#BAD TOP. guest muse.

[djhallyboo]

"I LIKE MEN."

[shrimpybbq]

rafe experiences the comfort of a mother

synopsis: rafe appears on his girlfriend’s doorstop, badly burnt and in need of care and affection

Rafe stood in front of the guest room, body stiff and hand frozen against the wooden door. He wanted to knock, he really did, and yet he was hesitant. Only the day before had the couple fought, screaming and shouting until both were out of breath. Rafe had watched his sweet girl leave with teary eyes and he’d felt bad, his heart twisting as she had slammed the door in his face. It was the same door he finally knocked on after realising he’d been motionless for too long. The rap of his knuckles echoed and for a moment, he wondered if she wouldn’t answer the door at all, until a creak sounded. Rafe raised his gaze to see his girlfriend standing in front of him, her fists rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

“R-rafe? What are yo-”, she began to ask, voice heavy with tiredness, the hour late. It wasn’t until she looked at him properly that she paused, taking in his entire state. Rafe was standing there, clutching his arm to his chest protectively. It wasn’t the childlike pose that caught her eye though, no - it was the way Rafe’s eyes were filled with unshed tears and his bottom lip wobbling ever so subtly.

“Are you ok?” She asked gently, as if she were talking to their son. Rafe could only shake his head side to side, slowly pulling his arm away. At the sight of the red and blistering flesh, she gasped loudly, “Oh my god! What happened?”.

“I-uh, I got into some trouble,” Rafe responded timidly, full of shame and in pain.

“Come here,” his girlfriend said, gently ushering him into the guest room, “sit down. Have you cleaned this?” She asked. Again he shook his head, leading her to hum lowly. “Ok, I’ll need to clean it. Gimme a sec.”

Rafe sat on the bed patiently as he took in the room. He’d never been in there since she began sleeping in there, now taking in all the little trinkets she had lying around. He had been trying to get her to move back into his room but she still refused, and the pair used the nursery as a mutual zone.

His musings were cut off by a gentle voice questioning him.

“What happened Rafe?”

“It’s nothing, just an accident, you know?” Rafe grumbled out as she began to wet antiseptic pads in front of him. She looked up at him, gaze incredulous.

“This is bad, Rafe. You don’t just get something like this accidentally! You said you got into trouble before - what did you mean by that?” She questioned. Rafe sighed, having underestimated just how much she would question him, but he should’ve expected that, he thought to himself. When he didn’t answer, she began to clean his arm.

The sharp stinging sensation that travelled through him as the antiseptic touched his burn made Rafe jump, his voice exclaiming in shock. It was that sudden pain that caused the unshed tears in his eyes to spill over, and it was like once he started he couldn’t stop. All his pain and worries spilled out of him, the tears streaming down his face.

“Oh baby, it’s ok, come here,” he heard her say, cleaning forgotten as she pulled his head into her chest. Whenever she had comforted Rafe in the past, this had been his favourite position, curled up against her chest and having his hair stroked. So she did just that, soothing his heaving sobs with each pass through his hair. “It’s ok Rafe, you’re ok here baby. I’ve got you, ok? Breathe, Rafe.”

He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, his sobs wetting the fabric of the tank top she wore. He’d almost completely exhausted himself by the time his sobs stopped, only able to breathe deeply now. It was then his muffled voice could be heard, “it was Barry.”

He felt her stiffen before she tentatively probed further. “Barry, your dealer?”

At the feeling of him nodding, she pulled him away from her chest. Her voice was stern, as if she was talking to a small child,

“Rafe, why is your dealer burning you? What did you do?”

He looked up at her, eyes wide and rimmed with red. He looked just a like their son, she thought, his features so innocent and needy.

“I-I couldn’t pay him back in time… I tried, I really did, but I had this thing and I couldn’t get it all there in time, and I said- I said to him I would get it bu-but he didn’t care,” Rafe began to ramble, his voice pleading with her to understand him. He had been trying to do better, for her - for his family. He watched her sigh, before she returned to clean his wound in silence. Rafe wanted to speak, to explain himself more but he didn’t know what to say, and the idea of her disappointed gaze upon him once more sealed his lips. The feeling of her fingers smoothing a burn cream over his wound tenderly had him curling back into her chest.

She began to card her fingers back through his blonde locks, feeling Rafe relax against her. When he was upset he would be one of two ways: angry and reactive, or clingy and touch-starved. Today, it was clear he was the latter. She couldn’t bare to leave him alone like this, and so she gently whispered,

“Come here baby, let’s get you into bed, ok?”

Rafe pulled away, his eyes wide as he looked up upon her face.

“Here?”

She nodded and began to pull the covers away, creating a space for him to shuffle in. Rafe allowed himself to be guided under the quilt and he couldn’t help but sigh at the feeling of her fingers tenderly brushing his messed-up strands away from his forehead. As he made space for her beside him, Rafe watched his girlfriend pull away from the bed.

“Nononono-” he began to mutter, only to be cut off. His hand was outstretched pathetically to try and keep her by his side, scared to be alone.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. I’m just going to the nursery. I thought you’d want him to stay with us tonight,” she soothed, watching surprised as Rafe shook his head in response.

“No, let him sleep. Just c’mere,” he mumbled, dragging her into his side and under the blankets. Within seconds Rafe had found his position for the night, curled up into her side, his head resting on her chest once more. He was so sullen and quiet as he listened to her heartbeat, hands clutching at her waist.

“Goodnight Rafe,” she uttered sleepily, the events of the night catching up to her.

“I love you,” he said quietly, his voice muffled against her chest. He didn’t say it often, preferring to show his love for her through actions, but she always knew it. With a soft kiss against the crown of his head, she echoed those words back to him, before slipping into unconsciousness,

“I love you too, baby.”

[sserpente]

Checkmate

“You know, maybe we should play strip chess instead. I think I would be motivated to win if I could get you naked!”

 “Strip chess?” Sylus’ eyebrows shot up. He blinked, observing you wordlessly for a moment. “Very well. Let’s take this up a notch. You lose one piece of clothing for every piece you lose in the game.”

A/N: What’s this? Another red-eyed, pale-skinned and silver-haired morally grey man? Might as well.

Words: 1386 Warnings: smut

You made it a point to sigh. Loudly. With your chin propped up on your elbows, you were sitting across from Sylus on the bed in your pyjamas, a chessboard in between you creating more distance from him than you wanted.

“Are you going to hyperventilate, kitten? This is the third time you’re sighing like this.”

“This is boring, Sylus.”

“Ah, you didn’t hear me complaining after ten long rounds of Kitty Cards, now did you?” He didn’t look up as he spoke. His crimson eyes were fixed on the chequered game board but his voice was not without that teasing tone that always drove you mad and never failed to turn you into a horny mess. Especially now, with how casually he was sitting on the bed with crossed legs and clad in comfortable clothes.

“The chess pieces aren’t meowing at me, it’s not the same. You know I’m bad at chess.”

“Then you’ll get better.” He made his move—and unfortunately, it didn’t mean much to you. You barely remembered the names of all the different pieces but you hadn’t wanted to turn him down when he asked for a round. Time spent with him was rare due to your different sleep schedules, and your visits to the N109 zones were even rarer. Things would change soon. But until then, you’d soak up every minute you could get with him. Even if he wanted to play chess. Even if it was boring as fuck.

“It’s your turn, kitten.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m thinking.” Another sigh. This time, Sylus chuckled in response.

“How do I move this piece again?” You pointed at the chess piece resembling a horse, tilting your head innocently.

“Kitten…” Oh, now that was a reproachful kitten.

“I forgot! I’m sorry, I can’t help it but chess is so boring.” You paused, thinking. “You know, maybe we should play strip chess instead. I think I would be motivated to win if I could get you naked!”

“Strip chess?” Sylus' eyebrows shot up. He blinked, observing you wordlessly for a moment. “Very well. Let’s take this up a notch. You lose one piece of clothing for every piece you lose in the game.”

You frowned and looked down on yourself. Perhaps you should have thought this through first. Sylus was wearing a light jacket, socks, a shirt, a pair of trousers, and likely underwear. You on the other hand had only two pieces of clothing on you—a silk pyjama set with the night sky and embroidered stars on it, a gift from him the first time you returned to the N109 zone to stay with him for a few days. It had been waiting for you on the king-size bed in the guest room. You almost chuckled. You’d never slept in that bed until this day.

“Having second thoughts?” he mused.

You shook your head. “No. Let’s keep playing. It was my turn, yeah?”

He blinked once as if to say yes, his expression so amused you wanted to sigh yet again. This time, however, you really did put some effort in. If you beat him, he’d be sitting across from you naked. So if you moved your pawn over there…

“I’m done.”

“Are you sure?”

“What do you mean ‘are you sure’? Don’t make me second-guess myself!”

“Very well…” He moved another piece himself and chuckled. “There goes your knight, sweetie.”

“Ugh! What?”

“Come now. You set up the rules yourself.”

You glared at him and aggressively took your pyjama top off to throw it at his face where it landed with a thud before falling into his lap. His amused grin was even more irritating than the complexity of this silly game. He had the reflexes to catch the piece of clothing. He could have. He simply decided not to. Ugh.

“There. Happy?”

You had hopes that sitting in front of him topless would distract him enough to make a mistake but who were you kidding? Even if he did make a mistake, you were nowhere near skilled enough to beat him at this game. Sylus knew that very well. You’d just hoped that you could snatch up enough of his pieces to see him naked again.

But the stern leader of Onychinus was nothing if not composure personified. He didn’t even bat an eyelash at your half-naked form even though you could clearly tell it did not leave him unaffected. His crimson eyes raked over your breasts and your hardening nipples due to the cool temperatures in his bedroom.

A few moments later though, he moved another piece. Sylus chuckled. “Checkmate.”

You gasped, your eyes darting back down to the chessboard. “What? How?”

“You’ve been focused on your queen too much. Now your king has nowhere left to go. See?” He pointed at the two pieces that cornered your white king. How annoying.

“That’s not fair! You tricked me!”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You backed me into a corner!”

“You didn’t pay attention.”

“That’s impossible considering I’m topless and you’re still wearing all of your clothes! Was there even a way out?”

“There was.”

“But…but…ugh!”

Sylus raised an eyebrow and gave you a toothless grin. “I’m waiting.” He gestured at your pyjama bottoms.

“For what? The game is over, you’re still wearing all of your clothes and I’m still bored.”

Sylus laughed. “And you lost yet another piece. Don’t be a sore loser, sweetie.”

“I’m…not!” Cursing him under your breath you leaned back and shrugged off your pyjama bottoms without taking your eyes off him. It wasn’t nearly as sexy as you had hoped for it to be but beggars couldn’t be choosers. “This really didn’t go according to plan…”

“Your ‘plans’ never do, kitten.”

You scoffed. “Now what?”

“Now? You let me admire the view and revel in my triumph.”

“You’re impossible.”

Sylus chuckled. “You’ll find I’m very much possible. Come here.”

Now that was something he didn’t need to tell you twice. You crawled over to him fast, ignoring how the remaining chess pieces fell off the board in the process and made yourself comfortable on his lap. Sylus cradled your naked form in his arms as if you were a fragile porcelain doll. Your eyes fell shut almost automatically when he kissed your forehead.

His hands were less innocent. They ghosted over your exposed skin raising goose bumps where they went. It was sheer luck he didn’t tease you for how quickly your legs fell open when one of them travelled lower and lower, over your breasts and your hard nipples, your stomach and eventually…between your legs to where your body wanted him the most.

“Naughty little kitten, have you been this wet for me the whole time?”

You hummed in agreement, rubbing your nose against the crook of his neck.

Testing the waters, his long fingers started rubbing and caressing your outer lips until they slid between them with ease to tease your clit. Probing and exploring, working you up for him until he had you gushing and whimpering in his lap.

“Why…why were we playing chess if…if we could have just done this…the whole time…instead?”

“As much as I enjoy our…intimate moments, I do place value on spending intellectually stimulating time with you too, kitten.”

“Now you’re…making it sound like I’m…sex-crazed…around you…” Your panting increased, an all too familiar knot tightening in your lower belly.

Sylus laughed. “You’re not. Although…I wouldn’t blame you after getting that first taste.”

“You’re impossible,” you breathed out again. The words were followed by a moan. Sylus slid two fingers into your slick warmth, curling them inside you all the while his thumb kept caressing your clit. Shit, you were so close…so close…

“Sylus…”

“What is it, kitten? Tell me…”

“I’m…I will…oh shit…”

“Come for me,” he growled into your ear, his breath hot against your skin.

He didn’t need to tell you twice. You let go and fell, your orgasm rippling through you like pure electricity. Your wet walls tightened around his long fingers as he helped you ride it out and relish the taste of every last wave of pleasure consuming you. You kept clenching around rhythmically as that feeling of pure bliss slowly ebbed away again, leaving you breathless in his arms.

“Next time…” you choked out of breath, “…we’re playing UNO.”

Sylus chuckled. “As you wish, kitten.”

[beauzos]

trying to figure out which of my promo assets was the final version is like trying to disarm a bomb bcs of how shittily i labelled them and how many versions i made trying to decide what looked best but i think i got them all. the one thing i really miss about not being in the rpc is i no longer have an excuse to make promos!! i wouldn’t say i was amazing at them but i thought i did good considering i’d taught myself everything and was using paint.net.  it kinda got me to appreciate graphic design a bit. even when they were simple, i had a lot of fun making them.  Claus’s was always my favorite one. i was really proud of it.

[lxkeee]

Helloo, I was wondering if it was alright for u to write a lucifer x male reader where the reader is also a powerful demon and goes with lucifer to visit Charlie in the dad beat dad episode, and Charlie is just like OMG i have two dads now, this is awesome

if u don't write for male reader, then feel free to change or ignore this lol

MY GAYDAR IS NEVER WRONG!

—Lucifer Morningstar x m! Reader

warnings: mentions of s*icide.

When Charlie called Lucifer, he was excited that his daughter wanted to invite him to see the hotel. He thought he would be able to handle it.

In fact, he did not.

The poor man had a complete mental breakdown as he over thought what would happen, how would he act around his daughter, what should he say, and etc.

So, he decided to ask for help and he just knows the right person for that.

His beloved boyfriend of one year, [y/n].

Backstory time,

Lucifer has been seeing and secretly dating the man for a year already, it took a while but he got charmed okay? [Y/n] is literally so charming, very handsome, very chivalrous.... And very tall...

And is a pianist.

Lucifer met [y/n] in a famous restaurant, that only elites or the rich can enter. [Y/n] so happens to own that restaurant.

The only reason he was there at that time was because the other seven deadly sins wanted to have a get together.

As the dinner with the other seven deadly sins progressed, Lucifer was enamored the whole night, his eyes staring at the tall and graceful man sitting in the middle of the restaurant as he played the piano for the guests so beautifully.

Asmodeus even teased him, making the king of hell blush.

That's where his frequent visit to the restaurant started.

Lucifer claims that he just wanted to listen to the man play and nothing else.

Of course, [y/n] noticed his frequent visits and decided to approach the smaller man.

Of course, Lucifer was cautious.

Lucifer was suspicious why the man looked more humane than others, aside from his sharp teeth.

Eventually, the two slowly got along and then slowly developed romantic feelings for each other.

They started telling each other their stories too.

Lucifer found out [y/n] was a pianist when he was still alive, he was born in the 1920's and died in 1945.

[Y/n] died as passionless artist, who lost his inspiration and will to live.

But despite all that, [y/n] managed to find his passion for music again in hell and despite the era he was born in, he managed to go with the flow of time.

Yes, he knows gen z slang 😭

He's got serious problems when it comes to saying "lmao" "purr" and "slay"

Anyways, after finding out and realizing why [y/n] is here is because the sin he committed is that he didn't appreciate the life was given to him and decided to take it away by his own hands.

Lucifer's caution around the man was gone and maybe, not all sinners are bad.

[y/n] confessed first and Lucifer reciprocated by giving the taller man a kiss (he had to pull down [y/n]'s tie okay?)

And Lucifer didn't regret it, [y/n] is a passionate lover. A green flag of all green flags.

“Why are you here? You're so nice, you shouldn't be here.”

“If I was up there, then I wouldn't have the pleasure of meeting you and calling you mine.” [y/n] said with a confused tone.

Unaware rizz.

This man, doesn't know how much his words affect Lucifer.

And the fact he can carry Lucifer bridal style and calls him his muse is the cherry on top.

Anyways, back to the scenario. I'm done with the backstory lmao

Lucifer decided to text [y/n] telling him about the situation, wanting emotional support as he's nervous going to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people.

He thought [y/n] wouldn't be able to come as the man got work but he was wrong as not 15 minutes later, [y/n] bursts through the door looking absolutely disheveled.

[y/n] ran like his life depended on it.

“My muse, I am hereeee...” the poor tall man wheezed out, hunched on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

Lucifer had to help the man out by using his wings to dry him up.

“Better?”

“Better, thanks my love.”

Lucifer had to explain the situation to him on the way to the hotel and [y/n] giving him peptalk after.

After arriving at the hotel, [y/n] stayed at the side while he watched Lucifer interact with the others.

He swore he heard the pink arachnid say, “Is anyone's gaydar going off right now?”

“It's just you, Angel.” the gray haired girl says with a deadpan.

After Charlie introduced the rest, she noticed the taller male companion who came with her dad. The male was just admiring the interior of the hotel.

Tall, dark, and handsome.

“So... Dad, how about you introduce me to your friend that you brought over?” Charlie asked, making the two males flinch in surprise.

[y/n] giggling as he watched the flustered look on Lucifer's face.

The two males just looked at each other, having a silent conversation.

“Do you want to tell her?” is what [y/n]'s facial expression says based on the raised eyebrow.

“I guess it's time to tell her.” Lucifer says through his facial expression, as a sigh left his lips.

The others just stared in silence as the two males looked at each other in silent conversation.

“Charlie, this is [y/n]... My... Significant other.”

After Lucifer introduced the unknown man, Charlie's jaw dropped.

So did the other's.

The only thing Charlie can think is “Holy shit, I'll have two dads.”

“SEE?! I FUCKING TOLD YOU THAT MY GAYDAR IS POPPING OFF SINCE THEY ARRIVED”

It was a wild night. From the dad off, some loan sharks deciding to cause a mess. (Charlie has three dads now)

Do you guys want this as a series? I'm thinking of actually writing this concept because aihsjans it's so cutee and interesting 😭🤭

Also, I absolutely write for male readers as I myself is a man 🤭 aosjsi maybe I should write more Lucifer x male! Reader?

[allwaswell16]

A fic rec of One Direction fics with a character worshiping Louis' body as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find my other fic recs here. Happy reading!

- Louis / Harry -

🫦 let me carry your weight by @soldouthaz

(E, 28k, trainer Harry) louis is fresh out of a bad relationship with someone who made him feel awful about how he looked. on his journey to better himself, he meets harry - the ridiculously attractive and fit personal trainer.

🫦 Middle Ground by sweetums / @darlou

(E, 26k, hate to love) Harry moves to a new town for work where he meets the enigma that is Louis Tomlinson.

🫦 Save your loving arms for a rainy day by BriaMaria / @briannamarguerite

(E, 18k, famous/not famous) the one where Louis is a pop star who has lost his voice and Harry helps him find it.

🫦 Moonlight Minx by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom

(E, 15k, stranded) the one where an unexpected storm strands Harry on an island, Louis gets an unexpected house guest for the night, and love might just be the most unexpected thing of all.

🫦 This Play Between The Sheets by Harriet1dfan

(E, 15k, BDSM) Louis: I'm on the bus to meet Harry, if I haven't texted you back in three hours I'm either dead or I've been sold into a sex-trade ring xx Harry: Hi, this is Harry so I'm pretty sure that message wasn’t meant for me. And don't worry, I have no current plans to kill or sell you.

🫦 Hung Up High in the Gallery by lovelarry10 / @chloehl10

(M, 14k, artist Harry) When Harry’s best friend, Louis, comes to support him at his art show, he decides they need to do some celebrating afterwards.

🫦 It's halftime. Are you ready to go? by momentofclarity / @gaycousinlarry

(E, 12k, coworkers) Football is gay and Harry is trying to cope.

🫦 Tease by dolce_piccante

(M, 12k, actor Louis) Their relationship is lovely and unlike any Louis has ever had before, which makes the surprise of Harry's newest interest that much more intriguing.

🫦 could start a cult by @nouies

(E, 8k, lactation kink) Harry can’t get enough of Louis’ breast milk.

🫦 Our Chromosomes In Sepia Tones by orphan_account

(NR, 8k, artist Harry) au. harry’s a sculptor who finds his muse.

🫦 know what to do by loudippedincaramel

(E, 5k, pwp) Harry is a photographer, Louis is a football player. Harry takes pictures. Some are appropriate for work, others... not so much.

🫦 Let You Lick the Lollipop by @allwaswell16

(E, 4k, Halloween party) Louis has to keep people from stealing all the candy--especially the very hot guy in a toga who won’t leave his candy alone.

🫦 With your hands around my neck by @elleseekeepdriv

(E, 3k, pwp) the one where Harry meets Louis at a bar and is obsessed with his finger tattoos

🫦 and we will never be royals by Fookinlarryloser

(E, 3k, canon) Harry makes sure Louis knows how wonderful he is after the Cinderella Ball.

🫦 Honey (pour your sugar on me) by D1ona30 / @iwillscreamuntilearsbleed

(E, 3k, pwp) "Louis gasped at the sensation, the honey feeling cool on his skin. Harry sat there just watching as the slow-moving liquid slid down his chest and abs. The color almost a perfect match against Louis’ bronzed skin"

🫦 Feel my breath upon your thighs by CuckooTrooke / @larrydoinglaundry

(E, 3k, pwp) Harry just really likes Louis' cock.

🫦 Everlasting Admirations by me_her_themoon / @dreamersdivin-headfirst

(E, 2k, silver fox Louis) Louis is insecure. They’ve tried to keep each other in tune over the years, wanting to make sure they both feel loved by each other and by themselves. Though, sometimes age gets the best of them. 

🫦 Like sweat dripping down our dirty laundry by @louisthiccsexyglitteryass

(E, 1k, armpits) Harry has a thing for Louis' armpits. Louis wears a tank-top. You get the picture.

🫦 All Of Me Loves All Of You by justthegirljada

(E, 1k, girl direction) Harry loves all of Louis' curves.

🫦 For you i would lose my mind by @dreaminrainbows

(E, 1k, pwp) Louis is a total menace on stage and Harry has had enough of it

- Rare Pairs -

🫦 ain't no stopping your plans by @disgruntledkittenface

(M, 4k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw) Louis wears Givenchy to the Royal Variety Performance. Nick has opinions about it.

🫦 softer than satin by cinnamons / @sunbellylou

(E, 4k, Louis/Joel (The Last of Us)) Lips touching softly with each syllable. Hands groping the soft flesh around Louis’ hips, kneading at the skin there and feeling his curves.

[laurenairay]

A reason to start over new - T. Jost

Summary: It’s been five years since Lucy has seen her ex-boyfriend Tyson. Can his grandparents’ Christmas party fix their broken hearts?

Happy birthday @senditcolton! This is my fic for your birthday bingo – I had a lot of fun with this one! I chose The Hand Touch, Exes to Lovers, Free Space (Resolved Angst), “You’re Too Good for Me”, and Winter Romance, making it a full bingo! Hope you have a wonderful day Nicole.

A massive thank you to @jostyriggslover96 for reading through this!

Words: 3.3k

Warnings: angst, flashback to breakup, some bad language, self-deprecation.

Title from The Reason, by Hoobastank

~

I've found a reason for me, To change who I used to be, A reason to start over new, And the reason is you.

~

“Oh wow, Val and Jim have really outdone themselves this year, haven’t they?”

Lucy glanced around at the Christmas decorations surrounding them, smiling at her mom’s words.

“Full of holiday cheer, as always!” she nodded.

She took off her thick coat and gloves, glad to be out of the icy air, hanging them up on the rack put out for guests.

“Now honey, if it’s too much, you can slip out back and head home, okay?” her mom said seriously, albeit quietly.

“You said that last year. And the year before that. For the last five years, actually,” Lucy mused.

“And I’ve meant it every year. They might be our neighbours, but you are my baby. And my priority, always,” her mom said seriously.

Not for the first time, Lucy was thankful to have the mom she did.

“And I appreciate it. But I’m going to be fine,” she said, smiling fondly.

“Alright, if you’re sure. You just send me a sneaky text if you change your mind though, yes?”

“Yeah, thanks mom,” Lucy beamed.

The Christmas Eve Party thrown by her neighbours was a tradition she’d attended her entire life, and even though she hadn’t dated their grandson in half a decade, Val and John had always insisted that she still came along. A lingering effect of being childhood sweethearts, she supposed.

“Amy! Gary! Lucy!”

The welcome from their neighbours was warm and effervescent as it always was, and soon enough Lucy found herself swept in by conversation and catching up. She may have gone to college in UBC Okanagan in Kelowna for both her degrees, barely away from home, but she’d lived in campus residence for all four years of her bachelor’s degree and moved out of her parents’ house properly into a small apartment near campus for her master’s degree. It would’ve been easy to move home after guaranteed accommodation ended, but Lucy had wanted to keep the independence she had grown to love, and it wasn’t as if she didn’t visit her parents at least every other weekend.

But it was still nice to be able to talk about her accomplishments with the people that she’d grown up alongside, especially now that she was in the final year of her master’s degree and looking like she was on track for starting the PhD she’d always aimed for.

After a couple of hours, she escaped the crowds in the living and dining areas, grateful for the sanctuary of the kitchen. There were a few plates of cookies and other Christmas treats laid out, and Lucy couldn’t resist reaching out for a snickerdoodle…

…at the exact time as someone else.

She jumped in surprise as a large hand rested on top of hers, not realising anyone was next to her, but as she looked up, she couldn’t but to freeze despite the warmth of his touch. Tyson. It was Tyson’s hand touching hers.

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry, I…Lucy?”

“Hey Tys,” she managed to breathe.

The familiar curls, the big beautiful eyes, the sweet smile, and now a little bit of stubble? He looked good. Of course he looked good.

Tyson quickly drew his hand away from hers, breaking her out of her thoughts.

“Uh, you have it, I shouldn’t be eating baked goods too much anyway,” Tyson said, rubbing the back of his neck a little sheepishly.

Lucy pursed her lips and broke a third of the snickerdoodle off, handing it to Tyson with a raised eyebrow. Tyson huffed out a laugh but accepted the offered treat, sending her a small smile of thanks. Fuck, it may have been five years since they broke up, but he really hadn’t changed, had he?

“So, uh, you still come to these parties?” Tyson asked.

Lucy bit her bottom lip but nodded.

“Yeah, your grandparents insist. I hope that’s okay,” she winced.

“Of course it is,” Tyson said quickly, “They always loved you.”

Well that was something at least. Why did this feel so awkward? Sure, it had been five years since she’d seen Tyson, but they dated from eight years – surely they had more than this?

“I don’t usually come to these. Well, I guess you already know that, if you come every year. I, uh, I have the 24th to the 26th off this year, so I didn’t want to miss another Christmas with my grandparents,” Tyson explained.

“I bet Val and Jim were over the moon when you told them,” Lucy mused.

Tyson laughed softly, nodding. “They were. Mom and Kacey didn’t hesitate to come to Kelowna to join us, so it’s a big family Christmas this year.”

“That’s great, Tys. Really. Spending Christmas with your loved ones is important,” she said softly, smiling.

His smile dimmed a little, but he nodded.

“How’s, uh, how’s your degree going? Gramps said you’re doing a master’s now?”

He knew that? Did he ask? Or did Jim just tell him?

“Uh, yeah. I graduated my bachelor's degree magna cum laude back in 2020 and went straight into starting my graduate program there. I’m a paid teaching assistant for my supervisory professor too.”

“That’s incredible, Luce. Still doing Earth and Environmental Sciences?” Tyson prompted.

He remembered? After all this time?

“Yeah, yeah it is. Focusing in on environmental impact assessment for my master’s thesis,” she nodded, a little stunned, “I didn’t think…I didn’t think you’d remember.”

“Of course I remember. You were always so passionate about your studies – it was one of the things I loved most about you,” he said softly.

“Tyson…” Lucy said faintly, trailing off when no words would come.

He smiled sadly at her, shaking his head.

“Sounds like…it sounds like everything was worth it for you,” Tyson murmured.

~

2019

“So you can’t make it over?”

“No, Tys, I can’t, I have labs to do,” Lucy sighed.

“We haven’t seen each other in so long!”

“I can’t just not go to my classes because you want me in Denver! You know this!” she groaned.

“I know, I know, but it sucks.”

Lucy frowned, even though he couldn’t see her. “You’re the one who didn’t come home for Christmas, remember?”

“The schedule didn’t make sense, and I offered to fly you down?”

“Tyson!” she groaned.

He stayed silent on the other end of the phone, a silence that sent an ominous shiver down her spine.

“So where do we go from here?”

“W-What?” she said, confused at the dull tone of his voice.

“Your priority is college, my priority is hockey, and neither of us can compromise. I would never ask you to compromise, just like you wouldn’t ask me. We have different priorities, clearly. So where do we go from here?”

“Tyson, are you really saying what I think you’re saying?” she whimpered.

“Yeah, I think we should break up.”

“We’ve been together for eight years! You’re the only boyfriend I’ve ever had, the only guy I’ve ever wanted. And you want to break up, just like that?”

“I don’t want to break up, Luce. But what other option do we have? Neither of us can give the other what we need right now. We have to focus on ourselves, don’t we? For our own careers? You have so much ahead of you and I can’t be there to celebrate it. And you can’t be by my side cheering me on from the stands. I love you, Lucy. But this isn’t working anymore.”

~

“Tyson, why would you say it like that? You think it’s been easy for me?” Lucy asked, throat a little choked.

“No, no, of course not,” he groaned.

“Then what do you mean?”

“Look, forget I said anything, okay? It was really good to see you, Luce.”

Before Lucy could say a word, Tyson walked away, leaving her alone in the kitchen with her head spinning. What the hell was that?

For the final few hours of the party, Lucy indulged in a couple more glasses of wine than she intended, sticking solidly by her parents’ sides. She did her best to keep a smile on her face and ease into the Christmas festivity, even when Laura and Kacey said their hellos, but her mind just kept going back to Tyson.

“We’re going to start saying our goodbyes, okay honey? Why don’t you find all our coats.”

Lucy just nodded at her mom’s suggestion, grateful for the opportunity to escape the crowd. Well, she was grateful, until she saw Tyson sitting on the bench next to the coat rack, face flushed and eyes glassy. He was drunk, at least moderately so.

“Ah, fuck, I didn’t want you to see me like this,” he said, voice slurring.

What did he mean by that?

“I’m just getting our coats. We’re heading out,” she murmured, trying to ignore the whoosh in her stomach.

“Already?”

“It’s nearly midnight, Tys,” she said, smiling wryly.

“Well, fuck. Time flies when you’re having whiskey, I guess,” he groaned, putting his empty glass on the bench next to him.

She huffed out a laugh, unhooking the coats when she finally spotted them.

“You look good, Luce,” he murmured, looking up at her through his eyelashes.

“I do?” she blurted.

Damn it.

But Tyson just grinned. “Yeah, you really do. You always looked good, but damn you’ve really settled into your own skin, eh?”

“I love who I am, yeah,” she nodded.

She wasn’t lying, or even placating. Her studies in environmental impact had opened up a whole new side of her she hadn’t even realised was there, and she loved everything about the person she’d become through it. She just hadn’t realised it was obvious on the outside.

Then again, if anyone was going to notice something like that about her, it was going to be Tyson, wasn’t it?

“You’re too good for me.”

Oh fuck.

“That’s not true. Not even slightly,” Lucy said, frowning.

“No? I can barely get a team to keep me, and you’re soaring ahead with your academic career, just like you deserve,” Tyson scoffed.

This was just the alcohol talking. It had to be.

“Tys, those teams are the ones missing out. You’re amazing,” she said softly.

He paused for a moment, before shaking his head.

“If I’m so amazing, why did we break up?”

Because he had to put hockey first.

Because she had to put college first.

Because neither of them were each other’s first choice.

“That’s not fair, Tyson. We were kids when we first started dating. Barely 13 years old. And we were together for eight years! We had an incredible relationship! It just…we wanted different things. Our priorities were different, our passions were different – we might have grown up together, but we’d also grown apart. Your life is hockey and my life is academics, and that’s okay! That doesn’t mean we didn’t have love, yeah?”

The way that Tyson’s eyes filled up with tears made her own eyes water, dangerous lump rising in her throat.

“If I could go back and change it all, I would. I’d choose you. I’d always choose you.”

His soft words tore a sob from her throat and she shook her head. How could he be so cruel?

“Don’t say that. We made the right decision five years ago and you know it,” she whimpered.

Tyson’s face fell at her devastated expression, and he staggered to his feet.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry,” he said sadly.

And yet here she was, broken hearted all over again.

“I should go. I need to go,” was all she could manage to choke out.

“Lucy, baby, please…”

But Lucy just shook her head, clutching the coats in her hands, shaky smile on her lips as the tears finally fell. “Merry Christmas, Tyson.”

~

“So what happened at the Christmas Eve Party that has you all torn up like this?”

Lucy flinched at her mom’s voice, turning her head to see her standing in the doorway to her bedroom.

“Nothing,” she said quickly.

“Uh huh, and I’m a fairy princess,” her mom snorted.

Lucy couldn’t help but giggle, earning a fond smile as her mom walked into the room and sat down next to her on her bed. Lucy placed a bookmark in the book she’d been reading to give her mom her full attention. She’d needed a little respite from all the preparations to hold her dad’s family for a late lunch, after all the intensity of having her mom’s family over yesterday on Christmas Day, but she’d found herself reliving her conversation with Tyson over and over.

“Sounds like…it sounds like everything was worth it for you.”

“You’re too good for me.”

“If I’m so amazing, why did we break up?”

“If I could go back and change it all, I would. I’d choose you. I’d always choose you.”

So really, her mom coming up to talk to her was a welcome break from all of that as well.

“If you know it was the Christmas Eve Party then you can take a guess,” Lucy said, shrugging.

“I’d rather hear it from you, when Tyson’s involved,” her mom mused.

Well at least her mom was blunt about it.

“We had a couple of conversations, and it stirred up old emotions, old drama. He…mom, he said he’d go back and change it all if he could. That he’d always choose me. What am I supposed to do with that?”

Her mom blinked a couple of times, lips parted in a surprised, before she coughed out a laugh.

“Well I could never accuse Tyson of being subtle.”

“Mom, seriously. This is stressing me out. I can’t stop thinking about it,” Lucy groaned.

“I think that’s an answer in itself, sweetheart,” she said softly.

“What?”

Her mom stayed silent, just nudging Lucy with her shoulder, and Lucy nudged back out of habit. What did she mean, that was an answer in itself?

“Lucy, honey, if you can’t stop thinking about Tyson choosing you above everything else, that means something,” her mom eventually said with a huffed laugh.

“But how can it? He still has his hockey, and I still have academics. Neither of those are going to change any time soon,” Lucy said sadly.

Because at the end of the day, that was the bottom line of it all. Their priorities haven’t changed.

“Just because your both still have your passions doesn’t mean that they have to be your only love. You can have both,” her mom said firmly.

What?

“How can I have both?” Lucy asked, confused.

“Do you love him?” was all she said.

“What?” Lucy said, surprised.

“Do you love him?” her mom repeated.

Lucy opened her mouth, shutting it again before huffing out a laugh. There was only one answer to that.

“Yeah, I never stopped,” she replied.

“Then you can have both. You spent the last five years missing him, and I know damn well that that boy missed you too - neither of you deserve that for another second. You can have both,” her mom said decisively.

She could have both?

How could she have both?

“You love him.”

“I love him,” Lucy whispered.

“Go get him.”

Lucy whimpered as she looked into her mom’s eyes, but she only saw warmth and encouragement. Her mom was right. She loved Tyson. She loved Tyson and if seeing him again this Christmas had taught her anything, it was that she was stupid if she tried to deny how much she missed him. If she didn’t tell him now, when would she?

“He leaves today. I need to go now,” she said suddenly.

“Well damn, okay then. Put on a sweater and I’ll find your snow boots,” her mom grinned.

Lucy felt like she was in a haze as she walked as quickly down the street as was safe, heart pounding as she spotted Tyson loading bags into his grandpa’s car.

“Tyson!”

His head whipped around at her shout, eyes going wide as he saw her walking towards him. Tyson shuffled down the driveway, missing Jim’s fond smile as he himself went back into the house, and the moment that she was standing in front of him, Tyson cupped his hands over her elbows to steady her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I love you,” she breathed.

Tyson whimpered, but Lucy wasn’t discouraged, not when she saw the wonder that filled his expression.

“You love me?”

“I love you. I love you so much and I can’t stop thinking about everything you said the other night,” she blurted out.

“Luce, I’m sorry, I know I upset you but…”

“No, Tys, it’s okay,” Lucy said, shaking her head as she interrupted, “While I stand by what I said, that we made the right decision at the time, maybe we could make a different decision now?”

“What are you saying?”

She could understand his hesitation, really she could. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t coming out with this out of the blue, after five years of nothing at all. After five years of heartbreak and heartache. But her mom was right – she missed him so fiercely and she couldn’t bear the thought of him not knowing that.

“I want us to start over new. I never stopped loving you, not for one moment. We could have both. We could have our passions and our love, and I hate that it’s taken me this long to even consider that? I miss you and I love you and I know you’re heading to the airport to fly back to Raleigh, but tell me I’m not crazy for thinking we could do this?”

Tyson’s jaw dropped as he processed her long rant, and it was only his firm grip on her elbows that stopped her from giving up hope.

“That was a lot,” Tyson said.

She winced. “I know, but…”

“And you poured out a lot of emotion there,” he interrupted.

Lucy kept her mouth shut this time, as much as she wanted to beg him to say more.

“It’s been agony for five years, for so many reasons, but hearing you say that you love me and you want to give our relationship another shot? I just…”

Tyson trailed off, letting out a long breath.

“I understand if I’m too late,” she murmured.

But Tyson huffed out a laugh, raising one hand from her elbow to cup her face in a gentle motion that had her breath hitching in her throat.

“There is no world in which you’d be too late,” Tyson said softly.

“Really?”

“I love you too, Lucy. I never stopped either,” he murmured.

She couldn’t stop the incredulous laugh that tumbled from her lips, smiling back up at Tyson as he smiled at her.

“We’re really doing this?” she asked, giddy.

“Yeah, baby, we are. I don’t know how we’re going to do this, or what it’s going to look like, but we’re both adult enough to know how to put in more effort this time round right, yeah? I’ll fly home for the all-star break, and I’ll fly you out for spring break, and we’ll have video calls that neither of us are going to miss. And everything else. We’re going to make it work this time,” he said, tone serious but face grinning.

“And we’re going to communicate, yeah? When one of us is finding it hard? We’ll find little compromises, as we can’t do the big compromises. We’re worth it,” Lucy added, not caring that her cheeks were aching with her smile.

“Yeah, we are. I love you, so much Lucy,” Tyson grinned.

“I love you too.”

Tyson didn’t waste any time in leaning down to press his lips to hers, their last first kiss.

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

pls let the peak dilf era Bruce almost marry Selina. I live for the drama

I mean I ship Brutalia before Batcat sooo. Whoops. Keyboards slipped

"Why are we here?" Selina stage whispered, snuggling against Bruce's side.

"Scouting," Bruce said chuckling a little. "Alfred's idea. He's heard this wedding coordinator is very good. So he reached out and asked if she could find a place for us on the guest list."

"But-"

"I wanted to watch her work before we hired her," Bruce said shrugging. He'd been working with the same team for years but. They were starting to retire now. And it was time to start putting other people on retainer.

He nodded discreetly to where you were off to the side. Dressed professionally in a nude-sleeved skirt and blazer set with matching heels. Modest jewelry. Hair in a French twist. Toned down makeup. But for the earpiece and clipboard, you could almost be mistaken for a guest- not in a bad way.

"Ugh. So serious."

"But the three drunk uncles, two fighting cousins and baby mama running around haven't even caused a blip in proceedings," Bruce noted. Either you'd hired good security OR you had them tied up in a closet.

"How did you-" She broke off and huffed a laugh. Of course he noticed. "Would she get us a chocolate fountain do you think?" she mused.

Bruce smiled a little and kissed the top of her head, "If she can stage a helicopter to land on a beach so a groom can play James Bond, I think she can manage a chocolate fountain."

[bone-evidence]

Figured while we're on the topic, I'd put all my PruCan fics so far in one post! From newest to oldest:

Canadian Charm: Who knew the easiest way to escape a meeting was to blow a kiss?

In Between:

An ancient, dilapidated manor sat on top of a hill, largely forgotten by the folks who lived in the town far below. And yet this manor wasn't empty. Not entirely, anyways. Matthew walked it's gloomy halls, his every step haunted in more ways than one.

Not every haunting was a bad thing.

Last Dance: The castle's ballroom was alive with nobles from kingdoms near and far, all come for a celebration after intense trade negotiations. Matthew, loyal knight and bodyguard to the Elvish Prince, stood on the sidelines with the Prince's cane in hand and longing boiling behind his mask of stoicism.

High Hopes: Madeline and Alfred have been visiting a very specific cafe every Thursday for a year, because poor Madeline is crushing hard on the barista. With a little encouragement from Alfred and empty seats in the rest of the cafe, she finally works up the courage to ask Julia to dinner. Hopefully Madeline can manage to get the question out without making a complete fool of herself.

Witch in the Woods:

Madeline Williams thought being exiled from her village meant the end of her existence. The forest around said village, reputed to be incredibly haunted, has other ideas.

But life in the woods, among fantastic creatures and people of all kinds, isn't as idyllic as it might seem. A chill as cold as the grave seeks to expand its influence over the denizens of the forest and enact revenge for a betrayal between one-time friends. Madeline will have to step into a power she never knew she had in order to save her woodland home and the wonderful souls she comes to call friends. It's a damn good thing she has a gargantuan white wolf to lean on.

Grandaddy Purple:

“Mattie?”

“Mm?”

“What… what do you think happens when we die?”

---

Musings on the afterlife, against a backdrop of twinkling stars, rings of smoke and roof shingles.

Concerning Prussians: A sleepless Prussia finds himself in the guest bedroom of his home, where Canada is also still awake. A late-night chat turns into possibly the sweetest way to fall asleep.

[rosesradio]

hi! congratulations on reaching 400 followers! for your halloween drabble event, perhaps jercy smut in which they do it in halloween costumes? thank you 🙏💌

(trying out bottom!percy for the first time :) also tw for tipsy/drunk sex & breeding kink)

Percy is very bad at dressing up for Halloween.

Jason tells him as much as they both stumble, tipsily, into a spare room at Leo’s Halloween party. Percy just replies that he and his mom used to go all out, though that faded as he got older and busier. Now, he’s wearing brown sweatpants and a matching hoodie with ridiculous googly eyes on top.

He’s supposed to be a seal. Gods, it’s stupid.

“Easy for you to say,” Percy muses, pressing open-mouthed kisses down Jason’s neck. His breath is warm against the sensitive skin, hands wandering up to where the fabric of Jason’s spandex is tucked tightly into the bottom part of the suit. “You look so fuckin’ good, Superman…but I think getting you out of this suit’s gonna be my Kryptonite…”

And, well, Jason wouldn’t want that. He gives Percy a helping hand.

The sensible, decent friend within Jason thinks it would probably be rude to fuck on Leo’s guest bed. Then again, that part of him mostly evaporated with a second drink and Percy’s low voice in his ear.

He was sure Leo and Nico have fucked on Jason’s bed at some point, those exhibitionist freaks.

It’s at this moment that he’s grateful that Percy had asked him to prep him before they left the house. Jason had a sneaking suspicion this was what he had in mind, though who was he to deny his boyfriend? As much as Jason loved fingering Percy open, watching him melt underneath his touch, the son of Jupiter was glad in this moment that the process was quicker.

Jason couldn’t get enough of the sights and feelings when he first slid home. Percy was on top of him this time, putting in the work to lower onto him. His lips part to let out the neediest moans, his eyes rolling up momentarily before they even got started.

Percy settles in nose-to-nose with Jason. The bass of an unknown song pumps outside, though it could be Jason’s own heartbeat. Percy’s breath smells like vodka cranberry.

Jason imagines this is gonna be one of those things he sees when his life flashes before his eyes. All the beautiful things.

And Percy’s murmuring in his ear all the dirty ideas running through his mind, something surprisingly endearing considering he wouldn’t admit half these things sober.

“Fuck, wanna put a collar on you, Jace,” Percy whispers. His pace of bouncing up and down on his cock is not at all consistent, but he’s Percy and he’s perfect and he could make Jason come untouched by moaning his name alone.

“Yeah?” Jason prompts, holding onto Percy’s hips to guide him, driving up into him more firmly. At least, he thinks it’s more firmly. His form could be just as sloppy, but if the moans escaping Percy’s lips are any indication, he’s doing something right.

Percy nods, whimpering as he palms Jason’s chest shamelessly, toying with where his costume has been pushed up.

“Wanna get you pregnant,” Percy manages, eyes dark and lust-blown. His breath was warm and tingling across his lips.

Jason wants to taste him. So he pulls him down by his stupid hoodie and does just that.

“Don’t think we’re doing this right for that to happen,” Jason breathes. And he knows it’s impossible but something in him lights up at the thought. “Could get you pregnant though—fuck, mm…could come deep inside you…have you carry our kids…”

Pups. Jason almost said pups.

Fuck.

“Like a seahorse,” Percy says softly. And then he’s nuzzling into the crook of Jason’s neck, against the spandex. His hips jolt as he comes, moaning in a shameless way that pulls Jason right over the edge as well. He comes to the thought of getting Percy pregnant, of their love creating new life with the ease of this act.

The pair unwind, catching their breaths as Percy pulls off slowly. The stupid googly eyes on Percy’s hoodie are still staring at him lopsidedly.

Jason loves Percy more than anything, though he really is the worst at dressing up for Halloween.

[hybeboyenthusisast]

☆ thirteen ☆

prev / masterlist / next

wc: 1.1k

a/n: im weak for this kai

additional note: i accidentally published 2 chapters ahead, so while this chapter was originally labeled 'eleven', it is indeed thirteen. i reccomend going back to chapter ten (everything should be fixed!) so you can read what is actually chapters ten and eleven

You couldn't help but feel bad for Kai as he stepped inside your dorm, where your members were waiting eagerly to meet him.

Everything was totally normal at first, him texting you that he was there and you racing to the door to grab him. Grab him, indeed, as you excitedly wrapped your arms around his waist and tugged him towards you. Kai's familiar laughter, deeper in tone now that he had grown up, resonated in his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and pressed you against him.

"You weren't nearly this excited to see me last time," Kai chuckled, squeezing you gently before pulling away from the hug.

You laughed, lightly smacking his arm and stepping to the side to let him walk inside. "I was nervous as shit for my debut, you ass."

"YN, be nice to our guest!" Yue scolded you from her seat on the couch. She wasn't sitting anymore, though; none of the girls were as they had all turned around and were peering over the couch. Four pairs of curious, excited eyes were trained on said guest, who waved nervously. Yue stood up, making her way around to properly greet Kai. "She didn't even bother telling us you were here, she just ran to the door. Hi, Kai, I'm Yue. It's great to meet you!"

Kai and Yue bowed to each other, followed by Kai bowing in greeting to Chae, Lizi, and Rae as well. "Hello! I'm excited to meet you all, yn talks about you all a lot. Thank you for welcoming me into your home!"

"Are you always this nice or are you a suck-up?" Rae quirked an eyebrow, resting her elbow on top of the couch cushion and her face in her hand.

"Rae what the fu-," Lizi chirped in surprise, cutting herself off when she remembered she was trying to make a good impression (and avoid Yue's wrath). "Ignore her, she's just like that, but she's really harmless. Hi, I'm Lizi! I'm so happy you're here, I can't wait to get to know you!"

Chae, who had by now pushed Rae onto the couch and was holding a pillow over her head, gave an innocent smile. "Chae, nice to meet you."

"I warned you, Kai," you say, shaking your head affectionately at the girls' behavior. Yue was grabbing Chae and Rae by their ears, scolding them just as a real mother would, while Lizi giggled at the show. "Come on, I'll give you the tour while Yue deals with the problem children."

Kai barked out a laugh, a grin on his face as he followed after you. "They're just as chaotic as Beomgyu and Yeonjun, especially when they fight."

The tour was pretty quick, considering it was a dormitory. Rae and Chae's room looked like a hurricane ran through it, while Yue's was nearly spotless. The bathroom was overflowing with various skin care and beauty products, something Kai noted looked like the entire contents of a make-up artist's bag.

Your shared room with Lizi was apparently the part Kai was looking forward to the most, something that made sense as soon as Kai made himself comfortable on your bed. "This does not feel like your bedroom at all, honestly," Kai confessed as he looked over the knick knacks lining your shelf.

You pushed Kai's feet towards the wall, making a space for you to sit on your bed that he had taken over. "Yes, well, not surprising it wouldn't look the same as my childhood bedroom, considering I'm an adult and I have a roommate. "

"There's still pieces of you in here, though," Kai mused, waving a plushie in your face. It was a penguin plushie that you kept on your bed, the same plushie that Kai had won for you at a carnival when you were 13. "I can't believe you still have this; even the glasses and scarf are still attached!"

You yanked the plushie out of his hands, pulling it into your chest and pouting at Kai. "Of course I still have it, you spent so long trying to win that game just to win me it when I couldn't do it. I still really appreciate that, by the way. I think that's one of my favorite memories with you."

Kai laughed, sitting up so he was siting shoulder-to-shoulder with you. "You were so sad, I wanted to see you smile again," Kai's tone was so soft, just as his gaze felt on your skin.

You smiled, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "You've always been too sweet to me," you giggled as Kai's cheeks grew pink. Placing your favorite plushie back on the bed behind you, you grabbed Kai's hand and tugged him along as you stood up. "C'mon, sweet cheeks, Lizi made cupcakes."

"Sweet cheeks?" Kai questioned, squeezing your hand as he followed you out the room and back to the living room. You shrugged in response, throwing a wink his way as you both re-entered the chaos that was unfolding.

Chae was whining about something- you weren't sure what, as Rae had captured most of your attention as she scooted on the floor like a dog. Yue had her head in her hands, obviously having given up on wrangling the duo. Lizi stood in the doorway to the kitchen, munching on a cupcake and watching the scene in front of her.

"I would say they aren't normally like this, but that would be a lie. Unfortunately, they're much calmer on camera so nobody knows how much of a menace either of them can be," you shook your head, rolling your eyes. You looked over at Lizi, eyeing the chocolate cupcake in her hand. "Lizi, cupcakes?"

Lizi turned towards the two of you with a grin, her eyes darting down to your connected hands before flying back up to your face. "Yes! Please, enjoy some cupcakes! I made a batch for you to bring back to your dorm, Kai, so you can share with your members."

"If you're trying to make a good impression on them, trust me, it's gonna work. They're already so excited to meet yn, can't imagine how excited they'll be to meet the girl who gave them cupcakes," Kai grinned, taking the cupcake that you were offering to him once you made your way into the kitchen. Lizi cheered, happy to hear that her cupcakes will have the intended effect.

You and Kai stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, silently munching on your cupcakes. You flushed as you felt Kai's fingers fiddle with your own, your free hand on the side that he stood on. His skin was soft as he slid his fingers in between yours and held your hand.

The weirdest part, it really didn't feel weird at all.

Reconnect taglist (open): @windex-princess-ami @missychief1404 @n1k1mura

Permanent Taglist (open): @junnmizz @ashxxgyu​ @igotkpoops​ @xiaoderrrr​ @alyssajavenss @mintxts <3

[ozarkthedog]

Happy birthday Ozzie, and congratulations on your follower milestone!!! You beautiful bean, I'm so glad this hellsite put us in each others' paths.

📝 For location-based smut prompt, Tim Rockford and dealer's choice of

public -8 inside one muses’s office. OR public 9 - inside a third party’s office they shouldn’t have access to. 

Just need this man to get freaky with me in an office setting is what I'm saying because look at him:

😭 i’m thankful everyday that we’ve gotten so close! here’s my token of gratitude. 😘💙

18+ mdni. Tim Rockford x f!reader. oral sex (fem receiving). public but private setting — office. special guest.

This is so wrong. 

It was bad enough that Tim was your superior and that you'd been sneaking around for the last month, fucking each other whenever he had a few moments of free time, but using a random co-worker's office? That was flat out stupid. 

Tim drops to his knees in the small room, making quick work of your skirt and hooking one of your legs over his leather holster encased shoulder.

He breathes in deep as he presses the lower half of his jaw against your panty clad mound. "Been thinkin' about this sweet pussy all day." He holds your weary gaze as he slots the thin material to the side and latches his lips around your clit.

Your fingers card through his hair, tugging just so to make him groan into your slick heat. His tongue dances along your slit, dipping between your folds, earning him soft hisses and mewls from your gasping lips.

This is sure to blow up in your faces, but as Tim slides two thick fingers into your dripping core and rubs expertly against your slick walls, you couldn't care less.

"Shit- you're fuckin' soaked." Tim groans as your velvet walls mold to the shape of his girthy digits.

Your spine bows against the corkboard nailed to the wall; it's pinned with a precise diary of information: crime scene photos, newspaper clippings, and various stake-out notes. The small plastic tac heads dig into your skin as Tim sucks your clit into his mouth and vibrates the little button with a deep groan.

Your chest heaves under your blouse as the pleasure steadily mounts. Your hips move on their own, grinding against Tim's stubble and tongue. Brute hands circle your hips, keeping you safe and balanced as your peak draws closer.

He leans back on his heels and stares up at you. His cheeks are flushed a desert pink, and his lips glisten under the dim light as he works you closer and closer to the edge.

"Come on my tongue. Wanna taste you." Tim husks before diving back into your cunt with a feral energy you'd only come to know since being with him.

Your eyes flutter closed as the pleasure envelopes you, drowning all your senses. Had your eyes been open, you would've seen the shadowy figure slink through the door just as you were starting to come.

A heavy wave of arousal coats Tim's tongue as he pushes it further into your drenched hole. He grunts at your taste, greedily drinking you down and licking every creamy drop from your swollen cunt as you bite back the wanton moans that threaten to slip from your lips. 

Tremors rake your body as you catch your breath and come back into your body. The foreign, bitter smell of smoke perks your senses. Your heart slams into your throat as a red ember glows from a dark corner of the room. 

"You put on quite a show, Gatita." A deep voice praises from the black abyss. 

Tim moves lightning fast, spinning on the spot and shielding your body from the unknown figure.

Javier Pena steps into the light. Your co-worker and whose office you now had the pleasure of corrupting. 

He stalks toward his desk with a glint in his eye, pinning you and Tim to the floor as he retrieves a folder that's left on top of a mess of papers.

The men exchange silent words while Javier takes a long drag from his cigarette. Tim relaxes, his broad shoulders slightly sagging once he realizes the threat is neutralized. Javier smirked at your wide eyes while he exhaled a lungful of smoke toward the ceiling.

"You should lock the door next time," Javier suggests as he moves to leave. He hesitates, hand perched on the shiny, brass knob before looking over his shoulder. "Unless you're looking for a third person to join." 

Ozzie’s 11k birthday sleepover

[myrandomfandomramblings]

In which Percy simply has a happy 20th birthday party - A Percy Jackson fanfic

“Close your eyes,” Grover told Percy as he turned onto the road to the Jackson’s cabin in Montauk.

“Haven’t I had enough surprises in my life?” Percy asked, “at this point I’d be more surprised if things just went as expected.”

Grover shrugged, “Annabeth’s orders.”

Percy sighed and closed his eyes. One thing that never failed to surprise him was Annabeth. Smart, beautiful, badass and by some miracle completely in love with him. It was hard to complain about his bad luck when he was lucky enough to call her his girlfriend. 

Percy kept his eyes shut while Grover parked and helped him out of the car. Even without his sight the location was unmistakable with its salt air, ocean breeze and chorus of seagulls. This was his favourite place in the world.

“OK open your eyes,” Grover said.

Percy did and was greeted with a chorus of “surprise” and a sight that made this favourite place even better. Their little cabin was decked out in party decorations: balloons, streamers, and a number of others that he didn’t know the names of, all blue. A large banner read “Happy 20th Birthday Percy”. Or that’s what he assumed it said anyway. He was having a hard time focusing on any one thing and the letters wouldn’t stay still. In front of the cabin stood Annabeth; his mom, Sally and his step-dad Paul who was holding his 2 year-old half-sister, Estelle. They all wore blue party hats and big smiles. Annabeth was the first to break away from the group and come give Percy a hug. She was quickly followed by Sally and little Estelle who broke away from her dad in favour of grabbing her big brother’s legs.

“This is amazing,” Percy said , “but you didn’t have to go to this much trouble.” 

“Of course we did,” Sally rebuted, “you’ve survived two decades as a powerful demigod, that’s worth celebrating.”

Her tone was teasing but Percy knew that there had been many times over the last 20 years that she worried he’d never see this milestone.

“There’s more to see,” Annabeth interjected, “do you want to show him?” she asked Estelle, who nodded excitedly and grabbed Percy’s hand, leading him around the side of the cabin to the beach.

On the beach stood long tables draped in blue tablecloths and topped with all kinds of blue foods. Hamburgers and hotdogs sizzled on a nearby grill, now manned by Paul. Nearby all sorts of backyard games were set up: horseshoes, corn hole, spike ball and paddle ball. Down the beach was a chest filled to the brim with beach toys: skim and boogie boards, goggles and snorkels, sand shovels and buckets, pool noodles and water guns.

“Wow! I don’t even know where to start,” Percy mused.

“Well you can think about it while we wait for all the guests,” Annabeth teased.

“Who’s all coming?”

Annabeth shrugged, “You’ll see.”

“Never making things easy,” Percy mumbled unable to suppress a smile.

“How many people are we expecting?” Paul asked, “will we have enough room in the drive way. Should we move our cars?”

Annabeth laughed, “I don’t think that will be an issue.”

“What do you me-“ Paul was cut off by a large shadow appearing just in front of them. 

Out of it stepped three familiar faces. Before he could even say a word in the way of greeting, Percy was picked up off the ground and enveloped in a bear hug.

“Happy birthday brother,” Tyson sang squeezing Percy harder. Mrs. O’Leary added to the celebration by slathering Percy with big, wet, hellhound kisses. Ella fluttered nearby watching the commotion,

“Tyson missed Percy,” she supplied, “Ella too. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Sextus Propertius (c 54 b.c. - a.d. 2).”

“Thanks guys,” Percy said when Tyson finally let him go, “and it’s good to see you all,” he continued rubbing Mrs. O’Leary’s ears.

“Have fun,” Sally added, “we have lots of food, and games. Help yourselves to anything.”

All three immediately headed towards the food table, quickly followed by Grover, who it appeared was just waiting for the OK to dig in. Percy briefly wondered what Paul saw as a six and a half foot cyclops, a mastiff the size of a tank, a satyr with horns sprouting on either side of his party hat and goat legs protruding from his Bermuda shorts and a harpy with bird legs and bright red wings made their way towards his station. However, his attention was quickly drawn to the sky as a group of pegasi with riders began to descend. Although they were still far away, Percy could already recognize the pair in the lead as the sun glinted off black wings and bright red-hair.

“Hey boss,” Blackjack greeted Percy as his hooves hit the sand.

“Happy birthday,” Rachel added slipping off his back.

“Thanks,” Percy replied stroking blackjack’s nose and giving Rachel an awkward hug, acutely aware of Annabeth standing behind him, who appeared to be holding back a laugh at his uneasiness.

“Any sugar cubes at that buffet?” Blackjack asked looking towards the food laden tables.

“I’m not sure but you’re more than welcome to check.”

As he cantered away Percy began welcoming the other pegasi and his friends from camp half-blood.  When he finished welcoming the last pair Percy looked around and realized it was starting to really look like a party: Estelle sat on Tyson’s shoulders and clapped as Mrs. O’Leary ran down the beach retrieving a tree trunk Tyson had thrown. Annabeth and Rachel were playing spike ball against the Stoll Brothers. Ella, Grover and many of his camp friends were milling around, chatting and enjoying the food. Paul and Percy’s mom stood to the side in conversation, he could hear Paul asking if they should have bought hay and water troughs. Percy was just about to join them when he was hit by a large gust of wind and a tan-horse appeared beside him. Percy knew who the rider was before he even looked up.

“Hey Hazel, how’s the Legion?” he asked as she slipped off the horses back.

“Much better without active world-ending wars. Thanks for asking,” She joked then proceeded to summon a pile of gold from the ground, which the horse proceeded to eat, “Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks, where’s Frank?”

“He’s on his way.”

“Baby man is slow as-,” Arion, the horse whined, but Percy cut him off,

“That’s not necessary.”

Arion finished his gold and Percy expected him to run off like usual, disappearing over the horizon in 0.5 seconds flat but to his surprise he trotted over towards the group playing fetch. There he was greeted by excited squeals of “horsie” from both Tyson and Estelle, and even more surprising to Percy he let both of them stroke his nose.

“Since when does he let anyone but you touch him?” Percy asked Hazel. 

She just shrugged, “he’s an immortal horse, born to two gods in human form, there’s no use trying to understand him.”

That was fair, Percy thought, but before he could verbalize that an eagle flew down from the sky, landed beside Hazel then transformed into a young man.

“Frank,” Percy said grasping his hand and pulling him into a quick hug.

“Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks, did you fly the whole way here from New Rome?”

“No, just from the airport. I took a commercial flight most of the way, we can’t all have a godly horse or metal dragon.”

“Yeah, poor Frank can only shape-shift,” Hazel joked, “but let the record show I did offer for him to ride on Arion with me.”

“Yeah, no offence but I didn’t trust that he wouldn’t buck me off half way across the country and leave me stranded in the middle of Kansas or Colorado.”

Further conversation was cut off by another shadow appearing beside them. Out of it emerged two teens and over a dozen small, shadow creatures.

“Happy Birthday Percy,” Nico greeted him.

“Yeah, Happy Birthday,” Will added.

“Thanks, and thanks for coming,” Percy replied.

“Are you going to say hello to your own sister?” Hazel teased pulling Nico into a hug.

Nico rolled his eyes but immediately hugged her back.

“And how are all my nieces and nephews?” Hazel asked looking at the shadow creatures.

“The Cocoa Puffs are good,” Nico smiled a hint of adoration in his voice.

“They’ve become super popular at camp,” Will shared, “and enjoyed their summer vacation to the underworld.”

“You went on vacation to the underworld?” Frank asked.

“Just for a week,” Will supplied, “It grows on you, once you get to know it,” he finished addressing their questioning looks and shooting a coy smile at his boyfriend.

“Am I late to the party?,” a familiar voice called capturing the groups attention. “My flight was cancelled after I made a big deal of not wanting to use my Dad’s private jet. Luckily, a friend offered me a ride.”

Percy turned to see Piper alongside Tempest, the equine storm-spirit. He was happy to see her but the scene conjured up an ache in his heart as he was reminded that one of his friends wouldn’t be joining them: Jason. Jason was Piper’s ex-boyfriend and the one who had tamed and made Tempest a part of their group. He died over a year ago now and Percy still found it hard to believe. Part of him wanted to think he was with them in spirit but he knew better. Jason deserved better than being stuck between the land of the living and the dead and he had gotten it: Elysium or rebirth. Either way he wouldn’t be here, but his memory still would.

“Hi Piper, how have you been?” Percy asked

“Good, living with my Dad in California has been great,” she replied giving him a hug, “happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

Piper began greeting the others, giving them hugs and asking them about their lives, while Tempest made his way down the beach to where Arion and Blackjack seemed to be in deep conversation.

Looking around, Percy noted Tyson and Grover were now playing horse shoes, cheered on by Ella and Annabeth. Rachel was playing corn hole against Estelle and Sally. Paul was still at the grill, serving up food to a line of campers with Mrs. O’Leary laying at his feet creating a puddle of drool the size of a kiddie pool. 

“So who wants to come swimming?” Piper asked.

“I will,” said Hazel.

“Not me,” Nico offered, “Will made me put on like five layers of sunscreen before we came and I’m not about to just wash it off. Plus, shadow travel still takes it out of me I think I need a bit of a break first.”

“I hear you, the flight from the airport was longer than I thought, I’m wiped,” Frank offered, “would you be up for a low-key card game on the porch?”

“Ah-ya-sure” Nico stuttered.

“I’ll grab some food for all of us, then meet you there,” Will offered. 

With that they all went their separate ways leaving Percy standing alone. He was just debating who he wanted to join when a large group came from the front of the house. In the lead were two teenaged girls accompanied by two metallic greyhounds: one gold, the other silver. Behind them came two white horses and at least half a pack of wolves. Percy wondered why the wolves had come with Thalia and Reyna instead of staying with the rest of the Hunters: maybe they had vacation days they needed to use up before they expired, maybe they didn’t trust boys around their lieutenant and felt she required an escort or maybe they just liked to party. It really didn’t matter to Percy, as long as they didn’t eat anyone they were welcome. 

Percy greeted the girls excitedly. Out of all his friends they were the ones he saw the least and he was glad they were able to make it. As they gave Percy an update on their hunt for the Teumessian Fox, Mrs. O’Leary bounded up to Reyna’s greyhounds, bowed and wagged her tail ready to play. To Percy’s surprise instead of their eyes glowing or barring their teeth they both began to wag their tails and looked to Reyna.

“Ok, go play,” she told them, and they took off with Mrs. O’Leary in hot pursuit.

Percy blinked, “They play?”

“Their dogs,” Reyna stated.

“I’ve always thought of them more as highly trained, lie-detecting, flesh-ripping, killing machines.”

At that Reyna actually laughed. She seemed lighter now as a Hunter of Artemis, instead of a Praetor of the Twelfth Legion. It suited her. Percy chatted with them for another twenty minutes before Annabeth came to recruit them for a game of beach paddleball. He was about to follow them when a commotion in the water caught his attention.

“RAINBOW!” Tyson yelled as he splashed and clapped as the Hippocampus swam up and nuzzled him, oblivious to Piper, Hazel and the others in the ocean around them.

Percy went down to the water and greeted Rainbow,  the whole time wondering if his friends and family had somehow managed to send him an invitation to the party or if he just sensed they were there and wanted to say hi. They tried to get Percy to stay for a game of Marco Polo but his stomach was growling and the food smelled too good to resist. 

He had just finished filling his plate when a bronze dragon descended from the sky, carrying a small shipping container in his claws. When the dragon landed he looked right at Percy, made some creaking noises then shot fire straight into the air. 

“Festus says ‘Happy Birthday’,” Leo supplied slipping off the dragon’s back, then helping Calypso down after him.

“Thanks Festus. Good to see you all.”

“You too, man,” Leo said approaching Percy, “sorry we’re late, it took longer than I thought to load everything up.”

“What exactly did you bring?,” Percy asked, “should I be worried about explosions?”

“No explosives this time,” Leo laughed, “just some good old-fashion automatonic pegasus wings.”

Before Percy could ask what he meant, Reyna came over followed by the two white horses.

“One-eye, short-ear, this is Leo, the demigod I told you about. Leo this is one-eye and short-ear.”

Now that the horses were closer Percy could see they weren’t horses at all but the pegasi that had been abused and de-winged by the Triumvirate before being rescued and taken in by Reyna and the hunter’s. Percy had been told the story but this was the first time he was meeting the creatures. Although they now looked healthy he could still see the scars on their backs where their wings were removed and on their flanks where they were whipped. 

“Can he really build us functional wings,” one-eye neighed, “should we trust him?”

“Leo can build anything,” Percy replied to the pegasus, “and you can trust him, right Reyna?”

“You can,” she agreed, “even if he once open fired on my city, igniting a war.”

“I was possessed by an eidolon demon,” Leo groaned and Festus whirred his teeth in support of his friend.

If this worried the pegasi they didn’t let on. Leo opened the shipping container and started to unload equipment. Percy ate his food as he watched Leo and Calypso set up a make shift work-shop and get to work, measuring and fitting the pegasi with their new wings. Half an hour, and a full stomach later, they were taking their first test flights. With the sun reflecting off the bronze feathers they looked amazing and they seemed to work just as well as the pegasi took off and began to do loops in the sky. It wasn’t long before they were joined by the pegasi from camp-half blood, Tempest and Festus, all circling in the sky like a flock of very large, very equine birds. This apparently frustrated Arion who was swearing under his breath about the lack of tall buildings or topography to run up in Montauk. As if just to spite him for calling him a baby man Frank turned into an eagle and joined the fun.

To Percy’s surprise the rest of the party went off without a hitch. He expected so many demigods in one place to attract every monster in a 100 mile radius but none showed up, so he just enjoyed himself.

He watched Nico and Reyna cream Frank and Leo at spike ball. He and Piper taught Grover and Will how to skim board. He teamed up with Thalia for a corn-hole doubles tournament and came second only to his mom and step-dad (the only mortals there). He watched all the Cocoa Puffs listen intently as Ella read them a book and what appeared to be an equine vs. canine soccer/handball/water polo game, with a ball being thrown between pegasi, wind-spirits, hippocampi and godly horses on one side and wolves, hellhounds and automatonic greyhounds on the other. He swam with Rainbow and Tyson. He was excited when Coach Hedge stopped by with Mellie and baby Chuck. He laughed with Chuck and Estelle as they followed Coach Hedge’s example excitedly destroying the sandcastles Percy and Annabeth had helped them make. He joined everyone dancing as Grover, Piper, and Austin from the Apollo cabin as well as some of his siblings put on a show. He made crafts with rocks and driftwood with Rachel, Calypso and Hazel. When Chiron stopped by, he had a heart-felt conversation with him over a game of checkers and watched his mom hold back tears as they talked, clearly about Percy as they kept glancing his way. He skipped rocks with Nico and Frank and went all out in a water fight, becoming unstoppable by teaming up with blackjack. As the sun set he was chatting with Leo as they prepared a campfire, when he noticed a large silhouette approaching in a small boat. As the boat hit land a silver haired titan stepped out.

“Bob,” Annabeth yelled tackling him in a hug. Percy and Annabeth had only seen the Titan once since he was rescued from Tartarus by Nico and Will after having sacrificed himself so they could survive and escape Tartarus and being trapped in a permanent regeneration cycle by Nyx as a result.  Although Bob forgave them for leaving him behind to save the world they still struggled to forgive themselves. Nico and Will were the next to greet the Titan, followed by the Cocoa Puffs, then Percy himself. The other’s weren’t sure what to make of him having never met him before but once Tyson broke the ice introducing himself and inviting Bob to join their card game, he fit right in. After a few minutes small Bob popped his head out of Bob’s overalls and padded over to greet Percy, Annabeth, Will and Nico before deciding to entertain himself by swatting at Mrs. O’Leary’s tail that wagged in her sleep. One of the young wolf pups saw the ghost cat and tried to chase him but small Bob went skeletal then grew into a full-grown sabre-toothed tiger which put a stop to that pretty fast. 

Once the sun set they roasted marshmallows, made smores and had a sing-along around the fire. They tried ghost stories but as they had all lived through multiple wars none of them scared easily so they ended up just listening to Ella recite the classics. Mrs. O’Leary, small bob and the Cocoa Puffs fell asleep in a pile and Percy had never seen a cuter pile of monsters.

As it got later guests began to leave in groups. His friends from camp, including Rachel and the pegasi left first; followed by Nico, Will and the cocoa puffs; then Reyna, Thalia and their pack; Leo, Calypso, and Piper (who was going to spend sometime at camp) on Festus, left next; then Hazel on Arion and Frank on Tempest; Rainbow swam back into the ocean, followed by Bob and small bob in their enchanted canoe; Tyson, Ella and Mrs. O’Leary were the last to leave with lots of hugs and promises to see each other soon. Percy’s parents and sister had already turned in for the night leaving just him, Annabeth and Grover. They stayed up playing games, talking, laughing and reminiscing about old times. Grover was the first to fall asleep just after 1 am. Percy and Annabeth left him on the patio couch and headed for a walk down the beach hand-in-hand, looking at the stars.

“Hard to believe it’s been four years since the end of the Titan war,” Percy finally said breaking their comfortable silence.

“Sure is, a lot has happened since then,” Annabeth sighed.

“Too much,” Percy laughed.

They fell into another comfortable silence just enjoying being together.

“Happy birthday seaweed brain,” Annabeth finally broke the silence, “and happy four year anniversary.” 

She smiled before pulling him into a kiss. And that- that moment. That kiss. That day. - was exactly why Percy turned down immortality on that date, four years earlier: because things could always get better, and if things got better than that, that would really be something to see, and he couldn’t wait.

[thatbanditqueen]

No One Walks Out Ch 5: Salty Lips

Warnings: Tarot misinformation, penetrative vaginal sex, manipulation, fluff, smut, then angsty tears. 18+ Minors DNI.

Apparently I don't know how to schedule things so I am posting earlier than expected. Please file your complaints accordingly.

Word Count: 9.4 K

Summary: Becky has settled into the rhythm of life at Graceland over the first few days there, though she still has not had a full tour. Luckily, her hosts finally get it together to show her around. She goes to visit her sister, but encounters an unexpected guest. At least for her.

I need to first thank my alpha, @whositmcwhatsit for reading the first draft and giving me feedback as she corrected my grammar. Which is generally bad. Thanks Jade, I some how fooled you into hanging out with me and I would feel guilty for asking you to read my stuff, because it takes you away from your own writing which is necessary and needed for the good of the fandom. But you always make my work better so I cannot feel guilty at all. No, I selfishly will take every glance and glint and comment you give me.

Also thanks to my fellow Elvis sister wives for all their morale support and brilliance. Just being in your orbit is a gift: @vintageshanny @missmaywemeetagain @be-my-ally @ellie-24 @from-memphis-with-love

If you need to catch up first:

Chapter 4: Kaleidoscope

or start from the beginning: No One Walks Out On Big Daddy Masterlist

Chapter 5: Salty Lips  

11:45 a.m. Thursday, June 19, 1975

Graceland Estate, Memphis, TN

A cardinal twittered loudly, joined by a chickadee, and Becky was so ensconced in the bubble of idyllic life at Graceland that she wondered if this musical rendition wasn’t just for her benefit. Lisa gave an excited hum where she sat next to Becky on top of the picnic table by the pool and slapped down another tarot card.

“Alright, Becky, ‘Page of Swords’, what does this one mean?”

Becky looked closely at the drawing, closing one eye and squinting nearer for effect.

“Well, babt,” Becky mused, trying to stifle a grin and pronounce the girl’s fortune with complete confidence. “They all go together.” She set it next to the other cards they had drawn: Strength, The Chariot and The Moon. Becky was not sure how many cards you were supposed to put down when reading tarot, but four seemed like a good number.

”So?” Lisa slapped her hand on the table.

“Well, so, Page of Swords, as we can see here now, obviously means you are gonna live on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and you’ll have yellow tights, and a pretty pink dress, and a big ol’ sword that you’ll be very good at using,”

“I’m already pretty good with my daddy’s samurai sword, wanna see?”

“Hmmm, maybe later.”

Becky thought of her shooting lesson the other day and decided against more deadly weapons. Getting through the day without letting Lisa kill or be killed would count as a win for bonding with the kid of her new  - lover? fling? friend? - whatever Elvis was to her. She decided to go with fling. A short fling. They were two grown adults having a casual, fun, very short fling. Well, one rock star and one adult. 

Was she even an adult? She had spent most of the last three days playing with a seven year old until the late afternoon, and then playing with Elvis into the night. She felt like she had wandered into a strange, enchanted land where all the adults acted like children and all the children acted like adults. Water fights, target practice, ice cream for breakfast, and impulsive shopping sprees. 

Not having a schedule or others depending on her had been freeing at first, but now, on day four of life at Graceland, Becky had started to feel somewhat unmoored from reality away from the structure of her daily life back home.

She looked down at the table, where Lisa was tapping on the next card, and continued her tarot reading. 

“Ok, see here, Strength, that’s an angel with a lion. Of course, now, that is just symbolic. The angel is your conscience telling you the right thing to do, but you won’t have this moral confidence until you own a lion. They can be very difficult pets, I hear, I recommend getting an ice locker for all the gazelle meat you are going to need to feed it.”

“You’re silly, Becky, no one owns lions as pets.”

“No one yet, but hey baby, according to your fortune, you are gonna change all that. There’s nothing you can do. It’s in the cards. That means it has to happen.”

Lisa rolled her eyes, her lips betraying a smile. “Ok, what else?”

“Well, here, The Chariot, clearly one day you will go to Egypt and meet a prince -”

“And marry him?”

“Well, that depends. On whether you like him or wanna feed him to your lion?” Becky growled and gashed her teeth playfully as if she was going to eat Lisa’s shoulder. Just as Lisa shrieked and hit Becky, the back door slammed and they glanced over to see Elvis’ aunt Delta stagger out.

“Alright, Lisa Marie now, s’getting to be round lunch time. I just got Ma settled out in the rockin’ chair, so it’s time for you to come eat.” Delta looked Becky up and down as she spoke. 

“Whatcha y’all got goin on?” she said, and Becky noticed Lisa stiffen and gather up the cards.

“We’re just playing Old Maid, Aunt Delta.”

Becky raised her eyebrow at Lisa, who just shook her head with a crafty smile. Becky turned to the older woman. Hmmm, I guess these older ladies don’t approve of mystical practices. Or maybe they only let one resident here get away doing whatever he wanted. 

She thought of Elvis’ grandmother, who had turned to her after he had left the dinner table the night before, taken her arm and whispered low:

“I hope ya don’t break his heart, like all the rest. That young boy ova there has been through so much. Don’t know why he canna find a good woman. Guess they just don’t make us like they used ta.” Minnie Mae had then released Becky’s hand and spit part of her chew into the tea cup next to her dinner plate. 

Becky only had a moment to feel uneasy before Elvis swooped back in and pulled her into the den and onto his lap, where he cajoled Lisa to perform “Crocodile Rock” for the group on top of the coffee table. 

No, I reckon these good ole girls who sit around bemoaning the lack of any good women left would probably not go in for tarot cards, Becky thought, as she looked at Elvis’ aunt.

“How are you doing today, Ms. Presley?”

“Hmmm, it’s Biggs. And it’s Mrs. And never you mind, you can save it, I don’t care for you kissing up ta me. I know your kind.” 

Becky tightened her smile at Delta’s grimace, wondering if that was the faint odor of vodka wafting off the older woman. Just then, Delta weaved towards her and gripped a nearby chair to steady herself. Her eyes narrowed at Becky in judgment. 

“You are like all the others, waiting around for your payday. Out for all you can get. Bout as useful as gum on a boot heel. Humph.”

“Oh brother, here we go!” Lisa jumped up and walked past Delta. “C’mon, Becky Butt, let’s go get some chocolate cake.”

Becky smiled even wider at Delta as she followed Lisa, and watched the older woman scan the pool area, before tottering back to the house behind them.

“Chocolate cake? That doesn’t sound like a good lunch.”

“Oh, it’s the best lunch, don’t worry, I told Nancy before she left this morning, so it’s all ready.”

“They - they  let you have that for lunch”

“Let me?” Lisa grinned a devious grin and her eyes sparkled. “I’m the boss round here when Daddy’s asleep. If they ever give me any guff, I just lay down tha law an let ‘em know how it is, jack.”

“Oh? And how is it?”

“Get with the program or git!” Lisa held the door to the kitchen open for Becky, and grabbed the milk out of the fridge.

Sure enough, there in the middle of the counter was a tall, chocolate cake adorned with a circle of pink frosting rosettes. Lisa poured two tall glasses of milk  and carefully set out china plates with all the hospitality of a true, Southern hostess.

“Don’t worry, Becky, it’s vegetarian!” Lisa announced, grabbing the biggest knife Becky had ever seen, almost the length of the short, seven year old’s arm, as she proceeded to carve two large, unwieldy pieces from the beautiful dessert.

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

Becky was certain that her chocolate cake was about to make an encore appearance as the golf cart whipped around the bend. Grabbing the top of the seat, she looked over at Lisa as the little girl pushed her foot harder on the pedal and yelped with glee while she steered them down the grass behind the carport.

“I didn’t realize golf carts could go this fast.” Becky gripped her seat tighter, her knees jostling up and down against the metal bar at the front.

“Oh yeah, these are top o’ the line, Becky. Watch, I can get it to go even fast—” Becky put her hand up in protest.

“Nope, not necessary, this - this is great. Very refreshing in the heat.”

Lisa pushed her feet down a little further and Becky held on for dear life as the air whipped through her dark curls and reminded her very much that she was alive and wanted to keep it that way.

“Ok, so this is the stable,” Lisa pointed to a large white building coming up on their left side. “It’s called House of the Rising Sun, and most people think it's after a song, but actually, it's named after Daddy’s horse, Rising Sun. Though I always say he should be named Setting Sun, on account of the fact that the sun is usually setting before Papa gets up and goes riding.” Lisa slapped her thigh, as if making a rimshot on a drum set, and Becky realized this was her cue to laugh, so she let out a chuckle and rubbed Lisa’s hair.

“Yeah, that is a much better name. Or Sleeping Bear, hmmm?” Lisa giggled. 

“Or Grumpy Sleepy Bear.”

“That one sounds perfect, what do you think? We have time to paint a new sign?”

Lisa laughed as she drove them on, showing Becky the trailer where her daddy’s nurse, Tish lived, and the other where Billy, Jo and their kids lived, and they wound their way around the back of the paddock.

“That’s where Daddy likes to race his horses with the guys.”

“For special occasions? Or just for fun?”

“Oh, he does it to show off for the fans.” 

Becky snorted down a laugh and and attempted to catch her hair and pulled it back up as it escaped into the wind. 

“Um, ha - how do you know he does it for the fans? He tell you that?”

“No, my mama told me; he likes to race the horses round for no good reason, just to show off for the fans cuz he’s a big show off and he’ll never really be a true questrion.”

“Well, I don’t know, I mean your mom may not know —”

“Oh, she does, she knows everything. Daddy’s always saying my mama’s the biggest know-it-all you’ll ever meet. And hippo cat. Why would he call a woman a hippo and a cat?”

“Hmm.” Becky grabbed the side rail as the golf cart swerved back around towards the mansion, trying not to laugh at Lisa’s casual description of her parents. “I bet he meant something else and said it wrong, cuz you’re right, doesn’t make any sense.”

Lisa seemed to agree, nodding her head. And on to the next point of interest, her proud, confident tour guide voice explained that the house butted up to fence over there used to be her granddaddy’s. 

They drove past the throng of fans at the front gate near the bottom of the hill they were coming up and Lisa asked Becky if she needed any money or a new camera. Becky wasn’t sure exactly how this related to the crowd, but she had some suspicions as she looked over her shoulder at the people mulling aroun down at the gate. So, instead, she rubbed the sweat off her forehead and complained about the heat. 

Parking the golf cart back at the side of the house, Lisa led the way back inside, suggesting they cool down in the pool. Becky didn’t have a bathing suit, but jumped in wearing her tee shirt over underwear, letting her feet push off the rough, concrete bottom of the pool. She felt an almost instant sense of relief and rejuvenation as she sprung up weightlessly through the cool water and floated to the top, rubbing the chlorine out of her eyes. This was, of course, a futile exercise, as more chlorine water was in her face almost immediately, followed by the sounds of Lisa laughing from where she was splashing Becky a few feet away.

“Oh, you are gonna get it!”

Lisa’s screams ricocheted through the patio as Becky swam over, grabbed her and threw her playfully back into the water.

They raced each other like this for a bit, and then played catch in the water. Lisa particularly liked trying to aim directly in front of Becky, and shrieked with delight when Becky let the ball hit the water and then dramatically flustered about in the wake of the splash, uttering out a loud, affected:

“Now heyyyyy! That’s not fair!”

After a while, Mary brought them out some lemonade, and ham and cheese sandwiches, and they dangled their feet in the side of the pool, eating. Becky pulled the ham out of her sandwich, and Lisa opened her mouth, motioning for Becky to drop the cold cut in, chuckling.

“Hmmm, we make a good pair, huh?” 

Lisa nodded, speaking with a full mouth:

“Mmmm choww nuhff.” She swallowed, and took a sip of lemonade. “How’d you get to be such a good swimmer? You don’ all kinds of fancy moves out there, I never seen anyone swim sideways like that or stay underwater so long.”

“I was on my high school swim team. Then I used to lead canoe trips down the Cahaba, that’s the big river where I’m from, over in Birmingham.” She ruffled Lisa’s hair. “And I was a camp counselor for a while in Mississippi, we spent most of our summer in the pool. I reckon I was a fish in my past life, that’s what Helga used to say.

“Your nanny?”

“MMhmm. You have a good memory, kid, I can tell. You’re whip smart.”

Lisa giggled and splashed Becky with her foot. Water was violently flying up in the air as they commenced in an epic foot splash fight when a loud, deep ‘Ahem’ made their feet still. Lisa’s lips were pursed, emitting a nervous laugh and Becky met her eyes with frightened giddy trepidation as they turned in unison to see the tall, broad silhouette of Elvis behind them. Becky coughed nervously.

His thumbs hung down from the belt at his white trousers and he tilted his sunglasses down to look over them, adjusting his stance.

“MMMM what's - a -a - ahappenin’ ova round these parts, mhmmm?” Elvis tried unsuccessfully to keep his lip from quirking into a smile as his voice boomed out comically deep.

Lisa giggled, and pointed. “Becky started it!”

Gaping, Becky pushed her into the pool with a whispered, “Thanks a lot, Lisa Marie Benedict Arnold Presley!” Then jumped up to say hi to Elvis.

His face beamed with a grin but then, as she got closer, his lip tightened and his chin tilted out as he took in her swimsuit.

“Becky, what the hell are ya wearin’, girl?”

Becky pulled her shirt down, and Elvis went to grab her hands to stop her, as it just made her nipples more pronounced through the thin, wet fabric.

“Elvis, I don’t have a bathing suit, I didn’t think it was that big of a differe—”

“Honey, I can see your hair through your panties,” he whispered gruffly, wrapping Becky in the thick, white, suede jacket he’d been wearing. As part of his outfit. Outside. In June. In Memphis. Becky rolled her shoulders, trying to shirk it off, looking into his eyes imploringly.

“Elvis, I’m all wet, it will ruin this suede and get it all dirty. It’s so humid, too, I just th—”

“Becky, don’t worry about the jacket.” He pulled her in, unable to resist flicking her over her nipple imself as he scolded her to cover up. “Anyone could see you out here.”

“Baby, no one is out here.”

“But they could be, boy, they could be.. ‘Sides, think now what if a band of drugged-out commie burglars jumped the back fence, and I, I had to send you running to safety at that motel across the street? You don’t wanna be waiting for me and the boys and the police in public like this.” He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

“Elvis, that’s ridiculous - what is the likelihood tha—”

“Now, c’mon on, you never know, it’s getting rougher every day out there. These are the things ya gotta consider.”

Becky was about to argue with him further, that he was being paranoid, and where did he even come up with this stuff, commie drug dealer burglars? She thought of Elvis doing some of the karate moves he had taught her as a band of crazy-eyed youths scaled the back wall, and almost giggled. However, she was suddenly distracted by the fingers tracing over her hips, underneath the suede jacket, and she shivered as she felt goosebumps rise up on the back of her neck, still chilled from the water. Elvis leaned in to kiss her forehead, and she closed her eyes with a low gasp, feeling his belly press into hers.

“Good thing you got me around to think of every angle.” Elvis clicked his tongue and point to his head. ”Go on upstairs and get cleaned up, wanna give you a tour of Graceland.” He patted Becky on the butt as he turned her to the house.

Shuffling forward in the comfort of her new mobile suede sauna, Becky heard Lisa pull out of the water and ask her dad if they could have a bonfire tonight with hot dogs and baked potatoes and corn and s’mores and coconut cake and ice cream.

“Course, baby, jus let Mary and Charlie know how you want it.” 

Becky opened the door at the side of the house, she looked back to see Elvis kneeling and smiling as he wrapped Lisa in a towel. 

“You’re the boss, booger, I jus’ work here.”

Becky could feel the brightness radiating from Lisa’s broad smile as she went inside, and she shook her head as she mused to herself how sweet they were together. The way Elvis spoiled his daughter was charming when Becky pushed aside her own parenting philosophy, which she had always considered to be overly permissive until spending this last week at Graceland. 

She frowned at the prospect of having to parent with someone like him, and felt a sharp pang of sympathy for Priscilla, a woman whom Becky had always regarded as a bit of a cold Yankee. As if you could ever know what someone is like from reading gossip magazines, silly girl. 

Getting dressed, Becky chided herself for not telling Elvis about her earlier tour of the estate. It was just that he had looked so intent as he told her what they were doing, and the sound of his voice gently commanding her made her agree with whatever he said, take whatever he offered, do whatever he wanted to do. 

Yeah, a long term relationship with this man is trouble. Becky reflected on how relieved she had been when Lisa didn’t wake up and come get her until 10:30 that morning, instead of 8 a.m., like she had the first day, and felt a bit disgusted with herself. Ugh, Elvis’  lifestyle is warping your judgment. Sleep all day, play all night, and now I have to go pretend that I haven’t already seen the grounds of Graceland.

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

The dirt shifted under Becky’s Keds as she walked beside Elvis towards the stables, holding his hand as he squeezed it tightly and turned to look at her, eyes soft and bright as he spoke. Becky summoned a look of awe as if seeing the building for the first time.

“Right, now this is the House of the Rising Sun, on account of my horse, Rising Sun. Though I reckon I shoulda named him Setting Sun, because, ya know, that’s usually when I’m getting up.” Elvis looked at Becky expectantly, and she forced a giggle, leaning into him as they walked into the building.

The sound of horses’ snorting and whinnying greeted them, and Becky followed Elvis as he grabbed a handful of sugar cubes from the front counter and leaned against the white gate of the first stall, waggling his eyebrows at Becky as she cautiously stepped forward. He took her hand, unrolling her fingers and putting a piece of sugar in the middle, then clicking his tongue as the large palomino nuzzled into him, nickering and searching for treats.

“Now, go on, he won’t bite ya - much.” Elvis smirked, watching as Becky rolled her lips in and put out her hand, shrieking at the tickle of the horse’s chin hairs on her hand.

“Is this one yours?”

“MMhmmm, this is Rising Sun,” Elvis told her, turning to ruffle the blonde tuft of hair between the golden horse’s ears.

Becky cautiously stroked the white blaze down the middle of his face, stopping to rub his muzzle as he sniffed her hand for more sugar. She looked into Rising Sun’s large brown eyes, wondering how such a majestic creature could be tamed, and how quickly he would trample over her for more sugar.

“He’s beautiful. And terrifying.” She said, then looked up at Elvis. “Just like you, I suppose.”

Elvis’ fingers caressed over Becky’s dress, stopping at the small of her back to rub into her tenderly. 

“Oh now, don’t tell me ya afraid of me, now honey. Or these horsies, are ya Becky Butt?” He moved behind her, his hand trailing slowly over her arm, down from her shoulder, until it was over the back of her palm. He slowly guided her palm up to smooth over the side of Rising Sun’s face and cheek, leaning into whisper into her neck. “See, now, now, see? He’s a good boy, gentle and well trained as can be. Ain’t got nothin ta fear from hims.” 

Elvis kisses warmed her skin, and Becky shuddered as his lips crushed into her. Moaning, she dropped her hand and turned into him, biting her lip in anticipation as Elvis rolled back on his feet and then forward, pressing her into the white pole that separated the stalls. Rising Sun grunted at them and blew his nose, and Becky squealed at the feeling of his large, gummy mouth chewing at her hair. Elvis' mouth quirked into a smile, but his hand rubbed her side more intently, and a fierce, starved look animated his eyes.  

“Get now, silly horse, that ain’t hay.” He gently pushed Rising Sun away, and pulled Becky into him, gripping her tightly.

A tingle burned in Becky’s belly and she breathed out in hushed desire.

“Huh. How - how does my hair look?”

“Looks a a a, a whole lot better than it's gonna once I’m through wit ya.” Elvis said softly, through a high breathy giggle. Then he looked down, bashfully, his hand rubbing Becky’s waist up and down then pinching her on both sides. Becky giggled, pulling herself into his frame, her hand working up over his chest as she kissed his jaw. 

“Why, Elvis Presley, I declare, are you - are you trying to seduce me? In the barn?”

He shook his head, a goofy expression pushed his lips into a pout.

“Depends.”

Becky arched her eyebrow, her fingers toyed with the high blue collar of Elvis’ shirt. “Mmmmmm? Depends on what?”

Elvis withdrew, blushing, his jaw tightening, suddenly changing his mind from whatever he had been thinking about doing,  “Neva mind, baby. Here, let me introduce ya to the other horses.”

Becky followed him, brushing her hand over the top of his belt and sweeping along his back. 

“Ok darlin’, you’re the boss.” Pushing her hand around him, Becky leaned into Elvis, and he drew her tighter into his side, looking ahead to give a large, black horse a sugar cube.

“This here, now, this boy is special, this is Ebony’s Double, come from a real champion stud, Ebony Masterpiece.”

Becky put her hand up to the horse’s neck, feeling his muscles ripple under his silky black coat as she rolled her hand over him. Breathing in, her eyes locked with Elvis as she caught him looking down at her, and she thought about reaching up on her tiptoes to try and kiss him, but instead kissed his shoulder. It was easier, and she relished the way he squeezed her into him in response. His bottom lip dropped down with his chin, and his voice came out in a raspy croak.

“Hey there, lil’ girl.”

Becky nuzzled in, and shifted the rubber soles of her shoes to pivot and bring her closer into Elvis' chest.

“Hey,” she whispered into his armpit.

Elvis brought her chin up and leaned down, his hand moving to cradle her neck as she curled her fingers into his shirt. Gentle kisses became more fervent as his hands crept lower until they cupped her bottom and Elvis was holding Becky up. Notched above his tummy, Becky’s knees bumped up awkwardly against his elbows, and Elvis chuckled as he carried her towards the back of the barn, almost dropping her with a mild stumble. That would have been the end of the white suede suit. But he quickly recovered, grunting as he jostled Becky up and smiling at the sound of her breathy chuckles as she held onto his shoulders while they staggered to the back of the barn. Becky could hear the sound of horse’s hooves, grunts and neighs, but they were peripheral to the sound of the heartbeat pulsing through her ears.

Becky felt the edge of the workbench where Elvis placed her atop. They were at the back of the stables, next to a saddle presumably left for repair. Beckys legs hitched on either side of Elvis' body, and she dragged her thumb over his cheek, moaning out as his lips found that spot on her neck once more and his hands moved under her skirt, slowly, carefully, tugging on her underwear.

“Hey,” she murmured. Elvis cheeks reddened above a smirk as his dark blue eyes looked down at the ground.

“Hey,” he breathed out in a deep voice.

Becky fell back on the table, resting on her wrists.

“Hey.” she waggled her eyebrows and dangled her legs, then tightened them at his side.

He shook his head, unbuttoning his trousers and moving over her, his lips feathering above her as he whispered: “Heyyyyyyy.”

Becky gasped as she felt him thrust slowly upwards into her, moaning out into his mouth. 

“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.”

She wrapped her legs around him, rocking her hips to meet him in the slow, gentle cadence of their love making. His eyes narrowed on hers as his movements became more deliberate, and his thumb found the slick over her clitoris, swirling in time to their needy rolls back and forth over the workbench. Heat coiled in her belly, and Becky leaned back as a guttural cry escaped her mouth.“Heeyyyyyy fucking ohmygod heyyyyyyYYYYYY GODDAMMMIT” as her climax overtook her.  

Elvis leaned forward, peppering kisses over her collarbone and burying his head in her bosom where he continued to slow move in and out of her until he came with a vehement grunt and remained there, head in her chest, panting through the final thrusts before stilling completely. 

Becky relished the weight of his body pressing down on her, insistent, immediate, she wanted it to crush her forever. His shaggy swath of black hair moved as Elvis’ chin protruded forward, and she met his blue eyes, looking up at her from his smug, boyish expression. She melted in the radiance of his smile. “Hey.” Elvis blushed, again, then grunted as he pulled himself up and grinned at Becky’s playfully shove.

“Hey is for horses, Presley,” she gasped, and he laughed as he zipped up, bending down to restore her panties to their rightful place.

She wondered if she had made the wrong first impression on the horses, as they ambled out of the stable and back toward the house.

“Hmmm, so that was the tour huh?”

“I think that’s all the tour I can manage right now, lil girl.”

“OK, well, Lisa already showed me the smokehouse, and I’m definitely not having sex in there.”

“Hmmm, well, figured you should know by now, telling me something isn’t gonna happen just about guarantees I havta try.” He slapped her bottom  and she shoved him away, only to have his arm instantly around her, drawing her into the warmth of his body as he kissed her head.

“Just so you know, Becky, I did not intend to get busy back there.”

Becky nestled into his shoulder as they walked. She could still hear the sounds of twenty horses behind them if she focused, joined by the sound of crickets and cars on the far off roads buzzing into the twilight of early evening. Above it all, she could feel the grain of Elvis' voice as it rumbling into her ear, heating the side of her neck with each word.

“I, I  - I just, well, suddenly couldn’t help myself. Don’t feel that way very often, honey, I think - ” He stopped talking abruptly and turned Becky in to face him.

“Honey, now stop walking already, I’m tryin’ to tell ya something.”

As he looked at her, he noticed that her hair really had come half out of the up twist she had styled it in that evening, and he paused to take out her hair pins, freeing her curls and arranging them over her shoulders.

“There, better.” He nodded with satisfaction. “What was I sayin’? Oh yeah. OK. Here it is. I think I’m starting to really fall for ya, baby. I think, well, I think you should move up here. Can’t bear ta think about taking you back to Jackson next week.”

“This week,” Becky muttered, crossing her arms. “Sunday.”

Suddenly the buzzing, post-coital glow disintegrated and she stood still trying to process what he had said.

He took her shoulders in his hands. “Think about it. Didn’t you say you have a sister here in Memphis?”

Becky nodded, her mind still swimming, wondering if there was any way in hell she could, would, should pursue this. Looking up into Elvis’ eyes was like diving into a sea of endless optimism where everything was possible.

“Hey, I got a business meeting I gotta handle tomorrow night, maybe you could go visit your sister? I was thinking you probably would want to while you're up here anyway. And you can think things over. How it would be, if I got you a place up here, come live with your lil girl in Memphis?”

Becky stood there, nodding again, looking back down at the house. Elvis started to walk.

“Don’t just stand there woman, get in here. The most handsome man in the world just asked if you’d be his baby, least you can do is give him some sugar and say thank you.”

Becky leaned back into Elvis' open arm and kissed his chest. “Hmmm, just took me by surprise is all. I, um, I need to think about it, that’s a big deal, Elvis, I , well, I feel strongly about you too.”

She tickled his side as they walked, and he jerked back with a, *Hey, now.*

“You’re right, though, I should try and see my sister. Tomorrow night, I guess.”

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

6:15 p.m. Friday, June 20th 1975

Still at Graceland, for now…

It was one of the new dresses Elvis had bought her that week, a purple, jersey halter dress, that Becky pulled over her head, before asking Lisa to help clasp the simple, diamond drop necklace around the back of her neck. Lisa jumped back, and put out her wrists for a spray of perfume as Becky doused herself and twirled around.

“How do I look?” Lisa put her hand to her chin, thinking carefully. 

“I think you need more eye make-up.”

“Ha, maybe, but trust me, my sister is the opposite of glamorous. She’s a judge. And I’m crashing a dinner party, so I think modest, simple, less-is-more sort of look is what I want.”

“Well,” Lisa sighed, ”you definitely nailed the less part. You’re hardly wearing any diamonds. Sure you don’t wanna borrow some of mine?”

Becky fidgeted with the ring she was wearing, the gift Elvis had given her that first night at Graceland. It was almost too large and gaudy for her style, let alone her sister Deborah’s taste. But it had come to be a comforting talisman, something she felt and twisted when she felt nervous or out of her element here with Elvis, doing whatever she thought she was doing. *Acting like an immature teenager who just discovered what sex is*, she thought to herself. 

Becky also sensed Elvis would be hurt if he saw her without the ring, because he’d mentioned how nice it looked on her several times, usually taking her hand and kissing the ring there before turning her palm and kissing the center of her hand. And pulling her in for a kiss. *Ughhh, these kisses*. Even the way his dry lips bumped over hers at first touch caused a burning electricity to electrify her face and she became instantly incapable of reason. 

Becky sighed, she had this impending sense of doom, her inner Cassandra, as Ida would say, always on high alert to call out trouble at the slightest provocation. Just trust him. This is fun. This feels right. Everything is ok. Wear the damn ring to Debbie’s dinner party.

Becky’s dress swished around her legs as she carefully walked down the staircase, trying not to trip in the orange platform heels Elvis had picked out at the boutique during a late night shopping spree on Wednesday. As she descended, she saw him whispering with Charlie, then the two men heard her and turned around, smiling in an eerie unison. Elvis was somewhat dressed up for his business meeting, in a dark red suit with a light blue dress shirt with a high, starched collar framing his face.

“There she is, Charlie. There’s the most beautiful gal in the world. And the smartest. And the funniest.”

Becky teetered on her platforms as she put her foot down another step.

“And the most graceful woman in the world.” He let out a low guffaw with out, and Becky narrowed her eyes at him

“Oh, keep laughing, Elvis Aaron Presley, I’mma get you for that. Buying me mile-high shoes an then laughing at how I walk in theses unnatural torture devices!”

Becky ran down the rest of the stairs and leapt onto his waist, ruffling his hair as Elvis chuckled.

“God, crazy woman, tryin’ ta kill me?” Becky kissed his forehead as he jostled her up and down, then placing her safely on the ground.

“Mhmmm. Just wanted to give you a kiss for good luck with your business dinner.”

Elvis kissed her back on the cheek as he ushered her and Charlie out of the door with a swat to the butt and a “See ya later, sweetheart.”

Charlie’s white Pontiac was waiting in front for them and they walked around, Charlie leading to open her door. Just as Becky was about to duck into the passenger seat, she saw the long, black snout of Elvis’ Stutz Blackhawk rolling up the driveway, Jerry at the steering wheel. Next to him sat the thin, blonde frame of Linda Thompson outlined against the dark, red leather interior. Jerry was a statue, stoic and serious as he pulled up and Linda burst out of the car to stride over.

“Charlie Hodge, you handsome man, where you runnin’ off to this evening? And who’s your friend?”

Charlie let out a shrill, high-pitched laugh, wondering to himself how Jerry had managed to arrive twenty minutes earlier than he had been told. Becky smiled awkwardly as she watched Linda give Charlie an air kiss on each side of his face, and then turned to Becky and her tight, wide forced cheerful smile.

Charlie stammered quickly, “Ugh, Linda, this is my cousin Becky, from Birmingham, come up to visit while her kid is at summer camp. I, ugh, well I -”

“He promised me I’d get to meet Elvis while I was here,” Becky gushed, summoning all of her energy to force her tongue to sound excited. She watched Jerry get out of the car and walk to join them. His lips were pursed, and his shoulders were stiff.

“Oh, well, it just dills my pickle to meet Charlie’s family, I feel like we’re practically family ourselves, seein’ how much time I spend with this good ole boy.”

Becky tried very hard not to tense up as Linda threw her arms around her to squeeze her tight. Linda wore a red, satin evening gown with cutouts along the side that emphasized her the curves of her sveltetorso and the wide hips below. Becky felt as though her tall, awkward fleshy figure and bust overwhelmed Linda’s body completely.

“Gosh, I just love that dress,” Linda exclaimed, adjusting the layers of Becky’s hair off her shoulder. “Though I don’t know if I could pull that color off, mhmmm, don’t know if that would be my choice, but it's so you, isn’t it?”

Becky smiled. “That’s so sweet of you to say.”

“So, Charlie, the old boy been behaving?” Linda winked at Becky, then whispered conspiratorially. “You know, Elvis is a good, Christian man, s’just that the devil is mighty powerful, hmmm, know what I mean?”

“MMMhmmmm.”

Becky nodded. It was like she was back in high school and one of the popular girls had waltzed up to her desk at the school newspaper, indirectly ordering her to do a story about the committee decorating the homecoming game bleachers. Ughhh.  Becky steeled herself, falling back on the niceties that she was well versed in.

“I can’t even imagine! Gosh, it’s so exciting to meet you, I’ve seen your pictures in the paper and, of course, Charlie has told us about you. But you are just more precious in person, you really are.”

Linda gave Becky another hug. “Well bless your heart, Becky. Aren’t *you* the sweetest.”

Jerry coughed. “Hm, yeah, we better get going.”

Linda shrugged her shoulders. “Ugh, I know, we got this Police Charity Dinner to go to, I flew in from LA just for this. I guess the Lord saw fit for me to make it. And meet you! I hope I get to see you again while you are visiting, are you staying here? With Charlie?”

“Oh God no.”—“No she aint!”

Charlie and Becky both answered together. Becky smiled big again, hugging Linda one more time. From the big, wide-eyed puppy dog look on her face, Becky felt she seemed to expect it. “No, no, I’m staying with my sis - sorority sister from college, who lives here, we’re actually just heading there now, for dinner. In fact, we better scoot, eh cuz?” Becky looked at Charlie, and sat into the car.

Charlie closed the door, a big  smile at Linda as Jerry led her up the steps into the house, and Linda waved goodbye. “I hope y’all have a the best night, see you again real soon!”

A tense feeling pushed up from Becky’s tummy and seized her shoulders in a tight anxious grip. It was one thing to know you were spending the week with a man who was seeing several women at once. It was another thing to come face to face with one and have to lie about who you were and what you were doing. Becky felt dirty, dirty and sick. She didn’t know how she could possibly face her perfect fucking sister, Deborah, and Debbie’s husband Steve, another lawyer, and the various lawyer professional type guests she expected to be at this dinner party. Charlie patted her thigh, seeming to intuit her thoughts, at least in part.

“Ya know, he’s not a bad guy, the boss man. He carries a heavy burden. And Linda’s moved out to LA to try and break into the movie biz. She had him buy her a home here in Memphis. It’s like they both know it’s over but neither one can bear to pull the trigger. And she knew how it was to date someone like him.”

Becky nodded, telling herself not to cry, and leaned against the window, hitting her head on the cool glass a few times as she swore under her breath at how stupid she was to be here. She muttered to herself in yiddish: 

“Ugh, whenever you have choices, oy vey, my sheyna maidel, boy oh boy do you somehow always manage to pick the worst. Your picker is broken, that’s what it is. When you go home, you are turning your love life over to Ida and her yenta brigade. There is a reason they used matchmakers in the old country. People are incapable of making good choices in men when left to their own devices. Stupid, foolish, idiot girl!” She hit her head on the window one last time, and then realized they had pulled up in front of Debbie’s house.

Charlie rubbed her shoulder. “I’ll be out here waiting when you’re ready. I - he - I - he’s gonna be dropping Linda off at the other house. It was, it is, all part of the plan. You see, her brother’s in the police force here. It, ugh, it just made sense that she would be his date for this big charity ball fundraiser for the cops.”

Becky nodded, half in a daze, trying to mentally prepare for her sister, for the dinner party, and for Elvis later.

“Hmmm, yeah, no, totally makes sense, absolutely.” She breathed in, then looked over at Charlie’s apologetic face. “Wait, you’re just gonna wait here?”

“Yeah, the boss, he, well, he wanted me to look after you. On account of all the druggies running wild these days.” Becky nodded. 

“Right. The drugged out commie burglars, those are clearly the biggest threat to my livelihood right now. Not Elvis Presley and his selfish manipulative ways. Not his powerful girlfriend, or her cop brother. Not my family and their judgment. No, no no, it’s the invisible commie drug criminals supposedly lurking everywhere. Well, thank god you’re here Charlie, I feel so much safer.” 

She slammed the car door, knowing it was unfair to take it out on Charlie, but the look on his face when she bent to the window made her heart sink even further before she uttered one word of apology. Because his goofy, winsome smile told her she was not the first woman to yell at him like this. Not only did he seem to expect it, he had mentally braced himself for it. Becky’s face softened apologetically. 

“I’m sorry, for that. I’ll try not to be more than an hour.”

“S’ok, we’re family now, cuz.” 

Becky knew that Charlie’s smile was meant to be reassuring, but it made her stomach drop even more as she turned and braced herself for a night at the Hoffman - Blumfeld’s (very intentionally hyphenated modern family of the 1970s) Dinner Party.

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

To say the night was uncomfortable and embarrassing would have been generous. Everyone else at the dinner party was dressed in jeans, khakis or linen pants and some sort of comfortable blouse or semi-casual shirt, and Becky felt she stood out like a Vegas showgirl at a library full of nerds. Which was probably the best way to describe Debbie, her husband Steve and their social circle. She was grateful it had been Debbie who opened the front door, so she could walk Becky into the side room and they could make their flustered hellos alone. 

Debbie wore a pair of sensible khakis and a tasteful floral button up top tucked in. As predicted, Debbie wore no make-up. And all judgment, though she tried to repress and be loose and fun.

Six years older than Becky, Debbie had always been half friend/half-parent to her, and this was a characteristic she inhabited calling out “Rebecca, please come in!” when she greeted Becky at the door.

Thank god for wine, the Hoffman-Blumfeld intentionally hyphenated household had some very good bottles of wine on offer and, after sipping one glass gracefully, and the another quickly in the kitchen, Becky was able to exhale and confront the evening with a blundering fort of confidence. She decided to pretend the meeting with Linda never happened, and stumbled confidently through her description of her relationship. She was dating a man who worked in the music business, after meeting him with Danny at a radio event fundraiser for the tornado in Mississippi. Was it serious? Well, sort of, he had invited her to Memphis for the week to meet his daughter, and he was trying to persuade her to move there. But her very successful life managing Saul and Ida’s store, and all her f.’

riends, made her reluctant to leave Jackson.

“I’m just taking a day at a time.” Becky winked and sipped her wine, before taking another mouthful of salmon.

After dessert, Debbie cornered her in the kitchen and asked if they could talk somewhere. Putting up her finger while she poured another glass of wine, Becky nodded and followed Deb to a bedroom, where she sat on a tasteful quilt blanket and had a tasteful restrained conversation about the impossibility of letting her father see Ruth secretly the next time she was in Birmingham.

“She is his only grandchild, Becks.”

“Well, they should have thought about that possibility when they kicked me out. Three months pregnant. Pronounced me a shonda, and disowned me.”

“Do you really want to have Ruth grow up without her grandparents?”

“I didn’t make that decision, Debbie, they did. Maybe, maybe, maybe if Papa was willing to admit how wrong they were, and stand up to Mama, and if he had any backbone at all and publicly welcomed me home for everyone to see, for Ruth to experience a true family, maybe.”

Debbie responded with a knowing look. “Well, I told Papa I was gonna see you when he called earlier, and I promised to ask, but I don’t blame you. I wish Ruth was here now, it’s been too long. And this guy, hmmm? Sounds promising. He wants you to move here?” Becky gulped her wine down first, rubbing her sister's arm. 

“Yup, yes, mhmmm. Oh yeah, finally, right? Everything’s coming up Becky. I can’t wait for you to meet him, because I’ll definitely be back up here with Ruth after she finishes camp. Ah, yes, mmhmmm.” She downed the last sip of wine, smiling so enthusiastically she almost laughed at how absurd the charade was. “I feel like, ugh, finally, right? I’m finally getting that happiness I searched for, for so long. ”

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

“You are never going to find happiness.” Becky said to the fork of coconut cake as she brought it to her mouth, letting the sweet, sticky crunchy sugar do its work comforting her momentarily as she chewed it and swallowed it down with some chocolate milk. The door to the kitchen opened, and she jerked her head up to see little Lisa Marie poke her head around.

“What are you doing?”

“Umm, late night cake?” Becky answered.

“Have you been crying?” Lisa asked as she stepped closer, getting herself a plate and a piece of cake.

“No, honey, no, it’s just been a long day.”

“Is it cuz of my daddy?”

Becky shook her head, too vigorously perhaps. “Npoooo no nononoo. No. It’s just been a long day.”

“You’re a bad liar, Becky Butt,” Lisa said, taking a big bite of cake, and then rubbing Becky’s shoulder. It broke her heart to see Lisa’s genuine look of pity staring up at her as she tried to comfort Becky. “Why is he like this? Mommy says he ruins every relationship and he’ll never truly be happy.”

Becky laughed at Lisa’s matter-of-fact statement. “Oh, my dear, I think your mama is very wise, but who knows what the future will bring. I do know your daddy loves you, that’s a relationship that makes him happy. Trust me, my parents never openly showed me love the way I see him show you. He’s a good man. There are just some things I might do differently if I were him.”

Lisa looked up at her. “Like what?”

“Well, for starters, I’d carry around less guns, I guess, that's dangerous. And maybe wear less jewelry, probably out there blinding people with all those dazzling gems and diamonds all over his person.”

Lisa laughed out loud as she finished her cake, and let Becky walk her up the stairs where she tucked Lisa back into bed and then returned to the kitchen.

Becky was down on her knees, looking through the drawers under the phone when she heard the door behind her slam shut. Glancing up, she saw Elvis’ broad figure swagger slowly toward her in the dimness of the kitchen lit only by one of the lights under a cabinet. He sighed and stopped, hands bracing the front of his hips, spread out fully extending his fingers as they tapped a little ditty over the sides of his belly. 

With his jacket pushed back at the hips, he looked even wider and more intimidating than usual. His lips were pursed in a frown at the sight of Becky in the jeans, converse and Destin tee shirt she had been wearing when she left Jackson the previous Sunday.

“Huh, hey.”

Becky turned back to look up at him. “Oh, hey!”

He adjusted his stance, pivoting his feet and twitching his left knee, his thumbs tapping over his belt.

“Watcha doin’?”

“You don’t know where the yellow pages are, do you? I’ve been looking for a phone book for the last fifteen minutes.”

Elvis sucked in a deep breath and adjusted his glasses. “Why, uh, why ya looking for the phone book?”

“Well, maybe you can help me.”

Becky returned her attention to the kitchen drawers in front of her, trying not to flinch as she heard the thud of Elvis boots walk closer and stop directly behind her. She chose not to twist back around and look at him, afraid she might cry or be dramatic, so she decided to speak directly into the drawers as she continued to look through them.

“You see, I’m trying to find a number for a local cab company, so I can get to the Greyhound station.”

“Mhmmm. I noticed your bag in the foyer.”

“Oh yeah, that,” Becky sighed, shutting one drawer and then opening another. “Well, you see, it just dills my pickle to be all prepared and ready to go when I call up a car to come get me. Although I had rather hoped I would have been gone before you got back, I didn’t want to bother you. But, since you’re here, maybe you can make yourself useful and help find the phone book?”

Elvis bent and leaned over the island that jutted out of the counter at the front of the kitchen.

“Honey, I have absolutely no intention a helpin’ you find a phone book.”

Becky stopped and fell back against the cupboard next to the set of drawers, her legs stretching out over the dark, burgundy carpet that covered the kitchen.She banged her hand back and closed her eyes.

“Why? Why can’t you just give me the phonebook?”

Elvis walked over and stood above Becky, his hand reaching down. “Cuz I don’t want you ta leave, honey. Not like this. C’mon, let’s talk. If you still wanna go home, why, I’ll drive you back to Jackson myself, like I promised.”

Becky glared up at his hand. “No.”

“What, you just gonna stay there on the ground?”

“Mhmmm.” She crossed her legs and her arms and tilted back into the cabinet. “Yup, yessiree. This is my home now, til I get a cab, I reckon.”

Elvis meandered over slowly and groaned as he lowered himself next to her on the floor. He moved his hand out to touch hers, only to be rebuked by their swift retreat back under her breasts in a huff of crossed arms and limbs. He rolled his neck to meet her gaze against the wooden cabinet.

“Honey, you are actin’ like a child. This is all one big misunderstanding. Now, c’mon.”

Elvis put his hand over her thigh, but Becky swatted it away, so he grabbed the foot she had criss crossed over her knee, and rolled into her shoulder as he scooted closer, squeezing her foot.

“Becky, look, you know I have other friends —”

“Girl friends, yes, I know about them, but apparently they don’t know about me. Do you have any idea how horrible that felt? Lying, looking at your beautiful beauty queen girlfriend, pretending to be Charlie’s cousin?” She pressed her face against the cupboard and let the tears come pouring out. “Ugh, I am so stupid, I know this isn’t me. I am not cut out to be the other woman.”

“Sssshhh.” Elvis put his arm around Becky’s shoulder, massaging her as he drew her body into his, bringing her head to nuzzle in his chest, where she gave up and grasped his shirt, letting the sobs come out as she cried into him. “Sshhhh. S’ok, s’ok.”

“No, s’not ok, ugh, I’m a horrible person, a traitor to my sex.” Her fist bumped tepidly into Elvis’ chest. She looked up at his chuckles. “What, why are you laughing at me?”

“Baby, you are too pretty to cry. Now, come on. Linda is not my wife, she knows it, I know it, things haven’t been going well and our relationship has been sorta peeterin’ out. But I have to do things my own way, ok? Her brother is on the police force, it made sense, right now, for me to take her as my date. But I swear, nothing happened. I’m here with you. At my house. Would I have a mistress at my house, where I lived, if I was keeping her a secret?”

Becky wiped her eyes. “You think she knows about me? She knew when she met me?”

Elvis sucked in his breath. “Honey, I don’t know, and frankly, right now I don’t care who knows. I-I, I didn’t wanna get into it tonight. But Linda knows well enough how it is with me. Look, I want to be with you, here, now. So let’s be together, and let’s go to bed.”

He said this with finality, and stood up, groaning slightly and steadying himself against the sink,  and Becky followed, exhaling loudly as she pulled herself up on his outstretched hand and walked with him out of the kitchen, still sniffling and wiping her eyes into his silk dress shirt.

“Ok, but only because the floor was starting to feel uncomfortable. And I couldn’t find the phone book.”

Elvis smiled and Becky watched his cheeks twitch above the pout of his mouth, and she couldn’t help it, she led herself into his embrace.

“There now, lil girl, why you go get yourself all worked up like that?”

Becky looked down, blushing trying to just calm herself and feel good about making peace, or whatever it was she was doing. Giving in. No, you are having fun, she told herself. It’s silly to be upset over Linda, and was the use of fighting? This is a short, fun, little fling. Somehow his logic made sense at the same time that it made no sense at all. Becky’s head ached trying to sort it out, she decided that she was tired and exhausted and still a little tipsy, and needed to stop fighting and let herself fall forward into Elvis’ pliant, warm belly. He took a silk handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit and wiped her eyes, then softly pressed his lips to Becky’s mouth.

 “Mmmm, baby, those are some salty lips.” 

Elvis lifted his hand, thumbing over her lower lip slowly, it made Becky gasp and she watched him respond with a smirk. He leaned in slowly, and Becky shivered when he breathed on her, watching with anticipation as he  licked his own lip and hesitated with a wider smirk before pressing his mouth into hers. More forcefully this time, his hands soothing up her sides. 

“S’alright now, s’alright, no more cryin, ok, lil girl? Too pretty ta cry like this. Goin’ on and making my favorite lips all salty. "

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[greyias]

[ CUP ]: bringing both hands up to cup the receiver’s face, the sender draws them in closer to them in order to get a better look at their face.

Pairing: Gale x Tav Words: ~4700 Rating: T, despite any indications to the contrary Notes: I have no excuse for this, other than it made me laugh. I’m very sorry. Set late in Act 2, after the infamous spider meat scene. I should probably add a warning for the arachnophobic: SPIDERS

The walls of the tent seemed to loom around him. Normally a tight fit for Gale to stand up, now even more crowded as he finished his preparations for the evening. He couldn’t help but glare at the confines closing in on him, not exactly claustrophobic but also not a location he would normally choose to stage a grand, romantic gesture. He briefly contemplated the merits of conjuring the elaborate illusion of his tower back in Waterdeep again — but no, his concentration was already centered on a spell vital for his plans to try and make up for his outburst earlier in the day.

And even if it weren’t an issue, his Waterdeep illusion required more from him than he had after the day’s battles and puzzle solving within the depths of the Gauntlet of Shar. Which in itself was hardly the most romantic location to woo one’s paramour. Unless one happened to be a cleric of Shar, but even then, Gale doubted Shadowheart would find their current environs particularly stimulating in that way. And it wasn’t like he was trying to woo her.

And perhaps he wasn’t exactly trying to woo his beloved—just more… apologize? His normally boisterous paladin paramour had been unusually distant and quiet with him the entire afternoon and evening, and the timing between that and his less-than-accepting reaction to the reveal of her, erm, unusual proclivities could hardly be a coincidence. So, logic dictated that he make a romantic gesture to show that he accepted her, unexpected predilections and all.

His scowl deepened as he fussed with the stack of tomes that normally lay in a pile next to his bedroll, trying to make for the illusion of more space in the already crowded tent. This corner had seemed like the perfect place to get them out of the way, but every inch really was at a premium right now, wasn’t it? Hardly worthy of the grand, arduous gesture he was trying to pull off. If only he had some vestige of civilization, a romantic suite at an inn that wasn’t one sliver of concentration from disaster. Although he’d readily trade for even half the space of a thin-walled room at even the Last Light Inn at this point.

Although, considering one of the harpers had specifically warned them away from sleeping in any of the actual beds because of a lice infestation in the mattresses, that would probably also put a damper on the romantic atmosphere. Although really, after a century long of the inn suffering from a shadow curse, how were those vermin supposed to have survived? Barring the arrival on the head of an unsuspecting Elturian refugee, Harper, or Flaming Fist, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The buggers would need regular blood meals to survive any length of time, much less a century—unless they were undead shadow-cursed lice?

Hrm, best not take the chance. The living version of the buggers were bad enough, and toss in an undead, necromantic curse on top would just be an additional nightmare to deal with. Perhaps it was best to make due with the limits of his current environs rather than—

“Gale? Are you in here?”

Musings on the merits of undead lice were quickly derailed by the call.Wait, no—it was too soon for the guest of honor to arrive. “Uh—yes, just a moment!”

Before he could reach the entrance to intercept her, Ari peeled back the tent flap and stepped inside, a gentle expression of concern writ across her features. “You’ve been cooped up in here since dinner. You even missed Raphael, he says ‘hi’ by the way, and you wouldn’t believe what those scars on Astarion’s back—”

She froze, statement ending in a lurch as her gaze whipped over to the shadowed, far corner of the tent. Her eyes narrowed, then widened alarm before she flung herself fully into the space, maneuvering her unarmored body between Gale and the perceived threat. An appreciated, romantic gesture in normal times, but not at all the way he’d been picturing this going. As her bare fists balled up, arm reeling back for a punch he found himself grabbing her wrist in an attempt to keep the evening from derailing completely.

“Wait—no! It’s okay!”

“It’s not okay, there’s a giant spider in your tent!”

“That’s just Llarry—he’s a friend!”

Said giant spider, who had been settled back in the far corner, was sitting as comfortably as an enormous arachnid could in such a cramped space, legs crossed as if settling in for tea. One spindly, furry appendage waved as if in greeting. Although perhaps the gesture perhaps came across a little more intimidating to the uninitiated as Gale had to redouble his grip on Ari’s arm to keep her from punching in one of the creature’s eight eyes.

“See, see, friendly.”

Her protective scowl gave way to a deeply confused frown as she hesitantly lowered her fists. “I’m sorry—Llarry?”

“Well, technically his full name is Llarraggathssinssrigg, but really, he only uses that in more formal settings. He much prefers to go by Llarry.”

“You named the giant spider infesting your tent?”

Llarry reared back, front legs now waving irritably as a soft whisper of discontent escaped his mandibles. Ari’s balled fists started to raise back up at the action and Gale forcefully lowered them back down.

“No, no, of course not,” Gale corrected before they could get off on even more of the wrong foot… leg… tarsus… claw… whatever. The correct terminology wasn’t important at this particular juncture. “You know he doesn’t really appreciate the insinuation that he didn’t have a name before this, and also, it’s not very polite to refer to his presence as an infestation—”

“I can understand him perfectly fine, Gale!”

Oh. Right. The spell for speaking with animals had been one of the first things she cast each day in order to properly give Scratch and their resident owlbear cub morning scritches — here he had to settle for a potion to try and arrange tonight’s events. Although technically Llarry would have understood his instructions regardless, but considering the nature of the evening, it seemed only polite to have a proper back and forth about expectations, boundaries, safe words and whatnot.

Llarry made a series of elaborate clicking noises, front legs waving eagerly.

“Yes, of course,” Gale said at the reminder, “how boorish of me. Llarry, this vision of loveliness trying to valiantly punch you is Aravyn, although she does let her friends call her Ari.”

Llarry's multitude of eyes lit up as he trained his hopeful gaze on the half-elf.

“I have known you for all of sixty seconds. I’m not sure we’re to friends status yet.” As Llarry drooped dejectedly, some of Ari's defensiveness melted. “But I suppose since we’re already using nicknames, fine. You can use Ari, I guess.”

A trill of excitement escaped Llarry, far higher in pitch than expected from a beast of his size.

Seeing that indeed they were not about to be wrapped into a cocoon of webbing, Ari's defensive posture relaxed slightly, although she hadn't quite yet moved from her protective positioning shielding Gale. She tilted her head dubiously at the giant arachnid taking up a full third of the limited space. “So, let me see if I understand this correctly.”

“Of course.”

“You found a giant spider in your tent after dinner, and then made such good friends with him, you’re on a nickname basis with him.”

“Ah, not exactly that,” Gale said as he tried to step around her, although in the limited confines of the tent there wasn’t much room to maneuver without manhandling her. “You see, I brought Llarry here.”

“I’m sorry, what? 

“Third level conjuration spell, really handy in a fight if you need some extra allies—but you know. I figured why not be a little creative, spice things up as it were, in a safe, controlled environment.”

“…what?”

“You know…” Gale trailed off, hoping he didn’t have to spell it out.

“No, I really don’t.” Ari glanced between the two of them with an expression caught somewhere between confusion and suspicion. “Explain it to me like I’m five years old.”

“Oh, this is hardly the conversation for a five year old.”

“Gale!”

The hint of irritation in her invocation of his name had him fiddling nervously with his collar. “Well, you see, I realize that things back in the orthon’s lair got a little unpleasant. And maybe I wasn’t as supportive as I should have been in the moment. But I love you, and I wanted to show you that I fully support your… proclivities. No matter how… unconventional they may seem at first.”

“Unconventional proclivities? How does a spider—” Llarry reared back with an affronted hiss at the rude generalization instead of his name, front legs waving irritably. Ari glanced at the display with a cautious frown before amending, “I’m sorry, how does Llarry fit into this?”

“It’s okay.” Gale abandoned fussing with his collar to give her an awkward but hopefully supportive pat on the arm. “It’s a fixation, we can’t help what we find stimulating. What one person may find a strange predilection, another may discover an unexpected fount of amorous adventure.” He ignored her trying to mouth the phrase in befuddlement, and instead offered an encouraging smile. “So as a show of good faith and open-mindedness…”

With his free hand, Gale made an expansive gesture at Llarry, who waved a giant furred appendage in a way that was definitely overeager to get the evening started. Damn it, Llarry, don’t get too thirsty.

Horror slowly dawned on Ari’s face, color draining from her usually rosy, freckled cheeks as she turned from spider to man. “Gale.”

“Yes, dearest?”

“Is this about the spider meat?”

“And there’s zero judgement here. This is a safe space,” he was quick to reassure. “The point is, I brought Llarry here to show that I want to make this work, unexpected kinks and all.”

Gale wasn’t sure what reaction he’d been hoping for was, but her slowly sinking to the ground as if her legs could no longer hold her weight was not it. Instinctively he made to steady her, batting away the giant spider arm that was also trying to do the same thing. Perhaps she was just overwhelmed at the magnanimity of the gesture, the whole-hearted acceptance of—

“I... I need a moment,” she said weakly, swatting both of them away as she hid her face in her knees.

“I… yes, of course. All the time you need. Although, maybe less than an hour? There is a time limit on the conjuration spell, so if you’d like to get started—”

Llarry eagerly extended a leg in her direction, and it was immediately shoved back.

“I said a moment!” she insisted more forcefully.

Gale quickly made a “cut it out” motion at the spider, who folded back in on himself into his cramped corner with a huff. He knelt down next to her, hands hovering uselessly in the air as he tried to understand this reaction.

“I have a feeling I may have made a miscalculation.” The opening statement was spoken at a normal volume, but the next was dropped to a whisper that hopefully only she could hear, and he did his best to not let any dread creep into his tone. “Does it have to be dead? Llarry’s pretty open-minded, but I don’t think he’d be particularly amenable to that arrangement.”

Not to mention that would be beyond the bounds of this particular spell. But baby steps. Unfortunately, his whisper wasn’t quiet enough as Llarry let out a noise that was neither disturbed nor eager. Intrigued? Oh gods, best to not contemplate that.

“Gale,” Ari croaked.

“Yes, yes, I’m here. Unless you don’t want me to be? Do I… need to leave the tent for this? Is this a private affair? I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I—”

She whirled on the spot, uncomfortably twisting as she grabbed him by the collar of the shirt and pulled him close, eyes wide as her voice raised loud enough for the entire camp to hear. “Stop! I’m not sexually attracted to spiders!”

“What—I mean no, not attracted to them, of course. I didn’t think that!” Not entirely. “Attraction and arousal are two different things. For example, some people like me get hot under the collar when they see a beautiful, strong woman tear a bloody swath through cursed shadowed creatures, and when you lick… rotting… spider… meat… you—”

“It was charmed!” Her grip on his collar shifted to his shoulders as she shook him fiercely. “The spider meat was charmed!”

Elocution left him. “What? But you—”

“It was laced with succubus spittle, Gale!” She fixed him with a wide-eyed, mortified gaze. “I wasn’t… I don’t get turned on by licking spider meat.” As Llarry proffered a tentative limb, she released one hand to shove it away. “Or any part of a spider!”

“Oh.” Gale blinked. “Oh. Why in the nine hells would anyone dope spider meat? With an aphrodisiac?”

“There’s no good answers there, Gale! None!”

“Oh gods, you don’t think Yurgir was—not with the displacer beast?”

“I have been unable to think about anything else for the entire day!”

“Okay, not to lose the conversational thread, but I want to be one hundred and ten percent sure on this point. Your titillated reaction was in no way genuine, and you do not have any desire to indulge in any arachnid-related fetish?”

“I do not.” It came out a defeated whisper as she buried her face into shoulder to hide her burning cheeks. 

Llarry slumped and emitted a dejected trill, his evening clearly ruined.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

“A relief?” She raised her head back up from where she was trying to hide from her mortification. “I thought you said you accepted me as I am—even the weird parts!”

“Yes, but that’s not a weird part of you is it?” He shook his head, then replayed back the words that he’d just spoken. “Wait—that came out wrong.”

“So you don’t accept my weirdness?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Gale held up his hands defensively. “I love your weirdness, your unexpected nature—I just am a little relieved I don’t need to reserve a third level spell slot to summon a fey spirit in the form of a giant spider for you to salivate over if we want to get intimate!”

“What the fuck is going on in that tent?” Astarion’s loud voice drifted their way.

“Dark Lady preserve us, don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to!” Shadowheart chimed in.

Okay, that was unfortunate. Another issue to deal with at another time. 

“You—you didn’t use your sound dampening charm you created?” Ari whispered fiercely. “When you thought we were going to have a wild night of spider licking?”

“Look, Llarry requires a dedicated amount of concentration to keep on this plane of existence—”

“Oh, well if Llarry requires your concentration—”

The spider in question made an elaborate series of gestures with three of his appendages, clearly indicating that this was not a part of the relationship he had agreed to be party to.

“Please, Llarry,” Gale begged first to spider, then turned his attention to his girlfriend, “I’m trying here.”

“Trying what?” An edge of equal desperation tinged her voice. “Why, why, why why—” she caught herself, took a breath, then exhaled before finishing the question, “why did you feel the need to bring a giant spider into… this?”

“I already told you—I thought I hurt your feelings.”

“You did hurt my feelings—because you yelled at me!”

“And I was only yelling out of surprise,” he tried, oh he tried to stop himself from finishing the rest of that thought, but Gale of Waterdeep was nothing if not thorough in the worst of ways, “because you licked a dead spider!”

“I only licked it because it smelled weird and magical and off!”

“Oh yes, a great justification for supping a little essence d’arachnid — not to mention a sure fire way to pick up a food-borne illness.”

“Hey! I needed to investigate!”

“With your tongue? Did you see me putting ancient relics in my mouth?”

“Yes! I gave you several to stabilize your condition!”

“I—I didn’t eat them, I just consumed them, there’s a difference!”

“And that difference is?”

“Well, one involves a dead spider and your tongue—”

“You know for someone who’s claiming this was a safe space, I’m hearing a lot of judgement in your voice.”

“I��m not judging,” Gale insisted. “I’m just…”

Ari quirked a single brow, arms crossed as she awaited his explanation for why this was about his concern, not judgement. And this entire thing was a ridiculous misunderstanding as it was. Llarry let out a long series of very sincere, but chiding clicks.

“You’re not helping,” Gale muttered darkly.

“You have to admit, Llarry has a point.”

“I really don’t have to admit that.” He shot her a look. “And okay, let’s say I concede that inadvisable curiosity had you put your tongue on it the first time. But if you knew it was charmed, why in Faerun did you taste it again?”

Her cheeks flushed a deep, deep red again. “Because you yelled at me!”

“I feel like we covered that point already.” Gale frowned. “Have we reached a circle in this ridiculous argument? Or is it a spiral at this point?”

Llarry made a low inquiring trill, front legs gesturing in a fluid motion toward the tent flaps, as this was definitely not the fun evening he had been promised.

“Not now, Llarry,” both Ari and Gale  sighed in unison.

Gale scrubbed a hand across his eyes, a desperation clawing up and squeezing at his chest as this conversation, if it could even be called that at this point, seemed to spiral completely out of control. Ah, control, what a beautiful, deranged illusion to grasp for.

Words. He needed words. “It was never my intention to upset you.” That was a good start. “When you grew distant, avoiding my gaze… can you really blame me for wanting to fix it?”

She stared at him, long and hard in a way that told him without any words, that yes. Maybe a little blame was being directed his way. He couldn’t help but wilt some at that.

“I can see you’re mad,” he started.

“I’m not mad,” she insisted. 

“But you’re not happy either.” This really wasn’t going well at all. “Look, I may not have the cleanest track record when it comes to correcting mistakes in relationships. Possibly overcorrecting just a tad.”

“Just ‘a tad’? You don’t think this was a little extreme?” She asked softly, the trace of hurt in the question like a twist of the knife. “Instead of… talking to me first?”

“When you put it that way… I suppose going to such elaborate lengths without consulting you first was perhaps a little ill-considered.” The wounded look still lingered in her eyes, and he tried to swallow past that gnawing guilt trying to rise back up in him. “You just seemed upset, and you know how they say actions speak louder than words, and I know I use a lot of words.”

“You do,” she said quietly. “You know, the first time was out of curiosity.”

“I do feel like we’ve firmly established that fact.”

She shot him a look, but the heat in it was quelled by something a little more raw. “The second time wasn’t just because you yelled or the meat was charmed. It was what you said.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You suggested that we’d run our course.”

“I did no such thing,” he insisted, with a heat. “I would never—”

“You literally told me that, and I quote, ‘the time might just have come when you and I should split ways’.” After the verbatim recitation she dropped her gaze, looking anywhere but at him.

“That was a joke,” Gale insisted hotly.

“It certainly didn’t sound like one at the time.”

Again, she wouldn’t quite look at him, just like most of the afternoon that had started this whole sordid affair. Llarry’s eight eyes glanced between Ari, to Gale, and with a world’s worth of recrimination behind the action. Stupid summoned spider—why had he not let the damned thing leave the tent when they had a chance?

Spider voyeur be damned, he moved in, gently cupping her face and tilting it up so he could look her in the eye. He half-expected her to pull away, but she allowed the motion. The shuttered expression on her face cranked that vice around his chest one notch tighter, even as his thumb brushed lightly across her jaw line.

“I told you once that nothing would turn my heart from you,” his voice was naught but a whisper, but with no room between them, it might as well have echoed from the walls, “and that hasn’t changed.”

She swallowed and after a moment managed to summon the semblance of a smile. “Not even my unfortunate habit of sampling things I shouldn’t?”

“Not even that,” he breathed.

She let out a half breath, half-laugh in response, and this time when she closed her eyes it seemed to be in relief. It was a small win, but he’d take it, and the vice loosened enough so he could breathe again.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, leaning into him.

“Whatever for?”

“Overreacting?” she tried. “I probably should have said something too. I just… felt stupid about the whole thing. And you were just so angry when you were yelling at me to stop licking things.”

“I was concerned,” he insisted, and yes, maybe a little irked that he’d been ignored in the moment. “Maybe we can just chalk up this entire sordid affair to misplaced affections and intentions? I mean, I brought Llarry into our lives to prove my love, didn’t I?”

The third wheel cleverly disguised as a giant spider rolled all eight of his eyes.

“Don’t be like that,” he said, “it was a genuine misunderstanding. Anyone could make this mistake?”

“Anyone?” Ari asked.

“Okay, maybe just me,” he amended, “but I think it’s safe to say that you’re off the hook for the evening, my eight-legged friend.”

A woeful, keening sound left the spider, his large, bulbous head dipping low in clear dejection.

“It’s you not you, Llarry,” Gale insisted, “it’s me.”

The mandibles clicked in rapid staccato, intercut with distressed squeaking.

“Yes, yes, but given the new information we’ve all uncovered in this impromptu group therapy session, the parameters of our previous negotiations really don’t apply here.”

Another click, what counted as a huff.

“Come now, let me just release you from your service. You’ve got less than an hour left of existence, my friend, you should make the most of it.”

Llarry turned his octagonal gaze in Ari’s direction. 

“No.”

Now, spiders couldn’t exactly snort, as they lacked the nostrils to do so. However every single spiracle across his large hairy body exhaled their frustration at the same time, and with a decisive shuffle of all eight legs pounding against the rug-lined floor of the tent, Llarry waddled his way past the embracing couple and shoved his way out the tent’s front flap and into the camp beyond.

“Wait, Llarry, don’t be like that—”

Almost immediately, cries of alarm went up from the rest of the party going about their evening, Scratch let out a loud growl as the owlbear cub screeched a warning. The clang of metal against stone indicated that someone had taken a swipe at the vorekink-friendly spider — and missed.

“Oh no,” Ari murmured, starting to move towards the tent flap to try and save their weird relationship counselor, “Llarry!”

“He’s up in the rafters already!” That seemed to be Lae’zel, presumably the one that had tried to cut the poor dejected spider in two. “Damn it elf, can’t you aim your longbow better?”

“It’s not my fault he’s faster than a Quickling on a sugar high!” Astarion snapped back.

“Okay, am I going crazy,” Karlach asked loudly, “or was that spider crying?”

“Leave that poor spider alone,” Wyll, ever the voice of reason, tried to bring peace and order back into their lives. Bless him. He tried.

“Yes. It’s clearly had a rough evening,” Halsin rumbled.

“I guess he’s fine?” Ari winced, turning back to Gale.

“He always did have a penchant for drama,” Gale sighed.

“You’ve known him for less than an hour.”

“But it seems like a lifetime, doesn’t it?”

“Gods yes.” She buried her face into his shoulder again. “Do you think we have any chance of convincing everyone they didn’t hear any of this?”

“I’m afraid I’m tapped out of that particular magic for this evening.”

“Is there no justice in the world?”

“Modifying our friends memory? Probably not justice—I would say it’s morally dubious at best.”

Ari tried to sink her head further into the retreat of Gale’s night shirt. Unfortunately it was not nearly as voluminous as the folds of the robes he wore in the daytime, so there was not much solace to be found there. The muffled groan was the best she could muster. At that point, the tent flap shifted again and Karlach looked in, an eyebrow raised as she took in the sight before her.

“Soooo,” she managed to draw out the two-letter word out into multiple syllables, “you’re both alive I can see. Well, I mean we already kind of knew you were alive. Because of all the yelling.”

“Remarkable observation as always, Karlach,” Gale’s reply was dry, one hand busy smoothing the top of his mortified girlfriend’s head. “Can we help you?”

“Ah, it’s fine. It’s fine.”

“Is it?”

“Look, the gang—” At Gale’s quirked eyebrow, she amended, “—okay, mostly Astarion because he’s nosey as fuck, sent me in to ask what the hells is going on in here? I told him if the spider tent’s a-rocking, don’t come a-knocking, but he insisted…”

“Just a little… mutual misunderstanding is all.”

“Uh huh. You know, if you want to keep it spicy, there’s a lot easier ways than the five million fucked up scenarios I imagined listening to all that.”

Another pitiful moan left Ari, but it was mostly muffled by Gale’s shoulder. He gave her head a consoling pet.

“She okay?”

“No,” Ari’s words were muted by her insistence of slowly smothering herself in her boyfriend’s shoulder, “just let ceremorphosis take me now. I don’t think even my soul wants to remember any of this.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad,” Karlach insisted.

“Astarion will never shut up about this,” is what Gale was pretty sure she said, but it was mostly just indistinct mumblings at this point.

“Hey, first wise crack from Fangs, and I’ll cave his skull in. Then we can have Withers bring him back. No harm, no foul.”

“Except for Astarion’s skull,” Gale pointed out.

“You’d do that for me?” Ari mumbled.

“For you, soldier? Anything.“ She gave Gale a lurid wink. “Well, I’m just going to leave you two lovebirds to go ahead and smooth out any remaining ‘misunderstandings’ you might have. Maybe just put up that fancy sound dampening charm before you really get going, ‘ey?”

With that, she ducked back out, a chuckle in her wake. Finally alone, Ari emerged from her refuge in Gale’s shoulder, a red crease marking where she’d pressed her face particularly hard against his clavicle. “You’re really smart, right? What’s the chance of a rogue portal appearing and swallowing us up before we have to face the others tomorrow?”

“Alas, a statistical improbability.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Gale tucked back an errant honey-blonde strand, attempting to smooth her now disheveled hair. “I think we might have to resign ourselves to being the talk of the camp, at least until the next insanity is thrown our way.”

She dramatically hid her face back in his shoulder, as if he’d pronounced the world was ending. “I am never leaving this tent again.”

[billetwoes]

Too Serious! Billet Woes Part 3

Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at fanfic. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, rudeness is not.

Word Count: 4,255

Synopsis: It has been slightly over a week, and so far so good. Everything seems to run smoothly as expected, until Tomas decided to have a serious conversation with you.

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

The next morning went on as normal. Breakfast consisted of a savoury breakfast crepe consisting of truffle oil scrambled eggs, spinach, mushrooms, leeks, and red peppers with hollandaise sauce (Yay to the Vitamix!) topped with cilantro. You made some potato wedges fried in beef tallow and seasoned it lightly with a Parmesan, truffle and black garlic seasoning.

“Hmm, by the way, I wanted to ask you first,” Tomas began, washing his food down with a swig of orange juice, “A friend of mine wanted to send me an important package. Would it be alright if I gave him your address?”

You furrowed your brows, as you are apprehensive to give out personal information.

“If you’re uncomfortable, I understand,” he went on further.

You sighed and then thought of a solution.

“You can give him my business address. It’s a UPS mailbox, so I can pick it up for you when it arrives. Plus, it’s safer,” you offered.

“Great!”

You gave him the details and were told that his friend would be sending something via same-day shipping.

Once breakfast was done, you did your routine clean up and making sure that the cats were well-fed. Once you let the kitties out of the workshop, their demeanor changed rapidly to happiness and started to roam around the house. You noticed that Bijoux had been slowly yet surely warming up to Tomas and was now allowing him to pet her.

Minou was not having it; she gave a jealous yowl and swatted at Bijoux violently. She hissed then began to circle and rub her body around Tomas’ booted legs. Bijoux huffed and then left for her favourite cat tree.

“No, no! Don’t do that! There’s plenty of pets to go around,” he chuckled, picking up Minou and chastising her gently while scratching her behind the ears, “I let you sleep with me already. Give your sister a chance.”

“He’s such a good cat dad,” you mused. It was a nice to see that both the girls have taken to your guest very well. In fact, you were missing the warm lump of Minou’s body between your legs, where she typically likes to sleep.

He then set her down, while she protested pitifully. He picked up the lunch bag and headed towards the door, “Shall we?”

You are starting to like driving at this time of the morning, as there was no traffic at all! Lord Liu Kang really did think this through and was grateful for the consideration of your lifestyle. Plus, you found your energy level to gradually pick up.

After you dropped off Tomas at the muster point, you decided to treat yourself to a Starbucks before heading back home to clean up some more, spend quality time with the girls, and work on more orders. You loaded the packages in a couple of tote bags and took them to the post office before heading to work. You checked your Etsy account and were pretty pleased that you will be getting a nice pay soon.

During work, you got a notification that the package had arrived. “That was fast!” You thought, amazed. The shipping cost must be awfully high.

When work ended, you bumped into a couple of colleagues on the way out.

“Hey there, girl! How was your day?” a well-dressed slender and tall man with short, curly brown hair in his early thirties greeted you with a hug.

“Hey Andrew! It went well. Uneventful, but boring is beautiful,” you replied cheerfully, “How was yours?”

“I love it when you say, “Boring is beautiful!” a tall Nigerian lady laughed. Her name is Alisha, who is level-headed, no-nonsense, but positive and funny with great fashion to boot. The two of you have been good friends since you started working where you work.

“Right? I have no complaints; nothing bad happened, so,” you responded just as cheerfully. “Are you going to the staff get together?”

“Oh, no, I’m leaving in a week, remember?” Andrew reminded, looking sad, “I’m moving to a different city.”

“Aww, that’s right! I’ll miss you, hun!” You hugged your colleague with a sad pouty face, “We wish you all the best!”

Andrew hugged you back firmly, then Alisha hugged Andrew.

“We need to go for dinner before you go!” Alisha said, “The three of us.”

“Yes! We should do that,” Andrew agreed, “Oooh! How about Uccelino?”

Your eyes widened along with your smile, “Yes!” You exclaimed, pointing a finger, not at him but to emphasize what he said, “Love that place!”

“Sounds great! Let’s keep in touch, k?” Andrew started to walk away, “Bye, ladies!”

“For sure! See ya!”

“Take care!”

“How was your day, Alisha? How was Madison’s performance?” You asked about her 5-year-old daughter.

“Oh, you know, she loves performing. She lights up every time she gets to sing. She was so excited to be a fairy and was showing off her dress to everyone,” Alisha shared happily, “She says she can’t wait for her next performance!”

She pulled out her phone to show you a few pictures of a cute girl in a yellow organza-tulle dress with a tiara holding a wand with a large star on top; she had the biggest smile and twinkling eyes. She then showed a video of her singing “When You Wish Upon A Star”.

You can’t help but coo because this was the cutest thing that you’ve seen ever!

“Aww, she’s so precious! She’s got such a beautiful voice!” And you meant it. Some children are gifted with beautiful voices, and she sounded like a miniature Marcedes from Glee, “I hope that she goes far, because, girl, she’s got it!”

“Thank you so much,” Alisha beamed, clearly touched, “I am proud of her.”

“You should be!” You were hit with this realization that these are the kinds of moments that the Earth Realm and Outworld Protectors were protecting, and you felt guilty for taking the days that have been passing your life for granted. You respect and appreciation for them have deepened.

You and Alisha continued to chat all the way to the parking lot.

“Anyways, I gotta pick up the kids. See you tomorrow, girl!” Alisha hugged you, and you’ve always felt good interacting with her.

You hugged her back and you exchanged good-byes.

You nearly forgot to go to the USP store to pick up the parcel and accidentally sideswiped someone in reaction to turning back to head in the opposite direction. You heard a loud series of horns at you.

“HEY, BITCH! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!!!” You heard a driver shout at you.

“I’m sorry!” You waved apologetically. Red-faced, your alertness returned in a flash while feeling yourself shrinking. Taking a few deep breaths, you calmed yourself down enough to stay focused on your way to your destination.

You entered the store to open your mailbox, but it was empty, which meant that it was a larger package. You walked over to the clerk and gave your box number. The clerk went to the back and produced a box for you, which you received. You thanked the clerk and headed back to the car. Once in, you inspected the box; it was a 4”x 4”x 4” made out to “Tomas Vrbada” from the US.

You let out a “Hmm,” raising your eyebrows before stating the car. Then you noticed the time. You were 20 minutes late from picking up Tomas! You cursed under your breath but the initial shock of a near miss followed by being cussed out by an angry driver was still fresh, so you took a moment to calm down. Once you were ready, you shifted your gear to drive.

When you arrived at Lisa’s friend’s place, his name is Kyle, you drove up to the driveway where you saw Tomas and another warrior sparring. He delivered two kicks, which his partner blocked.

Upon noticing you, he stopped what he was doing, picked up his mask and lunch bag, said his goodbye to his partner and walked towards you, sweating and smiling. His grey ninja uniform made him look formidable and intimidating, and you reminded yourself that this man was capable of killing someone. However, every time he was friendly and polite in behavior, it threw you off and had cognitive dissonance. You smiled and waved sheepishly.

“Oh, my god! I’m so sorry! I didn’t meant to make you wait!” You apologized profusely, looking shameful, “I had a difficult time on the road.”

“Don’t apologize! I kept myself occupied,” he said reassuringly, still slightly out of breath, “How was your day?”

“Well, other than nearly sideswiping someone, I’m alive,” you admitted sheepishly, “Totally my fault.”

“I’m sorry to hear that! Are you ok?” His expression was genuinely concerned, and it was reflected in his voice. Those eyes, though. So piercing!

You were touched by the concern he was showing and relaxed a little. “I am, thank you for the concern. I’m sorry again for being late!”

“You don’t need to apologize so much, Y/N. I’ve noticed that tendency in you.”

“I’m sorry,” *shit!* you did it again! You mentally beat you head on the steering wheel again and again.

He laughed, “But then it must be a Canadian thing, yes? So I’ve been told!”

Yet again, another save. He must have this sixth sense of you being embarrassed and verbally taking you out of it. Well, there’s a positive!

“Oh, I’ve picked up your package.” You reached to the back to get the box and handed it to him.

He received it gratefully, “Thank you for doing this for me. I wonder what he sent…” he muttered, inspecting the box and shaking it.

You kind of stared into space for god knows how long.

“Y/N…Y/N…hello?”

He waved his hand in front of your face to snap you out of your fog.

“Are we going home? I am starving and want to see what you will be cooking next!”  

“Oh, right! I’m sorry!” You shut your eyes tight, and he laughed even more. Smiling stiffly, you started the car, “Let’s go.”

You were grateful that you managed to bring the both of you home safely. As soon as you entered your apartment, you made a beeline to the coat rack to hang your purse and coat, then straight to the kitchen. Using whatever’s left of the shock in your system, you channelled that into preparing your meal. You vaguely heard Tomas go into the guest bathroom and a few minutes later you heard the shower.

Food time: Pressure Test! (skip if you’re not interested)

You took out ingredients and mentally started to plan on making your meal. You first pre-heated the toaster oven to 400 F, then took out the container of tomato basil bisque that you have pre-made during the weekend out of the freezer, which you threw into a medium sized pot to boil. You were grateful for having pre-made some soups and pre-portioned main courses for lazy days and for frantic days.

Next, you tackled the ceasar salad. You took out a bag of romaine lettuce to cut up, then soak in a bowlful of water and some vinegar to sit for a few minutes. You would have made the dressing yourself, but since you were ridiculously late coming home, you had to cheat. Luckily, you had THE BEST ceasar dressing from Costco!

Next, you heated some water for pasta and you chose spagettini as the pasta of choice. The boiling comes later.

While that was happening, you went to the fridge and pulled out a package of 4 chicken breasts, which you butterflied, seasoned, layered basil and half a bag’s worth of Italian Cheese, and then rolled them up. You washed your hands thoroughly to prevent killing anyone so that you can prepared the dredging ingredients in three rectangular deep dishes. You added salt, pepper, Italian herbs, garlic and onion powders, paprika and shredded parmesan cheese. The doubly dredged stuffed chicken breasts, which were held by toothpicks were pan fried on both sides until golden brown, and then transferred to the oven to cook the rest of the way.

While that was happening, you decided that it wouldn’t hurt to handwash the dishes under barely tolerable hot water and soap, which you did in a jiffy, while also effectively washing your hands, too.

To jack up the chicken, you sauteed mince garlic and onion then threw in a can of crushed Roma tomato sauce, and seasoned to taste to which you put on top of the breaded crispy chicken at the 15 minute mark, topping it with more Italian cheese then sticking it back to cook the rest of the way for a total of 25 minutes and a little longer until the cheese is golden brown, which the latter happened. Once done, you made sure that all the toothpicks were removed, again to not kill anybody.

You lowered the temperature of the soup after it was thoroughly melted and piping hot down to a simmer and you washed the tomato sauce pan thoroughly.

For the final task, you made the Aglio e Olio Pasta as the companion pasta for your chicken. You turned up the heat to boil the pasta water and threw in the pasta once boiling. You took a clean stainless steel pan and poured the amount of olive oil required for the recipe and heated it up on medium-low, then thinly sliced 1 ½ bulb’s worth of garlic which went into the pan along with chili flakes to infuse the oil with flavors until the garlic started to turn brown. Dragging the perfectly cooked pasta pot right up against the pan you used tongs to transfer the spaghettini into the pan and added pasta water and salt as needed in between tossing the pan’s content until it was beautifully glossy. Once this was done. You threw in chopped Italian parsley and tossed some more.

You turned your attention to the lettuce, which you drained then spun in a salad spinner until they are as thoroughly dry as you can get them. You completed the ceasar salad in a large wooden bowl and topped it with store-bought croutons and wide shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

(The end 😊 Can you guess how long this all took on a time crunch?)

By this time, you had noticed that Tomas was sitting on the dinner table, now wearing a fitted gray t-shirt and pajama pants, looking at his phone intently. He was in his own world, which made you feel relieved, because that bought you some time to make some of those herb and garlic sourdough toasts, which you forgot to make. 

You quickly set the table and plated the food with the chicken beautiful with the golden-brown cheese on top on one side and the Aglio e Olio on the other, making the Italian Flag proud! Next were the bowls of soup, which you decorated with two whole basil leaves, then assembled the toasts neatly on a separate plate. You bought a bottle of cold sparkling Italian lemonade from the Italian super market, which you’ve been stocking up on.

Hooooo boy, you felt like a hot mess after all was done. You quickly went to change you clothes so that you don’t look like a hot mess before finally sitting down at the dinner table ready to eat.

“Itadakimasu!” He exclaimed happily, “Let’s eat!”

You quietly dug into your food, and you didn’t realize how starving you are until you reached your last bite in under 15 minutes. You surprisingly beat Tomas, who was halfway done, partly because he was also paying attention to his phone.

You happened to look up to ask him how his dinner was and you were startled to see him staring at you. If you’ve watched Season 4 of Love Is Blind, he had the same intense, creepy stare as Zach. His lips were curled up in a smile.

You decided to ignore the sensation of your skin crawling to ask him how his dinner was. He didn’t reply and continued to stare at you with that smile.

“What?” you asked, you shifted your eyes to one side briefly before returning to his stare, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Why are you so serious?” Tomas asked, now grinning.

“I’m sor-what?” you spat out, stunned.

“You’re so serious,” he repeated. He pursed his lips, seemingly deep in thought, “Am I scary?”

“No, you’re not scary,” you answered slowly after your own pause.

“Then why do you look.....serious? Why are you so quiet?” he asked. You perceive there to be a slightly teasing tone in his voice, “Are you normally like this around people?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean,” you said, confused. Is he right though? In your head, you went over your interactions with him from the past week. You were civil and respectful in your interactions with him and have done your best to make sure that he was comfortable. However, you remember the first evening when he made the comment about how you were serious. In your defense, you tended to be focused when you’re working on a task.

“You’re doing it again, you have that look in your face! It’s like you’re……uh…….pondering the meaning of life!” he quipped with the same creepy expression, this time his eyes looking off momentarily to the side before returning to yours, “Like figuring out how the……….caramel got into a Caramilk Bar.”

You nearly choked on your drink. That came out of nowhere! Did you hear this right? Was he joking?

You opened and closed your mouth a few times trying to respond to him, “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Tomas. I shouldn’t ha-“

“I interrupt you, sorry!” he countered, “I didn’t say that you made me uncomfortable. I said that you were serious. And to be honest……”

“Okay?” you were paying attention now. You felt terrible, as you can feel a mental lashing from your perfectionist brain beginning.

“It hurts my feelings,” he finished, expression changing to that of a pouty demeanor, like a 10-year old, “You want to know a secret? I’ve never told any one about this, not even my own brother……..The Grand Master of the great Shirai Ryu……Best Clan ever.”

He gestured for you to come closer, and you leaned forward a few inches.

He gestured even harder, “Closer! Closer! You’re too shy!”

You gave a slight incredulous scoff and leaned forward a few more inches.

“Closer!” He beckoned even harder.

You stopped just over a feet away from him, “No, this is close enough.”

“Okay, I’ll lean closer,” he bobbed his head side-to-side and leaned closer so that his face was 6 inches away from yours.

You instinctively leaned away from him. You were made to feel uncomfortable with this sudden behavior change, and you kept wary eyes on him as his piercing silver-gray eyes bore into yours.

“What is your secret?” You asked.

After a long pause and eyes still locked into yours, he said, “I’m a Cancer.”

A burst of involuntary laughter erupted from you. You leaned your elbows on the table with a thud, and burried your face into your hand, convulsing.

“This is funny to you?” Tomas asked, “I’m telling you my secret……..it is very precious to me!”

It was hard to take this seriously, and you couldn’t help but find this sudden shift of behaviour amusing.

He waited until you to calm down. “I-I’m so-sorry! I-I d-didn’t me-mean to-“

“I interrupt you again,” he cut you off, waving his hand dismissively, “As I said, it is a precious secret…very…very…..very………very precious.”

Swallowing hard, you managed to stop laughing, “Thank you for sh-sharing your secr-secret with me.” Your were finding it hard to keep a straight face, so you smiled and gestured for him to go on.

“I know I look scary on the outside………like, very…very, very, very, very, very scary. I look tough like a Russian Villain!” This he said with an over-exaggerated tough guy look pumping his fist in front of him. Then he softened his demeanor to the same pouty expression, “But I’m very soft in the inside.” He rubbed his left chest emphatically, “I’m a sensitive man. Very, very, very, very, very sensitive……….like my feelings get hurt very, very easily.”

“How have I hurt your feelings, Tomas?” you asked trying to be empathetic, a chuckle betraying you.

“You don’t talk to me,” he answered, still pouty-faced.

Despite your amusement, you were taken-aback since you’ve always responded to his questions and when he initiates conversations. To be honest, you’ve always kept to yourself and minded your own business, until you got to know someone well enough to open up to and engage in more than superficial conversations,

“I don't talk to you?" You repeated, "What do you want to talk about?”

“Ask me about………my hair,” he said, “Ask me why it is gray.”

Now that he brought it up, you seized the opportunity to satisfy the curiosity, “Is that your natural hair colour?”

He cocked his head to one side, “My mother was a moon sprite…my father was a fire lord….he is human. It’s a sad story, I’m sorry.” His face contorted as if about to cry.

“No, no, it’s okay. I’m listening,” you reassured, “I want to hear it.

“My people were persecuted, so my mother put me in a basket to help me escape. It travelled down the river from my kingdom all the way to China and my hair turned from red to gray……because it was cold. My fire became smoke,” he finished now with a deadpan expression, “The end!” He finished in a sing-song voice with a cheery expression and raising his hands with upturned palms.

Reluctantly, you told him it was a good story. It sounded ridiculous to you, but knowing about the existence of magical realms and beings, you thought that there may be plausibility in his story and that he’s using humour to cope. It is also possible that he was trying to connect with people and was secretly lonely. You now felt terrible for laughing.

“Thank you for sharing your story with me, Tomas. I’ll be sure to ask more questions about you,” You reassured, “I normally don’t ask a lot of questions when I don’t know people very well, because I don’t know if a question is personal or not.”

“What personal questions?” Tomas asked, leaning in curiously, eyes wide like a child.

“Well, you know, like if someone’s married, how old someone is, or what their family life is like, or-“

“Are you married?” he asked.

You paused, “I decline to answer.”

“How old are you?”

“I’d rather not say,” you replied warily.

“Why?”

“And it’s rude to ask someone that.”

“Why?”

“Some people are sensitive about their age.”

“Why?”

You paused, “They just don’t like being asked that question.”

“Why?”

“Okay, this is getting nowhere,” you smiled awkwardly, trying to get out of the topic.

“You’re being serious again!” Tomas exclaimed, “Even your food is serious.” He gestured at his plate.

You blinked, “I’m sorry, what? My food is “serious”?”

“Your food………it’s too serious,” he picked up his fork and poked through the salad, the chicken, and the pasta, “Where are my brownies? Where are my Skittles?”

The then spooned the soup, pretending to look for something, “Where is my ice cream?”

You shrugged, “Well, I want to make sure that you eat health-“

He held a hand up to stop you, “Sorry, I interrupt you,” he said, “Now you hurt my Cancer feelings again.”

“Go on, please explain,” you gestured for him to continue.

“I like tasty food…..just not too serious…….If everything is too serious, there is no fun.”

Nodding slowly, you agreed empathetically, “You’re right.”

He slammed a hand on the table, “Of course, I’m right!”

This action made you jump, but you looked at him expectantly to continue.

“I am a human being! I have feelings,” He said, rubbing his left chest again, “…..…needs……..I want fun! Please consider my feelings.”

“You right, I’m sorry, I sh-“

“I don’t want your, “I’m sorry!” he said loudly, he slammed his hand on the table again, “I want action!”

You shut your eyes with a suppressed smile, processing the interaction. You were undoubtedly amused, but what part of this was serious? You wanted to read between the lines to find the meaning, but that was a task for later.

“How about this?” you began slowly, “Why don’t I bring you on my next Costco run after I pick you up during the weekend, then we’ll eat out. What do you think?”

“No serious?” He asked, wide-eyed.

“No serious,” you affirmed, nodding and smiling.

“Ok!” He then cracked a wide, innocent smile, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!”

You let him finish his dinner, and proceeded to clear the table and clean up after he was done. Once your duties for the evening were done, you headed to your room and hit the shower.

He reverted back to the self that you were familiar with, like the entire strange conversation never happened. But you got a good laugh out of it.

You let the cats out. Instantly, they gravitated towards Tomas, who gladly indulged them. He also insisted in helping you, you explained that since he was a guest, he wouldn’t be doing any of that. However, interacting the kitties would always be welcomed.

Was it ever an interesting day, and it ended with you laughing your self to sleep. Little did you know, your dinners would become…interesting.