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tiredmamaissy · 6 months ago

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Ralak te Sepawn ieyk’itan: Special Episode VI

Labor of Love - Part I

Masterlist ; Rut/Heat/Knotting Info

🔞 minors, do not interact 🔞

Hyperlinks are attached to specific paragraphs that when clicked on will lead you to its illustration by Ralak's insanely talented creator @zestys-stuff. Thank you so much for allowing me to play around with your characters!

Characters: Metkayina!Ralak (25) x Sully!Omaticaya!Reader (20) featuring Metkayina!Zu’té (29)

Warnings: this shit has zero smut, angst angst angst, did i say angst?, this is so dramatic i'm sorry, expletives, a bit of fluff, pregnancy, cliff hanger, let me know if i forgot anything

Word Count: 8k

Requested: Yes || No

Author’s Note: You are now entering angst town, please buckle your seatbelts and try to enjoy the ride. Jokes aside, GUYS. This chapter…is the most angsty thing I’ve ever written. I’m excited and nervous, and everything in between. There’s a lot going on in this chapter and I just hope to Eywa that I’ve written it in a way that flows and is easy to follow. I’ve had this idea brewing for months, it feels. Now…this shit was over 20,000 words long. That is a personal record and I will not be subjecting you guys to such a monstrosity. Therefore, this is part one of (at the moment) three. I apologise in advance for the cliffhanger, hehe. Also, welcome to my brain, because idk how I came up with this shit.

Synopsis: You didn’t foresee this, Ralak kept you in the dark for the sake of you and your baby’s safety. But now the time has come, it’s all too overwhelming for you to process.

<- Previous-> Next

Ralak never shared more than he needed to when it came to his duties with Tonowari. No matter how much you vowed to keep it confidential. He’s a man of few words, but when it came to his business he kept them fewer.

As much as you knew, his trips inland consisted of hunting and gathering bigger game that most warriors struggled to handle.

There's a few times you can count on one hand that he's come home a little more worn down. Each time you cursed Tonowari under your breath as you helped your mate unwind. You’d insist on knowing what the olo’eyktan had him doing to be so spent and why he had not entirely fulfilled his promise to lighten Ralak of his duties since the mating.

Ralak would be quick to shut you down in the most gentle way despite feeling irritable and sombre. It was always something along the lines of, ‘it keeps you safe, and that is my duty’, and that he’ll ‘discuss it when the time comes’.

It seems the time has come.

Another gloomy night, rain and thunder tear through the sky. These storms are more frequent in this season, as it’s Ewyas way of keeping the balance with the freshwater and seawater ratio for the mangroves.

But tonight it’s torrential. You’re in full bloom, ready to step into your new chapter of motherhood at any moment. The babe sits low in your womb and you’re swollen from what feels like head to toe. The rain isn’t helping with the soreness in your joints.

Ralak is seated next to the crackling firepit, stirring the bubbling stew with one hand and mindlessly rubbing your swollen ankles with the other. Meanwhile you lay snuggled in bed, wrapped comfortably in the thick shawl as you listen to the pitter-patter. It’s peaceful, despite the dull ache in your lower back. Maybe the rain isn’t so bad, after all.

Ta-toom!

The low-pitched sound of the war horn has Ralak's full attention, shredding him of whatever serenity he had in his being. Moving hastily, he stands and darts over to the marui door, slipping into his gear and fixing his largest spear on his back.

The scene unfolding before your eyes is a rare one. You’d only seen him in full gear on the day you first laid eyes on him. The day you arrived here in Awa’atlu. And it brings a sinking feeling to your stomach.

��Ralak… what was that?” You ask nervously.

You watch him aggressively tighten the strap of his tstalsena [knife sheathe; carrier] and chuck a bucket of water in the fire—killing the flame. A precautionary measure. He knows the time has come. He hears your voice but he also hears Tonowari's...

'When the horn sounds… you come. And that…is an order.'

In his head, he’s going through an array of possible responses but there’s simply no time for any of them. Using the frame of the bed to pull yourself up, you slowly come to your feet and waddle towards him.

“Ralak. What is going on?” You ask a little louder, a hand gripping his wrist.

Turning to face you, his hands fly to support your stomach as he looks you deeply in the eyes. Then he kisses you with purpose. Pressing his lips into yours like it would be the last time, forcing himself to pull away to briefly glance down at his unborn.

It catches you by surprise, leaving you looking up at him open mouthed. Now you’re really scared. It feels like he’s being plucked away from your fingers and there’s nothing you can do about it. “Ralak—”

“I will explain when I am back. All of it.” He already sounds out of breath, fixing the shawl over your shoulders. “You stay here. Stay warm. Do not leave. Do not answer to anyone. Understand?”

Your forehead wrinkles as you try to process this all.

Don’t answer to anyone? To whom? Why did he put out the fire? Why is he in full gear? What the fuck is going on right now? He said he’d be back…right?

“Y/n.” He booms your name, yet his tone remains steady and calm. “Understand?”

You nod hurriedly, “Yes. Yes.”

“I will be back soon.” He fixes your shawl a last time before stepping back and bolting through the door.

You follow behind him, keeping the marui flap open to watch him click for his skimwing. He makes the bond and mounts the beast hastily, and is airborne soaring towards the mainland at full tilt.

Befuddled, you waddle back inside, your back slamming into the marui stilt as you huff and puff to catch your breath. You nervously check the stew, and see that it’s almost done. The glowing charcoal should be enough to finish it off, so you opt to leave it covered and fidget with the prrsmung [baby carrier] you've weaving for the past couple days.

Anything to keep you busy.

——

Ralak effortlessly dismounts his tsurak, letting it glide past him in the water as he climbs up to the communal pod. This is a gathering place for important meetings and announcements to the clan. He watches as others assemble under the larger, woven marui, drenched with the water of the sea and sky. It’s clear that this was a signal for the warriors of the clan, from the elite, to the former. The young and the old.

Even Zu’té is present, standing lone far off in the corner.

War horn in hand, the olo’eyktan makes his presence known as he stands on the highest part of the pod. His mate, the tsahìk, stands next to him with her chest high and their children next to her.

Jake and Neytiri, along with Lo’ak and Neteyam, group together behind them at the back of the pod, observing the unfolding scene. The warriors begin to chant, defensively positioned with their tongues on display. They’re all armed and ready to protect their own from whatever the impending threat is. Ralak takes his place next to Tonowari, standing tall and still. He observes the uproar before him, his mask of indifference fixed tightly to his face.

“Mawey. Mawey. [Calm. Calm.]” Ronal speaks loudly over the heavy rain, hands splayed out in front of her.

But it makes no difference.

The uproar is growing even louder than the downpour. It was rare to hear this particular horn. It’s been years, ten, to be exact. And those who know exactly what it means are up in arms. Ralak knew this day would soon come, but he was hoping to Eywa that it would be after the birth of his son. Tonowari lets loose a throaty ‘gwah’, driving the butt of his spear into the ground. The crowd hushes down into a dead silence, acknowledging their leader.

“Warriors of Awa’atlu. I summon you for good reason. Ten years have passed and it is time to meet with the ash people once more.” Tonowari begins, only for the younger warriors to mumble among themselves, some of who are unaware of who the ash people are.

“Tìfnu! [silence!]” Ralak snaps through his teeth, “…the olo’eyktan speaks.” Tonowari nods to Ralak.

“The treaty has ended. We meet with them far inland to discuss the terms of a new treaty.” Tonowari’s eyes bounce among the sea of na’vi. “It will be no easy or short journey. We must make the trek by foot. Tonight.”

A few male na’vi are unable to keep their excitement to a minimum and siren a few calls, smacking their strakes together. Neytiri snakes her arm around Jake's upper bicep, tucked under his wing. Neteyam and Lo’ak listen intently, their heads tilted down as they grip their bows firmly.

“Not all will come. I have chosen a few to be at my side.” Tonowari glances at Ralak, and then the Sullys before continuing, “The rest must stay and protect the clan if needed.”

Ronal interjects, speaking of the ash na’vi and their horrid way of living—from their occasionally cannibalistic diet to their view of Eywa and the balance. She further reminds the people of the treaty, and that its tenets include immunity from their ‘hunting practices’ in exchange for a resource only attainable on the reef. The treaty is valid for a decade and then the terms are subject to negotiation based on the two tribe’s needs. She commences it by announcing the names of those who have been chosen by Tonowari.

“I need you by my side, Ralak.”

It was a direct order, and Ralak knows that. He knows that no matter what he says, the olo’eyktan’s order must be obeyed. But it doesn’t mean he won’t try.

“She is due any day now. You know that.” Ralak speaks crystal clear, stating exactly what his concerns are.

He doesn’t want to leave you alone, especially so heavy and full with his firstborn, who will come at any moment. Every bone in his body is telling him it’s the wrong move. But Tonowari glances at his own wife who is swollen with his fourth child.

“I know. I know, Tak. But we must do what we need. For the people.”

Ralak holds a stare with his superior—his father figure. He’s gritting his teeth to keep himself together, to keep his composure. To keep his thoughts just as his thoughts. The two communicate through facial expressions, and a quick tilt to Tonowari’s head has Ralak looking away in frustration.

It’s final.

“No.” Jake butts in, sharp and quick with his disapproval. “He gave me his word.”

Alas, a moment where father and son in law are in favour of the same thing.

“You have the sky people and we have the ash people. They demand his (Ralak’s) presence. If we fail in this, we will be at war. He comes with us.” Tonowari is stern with his tone, leaving no room for an argument.

“Ma’ Jake.” Neytiri chimes in, fright evident in her voice. She is tired of the war.

As a last resort, Ralak’s gaze shifts over to Zu’té. He knew Zu’té would also be chosen despite his...'retirement'. He was undoubtedly one of the best warriors the clan has ever had, wielding great strength and skill. Zu’té returns the stare, crossing his arms over his chest as he cocks a brow. Their brothership had strengthened after Ralak sought help.

Jake notices this, and shakes his head with his hands on his hips. “Nope. No. Who is that guy anyways?”

“My brother.”

“His brother.”

The two taller na’vi speak at once.

“Since when do you have a—You know what? I don’t care. Okay? You? I trust. Him? Not so much. I’d rather my boys stay with her.” Jake says sternly, glancing at Zu’té. “No offence, bud.”

“Good thing I care not for your opinion, koaktan [old man].”

“Zu’té.” Ralak whispers harshly, throwing a glare at his sibling.

“Look, if you got a problem—”

“What about tuk?” Neytiri cuts her mate short, tugging at his arm to remind him of who is watching their youngest daughter.

“Then they take turns or somethin’, I’m not havin’ one baby girl watched and not the other.”

“Toruk makto.” Tonowari lays a heavy hand on the former olo’eyktan's shoulder, drawing him away to break the tension. “They cannot step foot on our land with the treaty. She will be safe. Trust me…” Their voices drown out from the pounding downpour.

As they go back and forth, Ralak begins to process what Tonowari said.

‘They demand his presence’.

Tonowari had made this meeting the topic of conversation over the past few weeks, preparing him for this. But he never mentioned anything about them demanding his attendance in particular. The last meeting with the ash people happened when Ralak was a very young warrior, long before his iknimaya.

Back then, Tonowari had a different warrior at his side—a different right hand. She was strong and well known for being patient with her students. It was a frequent story at family dinner when Tonowari and Ronal took Ralak under their wing. And as Ralak became Tonowari's right hand man, he was thrusted into enforcing the tenets of the treaty, going inland with Tonowari to uphold the clan's part.

Ralak has only caught a glimpse of them once after delivering the resource to the agreed spot. He had just started these excursions with Tonowari, and his curiosity got the best of him. He looked behind him for just a moment, and caught the sight of a curvy, grey woman hastily gathering and stuffing everything into a satchel of some sort.

Her stripes were a deep, ashy blue, and her skin seemed almost scale-like. She was rid of any bioluminescence, as if the light within her was gone, and her hair was matted with what looked like burgundy clay. Tonowari then seized the back of Ralak’s neck and shoved him along, advising that he never looks.

“It is decided. Neteyam, Lo’ak and Zu’té stay.” Tonowari announces as he and Jake rejoin the group, looking at those who are left—Tonowari, Neytiri and Ralak. “We leave soon, make your arrangements.”

Ralak knew his last few words were directed to him. With that, Ralak strides towards Zu’té. “I know what I am asking of you, Zu’té—”

“I will do this for you.” Zu’té turns to face Ralak, who’s undeniably uneasy and concerned.

“Protect her.”

“You protect her. Get in and get out of there, baby brother.” Zu’té speaks, extending his hand out to Ralak. Ralak nods firmly. He’s right, your safety, along with the rest of the clan’s, depends on how this all plays out.

“Oe irayo si ngaru [I give thanks to you].” Ralak's hand meets Zu’té’s forearm with a smack. They tug back and forth a bit, silently wishing each other luck on their own endeavours before setting off on their skimwings.

They arrive, walking with haste along the beach towards the stairs to Ralak’s marui pod in the pouring rain.

“That’s...interesting.” Zu’té makes a comment about the railings for the stairs.

“She has a hard time without it.” Ralak responds, stopping at the bottom step, coming to the quick realisation that this man will essentially be replacing him for the next few eclipses. “She may need help using them.”

Zu’té nods, understanding what he really means. “Do not fret, brother. I will take care of your mate.”

Ralak releases a shaky breath as they make their way to the patio, finding shelter from the rain.

“Wait here.” Ralak speaks with his back turned, “I must speak with her first.”

——

A torturous hour has passed, and you’ve burned circles into your marui floor from pacing so much. He’s taking longer than you’d expected, and worry is really starting to set in now.

What’s going on? What did that sound mean? Why did he leave in such a rush? With all his gear, too?

You gnaw at the calloused piece of skin on your thumb, keeping a warm comforting hand on your bump to keep your kicking babe calm. Regardless, he continues doing somersaults in your womb.

Fuck it.

You rush towards the marui door where your gear hangs, and fight with the strap of your chest piece to slip it on you. It won’t fasten and it’s simply too tight to fit your body right now, but you continue to grapple with the stupid strap with shaky hands.

“Tanhì.” Ralak’s voice is rough and he sounds winded. “What are you doing?” He rushes over to you and quickly removes the piece off your chest.

“Ralak—oh, thank Eywa.” Your voice is shaky, but thick with relief. “I’m sorry, I just got s-so worried.”

“We must speak. Time is going.” Ralak carefully ushers you over to the bed, and assists you in sitting down, holding your swollen belly along the way. He takes note of his active child, feeling his little kicks and pokes. He comforts his young with a few strokes to your stomach. “Shh-shh, little one. Alright.”

He knows this whole ordeal must be stressing you both, and he’s really regretting not telling you all of this sooner.

“What do you mean?” You ask, urgency thick in your voice.

Ralaks demeanour is nothing short of solemn, tensed jaw and tightened lips. It seems serious, and this man is no person to jest on such matters.

"Ralak...What is happening?"

He takes a moment to reply, his gaze fixed on his hand that still lays firmly on your stomach. He then looks up at you, concern etched into his features. “It is time to speak about… my duties with Tonowari.”

You feel your heart thud against your ribcage, your eyes widen at the words. You’ve been eager to know, but now that he’s telling you, it implies that everything isn’t alright. It implies… the safety of your unborn is compromised. You nod slowly, trying to remain calm for the sake of your son.

“We reef people hold a peace treaty with another clan…” the giant begins, slipping his hand from your stomach to clasp yours tightly. “…the ash people.”

“Ash people?” Your voice is less than a whisper, tiny and croaky.

“They are a horrible people, tanhì. Truly wicked. Kawnglan [malicious; bad hearted]. Much like the sky people.” He shakes his head as he mutters the words, not even wanting to go into any more detail. He didn’t want to taint your innocence. To stress your mind. Especially now that you’re heavy with his child. “The treaty keeps them off this land. It keeps you safe.”

“Kawnglan [malicious; bad hearted].” You repeat through a gasp.

“To them, Eywa is nothing. Tsaheylu [the bond] is for control. Their diet…” Ralak catches himself, bringing his words to a halt.

“Their diet…?” Your bottom lip trembles.

Ralak just shakes his head, taking your other hand with his. “The treaty will soon end. I must go. Tonight.”

“What?!” You shout, wrenching your hands from his grasp to quickly stand up. A shooting pain sears up the side of your stomach, and your hand flies to clutch it. Ralak rushes to steady you.

“Careful, y/n.” He snaps, high strung and tense. “I will be back in a few eclipses.”

“What? No! No, no. It’s too dangerous.” You protest, gripping his wrists to stay standing.

“It is the olo’eyktan’s orders. I must.” He’s quick to respond to you.

This quietens you. Does Tonowari not know that you’re due any day? Or perhaps he doesn’t care. How could he rip your mate away from you at this time? Especially for something so…risky. You feel your fear bubble into something more hot.

Anger.

“Then I’m coming.” You announce, dropping your hands from his wrists to waddle over to your gear once more. Ralak stands in front of you, hands on your stomach to stop you.

“No. You're staying here.” Ralak orders sternly, backing you up to sit back on the bed.

“No. I’m coming. I’m safer with you.” You resist his pushes, trying to stand firm.

“You are heavy with child.” He grits his teeth, giving you another light push, “I cannot protect you there. You—agh—you are safer here.”

Ralak makes the confession, feeling like he’s failing at his duty as your mate. He shouldn’t even be leaving you, not when you're this far along. He should be by your side, tending to your every need.

“What? By myself? What if—what if something happens? What if the baby—” You’re cut short by the sound of Zu’té’s not-so-reserved entrance. He yanks the marui flap to the side, ducking under it and standing tall behind Ralak, by just a couple inches. He, too, is fully equipped with his gear and weapons.

“Brother. I can hear the war party.” Zu’té speaks with haste, keeping his eyes locked onto Ralak.

'Brother?' Your eyes snap back to Ralak, beady and full of tears. “You didn’t.”

It quickly dawns on you that Ralak had planned this out. Made these arrangements in anticipation things went south and he had no say in the matter. To ensure your safety, and the safety of your unborn by going to the greatest length of rekindling a flame that had been extinct for twelve years. Ralak has spoken casually of his brother before, but never in any great detail.

“Y/n. This is Zu’té, my brother. He will keep you safe.” Ralak speaks with shame in his voice, knowing this must be way too overwhelming for you. He hadn’t planned for it to go like this.

Zu’té finally allows his eyes to wander over to you. They widen when they get their first proper look of you, darting all over your body to take in your foreign features.

He caught a glimpse when your family first arrived in Awa’atlu, but never this close. His eyes land on your bulging stomach, lingering a second too long to make even himself a bit uncomfortable. He clears his throat and looks back at Ralak.

You look at Zu’té with anger in your eyes, and then back at Ralak as they begin to swell with hot tears. Zu’té tries to make himself smaller, feeling the thickness of the air now. He backs up into the marui flap, tempted to lift it and walk himself outside to relieve some of the pressure.

“How long did you say this would be f-for? What if I go into labour? Will you really allow another man to deliver our son?”

Zu’té quickly but silently excuses himself from the room, taking a spot on the patio with his arms crossed over his chest, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘Oh, Toto. What have you gotten yourself into?’

Angry, you shot the words like an arrow and they pierced your mate’s chest with ease. He grimaces, as if he were actually in pain.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I��” You sob the apology, burying your hot face into your hands.

Ralak embraces you, wrapping his large arms around your body, hugging you close and tight. He sways a little with you, humming deep in his chest. “‘ts alright. You’re okay. Take a breath. I know this is frightening.”

He understands—it is not uncommon for a navi pair to remain close during the final weeks of pregnancy. It’s an unconscious mechanism, keeping them together for the birth of their offspring. Ralak feels it just as much as you but in order to truly protect you he must go— another thing that he understands.

“You c-come back to me, o-okay?” Your breath won’t stop hitching. “Come as s-soon as y-you can.”

“I will, I will. ” He coos, pulling back enough to look down at you. “Mawey, tanhì. Strong heart. For our baby.”

You nod, lifting your head to look up at him. He sees the terror in your eyes and his heart breaks with guilt. He gently presses his forehead against yours, slowly stroking your back.

“Nga yawne lu oer, nga yawne lu oer. [I love you, I love you]” He whispers longingly as he closes the distance between your mouths.

“Nga yawne lu oer [I love you]. S-So much.” You sputter, lips trembling against his.

He kisses you with force, pressing his lips into yours until it almost hurts. You both linger there, not wanting to part ways. But you feel him pulling away, knowing there wasn’t much time left. Instinctively, cling onto him when his lips leave yours.

“Please don’t go.” You mumble into his chest, knowing that he has no choice.

“I have to, my tanhì.” He mutters as he begins to pull away before letting go completely.

You follow behind him, thumb in your mouth as you nibble at the skin, hand resting on top of your bump. You watch him call for his tsurak for a second time tonight, and look back at you for a moment. He takes in the sight of you standing next to his older brother, trying to find comfort in knowing that you’re in safe hands. Ralak gives him a nod and mounts the beast, taking off towards the war party.

Leaving you in the presence of Zu’té.

“Y/n, is it?” Zu’té asks, already knowing the answer.

It’s awkward and he doesn’t do well in these types of situations. He knows comfort is what you need right now, considering you’re now sobbing into your hands again. You’re worried sick. Literally. It’s all making you feel woozy and lightheaded.

“Listen...” He goes to rest a hand on your upper back, but he hesitates, leaving his hand to hover. He retracts it completely, allowing it to fall back to his side. He sighs, droopy ears and tensed brows. “He will return soon.”

Among all the emotions that cloud you at once, anger still remains roaring at the forefront. You find yourself turning your heel and ignoring his presence, waddling away as fast as your swollen feet will allow it.

“Leave m-me be.” You spit between hitched breaths, ensuring the flap of the marui door shuts harshly behind you.

Despite feeling sympathy for you, Zu’té stands outside, finding solace in being alone. He chooses the driest spot, and sets himself up on the patio, getting ready for the stormy night ahead.

You waddle in to bed, wrapping yourself in the thick shawl that smells like your mate, and lay next to the prrsmung [baby carrier] you still have yet to finish. Feeling defeated and empty, you lay on your side in bed as you process everything, letting silent tears crash onto your bed.

——

You’re not entirely sure at what point in the night that you drifted to sleep, but you wake up in a groggy state. Dried tears make it hard to open your eyes, and your hair sticks to your face. You look around in a daze and realise that it’s still dark outside.

The pang in your bladder keeps you awake and forces you out of bed, making you wobble to the curtain. You pull it back and are met with the sight of Zu’té sleeping propped up against the marui wall with his spear tucked to his chest.

Seeing him painfully reminds you of the heart wrenching events of last night. That even though you were hoping and praying to Eywa for it all to be a bad dream—it was all very real.

An icy cold breeze gusts by, making you shiver under your shawl and Zu’té shift in his sleep. The rain had eased off into a light, continuous drizzle some time during the night.

Your ears droop with guilt for leaving him out here in the cold, damp night. You let out a sigh and grip the railing to the marui stairs, turning your body sideways to take your first step down. The wood squeaks when it takes your weight, Ralaks usual tell tale sign that you’re sneaking out at night without his help.

It seems to work for Zu’té too because by the time you reach the second step you hear a raspy voice.

“I was told you need help with these.” Zu’té offers his hand. You let out a sigh and take his arm.

You’ll admit, his helping hand is actually helping, especially now that you’re so far along.

“Irayo [thank you].” You mutter, holding on tightly as you make your way to the bottom step. Zu’té leans against the railing, waiting for you to finish your business.

You don’t take long, most trips recently have been false alarms—just the baby pushing on your bladder because he’s so low down. As you make your way back to the stairs, your lower back begins to warm up. It radiates to your upper and inner thighs, making them ache as you walk.

It’s nothing new, aches and pains are becoming more frequent as the days pass, and the cold certainly isn’t helping. Zu’té meets you at the bottom step with an extended elbow, and you take his arm without a second thought.

It starts to rain again, hard. The temperature easily falls by a few degrees and all you want is to be inside the warmth of your bed right now. Your feet move at a quicker pace and as much as Zu’té tries to be gentle as he can, his grip tightens.

“Take your time.” He says, keeping you steady as you reach the top step.

Once you get to the door, he immediately lets go of you, stepping aside to take his spot on the patio for the remainder of the night. You pull back the marui flap but find yourself hesitating to step inside. You look over your shoulder, watching Zu’té tuck his spear close to his chest and prop himself against the wall.

“Zu’té.” You say. He looks at you, brows raised as he listens. “It’s cold out here. You should come—”

“Don’t worry about me.” He cuts you short, closing his eyes.

“I’m not.” Your words are quick and almost defensive.

Zu’té chuckles a bit, if you could even call it that. “Sounds like you are.”

You sigh, getting a little irritated. “Whatever.”

“I’ll be alright out here.” He says nonchalantly, opening his eyes to look directly at you. Your heart skips a beat and you feel the blood drain from your face. You thought Ralak was intimidating, but this guy is something else.

“Sure.” It’s awkward, but a good awkward…if that were a thing. “Night.”

“Wake me if you need me. No more sneaky shit.” He’s muttering now, ready to go back to sleep. “And get some rest.”

You hold back your laugh, a little amused by the stark difference in his personality and Ralaks. How are they brothers? Or related, even?

“Will do, sir.” You match his sarcastic tone, entering the marui and laying down in bed, hoping to Eywa that sleep will find you soon.

——

Village life continues despite Ralak and the others' absence. You wake up earlier than usual, despite the exhausting circumstances. Your baby moves, letting you know he’s awake too.

“Daddy will be home soon.” You reassure your babe, gently rubbing your stomach.

Perhaps you were also reassuring yourself.

You feel empty, and numb. And as much as you want to lay in bed all day and wait for your mates return, you still have a few things left to do before your son’s arrival.

First thing being, getting some food in your system.

You get ready, and walk outside, noticing that Zu’té is no longer in his spot.

He wakes early.

Looking out into the distance, you catch sight of Zu’té crouching next to a small flame, cooking what seems to be squid. It’s hard to be sure of what it is—the sun hasn’t fully bloomed, and though the rain has stopped it’s still a bit gloomy. You make your way over to him, taking extra care when going down the stairs.

“Morning.” You say nonchalantly.

Zu’té’s ears spring up and he looks behind him—behind you—directly at the stairs. His brows lower and he sighs quickly, knowing there’s no point in making the comment. He looks back at his task, turning the slightly charred squid impaled by a sharpened branch.

“You’re up early.” The giant states, back turned to you to reveal his insanely intricate tattoo.

“Same to you.” You respond, staring at his back hard enough to burn holes into it. You see some scarring and thickened skin, presumably from his days as a warrior. That much you knew because of Ralak.

“Squid. Help yourself.” Zu’té says, handing you a stick of burnt squid.

Taking it from him, you hold it in front of your face, a little baffled at how he seemingly saw nothing wrong with it.

“Hm…thanks. Looks…well done.” You try to force a smile, to no avail.

You try to take a seat next to him, struggling to keep your balance as you lower yourself to your knees. His ears lay flat and he instinctively springs to his feet, helping you sit down. He didn’t think you’d join him here.

It’s silent. Uncomfortably silent. And awkward. You keep your extremities close and your tail closer, curled up in on yourself to remain as small as you can. Although, in comparison to your mate's brother, you were tiny.

He’s not taller by much, but still taller nonetheless. It really makes you wonder how their parents looked for them to turn out this way.

Zu’té eats hastily, shovelling the squid in his mouth as if it had the ability to slither away. It makes you look back at your own serving and suddenly your nerves go haywire. You didn’t want to risk getting sick, your bedside bucket is too far away to fetch. But you didn’t want to be rude—he’d obviously woken up early to make this for you.

You take an experimental bite and fight for your life to keep a straight face. You exaggerate a nod and cover your mouth with your hand, hiding the way you're smacking away at this blubbery piece of meat.

“Mm. Mhm.” You grunt, forcing it down and clearing your throat. “It’s—uhm, it’s not—”

“I am no ‘emyu [cooker].” He says, chucking his cleared stick into the fire.

“Ahem—yeah. Yup.” You twirl the stick between your pointer finger and thumb, bringing his attention to your five fingered hand. His eyes widen a bit before quickly looking away, and you tuck them back in between your thighs.

“Thanks for breakfast.”

“Sleep well?”

You both speak at the same time, unintentionally clearing the tension in the air.

“I suppose, all things considered.” You try to speak lightheartedly. “And you? Did any part of you freeze?”

Zu’té laughs and shakes his head. “No, not quite.”

“Well, that’s good.” You say, looking out at sea to witness the sun's emergence. It casts an orange hue over the water, illuminating the ripples of the oncoming waves.

He’s watching it too.

“Your tattoo.” You speak softly, witnessing his ears flutter. “…on your back.”

“Ah. What of it?”

“What does it mean? I mean—” You stutter, still adapting to the idea of inking being a symbolic statement. “What’s the story behind that?”

The story replays in his head—the death of the spirit brothers and family. It flashes before him, as if he were in that moment again. The guilt and pain inside him is eternal, something that’s never left him since. He’s never spoken of it, not even to the person he hurt the most through it all—Ralak.

His ears pin back and his jaw tightens. He shrugs his shoulders and mutters, “Felt like it.”

“So…you’re telling me you did that, for fun?” The surprise is evident in your voice as you look at the tattoo again. His skin is raised and it spans the entirety of his upper back. “That must have been really painful. Ralak did mine and it took days.”

“Didn’t hurt.” Zu’té says, turning his body to you yet keeping his eyes on the sun. But it did. It hurt—a lot. Self inflicted pain, to symbolise the pain he inflicted on others, even if it weren’t his intention.

Maybe they are brothers. You think.

“You going to eat that?” He asks, interrupting your train of thought, pointing at your squid on a stick.

“Uhh—I’m going to pass.” You answer, offering it to him, “…sorry.”

“Again. Not a ‘emyu [cooker]” He takes it gladly, biting off a decent chunk and chewing at it unbothered with a deadpan expression.

Nevermind.

Now the silence isn’t as awkward. You choose to sit here a while longer, enjoying this moment as much as you can before coming back to reality. The reality that there may be a war brewing. That—

Ralak isn’t here.

Well, that didn’t last long.

Sadness washes over you, making your ears droop and your tail heavy. Your baby gives you a sudden, hard kick in the ribs, as if he were telling his mummy to cheer up. You uncross your legs and shift your weight to the one side, getting ready to get up and be productive.

Zu’té seems to take note of that.

“Need to get up?” He asks, chucking yet another stick into the fire.

“I got it.” You grunt, shuffling to your knees.

Zu’té lets out a displeased grumble, understanding what his brother meant when he said you have a stubborn streak. He goes to help you anyways, supporting you by the elbow.

You’re just about standing when you feel a sharp stabbing pain in your back. It makes you jolt and grab onto Zu’té, whose slight irritation instantly turns into concern.

“Y/n.”

“I’m good, I’m good.” You repeat out of breath, steadying yourself before letting go. He seemed unsure if you really were okay. “Really. Happens all the time now.”

Zu’té nods, letting go and giving you a little more space. “Alright.”

——

The meeting spot is no other than the ‘head quarters’ of the ash people. It is only on this occasion that another clan may step foot on their land and walk away with a beating heart. That is, if all goes well. Tonowari is confident, however, knowing that the resource they provide the ash people is sufficient enough to prolong the treaty for many decades to come.

It is an ore that forms deep underwater, and can only be extracted by the most skilled divers. Divers that can hold their breath for up to half an hour. The use of this ore remains unknown to the reef people, but the ash people are quick to seize it almost instantaneously at the drop off point. The ore is plentiful among the reef, renewing itself as it is harvested—the act of the great mother restoring balance as needed.

Truth be told, although the reef people are a peaceful people, it is no secret that they hold some of the strongest warriors on Pandora. They are proud of their home, and will fight to protect it at all costs. Even the ash people know this. Which is the reason for their agreement on something as laughable as a ‘peace’ treaty.

Otherwise, what’s really to stop them from annihilating the reef people and taking the ore themselves?

Ralak meets with the others—Tonowari, Jake, Neytiri, and Ronal. They all set off far inland to the place the two clans met ten years ago. The trek is long and tiresome, leaving Ronal winded and in need of a couple breaks along the way. She is, too, heavy with child, but as tsahìk, she perseveres. Tonowari had tried to convince her several times to stay home, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“We are here.” Tonowari announces as the group nears the settlement of their natural enemy. It’s a rocky environment, much like the reef but with plenty of soil and clay. “Heads straight. Ignore them.”

——

Zu’té stays nearby the marui as he tends to some of Ralak’s duties, keeping an eye on you from afar. You sit comfortably on the bottom step of the marui stairs, concentrating on finishing your baby’s sling. Your fingers are a little swollen, making it more difficult to weave. Frustrated, you plop the sling to your side and bury your face into your hands.

Everything is just too overwhelming right now.

“Your technique is poor.” Zu’té’s voice booms over you.

You look up, seeing this tall man with his hands on his hips tower over you, shading you from the sun. “Excuse me? I’ll have you know that I have plenty of knowledge on—”

“This is a prrsmung [baby carrier], yes?” Zu’té picks up the sling and sits himself next to you, searching for the point in which you left off.

You watch intently, intrigued to know his next move. He carefully unravels all the wefts you’ve managed to do since sitting on this damned step.

“What are you doing? Stop!”

Zu’té sighs and demonstrates a weaving technique you’ve never seen before, entwining and knitting the fabric until it comes together in an even neater fashion. You look at him in awe, dumbstruck that he was able to do that. Ralak dislikes weaving, in fact, he loathes it.

“Try it.” He says, plucking the fabric away from itself to unravel it once more before handing it back to you. You hesitate to take it, caught off guard from his unexpected, skilled movements.

“My fingers are swollen.” You say, feeling defeated and a little embarrassed. He looks down, noticing your five-fingered hand again, not nearly surprised as last time.

“Not as big as mine.” He tries to hand you the sling again. “You got it.”

Reluctantly, you take the sling and slowly mirror his movements, replicating the technique perfectly.

“See?” Zu’té sounds pleased with himself. Looking down at the sling, it dawns on you.

“So, you’re a weaver?” You ask the question as if you had just struck gold. “Usually the women take on that role.”

“Not here, forest girl.” Zu’té defends his role proudly, “But yes, I am.”

“Nice. It is good to see that. My grandmother is a great weaver, she taught me all I know.” You begin.

For as long as your body would allow it, you and Zu’té sat on that step and wove together. You wove the sling and he went to fetch his satchel to work on a piece of his own. Though you did most of the talking, and found yourself dodging one too many snarky remarks, a bond formed on that step.

You told him about your past at hometree, your reason for seeking uturu to begin with.

The sky people.

The words wouldn’t stop flowing, especially when you got onto the topic of how you met his brother. You explained that Ralak was your karyu [teacher] and how that quickly morphed into something much more beautiful. How you broke past his walls—took off his mask of indifference.

But then that awkward silence came again. The silence that reminded you why this stranger was in your home to begin with. That he was playing watchdog because your mate had to leave your side whilst being heavily pregnant.

“I lied.” Zu’té fills the silence. It has your ears perked up and your full attention on him. Your heart picked up speed, almost expecting something bad. “About?”

“That tattoo hurt like a kalweyaveng [son of a bitch].”

His confession has you bellowing out in laughter, clutching your stomach to keep you from shaking up your baby.

“I knew it.” You finally say once you calm down from a much needed laugh. “No good comes from trying to pretend that things don’t hurt, you know.”

Little did you know these words weighed heavy on him. Heavier than you meant for them to. He falls silent, contemplating if he should say what he’s about to. The real confession. The real reason behind the tattoo.

“I killed our spirit brothers.” He blurts out, astonished by his own voice.

Did I really just say that? Shit.

“What?” You exhale, your heart now galloping in your chest.

“It was twelve years ago. I was…seventeen. Sent out to war. I had to keep Ralak out of it. I went alone…lead a group of warriors to protect the tulkun.” His voice seizes up, as if his throat were closing. He looks away, fixing his gaze to his feet. “I was still learning. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. The sky people…they slaughtered them all.”

“Hey, hey. That’s not your fault, Zu’té. You didn’t kill them. The sky people did.” You rest your hand on his back, feeling how raised and toughened the skin where his inking lay deep.

Zu’té just looks at you, eyes trembling with vulnerability. It’s the first someone outside of the family has ever told him that. It’s something that he needed to hear.

“Is that why you fled? Ralak told me you left him.”

Zu’té nods, looking away in shame once more. “I abandoned him.”

You shake your head, knowing now that Ralak has healed and no longer feels this way. “He has healed Zu’té. And now it is your turn.”

Zu’té only nods, allowing the silence to fill the space again. This time it’s needed.

Until it's broken by a familiar voice.

“Sister.” Neteyam greets you at the bottom step, throwing a smile your way, then to your stomach. “Little one.”

He’s checking on you per your fathers request. Of course he wanted to ensure you were okay, too.

“Tey.” You smile big, happy to see such a familiar, comforting face. “I thought you went.”

You reach out for the railing to pull yourself up, and both Neteyam and Zu’té go to help you get up. You side-hug Neteyam, finding comfort in your brother. It’s been a hectic night.

“No, someone’s got to watch Tuk…and you.” Neteyam chuckles. As you let go, your glances at Ralak’s brother. “Neteyam, this is Ralak’s brother. Zu’té.” You introduce the two properly.

Taught manners from a young age, Neteyam gestures ‘I see you’ to the former warrior, and he returns the sign.

“Uncle TeyTey’s got you guys for the day.” Neteyam coos at your tummy, and then offers you his arm.

“Right...Dads orders?” You ask, happy to go with him.

“Dads orders.” Neteyam nods firmly, looking at Zu’té to relay the message. Zu’té returns the nod, being present to hear your fathers concerns about the entire arrangement. Besides, it’ll give him time to hunt for something proper for dinner.

“C’mon guys!” Lo’ak shouts from the ocean, mounted on his skimwing with Tuk behind him.

“See you. Think about what I said.” You say to Zu’té, prompting him to wave goodbye. Neteyam walks you to his tsurak, helping you to get on. You had retired your tsurak for the time being, finding it hard to ride with your back pain.

“Hey Lo’. Tuk-Tuk.” You say with relief in your voice, finding comfort in the company of your family.

——

The ash people are impudent to say the least. They follow behind the five na’vi weaving their way through the growing crowd, right on their tails as they try to get a better look at them. They are particularly interested in Jake and Neytiri, seeing the forest people for the first time. But most haven’t even gotten a look at the reef people yet, despite having the agreement with them for so many decades already.

Some even dare to poke and prod, tugging at their tails and their hair to get a feel or whiff of their scents. Tonowari, Jake, Neytiri and Ralak walk in a formation that allows Ronal to be in the centre, safe guarded from any pointed fingernails or astray noses. Ralak is on edge, but one could never tell by a glance. His appearance is intimidating, a stature so tall he and Tonowari tower over the crowd.

“I do the talking.” Tonowari says discreetly as they near the entrance of the hut.

The room is made of some sort of red clay substance, seemingly burnt to a char until it has been hardened into what feels like rock. This one in particular is large, containing smaller sectioned off rooms, partitioned with thick leather curtains. It's all very bleak, rid of liveliness and colour.

As they enter the hut, two bigger ash na’vi guard the door on either side, blocking and guarding the entrance behind them. Two more ash na’vi lead the group with spears to their backs to a large curtain, and shove them towards it with a few harsh jabs to Jake’s and Ralak’s spines. Jake snaps around, throwing them a dirty look. Whilst Ralak keeps his gaze fixed to his feet. He feels deep in his gut that something isn’t right.

Whether it be here, or back home.

With each step he takes, the sense of impending doom only worsens. He has no desire to be here but he recognizes that this is what is necessary. Yet, he can’t help the way he feels. And when he finally raises his head all the pieces link together. It all makes sense.

Before them are five na’vi in total. Two women and three men. Four ash na’vi and one…reef na’vi. A female, reef na’vi. Her face is unmistakable—unforgettable. It’s been seared into his mind since he was a young boy.

And when Ralak sees it, he almost caves in on himself. His mask of indifference—of intimidation, cracks. Hell, it shatters. Into thousands of pieces, scattered at his feet. Tonowari’s previous right hand. The banished.

His karyu.

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holylulusworld · 1 month ago

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His Bride (Prologue) - Creaturetober 29

Summary: Your life gets turned upside down.

Pairing: Vampire!Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader; John Walker x fem!Reader (for now)

Warnings: nightmares, angst, awful boyfriend, daydreaming, vampire Bucky, mind-manipulation

The first chapter was written for @boxofbonesfic: 𝐵𝑜𝓍𝑜𝒻𝒷𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈: 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒯𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓈𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒

Kinktober vs Flufftober 2024

His Bride Masterlist

You wake from another nightmare filled with sharp teeth and blood. So much blood.

His teeth: you can still feel where they broke the skin and flesh in your dream. There’s no wound or blood. Of course not. It’s only a dream. A nightmare you have had for months.

It’s always there in the back of your mind—the monster clawing its way into your life bit by bit. Ever since you started working for Buchanan Inc.

There is something you can’t grasp but know is there. A shadow looming over you and your life.

Maybe that’s why your fiancé acts coldly toward you. Or maybe he simply lost interest.

“You look like shit.” You flinch at John’s harsh tone. He glares in your direction as you struggle to get out of bed. Groggily, you push the covers off you, yawning loudly. You’re exhausted, drained even. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re at the club all night and sneak back into bed.”

John snorts and turns around, muttering under his breath. Great, he’s in that mood again. You hear him rummage in the kitchen but are too tired to care.

Last night, the dream was even more intense. You could almost feel the presence of the monster chasing you in your dreams. His teeth sank into your neck, and you screamed—in pleasure and pain. You shudder at the memory of your lustful escapade with the monster.

Oddly, you can remember every detail of your dreams lately. Even the monster’s eyes. Steel-blue and cold.

Touching the itching spot again, you whimper. Your skin feels sensitive and hot.

“You’re imagining things,” you grumble as you get out of bed to walk into the bathroom. “No more romantic vampire novels for bed, young lady!” You chuckle to yourself and hurriedly walk into the bathroom. A shower will help you wash the coldness out of your bones and the shame off your body.

Another day down the drain. You rub your temples and sigh. Restless nights and workload took a toll on you.

“Y/N, you’re still here? Why are you working so late? I thought I’m the workaholic here,” your boss chuckles. “You should go home.”

Your head snaps toward the open door to your boss’s office. Well, everyone’s boss. The CEO of Buchanan Inc. - James Buchanan Barnes. Perfection in flesh and blood.

He's like a classic gentleman, with a sexy Romanian accent and the most stunning blue eyes you ever saw on a man. It doesn’t hurt that he’s handsome, rich, and mysterious.

If only you weren’t engaged. If only…

“I wanted to finish a few things before heading home,” you lie poorly. Your boss can see it in your eyes.

You barely get the chance to meet him. He seems to always be absent during the daytime.

In secret, you called him a hot vampire after reading another novel involving a sexy vampire. Well, the accent and his mysterious aura matched the description, and you couldn’t help but daydream about your boss.

“Doesn’t your fiancé miss you when you work for so long? I wouldn’t want him to hate me for stealing his girl’s attention.” He suddenly stands in front of your desk, taking you by surprise. You press your hand to your heart, gasping as Bucky moves so fast you don’t see him coming.

“He wouldn’t care,” you curse yourself for the slip of the tongue. Your boss doesn’t need to know that John gives a shit if you come home late. He’s late almost every day, too. You gave up asking him for a reason weeks ago. “I meant, he’s busy with work too. I only want to finish a few documents and will head home.”

“Do you want something to eat or a tea?” Bucky watches you rub your temples. “You’re having a headache.” He says, already knowing your head is pounding. “Did you drink enough?”

“Yeah,” you lie again. The truth is, you lost track of time and forgot lunch and drinking once again.

“Hmm,” he whispers your name and suddenly stands right before you. His hands reach out for you. He carefully touches your temple with his thumb, slowly rubbing circles. You whimper. His touch is soothing and exciting at the same time.

You close your eyes and instinctively lean in his gentle touch. It feels like Bucky rubs the pain right out of your head. He murmurs your name and a few words you don’t understand in Romanian.

“Păpuşă (doll).” His deep voice and the scent of his cologne fill your senses. You’re so lost in his touch and closeness that you moan his name.

He chuckles but says nothing. Bucky seems to be pleased with your reaction because he keeps on whispering your name and words in Romanian, making you feel warm and safe.

Even if you weren’t lost in his touch, you wouldn’t care. This is the gentlest touch you ever experienced in your life.

“Open your eyes, păpuşă (doll),” he purrs your name with the sweetest voice, luring you in. You fight to open your eyes but follow his order. Your lips part as you search his eyes.

You gasp, watching his beautiful blue orbs turn crimson. His lips part to reveal pearl-white, sharp fangs. “Don’t be afraid, mea mireasă (my bride). Nothing will happen to you. You’re mine to protect and love. Soon you’ll be mine forever.”

The fog slowly lifts from your mind as his warmth leaves you. You blink a few times to watch Bucky scroll through his phone. He lifts his gaze to meet your eyes.

Another daydream—that’s what this was. He never touched you or murmured soft words. This is the worst time to lose your mind. Your boss cannot know about your daydreams or your nightmares.

You can only hope Bucky didn’t catch you staring at him.

Part 1

Tags in reblog.

#bucky barnes #vampire bucky barnes #vampire au #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x female reader #His Bride (Prologue) - Creaturetober 29 #kinktober vs flufftober 2024

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staytinyville · 1 year ago

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Stay Alive Masterlist

" Came like a Miracle, Look like a miracle, Just like Miracle, Those few words...."

Synopsis: When you started working at a pharmaceutical company, you didn’t realize where it was your life was heading. After getting a patient mix up, you meet seven men who would didn’t seem to want any other nurse that wasn’t you. When you start to know them, you notice things that made you question if they were really human. No matter what excuse they would give though, you would always go home with a heavy heart. The day the truth is revealed to you, things take a turn for the worst.

Pairings: BTS poly!ot7 x Reader

Genre: Mystical Creatures AU, Fluff, Romance, Angst, Fantasy

Warnings: Smut in future chapters, toxic work environment, abuse

Taglist: I have decided to write smut chapters. However it’s just one per member. Maybe some things here and there. With that being said. I will not have a taglist on those chapters for fear of having minors tagged. My books are mostly for a general audience because smut isn’t my main writing. However with the very small number of chapters I will probably do, it’s best to not tag anyone. I understand some of you have ages but I don’t want to struggle with picking out each adult blog. Thank you for understanding.

A/N

(1) -- (2) -- (3) -- (4) -- (5)

(6) -- (7) -- (8) -- (9) -- (10)

(11) -- (12) -- (13) -- (14) -- (15)

(16) -- (17) -- (18) -- (19) -- (20)

(21) -- (22) -- (23) -- (24) -- (25)

(26) -- (27) -- (28) -- (29) -- (30)

(31) -- (32) -- (33) -- (34) -- (35)

(36) -- (37) -- (38) -- (39) -- (40)

(41) -- (42) -- (43) -- (44) -- (45)

(46) -- (47) -- (48) -- (49) -- (50)

" Those few words that saved me I'll be by your side after many nights..."

Taglist is officially closed!

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sandwhitches · 19 days ago

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༘⋆ THE SPINS | SUGURU GETO x READER

CHAPTER 2: WHITE FLAG? cw: "kms" joke, crude humor, language, mention of financial struggle

<- chapter 1 + masterlist + chapter 3 ->

𖦹 venmo reveal. he's an evil cat that shoko and satoru found rooting through the garbage behind the record shop; so far he has made 15 attempts on gojo's life. suguru was kicked out once for referring to venmo as "it." current beef status is unknown.

𖦹 y/n making up half of the beef in her head is lowkey me coded wait.

𖦹 if ur wondering what the average reemitch text convo looks like, it's utahime and yn.

𖦹 omg geto subtle gaslighting waitttt heart eyes emoji heart eyes emoji? why was there lowkey some undertones to those messages...

𖦹 okay coworkers!!!!!

𖦹 i meant to post this earlier you guys will not believe the fucking day i have had.

𖦹 thank u for listening to alex g, suguru. shoko's pick was targeted.

taglist: @aozui @chososcamgirl @qingpunk @kameyyy @definitelynotanalien @solaqes @gigiiiiislife @jelliblue @starmapz @creamflix @brideads @san-it-is-i-guess @rriwyu @poopooindamouf @noomimi @makeshiftproject @gumiiiiezzzz @ami20019 @shokosbunny @joeyphernalia @starsryi @silllly-jokesterr @abitopiia @aboveasphodel @unhinged-atrocities @atlaszi @essjujutsu @kr1nqu @jaybirdluvr73 + blogs in bold couldn't be tagged; taglist status: open (29/50) please send an ask!!!

#suguru getou smau #suguru geto smau #suguru geto x reader #geto x reader #jjk smau #jjk crack #geto x reader smau #geto smau #🎧 the spins

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it-was-summer · 4 months ago

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Video Killed the Radio Star - Tape #1 (Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader)

A/N: After being dead on this account for years, like Christ (or bread?), I have risen (I'm not religious). The point is, if you are new to this series, welcome! I am rewriting this series for myself (and anyone still reading after all this time). It is something I want to see through and that I loved re-reading all these years later. The original reception was so warm and lovely, sometimes making me feel guilty for leaving so abruptly. I loved every reblog, comment, tag, and like for this series. I hope that if you're still here, you like the remake. This series DOES contain sensitive matters such as kidnapping, death, torture, sexual themes, and more. If you struggle with this material please know you are not alone and always reach out for help. I will be making a new masterlist once I have more chapters out. Please let me know what you think and enjoy! - Much love, Em <3

Video Killed the Radio Star Remake Masterlist

Link to the Ao3: Video Killed the Radio Star

Next Chapter: Tape #2

WARNING: stalking, mention of kidnapping, blood, cursing, and sensitive material ahead.

Tape Contents: You start recording videos for the BAU once you find out you have a stalker.

Word Count: 2,196

Tape #1- December 29, 20XX

Your face looks a little apprehensive as you move away from the webcam on your computer. Your eyes flick off the screen, leaning forward to read something as if you had planned out a script for yourself. You wave at the camera, offering the lens a weak and shy smile. Your posture slumps for a second, letting out a prolonged sigh. “I,” you frown at the camera, “I’m not good at talking to myself on video, it seems.”

“I guess bluntness might be a saving grace for both of us,” you whisper as you play with a ring on your middle finger, sliding it up and down your finger, “You know that feeling you get when you’re driving home late at night and you think to yourself, ‘Oh my god. I think that car behind me is following me.’ I think it all started with that.” A hand reaches for your hair, and you timidly move a stray strand away from your eyes.

“I tried everything I could think of and kept turning randomly, but it was too late. I would rush up to my apartment, and across the street would the same red van every fucking weekend. I tried to get the plate one day as I watched them leave from my window, but no such luck.” You swallow thickly, your voice suddenly full of emotion.

A sad smile crosses your face as you shake your head, “Fucking dumb, this is so fucking dumb.” you cry softly as tears dance along your lash line. You take a deep breath and push your shoulders back in a desperate attempt to regain your composure.

You hold up a wilted, purple rose. Loose petals fall as you twist the stem between your thumb and index. “Got this last night, just on my windshield.” You mutter with a tone of disdain. “Don’t even like roses.” you joke lightly as you set the rose on your desk.

“I’m going to the police tomorrow. I just… thought maybe doing this would make me feel better,” you pause and let out a bitter laugh, leaning toward the camera, “It hasn’t.”

Then the screen goes black.

Tape #2- January 3, 20XX.

Your eyes have bags under them, and you gently rub the bridge between them. “So, got told off by the police.”

You lean back in your desk chair and shake your head before pointing accusingly at the camera. “Went to the station, brought my stupid fucking rose and everything. They told me they would patrol the area. Of course, what car do I not see across the street anymore? That fucking red van. Guy told me that I was just imagining things.”

You relax for a second before speaking again, your shoulders squaring defensively. “And! And, the second they leave, guess who is back again. Every single weekend, 7 pm to 11 pm.” You let out a weary sigh and rest an arm on your desk, staring directly into the camera.

“The Police said they couldn’t even do anything until something boarding physical assault happens.” You trail off with a sideways glance away from the screen.

“I’m not going to just sit idly by waiting to get assaulted.” You hiss out, leaning forward and stopping the video.

Tape #3- January 14, 20XX

You’re playing with the edges of your sweater as you lean back into your chair, rocking slightly. “Got another love present today,” Your voice distant as you pull a Polaroid from the desk, holding it up for the camera to see.

The Polaroid was of you at the library where you worked. You were sitting in a striped sweater, your hair down. You were smiling at one of the volunteers who works ‘story hour.’ You threw the picture back on the desk with a grimace.

“No one told me that my sweater that day looked so hideous.” You croak out in a desperate attempt to make yourself laugh in the moment, and for a second, it works. You start with a slight chuckle, but it quickly takes a sharp turn for the worst and becomes a full-on sob.

“I’m sorry,” you choke out before you wipe tears from under your eyes, “I’m just scared. My mom and I talked about it, and she said that maybe it was a ‘secret admirer,’ which… does not make it any better. I feel like everyone thinks I’m fucking crazy.” Your voice raises before you cut yourself off and look down at your sweater again.

“I’m not,”

Camera off.

Tape #4- January 17, 20XX

You smile at the camera and scoot a little closer. “Hey,” you say with a gentle sigh of relief, “Great news—I’m organized!”

You lean back and relax in your chair slightly, “So I’m Y/N L/N. I work as a librarian here in Richmond, Virginia. My apartment will be in my records, I’m sure.” You laugh out softly, holding up a photo of a tattoo that seems to reside on your lower collarbone.

“I didn’t want to flash the camera, so I took the liberty of taking a photo of this lovely tattoo of mine,” you say, glancing at the photo of the line-art floral tattoo next to your face. “If you think this doesn’t seem like me… well, you’re partially right. I was drunk in Vegas for my twenty-first birthday, and then I woke up missing a good chunk of money and a tattoo.” You shrug as you slowly set the photo on your desk.

“I’m not trying to freak anyone out if they do see this. I just…” you pause, releasing a slow and controlling breath, “I want to be found if I do go missing. I want to be easily identified if I’m not alive. I want people to know I was a person and not just a body, you know?” You let your lips grow into a weak smile, nodding slightly, seeming to agree with yourself.

“I’m making these to help myself, to feel like I have more control. The presents stopped recently, but they’re still watching me every weekend. It feels like it's about to get worse. I can’t explain it. I’m not trying to make the police feel bad. I just… don’t like going down without a fight.”

“Speaking of not going down without a fight,” You reach over to grab a photo and proudly turn it over to the camera. “You know who this is?” You ask your silent audience. “This is the lovely Jennifer Jareau.” You answer with a weak smile, feeling strange as you talk with yourself.

“I decided to beg the police to email this video folder to her. Currently, just the police have this, as I’m annoying and persistent but also very charming. That’s a lie. My coworker's boyfriend’s friend works at the station. Hopefully,” You swallow gently as the photo slips away from your fingers. “Hopefully, they won’t have to send it to her and the BAU team, but in the unfortunate case, she does see this.” You smile, wave a little, mouth a soft ‘hello,’ and lean forward—screen black.

Tape #5- February 10, 20XX

You’re wearing a red, pink, and white striped sweater with a white headband pushing your hair back as the camera focuses again on you. “Happy Early Valentine’s Day to everyone who got a gift from their stalker on the top of their car today,” you say with mock happiness before your smile falls, and you hold up a copy of Wuthering Heights.

You flip through the pages before stopping on one and facing it toward the camera, trying to get it to focus, but you quickly find the task irritating. You groan and decide to read the line, “Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad.”

“That's one of the lines circled, underlined, and highlighted…” You say, flipping through more pages slowly.

“The only scenes highlighted seem to involve Heathcliff and Catherine, which are romantic scenes, of course, but just that one quote is emphasized.” You say, shaking your head, and you laugh a little, setting the book somewhere outside the frame.

“What a shitty gift, I already have a copy.” You joke before the screen turns black.

Tape #6- February 14, 20XX

Your face is flush red, eyes swollen and raw from crying as you sit in front of the camera, speechless for a short amount of time. You look positively catatonic for a second, unmoving. The sound of you raking in a shaking breath scares you as you bring yourself to speak. Your face doesn’t match your attire, as you sport a sweater with a giant pink heart in the center and small heart-shaped earrings hanging from your ears.

“They were in here,” your voice is soft and hoarse. “They were in here, everywhere. They left roses everywhere. They were in here! They got into my apartment and left dozens of rose petals on my bed, floors, couch, and kitchen table!” Your voice raises in volume as you cut yourself off, a small tear rolling down your cheek.

“Something isn’t right,” You were shaking your head and letting out fast breaths, on the verge of hyperventilating. “This is all getting so,” you raise your hands to run through your curls, pulling gently. “I need you to find me. I’m doing so much already. I went to the police station, and they searched everything: cameras, streets, but there was nothing! Just petals!” You yell softly, voice rasping softly at the end of your outburst.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” you mumble softly, tears filling your eyes.

Tape #7- February 17, 20XX

You smile awkwardly at the camera and hold up Jane Eyre, opening it to a dog-eared page. “You are my sympathy --my better self --my good angel.” You read off the quote softly with a light sigh at the end of your reading.

“Seems like we have a Brontë fan in our midst,” you try to be light-hearted as you set the book to the side.

“I wrote down all my passwords, but it's not like you’ll need them. Nonetheless, you can never be too safe.” You quip the sentence in a soft voice.

“I’m trying my hardest not to do anything crazy. I just, nevermind.” You say, annoyance thick in your voice as you shut the camera off quickly.

Tape #8- March 2, 20XX

A terrible gnawing was growing in your stomach. Your hands clutched your waist gently as you leaned back in your chair. You felt like you might be sick as you stared off-camera toward your newest ‘gift.’ Your throat felt taut as you swallowed, a shaky sigh coming from your lips as your pale face looked at the camera.

“I’m scared this might be my last video,” you say, your voice hoarse and tense, “It all just suddenly stopped. There was no more red van, no more gifts—nothing to write home about, but today,”

You lean over to pull a pair of white, blood-soaked panties from a plastic bag into the frame. “These were on my door knob today when I got home. I tried not to touch it. I put it in this bag to ensure I didn’t contaminate it more. It doesn’t look like blood blood, more like period blood.” As you throw the bag back to your desk, your voice edges into an emotional tone, tears threatening to fall from your eyes.

“I think that they’re mine,” You cried softly, shaking slightly as you tried to control your breathing, “Th-the panties, not the blood. I haven’t, those can’t be from my period. Mine hasn’t come y-”

“I’m not going to be okay. I was stupid to think I might be, but I’m not!” You cry into your hands, and your shoulders shake as you let out a weak sob. “Please find me if I go missing. Please,” Tears fall on your cheeks as you lean toward the computer.

“I need you to find me.”

March 5, 20XX.

A clicker is in J.J.’s hand as she turns off the videos. “Richmond PD sent this over this morning when twenty-eight-year-old Y/N L/N didn’t show up to her job,” She hands out folders as she speaks, “Her coworker called her mother to see if she had gone out of town when she said no. Y/N’s coworker’s boyfriend called a cop friend to check her apartment and found no trace of her or anyone else in her apartment. They sent this video folder over the second he called it in.”

Spencer was frowning as he flipped through the pages of your file, hating the idea that you knew. He knew that dread, that feeling when something bad was about to happen to you. That innate and raw feeling that pushes through a person like a wave. He opens his mouth to say something, but Hotch is already speaking before he can get the chance to.

“We leave here in ten,” He says before leaving the room, cutting everyone’s comments short in one small miraculous moment.

Within ten minutes, the team finds themselves away from their jet, stuffed into groups in black SUVs, barreling toward Richmond.

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thebestofoneshots · 1 year ago

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SERIES MASTERLIST

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Summary: You meet Sirius and Regulus at a family vacation in the Caribbean, but things don't go as planned and you end up losing contact once the trip is over. Years later your family moves to England and you get accepted at Hogwarts where you finally meet Sirius once again, along with all of his friends. One of them with a mysterious secret, that you'll uncover as you embark on your own Hogwarts adventure. Mostly canon-compliant. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

Read Gilded Constellations on AO3

Read the French Translation by @nagareboshi-chiyo

Paring: Sirius Black x Reader / Remus Lupin x reader / Wolfstar x reader

Chapter average: 5k - 6.5 k

Content: Smut in later chapters, Poly!Marauders, throuple, graphic descriptions of violence, MAJOR and minor character death (this is The Marauders Era guys, you know), jealousy, angst, pining, love triangle, LGBTQ+ themes, The Wizarding war 1.0, implied child abuse, possible proofreading errors, mental health struggles, hurt no comfort, hurt with comfort, period typical attitude, first war with Voldemort, canonical character's death, fluff, Requited Love, F/M/M, mostly canon-compliant.

Status: Ongoing (Weekly updates)

♡ Indicates SMUT

PLAYLIST

01 | Summer Breeze

02 | Escape

03 | Bitter Sweet Symphony

04 | Rainy Days and Mondays

05 | Good times

06 | Crazy Little Thing Called Love

07 | Peaceful Easy Feeling

08 I Fooled Around and Fell in Love

09 | The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke

10 | Black Dog

11 | Do Ya

12 | You really got me

13 | Rebel, Rebel

14 | Maybe I’m Amazed

15 | No One Like You

Interlude (Q&A Event)

16 | Boogie Wonderland

17 | Tonight’s What It Means To Be Young

18 | Friends will be Friends

19 | Silver Bird

20 | Bad Moon Rising

21 | Fox on the Run

22 | Long Long Way From Home

23 | Hungry Eyes

24 | Peace of Mind

25 | I’ll get Even With You

26 | Hooked on a Feeling

27 | Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

28 | If You Want BIood, (You’ve Got It)

29 | With a Little Help From My Friends

30 | Bridge Over Troubled Water

31 | Strange Magic

32 | Come a Little Bit Closer

33 | More Than a Feeling

34 | You Belong to Me

35 | Chill of Desire

36 | Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy

37 | Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

38 | Let the Good Times Roll

39 | Running With the Pack

40 | Hot Stuff

41 | Urban Adventure

42 | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

43 | Sympathy for the Devil

44 | No One But You

45 | Hold The Line

46 | Comfortably Numb

47 | Let Me Take You Home Tonight

48 | Dust in the Wind

49 | High Hopes

50 | Love the One You're With ♡

51 | Some Guys Have All The Luck ♡

52 | Twentieth Century Fox

53 | Too Much Love Will KiII You

54 | Sail Away Sweet Sister

55 | Noone Together

56 | Who Wants To Live Forever

57 | Play the Game

58 | Staying Power

59 | Break on Through

60 | Stone in Love

61 | Mr. Blue Sky

62 |

63 |

64 |

65 |

66 |

67 |

68 |

69 |

BONUS TRACKS:

Your Theories, The Note, The Costumes, Sirius and the Chimney, Sirius and Vix after the bad moon, Evans and Vixen, Remus and Vixen at the infirmary, Remus holding Sirius at DADA, Remus and Sirius’ height difference, the FOXSTAR picture, Art by @nineloseteeth, We're going French,

Leave a comment telling me if you want to join the tag list

A/N: Most Poly!Marauders fics are oneshots, where the relationship between characters is already established, and they're all happy and pleased with it. No issues, no drama, but I WANTED the drama. Couldn't find it, so I set myself up to write the story behind the stablished relationship. I wanted to know how they started dating each other, the jealousy, the will they won't they, because getting into a poly relationship can't be an easy task, and I wanted to explore that story. If you're interested: Welcome to Gilded Constellations!

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harmoonix · 2 years ago

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♀ Sweet Venus Notes ♀

♀ Venus at 0° is such a powerful placement, here Venus is at starting a new cycle and a new fresh start, this can mean your relationships and love life can be very meaningful for you and to have a very big impact. ♀

♀ Venus making an harmonious aspect with Neptune makes you do everything/to sacrifice everything for your relationships and for your love partners, these people can be needy in their relationships ♀

♀ Venus aspecting Mercury can give you very a nice and charming voice, your voice can be very liked by other people, it can also makes you to communicate in a very sweet way and to express your love very easily ♀

♀ Venus making an harmonious aspect with your 7th house lord can influence your relationship to be very romantic and full of happiness, it can also happen to feel very happy and you can see life in pink basically. (If you have Taurus/Libra in 7th house Venus already blessed you with such ♀ things)

♀ Venus at Aries Degrees (1°, 13°, 25°) can make you to love really hard and to get very dominant towards your partner. You kinda like to take control in a relationship 👀

♀ Venus at Virgo Degrees (6°, 18°) makes you an adorable lover, a very sweet and sensual person with a very impecabile neediness of your partner. It can make you obsessive a bit too 👀💓 ♀

♀ Venus at Leo Degrees (5°, 17°, 29°) makes you to be adventurous in your love relationships, you can be very flirty and you like to dress very nice, nice enough to make your partner excited 💥 ♀

♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀

♀ Venus making an aspect with the Moon can make you very attractive omg , a very sensible nature and personality but you can be so admired by people but also a lot of people can jealous on this. You can be very popular in a sense that everyone knows you ♀

♀ Venus making an aspect with Lilith can make you very excited, very admirable and if you are attracted by men, a lot of them can see you as a potential partner. You can charm people whenever you go ♀

♀ Venus conjunct Pluto is one of the most powerful and intense Venus aspects because you can be very intense in your relationship and also to have a very big appeal. You can also attract a lot of posesive and intense partners. You need intimate relationships, and like to be pleased, satisfied 24/7. You can also crave for a really deep soul connection with your partner because you can love at a very deep level❤️🫂 ♀

♀ Venus Retrograde in your natal chart, love is a very important thing in your life and you tend to focus on finding the right partner for you, they can struggle to find the perfect love, but i wanna tell you that at some point the love you waited for will come 💓 ♀

♀ Venus making an harmonious aspect with the asteroid Juno (3). Ok here y'allllll i can feel already how sweet and romantic your relationship with your spouse will be like, your spouse can be extra romantic Romeo and Juliet reincarnated for reallll, your marriage life can also be full of loved and everything should be point, "Love at first sight"

♀ If Venus makes an harsh aspect with Juno (3) it can show that you don't want a relationship until you don't find the right person for you. You need to be very sure of your relationship and of your partner because many people with these placements can have trust issues too. ❤️🫂

♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀

♀ When you have your Venus Return your whole love life resets it's cycle and starts a new one, you can take this as a "You open a new chapter in your love life book" ♀

♀ Ceres - Venus aspects need a lot of nurturing in their relationships ( especially if you have harsh aspects) you need to nurture eachother it can be such a healing placement for many, they can crave for love and their partners ♀

♀ I heard somewhere that nobody will love you that much as someone who has a Water Venus, because they can love at a very deep level. They are very affectionate and needy too ♀

♀ Venus in Gemini Degrees (3°, 15°, 27°) they love to communicate with you 24/7 it's their love sign, they are these type of people who can ask you and care about you so much they are like "Hey my love how was your day? I want you to tell me everything you did today". Such sweet 😍

♀ Venus in Libra/Taurus/2th/7th houses are so done when they have crush, they will do ANYTHING to have their crush around. These people can stalk their crushes a lot, and they can develop a very obsessive trait because of this 😂

♀ SCORPIO VENUS can overthink so much in their relationships, they can have so many fake scenarios happening in their head and at the end they can hurt themselves with false illusions ♀

♀ Venus in Gemini likes to tease their partners a lot, they can be so mean sometimes just to make you go crazy over them ♀

♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀

Venus in Aries Degrees (1°, 13°, 25°) need a lot of passion in their life because these natives ADORE to live their life at the best and with the best people around them. They are having a very confident opinion about their love life too and these people can be sooo romantic 😍

Pisces Venus is a very very very high romantically - lovely - adorable - mesmerizing placement, I LOVE IT not gonna lie sometimes i wish i could had this Venus placement is very adorable 🥰, these people want to have a very romantic life and full of fun with pleasure and excitement

Venus in the 12th house can crave for soul bounding very much, these natives in my opinion can create the deepest soul bounding ( physical and subconsciously) with their partners. Is a very powerful house for Venus to be in.

Venus aspecting the ascendant can give you a very likeable personality and you can be even loved and adored by people around you💕❤️

♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀♀.💓.♀

Because today is my birthday 🥳🥳I'm gonna post this special post here 🫂❤️ Venus is my 2nd favorite planet after Moon and i wanted to put this here for all you lovely people 🥰🫂. Have a wonderful day ❤️💕⭐

Harmoonix©.2023

#astrology #birth chart #astro observations #astrology observations #placements #venus #astro notes #venus in 8th house #venus in sagittarius #venus in leo #venus in taurus #venus in libra #venus in aries #asteroid observations

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jiminjamms · 10 months ago

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sex therapy :: 26. together

chapter tags/warnings: a very broken marriage. heavy angst. at least i am not gege. mai and maki and megumi as an iconic trio. infidelity/adultery. family drama. strong language. corruption.

word count: 4.8k

notes: thank you for the overwhelming reception from the last chapter! work has been consuming my life, sadly, which is why this chapter took longer than i anticipated. gr. in this upcoming piece, though, my main focuses are the character development in y/n as well as explanations from toji himself. enjoy! likes, comments, and reblogs are much appreciated. xoxo

fic masterlist | 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

A large, warm hand massaged the delicate stretch between your thumb and forefinger.

Gently. Leisurely. Daintily.

Vanilla and cinnamon notes entered your lungs with every inhale, a velvetiness akin to everything you imagined clouds to be like if brushing against your cheek, the comforting sensations bringing back nostalgic memories from the carefree times your heart longed to return to.

Was this Heaven? you wondered in this dark and dreamy daze.

You would not mind staying in this state eternally if that meant the promise of peace and quiet forever.

A voice, not from yourself, dispersed your thoughts.

“Suguru, what are the chances she won’t ever wake up?”

Wake up?

Oh, so you were just asleep.

“Shut up, Sukuna,” another person quipped, this tone more leveled and coarser than the last. “Don’t say shit like that.”

The first person, who must be Sukuna then, chuckled lowly to himself. “Oh, who would’ve thought? Choso is having a soft spot?” he marveled with great interest, “Since when did you care so much about—”

But a third voice interrupted the banter. “She’s awake.”

After a long struggle, your eyes fluttered open to see a crowd gathered around you. Immediately beside you was Suguru Geto. He had been the one nestling your hand, but he practically didn’t look like himself with the concern etched into his brow, replacing the cheerfulness in his typical visage. Behind him stood Sukuna and Choso. The former grinned with fierce satisfaction, while the latter…scowled at you?

To be fair, Choso always scowled at you.

“Good evening, gorgeous.” Geto greeted with a melancholic smile, giving you another squeeze, firm and encouraging. Like a true gentleman, he helped you sit upright, his other hand reaching over your head to brush aside some stray strands by your forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”

Exhaustion, meanwhile, rattled you to the bone.

You were weak, your movements fragile, almost like you were a fawn in her first hours of life. You blinked rapidly while taking in the new environment, only to quickly recognize the gray and cream colors in your surroundings. Back at Toji’s apartment was where you found yourself, with the familiar spiced floral scents from the flickering candle nearby confirming that this was the master bedroom.

Given the dull throb by your temples, you frowned.

“What—?” your voice came out as a hoarse rasp. “What happened?”

The trio traded looks at each other with communicative eyes.

In the end, Choso tucked his hands into his front pocket and took the initiative to speak.

“You were in the Zenin residence with Mai and Maki, remember?” No, not really.“Got into an argument with your husband. Started having a panic attack. Collapsed. Puked.”

Oh…

Recollections from your last conscious moments flooded your head like a tsunami: the screaming, the crying, and the fighting. Loud, angry, bitter fighting.

Fighting for your dignity. Fighting for your heart. Fighting for your life. Goodness gracious. As much as the memories sucked all life from you, you instead felt completely…numb.

After all, you had already been dead on the inside. You were too worn out, both physically and emotionally, to react. Everything that you had to go through since your wedding had brought you to your wit’s end, and this recent altercation with Naoya Zenin was truly the icing on the cake.

When you caught sight of yourself in a nearby mirror, you could hardly recognize yourself. Your expression, glum. Your lips, chafed, Your face, pallor. Absent of any other color than an ashen hue.

“How…did I get here?”

“Mai and Maki got worried and called Toji, who told them to bring you here,” Sukuna answered this time. “You’re lucky the girls reacted fast, else we would have sent you to an emergency room. Suguru even stopped his shift at his clinic to watch over you.”

“I—,” you sighed, lost for words and dropping your tired gaze to the floor. Dealing with inner turmoil to this degree was more than what any sane person could handle. All efforts towards your happiness were in vain anyway, as the cosmos conspired to make your existence one neverending nightmare. Everyone else had their ambitions and shit to deal with, but here you were as an absolute nuisance to the people who should not be otherwise pestered, and you were ashamed for the unnecessary trouble that you had caused. “Gosh, this is embarrassing.”

“We are so sorry!”

Unexpectedly, the apology came from a girl’s voice, and you had to turn around to see three familiar teenagers by the bedroom door.

Just last week, you would never have imagined ever seeing Mai, Maki, and Megumi together. Yet, here you were, watching the twins and their—technically speaking—nephew (cute) standing side-by-side, twiddling their thumbs in their nervous corner (also cute).

Flustered and prepared for admonishment, Mai bowed her head at a slight angle as she hurriedly explained, “We don’t…We don’t mean to put you in an awkward position. We just didn’t know what to do. Maki and I were worried when you fell to the floor and started throwing up. We…We should’ve asked for your permission on who to call for help. But we didn’t know who else to phone, so we ended up dialing Toji. Now, we’ve put you in a weird spot and that is all our fault—”

“Do not apologize. That was the right thing to do.” The comment came from yet another person, and when Sukuna and Choso stepped to the side, who you saw at the room’s furthest end was none other than Toji Fushiguro himself.

He had taken a seat all the way by the wall, with one leg thrust over the other in a relaxed but kingly sort of manner. With his sleeves rolled up, his forearms bled to his wrists with ink, and the emeralds in his sharp gaze gleamed as he stared pointedly in your direction.

Of everyone in the room, his countenance appeared the most composed, but you could feelhim reading through the emotions present on your face. He inclined forward, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin on his palm.

When he noticed the slightest shift in your posture too, the tiny scar by his lips flexed along with a smile.

“So, you’ve figured me out, hm?”

Easily, you could sense all seven pairs of eyes in the room (the four therapists plus the three teens) landing on you. The sudden attention rendered you nervous. Even if you chose silence as your response, the entire room, the entire planet, and perhaps even the entire galaxy could speculate your answer through your expression alone.

After a long while, you breathed out, “You didn’t tell me that you were a Zenin.”

The elephant in the room had to be addressed obviously, and you were not shy to confront the situation head-on.

While you did not intend to sound accusatory, your tone came off as such anyway. How could you not, when you had essentially been misled for weeks? Sure, Toji probably did not want to be badmouthing the Zenins to the very person (you) who had been recently married into the family. But, by withholding the fact that he and your husband were cousins, Toji had created much unnecessary anguish including the current limbo that your marriage was in right now.

Meanwhile, that same man pressed his nails into his chin in contemplation.

“I am not a Zenin, though,” he eventually corrected in a domineering voice, all austere in his throne. “At least, not any longer. I took my first wife’s last name years ago. I go by Fushiguro now.” Curt, direct, and pithy. Toji wasted not a syllable. “Everything worked out though, I guess. Naobito cut me off from the Zenin clan earlier this year. Gave me ten billion yen and told me to get lost, so I did.”

Toji always kept his private matters to himself, but with everything that he had gone through, you were struck by his poise, as if being expelled from such an influential household had been a high-school breakup he had gotten over long ago.

Nonetheless, you wondered if he missed that other life, and you brought your knees toward your chest.

“So,” how should you put this, “you’re not upset?”

Toji scoffed immediately.

“Upset?” A bitter grin spread off his lips. “Why would I be upset? That household is a trash dump. All my life, there were no choices for me to make when my uncles and granduncles decided everything already,” and he began counting with his fingers, “my teachers, my classes, my extracurriculars, my friends. Everything. I was only a puppet to bring honor to the family name, bring in money for the company.”

Listening to his sonorous voice, you rested your cheek onto a knee.

"I see."

His story was depressing, and from conversations with in-laws such as Mai and Maki, you knew that he was not lying, either. Coming from nobility as well, you were also aware of the pressures that came with the people who boasted their 'old-money' statuses, but the Zenin household had always been notorious for being miserable.

Toji had said so before in a prior discussion, how ‘family isn’t family for something like the Zenins’ because both politics and business took precedence.

Then, he went on.

“Some people would kill to have my problems, but I did not want that life, you know? Around the time I started college, I decided that I wanted to make judgments for myself and be my own distinct entity, but that made people upset. Privileged. Entitled. Ungrateful. Whatever. My family members called me many things as a young adult when they figured I did not want to be their pawn for my whole life, with the only person who understood me for many years being my best friend in university.”

Megumi’s mom.

Toji nearly appeared to be an altogether different person whenever he spoke about his first wife. The chartreuse in his eyes would stir with both sorrow and fond reminiscence as he thought about the Mrs. Fushiguro you would never get to meet, his closest confidant whom he lost to the cruel separation brought by life versus death. She must have been someone whom he valued a lot—a person who completely transformed him—as Toji had discarded his last name (which was Zenin, of all things) for hers.

‘He truly loved my mom,’ Megumi explained before. 'He had given up everything.’

Thus, fate could truly be unfair.

The loss and pain Toji must have endured, a topic Megumi had alluded to in his discussion with you before.

Not to mention, the expectations, frustration, and suffocation that came from the clan's elders, too. Experiencing the intense atmosphere in the Zenin household firsthand allowed you to empathize with him. Given the stark differences between him and your lawful husband, there was no wonder Toji did not wish to deal with his older relatives' high-strung conventions.

But, if he had been suffering so much…

“Why did you care so much for what your family thought?” you asked, disregarding the look that the three teenagers by the door exchanged with each other. “Toji, you went to university in the United States. You had a wife and son at a young age. You went from a business background to a licensed therapist, so why did you not—”

“Leaving is difficult when you’re the family heir and the corporation’s CEO.”

The expression that you then returned was blank.

Huh?

His words triggered something in your head, so you repeated after him.

“Leaving is difficult when,” and your voice trailed off, “when…you…are the heir and CEO.”

Heir. CEO.

Zenin.

Toji.

Naoya.

But Toji’s older.

‘Naoya got into a huge dispute with him earlier this year.’

Sheer realization slapped you hard across your face. No way.

“Toji,” you began after letting the revelation sink into you a while later, but your voice barely eeked above a mumble, “so you were once the successor to the Zenin household and company?"

The man in question did not respond, but the silent affirmation from the six other onlookers was an answer in itself.

Yes.

In hindsight, you wanted to say you had always seen the possibility. Still, you never fully registered this until now: the thoughtfulness in his strategy, the sophistication in his speech, the charisma in his leadership.

Previously, Toji had impressed you with how much he knew about the Zenin Corporation’s market share in the Asia-Pacific or the firm’s outsized influence on the international stage. Yet, most (including yourself) would not guess that someone like Toji Fushiguro—your tattooed and brawny sex therapist (plus single dad)—had once been heralded as the indisputable inheritor to the proud lineage and conglomerate.

That had been your mistake.

Toji was more than what people made him out to be, which reminded you to never assume anything superficially about someone—a remark he had once made. For good reason, because he had been referring to himself all along.

You could almost visualize Toji Fushiguro as the seasoned executive he had once been in light of this new information: his black strands slicked into a side part, his charcoal blazer freshly pressed, his leather oxfords newly polished.

Maybe because he was more mature or maybe because he was simply older, but Toji appeared more fitting for the important roles in the Zenin household compared to the man presently poised for succession.

Consequently, you must also ask, “Then, how did Naoya end up in your seat?”

Sukuna and Megumi shared a glance.

Choso grimaced, and Suguru kissed his teeth.

Meanwhile, Toji ran a lone finger down his jaw, following the lines from a tattoo.

“Let me give you some context, sweetheart,” he offered, now brushing his chin as he spoke. “For the last—let’s say—few hundred years, the oldest male in each generation became the leader in the Zenin clan. Is the rule stupid? Yes. Should there be more criteria in evaluating a potential heir aside from birth order? Also yes. But nothing has stopped this before because the Zenins, as you know by now, are a family built on antiquity and tradition. So, when I was born as the oldest male in my generation and Naoya had come in second place...”

Toji did not have to finish his sentence for you to figure out the rest.

Despite the demands that came along with being the next family head, Toji must have been esteemed as nothing short of a crown price among the Japanese elite, with seniors in the Zenin household utilizing all their resources to prepare the once young and starry-eyed boy for taking over such an influential role. Naturally, his enviable position would spark jealousy, even from those whom Toji deemed related to by birth.

Including his very own younger first cousin.

Toji frowned in exasperation.

“Your husband is one childish and jealous brat, but Naoya Zenin has been like that for as long as I have known him. To claim the heir and CEO titles, he acquired the trust from myself and my colleagues by working with us in sex therapy, only to stab us all in the back. He’s a liar. A total manipulator.”

And, from personal experiences, you knew that those words could not be more true.

At this point, Toji sank his handsome face into his immense palm.

“Well, now Naoya Zenin has everything he wants but is still an incompetent asshole. The whole enterprise is hanging by a thread. The entire clan cannot fucking stand him. What’s crazy is that his father Naobito is not doing anything about this, and I cannot tell if that is because the old man is giving his son free passes or because he has finally gotten senile. With Naoya's pettiness, though, the father-son duo have done everything to erase my name from the family, even going as far as to dismiss the executives that I brought onto the management team to undo my legacy.”

When Toji glanced up to cast his gaze forward, you then suddenly understood that the three other men in the room were more than just his fellow board-licensed colleagues.

You recalled Toji’s words in the Teyvat meeting room.

‘I recruited these guys right when they completed their undergraduate degrees, around the time I just opened my therapy office,’ and the puzzle pieces clicked into place from the realization that sex therapy had not been the only thing that Toji had worked with them on—Sukuna, Choso, and Suguru had been executives at the Zenin Corporation reporting to Toji, too. ‘We’ve been working together since, for the past four years.’

Discerning these revelations from your expressions, Toji added in confirmation.

“I had selected these three to oversee the Zenin Corporation’s operations with me,” he said, and you remembered the same conversation in which the men discussed their University of Tokyo studies while Toji listed their previous roles. Sukuna, Economics. “Sukuna, Director of Investments and Real Estate.” Choso, Mechanical Engineering. “Choso, Chief Engineer and Supply Chain Manager.” Suguru, Biology. “Suguru, Healthcare and Innovation Administrator.”

Arguably the most consequential divisions in a conglomerate that spanned numerous sectors, with each department bringing in yen by the billions every year.

‘These guys have treated me like family more than my blood-related kin have.’

Learning this about the four therapists added to your fascination.

For you, the discovery was like uncovering a hidden treasure trove. To imagine everything that the four—as one cohesive unit—had gone through together at the top of the corporate ladder: scrutiny from the media and stakeholders, impromptu meetings that demanded make-or-break decisions, and immediate responses to industry trends and regulations.

Only for them to be cast aside by no one other than your husband.

In the end, this all made sense.

Now, you understood why the therapists were once incredibly demeaning and belligerent toward you. How could they possibly sympathize with the woman married to the man who had taken virtually everything from them?

Heck, if you were in their shoes and had no further context, you would hate yourself, too.

Only now were you hearing their perspectives, and you were grateful that—compared to several weeks before—they trusted you enough to open up.

At last, all you could do was sigh and mutter, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

Sukuna shot back without hesitation, which stunned you given how he had been the one who mocked you the most. Yet, a scintilla of kindness flared in his fiery eyes, so you continued with your tone softer and quieter.

“I feel terrible.” Such vulnerability in front of so many people at once went beyond your comfort zone. “For the unfairness Naoya had brought upon you all, and how I…I can’t change anything. I can’t do anything. All I am is…useless.”

“No, you are powerful,” Suguru interjected this time. “Your husband relies on your public image to keep scrutiny off him. He needs you. He’s been demoralizing you for months because he knows the ball will always be in your court, and never his.”

His words made you stop.

“You truly think so?” you asked.

“Yes.”

Choso, who replied, seemed honest.

He was honest.

He might throw you off from how aloof and stoic his attractive face would appear, but Choso was not a liar.

Bringing your feet off the bed, you slowly swung your feet.

“I…am surprised you all even want to talk to me.”

Toji tugged at his dress shirt’s collar and flashed his ink-covered muscles underneath. “What makes you think that?”

His pointed question made you realize how much Naoya had been fucking with your mind, blaming and villainizing you at every chance, thus devolving you into a spineless worm feeling remorse for every little thing.

Shrugging, you tossed your gaze to the side.

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “You could have avenged yourself by now. I am Naoya’s wife and Naobito’s daughter-in-law. There had been a thousand chances for you to do something horrible to me: to hurt me, blackmail me, spread dirty rumors about me, but…you haven’t.”

“Why would I do that?” Toji replied instantly and candidly. Rather than appearing offended by your judgments, he started giving you that look again whenever he had his therapist hat on—the one where he would tilt his head at a slight angle to gauge the sentiments painted across your face. “I could have chosen to be bitter and vengeful for the rest of my life, but I am grateful for what I have. Why let a toxic bunch impact my life? I already told you how that household is an absolute fucking hell. I'm glad I have found an out. At the very least, my son would not have to deal with the crap from my young adult years because you know who is the oldest male in the generation after mine?”

Megumi.

All gazes now fell upon the younger Fushiguro, who tried to casually shrug the attention off.

Who cares if I was second-in-line to leading perhaps the most prestigious family in Japan? his nonchalance wanted to convey, but his ears turned pink anyway.

Toji continued, “Then, of course, there are some people whom I care about a lot.” Using his head, he gestured to the twins. “These girls are the best aunts to my son that I, as a father, could ever ask for. They’re only one year older than Megumi, but Mai and Maki used to go on playdates with him on the weekends, walk him to school every morning, and cook him breakfasts over the holidays. The twins even helped my son take his first steps. There is this one photo we have in the library—I don’t know if you have gotten a chance before to see it. But there’s Mai and Maki, each holding one of Megumi’s little hands back in his chubby toddler days and—”

“Dad!” a very flustered and irritated teenage boy finally had to say. “This is not the time to talk about that picture!”

Next to him, a proud Mai and Maki coo and tease their grouchy nephew, poking at his puffed-up cheeks and ruffling his uncombed hair.

“Aw, is someone a little embarrassed?”

Smiling at the little banter from the trio, Toji did not let them distract him from his conversation with you. “What I’m trying to get at is…life’s too short not to enjoy the happy sides of it,” but his eyes glazed with rue nevertheless, “Now is the perfect time to focus on your well-being. Take a look around this room. A lot of people want to see you leading a fulfilling life, Y/N. A fulfilling life for yourself, not for anyone else. Not for me, not for anyone in this room, and certainly not for your husband. Nothing—and I mean absolutely nothing—should hold you back from pursuing your health and happiness.”

While you assumed that your best times were over, Toji reminded you those good days can be brought back with the right attitude. He had a point. Why should you allow your marriage to hinder you from connecting with people whom you care about, working towards the passions that brought you purpose, and feeling the love that you deserve?

Instead, you should seek every sunrise and sunset as an opportunity to live better and without regrets.

As you ruminated on this different mindset, a sudden knock from the door cut your thoughts short.

Who…

Like you, most others looked around blankly, but Toji ordered from his seat, “Let him in.”

Mai, who stood closest to the entryway, obeyed.

Once she unlocked the door, the room fell silent save for the footsteps of the man walking in, his soles creating soft echoes on the linoleum floor. Overhead, pale lights revealed the lines etched on his exhausted face, the worry that sat heavily on his chest.

“Mister Daisuke,” someone eventually acknowledged out of respect.

Your father did not hear the greeting as he searched the room, his sullen gaze darting from face to face until he found you. His shoulders fell from his overwhelming relief. Still in a suit after a long workday, he stumbled forward feebly.

“You’re alright,” he whispered between steps, scarcely audible.

He crouched toward the floor once he approached you, and when Suguru transferred your hands into your father’s, you noticed the unstoppable quiver from the latter even as you gripped him tightly in an attempt to stop the tremor.

His skin was tough, weathered by his additional decades in life. But, in his palms, you found the familiar tenderness that had comforted you since you were a little girl and, in his gaze, you noticed the sadness only found in the despair of a heartbroken parent.

“Thank goodness, you are okay,” and before everyone, tears slipped past his eyes, “I was terrified. I was so scared. When Toji called to tell me you had thrown up and collapsed, do you know how afraid I was?”

You glanced over at the said therapist, reminding yourself that—if Toji had been the CEO before Naoya—he must have worked very closely with your COO father up until recently. For your father to know exactly where you were and walk in with this expression suggested that the former colleagues had had a lengthy conversation about your circumstances. A part of you wanted to be angry. Why drag your father into this worry? But a larger part of you had always wanted to reveal to him the wretched months that had gone by and longed for his support.

And now, he was here.

The older man took a shuddering breath and brought his fingers to your cheek, holding and cradling you like he would never get to do this again.

“I can’t lose you,” he lamented. “I have lost enough in my life already. I cannot lose you, too. I just can’t. Why have you not told me the truth? If you were not happy with Naoya, why have you not told me sooner? Did you think I would place my loyalty to the company over my own child? I feel so guilty and broken to hear about what you have been going through.”

Frankly, you felt just as broken, too.

In fact, seeing and hearing your father weep like this shattered you. As devoted as your father was, his front never failed to be unwavering and strong. Even when your mother’s death left a significant hole in his heart, he bit back his grief. Scars from your mother’s untimely death scarred his heart, wounds that never healed and would stay with him until his last breath, but he rarely expressed his suppressed sorrow.

All for your sake. Because you were his one and only daughter, his one and only child.

So now, for him to see you in such a sorry state was crushing his whole world that had become you.

“Dad.” You helped him wipe his tears away, just like how he had always done for you. “I didn’t want to make you disappointed. I didn’t want to make you sad. I…I just wanted to protect you.”

“No,” he responded firmly. How could a loving father accept the possibility that his daughter would even think about placing him before herself? “Protect yourself first.”

You looked up when you sensed two more approaching individuals and found Mai and Maki with doleful smiles.

“We still have something to return to you, Y/N.”

In your left palm, each girl pressed one ring—the first which promised a future forever and the second which symbolized an infinite unity.

You stared at the jewelry as your chest remembered the waves of happiness, excitement, hope, confusion, betrayal, and pain.

So, so much pain.

Your father, who would not miss the solemn undertones in your gaze, squeezed your hands in his.

“My dear daughter,” he started, and you could tell he could no longer bear to see you suffer any longer, “what are you planning to do?”

Your throat turned dry.

Any possibility seemed like a viable solution, a means for a desperate escape.

For months, you should have prepared yourself for this very question, but now that you were confronted with this reality for the first time, you did not know what to say.

You had clutched onto the false hope for your troubled marriage to be sorted out. Escaping your dreary matrimony had once been too far-fetched of an option given an impending cold war between your families, which you would never wish upon the stars to happen. Therefore, even as you found yourself stuck on a stifling dead end, you did not exactly prepare for the next steps for the occasion you found Naoya Zenin’s mistreatment too much to bear.

However, times have changed.

Your allies and enemies have changed.

Most of all, you have changed.

Therefore, with all the universe’s possibilities at your fingertips, one particular option stuck out.

“I’m going to file for a divorce.”

last chapter || next chapter

end notes: So many things. To see us freak out at the idea of a divorce during the beginning of the fic, up to now, where we suggested the option out of our volution. Also, the much-needed heart-to-heart conversation between Toji and us, and how that really shows a slow maturation in our relationship with him (and everyone else)! Let me know what you think, and see you next chapter!

taglist: @dissociatingdiva @httpsplanetmarsdotcom @nemoyr @huangfairy @shadowarchon @203steph @agentdedf1sh @cloudybabes @lynn-writes-things @illicitwriter @7oji @kikuchimi @chaoticjojofan @musicisme333 @kumocchin @s-guru @mwahilovemylife @hey-gurls69 @cloudsinthecosmos @moon-mumu-moon @kazscara @skilerfrostfairy @funicidals @nico707 @proteovaldez @tsukiyohanayome @marimoares @qirbys @puffaloxx @sakanoshitaa @arizzu @kissditrio @lewd-bunny14 @mistyheart @szired @supsii @yvy1s @tokyometronetwork @downtown-roponggi @the-cosmos-network

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forwards-beckonrebound · 1 month ago

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ANHS au masterpost

ASKS ARE OPEN

we are currently in chapter 1 as of 10/29/24.

Characters available for questions right now, last edited 10/29/24:

- Noah

- Vanessa

ANHS (A Normal HighSchool AU) is basically what its name is not. It's not a normal highschool au, very far from it.

Please take the time to read the content warnings below...

CONTENT WARNING: murder, blood, suicide, abuse, neglect, and bullying. it's heavily recommended that you do not get attached to any character...

Basic information - I will try to answer asks every 1-3 days, I struggle with fatigue.

Noah, Vanessa, Jessica, and Cynthia Elliott are the four most popular kids in school. Everyone knows about them, and if you don't, you live under a rock. Along with their friends, Lizzy, Thad, and Doll, they run CopperNine High like an unstoppable force, though it's really only during four stupid years...

But this life is everything to them, they just have to make it through highschool, while making it horrible for everyone else, especially Uzi Doorman... (and Doll, but she's never included.)

Note: every character will have their flaws, including Noah. Do not expect any character to be perfect, you will be disappointed. Please follow along with the pacing of the story!

ASK rules:

- no NSFW! Even though Jessica is 18, do not make any comments.

- send as many asks as you want, but try to limit yourself per each ask answered! That way I can get to all your asks without it moving on with the story too soon

- I do not take drawing requests at the moment! I'll make a separate rule list for this if I ever do.

- don't send any asks about N x V, V x J, or Jessa! They are family in this AU, and that would be weird. (Not to say I dislike these ships!)

Temporary references!

they will have fully fleshed out references soon. I want to focus on answering asks first.

Important character ages and grades listed below (they will age as the story progresses.)

Noah - 16 , sophomore

Vanessa - 17 , junior

Jessica - 18 , senior

Cynthia - 15 , freshman

Lizzy - 16 , sophomore

Thad - 16 , sophomore

Doll - 16 , sophomore

Uzi - 16 , sophomore

Official tag is: A Normal HighSchool AU and ANHS AU

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starlightshadowsworld · 6 months ago

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Favourite non animated Bsd moment is during the Guild arc when Atsushi's being chased through the streets while Mark Twain is trying to shoot him.

Atsushi rushes over to save a baby from falling into a crevice and in a panic hands the baby to a very confused Tachihara.

Tachihara yells at Atsushi and than pauses to tell said crying baby that no I'm not yelling at you.

Gin and Hirotsu walk over wondering how Tachihara's getting on with the battle. They both see the baby and Gin writes "congratulations" on the ground with her sword.

Tachihara is just like really? You think I look like some proud dad with his new born?!

Than Higuchi shows up and asks if she should take a photo, so apparently she also thought Tachihara had a child???

The baby is returned to its mother by presumably Higuchi since she's talking to her in the corner.

Meanwhile Hirotsu, Gin and Tachihara are all sat on the floor hanging there heads while Chuuya scolds them for saving the baby.

"Do I need to remind you which group you belong too?"

It's chapter 29 of the manga it's hilarious.

Also bold words from Chuuya considering in Bsd Wan (chapter 14) he saw an old lady struggling to carry something and ended up helping her with his ability.

After failing to convince himself not too because he's a Port Mafia executive... And than Atsushi saw him said hey you're pretty nice and Chuuya was like no no you're misreading the whole thing!

Threatens Atsushi not to tell anyone especially Dazai... And than the old lady turned out to be Dazai in disguise.

Man Atsushi really do be showing how kind Port Mafia members can be.

#bsd atsushi #bsd chuuya #bsd black lizard #bsd higuchi #bsd tachihara #bsd gin #bsd hirotsu #bsd dazai #bsd wan #bungou stray dogs #bsd

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polarisjisung · 2 months ago

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LOVE ON THE COURT | 29 NOT AGAIN

SYNOPSIS | every college student has their struggles, but raising her younger brother has Y/N top of the list, struggling her way through college whilst balancing her academics and basketball captaincy is difficult no doubt and with Jaemin, her ex best friend and captain of the guys basketball team, and his growing one sided hatred towards her, it doesn't seem to be getting any easier

WARNINGS | sexual innuendos, swearing, mentions + pretty detailed description of a panic attack, lwk abandonment issues

NOTES | the girls are fighting... you didn't think I'd let them make up this fast did you?? a much shorter chapter today I'm sorry 😓

15:27pm , after the game

Y/n knew ningning inside out, they'd been friends for their whole life, best friends for a number of years, they'd spent longer together than apart.

Y/n and ningning were practically sisters. They'd fought over stupid things like if apple juice was better than orange juice, they'd stolen each others clothes, done each others nails as post breakup therapy— they'd experienced love and loss, and they'd always experienced it together.

It was and always had been them against the world.

Personal problems had always existed, but they'd face them head on and, most importantly, together.

So y/n knew what ningning was feeling, maybe not exactly, but she certainly knew why ningning felt the way she did.

And sure, Ningning's words had hurt y/n too, but that was the thing, they'd said the best and worst things to one another.

Being so close to someone can be a double-edged sword. Knowing their triggers and insecurities so well that in the heat of the moment, it’s almost too easy to throw those daggers. The intimacy shared can turn into a weapon of knowing exactly what to say to hit them where it hurts. In those moments, it’s like being caught in a toxic cycle, where love and pain intertwine.

Regret sets in as soon as the words leave the mouth, but the damage is done, leaving both people feeling raw and vulnerable. It's a harsh reminder that knowing someone deeply can sometimes mean knowing how to wound them just as easily. So y/n knew that Ningning was showing nothing but her concern.

But equally, she understood she deserved somewhat of an apology as well, even if Ningning's words had come from a good place, they'd hurt, and perhaps they hurt even more so coming from her.

It seemed a simple explanation why this argument of theirs had rested at the forefront of her mind for so long too, because Ningning was the only person in her life who Y/n couldn't imagine losing. And after everything that she'd been through, after the people she'd lost, and the relationships she'd seen go with them, she knew she wouldn't let herself be to blame. She wouldn't let herself lose a friend, least of all Ningning, just because she didn't communicate.

Or at least that was her plan, as she made her way down the hallway of the hotel, her hair still dripping from the shower she'd just taken, gripping way too many snacks for the two of them to share. Minjun followed after her, still gushing about having seen his older sister play for the first time, begging her to teach him how to dribble the ball like her, a grin plastered across his face. It was endearing, really.

And Y/n swore she only turned to smile at him for a second, but in the next, she felt her heart drop and her blood run cold. It felt like the ground shifted beneath her feet, and suddenly, she was trapped in a whirlwind of way too many thoughts, coming way too fast.

There, stood across the hallway, was a man she had made many desperate attempts to forget. To no avail, of course.

She blinked, rubbing her fists against her eyes hurriedly, as if he was nothing but a figment of her imagination, that when she looked up again he'd disappear and this would be nothing but a bad dream. But there he was, struggling to open the door to his room, angrily staring down at the key card with furrowed brows.

He seemed older. His hairs greying and wrinkles setting in across the feafures she recognised so well, his smile lines deeper than the last time she'd seen him.

The last time she'd seen him.

Her breaths quickened at the sight of him, becoming deeper yet each inhale felt shallower than the last, and her chest tightened like a vice. This wasn't happening, it couldn't, not here, not now.

She could hear the muffled voice beside her asking why they'd stopped walking, she could feel minjun's grip tighten around her, she could see the way the man turned his head at the realisation he was no longer alone in the haway, but it all felt distant, like she was underwater. Unsure how to answer, she stood silently, gaze locked on the man, blinking rapidly, questioning if he was really, truly stood in front of her at all. As soon as he locked eyes with her, she felt the bile rush up her throat and a distant ringing in her ears, her hands beginning to shake against the smaller ones that held hers. Y/n felt like she was drowning. But she knew she couldn't. It was a luxury she couldn't afford, and the soft skin brushing against her hand was a reminder of that.

Panic surged through her, and y/n fought the urge to break down, feeling the walls closing in on her. The bright lights overhead felt too harsh, illuminating the doubts swirling in her head, making it hard to focus. Calm down. She thought, but she couldn't. She couldn't think she couldn't move, and worst of all, she couldn't calm down. She convinced herself this was nothing, voiced out lies in her mind that echoed with uncertainty. Breathe, she thought. But she couldn't. It was as if every unresolved feeling crashed over her like a tidal wave, leaving her gasping for air and desperate for an escape. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ground herself, but the memories flooded back faster, unrelenting and unforgiving.

Y/n found herself tugging harshly against the smaller wrist that was still loosely resting in her grip, making a sharp 180 and jetting off down the hallway, with shaky steps and ragged breaths.

She had to go, she had to leave, she had to do it now. Her phone vibrated in her hands only seconds later, a painfully familiar contact flashing across the screen, and all y/n could do was throw the device into the bottom of her bag, stuffing her belongings in on top, making no effort to answer the questions coming from the confused young boy who watched her. The blood rushed to her head so quickly, too quickly, in fact, and she swore the room in front of her begun to spin.

Her dad hadn't called her in years, not a single message, not a single word, so why now was he calling? Why was he reaching out now? Just because he'd seen her? Did some sort of shitty parental guilt kick in at the sight of his now grown children? Did he feel inadequate, maybe even jealous that they were doing just fine without him? Y/n didn't know, and she didn't care, but seeing him was still enough for her to take an unwanted trip down memory lane, reliving every moment since he'd left. Her chest tightened, the lump in her throat growing to the point that she couldn't breathe no matter how hard she tried. Still, she kept going, scanning the room to make sure she hadn't left anything behind.

Minjun had never seen his sister like this, so close to breaking down, and y/n didn't plan on letting that change today, sucking in deep breaths and wiping her teary eyes as she pulled his jacket around him. It was getting cold outside now, and she wouldn't let one careless mistake from her because of something so trivial, leading to him becoming sick.

Y/n could barely function, struggling to pull the zipper loop up and through the jacket, still she kept going. Her body ran on autopilot, muscle memory taking full control as she silently pulled the bags through the door and held a hand out for minjun to follow. Too occupied in her own thoughts she rushed out of the hotel with urgency, taking long strides towards the cabs that waited outside, only realising she was moving way too fast for Minjun to keep up when his small rushed breaths filled the air. She needed to calm down, she wasn't alone and she had to act like it. Minjun was her responsibility, and she needed to take care of him.

She muttered out an apology, quick, sincere, but short and found herself falling back into the cycle of her own thoughts again. Comfort was a thought far away, but the surety of heading home, caused the racing of her heart to ease just slightly, a dull ache developing in her arm now that she'd finally set down all her bags inside the cab, a cramp settling in.

In that moment, y/n felt the overwhelming feeling of solitude press down in her, honing in from all sides, and the ache of abandonment crept into each corner of her heart. The pain was bitter and fuck, it ran deep.

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#nct jaemin smau #jaemin smau #nct dream smau #nct smau #jaemin fake texts #nct dream fake texts #kpop smau #love on the court 🏀

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foreverisntenough · 4 months ago

Text

‘OURS’

Summary: You were his and he was yours but what would it be like adding one more? Thrust into a whirlwind romance you never could’ve imagined that became your forever love. You continue building a new life across the pond with a very beautiful Scouser. A sequel to the ‘You’re Mine’ fic.

INDEX

Warnings: This series is 18+ and will contain fluff, suggestion, SMUT (unprotected sex,) pregnancy, parenting, mental health struggles, eating disorder, self doubt, body image issues, daddy kink, angst, alcohol consumption - not sure what else really… if i miss anything please lmk!

Note: Thank you for reading! Please be sure to like, comment, or message me what you think of the series! Try not to nitpick with any real pregnant/ baby logistics it’s better if you just read along happily :)

Chapter 29 - Another Fall Baby | ‘Ours’

word count - 11.8 k

Another day, another morning filled with Teddy’s giggles echoing in your kitchen. Trent was chasing her around the island counter as you tried to dodge them, multitasking making Trent’s protein shake and Teddys pancakes for their respective breakfasts. This was their thing lately. Teddy liked to think she was going at the same speed in your kitchen that she was watching Trent run on the pitch during his matches every weekend. She assumed he was trying just as hard with her. She assumed she was just as fast as him. Trent wasn’t going to tell her otherwise. It was fun and he wanted her to believe she was that fast, he wasn’t going to be the one to burst her bubble. He was off to training after you all would eat. You had your first appointment for your pregnancy with your doctor in a few short days. Today you planned on taking it easy and doing everything you could to avoid the anxiety you were feeling about that appointment. When the game of tag was finished and breakfasts were done you sat Teddy at the table to eat, getting her situated. Trent opted to stand at the countertop with you resting his chin onto your shoulder, one hand holding his shake, the other placed delicately over your stomach.

“Thank you for carrying another beautiful little baby for us.” Trent whispered only for you to hear, keeping his eyes locked on Teddy being her usual self, happily munching on the tiny pieces of pancakes you had cut up for her and a few strawberries.

“Think he or she will be beautiful like her?” You asked sheepishly. Not really as a jab or a dig at his ability to make a cute baby more from a place of personal insecurity. What if your next baby looked more like you and wasn’t as cute as Trent’s carbon copy swaying her head back and forth with dramatic ‘mmms’ at the table right now?

“Yeah, I mean it’s impossible for them not to be really. They’ll look like us.” He continued on and you hummed. “Look at me baby. Any baby of mine has a pretty good shot at being cute.” He teased turning your chin with his hand to look at his correctly defined cute face. You rolled your eyes at his, though accurate, obnoxious cockiness about his appearance. “And there is a 100% chance any baby of yours will be gorgeous, alright?” He confirmed.

“I guess.” You mumbled out letting your eyes flutter closed for a moment, still worried. Trent’s cute comments definitely made you feel mildly better. They were sweet but you couldn’t shake your nerves entirely.

“Looks aside, baby, because at the end of day that’s not really what I’m worried about, they are so lucky to have you as a mummy.” Trent cooed, turning you by gripping your hips, spinning you into him. You smiled up at him and pecked his lips draping your arms over his shoulders. “I didn’t know until I met you how bad I wanted this. I didn’t know how important it’d be but this family, our children, I’ll do anything for us and more specifically you, pretty girl. You're everything, baby.” He cooed a particularly heavy and emotional comment.

“Yeah? I feel like everything was just in black and white till we had Teddy. Can you bear with a cheesy sentiment?” You looked at Trent with earnest eyes. He nodded, not entirely sure what he was signing up for but he’d always listen no questions asked. “I feel like my life was very static, it was all still photos with no movement and then I met you and it transformed into this movie. Everything began to flow and move. There was a score playing in each scene, like music. It just came to life and then when we had Teddy, it was like this gorgeous perfect movie flooded with color. I’m learning things all over again and appreciating them and the fact that I get to do it with you and her, I just keep falling in love with our life. It’s different having a family of my own. It feels like I finally am…” you took a deep breath, snapping out of your emotions before finishing your soliloquy. “Healing.” You flicked your eyes that had been fixated out a window to the back garden through the monologue back to Trent.

“Wow… baby. Erm.” Trent blinked his eyes a few times, taken back by your really heartfelt and almost heartbreaking confessional. “I mean… you know I’m not as articulate with my words as you are so as much as I like to win I don’t think I could compete with that because honestly you speak as beautiful as you look, baby.” He dropped his hands around your waist and over the curve of your ass to the back of your thighs picking you up and placing you to sit on the countertop. He stepped in between your legs and cupped your face, coming closer. “I feel the exact same way. I couldn’t express it better but baby… I don’t think you realize that you’re the reason things in life began to transform into moving colors. You’re the one that brought on this metamorphosis. You’re not the girl I met on 78th street. You’re everything I imagine that girl wanted to be. You’re so strong. What you’ve been through, whether it be the physicality of bringing a child into this world or the strength you’ve shown to heal and manage your health. You’re so brave. You always tell me I am after big matches and that you're proud of me but honestly comparably it’s nothing to what you do day in and day out. I couldn’t be more proud of you simply for just being you. Baby, what you provide Teddy and I is immeasurable. You are invaluable and you deserve to be living in a kaleidoscope world of color that I, by some higher power, got to be the lucky man that gets to give that to you and I hope I do.” Trent kept his voice quiet and despite your attempt to keep your tears at bay, they disobeyed your intentions and tumbled down your cheeks. You wrapped yourself around Trent and just breathed him in.

“You do, T. I love you so much.” You pulled away from your hug with a smile and started to giggle. Trent looked at you with a confused smirk. “What the fuck was that? That was so emotional.” You kept laughing. You and Trent went from having breakfast to baring your souls. You wiped your face and Trent followed in your hands wake with his thumb catching a few stray tears.

“What’s wrong, mama? Why sad?” Teddy yelled out, concerned seeing you and Trent. She pushed her little pink plate with a bit of food left on it forward away from her.

“I’m okay, Teddy girl. Just talking to daddy. Are you all done?” You cooed, turning towards her and hoping off the counter. You went to move past Trent but he grabbed your arm and pulled you back into a bear hug swaying you back and forth.

“Ted, do you know how much I love mummy?” Trent asked her, kissing your head in between words. Teddy hummed a disinterested ‘yeah huh.’ He released you after a few more kisses you weren’t complaining about. You went over to Teddy and sat in the seat next to her high chair.

“Hey, mummy.” Trent called for you as he grabbed a water from the refrigerator for himself. “I liked that picture from the GQ shoot you gave me so I moved it from my car into my locker in the changies so I need a new one.” He explained walking over to the kitchen table. It was just a thing you did to make Trent smile one day. You had tucked a photo of you all into the visor on the driver's side in his car. Evidently he liked it enough to move it. It was common for footballers to keep a photo of their families in their spaces at the training center. You were fairly sure he already had one but you weren’t going to press. You’d happily give him more.

“Hmm. Okay, do you just want the same one or a different photo?” You asked him, watching him come towards you two at the table.

“Erm… doesn’t matter, I just need one that I look good in.” He cheekily replied and you rolled your eyes. “One that my baby bear looks adorable in.” He cooed, running his hand over Teddy’s head before he pulled a chair out and sat down with you two. You nodded in agreement. “And obviously one that you look beautiful in, got one of those for me, pretty girl?” Trent asked, sliding his chair closer to yours and reaching out to squeeze your thigh.

“Yeah, I can find one for you, T.” You smiled at him, placing your hand over his on your leg. “Can you have one more bite for me please, cutie girl?” You asked Teddy sweetly, pushing her plate back towards her. Trent picked up her little fork and picked one of the sliced strawberries up with it moving it to Teddy.

“No tank, dada. Done, mama, tay?” Teddy told you very matter of fact climbing off her chair. You furrowed your brow and turned to Trent. Teddy’s new found independence was a little funny but it also caught you fairly off guard every time it showed up.

“Oh.. okay, I guess bye.” You laughed as you watched her run out of the dinning room and lay herself flat on the hardwood floors next to your dogs. “How are we going to tell her?” You quietly asked Trent, keeping your eyes on Teddy with the dogs. She was talking to them like it was a mutual back and forth conversation.

“I don’t know, baby. How do you do that? Like does she know how that works? I don’t want her to know what we get up to.” Trent didn’t like the idea of Teddy being anything but his baby. It was clearly equally as perplexing to him as it was to you about the new hurdle you were about to tackle becoming parents for the second time

“Erm… no. Right?” You answered him quickly. You were open with Teddy. You weren’t avoiding the logistics of life, you’d explain things if she asked. You didn’t want her to be afraid to tell you or Trent anything. You wanted her to be comfortable but Trent… well, Trent wasn’t all that comfortable about the idea that Teddy would ever grow up to be anything but his little girl, bundle of joy, pure, naive, angelic. He wanted her to stay that way forever if it was possible.

“I don’t know, I can't imagine that. I mean we have to be realistic. I don’t want any of the stork shit. She’s smarter than that so I think we tell her honestly. Like I want her to know what's up but also not what her parents get up to, does that make sense? I don’t… God, baby, I don’t know.” Trent babbled almost confusing himself more.

“Well obviously. I’m not gonna be like oh daddy and I fuck, am I?” You quipped with an obnoxious smile. Trent rolled his eyes at your dramatics. “This is when I feel like a fucking child. We’re parents and I have no idea how you do something like this.” You echoed his babbling, leaning your head onto his shoulder feeling the weight of raising a child with a second in the house approaching.

“Baby, alright. Just relax.” He hummed caressing your sides. “She’s smart, she'll understand it. I guess we just google what to do because I’m not fucking asking my mum how she told me.” Trent laughed and you followed him agreeing that you didn’t want to ask your parents either. This was something you’d have to do your own way. It was your family and you two dictated how you’d run the show in your own house. You assumed you might have to do this again at one point or another if you survived having two.

“I can’t believe I’m pregnant. Like I am right?” You whispered to Trent hesitantly asking him. It was obvious you were but a part of you was both apprehensive and eager to get to your doctor's appointment.

“Baby, we’ve taken literally like 10 tests here and have the appointment so soon. I am pretty damn sure though.” He whispered back with a breathy laugh.

“I know, I just.. I don’t know.” You sighed, hiding your face in his neck. You heard Teddy scream chasing one of the dogs. You could hear them scamper across the hardwood floors. “Think we’re ready for one more?” You asked Trent with a smirk pulling at your lips seeing Teddy round the couch with a giggle. Trent hummed confirming that he thought you were before kissing your temple.

You walked into the cinema after Trent had come home from training later that day after you had put Teddy down for her last nap before dinner. He was sat back on a big lounger reclined with a massage gun working it over his thigh muscles haphazardly and lazily. December was always such a busy month for him with football and his body was starting to feel it. Even after the work he’d do at AXA for recovery with staff he still needed more. He was sore and tired.

“My poor baby.” You cooed, coming to stand in front of him with a pout. He gave you a sleepy smile and beckoned you to come sit with him by a simple head gesture. “Need my help?” You asked, coming to the end of his seat and then crawling towards him. You slid both of your hands up his thighs moving them high up to his groins. You took the massager out of his hand before he even had answered you.

“Yeah, I need you, baby.” He sighed. He let his head drop back onto the cushion behind him. You did this a fair bit with him. When Trent was too tired after a match or training, you’d do anything for him. He didn’t even ask, you’d do it unprovoked more often than not. Sometimes you’d sit at the end of the bed or even on the floor at the end of the couch rubbing his feet, things like that. You didn’t mind, you wanted to do it. You held your pouty bottom lip between your teeth after you turned the massage gun back on. You focused on moving it in just the way you knew he liked as you kneeled, resting your ass back on your heels in between his legs. Trent had his eyes almost closed until he realized that the view in front of him wasn’t one he wanted to miss. The way you were bent over massaging him dressed in your skimpy tank top had your boobs practically falling out of it. You definitely fell into a category of women whose boobs tended to change during pregnancies. Trent wasn’t complaining. He tried to be coy but he was shamelessly staring as your larger boobs jiggled with every movement, watching your hardened nipples press into the fabric. “Yeah, I really need you, baby.” Trent groaned quietly and at first you didn’t realize it was anything other than a confirmation that maybe he felt better having someone else massage his sore muscles for him until he gently pulled down the soft fabric of your top letting your tits fall out. He pulled you up to him and swiftly wrapped his lips around one of your now exposed nipples. God, he felt so good. His tongue swirled around the perky bud. You were swollen and sensitive and this was turning you on an ungodly amount.

“Can I sit on your lap, T?” You asked him after minutes of pleasure what sounded fairly innocent but you both knew what you were asking for was more than a place to sit. You could feel your panties getting progressively more soaked. Your hormones were a mess lately. You couldn’t contain your desire for him.

“Nah, i want you to turn around f’me.” He instructed you and so you did, slightly confused but you’d always listen. You sat in between his legs facing forwards, your back to his chest with your top pulled down. He wasted no time, pulling said top over your head though leaving you in nothing. “Tell me you want me to?” He asked you as if you knew what he was talking about. You turned your head back to him and in the smirk pulling on his lips you knew he was up to something both no good and simultaneously amazing. You nodded sheepishly, biting your lip apprehensively not sure you were agreeing to. “Open your legs, yeah?” His eyes had a lust burning behind them. Hisone hand pulled one of your thighs helping you. He turned the massage gun back on and what he was about to do pinged in your brain immediately. You whimpered when he moved your panties to the side using the pulsating ball of the gun.

“Oh my fucking god, T.” You whined when Trent pressed the button of the massage gun once again. The speed of the vibrations increased. You bucked your hips into nothing but the gun’s vibrations, moaning. He was fucking loving this. You could feel warm liquid from your soaking wet pussy run down the inside of your legs.

“Can I speed it up a little more, hmm?” He hummed and you whined. You were practically shaking as you felt your orgasm come closer. “Gonna be a good girl?” He asked you as he pressed down on the button to turn the vibrations up again. You nodded as he did it. Your back arched off of his chest. Shockwaves ran through your entire body while he moved the ball of the gun from your clit down to play with your entrance and then back up and around your clit. Your orgasm came crashing over you unannounced. You could feel your juices leak from you but you couldn’t think straight to even care or even speak up to tell Trent you were cumming. He knew you well enough to know that’s what this was, in fact, he knew before you even had. He pressed the button once more to turn the massager back down to its original, lower, thank god, setting. Your chest heaved as you came down from your high, your clit still pulsating.

“T, baby, please.” You whimpered as you pushed off of him, sitting up right. You were desperate for more. He just set you off. You turned around, placing your hands onto his shoulders swinging one of your legs over his lap and straddling him. Trent’s cock was painfully hard after watching you cum like that. In quick succession, you pulled his length out from his joggers. You took his throbbing cock and ran the tip of it through your folds.

“Go ‘head, pretty girl.” Trent smiled loving how needy you were for him. You nodded, taking his instructions, guiding his cock into your wet pussy’s entrance. Your eyes fluttered closed as you slowly began to slid down, taking every inch of him. “Fuck me, baby. Feel so good f’me.” He groaned feeling you around him.

“Oh my god.” You moaned. No matter how insane of an orgasm he just gave you with a massage gun, nothing would ever compare to how good he felt inside you. He dipped his head lower, kissing down your neck all the way to your exposed chest. He wrapped his lips around one of your already sensitive nipples. He groaned, biting your nipple, pulling on it with his teeth. You whined even more. You were gone. Trent had you a complete mess. He had your ass in his big hands. He slapped one of your asscheeks. The sound of his hand smacking against your skin and the squelch of you riding him was beyond lewd. The way you slid up and down on his cock was pure bliss for Trent. He didn’t want this to stop but the way your pussy clenched again and again had him dangerously close to cumming. His length was covered in your slick, it was a pornographic sight. The veins in Trents neck pulled as he groaned trying to not finish just yet. He leaned your body back and thrusted up into you while you continued to bounce on top of him holding onto his shoulders. You made eye contact with him through hooded eyes as he fucked into you. Your nails dug into his skin, leaving behind crescent shapes, trying to hold off on your high till he told you you could cum.

“Fucking hell, baby. Cum with me, yeah? Cum, baby. I need to cum inside you.” Trent growled, pulling you back into his embrace, nuzzling his face into the nape of your neck. He bit down into your skin. You whined his name repetitively as you came around him, falling apart, your pussy tightening and throbbing all at once. He groaned, releasing his warm cum inside you. Your body collapsed into his. You ran your hands over his hair delicately despite your heart still racing.

“I love you so much, T.” You whispered, breathing the scent of him in. You laid into him limply as you both tried to regulate your heavy breathing.

“My baby.” He kissed your skin. “That felt so fucking good. God, I love you, beautiful.” He whispered, dragging you off him to cup your face in his hands. He looked deep into your eyes before he kissed you. You smiled into the kiss and pulled away with a giggle. You weren’t expecting your assistance post training to turn into all that.

“C’mere, beautiful.” Trent pulled at your bare waist when he came home from training the following day. You were changing into a new outfit for a dinner you were going to tonight. He dragged your semi lingerie clad body back a little bit into him after he had come into your wardrobe. You were inspecting a romper you were holding up that you had thought you had wanted to wear but were now second guessing it.

“I don’t want to be fat again.” You sighed sadly turning to him with a childish pout as you pulled the off the shoulder light pink romper over your body.

“Baby, you have never been fat. If you’re talking about just changes because of the pregnancy… You’re carrying a baby, sweetheart. It’s so beautiful, really. You’re so beautiful.” He gripped your shoulders, turning you back to look at yourself in the mirror. He kissed your collarbone from behind leaning over you. “Look at you, gorgeous girl.” He slid his hands down your sides a few times before landing on your hips and squeezing them.

“I look horrible. It’s just the worst part of the whole thing.” You sighed running your own hands over the front of the romper to flatten its material down to your stomach that was still flat but just the thought of what was to come was already upsetting you. It was far from true but you felt like you could see the bump already.

“You could never. What your body is doing is an amazing thing.” You rolled your eyes at Trent’s honest and sweet words that unfortunately weren’t enough to sway you. You scoffed a little at a kiss to the back of your shoulder and his sincere sentiment. “Well, you’re just in such a good mood today, huh?” He laughed. “Gimme a kiss, make you feel better.” He cooed, turning you around once more.

“You’re hilarious.” You sighed defeatedly. He was amazing, you were just easily deflated by the idea of your appearance changing. A lot of women loved pregnancy and embraced the natural beauty of it all but you didn’t have a ton of that around you. You had your mum who immediately monitored your appearance from the second before to the second after you gave birth and all the way though, Lauren and Winnie who were actively avoiding pregnancy, walking around with arguably 10/10 bodies, and Dianne who would do anything to convince you that you were beautiful, but your put that off to you just being her daughter in law. It was a slightly confusing jumble of support.

“Let’s think of all the fun things… c’mon.” Trent gently suggested kissing your forehead.

“What? like not sleep…” You snapped unnecessarily harshly, turning away from him to go look for the shoes you wanted to wear with your outfit tonight. You combed through shelves of shoes frustrated, unable to find the silver pair of Aquazzura heels you wanted.

“Aw, baby don’t do this” Trent groaned trying his best not to get frustrated with you. You hadn’t even found out ‘officially’ about your pregnancy yet and this was how your mood was. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t thrilled by the possibility of nine months of this type of attitude. He just gave you a gentle smile trying not to deep it too much.

“Well you’re not the one…” You began to start another snappy comment. “Nevermind, I’m sorry.” You exhaled with a sad smile seeing him sit down on an ottoman in the wardrobe patient as ever ready to listen. “Hi…” You pouted at him. “I missed you all day.” You sulked feeling sorry for being so short tempered with him after he was nothing but kind. You came and sat on his lap, draping your arms over his shoulders. You snuggled into him.

“There she is. Hi, baby.” He kissed your temple. “Missed you so so much. I missed you all day and I will next week, you know. So can you please come with me?” Trent segued into his quest to get you to go to Milan with him. You both had been invited to the Prada Spring/Summer Fashion Show. Since your British GQ article came out your status just socially really took off. You were getting invites, your following on Instagram skyrocketing even more, PR requests for more opportunities came flooding in. God bless him, Tyler was helping you out in the meantime but simultaneously trying to get you set up with an agency to work with because he and Trent didn’t really have the resources in the women’s fashion world that were relevant for who and what you were getting requests about.

“No, I don’t think so, T.” You shyly and selfishly told him. You had decided to go, then not go, then go, and now were currently in a ‘not go’ phase. It was all very exciting initially, slightly overwhelming, sure, but since the whirlwind change of going from simply a mum to a pregnant woman with a 2 year old made you less interested in flying around for shows or frivolous trips down to London for dinners with brands. You were of course grateful and flattered you were invited but leaving Teddy and additionally getting dressed up, trying to look good when you felt anything but, like you’d already gained weight, when your self confidence was plummeting, when your skin felt less than, it was just too much. “Everyone is just going to say I gained weight.” You oversimplified your mind's tornado of thoughts, looking at him with a lot of fear behind your eyes.

“You haven’t.” He confirmed. He actually completely disagreed. He thought you looked great, You looked gorgeous with a more healthy glow than usual, in fact. You visibly didn’t look all that different from a month or so ago till this moment. No real physical signs of pregnancy had really begun to show but maybe there had been a bit of a placebo effect happening in the mirror now that you knew..

“I have, I’ve been weighing my…” You started talking and then trailed off as Trent’s eyes grew wider with inquiry, a little shocked and frankly, annoyed to hear that you were doing something he really hoped you’d forgotten about entirely.

“Baby…” He cautioned you. He was fairly stern, hanging on to the things you’d promised you’d keep to for your health, for the health of his child’s mother, for the health of your relationship, really. He hated the idea of ‘tough love’ with you but he cared enough to do it.

“T… I had to know.” You poorly defended your actions, falling back into unhealthy ways. You were using your fluctuating emotions as an excuse to swerve back into old habits that provided a bizarre form of solace for yourself. It gave you an uncomfortable feeling of comfort. It was a semblance of control you were able to create. You needed to know.

“You don’t. Baby, you do not. Come on, we have to manage this better, Y/N. I’m not doing all that again. I’m so serious. I love you and it’s just not happening again.” Trent was very very serious. He was not messing about. Now that he knew what was at risk, what happened after Teddy was born, your essential collapse, not a shot in hell he was letting you two fall anywhere back near that place. “How can I help? How can I make you happy, just for today? We’ll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow. Let me help.” He asked you, insisting you let him in. He ran one of his hands up and down your back.

“Can I just have a kiss please.” You sighed and asked him with a childish pout. You knew Trent would baby you if you even gave him a sliver of space to do so. He was ready to give some sort of ‘tough love’ but the way you batted your lashes and your bottom lip rolled, had him crumbling almost every time.

“Always. C’mere beautiful. C’mere.” He cooed, pulling you gently by the back of your neck with his big hand into a soft kiss. He hummed loving the feeling of your lips on him and you definitely didn’t disagree.

“Will you be mad if we have another girl?” You asked a little nervously. You couldn’t control anything like the gender of your baby so asking for his opinion was a little bit of a doomed thing to do. That said, no matter what he’d say you weren’t sure you’d believe him either way. You knew he loved being a girl dad but a part of him and yourself of course wanted a little boy.

“Nah, we just have to keep trying don’t we?” He teased trying to lighten the mood, pecking your lips once more with a cheeky smile. Your face didn’t change so he quickly kept talking. “I’m joking baby… absolutely not. Look how beautiful Ted is, how beautiful you are. I’d love another Alexander-Arnold girl in my life.” He told you honestly and you took a deep breath thankful. Even if he wasn’t being totally truthful you appreciated him saying that. You think he was being honest though.

“What should I wear tonight?” Trent asked you a bit later on as you were finalizing your look for your dinner date with him with lip gloss in the en-suite of your bedroom. He evidently hadn’t gotten dressed yet despite your initial plan to leave the house in 10 minutes.

“T…” you laughed. “Are you serious? I thought you were ready to go?” You asked him, staring back at him leaned against the door frame behind you still in his joggers through the mirror. He just winked back at you. “You’re lucky you’re pretty.” You teased.

“Pretty and in need of my pretty girl’s help so...” He cooed, waiting for you to give him the assistance he was looking for.

“The blue Rhude knit shirt I got you, please!” You called out as he had already turned to leave the en-suite to go into your wardrobe. He hummed as you layered a coat of the shiny gloss over your plump pink bottom lip.

“Can I wear Dior pants? You know those ones…” He yelled his fairly vague question for you to hear. Despite his vagueness you knew what he meant. You smacked your glossy lips together with a smile. Trent had done a full 360 on his opinion on your help with his clothing. Yes, 360. He had initially let you help him, to try to get in your good graces because he had a crush on you, he wanted to show you he respected you. Then as you got more comfortable in your relationship, he tried to hold his ground. He could feel himself slipping, that he had no backbone when it came to you. Even if he knew that your suggestion was the better option, he’d stay with his choice just to prove a point. He was stubborn and you loved him for that. Now? Now, he wanted you to do it all the time. He preferred you to pick for him.

“I like those if you want but I’d kind of prefer a navy pant. Can you do the blue Prada ones? I like them better with like the LV cream and white trainers.” You rattled on and Trent smiled listening to you as he combed through his things looking for what you were instructing him to wear. Minutes later as you were rushing to throw everything in your Pucci bag, he came out changed and somehow ready before you.

“I did good, no?” He smiled big like a little kid proud of his look that you had put together as if he had done it all on his own.

“Yeah, very good, baby.” You laughed and he hummed victoriously. “Going to give me any credit? You know people used to pay me to do this?” You told him with a smug face waiting for your kudos.

“You always know what looks best but is it the clothes or is it me though?” Trent cooed and you rolled your eyes at his cockiness. He came towards you and wrapped his arms around your waist. “How am I meant to afford you though? You're priceless, baby.” He kissed your hair. You gave him one more eye roll even though your heart was fluttering at the things he was saying to you. “Fine, fine, I’ll pay you for your services, hmm? Promise. Taking you out to dinner, who says I don’t have a little gift for my baby, and I absolutely promise when we get home... I’ll give you one of my best services in return, yeah?” He kept talking, letting his voice drop lower and closer to a whisper coming to press his lips to your ear. A shiver ran up your spine subsequently.

“Yeah… okay. I’ll accept all that. Still might be a little short but… It’s fine.” You tried your hardest to focus on keeping the fun game of banter going and not get distracted by his switch up. You moved out of his hold heading to the door out of your room to the hall to leave for dinner.

“A little short! How!?” He yelped, chasing after you. He kept an offended face but he loved when you’d mess about with him.

“I gave you a child!” You snapped turning around to face him with a conniving grin.

“I gave you a child! That was a shared endeavor!” He rebuttled his correction as he wrapped his arms around you frantically dragging you back into the room with him walking backwards. “Hey, hey, hey. We made that little girl together. If you want I’ll refresh your memory on how we did it, alright?” He spoke with a cheeky smile that had your heart racing.

“Later. We have to go. I hate being late for reservations.” You pecked his lips, placing your hands on top of his and removing them from your body. You actually left the room this time successfully to get downstairs.

“I knowww.” He groaned having to readjust himself in his pants after your heated conversation.

“Can I start you off with some cocktails?” The waitress asked you. You were sat at a small table across from him in a dimly lit restaurant. The same type of lighting that he had looked so gorgeous in on your first date. The one that had you practically stuttering and hiding behind your hands or your cocktail. You felt the same unfairness looking at him. Even years later, he was stunning.

“Erm.. yeah... Oh no, wait actually, I’m okay, thank you though.” You stumbled through your answer momentarily, almost forgetting you were pregnant and couldn’t order the margarita you usually liked to order at this restaurant. Trent smiled, reaching out to brush his finger over your knuckles pretty happy for the reason you weren’t not drinking.

“And for you?” The waitress raised her eyebrow, practically licking her lips at Trent. She had this tone in the way she asked him that insinuated you were boring for not drinking. You wanted to stand up and tell her you were not drinking because the man, also your husband, she was currently undressing with her eyes fucked a baby into you but you would never, you certainly thought about though.

“No, we’re alright. Just two waters…” He paused. “Lemon?” Trent looked to you for confirmation so you nodded. “Yeah. Lemon, please. Thank you.” He sweetly nodded to her, flicking his gaze back to you.

“Ridiculous.” You teased him as the waitress left your table. You rolled your eyes at the situation.

“What?” He looked at you fairly confused and very naively because the look on your face was one of sincerity and familiarity he didn’t recognize why.

“Just the influx of women all day. How do you even know you want me when you have so many options?” You asked. It came out so bitter and insensitive. You didn’t mean to come off so harsh, it's just that it was a matter of fact, women came up to him all the time.

“Wow… erm.” Trent kind of choked getting out a response. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“T, I…” You tried to explain through a stutter but he cut you off before you could even get out that you didn’t mean it as a jab.

“Nah, nah. I’m gonna answer because you clearly want to know.” He smiled at you with a confidence that made you feel a little insecure. You felt guilty it came out that way. You weren’t trying to be critical of him. You’d be lying if you said the attention from women didn’t bother you a little bit it wasn’t his fault. He never fed into it. “I know, baby, because you are the only woman I see. Don’t roll your eyes yet, alright? Let me explain this. You are illuminated and they all are just dulled out in my vision. I barely even see them. They don’t have the same light behind their eyes. Their laughs don’t sound right. They don’t make my heart hurt when they leave. I can feel it when you're close by and they don’t feel right, their energy isn’t right for me. You're everything they don’t even know they aren’t. Everything you are is everything I’ve ever wanted.” He told you with certainty keeping his eyes locked on yours.

“Oh…” you sheepishly got out wanting to hide embarrassed but you kept your eyes fixed on him, feeling a bit more comfortable and braver than your first date. You didn’t want to look anywhere but those perfect brown eyes.

“I get an ‘oh’ in response?” He laughed a little at your shyness teasingly. You had more on your mind but that was the only word that would come out.

“No I just…” You didn’t know what to say or how to articulate it maybe. You felt flustered like you were just meeting all over again. You looked at him with doe eyes feeling insecure despite the massive rock on your finger telling you to feel otherwise.

“Baby, I don’t think you’ll ever understand what you do to me. Wrapped me around these dainty little fingers.” Trent smiled, pulling on your ring finger clearly on the same page as you. “It’s unfair what you do to me and I love every second of the inconsideration you unknowingly took on my heart.” He continued.

“I don’t know if I agree that I have that effect but I know that I feel that way about you.” You shyly said to him with a cheeky smile though. Trent shook his head disagreeing with your disagreement. “It’s strange, no? To feel so out of control about the way you feel for someone.” Your smile grew and you felt like so did the size of your heart.

“Yeah, like there’s nothing I can do. You got me, baby. No getting rid of me now because you’re all I want and I’m never living without you.” Trent gave you a smirk that made butterflies swarm your stomach.

“No, nothing at all.” You giggled. “Just completely at yours, pretty boy.” You smiled at him and Trent felt his heart falter just the same as he watched the warm candle light flicker across your face. “But that’s good you feel that way because I’m not leaving you so you’re stuck with me… well us too.” You smiled again, placing your hand on your stomach referring to you, your daughter Teddy, and your unborn little baby.

“I love you, beautiful… all of you.” Trent cooed, keeping his eyes on you in the soft lighting. You were full and you haven't even eaten yet. You were full from the way he made your heart feel.

“More than you can imagine, T.” You responded with tears pushing their way to your lash line. You weren’t even sure if this merited the amount of emotion you felt but regardless you were feeling it. Maybe it was pregnancy or maybe it was him.

“Got you a little something.” Trent handed you a sizable familiar orange box across your table. He could have waited till you got home but Trent loved doing this. He wanted you to feel special. It made you feel special. You opened the box cautiously. A blue Hermes blanket embroidered again with ‘Baby Alexander-Arnold’ on it.

“Oh…” You whimpered out. Maybe this did warrant the tears that were now about to spill over your lash line.

“You and Ted like the one we got for her, you know and I want this baby and mummy to be happy and cozy together as well the same way. I also thought it was special last time. We could get one for every kid and I just… Do you like it?” He asked you a bit shyer than you were expecting considering how much you did love it.

“T, it's perfect.” You officially started crying. You were quiet but clearly a bit overtaken by the emotion and how sweet Trent was, not just tonight but all the time, every day.

“Wow, that's so chic.” The waitress came back to the table to check on you interrupting an intimate moment. This was the first thing for your new baby.

“Sorry, do you mind if we have a moment?” Trent snapped fairly quickly to her. It was still polite but he kept his eyes locked on yours. You smiled considerately. Your favorite moment in the world, selfishly, was when Trent put you above anyone. It wasn’t about anyone else right now but you two.

You changed when you got home, tired of being in your heels. You sat cuddled up to Trent back in the cinema kissing on his soft skin as he watched a NBA game on the big screen, it’s blue light filling the dark room. You had no idea who was even playing in the game. Your face was buried in the nape of his neck until a thought popped into your head.

“What’s your favorite way to kiss me?” You smiled into another kiss against him with a hum.

“What a question. I’m pretty happy with what you’re doing right now but the way I kiss you? I don’t know, baby. Just when it’s soft, slow. I get to hold you nice and tight to me. Even though it’s gentle, when it's still heated and I know this sounds stupid but I can feel that you love me. Those are the ones for me.” He explained his answer to you in probably a more thoughtful way than you were expecting. Although, that seemed to be the theme of the night. You hummed and wrapped your arms around him a little tighter, giving him a squeeze before moving one of your hands up under his t-shirt continuing on with your task of kissing his neck simultaneously now rubbing your hand over his abs. “I really do like the ones though when I’m inside you and we're having a kiss and you moan into me. Oof baby, I don’t know… that gets me going. Biting on my lip a little as well. That’s up there for sure.” He smiled, dropping his gaze towards you.

“T, baby…” you whined a little nibbling up his neck, littering his skin with kisses coming up to his jawline, moving towards his lips.

“I love when you call me that.” He whispered to you moving your face off from him so he could turn his and look directly at you. He kept your cheek cupped in the palm of his hand.

“Yeah?” You asked in a slightly childish tone but it was also laced with seduction. You kissed the inside of his wrist.

“Yeah. I like ‘T,’ I like ‘baby,’ I mean ‘dada’ always makes me smile.” Trent filled you in on his preferred names that you’d call him.

“Daddy?” You teased him.

“Yeah I mean fine, in the context of Ted but that’s more jokes between you and me.” He laughed trying to play it off like you hadn’t seen lust wash over him in the times you’d called him that in private.

“Is it? Because I think it turns you on.” You giggled with a cheeky smile giving him a bit of a tease.

“I think it turns you on!” He yelped defending himself, turning your accusation back on you with an equally if not more cheeky smile.

“Depends on the context, you just turn me on.” You repeated his initial commentary. He hummed in agreement, pecking your lips.

“Nah, but I do like when I get you to fall into this voice. It’s just for me. You slow. It’s breathy like you’re begging for something but it’s sweet and playful. Baby, I’m telling you now, you just got me down. Everytime you know exactly what I want to hear and how I want to hear it.” He cooed with a glint in eyes as his thumb gently caressed your cheek.

“T, baby.” You cooed in just the tone of voice he was talking about unintentionally. It was soft and sexy, sincere and innocent.

“That’s it, that's the one. Gets me every fucking time. That name. Only one in my life that’s ever called me that. And that tone is… just god.” He trailed off getting lost in the thought of you.

“Oh, you like that? Like when I’m in your ear whining your name T, baby.” Your purposefully pushed yourself into him a little more saying it again. Your hands dropped towards the waist of his joggers. You teased him, dragging your nails over his abs.

“We’re going upstairs.” He quickly told you, disregarding his plan to watch this basketball game. He scooped you up like he did your 25 pound daughter, throwing you over his shoulder. You giggled excited for the rest of your night. He smiled as he jogged up the stairs holding you.

“It’s so good to see you again!” A nurse came into the room you were seated anxiously in. You weren’t sure if she actually recognized you or if she simply just remembered the last name and Trent’s memorable but also famous face. You definitely remembered her though. She was sweet and super helpful through your entire pregnancy with Teddy.

“Yeah, course. We’re excited to be here.” Trent eagerly responded, squeezing your hand in his. He was beaming. You were trying to be a bit more tame. You were nervous and not in the way he was. Trent was nervous, of course, but more about like your actual health than your capability to be a parent. He knew you both would be great. You were a bit more apprehensive about the concept of having two kids. You went through the formalities of the appointment. Second by second it ticked by and you just had a feeling as the transducer glided over your stomach with the cold gel that you knew the gender. You could feel it. You had a hunch but you didn’t share it with Trent ahead of the appointment. As the images filled the screen, you could hear your baby's heartbeat. The emotions became overwhelming. You thought you’d be prepared for this having done it once before. You were not.

“I'm here, baby.” Trent whispered to you. Tears started to roll down your cheeks as you laid staring back at Trent. He wiped his thumb under your eye catching them like he always did. He kissed your temple softly.

“So you’re coming in a little later this time I think. You’re already about 10 weeks along. It’s good you’re here though.” The nurse spoke gently, looking between you and Trent. Your eyes widened a bit, taken aback.

“I’ve been pregnant for like… months…” You muttered back shocked. “I wasn’t like taking care of… I didn’t know.” You were trying to reflect back and think about what was going on two months ago. You were panicking thinking about if you had somehow messed something up already with this pregnancy. The nurse kept speaking to you about how essentially you were fine. You weren’t able to focus though you were combing through the events of the last couple week but Trent was. Two months ago it was early November and Winnie had visited. That made you fairly nervous. You were trying to remember everything you did with her. Trent had a memory like an elephant though so he had the same thought but immediately felt at ease recalling that you asked him if he felt a little sick that night. You did so you opted not to drink. It didn’t even occur to you that just by your own body’s instinct you had been doing everything just fine.

“Well, congratulations Alexander-Arnold’s, looks like you’re going to have one of each. You’re going to have a baby boy!” The nurse cooed sweetly. You had blacked out everything but the sound of your baby’s heartbeat until you heard her say that.

“Nah, nah, nah. No way.” Trent was shocked. He had mentally prepared himself to hear he was going to have another girl. The tears that slowly leaked from the corner of your eyes just began to flood as you sat up a little. The disbelief in Trent’s face made you giggle. His head snapped from the nurse to you. “Holy shit, baby.” He exhaled with a bewildered expression. His eyes watered. He cupped your face and pressed his nose against yours letting his eyes flutter closed.

“Going to have a little boy.” You pouted before pressing a kiss to his lips. “That okay, T?” You asked him even though you knew this was his dream.

“I… I … I don’t know what to say. Oh my god.” Trent ran his hands over his face trying to process wha he just heard. He puffed out a heavy breath. “I’ve never been happier in my life. I mean.. fuck.” He slapped his hand over his mouth. “Sorry.” He apologized to the nurse after he kept cursing but she waved him off. “I mean it's the same type of happiness but it’s so different then when we found out about Ted. Holy fuck. I can’t believe I get to have a son with you.” He shook his head and started to cry. Anytime Trent cried you knew it was seriously important to him.

“Yeah, our little son. Baby boy Alexander-Arnold. I hope he’s just like you, T.” You pulled Trent down to squeeze him in a tight embrace. He held onto you while the doctor printed out the photos of the scan for you.

“I love you. I love you more than anything in the entire world. Thank you so much for carrying our little boy. I can’t wait for our family to grow. I’m so excited. I can’t believe we’re going to have a boy. Thank you, thank you.” Trent babbled just in complete and utter shock.

“Going to be another fall baby, I guess. Have to ask Winn about his astrology.” You cooed and Trent rolled his eyes. You laughed, kissing his cheek. Trent wasn’t exactly sold on the whole thing but Winnie was. It was something she lived her life by. You just wanted him to understand this baby would arrive in the fall. He was so taken aback that you were having a boy you weren't sure he’d put the math of the timeline together yet. He didn’t care when this baby arrived though. He was over the moon. The nurse handed you the photos of the scan of your baby. You held them inspecting your growing baby boy for the first time. Trent placed his hand on your stomach gently and hid his face in your neck a little overcome with emotion till. Having a son was unreal to him. It was something he had dreamed of. You knew he would never put pressure on your little boy but the idea he could potentially have a son who played football was everything he ever wanted. This was unbelievable that he’d even have the opportunity to even play footie in the back garden with his son. He, of course, would treat him and Teddy just the same but there was something special about having a son. The same way you felt something special about having a daughter. “I love you so much, T. You’re going to be the best daddy to him. I’m so happy, baby.” You hummed, finally feeling the excitement of this pregnancy seeing his reaction as you kissed his temple, holding him.

“I wonder what Teddy will think.” He pulled away from you with wet eyes and a smile. You smiled back and started to deep it. God, you hoped she’d be excited as you two were right now.

“You know that’ll be tough.” Trent cooed while driving as you sat in the passenger seat.

“What do you mean?” You asked him curiously with a smirk knowing it was going to be something close to ludacris.

“I mean he’s gotta live up to me? Tough no?” Trent explained, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

“Stop.” You scoffed at him. You knew he was joking but also it did actually cross your mind when you heard what your little boy's life might end up like having to constantly be compared to Trent. You had already been pondering what to name him because originally you loved the idea of all your kids having ‘TAA’ initials but you also were worried about the ramifications or burden it might be to carry that name. It was different for Teddy. It felt like she had the protection of the surname where it felt like with a boy, your little boy, the surname might act more as a target against him.

“Nah, I’m being forreal though, I don’t want his mates teasing him for having a leng mum picking him up.” Trent kept a straight face. You had been worried about what it was like to have Trent as a dad whereas, even though he was joking about, he’d definitely clocked a worry he’d been harboring about how people looked at you. Not derogatorily about you at all. He wanted to protect you. He just knew how sensitive you were and how shitty people could be. He knew how you felt when people said things now like the ever circulating ‘with him for his money comment’ or ‘trapped him with babies’ narrative. He didn’t want anything like those types of things to affect your ability to be a mum and be present with them.

“Well, I mean you don’t think that will happen with Teddy’s guy friends?” You asked him with a cheeky smirk of your own.

“She’s not having guy friends. I don’t know what you’re on about.” Trent seriously responded and fast to your remark.

“Oh shush.” You swatted at him. It was a stupid comment but you also knew he kind of meant it.

“Nah never. Staying home with me every night. Ted doesn’t know boys exist.” He snapped with a bit of a laugh. Trent wanted Teddy to be his baby girl forever and that was becoming more and more apparent.

“Except she does. She’s surrounded by you lot all the time.” You informed him. Teddy was around boys and you 24/7. Between Trent, Marcel, Tyler, George, Jude, the list rattled on.

“That’s different. Boys are mad these days. I’m her dad and their uncles. Boys her age. Nah, absolutely not. I’m talking when she’s like older, boys in her school year, absolutely not. They can’t be near her and they can’t look at her… or you. I couldn’t have seen what you look like now in bed when I was 13 or 14. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it, ya know?” Trent breathily laughed. “Would’ve just wanked all day. Fucking hell.” He laughed a little more imagining his younger self seeing the images he got to see day in and day out in your bedroom. Frankly, even out of the bedroom.

“Ew, first, gross.” You giggled along with him thinking it was equally as funny. You rubbed your hand tenderly on his thigh. “Secondly, no one else is seeing what you’re seeing. Also, what I don’t have that effect on you now? Grown Trent isn’t as easily swayed?” You teased, questioning him sliding your hand higher up and higher up his leg.

“Nah, relax. I’m telling you now baby… it’s fucking work.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m fighting for my life out here, every day.” He groaned as you palmed over his hardening cock as he tried to focus on the task of driving, proving his point. You giggled moving your hand off him with a smug smile pretty content with yourself.

When Trent came home from another day after training. You were sitting on the couch minding your own waiting for him to get home. You were tired and catching up on an episode from a show you were watching on Netflix. You heard Trent come in through the garage door but you were too lazy to get up. He snuck in dropping his stuff and dragged his equally tired body on top of yours. He laid his entire weight on top of you. He just started kissing your skin all over, anywhere he could without a word.

“Hi.” You giggled wrapping your arms around his strong body rubbing your hands up and down his back covered by a jumper as he continued on his quest to kiss every inch of you. “That made me smile, T.” You told him. When Trent needed you, when he was soft with you, he didn’t ask for cuddles, he just took them and that was one of your favorite Trents.

“Do anything to make you smile.” He mumbled with his face staying buried in the nape of your neck.

“I love you, T. That made me really happy.” You gave him a cheesy smile as he pulled away to hold your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb.

“I love you, baby. Couldn’t wait to get back home to you.” He hummed kissing your nose.

“Did you see daddy’s home, Teddy girl?” You cooed a little louder for Teddy who was presumably still somewhere close by playing with the dogs. She heard you and came running and fast.

“Yeah daddy just got home and I am still waiting for my hello from my baby bear. How come you weren’t at the door?” Trent asked Teddy as she rounded the couch, giving her a tired but equally cheeky smile.

“I’m sorries I… I… was with doggies.” Teddy babbled out feeling guilty. She usually met Trent at the door. She liked to but she had gotten distracted today and your own laziness hearing him come in didn’t help.

“Ted, beautiful, I’m kidding. Come here. Did you give mummy a kiss today?” He called her over and reached out to her. He picked her up under her little arms and lifted her up onto the couch. He had moved off you and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her cheek. You smiled seeing them back together and laid your head onto his chest to listen to their conversation. She nodded that she had and she did. “How many?” He asked her one more question.

“Don’t knows, dada.” She looked up at him with doe eyes with guilt washing over her again. She felt so bad she couldn’t remember.

“That’s not enough then is it?” Trent cooed with a gentle smile. He cupped her cheek. She smiled back at him with a little giggle sensing his teasing tone. Trent nodded towards you encouraging her to go on.

“Mama here go.” Teddy cutely gave you a kiss. You laughed back at her with a thank you.

“Just one? You’re only going to give mummy one more!” Trent yelped, plopping her onto her feet. He stood up and began to chase Teddy around the couch. She squealed excitedly that he was home to play with her. You didn’t really have that vitality about you lately. They both seemed to have endless energy, you didn’t feel that way. To be fair, one was under three and the other was a professional athlete. You couldn’t keep up… you were a pregnant woman. You sighed though loving their laughs imagining what life would be like once your new addition arrived. You turned around and laid your arms onto the back of the couch. You rested your chin on top of them watching the cute chaos ahead of dinner ensue.

“Teddy girl, can you come here please?” You cooed while taking a seat on the couch in your living room. She was laying on the carpet playing with a few toys. She picked her head up and nodded. You were entering the middle of your second trimester, just starting the month of May. You had an appointment with your doctor yesterday and decided with Trent that it was a good time to finally tell Teddy. You had decided that you’d tell your families in the middle of the month so you figured or at least you hoped your two and half year old could keep a secret for you till then, it was roughly 14 days, you thought she could. Trent had just come home. He was grabbing both you and him a drink before he came to sit with you to break the news Teddy wasn’t going to be an only child for much longer.

“Dada!” Teddy giggled, getting slightly distracted by his appearance in the room. She ran up to him and clung to Trent’s leg. He let her hold on while he dragged her with him to sit next to you.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I’m here, hi, but come on. Mummy and I have to tell you something.” Trent laughed at her overzealousness.

“Tay. Is it a secret?” She asked inquisitively. Letting go of Trent and pulling herself up onto the couch using his body like a jungle gym and crawling into his lap. She sillily laid out flat letting her head gently fall into your lap. It was strange but sweet that it was like she somehow subconsciously knew she couldn't be as rough with you anymore so she funneled all her energy into the way she’d grab at Trent.

“Yeah, my Teddy bear. It’s between you, daddy, and I, okay?” You explained starting to feel more emotional now seeing her looking like a real toddler in your lap. It was sort of sad she wasn’t your little baby any more. That she’d be your ‘oldest’ now.

“Tay tell! Dada tell!” She just about yelled pulling on your shirt sitting herself up. She wiggled her body to sit on Trent’s leg closet to you and draped herself around your neck in a hug.

“Okay, but it’s a secret, got it? You have to pinky promise, okay?” Trent smiled at her. She nodded and let go of you sticking her pinky out to him, something Trent had recently taught her to do. It was over ridiculous things and she often broke them to tell you about her promises with daddy or tell Trent about her promises with mummy. You hoped that the sacred binds of the pinky promise really stuck better this time. “ Good. Thanks, Ted. So mummy and daddy are really excited right now because there’s a baby growing in mummy’s tummy.” Trent just laid it out in the open brining his hand to gently rub over your stomach for her to understand. Your breath hitched a little. You had discussed this. This was the plan but you just weren’t ready to hear it or something. Trent had no fear. He definitely lived by the ‘just rip it off’ method.

“You’re going to have a little brother after summer time.” You explained to her the facts a little further, running your hand over her head. You gave her a sympathetic smile, praying she wasn’t going to be upset.

“Um…” Teddy hummed looking between you and Trent momentarily. “Whys?” She asked you two earnestly. It was better than maybe a ‘no’ you tried to tell yourself.

“What do you think, baby?” Trent asked her. You had consulted your doctor about best practices for telling a toddler and she had advised that letting them think about it would often help you navigate the conversation so you answered the questions they had.

“Don’t knows, dada.” She replied with a sad pout. Her face dropped. You could read her expression. It was as if she felt bad she didn’t know the answer, like it was something she should have known so you were quick to help her and reassure her it was fine.

“That’s okay, baby. We want there to be another member of our family because we love each other so much.” You emphasized the word so kissing her forehead. “Mummy and daddy made a baby and he’ll grow in my tummy till the end of summer then he’ll come out when he’s ready.” You explained a little more sheepishly than you would’ve liked. You laid your hand over your growing round belly for her to see. You hoped this was all making sense.

“Replacing me?” Teddy’s voice quivered as she asked you with a frown. Her eyes falling into the pools that would always break your heart.

“No, no, no, baby! Just making you a best friend, okay?” You cooed fast, immediately making sure she understood that was definitely not the point of this. You wrapped her in your arms, pulling her into a cuddle. You ran your hand up and down her back gently.

“No, baby bear. We love you so much.” Trent reassured her, kissing her sad pout. “Did you know that Celly is daddy’s little brother? So you’ll have your own ‘Celly.’ Isn’t that cool?” Trent further explained the concept a little more. Teddy adored Marcel so making it out like she was getting something she really liked of her own hopefully would work as an enticement.

“Tay, like Celly.” Teddy nodded but kept a fairly stoic face. You could tell she was still processing but at least the tears that had welled were gone. She had the cutest expression of thought on her face. “What’s my celly doing in theres?” She asked, turning to you. Trent smiled victoriously, liking that his idea of broaching the baby as the concept of her getting a Marcel of her own had worked.

“Oh... erm, well your baby brother is just growing bigger and bigger until he’s ready to come out.” You cooed rubbing her little arms. “Do you think he's sleeping now or awake?” You asked.

“I think he’s awake.” Trent interjected with his own opinion with a smile letting Teddy know this was a happy, fun thing they could talk about.

“Umm…” Teddy thought for a moment. “Think sleeps cause mama comfy.” She explained cuddling into you. You hummed pulling her into you more.

“Yeah, you’re right, Ted. Mummy is comfy, I think maybe he is then.” Trent cooed and Teddy nodded. “Is there anything else you want to know about your brother?” Trent asked her, rubbing his thumb over her chubby cheek.

“No, tank you.” Teddy cooed still ardently hugging you. Trent hummed accepting her answer but very aware that the following days, weeks, and months were going to be chock full of questions from her. “Mama…dada. Still love me with nother baby?”

“More than you can ever imagine, I promise. You have to promise me though that you’ll always be my baby bear, okay?” Trent pressed his nose to her with a silly smile. She giggled with another nod.

“Yeah. Mummy and daddy’s little Teddy bear forever. Baby, I will love you just the same. Maybe even more, okay beautiful? Going to be a good big sister for me?” You asked Teddy and she gave you a sweet ‘tay.’

“Mama?” She looked up at you. You smiled at her and hummed a ‘mmhm.’ “Be big sissy like mama with WinWin?” She asked you and your heart just about shattered. Obviously Trent’s explanation of having a sibling relating it to his relationship with Marcel stuck. She’d been thinking about it more and more since he mentioned it. You tried to hum an answer but couldn’t contain your tears. You sniffled unable to talk.

“Yeah, baby. You can be just like mummy and be the best big sister like her, okay? Do you want to be like mama?” Trent was quick to act, pulling both you and Teddy into him. He kissed your temple.

“Yeah huh, be like mama. Mama best.” Teddy cooed and you just kept crying. She didn’t know why but Trent got it. It was half that you were emotional about your daughter wanting to be like you and thinking highly of you and half that you were just pregnant and emotional.

•

Thank you for reading! Please like, comment, or message what you think of the chapter 🤍 We're coming to the end. Going to post Chapter 30 and then probably an Epilogue.

Next part - The Final Part | Chapter 30 xx

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