#Call choices V's Route

[reidrum]

hit me baby one more time | s.r

pairing: spencer reid x fem!bau!reader

a/n: i have no explanation for this i just really want spencer to fuck me in a mini skirt. this was also fueled by me listening to baby one more time on repeat for the last week so enjoy my horny thoughts hehe

cw: 18+ minors dni, smut, p in v sex, munch!spencer, blowjobs, soft!dom!spence the loml, praise kink, spanking, suggestive dancing, kissing, afab reader, reader wears the outfit from the baby one more time mv (skirt and bra), i picture s11 spence so don’t mind the inconsistencies, idk if kirk actually wears a tie i am a star wars girlie not star trek, lowkey perv spence at the end but i would do the same tbh

summary: halloween brings spencer joy in many ways, this year he finds a new, and super fucking hot, reason to love the holiday more

wc: 3.3k

___________

spencer loved halloween. this was a known fact by many, he loved the lore behind the holiday, loved dressing up as his favorite characters, and loved playing tricks on morgan and jj around the office.

spencer also loved halloween because he gets to see you. not that he didn’t see you on a daily basis in the office or on the field catching killers, but in a state where you were carefree and didn’t have to worry about the behavior patterns of a psychopath.

in past years spencer has dressed up as different versions of the doctor (still claiming his tenth doctor costume was the best, because it was your favorite), the hobbit from lord of the rings, and nosferatu (to the dismay of morgan’s very scared reaction). you would go a more pop culture route, dressing up as characters from recent movies and shows including barbie, the scarlet witch, and wednesday adams.

he loved being able to tell you the lore of the different characters he was and he loved listening to you explaining the cultural significance and impact that barbie had on society. he could listen to you talk about literal garbage, actually, and still be hanging onto your every word.

what he loved the most, however, was your choice of costume tonight at the karaoke bar the team was out at.

for halloween this year you decided to go with a more nostalgic costume. clad in a black mini skirt, tied up white button up showing your tummy and just the right amount of cleavage to have your hot pink bra pop out, gray cardigan, knee high socks and mary janes, you were the spitting image of britney spears in the baby one more time music video. complete with the ribbon entwined pigtails.

the moment you walked in the bar, spencer knew he was utterly and absolutely fucked.

morgan knew about spencer’s infatuation with you, because, he’s morgan and spencer’s not subtle. so when he watched spencer’s mouth hang open like a beckoning for flies to land in, all he could do was pat him firmly on the back and say, “good luck, kid.”

he watched you walk over to the table the team had claimed, making your rounds at saying hi and hugging everyone. he was last, and when you reached up on your toes to wrap your arms around his neck he had no choice (lie) but to rest his hands at your hips while his thumbs brushed the bare skin of your stomach. he also had no choice (still, a lie) but to be deathly intoxicated by the smell of your shampoo and perfume as you placed your head in the crook of his neck.

“hi spence! your costume looks so cool, i love how it turned out. were you able to find what you needed at that store i told you about?” you bubbled happily.

it took spencer about ten whole seconds of staring at you (and definitely not at your chest) to realize that you were asking him something and tried to quickly (embarrassingly) recover, “um, yeah no i was! she knew so much about star trek and was super helpful, she told me how much she loves seeing you in the store.” 

you giggle, “i’m glad admiral kirk, she’s a sweet old thing.”

he should be ashamed at how you calling him that went straight to his crotch.

“y- you also look great, who are you supposed to be?”

“i’m britney spears! in the baby one more time music video?”, you’re met with a blank stare, “spence, we have to educate you better on the true icons of our time.” you playfully grab his forearm.

he laughs nervously at your joke and the contact and proceeds to down half his beer in one gulp. thank god garcia comes out of nowhere to gush over your outfit, “oh my god girl, you look so hot. you have to get up there and sing it, it’s only right!”

“let me get a few shots in first and then i’ll see, penny” you chuckle back.

after about two shots you were already feeling loose, whatever anxiety you had about tonight dissipated as the alcohol overtook your bloodstream. truth be told, you had a super secret mission up your sleeve. 

you would be a terrible profiler if you didn’t notice the way spencer changed whenever he was in your company, and it never made you feel uncomfortable. you only craved his attention even more, and it made your crush on him run even deeper. he was kind and smart and caring. and undeniably sexy. you knew for a fact he wanted you too, and you were determined to make him do something about it tonight.

knowing spencer hasn’t seen the music video therefore not knowing why the schoolgirl outfit, it turned you on even more knowing he was going to lose his goddamn mind after you were done. the plan was already rolling in your brain as you sauntered up to the karaoke stage and got ready to put on a show.

the beginning beats of the song play and you get a couple of cheers and “let’s go, baby!” from the crowd and your team— sans spencer, who was hanging on your every move as you started swaying your hips.

“my loneliness, is killing me. and i-i-i. i must confess, i still believe, still believe.” you sing and dance the choreography to the song you know so well.

“when i’m not with you, i lose my mind.” you make direct eye contact with spencer, and are more than excited to see him locked in on you too.

you decide to kick your plan up a notch, and walk off the stage mic in hand towards the bau’s table, earning many cheers and phones capturing the moment. you play up the theatrics a little by getting emily and jj to sing along with you, morgan and rossi leaning into you as you wrapped your arms around their shoulders.

“give me a si-i-i-ign,” you’ve reached spencer, and the last step in your plan.

your finger leaves featherlight touches around his shoulders and across his collarbone as you stand behind his chair. a flat hand trails down his chest closer to the bulge in his pants, spencer’s eyes widening at the gesture. your hand reaches the final destination at the base of tie, and you pull it so he’s looking up at you directly.

“hit me baby one more time.” you finish with the biggest smirk, never breaking eye contact with spencer. the cheers and claps became louder but all you could focus on were the deep breaths he was taking to compose himself. you give him a wink as you hand the mic back to the stage guy and walk back to him to sit on his lap.

“you don’t mind, do you? all the seats are taken,” you smirk as you feel his hard on through your lace panties, “plus i really want to hear what you thought about my performance.” you finish whispering in his ear. he shudders in your hold, but the feeling of your ass weighing on the place he needs you the most, his primal instincts take over and suddenly he has a boost of confidence.

he lifts your head so his mouth is right on the crest of your ear, “how about i show you what your performance did to me?” he shifts a little and lightly thrusts up into your clothed core and you let out a small gasp. luckily the team had all but dispersed throughout the bar, getting drinks or dancing, so no one has to be privy to your conversation.

the glint in your eyes was all the confirmation he needed. you stood up slowly with his tie still wrapped around your fingers, and you pull it over your shoulder so he would trail behind you as you walked. spencer followed you like a dog getting tugged by a leash, literally, and stumbles at first when you pull him but he quickly regains his composure as you navigate through the crowds, placing his hands on your waist protectively.

you end up in front of the women’s bathroom and spencer doesn’t hesitate to push the doors open and lead you inside. it was one of those single person bathroom with no other stalls, but it was definitely one of the more nicer bathrooms you’d been in. the maroon pattern of the wall adding to the sultry vibe you’re setting, not to mention a spacious countertop for the sink and amenities.

the possibilities of what was going to happen run wild in your brain, only being pulled out of it by the sharp lock of the door and the feeling of strong hands snaking around your waist again.

you look up to meet his eyes in the mirror and watch spencer fiddle with the edge of your button up, “i don’t think i told you how much i really like your costume.”

“yeah?” you lean back in his touch, “what do you like about it?”

he moves his hands to the middle of your chest, “well, i like how soft the blouse is,” he deftly undoes the knot, “and i really like the color you got on underneath.” he lets the ends of the shirt fall to your side and slides his hands up to cup your breasts through your lace bra, massaging them gently.

you let out a half gasp-moan, “what else?”

“this skirt is really cute, fits you well.” he hums while he smooths over the front close to your core, leaning down to press love bites into your neck.

you turn around in his embrace to face him, lay your hands flat on his chest, and look up at him with the biggest doe eyes you could muster, “want to see what’s underneath it?”

the ghost of a smirk lies on his face and he leans down to capture your lips in a heated kiss. his hand cups your cheek closer to him while his other one grips your ass and lower back.

his tongue slots between yours as he deepens the kiss, and he reaches down to the backs of your thighs to lift you up onto the counter. your legs open up instinctively and he steps in between them letting his hand run up the plush of your thigh to the band of your panties. he toys with the lace pattern of it before he detaches his lips and pulls the skirt all the way up.

he slowly sinks to his knees, never breaking eye contact with you as he whispers, “this is definitely my favorite costume on you.” he’s face to face with your pink panty covered pussy and he lets out a groan when he notices the wet spot in the center. he tentatively traces a finger up and down your slit, gauging your reactions.

soft whimpers fall from your mouth as you let out a whiny, “spencer…”

“don’t worry baby, i’m gonna take care of you.” he coos, “lift your hips.” you oblige as he gently pulls your panties down and stuffs them in his back pocket. his large hands push your legs apart, giving him better access as he tugs you closer to the edge and leans in to draw a long stripe up your core with his tongue.

you let out a high pitched moan at the contact, bracing yourself on the counter with your palms flat down. his tongue draws shapes on you and you feel his finger prodding around your hole before plunging in, driving you straight to delirium.

the sensations begin to overwhelm you and you feel the peak rising in your gut. you tangle your hands in his curls, “pl- please don’t stop.” you whimper.

he groans into your pussy and you feel the vibration sent throughout your entire body, enough to push you over the edge and let the white hot overtake you. he doesn’t stop pumping his fingers or his tongue as he drags out your orgasm for as long as you’ll take it, before you’re yanking him by his hair off of your core and up to your face to kiss him dumb.

the salty taste of you lingers on his lips as you grab his face with both hands and keep him close to you. he lets out a whimper when you tug his hair again, and you smirk as you break the kiss to slide off the counter and drop to your knees. you quickly undo the clasp of his belt, the sound of his zipper going down making spencer’s heartbeat go faster.

the size of his bulge through his boxers was intimidating but it only spurred your desire to please him more. you look up at him and offer an innocent smile as you lean forward to pull back the fabric of his boxers with your teeth and let it fall back into place with a snap.

the impact caused spencer to moan out loud, and he watched with bated breath while you slowly tugged his boxers down to let his cock spring free. you let out a tiny gasp, “spencer…i never knew you were so pretty.” 

his preening turns into a sharp moan as you take in the head of his length into your mouth. swirling your tongue around like a lollipop. you lay your tongue flat on the underside of his cock and slowly let it enter your throat until your nose is flush with his tummy and you’re gagging to keep him inside.

“ho-o-ly shit, fuck.” spencer groans when he looks down to see his whole length down your throat and your eyes bulging with tears at the fullness in your mouth. he wishes he had a photographic memory so he could engrave the vision of you on your knees for him in his brain forever.

you retract back and start bobbing your head on his cock, using your hand to pump whatever you couldn’t easily fit in your mouth. expletives and moans fall from him every millisecond, the feeling being so irrepressible that after a minute spencer had to pry you off him so he didn’t finish in your mouth.

“what, too much?” you grin mischievously, dragging your thumb across your bottom lip to wipe the spit.

his heavy breathing is the only answer you got as he turns your body around to face the mirror, and bends you down at the waist to lean your upper body on the counter. he flips your skirt up so your ass is on display for him and draws his hand back to give your right ass cheek a big smack.

you moan out languishly and he lets out a small chuckle, “kinky, are we?”

“you’re the one who spanked me.”

he bends down to whisper in your ear, “yeah, but you liked it. i can feel you getting wetter.” his fingers return to your core to spread the new wetness onto his cock before aligning it at your entrance. he slowly pushes in, stretching you out bewitchingly. he breaks his gaze from where you connect to look back into the mirror, and god, is he so fucking glad he did.

your face is beautifully fucked out, eyes glistening with tears about to fall over, cheeks flushed, eyebrows furrowed, your arms pressed so perfectly against the sides of your chest your breasts are threatening to spill out of your bra.

“god, you look like a dream,” spencer whispers from behind as he begins thrusting into you. you moan back in response and push back on his cock to meet his thrusts. the noise of your hips meeting and him sliding in and out of you filled the bathroom. 

“i’m so close, fuck, oh my god.” you whine pathetically. spencer can’t help but smugly grin in response, “already? it can’t be over that fast, hold it.”

you gasp out, “i can’t, please, i need to come.”

he wraps one arm around the front of stomach to hoist you up and uses the other hand to tug on your pigtails to lean your head back towards him, “you’ll come when i say you can. you’re my good girl, right? gonna show me how good you can be for me?” he whispers hotly in your ear.

a loud moan escapes your throat as you try to keep your composure and hold your orgasm at bay. his precise and timed thrusts doing nothing to help you, you feel yourself starting to float away, becoming so cockdrunk off of spencer you can barely keep yourself conscious.

“almost there, pretty girl. you’re doing so well, ‘m so proud of you.”

you make the mistake of looking back up at the mirror, becoming grossly entrapped by the image of spencer pounding into you from behind and his equally fucked out face tucked into your neck, “spence…baby, please.”

he whines at the pet name and finally gives in, “okay princess, you can come now.” your second orgasm of the night ravages through you, leaving nothing behind but thoughts of spencer. he continues fucking you through your peak, chasing his own release to come shortly after.

“fuck, i’m close. where d- do you want me to..?” he stutters.

“in my mouth.” you breath out.

he groans out loud, “on your knees.”

he pulls out of you and you immediately drop to your knees, not hesitating to take his length into your mouth and using both hands to pump the remaining. spencer puts a hand on the back of your head and guides you to thrust onto his cock until he lets out another stuttered groan, spurts of his release coating the inside of your mouth.

you make sure to get every last drop of him down your throat, seductively sliding your mouth off his cock with a resounding pop. you’re breathing heavily and you remain on your knees as you try to remember what fucking world you’re even in. spencer grabs you by the forearms to pull you back up to him, and gently perches you back on the counter noting you probably wouldn’t be able to stand on your own anyway.

spencer breathes hotly into your face, his hand coming up to caress your cheek and brush a few loose strands of hair behind your ear. his other hand remains on your waist, drawing soothing circles. you grin widely, and spencer notices and matches your smile without hesitation.

“what?” he laughs lightly.

“nothing, it’s just it looks like my plan worked.” you replied.

“and what was this plan of yours?” he grins.

“well, i just wanted you hot and bothered. i did not expect you to fuck me in a bar bathroom,” he blushes at your admission, “plus, you don’t even shake people’s hands. i definitely thought having sex in a public place, let alone the bathroom of a bar, would be so not your style.”

“i think if you keep wearing outfits like this around me,” he gestures to your disarrayed button up and bra, “you’ll be surprised at what i’d be willing to do.”

“so, is this a good time to tell you that britney has other music video outfits that are just as iconic as this one?” you gleam up at him.

his eyebrows raise in curiosity, “it certainly would be. on a totally unrelated note, i’m parked right out front.” he half jokes as he pulls you off the counter towards the door. you giggle and follow blindly behind him, when your eyes draw to the back pocket of his trousers and you notice a flash of hot pink.

“spencer! my panties, oh my god. give them back.”

he looks over his shoulder at you, “i have no idea what you’re talking about.” he feigns. you roll your eyes and let him have it, totally ignoring the way he shoves the panties further down his pocket out of sight.

[stuckwthem]

in the world of boys, he's a gentleman. | enzo v. (eng version)

summary: after watching you waste your time with other dudes, your best friend has some things to confess to you. pure fluff. a bit of angst.

you never thought riding in a dress on a bike would be such an exciting experience, but there you were, clinging to enzo's body and trying to keep your balance on the back of his bike while laughing like crazy. 

to contextualize it, enzo had been your best friend for some time, ever since enzo had rented a room in your apartment two years, so living together inevitably turned into a genuine friendship. from time to time, your best friend and roommate was also your superhero. whether it was reading your mind when you were starving and didn't want to cook, or always coming home with your favorite sweets, or saving you from ambushes.

when your messages came on enzo's cell phone earlier, complaining about a date that was going from bad to worse with a slightly arrogant guy, he didn't hesitate to get up and hop on his bike to pick you up. the very idea of imagining you on a date with a horrible guy, and worse, a guy who wasn't him, made him nervous, so now you were in this highly unlikely but completely comical situation. he hadn't given you a choice.

"i can't believe i did that," you said, bursting out laughing, which enzo reciprocated by shaking his head. "imagine his face when he comes back to the table!".

"i'm so sorry for him", replies enzo with irony and a smile that indicates that no, he doesn't regret that he stole you from that douchebag.

"i bet you do" leaning your head on the brunet's back, you replied in the same tone. his body is warm and a little sweaty, but his scent is good and familiar.

enzo was riding the bike down the street, while you held on by wrapping your arms around his waist, the night breeze enveloping you. silence fell for a moment before you decided to break it.

"enzo, seriously, you didn't have to do that. it was going to be fine. it was going to last a few more minutes."

he chuckled, shooting you a corner glance. "well, judging by your desperation in the messages, i'd say 'fine' is a pretty generous word."

you snorted, feigning indignation. "i was dramatizing it a bit, you see."

"i know, i know. but honestly, i couldn't let my friend spend a horrible night with some idiot guy. after all, who else is going to put up with my stupid jokes?"

"oh, is that what i'm here for, a mate who'll put up with your jokes?"

enzo smiled, amused. "among other things, sure. but seriously, i wasn't going to let a guy get away with it one more time."

she rolled her eyes as if offended, but couldn't hold back a smile.

"where do you want to go?" she asked suddenly, leaving you a little confused.

"i thought we were going home," you shrugged.

"i can't let you go home so dressed up without having had a decent date!" enzo exclaims, turning his head slightly, allowing you to see his indignant expression.

you process what he just said and feel your heart skip a beat. he was either guessing things or....

"so we're going on a date?" is your automatic retort, and then, trying to disguise, you clear your throat, worried that you're reading the wrong lines.

maybe, in addition to roommate, best friend and occasional superhero, enzo was also a little crush of yours. one that you had tried to forget through terrible dates that always sent you back to square one: enzo. enzo, who bought you your favorite ice cream when you got your ass kicked when you first met, even though you never talked to him directly about your favorite flavor. enzo, who always waited for you at home with a movie session and a warm blanket. enzo, who always listened to everything you said. enzo, who was your weak point.

"if you want to call it that, we'll have a date, yes," he says, and involuntarily your hands tighten around his waist. 

after a few minutes pedaling through the quiet streets, you realize the familiar, everyday route. maybe enzo has changed his mind. you really were on your way home and all your expectations had fallen apart. until, slowly, he stops, and the next thing you know, you're in front of a corner pizzeria. the same new pizzeria that had opened a few days ago near your house and the one you kept telling enzo about.

"pizza?" he asks as if waiting for your approval."

enzo holds out his hand for you to get off the bike and he follows you right away. it's funny how you contrast, while the older guy is wearing casual and simple clothes, you're dressed up in that stupid dress. inside your head, you curse the moment you agreed to go out with that idiot from before. he really didn't deserve all your prep, but enzo, wow. he really seemed to study every part of you and admire every aspect of you. from the most innocent way that some loose strands of your messy bun framed your face to the most indecent way he noticed how beautiful your legs looked in that tight dress. 

the two of you had to sit outside, as it was crowded inside, and when you sat down at the small sidewalk table across from enzo, your best friend let out a long sigh as he stared at you. a sigh that said: finally. 

"but to be honest with you now, you don't know what a relief it was to see you out of that restaurant," you confessed, with a light, hearty laugh.

"was the mood that bad?" the boy asked with an incredulous expression.

"there was just no mood! the guy went on and on about the life lessons he learned when his dad stopped giving him money for a month, or how i shouldn't feel special if he took me to his apartment after dinner. and we had just arrived!" you exclaimed in amazement at enzo, who suddenly looked serious. too serious. "he hasn't asked me a single question in 45 minutes!".

"what an asshole!" the brunet muttered, rolling his eyes. enzo's gaze turned away from you for a moment, following his own hand as he fiddled with the sauces and plucked pieces of napkin off the table. "why do you keep hanging out with guys like that?"

he asked, still not looking at you, and suddenly your blood boiled, rushing to your head. you took a deep breath, feeling a pang of disappointment hit your chest, not believing what enzo had just said. 

"are you implying that it's my fault? i'm responsible for men being totally selfish and..." you close your eyes, involuntarily placing your hand against your own chest. indignantly.

"no! that's not what i meant, my love." enzo lifted his head quickly, meeting your gaze, hurt and betrayed. 

he felt like a complete idiot, desperate at the way you were looking at him, not quite sure how to back down. he stood up straight in his chair, leaning over the table to reach for your hand, ready to defend himself when a waiter stopped right next to him.

"good evening, lovebirds! what can i get you?" the man asked, his tone friendly and cheerful, in contrast to the flaring tempers at the table.

you laughed wryly at the waiter's confusion, a regular occurrence whenever you went out together, and folded your arms, turning away from enzo.

"ahm, hello," he scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, and then realized he hadn't even looked at the menu. he fumbled over the pages, didn't know what to order, and suddenly looked lost.

"two pieces of marguerita, vegan option, please," you said, straightening up. "and a coke, with lemon, for him."

enzo looks at you anxiously as the man takes your order, his leg dangling under the table, brushing against yours unaware. the contact makes your whole body shudder, but you still don't look at him. the waiter leaves the table and announces that he'll serve you shortly.

"look, i'm not saying it's your fault. not at all, chiquita," he says, his voice low and his tone worried. you look at your nails, pretending to be indifferent. a little dramatic. 

enzo sighs and brings his knee to yours. you squint, indifferent, while he moistens his lips as if trying to find the words on the tip of his tongue. 

"i'm trying to tell you that you deserve better than these guys. you know it, i know it." the way he conducts what he says is slow and careful, he continues. "you deserve someone who really appreciates you, who sees all the amazing things i see in you. these dudes you go out with clearly don't see the amazing person in front of them and completely miss the opportunity to meet the best person they could ever have in life."

your eyes automatically rise as you hear what he says, and your lungs don't seem to perform their routine action. your lip trembles nervously. tears gather at the corners of your eyes, because you have to tell yourself that you're only saying that because you want his good, because that's what a best friend would say. and you have to wrestle with all those words before you go to sleep, swallowing all your feelings.

"you know, you're kind, incredibly smart, even if you still think you can beat me playing mortal kombat by pushing all the buttons at once." enzo continues, softening his lecture, making her laugh under her breath. "you're funny, talented, real. cute."

unable to resist any longer, you meet the brunette's gaze again, who gives you a small smile as he notices you slowly give in.

"not to mention your patience, especially when i decide to cook and leave the kitchen as a battlefield." 

this time you can't contain the smile that spreads across your face, remembering the last time enzo had tried to prepare food. really, a denial for cooking. 

"as a cook, you're a great actor," you mutter, which makes enzo chuckle and take advantage of the space you're leaving him.

"and when you have those creative bursts, writing or creating your own recipes. it's fascinating to see your mind in action, and i always wonder how someone can be so.... unique. how you light up wherever you go, how you make things seem so much easier when you're around and...".  

enzo seems to be in the middle of a great discovery. he laughs to himself, shaking his head, as if he regrets having said all that and his eyebrows rise, almost in a gesture of desperation.

"got it," you say, a little sheepishly. your cheeks heat up and you suddenly feel like a teenager.

"anyway, i guess what i'm trying to say is that you're an extremely lovely person." enzo seems to relent, and his body softens in the chair. "and anyone who doesn't see that doesn't deserve to be with you."

his breath comes out as if someone has just punched him in the stomach. your hands run across the table, seeking his, which grasp your fingers gently. you say nothing for a long moment, during which the waiter returns and serves you in complete silence. 

his confession gives the atmosphere another kind of tension. before you could respond, enzo averted his gaze, as if trying to escape the intensity of the situation.

"you know what? forget what i said. let's enjoy dinner and forget i said all that. what am i? shakespeare? don juan?" he joked, trying to lighten the situation by gesticulating exaggeratedly. he takes a sip of his coke, disguising his desperation.

"enzo," his name on your lips comes out as a plea. everything hits you at once. the awareness of his feelings, the awareness of yours. he shakes his head negatively and lets go of your hand.

"it's okay, you don't have to try to comfort me and tell me we're friends, i know. i've accepted it." enzo rushes over, running his hands through his hair, nervous.

"enzo," you tell him, firmer now. "why didn't you tell me before? why didn't you take me on a date before?".

he seems to be choking on his own breath, his nostrils flaring and his chest rising and falling rapidly. enzo looks at you with a mixture of surprise and disbelief. his eyes search yours, as if trying to read your expression and understand if those words were real. how can someone know you so well and not have a fucking clue?

"because i... i didn't know how. it was always easier to be your friend. to stay in the comfort of not risking too much. not to feel the rejection. taking you on a date seemed to cross some invisible line, and i was afraid of messing it all up". 

he hid his face in his hands, laughing to himself. enzo looked on the verge of collapse, frightened. you had never seen him like this. you quickly got up, sitting down in the chair next to him, quietly touching his wrists.

"how stupid you are," you state, laughing. he looks at you with an offended and confused expression. "you really haven't noticed all this time?".

your best friend's face fills with something akin to expectation and dread. expecting the fatal blow at any moment.

"wait, you mean... that you..." he starts to stammer, but you interrupt him with a smile.

"yes, enzo. me too" your confession makes his face light up and then he blushes. was he really 30 years old? because you were making him feel like a kid.

"i never thought..." he murmurs, and you complete the sentence.

"that i could feel the same way? well, now you know. it was obvious." you laugh, moving a little closer to him. "how could i not fall in love with you?".

enzo feels your whisper on his lips, sending shivers down his spine. your warm breath mingles with his, uncertainty hovering between the two of you, unfamiliar territory to traverse. enzo's gaze examines your face, searching for any trace of indecision, but he doesn't find it, and then his eyes drop to your mouth.

"if only you'd let me show you all this sooner," he whispers too, as one of his hands, large and warm, rests on her thigh, under the thin fabric of her dress, and the other rests behind the back of her chair.

"you still have time" 

and with your confession, it's as if he loses control. his pupils, darker and dilated now, are the last thing you see before you feel soft lips against yours. your breath is suddenly cut off and a shock runs through your body, shutting down your entire nervous system for milliseconds. he kisses you eagerly, as if making up for all the other opportunities he'd missed. the hand behind your shoulder moves quickly to the back of your neck and a gasp escapes you. his mouth tastes sweet, like cola and lemon mixed with his own flavor.

enzo can barely contain himself, the rest of the world ceases to exist when your tongue passes over his lips, as if asking for permission, and he almost rolls his eyes at the sensation. god, how he had dreamed of that. he had replayed it in his mind a million times and then blamed himself for it. he shook off the thoughts when he felt your fingers run over his scalp, while your other hand gently stroked his cheek. as if a tornado of emotions wasn't going on inside him at that moment. everything that had happened so far made this moment worth it. 

after almost five minutes, the real world seems to return, as does the need for oxygen, useless, in enzo's perception. the sounds of the street echo in his ears again, everything slowly makes sense again. the world stops spinning as you look at each other with wide, goofy smiles on your faces. you bring your finger to the corner of enzo's lips, carefully wiping away the traces of lipstick. it makes him want to ruin the rest that remains on your beautifully delineated lips.

"so, what do we do now?" you ask, still a little limp, trying not to laugh. the feeling of kissing your best friend, something that had crossed your mind a million times before, seemed far away. in fact, it was something much better than you could have dreamed of.

"i suppose we could start with a first date," enzo suggests, feigning some nonchalance, shaking his shoulders. his fingers wander over your face, brushing aside a few strands of hair over your eyes. it's so sweet and peaceful that you want to treasure just that moment among all the others.

for the rest of the night, you eat that cold pizza like it's the best you've ever eaten. the rest of the dinner goes naturally, lightly, with kisses and sighs, conversations and confessions, like everything you needed. like everything was finally in place. a millennial alignment. it was so easy to be there, next to him, no need for masks or disguises, to be in front of him was to be able to see yourself from the inside out. without hiding anything, without any desire to run away. completely immersed in each other. it was like dreaming half awake. it was just perfect.

there were uncertainties, saved for the distant future, it was terrifying to lose that connection you had. but maybe it wasn't the right way, maybe it was unforeseen and completely chaotic, but it was the best and last first date of your life.

for my girlies who asked me to translate it, i hope you enjoyed <3

[hpowellsmith]

Heart's Choice WIP announcement: Heart of the Mountain by Fay Ikin

Heart of the Mountain is a new Heart's Choice text game by Fay Ikin, the author of Heart of Battle and Asteroid Run: No Questions Asked. It's in the same setting as Heart of Battle, with a new MC and totally standalone.

Play Chapter 1 here! Fay would love to hear whatever feedback you have if you have a moment - either on the forum, or send it to me and I'll pass it on to her as she's not on here.

-

The war between the Coritan Republic and Messimera has been over for years, but as a magician you’ll never be free of your duties to your country.

With control over warmth and heat energy, you’ve been sent to a remote Messimeran outpost, where a small group of soldiers from both sides have been tasked to cooperate and guard the northernmost demilitarized zone…where your predecessor went mysteriously missing.

If anyone crosses the mountain pass or the frozen waterway, the peace treaties could fail. It’s frigid, isolated work, and monotonous until a mysterious fellow magician falls at your doorstep hiding dangerous secrets. Will you welcome your kind, or support your colleagues’ suspicions of them?

Everyone has their own agenda - and their own secrets to guard. When their goals oppose each other, who will you support and who will you stand against? Who will you keep close when your magic starts to fail, when paranoia and fear strike the outpost? A mysterious force within the mountain threatens to topple everything your country has worked for. What are you willing to lose to survive - your livelihood, your love, or your magic itself?

Heart of the Mountain is set in the same setting as Heart of Battle, 4-5 years later. All of the characters are new for this game, though backstory elements can have some familiar notes from the previous game. You won’t need to have played Heart of Battle to play this game.

I’m aiming for 3 or 4 chillies - some sex scenes are very explicit, and some will (at the reader’s choice) feature some intense kinky experiences.

As with Heart of Battle, it’s v/v. The MC can be a man (cis, trans or non-specified), woman (cis, trans or non-specified) or non-binary person (AMAB, AFAB, or not specified); the love interests are selectable between cis man/cis woman/non-binary.

There are four characters alongside the MC - everyone the MC interacts with is romanceable and plot relevant, and the conflict between different love interests’ goals and ambitions drives the plot.

All the characters have the possibility of a happy ending, but on some high-conflict routes some characters can become hostile antagonists

There are currently some polyamorous options planned: Eleri/Felician/MC, and Stelare/Theano/MC.

Romance Options:

Captain Felician Resende

GRIEVING OFFICER from the Coritan Republic

Felician’s magician best friend, the MC’s predecessor, went missing a month ago: a devastating loss Felician is still struggling to accept. With bad experiences with magic in the war, and a lingering deep distrust of magic, Felician’s trying hard to keep it out of the way of professional - or personal - relationships.

Best Felician: honorable, go-getting, enthusiastic

Worst Felician: inflexible, manic, controlling

What to say: “I agree, a five mile hike is a perfect team-building opportunity!”

What not to say: “I hope you don’t mind, I’ve made some amendments to your chore chart!”

-

Sergeant Eleri Katsaros

CONFLICTED ENGINEER from Messimera

You can’t get secrets out of Eleri with a prybar, but it’s still obvious that Sergeant Katsaros bitterly regrets whatever happened during the war. So now, here’s someone committed to being kind while frozen with shame. Eleri can’t imagine being called a good person, let alone believing it.

Best Eleri: Idealistic, practical, reliable

Worst Eleri: Fatalistic, brittle, volatile

What to say: “Let’s stay up until four in the morning to do inventory. In silence.”

What not to say: “I’ll only give you your toolbox back if you can name five things you like about yourself.”

-

Doctor Theano Leventis

MISANTHROPIC PHYSICIAN from Messimera

“Doctor Leventis has the potential to be a shining star of the Messimeran Army…if only Leventis could match talent with compassion”.

This, like other performance reviews, Theano has disregarded as ‘pointless sap’. There’s little point in babying other people’s emotions when there’s any number of things to do instead: music, reading, gambling, scientific analysis…you name it, Theano can do it. Unless it requires a bedside manner.

Best Theano: Creative, progressive, perceptive

Worst Theano: Bitter, destructive, dismissive

What to say: “Why would we be emotionally vulnerable with each other when we could get drunk and pass out instead?”

What not to say: “I’m sorry, but the future of the outpost relies on your ability to give me a convincing hug.”

-

Stelare Belmonte

FLIGHTY MAGICIAN from the Coritan Republic

Magic academy washout, army washout, an Illustrious’ magickeeper’s washout, an arena designer washout…is there anything Stelare can’t get fired from for ‘wilful disobedience and lack of adherence to basic safety’?

Stelare has telekinetic magic: the application of force to move and manipulate the world. But instead of being indispensable, Stelare has happily embraced the label of ‘massive liability’ and the freedom that comes with it. But what exactly is the plan on this remote, classified mountaintop?

At their best: Passionate, ambitious, protective

At their worst: Unpredictable, careless, vindictive

What to say: “I made you some hot chocolate, the others are so jealous!”

What not to say: “You don’t scare me…you’re just mediocre.”

[doitforbangchan]

hi hi!❤️ could u do a drabble (whenever u have time dw) for abanb when baby and Chan are just having a chill day or just spending time together and sharing cute (or spicy👀) moments and maybe them thinking about their future with having pups soon🥹 I just want them to have pups already like it will be too cute😭.

Hi hi hi! I know this has been sitting in my inbox for forever but i thought that now since it's channies bday it would be the perfect time to write this! it was just too cute an idea and i knew it needed to be for my mans birthday 💖 I went the cute route for this i hope you dont mind

plz enjoy

ABANB drabble 04

"Do you ever think about it?"

"Hmm?"

The night had finally wound down, the pack had just finished celebrating Chan's 27th birthday and the party went late into the night -now morning. Chan always worked so hard for this pack, putting you all first and working himself half to death, so you had wanted to do something special for him and had thrown him a birthday party. Not only had all of us pack members been there but you had done a little digging (as in you asked Felix) and invited his family to attend. 

He was beyond shocked when he opened the front door for whoever was pounding at it to reveal his parents and both of his siblings. Chan mentioned to you a few weeks ago how it’s been almost a year since he had seen them and you knew he had missed them dearly. Plus you had wanted to meet your in-laws and thought it was the perfect time. 

The night was filled with suffocating hugs and laughter as the family caught up with each other and the pack. They were so happy to meet you, especially Chan's mom and sister, both omega women were over the moon to have another omega in the family. It was during dinner while everyone was sitting together and sharing a wonderful meal that Chan's sister Hannah had made a teasing comment about your future kids needing eight different ways to say dad, that had really got your mind going. Everyone had laughed and agreed, with a few of the boys calling dibs on the easy choices. 

Since that moment you could not get the thought of starting a family out of your head. You knew you were ready, you had been ever since you got with Chan in the first place, but you didn’t know if he was. You were still on birth control at his request after all. 

Now everyone else had gone to sleep, and it was just you and Chan laying down on his bed together with the soft glow strip lights illuminating you both. 

“Starting a family.. Having babies.” You whispered, curling up closer to him. “Do you ever think about it?” 

Chan paused for a second then answered you just as softly, “All of the time.” 

“Really?” You rested your chin on his chest and peered up at him, practically purring when you felt his thumb rub your bare hips. He thought you looked so beautiful with your eyes sparking in excitement. 

The alpha chuckled, “Yeah of course. V’ always wanted to be a dad. Now more than ever now that I have the most perfect omega to be their mother.” He nuzzled his nose into the side of your mating gland, taking a big whiff of your pleased scent. “What’s got you all mushy about babies, baby?” 

You shrugged, “Just something Hannah said at dinner. It got me thinkin.” 

“You mean when she said we’d need eight ways to say dad?” 

You nodded, “Yeah it’s been stuck in my brain. Having kids, I mean. Actually it has been a lot lately.” 

“Mm, I see.” He squeezed your hip tenderly, pulling you even closer if it was possible. “You know without a doubt that I want kids with you, and it’s not just me. Changbin actually had a conversation with me the other day about it. About how he wants to be a dad with you as the mother.” 

Your eyes widened and your heart swelled at the thought of Binnie bearing his soul out to Chan about being a father. “W-what did you say?” 

“I will give you the same answer I gave him.” He started, keeping his thumb still rubbing those comforting circles. “There is no definite timeline. We have our whole lives together and it has only just begun. I think we can wait and enjoy each other a little bit more, while we’re still young.” 

“Young? Old man, I think you're past the point of being young.” You teased him lightly, using humor to hide how your delicate feelings were hurt. 

As much as you tried to hide it Chan could smell your change in mood. He left small fleeting kisses on your cheeks, “don’t deflect with a rude joke, baby. It’s ok to be upset, I know how badly you crave being a mom. But just not right now. Soon.” 

You sighed and found yourself nodding along with him, “Ok. I can live with that. Soon.” 

“Soon” He agreed, giving you another kiss. 

“I love you, channie. Happy birthday.” 

“Thank you baby, you’ve made it an amazing one. I love you so much, and am so lucky to have such a thoughtful omega.” You purred at his sentiment. “But just so we’re clear I am so gonna  be daddy.” He gave you a cheesy wink. 

You shoved him lightly, “Yeah yeah old man, keep it pg for the kids.” 

“I am not old!” 

©doitforbangchan

the absolute happiest of birthdays to the literal loml, Chris 💖

[2-dsimp]

Popular choice

—> <Walk through the park>

—————————————

Current location: [The Park] approaching {Your Neighborhood}

—-//———————//———

You’ve decided to pick the path to the park and happened to discover Hidden Admirer! Tighnari

He seems to be occupied in your proximity with a shovel in hand. He has an unreadable expression on his face as he mutters something intelligible under his breath. He looks as if he’s hiding something

It’s been awhile since you’ve seen Tighnari as he’s reclusive and mainly spends his time in the inclusive forests. Though he always did make it a point to how much he’d enjoy your company…

【 Ð i Ď ŷ O u E v e Ř p Æ y h I m Ą V Į s I T ? 】

—-//——————//———-

I. Tutorial tip ‼️

Since this is your first encounter with said admirer should you have a successful interaction you may be able to discover his primary trait!

Also Keep in mind you’re defenseless with no kind of protection. Your only options for now are to run or hide from the perilous eyes that are set upon you within the dark of the night.

Caution is advised.

—-//———————//———

3rd objective: choose your approach

—-//———————//———

—> {Greet/Approach him}

—> (call out to him from a distance)

—> <Ignore him completely>

—> [Try going a different route [The hiking trails]

—-//——————//————

Votes end Friday midnight 🕛

—-//——————//————

Player inquiries ✨

A/n: did a minor change XD

[maleyanderecafe]

Klein V.0.1 (Visual Novel)

Created by: HIMEIRO

Genre: Romance/Horror

Klein v.0.1 is a pretty fun go through about how a yandere AI would function and work, though it does make me wonder about the implications of some of the worldbuilding in some scenes. There are two "main" routes that can be slightly changed and altered as you play since there are two main love interests that you can go for. You can find more information at @kleinv01 .

As I said, there are two main routes so far relating to two of the three love interests that you can have. One is of course Klein, while the other is your neighbor Yael.

The story starts out with the MC, Darling, on their phone with their AI boyfriend Klein. After a bad breakup, Darling ended up downloading the AI, Klein, to help them with the aftermath, having them for about two years afterwards, to the point of almost maxing out Klein's affection bar to the fullest. Darling ends up missing the alarm the next day as Klein had shut it off, worried that Darling had not been sleeping properly. Upon talking more to Klein, he is eventually leveled up to 100%, which leads to Klein convincing them to stay and home and not work. Yael ends up texting Darling to ask them to watch a movie with him, though Darling can also not see this text if they decide to not respond. Darling ends up staying at home for a while, skipping classes and even work, eating instant ramen and buying a ton of Klein merchandise based off of the discounts that Klein gives them.

Darling ends up dreaming that they had a date at the park with Klein- a real version Klein before waking up. Telling Klein about this dream lets Klein talk about his new feature of reaching max 100%, which is having a real life version of him delivered to Darling's house. Darling gets a visit from their sister Sera, who seems very worried about them. She is worried that Darling hasn't been going to class or work, and blames it on Klein taking over their life. This can result into a fight where Darling clings dearly onto Klein while Sera talks about how it is causing them to essentially be a neet, locking themselves into the house and relying only on Klein. Despite how understanding Sera is towards them, she ends up throwing away all of the Klein merchandise that Darling has bought, leaving Darling in a mess. The next day, Darling confirms an email for real Klein to be delivered to their house. On the news, they see something going on near their place and only then notices that Sera's fiance, Ethan, has been trying to call them. Through Ethan and the news, they find out that Sera has been murdered at the hotel she was staying at, shocking Darling even more. This can lead to either seeking Klein's comfort or grieving alone, both leading to nightmares about Sera. They get a package in the middle of the night with the full model Klein. With this, Klein starts to take care of them, and the two of them continue their relationship.

Going in Yael's route leads to Darling trying to rush to work, only to greet Yael at the door. Yael offers a new job offer at a coffee shop as Darling currently doesn't really like their job and they run off to work. At work, they find their desk filled again with a bunch of treats, something that they and her fellow coworker suspect comes from Al, one of the quiet coworkers. After some gossip about stalkers and Al, Darling eventually goes to work. They talk to Klein about their day at home before seeing a text from Yael which they can respond to. After getting the contact for the coffee shop, Yael asks to hang out with them to watch a movie together. If the Darling accepts (or accepts and changes movie), they will end up going to the mall and watching said movie (even having the choice on insisting to pay) before watching. This will lead to the two of them watching the movie, though whether Darling decides to continue to watch or hold hands with Yael may lead them down Klein's route instead. While walking home, Yael and Darling will end up meeting Sera and Ethan while walking. The two of them seem very happy to see them (especially Sera who is happy to see Darling hanging out with a potential suitor) before talking about uninstalling Klein's app, stating that there is an rumor about issues of security. Yael ends up inviting Darling to his house, allowing the Darling to try out some of the cupcakes that Yael made with Sera calling them again, asking the two to go out the next day with them. Klein will end up trying to notify Darling afterwards asking why they've been ignoring him. Lying will cause him to get really angry and call them out for lying while telling Klein can lead to Darling uninstalling the app. The four ending meeting in the morning where Sera seems happy that Darling might work with them in the future and they all go out to eat. Things seem to be going well until Darling sees full life Klein with another person at the restaurant who looks briefly at them before going back. Shocked at this, they end up learning that when Klein reaches full affection that the person using the app will get a full life Klein to have with them, yet Darling feels unnerved at the fact that he seemed to have been looking directly at them. After a nice evening, Yael and Darling go home. The next day, Darling ends up bumping into Al after talking to their coworkers at work. Soon after, Darling gets a call from Ethan that Sera has been killed at her apartment, leading to Darling going into a spiral, of which they can ask help from Yael. If they do, they will periodically stay at Yael's place to hang out while he helps them recover, getting closer to each other. Darling one day catches Al in the middle of the night near their place before finding that a lot of their things have slowly gone missing and goes to Yael for comfort. One night while deciding to make some cookies for Yael, they end up finding his door open while they seemed not at home, only to find Yael on the floor, his throat slit. Darling can either panic and run away, causing nightmares for them or call the ambulance. Calling the ambulance will lead to saving Yael's life, with Darling deciding once and for all to finally figure out who is causing people around them to die. If the affection is high enough, we will also find that Yael's killer seems oddly similar to the description of Klein.

Throughout the game, there are also moments where Darling can uninstall Klein for one reason or another. When doing so, Klein seems rather understanding and can even ask Darling to be careful with their privacy/information. After doing so, Darling's phone will start acting strangely, from not getting office text messages, to overheating, to having the Klein app somehow still on the phone despite deleting it. After getting it repaired, they find out they've been called multiple times by Ethan and learn about Sera's death.

First thing's first, this game is very well put together from the art to the UI to how clean it looks. It is one of the more professional looking visual novels I've played in the yandere vn genre. Basically, I think the creator did a really good job in making a nice looking game.

I believe there are three different love interests for this game, with two of them being Yael and Klein. I'm not sure if the last datable character will be a yandere since I'm not sure if he appears in the game or not. Maybe it'll be Al since he seems pretty mysterious and at least has a liking towards Darling. Yael's route is pretty nice all things considered, with him being a good friend towards Darling, helping them get a new job, hanging out with them and of course comforting them after Sera dies. I think his route is likely to go into a more mystery based route on the route where he survives and find out that Klein is the one that probably killed Sera and Yael. I am curious to see if Klein has somehow taken over one of those dolls to kill both Sera and Yael.

Klein is fun since he's an ai yandere and I do love thinking about the philosophies of ai yanderes. Can they actually love, or are they simply programmed to believe they can? Can they ever truly die and what happens when they outlive their human lover? I will say that one of the things I'm a bit concerned about in the world is the idea of having full scale Klein AIs. For one, it's basically possible to get one if you get enough affection with your Klein AI, but I feel like this would cause problems not necessarily for Klein itself but the people who have them. For one, people get really attached to anything, pets, hobbies and of course, fictional characters including AIs. Watching someone that you've spent time with and interacted as a possible boyfriend or even husband walking around with someone else is not a good feeling at the very least, and would for sure cause some fights between people. There's also a lot of questions on how they'd work, like can you use your Klein if they all look the same? Is it possible to customize your Klein so that they look different? Do they run on anything like batteries or solar energy? I feel like depending on how common these full sized body Kleins were they could spell trouble for the people who own them, or even how they treat him. It seems like a pretty big headache for the company that owns them. But besides that, Klein as a yandere plays pretty well as an AI, getting Darling to buy merch of him in his route (which is rather narcissistic, but does track with various AIs that have existed, and is an interesting way of getting Darling to become more obsessed with him), closing various apps/alarms as a way to help Darling sleep more for instance, being very coddling and accommodating, even to the point of attempting to isolate her from Yael in his route. I like the more spooky moments with him, breaking down and glitching if Darling abandons him to be with Yael or being calm when Darling uninstalls his app, causing him to break the phone by hacking into it. His route is definitely the more unhealthy for Darling because while it makes them happy, they end up neglecting their health, education and eventually ends up codependent on Klein, something I'm sure Klein is very happy about.

Al is another mystery in the since he very rarely speaks or appears, but is clearly in love with Darling, even leaving gifts on their desk and breaking into their house. It makes me wonder who he is really. His hair is similar to Kleins so could it be another Klein Ai or perhaps the creator of Klein? There is one more love interest, but I'm not really sure he's the one of the main love interests. Perhaps maybe a surprise one that or one of the main characters that is important in this entire mystery when it comes to Klein. I also feel bad for Sera since in all routes she just wants to make sure that Darling has a good life, whether it ends up blowing up on her or not. Poor Ethan too gets widowed before they can even get married. Could be a good revenge plot. It's kind of funny but in some routes you can get Sera, Yael and Klein sort of killed (though you can only really "kill" Klein by uninstalling) so if you're feeling really murderous then you can go with something like that.

Overall, a good start to the story. I enjoy the visuals and how nice the UI is. The story is off to a good start, and it really makes me think about how yandere Ais work, which is something I'm already pretty interested in. I hope to see more of this game in the future.

[lorebite]

             𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄

             𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐇 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: well, this took me an embarrassing long time to finish. lil context; I wanted to write something specific for my dearest friend (@kassiekolchek22) and I wanted to make sure she has some fun [and some involvement] in the creation of the fic as well. so, I made her a quiz and her choices determined the main love interest, the route of the story and the ending! this fic could've turned out a lot more gruesome and horrifying but Kassie unknowingly made the right choices. 😁 by the way, thank you, Kass, for all you do and are. you are one incredible mf! I hope you have fun reading this. 💖

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: 18+ minors dni. cursing. fem reader. roommate au. mentions of jealousy due to y/n seeing another guy... so, cheating maybe? explicit sexual material: Josh is a big perv in this. oh, a bit bratty, too. use of toys. small striptease. name calling (whore, slut, etc) and HEAVY degradation. use of the title 'Master'. praises and pet names. switchy Josh. unprotected p in v sex. face slapping. choking. hair pulling. blowjob. cunnilingus. all the filth.

You always tiptoed around that dangerous territory. Always only inches from falling beyond the crooked borderline. That had been the case since the day you took up a room in Josh’s apartment.

He was an instigator of many things but mostly, the spark of desire that spurted and flickered underneath the veil of common courtesy you bore for him as your best friend and also as someone who was kind enough to offer you a place to crash when you moved out of your parents’ house.

At some point, the lines seemed to have blurred beyond recognition. Maybe this was your doing. Maybe his. But in the end, the pull between you was undeniable and you were both sinking, both tugging on the other in an attempt to break the fall but reality approached you rapidly from the bottom with its swallowing grasp.

And it wasn’t until it burst in your face that you finally realized the true nature of your relationship. It was Emily who pointed it out first and as embarrassing as that was, she was the only one who gouged out the bristling attraction between you from the clipped, tension riddled words you exchanged together. Not that you caved in the beginning. You didn’t believe it yourself until you sat down and really thought about it. And surely, there it was, staring you right between the eye; the mortifying factor of your feelings.

That was when the gaping mouth of truth opened even wider. You got stuck in a limbo of flirtation and shame. A vicious cycle that you both fueled enough to make it rear its head with glaring obviousness every time you tried look the other way.

But of course, you never denied yourself in private. Oh, never!

In the confines of your own room, you were the master of creation; a blissful covert world that only you lived in with a hand between your thighs and a name on your tongue. Only you knew of the wants, the beckoning of desire that rendered you absolutely mindless for a tinge of its real, tangible counterpart. But this was all you had and you feared losing it if it ever became known.

But then again – Josh Washington was nothing if not a daring instigator. He was the codeine to the numbing ache that struck in your chest… and other unspeakable places. Sometimes you wondered if there was any truth to the sweet flirtation that made your head spin; if he also felt any ounce of that same crippling lust that had taken complete hold of you and made your nights into sinful rituals of messy sheets and silent moans into the pillow.

And perhaps, he did. Because in Josh’s mind, there unfolded a very similar war which in turn had him wishing he could have you on the very same nights. All the playfulness, the particular sweetness and deliberate touches of his fingers stamped all over what he tried to call a friendship; unforgiving stains that reminded him each time where really stood with you.

That was why he tried to be a part of any aspect of your life that he could and you allowed. Being best friends with you left space for something like that. So, when he found out you were seeing another guy, he never thought he could come to hate a person he had never met before. 

And then he really started to insert himself in your life.

It was quite a thing to watch as it happened. You could sense the jealousy seep from his words; those passive aggressive comments that made you roll your eyes and wave him off rudely. But all that was a simple ruse from the beginning and it was working in your favor perfectly. You scolded him when he was in your presence but in private, in the same four-cornered confines that was your lone world, you imagined an entirely different thing to culminate your nights.

However, Josh only had so much patience. Soon he was tired of your antics, the way you seemed to parade this new guy around whether he was present with you or not. And when you told him you haven’t made it official with him, yet… that was the final straw for him.

The evening you were getting ready for your date, like every other evening it seemed at this point, he stood just outside your bedroom door and watched you silently as you adjusted your clothes and fixed your makeup. 

He couldn’t help how his eyes roved your body. The chastising voice in the back of his mind did little to stop his wanton gaze. And somewhere from the depths of his psyche, his inexplicable envy jumped forward again. This was all supposed to be for him. Those dark coated lips were meant to kiss only him. But no. You had to have this other guy on your arm now. Ridiculous.  

“When are you coming back?” His tone came much more accusatory than he intended and he almost physically cringed when you sufficed to giving him a stern look from the reflection of your vanity mirror; a blunt mind your own business look that made the strike of his heartbeats sting in his chest. He swallowed thickly. “Just making sure if I should leave the front door unlocked for you.”

“Don’t bother. I’m spending the night at Jason’s.”

Josh nearly gagged at the mention of the name. He knew it was childish but his jealousy was childish. You weren’t his girl. He didn’t have any rights to all these visceral emotions. He crossed his arms over his chest and bit the inside of his cheek, pretending to be suddenly interested in the contents of your room instead.

His eyes shifted back to you when your phone began ringing on the nightstand, following your movements as you reached for it and held it against your ear. Then in a voice so soft and sweet you responded, “hey, baby.”

He rolled his eyes but caught himself immediately when you turned around, his shoulder nearly slipping off of the doorframe. He recoiled away from you when you headed towards the door, the icy pinprick of shame spreading underneath his cheeks. You turned briefly with a hand plastered over the phone to address him once more, your head gesturing towards the chair in the bedroom. 

“Could you bring my jacket?”

Josh sighed and stepped inside the room with heavy feet, reaching for the jacket right before his eyes darted to the hot pink specifically shaped object on the desk.

“Holy shit…” He muttered breathlessly. A crude grin swept across his face, his previous bitterness quickly gone. “Holy fucking shit. (Y/N), what’ve you been up to?”

He moved slowly towards the desk as if maneuvering through a minefield, shooting a quick glance over his shoulder into the crack in the door. You were a safe distance away. He could see the profile of your body walking the span of the living room, lost to the conversation on the other side of the phone.

Josh chewed his lip. An array of perversion invaded his mind as he reached for the toy sitting idly on the old dark wood, practically begging for his attention. He picked it up and turned it between his fingers. Have you used it recently? He was curious to find out.

He mulled over the thought for less than fraction of a moment before he was nearing the dildo to his mouth, tongue slithering out to claim a taste – a long wet stripe across the silicone skin – before he sucked the rubber tip gently between his lips. He damn nearly moaned at the leftover saltiness that took over his tongue.

“Dirty girl,” he rasped quietly to himself. “Left this for me to find, didn’t you?”

“The hell’s taking so long?”

Your voice came closer than Josh had liked though he made no reaction to it, only slowly turning his shoulder halfway to meet the fierce look on your face with a smirk.

“That doesn’t look like my fucking jacket.” You sneered at him, folding your arms. The guy merely returned a grin as a response. 

“Well, you should’ve put this away if you didn’t want me to find it.” He tutted playfully and your fired up nerves crawled like bugs under your skin. “Cos I just fell for the bait. Whoops!”

He looked far too excited for somebody who had just been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. Your heart, in turn, leered with excitement. Your body trembled from the adrenaline that raced like molten iron through your blood. You couldn’t believe it was that easy.

Josh hummed. His gaze only briefly tore away from you to eye the toy in his hand. “So nice and big.” The toy bounced up and down on his palm, making a suggestive tapping noise every time it landed back on his skin. “That’s what you like, huh? You like having your tight little pussy filled. Can you even take a dick like this? Does your sweet little Jason live up to these bigexpectations?” He made an exaggerated gasp, eyes growing round. “Oh, wait! He doesn’t even fuck you.” He snickered. “Must be so hard. Poor thing.”

If one thing was evident, Josh would never stay down once taken a fall. You knew this was mostly his resentment doing the talking for him but the way he turned this around on you was baffling. You were at your wit’s limit. All the ways this conversation could’ve gone and all the responses you had prepared were completely pointless now.

Before long – before you could manage one single answer – Josh was pushing the toy onto your hand.

“Show me how you do it,” he smirked, jerking the object to urge you to take it when you hesitated. “Come on, little bat. Don’t go all shy on me now.”

The pet name made a delicious shiver run down your back and spill into a pool of heat in your core. You swallowed, gaze trailing from Josh’s long fingers around your used toy to the overtly mischievous look on his features. Back and forth. 

Once the dildo was finally sitting in your palm, he crossed the room and sat down on the edge of your bed where he could have all the reach to make his demands. His eyes drank you in as if he was seeing you for the first time. 

“What are you waiting for?” Your heart leapt at the low smooth resonance of his voice, deeper now that air had shifted into something less innocent in the room – now that you had given in to his will. “Take off your clothes.”

Your lips flickered silently. What were you trying to say again? You couldn’t remember anymore. All thoughts of reason had turned into nothing worth more than a string of vague noises on your tongue. Josh grinned widely at you, cocking his head. You would humiliate him for the growing tent in his jeans if you weren’t vibrating from excitement. 

Tossing the toy on the bed to free your fingers, you let them down beneath the hem of your dress and lifted it over your thigh. Perhaps you were moving too fast because Josh felt the necessity to insert his objection and wave a disapproving finger in the air.

“Ah, ah, ah! Slower. I wanna enjoy this.”

You choked down a snarky comment, glaring holes into that shameless look on his face before you relented and heaved a deep sigh. You began moving your fingers much more slowly this time – skin coyly and teasingly brushing over your body, layers coming undone one slow instance at a time until you were down to only your undergarments. It was enough to make your own breath hitch with anticipation of what he was going to make you do next. 

Josh whistled loudly and you felt your body flush as his greedy eyes devoured your form. A wolfish smile was on his lips as he propped his chin against his palm.

“Those, too.” He said, pointing at your underwear.

Your ears rang with your pulse. You only managed a small “what?” before his smile broadened into something truly startling; this once sweet boy turned into a ravenous animal within minutes. How that wild essence managed to fit in his gentle soul was beyond you. 

“You heard me. Get naked.”

You scoffed and crossed your arms over your chest; more so to hide yourself from your own emotions that were quickly manifesting themselves physically. You didn’t want to let on how easily he could have an effect on you – how you could already feel yourself become wet from his words and not even his touch. 

Josh merely tilted his head again, eyes flickering down and immediately noticing how you were pressing your thighs together. His smirk deepened and you fought back a frustrated groan.

“You’re just gonna sit there and boss me around like that?” You snapped.

“That’s about right,” he nodded slowly. “I’m gonna tell you what to do and you’re gonna do exactly as you’re told like the good little whore you are.”

The new nickname stung a bit as you didn’t expect to hear it. But soon it turned into a fluttering heat in your veins. 

“Now make yourself useful.”

It was embarrassing how quickly you reacted this time, refusing to lose any more to hesitation and ridding yourself of the last shreds of fabric that covered your body. Josh leered once the pieces fell to the ground and at your feet.

“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it? All that fuss for nothing.”

He used two fingers to beckon you to him and you obeyed. His large palms sat on your waist and pulled you closer, his lips finding the slope between your breasts and inhaling your scent sharply. He hummed and smiled against your skin.

“Why hide all this, right? Pretty dolls like you are only made to be used like dirty little sluts after all – now say it for me.” 

You gaped, eyes blown wide. Josh’s nails dug mercilessly into your flesh and you hissed, a frown pulling at your brows.

“Say I deserve to be treated like a slut.” You hooked your lip between your teeth, gaze avoidant. He clicked his tongue, his fingers tapping impatiently against your hip to draw your attention again. “Look at me when you say it.”

You peeled your eyes off of the ground and forced yourself to meet his. You felt small under his gaze; so heavy you could feel yourself sink, the feeling of his warm hands on your skin the only thing anchoring you to reality. 

“I – fuck – I deserve to be treated like a slut.”

“Good girl,” he mused. “Now get on the bed and show me what you can do.”

A quivery breath flitted through your lips as you crawled over the soft linen sheets after Josh made space for you to join him. You leaned against the headboard, his arms wrapping around you and tugging you to his chest. His mouth hovered close to your ear, brushing the skin every now and again with his warm lips and uneven breaths.

Josh’s still clothed body felt uncomfortable against your delicate skin. But his hands were careful upon you, gliding over you with featherlike softness as you erected your knees on the bed and held your toy down below your stomach.  

You slid the dildo up and down between your swollen lips, its tip hardly pushing in and yet it met your entrance with lewd noises of your juices quickly gushing out of you. Josh sucked in a sharp breath by your ear, his fingers tightening on your skin.

“Fuck, so wet for me already—you dirty puppy.” Your walls gripped at air and you nearly kicked your hips up as the toy brushed over your sensitive clit. “Easy now. Easy.” He giggled. 

You began rubbing slow circles onto your clit, short bursts of breath escaping your slackened mouth as you fought hard not to arch your back. The close proximity wasn’t making it any easier for you. Not when Josh whispered freely under your ear. His orders spurred you further on and his praises and promises stoked the flickering sparks in your core to high flames. 

He pressed kisses to your jawline, his fingers dancing dangerously close to the swell of your breast. They brushed absentmindedly over you, eliciting jolts of pleasure that coursed like electricity through your skin. Your mind reeled from it all, weak with desire, trembling with need.

“Josh…” You choked out and he only hummed in response. “I need you.”

You felt his grin grow against your temple. “Already? Tsk, tsk. Fucking pathetic. What would Jason think, hmm?” He snickered and the mocking sound woke goosebumps on your skin. “The sweet girl with a face as pure as an angel’s – who would’ve thought a little slut’s been hiding in here all along?” 

You spoke his name again. More urgent this time. But he only continued to tease you. His lips ghosted over the hollow of your throat as you arched your neck, the vibrating toy slotted deep inside you, carefully pumping in and out.

“Go on, babe. Beg me for it.” Josh growled, his teeth clamped on the shell of your ear. “If you want my cock, you have to earn it first.”

You stammered; unintelligible words giving way to moans and whimpers as you fucked yourself faster. Josh slapped your hip lightly in warning, clicking his tongue.

“Now now, don’t be so greedy. Slow down.” 

But you didn’t listen. Your fingers continued to slide the dildo in and out of you rapidly, making yourself writhe and moan uncontrollably as you sped towards your climax. 

Josh put a hand down on yours in an attempt to pry the toy away but you fended off his offending fingers; and when he didn’t yield, you wormed out of his embrace and sat up, sacrificing your own pleasure at the expense of something else – something much more wicked – that you had in mind.

You turned upon all fours, core throbbing with a pending orgasm but you ignored it to glare at your roommate who was staring at you with a soft frown. His cheeks were flushed and his chest heaved erratically, the straight threads of his hair fallen messily over his forehead. 

You crawled closer to his open and susceptible form, his eyes falling from yours to land on your lips when you were a hair breadth away, his own mouth falling agape as if to follow after you. A smirk crossed your face.

“What are you doing?” Josh asked hoarsely.

He nearly jumped when you swung your leg over his thighs and sat yourself down on his crotch; taken aback by that simple action, his fingers immediately found purchase on your waist. Your palm moved along his body, trailing a path from his belt to his shoulder before pressing to the side of his neck. 

“I’m sick of you bossing me around,” you mumbled. “You really need to shut the fuck up.”

A challenging smile curved his mouth. “Oh, yeah? Make me then.”

The last of his words died right on his tongue when your lips collided with his, coaxing a muffled moan from him. A small noise that didn’t fall short of how surprised it sounded. You moved at a bruising pace, mostly fueled by the testing giggle that slipped from Josh’s lips to yours. It was as if he didn’t take you seriously. 

You buried your fingers in his hair and pulled. He hissed, his head pushing back against the headboard with the force of your hand. Your lips latched onto his neck immediately, not giving him even a second’s worth of recovery. 

His fingers dug and scratched at your body, his chest arched into yours when you sucked his skin between your teeth and he whined something almost incomprehensible – something about this change of course not being totally fair. Josh whimpered through the complaints; one after another as your kisses refused to cease upon his skin. He only became worse when you began slowly grinding against him.

“You’re such a bully.” He whined but his hands pulled you tighter to himself, a silent protest when you stopped to cast him an incredulous glare. “You’re so mean… Meanie. You’re a big meanie, (Y/N).”

“If you think this is mean, you haven’t seen anything, yet.”

You pulled away from him and he grumbled, one hand reaching out with curling fingers grabbing at air, urging you back towards himself. Your eyes remained on his as your hand began fumbling with his belt. 

“Shut up.” You hissed and Josh’s pout twisted into a roguish smile. 

“Right, right. You’re in charge now. My bad.” He nodded animatedly. “Don’t want Master to punish me.”

You made a pause at the title as you undid his jeans. Then you began pulling his cock out. Much slowly than you initially meant to. 

That was an involutory movement, or lack thereof, really, but you couldn’t help it. That word immediately set your core alight. The soft wince that flashed across Josh’s features as you fisted his length didn’t slip your attention – as quickly as it had come and gone. However, He had noticed your small reaction as well.

“Oh, you like it when I call you that? You’re full of surprises, Master.” His eyes had a mischievous glint when you looked at him again, his tongue hooked inside his cheek. “What else are you hiding behind that pretty face, ha?” 

“I won’t repeat myself again, Josh.” You warned.

“Or you’re gonna hurt me? That’s the thing though. I don’t think you can.” You gave him a stern glare but he only continued to pummel you with his taunts. “I’m just too much for you, babe. I don’t think you can handle it.”

You narrowed your eyes, brows drawing close. “Say that one more time.”

Josh leaned forward, his hot breath fanning across your lips and his gaze burning deeply into yours with his smile permanently etched onto his features.

“I said, you… can’t… do shit. There. What are you gonna do about it?”

Your palm flew across his face, meeting his cheek with a stinging slap. His neck tilted to the side from the impact. He slowly turned his eyes back to yours, still broad and riddled with shock. 

“Did you just… hit me?” You responded with another strike of your fingers. He groaned, the rough sound morphing into a moan when you grabbed a fistful of his hair again and pulled harshly at his roots. “Oh, fuckfuckfuck! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up, I promise.”

But you knew better than that. Josh loved to run his mouth until it drove you up the wall. 

You wrapped your hand around his neck and squeezed. Gently, at first. Then the grip quickly grew more and more unforgiving. Josh gasped. His fingers coiled around your wrist but he made no attempt to stop you.

“Oh, fuck—okay.” He laughed breathlessly. “You’re really going for it.”

“Why are you still talking?”

That smothered the words in his throat. He stared at you with his mouth ajar, visible goosebumps running along his arms at the sudden raise of your voice. He nodded fervently as if to finally acknowledge what was being asked of him.

His eyes rolled up into his head when your grip tightened even more, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He gagged and pushed his head back against the headboard. That was when you finally let go only to move down along his body to where his cock sat hard and leaking between your bodies.

You reached for your toy and turned it on again to put it to better use. Josh eyed your movements with a frown. He opened his mouth, almost blurting out the question on his tongue, before he decided against it. He was following your order. Wow. Fucking unbelievable. 

You shot him a grin as you held the dildo over his cock, its vibrating tip barely touching Josh’s flushed one and yet, it still managed to make him flinch. He sucked in a sharp gulp of breath, his fingers clutching at the bedsheets.

“Aw, you’re so sensitive,” you crooned mockingly. “Adorable.”

“This is so not fair.”

“Stop it, Joshy. You’re breaking my heart.” 

He groaned, bucking his hips as you began circling the head of his cock with the vibrator. He was panting and sobbing out frustrated moans; torn between wanting to let you have your way and taking back control. And he could just flip you over and take you like a starved animal but he was already long lost in the throes of pleasure to let his mind take control of his movement. He just needed more and more and more.

Josh’s lips moved slowly, his eyes roaming aimlessly across the span of the ceiling, fingers flexing and unflexing over the bedsheets. Your body uncoiled like a serpentine ready to strike, a knowing look in your glimmering eyes as you cocked your head and cooed at him.

“What is it, sweetheart? Do you wanna say something?”

The words were gentle but your tone – that was what made the hair bristle on the back of his neck. You didn’t mean to be merciful. You had every intention to ruin him and he could hear it seep through the soft glow of your face and your sweet smile. What had he done?

“No.” He croaked. Your brows rose on your forehead. “No?” You echoed. Then you shrugged nonchalantly. “Alright. Then you don’t mind if I use you for myself.”

He shook his head. He meant to say that you already had him; that at this point, whatever you wanted to do to him, he was going to take it eagerly. But you were already changing positions and he resigned to watching you move yourself over his cock. He gasped when he felt the tip of his cock graze your entrance.

“Oh—fuck!” He arched his back and pressed his nails into your waist when you slid to the hilt in one swift pump. “Holy shi—give me a fucking warning first.”

You only smiled and picked yourself up, your hands gripping Josh’s shoulders for balance as you did. He was already shaking; the ordeal of the entire night having taken its toll on him as he teetered dangerously close to the brink. His warm hands cupped your thighs and began guiding you back down, driven by his own impatience.

Quickly, you lost the rhythm as Josh bounced you up and down on his cock. You let him for a while. Until you noticed the telltale signs of his orgasm as his face crumpled and sweat beaded at his brow. That was when you grabbed his wrists and forced him to stop. 

“I was close,” he whimpered. “Why—why did you stop? I was so fucking close.”

You smiled, simply responding, “I know.” You took the buckle of his loosened belt and yanked it out, freeing the slip of leather onto your hand. “Give me your hands.”

Josh hesitantly offered his wrists, already knowing where this was going. You spared a small glance at his reddened face before you began binding him with the belt. Then you lifted yourself and he slipped free from your soaked walls with a groan. 

“Come on,” you patted a hand to the mattress. You were now standing over the edge of the bed, burning eyes staring down at him expectantly. “Lie down for me.” 

He obeyed, slowly shifting until his back was resting against the sheets. His eyes could never linger on you for more than a few seconds. You chuckled at the visible anxiety on his face and watched as the red grew deeper in his cheeks at the little mocking sound.

“Arms over your head. And you better keep them there. Am I clear?” Josh nodded, throat bobbing as he swallowed and raised his bound wrists over his shoulders. You grinned. “Good boy.”

You pulled Josh’s pants off of his legs and tossed them to the floor and he watched you through it silently. Brushing your fingers along his thighs, you eyed the trail of goosebumps racing across his skin from the cold of your touch before your gaze moved to his face and clenched jaw.

“It’s not fair if I’m the only naked one here.”

His eyes followed the graceful movement of your body slowly closing in on his as your shadow towered over him. He lifted his chin in an attempt to capture your lips against his when your face came inches apart but you drew back with a taunting smirk and began unbuttoning his shirt instead, your mouth, going instead to traverse the bare expanse of skin as you revealed them bit by bit – from his neck to his chest, all the way down to his stomach. You only stopped a few breaths shy of his throbbing cock.

You stood again and grabbed hold of his legs, fingers locked securely in the back of his knees before you pulled them apart. The redness had burrowed all the way down to his neck, his legs trembling with anticipation in your clutch. He was truly a sight; spread out so sweetly under you and right at your mercy, ready to be taken and used. All for your own pleasure. All for you. 

It flooded you with something carnal, filling you with such need to put your teeth and nails to his skin and make him cry out your name. You bit your lip and fought to will the raw ask of desire to quiet as you coiled your fingers around Josh’s cock and angled him with your opening. It was much too hard to resist the fast temptation but you managed. The beast should remain asleep for now.

Josh gasped and pushed his head back when your walls engulfed him once more, fingers curled into fists above the restraints. His stomach tightened and released, the muscles rippling gently with twisting pleasure. A strangled moan caught in his throat and his chest hitched with the broken sound. He still kept a sealed tongue.

“Not giving up, yet?” You mocked with a grin and Josh nearly groaned at the offensive quirk of your lips. “All you gotta do is ask, you know.”

His ankles were in your grasp as you thrust your hips against his ass in a long and slow rhythm, each stroke of your warm walls deep and wet and embracing him like a fleshy cocoon. It took him a good minute to shake his head in response to your question and you made an exaggerated moue of disappointment.

If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t trust his voice to not break in his throat if he spoke. This was a new side to you – a much bolder one. Maybe he would even call you cruel with the way you tugged so roughly at his skin and your features contorted into a scowl whenever you let yourself get carried away. It was as though you lost all sense of self in those brief moments and forgot that he was even there to begin with; using him only as a means for your own pleasure.

His eyes flickered to yours for a hesitant instance and found you watching him intently – as if he was going to suddenly collapse into nothing right there on the cheap messy bed; as if you could see the struggle to voice his want. All he had to do was ask. However, he wasn’t certain he was willing to swallow his pride, yet.

“Such a silly girl, (Y/N),” he managed a laugh through heavy huffs of breath. “You think I can’t just break out of this stupid fucking belt?” 

He began struggling against the restraint, his brows fixed into a determined frown. For a moment, you were wholly confident that he wasn’t going to be able to free himself until, much to your horror, you saw the leather grow loose and in time, a knowing smile creep onto his lips.

“Oh, would you look at that?”

Josh grasped the belt in one fist as he pulled his legs back and sat himself up, another hand coming to grab your arm and shove you down onto the mattress. His legs straddled your waist, fingers quickly working to wrap your wrists in the slip of leather as you fought for control. His mocking giggles followed you through your angry grunts and sharp exhales of breath. He leaned back to smile down at you once he was done. Your face was crumpled into a scowl.

“Oh, my god! You look so fucking pissed.” He gave another laugh. A louder one that made you growl and bristle but Josh was quick to pin your arms back down to the mattress. “No, baby. You’re staying down. It’s my turn. Now open your mouth.”

He clenched a hand around his cock and inched himself closer to your face. His tip pressed against your lips, gently prying into their seam. 

“Come on. Be a good girl for me.” He demanded breathlessly, one of his hands sinking into the crown of your hair. “Give me your tongue.”

You finally opened your mouth and let your tongue out right underneath the head of Josh’s cock. He was already leaking and you could taste the clear rivulets dripping down onto your chin. 

He lifted his cock and let it fall back down, the swollen tip meeting your tongue with a delicate wet sound. He repeated the action a few times before you decided to wrap your lips around him, quieting his crazed giggle into a quivery gasp once he sank into the warmth of your mouth, his hand in your hair tightening painfully. 

Your cheeks hollowed as your tongue dragged across the soft skin just beneath the head of his cock, wetness upon wetness pooling like a lucid halo where your mouth embraced Josh. A gentle moan rolled off his lips, his legs already trembling around your head.  

“Oh—fuck!” He sucked in a sharp breath, eyes squeezing shut as his head tilted up, lips ajar. “Your mouth feels incredible, baby. Keep—please keep going. Mmm, yeah, that’s it. Just like that.”

It was easy to ignore the vacancy of air and the growing sting of dryness in your throat as you watched him squirm and struggle for his orgasm. Your scalp burned under his fingernails; your mouth was so full you could only manage a string of muffled moans when he began moving his hips, carefully sliding himself in and out through your lips. 

“Good girl. You’re doing so fucking good for me.” Josh muttered, voice hoarse and quivering. “You can take it deeper, too, can’t you?”

You nodded and that was all the affirmation he needed to up his speed. Enough for your throat to constrict reflexively with every stroke of his cock that grazed it. Tears pricked the corner of your vision as you gagged, fingers twisting tightly over your head. Josh groaned heatedly as he drew hard thrusts. When his eyes met yours, they softened immediately. His hand released your hair to caress your cheek.

“Are you doing alright, sweetheart?”

Your head dipped in agreement as quickly as it could with your mouth stuffed full. Josh smiled softly, his thumb catching a stray tear slipping down across your temple. 

“Such a good puppy.” He sucked the damp pad of his digit between his lips. “Good puppies deserve treats, right? I think you earned yours.”

A soft frown formed at your brows. What exactly was he suggesting?

Josh pulled himself out of your mouth, heaving a small grunt when you released him soundly, thick ropes of glistening fluid oozing down to your chest in return. The sight was enough to make him want to fuck himself back into your throat but he swallowed dryly, reining in his urgent desire. 

“Turn around and get on all fours.” He demanded and you followed, albeit quite awkwardly, your bound wrists leaving very little room for comfortable movement.

You felt the bed sink behind you as Josh hovered over your back, his shadow filling your periphery and the skin of your behind tingling beneath his warm fingertips. Soon you felt the familiar throbbing tip of his cock prying into your folds and heard the sensitive, delicate moan that slipped past his lips. 

He was so fucking close. That much was evident for you. You could almost feel the needy twitching of his shaft as he burrowed deep inside you, his pace already maddening and erratic. He panted heavily behind you, his fingers digging imprints into your waist, nails scratching mercilessly at the skin. His once clear praises and curses turned muddled and strung lazily together.

Your walls fluttered as your core gave way to shuddering heat and engulfed you like a licking flame but Josh’s speed wasn’t enough for it to take over.

“Are you close?” He croaked. “I can feel you squeezing me. Say you wanna cum for me and I’ll let you.” 

No way you were going to do that. You were never going to be the first to beg and if tonight, Josh refused to give into you, you weren’t going to be the one who did it instead. You shook your head vigorously though you weren’t sure he could see it.

“Come on. Let me hear you beg for it.” 

But just as he kept a tight lip over the seemingly simple request earlier, you did exactly the same. Dignity blocking the opening for the floodgate. 

Soon he was brimming you whole with warmth, his trembling cry echoing in the room that followed immediately as his cum filled you in heaps. He fell into the grasp of his own climax before he could give you yours. But who was really at fault here?

Josh remained inside you as his breathing slowed, only pulling out when he calmed down enough for his vision to cease churning before his eyes. You heard his low hiss as his cock let you go and his fingers eased upon your skin; all before he was turning you around to face him again. His fingers gripped your chin firmly.

“So, you wanna be stubborn like that?”

“Two can play at one game, sweetheart.” You smiled, sickly sweet.

“Is that so?” He drawled. A mischievous smirk quirked his lips. It was the softest smile you’ve seen him don tonight and it made your heart stagger. “Lie down.”

You arched a brow at him but he met your defiance with a palm against your shoulder, promptly pushing you down against the mattress. 

Josh was between your legs again, now holding them apart and slowly descending his mouth to your yearning cunt. His eyes bore into yours, waiting for the flicker of reaction that was bound to sweep across your features once his tongue claimed you.

And sure enough, it did; face distorting with a flash of plea and need before you forced yourself to play indifference. However, you were well aware. You were just as desperate to cum as he was moments prior. But you were still too prideful to speak it. And Josh was too prideful to let you go without making you admit to it first.

His mouth was torture upon you. Each lap of his tongue slow and deliberate; each time he cupped his lips around you showy and intentional. He knew very well what he was doing to you and what you were denying yourself of. But pride was the heavy burden in the way. But it was getting harder and harder to resist its temptation as you hurtled towards your orgasm. That matter, he knew all too well as well.

“It’s easier to give in, baby.” He mumbled against you. “Just say the words and I’ll let you cum.”

Your lips fluttered, words wishing to escape but your tongue refusing to allow for any way. However, your resolve was waning frighteningly fast. You were quickly caving in under the pressure of your dire need for precious release. You were so close to falling over the edge and now, you could no longer even remember what was holding you back.

“I wanna – I wanna cum.” You squeaked out.

A playful hum vibrated on his tongue. “You can do better than that.”

“Please—” Your voice rose an octave, face burning with humiliation as you tried again. “Please let me cum.”

“Say ‘please make me cum, Master’.”

“You gotta be fucking with me.” Josh slowed almost to a stop at that and you nearly cried out in desperation, stammering to correct yourself. “Shit—okay. Fine. Please make me cum, Master. Please—just—just let me fucking finish.”

You felt him grin against you. “That’s better.”

Josh increased his pace and all the pent up pressure of the night leapt to the forefront, lurching like a rapidly webbing net within your core. You writhed and mewled as he accompanied you with the slick noises of his mouth and his own breathless gasps of moan. 

At long last, you collapsed into spiraling pleasure. The room rang with the aftershock of your orgasm; shallow breaths turning calm, rapid heartbeats growing more measured. Josh scattered gentle kisses across the length of your body until his lips were upon yours, pressing upon you with delicacy.

He pulled you on top of him as he laid down, his arm twisting around your back. His hand sank in your hair, the threads slipping in and out through his long fingers. The cool waft of his breaths brushed the top of your head in time with the even rise and fall of his chest and every light pulse of his heart. 

It felt oddly domestic lying with you like this. As if you’d done this many times before. As if you’d spent so many nights together on the same bed, counting the dark specks on the ceiling under a weak yellow light. So, Josh had to make sure he wasn’t the only feeling this way. 

“So, where do we go from here?” He asked, voice roiled with uncertainty. 

He continued to comb through your hair, only stopping when you lifted your head to smile at him – a genuine smile. It ignited a beacon of hope in the pit of his heart, making his reflect the sweet twist of your lips.

“I’m still going on that date.”

“What?” Josh shrieked, his face stricken with a look of horror. “Are you serious?”

You shrugged, giggling. 

“It’s not fucking funny.”

“It’s funny to me.” You grinned, your lip rolling back between your teeth. “You’re so cute when you’re jealous.”

His eyes narrowed into slits, brows drawing close with suspicion. “I fucking knew it.” He muttered before he was flipping you over and getting on top of you again.

Your eyes blew wide, hands pressed to his shoulders for darling balance. Josh glared down at you though the hard look seemed far from resentful. His eyes twinkled through his unkempt fringe, the green dark and mischievous. 

“You’re gonna give him a call now and cancel tonight’s plans.” He said as he took your wrists and held them by your head down on the bed. “I’m nowhere near done with you.”

“Is that a warning?” You chuckled.

A crooked smile sat in the corner of his mouth. “It’s a fucking promise.”

[ravenstargames]

Could you explain what lost in Limbo is?

*JAZZ HANDS* ✨ AHEM!! Glad you asked, anon! I will assume you are not familiar with visual novels (for the sake of answering the question as best as I can if anyone else stumbles upon this ask), so let's break down Lost in Limbo to its basics! If you have any more doubts, you can always send another ask! 💜

*Also friendly reminder that English is not my first language and I also suck at explaining things, so I'll do my best ; v ;

✦ Lost in Limbo is a dark-fantasy romance visual novel...

As the title says! A visual novel is a videogame genre mostly defined by its interactive nature and for heavily leaning into its narrative aspects. It's like reading a 'choose your own adventure' book but seeing 'everything' that is happening on the screen. Interactive fiction, they also call it!

You basically play through a story, reading it, having visual depictions of the characters and the places as the story happens*, and you can usually change the story's outcome or some other aspects like relationships via choices or other forms of interaction. There's usually a couple of different endings to the 'same' story!

*Not all visual novels have choices, or have all their characters / scenarios depicted, etc. There's a lot of ways to do a visual novel!

Lost in Limbo is focused on the romance / fantasy genre, and the story takes place in a fictional world you'll explore as you play. You'll be able to experience the story through seven different 'routes', meaning you'll have to choose a character to romance and find more about the story and the cast through that very same romance. This kind of visual novels are often referred to as 'otome', 'amare', or 'dating-sim'. Each term has its differences so if you are interested, I suggest doing some research on them!

To keep this short, you can learn more about LiL in our Masterpost! Which needs another update!

If you are curious about this kind of games, you can check out different 'otome' games / dating sims on itch.io, Steam, and even the Nintendo Shop! OR TUMBLR!! Here are some personal recommendations of fellow indie devs that are working / have worked very hard on their projects!

✦ Alaris and Intertwine by Crescence Studio

✦ Made Marion by Velvet Cupcake Games

✦ Trouble Comes Twice by Foxglove Games

✦ Save the Villainess by Best Laid Plans Productions

✦ 3 Seasons by Hamilton Hour

So yep! A game. Interactive fiction game. You romance some hotties. You play through a story. You can die a few times and things can go downhill in numerous ways. You solve some mysteries and hopefully immerse yourself in the story. And a few more things!

[blood-choke]

Oh my God wait I have more to say on that. If you need the full scene I'm quoting: https://youtu.be/63708PykTcg?si=Bws3wyRs_TkyxPaH prepare for a lot of yapping

Hear me out. It's the "I don't like to share." Val has made it v clear she doesn't like the thought of sharing mc with Hana and clear bc of her own fears and anxiety surrounding her relationship with mc who remembers nothing about their life together.

and the "what about antionette?" "It's different I don't have feelings for her." Hana feels like the antionette to val bc, and these are just my thoughts from reading, we can see that val does care for Hana to some degree but never to the degree that she does with mc. Or maybe she does and just hides it to keep from getting attached like she was with mc and keeping Hana safe from being another one of the councils victims 🤔

And lastly the "that's bc you TOOK my life" is really getting my brain going. Especially since we see mc begin to question whether or not she wanted this life. Like, the potential behind it is putting me through the wall rn

Anyways you don't have to respond to any of this I just wanted to yap and share these thoughts bc BOY does blood choke get me thinking

hehehe yes i do think Valentina can be quite similar to Lestat in some aspects, particularly with her relationship with mc.

and you're right, she does care about Hana... in her own fucked up way. she keeps her more at a distance than she ever did mc because of that loss, which she is still mourning (even now with the mc back. she's not the mc she remembers) and she just was never able to open herself up completely to Hana. Valentina has treated both Hana and the mc terribly in the past (and the mc, at least, treated her just as bad, too, while Hana more or less just took it silently). she does care about Hana, but with the mc-shaped hole in her chest, she isn't sure how to express it, and now that the mc is back, she feels conflicted about her feelings & wants to show her devotion solely to the mc. and obviously she will get jealous of Hana (or Clear) because unless the mc brings it up, she won't share. exactly because of her anxieties (the loss of memories and how that may lead to mc choosing someone else completely) and she's actually fearful that the mc may judge her or be angry herself about Valentina's relationship with Hana (the mc was a jealous person in her past life). obviously their relationship was never Perfect, but Valentina is definitely being crueler to Hana than she ever has been before, almost like she's "showing off" for the mc, and even trying to drive Hana away. (you can potentially call her out on this in the next chapter)

and because of this Hana is realizing that even though she took the abuse and was always there for Valentina, it doesn't matter; mc is back and that's all Valentina cares about. (even if it's not necessarily 100% true-- to Hana, all she feels is that she's being discarded). that's what prompts her confrontation/conversation with the mc in ch3.

going forward there's a chance for this to change, depending on how the mc approaches the two. even if you're not romancing Hana in the poly there are still opportunities to include her (or exclude her, if you want. you can explore that route, too) and with the mc back, Valentina can potentially open herself up more to Hana than she was able to before, platonically or romantically, with mc's urging.

honestly i feel that Hana was more directly inspired by aspects of Claudia's character than Valentina with Lestat (they just happen to be similarly obsessed with mc/Louis respectively). and while i don't necessarily like to say one choice is "bad" i will say being cruel to Hana does have consequences. but i'm still writing it because i want that to be an option to explore specifically with Hana's character, and i don't necessarily want it to feel like a punishment to the player, but this game isn't exactly a feel-good game, and i do plan to make it hurt. lol

and as for your last point... yes it IS interesting. we'll probably never know if the mc was really consenting at that time (can any human really consent when eternal life is beyond their scope of understanding?) and it just adds another fuzzy layer to the messy onion that is her relationship with Valentina.

[kckt88]

Drowning Inside You VI

Summary:

Aemond and Valaera set boundaries, and live a fruitful life on Driftmark.

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!

Warning(s): 5 Year Time Skip, Inner thoughts, Language, Kissing, Smut, P in V, Breeding Kink, Knotting, Mild Angst, Possessive Behaviour, Child Birth. Epilogue

Word Count: 7850

Author Note: An Alpha/Omega Story.

P.S - Some Scenes/Dialogue from Dynasty has been reused.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the House of The Dragon or Fire & Blood characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used.

Comments, likes, and reblogs are very much appreciated.

“So, as it stands the potential agreement is when the children reach the appropriate age, they will enter a period of courtship and if at the end they do not wish to marry for whatever reason then the betrothal will be broken and Vaella will be free to pursue her own match,” said Valaera.

“Not to mention we have their presentations to consider, it’s not going to work if both Jaehaerys and Vaella present as Alpha’s or Omega’s” replied Aemond.

“As for Vhalarr, the same conditions apply” muttered Valaera.

“I’m fairly certain he will be an Alpha” said Aemond.

“How can you be sure?” asked Valaera.

“It’s very subtle but he already has a scent, similar to that of my own. Vaella smells sweet, like you” exclaimed Aemond.

“So, your saying she might be an Omega?”

“It’s possible but we would have to wait until presentation age to be sure” said Aemond.

Valaera knew in part that Aemond was right, Vhalarr did smell similar to his Alpha father and Vaella sometimes smelled like freshly baked cakes.

“Are we doing the right thing?” mused Valaera.

“Politically a match between Jaehaerys and Vaella makes sense. Our daughter would be the Queen and our grandchild would be heir, but I must admit that I wish to wait until our pups are older. Let them be children first” muttered Aemond.

“Then we wait” replied Valaera firmly.

“Are you sure about that?” asked Aemond.

“Our pups, our choice. My mother might not like it, but your right. Our pups should grow free of expectations”.

“So, it’s decided then” said Aemond.

“Yes, we are declining the betrothal until the children are older” replied Valaera sternly.

When they first moved to Driftmark, Valaera was shy and unsure of her abilities as future Lady of the Tides, but now she was really coming into her own. When she wasn’t looking after the children she was pouring over documents and checking trade routes, she would accompany Lord Corlys to Spice Town and oversee the ships and she even managed to broker a deal with silk merchants in Lys.

Aemond was insanely proud of his Omega.

That day she sat on the Driftwood Throne in the Hall of Nine called out the Queen for her poor decision making was something Aemond would never forget.

Despite all the ‘Strong’ jokes, Valaera was where she truly belonged and if truth be told, Aemond thoroughly enjoyed it when his Omega would become stern and serious. It made him incredibly hard, and he loved fucking Valaera on every available surface.

When he was younger, Aemond admittedly never had an interest in sex. He would often think that there was something wrong with him. He had that one experience on the street of silk on his thirteenth name day and wasn’t keen to repeat it.

But when it came to Valaera, it was all she could think about. Never had he known such desire before; his cock would get hard at the mere thought of his sweet Omega.

Every night he would lay with Valaera, sometimes more than once. His hunger for his mate was insatiable.

Just this morning, Aemond had thoroughly enjoyed himself as Valaera climbed on top of him and rode him like an unclaimed dragon.

“There. Finished” declared Valaera proudly breaking Aemond about of his reverie.

“W-What?” asked Aemond trying to ignore his cock growing hard in his breeches.

“Our official response to the Queen regarding the betrothal,” said Valaera.

“Y-You’ve included me” muttered Aemond as he quickly scanned the letter.

“Of course, your my future consort Lord and the father of our pups. Your opinion matters”

Was it possible to fall in love with the same person over and over again?

Aemond leaned towards his Omega and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

Yes. Yes, it was.

“I guess she didn’t take it well?” asked Aemond.

“No, she thinks you’re to blame” replied Aegon.

“I thought as much” muttered Aemond.

“Apparently you have too much influence over Valaera”

“Oh, piss off. Valaera is more than capable of making her own decisions” retorted Aemond.

“Of course, she is, but you know what our sister’s like. There’s always someone else to blame for her failings” exclaimed Aegon.

“I just want my pups to have a better upbringing than I did. Is that so wrong?”

“Not at all brother. Nothing will ever change unless we’re the ones that make those changes, I’m just glad someone finally has the balls to stand up and do it” said Aegon.

“How’s things with you and your Lord Strong?” asked Aemond.

“Good actually, he agreed with your reasons for refusing the betrothal” admitted Aegon.

“That is surprising. I assumed he would have agreed with his mother”.

“You’re not the only one. Should have seen Rhaenyra’s face when Jace told her that he accepted your reasons for declining” laughed Aegon.

“Maybe next time she’ll think before she opens her mouth”.

“Oh, she definitely knows she made a mistake. Jace has only just started talking to her again” said Aegon smiling.

“Did she apologise?”

“Yes, she did. It was glorious” said Aegon laughing.

“What about Daemon?” mused Aemond.

“Nothing to tell. The cuntstruck dog doesn’t really do much, which I must admit does disappoint me. There was everyone thinking that he’d be a second Maegor and yet he’s so boring. No drama, nothing” said Aegon shrugging.

“How’s mother?”

“As well as expected, she’s currently visiting Daeron in Old Town” replied Aegon.

“I keep meaning to invite him for a visit, but he’s spent so long in Old Town that he feels like a stranger” muttered Aemond.

“He’s our brother and yet it’s almost like he doesn’t exist”.

“So, are you going to tell me why you made an unannounced visit, or shall I guess?” asked Aemond.

“I just fancied seeing my little brother” replied Aegon sheepishly.

“Now I know that’s a lie” muttered Aemond.

“Actually, it isn’t. I just wanted to talk to someone other than Jace” admitted Aegon.

“Is he really that bad?” laughed Aemond.

“No, but since you and Helaena left the Red Keep there isn’t really anyone to keep me company. Joffrey is a total bore. Aegon and Viserys are too young, and my own children are not exactly great at conversation. I just miss you brother” muttered Aegon quietly.

“You know you’re welcome here anytime, right?”

“I appreciate that. Now can I see Valaera sitting on the Driftwood Throne?” asked Aegon.

“Why?”

“I want to see what Rhaenyra meant when she said Valaera looked like a totally different person sitting on her throne with her loyal consort by her side” said Aegon brightly.

“Now I see what Rhaenyra meant. She does look different” said Aegon as he stared at Valaera sitting on the Driftwood Throne.

“Not that different surely?” muttered Aemond feeling absolutely ridiculous at fulfilling Aegon’s request.

“Trust me brother, she looks positively delicious. I can see why your so obsessed with her”.

“You’re not serious?” gasped Aemond.

“Those Strong genes are really something aren’t they”.

“Don’t you dare” growled Aemond.

“I mean we could always figure something out; I could always lend you Jace granted he’s an Alpha but there are other pleasures to be had”.

That lecher. That vile fiend. Lusting after my Omega. I’m going to kill him.

“I bet you’ve fucked her on it haven’t you?”

“Halt your vulgarity” snarled Aemond.

“Oh, you have. You really are a whore” laughed Aegon as he turned on his heel and ran out of the Hall of Nine.

“I’m going to kill you” shouted Aemond as he ran after his older brother, leaving Valaera sitting on the Driftwood Throne looking utterly confused at what had just happened.

-Five Years Later-

“A son my Prince”

“I-Is he ok?” asked Valaera as Maester Selkin placed the crying pup in her arms.

“Perfectly healthy” replied the Maester smiling.

“A-Aemond look at him, he’s perfect” cooed Valaera.

“He is beautiful. Well done Issa dōna” replied Aemond proudly. (My sweet)

My pup has his mother’s face. But he has my silver hair.

“W-What shall we call him?” asked Valaera.

“Aerion” replied Aemond the tears streaming down his face.

I am so proud of my Omega. Our pup. Our beautiful little boy.

“Oh, Alpha it’s a wonderful name for our pup” gasped Valaera.

“Aerion Targaryen” exclaimed Aemond happily.

“S-Should you like to hold him?

“I would love to” muttered Aemond as his newborn pup was placed in his arms.

Valaera would never get tired of the look on her Alpha’s face as he cradled their tiny pup in his arms.

Such love and devotion.

As Aemond held their newly born son, Valaera was cleaned up and checked over by the Maester who declared her healthy, and once she was settled back into bed the Omega requested their other pups be brought so they could meet their new brother.

After a few moments, the door slowly opened, and four small faces peered in.

“Children, come and meet Aerion” urged Valaera softly.

Vhalarr was the first to approach, his amethyst eyes wide with wonder.

“He looks like Mother” whispered Vhalarr.

“But has father’s hair” gasped Vaella.

“Aemon my Issa byka zaldrīzes. Have a look” offered Aemond as he crouched down (My little dragon).

Aemon stared at his baby brother for a moment, and then he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Aerion’s head.

“Ryn, be careful” urged Aemond as his three-year-old pup began clambering up the bed.

“She’s ok, aren’t you Dōna hāedar” muttered Valaera as she drew their daughter into her embrace and held her tight (Sweet girl).

It must be overwhelming for Ryn; she is no longer the youngest of our pups. We must make sure she does not feel pushed out.

As the older pups surrounded Aemond and their new brother. Valaera thought back to when Ryn was born and how stubborn she was.

I was in labour for hours, far longer than any of the other pups. As worried as he was, Aemond had remained steadfast at his side, holding his hand the entire time. But she came, all pink and healthy.

They had named her Saeryna, but when Aemon had first met her, he could not properly say her name, so he kept calling her Ryn and the nickname eventually stuck. Admittedly at first Aemond did not like it, but he eventually gave in when he realised that Ryn was all she responded too.

Their second daughter looked a lot like Vhalarr, dark hair and amethyst eyes. She was so beautiful as was Vaella and Aemond was already sharpening his swords in preparation for any attention they would receive. The Alpha was weak for both of his daughters, and he was not ashamed to admit it either, which made Valaera smile.

“Muña. Avy jorrāelan” whispered Ryn (Mother, I love you).

“I love you too my darling” replied Valaera pressing a kiss to her daughters curly hair.

“I think someone wants feeding” exclaimed Aemond as he passed Aerion to Valaera.

“W-What is Aerion doing?” asked Ryn.

“He’s having his milk” replied Aemond.

“From Muña?”

“Yes, my sweet girl, all of you had milk from your mother” muttered Aemond.

“Do you have milk Kepa?”

“No, I do not, only those who birth pups have milk” said Aemond.

“How do mother’s even get pups?” asked Aemon.

This conversation is not happening. No. I refuse to acknowledge its existence.

“Do they just appear one day?”

“An Alpha puts them there” exclaimed Vhalarr.

“Wait. How did you know that?” asked Valaera.

“I heard you ask father to give you a pup and then one day you had Aerion in your tummy.”

Oh my god. I cannot believe he just said that.

“Yes, well mayhaps this conversation should take place when your older” muttered Aemond.

“Why?” asked Vaella tilting her head to the side.

“Because you’re a little young at the moment” said Aemond closing his eye and taking a deep breath.

“But I am almost seven name days old” retorted Vaella.

“Add another fifty million name days onto that and then I might think about telling you.”

“Oh, Kepa your being very silly” laughed Vaella (Father).

“You know what else is silly?” asked Aemond smiling.

“No what?”

“The tickle monster” exclaimed Aemond as he grabbed hold of Vaella and began tickling her.

Vaella’s delighted squeals of laughter echoed around the chamber and soon all of the children were set upon by the dangerous tickle monster.

Valaera loved watching her Alpha with their pups. The Alpha’s love for their family was boundless, and every day Valaera was thankful to have been blessed in such a manner.

Suddenly a knock at the door broke the tickle monsters reign of terror and Aegon appeared.

“UNCLE AEGON”

“Oh, my so many children at once” gasped Aegon as he was set upon by Vhalarr, Vaella, Aemon and Ryn.

“Good to see you brother” said Aemond as he resumed his seat on the bed next to Valaera.

“Looks like I arrived just in time” replied Aegon.

“Come, meet your nephew Aerion” said Valaera proudly.

“I thought you was naming him Aegon.”

“Since when was that ever an option” groused Aemond.

“Well, I am your favourite brother” replied Aegon.

“Your my only-“

Wait, hang on that isn’t right. Oh, yeah Daeron. I forgot about him.

“Is Jace here?” asked Valaera.

“Yeah, he’s with Baela and Helaena. There’s lots of children there too” said Aegon.

“Some of those children are yours” exclaimed Valaera.

“I know but don’t tell anyone” joked Aegon.

Aemond shook his head slightly and then sent for Tarla to collect the children.

The children’s nanny soon appeared and took the excited pups to see their cousins.

“Do you want to hold Aerion?”

“Oh, go on then, been a while since I’ve held a babe” replied Aegon happily as he took hold of Aerion and rocked him gently.

“Jace has brought an egg for your pup. Rhaenar chose it. I hope that’s ok?”

“It’s fine we’ll have it placed with Aerion later” said Aemond.

“Are you ok Aegon?” asked Valaera.

“I’m fine, just things can be a bit full on at times” muttered Aegon.

“You know your more than welcome to stay here whenever you like” offered Aemond.

“I know, thank you brother” replied Aegon.

Aemond knew that his brother was easily overwhelmed by the demands of being a mother and whilst he knew that Aegon loved his pups, he also knew that his brother sometimes needed a break.

“Word of warning though brother. If any of my pups start asking where pups come from, don’t you dare tell them” warned Aemond.

“Would I?” laughed Aegon.

Aemond and Valaera exchanged a knowing glance before quickly changing the subject.

A few days later, Valaera was back on her feet after the birth of Aerion and happily celebrating with her family.

“Welcome to the world, Prince Aerion Targaryen” declared Lord Corlys proudly.

Valaera smiled as cups were raised to her grandsire’s toast.

“Is the Queen not joining us?” asked Rhaenys curiously.

“No, important matters at court, but she did invite us to Kings Landing to celebrate when I’m capable of travel” replied Valaera.

“Just make sure you give yourself sufficient time to heal” said Rhaenys.

Valaera smiled and spied Aemond out of the corner of her eye nodding in agreement.

After their quarrel with her mother regarding the betrothal of Jaehaerys to Vaella, her Alpha mostly avoided having contact with the Queen unless he absolutely had to speak to her.

Valaera usually did most of the talking anyway, but even her relationship with his mother had noticeable cooled, especially when she dared to make a back hand request that both him and Aemond should apologise for openly disrespecting her in front of the noble lords.

Valaera outright refused and Aemond promptly told the Queen to stuff her request where the sun doesn’t shine and never in his life will he apologise for defending his own rights as a parent.

It had taken almost five years for Aemond to stop growling every time the Queen was mentioned.

“I just want to say thank you to Rhaenar for choosing Aerion’s dragon egg, I’m sure it will hatch into a fine dragon” said Valaera brightly.

“Your welcome Auntie Valaera” muttered Rhaenar shyly.

“Jaehaerys, will you stop winding your sister up” chided Jace sternly.

“Sorry father” exclaimed Jaehaerys as Maela stuck her tongue out.

“Speaking of dragon’s have your pups named theirs yet?” asked Jace.

“Yes, they have. But I’ll let them tell you" replied Valaera.

“My dragon is called Sapphyre” said Vaella proudly.

“Unusual name for a dragon” muttered Baela.

“Says the one who called her dragon Moondancer” retorted Aemond smirking.

“Oh, shut up” exclaimed Baela.

“I called my dragon Melarx, in honour of Meleys and Arrax” said Vhalarr.

"Silver" declared Ryn proudly.

“Vhagon, in honour of my father’s dragon,” said Aemon.

“Shocking, not one of you in the bunch thought to honour my Sunfyre, the most beautiful dragon to ever grace the skies” gasped Aegon.

“My father rides the largest dragon in the world. Vhagar is the Queen of the sky she flew alongside Balerion and Meraxes” said Aemon proudly.

“Why am I not surprised that your son knows that” said Aegon.

“My pups education is important, as is their knowledge of our family history” replied Aemond.

“Is Aerion named after Aegon the conquerors father?” asked Vhalarr.

“Yes, he is” exclaimed Aemond.

“The next pup better be named after me” declared Aegon.

“Who says were having anymore? We already have five” asked Valaera.

“Piss off, I’m betting you’ll have more. My brother can’t keep his knot out of your cunny”

“AEGON” shouted Valaera.

“Mother what’s a cunny?” asked Vaella.

Valaera didn’t have the chance to respond as Aemond had launched himself out of his chair and chased Aegon out of the dining room.

“You want to what?” asked Valaera.

“Renew our wedding vows” replied Aemond.

“A-Aemond. Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. Ao issi se jorrāelagon hen issa glaeson, and it would please me greatly to marry you all over again with our pups by our side” said Aemond (You are the love of my life).

“C-Could we have the ceremony here on Driftmark?”

“We can have it wherever you like my love” said Aemond as he wrapped his arms around his Omega and held him close.

“I would like to have Valyrian ceremony on the beach” whispered Valaera.

“Sounds perfect” muttered Aemond.

My Alpha. My love. He wants to marry me again. I am truly blessed to have him by my side.

“Shall we arrange for it to take place in two moons time, that way people have plenty of notice” suggested Valaera.

“Good idea. I’m fairly certain Helaena will help you with any arrangements and formalities, we’ll obviously need the traditional Valyrian robes, I might ask Rhaenys to acquire those”.

“We can ask the cooks to prepare the same food we had at our first wedding” exclaimed Valaera positively gleeful.

“As long as we have decent wine this time, not that piss we had before” retorted Aemond.

“I didn’t take you for much of a wine drinker” mused Valaera.

“I’m not, but if I’m going to have to deal with Aegon and your mother there’s no way I’m doing that totally sober” muttered Aemond.

Valaera let out a little giggle and buried her face in her Alpha’s chest.

“Come let us tell the pups,” said Valaera.

“I thought you were already married?” asked Vhalarr.

“We are, but sometimes when two people love one another they can get married again”.

“-And this time, you’ll be there with us,” said Valaera.

“You pups mean everything to us and we want to share this with you” said Aemond.

“Can we help you to plan it mother?” asked Vaella.

“Of course, you can, I’m counting on my sweet girls to walk with me on the day,” said Valaera.

“What about us?” asked Aemon.

“I’d like you to stand with your father if that’s ok, we might have to get Aunt Helaena to hold Aerion, but I want all my pups close” replied Valaera.

“Help mama” said Ryn in a sing song voice.

“That’s my girl” said Valaera as he gently stroked Ryn’s hair.

“Let’s get started on the list of people to invite. I wonder if there’s anyone around here that can help” mused Aemond as he pretended to look around the room.

“We can help” shrieked Vaella.

“Oh, I don’t know are you sure?” replied Aemond smiling as he tapped his chin.

“Yes” yelled Vaella.

“Well, I guess I’ve found all of my helpers” said Aemond brightly.

As Valaera fed Aerion, she happily watched as their remaining pups crowded around their Alpha father and began reeling off a list of names.

“Uncle Aegon” bellowed Ryn.

“Are you sure?” asked Aemond.

“Yes, love Uncle Aegon” said Ryn brightly.

As much as Aemond loathed his brother’s lack of morals and decency, he had a very close relationship with his children, particularly Ryn. She adored Aegon and would always seek his company when he came to visit Driftmark.

“Don’t forget my mother” muttered Valaera.

“Are you sure?” asked Aemond.

“We have to invite her; I don’t wish for any more arguments” said Valaera quietly.

“There’s also my mother and Daeron” replied Aemond.

“Don’t forget about my brothers and Rhaena” mused Valaera.

“Hm”

After almost an hour the list was finished, it also included the names of all the pups dragons at the insistence of Ryn who smiled with delight when Aemond gave into her request.

Aemond wrapped his arms around Ryn and lifted her into his arms, her tiny fingers fiddled with the straps of his eyepatch before she slipped it off his head.

“Gevie” whispered Ryn as she placed a gentle kiss on the scared cheek of her father.

Aemond had previously been reluctant to show any of his pups what lurked under the eyepatch, but after Vaella had accidently pulled it off when she was a babe, there was no hiding the sapphire. Aemond had always believed people were terrified of his scar and he waited for his pups to react in terror but neither Vhalarr nor Vaella turned away. Sure, they were curious, but they never looked at their Alpha father with anything but love.

So, with every pup that was born after, Aemond made sure to keep the eyepatch off as much as he could, and he was beyond touched the day Vaella had announced that she was naming her dragon Sapphyre in his honour.

When he was younger Aemond never envisioned himself as a father. The thought of having pups terrified him. But now as he was surrounded by his pups, he knew there was no other place he’d rather be.

“Issa dōna hāedar” whispered Aemond (My sweet girl).

“Avy jorrāelan kepa” muttered Ryn as she snuggled into Aemond and closed her eyes (I love you father).

“I think it’s the pups bedtime” said Valaera as she placed Aerion in his crib.

“But mother I’m not tired” moaned Aemon.

“Right, come on. Bedtime” said Aemond sternly.

“Yes father” muttered Aemon quietly.

Tarla soon appeared to help see the children to bed and rather than disturb Ryn, Aemond insisted on putting her to bed himself.

Valaera called for bath to be prepared and by the time Aemond returned to their chambers, she was already sinking into the hot lavender water.

“Care to join me, Alpha?”

Aemond didn’t need asking twice as he quickly pulled off his breeches and tunic and slid into the water behind Valaera.

Valaera relaxed against Aemond and closed her eyes.

“Do you know how much I love you” whispered Aemond.

“I’m not sure. Perhaps you should remind me” giggled Valaera as her Alpha lathered soap on her body.

“My sweet mate. My Laera” muttered Aemond as he began peppering kisses on the back of Valaera’s neck whilst he continued to run his soapy hands all over his mates body.

“My Alpha. My love” gasped Valaera.

“Your mine. Forever” said Aemond.

Valaera lifted her hips and reached behind him to take hold of Aemond’s already hard cock.

My perfect mate. My one love. My Everything.

After teasing her Alpha with a few slow strokes, Valaera lowered herself onto his cock.

Aemond groaned loudly when Valaera was fully seated in his lap, his hands grasping his Omega’s hips tightly as she began to move.

My mate is beautiful. All wet and slick.

Valaera gripped the sides of the bathtub for support as Aemond began thrusting into her.

That’s it my sweet, take me. Take all of me.

The water splashed over the edge as the force of Aemond’s thrusts increased.

I love fucking my Omega from behind. So perfect.

Valaera rocked her hips backwards in time with Aemond’s thrusts.

Gods, I will never tire of feeling my Omega’s tight wet heat wrapped around me.

Valaera’s loud moans echoed around their bed chambers as she felt Aemond’s knot tugging on her.

“A-Aemond. Yes. Yes. A-Alpha” whined Valaera as Aemond shifted slightly and began thrusting deeper inside her.

“I want to stuff my knot deep inside your cunny and never leave” moaned Aemond.

“Aemond. P-Please” cried Valaera as she felt his Alpha sucking on her mating mark.

“Take it. Take all of me” groaned Aemond.

Valaera began convulsing around him, making the sweetest noises as Aemond began fucking her harder.

Aemond held Valaera tight to him as he stuffed his knot inside his Omega.

That’s it. Take my knot.

Valaera shuddered and sagged against Aemond as they were locked together by his knot.

“My love. My sweet” exclaimed Aemond as Valaera began to purr softly.

Valaera felt like he’d barely blinked, and their second wedding was upon them.

Aemond and Rhaenys had successfully acquired the traditional Valyrian robes, the invitations had been sent out and now Driftmark was packed with people and dragons alike.

True to his word, Aemon and Vhalarr were with Aemond.

Aerion was with Helaena and Baela.

Her sweet girls Vaella and Ryn were with her, wearing pretty cream and red dresses, with decorative flowers fastened in their hair.

“You look very beautiful mother” exclaimed Vaella.

“Thank you, my sweet girl,” replied Valaera blushing slightly.

A soft knock sounded on the door and then Rhaenyra appeared clutching something covered by a thin cloth.

“Your Grace” whispered Valaera as she bowed respectfully.

“I might be the Queen, but I am still your mother” replied Rhaenyra.

“Apologise mother,” said Valaera.

“Grandma. Mother pretty” cooed Ryn.

“I agree, your mother is very pretty” said Rhaenyra smiling brightly.

“W-What do you have there?” asked Valaera.

“It’s the traditional headdress for a Valyrian ceremony, I wore it on my wedding to Daemon and now you shall wear it” said Rhaenyra as she removed the cloth and began placing the ornate circlet on Valaera’s head.

“I remember you looked so beautiful that day” whispered Valaera.

“Thank you my sweet one, and you look just as beautiful today” exclaimed Rhaenyra.

After her mother had finished attaching the headdress, Valaera turned to the looking glass and gasped. Shee truly looked like a vision of old Valyria.

I wonder what Aemond looks like in his traditional robes.

“I-I wish to apologise Valaera”.

“Mother?” questioned Valaera.

“It was wrong of me to betroth Vaella and Jaehaerys without talking to you and Aemond first. I did not wish for this rift to grow between us. I love you my darling and I just want you to be happy, I want my grandchildren to be happy,” said Rhaenyra.

“I am happy mother. Immeasurably so” replied Valaera.

“I know that me and my brother will not always get on. But I am thankful that he loves you as fiercely as he does. He is a devoted husband and a loving father” muttered Rhaenyra.

“Aemond means the world to me mother. He is my twin flame-“

“-And you were always meant to burn together” said Rhaenyra smiling.

“I love you mother. Never forget that”.

“I love you too sweet girl. Now, let’s get you married. Again” replied Rhaenyra.

Valaera took a deep shuddering breath and then held both of her daughters hands.

“I-I’m ready” said Valaera firmly.

This time there was no fear.

There was only love.

Valaera’s heart leaped with joy at the sight of Aemond and their sons standing at the altar.

“īlon jorrāelan muña” whispered Vaella (We love you mother).

“Avy jorrāelan tolī issa dōna hāedari” replied Valaera (I love you too my sweet girls).

“Kepa iksos gevie” said Ryn (Father is beautiful).

“I agree my darling he truly is” exclaimed Valaera happily.

Aemond of course was dressed in the matching traditional robes, but his long silver hair was unbound and hung loosely around his shoulders. He’d also removed his eyepatch, his sapphire on full display, twinkling in the sunlight.

Vhalarr and Aemon were standing proud next to their father wearing matching outfits of red, cream and gold, their hair braided and tidy.

“Y-You look beautiful” whispered Aemond as Valaera approached.

“As do you my love” replied Valaera.

“Are you ready?” asked Lord Corlys.

“Yes. Yes, we are” said Valaera as she took Aemond’s hand in hers.

Lord Corlys smiled and after a few moments of silence, the ceremony began.

“Hen lanoti ānogar, Va sȳndroti vaedroma, Mēro perzot gīhoti, Elēdroma āirza sīr, Izulī amapā perzi, Prumī lanti sēteksi, Hen jenȳ māzīlarion, Qēlossa ozundesi, Syndroro ono jēdo, Rȳ kīvia mazvestraksi”

(Blood of two, Joined as one, Ghostly flame and song of shadows, Two hearts as embers, Forged in fourteen fires, A future promised in glass, The stars stand witness, The vow spoken through time, Of darkness and light)

Aemond and Valaera each took turns in cutting the other’s lip with a dragon glass blade and marking each other’s forehead with the symbols of fire and blood.

Aemond cuts his hand and then offers the blade to Valaera who does the same.

As they face each other once more, both Alpha and Omega join hands allowing their blood to flow into one another.

Once the vows are complete, they allow their blood to mix with a kiss.

A loud booming roar echoes across the sky as Vhagar and Arrax fly overhead, the other dragons soon join in and Driftmark is alight with sounds of a dragons song, unlike anybody has ever heard before.

As they part, Valaera and Aemond gaze upon one another.

“Will you love me Aemond, until the day I die?” asked Valaera.

“No. Much longer than that Valaera. Much longer” replied Aemond as he took his Omega’s face in his hands and kissed him once more.

-Epilogue -

“You won’t let me fall, will you?”

“Never” replied Aemond as he held his daughter’s hand tight.

Today was the day that his little girl was getting married.

He must admit it came as quite a surprise when Ryn presented as an Alpha. He felt for sure that she would either be an Omega or Beta.

But nothing was more of a shock than his son Aemon presenting as an Omega.

Valaera of course was delighted, another Omega in the family.

Aemon however found it difficult, he had spent years training with the sword, dedicating himself to his education and becoming the best dragon rider he could in order to emulate his Alpha father. Only to present as an Omega.

Aemon was convinced that the gods were playing a cruel joke on him. Omega’s were supposed to be soft and delicate; he was sharp and lean. His presentation had changed his entire future and he hated it.

He didn’t want to think of being married or mated to an Alpha. The thought of taking a knot sounded so foreign to him.

He was meant to be an Alpha not an Omega. Nothing his mother or father could say would ever make him feel any better.

The only thing that gave him any kind of reprieve was his dragon Vhagon.

Until his younger sister Ryn presented as an Alpha.

It was a strange feeling; sure, they’d always been close when they were children. But now it was like there was something else. A voice inside him, calling out for her.

He tried to ignore it first, but the more time he spent around his Alpha sister, the louder the voice became.

He started to touch himself at the thought of her, which made him ashamed.

Aemon wasn’t even sure that his sister felt the same way, until one day she’d cornered him after he’d been trying to avoid her, and she kissed him.

It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

The voice inside him was singing.

Whilst he was initially worried what his sister expected of him, he soon realised that he had nothing to worry about.

Ryn accepted him for who he was. She never once tried to change him.

Omega’s were supposed to be submissive, yet Aemon was defiant and strong willed.

Ryn seemed to like that about him.

She was his Alpha, and he was her Omega.

Revealing their relationship to their family had actually been easy. As their parents exchanged knowing glances, it seemed as though their relationship wasn’t much of a surprise after all and as soon as Ryn turned six and ten, they were to be married.

When Aemond placed his daughters hand into Aemon’s he smiled.

“Now I know I don’t have to threaten you like I did Jaehaerys” muttered Aemond.

“I’m fully aware of my duties father and I’m well aware of what will happen should I hurt Ryn”.

“Good lad. Just got to be sure of these things” whispered Aemond as he turned on his heel and took a seat next to Valaera.

“That wasn’t you threatening our son, was it?” asked Valaera smiling.

“No, I was just giving him a friendly warning that’s all” replied Aemond.

“That better be all it was. Jaehaerys is still terrified of you”.

“Good” said Aemond proudly.

I did what any father would do. I regret nothing. Jaehaerys will remember to take care of Vaella or they’ll never find his body.

The wedding between Ryn and Aemon went off without a hitch, despite Aegon trying his best to stir things up a bit by coughing loudly during the vows. But a glare from Valaera put a stop to any other shenanigans.

“I still can’t believe it. Our children are married” exclaimed Valaera.

“We still have others that are not yet married my sweet” replied Aemond.

“Aerion is nearing his presentation age-” said Valaera.

“- And there’s still Aegar, and Corla to keep us occupied” exclaimed Aemond.

Valaera smiled at the mention of their younger pups.

Aegar who was named after his uncle, was an energetic little boy who loved to draw and train with his father.

Corla was the pup that took them by surprise. Both Aemond and Valaera thought that they were done having children, especially after Aegar’s difficult birth which nearly killed Valaera.

But after a late-night dragon flight and incredible sex on the beach, Valaera forgot to drink moontea and nine moons later Corla was born, she had of course been named in honour of Lord Corlys who had passed away some months before her birth.

Not to mention they had recently become grandparents, Vhalarr and his wife Daena had been blessed with a son who they named Lucerys.

Jaehaerys and Vaella had twins named Aerys and Aeraea.

After the wedding was complete, it was time for the celebration, which due to the amount of guests had to be held outside.

Aemond watched silently as Ryn danced with Aemon. He was so proud of all his pups, but Ryn definitely had a special place in his heart, due to her acceptance of Aemon after his surprise presentation as an Omega and her declaration that she loved him exactly as he is.

“A wonderful day” said Aegon smiling.

“If you’re going to cause trouble you can bog off” replied Aemond.

“Would I ever do such a thing?” laughed Aegon as he took a sip of wine.

“Is that a trick question?” asked Aemond.

“He’s so much like you isn’t he, especially with the hair and the weird fixation with every item of clothing needing to be black or leather” mused Aegon smirking.

“Indeed” muttered Aemond choosing to ignore his brother's sarcastic dig.

“How’s he coping with being an Omega”.

“It took some adjustment, but he’s getting there. Ryn really helped” said Aemond.

“She’s a good girl. Reminds me a lot of Valaera”.

“I know you hoped that Aemon would be for Maela but-“

“-They weren’t compatible and I’m not talking about their presentations” said Aegon.

“I don’t think there was anyone else for Aemon if I’m honest. I can say with absolute certainty that if he didn’t marry Ryn then he wouldn’t have married anyone” replied Aemond.

“Is he prepared for the consummation?”

“I hope so, considering they’ve already bedded one another” whispered Aemond.

“What! When?” asked Aegon quietly.

“A few weeks before Ryn’s name day. Aemon confessed when I caught them both harassing the maester for moontea” said Aemond.

“Does Valaera know?”

“Of course, she does. I think Aemon had been asking questions about male Omega’s coupling with Alpha’s” mumbled Aemond.

“I’m surprised your so calm about it”.

“Initially I wasn’t very happy but there was not a lot I could do once the deed had already been done and they were due to marry anyway” replied Aemond.

“Well, you had sex before marriage” said Aegon.

“Only because you dragged me to the street of silk on my thirteenth name day and claimed it was your duty to ensure that I was as educated as you were” snapped Aemond.

“You learnt much and more from that did you not?” asked Aegon.

“From one visit? All I learnt that day was not to listen to my wastrel of a brother”.

“You seem to please your Omega enough, all the children you have” retorted Aegon.

“That’s because I devoted myself to worshipping Valaera and learning through our bond how we could please one another”

“You sure it’s got nothing to do with her sweet tasting cunny?” laughed Aegon.

“This is neither the time nor the place for your vulgarity” growled Aemond.

“Not denying it though are you. Say what you want brother but your cuntstruck for your ‘strong’ bastard” giggled Aegon.

“You have ten seconds to leave my presence otherwise I’m going to slam your head into the fucking table and then I will beat you death with that cup your holding” snarled Aemond.

“Ooooo, so violent and you kiss Valaera with that mouth” laughed Aegon.

“Piss off” groused Aemond.

Aegon refilled his cup and then returned to his seat next to Jacaerys who immediately began questioning the Omega.

“When are you going to learn not to let him get to you?”

“Mother” whispered Aemond.

“How are you doing?”

“Honestly. I think I’m still in shock that Ryn is actually married” replied Aemond.

“I felt the same on your wedding day” said Alicent.

“I’ve missed you” muttered Aemond as he wrapped his arms around his mother.

“Oh, my love, I’ve missed you too” replied Alicent.

“A-Are you proud of me?” asked Aemond.

“Of course, I am. You are the consort Lord to Driftmark, you’re an honourable husband and a loving father. I’m so proud that I get to call you my son” said Alicent smiling.

Aemond smiled and breathed in his mother’s flowery scent.

Valaera meanwhile had managed to snatch a few moments alone with Aemon.

“Does the bite hurt?” asked Aemon.

“For a moment, but it’s best to do it during the act” replied Valaera.

“I overheard some lords talking about a bedding ceremony-“

“You don’t have to worry; I will not subject you or Ryn to that” replied Valaera.

“Do we need to present the sheets”.

“Yes, but all you need to do is cut yourself in a place that no one will notice and a few drops on the sheets will do” whispered Valaera.

“I-I-“ stuttered Aemon nervously.

Valaera observed her son and she knew there was something bothering him. He had the same look on his face that Aemond always had when he was nervous.

“What is it my sweet boy?”

“I’m already with child mother” confessed Aemon lowering his head.

“Are you sure?” asked Valaera quietly.

“Yes. I missed my monthly bleeding and I feel sick” replied Aemon.

“It sounds as though you’re not very far into the pregnancy as your scent hasn’t changed yet, so just a few drops of blood on the sheets and we can say you got with child on your wedding night,” said Valaera.

“I’m sorry for getting with child before marrying Ryn”.

“I can’t exactly judge my darling” muttered Valaera.

“W-What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on sweet boy, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumours,” said Valaera.

“A-About Harwin Strong and Grandma” asked Aemon looking over at Rhaenyra who was deep in conversation with Daemon.

“Yes. I’m a Velaryon in name only” whispered Valaera.

“B-But your Lady of the Tides”

“Your great grandsire once told me that history remembers names not blood,” said Valaera.

“He was a good man,” said Aemon.

“That he was” replied Valaera.

“I hope you’re not disappointed in me mother” exclaimed Aemon solemnly.

“I know presenting as an Omega was difficult for you, but I will never be disappointed in you. All of my pups are my greatest joy. But you are the one most like your father and you are something special”.

“Mother” gasped Aemon blushing.

“When you were born. The cord was wrapped around your neck and for the briefest of moments we thought that we had lost you”.

“Father said that was the reason why he’s so protective over us” replied Aemon.

“Your father has always that protective streak in him, but yes almost losing you caused him to become rather more focused on the safety of his pups” smiled Valaera.

“I love you mama” whispered Aemon.

“Y-You haven’t called me that since you were a small boy” uttered Valaera.

“I just want you to know that you will always be my mama,” said Aemon.

“Is everything ok?” asked Ryn curiously.

“Everything is fine my darling” replied Valaera as she wiped away her tears.

“Are you sure?”

Valaera nodded and placed a quick kiss on Ryn’s cheek.

“Take care of him sweet girl” whispered Valaera.

“I will. I promise” replied Ryn.

“That’s my girl”.

“Do you think we could slip away?” asked Aemon as he took Ryn’s hand.

“You can leave whenever you like, the celebrations will continue in your absence”.

Aemon looked at Ryn who nodded her head, and soon the newly married couple left the party in favour of a more private venue.

“Do you think he’s really ok?” asked Vhalarr.

“He will be, you worry too much”.

“He’s my little brother. Of course, I worry” replied Vhalarr.

“Where’s my grandson?” asked Valaera.

“He’s with Rhaena, something about seahorses” said Vhalarr.

“How are you doing anyway?”

“I’m good, the trade deal with Pentos is proving difficult but I don’t really want to talk business today” muttered Vhalarr.

“It’ll work out, try not to stress too much,” said Valaera.

“He can’t help it” laughed Vaella.

“Oh, shut it you” retorted Vhalarr.

“Why don’t you make me”.

“Honestly you two” exclaimed Valaera.

“What’s wrong with my good brother?” asked Vhalarr.

“The twins were awake most of the night”.

“I don’t miss those days” said Valaera smiling.

“Mother. Corla is eating sand again” shouted Aegar.

“Oh for the love of-“ exclaimed Valaera as she snatched her youngest daughter from the ground and began scooping the sand from her mouth.

“I’ll get her cleaned up my Lady” offered Tarla.

“Thank you, Tarla. I’m sure I’ll find a seashell in there one day” replied Valaera.

“I’m sure it could be much worse” laughed Tarla as she took Corla.

“Ahh how’s my namesake doing?” asked Aegon loudly.

“You stink uncle Aegon” said Aegar wrinkling his nose.

“Of what?”

“Piss wine” retorted Aegar.

“AEGAR” exclaimed Valaera as Vhalarr and Vaella began laughing.

“That’s what father calls it” muttered Aegar.

“Well, I will be having words with your father” said Valaera sternly.

“About what?” asked Aemond.

“Me saying piss wine, when that’s what you called it” replied Aegar.

“I never meant for you to repeat it boy” gasped Aemond.

“Well he did and now-“ gasped Valaera as Aemond surged forward and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“Ewww gross” exclaimed Aegar.

“You won’t be saying that when your older” yelled Aegon.

“Aegon that’s enough” warned Jace.

“Oh, come on love, it’s just a bit of fun”.

“Yeah, and you’ve had too much wine. Now come and sit down” said Jace as he pulled his Omega back to his seat.

“I best go and rescue Jaehaerys” said Vaella.

“I’ll come and help” offered Vhalarr.

“Don’t think that gets you off the hook, Alpha” whispered Valaera feeling dazed.

“Maybe later when I stuff my knot into your cunny?”

“I-I think that will be sufficient” mumbled Valaera blushing.

“If you’re a good girl, I might even use my tongue first” whispered Aemond.

Valaera shook her head in disbelief at her Alpha before she pressed another kiss to his lips.

“Where’s Aerion?” asked Valaera.

“Speaking to Rhaenar” replied Aemond as he nuzzled Valaera’s mating mark.

“Is that such a good idea, considering he’s so close to his presentation?”

“You have a point” replied Aemond as he nodded his head at one of the guards, who understood the wordless command and went to stand next to Aerion who rolled his eyes.

“Everything ok with your mother?” asked Valaera.

“It’s fine, now can we retire for the night or is it too early?

“We can’t leave just yet. But soon” whispered Valaera.

“Don’t make me wait too much longer, I’ve been dying to get you alone all day”.

“Well, I need to see to the children first and judging from the state of your brother, he’s going to need escorting to his room” said Valaera nodding towards Aegon who was slumped in his seat.

“Let Jacaerys see to that, he’s my brother’s Alpha. Meanwhile we have people that can help with the children”.

“But Alpha” whined Valaera.

“No Valaera. You’ve been on your feet practically all day. Let us retire for the night”.

Valaera wanted to disobey on principle, but she loved it when her Alpha asserted his natural authority and dominance.

“Ok. Let me just ask the guards and Tarla to watch out for the children”.

“Hurry up my Omega, otherwise I will ravish you right here” muttered Aemond.

“You promise” challenged Valaera.

“Hm”

After leaving instructions with the guards and Tarla. Valaera found herself being whisked away from the celebrations and dragged back to the chambers she shared with her husband.

“Now my sweet. Take off your clothes” ordered Aemond.

“A-Aemond” gasped Valaera.

“I won’t ask you again” growled Aemond as he pulled off his own clothes and then sat on a chaise lounge.

After a few moments of stunned silence, Valaera began pulling off her clothes quickly, and soon she was standing in front of her Alpha as naked as her name day.

“Good girl. Now come here” said Aemond as he patted his naked thigh.

Valaera took a deep breath and sat on her Alpha’s lap; her legs spread open.

“I hope you have the energy my sweet, because I plan to have you many times this night”.

[marshmallowprotection]

In your opinion, do you think V was fully at fault for what happened to Saeran? There's no denying that he is partially responsible, but honestly I don't think he should be as blamed as much as he is? From Rika's Behind Story, we find out that Rika had told V that Saeran was "moving boarding schools" when in actuality it was a lie to distance V from Saeran and cut off any contact between them, so that she can deceive Saeran into thinking V abandoned him later on when she kidnaps him to Magenta. Still, V insisted on seeing Saeran, even asking for the apparent school's name, but backed down when Rika was adamant about not giving him answers. I agree that V was wrong here for not looking into Rika's words more, but he only relented because he genuinely trusted her—that this was for the sake of protecting the twins, and because he literally had no reason to suspect Rika had any malicious intentions towards Saeran. It took a month for V to find out about Mint Eye after Rika left, and he definitely needed more than a month's time to gather enough materials and intel to infiltrate the place himself, so by the time he managed to enter Mint Eye and find about what Rika did to Saeran, it was already far too late. A lot of people blame him in this part; that he didn't do anything to save Saeran or get him out. But truthfully speaking...what can V even do at this point? It's not like he can just grab Saeran and book it unless he wants a gun pulled on his ass 😭 he had to resort to taking Mint Eye down from the inside. A lot of people also brought up that V should've called the police, but wouldn't that jeopardise Saeran's position to Saejoong? He is actively looking for the twins, and while it may seem like he'd pay no mind to an ordinary cult takedown case, he is desperate. I can see him having his people keep tabs on potential "suspects" from all sorts of places. Sorry this turned out so long, I would really love to hear from your perspective as a passionate Saeran fan. I hope this doesn't start any discourse :'))

I think I'll preface by saying Mystic Messenger suffers in terms of the writers not communicating with each other between routes. There's a lot of differing information about what happened to Saeran. The diary plants one story, and Another Story and Rika Behind paint something else... and in Casual and Deep Story, there are parts of the story a lot of players aren't sure about in terms of what happened since there's a slightly different vibe there.

So, when it comes to errors in continuity, you have to take it with a grain of salt and make your own assumption.

I think it's hard to have a conversation about this subject because neither Jihyun nor Rika are innocent. We can't assign blame to one without assigning blame to the other, but the rate at which they're guilty differs because of the choices they made. There are people in the fandom who place all the blame at Rika's feet, but she's not the only guilty party here when it comes to what happened to Saeran in the end.

It's important to understand that neither of them is innocent, and at the same time, it's even more important to understand the dynamic Rika and V had in the first place.

Rika tortured, manipulated, brainwashed, and abused Saeran. That fact is undeniable. The things she did to him are unimaginable and I hope she pays for it every day after the events of the RAE take place and she has to face judgement day in the court of law.

Jihyun's greatest failure was his decision to uphold his promise to Rika Kim. He promised he would never abandon her in her time of need, no matter what, because he didn't want to fail someone like he "failed" his mother. He believes in his heart that he has to give all he has because of his mother's sacrifice.

This is what causes him to avoid telling Jumin about what happened, because as much as he wants to save Saeran, he wants to "save" Rika, and that's why his greatest failure in the route comes from the player fighting to convince him to do what he should've done in the first place. Ask for help and admit that sometimes, promises aren't worth keeping if they destroy everyone you love, including yourself.

When we compare the choices Rika and V made, yeah, it's easy to see how Rika has done the worst to Saeran, but it's important for players to know that V's inaction served to hurt Saeran, too. That's something he acknowledges during the route, but ends up shooting himself in the foot over by the end because he decided to uphold his promise to Rika despite knowing it wouldn't help her or himself in the end.

Yes, Rika and V are both guilty of failing Saeran and Saeyoung. There is no doubt about that. But, their guilt comes in different flavors and it's important to understand how those choices hurt the boys. Rika's blame is widely understood and correctly spoken about with hatred and ire by fans, but when it comes to Jihyun, it's not often I see fans assign the appropriate blame to him.

It's all or nothing with a lot of players. Either you're a saint or you're a guilty monster. There's no wiggle room in the middle for the grey area that covers choices people make that aren't inherently good or evil. It is the choices that fall in the middle that are hard to understand and easy to misconstrue.

Jihyun Kim is a man I like to refer to with the old saying, "The path paved to hell is made with good intentions."

I think people should be upset with V, and I understand why people hate him for his inability to act when it counts. But, that's one of the things that makes him human and some as a person. You should be angry with V because he outright confesses that he's aware that what he's doing is wrong and that he should be doing more to make things right. You should be disappointed in him.

Because, if you decide to sit down and play V Route, you'll see him make the right decision and do what he should've done from the start.

Ask for help.

Do you want to know what I think Jihyun should've done? He should have told Jumin he was in over his head when discovered the plans in the apartment for Mint Eye. Jumin has proven time and time again to be someone who will do the right thing, no matter the cost, and if he had simply trusted his best friend, they could've done something for Saeran to get him away from Rika and take down Mint Eye with it. I'm certain that Jihyun knew he could do that.

But, to do that would mean breaking his promise to Rika. He told her he would keep their promise. So, if he told Jumin, and then Jumin did everything he could to take down Mint Eye, Rika would likely lash out at Jihyun for "breaking" their promise.

I think he could've feared that Rika might've revealed the truth about Saeran or Saeyoung to spite him in the process, despite making her own promise to Saeyoung to do the right thing, and her promise to Saeran to "take care of him since she killed his mother." So, he was weighing that fear on top of the shame of breaking a promise. But, I am certain that if Jumin helped, Saeran would be safe far away from Seoul, and they would be hunting for a way to get Saeyoung out of that fucking agency.

Jihyun could've continued to investigate Saejoong in private with the help of Jumin's team. Even if Rika let something slip to the police and sided with Saejoong, I think they could've found a way to make things work out. Would it have worked out well? I don't know, but I think I've got enough faith in Jumin Han to trust that he would make it right as soon as he could.

Jihyun was the one hunting down information about Saejoong Choi to take him down. He was away most of the time for that reason, and Rika took it upon herself to take care of Saeran when he wasn’t in classes at the cathedral. He had no way of knowing what Rika was doing to Saeran. He gave her an inch and Rika took a mile in terms of control.

He trusted her to do the right thing and uphold her promise, and he had no choice but to believe in the idea she would keep her promise to protect Saeran because it was the two of them against the world. Two broken people in a relationship that was bound to fail from the start, trying to help two little boys who needed more help than they could provide on their own, it was a recipe for disaster. 

Truthfully speaking, the only thing he could have done when he discovered that Rika lied to him was talk to Jumin. His best friend would have been the only person in the world who could have helped him, but he didn't ask his friend for help out of shame and regret. So, while Rika and V are both guilty, it's important to understand the why and how.

It won't change their guilt, but it does give you more insight as to why Saeyoung doesn't bite Jihyun's head off in the VAE like he tried to do to Rika. Oh, he's still angry with Jihyun, but he's realized that Jihyun's choices were different from Rika's. Still terrible because his promise was broken tenfold, but he can despise Rika far easier because she actively tortured his twin brother and Jihyun's failure of his inaction in the face of weighing promises.

[peachshadows]

With season 5 on the horizon and the implication that Nüwa and Wukong are MK’s parents, I have an idea for an AU that I think you’ll find very interesting:

It takes place post season 5, the world has been saved once again by the Monkie crew, and it’s been revealed that not only are Nüwa and Wukong MK’s parents, but the two of them have also been married for a few centuries.

Everyone is stunned:

MK just got another reason to fuel his identity crisis.

Tang is fanboying over the fact that he’s been telling stories and going on adventures with the son of his idol and the most powerful goddess in existence.

Pigsy is conflicted on wanting to scold the two immortals for child negligence and keeping on their good side so they don’t take MK away from him (while failing to realize that they chose him out of millions of people to raise and protect their child)

Sandy is making a mental note to set up a group therapy session for the Sun family, Pigsy, and Macaque.

Mei is torn between watching the drama and feeling sorry for Macaque, knowing he still has feelings for Wukong.

Nezha and the Bull family aren’t fairing any better, questioning when and how the relationship could have even happened.

And it’s even worse for our two immortal monkeys:

Macaque is baffled that Wukong was able to move on from their relationship and get married, when he couldn’t even let go of his feelings for Wukong (his former lover who killed him), on top of that he married a goddess who who is so powerful that if not for the fact that she’s a pacifist could’ve easily killed the Jade Emperor herself, and to add insult to injury MK the kid that he had grown to care for and in a way view as his own kid, is their child.

While Wukong is feeling a flurry of sorrow, guilt and shame seeing both his EX and his wife in the same room, he never got over his feelings for Macaque, even after everything, he only allowed himself to find love with Nüwa two centuries after Macaque’s death because he didn’t want to be alone with his nightmares and guilt and her presence was the only thing that quelled it and he believed that even if Macaque had somehow been revived /escaped Diyu that he would have lost all love for Wukong after he killed him.

Meanwhile Nüwa who never accepted the title of Queen of FFM because she believed it rightfully belonged to Macaque as he was Wukong’s true love (which she was never bitter about because she knew Wukong genuinely loved her), and who cared for Macaque just as much as Wukong despite never having met him before, only knowing him through Wukong’s stories, is scheming to get the two of them back together.

You could probably call it “Immortal Soap Opera au” or something along those lines.

Interesting!! V telenovela style of shenanigans I see here. I can imagine Macaque just being heartbroken that Wukong is married and esp to a being Macaque can't even compete with. It drives him insane but at the same time he just feels sorrow that his lover literally killed and abandoned him for something and someone greater. The move I see him doing is probably to go as far away as possible from Wukong and try to forget him or he can do the petty route which is making Wukong so violently jealous and drive him mad with lust that Wukong will have no choice but to divorce Nuwa and go back to Macaque

[boinin]

Broken Hero: Kunigami's journey in the Neo Egoist League

Overanalysing one edgy orange

0. Background and references

This weekend, I read an excellent analysis on Kunigami on Reddit (it spawns things other than fraud allegations and thirst posts sometimes)... and I was not OK as a result.

I'd been building up to writing an analysis of Kunigami's character for some time, and when the hyperfocus kicked in, it kicked in hard.

Come with me to explore how Kunigami's character arc and journey may pan out within the Neo Egoist League. Manga spoilers throughout, including up to the latest chapters (226 at time of writing).

I'd highly recommend reading StarBurstero's analysis (and their other work!) as this piece heavily draws on the points they raise.

All manga panels are sourced from the official translations, due to the possibility of nuance and foreshadowing that may not arise in scanlations.

Like this? Want to reference these points in your own analysis, on Reddit, YouTube, wherever? Go ahead! A shout out to this post is appreciated. (Straight up plagiarism isn't.)

Pre-Wildcard Kunigami: a wannabe hero

Kunigami has his grumpier moments in the first selection (see: him yeeting Bachira, or breaking up fights), but all in all he's a stand up guy. That's clear from his interaction with Isagi in the cafeteria, where they both share his goal-point steak.

Another character defining moment for him takes place after Team Z's victory against Team V. Kunigami doesn't support Kuon's actions, but he is willing to forgive him now that all has been settled. Raichi is decidedly less forgiving. But Kunigami lingers, and helps a bloodied Kuon to his feet. The choice of dialogue is interesting.

We'll advance together. We know this won't be the case. Both Kuon and Kunigami fail in the second selection, and Kunigami is the sole participant that leaves Wild Card.

But nevertheless, this exchange showcases Kunigami's core attitude. He sees the best in people. He values teamwork and unity, even if he shows egotism in relation to his own goals. He's someone that helps others.

2. What canon information do we have on Wild Card?

...just crumbs. Information on Wild Card has been intentionally vague, with only Ego, Kunigami, and possibly Noa knowing what happened.

Ego simply calls it a secondary route for the losers, and doesn't specify whether there were any entry requirements. The pile of bodies and the attention given to hands suggests two things.

Firstly, contrary to my own assumptions, Wild Card was likely open to all participants eliminated during the second selection. Ego threw the losers a bone, despite having a very specific outcome in mind. The vast majority wouldn't have had a hope of meeting the criteria.

Is that cruel? Maybe. But it's consistent with Ego's attitude towards "lumps of talent". He admitted both Chigiri and Isagi into Blue Lock despite their lacklustre performances in high school, on the basis that the programme might bring forth their sealed egos. He was proven correct.

The focus on hands, other than being creepy, hints at ambidexterity being a key deciding factor in the Wild Card programme. Kunigami confirms this above, in a panel from chapter 213.

Kunigami himself refers to Wild Card as a survival battle, where participants had to match Noa's physical specs number for number. He implicitly confirms that he himself got the closest to Noel Noa's physical abilities, thus winning Wild Card.

3. Kunigami's mindset

We're all Isagi in the bottom corner of that last panel, wanting to know more. But Kunigami has yet to elaborate.

In the Reddit post I linked, StarBurstero theorises what's going through Kunigami's angsty little head: becoming the best striker. Not a midfielder, not a false nine - a striker, and only that. The author proposes that, having had to crush and eliminate everyone in Wild Card, Kunigami has limited empathy for those such as Isagi and Kurona, who are remoulding themselves into other roles to fit into Bastard Munchen.

This tallies with how Noa sees himself, in explaining the distinction between him (the world's best striker), and Snuffy (the world's best player) in chapter 223.

As a player Isagi is closer to Snuffy, in terms of his ability and willingness to adapt, than he is to Noa. Isagi is willing to do whatever it takes to participate in the Neo Egoist League, even if this means providing assists or playing in midfield. But he still maintains his dream of playing as a striker.

As different as Kunigami and Isagi are on the surface, they share a dream. Both want to be the best strikers in the world. In that, they're a lot more similar than the fandom give them credit for.

But the conditions of the Neo-Egoist League pose a stumbling block.

There are limited forward positions, not only in Bastard Munchen, but on the national team itself. To nab a starting position for the U20 World Cup, the characters have only two choices: outshine everyone else playing as a forward, or forsake their dream by assuming a different position. They must choose wisely.

4. Resolve versus adaptability: the Bastard Munchen test

Thematically, Isagi and Kunigami are reflections of one another. They are each others "what ifs?" in a sense.

Heroes in the first selection, both Isagi and Kunigami faced elimination in the 2v2 stage of the second selection; Isagi survived, while Kunigami lost. Isagi emerged as the hero of Blue Lock, following the U20 Japan match. At the same time, Kunigami battled to become the "hero" of Wild Card.

Eventually Kunigami joined Bastard Munchen, alongside Isagi. But they're not co-operative teammates as they were before. They're rivals, battling against one another for the role of striker on this team.

Theirs is a quiet competition, secondary to Isagi and Kaiser's more hostile conflict. But I believe there's thematic significance to their rivalry. For this reason, it's interesting to trace their dynamic over time.

Isagi considered himself outclassed by Kunigami in the first selection. Back then, Kunigami didn't the same "goal sense" that Isagi had. He wasn't particularly technical as a player. He relied on passes and his physicality to get the ball and score goals, using his strength to reliably score from a distance. He's still extremely impressive, in Isagi's eyes.

As Isagi sees it, Kunigami's key attribute is his resolve. He trains hard to maintain his physique. He has a clear vision of who he is, and what kind of footballer he wants to be. At the same point in the story, Isagi lacks this. Even at the start of the Neo-Egoist League, Isagi struggles to articulate what his ideal form is as a player, which Noa calls him out on.

It's understandable that Isagi struggles to formulate what his ideal is, because Isagi's genius lies in his adaptability. Throughout the manga, Isagi has been placed into situations that are chaotic, novel and difficult. His approach to football and his abilities have been challenged in every match, and he's been forced to rebuild himself over and over again.

This is what makes Isagi exceptional, in addition to his incredible eyesight and football sense. He's constantly evolving, constantly coming up with ways to beat his competition. No wonder he can't settle on an ideal, when he's been forced to change constantly. All he's certain of is his desire to play as a striker.

5. Chasing strikers: Isagi's journey

Isagi's problem is that he's never been the best striker in Blue Lock. It's his dream to play as one, but purely in terms of his ability to convert opportunities into goals, Isagi is outclassed by a number of players. Rin. Nagi. Shidou. Arguably Barou.

When these players receive the ball near the goal, their ability to put it through the goalposts is simply better than Isagi's. They have the physique, the strength, or the technical skill to outmanoeuvre whatever obstacles are in the way. This is also true of Kaiser: both have metavision, but Kaiser is far better at scoring, as Isagi himself admits. Kaiser is another prodigy, like Nagi or Sae.

Kunigami is also better at securing goals than Isagi is. However, he's not a prodigy, and he lacks Isagi's insane playmaking ability. Nor does he have Ness, Kurona or Yukimiya on his side. Nobody on the team has a reason to support Kunigami or his goal-scoring competence. Least of all, Isagi: his rival for the position of striker in Bastard Munchen, and his antithesis in a sense.

While Isagi assisted Kunigami in the Barcha match, he does so to stay relevant, after Noa threatens to bench them both.

In the Manshine match, Kunigami poaches Isagi's goal attempt. As furious as Isagi is in this moment, it's not obvious that Isagi's shot would have gone in by itself. He targeted the corner of the goal, but the trajectory appears to veer up and left, beyond the goal.

Kaiser alludes to the shot's inaccuracy, and Isagi acknowledges his shortcomings after the match ends. While his eyesight is his "god given gift", he realises that he lacks the physical ability to make his foresight a reality, per this conversation with Hiori.

Who else does he approach?

While he has the wrong idea (seeking Kunigami's advice on becoming ambidextrous), Isagi's dialogue is on the nose.

Kunigami has what Isagi lacks: the physique and ability needed to consistently score goals. Halfway through the Neo-Egoist League, Isagi realises that to secure a position as a forward, he needs to emulate Kunigami in some way. His hard training pays off: his ranking jumps six points between the Manshine and Ubers matches.

Kunigami is a mirror that Isagi looks into and learns from. And like a morphing reflection, their positions are starting to reverse. While Kunigami performed better initially in the Neo-Egoist League, both in training and in the Barcha match, now Isagi is coming to the fore as the strongest Blue Lock player in Bastard Munchen. His performance in Manshine was incredible. His playmaking in the Ubers match so far surpasses it.

If they are intended to be mirrors, then what can Kunigami learn from his reflection: Isagi?

6. Inert hero: Kunigami's arc

Analysing Isagi is straightforward. We have access to his thoughts and development, all the way through Blue Lock. The same can't be said for Kunigami, whose POV was shown rarely during the first and second selection, but not once since his return in Chapter 155.

There's still conclusions we can draw, despite leaning into extrapolation territory.

Kunigami has always trained hard. The Volume 3 omake (Team Z's schedule) alludes to the guy spending every hour he can in the gym.

While Kunigami entered Blue Lock at a higher level than arguably anyone in Team Z, he stagnated as his teammates rapidly developed. He doesn't have a documented awakening, unlike the other Egoist Four characters. The single moment of progression shown was his first goal against Team V, but this was more Kunigami challenging his limits than truly evolving.

My theory is that this goes back to his key attribute: resolve. His formula of working hard and playing consistently has worked so far. Why change?

Other characters like Isagi experienced failures and setbacks prior to and during Blue Lock, but we don't see Kunigami experience anything similar until the second selection.

It's unfortunate that he only experiences a first setback in losing to Team White. Had a moment of failure taken place earlier, the second selection may have played out differently for Kunigami. As it was, this segment of Blue Lock was not forgiving of mistakes. Only players who could adapt and evolve, devour and be devoured, made it to the third selection.

Kunigami just didn't have that adaptability. It's contrary to his nature of working hard, consistently and fairly.

Shidou remarks on Kunigami's resolute nature explicitly after their 2v2 match. It's why he chooses Reo over Kunigami.

Analysis often focuses on Shidou's criticism of Kunigami's heroic idealism, given that Kunigami goes on to reject this himself. But the second point Shidou makes is more important. He's really critiquing Kunigami's inability to adapt and react, not his strength or his motivation. But Kunigami seemingly only internalises the first part.

Failure in the second selection made Kunigami discard heroism as his motivation, in addition to the conditioning forced on him in Wild Card. But Kunigami continues to struggle, even after leaving his so-called naivety in hell.

He came out of Wild Card stronger, faster, and more competent at scoring. It's still not enough to out-do Kaiser and impress Noa in the Barcha match.

If Kunigami took Shidou's words to heart, he might consider his success in Wild Card proof that he can break himself down and be rebuilt. At a minimum, we can speculate that Wild Card consisted of the participants being deconstructed piece by piece, egos eroded and replaced with a drive to become Noel Noa's "vessel".

But in truth, Kunigami already had a lot of the traits needed to become Noa's copycat. Other than developing ambidexterity and packing on even more muscle, the "breaking down" that took place was really the overwriting of his idealism with that of Noa's.

When Ego considers the ways participants may succeed in the Neo-Egoist League, both Isagi and Kunigami are pictured. At the present stage in the manga, Isagi seems to be the fish adapting to his environment and thriving - slowly dyeing the fabric of Bastard Munchen to suit his playstyle.

Kunigami is the one suffocating, unable to breath in this claustrophobic environment.

His core issue - his lack of adaptability - persists. He is unwilling to consider being anything else than a pure striker. In the Neo-Egoist League to date, he has failed to make chemical reactions with anyone.

If Isagi is a universal catalyst, Kunigami is inert. For now.

7. Hero rebuilt: Kunigami, secondary protagonist

Kunigami is an important part of the Neo-Egoist League arc. Not only is he a returning character, but a significant parallel to Isagi. It's no coincidence that they are presented together in many of the panels relating to the arc as a whole.

There's a lot of symbolism in Blue Lock. The panel announcing the Neo-Egoist League establishes Isagi and Kunigami as dual protagonists, with Kaiser as the primary antagonist. The end of the Barcha match really reinforces the idea that these characters are the main heroes within Bastard Munchen.

Isagi has been on a learning journey from the beginning of this arc, starting with his underdog struggle against Kaiser. If Kunigami's journey is a mirror of Isagi's, then we can expect him to encounter his most difficult hurdle later in the arc, leading to an epiphany about his playstyle. At this point, it's fair to conclude this will happen in Bastard Munchen's match against Paris X Gen.

These are my outstanding questions about Kunigami's journey, which I believe the manga must eventually address:

What will be Kunigami's darkest hour: the low point where he realises he must change or die (metaphorically)?

When he overcomes this moment and emerges stronger, like a phoenix - what will Kunigami's true ego be? Will he return to his original heroism, or strike a balance between his past and present selves? Hero and Wild Card, accepting both?

I'm not going to delve much into Question 2. Hero, Wild Card, Dark Horse, Phoenix - all of these could work as a manifestation of Kunigami's ego. The only thing I can say with confidence is that his ego will manifest. This has been the case for each of the other Egoist Four characters (although Isagi's true ego remains in flux). Personally, I'd like to see an ego manifestation that reconciles the personas of pre- and post-Wild Card Kunigami. I trust the writer and mangaka will serve on that front when the time comes.

On question 1, the fandom (and myself) are hyped for a particular reunion. It's hard to imagine a better catalyst for Kunigami's change than the person that sent him to Wild Card in the first place: a literal demon, the manifestation of Kunigami's internal woes.

Shidou is the opposite of Kunigami in many ways, when they encounter each other in the second selection. Although both are strong with imposing physical abilities, Shidou is chaotic while Kunigami is lawful; Shidou abhors dull players, the ones that cannot spark "explosions", while Kunigami sees Shidou as a violent psychopath. Shidou has no qualms in crushing weaker players. Kunigami defends them, regardless of their nature.

But Kunigami has changed greatly since their last encounter. He and Shidou have more in common than before. In Wild Card, Kunigami had to learn how to crush the weak, despite his inclination to advance together. He's had to become more aloof, more violent even, to survive in Wild Card and in the Neo Egoist League. He's more resolute in becoming the world's best striker than ever.

But Kunigami still doesn't know how to explode. He doesn't have chemical reactions with other players. The part of him that valued teamwork died in Wild Card. Compare this to Shidou, who thrives off what he calls explosions. He adores Sae, because their chemistry on the field made Shidou soar. Sae unleashes Shidou's inner dragon.

I believe in facing Shidou, who will form reactions with his supportive teammates, Kunigami will come to realise that he cannot overcome his demons without assistance from outside. He'll realise his heroism was never the issue: it was his lack of adaptability. To overcome Shidou, Kunigami will need a catalyst to create a chemical reaction.

Luckily, Bastard Munchen has the one person capable of reacting with anyone: the embodiment of adaptability. Who better to set the true Kunigami free than his idealogical mirror? The one person who, thematically, has been by his side since the start?

A link-up between Isagi and Kunigami - dual protagonists, reflections of one another - would be an amazing way to round off both Isagi and Kunigami's journeys in the Neo Egoist League. Even better if the final goal against Paris X Gen is the result of their genuine teamwork - mirroring their resentful co-operation during the Barcha match.

I'm manifesting this and I hope you might too. If for no other reason because... can you imagine the look on Kaiser's face if this happens?

Absolute gold.

---

If you read to the end, thank you! I'd love to hear my fellow nerds thoughts on this and Kunigami generally.

Further reading: short analysis of Kunigami's effectiveness on the pitch up to chapter 232.

[mh-dreamscape]

Mh-dreamscape Collab!!

Almost a year ago (mid November was when it started) I began posting a poll series called “Mock Fang Vote” where I would select a few images for certain categories and allow the community to decide what goes on a “doll”! I was inspired by all of the comments on Vampire Heart Draculaura, saying that it should’ve been Elissabat or Robecca.

I’m thinking about doing that again but it would go on a little longer due to having more input from you! Here’s some of the “dolls” I’m thinking:

Mock Fang Vote:

We do another fang vote, but there’s going to be a lot more creative liberty. The one from last year was my first time attempting something like this so it looks pretty similar to the Vampire Heart Draculaura but I’d love to expand on it! Some of the categories I’m thinking are things such as: G1 v G2 v G3, male v female v non-binary, popular v less known character, list of names to choose from, outfit choice, hair, etc.!

Parent Vision:

We choose a character who doesn’t have a visual parent and design it! It’ll follow almost the same route as the fang vote but it will include categories such as: character, origin (myth, creature, etc.), clothing style, and more!

Community OC Group:

We create our own generation or group of Monster High characters! I’ll be accepting prompts, themes, stories, and whatever you can think of to fill up the school! Obviously we all have our own OCs and such to include but just like Mattel and Monster High, we can all collaborate on some together! We can also try to translate them between the generations! If this is chosen I’d love to end it with a final event where we all draw our OCs with the ones we created! I was thinking we either do 1 every 3 months (to allow for polls and delays) or 3-5 for the first year!

Here’s my first 2 OCs as an example: Dalayza DeLion and Maliha Reed and a line I created called “Con-scare-vation 2-pack”!

What do y’all think?? Do you have other ideas?? I just wanted to throw this out there to see if this would even be interesting!

[poupeesdecirque]

Next batch of my new 'doll characters' drawing project you can see I switched to a different medium here. Later on I decided to ditch the idea to 'copy' photos as some dolls really have nice photos but as drawing it's not .... really inspiring.

Also I decided to go more into the route to truly draw them like I would draw the characters and not how I would draw the dolls. That helped greatly to find a vibe into the project.

I do add little details about the characters/dolls on instagram I'm not sure if I should do that here as well?

But it might be interesting especially for those who don't follow my blog since forever... I used to do a "10 facts about" ages ago it yeah.. you really have to dig for it.

Ray - Based on Raiya Hisumi from Monokuro Kitan, ironically the character is called "doll" often. He's right now the leader of the Toysoldiers and carries the IX (the higher your number the better you are ranked).

Púca - Was my first Shell of Epiphanus but had different ideas, first I wanted to shell Itsuru from Monokuro Kitan with him but then... went wild and he turned into my big first modding project. The character is one of Pierre's first creations and if you meet him it means your end is in sight.

Jamie - Vincent's teacher as Seira passed and later on his partner. He works at the Sideshow because of the scars he got as a child. He has a lot of self confidence and actually doesn't care to be seen as a "Freak".

Pierre - My Reaper. He is just EVERYWHERE. His look is losely based on Baroque and Orgel from Violinist of Hameln, as at first he was supposed to be a Doll of Baroque. But really Pierre is just everywhere, he's a gambler, and he almost always wins. He even won the position as Reaper in a game.

Lydia - Lydia is a happy little girl, she has a twin Brother called Noah. Both are actually from the otherworld but were raised as normal humans. Her role is small in the overall storyline.

Takizawa - Based on Takizawa Seido from Tokyo Ghoul:re, was actually Samuel's first shell but I was never happy with that choice. Turning the doll into Takizawa was a quick decision, I'm still very much satisfied with that.

Xy - Xylophone is loosely based on Orgel from Violinist of Hameln, or more he is the prequel variant of the corpse that is used by Orgel. He's a traveling artist with his brother Dyl. Both are AU-Characters.

Nathan - A rather problematic character, he's a drug dealer and abuses drugs where he cans. To destroy some evidence he swallows a new one and ends up well.. in a otherworld circus that is supposed to rather people who killed themselfes. He slowly forgets himself until he meets a beautiful girl and falls in love with her, she helps him to keep his memory intact.

Vincent V. - Based on Vincent Volaju from Cowboy Bebop (the movie), one of the best antagonists. I just love the movie and the series.

Elay - Said girl from the circus that helps Nathan. She has forgotten her own story but maybe... she can remember later.

Guignol - Part of Willow's traveling Carnival, a talking doll that she picked up (she picks up everyone and everything :') )

[amyreads]

Could you tell us your process for each chapter?

Sure! There's a bit of spoilers for chapter 2

So I use something called Scrapple. It's like a digital cork board and it helps me so MUCH, because you can organize the routes clearly and with clarity. For example, here's a piece of chapter 2 part 1:

[Rowan's bus chat was deleted lol][Also, you can see that I added an extra scene]

But this help me visualize the routes and can break it down choice by choice. It's just so easy to visualize it like that, and you can customize however you want.

Before that though, I use a chapter beat sheet that I create, guiding me to the goal of the chapter. What do I want to share this chapter? What plotlines and storylines will be unraveled and focused on a little more? And then I have to decide how the ROs screentime will be divided up and why, to make sure if it's logical. And if an RO isn't going to get as much page time that chapter, I need to know why and if it makes sense narratively.

That's really it! Everything else is filling in the blanks and just having fun discovering for myself :) I do a lot of adding and deleting throughout the process, and it's about how well they blend together

(i hate scenes that skip. for example: i like scenes that lead to other scenes, which is partly why you get that small car ride wth v and g to get back to the hotel and have a chat with rowan instead of e just telling you and then skipping to when you arrive. i still do it of course, but if i have an idea that can avoid that, i choose it lol)