kicks out of her chair, ringing her hands as she stomps out of the dining cart to her room. 

“Excuse me one moment.” Snow tells Philo, clearing his throat. 

“Of course.” He replies, watching as the blonde follows after her. 

As soon as Tawny shuts the door of the cabin only big enough to fit a full sized bed and small chest of drawers, the door opens without a knock. 

“I want to go home, I shouldn’t even be here.” She shakily tells him, her voice low and thick with the attempt at keeping herself calm. 

“Tawny—”

“—This is not what I signed up for. I agreed to accompany you and make you look good, I did not agree to a great tour of soils my brothers got gunned down on.” She 

“And that’s all you’ll do.” He raises his brows. “Just smile and play nice with the other children and we’ll be done with this entire. . . production , before we even realize it.” 

“ Production .” She mutters, turning from him to sit on the bed. 

“That’s all it is.” Snow steps closer. “Pairing us together–you accompanying me as if you’re going to be an integral part of my Presidency. . .it’s for show. Spectacle .” He informs her, piecing it together in his mind, thinking the way Dr. Gaul and her ring of bureaucratic politicians think. 

“‘ As if ’?” Her dark brows drop, nostrils flaring slightly as she repeats him. “If the goal is for me to be Head of the Department of War when my aunt is gone, and the goal is for you to be President, then there is no ‘if’ about it, Snow. I will be a rather integral part of your presidency.” She argues, only for him to roll his jaw, his expression giving way to the thoughts in his head.

Her face falls flat.

“The position is for me to appoint when Dr. Gaul’s time in it ends.” He reminds her.

“And you won’t let me see the light of day in it.” It’s said more-so to herself, taking in a deep breath. “Yet another man I’ve shared my bed with that winces at the thought of me having some control.” 

“It has nothing to do with—”

“Yes, it—”

His palm is covering her mouth to shut her up, his forehead almost pressing to hers as he outbursts, “You were just throwing around wanting to incinerate five districts, Tawny!” 

Her chest heaves with each breath, while he calms and continues, “You think I’d trust you with our War Department?” 

She refuses to admit that he’s right, that she can’t be trusted with such a responsibility. 

She’s not a big enough person to stand for the greater good of the Capitol without him holding her hand to the flame of peace .

Soft fingers gently rest over his hand, pulling it from her lips, but he doesn’t make a move to back away from her from where he’s leering over her, still so close.

“Believe or not, I have been trying to figure where you’re going to fit in all of this. . .I want you to fit.” He admits quietly, his eyes scorching hers as he speaks. “Not as my mistress, or someone I’m taking along to secure people’s support, but as an indispensable asset. Because you’re good at what you do, it’s valuable to the Capitol , and it’s valuable to Panem .”

Her eyes play tricks on her, she's sure of it, when she sees blue flicker down to glance her lips for a split second, before once more meeting her eyes in the amount of time it takes to blink.

“But not you. . . Mr. President. . .” She whispers bitterly, long, black lashes framing her watering eyes, a lump forming in her throat.

It’s quite clear in this moment, to him at least, that she’s not well-rested. 

Her words sound as if she’s had a bit too much to drink in a sense, though he knows she hasn’t. 

She’s not drunk, only exhausted. 

He can’t tell if it’s due to the shambles of her personal life, or him merely exhausting her.

Irritation bubbles in him at the latter.

If anything, he should be the one crawling to the finish line of this madness, begging for it to just be over with—under far more pressure than her and concealing it better.

“Stop trying to figure out where to put me in your circle.” She tells him in a rasp. “Because I’m going to smile and be cordial, and do my damndest to sell the shit out of you as President, and then as soon as we get back home, and I’m released from this torture chamber on wheels, I’m staying as far away from you as humanly possible. And I will stay as far away from you as humanly possible until one of us dies .

They look at one another once she says it, staring, his features hardening again as if to protect his ego from her relentless words. 

Pulling away from him, she’s reaching behind her pillow, pulling her cigarette compact out from under it, along with her lighter. 

It’s fitted between her lips, the flame flickering as she strikes it before it’s catching. 

Before she can even inhale, he’s snatching it from her lips, grabbing the compact of them. 

He ignores the daggers she shoots at him with her eyes as he steps to the door, not saying another word.

[whitehathexerswriting]

White Hat Hexers 2: Fallhaven

Written by: @nighttimedaydreams and edited by: Anastasia M. ( @fighterpilotdragon02 / https://www.instagram.com/fighterpilotdragon/ )

        Elizabeth found herself lying in the grass looking up at the noontide sun through the sprawling crisscrossing limbs of the trees that grew along the coast near the lake outside her house.  The light flickered and swayed with the breeze, and it sounded like the gentle rubbing of fabric on skin.  The only thing missing was the babble of a river; her old home had one of those, back when she was a child.  She shook her head, dismissing the memories.  She wiggled her toes.  It was nice to finally be done with the whole mess that was Jacob.   Appearing before a court was never fun.  The only good parts were Jacob was no longer around to hate her, and she got to see Michael some more.  Henry ruled his house now and gave her his patronage.  It felt strange to her to no longer struggle for money.  The wind played with her red blouse and blue skirt.  She wasn’t in uniform; no curses had befallen anyone recently.  She heard footsteps approaching.  She sat up, twigs falling out of her loose hair.  She could tell by their weight the footsteps belonged to Henry.

        “Hello, Liz, I thought I would find you here,” he said.  He was dressed in common summer clothes – the only mark of his status was his family’s signet ring on his hand.  He often dressed like that in the village, especially since he had taken charge.  Elizabeth had asked him why once; he had said that if people only respected him because of his clothes, they didn’t respect him at all, just his station.

       “Hey, Re, you thought you would find me at my house? What a strange place for me to be.” 

       He laughed. “Liz, as I think you will notice, we are outside.  Your house,” he said, pointing behind them, “is about 40 feet that way.”

       Elizabeth laughed.  “Alright, alright.  What brings you here?”

       “A letter,” Henry said, pulling it out of his pocket. “Now, to be clear, it isn’t about a curse, but I do think you’ll still want to know its contents.” Henry handed her the letter.  She took it and read it over silently. From King William to the honorable House of the Spider-Boars,                                       On order of the king and his court you are being summoned to Fallhaven to discuss recent events.                                           May magic’s weave be long for you,               King William

       “I always forget you can do that, reading silently.” Henry said

       “Years of practice,” Elizabeth said – mostly to avoid skipping lines, she thought to herself – and waved her hand dismissively at both her thought and at Henry,  “but they’re summoning nobles even this distant to Fallhaven?  I know what happened with Jacob was a stir, but this seems extreme.”

       “Yea, that it does, but also what happened with Jacob, I want a cursebreaker with me.”

       “So you’re asking me to come with you.  All the way to the capital?  But what about the people here, what if something happens, and they need a curse broken, and I’m gone?  You know there have been reports of increasing hexer activity throughout the land.  Your father had to have been taught by someone, and they couldn’t be too far away from here.”

       “Liz, answer me honestly, what do you think is the likelihood of a hexer strike here while we’re away?”

       Elizabeth thought for a moment.  “Pretty low.  After the whole stunt with Jacob, most hexers won’t come this way for at least a half year.  Because either they expect we’ll be on high alert or because they heard about what me and Michael did…”

       “Which I maintain was quite amazing.  It must have been the will of magic that there were two cursebreakers there who could withstand the spell.”

       “Perhaps,” Elizabeth said; she never put much stock into that sort of superstition, but Henry was the religious type. “Or maybe it was just luck.”

       Henry smiled: this was often a point of debate between the two of them. “You know there is no such thing as luck.  All things are the will of magic, excepting, of course, human free will.”

       “If that’s so, then how does magic plan for our fickle natures?  We shift by whim like the wind.”

       Henry chuckled, “Ah, that is the question, but you, Liz, are avoiding the more pressing question.  Will you go with me to the capital?”

       She thought of the village.  The people here had been liking her better since Jacob was removed.  She once again thought of the chance a hexer would strike anyone here.  She had learned during her training most hexers, while power hungry, usually didn’t attack a place without a reason, and most often that reason was money.  Hexers were commonly hired mercenaries of a sort, despite the illegality of their practices.  People found it far too tempting to turn their rivals into pigs rather than just kill them.  She had kept the village safe for ten years.  Somewhere this remote didn’t usually see the power plays of the larger cities, but every now and then an aspiring hexer would try their hand here.  That wouldn’t be the case anymore.  No aspiring hexer would try the home of Elizabeth the Cursebreaker.  The story of that day had grown much from the reality of the events.  No, she had painted a target on their backs, but it would take time and planning before any competent hexer attacked.

       She sighed.  “You know you could force me to go, as my patron.”

       “And you know as your friend I never would.”

       “How much time do I have to pack?”

       “We leave the day after tomorrow at sunrise.  Edward is also coming with us, and my house steward Jonathan will watch over things here for us.  It’s too bad you don’t have an apprentice to safeguard the village while you’re away.”

       “Perhaps one day; more likely than me getting married at least.”

       Henry chuckled at that.  “Not even Michael is enough for you?” Henry teased with a light smile.

       “If I had to marry for tax reasons, he's on the short list, but no.  He's a fine gentleman, and I like getting his letters, but as it stands, no.” 

       “Well then, taking on an apprentice is the much more likely thing.  Find yourself a nice young student to train.  Maybe someone like yourself, if they ever came along.”

       “Maybe, if one ever comes along. For now, Re, we have a capital to get to.”

***

       A few days later, they were on the last leg of their journey to the capital. The journey had been much shortened by the means of a transformation that had once been put upon the land: a string of magical threads, with a large carriage that moved quickly on them, connected a handful of major cities.  They called it the Spider because the strings formed a sort of web when mapped out, but Elizabeth always thought it looked more like a spoke and wheel. It was from a hexer’s attempt to raid them all quickly with an army he had gathered, but the nobility found it useful, so it was never removed.  Henry's ancestors were the ones responsible for holding off the actual invasion. 

       The section they were in was fairly spacious and had lavish seats and a handful of tables either for dining or consulting documents. The ride was comfortable enough, but Elizabeth could feel the power of the curse – it was so strong she didn’t even call upon magic to feel it, and her own curse was tempted to consume it for power, but she resisted the urge. She had plenty of energy to maintain her curse.  If she had been less sloppy when she cursed herself, she might’ve been able to have her transformation last permanently without the need for fuel, but she never properly finished her hexer training from long ago.  Still, she was now a renowned cursebreaker; as long as she found curses to break before she ran out of power she’d be fine, and she had years of power stored up.  

       Henry had run into Thomas while heading to Fallhaven; the two were now engaged in quiet conversation, holding hands under the table that stood between where they were seated and where Elizabeth was.  Elizabeth was looking out the window, watching the scenery pass by, listening to the sound the blur made, bouncing her leg restlessly. She had been on the Spider once before, eleven years ago – just after she had left her hexer mentor.  She had forgotten how fast it moved.  Horses just could not compete.  

       She got up; she had been sitting in the same spot too long, and the boredom was starting to become agitation.  She paced back and forth, with the occasional twirl thrown in because movement always helped ease that feeling.  Henry and Edward knew how she could get, so they just ignored her pacing, Thomas glanced at her, but Henry held his attention.  The particular section of the Spider they were in was empty, save for the four of them.  Eventually, Edward got up to talk to her,

       “Elizabeth, remind me, for I seem to have forgotten, have you been to Fallhaven before?”

       Elizabeth stopped midtwirl. “Once.  Years ago.  Didn’t think I’d be back.”

       “Oh?  Did something happen?”

       “Nothing in particular, but it was a different period of my life.  I like our village; despite everything, it’s home now.”

       “I remember that when you came to the village for the first time, I was scarcely ten.  You seemed… much less sure of yourself.  From what I remember at least – that was a decade and some years ago.”

       “Yes, it was. I was still under my mentor’s tutelage at the time,” Elizabeth said 

       “What were they like?”

       “She was very exacting.  Nice, until you didn’t do what she wanted, but she’s no longer involved with me now.”

       “I see, that would explain why you didn’t stay long back then, but you came back not too long after.”

       “The village seemed nice.  It was far away from most of my problems, save your father.”

       Edward looked down at the mention of his father.  “I do apologize for his… well, behavior doesn’t quite begin to cover it.” Elizabeth looked at Edward and breathed in deeply. “It’s not your place to apologize for his acts.  You are not him, nor do you speak for him.”

       “I suppose not, but still I don't like seeing you hurt or suffering.”

       “That's kind of you, Edward.  I'm hoping this trip goes quickly.”

         “We’ll see,” Edward said before moving away from her.  The two never talked as long as she did with his brother.

           Elizabeth once again began pacing; her hands itched to move as well.

           I really should take up my various crafts again.  Spinning was fun, but so was looming. Knitting didn’t make much sense though, but I have more time and resources now that I have access to Henry's resources, at least until I decide that they don’t actually hold my focus that long again, Elizabeth thought to herself. 

***

       The train reached its second to last stop.  Elizabeth felt a familiar presence board the train.  “Michael?” she said aloud.

       Henry looked at her. “I haven’t seen him.”

       “No, no, I think he just got on board.  I’m gonna go look for him.”

       “How could you know?”

       “Cursebreaker senses!” Elizabeth said, leaving the car, not wanting to explain the whole truth to Henry.  She could feel the curse; it was hard to sense beneath the weight of the Spider, but she knew what she was looking for.  She saw him.  He was in the company of an obviously noble woman.

       “Oh, Elizabeth!” Michael said, smiling at her.

       “A friend of yours?” the lady asked

       “Lady Mary, this is Elizabeth, the other cursebreaker who helped me at the lord’s party.”

       “Oh!  What a pleasure to make your acquaintance, then.”

       “And mine yours, Lady Mary,” Elizabeth said, performing a proper courtesy. “I was wondering why Michael was going on this trip.  I suppose it is because you wanted his presence as a cursebreaker while heading to the capital?”

       “That is quite right.  If you were the one who helped him at the party, then I’m sure with the both of you there is nothing to worry about.  I shall go speak with the other nobles aboard. With both of your presence, I am certain you two can freely do… whatever it is you people actually do,” she said, leaving.

       “She’s snobbish,” Elizabeth said as soon as Mary was out of earshot. “Not like Henry.”

       “Yeah… but she was the only one willing to give me patronage.  My family is a bunch of farmers.  We needed money, especially since my sister, Abigail, is in poor health.  Lady Mary offered to cover the expense and more.  As long as I was willing to come at her beck and call.”

       “I’m gonna guess that it isn’t a curse on your sister.  You’re skilled enough to undo any of those you came across, if you wanted to.”

       Michael sighed. “No, it’s Beatrice’s Sleying. A rare disease, which not only affects them physically but their connection to the weave – weakens it. There are herbs that can alleviate the physical symptoms, maybe even cure that part of it, the doctors say, but they’re expensive and from faraway lands.  So I put up with Lady Mary because she offered to pay, and I don’t want to see my family suffer. You understand, right?”

       Elizabeth looked out the window.  “Wish I could say I do.”

       Michael turned to look at her at that.  Then he turned to look out the window as well.  “I hope someday you do,” he said.

       “I doubt I ever will.  My own family isn’t in the weave of my life.”

       “I think you’ll weave one yet.”

       “I doubt it.  You know most people don’t like us if they know what we’ve done, and the others find us offputting for not doing things in the traditional way.”

       “What about Henry?”

       “What about him?”

       “He seems unbothered by you.”

       “He’s different.”

       “How?”

       “He’s Henry.  I’ve only seen that man hate two people.  His father and himself.  The latter he eventually got over.”

       “And his brother that you’ve written me about?”

       “Henry’s the older; Edward will follow his lead.”

       Michael turned to Elizabeth; he had stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. “It seems to me, that you’re looking for reasons to think you’re unwanted.”

       “Oh I’m wanted; my skill as a cursebreaker has made me valuable.”

       “I didn’t say needed.  I said wanted.  There’s a difference there, Elizabeth.”

       Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively.  “What is the difference?”

       “One makes you a friend, the other a laborer.  And from what I’ve managed to glimpse, I think you and Henry are friends.”

       Elizabeth didn’t have a response to that.  She let the conversation lapse, enjoying the sound of the passing landscape.  It wasn’t quite like the wind, although she could hear that too.  No, it was the motion of the landscape itself that she heard, almost underneath the other sounds of the Spider.  It sounded smooth, like the pages of a book being flipped.

       They stayed like that for a while in the silence.  Eventually, from his pocket, Michael pulled out a book.  Elizabeth glanced at the spine for the title. Detective David and the Case of the Cursed Loom, it read.  Elizabeth laughed; she knew that book well.

       “Oh?” Michael said, looking up at her sudden bout of laughter

       “Sorry, it’s just that I loved those stories – well, what few I could get my hands on.  Absolute nonsensical dribble; who would curse an object when you could curse someone directly?  It’s so many extra steps.  But by shed and bobbin, I read them again and again.”

       “They are not the most intellectual stories, are they?”

       “Not at all.  But they are so very fun, weft and wrap. I remember when I was first learning letters, I read them and would try to make my own adventures for Detective David.  I think some of them might still linger around my house.”

       Michael chuckled at that; he seemed calm in this moment, like this was much more his natural state than when Elizabeth had met him at the ball. “I should very much like to read those.”

       “No, you wouldn’t!  It was terrible schlock.  I am no storyteller; that is one kind of yarn I do not spin well.”

       Michael laughed at that.  The silence strayed towards comfortable.  They stayed like that for a while.

***

       They had reached the capital, although Elizabeth wasn’t granted the luxury of exploring it.  She only got to see the shining city on the approach; it sprawled far larger than her village made of many stone and wooden buildings, but she barely had time to change into her proper cursebreaker attire and rebraid her hair, and so she had no time to wander through it.  The king had wanted to meet the nobles of their group as soon as they arrived; apparently the others were already waiting.  Both Elizabeth’s group and Michael’s entered into the palace which stood majestically looking over the rest of the city upon a large hill. It smelled of rosemary.  

       Strange, usually that’s reserved for cursebreakers.  Is it growing around here? Elizabeth thought to herself.  The group soon reached the banquet hall, which hosted the king and all the nobles he had summoned.

       Henry and Lady Mary were ushered inside  by the doorman, but Elizabeth and Michael were expected to stay where they were.  As cursebreakers, they bore many of the privileges of nobility but held no actual rank.

       “Do you smell the rosemary?” she asked him

       “Yes, it’s strange.”

       Then something shifted.  It was subtle, but Elizabeth was well attuned to subtle changes in magic.

       She began to chant, to feel the magic around her.  Everything became as string.  She saw how each part connected to each other like sinew and bone.  She could see Michael and the curse she suspected he had placed upon himself; it was better set now – he had consumed more power since Elizabeth had met him.  It was no longer freshly set: his curse had taken root on him fully now.   The palace itself became a massive weave to her.  She couldn’t pick out people far away from her in these conditions.  The banquet hall seemed perfectly fine and safe.

       “Heat from fire, fire from heat,” she said, ending her peering into the realm of magic. “The banquet hall seems safe.  You felt it too, right?”

       “I did.” His hands were shaking. “Someone is bold enough to strike the palace itself.”

       Elizabeth breathed in. “Then we have a job to do.  All the nobles are gathered here.  It would be easy enough to get them all gone in one fell swoop.  So, we aren’t going to let that happen.”

       “But where do we even start?”

       Barking shattered the nervous silence that had started up as the pair considered what to do.  The sound was deep and very loud. It somehow seemed worried.

       “I think that’s our answer,” Elizabeth said, following the sound of the dog.  Some cawing joined the chorus of barks soon after, and the caws were frantic.  It was all coming from the same place.  Elizabeth and Michael ran up several flights of stairs.  She could see Michael’s hands shaking.  Elizabeth was growing short of breath.

         They reached a spinning room.  Next to the spinning wheel was a large black dog and a couple crows; there were scraps of clothes surrounding them.  They seemed incredibly distressed.   The way they moved wasn’t natural.  They were obviously cursed, to Elizabeth’s eyes.

       Elizabeth started chanting, as did Michael.  The magic beneath everything revealed itself to Elizabeth.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Michael heading towards the birds, so she focused on the dog.  She saw the aberration and absorbed it into herself; they had arrived soon enough where the curse hadn’t fully set yet, but it was close.  Pulling it in burned, but she wasn’t just going to not do her job.  She heard bones shift from the dog as she drew in the curse.  Slowly humanity was restored to them, and she heard screams of pain.  It had been too late to apply willow bark.  Elizabeth felt a twang of guilt at that, but there was only so much she could do.  Eventually the person entirely returned to their human form; Elizabeth could clearly see the person was a woman now that she was no longer a dog.  Elizabeth quickly handed the woman a length of fabric from the floor, to preserve her modesty.  The woman was still very much in pain, but that would pass.  She would need a lot of rest, but that was true of the other two as well.  Elizabeth glanced over to see Michael had restored two children to humanity; their clothes had stayed intact because they had become much smaller.  Michael’s hands were shaking, but his face showed great relief.

       “Heat from fire, fire from heat,” Elizabeth said, ending the chant she had kept the whole time; her throat was parched.  “What happened?”

       “I, I don’t know.  I was just spinning and then-” The woman’s voice was ragged, hoarse, and weak.

       “It’s okay, rest now, you’re safe,” Elizabeth said, and then she looked at Michael.  He walked over to the spinning wheel.  

       “Elizabethyousaidcursingobjectswasridiculous,” Michael said, slamming his words together. He was nervous; they were almost too late. Whoever set this curse was very good. “But-” He pointed at the spinning wheel.

       Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively. “It can’t be that.  A hexer must’ve snuck in and been unnoticed.”

       “Andtargeteda-” Michael took a deep breath, “Children and a servant?  Not all the nobles drawn together?  I thought I saw something when I was breaking the children’s curses.”

       The children had huddled around their presumed mother.  “I’ll take a look,” Elizabeth said and began to chant.  She was so parched.  Michael had joined her. His baritone voice was nice to have added onto her own; comforting even, Elizabeth admitted to herself.  She focused on the spinning wheel.  Quite clearly she could see it had been cursed: one that would linger until activated.   

       But why? Elizabeth thought to herself. It would have made more sense just to curse these folks directly. 

       Elizabeth focused on the way the spinning wheel was cursed, Michael slowly unwound the aberrant threads of it.  While Elizabeth often acted like a seam ripper to cursed threads, Michael, she could see, treaded with a more careful hand, slowly absorbing the magic into himself.  She was certain now about the nature of his curse, as she watched him drink in the magic from the curse.  As he unwound it, she saw hidden in the threads of the curse a message.

       “I’m waiting.” 

       Elizabeth felt a chill run down her soul.  There was only one person she knew good enough at hexing, at playing with the threads, to weave a message into a curse.  Michael finished absorbing the last of the curse.

       “You saw it too right?” she asked him.

       He nodded.  He knew.  His hands, which had been steady when dealing with the spinning wheel, were shaking more intensely than normal, like how a flame flickers.  To Elizabeth’s eyes, the sound of the shakes was like the sounds of rocks tumbling down a small hill.  

       “Sheshouldn’t-sheshouldn’tbehere,” Michael hissed out, his mouth barely opening wide enough for the words spilling out of his mouth.

       “I know,” Elizabeth said, a hint of terror slipping into her own voice, “but we have to find out what she wants.  She's probably nearby.  If she wanted the nobles, she would have cursed them already.  This was a message for us.”  She looked over at the three she and Michael had saved.  They would need rest but should otherwise be fine.  “You three, get some rest.  Unfortunately, Michael and I have quite the unraveled fray to deal with.”

       The presumed mother nodded, and, tying the sheet Elizabeth had given her around her bust, left the room with her kids.  Elizabeth and Michael moved out as a unit.  They left the palace proper; their old teacher wouldn't be there.  There was another hill nearby.  Elizabeth thought she saw someone standing on top of it.  Even from this distance, she could sense the woman bore a curse, and Elizabeth knew what it was, too.  She pointed it out to Michael, he nodded, and they both headed that way.  Soon they were climbing it, and there they saw her.

       “You kept me waiting; you know I hate that,” the woman’s sultry voice cooed. She had a figure that most would die for, either to have or to hold; a thousand ships could be launched for her beauty.  The work of a finely crafted curse.

       “Circe,” Elizabeth said

       “No title?  You forget yourself, Hecate – oh wait, no, it’s Elizabeth now isn’t it?  Rejected the name of old power I gave you for one of theirs, one of Hers.” Circe looked derisively at Michael. “As did you, Odin; what was it now, Michael?  What a pathetic name.”

       “What do you want?” Elizabeth asked forcefully, as her voice took on a slow simmer of anger, and she took a step towards Circe.

       Circe looked down at Elizabeth. “I’m giving you two one last chance. I heard what you did at that party; did you know I was the one helping out Jacob?  You must’ve realized he was not nearly skilled enough for what he was doing.  Admirable work, what you two did, undoing it in the moment.  So join me now; together we can alter the fate of this country, of this world! Make it how we desire – no one could stop us.” She looked at Michael. “And if that somehow doesn’t interest you, I know about your sister.  I could give you the tools to help her.” Circe smiled at him like how a mother might smile upon their child.

       Michael closed his eyes a moment.  His breath sharp and rapid.  He seemed to be considering her offer.  He snapped open his eyes.  He breathed in deep as he could.  His whole arms were shaking.

       “N-no,” Michael said. “I.  I,  le-left you because you want t-to hurt people.  Y-you m-might help me, but y-you’d hurt so many.  You w-would use me to hurt so many.”

       “Hmph,” Circe growled. “Then you are lost to me.  Surely you’re not so ungrateful for the training I gave you; after all, you know that those with power get what they want, Elizabeth.” Circe spat out the name. “It’s only because of my teachings that either one of you have a body you don’t despise, and I could take that away. Don’t think you know more than me about the weave of magic, although, I’ll admit, I can’t understand why you two, you, Elizabeth, girl, especially, made yourself so average, when you could have had beauty beyond compare.”

       Elizabeth looked Circe dead in the eyes. “I thank you for the lessons you taught me.  But I have a duty to do no harm. And I know what you do to those in your way.”

       Circe shook her head.  “You’re both fools.  Unfortunately, you’re very skilled fools.  Consider today a warning, then.  I’ll be back, and when we next meet face to face,I won’t be so kind.  You will lose.” She snapped her fingers. “Now, you might want to check on your charges,” she taunted.

  Elizabeth felt something shift.  The weave of magic had grown taut; she didn’t even have to vibrate the air to feel it. Elizabeth turned her back to Circe and started running hard.  Michael followed.

       Faster, Elizabeth thought to herself, pushing herself harder.  She knew better than most that Circe could do harm beyond anyone else’s means.

       Faster.        Faster.

       Fast- 

       She reached the palace; she could only assume Michael had followed.  She pushed her way into the banquet hall.  The door fought against her as if it was being held tight.  She could feel the magic here being pulled taut still.  It wasn’t the same as when it tried to crush her at the last banquet, but still the pressure was so intense no one could move.  Instead, it was threatening to snap as it strained under the weight, and Elizabeth knew, from having seen Circe do this trick once a long time ago, that when it snapped it would rapidly transform everyone in here, probably into pigs. Circe was fond of that one.  

       She felt Michael’s shaking hand brush hers.  “Th-the m-magic is too tight in here, wecan’triskvibratingittoseeit.”

       “I know,” Elizabeth said.  Weft and wrap… wait, the rosemary! Elizabeth thought to herself.  “Michael, the rosemary!” she shouted, taking off to follow the smell of it.  Michael looked at her, shocked, as she ran off.  She found the gardens easily.  There was a gardener there.

       “I need all the rosemary you can give me,” Elizabeth said with all the authority she could muster.  The gardener nodded and ran off, and then they came back with a few baskets full of rosemary.  Elizabeth took them and sprinted to the banquet hall.

       Michael had at some point acquired flint and steel, and, as Elizabeth spread out the rosemary, he lit a spark.  They both began chanting outside the room.  The weave of magic took shape.  She could see it being drawn into the banquet hall, pulled almost to the breaking point.

       They had to slacken it all at once somehow; Circe had pulled it so tight that to slacken one would snap the others.  It was almost like the weave had been drained of its power and was hanging on only through memory.   

       Power.

       Elizabeth looked at her hands, and realized she herself was a wellspring of power.

       She understood now, that only she could restore the weave.  Michael wouldn’t have enough power absorbed yet.  This was Circe’s attempt to get her to abandon what it means to be a cursebreaker.

       No, I can’t.  I can’t risk going back to that, she thought to herself.  She thought about Henry being transformed into a pig.  She couldn’t let that happen, not because he was her patron, but because he was her friend.   Elizabeth knew that she couldn’t break a curse Circe didn’t want broken.  

       She’s a bastard, Elizabeth thought, making her choice, and then she closed her eyes and started feeding magic power like a tributary feeds a river.  So much power: all she had to give.  She became like a host of those tributaries filling the points all at once.  She was a flood.  She felt the magic slowly, like rope being pulled through her fingers, return to its default shape.  

       She was terrified to open her eyes, even though she didn’t feel any different.

       She opened her eyes and looked down at herself; she was unchanged.  She looked at Michael, the weave still visible around them, and could see the curse he had placed on himself looking much like it had when they first met, drained of so much of its power.

       He had to have fed her curse, so hers didn’t run out.

       “Oh, you are so on the short list,” Elizabeth said, getting up and hugging Michael.

       Henry walked out of the banquet hall, seeing Elizabeth tightly embracing Michael.

       “I assume, somehow, our rescue was done by you two’s hands.”

       Elizabeth, who slowly and somewhat embarrassedly let go of Michael, turned to Henry. “Yes, I really wish you’d stop getting into these situations.”

       “I’ll try.  The king has decided both to increase the harshness of the laws for cursing people and increase funding to train more cursebreakers.  So hopefully that will do just that.  And give you two more free time… to spend however and with whoever you like.” Henry said, looking between the two of them.

       Lady Mary appeared from the banquet hall. “Well, this whole thing was simply dreadful.  Yes, quite dreadful.  Michael, we're going back to my estate,” Lady Mary said, walking briskly past.

       Michael looked at Elizabeth and shrugged.  “I'll write to you, Elizabeth.”

       “You can call me Liz, if you want,” Elizabeth said with a bright smile.

       “Alright, then I'll write to you, Liz,” Michael said, an equally bright smile on his face, “Hopefully next time we see each other is under better circumstances.” Michael then turned and quickly followed Lady Mary.

       “So, tax purposes, huh?” Henry teased.

       “Yes, tax purposes,” Elizabeth said, laughing.  

       Henry shook his head.

       Edward met up with them. “Let's go home.”

       The three of them set off for the Spider.

[asukiess]

Fanfiction Year in Review 2023

happy new year. I’ve never filled something like this out… but  as I published more fics last year than I did in 2022, and I have as many WIPs in the works right now, it seems like a good idea so I can reflect next year 😌

(thank you to kasienda and bbutterflies for tagging me in their posts!)

1 List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

sunblind - Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi

hearth – adrinette, adrien & emilie

switching shenanigans - Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Félix Fathom

the clouds above (opened up) – emonette & emodrien

backwards walk – ladywalker bed sharing!!!!!!!!!

back to you (just one last time) – ladywalker bed sharing (spicy) !!!!!!!!!!!!!

a rose by any other name – loveydrien <3

2 Number of words written: 

Published: 47,661

Unpublished: 67,068

Knowing I’ve written over 100k words in a year is pretty cool! Especially since I only wrote 20k the year before that. I wrote all the wip titles down in a spreadsheet at least.

3 Your most popular fic:

I think the clouds above. I definitely did not expect that kind of reception when I first published it! I’m really thankful people still checked it out after the Paris special aired, too. It was one of the more fun fics I wrote, and I feel I actually don’t talk about how much of an Adrinette girlie I am. Even pre-reveal Adrinette is incredibly meaningful to me! I wrote this fic in a few hours and I was buzzing with excitement.  I have another Paris special idea, but it’s… very much an AU I feel. Like it would be somewhere between the clouds above characterization and more canon compliant. So I am not sure if it’s something worth pursuing.

4 Your personal fav:

BACKWARDS WALK SWEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually didn’t know if I’d ever write Ladywalker again after TBSYM? I had small ideas but something switched in me honestly after allowing myself to like… write them in a trope. I’ve reread this fic so many times and it still gets me at all the emotional beats, and I feel the prose is strong in this one. Sometimes I can get a little wordy…! Anyway. this is when I felt I could write them again, and write more.

5 Your fav scene:

Published: I think the last scene of a rose by any other name.

Unpublished: I think this takes the cake

6 A fic or scene that challenged you:

Honestly, almost all of hearth. I took like, a six month break from writing it. Came back to it because it kept itself burrowed in my mind, but I redid the beginning like, three times? And I feel the ending is not as strong as I want it to be. I don’t think I’ve actually ever reread it, either. I won’t say I dislike it, but I think it was one of the harder writing projects of the year for many reasons.

The good: the Adrinette is exactly my comfort flavor. I’m proud of the statue scenes.

The bad: the pacing, the plot is a little loose, the prose can be a little ‘can’t see the trees through the forest’ for me, the ending….

The comments on it, however, have been some of the most meaningful things to me, and I am endlessly grateful!!! I almost feel like this was such a tumultuous work for me, that every thoughtful comment that called it poetic, that they wanted to savor it, meant a lot to me.

7 A line of writing you’re proud of: 

I could not pick just one. I got lost in my WIPs for like half an hour.

8 A comment that touched you: 

how do I choose?

All the comments on hearth, as I said. I can’t put into words how I feel about this fic, but I see the reflection of the effort and love when I read hearth’s comments. I could not pick a single favorite out of all of those…!

sunny who has graced not just me, but a wide swath of creators and artists with their thoughtful, engaging comments. I could not for the life of me choose just one, but maaaaybe:

Everyone who left tags in reblogs like “NEW ASUKIESS FIC?” or when whiskers complimented my ladywalker.

When piso said the following:

And huey’s comment that just. It connected with me SO MUCH because they GOT IT. sometimes you just get a comment and all you can do is a funny little victorious dance and shake their hand because yeah. Yeah.

All of kasienda’s comments. Literally starstruck is all I can say hehe.

Oh and ALSO when rosekasa said this.

10 Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

honestly just creating through a lot of life bullshit lmao

11 Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

I really don’t know! Knee-jerk:

Publish as many fics while keeping them solidly confident. Things I’m proud of.

Write a fic in the shape/form that I absolutely adore: non-linear, short chapters. These are vibe-excellent fics. Need to write one like this.

Balancing angst with fluff.

That’s about it really! <3

12 Anyone you would like to thank?

All of the littlebugs for sharing all their behind the scenes of creating; for offering support; for always been a positive support system; for always sharing in celebrating others wins and comforting when things are bad. I’ve actually never been apart of a creating community like this, and it was not only eye-opening at several points, it was quite a turning point for me, creatively speaking.

piso and blu for creating Loveybug and sharing her; for being just as brainrotted about Catwalker; for always being such wonderful people; for pretty much…everything?

sunny for yknow. all the things I’ve told you in the past six months! <3

mostmagical, bbutterflies, neurovascularentrapta, for being SO supportive and going wild with me over ideas and being SO SWEET!!! I appreciate you all enormously.

Literally everyone who has sent me a comment, on ao3 or in my inbox, or even just shared my work for others.