#BUT i think i finally nailed down my proposal idea so it's literally just getting those numbers worked out

[comfortlesshurt]

I think it should be illegal for my will to write to be highest fifteen minutes before my shift starts.

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Has anyone asked for any proposal details for Break yet? It’s so fun to revisit all of your stories!

Hello, Anon! I'm so sorry it took me this long to get to this one. I've actually had this in my drafts for literally years but it never felt quite right, so I didn't post it. I'm so glad you asked for it, though. It gave me the kick I needed to revisit it and figure out what was wrong. Hope you enjoy! And also, here's a link to the last chapter of Break, since it kind of helps to remember what happened in it for this to make sense.

<3 kdnfb

He thought about doing it on the twenty-third. That’d be exactly four months. July twenty-third. But she’d be expecting that, and a part of him still wants it to be a surprise. Well, not a surprise, but spontaneous. At least seemingly so. Hard to be spontaneous when they not only set a deadline of sorts, but he’s also practiced what he’d say in front of the mirror when she’s not home and has planned the evening nearly to the minute.

Wanting to catch her at least a little unguarded, so he can see her real reaction, he decides to ask her on the twenty-fourth. Just late enough to make her wonder, but not enough to make her think he’s forgotten.

Only, she calls him at work over her lunch break on the twenty-fourth and spends fifteen minutes venting about her boss being an inconsiderate, drunk dickhead. Not keen on the idea of proposing to an angry Katniss, Peeta decides it can wait one more day.

The next day, he leaves work a little early to prepare, but when he walks through the door of their apartment, he’s greeted by laughter. When the door shuts behind him, announcing his presence, Katniss and Prim call out a cheerful greeting to him from the couch before returning to their whatever show they’ve clearly just started to marathon. No big deal. He adjusts, making dinner for the two girls and staying out of their way, keeping a smile on his face and not fretting over the ring still sitting in his bottom drawer, buried under his jeans. He can wait until Prim’s surprise visit is over.

Two days later, when Prim has finally left, Katniss herself delays his plans. He inserts his key when he returns home that afternoon, but before he can turn it, the door flies open and Katniss yanks him into the apartment by his tie. She doesn��t even undress him all the way, just unzips his pants, pushes them and his shorts down enough to free his cock, and shoves him down onto the first chair they come to in their living room. 

“Katniss, what—“ he doesn’t get to finish his question because she climbs on top of him, pulling the skirt of her filmy sundress up as she straddles him. He notices that she’s not wearing any panties. “Holy shit.”

He gasps as he feels her wet lips caressing over his cock. Her mouth descends on his and he grips the arms of the chair for a second, until he can’t keep his hands off her any longer and grips her hips instead, holding her steady as she rocks her body back and forth, coating him with her arousal.

He’s hard in seconds, aroused and dazed enough to go along with it when she sinks down on top of him and starts moving. Slow at first, her knees jutting up and her thighs working hard enough to quiver. He cups her cheek in one hand and kisses her softly, drinking down her throaty moans and gentle sighs.

Peeta’s heart aches with how beautiful she is when she lifts her head and looks down at him, her gray eyes like molten silver, overflowing with love and need. He whispers to her the truth, about how incredible it feels being inside her. Joined to her. Feeling her orgasms unfold around his cock. 

Something he says snaps her loose, though, because she whimpers his name and then bites her lip. Bucks her hips wildly. She curses loudly and digs her nails into his shoulders. She throws her head back on a tortured groan when he slides his thumb down in between her lips until its wet, then drags his touch up to her clit. She comes within minutes, the powerful clench of her walls enough to milk his own release from him. 

When she collapses onto his chest, moaning about how glad she is that their house guest is finally gone, Peeta figures now isn’t the time to propose. Not with his semen and her release mingling together and seeping from her body, soaking his shorts and his suit pants. He probably could, but he wants his proposal to be clear. 

Their relationship may have gone from friendship to sex to love on the surface -- he’d always been in love with her, long before that first game of strip pool -- but he’ll be damned if she has any reason to think he proposed to her because he was stupid with sex.

Besides, Katniss doesn’t seem to notice or care that their arbitrary deadline from their bet over four months ago has come and gone without Peeta asking her to marry him. Not when they spend it naked and grinding against nearly every flat surface and a few not so flat surfaces in their apartment. After that, there’s no chance to propose, since they fall asleep, tangled in sheets and one another’s arms.

But today, he is determined. He’s going to ask her. And hope to everything sacred to them both that she hasn’t changed her mind. She would never have sunk that eight ball if she didn’t want him to ask. It’s part of why he distracted her the night of their game. To give her a way out of her impulsive wager if she wanted it. But she hadn’t. She deliberately walked out the next morning, smirked at him, and took her shot, all but declaring to him that she wanted him to propose to her.

And while Katniss might be many things, he’s never known her to be deliberately cruel. If she wants him to ask, it means she wants to say Yes. Knowing the probable outcome does nothing to soothe his nerves as he leaves work early to get the dinner started. 

He’s just about got everything ready to go, except the flower petals he’d planned on scattering over the floor, when Katniss opens the door and calls out to him that whatever he’s cooking smells amazing. Peeta wipes his palms on his slacks. Well, he thinks, the flower petals would’ve probably been too much. Katniss doesn’t care for ostentatiousness.

“Ready in five minutes,” he tells her as she kisses his cheek and then disappears into their room to change out of her work clothes. While she’s doing that, he serves up the dishes and lights the candles.

When she emerges, dressed in maddeningly short cotton shorts and one of his ratty old college t-shirts, his heart sinks a little and he rethinks his plan. No girl wants to be proposed to in loungewear, do they? She smiles at the setup, the candlelight glinting off her irises, turning them a darker mercury lit from within, and he’s momentarily stunned by how beautiful she is.

“What’s all this for?” she asks, sliding into her seat that he holds out for her at the table and pulling her legs up to cross them on the chair.

“Just because,” he says nonchalantly and sits beside her. He’s not even settled before she’s begun eating, and he smiles at the relish with which she consumes the food. Katniss eating is one of the most pleasurable and erotic things he’s witnessed. The way she savors every bite and moans around both new and favorite flavors alike.

His cock twitches to life, and he flushes, mentally scolding himself for his unchecked lust. But it’s not just lust. They share small glances and talk over the meal. She snorts once when he makes her laugh, claps her hands with glee when he serves dessert, and in the soft glow of the candle light Peeta relaxes. This is who they are, after all, and ratty t-shirt or not, he wants more than anything for his proposal to reflect who they are to each other.

“Katniss,” he says, twining their fingers together when she puts down her fork and licks the last of her dessert from her lips. She lifts his hand to her mouth and kisses his knuckles. The gesture so tender and soft that he’s momentarily rendered speechless.

“Dinner was incredible. You must’ve worked so hard on it. Wait here while I clean up?” she murmurs.

All he can do is nod and let go of her as she stands, gathering both of their plates. She leaves him and as the water starts in the kitchen, he can hear her singing, along with the accompanying clanking of the dishes.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Pull it together,” he berates himself. It still takes him until she’s done to work up the nerve to join her in the kitchen, and he starts talking before he even makes it there. He’s looking down, tugging the ring from his pocket.

“Katniss, there’s something I need to…”

But he trails off when Katniss comes into his line of sight. Kneeling on one knee right in front of him. She’s still wearing her comfortable clothes, but now an almost frightened smile quivers over her lips.

“I know you’re an utter romantic and I’m probably stealing your thunder here, Peeta, but I can’t wait any longer to ask you. And well, this is me after all, right? Impulsive and messy and more likely to propose in my pajamas than in a dress but you love me anyways.”

“Katniss,” he breathes out, his heart pounding so hard, he doesn’t care that he’s stealing his thunder.

“And I know the bet was for you to propose to me, but I need you to know that would’ve asked that day. But I really wanted to cream you in pool again and was definitely willing to play dirty for it.”

He laughs at this and then manages to pull his scrambled brain together.

“I play dirtier.” He holds the ring out in front of her. “Katniss will you marr--”

“Yes!” she shouts elatedly, cutting him off and practically leaping into his arms. He almost drops the ring as he slings his arms around her to catch her. Then she’s laughing and kissing him. “In a hundred different lifetimes, the answer is always ‘Yes,’ Peeta.”

He grins and pulls her mouth down to his, forgetting his carefully planned speech. He guesses he can save it for their vows.

[problematicfavesareproblematic]

I Wish I Could Leave This Alone (I Know How Much You Want Me To)

Babe Heffron x Reader (plus guest) One Shot

Summary: Babe’s birthday gift to you has an unexpected party crasher

Warnings: smut, angst, infidelity (?), reader overthinking while getting dicked down, I wrote this and immediately posted it so it will be edited at some point

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Babe’s kiss was soft, but his touch was not.

 You couldn’t help the groan that escaped from the back of your throat as one of his hands gripped tightly at your hip, and when he smiled against your lips you couldn’t help but feel like you’d had done something to amuse him.

 “What?” you pant, leaning back at the waist to break the kiss and frowning at his smirk. 

 He chuckled warmly as he walked you backward towards your bed, the hand at your hip finding its way under your shirt and up against your sternum.

 “Where’d you go, Gorgeous?” he asked playfully, and you immediately felt guilty. 

He was right, you’d gone somewhere else for a while. That wasn’t fair to him, and you knew that. And while he was quick to call you out on it, he never seemed to truly take offense to it. You weren't sure what that said about him. Or you, for that matter.

You shake your head and bring your hands to the hem of his t-shirt, lightly tracing your nails across the sensitive skin of his lower stomach. “Started getting a bit ahead of myself, that’s all.” 

 Pressing a kiss to the hinge of his jaw, you use your position to slide your hand down the front of his trousers and cup him through his boxers.

“You forgot to breathe,” he mumbles, his voice slow and distracted. “Can’t have you blacking out and embarrassing yourself like that—Woah.” 

 A smile of your own breaking across your face, you nose at him until he brings his mouth to yours again, making a show of inhaling sharply as the backs of your knees hit the bed.

 “Good note,” you say breathily as you pull his shirt up his back, giggling idiotically as he intentionally gives you a hard time of it. Your shirt doesn’t last long either, and with a practiced ease, you have each other stripped and bare in the blueish darkness of your barrack.

 He isn’t gentle when his hands grip your bare skin, his movements excited and rough as he settles against the headboard and pulls you up to straddle his lap.

 “I remembered, by the way.”

 Taking his face in your hands, you hold him away to study him, confusion marring your constantly furrowed brow. “Remembered…?”

 His eyes are aglow in the dark, so amber and warm that they reminded you of the spiced ciders your family would make during the holidays back home. A wicked smile crosses his face, and he chuckles quietly.

 “I told you what knowing my middle name would cost you when you asked me last month, and the information I wanted in return. And I told you I wouldn’t forget…”

The cogs clicked in your head, and you made a sound of upset when you figured out what he was talking about. 

 Detail for detail, that’s the deal, Sweetcheeks.

 “Happy Birthday, Sargent Y/N.” He waggled his eyebrows, and you booed him quietly.

 “What are the odds a blowjob will make you forget about it?” you ask with a wince, gasping when he playfully rolled his hips up to meet yours. Feeling how hard he was made your blood begin to run hotter.

 “Hmm,” he hummed, leaning forward to suck a kiss on the delicate skin beneath your collarbone. “Somewhere between none and slim.”

 With an annoyed hum, you lean your head forward to rest atop his head and let him mouth at you, your hand coming up to pull at his hair only when you knew he was intentionally trying to leave a mark. 

 “And do you remember what I said I wanted to give you for your birthday?”

 Feeling the blood rush to your cheeks, you realized that you could only sit in hot embarrassment as he laughed at you again.

 “Such a prim and proper lady, scandalized by the idea of riding my face—”

 “Edward!” you hissed, hands that once held his face now pushing it away. “Don’t say it like that, come on—”

 The auburn-haired man laughed, catching your wrists and pulling you into his chest. you grunted with frustration, your face now pressed against the hollow of his throat.

 “It’s not like my mouth hasn’t been down there before, you know.”

 Sighing, you let yourself sag into him slightly, trying not to lose yourself in his lighthearted tone.

 “Yeah, but not like that, when I’m just…you know.”

 “Oh I see, you like it better when I do all the work and you get to take the princess position, huh?”

 “Jesus Christ, Babe” you sit up again with a huff, attempting to pull your wrists back from his unyielding grip. “I try to be serious for one fucking second….”

 Rolling his eyes, he surges up and kisses you sweetly, and for a minute you feel yourself begin to slip out of your body again.

But he brings you back. He always brings you back to him and here and now.

 “C’mon, Sweet Thing…” he croons shamelessly against your lips, rough hands releasing your wrists and sliding teasingly up and down your thighs. The touch has you trembling in his lap, and he’s kissing you before you can be too embarrassed. “If you hate it, I’ll stop and you can fucking edge me until I blackout, I swear to god. You gotta let me see you like this, Y/N. Please, Gorgeous…?”

Good GOD he was shameless, literally begging you to allow him the chance to make you feel good, to show you how good he can make you feel- how much he wanted to be the one to do it to you first.

 Anticipation was knotted in your throat as you smashed your lips to his, a flutter of heady resolve resting in your belly. As if he could taste what you were thinking, he wrapped his arms around you and hummed against your mouth.

 “God, you’re so perfect...” he pulled you into him, rolling his hips in a way that seemed to remind you of the urgency you both had felt before. 

When he pulls back this time he’s grinning at you like a complete idiot, happier than any man should be at the prospect of cunnilingus, in your opinion.

 But Edward Heffron was nothing if not enthusiastic in his pursuits.

 “Hands on the windowsill,” he said breathlessly, his cheeks turning pink and making you want to kiss him again. When you didn’t follow his request quickly enough he guided your hands there himself and folded your fingers around the frame of the open window. 

 You quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do I want to know how long you’ve been thinking about this, or will I be insulted?”

 He smacks your thigh lightly, drawing a surprised yelp from your lungs that melts into a hum of amusement as he kneads the reddening flesh.

 “How about we err on the side of caution and say….. just within the past few months?”

 “And you held me in the highest regard before that- right, Private?”

 He says nothing for a moment, and when he does agree to your proposed question he mumbles it into the valley between your breasts.

 “Hmph. You’re a terrible liar. This had better be worth it.”

 Seemingly satisfied with your ability to keep your hands where he set them, Babe encourages you to rise up to your knees so you’re no longer flush in his lap. Immediately, his eyes flick down to your sex, and you cannot help the way your thighs start to shake

 He says something under his breath that you can’t quite catch before he looks back at your face and his expression softens for a second.

 “Remember what I said earlier? I mean it, you know I mean it—”

 You’re nodding before he can finish the sentiment, letting a soft smile play at the corners of your kiss-swollen lips. “You’ll be the first to know if I want to stop. Promise.”

 With one more biting kiss to the middle of your chest he brings his assault downwards with hands, lips, and teeth- his touch just the right amount of hard and teasing to send your head swimming long before you finally feel his breath on the overly-sensitive skin of your inner thighs.

 “Oh fuck,” he sounds far away, but maybe that’s just because you’re feeling too big for your own body at the moment. “Could die happy here…”

God, he’s such a whore.

 The first touch of his tongue has you pitching yourself forward, eyes squeezed shut as you let your face poke out the window enough to feel the breeze on your clammy face. 

 Shit, he was good at that- it felt so good. If you didn't have your own goddamn skeletons in your proverbial closet you may have even been jealous to think of all the other women who had been privy to this most spectacular consideration. Babe was kissing you down there just as sweetly as he had ever kissed your lips, and it made you briefly wonder if anyone else from your past could have made you feel as high as he was making you feel right now.

 Bowing your head to look down at him, your breath catching at the sight of him looking up at you from between your thighs, his arms folded around your hips to control the small jumps you couldn’t seem to get a handle on.

 “Fuck, Babe!” you bite out, the idea of him looking up your body and watching you squirm threatening to overwhelm you. “Can’t fucking do that, ‘s gross angle for me…”

 “Oh?” he said, the sound and feeling of his voice running up your body in the most sinful way. “I beg to differ...”

 Knowing that watching him watch you would ultimately be too much, you shake your head to clear your thoughts and lift your head to look back out the window into the night air.

 Only to come face to face with Ronald Speirs.

 A sound of surprise, shock, embarrassment, and panic got caught in your throat alongside your cresting moan and resulted in the most depraved cry that seemed to surprise all three of you.

 Your blood boiled as it froze in your veins as you made eye contact with Speirs, mortification and utter shock leaving your mouth hanging open in a silent shriek of horror.

 You had no idea how long the other man had been standing there, but if the look in his eyes was any indication it had been long enough to know exactly what was happening on the other side of the wall, just below the window frame. A cigarette hung forgotten between his lips as he openly stared at you, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed silently.

 When Babe’s hand came up to squeeze your breast enticingly, you nearly jumped out the window. 

 Oh my God This can’t be happening right now I have to stop him Oh fucking hell….

 Your head whipped down and he looked up at you with heavy-lidded eyes, mouth red and damp as he panted wickedly up at you. “You okay, Gorgeous?”

 A crushing realization fell onto you in that very moment: there was no way you could tell him what was happening- who was there watching your shared private moment outside. Because that would mean that you’d have to explain that Ron always did this, that every night he would smoke near wherever you were sleeping that night and keep watch like a possessive and protective shadow. 

 And the only way you could explain that was by telling Babe about what you and Ron had once had- no, almost had. He rejected you, you reminded yourself harshly. He made his stance on you abundantly clear when he’d had you transferred into Easy Company. The fact that Speirs still behaved as if he was somehow responsible for you was not your problem.

 Besides, you had Babe. You wanted Babe. Even if the ache in your heart tried to tell you differently.

 You made your peace with Ron Speirs’ rejection a long time ago.

 Not trusting your voice, you nod vehemently and hope what is happening outside isn’t clearly written on your face. 

 A smug grin stretches across his face. “Good, ‘cause you taste better than I imagined…..”

 You curse as he pulls you back down to his mouth, your head flashing back up to see that Ron has gotten rid of his cigarette and shucked off his heavy coat and gun. His dark eyes look downright predatory, and if you had any sense in your sex-dumb head you would stop this debauchery and transfer somewhere far away from the both of them.

 You open your mouth to do something, anything to save yourself some dignity in this fucking exhibitionist nightmare, but Speirs’s finger flies up to his lips, the command clear even through the darkness.

 You knew this would happen eventually something in his gaze seemed to accuse. Did you really believe you could forget who you’re wishing was beneath you?

 But as you watch him tilt his head, something else is conveyed: he’s asking for permission. 

 He didn’t intend to leave. He wanted to watch.

But he would, if you wanted him to.

 It was cruel of him, and something in the way he worked his jaw told you that he knew it too, but like you he was too far gone to stop it. 

 You both know better, each of you having your own reasons for not wanting to inevitably hurt the other and cross that line. Your own sick, backwards ways of self-protection and showing affection for the other seemed to be twisting and becoming more complex as time went on. 

The more involved you became with Babe….Ron suddenly wanted to be your friend again just after you had first slept with Babe.

 You immediately understood that you and Ron were nearing your final days of dancing around each other, that you would have to be the one to stop it. Because Edward Heffron was too good and too kind to be fucked with like this. Eventually, you would have to stop being so selfish.

 In a final show of weakness, you nod silently to Ron, your breath coming in quick bursts as your lover has patiently worked you up and up to the crest of your crescendo, none the wiser to the wicked thoughts and realizations spinning around in your head. 

 I really am a monster.

 But you couldn’t focus on that right now, not as Ron stalked right up to the window with such confidence that you thought you had gravely misread the situation and he was going to announce himself to Babe. 

 You had just begun to make a hush of protest when his cold hands gripped yours and he knelt down so he was nose to nose with you, his hot glare turning it into another embarrassing sound of pleasure.

 “Shit!” You whimpered, your body trembling more violently as the coil in your belly began to constrict. Ron’s thumbs rubbed the back of your knuckles in a soothing motion as he made a sound of pity low in his throat, the clucking of his tongue quiet enough that it disappeared in the sounds of the forest surrounding them. 

When you get a better look at his face you can see his look of empathy is almost mocking, and you briefly wonder if you would ever have sex with someone who didn’t like to antagonize you the whole time.

 As you try to pull your hands out from under his, he shakes his head sternly before wrestling them into his grip, the action pulling you slightly further out the window and making you gasp.

Babe chuckles and grips your ass to control the speed in which your hips rocked, a nibble on your clit nearly making you scream.

 You’re a terrible person. You’re the worst kind of woman. you hate yourself for this.

 Ron’s brows furrow and his face goes soft, eyes a warm burn rather than a vengeful inferno. You don’t realize you have begun crying until he brushes the tears from your cheeks with quick fingers.

You press your forehead against his as your body bows in warning, your orgasm approaching with unforgiving intensity. 

 Ron doesn’t kiss you and you don’t kiss him. You never had and after this long, you don't think you ever will. You hate how much you wished you could though.

Especially with another man’s tongue working you into a frenzy at the same fucking time.

 “Please, I want you...” you said pathetically, and Ron had the grace to look down in shame. Guilty fingers intertwined with yours and with a sad grimace he kissed the backs of your hands.

 “I know you do, I’m so sorry,” he breathes across your knuckles, tongue darting out to wet the chilling skin where he kissed, kissing your hand as he had wished to kiss your mouth each and every day since he had met you. 

 But you couldn’t, he couldn’t. And he wouldn’t let you ever try.

 You came with a silent cry, only the whispered reminder from both of the men you loved to breathe saved you from falling apart in the most critical moment.

 Because you are cruel you take one hand from Ron, the one he wasn’t kissing, and pull it back. 

 Babe’s overgrown hair is soft and damp as you reach down to rake your fingers through it, quickly finding his hand on your hip and clinging to his fingers with painful desperation as you quake above him.

Pulling you impossibly close to his mouth, Babe holds you as you tremble through the last of your pleasure, suckling once, twice more before noisily pulling away from you. 

 The sound was so lewd even Ron had to close his eyes and grit his teeth in order to stay quiet.

your hair clung to your face, and after sliding his fingers from yours Ron brushes the sweaty strands around your hairline.

 As you begin to catch your breath, you remember who you are, who all you’re with, and all that’s brought each of you to this point. You remember that Ron Speirs has to go, will always have to go. 

 He didn’t want you to be his,  wasn’t interested in sharing his barracks or you asking him about his past or remembering your birthday. You didn’t matter, none of this did. 

 All that mattered to him was the fight. The big picture. “We’re all already dead. Why bother acting like this is anything other than a distraction?”

 “Y/N,” Babe’s gentle kisses land on your hips and you realize that the time for your decision is coming sooner than she had anticipated. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

 You take a few more shuddering breaths with Ron, and from the way he tightened his jaw you knew he knew that you were going to have to let one of them go. And, because he’s just as selfish as you are, he doesn’t want you to choose Babe. 

 He’d rather keep you like a lark he can turn to for reassurance and comfort. Like a bird in a cage.

 With a final sniffle, you look down, away from Ron, and give all of your attention to the beautiful, sex-mussed man who was looking up at you so sweetly and with such a clear desire for approval that you almost started crying all over again.

 Ron lets you slip your fingers from his and takes a silent step back as you return your attention to your lover. You let him disappear into the night.

 “Nothing at all, Babe,” you reassure him with a sigh, moving shakily down his body so you can kiss him as deeply as you can, sealing your body to his as you hold his face between your hands. “I just forgot where I was for a second there.”

 Nipping at your bottom lip, he waits until you pull back before smiling stupidly at you.

“That good, huh?”

 Shaking your head, you scoff and flick his chest. As he starts to chuckle, you roll yourself off of him enough to scratch your nails lightly across his stomach.

 “I’ll give you a full review after round two, how about that?” You smirk as his eyebrows shoot up, sitting up and swinging your leg over his hips to straddle him. “But right now, how about I reward the idiot I love for remembering my birthday?”

 If he’s surprised by your sudden proclamation of affection, he makes no show of it. And somehow that makes the moment all the sweeter.

~ ~

(HELLO SO SORRY FOR THE LATE FIC I LOVE YALL COVID IS A BITCH! I’M CURRENTLY WORKING ON THREE FICS SO HOPEFULLY THEY WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY! OKAY BYE BYE MY GORGEOUS GEODUCKS!)

taglist: @mrseasycompany​ @itswormtrain @mrsalwayswrite​ @happyveday​ @sunsetmando @ricksmorty @now-im-a-belieber​ @tvserie-s-world​

[ad-hawkeye]

Hi! So, I haven’t been able to read all the asks regarding Artem’s 2nd anniv card so forgive me if I end up repeating some stuff others have said already. I was admittedly excited when i first saw the pv and when the translations came out, and then while I was watching it, I was mostly going “???” I really thought that Artem with the bouquet meant that he caught it during your typical bridal bouquet toss where they mean “oh, you have it so that means you’re going to get married next”, and then he just gets the idea to propose from there. BUT NO. I personally find it to be the worst context??? On one hand, I’m glad that Celestine and Jeremy were so supportive. I just… hate that that’s how the proposal happened. I mean, I don’t know if proposing at someone else’s wedding is a big social taboo everywhere in the world, and I guess it’s okay because the bride and the groom wanted it to happen but… I just wouldn’t have wanted to be in Rosa’s position.

I find it really ironic that both of Artem’s anniversary cards are just so public because he does advise against public romantic gestures in Xmas Partyland, but I thought it was forgivable in the first anniversary because it was preceded by episode four, of his personal story where they’ve heavily implied to each other that they’re both ready for a relationship. This time though, they haven’t even talked about getting married, which threw me off so much because they talk about everything (his birthday SSRs and his recent personal story event on CN)!!! This could have easily been solved if they just… added a scene (flashback or whatever) where they talk about the possibility of getting married and whether or not they’re on the same page. That’s one issue down.

I’m also just miffed that this card doesn’t really tie in with his previous cards. Maybe it’s because Eternal Yearning fed us so much with the red beans and the callback to Entwined Fate, but I was at least hoping that they would do the same in this one. They did a great job characterizing him with so much of the precious Artem-centric content, and they just threw it out the window. To be fair, I do think it was very in character of him to plan the proposal so early on and to go through such an extreme means to avoid making it obvious that he had a plan, and also I think to reassure her through the phone when she was nervous. But other than that??? It just doesn’t make sense for him to be a tad inconsiderate about about proposing and for him to pounce on her like /that/ at the third part.

I just think that narrative wise, it would make more sense that after confirming that she does, in fact want to get married, he proposed instead at Cloudbreak Temple, or the amusement park, or the film center? Then maybe the dialogue can allude to them shouldering each other’s weight for the rest of their lives and finally entwining their fates because of their own efforts, and then maybe they can reference that bit from About Time that he quoted from his first birthday event. Sorry, I’m just thinking out loud here. And then, I don’t know. Maybe they do sleep together after, but it has to be as awkward and earnest as it is steamy instead of… whatever it is that we got.

Sorry for this long rant dnsbs. I just wanted to hop in and say my piece because I do think it was a wasted opportunity that they have this character whose words and actions were husband-coded (if that makes sense???) from the beginning only to do him dirty through this card.

so i've been trying to figure out how to respond to this ask and convey just how much i agree with everything, so i'll settle on this: it feels like someone split me in two and then had the second me send an ask with all of my thoughts on the second anniversary card. i am not even kidding. holy shit anon, this was scary but in the best way ever HAHAHA

like, for anyone stumbling upon this post, give this ask a read, it literally nails everything. not even a single part where i’m like ehh yeah, i guess, just-- pure, full agreement. gonna ramble below.

i’m actually laughing because i thought i was the only one who remembered artem mentioning that in the xmas partyland event?? i’d kill to know the writer breakdown for this game. because i swear the writers for the main story, artem’s personal story + cards, events, and this second anniversary card all feel so different.

and like you say, first anniversary was totally fine because it was not only discussed beforehand, but because the amusement park was a last minute location change to cheer mc up.

this is also what i mean when i say i was even more baffled with the second anni card after watching his newer cn server cards and events. his birthday ssrs and his personal story event are sooo good and have them talk about serious life matters and what the future holds and i just can’t believe ?? they didn’t talk about MARRIAGE? they talked about how their workaholic natures might be the downfall of their future relationship... in the context of helping a married couple.... but they have NEVER talked about marriage? ALRIGHT!

his personal story event also has him mention how his parents want to have dinner with mc, and how mc asks if it’s too soon (after like 8 months of dating might i add, this event dropped in the cn server in march-ish), so he immediately says he can tell his mom not yet. i just. how is this the same guy who sprung a public proposal on her without her knowledge? months later? artemrosa is kinda the “slow paced” relationship of the four boys, so i just............

also totally agree how this second anniversary card felt detached from his other cards. im still working on responding to an anon who asked how i’d want the card to go, and one of my first thoughts was that the proposal had no ties to anything special to them. you mentioning about time made me GASP because i was literally thinking that. i was kinda expecting him to quote it when i watched the card. like a reference to a movie they both love? reference to the beans? ANYTHING. but no???

gosh im sobbing bc ive always loved that line about shouldering each other’s burdens. and that would have fit so well for a proposal.. it was originally said in the context of them being work partners, but now “partner” is taking on a new meaning, and yet. their thoughts on shouldering each others burdens hasnt changed and UHGHHHH WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL ANON!!!

i ALSO agree that artem spending forever planning the proposal and then avoiding eye contact for half a month were like, the two things i liked. it was the one thing that made me think, oh yeah, there’s the artem i know. i just wish it was in better context ugh :((

AND THE THIRD PART OF THE CARD. can i put “as awkward and earnest as it is steamy“ in a frame and put it up on the wall. that’s all i was expecting. seriously. i feel like some ppl have been pissed at me and have been assuming im a prude for disliking the card, or something. but. NO? holy shit, i just wanted it to be in character. artem has always been awkward but endearing, but GENUINE and passionate. i feel like any sort of nsfw would be self explanatory but i guess not??? ughhh im mad again HAHA

[stovetuna]

How much does Steve melt, the first time he sees how good Tony is with kids?

anon I am so busy with work but there are so many good li’l prompts in my inbox OH NO WHATEVER SHALL I DO anyways—

obvs there’s the scenario in which steve and tony are already together/in a deeply committed relationship (see also: MARRIED) and are discussing kids and whether or not they want to adopt or use a surrogate or if they should even do it given who they are and what their lives are like (and ofc Tony would have at least one “oh god what if I’m a horrible father like Howard was??” meltdown for some extra ~drama~)

but it’s me, and you know I *live* for pining!Steve, so imagine: Steve (who has been nursing a crush on Tony for ages but doesn’t want to ruin their friendship/doesn’t think he’s good enough/doesn’t think Tony wants him that way/take your pick of Steve angst) volunteers to join Tony at a very Tony-specific event, say, an MIT job fair. lots of smart kids doing smart things way above even Steve’s pay grade all clamoring to work for Stark Industries or intern for the Avengers tech squad or NASA, etc. (Steve would also like to talk to the folks at NASA because let’s not forget our man is an absolute nerd in his own right and would like to volunteer for their next, extra-dangerous space mission...)

Steve basically acts as body-man-slash-Tony’s-time-manager the whole time, because he knows Tony is liable to get tunnel vision if someone comes to him with a particularly good idea. The MIT kids are more interested in the science of Steve than Steve himself, so once he makes it clear that Tony’s the one to talk to about anything super-serum related, they all pretty much leave him alone. 

which is fine, because that leaves Steve with extra time to just observe Tony in one of his many elements: talking “cool science stuff” with the next generation of the world’s brightest minds, hands waving around, suit jacket and tie discarded, his hair a mess after running his excited fingers through it one too many times—happy. He gets to watch Tony be happy and excited and genuinely engaged with people who understand him, which makes Steve pine that much harder because Tony can never be that around Steve, of course!! Steve’s not smart or quick enough to even come close :((( 

(steve, darling, your low sense of self-worth is showing.)

AND THEN! an older student—I like to imagine a mom who fought tooth and nail to get back into school after having to leave for a number of years to deal with Life Stuff and eventually managed to nab a spot in one of MIT’s grad programs beyond all hope, all on her own—approaches the Stark Industries table with a very fussy, very noisy, very literal baby strapped to her chest. 

Steve turns around to tell Tony his 3 o’ clock is here, but oh look, Tony is already there, telling Steve as he passes “oh my god Steve look it’s a baby!” and then stumbling around the table in his excitement, eyes big and round and shining. he the woman’s resume before she can even try to hand it to him (Steve usually is fast enough to intercede) and folds it up and places it in his wallet before he’s asking her—Shantelle, her name is Shantelle—if he can hold the baby while they talk. 

so Steve’s helplessly watching as Shantelle unhooks the contraption while Tony holds the baby—Faith, who’s maybe six or seven months old and already has her mother’s eyes—under her arms and then moves her around to cradle her against his chest. Steve watches the two adults move around to the other side of the table out of the throes of traffic to talk, and they do, intensely and excitedly and animatedly, but all the while Tony holds baby Faith in his arms, running a knuckle down the middle of her back and humming under his breath whenever he stops talking. he looks—he looks blissed out, Steve thinks, and Faith is passed out completely, drooling on Tony’s very expensive shirt and gripping his designer sunglasses hanging from his collar in one sticky, chubby fist.

by the end of their half hour meeting, Shantelle has a job at SI and Faith has an ample education fund (K-12 AND college) waiting for her, personal courtesy of Tony Stark. and Steve literally just stares at them the whole time, at the drooling, sleeping baby on Tony’s chest, at the shine in the man’s eyes when he passes her back to her mother, at the smiling way Tony tells Shantelle not to worry about the drool or the crushed glasses, at the wave he sends her off with. 

Steve is ready to propose on the spot. he doesn’t, but he imagines it, because he would literally put down his life, his shield, if it meant giving Tony a life in which they could have a family and he’d get to see Tony’s face light up like that every day. it’s such a perfect, beautiful fantasy Steve almost tears up on the spot. 

all he manages, after the fair is over and Steve’s talked to the NASA folks and their arms are full of resumes, is “I didn’t know you liked kids so much.” it comes out kinda gruff because he’s still lowkey on the verge of tears just imagining carrying around a baby while Tony makes cooing noises at her or letting her sleep on his chest after he’s passed out on the workshop couch. 

meanwhile Tony’s off and babbling about how babies and young kids are purely innocent with zero ulterior motives or cynicism and they just make him look forward to the future that much more because “babies are the purest expression of hope I can imagine” and Steve’s heart CLENCHES, but he says nothing.

later on, he draws Tony like that: fast asleep on the ratty workshop sofa, a baby passed out on his chest, his arm around her to keep her from rolling off, instinctual protectiveness amplified by his being Tony Stark, who would rather die than see someone he loves get hurt. 

as Steve shuts the notebook and turns out the light, he imagines the baby opening bright eyes the same color blue as Steve’s and grinning toothlessly when she sees him standing in the workshop doorway. he falls asleep thinking about that. he spends every day of the next week thinking about that. every time he looks at Tony, his subconscious adds a baby, and that shining look in Tony’s eyes. and he wants it. all of it.

finally, after a tough mission and an even tougher de-brief, in the middle of Tony ranting—halfway out of his seat—at Steve about him holding the reins too tight and not letting the team improvise enough, Steve just stares straight into Tony’s eyes and says, “I’ll make it up to you if you let me take you to dinner tonight.” 

he doesn’t know where it came from, but it’s worth it given how Tony all but swallows his tongue and just dumbly nods, still halfway out of his seat, hand hanging in the air mid-jabbing finger motion. 

that evening, Steve takes him to a Burger King that still has a play area kids can use and delights in watching Tony try to focus on his date with Steve and the gaggle of toddlers in the ball pit on the other side of the glass. it’s the best first date Steve’s ever had (and his last first date, period. naturally). 

[andilovetowrite]

Really in Love? 🔥

Leo Valdez x Reader (Athena Cabin Reader)

Summary: Leo didn’t know what went wrong. One minute, he had a smashing goddess girlfriend and an equally awesome best friend. And the next? One of them in the Apollo cabin, and the other one in the Apollo cabi- well, infirmary.

Warnings: mentions of dying, cheating and some blood. Also some elusions to smut and making out. A lot of angst. That's all I’m gonna say.

Word Count: 1.6k

Masterlist and Prompt List ;)

100 Follower Sleepover

My requests are also open in case you have any more ideas and prompts!

Life for Leo Valdez had been going good. He had just gotten back from helping Apollo, or Lester, and things had been going well. Calypso had just come back from her camping trip, and she and Leo were inseparable.

Which made things a tiny bit hard for you. You were Leo’s best friend, and right now, you and him were tasked with making the new Big House for the camp. Normally, Chiron would call Annabeth, but since she was out of town with Percy for god knows what (you knew what, he was going to propose to her), he had put you in charge of this project. And since you wanted to make the new structure a bit more technologically advanced, you decided to call Leo in.

And the progress had been going well. Until Leo’s entire attention was given to Calypso. Nowadays, you couldn’t even get a minute alone with your best friend without his annoyingly beautiful and mean gf next to you. And off the record, you had been starting to like Leo a bit. When you both were in the quest, and the only two single ones on the ship, you kinda felt like there was something growing between the both of you.

Turns out you were wrong, because in a few months, after your best friend allegedly “died”, he came back on a flying dragon and a goddess in his arms. Too bad you couldn’t find a boyfriend to take your mind off Leo.

So, life was awkward, but fine. Well….until you got shot in the stomach by an arrow. Yeah, it wasn’t your best moment. It was the day after you had had your one-on-one with Calypso, and you had managed to avoid her, but whenever you tried to get Leo on his own, she just happened to be there. So you decided to get him by himself when you both were working on the project. But before that, you had archery. And least to say, you were quite sufficient at it. So were the rest of your classmates, or at least the people at the training room.

So you knew you didn’t get shot by a fluke. The question was that, who would shoot you?

And you knew the answer. Austin Lake. The only guy in the feild who had some sort of resentment towards you. Why? Because he was your ex. Your breakup wasn’t the smoothest one. There was a whole lot of screaming and yelling. Oh, and a couple of threats and slaps. But you would’nt think that he would shoot you. Where you could potentially die.

So for the rest of the day, while you were in the infirmary with Will, you racked your brain thinking of a reason. But it wasn’t until you saw Calypso walk in that you finally understood. She had come in around the time that Leo would be in his Bunker, banging out dents and marks in his newest projects, with everything else out of his mind. It would be the perfect time to sneak away. At least it would be for Calypso.

You had suspected that Calypso had been cheating on Leo for a while. But you had never had a chance to prove it. Until now, where you had a perfect sight of Calypso and Austin holding hands as they made out at the back of one of the beds.

The sight made you sick to the stomach. Surprisingly, it wasn’t because of Calypso kissing your ex. But rather your best friend’s girlfriend kissing Austin Lake. Your mind went to the hurt look on Leo’s face when he would find out, and you could feel the pain radiating off him.

But you couldn’t keep it from him, so you decided to tell him as soon as possible. Gritting your teeth, you tried to stand up for yourself, pushing your hands against the bed. The pain in your stomach intensified by about a 100x, but nevertheless, you tried to ignore it.

Suddenly, you heard a gentle yet cruel laugh. “Oh Y/N, what do you think you’re doing?” You whipped around to see Calypso standing above you, with Austin at her side, and with one pointed look, he took out an injection, filled with green liquid.

“I’m going to tell Leo-”

“No you aren’t. Because you will not get up to ever tell him”, she said maliciously, as you watched in horror. Austin grabbed your arm, and even though you were stronger than him, the pain medication didn’t allow you to push him back. He brought the needle to your arm, and growled at you, his face turned up in a deep frown. With a slight pinch, he pushed it in harshly, the needle cutting through your flesh. Instantly, you began feeling drowsy, as your vision started swimming.

“Y-ou wo-won’t ge...t away with thi….sss”, you tried to say, but all that came out was strangled mutters.

Calypso laughed, swiping her hand on your fingers as her nails dug into your arm. “Oh sweetie, you can’t possibly think a child of Athena would beat a goddess that’s been around for millenia, right? Otherwise, you would be even more stupid then I thought you were…”

And that was the last thing you heard before you drifted off into a inky black darkness.

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

Leo’s POV

Leo walked around the Bunker back and forth, confused on where you were. It was almost 6, and you still hadn’t shown up. Worried, he grabbed his tool belt, tying it around his waist as he left his workspace, going over to the Athena cabin.

“Hey guys”, Leo greeted, trying to spot any sight of you. Malcolm came up to him, his face etched with worry.

“If your looking for Y/N, she was in the infirmary. Apparently, some jackass shot her in the stomach with an arrow. We tried to find who did it, but nothing so far, so we are just waiting for her to wake up.”

As he heard that, he practically started running out the door but he stopped when Malcolm called him back.

“Visiting hours are shut right now. But Austin was the last one to see her, maybe check in his cabin?”

Leo nodded, and although he didn’t like the blond, muscular camper, he still wanted to see how you were doing so he made his way there.

And boy, did he wish he would have gone to see you instead. Because when he walked through the Apollo cabin door, he didn’t expect to see his girlfriend half naked with a shirtless Austin.

“Leo!”, she yelled, covering herself up.

“You-”

She tried to come near Leo, hands reaching for him, but he stepped back, as if her touch was burning hot. “Leo, I didn’t mean to…”, she trailed off, as she began to see the little sparks of fire starting to burst out from his fingers.

She stepped back, and for a second, you could see Leo calm down, wondering if he scared her. But when she reached for Austin’s hand, as she enlaced their fingers together, you could see the fire build up in Leo again.

“How could you-”, he shook his head, not believing it, “I-I was the one who got you off the island” He looked furious, but then his face crumpled as he stared at her. “I lied to my friends. Acted like I was dead for weeks. Just so I could save you, so I could get you off that prison!”

She didn’t say anything, as she just kept looking down at the floor. Half of you hoped that it would just swallow her whole.

“I literally gave my life, and you cheated on me?! You-you knew I had an issue with him-” Realization struck his face as he pieced two and two together. “Th-that’s why you didn’t want me coming with you to the infirmary, did you? Because he would be there. That must be your little get-to-know-you times, huh?”

She tried to shake her head, coming closer to Leo, but he ignited his hands again, this time making them burn bright. “You can’t possibly think that’s why-”

“Oh no, don’t try and make me think of something different. I’m a freaking mechanic Calypso! I wake up if I hear the faintest of sounds, and you wouldn’t think that I would find you sneaking out every night?”

Calypso stared at him, vision swimming with tears, but her face hard. Leo tried to find some bit of her left in there, but gave up, turning around to look for you. “How is-”

“Oh Y/N, I wouldn’t go to see her. Unless you wanna see her bod-”

“What the hell?”, Leo asked, his voice firm, as his mind went into overdrive. “What did you do Calypso?”

“Nothing much..”, she said, but he didn’t hear another word as Will Solace burst into his cabin.

Out of breath, and sweaty, he looked at Leo. “Y/N needs you… she is close to dying”

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

That was it, the first part! I’m sorry I didn’t get to the second part, but I think the cliffhanger may add to the storyline, so let’s see if that works out. Thanks so much for requesting this, and I hope you enjoy it :)

[beyondspaceandstars]

While You Sleep

Chapter 16

Relationship: Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: mentions of violence Summary: Soulmate!AU - Throughout life, you’re given glimpses of your soulmate through dreams. As you sleep, memories flash in your mind showing you the life your soulmate has lived. Everyone around you raves about how their soulmate reads great books or volunteers in their spare time. But you can’t relate as your dreams end up being more like nightmares. Through initial images of death and violence, you come to learn your soulmate is the Winter Soldier.

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

“You’re coming to me about soulmate bonds?” Bruce Banner asked for what seemed like the umpteenth time. Once again, you and Bucky nodded in sync, standing awkwardly in the middle of his lab. 

Bruce let out a sigh as he turned back to whatever he had been working on. He hadn’t totally dismissed you two yet, thankfully, so you were just forced to stand there, waiting.

When Bucky had told you this was who would potentially help you, you were a bit hesitant. You had only encountered Bruce briefly in your time at the compound. In fact, you hadn’t really gotten to know anyone outside of Bucky and Steve. So, coming to an Avenger, let alone a literal nationally recognized genius, for help with such a thing...made you nervous, to say the least. You’d have to confess your troubles to a third party once more. 

But Bucky assured you over and over again that Bruce could be trusted. He didn’t know the scale of his research on the topic but he felt he was a trustworthy person for this. Eventually, you agreed. After your first shift back at work - a new addition back to your routine as you worked to regain some stability - Bucky took you over to the compound. You had thought he had gotten an appointment or at least gave Bruce some kind of rundown on the proposal but, apparently, no.

“What makes you think I can answer any questions on that?” Bruce grumbled as he furiously wrote notes on his current project. You and Bucky shared a look. 

“I heard you did some research on it,” Bucky explained. 

Bruce huffed. “So?”

“So,” Bucky sighed, “we think we… we have a problem with ours.”

This vague statement was enough for Bruce to perk up a bit. His writing had stopped. He was looking forward now, away from the project. “A problem?” Bruce asked, slightly glancing over his shoulder.

You shifted your weight as you stood a bit uncomfortable with the admission out in the open. Bucky, though, was the definition of cool, calm, and collected. You were just a little bit jealous of him.

Bucky nodded. “To put it simply, my girl has nightmares.”

Bruce seemed very interested now. He finally turned back around, facing you two fully once again. He looked intrigued but not really excited. You wondered greatly what his research really encompassed. 

“Nightmares?” Bruce was beginning to sound like some sad echo. But you and Bucky just went with it, nodding your head in confirmation. Bruce continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of nightmares. They’re dreams we have — soulmate dreams.”

You sighed, greatly out of annoyance. You’d been hearing the same thing day after day after day for years. “I know,” you finally said. “I am well aware of that but it just isn’t how ours work. I’ve only ever seen the…bad things Bucky has encountered. And for a while, after we met, they stopped.”

“As you would hope.”

You nodded. “But then that…thing happened. And it’s all started over again except somehow stronger. I’m seeing it all through Bucky’s eyes. Through his feelings. Through his — his everything. I’m back there twice over and many times after.”

Bruce shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. You didn’t know what to do. Bucky was very tense beside you, hands balled into tight fists waiting as anxiously as you for Bruce to just say something about it. But he didn’t, not yet, as he raced over to his desk. From one of the drawers, a very particularly locked one, Bruce pulled out a file. He flicked it open and began reading, his finger roaming over the pages wildly, hunting for whatever it was he needed. You and Bucky just watched the situation unfold, practically holding your breaths. 

Eventually, Bruce walked back over, a very specific page opened in the filed documents. You couldn’t make out what it was about from your sneaky glance so you waited for the genius to begin. He looked between you and Bucky, jaw slacked in amazement and concerned. 

“Before I get into this, I want you both to promise me this knowledge doesn’t leave this lab unless it is on my account, okay?” He spoke strongly and seriously. You two nodded. Once he was pleased, Bruce looked back at the file and began, “Gosh, I can’t believe I forgot about this… You were right, Bucky, I have researched soulmate bonds. I didn’t do it for long, God knows it’s a hot topic, but part of my research involved what I nicknamed toxic bonds.” He looked pointedly at you two. “It just started out as a little theory stemming from the old stories about soulmates ‘moving on.’ It’s really a bit more than just not liking someone. This theory revolves around stories of soulmates, in these cases, receiving unflattering or uninteresting dreams from their partnered mates. I was basing these off the accounts of long ago as there are no known partners that fit this mold. At least, until now.” Bruce motioned between you two. You didn’t like where this was all going. “I believe what you two share is a toxic bond, a sort of glitch in Fate. Except, where you two fall flat in this is the fact the nightmares have come back. All dreams change after meeting your soulmate, right?” No one said anything. Bruce continued, “Yes, they technically should. Something has in fact fallen off with you two. I can’t say what but it doesn’t add it and could be significant to this research. With permission, I would like to run some tests on each of you.”

You stiffened. “T-Tests?” While you should be kind of relieved there’s some answer - or idea - for what you’re experiencing, you were suddenly hung up on the prospect of being an experiment. Bucky’s hand reached out to grasp yours, trying to offer some comfort. The thought of being strapped to a chair flashed through your mind. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Bucky shoot Bruce a harsh look.

“Nothing harmful, I promise,” Bruce insisted. “I would just like to take a peek into your brains, into the bond.”

“That’s possible?” Bucky asked. You were glad he at least had the strength to speak.

“It’s attached to the brain function in various ways,” Bruce explained. “A look into your brainwaves can tell me a lot. Or nothing, if that's the case, too.”

You knew you were doing an absolutely horrible job at hiding your worries but, thankfully, neither man was bringing much attention to it. They just looked at you, waiting for an answer. You were quite impressed by how Bucky was just going along with this. But, at the same time, there was a reason he came here instead of seeking a true outsider. If this was okay with Bucky, it was going to have to be okay with you. At least this time, you weren’t being thrown in a chair alone. 

“Okay,” you nodded. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

***

You didn’t know which was more daunting: the actual test itself or waiting for the results. 

The test was more like a true test of patience. You basically just had to sit there as Bruce wrote notes and saw things you never could make out from the weird squiggly lines on the monitor. All while he’s doing that, you’re trying not to just break down from being in a lab again. Thankfully, Bucky offered more comfort the best he could. He let you squeeze his non-metal hand, never flinching once no matter how much your nails dig into him. He even tried striking up conversations with you, trying to distract you. He tells you about the new romance movie he thinks you two should go see. You try to stay engaged, feeling a bit bad you couldn’t focus well on it, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

When the roles were reversed, Bucky didn’t ask for any help from you. You still tried to offer something by taking his hand in yours. But he just didn’t need distractions, perhaps a bit too familiar with being subjected to testing. This had to be on the easier side, you figured. 

Once you both were finished, Bruce instructed you to take a seat and wait. He had some things to double-check. The longer you sat, the more you were worried it was bad news - but you didn’t even really know what bad news would actually entail. What was he looking for? How much of the bond could actually be seen? You hadn’t heard of this ever. If you did, you probably would’ve looked into it a long time ago just to clarify if you were fucked in the head or not.

“How are you feeling?” Bucky asked, gently. You fiddled with your fingers, unsure. 

“It wasn’t so bad,” you said. “Just not sure what he’s going to find.” Bucky agreed and you two fell back into your silence as you waited. 

Minutes later, Bruce finally re-entered the room. You two must’ve been wearing hopeful looks because he motioned for you to calm down. Bruce wasn’t matching your excitement. Something twisted in your stomach. 

“I’ve reviewed your tests,” he said, holding up a folder labeled with your names. You two nodded. Bruce motioned towards you first and said, “Your test came back perfectly normal. Everything is fine with your part of the bond which quite surprised me but I checked and rechecked. The issues aren’t with you-,”

Bucky sighed, cutting Bruce off as he mentally pieced it together. “They’re with me.” 

You felt your body tense as Bucky looked defeated beside you. He wasn't meeting either of your gazes despite you trying to reach for his hand again. He shrugged it off, you quickly turned to Bruce. 

“What’s the problem?” You just about demanded. Bruce didn’t look very phased by your outburst. He pulled up a seat in front of you two looking like he had to mentally prepare himself for this.

“There’s an unnatural disturbance in Bucky’s side of the bond,” Bruce explained as he flipped open the folder. You didn’t even try to understand the printed results. Bucky was fully disconnected at this point. “I can’t say for sure what caused it, but if I had to guess when he underwent what...Hydra did, it affected lines in the transmission process. They probably thought they were severing the lines but they were really just scrambling them, hence the nightmares. They’re the dominant memories the bond reads in transmission. Bucky’s missions and recent healing process didn’t help anything. All in all, to put it simply, any intense moments Bucky experiences will be projected back to you due to a disconnect in the function of the bond.”

“So, I really was the cause of all this?” Bucky finally spoke up. His voice was hoarse, almost weak. You knew he thought his hair hid the look of distress written on his face but you could feel it. Boy, could you feel it. 

You immediately began shaking your head and reaching for him again. He didn’t move under your touch but at least he was allowing it. “This isn’t your fault, I promise.”

Bucky looked like he wanted to protest further but Bruce stopped him, “You couldn’t do anything to prevent this.” He looked back at you. “Either of you. These were the actions of some deranged individuals and they are the only ones responsible. I’m just sorry you two have to pay the price.”

“I-Is there anything we can do to fix it?”

Bruce closed the folder, looking more uncomfortable - if that was even possible. “I’m afraid not. It’s hard enough to damage soulmate bonds, essentially impossible to bandage.”

Upon hearing that, Bucky abruptly stood up. You jumped at the sudden action, suddenly convinced he was going to walk away. Forever. But instead, he made his way over to the window, his back towards you two, lost in whatever self-deprecating thoughts were flooding his brain. You’d address that later but were currently focused on pressing Bruce.

“There’s really nothing at all?” You were sounding desperate at this point but Bruce didn’t seem to mind, giving you the most sympathetic look.

“My best advice would be that Bucky finish his healing treatment and then get him out of this...profession.”

You could feel Bucky’s eyes on you two now. “What, like retirement?”

Bruce shrugged. “Whatever you want to call it. Essentially, the less he fights, the less traumatizing situations he’s put in, the fewer nightmares you’ll have.” He glanced back at the folder. “In theory, you could be rid of them all. Get back to having actual dreams. It’s an optimistic take but you’ve already proven it’s possible to some degree.”

You looked over your shoulder, your worried eyes meeting Bucky’s intense ones. He wasn’t exactly protesting but you saw the hesitancy. You turned back to Bruce.

“Thank you for all your help,” you said.

He nodded. “I’m glad I could be of some assistance. If you ever want to look even further into it, I think I know someone else that could help.”

“I think we’ve learned enough for a while.” 

“Of course,” Bruce agreed and then stood from his chair. “I’ll let you two go. Probably got a few things to discuss. Call me if you need anything.” With that, he exited the lab, leaving just you and your soulmate to move forward. Somehow. 

Bucky had turned back to the window. You shifted in your seat, unsure of what to say now.

Thankfully, Bucky was the first to speak. “Do you want to get some dinner?”

[imagine-that]

White horse

Pairing: Loki x reader

Warnings: maybe angst? Kind of mentions of kidnapping ig?

AN: this one may or may not have more than one part coming 🤫🤭😉 also it’s too the song White Horse by Taylor Swift and I’ve linked it so you can listen while you read or after or before if you’d like!

——————————————————————————

Say you’re sorry, that face of an Angel

Comes out just when you need it to

“Loki get back here! We aren’t done talking about this!” You cry, chasing after the green cloaked god.

“There is simply nothing to talk about. You think leaving is a good idea, I think it is not. Therefore, you are forbidden to leave.” He says bitterly, storming away, back towards the palace.

“Oh for the love of Odin- you’re being ridiculous! You cannot forbid me from doing anything Loki! I am my own person, or am I not now my love?” You ask angrily, picking up your pace to even try and match his.

“Stop! Stop calling me that, stop trying to make it better. I am no longer your love y/n, I am no longer your anything it would seem. But no need to worry, I will be sure to think the same of you and nothing more.” He says coldly, the smirk you so despised playing on his lips.

You groan, smacking his arm. “Would you just listen to me for five minutes?! I-I don’t want to lose you Loki. But I have to get away from here, I don’t want to be contained to only this one place all my life, it’s not enough for me!” You cry, taking his cold, bony hand in your own and holding it tight. “I want to be with you, please.” You beg, your eyes filling with tears.

“Y/n, if Asgard isn’t enough for you, surely I am not either.” He says coldly.

“That’s not true! Do you know how long it took me to finally make this decision for myself? To decide leaving is what’s best?” You ask and he says nothing. “I cried for days at the thought of leaving you. I paced all the time. You’re not the only one having trouble with this choice. Loki- you’re my everything. I can’t bear the thought of losing you forever.” You promise him, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

As I paced back and forth all this time

Cause I honestly believed in you

“Then do not leave. Stay with me, become my princess. We can spend our days by the lake and reading books from the royal library.” Loki argues, taking his other hand and wrapping it around yours.

Suddenly he’s getting down on a knee, pulling out a ring box. You shake your head rapidly, not believing what you’re watching.

“Y/n, you are my princess, my soulmate and my other half. This kingdom would be unbearable without you, it would be the most boring place in the galaxy. I see colors brighter, feel things more clearly and feel like a better man than I am when you are around me. Please, do me the greatest of honors and marry me.” He gives his little speech, smiling up at you with the look of lust and love in his eyes.

“No.” You breathe, staring down at him.

“W-what?” Loki asks, a frown etched on his face.

“I said no! You cannot... guilt trip me into staying here, nor can you just propose to me to prove a point or to distract me for my choices. You... you can’t just tie me down like this. I’m not going to give up on my hopes, nor on my dreams to suit you.” You scoff, stepping back from him.

“You have to! You have to because I say so and as I am crowned prince of Asgard, you must obey!” He cries angrily, getting up off the ground quickly and moving closer to you.

You stare at him with pure disgust and disbelief in your eyes. “You may be the crowned prince but you cannot force me to obey you by any means!” You shout back in his face, breathing heavy with fury. “If you insist I must then you’ll have to throw me in the dungeons because I’d rather rot down there for the rest of my life than marry the man I’m seeing before me right now!” You snark again, tears burning your eyes.

His face contorts into a sickly grin, one that sends horrible goosebumps up your spine.

Holdin’ on, the days drag on

Stupid girl, I should’ve know, I should’ve known

“You truly mean that, do you? You would rather die without a smidge of dignity, stripped down to nothing but a caged animal in the deepest part of Asgard’s darkest, coldest dungeons than marry your beloved?” He asks, inching closer to you.

“You are not my beloved. It would seem you have killed whatever’s left of him.” You growl coldly, turning your back to him.

He laughs a cold and hollow laugh. “You do not get to walk away from me!” He bellows and you remember exactly where his temper came from.

“Yes I do and I will.” You say calmly, your stubborn nature kicking in.

“Trust you to act like a coward in a time of need for bravery.” He sneers.

You swerve back around, snapping your head in his direction.

“Continuing this useless argument with you has nothing to do with bravery Loki. It’s stupidity. And you are being irrational. I can’t talk to you like this. So yes, I’m walking away. But believe me when I say that that is the brave choice in this situation.” You explain, staring straight into his steely grey eyes.

“You said you loved me! You said we were meant to be! You said we were soulmates the universe and the gods decided were meant for each other and only each other. Did you mean one word of it?” He asks, a sad and desperate smile on his lips.

“I- of course I did Loki. I meant every word of what I’ve said to you.” You promise, tears streaming down your own features. His slender and delicate fingers gently reach up, brushing them away with his thumb, his fingers lingering on your cheek.

“Then why are you insisting on leaving me?” He asks, his voice more broken than you’d ever thought possible.

“I don’t belong here Loki. I’m destined for other things and meant to be or not, I cannot truly commit myself to being your princess, to being your forever if it means not exploring that destiny.” You say softly, resting your forehead on his chest longingly.

It’s taking all of your strength to fight the urge to wrap your arms tightly around him and agree to what he’s asking just to see his smile return but you manage.

You know this relationship could never be healthy if you couldn’t commit to it with all of your heart and soul. And if it couldn’t be healthy, you didn’t want to put either of you through that. You couldn’t handle that pain.

That I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale

I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell

“Loki. You have to let me go my own way.” You sigh, glancing up at him.

He says nothing, turning himself away from you.

“I cannot do that. I literally cannot bring myself to do that. Either you stay or I am merely nothing to you. That is how it will be.” He states after taking a shaky breath.

“Loki you can’t possibly expect me to make that decision!” You cry out, mouth agape in shock.

“It is the decision that must be made. If I mean anything to you at all, you would stay and rule by my side.” He says.

“It isn’t that simple Loki! I can’t just choose you because I love you.” You groan, throwing your hands up in frustration.

“And why not? Because it is easier to run away from me, run from what it is we have than to be with me? I am fully aware of that fact y/n, it has burdened me all my life!” He bursts out, his eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

“No! You do not get to play the left as a baby card right now Loki because you know it is not like that at all! You know I harbour nothing but love for you! It is not a simple choice I’m making right now!” You argue, shaking your head.

“What did you expect me to say exactly y/n? I am not going to stand here and blatantly lie to your face and say I agree with your choice in departure nor that I am ok with it!” He shouts louder. “I refuse to let you leave! I refuse it, ok? You cannot leave Asgard, I will forbid Heimdall from allowing you to go if that is what I must do but you will not leave me like this!” He snaps, his face one of rage and possessiveness as he makes his way to the doorway and out towards the bridge to the gate to the realms.

“You can’t do that to me!” You cry, racing after him to stop him. You scramble to get in front of him, laying your palms against his chest to keep him from moving any further.

“Remove yourself from my path darling.” He warns, staring you down. Still, you remain in your spot.

“Not a chance dearest.” You growl back mockingly.

This ain’t Hollywood, this is a small town

I was a dreamer before you went and let me down

He picks you up carefully by the arms, moving you behind him effortlessly.

“If you do this I will never forgive you! I will not only leave you, I will never speak to you again. Not even if you hold one of your swords to my throat to force the words out yourself.” You shout after him, your voice void of any emotions other than pure, white, hot rage.

He pauses in the middle of the bifrost, looking at you, testing the truth behind your words as he analyzes your stance.

He meets your eyes, your big y/e/c showcasing every bit of vulnerability within you in that moment for him to see. He had a knack for that it seemed, seeing everything about you no matter how much you tried to hide it.

He knew you like the back of his hand. Normally, you felt safe and protected with that.

Now you just felt hatred for the eyes baring into your soul.

“You will forgive me someday. I am sure of it.” He says quietly, smiling softly at you.

He leaves you there on the bridge, falling to your knees with a small sob.

Deep down you knew he was just scared. Scared you would somehow be hurt or taken or used as a weapon of some sort and he wouldn’t be there to come to your rescue.

But that didn’t matter. You didn’t want your knight in shining armour. You only wanted to be free.

Now it’s too late for you and your white horse

To come around

————————————————————

A few nights later...

You couldn’t take it anymore. You had paced back and forth in your room, biting down your nails out of stress and anger and the need to concentrate. Your hair was a mess, you refused to change into any of the clothes you were given, staying stubbornly in your outfit from the few nights ago instead.

Since your meltdown on the Bifrost, Loki had brought you back to the palace, stroked your hair as he tried to talk you down, calm you. It had worked, much to your dismay. You’d woken up in a foreign room and upon an attempt to leave, you found that you were being kept there.

Loki was treating you like a prisoner. He was being true to the Midgardian fairytale Rapunzel he’d once read to you in the gardens, you’d thought to yourself the first day.

“Loki, let me out of here!” You screamed desperately that day, pounding on the door until your fists ached. Crying and shrieking in hopes someone would help you.

He again, came and talked you down, holding you as you sobbed. You were a wreck, you couldn’t comprehend how your sweet, kind eyed Loki had become this monster who kept you like a toy or trophy rather than his equal, his true love.

Somehow though, you believed he was in there, crying to get out and be the one to hold you in his arms and let you go. You imagined staring into his eyes, kissing him, promising you’d be there for him no matter how far you were. It was driving you crazy, trying to flip between the Loki you’d known all this time and the one you were with now.

Maybe I was naive,

Got lost in your eyes

You’d managed to calm yourself most of the time, you’d managed to talk him out of the crazy idea of keeping you under lock and key. Even this new Loki seemed to realize it was too much, too inhuman and cruel. He apologized for having done it in the first place and you merely nodded, staying true to your promise to him. You weren’t speaking to him anytime soon, if at all.

You instead stayed in his room, staying by his side when he wasn’t taking care of his duties.

You knew he was wrong. You knew he was being awful and possessive and downright toxic but still, you couldn’t imagine not being with him. You couldn’t imagine it but you knew it was a terrible idea to willingly stay. It wasn’t what was right for you.

You stayed in bed most of the day, trying not to feel the ache for his touch in your chest the way you were now. And when you weren’t, you were standing on the balcony, watching out at Asgard. You may not love living there but you still believed it was beautiful regardless.

That was how Loki found you that evening, in a robe on the balcony, staring down at the city.

“It is beautiful with the sunset is it not?” He says calmly from the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.

You nod a bit, not bothering to turn around to face him.

You hear him moving closer but you pay no attention, crossing your arms over your chest.

“You are truly not going to talk to me?” He asks with a sigh.

You shake your head, resting your chin in your palm as you watched the sky become as golden as the palace itself as the sunset.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair from what you can see in the corner of your eyes.

You were taking your time, balancing your options on the invisible scale in your mind. You wanted to be held by him and trust him again but you couldn’t bring yourself to let him have it all. Not after what he’d done. You silently decided that letting him struggle, torturing him with your silence was your best play.

And never really had a chance

My mistake, I didn’t know to be in love

You had to fight to have the upper hand

Your long term plan for yourself was yet to be determined. Loki’s kindness and love for you was blinding you, making it impossible to concentrate on your thoughts, much less make them coherent.

You brush past him, ignoring his begging gaze as you go into the bathroom and shut the door behind you, getting in the shower. You let the water run down your hair, getting it wet while your mind starts to clear up a bit and you finally know exactly what you have to do for your sake.

You finish, getting redressed before going back into the room, ignoring the princes longing eyes as you climb into the bed, facing away from him.

“Alright, that is enough already y/n.” He sighs, pulling the blankets off of you. You jump up in shock, staring at him blankly. “I know you are mad at me however I only did this for us, my love!” He insists.

You scoff, abandoning your former decision completely. “You did absolutely NOTHING for us here Loki. You did this for you. You did this because you’re scared.” You argue back, your days of pent up anger at him thankful for a release.

“I did not! I did it to protect you, to keep us from falling apart!” He shouts.

“Please! Loki I am begging you to at least admit to yourself that you did none of this for my protection!” You cry, staring him right in the eye.

His breathing is heavy and jagged, he’s panicking, this much you knew. “I-I would never do anything regarding you for my own selfish gain.” He says calmly.

“But you did Loki. You did everything to do with this for YOUR gain.” You sob, tears covering your cheeks.

“I-I love you Loki. I truly, painfully do. But I cannot be with anyone who would regard me as some sort of trophy. I will not do it.” You continue, your lip trembling as you speak.

“I never- I never meant for it to get this far... I merely wanted to keep the one thing I’ve truly loved in my life safe. I wanted us to spend forever together, side by side.” He says, his voice so low and quiet you have to strain to hear it properly.

“I-I know.” You stammer, gulping in a breath between tearful gasps. And you did know. He was your other half, there was no way you didn’t think of the future with him in the same way he did. You just didn’t always treat it the same.

I had so many dreams

About you and me

“Please- please forgive me darling. I cannot apologize enough for the chaos and- and the harm and trauma I put you through these past few days. I was no better than my father himself. I was truly a monster.” He says, his eyes once again filled with unshed tears.

You nod lightly. “Okay.” You say quietly, meeting his eyes.

“W-what?” He asks, his eyes wide in disbelief.

“You heard me. Okay. I forgive you.” You say simply.

“J-just like that?” He says, still not convinced.

You force a laugh, continuing with your small charade. “Yes just like that. You’re my true love, I could never stay mad at you for too long Loki.” You say with a small smile.

He smiles back, pulling you into a hug. “Oh my darling you have no idea how grateful I am for your forgiveness.” He murmurs into your ear. You hesitantly hug back, wrapping your arms tightly around him.

“Always.” You promise quietly. “As much as I love sharing a room with you though Loki, I think I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight if that’s alright.” You ask, blinking at him innocently.

He nods repeatedly in agreement. “Of course my love. Whatever you wish.” He promises, standing and offering you a hand. You take it in your own, getting to your feet yourself.

The two of you walk around talking for a few hours, making you glad for the fresh air and mind numbingly silent atmosphere. He holds your hand tight, almost as if he’s scared you’ll disappear if he lets go.

“I think I need some sleep my love. I’m feeling kind of tired.” You say with a small yawn. Without hesitation he walks you to your room, making sure you’re good for the night and that everything is to your likings.

“Loki, everything is fine. Go. I’ll be fine.” You groan exhaustedly. He sighs in defeat, standing in the doorway.

“Ok but I will be here in the morning in case you need me. Goodnight my love.” He says, pressing a gentle kiss on your cheek.

You nod with a tiny smile, knowing that by morning you wouldn’t be there for him to help.

Once he’s finally gone, you change into something more comfortable and a little more inconspicuous, grabbing a few of your things and tossing them into a bag. You scramble to write a quick note to your family so they aren’t left entirely in the dark with all that’s happening and you ensure that the door is locked to buy yourself more time.

You climb out the window, gulping as you feel yourself dangling from so high up but making your climb down to the ground floor of the castle.

You felt guilt for leaving Loki so quickly and hastily but you knew it was for the best. You weren’t meant for any kind of fairytale life and staying with him while he was so controlling and had become so dark wasn’t a valid option for you. You wanted to live life, not struggle through it.

And so, you made a small jump to the ground and ran down the shimmering bifrost, running to the gates and off into the night alone.

Happy endings

Now I know...

[xenteaart]

You’re a Cat, Hargreeves

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x Reader

Request 1: Hello, so Five has been through a LOT in just two weeks, so can I request something where the reader and him have a bit of intimacy but are not together yet. Then something happens that is just the last drop to him and he shows up to the reader with red and glossy eyes and collapses in her arms? She just holds him (because boy, he needs it) and after a while he manages to talk about things letting his feelings for her slip in the process. Then she can just calm him down and make him feel loved.

Request 2: Could I request a fanfic where Five has a terrible day at the Commission or in the Apocalypse and at bedtime the Reader comforts him, and he suddenly becomes the little spoon for the first time? Idk I think it would be cute to see him shy and secretly liking

!!! Note: Since these two requests have a common theme of Five being stressed as fuck and having a breakdown I’ve decided to combine them. Personally I imagine this scenario in my Commission AU, HOWEVER, I intentionally didn’t make it very specific in terms of the circumstances so you can headcanon whatever u like <3 also sorry its not the exact scenario from your requests but i hope you don’t mind me taking some creative liberty.

also both Five and Reader are in their 20s here coz otherwise i’m very uncomfortable

massive thanks to @wonders-of-the-multiverse​ for helping me out with wording the physicality of certain things <33333

GIF: @maxiemayfield​

You’ve seen Five in many different states.

You’ve seen him anxious and spiraling, you’ve seen him furious and borderline insane; depressed and distant, lost and confused. At this point, you genuinely thought you’d seen it all but, apparently, you were wrong.

“I am just so tired.” Five whispered almost inaudibly with a sigh so desperate that it made your stomach turn.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” you asked, your voice small as you weren’t quite sure how to act yet.

He glanced at you, and you couldn’t help but notice his eyes glistening with salty wetness that was about to spill out and smear his frustration all over his cheeks.

You always loved Five’s eyes - his huge, almost puppy dog eyes that made you absolutely lose yourself in their depth. Whenever you looked into them, you saw wisdom, maturity, exhaustion and patience, dedication and passion, all at the same time. There was a whole other universe behind his blue orbs, and you admired it endlessly. Looking into his eyes right now, however, was nowhere near as exciting and pleasant. Instead, it felt like some strange and violent ache was gripping you at the very heart and squeezing it without mercy, and you winced at the sensation as worry and concern were uncontrollably blossoming inside your ribcage.

Five didn’t grant you with an answer, too busy trying to hold back his tears and clenching his teeth proudly as if there was any point at all.

You got up on your feet and approached Five slowly, careful not to freak him out as you were giving him the time to get used to your presence in his personal space. Normally, he wouldn’t mind yet you couldn’t tell if the same rules applied to scenarios like the one taking place.

“I’m here, yeah? It’s okay, you’re okay,” you kept repeating like a mantra as you pulled Five into your embrace.

He buried his face in the crook of your neck and you instantly felt your skin getting damp. In just a few seconds Five’s entire body relaxed into yours and he wrapped his arms around you tightly, finally letting go and allowing himself to have a proper cry. He hadn’t had one in years, and, by all means, he was entitled to this breakdown.

Most of the time, Five was the one protecting you - looking out for you and leading the both of you out of dangerous and potentially lethal situations. Not that it was a completely one-sided dynamic but it was true that you tended to rely on him quite a lot in times of crisis. Five was good in crisis, exceptional actually. He made decisions quickly and didn’t hesitate to do absolutely anything it took to achieve his goals, which, unfortunately, meant that he was often forced to make choices where humanity and ethics were no longer a top priority.

Despite all that, Five always seemed in control, and even when he wasn’t, you knew he’d get it back eventually. You had placed your trust in him at all times, and only now were you starting to realize that it must have felt like a huge weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Granted, he was objectively smarter and more capable due to his superpowers but he was still human.

Hearing Five’s hopeless and feverish sobbing was unnerving, and you could only imagine what was going on in his cluttered and clearly overloaded mind as he was bawling his eyes out with such raw and genuine fury. From the lack of a better idea you simply waited for Five to cry himself out, patiently holding him in your arms and whispering words of reassurance into the air, not so much out of hope he’d hear them and listen but more as a means of letting him feel you were still there.

“I’m so fucking tired,” Five finally uttered but his words rather quickly got drowned in his weeping. You still got the message, though.

“You deserve to rest, Five,” you replied, feeling your legs start to shake from the weight of Five’s entire body leaning on your form. As much as you wanted to stay like this for as long as he needed, you couldn’t exactly go against your evident physical disadvantage. Five was a heavy gentleman, after all.

“Hey, let’s move to the bed, yeah?” it was more of a statement than a question, so you stepped towards the bed suggestively, expecting him to follow you. To your relief, he didn’t resist and followed your lead right away, seemingly too exhausted to even think, let alone disobey.

Five’s body was limp from the absence of energy, all of which had presumably gone into crying, and he could barely manage to walk on his own, so you grabbed at his shoulders to steady him.

It felt like his physical self was now merely a vehicle with no pilot to steer it, and his mind was long lost someplace else.

As you sat Five down, you caressed his cheek with your thumb, wiping away the trails of his tears whilst also trying to gently break him out of the prison of his troubled and restless brain. To your disappointment, it failed to spark any sort of response.

Right in this moment, he looked almost defenseless. Sure, he wasn’t an incapable baby all of a sudden but he was relying on you, reversing your roles and putting all of his worries and pain on your shoulders, basically asking you to carry them for him because he simply couldn’t anymore.

“Fives. Fives? Look at me, please?” you called, trying to shift his attention to something on the outside because you knew it was the looking inside that pushed him to crumble.

“Focus on my voice, alright?” you tried to keep your tone as steady and stern as you possibly could because right now you were his only bridge back to reality.

You pressed your palms against Five’s shoulders and slowly climbed onto his lap, resting your weight atop of him completely and hoping the pressure of it would manage to snap him out of his almost delirious daze.

As your hand reached for Five’s, you placed it on your chest right where your heart was beating and said:

“Can you feel it? It means I’m alive, Fives. I’m a human and a consciousness just like you. And I'm never leaving your side, no matter the circumstances. You’re never going to be alone, I promise you.”

You took Five by his chin with your other hand and softly guided his gaze upwards to meet your own, noticing his red glossy eyes finally regaining some clarity. The very peak of Five’s episode had already passed, and, as he was coming down from it, he encircled your waist with his arm and let his head sink to your shoulder with his eyes closed shut.

Still sitting straddled across his lap, you brushed your fingers through his soft silky hair and began to massage his scalp in a calming manner, trying to release some of the tension and lull him further into peacefulness. As your fingers moved a little lower, you knew you’d hit the sweet spot because Five literally purred into your skin as soon as he felt your nails gently scratch at the nape of his neck.

“How many times did I say you’re a cat, Hargreeves,” you rolled your eyes at his reaction and couldn’t resist a wide smile as you buried your nose in his hair. Five hummed quietly, and it was the only response you were going to get from him, which, to be fair, was already a big improvement so you couldn't really complain.

“How about we get you into some comfier clothes, wash your face and then you can tell me all about what’s been on your mind, hm?” you proposed confidently, still holding Five close and practically enveloping him in your warmth.

Your every movement was saturated with such understanding and care that not for a split second did Five feel like his vulnerability was making him weak or unworthy. It was quite the opposite, and with each passing moment he was beginning to feel like you were only making him stronger.

He nodded at your suggestion approvingly but didn’t move an inch, and you took it as a hint that he needed a few more minutes of sitting in silence; the bridge of his nose pressed to your collarbone as he was still finding his way back into the present.

You didn’t mind at all.

[fallen029]

Nervous

"Are you nervous?"

"No."

"You sure?"

Mira tilted her head to the side though her eyes betrayed the cute, quirky questioning vibe she was going for as they, instead, seemed rather disbelieving. It was easy for Laxus to note it these days, having fallen like most other in the hall for her typical chaste trickiness and innocuous pretenses over the years, but after being far more than just a guild member to her now for a good number of them as well, he'd begun to pick up on the little things.

Like how she seemed forever trapped in a guilelessness that didn't quite entrap her as well as she thought it did.

But this was fine, the ease at which he disarmed her now, as Mira was able to pick apart the man's own fallacies and walls.

"Yeah," he grumbled to the woman's question, but she only grinned at him, as if victorious, as she picked apart his lies with ease.

"Then why are you biting at your nails?" she asked with round eyes. "You only do that when you're nervous."

And now she'd managed to annoy him.

"Mira-"

"I'm only curious," she insisted with a little shake of her head. "Dragon."

He huffed some, his chest deflating as he finally gave her his full attention. They were in the bar, as they typically were, but Mirajane had actually found a moment to take a break. Rest. S-Class trials were, at that very moment, going on and those who hadn't been chosen were sulking away from the guild for the time being while a decent sized group was off being put through the rigorous trials and tribulations that were associated with being designated part of the elite group of mages that were Fairy Tail S-Class wizards.

Laxus had no reason to be nervous.

He'd claimed his spot many years before and, at times, wondered if he even had eventually surpassed the old geezer all together. He'd be a wizard saint, someday, he knew, or at least told himself so, and that meant that he had far more concerns than something as silly as a guild distinction.

Not when may one day have the distinction among the entire continent.

S-Class trials had nothing to do with him and, if anything, he was mostly just glad to find that bar emptied out some that day.

"It's okay," Mira assured him then though and when she reached across the table, it was to grab his hand, pulling it down so that she could caress it as she looked deeply into the slayer's eyes. "I am too."

"You are what too?" he asked dumbly, confused equally by her words as he was calmed by her gesture.

"Nervous," she insisted.

"About what?"

"The same thing as you."

"I'm not," he told her, "nervous."

"Laxus-"

"What do I have to be nervous about, huh?" Then, frowning, he questioned, "What do you?"

"Well, actually, I'm nervous about a lot of things," she said, releasing his hand, but only so she could bring her own up to her cheek and rest her head there then, as she thought. "I have a shipment of meat that hasn't come in yet and I know, this weekend, if I don't get it, that I'll have to serve meals without any meat portion and the guys will be pretty upset about that, which will affect my tips, and I've been trying to save up money for my wedding. Which brings me to my next point, I've been saving for a wedding that can't yet happen because my boyfriend is dragging his feet with proposing to me even though we've talked about it a thousand times-"

"Mira," he warned, but she only shrugged.

"The dog I look after was sick last night, too," she finished. "I'm nervous about that."

Laxus, with a slight breath, questioned, "What's wrong with him?"

"He has the shits."

And he blinked. Then narrowed his eyes while the woman only gazed right back with hers earnest and honest.

Shrugging some then, Laxus said, "If you need help wrangling him down to a vet, I could-"

"Oh!" Mira sat up then. "And I'm super nervous because my baby brother is off on the S-Class trials and I want him to preform well." Shrugging, she added, "But I'm torn, because I also want all of my friends to do well. Including your best friend. Freed."

Laxus' face fell then as he realized he'd been duped (possibly; her street dog did have a hefty amount of ailments from time to time) and only looked off once more as he remarked, "Sounds like your problem. Not mine."

"Oh, it's not a problem. Laxus. To be nervous about such things." Sighing, she said, "It means that you care. About them. To be nervous for someone else. I want them all to come back, knowing that even though they can't all be the winner, at least invigorated and ready to start right back at training and trying their hardest to, eventually, be that winner. It's an honor to be nervous on someone's behalf. I'd gladly take all of Elf's nerves if it meant he could put all his focus into the trials right now."

Laxus snorted. "Yeah, well, bully for you. Freed can take care of his damn self. I don't need to worry about him, like you and your loser brother."

"Behave."

Snorting, the man looked off before saying, "I'm not worried. Over Freed. Or anything."

"Fine. Not worried then." Mira had lost some of her jolliness at the slight her boyfriend had sent towards her absent brother. "But you are thinking about it. Aren't you? Even just a little? He's your best friend. I would at least think-"

"I'm," he insisted to her with a finality in his tone he usually reserved for literally anyone who wasn't his demon, "not nervous about the S-Class trials. Or worried. Or concerned. Alright?"

Sighing, she looked off for a moment, considering the slight surge of people that had come in in the last ten minutes or so and weighing in her mind whether or not her break was officially over. Not quite ready to let it go though, when her eyes drifted back to her boyfriend, it was with another set of words on her tongue.

"If you're not nervous about the trials," she began in that tone and it was enough, just on its own, to make him regret coming into the hall that day, "then that must mean that you're nervous about something else, so what is it? Huh? Is it that you've been seeing someone else?"

"Mira, what?"

"Some other woman, is it, then? Who is she, Laxus? Huh? Don't think that I wont' make a scene here, right now, in front of everyone, because-"

"What are you-"

"-if you don't tell me what it is that you're so nervous about, then I have no choice but to assume that you're cheating on-"

"I'm nervous for my friend, alright?" And he usually wouldn't take such a tone with her, but he did then, snapping some, out of aggravation and, maybe it was a trick of the lights, but the woman could have sworn she even saw a flick of his fangs as the vein on the side of his head bulged and his eyes darkened. "I want him to be S-Class with me and I'm worried that your stupid brother or one of those other idiots will get it over him. Or that...that… He'll fuck it up himself. Is that what you want to hear? Huh?"

No.

The other people around the guildhall did not.

But they had, quite clearly, heard nearly every word of his little outburst and, feeling all those eyes on him now only made the man growl louder. He was primed for a retreat, storming off and staying away from the hall for a few days, until he could stomach a return without smashing in the face of the first person who questioned him.

Mirajane, however, wasn't going to let this happen.

Because, yes, she had been very happy with the explosion of information that had just fallen out of the slayer's mouth. She'd only been prodding at him her entire break. For it to result in such a satisfying revelation meant it hadn't all been for not.

"Awe," Mirajane giggled, clapping her hands at the slayer's misery. "You guys are just such good friends, huh, dragon? You feel a lot better, don't you? Getting that off your chest?"

"No," he told her with the same candor that he'd just exposed himself and his nerves to the entire guildhall. "I feel worse."

"Well," Mira hummed as, job complete, she got to her feet once more, she offered, "I feel better. Isn't that all that matters?"

"Demon." The moniker was more of a proclamation than an endearing term. "You're evil."

"I love you," was her purest of explanations and she meant it too, he could tell, as her deep blues flashed a bit of hurt. "Helping you admit your feelings for your friends is how I show that."

"Yeah, well," he muttered under his breath, "then you need to find new ways."

Laxus took off that night, before her shift was finished, but that was fine with the woman as she'd more than begun staying most nights at his apartment.

When she arrived, he was flicking through an old atlas, comparing it to a current map. Something for a job, was all he grumbled to her when she lightly questioned, and Mira let his tone go because, well, she had been rather insistent before, at the bar, and all things considered, he hadn't outright acted a fool.

Just mostly.

"If Elfman doesn't make S-Class," she did whisper, eventually, over dinner that night and she saw the man roll his eyes, thinking she was trying to goad him back into a conversation, "I'll cry."

Grunting, he only continued to stab at the steamed vegetables at his plate, never rightly bringing them up to his mouth, but not quite ready to admit, when he insisted in a huff that he be the one to make them, that this was a bad idea.

"Of course," she hummed again, "if he makes it, I'll probably cry then, too."

"Mira?"

"Yes?"

"I already told you what you wanted to hear," he told her plainly. "What else do you want from me?"

"I'd like you to make a big emotional plea again," she replied back with the same amount of flatness that it almost made the slayer recoil. At the sight of it though, she broke some as, with a giggle, she admitted, "I'm just talking, dragon. About my baby brother. Who wants this so badly-"

"If he wanted it badly, he'll come back S-Class," Laxus told her as, with a shake of his head, he went back to stabbing at his vegetables. "If he doesn't, then that means he didn't want it badly enough."

"Well, I'm not saying that to him, if he comes back not S-Class."

"Yeah, I figured."

"And I'm not saying that to Freed either."

"That's fine," Laxus told her. "I will. He knows where to go to hear the truth."

"A little kindness will get you a lot in life, Lax," she replied, but he only shrugged some.

"Won't get you S-Class," he retorted and, well, the next morning would finally put the entire conversation to rest.

Cana had never looked prouder than herself and, that night, never gotten drunker, than when she was finally, after wanting it for so long, so much, to find herself on the same Fairy Tail tier as her father.

He was there, Gildarts was, having been hanging around for a few days, prepared for this, and she seemed rather annoyed by all of his attention, shoving at the man's face any time he tried to hug her, but betraying her annoyance by the glistening in her eyes, every single time he, also drunkenly, announced to those amassed how proud he was of the guild's newest S-Class member.

His daughter.

Mirajane was caught as she always was, between dismayed at the heartbreak evident on the faces of those who weren't victorious and the one who was. As she comforted both Elfman and Natsu over their losses, she did take note, across the bar, of where Freed was very stoic and graceful in his defeat, but still being comforted in their own ways, by his two friends.

"Who wants to be S-Class anyways?" Bickslow questioned. "When you can be part of the most elite team in all the lands?"

"I would," Ever admitted under her breath though, still, she patted at Freed's shoulders sympathetically.

It was as they stood though that all three felt it. It had been looming, after all, the entire time. The presence of their most highly viewed mentor, Laxus, who came out of hiding, down in the game room. He'd been down there transferring his nerves into some rounds of pool, but Cana and Gildarts very loud commotion had finally caught his attention and he found himself not welcomed to the celebrations of the member he'd most desired.

At his approach, both Bickslow and Ever took a step back. They too had disappointed the man in the past, but never quite in such a grand fashion. Freed was primed to take the gold this time around, only to lose out to the guild drunk and Evergreen couldn't help but to glare over at the other woman, hating her more, even, than Titania, just for that day only.

Laxus came to a stop before the trio, eyes on Freed, and the rune mage forced himself to meet the gaze of the other man. It was just as he was beginning to open his mouth though that he caught sight of Mira, over at the bar, staring very pointedly his way and he took in a breath, instead of speaking, reconsidering his words before he was unable to take the back.

His gaze didn't soften, not exactly, but Freed was almost surprised when, instead of being reprimanded, he was welcomed with a pat at the shoulder from the man, as well as a slight grin.

"You kicked Elfman's ass, at least, right?" the slayer asked to which the other mage bowed his head a bit.

"Well, we did find ourselves across from one another and I found myself moving on while he did not, but-"

"All that matters."

"L-Laxus-"

"You'll want it more, next time," he told the other man simply. "After getting so close."

"Yes." And he balled up his fists then, Freed did, nodding his head at the man as he insisted, "I will!"

It was a celebration that night, not a pity party, as Cana was far from someone that anyone could look down upon (especially not with her father there, intent on making certain this didn't happen) and it was a good night.

For everyone.

The night peaked though, for Laxus, when towards the end of it, as he sat up at the bar drinking with the still far too giddy Gildarts, listening to the man go on about all of where he'd been (with some praise for his little girl sprinkled in there), Mirajane appeared at his side. The slayer originally thought it was to refill his mug, which he held up to help her with this, but instead of leaning down to fulfill this request, the woman instead pressed a kiss to his cheek, lingering long enough for Gildarts to giggle at the man.

"Mira," Laxus questioned with a bit of a rosiness to his cheeks as the woman rightened and did, finally, begin to fill his mug with golden ale once more. Such public displays were hardly their style and the man raised his head then to question, "What was that for?"

"I just like it when you're nice, dragon." She even giggled. "I like it a lot."

But the night was busy and she was being called off again, across the bar, which left the still somewhat blushing Laxus and grinning Gildarts.

"You caught a good one, Laxus. Proud of ya."

"Shuddup."

"No, seriously." And Gildarts glanced over his shoulder then, to the table where his daughter was plying herself with barrel after barrel while her guild members, all so thrilled by her accomplishment, sat nearby, happily congratulating her. "I fucked up. You know. Once. With the only one that mattered. Sometimes you don't get second-chances, man." His serious tone faded though as his face contorted in a smile that didn't seem to stretch right across it as he said, "Unless you're like my Cana! No need for second-chances; she's all S-Class!"

"Yeah," Laxus snorted, "she just needed fourth and fifth and sixth-chances."

"What did you say? Eh? Laxus?"

And when Gildarts turned his head then, his face had contorted into something far darker and Laxus found it best to just sip his beer in silence for awhile.

They left together that night, Laxus and Mira did, the man a bit drunk and the woman, who'd worked the entire night away, stone cold sober, but it was fine, as she seemed high on something else.

"I'm so happy," she insisted to the man. "For Cana. It almost washes away how badly If eel for Elf."

Almost.

She was twirling and skipping that night, slightly before her boyfriend, and he only watched her for a few moments then before speaking.

"Maybe," he offered with a bit of a shrug, "he could come out with me. Elfman could. And we could train some times. To get him ready for next year."

And she stopped dancing then, Mira did, to look over her boyfriend as she instead flel into step with him. Slipping her arm into the crook of his, she snuggled up close to the man who, even drunk, only rolled his eyes.

"You're so sweet, Lax," she assured him as the man only groaned. "When you wanna be."

Even though his reaction seemed the exact opposite, slowly, Laxus was learning that, maybe, he always wanted to be.

[caribooed]

[cha cha slide voice] reverse!

Freeze! Everybody clap your hands!

Ok so Catwoman Guardian of Gotham was a disaster so I'm taking it into my own hands. Only Bruce and Selina are swapped and Alfred still exists, not. The weird maid lady and Bruce is Not a bloodthirsty murderer

This got Very long so it's under a cut

Selina's parents were murdered by Joe Chill and she vowed to never let anyone feel the same pain she did, hence why she later became Catwoman

Bruce grew up on the streets with his big brother Thomas taking care of them both, but Thomas ended up killing a guy in a mugging and got sent to prison and left Bruce on his own

Catwoman hears about a number of high-profile thefts (museums, aristocrats) springing up and starts trying to track down the cat burglar and ends up interrupting a burglarly from a wealthy woman's penthouse

She chases the burglar down and they have a fight on the rooftops where they kick the everloving shit out of eachother but the burglar throws her off the roof and when she gets back up he's gone

Next night, she attends a charity event and meets an activist and fundraiser by the name of Bruce Wayne and they have a nice chat and hit it off

In the middle of it, a waiter bumps Selina in the side right over where her ribs got cracked from the other night and she doubles over so Bruce helps her out of sight and asks what happened

She tells him she tripped down the stairs of her house but he does Not believe it and ends up sticking by her the rest of the night, at the end of which Selina is like. "He's nice I think" and invites him out for lunch soon

Jump a day or two and Selina runs into the burglar again but this time he's got full body armor and a bat motif and she is Not Happy With This Development

Bruce stole a ton of armor and weaponry from the GCPD and made his own suit because Selina rly messed him up the last time they met

So they fight and Bruce hits her in the side and it floors her and he is like. Wait A Minute, but she recovers and he's forced to run

And then over a period of a month or two, Bruce starts hanging out with Selina in the day (lowkey stalking her to see if his wild theory is right) and while over at her manor he spots a bloodstain on her shirtsleeve from a wound that bled through the bandages she was wearing and when he questions her she says she cut her arm open on a nail accidentally and it's not a big deal but he's just. Hm

Also during this period, Catwoman keeps showing up to stop all of Batman's robberies and he's really getting sick of it because he's been using the money from his stolen goods both to like, feed himself but also to support a gang of homeless kids in the neighborhood he lives in and to help provide food for the local orphanage and it's getting Really Hard To Do That When He Can't Steal Stuff

So basically he knows she's Catwoman and Selina is his friend and he's just. I Have An Idea

Batman starts going out more often just to taunt Catwoman while she's on patrol and he starts going to other rogues like Two-Face and Cobblepit to egg them on and he actively breaks Bane out of prison and the Riddler out of Arkham just to set them loose

He's basically manufacturing a crime wave to try and wear Catwoman out and it's working

She's really exhausted because of all this and every time she has to make an appearance in public she's all tired and struggling to keep it together and Bruce makes a point to be there and to cover for her whenever she's too overwhelmed

Eventually Catwoman gets severely injured during a fight and she's too far from the Cave so, not really having another option, she shows up passed out in Bruce's apartment bleeding out and he's all surprised and helps her and gives her impromptu medical care but never pulls off her mask

Selina wakes up on his couch and he's asleep in a chair he pulled up next to her and she's like :] and leaves him a thank you note before going

So Batman has basically become priority one but he keeps causing so many new problems to spring up that she can't actually go after him while he commits a robbery spree, and every tine she deals with everything else he goes to ground for weeks on end

All the while Bruce is there being Supportive Friend Of The Year and they keep going out to eat and they spend events together and it's Grand

Eventually Bruce asks her out! And she's like. Oh No because while she likes him, she genuinely doesn't know if she can handle being in a relationship at the moment but she doesn't want to say no so she gives a tentative yes and so they're dating

Luckily he is a very understanding man and whenever she has to dip out to be Catwoman or when she's too tired to go out he's all "oh it's fine, I can reschedule" and it's a Very Big Relief

Batman goed to ground after another round of Mess With Catwoman and he stays that way for like three months and she puts all her rogues away so for the first time in a While she has proper free time to spend with Bruce and it's lovely! And shes like. "If this is how our relationship is, I don't want it to end" but because she's Catwoman and she doesn't know that she could hide it from Bruce if they were married and so one night she shows up in his apartment as Catwoman and shows him that she's Selina and he's just "!!!!! Oh that explains a lot, that's really awesome"

He swears he'd never tell anyone about her identity and makes a joke about how because Selina makes herself seem so ditzy at parties, nobody would believe him anyway and so Selina proposes to him the next night and they end up getting married and Bruce moves into the manor ❤️

Unfortunately Batman comes back and he pulls a pro gamer move which involves releasing every inmate from Arkham and Blackgate, including but not limited to her entire rogues gallery

So she's having a Time and literally just can't handle everything and every time she does well against a rogue Batman swoops in out of nowhere to divert her and really it's exhausting and she's working herself to the bone

Eventually she manages to wrangle most of them but the Joker is still on the loose and Batman keeps evading her and she Has Not Slept For Four Nights

While she's in the Cave, Alfred makes a comment about how at night it always gets so nerve wracking, especially since Bruce tends to leave after she does and Alfred is worried he might get caught up in something dangerous considering Batman and the crime wave and Selina is like

"He leaves the house at night??? [wh]" And Alfred gets confused tells her how he can never find Bruce in the manor from around eleven pm to two in the morning so he assumes Bruce goes out to visit friends or to deal with personal business and he tells her abt how he asked Bruce about it and he told Alfred that he and Selina had already talked about it

And Selina is just. "He was lying to you, I had no idea he was going out" which makes her Very Suspicious

She can't Do anything about it because she's trying to track down supercriminals but she checks the manor security feeds and she can't find any trace of Bruce leaving which is Concerning

Basically she ends up finding the Joker and stopping him from bombing the city and he gets sent back to Arkham, but before she can go home Batman shows up and they facedown on the roof

Batman goes all "I really didn't want to do this but you gave me no choice" and then starts trying to kill Selina

He gets a bunch of good stabs in but Selina seems to get the better of him and so he runs and she follows him into an apartment building but loses him in the hallways

She spots a bomb behind one of the doors and realizes the building is about to explode so she gets out of there just before it does and Batman corners her with a gun on a nearby roof

He tries to kill her again but Selina manages to get close and hits the gun away

Batman tries to run but she grabs him by the cape and yanks him back and manages to rip his cowl off before he gets away, at which point she sees that it's Bruce and she's Horrified

And it finally clicks that Batman has been trying to get every other criminal in Gotham to either kill her for him or wear her out so that he can do it himself, which would Also be killing Selina Kyle, and since she doesn't have any other heir, Bruce would get her fortune

And she's all "why would you do all this" and he gets really angry and starts telling her all about the people that aren't as privileged as her and he basically tells her that he wants her money so he can use it to help the people living in the East End and the Narrows, since Selina and the other aristocrats of her stature didn't know the problem like he did and refused to help

So Selina is just baffled that he'd go this far and he apologizes to her genuinely before he tries to kill her one last time because now that she Knows, this is his last chance to get away with the plan

It doesn't work, Selina fights him off and manages to get cuffs on him but he gets away and Selina goes home and Divorces That Man Immediately but also realizes that while he was living with her he'd been stealing things like jewelry she never wore or fancy paintings from rooms nobody ever went into and she is just Not Pleased

But she also allocates a ton of money towards charity projects focused in the more rundown areas of Gotham and actively starts funding all sorts of orphanages, soup kitchens, clinics, etc

She tries to track Bruce down but he's just Gone and so she lets it go even though she's very heartbroken and sad that he tried so hard to kill her

[ohitshoneybee]

Sleepover

Loki (2021) Self Insert AU

Summary: An odd group of friends has a movie night in one of the Time Theaters, and shenanigans ensue.

Word Count: 1384

Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff, that's it

A/N: You guys. My first ever fic here on tumblr?? I'm so hyped, y'all have no idea! Special thanks to @nebulousfishgills for being my motivation and helping co-create this funky AU and for creating this *incredible* mood board! Enjoy.

The sight of a mountain of blankets, pillows, and other soft items sitting in Time Theater 27, along with a buffet of cookies, chips, and drinks, wasn't unusual. The appearance of the Time Door, precisely at half-past eight wasn't odd either. In fact, it had become a sort of routine for a handful of TVA employees. Ravonna always showed up early to set things up, Casey and Hunter B-15 not far behind. Mobius strolling in at around ten till, with Loki, Olivia, and Sylvie showing up at nine on the dot.

Now, you may have asked yourself, 'What relevance does the time door have? Are we missing someone? And why all the blankets and everything?' Well dear reader, at approximately eight-forty, Oliver walks through the door for the final time that night, the last armful of blankets and tray of brownies in hand.

A cheery "Hey B-15! I made your favorite brownies again!" heard from across the room piques the hunter’s interest, as well as Mobius'.

"Oliver! You made it! I mean of course you made it, what am I even saying? Whatever, come sit down!" Mobius jumps up to accept the platter of brownies, sneaking a couple before anyone else could get to them. Olivia and Loki, arm in arm, saunter over to greet Oliver.

"Hey, you're here! And just in time too, we were about to pick tonight’s genre!” Olivia snatches the tray from Mobius’ hand, setting it on the buffet table. “Yeah? What are the options? And for the love of the Gods, don’t tell me there’s horror on the list, I’m not playing ‘Snakes and Ladders’ in the corner with Miss Minutes again. No offense, but I’d rather hang out with everyone, rather than sit in the corner for almost two hours.” Oliver smiles and elbows Olivia in the arm, dropping their pile of blankets next to the table.

“I am pleased to inform you that we have comedy or adventure as our picks tonight! Votes starting with Ravonna, as always,” B-15 chimes in, cutting Olivia off before she could retort.

“Comedy,” Ravonna starts.

“I think I’d like adventure,” says Casey.

“Ditto, on the adventure,” from Mobius.

“Comedy,” Sylvie and Loki respond, in unison.

“Adventure!” Olivia exclaims, striking a rather piratey pose.

“Adventure for me too, hon,” Miss Minutes nods to the hunter.

“And comedy for me,” B-15 notes.

“Oliver, that leaves you as the tiebreaker. Chose carefully,” Mobius teases.

“Well... I think I’ll pick… adventure?” Oliver answers, earning groans from half of the group and cheers from the other half.

Olivia, quite literally jumping with joy, just about tackles Oliver with a hug. “I knew I could count on you! Unlike those weirdos over there,” Olivia sticks her tongue out at Loki and Sylvie, earning an amused chuckle from Loki.

Mobius waves Ravonna over, talking to her in hushed tones, as to not disrupt the rest of the group. “Ravonna, I still think we should get one of those popcorn machines for these movie night sleepover things.. It isn’t fair to Oliver that they have to run back and forth whenever we want popcorn.”

“Mobius… it’s already hard enough to hide all of these blankets and the table and, well… everything. I just don’t know where we would put the popcorn maker. On top of that, none of us would even know how to use it!”

“Well, it can’t be that hard to figure out, I’ve seen kids on Earth use them and it’s gone fine for them!” Mobius argues.

“I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay? Just.. Don’t get your hopes up,” Ravonna sighs, waving Mobius off.

The projector boots up, and with a flicker of golden hues, the title screen for ‘The Mummy’ appears, earning a cheer from Oliver, who is wrapped up in a white comforter with a plate of various snacks in their lap.

“What? This movie was my bisexual awakening, it holds a special place in my heart because of it,” they defend, albeit through a mouthful of brownie.

“Nobody was judging you, Oliver, we were just a little...surprised,” Sylvie responds, snuggling closer to Olivia.

“You know what else is surprising? The fact that you three haven’t run off to a broom closet yet,” B-15 interrupts.

“Yeah, well, at least Oliver isn’t climbing over me yet,” Mobius teases.

“Wait, has nobody told you? Yeah, when you’re asleep, you end up snuggled with Mobius, no matter where in the room you are,” Olivia adds, rather suggestively.

“W-Well, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation! Uh.. yeah.. an explanation…” Oliver mutters, flustered and embarrassed.

“Hey, nobody said they were bothered. I’m certainly not. There’s no need to stress over it,” Mobius adds, trying his best to be comforting.

B-15 shushes the group as the opening scene starts, the room bathed in golden hues.

Halfway through the movie, Oliver is already asleep, curled up with three or four pillows and a mountain of blankets, as well as a green cactus plushie. Ravonna is the only thing between Loki and Sylvie staking piles of Cheez-Its on their face, and Casey and B-15 are quietly chatting about the movie so far. Olivia is laying on her stomach, the blanket over her slightly askew, and Mobius is up getting more snacks.

“You really are a bottomless pit, aren’t you Moby Dick?” Olivia jokes. The nickname ‘Moby Dick’ caught on when Olivia showed up to the TVA and used it to poke fun at the analyst. After that, it stuck and is just a bit of fun.

“Yeah, well you kinda eat whatever you can when you live off the food here. Ollie’s baking is a real treat, so I’m enjoying it while I can,” Mobius retorts, stacking his plate with chips and the last of the brownies.

“Loki, Sylvie, stop it. Oliver isn’t gonna be happy when they go home and their cat is licking their face when they smell like Cheez-Its,” Ravonna whisper-yells at the pair as she throws a pillow and nails Sylvie in the face.

“Oh, I see how it is, old lady. It’s on!” Sylvie grabs the pillow and climbs over Oliver, running for Ravonna. “Pillow fiiiiiight!”

Oliver sits up and rubs the sleep from their eyes, almost immediately getting hit in the face with a pillow thrown by Mobius. “Oh so suddenly I’m not your favorite, Moby? I’ll just take those brownies back!” They grab their cactus plush and chuck it at the analyst, ducking with a squeal of surprise as another pillow flies past their head.

“Nobody decks Mobius like that except for me!” B-15 shouts, standing over a mountain of pillows.

“Hey, that’s not cool! You can’t hog the pillows!” Casey protests, ducking behind the food table.

“Well neither is teaming up, but us three already have!” Olivia announces, using Loki and Sylvie as shields to avoid getting hit with a pillow from Ravonna.

“Oh come on! That would’ve hit you!”

“Moby! Catch!” as Oliver chucks a couple of pillows in rapid succession. “You’ll never win! Not against me!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, hon,” Miss Minutes pops up next to Oliver and whacks them in the arm with a decorative pillow, a distinct rip heard through the room as stuffing flies.

“Oh. My. Gods. You’re so dead!” Sylvie shouts with a smile, and suddenly, alarms are blaring. Ravonna fishes through the pockets in her pajamas for her TemPad.

With a sigh of relief, she announces to the group, “It’s not an emergency, but I’m going to need to borrow you two for a bit,” she says, nodding to Mobius and B-15.

“Let’s make it a group trip since it isn’t an emergency!” Olivia proposes, earning a groan of disapproval from Ravonna and B-15, almost in unison.

“Olivia, we’ve been over this. Oliver isn’t allowed anywhere else in the TVA, other than here and the bathroom. If anything were to happen to them, I’d be the one to blame, and I’m not taking that risk.”

“Ravonna’s right, it’s a miracle that having Ollie here hasn’t created a Nexus event yet. Who knows what would happen if something went wrong,” Mobius reasons.

With a reluctant sigh, Oliver, Olivia, Loki, Sylvie, and Casey settle back into their respective blanket piles and finish the movie while B-15, Ravonna, and Mobius run off to handle the cause of the alarms.

[getdownkyh]

In case you missed it, this short series was inspired by @darkcompass​‘ work, which you can read here : (001) and (003). As usual all my fics are fictional.

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Extra Credit (m) | Young K |  smut, Professor!Kang

01 . 02 . 03 . 04 . 05 . 06 . 07

Proposal.

To be frank, you couldn’t put your fingers on what gave you the courage. The fact that you were the type of person who wouldn’t stop until you got your hands on what you wanted, the sheer attractiveness of your new professor, or the way you could see the attraction between the two of you went both ways. Or maybe all factors combined. 

It was kind of expected. You liked smart guys and he liked hot women. 

So that was how you found yourself standing in front of Professor Kang’s door, that fateful Friday evening. Double checking to ensure the top buttons of your blouse were loosened, you took a deep breath, and knocked. “Come in,” was heard and you pushed the door open, walking in and closing it behind you. He was working on some paperwork, his eyesight fixed towards his table, not even paying attention to you.

You cleared your throat and locked the door, the click of the door lock catching his attention as he finally looked up.

You walked up to him as he asked, “Anything I can help you with?”

You looked at him and his perfectly parted hair, the ones that had you wondering how they would feel under your fingers. His glasses sat pretty on his nose bridge, sharp jawline slightly flexing as his gaze shifted to you walking closer.

“Hi, Professor. I’m from your Marketing class?” Vague. Even though you knew he needed no introductions. You chewed on your bottom lip subconsciously as you tried to compose yourself.

“I have a proposal. You know, for extra credit?”

You weren’t exactly being subtle, and you were certain that he got the idea.

He twirled the pen in his hand, eyebrow cocked as his eyes travelled from your face, to your slightly exposed chest. Not subtle. Kang Younghyun wasn’t stupid, the flirtatious gazes you were giving him in classes didn’t go unnoticed, and right now you were literally standing in front of him with an unbuttoned blouse. Even a stupid person could decipher the situation. 

And he wasn’t complaining. He definitely wasn’t. But it didn’t mean he would give in easily.

 “Hmm, it’s still quite early in the semester, you’re very enthusiastic, eh?”

“I just like to be prepared.”

He chuckled at you, leaning back in his seat. Inviting.

You walked closer to him, now standing next to his table, “I’m also struggling to focus in class.”

Younghyun placed his pen down, putting the cap on, “And why is that exactly?”

“I think of the things I want you to do to me.”

Hearing that, he took your hand and pulled you towards him, your body now bent forward towards his sitting figure. He held your chin in his hand as his eyes looked deep into yours, before travelling down to your lips, and then your exposed cleavage. He ran his index finger alongside your neck, travelling down to trace your breasts that were peeking out of your barely-hanging blouse.

You closed your eyes as you reveled in his touch, so light and modest yet was anything but innocent.

He placed his finger underneath your chin again, applying pressure, making you tilt your head upwards. He inched closer to your face, stopping when he was barely centimetres away from your lips. You let out a whine and the corner of his lips hitched upwards.

You took the chance and kissed him first, closing the gap as you placed your hands on his shoulder. His hands gripped harder on your blouse, draggin you towards closer, making you straddle him as he tilt his head to the side, allowing you to deepen the kiss.

He nibbled on your bottom lip, tugging them between his teeth slightly and licking at them. You whined at the sensation, your open mouth inviting his tongue inside.

He noticed that you were trying to pull away as you were running out of breath yet his hands were holding onto you so firmly, you were forced to be held in palce. You dug your nails into his shoulder, and he hissed into the kiss, feeling the sharp edges stinging his skin. He let go of you, but held your bottom lip between his teeth as you pulled back your air.

You rested your forehead on his as you panted, “You’re a good kisser.”

You were brushing his ego, effectively so, making him stand up, placing you on his table. His hands travelled underneath your blouse as he unclasped your bra, yanking it off and putting it in his drawers, nonchalantly. “Keep the blouse on, I like the look.” He said as he ran his hands across your chest, your blouse crinkling underneath his touch, you involuntarily arching towards him.

When he let go of you, both of your gazes fell towards you nipples, all perked up, the slight tent obvious on the chiffon blouse.

He clutched your blouse with his hands, yanking them downwards in one strong motion, your breasts spilling out from the modestly unbuttoned top part. Taking hold of them, a grunt escaped his mouth, liking the way they fit in his hands, giving you soft squeezes, enjoying the way you were holding back and clearly struggling to keep yourself composed.

Younghyun lowered his head and started kissing the pair of flesh. You felt his teeth grazing the soft skin and your hands instinctively tangled in his hair. He started sucking on them, making purplish hickeys bloom on your skin, and your body arched towards him, your breaths hitching until you let out a whine. He stopped moving.

His face buried in your chest, he grumbled, “You gotta keep quiet, love. Or else everyone’s gonna know about your extracurricular proposal.”

You stammered, “Y-yes Professor,”

He let go of you and stood back up, unbuttoning the cuffs on his wrist, and folding his sleeves up, “I can’t get my shirt dirty, or else everyone’s gonna notice aren’t they?”

You swallowed at the implications, struggling to steady your breath. Younghyun pushed your skirt up, and clucked his tongue as he yanked your panties down, the flimsy fabric soaked through by your wet core.

Without warning, he touched your folds and you brought your hand to your mouth to suppress your moans.

Using two fingers, he spread your arousal, opening up the lips, gauging your reaction. The cold air of his room hit your warmth every time he spread them open, the contrast making you feeling more and more needy. He pressed his palm to your core and started pulsing his hand, causing you to fall forward into his shoulder, your arm slung around his neck.

He pressed his thumb to your clit and moved in slow circles while inserting two fingers into your throbbing hole. Just like the speed of his thumb on your clit, his fingers were pumping in and out of you slowly, stretching you open deliciously.

He grunted, “Fuck, you’re tight.”

He started moving his fingers faster, as he pushed you down onto his table to see your face. The change of angle caused his fingers to penetrate you deeper, and as your back laid flat on the table, you felt his fingers brush across that one euphoric spot, forcing a sharp moan out of your mouth.

Almost instantaneously he pulled his fingers out of you, and you whined, frustrated at the lost of touch right when you needed it the most. He looked at his glistening fingers, soaked in you and hovered over you, bringing them to your mouth, “I need you to be quiet.”

You held his wrist with your hands and pushed his fingers inside your mouth, sucking, swirling your tongue around the digits, maintaining eye contact, silently apologizing and hoping he would give you another chance.

He pulled his fingers out of your mouth and spoke, “Touch yourself.”

Your eyes widened a bit, “W-what?”

“Make yourself cum here, on my table. Pleasure yourself. I won’t stop you until you cum but if you don’t keep quiet, it will be your first and last time coming here.”

You froze as you sat up, in a haze and a bit taken aback.

He chuckled, running his thumb over your cheek before taking your hand in his and guiding your fingers to your core, “Surely a girl like you who is daring enough to ask her own professor to fuck her would have had experiences touching herself right?”

Younghyun pushed your thighs open and then sat in his chair, positioning himself exactly as when you first came into the room. “Don’t fake your orgasm though, I would know.”

You bit your lip as you cautiously ran your fingers up and down your folds. When your fingers were covered in your arousal, you gently pushed one finger in, focusing on the feeling, as you clench around your own finger. You let out a sigh, eyebrows knit together in concentration.

You pumped your middle finger in and out a few times, yet failing to make yourself feel as good as he did. You looked at him, trying to coax him to take over, your expression desperate.

He tilted his head and gave you a sarcastic smile, “Rules are rules. Come on, push one more finger in, or even two more, how are you gonna take me if you can’t even take more than one finger?”

His words spurred you on and you teased your entrance with two fingers, adding your ring finger alongside your middle one. You pushed slowly and felt the initial stretch, threatening a moan to spill out.

“Don’t be shy, rub your clit, it will help ease the pain.”

You complied as you used your thumb to gently circle your nub. You took deep breaths as you pumped out two fingers in and out. Not that you needed to be taught how to please yourself, but the way he was guiding you step by step lit a fire inside you. 

After all, he was your Professor.

“Another one now.”

You held three fingers in front of your entrance and tried to push them in but it felt too tight, your brain telling you they wouldn’t fit. Looking at him, you whined, shaking your head slowly.

Younghyun leaned back in his seat, “My terms remain unchanged.”

You continued rubbing your clit as you mustered up the courage, croaking out. “Can you assist me, Professor?”

“What kind of assistance?” He replied, amused.

“Cover my mouth so I don’t make a sound.”

Something flipped inside Younghyun when you asked him that, catching him off guard. His dick was twitching, having been hard for a while now. But he was good at holding himself back, like the saying good things come to those who wait, he decided to not pounce on you straightaway, playing it out to see you become more and more desperate for him. Plus, he was having fun watching your eyes, begging for him, and he knew at the end of it all he would still get to fuck you. 

 He stood up and held his palm to your mouth, while his other hand held your neck to keep you in place.

You took a deep breath and pushed three fingers in, your screams muffled into his hand, you knew this was your last chance so you gathered all your strength and pumped in and out as fast as you can, your thumb busily flicking your clit. Your other hand held your own boob as you squeezed and toyed with your nipple, trying to push yourself over the edge from every nerve you could stimulate. It was borderline painful, your wrist tense and cramping, your hips bucking up to match the rhythm.

Your other senses felt numb but you were pretty sure you heard Younghyun grunting and groaning, the squelching sounds from your fingers getting to him and it helped pushed you over the edge. The sole thought that you were turning him on, making him hard made you came on your own fingers, your juice spilling out onto his table as your cunt fluttered, and you stumbled forward, Younghyun holding you close as you trembled, panting open mouthed into his chest. The intense, desperate orgasm temporarily blinding you.

Pulling your fingers out, you watched the string of liquid connected to it, as you rested comfortably in his embrace, evening out your breaths. Your lids felt heavy as he stroked your hair, muttering, "You’re good. You’re really good.”

[galactibabe]

Can I request a fluffy Joe Mazzello x fem. reader oneshot where Joe surprises reader and proposes in a very sweet and romantic way?

Star Light, Star Bright

Joe Mazzello x fem!reader

Word Count: 1,117

A/N: I am SO SORRY this took so long lmao. I kept forgetting and then remembering at the worst times. But it’s finally done! This is the first time I’ve written anything in literal years, since like pre-covid. I’m happy I got to venture back into writing for our favorite man! These are bleak times in the world, it was nice to shut out everything for a bit and live in this little moment. Thank you if you choose to read and share! 💕

“What do I even do? How the hell do I go about this?”

Joe has spent the last half hour on the phone with Sebastian trying to figure out a way to maybe think about asking you to marry him. He had no idea it would be this difficult to plan what should be a huge moment for the two of you.

“I hate to say it like this, but get your shit together! You love her, right?”

“Yeah. Like, so much.”

“Then don’t even think about it. Stop searching for the perfect place, the perfect moment, the perfect lighting. I guarantee you’ll feel when it’s right. Everything will happen when it needs to, man. You’ve got this.”

Joe hears your keys turning the lock in the front door.

“She’s home, I gotta go. Thanks for listening to me ramble, Seb.”

“No problem. Hey, congrats, dude.”

“We’re not there yet, I’ll see you later.”

He hangs up just as you push into the house with a few shopping bags in hand and a body pillow slung over your shoulder. He wastes no time in getting up from his seat at the kitchen island to help take some of the bags from you.

“I hope you realize we don’t need any of this and you should never leave me unsupervised in a home goods store.” you say as you drop the bags you had on the floor.

He laughs and starts unpacking some of the different things you brought home; some new hand towels, a fancy-looking toothbrush holder, a matching soap dispenser, among other things. He pulls out a larger item and looks at you incredulously.

“What and why?”

“It’s a light up shower head! You can program it to different light patterns from your phone. It changes color, too!”

He watches the excitement on your face as you turn to pick up the body pillow with running cats embroidered along the bottom and he doesn’t know how it’s possible, but he falls deeper in love with you.

“I figured we could put this on the futon in the spare room, since we don’t have any pillows for when it gets used as a bed.”

“It’s adorable, just like you, Snow Cap.”

He’s been calling you that since your 4th date when he invited you over for a movie night and you brought your own candy but refused to share the Snow Caps with him.

You smiled and brought some of the things upstairs into their specific rooms. He watches you disappear and he feels the ring box in his jacket pocket, pressing his fingertips onto the corners. He catches his nail on the front seam and picks at it nervously as he stands in the middle of the room.

You come back down the stairs with the bag in your hand now filled with the now replaced bathroom counter furnishings and old hand towels, and he pulls his hand out of his pocket.

“I was thinking of giving these to my friend Dolly since she’s moving out of her sister’s place.”

“That’s alright with me. Do we have anything else to do today?” Joe asks.

You shake your head, “I’m all yours!”

Gosh, you have no idea how deeply he wants to make that statement a permanent one..

You spend the next couple hours on the couch playing video games. Joe always finds a way to squeak out a win in Mario Kart. He brings up taking you outside when it starts to get dark. The weather is at that nice stage where it’s warm enough outside to go for a walk, but there’s still a slight breeze so it’s not too warm. You end up sitting out on your patio swing in the back yard, curled into his side as you swing gently.

The sky is clear and you can see the stars. The crickets are chirping. You can hear people a couple houses down having a get together, laughing and talking. Somewhere a child plays with their dog.

Before he knows it, he’s getting up from the swing, pulling you with him out from under the overhang, into the yard so you’re completely under the night sky. He’s not thinking about it, he’s not nervous, he’s not pushing for things to be perfect, he’s just letting it all fall into place.

“I love you so god damn much, you know that, right?”

The statement kinda freaks you out a bit, you’re beginning to think that he bought something really expensive without discussing it first, or he’s taking a long acting job across the world, who knows.

But then he reaches into his pocket and he starts to get down on one knee.

“Joey… what the fuck are you doing…?”

“I can’t even begin to imagine my life anymore without you in it. I love waking up next to you every day. I love taking stupid pictures with you. I love when we judge bad movies together. I love getting to be there for you while you work on your dissertation. I love that you bring home more Lactaid pills for me when I don’t even notice I’m out of them. You are everything I’ll ever need. I could get blacklisted in Hollywood tomorrow, and as long as I have you, I’m set for life. I can do anything when I have you. Will you marry me?”

You’ve been smiling like an idiot through his whole speech, and you’ve forgotten to respond. Joe pokes you in the thigh with his finger a couple times.

“Hey, goofball, did you hear me?”

You’re shaken from your daze and you run your fingers through his hair.

“Can you say it again?”

He smiles wide and pulls your left hand in.

“Will you marry me?”

You tackle him onto the grass while yelling ‘of course I will, you dork!’

He rolls you onto your back and slips the ring on your finger, it fits perfectly. You’re so happy that you don’t even care about the dampness in the grass seeping into your clothes as you lay there with him under the stars.

“When did you even buy this? How did you manage get my size right?”

“Bought it a couple weeks ago, stole one of your rings you wear all the time to get it sized correctly. It was worth a shot that your right hand and left hand were the same size.”

The stone glitters in the moonlight, a round cut with a halo on a simple band, nothing too flashy or large. Joe turns your hand to press a kiss to your palm.

“Love you Snow Cap…”

“Gonna have to add Mazzello to that soon.”

“I can’t wait.”

[13-reasons-ideas]

Marry Me - Monty’s Perspective

A/N: Here it is. I’m so sorry this took so long to put out. I was having a really hard time getting into the right headspace to write this. I hope you guys like it! I recommend listening to Thomas Rhett’s Marry Me when you read this. As usual, feedback is appreciated and much love! -Em

Ellie was coming back into town for her engagement party this weekend. I was the first person she called when Evan proposed. She damn near gave me a heart attack when I answered, and she was scream-crying.

Flashback

I was watching the Chargers game when Ellie called. “Hey Elliebear.”

“Heaskedmetomarryhim.” She screeched on the other line. I had no idea what she said. It sounded like she was crying. And that I would be deaf in one ear. I pulled the phone away from my head until she stopped freaking out.

“What was that?”

“Evan proposed.” What?

“Oh?”

“And I said yes. I’m getting married Montgomery.” Oh.

“That’s great Ellie. Congratulations. I’m happy for you.” I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the pit that was forming.

“Thank you. I wanted you to be the first one to know, so I just wanted to call you quick. I can hear the game in the background, and we have more people to call so I’ll let you go now.”

“Okay, tell Evan I said hi and congratulations.”

“I will. Bye Monty.”

“Bye Ellie.” I hung up and sat back on the couch. She’s getting married.

End flashback

I was on break at work when I got a text from Ellie.

Hey you. I just got into town with Evan for the weekend. Are you free tonight?

I texted her back a few minutes later, yeah I’m free. What’s up?

She replied right away. Drinks or coffee? Just you and me. My parents are going over some details for tomorrow with Evan that they don’t want me around for.

Sure. Meet you at Monet’s at six?

I’ll save you a seat. Usual order?

You know I don’t change things Elliebear.

I stopped at home to change after work into something more comfortable. I grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a random t-shirt before grabbing an old flannel and running out the door, so I wasn’t late.Ellie barely beat me to the café. It wasn’t surprising really, since she was always the early one.

“Hey, what can I get you this evening?” the barista asked her.

“Can I get a-”

“She’ll get a skinny vanilla bean latte with only one pump of vanilla, a dash of cinnamon, and extra foam in a for here cup. I’ll get a regular black coffee. And she’ll also have the chicken and spinach sandwich.” I said behind her. The barista looked at her, unsure if she should ring it in or not. Ellie nodded and turned around to face me. Before I had a chance to say anything, she jumped into my arms for a hug.

“Hey Elliebear.” I grunted.  

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

Our orders were finished quickly as it was surprisingly slow for a Friday night. Luckily, that meant our table was free. We sat down and conversation flowed easily. It was almost like we had never been apart.

“The ring is nice. It suits you. Bigger than I thought you would like but it’s nice.”

“It is nice, yeah. That reminds me, Evan said he’s looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.”

“So am I. See who finally caught your interest.”

“I was interested in other people before Evan.” She told me, scandalously. Sure, you did El. I didn’t let myself think about the possibility of her liking me that way when we were younger.

“Ellie. That guy from drama class doesn’t count. And neither does your chemistry partner.”

“I was not interested in Adam. And Zach was my chemistry partner. I can assure you I was not into him.”

“Please, enlighten me as to these people you were interested in before Evan.”

“There was,” she paused. “Dylan from sophomore English was cute. Ian. Couple other guys in high school. Peter from my first year anthropology class was… very attractive, and smart.”

“One guy aside from Evan? University of Georgia is a big school. There’s no way you only had eyes for two people.”

“I was busy. I practically lived in the library when I wasn’t in class or my dorm. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Is there a girl I should be hearing about? Or should have heard about?”

“Nah. Nothing important or anything to write home about. I was busy.” I wouldn’t call what I did, dating. The point wasn’t to find someone to bring home. Who I wanted to bring home was over 900 miles away.

“Oh please Monty, you played ball at OSU. You honestly expect me to believe there was no girl in your life?”

“No, no. There were girls. Just nothing really serious.”

“Uh, huh.” She replied, sarcastically. We reached for our cups at the same time and our hands brushed. I was immediately transported back to the day of homecoming in senior year.

Flashback

“Remember students. The homecoming game is tonight at 6:30. You’ll want to be there early as our Liberty Tigers take on the Hildebrandt Mustangs if you want good seats. It’s sure to be a nail biter.” Principal Bolan’s voice boomed from the intercom during the morning announcements.

“Don’t know why he’s hyping it up to be a nail biter.” Scott laughed.

“We are playing Hildebrandt. We could literally not show up and still win.” I joked. “Have any of you seen Ellie? She’s usually here to force me to English by now.”

“Nah man.” Scott replied.

“Need lover girl to make sure you do what you’re supposed to?” Bryce teased.

“Fuck off. It’s not like that with us.” Unfortunately.

“Sure it’s not Monty. I refuse to believe you never hit it.”

“Don’t talk about her like that.” I threatened, lowly. Don’t push it man. Bryce shut up at my tone. “I’m going to go try and find her. I’ll see you guys at lunch.”

She was arranging her books when I found her at her locker. She was trailed by Clay and Alex. I pulled her into my arms and lifted off the ground. “Montgomery, put me down!” she laughed.

“Never.” I laughed, evilly.

“I have to grab my chem book. And go to chemistry.”

“I’ve got it.” Zach said as he grabbed her book, “you carrying her to class today?”

“Nah, I thought about it but since I had to come find her this morning, I figure she can make it there on her own.”

“I was running late. My alarm didn’t go off when it was supposed to.”

“Excuses, excuses.” I replied, putting her down and shaking my head.

“I’ll see you guys later? Zach and I are running late.”

“Sure. Justin said if I don’t go to the game tonight, he’d tell mom and dad about Ani. And I don’t want to deal with that.”

“Someone has to keep Clay company, so I have to go too.” Alex said, pushing clay lightly.

“Great. I’ll see you then. See you at lunch Monty.”

I sat through just about the driest English class of my life, counting the minutes on my watch. Math was no better. We were reviewing for a test that almost the whole

class failed. Somehow that was our fault for not studying enough. I let out a sigh of relief when the lunch bell rang.

The table was already mostly full when Ellie came and sat next to me. “Ellie, think you could pray for us to not lose this game tonight?” Bryce sniggered from the end of the table.

“Hey, quit being a dick.” I stated. Bryce responded by chucking a grape at me. I threw it back at him. I knew how important her faith was to her. Some things just weren’t okay to be joked about or questioned. When it came to Ellie, faith was one of them.

“It’s fine Monty. Not like he hasn’t done it before.” I know he has. I don’t like it. “It’s going to take a lot more than God to help you win if you don’t learn to throw better than that in the next six hours. But sure.” I watched her from the corner of my eye as she smirked to herself before beginning. I’d seen her pray for real before. This wasn’t that. “Lord, please help the guys win tonight. Give them the ability to not trip over themselves when they make plays. And God, please show Bryce how to make the ball go where it’s supposed to and not hit some poor kid in the head again. Maybe, just maybe, then he will get laid tonight and we all know that’s really why he asked me to pray.” She smirked at Bryce. I choked on my juice. She probably isn’t wrong. Was pretty funny when that kid got hit though.

“You need to quit hanging out with Monty, he’s rubbing off on you too much. And I was serious.”

“I know. I’ll do it for real after lunch. You can sit with me if you want.” She was true to her word. I was late for Geography because I was watching her sit in an empty alcove praying. Bryce didn’t sit with her.

The locker room was abuzz with excitement. It was the homecoming game. Not to mention our season opener. If we wanted to start the season off right, we had to win. Sure, we joked around about Hildebrandt being an easy team to beat-they came in second to last in the league last year-but there was still a chance they would pull off a miracle. Especially if Bryce threw like he did at lunch. “Yo Monty, is Ellie coming to Monet’s tonight?”

“She said she would. Not that she’ll give you the time of day.” I waved off Matt’s question. She’s not interested. Trust me. Find someone else to have your eyes on. Several ‘oooo’s were voiced around us.

“How do you know?”

“Just do, man.”

“I could treat her real nice. She’d beg me for more.” Are you fucking kidding me?

“Oh shit.” Someone muttered, seriously. I didn’t really hear who it was. The sound of my blood rushing in my ears was too loud. Coach Kerba wasn’t in the room. He was talking to Banes about plays. No one in here will snitch. Not when it’s about Ellie.

I immediately turned towards him and cornered him against his locker. The rest of the team stood silently, watching us. I got real close to his face so only he would hear me. “You even think about her like that again and I will bury you so deep they’ll need ground penetrating radar to find you. Not that they’d recognize you if anyone found your body. If you so much as brush against her too hard in the halls, I’ll break your jaw. You understand Carraway?”

“Y-yeah. I got you. Never said a word.” He breathed in response. I had scared the living shit out of him. Good. I stepped away from him and after a few beats the incident was forgotten and the mood was light again.

The game wasn’t that exciting. Had it not been homecoming, most people probably wouldn’t have shown up. As expected, it was in our favour most of the first half. Ellie waved at me between plays. She was practically beaming. During the second half Hildebrandt seemed to find their groove and the game was at least interesting to play. It wasn’t the nail biter Principal Bolan had promised this morning. Everyone knew that regardless of how we played, we would end up winning. The game ended and the team and the crowd were excited. Matt and Garrison were so excited by the win, they tripped over their own feet and faceplanted on the sidelines. The excitement died down for a moment until they shot up and went on celebrating.

I waited for Ellie outside the locker room, as per our tradition. “Good game.” She called.

“Of course, it was. I was on the field.” I smirked.

“Modest as ever I see.”

“Do you expect anything else at this point Elliebear?” “Not really. But I can hope, maybe one day.”

“Maybe, but not likely.”

“Oh hey, while I’m thinking about it, Clay asked me to keep an eye on Justin tonight.”

“Is everything okay?” My brow furrowed.

“I think so. Clay said something about him having issues adjusting and stuff. Do you think you can play nice with him for a while?”

“I suppose, since he is your friend, I can try and be nice for a while. But not all night. I want some Ellie time.” Only because it’s you asking.

“And you’ll get your Ellie time. After you make nice with Justin.”

I sighed, making it seem like a hassle just to get a rise out of her. I was about to respond when Bryce called us, “are you two going to stand there and chit chat all night or are we going to celebrate?”

“We’re coming. Give us a minute asshole.” I called back to him. Bryce didn’t respond.

I turned around so I could give her a piggyback out to the car. “Hop on”. Once she felt secure, I walked us out to the parking lot. I pretended to not pay attention when she stole my baseball hat. She couldn’t see the way my smirk turned into a smile when she did.

“That’s my hat El.”

“I know. I happen to like it though, so I’m wearing it.”

“I’m not getting it back tonight, am I?”

“Nope. It is now mine. Might even write my name in it.”

“You do that Ellie. I won’t care when I steal it back who’s name it has in it.” Already has my name in it. Yours would just complete it.

“Fine. Then I’ll readjust it.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would.”

I set her down at her car. “No, you wouldn’t.” I called her bluff. You’re too sweet to do it. Or you’d fix it right away if you did. She rolled her eyes at me.

“Whatever. I’ll see you at Monet’s in a few with your precious hat.” I waited until she got in her car and drove off, before starting my own engine and following her.

Ellie beat me to Monet’s as usual. I nodded at and stopped to chat with some of my teammates when I came in. Matt nodded awkwardly at me as I passed. I glared in return. My coffee was set across from her when I got to our table. “I see you told the truth. Can I have it back now?”

“No. I think it looks quite fetching on me, if I do say so myself.”

“Fetching?”

“Yes. Do you disagree?”

“No, I think it looks good on you.” Not that anything would look bad on you. Suits her. She’s wearing my shirt.

“That’s what I thought.”

We chatted quietly before Justin showed up. “Hey guys.” He waved.

“Justin! You made it.” She exclaimed, too excitedly. Making him think you were forced to babysit him by being overly happy isn’t going to help Elliebear. I shot her a tone it down look. Justin smiled uncomfortably as she offered up her seat. “Make room.”

“Can do sweetheart.” I flirted, patting the chair next to me. The smile and blush she tried to mask didn’t go unnoticed.

“Thanks for the coffee Ellie.” Justin said, taking a sip.

“No problem.” The three of us chatted idly for a while. I was on my best behaviour with Justin and even laughed a few times at couple things he said. There was no mention of what he witnessed in the locker room.

My hand found Ellie’s under the table and I grasped it carefully. I had to make it look like I hadn’t done it intentionally. I could see the pink flare of her cheeks and my lip twitched upwards.

“Hey Justin, come over here and look at this.” Charlie called. He was looking at something on Garrisons’ phone. Justin left us to go investigate. I caught the quick glance at our hands, even if Ellie didn’t. Thank you, Foley.

“And then there were two.” I muttered, pulling her from her thoughts.

“Then there were two.” She repeated.

“That shirt looks good on you. It’s pretty familiar too.”

“Oh, yeah. There may be a reason for that.” She seemed nervous.

“Need to go talk to Mike?”

“Not if you don’t have a problem with it. I think he would agree it was simply borrowing, rather than stealing. No need to involve Jesus.”

“I am. So now you’ve got my shirt and my hat. Anything else you intend on taking of mine?” I slowly inched closer to her. We have never gone here. But there’s no way she doesn’t feel this pull.

“Possibly. Depends what else you’re willing to offer.” She said, coyly. My fingers itched to brush the hair from her face. She beat me to it.

“I think there’s a thing or two I could offer you Ellie.” I replied, leaning in a little more. What am I doing? What if she doesn’t feel the same way. Am I about to ruin our friendship? Do I even care? Before I could kiss her, fucking Bryce Walker beckoned from across the room. Son of a bitch. You couldn’t wait two god damn seconds, could you? This better be important.

I stopped just short of kissing her. “What?” I answered, curtly.

“My place, half an hour.” He called back. That is what was so important you had to interrupt this moment? That could have waited. Fucker. I nodded in response and turned back to Ellie, hoping the moment wasn’t gone. I knew it was though. I sighed internally. She was smiling at me, but it didn’t reach her eyes like it normally did. She’s upset. I didn’t know what to say to try and salvage our moment. Instead, I watched her take a sip of her latte and check her watch.

“Shoot. Is that really the time? I have plans with my mom in the morning. I should get going.” I’ll take bullshit for 200, Alex. She never was a good liar.

“Oh, okay. Are we still on for waffles Sunday afternoon?” I tried to hide my disappointment.

“Yeah. Be at my place around one? I need to talk to Pastor Mike about a few things after service.”

“I’ll be there. Text me when you get home.”

“I will.” She hurried out of the café so fast, someone might think there was a fire.

I threw my head back in my chair and ran my hands down my face. Bryce and Matt were watching me when I looked out at the room again. I mimicked Ellie’s actions and took my half empty cup to the counter. “You couldn’t have waited one minute, could you Walker?” I grumbled as I passed him.

“Sorry dude.” He called after me. “My place-.”

“Half an hour. Yeah. I got that.” I shook my head as I left the café.

End flashback

I turned to watch her take a sip of her latte. She still savoured the taste and licked her bottom lip the same way. “What about the blonde girl you told me about briefly?”

Blonde girl… Lip piercing? No. Was a red head. The sorority girl? That was the brunette with the Adderall. Blonde… oh! Chirpy. “Sara?”

“Yeah.”

“She was nice. Very peppy and chipper though.”

“Ah yes. Need to keep up that stoic exterior. Can’t have someone too chipper, lest people think you have a soul or something.” You always thought I did.

“Exactly.” I laughed. He took a long sip from his cooled coffee. “Can you imagine if I brought her home?”

“Well, knowing your mother, I would probably be attending your engagement party tomorrow instead of the other way around.”

“Oh probably.”

“How is your mom doing, by the way?” “She’s doing okay. After dad died, she was pretty out of it for a few months. She’s gotten better with time though. Really started to come into her own and forge her own path.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Not going to ask how I’m doing Ellie?”

“No. I know how you’re doing.”

“Oh really?”

“Montgomery. I am your best friend. Your dad was never a parent. DNA doesn’t make someone your family. You’re doing the same as you did the day you left and vowed to never speak to him again.”

Her easy explanation surprised me. “Sometimes I forget how well you know me.”

“I know. That’s why I have to remind you all the time.”

“Yeah, yeah. How did Evan react to Scott on the way from the airport?”

“I’m not totally sure. I don’t think he realized how things worked at Liberty and exactly what you and I being friends meant. Scott told him about the treehouse.” Oh God.

“Oh no. Ellie. I need to look the guy in the eye tomorrow.”

“I know you do. Don’t worry. He didn’t seem upset or anything. I think he found it amusing actually.”

“Did he tell him anything else?”

“About you?”

“Yeah.”

“No, mentioned how you guys fucked up and didn’t study for midterms and I singlehandedly kept you all on the team. And how Matt and Garrison managed to keep themselves above their feet until after homecoming senior year.”

“Of course, he did.”

“Don’t worry. Evan will like you.”

“How do you know?” Why do I care? Because you love her you dolt.

“Because I like you. And even though you think you are, you really aren’t a bad guy.” We talked for about another hour or so, just catching up, before we decided to call it a night.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Three o’clock sharp.”

“Good.” She squeezed me tightly. When we pulled apart, I looked down and saw she was wearing my shirt. She kept it all these years.

“Is that my shirt?”

“Yes, it is.”

“I thought I lost that years ago.”

“You never asked for it back. We agreed that I technically borrowed it, remember?”

“Yeah, but I also thought you would have given it back by now.”

“I mean, I can give it back to you tomorrow if you want it.” She offered.

“No, no. You keep it. You seem comfortable in it.” She smiled and hugged me again before leaving.

No matter how much I tried to talk myself into cancelling at the last minute or just not showing up to the party, I couldn’t do it. As much as I wanted to let her finally think that I was an ass, I couldn’t. I couldn’t hurt her like that. So, I manned up and went to Ellie’s engagement party. I showed up right at three, as promised. “Hey you.” She beamed. Her whole face lit up when she saw me.

“Hey Elliebear.” I said as I hugged her. Evan stood to the side, giving us a moment. He looked so uncomfortable with our interaction. Maybe he noticed how much brighter her face got when she saw me. She pulled away first and turned towards her fiancé.

“Evan, this is Monty. Monty, this is Evan.” She motioned between us. I shook his hand awkwardly.

“So, you found the way to Ellie’s heart, huh?”

“Yeah. She is something special. I thank God every day that she decided to give me a chance.”

“Don’t I know it?” I replied, trying to hide the wistfulness and ignore the pang of jealously in my chest.

Jill called her over for something and she pointed Scott out to me. Trying to avoid a pissing match El? “Coming Mom. Scott is over there by the cupcakes. Try to keep him from eating himself to a sugar high?”

I laughed, “can do Ellie. It was nice meeting you Evan. Congratulations.”

“You too Monty. Enjoy the party.” He doesn’t like me.

“Hey Scotty.”

“I didn’t think you’d show up. Justin and I had a bet going. I owe him fifty bucks.”

“Well, you know. It’s Ellie.” I grabbed a cupcake from the stand and took a bite. Not bad. I see why she wants me to monitor Scott.

“That’s why I didn’t think you’d come.”

“You came.” Justin said, patting me on the back in lieu of greeting.

“Yup. Where’s Sasha?”

“Girl talk with Ellie and Jess and some other girls.”

“Riveting. What choice did I have? My options were come, watch her with Evan, and hate every second of it for an hour or two, or, not come and have her hate me for the rest of our lives.”

“I guess. Are you going to go to the wedding?” Justin asked.

“See if Evan lets her invite me first. He doesn’t seem too impressed so far. Thanks for that by the way Scott.”

“I’m sure he’ll warm up to you.”

“If you’re invited? Which you will be, because you’re her best friend.”

“Then what kind of best friend would I be, if I didn’t go to her wedding? I’d just hate myself for a few more hours then. That’s better than a lifetime of her hating me.”

“Fair. Look, if you want to leave, just say the word. We can go back to my place and drink.” Scott offered.

“Thanks. I need to stick it out. It’s Ellie.” The rest of the party was fine. I talked to Jill and Rob for a while. I even talked to Evan for a bit. It was awkward but we didn’t fight each other. If he suspected anything about my feelings for her, he didn’t say anything. I left that evening, wondering if he noticed Ellie looking for me and not him all afternoon and letting my brain go somewhere it hadn’t gone in years. At least, not willingly gone in years.

I held out some sick hope that maybe, just maybe, the engagement wouldn’t last. I knew it was wrong of me, but I couldn’t help it. This was the girl that I had been in love with since the eighth grade. That’s when she stopped being like one of the guys. When she became something more. Even though I knew it wasn’t an attainable thing, even back then, there was always this little spark of hope. She was the reason I didn’t really date in college. She was the reason no girl was worth bringing home to meet my mom. They were all compared to her. They would always be compared to her. I always hoped that she felt the same way about me as I felt about her. That hope vanished when I checked my mail after work that Wednesday. The fancy envelope and familiar script were enough of a giveaway. I didn’t need to open the card to know what it was. The invitation. I sighed as I went in the house and opened the card. I merely skimmed for the important dates and time. I knew in that moment that I had finally lost her. I also knew that I would go anyway as I signed, sealed, and mailed the RSVP that night. I had to go. It’s Ellie.

**

The day had finally arrived. I had been dreading this day for the better part of a year. It was the morning of Ellie’s wedding. I woke up, forced myself to get out of bed, made coffee, and showered. I stared at the black suit hanging on my bedroom door for fifteen minutes. Arguing with myself about if I was really going to do this was getting me nowhere closer to a decision. If I go, I’ll hate myself. If I don’t go, she’ll hate me. If I go, I’m losing her. If I don’t go, I’m losing her. If I go, then I’ll get to see her. If I don’t go, I won’t see her. If I go, I’ll have to hold my feelings in forever. If I don’t go, I’ll have to hold my feelings in forever. Finally, I came to a decision. I wasn’t willing to risk losing her because I couldn’t show up for her. If I wasn’t going to be able to be with her, at least I could still be in her life. Maybe. But I’d cross that bridge when I got to it. I put the suit on and fixed my hair. Then I went to the liquor cabinet and filled a flask with whiskey. I couldn’t drink it in church because if Ellie found out, she would kill me, Ten Commandments be damned.

I arrived at the church forty-five minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start. I took a sip from the flask in my pocket on the city sidewalk. Spotting Bryce, I walked over to him. “Hey.”

“Hey man, how’s it going?”

“It’s going, you?”

“Same old, same old.” We chatted mindlessly for a few minutes until Justin showed up with Clay and Sasha. I’m shocked we haven’t gotten a happy announcement from them yet. She looks thrilled.

“Justin, Clay. Hey Sasha.” The trio greeted me, and Clay took Sasha inside. He seemed to pick up on the displeasure radiating off of her.

“Holding up okay?” Justin asked.

“Sure.”

“He’s at his best friend’s wedding.”

“I know. Just trying to be nice Bryce.” Zach showed up and broke some of the tension brewing between Bryce and Justin. Never thought I’d be happy to see Zach freaking Dempsey.

“So, I heard from one of the groomsmen that she looks beautiful.”

“Of course, she does. It’s Ellie. And it’s her wedding day.” I said. Scott found us milling in the back of the chapel and came over. He didn’t bother greeting us.

“Have you talked to her?” he asked.

“No. I wanted to give her space. In case I decided not to come.”

“Oh. You could go talk to her now.”

“And say what Scott?”

“Tell her.”

“Tell her what? It’s her wedding.”

“I know that.” I looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to our little group. They weren’t.

“Tell her what exactly Scott? How do you propose I go about telling her that I think she’s making a mistake and that I’ve been in love with her since we were thirteen? I’m not going to do that. Not today. Not ever. I’m not messing this up for her.” I whisper-yelled.

“He has a point Scott.” Zach pointed out.

“If I say something, I’ll lose her forever. So, to avoid losing my best friend, I’m going to sit here, watch her marry the man she loves, and wish her the best. And then I will go home, get very drunk, and sleep the hangover off for the next two days.”

Scott raised his hands in defeat. “Okay. I get your point. I’m not going to push you into doing something you don’t want to do.” Even though I made a good little speech, the closer we got to the ceremony, the more uncomfortable I became. I couldn’t stop the thoughts of wanting to do exactly what Scott suggested. I wanted nothing more than to go find her and tell her how I felt. But then I looked around the room and saw all of these people waiting excitedly to see Ellie and Evan get married and live happily ever after. I wasn’t going to be the reason that didn’t happen. But the closer we got to ceremony time, the closer I also got to losing my resolve to sit here and watch this happen. I couldn’t watch her marry someone else.

“I can’t do this.” I said suddenly.

“What?” Zach asked.

“I can’t watch her marry him. I can’t sit here and watch them get married. I can’t give her up like this.”

“What are you doing Monty?” Scott asked. I stood up from my seat.

“Tell Ellie that I’m sorry.” With nothing more to say, I turned around and walked out of the church. My friends didn’t try to follow me, too stunned to process what was happening. I got in my car and drove. I wasn’t sure where I was driving until I pulled into the lot.

I opened the door to the quaint café and saw that our table was available. Though, I suppose now it was more my table than our table. I lost her today. There was no way I was getting her back after what I did. I slipped my jacket off and hung it over a chair to save the spot, before going to the counter and ordering.

“Can I get a tall bourbon neat. Make it a double.” Monet’s had been licensed a few years ago.

“Sure thing. Rough day?” The barista asked.

“You have no idea.” I shook my head and took the drink she set in front of me. Back at what was now only my table, I pulled out my phone and scrolled though some old photos. A lot of them were of Ellie. She used to like to steal my phone and leave me with some selfies to surprise me when I opened the app. I scrolled through the seemingly endless stream of photos and ordered another bourbon when I finished the first one. My trip down memory lane was interrupted when I got a text from Bryce.

I need you to tell me where you are.

Why?

Because I do. Now tell me where you are.

Why?

Montgomery. You want to tell me where you are.

Fine. If you must know. I’m at Monet’s. Now why do you need to know?

I’m sorry about homecoming night. I hope this can make it up to you at least a little. I stared at the screen in confusion. Shaking my head, I put my phone down and went back to sipping the amber liquor. What the hell is he talking about? Fucking Bryce. I didn’t look up when I heard the bell chime above the door. Nor did I look up when I heard the click of high heels against the wood floors.

“Is this seat taken?” I heard a familiar voice, softly.

I looked up at her then, my eyes widening in surprise. What is she doing here? She is supposed to be getting married to Evan. What does this mean? Why is she here?

“I couldn’t do it if you weren’t there. You’re my best friend Monty.”

I scoffed quietly before replying, “it’s not taken, no. Sit if you want,” and taking another drink from my glass, not looking at her for fear of letting my guard down again, only to be crushed again.

“Hey,” she started, reaching for my hand. I looked at her hand and paused before letting her take it, “I mean it. I couldn’t marry him.”

“Why not?”

She was quiet for a moment. Noticing I had about fingers width of bourbon left in my glass, she grabbed it, downing the rest of it.

“Hey. I was drinking that.” I protested.

“I couldn’t marry Evan because he wasn’t you. And you weren’t there to say anything by the time I walked down the aisle. You were just going to give me away and live the rest of our lives wondering what if.” She told me while she stared into the bottom of the now empty glass.

“You- really?” Wait, how did she know I was there? “How did you know…?”

“Zach told me.” Of course, he did. I sighed internally.

“I know I wasn’t there Ellie. I just. I couldn’t sit there in that church and watch you marry him. And I knew I was and would be too much of a coward to stand up and say something when I saw you standing up there with him. I had to let you be happy.” I told her, trying to make her understand that I couldn’t be the reason she spent her life unhappy.

“Don’t you get it Montgomery? I wouldn’t have been happy. Not really. Or at least not for long. Not with Evan.”

“So why did you agree to marry him?”

“Because I thought it would be easier? My friends liked him, my family liked him, I liked him. I just thought that it would be easier to ignore my feelings. I could marry him, officially move to Atlanta, come home a couple of times a year, have a couple of kids. It all seemed easier than admitting to myself that I was in love with my best friend and if I really, truly wanted to be happy, I would need to be with him instead. And that admitting that would change everything. But I’ve learned over the past year that easy doesn’t always mean happy. And sometimes what we think is easy in the short term, isn’t always easy in the long term.”

Easier. Sure. She finally admitted it. She’s in love with me. I chuckled lowly, “took you long enough.”

She furrowed her brow at me, “what is that supposed to mean? I just confessed my love for you, and that’s all you have to say?”

“Yeah. It took you long enough to come to that conclusion. You were what? Half-way through the ceremony before you put a stop to it?” I asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of my tone.

“Not exactly. I knew a while ago. I spent the whole morning shaking and waiting for you to come and tell me that I was making a mistake. When you didn’t come, I thought… that you either didn’t feel the same way, or that you were going to do the kind thing for once and not say anything, but I thought at least you would be there. When I saw that you weren’t, I knew I couldn’t marry him. Even if it was the easy choice.” When I didn’t say anything she added, “you picked a great time to do the kind thing.”

“Yeah, well. You knew it would happen sometime. You owe me another shot by the way.” I muttered.

“Oh please. There was barely a fingers width in your glass.” she told me, sighing dramatically.

I looked at her through my eyelashes, “they won’t serve you that small an amount.” she rolled her eyes and stood up to go order me another shot. Before I could chicken out again, I surprised her when I grabbed her wrist to stop her, before pulling her down into my lap, she fell rather gracefully given the fit of her dress and kissing her deeply. I pulled away first and turned to look out the window. Our friends had gotten out of the car and were clapping and high fiving each other.

“How about that shot now?” I smirked.

[itsadamcole]

graduation day pt. 5

fem!reader x finn balor

it’s reader and Finn’s wedding day, and things don’t go exactly as planned ... “i do”

word count: 6.2k+

warnings: fluff, smut, dirty talking, nsfw, angst, jealousy

— final part ... lots of drama. let’s get it —

masterlist || part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 || request an imagine here

~ 18+ content below - read at your own risk ~

"Y/N," your mother says to you. "Sweetie. Wake up. We have our spa appointments this morning and we have to get our hair and nails done."

You let out a quiet groan and say, "I wanna sleep."

Your mom says, "It's your wedding day, honey. You have to get up."

Your eyes open and see the wedding dress you picked out a few months ago hanging in a bag on the closet door in the bridal suite of the hotel you're staying in.

"It's my wedding day," you say, quickly sitting up.

Laughing, your mother says, "Yes, it's you're wedding day."

It's been just over a year and a half since Finn proposed to you. You would have gotten married sooner. You were supposed to marry at the beginning of the year, but you and Finn welcomed a little bean about six months ago so you both had decided to push off the wedding a few months.

On Valentine's Day, Alania Riley Balor was born. Your daughter. Yours and Finn's daughter. It's been six months and a half months or so since the birth of your daughter and it's now your wedding day. August 25th, 2022.

You roll out of bed, stretching and yawning. Your mom holds out a folded piece of paper and says, "Finn slid this under my room door and it said to give this to you when I saw you today.

After rubbing your eyes and yawning one more time, you take the piece of paper and read it to yourself.

My love, I can't wait to marry you and see you in the dress. I've been looking forward to it since we pushed off the wedding so we could get used to parenthood. I love you. I'll see you later. - Finn

You smile and your mom says, "Alright, let's get going. We're going to be late for our appointment."

You get changed into a white tank top and tight black short shorts. You put flip flops on your feet and you tie your hair up into a messy bun before you leave.

The spa feels nice. You get massages and face masks. Then you and your mom leave to get your hair and nails done for the wedding tonight.

You get your hair curled and half of it is put up. A flower crown is put in your hair. Little white flowers are put in your hair. You get a french manicure. A white tip with a band of silver separated the white tip and light pink polish.

It's about two in the afternoon so you head back to the bridal suite.

The ceremony is taking place by a beach on the hotel property. Palm trees are everywhere, grass under your feet. White rose petals will be the 'aisle' with white chairs on either side of the aisle.

The reception is taking place in the ballroom of the hotel, then you and Finn are going to Ireland. You've wanted to see Finn's home country and it didn't take very long to convince him to honeymoon in Ireland. He's homesick so it really took you about five minutes to get him to say yes.

As your mom does your makeup, your dad FaceTimes your phone. You answer and see that your dad is holding Alania. "Hey," you say. "What's up?"

"Alania is being fussy," your father says. "I think she misses her mom because when I tried to FaceTime Finn, his voice did nothing. I thought maybe if you talked to her then she might react differently to yours."

You think for a second before you say, "Here, let me sing her a lullaby over the phone. Can you put it closer to her?"

After moving the phone closer to your daughter, you sing a little lullaby to her. Her fussiness turns into coos and you smile when you're done.

"Thank you, Y/N," your dad says quietly.

You say, "You're welcome, Dad. Finish getting ready."

He hangs up the phone and your mom finishes up your makeup.

There's a knock on the door of your suite and you go to answer the door, tightening the tie around your waist. You open the door to see Veronica standing in your doorway. She's standing in front of you in a white dress. It's a short white dress with a poofy skirt and tight top with spaghetti strap sleeves. A glittery fabric covers the breast area to the waist.

"Hi, bestie," she says, sarcastically. "Do you like my dress? I wore it especially for you."

You raise your eyebrows and you say, "You look like you're wearing a homecoming dress and you're literally almost forty. Well, you might as well be in high school with the way you're acting."

She glares at you and says, "It's better than that dress you're planning on wearing tonight."

Sighing, you say, "Sure. Whatever you say."

Veronica laughs and says, "Look at the dress. I dare you." You blink at her and walk over to the dress in the bag that hangs by the closet.

You unzip the bag, revealing a stained and cut up wedding dress. Your eyes widen and you say, "Veronica, what the hell? You're really that low to cut up my wedding dress?"

Your mother says, "That's it. Get out." She's talking to Veronica. "Now."

She laughs and says, "Enjoy your day with no dress." She waves at you and smiles before she walks away. Your mother shuts the door.

Panic begins to set in. Your wedding dress was destroyed. You bought it yourself. It was simple and cute but cheap. You were so proud that you could afford it on your own.

It was a beautiful white gown. Form-fitting with a slight flare at the knees. The dress has sheer, off the shoulder sleeves. Plain and simple but cute. Now it's all cut up and stained with who knows what.

You begin to hyperventilate and cry.

There are about two hours before your wedding. You have no idea what you are going to do. You can't walk down the aisle in your robe.

Your mom says, "Hey, Y/N. Relax. We'll run to the dress shop and get you a dress."

"That was my dress," you cry. "I loved that dress. It was the one thing I could afford on my own. Finn paid for everything else so I wanted to pay for my dress. I was so proud of it."

She looks at you and says, "I know. I know you were honey. We can go get you a dress really quick that you'll love. There's a shop right down the street. You do need something to wear tonight down the aisle."

You look at your mother and nod. You know she's right. You do need something to wear tonight. "Okay," you say, sniffing. "Let's go."

***

You have about three hours, maybe less, to find a dress that you love enough to wear down the aisle.

After trying on four dresses at the bridal shop, you start to breakdown in the dressing room. Nothing seems to be going right today. Veronica showed up in a white dress and destroyed your wedding dress. She's playing the jealous girl who would do anything to get the groom.

You're about to give up when your phone starting ringing and you see Finn's contact pop up. He's crying to call you. You clear your throat and answer it. "Hi," you squeak.

"Baby, is everything okay?" Finn asks. You can hear the concern in his voice. "Ver came by my room and said ya were crying."

Anger rises inside you and you say, "She destroyed my dress, Finn. It's all cut up and stained. She was wearing a white dress when she came by my suite. She's ruining the day, Finn. I'm trying to find another dress but I don't know if I can find one in time. There are like two hours until the ceremony starts. My hair is a mess, my makeup is a mess, and my dress is ruined."

Finn says, "It's okay, princess. We can push the ceremony back a little bit until ya find a dress. Nothing has to be ruined, my love."

You pout and look at yourself in the mirror. Your eyes are red and your cheeks are puffy. Hearing Finn's voice has calmed you down enough that you sigh.

"You're right," you say. "I'm sorry to dump all this on you right now."

Finn says on the other line, "I'm supposed to be there for ya, Y/N. Ya don't have to be sorry. I'll leave ya to find your dress. Tell me if I need to push back the ceremony a little bit and I will. I've waited too long to marry ya but I want ya to make sure ya have a dress ya love, princess."

An idea pops into your head when he calls you 'princess'. You say, "You won't have to. I love you. I'll see you in two hours."

"I love ya too," Finn says before you hang up.

You pop your head out of the dressing room. Your mom and the consultant stand outside the small room.

Both of them look at you as you ask, "Do you have any like ball gowns? Like a poofy skirt? Something that makes me look like a princess?"

The consultant says, "I think we have something like that. One second." She disappears.

Your mother asks, "Why something that makes you look like a princess?"

You smile and say, "Finn just called me and he called me a princess. It gave me an idea and it's something I could do to surprise him."

She smiles as the consultant comes back with a dress. You take it and put the dress on.

It's a perfect fit and doesn't need any drastic alterations. The top of the dress is a plain white top with a sweetheart neckline. There are no straps on the dress. There is a sparkly silver belt around your waist and from the waist down is a poofy skirt with layers of tulle. You spin around a bit and look in the mirror.This is the dress. You love it and it makes you look like a princess.

You leave the room in the dress so your mother and consultant can see the dress on you.

When your mother sees you in the dress, she gasps. "You look beautiful, sweetie," she says. The consultant agrees.

"It fits almost perfectly," you say. "I love it."

The consultant says, "It's half off too. Only ninety-five dollars."

You smile and say, "I'll take it."

***

There are thirty minutes until the ceremony begins when you get back to the hotel. Your mother and one of your bridesmaids work together to fix your hair and makeup. It doesn't take too long.

They help you in the dress, zipping you up and fixing the skirt. You put on your heels. Your bridesmaid hands you your bouquet of white and light pink roses as your mother takes off the flower crown and replaces it with a tiara with a veil attached. The veil has a small train.

Ten minutes left. You rush out of the room to the area where the best men and bridesmaids are all lined up.

Finn's best friends, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, both smile when they see you. Kevin says, "I thought you had another dress."

"I did," you say as you line up behind AJ. "A jealous bitch cut it up and stained it so I went out and bought this."

AJ says, "Well, you look good. Finn's lucky."

Your father walks in holding Alaina and you say, "No, I'm lucky." You smile.

Alania has Finn's beautiful blue eyes but has your Y/H/C colored hair. Her cheeks are a rosey red color and she's in a cute light pink dress, matching the color of your bridesmaids' dresses.

Your father says, "I thought I'd give you the option to hold Nia instead of the bouquet. Actually, Finn told me he'd love to see you walk down the aisle with Nia the other day when we were out drinking. She's fed and burped so she shouldn't be throwing up."

You had never even thought about that. You smile and nod, throwing your bouquet of flowers onto the small couch. Your father hands you your daughter as the music plays for the best men and bridesmaids as they walk down the aisle. You hold your daughter in your left arm as you hook your right arm with your father's.

Alania's head rests on your shoulder as she sleeps peacefully. You start to walk out of the room with your father.

All eyes are on you when you come into view. Finn stands under a white arch decorated with white flowers and branches. A smile lights up his face when he sees you with Alania.

Carefully, you walk down the aisle. Before you know it, you're standing in front of Finn. You hand Alania off to your father when you get to Finn. He sits next to your mother. The crowd sits down.

You meet Finn's eyes as the official says, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here to witness the matrimony of Finn Balor and Y/N L/N. If anyone should think that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Not surprisingly, Veronica stands up and objects. You and Finn both sigh.

She was never invited to the wedding. She came as a plus one, with Seth Rollins.

"This is ridiculous," she says. "She marries her former teacher and I get fired for saying how inappropriate the whole relationship is."

Something in you finally snaps. You look directly at Veronica as you say, "You got fired because you're literally obsessed with Finn. You've stalked him, literally to the point of scaring our child. We've both taken pity on you because you're so lonely that you've gotten to the point where you have to stalk my fiancée. Guess what, sweetheart. He's getting married. Right now. To me. You lost your chance. Grow up, leave us alone, and find someone else because Finn is mine. Forever. Literally."

The crowd cheers as you go off on Veronica. You wait a second before you say, "Oh, and by the way Veronica, Finn and I had sex on your desk in your classroom when you went to lunch one day. Remember when I told you that a student came in and destroyed it? Yeah, that wasn't a student. That was me and Finn when he destroyed my insides. Sorry to my parents and Finn's parents for having to hear that."

Everyone laughs and Finn smiles. "That's my girl," he says.

You look back up at Finn as Veronica stomps away. A few people cheer and clap when she walks off.

The official says, "Alright." He gives a nervous laugh. "Do we have any vows written that you two would like to say to each other?"

Finn nods and says, "Yeah, I do."

Everyone quiets down and he takes your hands.

"Y/N L/N, my princess," he begins. "Our relationship was far from normal. When we met, I was your teacher and ya were my student. We were never meant to end up together but here we are. We are here in front of friends and family, who accept our relationship, and our daughter, who is the only person I love just as much as I love ya. The day Alania came into our lives, I was so happy. I had never experienced such a level of happiness until she was born. I will love and protect both of ya as long as I shall live."

The crowd 'awes' at the same time. You smile and tear up a bit as Finn recites his vows.

It takes everything in you not to kiss him. Not yet.

"Y/N?" the official asks.

You sigh and say, "Mr. Balor." That gets a little laugh out of Finn. "When we met, I was just a college student in my final semester of school. I entered that semester not knowing that my entire life would change. You were my English professor. You were the 'hot' teacher that everyone had a little crush on. I had a crush on you from day one, I won't lie. When we finally were able to be together, I had no idea that we'd end up here. As soon as we were together, I knew that I would never be able to spend another day without you in my life. I'm excited for our future together. I'm excited to spend it with you and Alania. I'll love you forever, Finn. That's a promise I intend to keep."

The crowd sighs and Finn wipes away a makeup stained tear that managed to roll down your cheek. You let out a little giggle and lean into Finn's touch.

The official smiles and says, "The rings, please."

AJ hands the official the rings. He hands you Finn's ring and hands Finn your ring.

The official says, "Do you, Finn Balor, take thee Y/N L/N to be your lawfully wedded wife, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, til death do you part?"

Finn maintains eye contact with you as he says, "I do."

He slides the silver wedding band onto your left ring finger. You watch as he does.

You smile, looking back up at Finn, and the official asks, "Do you, Y/N L/N, take thee Finn Balor to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, til death do you part?"

"I do," you say, fighting back happy tears as you slide Finn's wedding band onto his finger.

The official smiles and says, "By the power invested in me by the state of Florida, I now declare you man and wife. Finn, you may kiss your bride."

It takes less than one second for Finn's lips to attach to yours after that last statement. You throw your arms around Finn's neck as you share your first kiss as husband and wife.

The crowd cheers as Finn pulls back. He smiles and you say, "I love you, Finn Balor."

"And I love ya, Y/B Balor," he says. You smile and lean up, kissing him again.

After a second, you pull back. Finn's parents and your parents walk up with Alania, who's now wide away. You smile as Finn offers her his finger and she takes it.

You hug your parents and Finn's parents. Finn's mom says, "Welcome to the family, Y/N."

You smile and say, "I'm happy to be here."

Finn's holding Alania now and you take in the sight of your new husband holding your daughter. She's playing with the flower in Finn's suit.

All of you walk back to the ballroom to get the reception started.

***

After dinner, it's all dancing. You dance with your father and Finn dances with his mother as other couples dance around you.

When dessert is served, and after you eat it, it's time for yours and Finn's first dance as a married couple.

"I'd like to invite the newlyweds to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife," the DJ says.

Finn takes your hand and the two of you walk to the dance floor. Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran starts to play.

As you approach the center of the dance floor by yourself, Finn spins you around. You laugh and smile up at him as he takes you into his arms. His arms wrap around your waist and yours wrap around his neck. You close your eyes and rest your head on his chest.

The suit jacket has come off but he's still wearing his tie and his shirt is tucked into his dress pants.

He says, "Ya look beautiful tonight, baby. Absolutely stunning."

Your face turns red and you smile, looking up at him. "You're obligated to say that because we're married," you say, teasing him."

Finn says, "Oh shoot. Ya are right, because ya never looked beautiful when we were dating or engaged." He smiles. You giggle.

His eyes meet yours as the song and the dance continues.

You suddenly ask, "Would you want more kids one day? When Alania is a little older and doesn't always need our attention?"

Finn nods and says, "Of course. Maybe when Alania starts school then we can try for another baby. That'll give us about three or four years."

You smile and continue swaying with Finn to the music.

You're both quiet for a second before Finn says, "I can't wait to spend forever with ya, Y/N. I've been looking for ya for years and now ya are in my arms."

"You're stuck with me, Finn," you giggle. "You get me for every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, every birthday, and every day in between for the rest of our lives."

He smiles and says, "That sounds so good."

You smile up at him before you lean up, kissing Finn. He continues to smile into the kiss as he kisses you back.

Your fingers slide into his hair as he holds you close to him.

After a minute, the song ends and other people come onto the dance floor. A Thousand Years by Christina Perri comes on next.

"Did ya really have to announce to everyone that we had sex on Ver's desk though?" Finn asks, pulling away from the kiss.

You laugh and say, "Those words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. It's my desk now anyway."

Finn laughs and says, "That's true."

***

After the throwing of the bouquet, which one of your bridesmaids catch, you head off to get changed into something more comfortable for your flight over to Ireland.

You keep with the white theme and put on a short white dress with a plunging v-neck that exposes a lot of your cleavage and an open back. The skirt falls just passed your butt and is very flowy. You wear tan wedge sandals and tie your hair up in a ponytail.

You meet Finn in the lobby of the hotel. Everyone is outside waiting to throw their rice and say goodbye.

Finn's eyes land on you and says, "That dress is gonna look so good when it hits the floor tonight."

Laughing, you say, "It's tomorrow in Ireland."

"Oh, shush," he says, smiling. "Let's go so we can say goodbye to everyone before our flight. Our passports and bags are in the car."

You nod, lacing your fingers with Finn's.

As soon as you walk through the doors, rice is thrown. You and Finn are both laughing as the crowd cheers and claps.

At the end of the crowd are both yours and Finn's parents, and Alania. You take your daughter and your mom says, "She'll be in good hands with us. You go have have lots of fun."

"She'll have lots of fun," Finn says. "I promise." He gently taps your butt and you gasp.

Your parents laugh and you look at Alania.

She coos, "Momma." You smile and fix her dress.

"Momma and dadda will be back soon, Nia," you say softly to her. "Grandmom and grandpop will take care of you."

Part of you has always hoped that Alania will have a broken Irish accent. You still have some hope that she'll have a broken Irish accent because Finn has an Irish accent. Finn's parents will be taking care of her with your parents while you and Finn are honeymooning in Ireland for the next two weeks so she'll still be exposed to the accent. You've even found yourself with a bit of an accent sometimes.

Finn says, "Y/N, we have a flight to catch." He kisses the top of Nia's head and you look up at him, nodding.

Your mom takes Alania back and you say goodbye to your parents before saying goodbye to Finn's.

He helps you into the passenger's seat of the car. You wave out the window at everyone as Finn gets into the car. He waves for a second before driving off.

Things settle down for you as Finn drives to the airport.

"Ya will love Ireland," Finn says. "They have such beautiful weather this time of year. I'm excited to show ya around the country. It's not a very big country and we're staying in the middle of it."

You smile and say, "You better take me to your hometown."

He pulls up to the airport and says, "My parents still live there and I have full permission to stay the night one night in my old room while we're in Ireland."

"Yay," you say, smiling as Finn parks the car.

***

You left Orlando International at eleven at night, making at stop at JFK airport in New York before flying to Dublin. It's about four in the morning when you land in Ireland, and you've been on flights for close to 12 hours. Timezones are weird.

Finn drives from Dublin airport to the Wineport Lodge, which takes about ninety minutes. So it's about six in the morning when you get to the hotel. You're extremely jet lagged and tired.

You and Finn check into the honeymoon suite before making you're way up to the second floor.

The suite is a large room with a large bed facing the wall of windows and a balcony. There's a desk attached to the wall and a cushioned chair against the little wall separating the doors leaving to the balcony and a set of windows. There's a little table and two chairs on the other side of the bed.

The room is in the shape of a large triangle and the walls are a tan color. The rest of the room fits the tan aesthetic of the walls.

The bathroom has a stand up shower with a glass door, a large bathtub, a counter with two sinks, and a toilet.

As soon as you reach the bed, you collapse onto it. Finn laughs. "Ya seem tired," he says.

"I am," you sigh. "Timezones suck and I'm exhausted."

He smiles and says, "Get some sleep, princess. Ya will need it. I'll wake ya in a few hours after I unpack."

You say, "I'll unpack my things first." You take your suitcase and begin to fold clothes and hang them up in the small closet. Finn does the same.

It's seven in the morning when you're finally able to sleep. Finn falls asleep soon after you do.

It seems like you only slept for two minutes when Finn wakes you. It's about four in the afternoon now. He wakes you up with kisses so you're not too mad.

"Wake up, baby," he mumbles against your cheek. "It's dinnertime. I ordered us some room service and it should be here soon. I figured ya would want to stay in tonight."

Your eyes flutter open and you smile when you see Finn. "Staying in sounds nice," you mumble, still half asleep. You yawn and sit up in bed.

Finn smiles and says, "I hope ya slept well. Ya seemed to sleep well."

Yawning, you say, "Like a baby. I haven't slept like that since before Alania."

He laughs and says, "I'm glad ya slept well."

A few moments later, someone knocks on the door. Finn answers it in his loose black and white sport shorts and a white t-shirt. A cart with food is wheeled into the room and the door closes.

"So we have some Irish stew with Irish potatoes and cabbage," Finn says. "This is colcannon and this is soda bread. I promise it tastes better than most of it looks."

You smile as Finn puts some food in a plate for you. You've made your way to the table while he explained the meal. You eat a bit of it and hum. "This is really good," you say. "Especially the potatoes but I'm not surprised there."

Finn laughs and eats at the table with you. "I'm glad ya like it," he says, eating some of the Irish stew. "I've missed Irish style dishes, especially from Ireland. It's some of the best food I've ever eaten."

You nod in agreement. "It's definitely some of the best food I've had," you says finishing up what's on the plate.

Finn smiles and finishes up what's on his plate.

By this time, it's about five. The sun has begun to set and you look out at the view over the lake of the setting sun.

Your new husband walks up behind you and wraps his arms around your shoulders.

The two of you stand at the window and watch the sun set. "Ireland is beautiful," you sigh. "And I've only seen a little bit of it."

Finn kisses your jaw and says, "You're more beautiful than Ireland."

You giggle and look back at Finn. He's looking down at you. "And you're so cliche," you say.

"But ya love me," he says, a smile on his lips.

You peck his lips and say, "I do love you. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Finn laughs and says, "That's very true."

He leans in and kisses you softly. You kiss him back, turning in his arms. You grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him closer to you.

You pull back after a second and say, "I have a surprise for you. You have to give me a second to get it ready though. And you have to close your eyes."

Finn smiles and says, "I like surprises."

"You'll definitely like this one," you giggle, slipping away. His back is turned to you so you grab the lingerie and walk into the bathroom.

After stripping out of your dress, you put on the red two piece lingerie. The top is completely see through except for the cups, which push your breasts up. The top ends right past your butt and you wear a pair of red lace panties underneath.

Sighing, you leave the bathroom and walk back into the main room. Finn's still looking out the window so you clear your throats to get his attention.

Your new husband turns around and his eyes widen when he sees you. "Damn, baby," he says.

Slowly and almost seductively, you walk over to him. You run your fingers up his chest and ask, "Like what you see?"

Finn nods and says, "One hundred percent."

"I thought I'd surprise you a little bit," you say. "Give you the wedding night you deserve even though it's not technically our wedding night because timezones are weird."

He licks his bottom lip and he says, "It can be whatever night ya want it to be, baby."

You look up at Finn and say, "Then let's make it a good night.”

Finn's lips crash to yours. The kiss is intense and passionate from the start. Your tongues are already in each other's mouths as you both stumble toward the bed. You pull off Finn's t-shirt and throw it to the floor. He takes off your top and it joins his shirt on the ground.

You're pushed back onto the bed and Finn crawls onto you, hovering over you. He lays between your legs and starts to kiss your neck, leaving a mark or two.

Soft sighs leave your lips as he marks up your neck. Your fingers are in his hair, running through his hair occasionally.

His lips trail down to your breasts, where he pays extra attention to them. More than he has before. He kisses them and sucks on the nipple. A moan escapes your lips, letting Finn know you like what he's doing.

You feel Finn spread your legs out a bit as he kisses down your stomach.

After you gave birth to Alania, you told Finn how self-conscious you felt because of the added baby weight. It's kept you from having sex a few times, but tonight, you almost embrace it.

Finn's told you how much he loves you and your body, no matter how it looked. He said that the baby weight made you look hotter. Those words ring in your head as Finn kisses down your stomach to the waistband of your panties.

It's been a while since you and Finn have been intimate. You both have been taking care of a newborn who likes to cry a lot at night and needs attention during the day.

Finn runs a finger over your clothed core, making you gasp and sigh. You bite your lip as you feel Finn push aside the fabric and start to rub your clit. Soft sighs escape your lips as his fingers are replaced with his tongue. Your eyes flutter closed and your sense of touch takes over.

He sucks on your clit and occasionally swirls his tongue around the sensitive bud.

After a moment of this, Finn literally rips off the panties. Your eyes open and you look down at your husband. "Finn!" you gasp. "Those were expensive!"

"Don't worry, princess," he coos. "I'll buy ya new ones." Then he pushes two fingers inside of you, making you moan softly.

You grasp onto the bedsheets as Finn moves his fingers. Soft moans continue escaping your lips and you bite on your bottom lip. Finn's mouth is back on your clit as he adds a third finger. A knot forms in your stomach and you feel your walls begin to clench around Finn's fingers.

"Finn," you whine. "Baby, I'm about to come."

He smirks before he says, "Come, princess. It won't be the last time I make ya come tonight."

His words are enough to push you over the edge. You release all over his digits. Finn continues moving his fingers, helping you ride out your high. You lay on your back, gasping for air as you come down off your climax.

Finn licks your comes and juices off his fingers before he stands up at the foot of the bed. You watch as he pulls off his shorts and boxers. His hard member slaps his stomach before he crawls back onto you. You cup Finn's face in your hands and kiss him softly. He kisses you back just as soft.

You slide your fingers into his hair and you smile into the kiss. "I love you," you mumble against his lips. "You always know how to make me feel good."

He smiles into the kiss and says, "It's my job as your husband to make ya feel good, baby." He leans down and starts to kiss your neck again. You sigh softly.

"Finn," you sigh. "I need you. Please." You're almost whining.

Your husband smiles against your neck as he begins to run his tip through your soaked folds. You moan softly, leaning your head back against the bed.

Finn slides his erect member into you slowly. You moan a little louder, your mouth forming a little 'o'. He thrusts slowly and shallowly into you.

He buries his face into your neck and you're moaning in his ear. "Faster, Finn," you gasp. "Please."

"As ya wish, princess," he gasps as he begins to move faster and deeper into you. Your moans get louder and you drag your nails down his back, definitely leaving scratch marks.

Finn groans in your ear as he moves even deeper and harder into you. You gasp as his tip grazes your g-spot. "Finn!" you cry out, digging your nails into his back.

Your husband says, "Baby, keep scratching up my back and people will start to get concerned if they see it."

You stop scratching up his back and grip his upper arms instead as he moves harder. You wrap your legs around Finn's waist as he moves, almost digging your heels into his lower back.

Finn kisses you passionately as you both are pulled closer to your orgasms.

Neither of you says anything as the room is filled with your moans and the sound of skin slapping together.

He reaches his climax first, releasing inside of you. You soon follow him, releasing around Finn. You lay on your back and Finn collapses on top of you.

Your mind begins to race, thinking about how you got to this moment.

When you told Finn how you felt on graduation day, you never thought that you would end up here. You never thought that you were going to end up married to Finn with a baby, all within two years. It's been a crazy two years.

Imagine what wouldn't have happened if you never told Finn how you felt before you graduated.

"Finn," you say, looking at your husband.

He looks up at you and says, "Hm?"

You smile and run your fingers through his hair, saying, "I am so in love with you."

Finn smiles up at you, saying, "I am so in love with you too."

The two of you share a kiss and the kiss turns into a night of sex and little makeout sessions. The night of sex and little makeout sessions turns into a lifetime of loving each other and making each other happy.