#I know what’s happening ‘cause you’re telling me instead of me trying to assume?? I’m really here like oh damn

[onifanss]

Having someone around me that communicates really well is so rare that experiencing it has me like “Oh, this is what it feels like?!?!”

[kiwanopie]

Hello

How are you?

How would lord crime Kyoomi react when he knew that now - after the heated honeymoon- he is expecting 🙊

Thank you ❤️

If he found out you were pregnant with his baby?

There’s a very specific indication you find, that usually signals when your doting criminal kingpin husband is about to cry. He doesn’t do it often. Sometimes it’s just hearing him silently weep in the shower, or feeling his tears soak into the fabric of your sleep shirt on those particularly gruesome nights, but you usually know when he’s about to do it. Regardless of how he might try to remain inconspicuous.

First it’s a sniffle. A wet little intake of breath usually tailed by frantic blinking. He usually ducks his head or tries to turn his back, in worse cases he just opts to bury his face in his hands to maintain some semblance of dignity. - A few hushed curses, pained twitch of the brow, and a loss at where to put his hands; try as he might, he attempts to hold himself back but then it comes:

The hiccup.

There’s a pregnancy test buried in his bathroom trash can.

Which was already cause to turn frantic and teary-eyed, especially when he knows you’ve been in and out of sickness these few weeks since returning from your honeymoon. It looks like you tried to hide it under some gathered tissue. Face down at the bottom of the bin and he’s only lucky he caught that tronic plastic he assumed was a discarded thermometer at first. In any other case he’d be mortified at the idea of rifling through a trash can, but he dives in without so much as thinking twice. Knocking the poor thing on its side as he snatches the little lodge out of the bin and gapes at those automated letters.

“Pregnant.”

You’re having his baby.

Concerned wife that you are, you rush into your joint bathroom at what sounds like genuine sobbing from the door of your bedroom. First thing you think is that something awful happened; maybe a bust at his office, maybe an unanticipated call from his father. But you rush in like you’re worried he’s dying, and you barely get the chance to barge in the bathroom before you’re nearly tripping over.

Kiyoomi’s tall and solid, even from his knelt position on the bathroom floor. His arms are stable and unavoidable, they’re wrapped around your lower torso before you can even realize they are. Kneeling before you and holding onto your waist for dear life, you card your fingers through his hair as his tears stain through the front of your dress.

You peep the tipped over trash can and immediately start to sweat. “Why didn’t… Why didn’t you tell me..?”

“I was waiting to tell you at dinner.” You lie instead of telling him you were still debating on whether to keep it or not. “I’m just-… I was nervous.”

You can feel his eyebrows furrow against your lower stomach. “Wha- Did you not think I’d want it?”

You didn’t think he could handle it. This guy already loves you to a degree that’s - in its best light - a little startling. Fawning over you like you get newer everyday and scaring himself gray at the prospect of ever losing you, you can’t so much as step a foot outside without at least ten of his drones hovering over you like clock work. ~ Yesterday you stumbled during a trek to the garden and not even a second later was he calling you on your cell, chiding you for not being more careful of the roots and sending one of his men to pick the jasmines for you.

So, you and a baby? You, barefoot, pregnant, and vulnerable? Holding a physical representation of all the love he’s felt and given to you. You and an heir that’ll be equal parts him and equal parts you and probably all he's ever wanted in the world besides having you all to himself. He’d go crazy. He wouldn’t let you leave the house, or so much as step a foot off of the bed without a palanquin lifting you up immediately after. - And when that baby comes?

Oh, god when that baby comes. “I didn’t want to overwhelm you,” You say. “I know you’ve been busy with work, and you already worry so much. I was afraid a baby would only add more pressure.”

“Angel,” Kiyoomi finally starts to rise on his feet. Cupping your cheeks as he guides your head up at him and meets you with the kind of gaze that says he’s far gone. “Baby, you-… I don’t even know what to say. Pressure? My fucking god-“

He kisses you swiftly, and then again, and then two more times for good measure. “We’re having a baby. You made me a father. I don’t- I can’t even describe how happy you’ve made me.”

“I love you,” a fifth kiss, this time a little slow, next one a little tender. Wetting your cheeks with his that are still damp and finally forgoing his kisses for a tight embrace that submerges you in him. Kiyoomi rubs you down your head and back so earnestly that you almost wanna purr. He’s nothing if not a master at making you feel like the best thing in the world. “I love you and I can't thank you enough. You’re giving me a child.”

You start to tear up a little at his praise and the way his voice breaks as he lauds you like you’re heaven. You're not sure if it's the hormones or the treatment that's choking you up like this, but it's overwhelming to say the least. “I love you too, Kiyoomi. So much.”

“So much.” He parrots. And he sniffles as you melt into him.

He’s truly never letting you out of his sight.

He's truly never letting you out of his sight.

[bloodiedrogue]

A FOOLISH LOVER'S OFFERING (10)

SUMMARY: On the way to Moonrise you and Astarion talk about some important things.

PAIRING: Astarion & Female Reader

WORD COUNT: 3,060

WARNINGS: Spoilers for Act 2 (henceforth there will be spoilers in all chapters here on out), ANGST, mentions of murder.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi this chapter single handedly took every brain cell I had to write so hopefully you like it because I just want to set it on fire for all the grief it has caused me!!

CHAPTER LIST / MASTERLIST / NEXT CHAPTER

-

“Gods, I hate this place.”

Gripping your torch, you try your best to focus on the Harper’s. How they move through the shadows, navigating every twist and turn without issue, leading you through the pathways.

It hasn’t been long since you’ve started your journey. No longer can you see the shining veil of the Inn but, given what you know, you’re well aware that your destination isn’t nearly ahead either. There’s still plenty of walking to do. A few hour's journey at the least. Perhaps more if Astarion insists on continuing to walk so slowly.

At your side, his eyes scan the trees with a heavy breath, taking in the decrepit scenery at such a leisurely pace that it makes you huff and glance around, noting the distance between you and the others. At this point, you’re close enough that you can still see them but too far to hear what any of them are saying —something you’re certain Astarion’s done on purpose when he plants his arm around your shoulder.

“You know, I happen to find it quite charming. All the dread and despair. It’s a bit like being at home.” 

You give him a look, raising your brow only to receive a snort in response, confirming that he’s (thankfully) kidding. “Ha, you think you’re so funny, don’t you?”

“Funny?” He moves his other hand to his chest, placing it against his leathers. “Darling, I’m hilarious.” 

“Yes, yes, a real jester.” 

His fingers flex around your shoulder, squeezing. “I’ll have you know I’ve always been funny. Even before all this vampiric bullshit.” 

“Yeah?”

He nods, a slight thought flashing across his face that makes you wonder what he’s thinking about. Given the circumstances, you assume it’s a thought of the past. Perhaps of his life before Cazador’s reign. When he was merely an elf roaming topside around Baldur’s Gate without a care in the world. You imagine he was funny back then. Mischievous. Probably a little too out there, even for a magistrate considering the personality you’ve grown to love. Based on pure assumption, he probably had more fun in one night than you in a lifetime, spending his hard-earning coin on good food and drinks and—

“It’s rude to stare, you know.” He pulls you tighter into him, using his free hand to pluck the torch out of your hand so that you can wrap yourself around him. As you do, both of you breathe a sigh of what feels like relief, even though you’re currently experiencing anything but.

“Sorry.”

“Well, you were staring at me, so I suppose I can forgive.” 

“Many thanks, my liege.” 

He growls suggestively under his breath, making you scoff. “My liege, hm, I could get behind that.” 

“Of course you could.” 

“My liege,” he repeats, tasting it on his tongue, eyeing you with a lusty gaze that doesn’t quite make its mark. 

Which only furthers the assumption that he’s deep inside his head still. Sifting through thoughts you’re completely unaware of as you walk in tandem to your potential untimely end. Almost immediately, it makes you wonder if maybe this is the right time to start asking questions. To finally speak up about the inquiries that have filed through your skull. Because after this, there’s no telling where you may find yourselves. You could be killed or locked away —lost to an abyss of some kind.

The options are endless; however, time is not, so instead of stewing in the silence you currently find yourselves in, you look up at him, taking in the shape of his face.

You’ve known him long enough now to know that the comments he often makes about his beauty are true. In appearance, he’s almost otherworldly. A beacon of well-aged flesh your eyes feel constantly drawn to. Whenever he’s around there’s this feeling of awe that comes forth. A subtle beating in your chest that quickens each time he’s present. When you look at him —really look at him— your eyes tend to open a little wider, surprised by how every feature seems to fit so perfectly in place. How everything feels uncharacteristically cohesive given his time spent abused beneath the moon, forced to stave and serve for all eternity. 

If it weren’t for the issue of Cazador you’d be convinced he was blessed by the Gods themselves. Melded by their very hands to create a being of such high temptation and desire. You imagine them brainstorming his existence. Tirelessly spending weeks on end crafting the perfect specimen that would ultimately end up broken. 

You realize then, taking in the lines that have developed throughout countless bouts of false grinning, that the very thing he loves most about himself was more than likely the result of his own downfall.

A downfall you find you’re still curious about. Even after your conversation, Astarion’s life before all this still holds an air of mystery. Between details already revealed, there are still patches of missing information. Sections of time where assumptions feel wrong but asking feels just as bad. And because of that, deep down, you know you should leave the curiosity alone. Pack it into the back of your mind for later use, but with the oncoming war and no determined outcome, you instead loosen your hold and take a side step. 

“Can I ask you something?”

He narrows his eyes, readjusting his position now that you’re not locked against him, suddenly looking awkward as he puffs out his chest. “Depends.” 

“On?”

“Whether or not the question is going to be depressing,” he replies. “Because you have that look in your eye.”

“What look?”

He reaches out to poke your forehead, pressing it roughly. “The one where your brows look like they’re going to become one at a moment’s notice.”

Swatting his hand away, you twitch your brows back into their proper positioning, annoyed. “I was going to ask about Cazador,” you tell him, truthfully. “I know he’s probably not a topic you want to discuss as we waltz to our potential doom but —I don’t know— I just have questions.” 

He sighs deeply, drawing out his breath before giving you an unimpressed look that speaks volumes.

He doesn’t want to talk about it. Nor do you, but at the same time, you’re at the point where you’re unable to deny your interest because Astarion’s your friend. A companion you cherish more than you know you should. A person whose well-being is so important you’d virtually do anything to maintain it. Which is why you’re determined to pry a bit more than usual. Taking these final moments you have to yourself to ask the one question you’ve been wondering for ages. 

“What will you do about him? When this is all over.”

Surprisingly, there’s no hesitation in his words when he tells you he’ll kill him. As you continue along the path, listening to him come up with all the vile ways he’d do it, you find yourself strangely calm. Numb almost to the descriptions of stakes being driven into hearts or knives slicing through jugular veins. Lost in the way he throws your torch around with every passing phrase.

“Personally, I think a stake to the heart’s a bit cheap,” you eventually comment, watching him laugh. Hearing the way the sound quickly flutters out and hits your ears, making you smile despite the subject matter. 

“It’s a classic for a reason, my dear.” 

“Is it though? I mean, in my experience there’s far better ways to kill someone.”

“Is there, now? Do tell.” 

You’re not sure if it’s just because you’ve grown used to the excessive violence throughout your journey or because Astarion’s tendencies have potentially rubbed off on you. Either way, as the two of you joke of his master’s demise you find yourself wondering if maybe such a result is even plausible. Sure, you’ve never killed a vampire. Hell, before Astarion you’re not even sure you’ve seen one up close, but for him, you’d be willing to try. Especially given the ever-growing lack of regard for your own safety.

“Honestly, the only thing that’s coming to mind is cutting him open and doing something to his innards.” 

His brows shoot up in surprise, making you laugh. “Mm, a cold-blooded killer after my own heart.”

You roll your eyes, prompting his hand to subtly grip your own. Tangling your fingers together, he raises your palm carefully up to his lips and places a lingering kiss. One that tickles your flesh long after he’s gone, leaving you grinning like a fool, wondering if this is what love feels like. 

You imagine it is. Deep beneath the surface, your chest is tight but not with fear. Instead, there’s only warmth that spreads —a growing sensation of heat that wraps around your lungs and heart. Filling you with this discomforting ache that only he can alleviate. So much so that it makes you want to scream sometimes, knowing he’s the cause. That somehow through his charms and tricks he’s managed to find a home inside your chest without permission. How he’s sliced you open with that wicked grin and crawled inside, calling you darling all the while. 

It makes you wonder if he feels the same. If all the afflictions he’s given you are returned in some capacity. If when you look at him his mouth goes dry or his heart skips a beat. Or the longing to be near is indeed reciprocated and not just another plot to keep you close.

Because sometimes it’s hard to tell. 

Throughout your journey, you’ve gone back and forth a hundred times, debating the possibilities —weighing the pros and cons of every interaction that you’ve ever had. Even now, knowing such trivial thoughts should be the last thing on your mind, you can’t help but wonder: does he care for you? Truly? Does he think of you? Does he look for you? Within his everyday thoughts does your presence linger in the background, waiting for the right moment to be put on full display for him to admire?

Does he love you?

“You know, if you ever need help with the whole murdering Cazador thing…”

It sounds ridiculous when you say it. So nonchalant and unfazed. Even you have to cringe at the way you trail off, waiting for him to speak. Praying that he’ll laugh or scoff or say literally anything to fill the silence you find yourselves walking through. 

It takes him a while but eventually, you hear him quietly sigh, his gaze moving to view your nervous face. “It won’t be easy, you know. Cazador isn’t some vagabond with a blade, he’s—“

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.”

He says it like a warning. As if he’s preparing to scold you for speaking out of term, narrowing his eyes with a huff. “Darling, I appreciate the enthusiasm but Cazador —he’s different. He’s not like the villains we’ve faced thus far. He isn’t motivated by greed or lust. The only thing he wants is power. Power over me —over you.” 

He pauses then, swallowing hard. Making it apparent then that this hypothetical conversation of murderous jokes has turned into something far more real. That your offering is no longer a mere gesture of kindness but instead a potential act of solidarity. One that you extend further by running your thumb along his, applying a bit of pressure at the joint, feeling him twitch. 

“You know there’s very little I wouldn’t do for you, right?” 

In an instant his eyes are on you, staring in surprise, trying to process the words that’ve just spilled through your lips. At first, they’re focused on their position, fully immersed in the way you clear your throat, trying to suppress a nervous laugh as you continue to grip his hand. Not long after though, they start to go distant, moving past your face to view the trees behind you, fizzling out of reality so quick that all you can do is try to pull him back. 

“I know you probably think I’m in idiot for even suggesting that fact that I may be capable of killing someone who spent centuries in control of so many people—“

“A bit, yes.” 

You snort, watching him slowly start to return to you, his lips curling into a half smile you can’t help but reach out and touch, stopping your stride. “But I would do anything you asked of me. Even if it meant death, I would kill that bastard for you without hesitation. Whatever way you wanted, whether it’s decapitation or throwing him off a bloody cliff or—“

The light of the torch shifts as his hand slips out of yours, taking hold of your head to guide you to his lips. To press his mouth to yours with such need that the breath within your lungs is ripped out. Swallowed behind his starving tongue —lapping whatever life you have to offer as his hand drifts over your cheek, taking hold of your flesh to keep you from leaving.

Standing still, you can feel the tenseness of his frame as it all happens. How aside from his mouth and hand the rest of him refuses to move, prompting you to reach out, running your hands along his sides, coaxing him to relax. 

When his body does, you slowly pull away, sucking in air like your life depends on it, watching with half-lidded eyes and swollen lips as he opens his mouth to speak, stuttering out something incoherent before swearing under his breath. 

Narrowing your eyes further, you watch him struggle to speak, wondering what could be going on in that complicated brain of his as he turns his body, releasing you from his grasp in favour of moving forward again.

Immediately, it makes you drop your jaw in annoyance, watching his hands move towards his hair, gripping his locks in frustration as you hear him mutter to himself and continue to move, leaving you behind. 

“Hold on, you’re just going to kiss me like that and walk away?” 

He doesn’t even turn to acknowledge you as you yell, making you even angrier as you race toward him, placing a rough hand against his shoulder to gain his attention. 

“Astarion—“

“Do you mean it?”

Your mouth twitches when he turns, looking at you with angry eyes. Scanning you with knitted brows filled with so much frustration all you can do is breathe and nod.

“Why?”

Because I love you. 

“Because…”

“Tell me.”

Your mouth is drier than it’s ever been, making it hard for you to form the words as you feel your tongue poke out to wet your lips. “I—“

His shoulder shifts from your grasp in one quick motion, leaving you bare —untethered and weak against the aggression of his eyes staring you down. “You know, I’ve spent centuries coming up with all the ways I’d do it. How I’d kill him if given the chance.”

You watch his gaze move to the trees again, travelling elsewhere even though you’re here, standing still in front of him, already wondering how you'll get him back.

“Despite the scenarios being nothing but my foolish imagination running rampant, every time I end up suffering. Forced further into madness —pushed to the brink of what my body is capable of handling.” He shakes his head before raising it, blinking back tears that make your body ache. “Even in my wildest dreams I cannot win against his torment and yet… the moment you mention it… the moment you look at me with those eyes—” 

Hearing him choke back a nervous laugh, this time it’s you who’s on him, clutching his face with both hands, pressing your thumbs to the inner corners of his eyes to wipe away the liquid that continues to pool.

“Why are you so willing to help me do the unimaginable?”

This time there’s no hesitation. No moment of thought that graces your mind as you smile up at him, pulling him further down with shaking hands to press your forehead to his. “It’s because I love you,” you tell him then. Barely above a whisper, you let it filter out like smoke, allowing it to envelop him entirely as you breathe and take him in, watching the way his lips unfurl and the anger laced within his features slips away. “And because the thought of allowing him to live after what he did to you fills me with a kind of rage I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before.”

His hand moves to stroke the side of your neck. Gently, his fingers run across the bite marks he's inflicted, marking their positions with two subtle taps before they glide away, rooting themselves at the back of your head for support. Forcing you to remain in the moment, realizing what you’ve just said.

It’s hardly the right time to admit your feelings. But then again, given the circumstances, you quickly remember that there really isn’t one. Considering you're in the middle of a war, on your way to Ketheric’s base, it’s very unlikely you’ll have a spare moment to clear your mind and properly say all the things you’ve been itching to say. 

Until the end, it’ll always feel like something’s missing —like you’ve forgotten an important phrase or detail. That whatever you say will never be enough to fully convey the weight of how he makes you feel each time he looks you up and down or makes you laugh. 

Even as you stand before him now, holding him tight —watching the tears within his eyes threaten to spill once again, you know nothing you say will ever amount to the ache inside your chest, knowing that you’ve managed to give him the last sliver of hope you have to offer. 

“I love you, Astarion,” you repeat then, praying this time it holds its weight. That the nervous rush inside your stomach passes through and all you’re left with is the kind of warmth you’ve only read about in stories.

His jaw is slack as you repeat your confession, shifting in a way that makes you more nervous than it should, watching him blink and hearing him breathe —doing everything but speak the words you want to hear as Shadowheart calls your name, pulling you both away to notice the annoyed look on her face as she tells you to hurry up. 

-

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[snowyquokka]

Hi gorgeous 💞

I honestly love you work, thank you so much ❤️

If it's not too much to ask but my birthday is on 14th March so can you write a hyunjin x f reader smut +fluff with him giving reader his birthday gift for her (surprise me with your writing)?

I would really appreciate it 🥺

Bye 👋

SYMPHONIES

cw: mature content MDNI, fem reader, oral *f receiving, swearing, friends to lovers, no aftercare shown but is implied

wc: 1.3k

a.n - happy birthday beautiful!! i hope this was a good enough present <3

✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧

12:00 AM

Tons of DMs, calls and texts erupt on your phone simultaneously, wishing you a happy birthday. Everyone but the one you wanted most.

Is it wrong to be in love with your best friend since the sixth grade? To a normal person, maybe, but to you it’s the reality you’re forced to live.

4:00 AM

Did he forget? You can’t blame him; he is an idol after all and he’s probably exhausted. At this point the group chat you are in with all the guys is blowing up to the point where you had to silence it once you realized that Hyunjin wasn’t responding or jumping in the conversation.

CHILDREN OF CHAN

|lixie - happy birthday cutie

|hanji - HAPPY BIRTHDAY

|hanji - get ready to party bitch. it’s on

|seungmo - im not getting stuck with han’s shitfaced ass this time

|minhoe - it’s only like one in the morning and you’re already plotting?

|innie - felix get back on league

|channie - im trying to sleep

|seungmo - put your phone on silent then old man

|seungmo - nvm you probably dont know how at ur jurassic age

You let out a small laugh and bite your lip, contemplating if you should thank them or not. Ultimately deciding against it and telling yourself that you’ll do it when you wake up, you turn off your phone and roll over onto your side, soundlessly falling asleep.

10:00 AM

There’s a knock at the door, startling you out of yet another poor attempt at sleeping. You hop out of bed sluggishly and make your way to the living room. To your surprise, Hyunjin is leaning against the doorway, having let himself in with the emergency key you gave him when you first moved in.

“Just in case,” He insisted, “What if something happens and you need me? Or vice versa.” The fact that you believed that would be the only scenario he used it for seemed a bit foolish as he visited more and more.

You spot a somewhat large box, royal blue with a red ribbon on top, in Hyunjin’s hands. He smiles and pushes off the doorway. “I’m sorry to intrude like that, you weren’t answering your phone.” He says when he reaches you.

You shrug, “It’s okay. I was only sleeping.” Hyunjin nods and places the box in your hands with a sly grin, “Open,” He gestures towards the box. You move to the couch and take the lid off the box. The first thing on top is your very own Jiniret. “So you stop kidnapping my child,” Hyunjin laughs and slides onto the couch next to you. The next thing you pull out is an all black hoodie and when you turn it around you see Hyunjin’s name on the back. The small gesture shouldn’t cause butterflies to emerge in your stomach, but it does to your dismay.

You take out the rest of the stuff (a few small fake plants, Versace perfume that you scold him for buying for you, and a couple of his PCs sprinkled in between everything). You finally reach the bottom and furrow your eyebrows when you pull out a blindfold. You look at Hyunjin whose expression has morphed into something mischievous. He moves the box out of your lap and takes the blindfold out of your hands before tying it around your head, obstructing your vision.

“C’mon, stand up.” You do and Hyunjin slides his hand in yours, guiding you somewhere.

After a few moments you assume you’ve reached your bedroom, the smell of your favorite candle filling the air. The door clicks behind you and now you’re hyper aware of Hyunjin’s presence.

“Why are we in my room, Jin?” Instead of answering you, he runs his fingers delicately down your bare forearms, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake.

“I think we can both agree that we have more than just a normal friendship, don’t you think?” Hyunjin’s voice has noticeably dropped, causing shivers to wrack your body. Your heartbeat quickens so much that you wouldn’t be surprised if he could hear it. “I asked you a question, baby.”

Are you dreaming? You must be dreaming. There is absolutely no way you aren’t. He would never say anything like this. Right? Right. You’re pulled out of your thoughts when Hyunjin places his hands on your hips and presses you flush against his body.

Maybe you aren’t dreaming, judging by the very real, sizable erection digging into your stomach. “Hyunjin I-” You aren’t too sure what to say except to agree with him. He walks you back to the bed and gently lets you down, climbing over you soon after.

“Are you sure?” You know for sure that he would never lie about something like this, especially with you. You’re asking yourself more than you are him.

He toys with the hem of your shirt, “May I?” You nod and raise your arms as he lifts it over your head before immediately attaching his lips to your neck. Hyunjin nips at your shoulder and collar bone before making his way down to your breasts. “Do you want this?”

“Yes, please.” You whine. He unclasps your bra and throws it somewhere. His mouth attacks your right breast, his other hand massaging the other. Your back arches in pleasure and you can’t help but let out a groan. How can’t you when Hwang fucking Hyunjin has his pretty pink lips wrapped around your nipple.

“Fuck, baby. You make the sexiest sounds.” Hyunjin drops to his knees, pulling your shorts and panties down with him. His mouth waters at the sight of his index finger being swallowed whole by your tight heat.

“Holy shit,” You say breathlessly. You raise your hands to take the blindfold but he stops you.

“Not yet, baby. Want to make you come first,” With that he adds another finger and watches, mesmerized, as your cunt takes his digits. The lewd sounds filling the room are enough to make him bust right then and there. He manages to pull himself together though. That is, until he gets a taste of you.

Hyunjin’s tongue slides in between your folds in one flat stripe and he groans. The groan is so deep that you feel it vibrate through your entire being. He traces figure eights across your clit and you swear you're in heaven. His tongue is euphoric and the feeling of his delighted groans are better than ecstasy.

“Hyune, please. I’m almost there.” Your fingers tug at his roots so hard you might have to apologize later. Hyunjin doesn’t seem to mind very much.

“You’re so good for me, baby. Come on, finish for me. Let me hear those pretty little symphonies of moans.” You clench around his fingers as he increases the pressure on your clit, giving you a knee buckling orgasm. You crash so hard that Hyunjin has to hold up your waist to prevent you from falling.

He chuckles and licks the insides of your thighs clean before rising to his feet and pulling you into a wet kiss, your own juices invading your tastebuds. Hyunjin finally lets you take off the blindfold after helping you sit up. The man in front of you looks so proud of himself with a lopsided grin, your release glistening on his lips.

“Happy birthday, baby.” He pulls you into another kiss and cups your jaw.

“This gonna happen every year?” You smile. Hyunjin shakes his head.

“This is gonna happen whenever you’ll let me.”

[ducknewtonscoolhat]

On this day I present

Every single time Duck Newton is horrible at lying !

Episode 7

Duck: Yeah, it’s a nickname. Listen, y’all got a van handy, why don’t you hop in and get on trucking. Don’t forget to— don’t worry ‘bout your clothes. We’ll drive them up seperate.

Swimmer: Why can’t we take our clothes?

Duck: [freezing up] You need to— you need— uh. Here, I’ll get them. Y’all start loading in the van and I’ll bring your clothes out to ya’s. Just another one of the many services we offer from the Forestry Service.

Episode 10

Pigeon: Well, I know how to do it, I just wanna know why.

Duck: Perfect. Perfect. Why? It's for firefighter training? Yeah, it's for firefighter training. It's been a little while since I last told someone that, so I had some time to forget it. But it's for firefighting training, cuz we can't get enough water pressure to fight the fires, forest fires.

Pigeon: Out in Monongahela?

Duck: Yeeeeeeep.

Pigeon: Duck, that's on the opposite side of town. I can find other places that I can get you some more water pressure instead of pumping it out of the water park almost a mile away.

Duck: Yeah, but the water park is definitely gonna be closed. If you can tell me somewhere where you can guarantee that they're not gonna need that amount of water that's using that amount, I'd love to hear about it. Cus, off the top of my head, I can't improvise anything.

Pigeon: There's a reservoir right next to Monongahela.

Duck: The reservoir is a source of water but it's not gonna give other— fuck, listen Pigeon, here's the thing. I... love... to… practice fishing. But... the running water... frightens me, it's called hydrophobia. And I would love to practice my cast in a real water environment where I can get in a large body where I can guarantee that running water won't be a factor. And I would just love to practice my cast in a guaranteed still body. But here's the other thing, sometimes if you do it in a lake, that's what you're thinking, a fish will bite it and normally that's ideal, but I'm just trying to practice casting. It's like, when you don't want to catch, that's when they're biting, y’know what I mean? So I need a still body of water that I can guarantee won't move to practice my fishing casting.

Episode 13

Duck: I should’ve put some time into it, honestly, but I uh… I was real busy with family over the holidays, so I didn’t make much—

Mama: You literally just said you didn’t have any family in town over the holidays.

Duck: God dammit. Dammit!

Mama: I mean, it’s fine if you couldn’t dig anything up, but you don’t gotta lie to old Mama, you know?

Duck: Dammit! Dammit, Duck!

Mama: You don’t have to beat yourself up about it, Duck, I mean po—

Duck: Fuck!

Episode 14

EMT: Do you know what happened to him?

Duck: Oh boy…um…do you want the truth or a more convincing lie? Um, nah so, okay, right… so the Pizza Hut sign started to fall, ‘cause of the weather, and he ran up there on… a fire escape… and tried to push it? …With a bat? Damn it. Nah, he just pushed it, and it fell, but then he fell ‘cause he got shocked. I bet… mmm…I didn’t see. I was in-Ah, shit! Alright, hey fol-hey guys, rewind. I-hey guys, rewind a second. Ah fuck! I was inside, I didn’t see. Anything! I don’t know… this man. I do know this man. His name-Fuck!  Alright, I Ned, hi, here's-hmmm. Alright, so this man’s name is Ned, and he’s a friend of mine, and I don’t know what the hell happened to him, but you know this guy. He’s always getting into something. I don’t know, I was in the building, I almost got killed by a Pizza Hut sign. I might be in shock!

Episode 18

Duck: Honestly… uh if I gotta tell you the truth, Juno, I’m— I was trying to get into character. I’ve been—

Juno: You’re going undercover with these teens?

Duck: —I’m going undercover. I got a undercover teenage identity. It’s— it’s Frick Richums and when I assume the identity of Frick Richums, I’m trying to get undercover, with the Hornets [hisses] so I can find their illegal grow thing. [grunts]

Juno: You are a truly miserable liar, Duck Newton.

Duck: Goddamnit! I put on such a good— damnit!

Juno: Hey, when you’re finished with the… with those, those nails. Would you mind taking them back to the station? I need to sort of keep going around the perimeter see if I can find something to, you know, maybe help with your investigation to take down those— those drug kingpins, the Hornets.

Duck: Yeah, Juno, about that. I— I was kidding about that, of course. I was just having some fun. But I did… I did hear some of them talking on...... Facebook about you and how they were gonna target you. Like they need to get you out of the way. And it kinda freaked me out a little bit. Can you think of any reason anybody would wanna get you… outta the way? Or— or be targeting you? Like… for this?

Episode 21

(Deputy Dewey is asking for alibis)

Duck: Me— Me— Me too.

Deputy Dewey: You too what? You were

Duck: Yup.

Deputy Dewey: Alright…

Duck: Me too. I was— Yup, I— Yup, me too, for both. Yup, me too. Mmm…

Aubrey: Duck, are you okay? You look like you need to use the bathroom.

Duck: Nope. Yeah, I do. Yup. Uh, Burritos, alright… Bye.

Episode 22 Featuring Ned and Aubrey also being bad at lying

Morgue Technician: Can I help y'all with something?

Duck: Well, we would like to see the bodies of--

Aubrey: My brother!

Duck: My dad.

Ned: My son.

Duck: His brother. Her-- His-- His son, her brother, my dad.

Aubrey: Not related. There's two of 'em.

Ned: But you have to figure out which two.

Duck: We need to see a body for a dare. I'm sorry about all the lies from before but we need to see a body for a dare.

Aubrey: I was dared to look at the body of my brother.

Ned: And my son.

Aubrey: I was dared to look at the body of his son. Who is also my brother. Because he is my father.

Episode 32

Duck: Um… yup. It‘s… Harpo. Uh, all… [imitating crackling noise] Y‘all hearing this? [imitating crackling] The… radio break up. Radio break up. Mrrr.

[brivinty]

LOVE IS NOT OVER, IT DOSENT MAKE SENSE, STILL. ★

FEATURING; SPIDER-MAN!! Izuku x Reader (female)

— Masterlist —

CONTENT; You find out Izukus Spider-Man, things get heated, but like… in a good way. Fluff, Nicknames: Babe, baby. Fingering, multiple orgasms (f), one time spank to the ass.

Izuku is Spider-Man. Now it may sound surprising that a normal teen boy, who you just happen to be dating is Spider-Man. He’s never told you about it, you just assumed he was really busy all the time, and only liked to hang out in the morning, so you never questioned him and his oddness. Though you did question the bruises that would appear on his face and his arms but you ignored it hoping it wasn’t from home, his aunt did seem nice.

—

Izuku was out patrolling the neighborhood swinging from building to building. Then his phone rang in his pocket. He jolted before tapping the button on his earpiece. He quickly landed on the building and let out a heavy sigh. “..Hello?” He muttered pulling his mask slighly over his lips. “Hello? Hey zuku, I’m at the store, what did you want again?” You asked and he could hear the faint sounds of the stores music in the back. Izuku blinked for a couple of seconds trying to figure out why you were buying something for him. “Oh! Um! Get me anything, yea! Anything is fine.” He was quick to blurt our realizing today was both of yours movie date.

“Mk, I’ll see you then, right?” You said into the phone. “Don’t be late.” You say before ending the call and Izuku sighs contently. “Lucky me, my patrol is officially over.” Izuku said before sliding his mask down. “Luckily no one wanted to cause a ruckus today.” He said but let out a laugh and annoyed sigh when he heard sirens and people yelling. “You gotta be kidding me…!” Izuku groaned swinging into the direction of the danger.

“Gotta get this over with, she’s been waiting all week for this.” He told himself, spotting the running car. He quickly shot a web at one of the wheels, stopping the cars movement. “Out the way everyone!” He yelled and everyone cheered for him, yelling out his hero name and such. Once he stopped the car completely, he didn’t spend time to Indulge with the audience, instead he swung to his home. Once he made it he was quick to open his window and climb into his room pulling off his mask and taking off the top half of his suit, but jumped when he heard a plate drop to the ground and a gasp.

“What.. the.. FUCK!?” You yelled out, your finger pointing towards him your blush evident on your face seeing his toned abs and arms. “Babe! Hi! Uh…!” He smiled awkwardly his eyes flickering from his mask in his hand to his halfway taken off suit and to your face. “I was…. cosplaying! Ha— yeah…! …as Spider-Man! And you caught me!” He said making you give him a look. “Izuku, I’ve been here for 30 minutes, you mean to tell me, you’ve been here the whole time…cosplaying.” You said with a raised brow and your hand on your hip. He smiled before spreading his arms out widely.

“Surprise I’m Spider-Man!” He said and you looked at him dumbfounded. “Give me a second, I don’t think I heard you well.” You said taking a deep breathe. “You? your Spider-Man??” You asked blinking at him while walking closer. “..uh yea! It was supposed to be a secret! Clearly.. but—I didn’t think you were here! So I was gonna shower and be ready for the date by then a-“ you cut him off with a kiss. “Sorry, I had to couldn’t resist.” You said with a smile and he looked at you surprised. “You’re not— like mad??” He said confused. “No..? I mean, at first I was worried you were cheating— or someone was bullying you.. but now I know you weren’t cheating, just been swinging around buildings saving people.”

“In a skintight suit none the less…” you say with a laugh pulling at the fabric before walking to go pick up the plate on the ground as he tried shimmying his way out his suit looking for shorts to wear. “I thought you were cheating on me for months, because anytime I said we should hang out you always bailed on me.” You say placing the bag of chips back onto the plate glad you put the dip in a container. “But now I know you’ve just been saving the world.” You say with a grin sitting down onto the bed making him laugh. “You are so odd.” Izuku says walking towards you now in shorts but still shirtless, standing in between your legs. “How so?” You asked with a raised brow. “Any normal person would be freaking out, yet here you are, calm.” He said bringing a kiss to your lips. “Oh I’m definitely freaking out, since when did you have these?” You pointed towards his abs and he laughed. “Ever since I got bit by a spider.” He said and you grin.

“I fucking knew it! I always knew Spider-Man had to have been bit by a radioactive spider.” You said making him roll his eyes at you. “Well do you like it?” He asked and you smiled at him. “Very.” You said and he pushed you down on the bed laying on top of you. “You’re such a weirdo.” He said and you smiled. “Says the guy who’s swings around buildings daily.” You respond and he chuckles.

“Where do the webs even come from?” You asked your hand stroking his hair. “It comes from the inside part of my wrist, I just yknow, tst-“ before he could finish you cut him off. “Oh yea you just tst..?” You mock laughing at him as he rolls his eyes before giving you a kiss.

You smiled as the two of you pulled away before going back in. The two of you start to kiss each other eagerly Izuku getting up slowly from his laying down position now bent slightly on his knees his hand underneath your chin as you two made out. You both pulled away breathing heavily Izuku looking down at you. “Damn…” you whispered out looking up at him. He smiled widely at you before placing a kiss to your forehead. “Oh yeah, act all cute after that?” You sass with a pout looking away from him.

“Did you wanna continue..?” Izuku asked with a playful grin. “I mean.. if you wanted to I don’t mind..” you say with a suggestive look lingering on your face. He chuckled slightly before bringing his lips to meet yours again this time his hands roaming around your body feeling up on your curves. His hands went down to your thighs squeezing them slightly before massaging your inner thigh. You whimpered softly and he smiled into the kiss before going down to your neck kissing and sucking it. “Zuku...” You whined as your hands played with his hair tugging at it softly causing him to groan at the feeling. “Calm down, im getting to it.” He said with a slightly chuckle his lips ticking at the skin on your neck.

His hands slid up your shirt grabbing both of your breast squeezing and flicking your nipples. You moaned out your head leaning back on the bed rest allowing him more access. He finally pulled away leaning his body back, he tugged at your shirt making your body move on its own quick to take it off. “—fuck” He groaned slightly his hands brushing over his face, his face slightly red and his cock hard against his boxers. “Your not wearing a bra?” He asked as his hands gently grabbed onto one of your breast his lips closing around one as he sucked slighly on it. “Thought—…thought we were just gonna watch— movie..” you moaned out your hands pulling at his hair.

Your back arched as you moaned out, he sucked harder suddenly motivated to make you feel good. His hand moved down in between your legs sqezzing at your thighs before softly caressing your inner thigh then looking up at you. You nodded your head slightly, giving him permission to go further. He pulled away slightly before backing up slightly pulling down your loose shorts, his smirk evident at your slightly damp panties pulling them off. He grabbed your thighs before pulling you down slightly then laying down and lifting your thighs onto his shoulders.

He kissed your inner thigh a smile fighting to form on his face as you whimpered loudly. His tongue swept over your folds and your clit. His fingers dug into the flesh of your thighs as he sucked your soaked lips into his mouth, tongue sliding between them. His thumb rubbed hard circles over your clit as he continued to pump his tongue into you, leaving you gasping and reaching for the covers. As your fingers sunk into his hair, you could barely hold on as your heart raced in your chest. You whined at the loss as he drew his mouth back.

You moaned out as he inserted two fingers in your soaking cunt. He brung his thumb up to your lips your instinct pushing you to take it into your mouth a smile evident on his face at the action. Your hips bucked wildly as you pulled on his green curls you kept moaning as you sucked his fingers in reaching your first orgasm. You whined and moaned out as his fingers abused you soaking cunt. “You gonna cum?” He teased as he felt your body convulse and squirm as you threw your head back into the sheets.

Your legs shook as your thighs shut together, his hands quick to pry them open as you hit your peak moaning out loudly. You breathed out heavily your eyes blinking slowly as you caught yourself Izuku kissing at your thighs muttering out. ‘Goods jobs’ and ‘you did greats’. “Want you in me..” you whined out boldly causing Izuku to look at you with wide eyes before he chuckled and With a swift motion, he lifts you from your laying position and turns you around, positioning you on all fours on the bed. His hand glides across your ass, giving it a firm smack, the sound of the impact echoing through the room. "Zuku—!” You gasped out at the action, you could feel his smirk from miles away.

He positions himself behind you, his cock pressing against your wet folds, teasingly grazing your entrance. He leans in close, his face hovering near your ear. "You ready?" he ask, his voice coming off as a seductive whisper. “Give me all of it..” you whined out and he groaned at your answer before he slides himself into you with a single, powerful thrust, impaling you fully. You squealed and gasped at the thrust and quick pace your hands gripping onto the sheets as you moaned and whined in pleasure.

His thrusts continue with an intensity, each one driving into you with a forceful urgency. The sounds of skin against skin fill the room, mixing with your moans and gasps, as he takes you completely, relishing in the power he holds over you. Your hands reach out for his as tears start to well in your eyes the pleasure to much for you to handle, not quite used to this side of your boyfriend. He reaches out, intertwining his fingers with yours, offering a sense of comfort amidst the intensity of the moment.

He quickens his pace, the force of his thrusts building in intensity as his own arousal reaches its peak. The sounds of your moans, your whines, fill the room, blending with his own carnal grunts. The pleasure and pain become intertwined, an intoxicating mix that pushes you both closer to the edge of ecstasy. “Where do you want it—?” He grunted out slamming into you. “I-inside! F—fuck! Inside of me Zuku!” You moaned out your head smushed againts the pillow as your tears stained the whole covering. With one final, powerful thrust, he releases himself inside you, his groans mingling with your cries of pleasure. He holds you tightly, the sweat-slicked bodies pressed against each other, as the waves of orgasm wash over both of you.

He slowly withdraws from your body, his gaze lingering on the marks he has left on your skin. He smiled softly before rubbing softly at your waist before turning your body over placing a kiss to your temples. “Gonna go grab a rag.. don’t pass out..” he says with a smile at the sight of your fucked out figure. He was quick to come back from the bathroom wiping off all the slick and sweat from your body before grabbing you one of his shirts to wear sliding it over you, the shirt oversized on you making him smile.

“Sorry.. think I went too hard.” He said with a slight frown making you shake you head. “No—! No.. it was good.. I liked it.” You say with a smile placing a soft peck to his lips as his grin grew wide. “Good for Spider-Man right?” He asked with a shit eating grin and you laughed slightly. “Mhm.. pretty good for Spider-Man.”

[silent-sanctum]

HIII I LOVEEE YOUR WORKS !!! can i request jotaro x reader but where by a stand attack jotaro was now part 6 jotaro with the teen reader ? How shocked and flustered would be rrader by seeing jitaro in his 40's ! Ty!!!

hiya anon! Thank you for the kind words 🥹 Sorry it took so long for me to get your request out. It was supposed to be yesterday but then some mishaps happened and it was delayed to today. But here we are! Hope you enjoy this quick lil crack(?) fic I wrote 💌

A Mild Inconvenience- 6!Taro x Reader

word count: 2.7k

You have no idea where he went nor when he disappeared.

It was strange as it happened when you think about it again; one day, you and Jotaro were out and about investigating the area for any suspicious activity, and then out of the blue a random stranger jumped out from the shadows and made a weird proclamation of sorts about taking down the Crusaders.

It wasn’t anything surprising given he was the nth enemy Stand user they faced throughout this trip and judging by the way he presented himself, he’s also boasting a fragile ego thinking he was all that.

But an enemy was still an enemy so you and your delinquent partner had no problem beating him to a pulp. It was rather easy compared to the previous opponents they faced. His Stand wasn’t anything grand at all; just a small ratty pouch filled with sparkling purple sand.

The weird aspect of the whole situation was when the guy was about to tap out after being at the receiving end of Star Platinum’s punch barrage, only then did he decide to get a fistful of sand from his tiny bag and throw it straight at Jotaro’s face.

Some of it ended up on yours and caused you to close your eyes for a brief second, covering your face as an extra barrier, and when you opened them, you furrowed your brows at the sudden lack of both Jotaro and the knocked-out Stand user.

“What-”

You waved the remaining plume of sand away from your face as you surveyed your surroundings. Don’t tell me- You double-checked the structures surrounding you, the locals walking about, and the general weather. Nope. I’m still in Cairo. The possibility of me in an alternate universe can be crossed out now.

But that didn’t answer the prevailing question of where the fuck did those two go?

“Jotaro-ssi?” You called out to him as you headed your way somewhere. You don’t know where but anywhere will do if it helped finding him. Not that it would be hard to spot a 6’5” tall teenager among the average-height people. “I don’t know if you’re trying to get back at me for teasing you but leaving me by myself isn’t exactly the best decision, asshole.”

You kept scouting the area for any signs of him, turned corners, and explored every alleyway. And still… nothing.

This went on for what felt like 45 minutes and at this point, you sweated a lot and your thighs started to cramp. With your hands on your hips, you groaned in frustration, head tilted to the sky. “Wah, who would’ve known you’d use Mr. Joestar’s family technique against me. Foul play,” you scoffed. “I get it, alright? Just show yourself already.”

Just as you were about to call it quits and assume he just went back to the inn where the others were, something caught your eye at the corner of your vision. In the midst of a parting crowd, you could spot someone standing out from the rest. Someone with a signature ripped hat and coat.

You smirked. “You and your tall ass.”

With a confident stride, you stalked past the unbothered locals and made your way to the towering figure. However, as you neared him, it was only then you noticed the stark difference in his appearance; instead of his primarily black school uniform, he was decked in a purple-dominating outfit with gold accents all over. The design of his chain was different too, changed from the simple golden hoops to one that ended with a golden hook or anchor.

But aside from his grandfather, you knew no one else as tall as the delinquent, so you pushed forward and poked the man’s shoulder. “Hello, I believe you left something valuable back there.”

“Excuse me?”

You stepped back and gaped at the subtle difference in his voice. Not like there were any major differences. It’s still deep and gravelly, but somehow his voice was… milder for lack of a better term. As if it was polished to be more refined.

And as he turned around to look at you, you gaped at the visible changes found in your supposed 17-year-old boyfriend.

Jotaro looked older… way older than he’s supposed to. His cheekbones were more prominent, his eyes a bit sunken, gray streaks of hair lined segments of his head underneath his purple hat, and his hair was trimmed short. Not only that, it seemed that underneath his new flashier coat, he seemed to be built… a bit more. Resembling that of young, about-to-be silver foxes?

You cleared your throat and hoped the warmth in your cheeks faded as instantly as you wished. “Jotaro-ssi?”

He squinted at you, equally confused. “Y/N-ssi?”

“I don’t know if it’s just the heat starting to make me see things, but you look really different… and older.”

“Likewise. You look like your vibrant, youthful self.”

You coughed, trying not to succumb to bashful flattery from the compliment said by the gruff voice of this seemingly more mature Jotaro. “Clearly- well first off, thank you for that- but I’ll have to clarify some things.”

Jotaro tilted his head in curiosity. “I have questions to ask myself. But go on.”

“This might sound stupid but how old are you?”

“40.”

You remained silent, speechless with your brows furrowed and mouth agape as you processed what he said. “F-Forty? 4… 0?”

But he dismissed your surprise and simply asked, “What year is it today?”

“1987?”

Jotaro cursed under his breath, crossing his arms. “Figured… how the hell did this happen?” He let out a deep sigh. “Good grief, I’m too tired for this. Just as I was about to finish paperwork as well.”

“Hey Jo- err mister,” you said. “Can we talk about whatever the heck is going on somewhere that’s not in the open?”

He turned back to you and with one sweeping look around his surroundings, he nodded. “Sure.”

---

It was out of nowhere when he found himself standing in the middle of a marketplace.

Not even a minute passed and with a blink of an eye, Jotaro was no longer in his office signing documents but found himself getting pushed and shoved by a passing crowd of dark to tan-skinned locals. He recognized these buildings and streets. With a cock of his head, he said to himself, “What… Why am I here?”

Just then, someone poked his back. “Hello, I believe you left something valuable back there.”

Wait. “Excuse me?”

He turned around and he grew even more confused as he saw you- or rather, a younger you- behind him, looking up at him with an expression that mirrored his.

This was odd. The last he saw you was mere hours ago as you- a 40-year-old version of you- kissed him goodbye as you headed off to the Foundation to resume work while he stayed behind to focus on tasks related to his day job as a biologist.

But then he considered a couple of things: The buildings of Cairo, the locals, a stunned you being a teenager…

It meant one thing and as he asked you that question, you confirmed it and he was appalled. Nothing happened to him in his timeline, but it wasn’t the case for his younger self.

You offered to bring him back indoors where they could continue the discussion somewhere more private, and with nothing else giving him any solutions to his dilemma, he agreed.

Hence, here they were- sitting a couple of feet apart in a room of an inn with the rest of the Crusaders out still doing their agendas for the day. You sat on the foot of the bed while he remained leaning against the wall, finger under his chin as he tried to figure out what to do.

“Knowing you, I guess you’d rather we talk about possible solutions to your current situation?”

“It won’t be necessary,” Jotaro said. “As it always was with the others, it’s a Stand attack and it caused your Jotaro to swap with me, a future version of him. And since I’m here it means that the ability is currently active. The usual solution to this is to find the user again and tamper with his Stand to bring everything back to normal.”

“We’ll simply approach the old man or the agent currently working with him now to find the latest intel on the Stand user. That way, we can track him down faster. However, since they’re currently out wherever, we’ll simply just wait for them to arrive here and then we can ask for the important details.”

You stared at him with awe. “Woah, you’re much more knowledgeable about this whole Stand business than I thought.”

He shrugged. “Years of experience do that to you.”

“I mean yeah but it’s just wild how age can change a person because look at you!” You said as you made a sweeping gesture over his body. “Not only did you age like fine wine, but you actually grew out of your ‘tough guy’ act into this sage-like adult! Look at you openly sharing a strategy that isn’t just punching.”

Jotaro might have blushed at the ‘fine wine’ comment but pretended to not notice it and said, “I’ve always thought about strategies ever since my teenage years. It’d be dumb if the only solution to everything was a heavy punch or two.”

“I did say ‘openly’, didn’t I?” You raised a brow at him. “Let’s be honest, you did often resort to a classic Star Platinum barrage when it’s offered on the table.”

He thought back to his youth and took into account how often he resorted to simple violence as a quick solution to everything. Huh. I guess you weren’t wrong. “Well… you have a point. But let’s say it’s simply me still learning how Star worked. He did just manifest the same year as the trip.”

“You also called him an evil spirit,” you said. “Poor Star when all he did was protect you.”

Jotaro rolled his eyes and he could’ve sworn a part of his soul did the same thing in him. “I didn’t know better. Besides, he’s grown to be a reliable companion over the years. That I can acknowledge.”

Then there was a moment of silence where you just stared at him without a word. He kept silent as well, staring out the window as he waited for time to pass. “Oh by the way mister,” he glanced at you. “Is that a wedding ring snug on your finger?”

Admittedly, he never expected you to bring up that specific observation but he should’ve seen it coming when he had his arms exposed and crossed for you to eventually see. “Yeah. What about it?”

With a smug look, you interlocked your fingers under your chin and said, “Who’s the lucky person Mr. Kujo?”

Jotaro stared at you and various images of an aged version of you flashed in mind; memories of you during your wedding day, to when he accompanied you as you joined the Speedwagon Foundation, down until you brought your daughter Jolyne into the world and watched her grow into a confident woman with him by your side.

He broke his gaze with a cough and feigned casual stoicism. “I can’t disclose future events.”

Being the same perceptive individual as he knew you in the future, you smirked with a knowing look. “I see. I must say, how lucky they were to bag someone so intellectual and strong. What do you do again aside from tracking Stand users of course? I’m curious.”

“Primarily, I work as one of the leading marine biologists in the institute I’m under, but I part-time as a biology professor at a university in Florida as well.”

“Ooh~” you drawled with an impressed yet bashful smile growing behind the hand covering your pink cheeks. “Such accolades. Guess that interest of yours really took off, huh?”

Jotaro curled his lip, proud of himself for once. “It appeared so.”

“Gotta take notes for when 17-year-old you return,” you snickered. “Got any kids?”

“Perhaps.”

“How many? Girl or boy?”

“A daughter.”

You cooed, holding back a squeal of wholesome adoration. “I knew it. I figured you’d be a girl dad! I can only imagine how cute she is.” Jotaro smiled again. Jolyne was his little bundle of joy indeed. “Though if I’m gonna be honest, I thought she had siblings.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, weren’t you going at it as passionate lovers?”

Jotaro choked on his spit, caught off guard at the sudden question. “Well we are busy adults so we didn’t get many opportunities, but in the occasional moments we do, it is indeed… passionate. You did have the stamina and vigor to ravage me when you could.”

You stared at him, stunned. “What?”

He stared back, not registering what he said. “What?”

And then silence again between two staring individuals.

“Y/N! Jotaro! We’re back!”

Both you and he snapped out of the unintentional staring contest, each of them covering their embarrassed faces behind their hands as they looked anywhere but at each other. You dumbass. Why did you say that?

“W-Well,” you started. “They’re here now. I guess we start finding the guy responsible for this?”

Jotaro reeled from his minute-long foolishness and put his default stone-faced expression back on. “The sooner the better.”

---

Just as he said, beating the enemy Stand user the second time did the trick.

To start, upon seeing one of their companions aged up significantly, the Crusaders reasonably questioned both of you about what the hell was going on and you explained half of what had happened, only for Jotaro to help you out by continuing the other half of the conversation.

And you weren’t going to lie, but learning that he was able to voice out his thoughts more openly than before was both admiring and attractive. But your apparent affinity for hot older men with kids will be tackled on another day. Probably never.

After disclosing the need to locate the pocket sand Stand user, Mr. Joestar and the agent working with him were able to track his current location and the first second it was revealed, both of you wasted no time and hurried over to the man responsible.

Luckily for both of you, you didn’t have to resort to any more violence as the user- already beaten down and recovering from his injuries- complied with whatever you wanted out of him and let him hand over his magic Stand sand.

You and old man Jotaro said your goodbyes. It was nothing too special nor was it anything emotional. You were surprised to see a future version of your boyfriend, got fascinated by his progress in life, and now not only were you about to meet up with the current Jotaro and spill the news about what he was to become, you also got to bring back the adult to his timeline.

A win-win for everyone.

Little did you know just as the sand struck him again, the plumes still managed to fly onto your face and caused your eyes to shut and your brain to fuzz out momentarily.

When you opened them again, you were met with the classic punk delinquent Jotaro that you knew and love.

He coughed and waved the remaining sand cloud hovering around you and said, “What the hell was that?”

“An inconvenience that’s what,” you said. “Oh! By the way, I have something to share with you!”

“Same. You go first.”

“Alright, so…” You started with enthusiasm, only for your words to trail off as your mind ran blank. “I… uh, I don’t remember what I was about to say actually.”

Jotaro crossed his arms. “Oh really?”

“You know I don’t joke about this,” you whined. “Well, how about you go ahead and tell me about your day then, hm?”

He didn’t say anything as he looked elsewhere, eyes deep in concentration as he was trying to search for a specific memory in his brain, and after a minute or two of nothing, you smirked at him. “Well? Where’s the story time, Jotaro-ssi?”

“Fuck, I can’t recall anything.”

You chuckled. “I thought so. Serves you right for doubting me.”

“H-Hey, can I go now?”

You and Jotaro turned to the meek ex-enemy Stand user, hands up under the heavy weight of your stares. He looked at you and cocked a brow. “Your call.”

At that, you shrugged. “Sure.” You turned to the delinquent with a content smile. He, in turn, averted his gaze away from yours with faint reddened cheeks. “I already got what I need from you.”

[s0lidar1ty]

getting high with r.c.

pairing: rafe x fem reader

word count: 600+

warnings: drinking, drugs, implied smut (but no actual sex)

getting high with rafe was something different. mostly because he gets all quiet and just stares at you with his low eyes.

“rafe, baby, how you doin over there?” you say from across the couch.

rafe nods and just continues watching you interact with the other people at the party. keeping an eye out for anyone trying to overstep their boundaries.

you down another shot before telling the person you were talking to, topper, that you had to go.

you move to where rafe is and sit on his lap. “you ready to go yet?”

rafe wraps his arms around your waist and kisses you on the lips. “nah, not yet. how bout you?” he says, rubbing your hips.

you shake your head. “wanna get unsober a lil more before we go.”

“you're not drinking anymore, baby. just cause the alcohol hasn’t kicked in yet doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken affect.” his thumb rubs your thigh subconciously.

“but it could. it was sweeter than usual.”

rafe chuckles. “that means you’re done for the night. i’m not gonna let you drink anything else.”

you cross your arms over your chest, pretending to think. “what if i get high instead?”

“you’re not getting cross faded either.”

“says who-?”

“says me,” he says, cutting you off.

“bold of you to assume i’ll listen to you.”

“bold of you to assume that you won’t when you always do.”

you stare at him for a bit, a smirk forming on your lips. “i wanna go home now.”

“yeah? you don’t want everyone to hear you?”

you shrug, a playful smirk on your lips. “don’t wanna get distracted when you’re inside me.”

“one more then we’ll leave,” rafe says, putting the blunt to his lips and inhaling.

“just one time, rafey, please?”

rafe exhales slowly, letting the smoke hit you in the face. “this is your first and last time, you hear me?”

a smile plasters across your face as you nod.

rafe puts his hand on your lower back, taking another draw and exhaling the smoke directly into your mouth. “inhale it..then exhale through your mouth, just like that..good job baby.”

a few puffs later and it feels as if your skin is on fire but in the best way possible.

“you doin alright?” rafe asks, running his hands up and down your thighs.

“keep doing that and we’re gonna end up fucking on this couch,” you mumble, putting your arms around his neck and nuzzling your face into the crook of his neck.

rafe chuckles and gets up, wrapping your legs around his waist and putting his hand on your ass to keep you from falling.

he carries you to the car, letting you down for only a few seconds while he unlocks and opens the door. he picks you up again to put you in your seat, buckling your seatbelt for you and closes your door, going to the drivers side. he keeps one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the inside of your thigh, caressing it.

as you guys pull into the driveway and rafe opens your door, picking you up again, you ask, “you know you don’t have to carry me, right?”

“can you walk straight?” he says, locking the car doors and putting you down.

you take a slow step forward and trip but rafe catches you before you can hit the ground.

he picks you back up. “my point exactly.” unlocking the front door with you still wrapped around him, rafe puts you down. “bedroom.”

“what happened to carrying me?” you ask, a pout on your lips.

“what happened to ‘you know you don’t have to carry me, right?’”

you roll your eyes and sit down on the floor. you’re about to take off your shoes when rafe stops you.

“stand up.” you stand (with his help of course), and he kneels down.

“foot.” you put your foot on his knee and he takes off your shoe for you, rubbing the bottom of your foot when he’s done. he does the same for the other then lets you stumble your way to the bedroom while he goes to the kitchen.

you somehow make your way into the bathroom connecting to your room. you grab a hair tie, one of the more elastic ones, from off the counter and put your hair in a loose bun to get it out your face.

rafe stands in the doorway, watching you with a smile on his face. “leave the makeup on.”

“why?” you say, putting down the makeup wipe you had in your hand.

“because i want it running down your face, sweetheart, why else? now cmon.”

you giggle to yourself and follow him back into your bedroom.

“let me help you out of your dress,” he says softly, turning you around.

you let him unzip your dress, smiling as it falls to the ground.

“cmon, princess,” he says, sitting down on the bed. he pulls you onto his lap, hands wrapping around your waist, lips pressing against yours.

[dreamwritesimagines]

Garden of Secrets [9] - Lavender

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback and support my loves, it made my whole week, you’re amazing!❤ I hope you’ll like this chapter as well, and please don’t forget to tell me what you think, thank you! ❤

Thanks so much to @theskytraveler​ for helping me with the chapter!

Summary: A rushed engagement raises certain questions.

Warnings: Regency era society and social rules, some gender specific language and terms.

Word Count: 4300

Series Masterlist

This could not be happening.

No. There was no way.

You rushed out of the carriage as soon as it came to a stop and gathered your skirts to climb the marble stairs leading up to your house as fast as you could, ignoring your aunt saying your name. Darting through the door, you did not even stop to catch your breath, instead you made your way upstairs and passed through the hallway until you reached your room and opened the door, then closed it behind you and leaned back to it, your eyes burning with unshed tears.

With just one kiss, you were now to be married.

You had to give it to him, Benedict could be an excellent liar when he wanted to, or at least when your reputation was hanging by a thread.

“Married?” Lady Featherington said, doubt apparent in her tone and Lady Bridgerton’s eyes widened. Your aunt gasped.

“What?”

Benedict reached out to entwine his fingers with yours, squeezing your trembling hand lightly before running his thumb over your skin, trying to calm you down.

“You must forgive me for my shock,” Benedict said, shooting them that crooked grin of his, the one that you suspected had gotten him out of trouble multiple times. “I proposed to Miss Y/N just a moment before you caught us, what you saw was nothing more than our…enthusiastic happiness for our engagement.”

You gawked at him. “But—”

He shot you a look, making you frown before he turned to them again.

“I told my mother, she was supposed to ask Lady Thorne but I’m afraid I could not wait that long,” he said, motioning at her. “Mother, you haven’t had the chance to tell Lady Thorne I assume?”

Lady Bridgerton blinked a couple of times, then managed to smile.

“Not yet,” she said, causing Lady Danbury to raise her brows and she turned to look at your aunt. “Caroline, I was waiting for the end of the ball but you know young lovers, they rarely possess any patience.”

Your aunt looked at you. “Y/N, is that true?”

You felt as if you were watching this whole disaster from afar but somehow, your mind decided to follow Benedict’s lead for a reason unknown to you at that moment.

“I was going to tell you,” you managed to say when you found your voice and forced a small smile. “Upon Lord Shaw’s proposal, I had an epiphany.”

“…An epiphany?” she repeated and you nodded.

“Yes.”

“We’re in love,” Benedict added helpfully, holding up your entwined hands and you closed your eyes for a moment, then opened them and nodded again.

“What he—what he said.”

A silence fell upon you and your aunt pressed a hand over her chest.

“My dearest, you should’ve told me beforehand! Oh, so many things to do—”

“Does Lord Thorne know about this?”

Your aunt waved a hand in the air. “My husband will be happy beyond words that our Y/N finally found love!”

Lady Featherington arched a brow, looking between you two as if she was trying to see through your lie, then heaved a sigh.

“Well I suppose it’s less of a scandal, but a scandal nonetheless,” she pointed at you and Benedict. “The fact that you’re engaged does not condone that type of behavior, you are to wait until you’re lawfully wedded to engage in such…matters.”

“They’re in love and are to be married my dear Lady Featherington,” Lady Danbury spoke for the first time. “Leave them be.”

“When is the wedding?”

“We haven’t…”

“We will decide on it once Lord Thorne is made aware of this,” Lady Bridgerton said. “We must wait for his approval as well.”

“Y/N, come on,” your aunt motioned at you and grabbed your arm to pull you closer. “We’re going back home, I must give the good news to your uncle!”

You pressed your palms into your eyes until you saw shiny dots in the dark, then lowered your hands to your lap. It hadn’t hit you back then, but now that you were thinking about it…

The moment they had seen you together it was decided for you, you had to be married. The only difference was whether the ton would think it was by your choice or that you were being forced to do so, or worse, whether you had trapped him by doing so. Considering the rumors about him and Charlotte -and no thanks to Lady Whistledown- everyone thought you were already placing yourself in the way of years long courtship, and by lying right to their faces about a proposal and you two being in love, Benedict had made sure that no one could speak anything badly of you, at least as far as this situation went.

Yet, that did nothing to put your heart at ease.

You knew what husbands were like, you knew what he would turn into no matter how sweet and understanding he seemed so far, you knew the moment he got angry—

“Clover?”

Your head shot up at your uncle’s voice behind the door along with the soft knock, and you wiped your eyes with the back of your hand before pushing yourself off the floor to fix your dress, trying to look as decent as possible.

“Come in, uncle.”

He opened the door and stepped inside, worry etched over his features.

“Were you crying?”

“I’m…” You wiped at your nose. “I’m overwhelmed, that is all. It was a long night.”

“I know, I just heard,” he pointed at the door with his thumb. “Your aunt is on cloud nine.”

At least someone was happy about tonight.

“But the way she told me of the incident,” he said, motioning at you to sit down on the chair by the table, then pulled himself a seat as well. “It makes me question certain things.”

“Like what?”

“You’re in love with Benedict Bridgerton?”

You paused before nodding your head. “Uh huh.”

“Dearest, the last time we spoke you said he annoyed you and that you would never marry him.”

“Yes I know but I had an epiphany,” you repeated your lie from earlier. “Lord Shaw’s proposal made me think about marriage and tonight with Ben—with Mr Bridgerton,” you corrected yourself. “It felt right.”

At least that wasn’t a complete lie. That kiss had felt right, like you were both made for kissing each other and nothing more. It was as if you were always meant to be, as if this desire pushing you to each other ever since you had met him was fate—

But it wasn’t and you knew it very well. That was merely bait, some sort of lure to make you lower your defenses.

Perhaps the ton had been wrong.

You weren’t the Venus Flytrap here, he was.

“And you want this?” your uncle said. “Clover my dear, you can tell me if you do not. We would figure it out, I assure you.”

You bit inside your cheek, deep in thought. As genuine as it was, you knew there was nothing he could do. If you and Benedict didn’t get married after tonight, it wasn’t just your reputation that would be ruined, it was your uncle and aunt’s as well. They would be outcasted from the respectable society of London, so would Teddy and—

No. You could not simply sit back and watch that happen.

You managed to will a smile on your face, then nodded again.

“Of course,” you managed to say. “What else could I possibly want?”

                                                 *

You couldn’t sleep that night. Even though you had tried your hardest to at least find some refuge in sleep, you kept tossing and turning in bed and the moment you dozed off, you woke up gasping for air. The morning wasn’t so good either, you had told your aunt you wanted to be the one to tell Teddy but the moment you so much as mentioned getting married -the word still felt foreign in your mouth- Teddy had ran to his room and slammed the door behind him. Even though you could’ve opened the door and walked in, you decided to try to convince him to open the door himself.

“Teddy?” you knocked on the door and only heard a sniffle from the other side of the door, the sound making you feel as if someone was squeezing your heart. “May I come in?”

“No!”

You bit inside your cheek. “Don’t be like this,” you said. “Please. I know that it’s very sudden—”

“You promised!”

That was more than enough to send tears to your eyes but you gritted your teeth at yourself and blinked back the tears.

“I know,” you said. “I didn’t plan this, I swear to you.”

“I don’t believe you!” he shouted from the other side and you leaned your forehead on the door, keeping quiet for a moment.

“I wouldn’t either,” you murmured and pulled back, drumming your fingernails on the wood. “Teddy, come on. Open the door so that we can talk face to face, hm?”

You heard the shuffling of his footsteps before the door cracked open so that you could see the half of his face, his eyelashes wet with tears. You could feel your heart dropping but you offered him a small smile.

“May I come in?”

He pouted his lips and opened the door wider before walking back to his bed, and plopped down on it with a huff. You sat down on the bed as well and crossed his arms, looking at you with a frown.

“Who are you getting married to?” he asked like a demand and you swallowed thickly.

“You’ve met him before,” you said. “Outside the flower exhibition, remember?”

Teddy narrowed his eyes as if trying to remember, then looked up at you. “He was tall.”

“Mm hm, he is quite tall. And he was friendly with you, no?”

Teddy shrugged his shoulders, keeping quiet.

“Did you like him?” you asked him and he shrugged again.

“I don’t know yet.” he said. “Why did you lie to me and said you wouldn’t marry anyone soon?”

You shook your head fervently. “I didn’t lie to you,” you said. “It was a…sudden decision.”

“If you marry him, does that mean you will move to his house?”

You managed to keep your expression still by some miracle.

“Yes but I will come and see you every day,” you assured him. “Every single day, like I still live here—”

“But you won’t live here.”

“No,” you said after a beat. “But I’m not going to be far away from here, it’s not the same situation as Josie.”

“Josie left.”

“I know that but I’m not leaving,” you said. “You’re my little brother, I could never, ever leave you Teddy. I swear on my life.”

He rubbed at his eye before snuggling closer to you and you wrapped your arms around him to give him a tight hug.

“Can I visit you there?”

“I’d be very sad if you didn’t,” you said, burying your nose into his hair like you used to when he was a baby and he sniffled.

“But it won’t change things, will it?” he asked. “Marriage?”

You tried to ignore the familiar fear filling you upon the mention of marriage and you closed your eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath.

“Of course not,” you lied through your teeth. “I can assure you my dearest, nothing will change.”

                                                     *

If it were any other time, you would have thrown yourself to your garden as a distraction but for the very first time in your life, you had a feeling it would be futile. All you wanted was just burying yourself into the fluffy covers and sleep until the events of last night disappeared from your mind but it was impossible. With Teddy having his lessons with his tutor, you had nothing to do but be alone with your thoughts. After writing your letter to Josie explaining what happened last night, you placed it on the small table in the foyer for the butler to send it with the rest of the letters, you made your way to the music room where you knew would be empty. Your aunt was so enthusiastic to talk about the upcoming wedding but even thinking about it was enough to make you feel as if you were being smothered, so you made your way to the music room where you knew would be empty.

And no one would look for you there anyway.

At least that was what you thought.

You were so emotionally exhausted that you hadn’t even noticed yourself dozing off on the sofa and for what it was worth, you were quite certain you had been asleep for about half a minute when you heard the butler announcing Benedict’s name. Your whole body jolted awake as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on you, and you felt your heartbeat getting faster as you sat up in the sofa. You weren’t ready to see him after last night and you were hoping he shared the sentiment, so you took a step to the door in order to close it, but that was when he entered the hallway and apparently saw you out of the corner of his eye because he turned to head.

“Y/N.”

The events of last night flashed through your mind but even that wasn’t enough for you to completely ignore the slight warmth spreading through your chest upon hearing your name from his lips.

No, you could not—

You could not afford to have that kind of confusion, especially now.

You crossed your arms, shooting him an icy glare which made him frown slightly, then looked around.

“May I come in?”

You shrugged your shoulders, biting inside your cheek as he stepped inside and you caught the sight of a white envelope in his hand. He followed your gaze and held it up.

“It’s uh—it’s a dinner invitation for you and your family from my mother,” he said. “After last night, I figured it’d be better to give it to your aunt in person.”

You dug your fingernails into your palm. “You could just tell her you changed your mind, you know.”

He stared at you for a moment. “And ruin your life?”

He had a point there.

It was impossible to break this engagement without having your name dragged through the mud, especially considering the position you were caught in last night. If either of you broke the engagement, it would mean a scandal for the both of you -particularly you- so you knew as well as he did that it was out of question.

You shrugged your shoulders again, letting out a furious breath.

“That ship has long sailed for me,” you murmured. “And for you as well.”

His eyes flickered over your face and he took a step towards you but you immediately stepped back, making him freeze in his spot.

“Y/N,” he said after a beat. “I know it wasn’t something we talked of or planned before and I apologize for the manner that it happened but if I didn’t say that, they’d tear you apart.”

That was putting it lightly.

If you two were caught kissing without marriage in the horizon? Benedict would be criticized yes, but he could walk away unharmed in the end. With the family he had and his artistic talents which was surely going to make him famous judging by the admiration of the ton, no one would even bring it up to him a couple of years down the line.

You on the other hand?

The ton wouldn’t stop until they were picking at your dead body like vultures.

And even hours after in all this mess, you could still remember how that fire felt. You had gone to him willingly, kissed him willingly and if it weren’t for this freezing fear of what was to happen once you were married, even now you still would—

Oh you were a goddamn idiot.

Not only were you a goddamn idiot, this was also pathetic. He was being forced into this just as much as you were, and just because he managed to cover it better than you did not mean you couldn’t see through the lie. He did not want to get married, that much was obvious to anyone and he certainly wasn’t planning on marrying you. He was supposed to get married to someone like Charlotte, someone softer, someone nicer, someone who was the complete opposite of you.

Last night was just a lapse of judgement on both sides, that was all.

“I know,” you said, shifting your weight from one foot to other as you unfolded your arms. “I’m well aware of it.”

“I wasn’t trying to trick or trap you—”

“This conversation would have gone very differently if I believed you were,” you cut him off and his eyes searched your face.

“Yet you resent me.”

“No more than you will resent me,” you pointed out and he pulled his brows together.

“Resent you?” he asked. “Y/N, why would I resent you?”

You shot him a glare.

“I didn’t walk away, did I?” you asked him. “Last night. Everything would have been different if I just walked away and went back to the ballroom, but I didn’t—”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Benedict…”

“I am,” he insisted as he reached to hold your hand, making you close your eyes for a moment. “I do not regret it, not a single second.”

“You should,” you muttered as you opened your eyes but fixed your gaze on the floor and he hesitated for a second.

“Do you?”

You couldn’t bring yourself to lie and say yes, not when you could still taste his kiss on your lips, not when you knew deep down that you still craved him. You would have done anything to escape the consequences but you couldn’t—

You couldn’t bring yourself to regret that moment, not at all.

A sigh escaped from you as you forced yourself to pull your hands from his, then crossed your arms over your chest again.

“I do not, but—”

“Then it changes nothing.”

A bitter chuckle left your lips. “Please stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Taking me for a fool.”

He tilted his head. “I’m not doing that.”

“Yes you are!” you insisted and he ran a hand over his eyes.

“Y/N…”

“It changes everything and you know that, you—” you stopped yourself, shaking your head. “I honestly do not have time for this, I must go check on Teddy.”

He looked like he wanted to disagree but you walked past him before he could say anything, then turned around when you reached the door.

“As far as the whole ton and our families are concerned, we are in love and I understand that we will have to pretend as such,” you said. “And I appreciate you doing what you did, but it’s just us here so there’s no need to lie to each other. You would’ve never married me and I would’ve never married you if it weren’t for the ton forcing us so stop taking me for a fool, because I’m too smart to be deceived by this whole charade.”

He stared at you, a flash of sadness crossing his handsome features, making your heart drop but you swallowed thickly.

“My aunt is in the drawing room,” you told him. “I’m sure she will be delighted by your family’s invitation. Have a lovely day, Mr. Bridgerton.”

With that, you turned around and walked away from him, your heart still beating in your ears.

                                                     *

Towards the afternoon, you were so desperate to get away from your thoughts that you decided to get out of the house. Going to the city center to buy some seeds for your garden sounded like a good idea, so you took your maid with you since your aunt was already very busy with choosing what to wear to the dinner at the Bridgerton house.

Since it had happened just last night, it hadn’t hit Whistledown yet and you didn’t think Lady Bridgerton had told anyone, so at least today you did not have to deal with anyone.

Tomorrow on the other hand, was going to be another story.

“Lavenders, my lady?” Paula asked and you nodded.

“They’re very easy to grow,” you said, taking the small bag full of lavender seeds. “And my aunt really likes the smell of them, I think it’ll make her happy to see them in the garden.”

“Will you plant them to your own garden as well?”

You turned your head. “My own garden?”

“For when you marry Mr. Bridgerton?” she whispered. “I’m sorry, I just…heard some maids in the kitchen talking about it.”

You gulped down and tried to smile, then shook your head.

“Don’t worry about it,” you said. “But no. I will not do much gardening after I marry Mr. Bridgerton.”

Paula frowned. “But you like gardening.”

Well yes.

You did like gardening, but keeping a garden meant Benedict could use it to hurt you whenever he would get mad at you, so you weren’t just going to give it to him.

“I’m sure I will have other responsibilities,” you murmured and made your way to the counter so that you could pay for the seeds, then you and Paula left the flower shop.

“Are you tired?” you asked her and she shook her head.

“Not at all, my lady.”

“Wonderful. I want to go by that pastry shop that Teddy likes to buy him some sweets—”

“Miss Y/N.”

You looked over your shoulder and turned around with a slight frown on your face. Though you hadn’t been properly introduced, you already knew Benedict’s older brother, Viscount Bridgerton. You had seen him multiple times in the ballrooms with the same frown that he had right now, which seemed permanent on his face and it was quite obvious that he knew who you were.

If you had to guess, he also knew about your very sudden engagement.

“Lord Bridgerton.”

“We should talk,” he said, “I can take you to wherever it is you and your maid are going, get in the carriage.”

Ah.

Alright, it was very obvious you two would not get along well.

You blinked a couple of times. “Pardon?”

“Get in the carriage,” he nodded in the direction of his carriage and you looked up at the sky for a moment, pretending to think about it.

“Mm no I’d rather not.”

He looked rather surprised but managed to recover quickly.

“I’m the head of the family you’re joining,” he reminded you. “And I was not asking.”

“Good for you, I am still saying no,” you deadpanned and he raised his brows.

“Do you wish to have this conversation on the street then?”

“Honestly this last minute just proves to me that I don’t wish to have any conversation with you anywhere, Lord Bridgerton,” you said. “But don’t take this personally. I just have this principle to not follow orders from people who are under the very false impression they can give me any.”

Anthony paused for a moment and let out a scoff, then nodded at Paula.

“Give us a moment.”

Paula took a couple of steps away from you so that she wouldn’t be within earshot and you crossed your arms, watching him with raised brows.

“I’ve been informed about the events of last night,” he said. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

You rolled your eyes. “Much appreciated.”

“Now I do not understand why Benedict decided to throw away years of courtship with Miss Harlowe for you,” he said, making your heart skip a beat. “But she happens to be a very close family friend, so I’m sure you can understand my hesitation.”

You tried to ignore the guilt seeping into your system. “Your hesitation?”

“I know that you two will present a different truth to the ton than what actually happened.”

You could feel your heart dropping to your stomach but you managed to keep your expression completely blank.

“Let me guess,” you said. “You think—”

“It doesn’t matter what I think about the issue, what’s done is done,” he cut you off. “Your reputation and his honor hangs in balance, obviously you two must get married. There’s no other option here.”

“Yet here you are, telling me things I already know,” you pointed out. “Thank you for the news Lord Bridgerton but I’m afraid I figured that out myself without your much needed input.”

He shook his head slightly and heaved a sigh.

“I know that my brother has a soft spot for you for a reason that remains a mystery to me,” he said. “Apparently that made him quite illogical last night. Now, on your part I do not know whether it was on purpose to be seen together or—”

The anger shot through you so fast that it made your head spin, and before he could so much as finish his sentence, you turned around and took a step to leave, trying your hardest to remember that you were in public in order to keep your fury under control.

“I’m not done talking,” he said and you stopped dead in your tracks, then turned to look at him better.

“I am.”

He gave a dry chuckle. “Well, would you do me the honor of sparing me a minute of your much precious time?”

You tilted your head, narrowing your eyes at him.

“No,” you said curtly, making him give you a mocking smile.

“Considering your reputation among your suitors my lady, it doesn’t surprise me you like to have the last word,” he commented. “And for that last word to be no.”

You let out a small, humorless laugh and clicked your tongue, then shrugged your shoulders.

“Considering your reputation among ladies, my lord,” you said. “Maybe your last word should have been no.”

He pulled back, his mouth slightly agape in shock while you smiled at him and dropped a curtsy, then turned around and walked away from him with Paula following you suit.

Chapter 10

[mystwrites]

Hiiii! For the event, 9, 14, or 16 for ler! Rengoku and lee!giyuu. He needs to smile. Ty!!!!

A/N: Hello, I’m sorry this took a while, but I’ve gotten to this!! I decided to go with 9! This will be the last sentence starters fic due to some…irl things happening but I have other things from different fandoms scheduled!

CW: Tickling (don’t like, don’t read)

Giyuu sat alone once more, away from the others enjoying the picnic. As much as he wanted to join the others his age laughing while drinking sake and the younger ones splashing water at one another in the small creek, he didn’t want to be a burden to the group. Perhaps they would have more fun without him. Sitting with Kanzaburo in his lap was probably better anyways. At least he could feel at ease knowing the crow genuinely liked him.

“Tomioka!”

Giyuu all but squeaked, jumping a little as Rengoku’s loud voice startled him from his racing thoughts. Kanzaburo startled and flew away with a squawk.

“Oh…gosh…” he sighed, relieved. “Don’t just shout like that, Rengoku…”

“Sorry, I really do apologize but you’re missing out on all the fun!” Rengoku exclaimed, gesturing to the group. “Why don’t you come and join us?”

“Mmm…nah. Not in the mood…actually according to Shinazugawa, Iguro and Uzui, I’ll ruin it with my “unflashy” and “depressing” aura.” Giyuu replied, looking away. “Also, you scared my crow away. Thanks for that.”

Rengoku knew Giyuu was more introverted than the rest and in all honesty, felt rather bad that he just assumed the group hated him. While Sanemi and Obanai were vocal about their dislike for Giyuu, it was all misunderstandings. Rengoku knew Giyuu wasn’t cocky and sensed that he kept a distance to make sure he didn’t get attached but he hated the thought of Giyuu believing he was hated.

While Rengoku could never get a good read on what was going on through his comrade’s head, he knew Giyuu was sad for some reason. Surely if being hated on daily was getting to him, they should talk about it as a group with Gyomei mediating the exchange.

“I don’t think they think that.” Rengoku started, opening his mouth to continue before Giyuu cut him off.

“Oh yeah? Ask them yourself.” he snorted. “I’m sure they’ll tell you all the reasons why I shouldn’t have even came to this picnic to begin with. In fact, I think I’ll go home.”

Now frowning, Rengoku realized that Giyuu distanced himself specifically because of what the others thought of him. Instead of trying to argue back, Rengoku sat next to his peer before he could leave and stared at the leaves rustling above them.

Wanting to make Giyuu smile, Rengoku searched his brain for ways to make people laugh. He knew jokes wouldn’t work on Giyuu and neither would slapstick humor. Giyuu was different from Tanjiro and his friends and vastly different from Senjuro, but there was one universal trick that could work if executed correctly. He just had to hope it would work.

“Tomioka…” Rengoku said, smiling at Giyuu just as he rose from his place on the grass.

“I don’t like that look on your face, Rengoku…you’re up to something…”

“I know a way to make you smile!~”

Taking one look at Rengoku’s smiling face sent Giyuu running as fast as he could. However, much to his shock, he wasn’t fast enough. Before he realized it, Rengoku held him tightly and gave his already messy hair a noogie.

“Aaggh!! Rengoku!!” Giyuu growled, trying to fight the playful man off.

“Don’t fight it, Tomioka! I’ll make you smile!!” Rengoku grunted, managing to wrestle Giyuu down to the grass.

“I will fight it!!!” Giyuu huffed, trying to put Rengoku in a chokehold. “Get off!!!”

“No! Let me make you smile!!”

“I don’t want to!!!”

“Don’t fight it, Tomioka!!! Just submit!! Smiling is a lot of fun!!”

The sudden wrestling match caught the attention of the other Hashira, the group all watching to see what would happen to Giyuu should Rengoku cause him to tap out. Gyomei, Mitsuri, Muichiro and Shinobu looked on with interest while Tengen, Obanai and Sanemi watched the scene and continued with their argument about who knows what.

“Nooo!! C’mon man!!” Giyuu growled, shoving at Rengoku’s face. “Get off of me-EEEEEEHEEEYYYY!!!”

As soon as Giyuu let out a shriek upon feeling Rengoku press into his sides, the Flame Hashira wrestled the Water Hashira down with ease, tickling his flanks. Instant laughter burst from the normally Giyuu and filled the air. Seeing Giyuu smile made Rengoku smile and looking up at the others. Everyone turned to look at Giyuu who was flat on his back, legs and arms flailing as Rengoku tickled him silly.

“Told you I could make you smile, Tomioka!~” Rengoku purred, causing Giyuu to push at him with more force.

“Yohohou said s-smihihile not l-lahahaugh!” Giyuu whined, shrieking as Rengoku found that oh so terrible spot under his ribs. “GEHEHET OFF OHIHOF MEEEHEHEHEE!!!”

“Mmm…maybe I wanted you to laugh too!” Rengoku shrugged, laughing along as Giyuu fought to escape from his tickly embrace. “Don’t try to escape, Tomioka! I wanna make sure that smile stays on your face!”

As much as Giyuu didn’t want to smile, he couldn’t help but smile and laugh as Rengoku continued to dig into his sides. Much to Giyuu’s shock, Rengoku tickled every ticklish spot one could have, deciding that he enjoyed the reactions Giyuu gave of his sides, armpits and thighs were tickled.

“IHIHIT HURTS!!” Giyuu complained, kicking out frantically. “MY CHEHEHEEKS HUHUHURT!! LEHEHET ME GO!!!!”

The rest of the group snickered as Giyuu let out a shrill scream, kicking and flailing about as Rengoku sat on his thighs and dug his fingertips into his stomach. Hands batted weakly at Rengoku, desperate for the tickling to stop but too weak to put an end to the activity. Gyomei finally decided to stand up and put an end to the chaos realizing that Giyuu was slapping the ground constantly and struggling to catch his breathe.

“Alright, alright. Let him go, Rengoku.” Gyomei chuckled, patting his head. “I think Tomioka’s cheered up enough.”

Taking one more good long look at Giyuu, Rengoku nodded and released Giyuu from his grasp. Extending a hand, he helped Giyuu to his feet and chuckled.

“You okay?” he asked, once again ruffling Giyuu’s messy hair.

“Sure. Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Giyuu replied, his face going back to its normal appearance.

“Hey, can you at least smile a little?” Rengoku asked, pulling Giyuu’s lips up into a forced smile.

“If you stop touching my lips and forcing me to smile, maybe I will.” Giyuu replied, making Rengoku laugh and pull away.

“Good, now come join us.”

[whatshehassaid]

The fact that they keep bringing in characters that are from later in the books (Bruce, Dr. Fareed, Raglan James) makes me think Dubai is farther along in the books than we realize. I feel like some stuff (akasha) hasn’t happened yet… but finding Claudia’s diary in New Orleans, and Louis being suicidal etc are from later in the book series. Has parts of Merrick already happened? Louis said in season 1 that he hadn’t killed since the year 2000. The book Merrick was released in 2000. Armand (as Rashid) “You’re chronicling a suicide.” The fact that they even HAVE Claudia’s diaries in the first place is farther along in the books.

Now why bring Raglan James in so early? I already have a feeling they aren’t bringing David in (they didn’t for Mayfair Witches and he was a big part of that) so why Raglan James SPECIFICALLY? Why not just some random Talamasca member? They’re trying to hint at what’s to come. Daniel being in his 70s and not having David in Mayfair Witches (or IWTV I’m assuming cause it wouldn’t make sense to have David in one but not the other) makes me think they’ve merged Daniel and David into one character.

If you know anything about what happens to David in Tale of the Body Thief you’ll understand where I’m going with this - I’ll put a spoiler warning for the books here.

At the end of Tale of the Body Thief, David gets a new body and Lestat changes him into a vampire without his consent.

If Daniel and David ARE being merged into one character (which makes sense considering David is the one who listens to Armand’s story in The Vampire Armand and the fact David was a main character in the Mayfair Witches book series but was merged with Rowan’s love interest to make Ciprien in the TV adaptation) then that means that something similar could happen to Daniel.

Armand in the books (after 10-12 years of a romantic - albeit it started off fucked up - relationship which includes Daniel being addicted to Armand’s blood and a mutual obsession between the two of them and then they fall in love) turns Daniel in 1985 I think the same night of Lestat’s concert and the awakening of Akasha if I’m remembering correctly. In the TV adaptation since the San Fransisco interview already happened that also means (quite obviously from the new promo) that Devils Minion already happened. Which means young Daniel tried everything on Earth to get Armand to change him into a Vampire. Probably bringing himself super close to death because he wanted to be with Armand forever. Armand has a major trauma from Marius (grooming, child slavery, sex slavery- but also Marius telling him over and over that every fledgling grows to hate their maker- lol ok dude, you literally groomed your first two fledglings from childhood and abandoned them both but yeah, that must be a every maker and fledgling thing). It affects Armand to the point that he vows never to turn ANYONE into a Vampire EVER. But then he meets Daniel and falls in love with him and can’t stand the thought of existing without him. So he turns him.

It seems like Armand in the show didn’t truly believe Daniel loved him. (They have a really wild relationship where Daniel will run away and come back begging for him back and Armand welcoming him with open arms over and over until Daniel finally accepts that he’s in love with Armand too). But Daniel DID love him. Just as much as Armand loved (and STILL loves- because he always will) Daniel. So instead of watching him be chronically suicidal and trying everything to get Armand to turn him he wiped Daniel’s memories thinking they wouldn’t come back. Thinking Daniel could live a normal human life without him.

From what I can see of the preview it seems like Armand and Louis had broken up long ago. Most likely after the first interview in the 70s (I’m pretty sure it’s similar in the book - Louis ends up leaving Armand once Armand tells him Lestat is still alive and he didn’t die in the theatre fire). Hence, Armand saying “I know where he is.” in the promo for 2x05.

That’s when Daniel and Armand fully happen. But in the show instead of turning Daniel he wipes his memories and tries to let him live a normal life because he loves him.

Now Lestat and Louis break up and get back together like ten fucking times in the books and Louis when he isn’t with Lestat always goes off alone or he goes to Armand. Lestat and Armand eventually come to love each other and have a mutual understanding and respect for one another - it takes a while, believe me. Lestat KNOWS he can trust Armand with Louis. That Armand loves Louis too.

What I’m thinking is going on… is some of the events of Merrick have already happened where Louis seeks out Claudia’s diaries and her spirit to try to bring peace to himself. Instead it makes it MUCH MUCH worse. To the point that Louis goes forward with killing himself by burning himself to ashes (Lestat does bring him back don’t worry). But since I think the full Akasha storyline hasn’t happened yet I feel like humans would’ve noticed that (hence the great conversion cause she ends up killing like 90% of the Vamp population…) I think what is actually happening is Louis is trying to kill himself. He’s actively trying by getting Daniel to write this book for vampires to come after him and kill him (hence the “you’re chronicling a suicide”). His depression and despair is getting worse and worse as season 2 goes on, outwardly crying to Daniel thanking him for helping him remember.

I’m not sure if Louis in Dubai knows that Lestat is alive… he certainly doesn’t during the first interview.

Armand is a complicated character and he means well (yes he does do some fucked up shit in the books- some to do with Claudia- I don’t know if they’ll have THAT part in the show). But Armand does love Louis. He feels guilt for what happened with Claudia and he will do ANYTHING to make it up to Louis. To the point of letting Louis walk all over him (he’s had a fucked up human life and vampire life, let my boy live). I have a feeling, since Lestat’s lawyer in Paris mentioned it to Louis that Lestat has gone to sleep. They do that sometimes. Bury themselves underground and sleep- sometimes for decades. If that is the case I’m not exactly sure what happened between them for Lestat to do that but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

What I think happened after the first interview? Armand was trying to protect Louis from himself. There are obvious signs of schizophrenia in Louis and they’ve been hinting at it since season one with the Paul/Bird symbolism. Louis has blackouts. He’s had them even before he and Claudia tried to kill Lestat- that’s why I think we’re getting a revisit to the fight in 1x05 and to Claudia’s turning into a vampire. Either that or we are going to get it from Lestat himself at the trial in Paris (cause yes, the real Lestat is there).

Armand was not lying when he said he protects Louis from himself. That Louis acts out sometimes. The photos of all the men I believe some of them are Louis’ victims from his blackouts. We’ve already seen a glimpse of one incident in season 2 with the man in the park and Louis leaving his dead body there. Armand has suppressed Louis’ memories of what happened in Paris. What happened with Claudia. Probably half because he doesn’t want Louis to run off without Lestat able to care for him and partly because he’s trying to prevent Louis from hurting more people viciously and then going into a guilt spiral.

Louis did know what happened to Claudia at one point… but I think it was making him so suicidal that maybe Armand and Lestat together decided it was best to have his memories suppressed so that he wouldn’t hurt himself. But now? Now Lestat is god knows where and Armand is barely holding onto control. Louis is lashing out at him. He’s lashing out at Daniel. The memories are flooding back and Louis is slowly remembering… not just what happened to Claudia… not just what Armand did… but the probably hundreds or thousands of gruesome deaths he’s caused during his blackout episodes. Including the blackout episode he had with Daniel in 1973.

Now speaking of 1973, Armand was trying even then to keep Louis’ schizophrenia and blackouts at bay. He was suppressing memories that triggered Louis - half because he didn’t want to lose Louis but I also think he genuinely was doing it for Louis’ own sanity. But then Louis goes seeking out someone who will let him speak about it and help bring those memories back - Daniel.

Armand may just think Daniel is another fuck and run, I have a feeling ever since Paris - even though Louis barely remembers it - honestly, probably before then going by the fuckboi tendencies Louis was displaying toward Armand in the last episode, he probably fucks around a lot and Armand lets him. Mostly because he’s trying desperately to make it up to Louis. As I said, he’s desperate to make it up to Louis.

So Armand says okay fine, have your fun. And Louis goes with Daniel. But what Armand DOESN’T know is that Louis isn’t going with Daniel for (or JUST for) sex. He wants him to help him remember. That’s the WHOLE POINT of the interview. Armand doesn’t know about it. The first interview happens…. And then? Daniel pisses Louis off. He triggers him off by asking him to turn him. And Louis blacks out and attacks.

Armand shows up mid attack to find Louis with the boy he spent ALL NIGHT WITH doing GOD KNOWS WHAT and he immediately thinks Louis is trying to replace him with someone else. He gets jealous. Again, he doesn’t know about the interview yet.

Louis blacked out and by that time its morning. Armand probably walked in on him (trying to be like - you’re going to get hurt if you don’t find a safe spot it’s morning!) feeding on Daniel and being burned through the sunlight coming in the window. Armand has jealousy issues. I can’t blame the guy he has a huge amount of abandonment issues and being hurt… so of course he immediately jumps to why is Louis spending all night with this boy? What is so special about this boy that he’ll spend time with him all night but he won’t even look at me the same anymore (since Claudia).

Louis has to hide from the sun… And that’s when Armand jealously curious about this human boy and why Louis is apparently so open with him from what he seen at the bar. He tries to get inside Daniel’s head. “Is that what makes you so FASCINATING?” “Leave him be Armand!”

At some point - with all this mind fuckery which of course is essentially torture and poor Daniel is probably half horny half scared to death - iykyk - Armand sees the tape. He plays it. This isn’t about the boy at all. It’s about LESTAT.

It’s always been about Lestat.

Upset (and rightly so - imagine being with someone for that long thinking they loved you and meanwhile they were still pining for their ex) he has a bit of a meltdown…. And when he calms down enough… he’s defeated and tells Louis the truth. That Lestat is alive and “I know where he is.”

Now… Armand… who is a stickler for the vampire laws… knows he’s tortured this boy… knows this boy can’t living knowing that vampires exist. Because he’s seen into his head he knows there’s pain there. Daniel is an addict for a reason though I don’t think Armand knows the reason at that point… but since he knows the boy MUST DIE because you cannot tell a human about vampires and let them live… he offers him a peaceful death. “I’m the quiet you’ve been longing for”

Daniel agrees. The kid is tired, he probably has childhood trauma hence the drug addiction. He was just attacked by one Vampire and tortured by the other.

Armand starts to drain him… and then?

I think Armand sees himself in Daniel. Whatever it is (I’m not 100% sure - maybe abuse of some kind) stops Armand from killing him. He’s found someone who understands.

He gets Louis (partly burned from the sun) to help him carry Daniel out. Not sure if they take him to a hospital or where they take him but afterwards Louis leaves Armand and goes looking for Lestat.

That’s when Devils Minion happens.

Armand and Daniel somehow fall in love. And a decade later he has to wipe Daniel’s memories because Daniel will not stop until he’s either dead literally or a vampire so he can be with Armand. Or so he says, Armand thinks.

Now fast forward and we have Louis self destructing. Armand trying to hold the pieces together… Louis brings Daniel in not remembering he almost killed the guy and thinking, “Well he can help me get these memories back… i know he’s Armand’s ex and he (Daniel) is missing memories too. maybe if I get his memories back we can help each other”

That’s why Louis keeps bringing things up. Daniel’s mind has filled in a decade of his life with a wife and daughter that probably don’t even exist. (I know, I know Alice is Armand theory… but the farther we get the more it makes sense). Louis is PURPOSEFULLY triggering memories to come back in Daniel so he can help HIM remember too. Armand (until last episode I think) was so focused on keeping Louis together and trying to protect him that he doesn’t even realize that Daniel is remembering him.

Until 2x04.

Daniel brings up the fire.

Armand tries to read his mind to see where he got the information from.

And he sees a flash of himself watching TV in the 70s. And that’s when he realizes Daniel DID love him. If Daniel didn’t why would he be getting flashes of Armand. Not of Louis and the first interview… not of Louis attacking him… no, he’s getting flashes of Armand.

Then he remembers that he suppressed Louis’ memory of everything to do with Claudia’s death (Louis’ main trigger). Louis confused: “the fire?”

As Daniel’s memories come back… so do Louis’. However the more Louis remembers the more unstable he’ll become. I think at a certain point when he remembers everything the suicidal part of him with reach a climax… he’ll snap. Blackout with Daniel in a parallel of what happened in 1973. And Armand is going to have no choice but to save Daniel. I feel like Lestat will sense this happening and I feel like it’ll be the PERFECT segue for present time Lestat. Now will Daniel be hurt badly? I’m not sure. Will Armand have no choice but to change him because Louis hurt him too much, maybe tried to drain him to “get back” at Armand after realizing what was happening?

Is that why Jacob is scared we may hate Louis by the end of the season? I feel like if it was just Louis trying to walk into the sun that comment wouldn’t make sense.

If he tries to hurt Daniel though…..

[ashecampos]

ANYONE BUT HER 7

JANIS IMI-IKE X FEM READER

a little Regina x reader

Warnings - swearing, mentions of cheating, mentions of anxiety. Regina being Regina. Hurt. Angst

The POV switches between reader and Janis (I use — when I change the POV)

there will be more parts to this, make sure to reblog and comment and I will get the next few parts up as soon as I can, happy reading lovelies 🫶🏼

———————————————————

TALES OF TESSA MAKE SURE TO READ THIS AND PREVIOUS PARTS BEFORE THIS, LINKED IS FROM THE POV OF TESSA (readers best friend)

———————————————————

I am startled awake by a familiar vibration next to my head, i squint to see who’s phone is ringing, of course it is mine. I groan and sleepily wiggle out of Janis’ arms, grabbing my phone while exiting the room to take the call, I find my way to the bathroom again and sit against the bathtub, answering the call not bothering to read the caller ID, assuming it’s Tessa or Damien.

“Y/n?” The person on the other end asks, as if they knew there would be a chance someone else could’ve answered. I instantly freeze up recognising the voice on the other side of the phone call. “B..Bea? Why the fuck are you calling me?” I say as I start to pace back and forth. “I know im the last person you want to hear this from but I was told you have been seeing Janis Imi’ike, im so sorry y/n” she says, obviously putting what she needs to say off. “Just spit it out bea, whatever you must say, say it” i speak with a sense of urgency “me and Janis have been seeing eachother in secret for a few months now, she had admitted she only helped you that night to make sure you broke up with me” she says. I search for a reason for her to be lying about this but come up with nothing, all rational thoughts gone. I make quick work of ending the call and storming back into the room where me and Janis were peacefully sleeping not even five minutes prior. I grab my hoodie and jeans, throwing them on, I then grab my shoes and leave.

One foot after the other I make a run from it. Like I ran from bea when she cheated. Like I’ve ran from every situation that’s caused me pain. I make my way back to my house, seeing a figure sat on my poarch, it seems they had saw me before i got the chance to see them. The person stands up and walks over. Only now do I realise the hot, sticky tears running down my cheeks causing my ability to make out the person falter. I desperately rub my face using the sleeves of my hoodie, silently praying it’s not my mom who is the one to see me like this. Thankfully I see blonde hair. Bleached blonde hair. Regina George.

She makes her way over, her pace quickening when she sees the state im in. “Oh y/n what happened? Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?” She bombards me with questions while gripping my chin and tilting my head up to look at my face properly. A frown upon her own. “I’m fine I just want to be alone, go see Aaron or something Regina” I choke out trying to hold back the tears threatening to pour again. She shakes her head, unhanding my face and instead grabbing my hand, dragging me into the house. And up the stairs into my room. “Jesus y/n why is your room so dark. No wonder you’re so pale..no offence” she says while running to my curtains, pulling them open and allowing the natural light inside. I wince at the brightness of the morning sun.

She sits me down on my bed, leaning closer to me. “So tell me what’s got you so upset?” She says gently and in a genuine tone. So I tell her everything. I mean it’s Regina George. She may be seen as the ‘queen bee’ but honestly she’s never been bad to me or my brother so I trust her.

“So let me get this straight. She got you to break up with your ex so she could get with her then continued to see the both of you behind each other’s backs? Oh my god. I’m going to kill her” the blonde says while grabbing her phone out of her pocket and aggressively typing away. After a few seconds she looks up and smiles sadly “you’re gonna sit with me and my group at lunch now, trust me she won’t bother you baby.” She says while putting her phone away.

——-

I wake up and stretch, extending my arms out, feeling the surface of the sofa to find it empty. My eyes shoot open looking for the girl. She’s nowhere to be seen. I groggily stand up and head for the bathroom. She wasn’t there either. I sigh assuming she got asked to run some errands by her mom or something. I turn some music on and start to move the basement back to how it was before the date.

The day goes by so fast. The day turns into the next and then the next. No word from y/n at all. She must just be busy.

Entering school on the Monday was probably one of the worst decisions of my life. First everyone was looking at me. Then I got to my locker and there she was at hers. She sees me and walks away quickly. I frown assuming she was just in a mood with it being so early in the day or something like that.. until I see Damien and Tessa storming over. “Janis ‘Imi’ike I have known you for fifteen years but this. This is a new low even for you” the boy starts. “Tell me this is some sick joke right now Janis I swear to god” Tessa says almost immediately after Damien. I look at them taken aback at their sudden disgust and anger toward me. “Can someone please tell me what I done?” I say slamming my locker shut, staring both of them down. “you used her to fuck her ex. Janis I thought you genuinely liked her” Tessa snapped before Damien could say anything “what are you talking about? I do like her. And I despise bea” I say, frowning. “well the morning after you and her had that date night, I got a call from Regina telling me to haul ass to y/N’s house because the poor girl was hysterical, turns out Bea had called her and told her everything about you and… oh fuck, it’s a setup. We need to get to y/n before they do anything else”

——-

These past few days Regina has been the nicest I’ve ever known her to be, yes she is the ‘queen bitch’ of north shore but she’s always been nice to me for some reason. After what happened the other day, she’s only been nicer. I haven’t really spoke to anyone about what happened. I kinda went off the radar until Tessa turned up at my house demanding to know why I hadn’t been answering. Naturally I broke down and told her everything and after reassuring her (a lot) that i would be okay, she left to go home and sleep for school. Aaron didn’t really care about what happened. Not that I really told him. Yes he’s my twin, I’ll always love and be there for him but we don’t really associate with each other anymore. So when I woke up this morning I decided to ‘suck it up’ as my dad would say. I threw on a hoodie and some baggy jeans. Then Regina called me. “Hey short stuf- oh Jesus please tell me you aren’t wearing that?!” She nearly screams down the phone, I cringe looking down at my outfit earning a sigh from her. “I’ll be over in five, do your makeup and I’ll pick some clothes for you when i get there okay?” She asks in a sweet tone. I smile and nod before hanging up and grabbing a joint I rolled last night ready for today. I stare down at it for a few minutes contemplating what im going to do if Janis approaches me today. I haven’t spoke to her since the phone call. I didn’t confront her, I just ran. Shaking my head I light up and take a few drags of the blunt with laying on my bed, all tasks out of sight and mind.

By the time I finished the joint, Regina is in my room and looking through my closet, she looks over at me her smile fading while she grabs an outfit that fits ‘plastic’ standards, but is still in my style. Then she comes and sits next to me on the bed. “So what’s the plan?” She speaks before I can, I shrug “go into school and show her who she messed with” I say in a mocking tone earning a smack over the back of my head from the blonde, she laughs and drags me off of my bed, keeping a tight hold on my wrist to keep me steady. She drags us into my closet and sits me down, pulling my hoodie off and replacing it with an old band shirt I made into a cropped vest, she smirks and grabs my backpack, throwing it at me. She grabs my hand and we are out of the door, in her jeep and on the way to school.

I stand at my locker waiting for Regina to find Gretchen and Karen and come back to get me so she can introduce me to them. Looking up from my phone I see Janis, I roll my eyes and walk the other way, not wanting to start a fight twenty minutes before homeroom. I pull out my phone and call Regina to ask where she is.

Minutes later im stood with the plastics. Gretchen looks me up and down trying to figure me out, while Karen just stands there smiling at me. “I love your shirt, where can I get one?” Gretchen starts off, I smile with a little bit of a blush forming “oh uhm I made it actually” I say looking at the shirt I made a few weeks ago just after meeting Janis. The girls eyes light up as she leans closer “omg so your like an artist and a musician, that’s so fetch” she bounces with excitement. A laugh erupts from beside me “what’s fetch?” Regina asks cringing a little. “Oh it’s like slang from some movie I saw” the girl explains the plot of the movie, I smile at her and her little quirks “well that movie sounds fetch, we will have to watch it one time, right Regina?” I nudge the blonde, knowing how mean she can be towards Gretchen at times. Karen looks over my shoulder and gasps a little. We all turn around to see the commotion. Tessa and Damien are shouting at Janis. I guess Tessa told Damien. Well at least they’ve got to her before I could. Not that I’d even know what to say. “Hey cmon we should get to PE so we can get changed out of sight from the creeps” Regina tugs my arm. I know she’s never early for anything, which lets me know that she is only suggesting that so I wouldn’t have to see Janis. She grabs onto my hand as we all walk to the changing rooms. I drop my bag to the floor and pull off my vest, replacing it with the track hoodie I originally had put on. I change into some shorts and put on my not so white converse. Once we are all changed, we sit on the benches outside of the changing rooms, waiting for the bell to ring and for everyone to come to class, I put my hair in a messy bun before looking up to see two faces laced with shock “you have a tattoo?” Karen says with a smile, earning a confused look from me “you guys don’t?” I answer the question with another question, they all shake their heads making me laugh, I shrug the interaction off and pull on the strings of my hoodie.

The bell eventually chimes and people start flooding into the changing rooms, Janis and Damien included, the both of them are glared at by the three girls while I stare at the floor. The coach shows up, smiling at me, waving his arms around like a goof “y/n congratulations on last weeks race kid” he enthusiastically says before patting my back. “Thanks, hope the next one is just as easy” I laugh a little. To say track is stressful would be an understatement. Some people join to have something to put on their college forms, some join because they love sports, me, I joined because my dad wanted me to be apart of every hobby, he wants me to have as many skills as possible. I know he means good but the pressure to be the best at everything is crushing. I get snapped out of my thoughts when Regina’s hand holds onto mine, I look around and see people leaving to head to the field, I look at Regina and she mouths “you okay?” towards me, I simply nod, I wasn’t about to scare off the person who offered me a safe space this fast.

Approaching the field I see the teacher is holding a bag full of equipment, I look over at Tessa knowing what’s in the bag. Fucking rugby balls. I’ve never liked rugby but Tessa on the other hand. She loves it. It’s her whole life. She has been scouted by professional teams since we were kids. Me on the other hand, not the type of person to tackle people, I would happily just stick to track.

I look up to see Tessa running over to me, a massive grin on her face. “Y/n cmon we are doing rugby” she waves a ball in my face like an excited child. I look over to where she is pointing and see Damien and Janis, I frown and shake my head a little “wait T you aren’t in this class, why are you here?” I laugh a little knowing she is meant to be in English language class right now. Once again she waves the ball in my face “coach pulled me out asking if I would help with some tackling drills.” She nudges me before going to grab me to go see Janis. “Actually im going to stay here and help the plastics” I mumble knowing she won’t like me hanging around with Regina. “What why? Your not like in love with my cousin right?” She crosses her arms and stares at me “you and Janis need to talk. Sooner than later I suggest” she lectures me just as the coach blows the whistle.

Me and Tessa both get forced to grab a tackle practice pad and hold them up ready for the coach to tell people to try tackling us both. A lot of them don’t try to tackle too hard, a few manage to push me back a little but one manages to knock me. Regina. She stands staring at me like a predator scoping out its prey, she then gets a running start, getting lower to the ground with every stride closer she gets and eventually she has her arms around my torso and she manages to buckle my legs and she’s on top of me, smirking down at me with a satisfied grin. “Falling for me already huh?” She leans closer to my face with a cheeky grin, we stay like this for a few seconds before she gets off of me and we both stand up. I take my place back at the line, bag in hand ready to go.

I tilt my head to the side and see Tessa and Janis laughing, Tessa looks over at me with a sympathetic expression, it seems like she knows more about this situation than she’s letting on.

Once the lesson is practically done and everyone is walking off of the field I jog a little to catch up with Tessa and nudge her. “Hey can I grab you for a sec after we are changed I need to tell you something?” She says with a sad smile, she glances at Janis and Damien who are a few feet in front of us, then she looks at Regina and the plastics who are a few feet behind us. “Omg yes, I feel like I haven’t seen you since last week, sorry for going off the rails though” I frown feeling as if im to blame for this situation “that’s actually what I need to te- …oh hey Regina” she starts before Regina comes and joins us causing her to quickly change the topic of conversation. “Hey Tes, you should totally come sit with us, y/n has finally agreed to sit with me and the girls” Regina almost brags, a massive grin plaster across her pretty face.

[onepiecestarry]

A Different Kind of Pirate - Part 7

Hiii!! Sorry for not posting for a while, I've been getting ready to go back to college! Here is the next part, its a bit short (because there is a pt.2 of some smut). This series will be ending soon! But if you all request I would love to do another :) Enjoy!

Masterlist

Zoro x Reader

Part 7: A Misunderstanding

The next day was awkward, you tried multiple times to talk to Zoro but each time he shrugged you off and walked away, not letting you get a single word in. The others started to notice since you two were usually inseparable. 

“Everything okay Miss y/n?” You hear a smooth voice say. You turn to look at Sanji concerned for you. 

“Yeah,” You say looking back at Zoro working out, not averting your gaze you continue, “he just won’t let me get a word in.”

“Hah, yeah he can be like that. Did something happen between you two? You are usually always together.” He asks calmly.

“Well yes, but also no. Something happened and then he assumed the worst and when I tried to tell him otherwise he ignored me and wouldn’t let me finish. So now I’m stuck here, with him ignoring me.” You say exasperated. 

“Hmmm, I see.” He says pondering. “I think I know what happened then.”

You look at Sanji with a shocked expression. “W- Wha- How do you know?” You ask.

“Please Miss y/n, it's painfully obvious. As much as I dislike that idiot, I don’t wish unhappiness to him. And especially not to you.”

You look at Sanji with relief.

“I’ll tell you what you need to do, you need to slap the fuck out of him, and yell at him that he’s an idiot,” Sanji says while taking a puff of his cigarette. “And then, MAYBE, just maybe, kiss him.”

You laugh at Sanji’s advice and lightly push him. 

“You know what, I think I will, thank you Sanji.” You say smiling at him. You give him a hug as a thank you. 

“Gonna go start dinner now, have fun with your idiot in shining armor.” He says blankly while walking towards the kitchen. You laugh and decide to go get some chores done in the meantime.

What you didn’t notice was Zoro watching that conversation. He saw you laughing with Sanji, Sanji’s sly smile, and you gently pushing him while giggling. That was how you acted with him, not Sanji. Thoughts start to invade Zoro’s mind, about how Sanji is your crush. As Zoro is working out and thinking about this, he unknowingly starts going harder and harder until eventually, his weights break. This sound caused Robin to notice, she started walking over to him to ask what happened. But before she could even get a hello out, Zoro harshly spoke. 

“Nothing happened, everything is fine!” He loudly and angrily said.

“That’s clearly not true, maybe your weights are fine but something else is bothering you.” she calmly sat down while watching Zoro pick up the broken pieces. 

“I told you. Nothing is wrong.” He says quietly seething.

“Hmm. Where’s your shadow?” She asks very much knowing something had happened between you two.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spat. 

“Almost nothing gets you this on-edge swordsman. Did you two get into a fight perhaps?” She inquired.

“No, not a fight.” He sadly replied trying to hide his emotions on the subject. 

That was common for Zoro, instead of truly showing how he feels he covers it with anger. Because anger is easier to deal with. It's easier to be angry. 

“Hmm, well whatever it is swordsman, knowing y/n, she’s a forgiver and won’t let you brood forever. So don’t think you’ll get away from her so easily.” Robin gets up and starts walking to the kitchen.

“You think so?” Zoro asks, “Even if I fucked up?”

“Definitely,” Robin says looking back before returning to her walk. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent with both y/n and Zoro simmering on their thoughts. But this time instead of anger, it was a bit of sadness and hope for Zoro. He hoped that you would forgive him for kissing you and ignoring you. He wanted to tell you that it's okay if you like someone else and that as much as it hurts, he’ll support you. The problem was actually saying those words out loud. You however were trying to think of a plan to get him alone to tell him he’s being stupid. With how he had been acting there was no way he would actually agree to talking to you. Should you write a note? Should you drag him out by his ear? What was the most effective way?

The thoughtful afternoon slowly changed into the evening as everyone gathered for dinner. You assumed your regular spot at the table, knowing it wouldn’t happen, but hoping Zoro would take his regular seat next to you. 

To your surprise when he walked in, he continued walking to his regular spot and sat down next to you. You smiled to yourself, happy that this didn’t get taken away from you. 

Dinner went on, and everyone talked and laughed, but you and Zoro were as silent as can be. A couple of times your crewmates would try to bring you into the conversation but you would answer shortly. Then, abruptly Nami looked at you and said,

“We still need to talk about your kidnapper y/n.”

“O-oh right.” You said nervously.

Your hands quickly went to your sides as you started fiddling with your skirt. As your heart rate picked up and you started to panic, Zoro grabbed your hand gently. You slowly look up at him, and he nods. He whispers to you, 

“Do you want me to?” He asks gently.

You shake your head, “No, I need to do this.”

You lift your head back up to the rest of the table, you see everyone looking at you expectantly. 

“I guess it's about time you guys know my story.” You say rubbing the back of your neck with your free hand. 

“What do you mean? You told us how you got to the grand line.” Brook says concerned.

“Well before that…”

You go on to tell your crew the same story you told Zoro but in much greater detail. During the particularly hard parts, Zoro made sure to hold your hand tightly, to remind you he was here with you. When you finished everyone had a shocked expression on their face.

“I- I can’t believe you went through all that y/n! You are so strong.” Nami says with a hand over her mouth.

“It truly is impressive,” Robin says looking at you. 

“Well, none of that matters! You are part of this crew now, and no one will be taking you from us. Especially not the celestial dragons. They can suck my d-”

“LUFFY!” Nami yells cutting the captain off. Everyone at the table starts to giggle. 

“But really y/n, we won’t let anything happen to you,” Frankie says smiling at you. 

The night ended with lots of support towards you, everyone letting you know they won’t let anything happen to you. You realize what it means to be a part of a crew, a part of the straw hats crew. You found your true family. 

After everyone says their goodnights, you look around for Zoro to finally talk to him. He may have held your hand during dinner but you knew better than to expect everything to just be okay after that. 

Not able to find him, you sigh in defeat and decide to return to your shared room, knowing he would probably stay up for night watch on the deck somewhere, he was probably just avoiding you again. 

To your surprise, when you opened the door you saw Zoro sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. At the noise of the door opening his head shoots up and you can see the look of dismay on his face. He gets up and starts walking towards you. 

“Look y/n, I know I fucked up, I’m really sorry. I know you and Sanji-” He rapidly says. 

You stop his rant by pulling the collar of his shirt down and kissing him. At first, he was surprised, but quickly melted into your kiss. A few seconds later, pulling away. “But, Sanji,” He says dumbly. 

“What about him Zo?” You laugh, “When I told you I had a crush on someone else I was talking about YOU, dumbass.” 

A grin on Zoro’s face grows at this comment. His posture returns as he regains his confidence, he now returns to towering over you. “Well, in that case-” He leans down while lifting your chin with his fingers. He brings you into a slow kiss.

Breaking away for a breath, he looks into your eyes and says, “I love you y/n”

“I love you Zo”

This quickly causes him to bring you back into another kiss. One kiss turns into another and eventually…

[bellaxgiornata]

Safe Haven [Chapter Eleven]

Pairing: Michael Kinsella x Fem!Reader Word Count: 5k [Series Masterlist]

Warnings/tags: 18+ for this series; contains violence, drug use, domestic abuse, smut, hurt/comfort, angst, mutual pining, friends to lovers

a/n: Finally getting chapter eleven up after a little break working on this fic! We get some cheeky Mikey fluff at the end of this one and the date you're all probably looking forward to will be in the next chapter! Feedback is always appreciated!

Tag list: @loveroftoomanyfandoms @farfromstrange @rotscinema @1988-fiend @shouldbestudying41 @shiorimakibawrites @norestfortheshelbywicked @mattmurdocksstarlight @acharliecoxedfan @roseallisonparker @yarrystyleeza @dramaholic18 @mattkinsella @ms-murdockswift @theetherealbloom @24hflower @mattmurdocksscars @schneeflocky @the-nursery

"You were going to leave without saying anything to me?" Megan snapped.

Her hand darted out across the table, slapping your arm sharply and causing you to press a few keys on your laptop keyboard accidentally. Your head turned towards her, a guilty look on your face. 

"What the fuck, sis?" she shot. "You could have at least told me!"

“You’d have tried to come up with some ridiculous plan for me to stay,” you replied. “Don’t tell me otherwise.”

“We both could have talked to Birdy!” she exclaimed. “She likes me! Or we could’ve talked to Michael! I’m sure she would’ve listened to him .”

“I didn’t know that was a possibility, okay?” you explained. “I kept telling myself he’d believe her over me. And I figured if I told you I was leaving, you’d do something crazy like tell Michael–”

Megan pointed a firm finger at you, her expression serious when she cut you off. “You’re damn fucking right I’d have gone and told his ass you were getting run out of the country by his aunt. Because I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be too thrilled if you just up and left on him. That man has caught feelings for you.” Her hand lowered, picking up her mug of coffee from the table with a sigh as she brought it to her lips. “So what did end up happening? Since you’re still here, I assume something happened.”

You sighed yourself, sitting back in the kitchen chair and focusing on your sister instead of the emails you’d been looking through. “I had my bags in the trunk of the car, was ready to make my way to the airport, but then Michael just literally shows up at that exact moment before I could leave,” you told her.

“Wow, that is some fortuitous luck,” she muttered.

“Birdy had been driving him back from the Garda station,” you continued. “So she was trying to tell him I was a liar and then I just–just blurted out the reason why I was actually leaving. It seemed to change her tune real quick. But oh Meg, you should have seen how pissed he was.”

“At you?” she asked, her brows pulling together.

You shook your head quickly. “No, at Birdy. For threatening me,” you told her.

Her eyes went wide as she swiftly leaned across the table towards you. “Was he screaming and cursing a bunch? Threatening her back?”

“Threatening her a bit it seemed. But no, it wasn’t some violent, loud outburst,” you answered. “It was like…this really calm, really collected rage. She practically shrank under his stare. It was…”

“Scary?” Megan supplied.

“No,” you admitted, a sheepish smile on your lips as you ducked your head. “It was…kind of hot, actually.”

Megan barked out a laugh, the sound only drawing a blush to further form on your cheeks. 

“Oh my God!” she squealed. “You want him to do some bad, bad things to you in the bedroom, don’t you?”

“What?” you asked in alarm, eyes going wide as your head darted back up.

“Stop it,” she said, grinning at you. “Because I also want him to do some bad, bad things to you in the bedroom. Damn girl, you need it.”

“Shut up,” you grumbled, eyes returning to your laptop.

“So was that all that happened? Because you were passed out last night when I got home, so you didn’t really tell me anything before bed,” she pressed.

Your bottom lip rolled between your teeth as you tried to bite back a smile. Megan caught on quickly, gasping audibly before she was leaning across the table again, slapping your arm repeatedly.

“Spill, bitch! Spill! Did you two finally fuck?” she pried.

“No, we didn’t do that!” you answered her, trying to swat away her hands. “But we talked briefly about Victor. And…some other things. But then he asked me out for coffee tomorrow morning and then we…kissed.”

Megan’s expression quickly changed to something soft as she cooed, “Aww, you finally kissed him? How was it? Was it good?”

Your gaze lowered to the table, the smile growing on your face as you recalled that moment from yesterday morning. You remembered the heavy sexual tension you felt in the air with his forehead pressed to yours, his warm breath falling over your lips. The way he’d finally and so carefully pressed his lips to yours in a gentle, sweet kiss. How your heart was pounding in your chest when his mouth had moved so deliberate and slow against yours. You’d melted into him on that couch when his big hands gradually held you firmly to him, right before his tongue had slipped into your mouth. You could still recall the way he tasted, the way his tongue felt against yours, and the memory of that alone was beginning to stir a heat within you. 

“Okay, well it must’ve been good because it looks like you’re getting a lady boner thinking about it,” Megan said, breaking through your thoughts.

You cleared your throat, licking your lips as you focused back on her. Biting back a smile you admitted, “He’s a really good kisser. And I would certainly like to explore… more of that with him.”

“And more of him , I’m sure,” Megan teased.

You rolled your eyes, your focus returning back to your emails. “Okay, yes, I would,” you agreed. “But I’m–”

Your sentence hung unfinished in the air when you spotted a new email that had come into your work email address inbox. The sender’s email address instantly caught your eye. It was your previous address from where you’d just disappeared from before uprooting and moving to Dublin. Swallowing hard, you realized Victor must have finally caught wind of your place in Wisconsin. It was probably only a matter of time before he discovered you’d been in Chicago next. Would he be able to figure out where you’d flown to from O’Hare airport?

“But you’re what?” Megan said in annoyance, nudging you with her foot under the table. “Come on, you know I hate when you leave me hanging like that.”

Mouth opening, no words came out as you continued to stare at the email. You felt the cold prickle of fear steadily creeping up your spine, blanketing you in the unpleasant sensation. 

“Grace?” your sister called out.

“It’s him,” you whispered, eyes glued to the screen. “He’s getting closer.”

Megan pushed her chair out, rising to her feet. “What?” she asked.

Stepping around behind you, Megan placed her hands on the back of your chair and leaned over your shoulder. You pointed at the email address on the screen. 

“That’s my old address in Wisconsin,” you explained. “I’d noticed he’d caught onto where I’d last stayed in Washington and slipped out to Chicago for a few weeks. I was afraid he’d find me in Wisconsin if I didn’t. And then I–I panicked in Chicago and that’s why I came out here.” 

You turned, looking at your sister beside you. Her focus steadily shifted back to you.

“I thought my best chance to get away was to finally leave the States,” you told her. “But I’m starting to worry. Birdy mentioned the Serpents have a chapter in Cork.”

Megan’s face fell as she stood upright, her hands landing on her hips. “You’re kidding me, right? They’re here now, too?”

“Yeah, apparently,” you answered. “Running guns in Ireland. Probably a new source for the Club Stateside. It makes sense.”

Megan’s eyes slowly returned to your laptop screen, your own gaze following it. She gestured a hand towards your computer.

“So are you going to open it?” she asked.

You shook your head quickly, staring at the email address that felt like it was taunting you. “No,” you said. “I’m starting to wonder if he’s tracking me through some of this. It’s better that I change my work email address again, but my editor is going to be pissed because I just did that a few days ago.”

“Who cares,” Megan said. “I’d rather she be pissed than you be dead.”

"Yeah," you breathed out. 

With your pulse still racing, you exited out of your email and closed your laptop. That feeling of being watched returned and the sensation only made your skin crawl. 

"We'll figure it out, okay?" Megan assured you. "And maybe it'll be harder for him to find you here. He's probably expecting you somewhere in the U.S. still. I doubt he'd think to look in Ireland."

"Right," you replied softly. "You're–you're probably right."

Movement outside of the kitchen window caught both of your attention, your heads both quickly spinning in the direction to see what it was. Birdy was making her way up the paved driveway and you noticed she was carrying a plate in her hands. What the hell was she up to now?

"Not what I needed this morning at all," you complained, rising to your feet.

"Maybe she isn't coming to run you out of Ireland this time?" Megan suggested. 

You didn't answer her as you made your way to the front door. Opening it, you came face to face with Birdy and the polite smile on her face. Crossing your arms over your chest, you leant up against the doorframe as Megan came to stand behind you. 

"Birdy," you greeted sharply. 

"G'mornin' dears," she said cheerily. "I hope you're doin' well?"

"Better than I was doing earlier in the week," you answered flatly with a pointed stare. 

Her smile briefly faltered at your words, her eyes landing on Megan behind you for a moment before they returned to you. Awkwardly she held up the plate in her hands, your eyes dropping down to the baked good that was on it.

"Made ya both a coffee cake," she said. "Couldn' exactly sleep last night and I felt bad for…what I'd done."

"How do I know you didn't poison that?" you asked, gesturing to the coffee cake.

Birdy’s face fell as she nodded. "S'pose I deserve that," she said. "But I didn't poison it. I came to offer a proper apology. For what I unknowingly did to ya, dear."

One of your brows arched in surprise at her. You certainly hadn't been expecting that as the cause of her visit. 

"Would it be alrigh' if I come inside for a chat, Grace?" she asked hopefully. "Just the two of us?"

For a moment you contemplated what she was asking of you, your lips pressing firmly together as you stared back at her. Eventually you pushed off the doorframe and stepped aside, waving Birdy in. You figured it was probably better to hear her out. If she really was going to make amends it was better to have Birdy on your side than against you. 

Birdy made her way straight to the kitchen as you closed the front door, hearing Megan following behind her. When you stepped into the kitchen yourself, you saw your sister grabbing her half empty mug of coffee from the table where you both had previously been, her eyes lingering hungrily on the coffee cake as she began to make her way out of the room.

"I'll be in the back garden if you need me," she said to you as she passed by.

Your attention focused on Birdy, arms still firmly crossed over your chest as you stood opposite the kitchen island from her. Neither of you spoke until you'd heard the back door slide open and then closed again, signaling the pair of you really were alone. 

  "I'm sorry for jumpin' to conclusions, Grace," Birdy began, her tone shockingly sincere. "I noticed somethin' seemed off from the moment I met ya and I couldn' let it go. I had to look into it because that naggin' feelin' wouldn't leave me be. I needed to make sure ya weren't some sorta threat to my family. Ya have to understand that, at least."

"I do," you replied, arms still crossed over your chest. "I understand that, but you also threatened me, Birdy."

That look you'd seen her give Mikey yesterday morning was on her face again now. It was oddly disarming as she glanced down at the coffee cake on the counter before her. Her fingers were nervously tapping along the edge of the plate.

"I–I cannot apologize enough," she said, gently saying your real name. "I didn't know he was your ex-fiance. Nor did I know he was…violent with ya. There was–was nothin’ in my searchin’ that woulda been able to tell me any of that." 

She winced, her gaze still on the coffee cake but it looked distant. As if she was somewhere else right now, somewhere besides your sister’s kitchen. You watched her in silence, waiting for her to speak again. 

"I s'pose I should have read it on your face, dear," she continued quietly. "I understand what it was that caught my attention with ya now. Because I’ve been there myself."

You stiffened at her admission, sucking in a sharp breath. The sound drew her eyes back up to yours. She sent you a sad smile before she slowly nodded.

“Ya aren’t alone, Grace,” she admitted. “But ya say you're here in Dublin hidin' from your ex then?" 

"Yes," you answered. 

Birdy’s eyes narrowed a little at your response. "How long have ya been hidin' from him, dear?" she asked next. 

"Almost two years," you confessed. 

"And he’s lookin' to hurt ya, is he?" she pressed.

You nodded, your arms further tightening over your chest. The email from just a bit ago flashed through your mind.

"More like kill me," you told her.

Birdy eyed you for a long moment, her eyes softer than they'd ever been towards you. You felt yourself gradually relaxing in her presence this time.

"Have ya ever thought 'bout fightin' back, pet?" she asked curiously. "Instead of hidin'?"

Brows rising up onto your forehead, you gaped back at her. "What?" you questioned.

She pressed both of her hands to the countertop, leaning forward towards you. There was a dangerous smile drawing the corners of her lips up, something devious in the piercing blue of her eyes.

"Have ya thought 'bout takin' him out yourself, dear?" she clarified. "Standin' your ground? Stop lettin' him scare ya away from living your life?"

"Are you suggesting I kill him?" you gasped, eyes widening.

"I'm suggestin' exactly that," she replied. 

Mouth still open, you could feel your heart beating wildly in your chest at the idea. You'd never considered that before. You'd certainly never killed someone before and you didn't think you had it in you. Victor was dangerous and he certainly would not hesitate to kill you, but you? Kill him ?

"Now I don’t necessarily mean you need to be doin’ the deed. But it’s just a thought, dear," Birdy said, pushing back off the counter and shrugging a shoulder. "Ya caught Mikey's eye and I have a feelin' he's already thinkin' along those lines himself."

"I don't want him involved," you said immediately. "I don't want him to get hurt."

"Ohh, love," Birdy said with a light laugh. "I assure ya that our sweet Mikey can certainly handle himself. Ya don’t need to worry your pretty little head ‘bout him.” Birdy’s head tilted to the side, her eyes narrowing again. “D’ya have a gun, dear?”

“What?” you asked, surprised again by her bluntness. “No–no. Not here. It’s not exactly like I could travel with one.”

Birdy’s hand lightly patted the countertop. “I’ll get ya one, Grace. In case ya have need of it. Ya never know,” she said. “But maybe let’s not tell Mikey ‘bout it, yeah? I imagine he’ll be wantin’ to be doin’ the protectin’.”

“I–” you paused, your brows knitting together in confusion on your forehead.

All week Birdy had been wary of you. Making threats and trying to push you out of Dublin. Now she was showing up with coffee cake and chatting, offering to bring you a gun for protection. It was a drastic change from how she’d been and it had made you more than a little curious and confused.

“Why’re you suddenly trying to help me?” you asked. “You’ve been spending this past week trying to get rid of me and now you’re offering to bring me a gun?”

“I don’t like men like your ex,” Birdy stated sharply, her jaw set firm. “And I look out for my family. Even though I know ya aren’t family, pet, ya mean somethin’ to my Mikey. And that means somethin’ to me. So as long as you aren’t a threat to the Kinsellas, you’ll have me lookin’ out for both your sister and yourself.”

You swallowed the lump of emotions forming in your throat at her words. It had been so long–too long–since anyone else had looked out for you. Now here Birdy was, easily switching from enemy to ally just like that.

“I’ve seen how happy you’ve been makin’ Mikey lately,” Birdy added softly, a little smile returning to her mouth. “It warms my heart. He cares ‘bout ya. And I’m guessin’ the feeling’s mutual?”

Heat crept onto your cheeks, your eyes dropping down to your feet. “I haven’t exactly had the opportunity to be with anyone in a long time,” you admitted. “Never stayed anywhere long enough after Victor. I tried to push him away but–” you bit your lip, recalling the way his hazel eyes saw you. “I can’t–can’t seem to stay away from him. It’s like he gets me. Sees me. Doesn’t judge me. And I just…find myself wanting to let him in.”

“Hmm,” Birdy happily hummed out, making her way around the kitchen island towards you. “He’s a good man, Michael. A very good man. One with a very big heart. Don’t let his past scare ya, dear. He’d never hurt ya. Despite the things he’s done, Mikey’s a very gentle soul.”

Your eyes rose back up and landed on Birdy’s warm smile. Somehow the heat only increased in your cheeks at the conversation.

“I’m not afraid of him,” you said. “I’ve already told him that.”

“Good,” Birdy stated. “Bet he needed to hear that. But I won’t overstay my welcome, pet,” she continued. “If ya need me, ya know where I live. Don’t hesitate to ask for help with anythin’–especially if it’s some of the Kinsellas themselves. Sometimes they can be a handful and we currently have some… things keepin’ us on edge.”

“I haven’t exactly met the others,” you told her.

“Ahh well,” Birdy said, a grin on her face. “I’m sure ya will soon enough.”

You watched as she turned, making her way out of the kitchen and towards the front door. A few seconds later you startled when she popped her head back into the kitchen.

“I’ll get ya that gun, soon,” she assured you. “Don’t ya worry.”

“Thank you,” you whispered.

Birdy sent you one last smile before she opened the front door and stepped out. Through the kitchen window you watched as she made her way back down the driveway and turned towards her house. 

So she was going to get you a gun and she wasn’t trying to run you out of Ireland anymore. She seemed sincere in her apology, too. Things seemed to be working out, for now at least.

Maybe Dublin wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe you could let your walls down a little bit here. And maybe Birdy was on to something about standing your ground instead of hiding.

Resting your back against the headboard of your bed, you were working on interacting with your fans on social media just as Angela had reminded you to do earlier this evening. As you’d predicted, she’d been quite agitated when you needed to change your email address yet again so soon, but when you’d told her you’d made progress towards the deadline, she’d quickly eased up on you.

After Birdy’s visit earlier, despite the intimidating email this morning, your mood had lightened a bit and you’d found the words just seemed to flow right out of you. You’d managed to write quite a few thousand words before you’d gotten a bit of a headache and decided to focus on social media before calling it a night. Which is why you’d been relaxing on your bed for the past hour now, responding to messages and comments. Thankfully none of which were from your ex this time.

The light turning on in Michael’s room caught your eye and you immediately glanced up from your laptop screen on your lap. Michael was making his way into his bedroom, one hand running through his hair. He looked tired as he shuffled into his room, but he stopped in his tracks when he spotted you laying on the bed. Hand slowly dropping to his side, a smile began to form on his lips.

You hadn’t seen him since yesterday morning when he’d stopped you from leaving. You’d admittedly been a little disappointed when he hadn’t reached out to you at all today–or later last night to potentially continue where things had left off–but you knew you were getting coffee with him tomorrow morning. You’d see him then. But watching him now as he slowly made his way towards his bedroom window with his eyes locked on you and that grin steadily growing on his mouth, you realized you’d really missed him today.

Michael eventually came to a stop at his window, his hands reaching down and pulling it up. He stuck a hand out, gesturing towards your window and clearly asking you to do the same. With a playful roll of your eyes, you closed out of the tabs on your laptop and closed it, setting it aside on the mattress. And then you slid off the side of the bed and rose to your feet, making your way over towards the window. Grabbing onto it, you pulled it up high and were greeted with the chilly night air outside. You bent down and stuck your head outside, resting your elbows on the window ledge. Across from you, Michael copied the gesture, a tired smile on his face as he did. With the pair of you leaning out of the window like this, you could have been close enough to touch if you both had just reached out.

“Hi,” you said, unable to resist the grin forming on your own mouth.

“Hey,” he replied.

“Haven't seen you in awhile,” you told him. 

“I’m sorry ‘bout that,” he replied, a hand scratching at his beard. “Family shite came up. Been dealin’ with the…aftermath of some things.”

The shooting he’d done the other night, no doubt. It had probably started a feud. You hoped it wasn’t anything too serious though.

“I understand,” you said. “Been…dealing with a few things myself.”

His dark brows pulled together instantly, his expression switching to concern and worry. “Your ex?” he asked.

You shook your head, eyes focusing on your fidgeting hands. “Nothing serious at the moment. Nothing to be too worried about just yet at least. But Birdy paid me a visit this morning,” you told him.

“She come 'round to make more threats?” Michael asked, an edge to his words.

“No!” you answered quickly, eyes flying back up to his face as you shook your head. “No, she actually came over to apologize. And it was…surprisingly genuine. I hadn’t been expecting that. Or the coffee cake."

The muscles in his face relaxed, the tension in his shoulders easing. He ran a hand over his mouth, a small smile already back on it.

“Yeah, Birdy she–she's a good one," he said, the fondness clear in his voice. "She means well, but she's very protective over the family." The smile faltered on his face, the corners of his lips curving downward as he continued. "And I'm sorry she did what she did to ya, Grace. It wasn' right."

"Well it's settled now," you assured him.

"I'm–I'm glad ya didn't leave, either," he admitted softly. 

"Me too," you agreed. 

A coy smile gradually spread over your lips as you continued to hold his gaze. Michael’s brow rose curiously at the sight of it. 

"Because I'd have apparently missed a really good kiss if I had," you added.

A bark of surprised laughter flew out of Michael, a bright smile lighting up his face once again. The sound stirred something warm in you, your heart skipping happily in your chest. You watched as he bit his lip when his laughter subsided, eyeing you fondly across the small distance.

"Yeah?" he asked, a boyish grin on his mouth. "Ya weren't the only one who would've missed it. I'll tell ya that."

"You know," you continued with a sly smile, watching as his only grew when he leaned further out of his window towards you, "we never did get to pick up where we left off."

"Mmm," he hummed out, coming to rest his chin in his palm. "You're right. We didn't. Maybe tomorrow mornin' we can."

"Oh that's right," you teased, feigning innocence. "You asked me on a date, didn't you?"

"Only took ya two times to finally accept," he countered.

You laughed, your body feeling like it was lighter than air right now. It had been so long since you'd felt like this and somehow Michael kept managing to achieve it without really even trying. There was just something about him, you didn't understand it, but he made you feel safe. When you were with him, you forgot all your worries and fears. It was just the two of you. 

You liked it.

"I'm lookin' forward to gettin' coffee with ya in the mornin'," Michael confessed. "But I should probably get some sleep myself. Been a long couple of days for me."

You nodded, ignoring the disappointment that flooded you. You'd see him tomorrow, you reminded yourself. For a date. And you'd surely get to kiss him again then. 

"I won't keep you up," you told him. "I should probably get some sleep soon, too."

"G'night, Grace," he said, a warm smile on his mouth. 

"Goodnight, Michael," you replied.

Both of you slipped back through your windows, your eyes still locked on each other as you both closed them. You couldn't help but laugh when you saw him grab onto his curtains to close them.

"No show tonight?" you joked, knowing he couldn't hear you. 

Michael paused, his eyes on your lips as his brows drew together in confusion. His hand released his curtain and instead came down to reopen his window. He gestured back to yours and you felt heat creeping up your neck. Slowly you opened your window back up.

"What'd ya say, pet?" he asked, brows still pulled together. "Didn't hear ya."

You cleared your throat awkwardly. He wasn't supposed to have heard what you'd said to begin with but how else did you respond to that? 

"I uh, I was just saying there's no show for me tonight," you said, your cheeks burning.

Michael’s eyebrows rose slowly onto his forehead, a cheeky grin snaking its way onto his lips. "Oh yeah? Enjoyed that did ya?" he teased. 

Swallowing hard, you wished you could disappear into the floor. "I was–was just joking," you replied awkwardly.

"Mmm," he hummed out, that cheeky smile still on his mouth. "Well I been wonderin' where my show was," he teased.

Your jaw dropped at his unexpected boldness and Michael chuckled. You hadn't anticipated that to come out of him.

"Michael Kinsella," you said, his name coming out more breathless than you'd intended which only appeared to grow his smile. "And here I was thinking you were a little shy ."

He laughed again, shaking his head at you. "I assure ya, pet, I'm not shy," he told you. "But I'm only jokin' myself."

Closing your mouth you tried to recover, but it was difficult considering the look that Michael was still giving you from his room. Especially after that comment. You wished you could jump the gap into his room and discover just how not shy he really was.

"I'll see ya in the mornin', Grace," he said, shooting you a wink.

You tried to bite back the smile on your face, your cheeks burning still. You wondered if he could see it as he lowered his window, that cheeky grin turning a little smug smirk on his face. Reaching up, you lowered your own window, your eyes still fixed on Michael as you did. 

You were about to send him a wave and close your curtains, but you saw his hands grab the hem of his navy sweater before he pulled it up over his head, tossing it onto the floor behind him like he'd done the other morning. Laughter bubbled out of you, a hand lifting to cover your mouth as you watched him point to you through the window. You swore he'd said 'just for you' before he grinned, the brightness from his smile reaching his eyes. Your own eyes openly roved the sight of his now exposed chest, your fingers desperately itching to touch him.

He was certainly attractive, you couldn't deny it.

You were still laughing when he sent a wave your way, your hand falling from your mouth to return the gesture. Slowly he closed the curtains, cutting off your view of him. It took you a moment to stop the giggles that your laughter had fallen into and finally close your own curtains. 

As you made your way back to your bed, flipping open your laptop to finish what you'd been doing before you went to sleep, you couldn't help but realize you were still smiling. You certainly liked Michael Kinsella, that much was incredibly obvious. And whatever this was forming between you both had been absolutely unexpected when you'd disappeared to Dublin. But you were quickly becoming grateful for it.

And as the night wore on, you found yourself steadily growing giddy and nervous for your coffee date with him tomorrow morning.

[charmedreincarnation]

you probably won’t answer this and rightly so but idk what’s wrong or holding me back cause i always get symptoms, i know the next thing is for me to enter and i don’t. I obviously won’t be giving up but i see such great success stories (mostly your anons) about how they persisted and entered and i continue to persist but it doesn’t happen and idk why. I have worked out my doubts and fears and i genuinely know nothing is holding me back.

I am not dwelling in this negativity of me not entering but i guess the reason why i am sending this to you is because i want to know if i’m missing something? i promise you i’m good (no negative self talk) i worked so hard to be at this stage, but just confused about what’s not clicking

Here’s what i do:

relax my bod, stay still

listen to a sub while taking deep breaths, i affirm

i try to keep my mind focused on just the affirmations and breathing

i get symptoms

i know, i really believe i’ll tap in and continue to do what i’m doing

but i don’t enter

(i try to do the theta method where i visualise myself in water and space but can’t continue to do it for long because it does the opposite of relax for me?)

if you end up answering, i appreciate it a lot! thank you maya!! hope you’re having a good day!

Hi love! I get a lot of asks like this or very similar ones, and I really can't tell you what you are supposedly doing right or wrong because I’m not there, and I’m not you. And to be real, you might not even be doing anything wrong in the first place.

From what you've shared, it sounds like you're already doing a lot of things right. You're listening to subs, focusing on your affirmations and breathing, and you've even attempted the theta method (though I understand if it doesn't work for everyone).

I’m sure you already know if you’re this far, but the law always emphasizes the importance of feeling natural about your desired state. If you're constantly aware that you're trying to manifest something, it might create a sense of separation between you and your desired state. Instead, try to assume a state of already having what you want. Feel it to be natural. Live in the end. That’s what my experience was at least.

Regardless there are a plethora of methods out there that exist to help you on your journey. Each one is unique and tailored to address different issues that you might be facing. So, if you think you have a problem, rest assured there's a method where that issue won't exist.

Maybe you're too focused on symptoms, which, by the way, are just your body falling asleep. They're not an external sign pointing to something else. While it's a good thing that your body is relaxing and preparing for sleep, remember that your goal is to detach from your physical body. Try affirming "I am not my body, and symptoms don't affect me" while you experience these symptoms.

Visualization can also be a helpful tool like you said. If imagining yourself floating in space and being sucked into the void visualization doesn't work for you, try a different scene. Maybe it's the mountain tops, or maybe it's being comforted in bed with someone you find safe. The key is to tailor the visualization to what makes you feel comfortable and relaxed.

If awake methods are too distracting for you, it’s fine. There are plenty of sleep methods available. These methods focus on using the state between wakefulness and sleep (like the hypnagogic state) to shift your awareness. They can be less intense and easier to practice than awake methods.

And if you're looking for something more unconventional, there are other methods out there. I recently posted about a reverse psychology method, and there are more in my masterlist. Plus, @gorgeouslypink discusses many different void methods that tackle a variety of issues.

In your journey, the answer you're seeking will always lie within yourself. It's about understanding your own rhythms, your own energy, and your own paths to relaxation and manifestation.

Start by writing down what works best for you. What practices make you feel the most relaxed? Is it a specific method or a combination of several? Maybe it doesn’t even exist but doing that particular thing helps you. Or, at this point, is it just setting an intention and letting yourself do your own thing, knowing that what you desire is already yours?

You are the best judge of what works for you. I can guide you, provide suggestions, and share different methods, but ultimately, you are the one who knows what feels right.

Maybe Instead of trying to force the method in your next attempt to reach the void, ask yourself what you think you should be doing.

Trust your intuition. It's always with you and can guide you towards your desired state. calming your mind and living in the present moment will always help. At any point you can tap into your subconscious mind, where all your answers lie.

So, pay attention to your inner voice. It's always speaking, always guiding. Even when you're not actively seeking answers, it's there, speaking with you.

Also, if you’re “knowing” the same way you knew I wouldn’t answer this ask even though I am, that might also be your issue. Thinking and knowing are different things. If you’re telling and convincing yourself you’re going to tap into the void while also in your mind knowing you won’t at the same time, you’re better off attempting with an altered state of consciousness like a hypnagogia or SP.

[minijenn]

Sorry

To think it was finally over.

Weirdmageddon was stopped. 

Homeworld was forced to retreat back to the vastness of space.

And now, it won’t be long until Dipper and Mabel will leave Gravity Falls now that the summer was close to being over. Before that, Dipper had one important matter to settle. 

The boy went down to the hidden bunker underneath the tourist trap of a shack that he’s called home these past months. According to Stan, Ford was packing a lot of research material up, it looked as if he’s planning for an important trip. 

A trip that would require help like an apprentice…..which was what he wanted to talk to his great uncle about. 

“Uh, hey, Great Uncle Ford?”

Ford ceased his reading, noticing his young nephew’s presence. “Ah, Dipper! Is something wrong? I assumed you and Mabel were preparing for your party.”

Dipper chuckled. “Trust me, Mabe’s done enough preparing to let me take a break. It’s just, I-I needed to talk to you about something.” He rubbed his arm nervously. “See, I know that I said that I was willing to stay here and become your apprentice….but during the whole near end of the world and a breakthrough with my sister….I-I’ve decided that I’m going back home to Piedmont…..” He revealed.

He’s been meaning to tell his idol about him reconsidering the apprenticeship offer, he only waited until now because of fear of the disappointment that he imagined would show on Ford’s features. 

“Listen, I-I know it’s the chance of a lifetime a-and it’s not as if I don’t think it’d be an honor anymore, it’s just-! Well, me and Mabel separating is kinda what caused the whole apocalypse in the first place, so why ruin a good thing, am I right? Plus, now that I think about it, it’d be a bit of a hassle explaining it all to my parents which is a whole other can of worms, trust me. I’d get it if you’re disappointed, but I-I just can’t abandon her! I’m-I’m sorry-!”

“Dipper!” Ford stopped his nephew’s rantings, kneeling down and grabbing his shoulders. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.”

“Y-You’re not? Wait, is this a test?”

Ford somberly smiled.

It’s no surprise the lad was stumped.

After all, the six-fingered paranormal lover was so gung-ho about the apprenticeship. 

So adamant to convince him to abandon his entire life in California. 

“My boy, you’re not the only one who’s made an epiphany in the wake of Weirdmageddon.” The author gently explained. “For so long, I’ve lived under the belief that the only one I could ever truly trust was myself. I was so focused on the failings and mistakes of others, I neglected to see my own. I thought all it took was just me and me alone to fix everything. Instead, it took you, your sister, young Steven, the gems, and even the rest of the town. My own arrogance paled in the power you all displayed against Bill and the Homeworld forces…..so if anything, I should apologize for trying to force my own beliefs onto you. Honestly, I should also work on a proper apology to Mabel. I didn’t even consider her feelings.”

“I-I-This did not go at all how I expected.”

Laughing, Ford ruffled his hair. “Run on, now, soon-to-be birthday boy. And if you’re willing to listen to the words of this old coot, enjoy your life.”

Smiling, Dipper went off to the elevator. 

Ford sighed, then noticed the picture of the twins that Stan placed during the kids’ stay. 

“Trying to break up a team like that.” Ford shook his head. “Maybe it’s about time I rebuilt an old one….” He took out a photo of him and Stan as children with the old Stan-o-War.

---

Oooh good job with this! I could easily see this happening following UF Weirdmageddon ^_^