#I know Father’s Day was yesterday shhhh

[pookie-mulder]

The first Mother’s Day after Emily dies, Mulder gets Scully a card. Not even a Mother’s Day card, just a vague “I’m thinking of you” card that caught his eye at the grocery store.

He writes a short message on the inside, signs his name Love, M, and puts it on her desk the next day, too nervous to hand it to her directly.

She never mentions it, much to his relief. But she can tell he’s grieving, too, despite his attempts to hide it. So the following Father’s Day, she does the same for him.

Dear Mulder,

I know you weren’t her father, but I don’t doubt that with time, that’s who you would have become.

Love,

S

[swift-creates]

category: Gen

fandom: Batfamily

characters and relationships: Jason Todd (Robin) & Bruce Wayne - platonic

warnings: mentions of torture, aftermath of non-con surgery

Summary:

@ailesswhumptober Day 15: Waterboarding, removing body parts, “Don’t break down on me yet.”

Bruce rescues Jason from his torture at the Joker’s hands, but something’s missing.

—

Jason heard the sound of gunshots in the distance and forced his eyes to open, expecting to see a maniac with a knife looming over him again. But there was no one there, and the room where he’d been cut and bled for the last few hours (days? it was impossible to tell) was empty. Since waking up he’d become slowly aware of his throat burning from all his screaming and the cuts and the dry food they’d shoved down it earlier (yesterday?), and he held back a whimper at the jab of pain when he swallowed. 

The door banged open, but instead of a mime goon or the clown himself, it was Bruce. 

“Robin.” He rushed to Jason’s side, slicing through his restraints and pulling him into a sitting position. Jason winced but reached out to hug him back.

“Thank God you’re here, B,” he wanted to say. 

Nothing came out. 

B? He gripped his father’s arm in slowly growing panic, one hand going to the sharp stab of pain at his throat. His fingers brushed stitches over a vertical incision before Bruce pulled them away, squinting at his neck. Then the white lenses of his mask widened abruptly. Jason didn’t think he’d ever seen the Batman shocked before. B, what’s going on?!

“Hold on, lad. We’re going home.” Just tell me what’s wrong with me, Jason wanted to scream, his chest heaving as Bruce scooped him up like he weighed nothing. He didn’t say a word all the way to the Batmobile or on the drive back, just glanced over at Jason every so often and then looked away just as quickly. That almost scared Jason more than the pain and the brief brush of thread against his fingers had. 

Bruce stopped the car and went around to Jason’s side to pick him up again. He carried him to a soft bed, and Jason must have fallen asleep sometime during the process of Bruce and Alfred patching up his many wounds, because he woke up next to see Bruce sitting in a chair next to the bed dressed in civilian clothes, holding his hand. He smiled a tired, sad smile as he said, “Morning, Jaylad.”

Logically, Jason opened his mouth to reply, “Morning, Dad”, but nothing happened, and he winced as his throat burned again. He tugged at Bruce’s hand, trying to keep the panic from rising in his chest again. B, what happened to me? he mouthed slowly. Bruce looked down — actually broke eye contact — and took both of Jason’s hands into his. Jason had to tug him again to get him to look back up. Just tell me.

Bruce closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. When he opened them, they were a storm of fear, anger, concern and pain. “The Joker removed your voice box.”

What? Jason stared at him, grip tightening on his hand as the words started to sink in. The blood roared in his ears, and he felt his breathing quickening as the world narrowed around him. Wh- But how? All of it? B, what’s going to happen to me, B help me help me help- 

“Jason. Jason, slow down. I-” There were hands cupping his face, and he was choking on tears. “Shhh. Listen to me, sweetheart. You have to slow down. Just breathe. Breathe, Jason.” He struggled to stop crying, tugging at Bruce until he moved to sit on the bed next to him, pulling Jason into his arms. “It’s okay, honey, I’m here now. You’re safe, just breathe.” Jason buried his face in Bruce’s shirt, trembling. “I know, I know. You’re okay now. Shhhh.” Bruce gently stroked his hair, wiped the tears off his cheeks. He couldn’t hear himself crying. 

Baba- Ba, I’m scared, he mouthed when Bruce pulled away to look at him. 

“I know, Jaylad. Me too,” he whispered. “But we’re going to get through this, okay? I promise.” 

Okay. Okay. He promised. And if Bruce promised it, he was going to keep the promise. He’d never broken a single one before. It was only logical. Jason took a few shuddering breaths, felt the tears slow, then stop. 

“That’s it, sweetheart. You’re doing great. Breathe — you’re good, Jaylad. You’re okay.” He pressed a kiss to Jason’s temple, and he curled up tighter to his dad. They stayed there for a while, just breathing together, until Jason felt like he could let go without bursting into tears all over again. 

[caroline18mars]

A Man On Fire - Chapter 87

The words poured out of her, even though she was so jetlagged she couldn’t think straight, he looked at her staring at the carpet while she just kept on talking, she was like a robot, depriving herself of any emotion, just telling the cold, hard facts was all she could muster right now. He had never seen her like this, being around her was always so invigorating, her enthusiasm and personality intoxicating, but right now..every sparkle, every light in her eyes had gone out. She abruptly stopped mid sentence and got up “I can’t anymore, Jay, I’m…just so tired..” her voice was cracking up, he got up with her and threw his arm around her waist guiding her to the bed “I know, come on, let’s get you into bed” he took off her shoes so she could undress. The coolness of the sheets against her hot skin was the first thing she allowed herself to feel “I’ve missed you so much” she whispered in the darkness as Jared crawled in bed and settled next to her, slowly she caressed his cheek. “I missed you too, I was going crazy not hearing from you..” he leaned in for a much overdue kiss, a kiss that broke the ice in her soul “I didn’t know what to do, I still don’t” she quickly wiped the tears away, if she gave in to them, then she wouldn’t be able to stop. “Try and get some sleep, tomorrow’s a new day, it’s gonna be ok.” he whispered, pulling her up on his chest, she bit her lip, knowing that he meant well, but she hadn’t told him the whole story yet, it wasn’t gonna be ok, ever ‘I love you, Jay” her hot breath danced on his skin “I love you more” he kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, she was here now, that was all that mattered.

”No, please, no, don’t leave me, papa, noooo”, her cries woke Jared right up in the early hours of morning “Harper? Hey, wake up” he rubbed her shoulder but she just kept kicking and screaming. “No, don’t…please…I beg you…nooooo” she screamed as she sat up straight, and opened her eyes, completely disorientated with tears streaming down her face. “It was a nightmare, it’s ok, shhhh” he pulled her against him, trying to comfort her, “oh..Jared..” she slowly regained awareness of her surroundings. “It was just a dream, that’s all” he said a bit helpless before he pushed a kiss on her lips. “But a very real dream, there’s not a lot of difference between reality and dream in this case, is there?” she broke the kiss and let herself fall against the cushions again, “I have no family anymore, no money, I don’t even have a name anymore, they’re taking it all away, I’m..nothing..I’m nobody” she closed her eyes against the constant onslaught of visuals of yesterday and the day before that kept bouncing round in her head. “Come here” Jared rolled on his side and made her do the same, so he could hold her again “you’re not nobody, you’re still Harper Coco and you’ll always be, no matter how hard they try to take away your name, fuck your family, you don’t need them, I’ll talk to my lawyers, we’ll go to court and..” Jared was so desperately trying to help her but she pushed a finger against his lips, “there’s nothing I can do, Jared..my father and his lawyers made that pretty clear, they’re taken everything away from me, my name, my title, I signed it away, I had no choice..and they’re sueing me for abuse and neglect..because of the paintings, and for giving my father a heartattack..it’s just…I still can’t believe it..my father is an extremely powerful and wealthy man, who do you think they’ll believe? The patriarch of a huge aristocratic family who is a diplomat for the UN, NATO, you name it whose judicial tentacles are spread all around the globe or his estranged daughter? I think we both know the answer to that question, don’t we?”.

She was right, there was nothing he could do or say that would solve this mess, not now anyway, he pushed a kiss against her ear “today is another day, let’s do something fun together, it might make you forget about it even for just a few hours, the only thing you need to remember is that you’re never without your family, I’m and I’ll always be your family, whatever it is, you can always talk to me and I’m always gonna help you and most importantly I’m always gonna love you and choose you, no matter what they throw your or our way.” Just thinking about not hearing from her for the last few days had been an immense eyeopener somehow, he was the surest he had ever been about this relationship, she was the one, this highly intelligent, fierce, stunning creature lying here beside him, he knew every little curve of her body by heart and every curl of her glorious mind, Coco was…well basically completely herself, something extremely rare in this day and age. While all women these days had filler, botox, or all sort of surgery that made them look worse than their natural beauty, there was no plastic for this one, oh no, her kind of beauty was totally unique and not ever to be compared, this woman here was in a league of her own.

“Thanks” she gave him a sad smile and pushed her plump lips against his, things heated up between them and in no time she was sitting on top of him, letting him slide hard and deep inside of her. oh she was grateful alright and just how grateful was what she was going to show him right now. Her head fell back in pure bliss as she felt that gorgeous hard cock of his push against her walls, all throbbing and wet, the squishy noises their steamy connection made, drove her absolutely insane. There were no words needed, all the confirmation on what he had just told her, was shown right now, only raw sex could do that right now, the way she had been treated by her family, she was only able to try and fuck it out of her system. Little explosions were going off in his brain, what a sight, the woman of his life, pounding his dick hard, her walls clenching like an iron fist around his huge, thick cock, driving him insane, and the sight of her bouncing and riding him like a woman possessed, with her head falling back, while she guided his hands towards her breasts to squeeze and pinch them. But he made it even better for her by sitting up while she kept riding him relentlessly, she really needed it hard and rough so he attacked her breasts, his teeth biting, stretching each nipple hard, earning herself a slap each time he let go only for a few seconds before he got back to his exquisite torture that she enjoyed so much that her focus on his sexy torture made her hips slow down. His teeth raked along the sweaty skin “who said you could stop fucking me? Huh?” and just like that her submissive side came out to play “I’m so sorry” she whispered as she slowly let him slide out of her with a long, painful moan and crawled on the bed on all fours in front of him, looking back at him, the animalistic heat in those eyes almost sent him over the edge “I can only hope I deserve to be fucked real hard by you, do what you want with me” her voice barely a whisper but he had heard every single word of her horny plea. Jared didn’t say a word, she was trying to push her long hair out of the way when she felt his fist yank it making her yelp in pain but then she was quickly silenced by the sheer force that entered her from behind. “Oooohhh god, yesssss” nobody had ever or could ever give her more pleasure than him, he was perfect, there was not a woman who could easily accommodate his size but she took it all, she ignored the pain and let it become part of her pleasure and satisfaction. This fucking was out of this world, seeing her writhe in front of him and seeing her meet his pushing with her grinding drove him insane, she seemed insatiable, constantly urging him to go deeper, to fuck her even harder and most of all not to be gentle with her only made him grow harder if that was even possible. He yelled a few profanities at her as he felt his orgasm build and build before he climaxed deep inside of her, but he was going to make sure she had no time to even recover from her own orgasm as he pulled her back down with him on the bed, in a few minutes he would go for round two starting by crawling between her legs to devour that hot, wet part of her body.

"You ok?” he gently kissed her cheek, she had been awfully quiet after her last earthshattering orgasm, she just lay there all quiet, lost in her thoughts looking at the ceiling “Harper?” hearing her name got her out of her daze. “huh? Yes, yes, of course, all good” she was a master at bottling up her issues, this man here didn’t deserve to be swamped by her misery once again. He knew what was on her mind, clearly this morning was just a temporary break but right now her worries were back in full HD. “All that physical exercise has made me very hungry” her lips curled in a smile as she rolled on her side and kissed him, “brunch it is” he whispered but as soon as he turned to call roomservice, the smile on her face disappeared instantly, it was taking her a lot of effort not to bawl her eyes out “I’m going to take a shower” she whispered at Jared who was still on the phone, as she hurried towards the bathroom.

”whoaaa, Harper stop” she felt him pull her back on the sidewalk while a motorbike raced past nearly knocking her over, “you alright?” he pushed her to the side so she could catch her breath. “I’m fine, I just didn’t pay attention for a minute, I’m more jetlagged than I’d like to admit apparently” she stammered, “I don’t think it’s jetlag, you’ve been absentminded all morning..it’s all that mess with your parents, there’s no need in denying it, it’s a lot..I get it” his lips brushed against her forehead, “I’ll talk to our laywers this afternoon”. Harper grabbed his arms “I told you, there’s nothing you can do and besides..” she paused while biting her lip to stop the tears that were threatening to fall “I don’t want my mess to affect you or the band or anything for that matter, my father is a powerful man, he’ll do whatever it takes and hurt as many people as he possibly can just to prove his point, I’m not letting him drag you or your family or band through the mud, do you hear me?” she started to raise her voice at him “this is my problem, not yours or anybody else’s, it’s only mine, and I’ll deal with it myself, ok?”. Jared looked in shock “no, you won’t have to..come on Coco, this is just your pride talking” he breathed trying to pull her back in his embrace but she pushed back “for fuck’s sakes, Jay, don’t you hear what I’m saying?? Whether it’s my stupid fucking pride talking or not, this is MY problem, ok! Nobody else’s, and I say we stop talking about it, this entire topic disgusts me, so can we just go and see that bloody Opera House now? Goddammit” she threw up her arms in despair and mumbling to herself she started walking away, leaving him gobsmacked.

[tigerlyla-of-metinna]

Short Story: Winner Takes All (Pt 3)

The next day

Cirilla: Something tells me you have information about what happened yesterday.

Morvran: I've, er, uncovered the mystery of our guests' missing clothes, princess. No pun intended. It appears someone is playing strip GWENT in the palace for much higher stakes. Not just the value of the prized card itself, which I gathered is extremely rare within the GWENT circles, but the owner of said card can grant one demand from the opponent if they win.

Ciri: And if the opponent lose, they strip and leave. The challenger must be extremely skilled indeed to toy with his opponents.

Morvran: ... Like that time you rode me like a horse to the full view of your fathers?

Ciri (snickering): I knew you'd not win against me and so I had to make the game fun- wait... could it be? Morvran, let's go inside.

Morvran: Where are we heading off, princess?

Ciri: If I am right, I think I know who the player is.

Ciri: I know of two men who have that much confidence in their skills at GWENT. Our little game might have inspired them.

Morvran: You don't mean-

Ciri: Shhhh! Someone is coming!

Morvran: and is he-

Ciri: -naked? Yes, he lost the game and his clothes.

Morvran: .... That is Roche. Former Blue Stripes commander and now member of the Regency Council of Temeria.

Ciri: I guess, like the others, he came out empty handed.

Morvran: ... not like the others, princess.

Morvran: At least he's allowed to keep wearing his chaperone.

-to be continued!

(photos requested from naughty naughty @i-be-busy-witchering and my story and usual edits in PS)

[chalterdh22]

Chapter 46: Do You Want Me to Tell Everyone?

We all had a nice, relaxing evening and went to bed early.  When I woke up, I had Grogu curled up next to me in my bed.  I slowly got up to go to the refresher and to look to see what time it was.  It was just approaching 6 am.  I then peaked in our spare room and Din was in there sleeping.  Good, he got back ok.

I walked out to the kitchen to make some caf.  While that was brewing, I walked outside.  There was a chill in the air still, that would soon go away by the suns beating down on this planet.  I loved the early mornings here.  They were on the quieter side, before it got crazy in this town.

“Good morning!”  Mom yelled, waking up half the block.

“Shhhh, dang mom, people are still trying to sleep!”

“So, are you guys taking off soon?  Or do you get to hang out around here and, I don’t know, maybe help on a project or two?”  Knowing mom, one or two projects meant we’d be working for her for at least a week. 

“I’m not sure.  I’ll ask when Din gets up what the plan is.”

“Oh, I see, he makes the decisions!  I get it!  Your father was like that too and look what happened there.”  I shook my head and walked away.  “I’m just saying!”  She yelled back at me, and if they weren’t up already, they would be now.  Right on cue, Grogu came waddling out.

“Hey little man!  Sorry she woke you up.”  He waddled past me and went to mom to pick him up.

“Well, would you look at that!”  He was snuggling in her arms looking up at her.  “Are you hungry?  Well, that’s a stupid question, Peli, of course you are!  You’re a growing boy, aren’t ya!”  He made a few noises at her as she went into the kitchen. 

I walked back inside and sat at the table, just watching them.  She baby talked to him, and he loved it!  I know what he’s capable of, but still, he’s still a little kid too.  He needed that kind of attention as well.

A gloved hand set on my right should and squeezed it lightly.  I looked up and him, smiled, and told him good morning.

“Good morning.  Did you have a nice time yesterday?”

“We sure did!  We talked about you the whole time!”  Mom yelled from the kitchen.  I felt my face grow beet red.  He quickly looked down at me.

“Oh, we did not!  Stop teasing him!”  Giving mom the stink eye.

“Oh, calm down, ya tin can, it’s not all about you!”  I think at this point he was thinking just get me out of here.

“Anyway, when do you want to leave?  Mom says she has a few projects we can help her with if we wish to.”

“Projects?  What kind of projects?”

“Nothing too stressful, maybe two days, tops!”  She’s still banging around in the kitchen.  He looked back down at me.

“It’s up to you.  I’m cool with staying a few extra days, but I didn’t know your schedule.”

He sighed.  “We can stay two days, TWO, Peli!”

“Yeah, I heard ya!  Geesh, keep your helmet on!”

After we all ate breakfast, mom showed us her two “little projects.”  Honestly, they weren’t that bad, and it’d give me an excuse to stay longer, which I didn’t mind.

At the end of the day, we had all been wiped out, organizing, and moving parts for mom, to make room for her new ship.  She was like a kid, bouncing up and down.  Even Grogu wasn’t this hyped up usually!

That evening, as we were just sitting on the floor in the living room, relaxing, I told mom about the job I had, and quit.  But that was always there for me. 

Then she proceeded to tell us about all these people and how they were trying to rip her off and owe her money.  She was a fantastic storyteller and if you didn’t know her, you’d feel bad.  But most of this was her own doing. 

She was sitting in between Din and I and Grogu was hopping from one person to another for extra play time before bed.

“Ugh, you’re so hyper!  Come here, you little womprat!”  I grabbed him and started tickling his neck and belly, until he had a full-blown laugh going on.  “I’m going to tickle you until you get tired!”  Well, that didn’t work, he just hoped to mom’s lap, wanting the same thing, which she obliged with kisses too.

And then, he hopped onto Din’s lap and looked up at him with his big eyes. 

“Aww, he wants some daddy tickle time.”  Mom pointed out.  Din grunted and moved his finger under his little chin, which actually made him giggle, and then he hopped back to me.

“You know, when Suri was a little kid, I used to get her good when she’d walk by and wasn’t expecting it!”  I felt my face growing red again and let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, mom, you sure did get me,” I said and started shifting away from her.  “It’d scare me more than anything!”

“Nah, you loved it! See!”  And as quick as a cat, she poked my side and a stupid grin appeared on my face.  I kept scooting away, looking at Din like he should do the same, but he just stayed, sitting next to her.  Grogu then jumped from my arms back to mom’s.  “And I know you love it, little guy!”  She was poking him and making him squeal.  It really was adorable.

Grogu then tumbled off her lap, waddled to the middle of us and fell down, seated, like he had had enough.  I got this weird sensation happening, that made me squirm, and I noticed Din was starting to do the same thing.  I quickly grabbed him and said no, and then blew raspberries on his tummy.  He started to sink into my lap, like he was finally getting tired, as we all were.  I couldn’t dare let him use his powers in front of mom though, especially that!

I rocked him for a few minutes and realized he had passed out now, so I took him in the room that Din was staying in.  I quietly put him in the little cot, covering him up.  Leaning in to kiss him goodnight, I heard a weird yell come from the other room.  Great, now what? 

I started walking out there to tell them to keep it down, when I noticed Din, holding my mom’s wrists firmly in place telling her no, but giggling as he said it.

“What’s going on?”  I asked cautiously.

“Suri, did you know Mando here is ticklish?  Is this for real or what?”

“Mom, leave him alone before he hurts you!”  I was only half serious when I said that.

He released her wrists as she was still smiling, eyeing him up and down.  “Oh, come on Mando, you know you liked it.  Although, I didn’t hear a real laugh come from you.”  She said as she put a finger to her mouth.

“Mom, let it go or I’ll give him permission to use a blaster on you!”

“Ha, what will people say if they found out this guy can be taken down by a little tickling!  People would pay good money to see that!”

“Peli, no!  You can’t say anything.”  I could tell he was now serious.

“Ok mom, you had your fun.  Just stop.”

“Well, maybe I can keep my mouth shut, but I want to hear a real laugh, Mando!”

I looked over at him, trying to gauge what he was feeling.  He definitely wasn’t mad, but he was nervous.  It was like she would expose him or something.

“Mom….” I said sternly. 

“What?  I never get to have any fun!  Let me have my fun!”

“Your fun is making others suffer!  Don’t do that to him!”  I all but was shouting now, actually getting mad at her.  I think Din sensed the tension growing.  He sighed.

“It’s fine, Peli.  Just for a minute though.”  He said pointing a finger at her.  Oh no, I thought.  Her minutes weren’t minutes.  She’s worse than a kid sometimes, I swear.

“Din, you really don’t…”  I couldn’t even get the last few words out as she reached for his sides and started digging.  He let out a huge, barking laugh, and curled over towards her, like he couldn’t even handle it.

Then she must have snuck her hands up to his upper ribs because he stiffened up his arms and threw himself back taking her with him.  “Pelllliiii, pppleeeeasee ssttttoooppp!”

“Oh, no, you gave me a minute and it’s only been like 10 seconds!”

“Mom, let him go!  He can’t even breath right now!”

“Nah, the womprat is fine, see!”  She pulled her hands out of his armpits, as he was breathing hard, but still breathing. 

“Theereee, arrre yyyyou done?”

“Nope!”  She then grabbed a hold of his thighs, which made him jump about a foot in the air.  This poor guy.  And I just sat there with a grin on my face.  I just couldn’t help it.  My tiny, little spunky mom was taking done a fully suited Mandalorian.  And yes, I know, he could have stopped it at any time, but he played along.

I finally got up and grabbed her arms.  “Ok, ok, I think he’s laughed enough!”  She finally leaned back against a chair with a smile on her face that would never come off.  I reached for Din, who was laying on his back breathing hard, still twitching a little.  “Are you ok?”

He just shook his head yes.

“Of course, he’s fine.  It doesn’t kill anyone!”

“Well, not yet!  Seriously mom, don’t say anything, for real!”

“Oh, calm down you two!  Geesh!  You’re worse than kids!”  She stood up and yawned.  “Well, that exhausted me.  Good night you two!  Sleep tight Mando!  Ha!”

I shook my head and looked back at him, still lying there.  “I’m sorry, she’s the worse.”  He nodded in agreement.

[alicent-apologist]

Hi my loves,

I've had no time to write this week so I will not be posting a chapter of the Targaryen Doe tomorrow. I'd rather take my time and not just write whatever so I can get it out on time.

As recompense, here is the very beginning of Chapter 18 - a little snippet of what their lives are like now that they have their daughter.

I hope you like it!

‘ - as soon as you are old enough, I will take you out on Vhagar so you may see the world as only Targaryens do.’ The soft and low voice of her husband was the first thing that greeted Camyla as she struggled to open her heavy eyelids.

Alyssa fussed, uttering something that wasn’t quite a cry but was certainly threatening to become one.

‘Shhhh, none of that, my little dragon,’ Aemond soothed her gently, ‘We don’t want to wake your Mama up do we? She had a difficult day yesterday.’

The unhappy gurgling coming from Alyssa told her father that she did in fact want to wake up her mother, and to be sharpish about it please.

‘I’m awake,’ Camyla yawned, pushing herself up into a sitting position, ‘She’s likely hungry.’

‘I don’t understand why you won’t allow her to be fed by a wet-nurse,’ Aemond commented as he carefully placed Alyssa in Camyla’s arms, ‘It would allow you more rest.’

‘You just want to hog our daughter for yourself,’ Camyla accused him jokingly, pulling down the top of her shift and positioning Alyssa so she could feed. It was a very strange sensation and she couldn’t say she particularly enjoyed it at the moment.

Aemond didn’t bother to refute her words, sitting down on the bed next to them and tilting Camyla’s head up for a morning kiss.

‘It may only be an old-wives’ tale from the Stormlands, but we were always told that babies pick up attributes from whoever nurses them,’ Camyla explained, eyes fixed on her daughter’s perfect squished little face, ‘I will not allow anyone else to nurse her, my love.’

‘Hmm,’ Aemond hummed, clearly not believing it but not willing to fight Camyla on it.

They sat there together in silence, watching as Alyssa’s eyes started to close, expression smoothing in contentment.

‘Not yet, my littlest love,’ Camyla said softly, tapping on her foot gently to keep Alyssa awake. The midwife had told Camyla that it was best to not let her fall asleep during feeding.

Alyssa’s brow furrowed in a grumpy scowl, clearly unhappy to have her plans foiled.

‘Oh that little frown is all you, my love,’ Camyla delightedly told Aemond, running a careful finger along her daughter’s brow to soothe her.

‘Her pout when she doesn’t get her way was clearly inherited from you,’ Aemond replied, voice overflowing with a quiet joy Camyla had never heard before.

‘Her eyes certainly didn’t know who they wanted to take after,’ Camyla joked, unable to feel anything but loving pride.

Alyssa’s eyes were blue: one was a sapphire blue that could only have come from Aemond and the other was as deep as the ocean, like Camyla’s.

‘A perfect blend of the both of us,’ Aemond agreed.

Alyssa finished feeding, a blissful milk-drunk expression on her face.

‘Let me burp her, my love,’ Aemond said, taking Alyssa from Camyla’s arms, ‘You need the rest.’

Camyla wanted to argue back, arms feeling bereft without her daughter in them, but she knew he was right. Her eyes were already closing, the allure of sleep too powerful. It had only been a few hours since the birth; long enough for Alyssa to get hungry again but nowhere near enough time for Camyla to rest after giving birth.

‘Have you slept?’ She managed to slur out as she forced her heavy arms to adjust herself into a lying down position.

‘I can’t bring myself to put her down,’ Aemond admitted in a slightly rueful voice.

Through her flickering eyelids, Camyla saw as he adjusted Alyssa so her head was supported over his shoulder. It was to that beautiful sight that she succumbed to sleep again, not even being able to make a comment teasing Aemond about spoiling their daughter already.

[scalpelandrose]

Affirming a Little Miracle

A/N: Whenever health is at a low, my inner Victorian writing motivation comes out 😂 I thought to finish this piece I started at the dentist's yesterday, as I was feeling a little sentimental about the period where Ross was born in my self-ship story. Oh! and an advance thank you to those who read this! ❤️🌹

WC: 1,408 Warnings: Baby, children, mentions of pregnancy/postpartum

Phytoplankton make the twinkling twilight that trickled into the Polar Tang’s portholes, in place of holiday lights that many enjoyed ashore. New Years was a few days away and a good number of Hearts opted to stay up into the late hours preparing for celebrations and brainstorming resolutions that may or may not be successfully fulfilled. However, they were mindful to keep the clamor and ruckus to a minimum, knowing that their captain and strategist were resting from another day of caring for their week-old infant.

“Ross grabbed my finger today. I think that means I’m his favorite uncle!” Shachi proudly declared, unaware that the smug sparkles surrounding him were visible to the crewmates.

Ikkaku lightly scoffed, “You kept poking his cheek, so that was probably his way of telling his ‘favorite uncle’ to stop bothering him.”

“Hey, now listen here—”

“Didn’t Ross immediately let go after seeing Captain enter the room and started fussing to be picked up? It’s like he wanted his dad to get away,” Penguin snickered.

“Not you too…” Shachi scowled, before Bepo brought a finger to his lips in a chiding gesture.

“Shhhh! You’ll wake them, guys!”

Unbeknownst to them, their captain was well awake in his quarters, but for a different reason.

An urge akin to a child needing to go back into the cookie jar for seconds, roused Law from sleep to look at his new baby. A smile crosses the surgeon’s features beholding his newborn son sleeping soundly in the little bassinet saturated in pure undisturbed innocence. Law quietly gasped and the world stood still when the babe cooed from the depths of bonny dreams his mother weaved for him. Nothing was sufficient to describe the overwhelming love washing over him in continuous waves looking at his small son, and in that moment, he thought of Cora-san and wondered if this feeling was the ‘love,’ that drove him to save Law as a child years ago, despite all odds. It must surely have been that same feeling, if not further amplified, because when he reached down to wipe a little drool from the corner of his son’s mouth and looked at the woman who began shifting in their bed at the absence of his warmth, he knew that he’d give anything and everything to protect what he had. 

“Mein schatz…are you having trouble sleeping?” Michelle groggily props herself on her elbows. Her expression changed from concern to delight, seeing Law kneeling beside Ross, like a sentinel…or a father who couldn’t get enough of his child. 

“No, not at all,” he whispers, returning to their bed with a kiss to the heart of her palm, “It might sound crazy, but I was making sure this family…our family wasn’t just a dream.”

A content sigh escapes Michelle, accompanying her fingers that tenderly traced her husband’s features in the darkness. “Only the mad can make miracles happen…and we’re both a little on that scale,” she laughs in quiet confidence as to not wake their baby, “I can confirm as the Dream Reaver that this isn’t a dream and that Ross’ cuteness isn’t either.” 

Busted. But maybe it wasn’t a surprise, since the couple spent the past week doting on their newborn and using any opportunity to get a glance of Ross and his chubby alabaster cheeks. The baby took after his father in terms of looks, save for the beauty mark under his left eye, but the spirit of wonder that colored his eyes whenever he’d glance around the world in piqued curiosity was characteristic of his mother.

“Good to have your confirmation,” Law lightly grins, settling himself under the blankets to wrap his arms around his wife from behind, “Funny that the Dream Reaver stole a dream I buried deep inside of me and yanked it into reality.”

“I don’t only look into dreams to conjure nightmares, you know. Remember, you gave me permission to explore your mind, so it wasn’t a violent yank,” she hums, causing him to bury his face into her shoulder to contain a laughter welling in his chest.

“How could I forget?” Law remarks in bemused sarcasm, before pondering a question he had for some time, “Did you anticipate being the one to bring what you saw in me into reality?”

The investigator opened her mouth, then closed it, wishing to find the right words and mode of expression to her husband’s question. She looked into an undefined indigo space, softly smiling when she heard her son yawn, before her feelings put themselves in line for her to express.

“At first…I observed people’s dreams strictly as a watcher. I never thought that I’d directly play a part in being someone’s dream. Until I grew close to you,” Michelle whispers with vulnerable honesty, reflecting Law in her eyes, “Before I knew it, despite trying to not to get my hopes up, I wanted to be a part of your life and I will always be thankful that you let me in.”

The luminescence of the deep outside the submarine intensified in both variety and color, being further submerged, but the couple could only focus on how the gentle light illuminated their slumbering baby.

“I should be telling you that, Mi Xao…for trusting me and loving me for us to get to this point,” the surgeon murmurs, entwining their fingers together that laid outstretched towards the bassinet. Faint music, most likely from the crew experimenting with a playlist for New Years, began reaching their room and something about the peaceful stillness made Law beckon Michelle to turn her head to face him, so he could kiss her. It was gentle and it was tender, as if whatever gratitude they could not express was dropped in every peck and cherished caress.

“Law…you are going to make me selfish for you, if you keep spoiling me like this throughout my postpartum stages. I want to set a good example for our baby,” Michelle jokes in between meeting her lips with his. 

Law only sighed and continued his affectionate assault on his wife’s lips, before moving his barrages around her face, “It’s my recommendation, as your doctor, that you spend as much time with me as possible, so you can fully recover. You don’t have to feel guilty about being selfish, anyways. I’d rather you be more selfish when it comes to us, because I won’t let you or Ross go for anything. It’s always been you and has to be you.”

A long breath escapes Michelle, as the cathartic joy of her husband’s words and caresses penetrated and warmed her heart. Turning in Law’s embrace so she could face him, the investigator wrapped her slender arms around his neck and whispered a piece of her wedding vows into his ear, “It will never be anyone else, but you, that I entrust my life and heart to,” which instinctively moved him strengthened his grip on her hand. 

Somewhere between touches of affirmation and whispered conversations, the pair fell asleep again, until Ross began to fuss a little before dawn, feeling quite hungry for his mother’s milk, which Michelle was more than glad to oblige, despite a little grogginess. Thankfully, Law made sure to prepare their room with baby items and have a towel on hand, so after Ross finished feeding, he immediately picked the infant up to burp him, so he wouldn’t have any pain or discomfort in his stomach later on.

Michelle giggled hearing the little ‘urp,’ from her son and remarked to Law that it seemed that Ross didn’t so far adopt her old habit of throwing up while being burped, which made her husband sigh in relief, but told her not to jinx it.

Ross seemed to still be awake after feeding with a wish to cuddle with his parents, so Law and Michelle opted to have him lay with them, atop of his mother, with his father’s protective hand on the small of his back. 

“We make a good team don’t we?” the investigator smiled at her husband.

“We always have,” the surgeon grinned, with a peck to her nose.

Ross seemed to affirm that assertion with a little gurgle of his own, causing his parents to almost break from the sheer adorableness. So long as he was a content baby, he’d continue to agree with his parents, and fortunately, Law and Michelle did everything in their power to make sure that he was well taken care of.

-

Tagging: @jazminetoad, @fireflykaizoku, @conchasweetheart, @undercoverweeeb 🌹

[shemarmooresfedora]

Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader

Warnings: allusions to sex, heavy making out and touching (i think that should cover it), swears

A/N: now back to your regularly scheduled fluff...

Masterlist

Chapter 17

“Alright, bye. Love you,” you laughed, hanging up the phone.

“Jo, Daddy already found a way to make it up to you for missing the museum,” you smiled.

“What?” she asked excitedly.

“Ah that would ruin the surprise. Wouldn’t it?” you grinned, “But we are leaving now.”

Jo slid her snow boots and jacket on as you sneakily packed her hat, mittens, and snow pants. You also grabbed snow stuff for Spencer because converse and a sweater vest would not keep him warm in 29 degree weather with 7 inches of snow on the ground.

-

Jo skipped out of the elevator, not even waiting for you to go to Spencer’s desk.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed like usual.

“Hi, Princess!” he lifted her up into his lap, “Are you excited?”

Jo nodded enthusiastically.

“Good because I got permission to go sledding on the HUGE hill right outside,” he smiled.

“But I don’t have a sled,” Jo frowned.

“I bought you one,” he grinned.

After Spencer had finished suiting Jo up in her snow gear, you slid a purple hat with a big white pom-pom on top over his head, a few of his messy curls still poking out.

“Can’t have you getting cold either, my dear,” you gave him a quick peck on the nose as he scrunched his face up in a smile.

“Oh chocolate thunder, get my coat please. We are going outside to watch this cuteness!” Penelope exclaimed.

“Of course, baby girl,” he replied, standing up from his desk.

You all piled into the elevator and headed outside. Jo stared down at the big hill in front of them. It seemed awfully scary to a little girl.

You grabbed her mitten-covered hand.

“How about I go down with you the first time and Daddy pushes us?” you suggested.

Jo nodded as you both climbed into the sled.

“Okay, ready? 1...2...3!” Spencer gently pushed you both down the hill.

Spencer was relieved when he heard the joyful giggles of Jo followed shortly by your laughter.

Jo ran back up the hill with you towing the sled behind her.

“Daddy! You go with me now!” she said.

You both took turns going down the hill with Jo even Auntie Penelope and Uncle Derek had their turns. Jo was even brave enough to go down by herself if Spencer waited at the bottom for her.

Much to everyone’s chagrin, you had to go home when it started to get dark and Jo’s cheeks were bright red from the cold.

-

You, Spencer, and Jo were driving over an hour out of the city to get a freshly cut Christmas tree from a tree farm.

Spencer packed you all thermoses with hot chocolate and mini marshmallows. His excitement may have actually exceeded Jo’s. He told you he never got to get a real Christmas tree when he was younger because the trees shipped to the middle of the hot Las Vegas desert wilted quickly. And, he had no room for a big tree in his old apartment.

It was cute seeing the both of them all bundled up in their matching purple scarves and big winter coats. Spencer brought the sled so he could pull Jo along since there was about a foot of snow on the ground that would make it very hard for her to walk.

Spencer had taken the exact measurements of the corner of the living room so the tree would fit perfectly.

“What about that one?” you asked, pointing to a tree farther back in the field.

“Let’s go check it out,” Spencer pulled a measuring tape from his pocket.

“Always prepared, Dr. Reid,” you laughed.

“They didn't give me a PhD in engineering for nothing,” he grinned.

“This is about the right size. What do you think, Princess? Is this a good tree for Santa to put presents under?” he asked.

Jo gave an approving nod after inspecting the tree.

“Alright, then it’s settled. Hand me the saw, love,” Spencer said.

“Please be careful,” you reminded him, slowly handing him the saw that the farm employees gave to you.

After multiple breaks and some encouragement from you and Jo, Spencer was finally able to saw through the tree’s stump completely.

He dragged it to the car as you pulled Jo in the sled. You both tied it to the top of the car using bungee cords.

Once you were home, you set the tree in its stand and gave it plenty of water. Spencer got the box of ornaments down from the attic.

You put Christmas music on and the three of you spent the rest of the day decorating the tree, baking cookies, and watching Home Alone.

-

Spencer had insisted on putting on a Santa suit in case Jo came down when you were putting the presents out.

Knowing this information, you decided to tease him by purchasing a tight elf dress that stopped right under your butt.

You smirked, looking at yourself one more time in the mirror before heading downstairs where Spencer was waiting.

Spencer ceased his movements as he saw you slowly descend down the stairs. He was practically drooling.

“What’s wrong? Have I been a naughty girl?” you asked, feigning innocence.

“Yes, baby, you have,” he whispered in your ear, roughly planting kisses along your jawline and down your neck.

Spencer cupped your ass with his hands.

You tugged on the hair at the nape of his neck and he let out a moan that vibrated against your skin.

“Shhhh, we can’t wake Jo up,” you reminded him.

He started to guide you over to the couch but you put your hand on his chest to stop him.

“We’ve got to put the presents under the tree first, babe.”

You broke from his grasp and Spencer let out a soft whine.

Deciding you weren’t done having your fun just yet, you picked up a present from the box where you had hidden them and slowly bent over to place it under the tree.

You felt a light smack against your ass that made you stand up quickly because you certainly hadn’t been expecting that.

You turned around to see Spencer with the biggest grin on his face and a devilish glint in his eyes.

“Don’t tease me, sweetheart,” he whispered in your ear, “Cause I have no problem with doing that again and again and again.”

-

Jo woke you both up by jumping on the bed.

“Santa came! Santa came! Santa came!”

“He sure did, baby,” you giggled, looking at Spencer.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go open some presents!” Spencer got out from underneath the covers, dressed in his flannel PJs.

Jo ran down the stairs with you and Spencer right behind.

“No opening any gifts until Mommy gets her camera!” you shouted out from the kitchen as Jo took her seat on the floor right in front of the tree.

You grabbed your camera, the box of donuts you got yesterday, and coffee for you and Spencer.

“Thanks, love,” Spencer gave you a quick kiss, accepting the mug and picking up a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles as you joined him on the couch.

Jo opened up all of her presents from you and Spencer that consisted of a model plane that she could build herself with instructions, a set of washable watercolor paints, and of course more dinosaur memorabilia.

“Daddy’s turn!” you jumped up from the couch and grabbed a manila folder that had a huge bow on it under the tree.

Spencer looked at you curiously, opening the envelope and revealing a packet of forms that were half filled out.

“It’s the forms needed to update Jo’s birth certificate. Once you fill out your section, I can take it to city hall and your name will officially be added as the father on Jo’s birth certificate,” you smiled.

Spencer nodded softly, staring down at the document in awe.

“I love you so much,” he finally said, pulling you in for a hug.

“And I love you so much too,” he grabbed Jo to join the hug.

“We love you too,” you replied.

Spencer wiped the happy tears from his eyes.

“Okay,” he chuckled, “First, I have a gift for Jo and Mommy and then Mommy gets her gift.”

Spencer pulled out a bag from the back of the tree and handed it to Jo who was sitting in your lap.

Two sets of headbands with a pair of black round circles and a red bow were inside the bag. You both looked at Spencer for further explanation.

“We are going to Disneyworld,” he smiled.

Jo screamed in excitement, running over to hug Spencer’s legs. You laughed, putting the Minnie ears on you and Jo’s heads.

“Spence, that is so generous and thoughtful of you but how much did that cost,” you asked.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, my dear. I had to make up for all the past Christmases and birthdays,” he kissed you before picking up the last item under the tree and handing it to you.

You opened the box to see two identical silver bands inside, one slightly bigger than the other. You looked up at Spencer skeptically.

“Not the ring yet. Just a ring…for each of us,” he picked up the smaller ring and slipped it onto your index finger, kissing your hand.

“I love it and I love you,” you smiled, looking at your hand and then taking the other ring and slipping it onto his index finger.

[serenityseventeen]

S.Coups (최승철):

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

“The Return of Supercheol.”

synopsis: Choi Seungcheol, well known as the leader of SEVENTEEN, stage name S.Coups, is joining ‘The Return Of Superman’ show with his beautiful two-year-old daughter, Si-Eun. What is it like on the first morning with the new family?

genre: TROS(the return of superman)!au, parents!au, fluff

pairing: father!seungcheol x mother!reader (ft. daughter!si-eun)

a/n: I already made a previous one where he had a daughter so I decided to use the same name hehe + it's been a while since I've actually watched TROS but I only watched Seungjae, Haru, Hao (or Ha-oh), Jam Jam, William & Bentley, Naeun & Gunhoo, and Sian, now I don't watch much of it anymore but I remembered enough to make this :) + don't mind the title of this one, I didn't know what to call it lol

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

Si-Eun woke up to the sound of birds chirping.

Her room was dark like usual. She quickly reached for her pink stuffed bunny that was always resting beside her bed with her.

After finding it, she dragged it along with her as she climbed out of her crib and headed for the door.

The MCs that were watching the show called her a smart and strong girl for being able to climb out of her rather tall crib.

Si-Eun walked into the living room with her bunny, whom she named Cherry.

Sunlight was shining through the house but Si-Eun did not see her mother or father in the living room.

Upon seeing the living room, the MCs commented on how large and clean the place was.

Si-Eun looked around to see some cute little pink houses (which were not actually houses) with a camera peeking out of them. She was a bit wary because she could see the people in the little houses.

There was a moment of complete silence before Si-Eun suddenly dashed off. She ran so quickly that even the MCs were impressed. She had left Cherry behind.

Si-Eun quickly opened the door to a bedroom, which was the parent's bedroom. She waddled quickly to Seungcheol, who was still sleeping and tapped his shoulder.

You were sleeping in Seungcheol's arms but awoke when the door busted open.

“Daddy, daddy,” Si-Eun said, her voice cute. To wake her father up, she gave him a quick peck on the lips. “There is someone in the house.”

You sat up and decided to play along. “There's someone in the house?”

You saw Si-Eun nod. Then she pressed her tiny index finger to her lips and made a “shhhh” sound.

Whispering, your daughter said, “If they are robbers, only dad can beat them with his strong arms, right?”

You tried to hold in your giggle. “That's right, let's wake him up.”

The MCs laughed at your daughter's cute words.

You lifted your daughter onto the bed and both of you leaned into your husband's ear. “Wake up, dad~~”

Seungcheol slowly opened his eyes, probably still half asleep.

“Dad, there are people in the house~!” Si-Eun got out of bed, taking her father's ring and pinky fingers with her tiny hand, dragging him out of bed. “Hurry, or else they might take Cherry!”

Seungcheol laughed and the MCs did too while watching the episode. They talked a little bit about your husband too.

You got out of bed and quickly followed after them.

“Dad, you're strong, right??”

“Of course, I'm superman.”

“Okay, then can you fly?”

Seungcheol laughed. “No, not yet~”

Together, he and Si-Eun walked back to the living room, where the ‘houses’ were at.

Si-Eun pointed to the houses when they walked into the living room. “That's them... are they bad people?”

“No, they are not bad people, but you did a good job running to me. You even left Cherry behind, didn't you?” Seungcheol walked over to Cherry, who was laying on the floor and picked him up.

Seungcheol handed Cherry back to his daughter, the natural sunlight flowing through the window blinded his eyes. Seungcheol laid down on the hard floor.

Si-Eun walked over to you, who was in the kitchen after brushing your teeth and washing your face.

“Si-Eun~ tell your father to go help you brush your teeth~” You said.

Si-Eun ran back to the living room and told her father what you said. They brushed their teeth together while looking at each other's reflections, Si-Eun in her father's arms so that she could see herself in the mirror.

-

While your husband and daughter ate their breakfast sweetly, you put on a coat. For the day, you were going to leave those two alone, by themselves.

Of course, you felt a bit uneasy, but considering how much time Si-Eun spends with her father, you also felt relieved.

You tied up Si-Eun's hair into cute pigtails and dressed her up in a cute white shirt with a lamb on it and some denim overalls.

When it was about time for you to leave, you went to Si-Eun to say your last goodbyes for the day.

“Where are you going, mom??” Si-Eun asked.

“I'm going to my mother's house. I'll be gone for a long time so stay with your dad, okay?”

“Okay!” Si-Eun happily agreed in almost an instant.

You waved goodbye again and gave both Si-Eun and Seungcheol a kiss on the cheek.

-

“Now that mom is gone, what would you like to do?” Seungcheol asked his daughter, who was jumping around with Cherry in her arms.

Si-Eun stopped to think, pouting a little.

“Is there something that your mommy didn't let you do?” Seungcheol asked, taking the hand of his beautiful daughter, Si-Eun. Si-Eun chuckled mischievously and then leaned toward her father's ear.

“Mommy didn't let me go to the playground yesterday because it was too cold,” Si-Eun said in a cute voice. Then she pointed to a large window. “It's bright today, isn't it?”

Seungcheol smiled and patted his sweet daughter on the back. “Should we go for a father-daughter picnic?” Seungcheol suggested.

Si-Eun nodded.

Your husband and daughter ended up going to the park, prepared for a picnic. They ate together and played on the playground together. Not only that, but Seungcheol also helped Si-Eun climb a tree!

The day ended with the two of them going back home and Si-Eun helping Seungcheol write lyrics. Seungcheol also taught Si-Eun to rap a little but in the end, she became a dancer instead.

Si-Eun copied the dances that her father used to perform and they had their own little concert in the house while you were gone.

In the end, Si-Eun was getting tired so Seungcheol picked her up and held her in his arms, talking to her as he wrote lyrics. She fell asleep in his arms.

-

“Such a lovely first day! After all that playing, beautiful Si-Eun must've been so tired!” The male MC said, with a small laugh.

“We have to appreciate Father Cheol too, he played with her so well and took such good care of her without her mother there,” The female MC continued. “Their father-daughter chemistry was truly superior!”

“Right, and Si-Eun was so cute! I'm going to look forward to all of their episodes!” The male MC exclaimed.

You were sitting in front of the TV, watching with a smile on your face throughout your husband and daughter's first episode on The Return of Superman.

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

Request:

-serenityseventeen

[tomtenadia]

Remember Us - part 6

Monday surprise!

As some of you might have read from my post from yesterday, I officially finished this fic and it will have 10 parts. this was the original plan and I am glad I kept it. The idea of having many more chapters of Rowan not recognising his family was far too painful.

Chapter 9 and 10 are so sweet that they will probably give you cavities, but I just thought they deserved the best happy ending.

Also, i got very attached to Thomas and he is a great fan of his parents.

Well, I hope you will enjoy this.

-------

Rowan had been staying at Lorcan’s while Aelin still kept her distance. It had been two weeks and they had been horrendous. She had blocked him off of her life. She was not answering his calls or texts and apparently had told Elide not to tell him anything about her. He was furious. They should be together and face such a tragic moment in their lives, together. But Aelin would not listen. He had tried everything to talk to her.

Someone knocked on the door and, since he was home alone, he went to open it.

On the other side he found Aelin. But the woman in front of him had a lifeless stare and deep shadows under her eyes. She was the ghost of his wife.

“Ro…” she said in a thin voice and then broke down in heavy sob.

Rowan didn’t even think. His arms pulled her at his chest and kissed her head. The sight of an Aelin so heartbroken was a shot to his heart.

“I am sorry.” She added, hiding her face in his chest and inhaling his scent that always gave her comfort.

“Shhh… I am here. I am never letting you go again, no matter how much you shout at me.” Another tender kiss “I am coming home and we’ll get through this.”

Rowan was in bed and staring at the ceiling after the dream woke him up. The Aelin from the dream was a shell compared to the version sleeping at his side. He turned his head and stared at her sleepy face and a deep part of him hoped she was fine. That the baby was fine. Because he knew for sure he didn’t want to see her again in the conditions she had been in the dream. Seeing Aelin in pain or sad hurt him.

He sighed and got off the bed and walked to the kitchen but once he got there he realised he had no idea where anything was. Aelin had said he would make pancakes but could not remember the day she had said. 

A splitting headache hit him and Rowan sat down on the sofa, head in his hands and then for a moment he felt disoriented and could not recognise his surroundings. Panic hit him. He looked up and saw a boy staring at him. He jumped up and almost fell.

“Dad.” The boy’s voice was almost tearful.

And as quickly as the moment of disorientation came, just as rapidly it went away and lucidity returned.

“Tom,” he ran to the boy and hugged him to console him as soon as he started crying. He had scared him “I am sorry I frightened you.” Thomas hugged his father and stopped crying and Rowan relaxed for an instant.

“Do you want pancakes?” He asked his son, still not letting him go.

“It’s not Saturday.” Said the boy, looking at his father in his eyes.

“Shhhh…” said Rowan with a finger against his mouth “You can have pancakes all the time.” He lifted the boy in his arms “but you need to tell me where everything is.”

Thomas grinned and pointed to the kitchen and once in there he started pointing at the doors and Rowan finally found a pan. Then he grabbed his phone and searched for a recipe, grabbed eggs and milk from the fridge and joined Thomas back at the counter who, in the meantime, had grabbed a chair and was kneeling on it so he could follow his dad.

“Will you be my assistant?” the boy nodded eagerly.

After ten minutes he was mixing the batter making sure it was smooth as the instructions recommended.

“Ok, Tom, are you ready for the first one?”

“Pancakes,” he shouted happily and Rowan smiled. He might remember a very few things about his son but he was definitely going to cherish that moment. It didn’t matter if it had been only a day. He was already in love with the two children. He just hoped he could become a good father to them once again.

*

Aelin woke up and found the bed empty and for a moment she thought it had been only a dream, but as she rolled over she noticed Rowan’s side was crumpled and gently caressed his pillow. He had always been an early riser and it seemed that some things had not changed.

She sat up, grabbed her fleece from the chair and left the bed looking for Rowan.

As she exited the bedroom she heard laughter coming from the kitchen and followed the sounds and once inside she could not believe the scene. Thomas was kneeling on a chair beside Rowan trying to cook something.

“Pancakes on a Wednesday?”

Thomas turned to her “shhh mum, it’s a secret.”

Aelin walked to her son and kissed his head “good morning, my love.”

“I am helping dad with pancakes. He doesn’t remember how to make them.”

Rowan flipped one and Thomas clapped “that is mine.” He grabbed a plate and placed the pancake on it “go and sit while I make more.”

Thomas climbed down the chair and walked to the table with his plate.

Aelin moved to Rowan’s side “did you sleep well?”

Her husband nodded and hesitated for a moment wether to tell her about his episode. Then he sighed and told her what had happened and Aelin looked at him with a doctor’s eye.

“A TBI can have such effects. It can cause moments of disorientation in which the person doesn’t know where he is. It can also affect short term memory, making it difficult to learn new things or even remember things you just did.” She placed a few more pancakes in Thomas’ plate “but there are ways to help you. We can do lists, have notepads and clipboards in the house. Have a note book and note down things.” She explained going back at his side “long term memory is stored already in your brain,” and playfully patted his head “you actually haven’t lost them. They are still all there. It’s just your brain has to sort through them again. It’s very complicated and technical, but they will come back. Short term memory is another issue. Do you still feel confused?”

Rowan shook his head and passed Aelin a plate with pancakes and then grabbed the jar of Nutella “go and scoff your breakfast.”

Aelin grinned “see? You remembered I take them with Nutella.”

In that instant they heard a cry and Aelin realised Freyja had woken up. She was about to stand when Rowan stopped her “Eat,” he commanded and again she had a glimpse of past Rowan. The one who would made sure she ate.

A moment later he came back with his daughter in his arms “I think our princess wants to join the breakfast club as well.” Freyja threw her chubby arms around his neck, snuggling close to him “what does she eat?”

Aelin went to the fridge and grabbed one of her pressed meals and Rowan began feeding his daughter.

It was an hour later when Aelin was ready for work “mum should be back very soon and I am taking Thomas to the nursery. Will you be okay with Freyja for half an hour tops? I changed her and she is fed, it should be easy.”

Rowan lifted the little girl in his arms “we should be fine.” And gave her his best reassuring smile.

“You call me if you have any problems.”

Thomas went to hug his dad before following Aelin out of the door.

Once he was alone with his daughter he stood, with her still in his arms and hobbled around the living room and stared at their impressive bookcase. Freyja leaned forward and with her hands tried to grab a book “ ‘tory” she babbled.

“Do you want me to read you a story?” He asked her and the girl green eyes were fixed on him and then she nodded.

He placed her down on the carpet and turned to the library in search of a storybook for her.

“I think I— ” he turned with a book in his hands and froze. Freyja was gone. Shit.

“Freyja.” He called her, panic rising in his voice. She couldn’t have gone far. How fast could a 18 months toddler go? He took his cane and started looking around the house “Freyja?”

In that instant Evalin came back and he breathed in relief.

“Rowan, are you okay?”

He was the worst father ever “I lost Freyja. I was looking for a storybook and when I turned she was gone.” He was preparing himself from some lashing from his mother in law but the woman burst into laughter.

“She does that. Thomas has been teaching her how to play hide and seek,” the woman explained calmly walking around the house and then going to the girl’s bedroom. Rowan followed her.

Evalin lifted the blanket from the side of the bed and pointed at under her bed.

Rowan heard a faint giggle.

“I wonder where my girl is.” Said Evalin keeping up the pretence. She opened the wardrobe “no, she is not here.” Rowan observed her and then joined in “she is not in the toy box either.”

Evalin placed her hands on her hips and grinned at Rowan then crouched down “here you are.”

The little girl screamed in delight as her grandma caught her.

The three of  them went back to the living room and Evalin passed Freyja back to Rowan and went to unpack her shopping bags.

“Do you need a hand?” He offered.

“No, it’s just fruits and veggies and a few more things. I love to go down at the market in the morning and buy fresh ingredients.” She told him, “you love to go too on your day off, wake up early and also go to the fish market and get the first catch.”

Rowan sat on a chair at the big table with his daughter in his arms.

“Aelin can cook, but you are the chef of the family.”

He smiled back and gently bounced Freyja on his knee and she giggled.

“How does it feel being back home?” She asked her son in law while stashing away the groceries.

Rowan sighed “it feels good and strange at the same time.” It was hard to explain how he felt without sounding like a lunatic “Some things are starting to feel familiar. But others feel totally new and others scare me.” He confessed but the woman in front of him looked at him with tenderness “the kids for example, I feel like I love them madly already but it pains me that the memories with them are still fuzzy. I want to give them back their father.”

“And Aelin?”

Rowan sighed “I think I feel something for her. I would not call it love yet. But yesterday we kissed and it felt like the most normal thing ever.”

Evalin smiled.

“But my memories are a jumble in my head right now. I have them, they are there and I found that being at home is triggering more and more of them. I want to do this. I want us to be a family again.” He grabbed his phone and showed her the photo on his home screen. The one on the beach, all of them smiling and happy. “I want this again. I just don’t know how to get there.”

“Rowan,” Evalin walked to him once done with the groceries and sat at his side “you have been awake for a month and at home for two days.” She patted his knee “both Aelin and I think that being home will help trigger more of your memories. Look through photo albums.” She stood and opened a cabinet and took out a box which once opened he discovered it contained a lot of photo albums. “Digital is good, but you and Aelin both love to print out the photos and make scrapbooks.” She rummaged in the box for a moment and then passed him an album “start with this.”

Rowan took it and it noticed it was their wedding album “Her friend Chaol took all the photos and then Aelin made a scrapbook and added notes and comments on it. She said she did not want the usual boring wedding album.”

He opened the first page and in big colourful letter and nice calligraphy it said Buzzard & Fireheart: the beginning of an epic tale.

The second page it had a picture of the two of them in an armour, back to back and swords drawn.

“You two hired some costumes for that photo.”

Rowan laughed and kept on flipping through the photo album. It was organised like a story, with small narrating paragraphs near the photos and he read each one of them.

“You two got married on a beach, then had a gigantic barbecue for all your friends and then when night came you lit a bonfire and had your first dance as husband and wife in front of the fire. Both of you barefoot.”

Rowan smiled “it sounds like fun.”

“It was a great day.” She bounced Freyja on her lap “all the albums tell a story. You did all of them like that so when looking back you could also remember more of those moments.”

Rowan reached the page where they were standing in front of Aedion, who officiated the wedding, and he stared at Aelin. Her light blue dress was gorgeous, but he was stuck on her smile. In the photo he was looking at she has the brightest of smiles and he realised that falling for her would be so easy. She was caring, brilliant, funny and sarcastic. She had passion. She had fire.

She was his Fireheart.

[thebindingofpillo]

Magdalene for the headcanon thingy

Two asks for dear Maggy! I’ve also finished her post-it note just yesterday lmao. As for the second character, I was thorn between my usual ones (Azazel, Judas, Apollyon) but since they’re already all over this blog I went for Bethany, since she’s not really developed and could benefit from a discussion.

Anyway, tw for mentions of suicide, religious themes and Bible content under the cut.

Magdalene

Headcanon A (as God intended): She’s probably the only character (aside from Bethany) who still has some sort of relationship with religion. She’s somewhat devout, but doesn’t really like to parade it around. You’ll never catch her wearing a cross necklace, or carrying a Bible somewhere. Maggy feels like religion and spirituality in general are very personal matters, and only talks about it with people she feels comfortable with.

Headcanon B (haha funney): While Magdalene has a lot of interests that could be considered “girly”, I like to imagine she also has a hardcore side, passionate about horror movies and heavy metal. After all, Eve is her best friend! Also, before moving to the city, she lived on a farm with her family, where she learned quite a few things, like driving a tractor (I really hope that’s the right word), milk cows, slaughter pigs, usual country girl stuff. Her father may of may not have taught her how to drive before she was of age, but shhhh.

Headcanon C (I cri evrey time): Alright, so. This is going to steer uncomfortably close to Bible fanfiction territory, since it’s gonna touch upon what happened in her first life, so be warned. Basically, Maggy has a constant fear of being left alone, which dates back to her finding out the two most important people in her life (her best friends, Judas and the big JC himself) died basically the same day. And to add on, even if one of them came back, he still peaced out rather quickly, leaving her all alone again (and this time for good!) in the course of three days. This has scarred poor Maggy, even after all these lives, and turned her into a bit of a people pleaser. She will bend over backwards to keep her friends happy, so they will never leave her. This can easily lead her to be a bit too smothering (imagine your mother asking every minute “are you okay? Do you need anything? Are you sure you don’t need anything?” to get a better idea) or, even worse to people taking advantage of her good nature. Moreover, because I like to make people suffer, and I have no idea how to implement it in the story, I like to imagine she was the one who took care of Judas’s body when he hanged himself. He had no family (if I recall, his father Simon was mentioned somewhere, but it was just a name and not much else so I can do what I want), none of the other Apostles wanted to touch the traitor, and with his death being a suicide, even the priests of the temple didn’t want anything to do with him. So dear ol’ Maggy took it upon herself to give Judas a proper burial.

Headcanon D (I do what I want): Being with Judas (and Azazel too), she eventually developed an interest in the occult. Nothing too serious, but she collects tarot cards, has an interest in gems and their properties, and may or may not know the names of a few demons. She never tried anything more serious that some tarot readings tho, and now that she has living proof that demons and angels are real, is extra careful when dealing with potentially dangerous stuff. Like Judas’s potentially cursed books and knick-knack collection.

Bethany

Headcanon A (as God intended): She is also pretty religious, but unlike Maggy, she is more than happy to talk about and discuss her faith. Think something like Ella from Lucifer, she’s an outspoken christian, but not a complete dick about it (she’s still going to invite you to mass tho). She might be questioning her faith… but is far too stressed at the moment to come to a satisfying conclusion (studying while looking fo a job and her own apartment is not easy), so she just goes to mass once a week and doesn’t think too much about it.

Headcanon B (haha funney): Unlike the others, she is not reincarnated. This is her first life ever, and she has zero clue about angels, demons and suppressed memories. Lazarus, in full big brother fashion, wants to keep it that way and will go to great lenghts to keep her in the dark, including threatening the others and outright lying. Sadly, he couldn’t keep her from meeting the others, so the truth is bound to come out at some point. Ironically, she thinks Eden is an obnoxious, cryptic jackass, and much prefers Azazel’s company. She also cannot stand Judas (thinks he’s a know-it-all asshole, and is not wrong) and is secretly hoping Maggy will break up with him to find someone better.

Headcanon C (I cri evrey time): Bethany was bullied relentlessly in middle school, and now as an adult is extremely awkward and shy. She has little to no friends, the most notable ones being Jacob and Esau (Lazarus’s old buddies) and maybe Samson, whom she met in the hospital, while waiting for her brother after one of his many accidents. Maggy is her first real friend, but they have never interacted much outside of church. Bethany is probably projecting onto her what she’s looking for in a friend, and doesn’t really know about Maggy’s real interests (like tarots, crystals, or the fact that she’s living in a house with three men! And she’s not married! The shocker!) but I’m planning on her finding out eventually. After all, she’s a good kid, even if her coping strategies are not the best.

Headcanon D (I do what I want): She’s Lazarus younger sister and the youngest of the whole group at just 19 years, and is currently in the first year of university (I still need to decide which major though). Despite being 6 whole years younger, she’s still several inches taller than him.

[lilbabycee]

bunny // steve rogers (part one) 🐰

READ PART TWO

↳ summary: the reader finds herself in a little bit of trouble... financially. enter steve rogers. 

↳ relationship: soft dark!steve rogers x brat!reader

↳ word count: 5.6k

↳ warnings: sugar baby au, eventual dark steve, daddy kink, eventual smut, mentions of substance abuse, unhealthy coping mechanisms + relationships, the reader is rich and a little bit of a bitch

↳ author’s note: i started writing this series ages ago but i’m thinking that maybe posting it on here will give me the inspiration to continue! please enjoy! ❤️

chapter one: you expensive you know that?

—

" you expensive, you know that?

i'm high-maintenance a little but not in a, not in a negative way

i just like extremely expensive things"

- faithful, drake

—

“But Daddy-!”

“No, absolutely not,” your father shuts you down without hesitation which immediately makes your eyes water.

“Please, I promise I won’t do it again-”

“That’s what you said the last time,” he reminds you nonchalantly and you can hear the rapid clicking of a keyboard in the background of the call. He’s not even paying full attention to you, likely still working on whatever the CEO of a multi- billion dollar corporation needs to work on.

“But I’m serious this time!” you insist, cocking a hip and tapping your acrylics loudly on the top of your marble kitchen counter. “You know what I’m like - I swear I’ll do better this time-”

“Nope,” his hard tone cuts you off as you hear his office phone ring. He sighs loudly over the receiver which makes your heart fall. “Look, honey-”

You know what’s coming and you can’t even try to stop it.

“-I’ve got another call coming in. I’m not sending you another dime until you can prove to me that you have the ability to be financially independent. I didn’t pay for all of those expensive private schools so that you could sit on your ass all day and blow my money like it’s in endless supply. You have all the necessary credentials to go and get a well-paying job, so go get one, goddammit. And please call your mother - she’s been trying to call you all day. Neither of us have any time left to entertain your little addictions nor your blatant disregard for the hard work that we’ve put in to get you where you are today.

“You’ve proven to me before that you are grossly incapable of doing even the simplest of tasks, so don’t let me down with this one,” he sighs loudly. “Sometimes, I wish you were more like my colleagues’ kids - they’re doctors and lawyers but all you are is ungrateful. I’ve really gotta take this call,” he says your name sternly which makes you tap your nails even faster. “Do as you’re told for once in your damn life.”

“Daddy-!” you borderline shriek once more before the phone clicks and he’s off attending to more important business.

You don’t even realize that you’re pouting until your lips start to tremble, nor do you realize how much his words have gotten to you until you touch your cheek gently with your fingertips and they come back wet and glistening like gold in the warm light of day.

Maybe he’s right. You’ve been living in this penthouse for the past year without having to worry about anything. You loved it when you attended the first viewing, mainly because of the huge windows, three bedrooms and bathrooms (that you definitely don’t need because you live alone), the open plan, spacious kitchen and living areas, and the fact that all of your neighbors are either famous or excessively wealthy like you. You saw the acquirement of this apartment as a prime opportunity to further climb the social ladder, not that it’s really all that hard for you considering the fact that your father is one of the richest people in not only New York but the entire country. But you’d lived in Italy for a year prior to moving back to New York and upon your return to the USA, you decided that you really wanted to re-establish a name for yourself here, of course with the help of your father. He bought the penthouse almost the moment that you said you had your eye on it, and he just kind of…left you here. He’s only come to visit a handful of times since you bought it two years ago, though your mother has been over far more frequently to your utter dismay.

You inhale deeply through your nose, your eyelash extensions fluttering dramatically against your cheekbones. Grabbing your phone - the newest iPhone that you bought after you broke your other one at your friend Peter’s party - you sulk over to one of your ridiculously overpriced couches and fall dramatically - but not dramatically enough to crease the material of your latest drunk purchase, a white Gucci jumpsuit - on top of all your throw pillows, the picture of a damsel in distress. Your freshly manicured toes - painted white yesterday - curl into the softness of it as you huff, dabbing delicately at your face again to rid yourself of any traces of sadness before thinking about what the hell you’re going to do next.

Yes, you have a savings account that is far more than enough for you and your grandchildren’s grandchildren to live lavish lives and while that’s all well and good, even you know that you probably shouldn’t spend that... but it’d have to do until you found another way to get your money. With that, you shrug noncommittally and your face ID unlocks your phone so that you can start your newest endeavor - buying one of everything off of Alexander Wang.

Sure, you should be proactive and take initiative to finally take the steps to distance yourself from your parents, but you’ve only just had your twentieth birthday. After graduating from high school at fifteen - yes, fifteen: your parents really pushed you, to say the least, and it helped that you were naturally intelligent beyond the capabilities of even the nation’s best high school teachers -  you started your undergraduate at Harvard in the fall and finished at eighteen. You took what you dubbed an ‘extended summer vacation’ - hence Italy - and now you’re at an impasse.

Okay, admittedly your various interests - you refuse to call them addictions because they’re really not that serious - that may or may not include a wide array of party drugs and alcohol probably don’t make you the most trustworthy person in the eyes of your parents. But you’ve done everything that they’ve told you to do for the past twenty years of your life - can they blame a girl for wanting to have a little fun? A smile spreads across your face as, while scrolling, you spy the blue dad jeans that were completely out of stock just last week and quickly add them to your cart with a sense of self-satisfaction before continuing to add almost everything else to your bag. It’s not like you’re heavily dependent on anything - substance abuse is not a good look for you: it was definitely more early 2000s than now - and you only do them recreationally in social situations, so your parents really have nothing to worry about. They’re overly paranoid about you somehow tarnishing their image when in reality, your work in and outside of an academic setting has really bolstered their reputation more than they could have ever hoped for - not to toot your own metaphorical horn, but your endless philanthropic work coupled with your eagerness to “make a change” and your work in fashion has put you on the Forbes 30 Under 30 every year since you were fifteen.

You press the checkout button and your Apple Pay seamlessly completes the purchase for you: $29,000. Shrugging noncommittally, you lock your phone and stare pensively at the picturesque view of New York City outside of your window; that is until Alexa alerts you that Natasha is calling you.

Perfect timing.

Natasha’s voice echoes over the loudspeakers in the ceiling. “Hey, bunny,” she greets you and you groan loudly at the nickname, restlessly hopping up to grab a glass of water from your kitchen.

“Hey Nat,” you reply, more of a whine than anything else, and she laughs loudly at your tone.

“What happened to you? “

“Daddy cut me off,” you huff, walking to the couches in front of the TV and settling down with your glass of water. With a press of a few buttons on the universal remote, you FaceTime your best friend instead - a flash of red hair and then a blindingly white smile. She assesses you on your couch and laughs again, a full-bodied cackle that only intensifies your pout.

“It’s not funny,” you protest, although the corners of your lips are quirking up in amusement at her ridiculous laughter.

“What did I tell you?” Natasha struggles to get the words out in between chuckles. “I knew he was gonna do this-”

“Yeah, so did I, but I didn’t think he’d do it this soon-!”

“I’m surprised he didn’t do it sooner,” Natasha moves around a little before propping her phone up against her knees so that you can see her sitting comfortably in her bed. She starts picking at her own black acrylics, “and you can’t deny, bunny-”

“Don’t say I deserve this,” you narrow your eyes at her, and Natasha only sends you her signature smirk.

“I wouldn’t say you deserve it, per se,” Natasha begins, “but you’ve gotta admit,” she says your name, clearly on the verge of laughter again, “I like a party as much as the next girl, but you do go a little overboard-”

“I wouldn’t say overboard,” you insist, suddenly taking up a very keen interest in your cuticles. “Here’s what it is: Mother doesn’t like the fact that I don’t like her and Daddy’s just flat out disappointed in me for no reason-”

“-apart from the fact that you very nearly got caught doing lines of blow off of Senator Pierce’s son-”

“Shhhh,” you interrupt her, closing your eyes and pressing a finger to your lips while shaking your head, unable to fight the growing grin on your face. “That was one time-”

“You mean the one time you got caught-?”

“Yes, Natasha, that’s what I mean. Anyway - you never call me like this unless you need something - thought you were gonna text me instead. What’s up? Is it Bru-”

“Oh, no,” Natasha quickly cuts you off, her cheeks flushing red. “Bruce and I have been over for a while now-”

“You were just talking about him last week-”

“Yeah, yeah,” she deflects, tapping her fingers on her thigh. “I was actually calling to see if you wanted to go shopping for Parker’s party that’s tonight-?”

“Yes, absolutely yes - why would you even have to ask-?”

“Okay, cool,” she interrupts you, smiling toothily. “Get Jarvis to get you there by 2:30 - I wanna go to the Louis store: the summer collection just dropped-”

“Sounds perfect-”

“But one more thing,” she says your name again but in a more concerned tone. You finish your glass of water and set it on the coffee table before leaning forward slightly.

“What’s going on, Nat?”

“I’m worried about you, bunny,” both her eyes and her tone have softened drastically, making you purse your lips. “What’re you gonna do now that your dad’s not giving you any more money?”

You sigh loudly through your nose, shaking your head. “I don’t know, Nat,” you admit, snapping a hair tie against the skin of your wrist rapidly. “I’ll just have to find a job - or do more sponsorships and ads and get back into modeling and maybe actually try acting this time?”

Her green eyes pin you to your couch, even through the screen, and she scrutinizes your face for almost a full thirty seconds before scrunching up her nose and nodding hesitantly. “Alright. As long as you’re sure that you can make it work… because if not, I have an option that I think you may like…”

Your eyebrows shoot to your hairline as you motion for her to continue.

“Y’know how Wanda got really into that thing a couple of years ago?”

Your brain works overtime, trying to remember exactly what it was that Wanda was doing - all you remember is that it was fairly secretive and she didn’t tell you a lot about why she kept sneaking around.

“She was seeing that older guy,” you snap your fingers when you remember, Natasha’s slow nod confirming it, and then promptly frown because-

“What does this have to do with me?” You stare directly into Natasha’s eyes as she falters, obviously wondering if it’s too late to just backtrack altogether - yes, it is - and then she sighs.

“She wasn’t just seeing him,” your best friend starts slowly, choosing her words with great care, “she was his sugar baby.”

Now, this is news to you.

“You’re fucking with me,” you scoff in disbelief. “Wanda?”

Natasha keeps nodding, blowing her bubblegum between her rouge-painted lips until it pops with a sharp snap. “I’m serious, you can go ask her. But believe me, I was just as surprised as you when she first told me-”

“She didn’t tell me,” you murmur, something akin to betrayal burning your tear ducts. Natasha only barks out a laugh and clucks her tongue at you in a decidedly motherly way.

“Of course she didn’t tell you,” the redhead snorts, shaking her head. “She didn’t want you getting any ideas,” she says your name through a laugh, “you were - what - like eighteen two years ago? That would’ve been questionable at best -”

“But you guys didn’t know that I was gonna do anything-”

“Come on, bunny,” Natasha pins you with a look that shuts you up almost immediately. “Give us some credit - we’re not dumb and we know you-”

“Fine,” you drag out the last syllable of the word childishly. “So why mention it to me now?”

“Because you’re old enough… and in a situation where your Daddy’s not paying for any of your stuff anymore.”

You tilt your head to the side, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Yeah, okay, but I’ve got, like, a lot of other opportunities that I don’t even need to work for,” you tell her cockily, crossing your arms over your chest defensively. “Why should I take this one when I could get any other real job so easily?”

Natasha’s lips curve into that same smirk. “Because you’re a whore.”

You collapse into a fit of giggles but she’s right. Really and truly, you are - what you like to call - a self-proclaimed slut. But any woman who’s free enough in her sexuality seems to be one these days, so you own the title that’s been hurled at you like an insult for so many years. You wear it with pride... for the most part, but not too much pride because you still have parents who still - somehow - think you’re a total virgin.

(you are still a virgin but your promiscuity makes people think otherwise)

“Right,” you agree easily, tapping your nails on the arm of the couch.

“Just something for you to think about,” Natasha hums, checking the time on her watch before rubbing the sleeve of her white Balenciaga hoodie over her face “Now, leave me alone. I’ve gotta go get ready; I’ll see you in a few.”

Without any further conversation, she ends the call and leaves you laughing light-heartedly although something heavy continues to weigh on your conscience. A sugar daddy. You can’t lie to yourself and say that it’s something that you’ve never thought about before - because it most definitely is - and it’s been the shameless subject of some of your filthiest dreams. Are you going to lie and say that you don’t have an… affinity for older men? No, you aren’t. Are you gonna tell yourself that the idea of a man spoiling you doesn’t make heat burn in your core? Absolutely not. However, you’ve never thought of yourself as the submissive type. Your confidence - no, cockiness has always been a real defining trait for you and that’s always worked in your favor when it comes to romance or even sex. You take what you want, rather than waiting for it to come to you. Although, you have a feeling that an attitude like that could get you in a lot of trouble in circumstances like these.

But what’s life without a little danger?

—

You’ve put on a tight, cropped black t-shirt and on top, a brown Fendi mini dress with thin spaghetti straps that clings to your body like a second skin; your feet are clad in heeled Louboutin ankle boots. Grabbing your black Prada bag and almost comically giant black, square Burberry sunglasses, you stare at your reflection in the mirror. You only put on a little bit of blush, mascara, and tinted lipgloss, accessorizing with small golden hoops, an array of rings that have been gifted to you by either your father or your ex-boyfriends and a simple gold necklace that spells out ‘bunny’ in cursive, a gift from Natasha. Satisfied, you slide your sunglasses onto your face and head to the elevator, phone in hand.

When you reach the lobby, Jarvis is waiting for you, holding the door open with a kind smile on his face.

“Miss,” he greets you, ushering you out the door. You basically jump on him, winding your arms around his neck and he chuckles as you sway back and forth in your embrace.

“Afternoon, Jarvis,” you grin at him.

The two of you walk outside to the black Range Rover with the tinted windows - black matches your outfit today - and as you climb in the back, your security detail split up into the other SUVs in front and behind you.

“So, what’s the plan today?” Jarvis asks you conversationally, stopping at a red light not even 15 seconds after you pull away from the front of your apartment. Damn New York traffic.

“Nat and I are going to Nordstrom’s,” you tell him despite the fact that he already knows, but he nods regardless. “And then Peter Parker’s hosting a party tonight.”

“And will you be needing a ride to that event?”

“No thanks, J,” you shoot him a smile before looking back down at your phone. “I’ll probably get a ride with Natasha.”

Jarvis nods and the rest of the ride passes in comfortable silence, the radio playing softly and the clicking of your nails on your phone screen the only sounds in the car.

—

“There’s absolutely no way you’re wearing that-”

“Shut up, Nat!” you squeal, grabbing the dress off the rack. “It’s kinda cute!”

Your best friend rolls her eyes at you fondly, staring at the monstrosity that you’re clutching in your hands.

“Tell me you’re kidding,” she deadpans, searching your face almost desperately for any sign of sarcasm.

You act offended: “I’m not!”

Nat just pokes you in the sides, tugs on your earlobe, and continues her hunt, which makes you burst into loud laughter and leaves the store employees looking at the two of you  in what you’ve come to recognize as contained, professional amusement.

—

It’s about an hour before the party starts when you even start thinking about getting ready. In a Versace robe with your hair wrapped up in a towel, you’re scrolling through Instagram with a mud mask on. Nat comes into the room and shrieks at the sight of your face, making you flick your eyes up and grin as wide as the mask lets you. With her hand over her heart, she stares at you dryly while silent little chuckles shake your whole body.

“You’re in a good mood,” she remarks, eyeing you with an air of suspicion.

“Of course I am, Nat,” you look at her in disbelief. “I’m about to get wasted tonight-”

She interrupts you by calling your name out in a warning tone. Your only response is a dramatic roll of your eyes.

“We’re going so that we can have fun, not so you can go on a bender-”

“I won’t!” you drop your phone and throw your hands up in exasperation. “Holy shit, Mom - do you have no confidence in me?!”

Loud silence hangs in the air for a minute while Nat just blinks at you.

“...remember when you left me alone in Manhattan because you went to go trip on acid with Senator Coulson’s son-”

“Oh my God, Nat, okay, I get it - I’m a shitty friend and a drug addict, blah blah blah, whatever-”

“You’re not an addict,” she corrects you. “You just... really like doing drugs.”

You shrug, stretching your arms over your head, bringing them back down and then slapping your hands loudly on the bare skin of your thighs. The sound makes Nat flinch which amuses you mildly before you yawn loudly.

“Need me to help you with anything before I start getting ready?” you offer, knowing that once you start getting ready, you’re going to be in your own little world for about an hour and a half.

Natasha - who is significantly less high-maintenance than you - shakes her head. You nod, standing up and heading into her bathroom to wash the mud off your face.

“Did you think about what I told you earlier?” she asks, following you into the spacious room to lay on the chaise tucked against the wall behind you. You lock eyes with her in the mirror as she stretches herself out like a feline.

“Yeah,” you say nonchalantly. “Just for a little, but I don’t know if that kinda thing is for me.”

She runs her tongue over her bottom lip, looking down at her nails. “Oh, okay. I was just wondering ‘cause Wanda said there would be some people that she knows are into that kinda thing at Parker’s tonight-”

Oh, now your interest is peaked. You whip around, towel still in hand from drying your face, and stare her dead in the eye.

“For real?”

“Yeah, but if you’re not really interested-”

“Shut up, Natasha, you know I’m interested.” Your heart beats fast in your chest and your teeth catch on your lower lip, gnawing on it gently. Your fingers come back up to your wrist and stretch the elastic so that it bounces back against your skin. “Like… a lot of them will be there?”

She nods, regarding you with cool interest. “At least that’s what Wanda said. She’s better versed in this whole thing than I am.”

You can only bob your head up and down, suddenly nervous about attending this party. Natasha can sense it, putting a comforting hand on your arm.

“Look, bunny, it’ll be fine,” she gives you a reassuring smile. “They’ll love you. And if you change your mind, you won’t even have to interact with them in the first place; you’ll just be like any other person attending this thing. But Wanda knows a lot of them - that should be reassuring enough: she knows all about these guys, so it’s not like she’s going to introduce us to any major creeps.”

“Okay.”

—

“Okay,” you breathe out. Okay, you can do this. You’ve met presidents and prime ministers, singers and actors, kings and queens, but you’ve never been this nervous in your entire life.

Granted, none of those people were asking you to exchange sex for money, so it’s not really the same thing.

You’re wearing Dolce & Gabbana tonight - because they asked you to - and the golden silk dress that hits your mid-thigh and hugs your body so tight that it looks as if you were poured into it makes it all worth it. It shows off all of the dips and curves of your body and paired with your Alexander Vauthier clear slingback heels and a gold Vanina pearl-embellished handbag, you feel like a million dollars (even though that’s definitely not what this outfit costs). Natasha is standing next to you in a black Dolce & Gabbana corset dress - because they asked her to - and black red bottoms.

Your long red nails come up to toy with your ‘bunny’ necklace while you scan the massive crowds for a friendly face. It’s true that between the two of you, it is very much likely that you know - or know of - everybody here. But you don’t spare them a second glance despite the fact that they’re ogling you. No, you don’t linger on the bulging muscles and impressive height nor the full lips and pretty hair like you usually do. Instead, you’re looking for-

“Wanda! ” you call out, eyes falling on her reddish-brown hair flowing down her back in loose waves.

She’s standing by the bar, speaking to someone that you don’t know when she turns around, blue eyes quickly landing on you as she gives you that charming smile. Grabbing Nat’s hand, you run over to her and envelop her in a warm embrace. She squeals loudly, stumbling back as you realize that she’s probably already had a few drinks by now.

“Hi, guys,” she greets the two of you, looking up and down at your outfits approvingly. “You look hot.”

You return the compliment and pressing a kiss to her cheek, you stroke her hair while she and Nat engage in conversation. You take the opportunity to stare at all of the different groups of people who have gathered on Peter’s rooftop. There must be at least 300 people here already - the night has barely started - and you can see not a single person who looks like an old man. You furrow your brow, squinting and pushing up on your toes to see if you can see anyone that you don’t vaguely recognize from somewhere or another.

“Lookin’ for someone?”

The voice is unmistakable.

“Peter!”

He says your name in what’s only a mildly offensive mockery of your tone. You abandon Wanda and throw yourself into the arms of the boy, ruffling his already unkempt hair and also smacking a loud kiss on his cheek. He chuckles, his arm winding around your waist as he says hello to both Wanda and Nat.

Apparently you’re in a hugging mood tonight.

“I’m glad you guys could all make it,” he smiles so sweetly that you kiss him again, his cheeks turning flaming red. Peter has always been like a little brother to you although he’s actually a year older. You both went to high school and college together, and it helps that your mother and his aunt are also really good friends.

Except you don’t know how anybody could want to be friends with your demon of a mother.

“We couldn’t miss this,” Wanda gestures around her, pinching Peter on the cheek like a child which makes him frown. “Where’s MJ, Petey?”

You all “ooh” like high schoolers and Peter’s face turns somehow even redder - your heart swells - and he takes this as his cue to leave, slipping away and mumbling something about having to greet guests like a good host. It makes you all giggle, watching the boy with fond eyes.

Wanda abruptly turns to you, downing the champagne that she picks up off of the tray of one of the passing waiters.

“So Nat told me that you’re looking for a sugar daddy-”

“Shhh!” you hiss at her, clamping your hands tightly over her mouth because oh my god, Wanda, please speak louder. This makes Natasha laugh into her own glass of champagne.“Oh my god, why are you yelling?”

“Okay,” she drags it out and rolls her eyes, leaning into your group of three and whispering exaggeratedly. “So I heard you’re looking for a sugar daddy.”

“Sure, okay,” you whisper back, looking around before standing up straight because it’s just occurred to you how sketchy you all must look huddled in a circle like this. “So like… how does this work? Do we just… go up to them? Is there like some kind of code-?”

Wanda snorts loudly, throwing her head back and laughing. Your face slips into a pout and you cross your arms over your chest.

“No, idiot,” Wanda replies, pulling a tube of lipstick and a mirror out of her clutch. She starts to apply it while speaking to you. “They’re here already, and we’ve just gotta go up to them,” she smacks her lips together with finality, “and tell them we’re interested. Or, more like you’re going up to them and we’re here for moral support.”

“What happened to your guy, Wanda?” Nat asks, signaling to the bartender for a refill.

“And how did you get into it?” you ask her, one eyebrow quirking.

She smiles conspiratorially and runs her hands carefully through her hair. “There’s an app. And Viz and I are still together-”

“Viz? ” you almost choke on your own spit because you laugh so hard. Natasha joins you in a far more respectful way, her shoulders shaking as she picks up her now-full glass. Getting literal daggers thrown at your face would’ve been less piercing than the look that Wanda’s giving you right now, so you decide to shut your mouth and listen.

“Yes,” she says your name condescendingly, which makes you roll your eyes. “His name is Vision - it’s a long, personal story that I won’t share with either of you because you both fucking suck,” she stares the two of you down, “but that’s his nickname and what everyone calls him. It’s kinda cool, you know: super contemporary. Like Madonna or Beyoncé or Cher-”

“Okay,” Natasha licks her lips, putting one of her hands on her hip. “We get it, Wanda, thanks. But you told us that you guys broke up-?”

“Yeah, we just took a break,” Wanda shrugs. “Now, we’re back together and better than ever.”

You and Nat share a look before blinking back at Wanda, nodding your heads compliantly.

“So,” you rock back on your heels and start snapping your hair tie again. “Are we gonna go do this, or?”

Wanda’s eyes drift down to your wrist before she places a hand on top of it, stilling your actions. Your eyes are wide and glossy, your teeth worrying your lip.

“What’re you nervous about?” Wanda begins quietly, rubbing circles into your skin with her thumb. “They’ll love you - they’re all super cool and really hot. I think that the only problem that you’ll have is that you’ll be spoilt for choice.”

Your laugh comes out watery but sincere nonetheless, so Wanda loops her arm through yours while Natasha grips your hand tightly.

“Maybe we should get you a drink-”

“No, Nat,” you inhale deeply. “I wanna be completely sober for this. After… after, yeah. I’m definitely gonna need a drink after.”

You all laugh while Wanda weaves you through swathes of socialites, stopping to say hello to some people. When you finally make your way all the way to the other end of the roof, you can see why you didn’t see them before. There is a set of stairs that lead down to what looks like a zen garden. Tall torches flame a collection of very comfortable-looking couches are placed around a stone firepit and on top of those couches are a group of some of the most handsome men that you’ve ever laid eyes on.

The first one to make eye contact with you is astoundingly attractive, so much so that you almost trip over your own feet. You know- you can just tell that he smells incredible. His mahogany skin shines in the light of the fire, and his full lips curve over a gap-toothed smile that he shoots your way; it immediately makes a smile of your own spread on your face. His beard is lined up to perfection and there’s a mischievous sparkle in his whiskey brown eyes. A little bit of his chest hair pokes out from underneath the top of his almost halfway-unbuttoned dress shirt and your mouth waters. You almost feel sorry for the slacks that are hugging his thighs sinfully tight because his powerful legs look like they’re about to burst through the seams.

You decide that you’ve never wanted to be a pair of pants so badly in your life.

Jesus Christ. These men aren’t even close to what I expected.

All you can say is that you’re glad to see that the same caliber of attractiveness holds up for the rest of them.

The man next to him has longer brunette hair that hits his shoulders and you just want to run your hands through the silky strands. He has a bit more of a rugged look, his facial hair groomed purposely to give off that energy. He’s wearing a tight, long-sleeve black shirt and black slacks too, the monochrome outfit highlighting every inch of his well-toned body. When you look at him, he’s staring down into his glass, the sweetest smile on his face that makes you bite the inside of your cheek. But then he looks up at you, and you’re taken aback by the vibrance of his steel-blue eyes. It stops your breath momentarily, and you have time to regain it when he taps the man next to him on the knee and points towards the three of you.

The man in question raises his head, face shielded partially by a pair of yellow-tinted glasses. His blonde hair is slicked back away from his face, and you take a second to admire his prominent bone structure. But he’s looking right past you, eyes boring holes into Wanda which makes you stop your ogling.

You assume that this must be Vision.

There’s one of the men who isn’t facing you and doesn’t even turn around to do so, but you can make out his extremely broad shoulders clad in a white t-shirt even from where you stand a distance away. Even the back of his head is attractive, his thick neck and pushed-back blonde hair. Wanda tugs on your arm impatiently, evidently eager to reach her man.

The three of you linked together almost fall down the stairs before you regain your collective composures and strut over there with all the confidence that you don’t feel. Wanda lets you and Nat go when you draw closer, fixing her hair before the brightest grin that you’ve ever seen on her face shines at Vision. He opens his arms to greet her and you have to look away because of the very much x-rated kiss that she plants on him: you feel like you’re intruding on something.

“Jesus,” Nat snorts in your ear, her hand still resting in yours. This makes you giggle, high-pitched and nervously, so Nat squeezes your hand before she pulls you forwards.

Wanda has situated herself in the lap of her man, his hand resting gently on her hip. She clears her throat, cheeks red from her public display of affection, and begins to speak.

“Hi, guys,” she says, waving and smiling at all the men politely. They all greet her back warmly, raising their hands too. “These are my best friends. This is Nat,” she gestures to the girl next to you and Nat just nods her head in acknowledgment.

“And this is the friend I told you about,” Wanda introduces you by name to the four men who she points at in turn: “Bunny, this is Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Vision, and Steve Rogers.”

Giving a little awkward wave of your hand, you unglue your eyes from the floor and scan all of the men up close now.

They’re all so much prettier up close.

From this distance, you can now clearly see how pretty Sam’s eyes are, how bright Bucky’s smile is, how strong Vision’s jaw is, and-

Holy shit.

It’s obvious that you must’ve died and gone to heaven some time in these past few minutes because Adonis’ blue eyes are scorching holes into your face. His high-neck white long sleeve sweater is probably in his size but the way that his muscles flex under the material is telling you otherwise. The size of his biceps - probably as big as your head - briefly make you wonder what they would feel like wrapped around your neck-

If you stare hard enough at his pecs - which you are - you can see the hard peaks of his nipples; you decide that there’s something so sensual about that and if that alone didn’t just make you wet, you decide that you can’t be human. The sweater is tucked into grey checkered pants with a black Yves Saint Laurent belt wrapped around his surprisingly narrow waist. He’s leaning back in his seat with his huge hands on his thighs, his strong legs spread wide almost an invitation for you to crawl between them. Your eyes move past his clearly tailored pants to his huge feet clad in black Versace loafers and you can feel the liquid that pools in your cunt. Realizing that you’re shamelessly checking this poor man out, your eyes snap up to his face only to have the breath completely knocked out of you, not for the first time tonight.

Not only is his body complete perfection, but his face is also arguably even better. His defined jawline gives you the urge to run your tongue over it but that beard. Your squeeze your thighs together because you want to know how it feels between your thighs. His ears are perfectly proportional to his head - a characteristic that should never be underestimated, mind you - and his cheekbones are high. But you can’t ignore the fullness nor the rosy pigmentation of his lips - his lower lip is fuller than the top and you wanna bite it so bad and he’s smirking a little. When you finally lock eyes with him, you feel as if you’re drowning but admittedly even if you were, you wouldn’t mind doing so in the blue of his irises. They darken slightly when they train onto yours, and one of his perfect eyebrows lifts questioningly.

This whole interaction has only lasted about five seconds but it feels like you’re in a movie, everything moving in slow motion. He stands up abruptly and you do actually choke at his size, his sheer height and width alone soaking your panties. One hand in his pocket, he takes slow, measured steps until he stands directly in front of you, not even sparing a glance at Natasha.

“Bunny, huh?” you pray that your knees won’t give out at his deep baritone and you can’t take your eyes away from his, even when he sticks out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Steve Rogers.”

tagged: @literaturefeen​ @donutloverxo​ @evnscvll​ @stargazingfangirl18​

[raindrops-xrosess]

I have a secret

Requested: Yes by @maybebanks​ ! thank you so much for requesting

Hi! I have a request for u! Jj x reader where y/n is a kook and her and jj are dating. None of the pogues know that they’re dating but they see jj has a crush on her. Jj always sneaks into y/n’s house and surprises y/n. One day when she gets back from a shower she sees him and screams because he shocks her. Her parents come in because they think she is in danger and then they see jj and the dad gets mad and the mom thinks it’s cute. Y/n sticks up for jj and it’s rly cute💕💕

Summary: The request (I'm so bad at summaries lol)

Warnings: maybe some cringy writing idk

Genre: fluff

Word count: 1.45k

AN: requests are always open unless it says closed in my bio. Enjoy the story <3

~~~

Kooks and pogues. Sworn enemies of the Outer Banks…or at least they should be. However, that wasn’t the case for you and JJ Maybank. You are known all over the Outer Banks as kook royalty, and JJ is as pogue as they come.

You had met when JJ was looking for well-paying jobs off of the cut and your father needed some things done around the outside of your house. He was mowing the lawn right outside your bedroom window on the hottest day of the year at what felt like the crack of dawn.

~~~

It was an early Sunday morning, and you may or may not have been a little bit hungover from partying on the cut with Sarah. That is where you had met the heartthrob that had every female, and some male, pogue, kook, and tour on wrapped around his finger. There was no doubt he was charming, and you tried so hard to hold out, to not give in to those damn eyes, but like everyone else you were trapped in what felt like a trance.

“Hey, do you think you can be a little quieter?!” You yelled as you stepped onto your balcony leading from your bedroom. “God, what year is it?”

“Sure princess let me just find the volume button!” He yelled his snarky comment over the loud noise. Jj quickly turned off the obnoxious machine and made his way over to where you stood. “You’re Sarah’s friend? Right? And Rafe’s girl?” He quizzed you. Any chance he could get to mess with Rafe he would take. And taking his girl? Oh, that would be the sweetest revenge!

No, you technically weren’t “Rafe’s girl” but you and Rafe were kind of something? Maybe? I don’t know you kinda messed around and went to parties together. You tried to stop his drug addiction when you could but he wouldn’t listen. You wanted a real relationship so bad, but not bad enough to fall at the feet of JJ Maybank. He was the fuck and forget type and you were sort of already in that kind of relationship. If JJ wanted anything other than that he would have to work for it.

~~~

And work for it he did. Every Thursday morning he would come by your balcony being extra loud and annoying and you couldn’t help but yell at him. Later the yelling turned into play fighting which turned to feisty flirting. It didn't take long for JJ to want to do something with you but he quickly realizes you wanted something more when he went to ask you out.

“So princess I was thinking we could go to the Party tomorrow at the boneyard like together and shit! What do ya think?” JJ said after climbing a tree to get onto your balcony. This was a common occurrence, him leaping onto your balcony, making his way throughout your room, and toying with your fancy perfumes and fun sunglasses.

“What I think JJ is that once I say yes you are going to drop me like... like yesterday’s newspaper, and I am not a newspaper!” You let out a frustrated sigh. JJ turned around and backed away slightly to give you some space. “I want a real relationship JJ, for once in my life I want something to be real. I don’t want a relationship my parents set up for their damn business gain! I’m tired of all these fake ass kook friends. I want real friends! You and the pogues have such a great friendship, I want that!” You flopped down onto your bed, looking up at the ceiling. JJ stayed silent as he laid down next to you.

“You’re dating Rafe just because your parents are business partners?” You nodded “That’s so messed up!” JJ sighed “Listen, I like you, a lot. Your different than all the other kooks I’ve had the utmost pleasure of meeting.” JJ started to talk in a funny British accent to which you laughed at. “Look as you may have guessed, given by golden reputation I have never been in a real or serious relationship, but I’m willing to change that for you. O-only if that’s what you want of- of course!” He started to stutter nervously. You sat in silence for a moment.

“That would be nice JJ.” You thought for a moment “Do you want to ditch the party tomorrow and do something like just us?” You looked over at him nervously. JJ says up with a smug smile on his face. You followed his actions and sat up.

“You askin me out, princess?” You hit his arm playfully.

“Oh shut up!”

~~~

Flash forward to now where you have been dating JJ for about four months. You had broken up with Rafe and your parents were not happy, but they saw your smile when you would come home from secretly meeting with JJ and they figured there was someone else that gave you butterflies. Your mom was a little more supportive than your dad because, in his eyes, Rafe was the perfect match, but then again he would do anything to make you smile.

Like always JJ would sneak into your room and pick you up for your date or just hang out in your room of your parents weren’t home. This time was no different. You were going out soon so you decided to shower before your date and that is when JJ decided to sneak into your room, knowing your parents were home. As you got out of the shower and walked out in your pajamas and your hair wrapped in a towel, JJ jumped out from around the corner tickling you. “OH DEAR LORD! WHAT THE HELL!” You exclaimed a little too loudly.

”Shhhh baby!” JJ hushed you as he laughed. 

“Shit do you think my parents heard that?” That’s when your parents stormed into your room ready to attack.

“What the hell was that?” “Sweetheart are you ok?” your parents voiced their concern. “Maybank? What is this?” Your dad’s eyes stared holes into JJ’s head. You were in front of JJ as he had his arms around you, still holding your sides. He backed away at your father's questions and put his hands up. “You see sir.. uhh funny story really! You know the thing is-” “He’s my boyfriend!” You said before you slapped your hand over your mouth. You let out a chuckle of disbelief. You can’t believe you just said that. “Oh really? So this is the boy you replaced with Rafe?” your father now stared at you, his movements slow and precise. 

“Yes, and before you say anything about him being from the cut, he makes me really happy. I don’t feel like an outcast when I’m with him. JJ makes me feel important and loved and when we talk there are so many butterflies in my stomach I might as well open a butterfly farm!” You tried to make your father laugh just a little bit. “He is selfless and kind and gentle, and I hope you can accept him because he really is an amazing person”

“Oh well isn’t this the cutest thing I ever did see! I’m not crying nope not me!” Your mother was always so emotional.

“He makes you happy?”

“Very much.”

“Is he respectful?”“The perfect gentleman.” You said looking back at him smiling and reaching out to grasp his hand.

“Then it is ok with me. Son comes here.” Your father motioned his finger to JJ. JJ quickly stepped up to your father. “You hurt one hair on her head and your dead before nightfall. You understand me?” JJ nervously chucked “Yes sir.” They shook hands and JJ retreated back towards you.

“Do you two have any plans for tonight?” Your mother questioned.

“We were just going to see a movie or something. Why momma?”

“How about JJ stays for dinner? Your father is making baked macaroni!” 

“What do you think J?” you looked at him with pleading eyes. Baked macaroni was your favorite. You knew by the look on your mother's face your father had no intension that night to make it but she was trying to get you two to stay in.

“Why not! I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in a while.” “THANK YOU!” You kissed his cheek as your mom excitedly made her way off to the kitchen. 

As your father left your room he shouted: “Next time use the front door kid!” “Yes sir!” J shouted back as he saluted to you with a funny face.

“Well know that you met my family... when do I get to meet the Pogues?”

“Soon princess”

~~~

A/N Yay I am so happy I finally got this out! If you want to be tagged in any future fics just sent me a message. My asks are always open if you want to leave a request just know that I take my time when writing so it may be a while before your request is published.

Taglist: @drewswannabegirl @obx-direction-sos @maybebanks @shawnssongs @spilledtee

Some moots:

@tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar @obxmxybxnk @roxa-sos @thatsme-johnbookerroutledge @poguesrforlife @baby-bearie @surferkie @katie-avery @poguesgold @poguestyleskye @mrsmaybankhere @diverdcwn @rudyypankow @midnightmagicmusings @collecting-stories @overly-b @cognacdelights @tweedlydumbtweedlydoo @maybanksmalfoy @socialwriter

[poormeowmeowcollector]

Let me give you my life

Pairing: Loki x Tesseract

Warnings: Major Character Death, Mourning, delusions, mental illness, alcohol, Original Character Death, Odin, fantastic racism

Summary: After Frigga's funeral, Loki starts hearing a voice. It changes their life completely.

Chapter 4: Bridge and Chorus

Chapter summary: the aftermath

Chapter warnings: Odin, Major Character Death, suicide

Chapter note: this chapter is dedicated to @lucywrites02 because she pretended to be a bad bitch yesterday.

Previous chapter AO3

No masters or kings when the ritual begins

The shackles sing as Loki walks towards the throne, fighting back a grin. Odin, on the other hand, sits on his high quality chair, believing to be intimidating.

"You have committed a grave crime against the-" Odin tries to speak, but Loki chuckles.

"I know what I have done, Odin. No need to repeat yourself," they interrupt, using a voice they've been hiding in their throat since they learned how to speak.

And it has so much to say…

"Has your mother taught you no respect for your king?" They yell, their favourite way of speaking to Loki. In all these years, Loki cowarded away at this voice, scared of a physical expression of the anger. This time, he laughs at it.

"Not my mother, and I have no king but myself," they smile, watching a new wave of anger flashing in the old charlatan's face.

"Silence! You never knew how to shut this mouth of yours!" Odin raises his voice, hoping to see the now natural cowering of Loki. The only answer is another laugh.

"Do you really want me to start speaking, Odin? To see who is truly guilty, with all these good dicks and whores listening?" Loki asks, a glow in his eyes as he gestures around as wide as the shackles allow. The harshness of their tongue makes the nobles who watch the "trial" gasp.

"Who taught you this language?" The old man spits, narrowing one eye.

"Apart from your anger? And that old warrior you ordered to teach Thor and me how to survive in a forest? And there are the guards, I can name a few but stitching is a worse crime than murder…" he mutters, acting if like he's chatting with a cup of tea other than being on a trial for murder.

There's no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin

"Enough with your games! Why did you murder Lord Gæirasson in cold blood?" Odin asks the "big question", as if the right answer will lift the charges from Loki's name.

"Because… one, because he was a racist and offended me, to which the punishment is death. Two, because he started a war-"

"You started a war, Loki," Thor interrupts, taking Odin's side, like every time.

"A war had been started. Let's not blame people, Thor. Now where were I? Oh, yeah, at how Gæirasson started a war. Also, he refused to pay his taxes and you know how seriously I took my responsibility of being in charge of the palace's finances. Did war crimes against my people, father would be proud the son of a bitch is dead. And lastly, but definitely not least, a dreadful sense of fashion. Have you seen what his grooms wear? I think I threw up in my mouth when I saw it…" they finish with the rumbling, not even thinking of answering seriously. Odin will execute him anyways, would some fun be so bad?

"I said, enough with the games!" Odin basically screeches, their face going red.

In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene

"For the murder of a lord, cause of a war and disrespect towards the throne, I Odin Allfather sentence you to a life in the dungeons," he decides.

"Dungeons? Not axe? Did Frigga's ghost or this moron talk you out of killing me?" Loki questions, taking their turn to narrow their eyes.

"If you keep talking, I might change my mind," Odin sighs, rubbing his temple.

"And get rid of this perfect pawn to hold King Laufey from the balls? A shame, really," Loki poutes and shrugs, pretending awfully that he cares.

"I will not stand your disrespect any longer! I had granted you your life, Loki, more than once! You will learn to respect me for it! Take them to the dungeons!" Odin speaks the final order. Four guards grab the chains that lead to Loki's shackles and push him away, forcing him to walk with them

Only then I am human / only then I am free

On the way to the dungeons, Thor stops the guards and demands to speak to Loki.

"Just tell me why, brother. Please. What didn't we give you to make you care so little?" they ask, grabbing Loki's shoulder, just like they always used to do.

"A family. That's what you didn't give me. And that's what I've earned," Loki answers, staring right into his no-brother's eyes, the blue in them and the pale lines that resemble his lightning. They know they won't see Thor from this close ever again, and they deserve a proper last memory.

"Then, I'm sorry. It's late, I know, but remember this, please… I shall visit, whenever I can, Loki. I swear. You shouldn't be in prison all alone," Thor promises. Loki gives only a nod, enough to make Thor dismiss the guards and let them keep walking Loki to his future and last chamber.

The only sign of emotions they allow themselves to show is a sigh, only out of sympathy.

For he knows that his freedom just begins.

Take me to church / I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies

The moment the guards put Loki back into the white vacant cell and take their eyes off them, they cast an illusion of them settling on the floor and staring at nothing. The real Loki is walking up and down the room, waiting for the Tesseract to speak.

"Now?" he asks, feeling it close.

"Now, you need to learn who your family is. Not Odin, not Laufey, your true family, Entropy," they answer.

"What with this name? After all this, can't you call me by my name?" Loki groans.

"I am. You have many names. Entropy, the Chaos Stone, the Death Stone, the Knot… the last one, actually, is the name you're most familiar with, translated to Old Jötunn tongue," they speak, all matter-of-factly.

"You're lying, the Chaos stone is a myth," Loki brushes off the answer.

"It does exist. A black gem, created by billions of ropes, strings and threads tangled together. The hardest one to wield and command and impossible to find. The Jötnar had found it and worshipped it. And when Laufey found out that his son is nothing but a dead baby, he sacrificed the infant for the infant. And Odin found the baby crying in the altar, the gem gone,"

"So I own my life to an imaginary stone, apart from an old piece of shit. What a surprise…" Loki throws their hands in the air.

"No. You are the imaginary stone. In order to give life, the Chaos gem entered your body and never left. You are the flesh of a corpse and the mind of an infinity stone. And it's time to leave the corpse and join us,"

The aimless walking stops, and Loki's heart skips a beat

I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife

"You made me kill a man, for this?" he asks, glaring at nothing. They don't answer.

"You made me kill a man! Just so I could die!" boiling hot tears streaming down their eyes and slither into their shirt as burning red eyes stare at the empty room for something. "I trusted you! You promised me a family!" he yells between his sobs.

Their feet cannot support them, and they kneel down, turned into a crying sobbing and yelling mess. A hand, created by mist, grabs his shoulder, trying to provide comfort.

"I hate you," they spit, flaring their nose drills as they stare into the blue eyes of the illusion they use to pretend they're close to them.

"I'm sorry, hurting you was… if I could prevent it…" the stone says and gives him a small squeeze. And they mean it. If there was a way to do it without any pain, they would. But it's too late, Loki is already hurt…

Offer me that deathless death

Loki throws themselves into the tightest embrace they ever had, weeping like a baby. "I don't want to die. Please, I don't wanna die. Anything but this, anything, please!" he whispers, diving his head into their shoulder without a thought of holding back the tears.

"Shhhh, you won't die. Not truly. Your mind is the stone, as long as it exists you exist. And the body will stay intact until you need it again. You will be fine, I promise," they whisper, hoping of making them feel better.

"I'm scared, Tessie. I'm so scared, I can't," for a prince, Loki sounds so small, almost like the small child they used to be. Tessie starts playing with his hair, hoping to calm him down, even for a bit.

"It's alright. Everything will be fine, no matter if you do it or not," they shush them.

"If I do it or not?" Loki repeats, sniffing quietly and breaking the hug only to look at the misty blue eyes of Tessie.

"I… you're in so much pain… if you decide that you had enough, you'll be left alone," they explain. Loki nods, still quivering from the crying, but determined.

"No. We got so far. I-I-I'm not giving up," he lets his voice get louder, and then stands up. "What do I do?" they ask, collected once again.

"Get comfortable in a position. And once you're ready, make the ropes appear and let them wash over you," Tessie explains, holding this sympathetic voice. Loki nods and sits back down against the white wall, moving to get comfortable.

Then, with just a thought, the ropes appear and fill him with this calming sensation. Tessie walks closer and cups their cheeks. "See you on the other side, Loki," they smile and kiss their forehead before vanishing.

Loki takes a deep breath, and looks around the cage. He remembers a field day he had when little, a good day. Odin was sleeping on a bench and Frigga was yelling at them and Thor to not get into trouble as Thor dragged Loki, who was just above six, on an expiration of the forest around a castle in Vanaheim. Of course, they returned after the sun was down, with scraped up knees and dirty clothes and Loki had traces of tears in his cheeks because a bug scared him. But it had been, and still is, the best time they ever had with Thor.

He holds tight into the memory as he lets the ropes cover him and closes his eyes.

Good God, let me give you my life

The guards don't know how this happened. One moment, Loki was gazing at nothing and the next…

How does one say this to the Allfather?

The healers walk out of the cage when Thor storms in the dungeons, on the verge of panicking. "Is he alive?" It's all they ask.

The healers won't answer, it's enough to know.

Thor walks in and sits beside what used to be Loki, holding their cold and deformed hand and letting tears run down his face.

Loki doesn't respond, how could he?

He's a statue, as if made from black stone, and his hands covered in stone black ropes, with a faint glow where his heart should be being the only sign that there was once life there.

Loki's face doesn't have the signature smirk, and there's no gleam in their closed eyes. But he does wear a peaceful smile. A smile Thor regrets he had to see this body in order to know that his brother knows finally peace.

[lyrune]

Someone: *hurts Milagros*

Milagros: I'm sorry, really!

Someone: FUCK OFF, JUST DIE.

*At Anciel-Kurtzberg's household*

Milagros:*cries go to the kitchen, and sits on the sofa* *repeats sobbing* I said sorry. I said sorry. I said sorry. I said sorry why I'm a monster. I said sorry-

Marc: *hugs his baby* Baby, breath, calm down. You're not a monster. Shhhh... Everything will be alright. We love you, sunshine. Shhh... *kisses her forehead* Calm down, sunshine.

Nathaniel: *comes back from work* I'm ho-... *stops* What's wrong?

Marc: I don't know, but it's not good. *hugs tightly Milagros*

Nathaniel: *goes to his daughter* hey, baby it's okay, just cry if you need this. Shhh... We love you, remember? *pats Milagros's hair*

Mathis: *goes to the kitchen covers in blood on his shirt* THAT MOTHRFUCKER! I HATE HIM SO MUCH, HE HASN'T REASON TO HURT HER...

Nathaniel: Hey, hey calm down! What the fuck is going on?!

Mathis: Someone, hurt my sister and she said sorry, without reason. She doesn't do anything bad to him, she just goes to the entrance. Fuck him, she deserves better, not treating her like a burden.

Nathaniel: Oh

Marc: Shhh... Everything will be alright. Do you want a glass of water, baby?

Milagros: *nods*

Marc: Ok... *holds the glass and pours water to glass* Here. *hands Milagros a glass of water*

Milagros: Th-thanks dad.

Marc: No problem, sunshine.

*Next day*

Milagros: *goes to the kitchen and hugs his father Nathaniel from the back* I want to thank you, for everything. You and dad didn't have to do that.

Nathaniel: That's okay, sun. It's okay, everyone needs comfort from someone.

Marc: How are you feel today, sunshine?

Milagros: Better than yesterday. Thanks for asking dad.

Mathis: *goes to his sister* We are family, you remember sister? We all love you, and we'll be by your side no matter what.

Milagros: Thank you, Mathis but you don't need to beat him...

Mathis: Nobody will hurt my sister.

[tk-writer]

Just like old times. [ATLA - Zukaang]

Shortly after he laid down to rest that night, Zuko was yanked awake by yet another frightful nightmare. 

He was drenched in sweat, despite sleeping shirtless with all the bedroom windows open, and his lungs desperately gasped for air as if it were foreign to his body. Grounding himself back in reality was proving to be a challenge with the image of his father still burned into his mind.

It was the same dream that had plagued him since the age of thirteen. Five long years had passed since the fateful day of their agni kai, but being forced to relive it almost every night made it seem like it had just happened yesterday. It was as if the wound was still fresh, the fire still hot, the pain still throbbing.

The fire prince let out a dejected sigh before he decided to get up. He stumbled around in the dark until he was able to shove his feet into a nearby pair of slippers. Then he marched to the nearest bathroom in search of water.

Things were pretty quiet in the palace of the fire nation. After his father had been defeated at the hands of the avatar, the world entered an era of unfamiliar peace. Nowadays, the palace felt more like a home and less like a prison. There wasn’t the same aura of tension surrounding everyone and everything that stepped foot inside, partially in thanks to the fact that Aang had decided to stick around for a while. Something about helping rebuild the fire nation and introducing the element of “fun” back into the culture. What was supposed to be a short term stay had quickly turned into a year, then two, until Aang had practically moved in. 

(Not that Zuko really minded.)

After downing two cups of cold water, he felt his body return to homeostasis and figured it was best to try and get some more sleep. He made his way back to the bedroom, fumbling around until his hands felt the coolness of the slightly damp sheets. He plopped down unceremoniously and let out another sigh before closing his eyes once more.

His eyes shot back open when he sensed movement beside him and hot breath on the right side of his cheek. He turned his head ever so slightly and came face to face with a lithe figure, donning the goofiest grin known to man.

“... AAH!”

“Waaah!”

“Who’s there?!” He leapt out of the bed with a fighting stance, hands already ablaze with fiery blue embers. 

“Chill out! It’s me, Aang!”

The flames provided just enough light for him to see the airbender lounging across the mattress like it was his own. It was enough to pacify his fear. Zuko lit a candle on the nightstand before putting out the fire he’d summoned and inhaled sharply, crossing his arms in annoyance.

“What the hell are you doing in my bed?”

“I heard you yelling in your sleep and it woke me up! I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Feeling a bit sheepish, Zuko scratched the back of his head and lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Oh, uh… sorry about that.”

Aang looked concerned, his brows furrowed with worry. Zuko didn’t dare meet his gaze, knowing it would give away his uneasiness and cause even more trouble for himself.

“Are you okay? You looked really stressed.”

“I’m fine. You can go back to your room now.”

He waited for Aang to move, but instead ended up staring at him awkwardly as the avatar showed no sign of leaving. Instead, he rolled onto his stomach and practically shouted out a suggestion.

“Why don’t we have a sleepover tonight?!”

“What? No. Why would we do that.”

 “Come oooon, it’ll be just like old times when the gang was all together!”

“You mean when we slept on the ground and had no money?”

“Yeah! Except this time it’ll be more comfortable. Ya know, with a bed and a roof over our heads and all.”

Aang seemed pretty gungho about it, and Zuko found it difficult to keep saying no when he was giving him those damn puppy dog eyes, so he found himself giving in without much more of a fight.

(How did he know those always worked on him?)

“Alright. But only for tonight.”

Aang let out a triumphant cry, eliciting a stern “Shhhh!” from Zuko who didn’t want to disturb the others sleeping in the rooms next door. He cautiously crawled back into the king sized bed, taking care not to bump into his uninvited guest. Turning his back to the airbender, he curled into a fetal position and closed his eyes in another attempt at peaceful slumber.

“Goodnight, Aang.”

“Goodnight, Zuko.”

It was quiet for about two seconds, until Zuko felt something thin and soft flutter around his waist. On instinct, he let out a muffled cry as panic struck through his chest.

He relaxed once he realized it was just Aang’s hands.

“Aang,” he warned in a low tone. “Why are you hugging me.”

“For reassurance!” He sang out happily. “So you don’t feel scared anymore.”

“I told you, I’m fine,” Zuko argued as he started to squirm from the feather-light touches on his sides. “You don’t need to -aheeha!”

Another cry slipped out after he felt Aang’s hands brush right above the band of his pants. It was a silly sensation that made him twitch wildly, against his better nature. He felt Aang adjust himself, wrapping his arms a little tighter as his fingers continued to absentmindedly brush against Zuko’s bare skin. The firebender struggled to keep from laughing. Physical touch had not been a part of his life for many years, and being reintroduced to it now was making him very, very flustered.

“Hah! What was that?”

“It’s no-ahaha!-thing! Stop touching me like that, jeez…”

“Why? Wait, are you…”

Zuko tensed up, sensing what was to come next. Aang fell silent, spurring the fire prince’s anxiety even more. There was no need to finish the question when he already knew the answer.

“Aang, no.”

“Aang, yes.”

Ten fingers suddenly skittered up both of his sides, and in an instant Zuko burst out into a fit of cackles. There was no way he could hold it back; it tickled way too much. Aang’s touch was like air as he danced his fingertips over his exposed skin. The feeling brought forth the most musical giggles, an unexpected treat from someone who was usually so stoic. Zuko slammed his arms down and curled into a ball, but that didn’t deter the avatar from his attack.

“Aheeheeheehee! No, no, nonononono-OOOOO! Dohohon’t!”

Aang laughed merrily along with him, as if he were having the time of his life. Which he probably was. He always took the opportunity to make Zuko laugh or smile whenever he had the chance, and now was no exception.

“No way! I never knew you were ticklish! Haha!”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHANG!”

The airbender pulled away momentarily to let the fire prince breathe, but his mercy didn’t last long

“So, your sides are ticklish… what about your armpits?”

He jammed his hands in between his clamped down arms and wiggled around as much as he could, with Zuko attempting to squirm away and all. In truth, he was trying really hard not to struggle too much in fear of accidentally hurting his friend. A painful memory of Toph’s burned feet etched in his head as he made sure to keep his hands away from Aang and free of their usual fire. Instead, he just kept laughing until it felt like he was going to choke.

“No… not there! Pleheeheeheease!!”

“Okay, so your sides and armpits are pretty bad. What about your stomach?”

Zuko felt the wiggling hands leave his body for a second, then once again sensed them scurrying across his skin, this time exploring his belly. Soft, muted giggles escaped his lips, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as before. Still, his skin twitched wherever Aang made contact.

“Ahahaaa… noooo! Stahahap!”

“It’s not so bad here… but what about here?”

Aang gave no warning this time before he began pinching Zuko’s ribs, which spurred another round of maniacal cackling from the sullen firebender. He thrashed from side to side, kicking his legs frantically until Aang had to climb on top of him to avoid getting kicked. The airbender cracked up as he watched him descend even further into uncontrollable giggles.

“Wow, this must be a really bad spot for you!”

“Shahahahahaddup!! It’s not funny!”

“Heh, it’s kinda funny! Who woulda thought the big strong fire lord would be weak to a little tickling!”

Zuko found himself unable to respond as the tickling went on, his pleas turning into babbles thanks to Aang jumping around from spot to spot and teasing him into oblivion. Each time he’d explore a new area, he’d ask Zuko before honing in. And each time, Zuko wasn’t ready. He’d let out a high pitched shriek before succumbing to more upbeat giggles, uncharacteristic for someone of his nature. 

He had no idea how long things went on, but when Aang threatened to tickle his feet, he suddenly grabbed both of his arms and held firm.

“Please… no more…”

He spat out his last pleas in between haggard breaths, and that signaled to Aang that enough was enough. The avatar pulled away, allowing him some respite after the tickly torment he’d just put him through. When Zuko opened his eyes, he saw the avatar staring at him with a warm, sunny smile. It made his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

“Zuko… I wish you’d laugh more. You have a really nice smile.”

“Wh… huh? Why would you…”

Now it was Aang’s turn to act shy. He let out a sheepish chuckle, backtracking a bit before explaining himself.

“Ah, sorry. I guess that’s kinda sappy. But, I dunno, you seem so sad a lot of the time. Sometimes I wish I could just come up to ya and do this!”

He scribbled across his stomach again, making Zuko squeal again, but stopped before it got to be too much. When his laughter died down again, he mumbled something so softly that Aang almost didn’t catch it.

“Well… maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Hnh, nevermind.”

Aang opened his mouth to protest, but clamped it shut almost immediately. Zuko wondered what he was going to say, but decided to let it be for now. After all, he was pretty spent after the surprise tickle attack he’d just endured.

“Uh, can we go back to sleep now?”

“Oh, yeah! Sorry, heh.”

Aang slid off and made himself comfortable on the other side of the bed, giving Zuko some space just in case he wanted to be alone. Zuko blew out the candle and laid down as well, and for a few seconds the room was silent. However, as Aang’s eyelids began to droop, he heard a timid voice speak up through the darkness.

“... Um… Aang?”

“Yeeeees?”

“Can you… can we… uhm…”

Aang chuckled under his breath, quietly enough that his bedside companion couldn’t hear. Without another word, he hugged his arms around Zuko and pulled him in close until they both were in a comfortable position. He pressed his forehead against his back and felt the firebender relax for the first time all night.

“Goodnight, Zuko.”

“Goodnight, Aang.”

Aang couldn’t see it, but that night Zuko fell asleep with a small smile. Neither woke until the bright light of late morning greeted them through the window.