#I thought it was cool so I drew them all being used in the beginning of a battle

[featherisderp]

K i r b e h

These pictures are my favorite, because I made them all on the computer (With IbisPaintX.). This is impressive to me because I usually draw on my phone, and my last Magolor picture was on the computer and it kinda sucked-

My Morpho Knight picture was too but that one was better lol.

[heartfullofleeches]

[Angst]

Childhood Best Friends with a small age gap- two or three years, nothing crazy- but it means everything as they age.

It was hard for them to make friends their age when you first met. They liked things that were too "childish" for their peers - things another child who lived not to far away adored. They'd seen each other on the way to school, but they didn't interact frequently due to their difference in grade.

Until that day-

"Whoa...Cool backpack. You like that show too?"

"Thanks... I'm thinking of getting a new one though... Do you want me to ask my parents if you can have it?"

"What?! It looks fine to me... Why are you getting rid of it?"

"My friends called me a baby... I won't be able to go back to class without everyone laughing at me unless I get a better one."

"That's silly!.... It's on right now... Wanna watch it with me?"

The two were inseparable from then on- School hindered the time they had to see each other each morning, but as soon as it let out - both ran to meet with their new best friend. The elder of the pair was often mocked and teased for their choice, but they could hardly care anymore. They had someone who'd stick by their side to the very end - childish fixations and all.

Years went on and they made new friends. It happens. More obstacles began piling up throughout - chipping away at the few hours they scarcely had to begin with. Studying, Hobbies, balancing days between hanging out with other friend groups and the person who once meant the world. They tried to make things works, but nothing went to plan-

"Is it alright if Y/n comes with us tonight?"

"Y/N? Aren't they're too young to see this movie? We shouldn't be responsible if they have night terrors or something.."

"They aren't that young... Are they?"

They never thought about it before. You were so close in age as kids it never hit them that as you grew that little gap drew a bridge between you - and it was easier to let you go than finding an alternative.

"Hey, Dude! Are we still on for this weekend? I can't believe they're making a reboot after all this time!.."

"Are my messages going through? You haven't responded in a while... I saw you outside school yesterday and yelled your name, but....."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Hey."

"You're hanging out with them today? Did you forget about my birthday?...."

"You removed me off your list of friends...We're still friends, right?"

"Let me alone. I'm sick of being your babysitter. Go find friends your own age and stay away from mine."

And that was the end of things.

College cames around and their live became relatively tame. Their thoughts drifted to that childhood friend of theirs every now and again, but between school and partying with the new friends they had made - those memories faded to the back of their mind.

An acquaintance asks them to help show some new faces around the campus. One sticks out to them amongst the crowd. It's you. What do they say to you after all these years? You don't look sad to see them. Nor angry. Intact - you look..

Relieved.

Pulling them aside at the end of the tour, you free yourself from the burden that's weighted down on you since they left you.

"I'm sorry."

"It was never my intention to hold you back. Overtime I realized I was just that annoying kid who clung onto you because I thought you were my first and only friend...When you never felt that way about me. I'm sorry for taking that away from you. If our paths cross again, I promise I won't even look at you."

After being abandoned by your best friend- the person you looked up to most, you matured well beyond your years in hopes that would make you like them again. Overtime, you gave up that goal, but others could see how you've changed.

"Isn't that.... Y/n?.."

"Oh, man- It is! You guys were glued at the hip before we became teens."

"They're..kinda cute... Do you still have their number?"

All this time apart, a feeling long forgotten resurged inside them. The need to protect you. You didn't know these people like they did. You shouldn't be going to parties with them, getting to know and befriend them. They'll only hurt you - worse than they had. They never should have said goodbye to you- They should have allowed the feelings they were so scared to have, but had always been there develop and blossom naturally until you both were adults ready to move on to that stage in your friendship.

They know you best. No matter how much you grow as a person, you're still the same.

"That's a cute Keychain, Y/n!"

"Thanks! I've loved this show since I was a kid!"

They'll prove it to you.

[wooahaes]

the (not-so-subtle) doting kind

pairing: non-idol!mark lee x fem!reader

genre: fluff. established relationship au.

warnings: food mentions. mark being a very doting bf on his gf's bday.

word count: 2.4k~ dont look at me when u compare this one to all the other bday fics

daisy's notes: what if i want him :(

For whatever reason, your birthday wasn’t a happy day for you… So Mark resolved to treat you normally. And if “normally” involves him doting on you the way he does when you have bad days, then so be it.

He tucked stray strands of hair away from your face when he saw you begin to stir. He’d say one thing to you, just to show you that he remembered. So he leaned in, lips pressing against your own. “Good morning. Happy birthday, baby,” he said, voice still a little hoarse from sleep. “Are we still going to get breakfast?”

“Mmhm.” You drew him back in for another sleepy kiss, only to draw him closer. You snuggled in, eyes fluttering shut as you dropped your head into his shoulder. “Morning…”

He giggled. Most mornings, he’d tease you a little with some sort of “my sleepy girl,” but he settled in instead. He peppered your skin with kisses, just to hear that slightly-annoyed groan as you finally opened your eyes. His lips pressed against yours one final time before drawing back. 

“Good morning,” he said again, thumb grazing the apple of your cheek.

Despite the slight annoyance at being woken up fully now, you sat up and stifled a yawn. The moment you went to move out of bed, you felt Mark’s fingers poke into your sides. You let out a strangled grunt, playfully shoving away at his hands as he giggled. He came up behind you, pressing a long kiss against your neck before moving to search through the closet. It became obvious soon enough what he was doing, always trying to find a way to tease you to make you smile. Eventually you swatted him away from you, and he laughed that goofy laugh before getting dressed, too. He kept waiting around, watching you as you looked through your options before settling on something. Of course, it was one of the things you owned that Mark didn’t have something he could use to match with you… But he could improvise. He stood back, watching you (half-admiring, half-studying) before going into his side of your shared closet. 

When he stepped out in a patterned shirt that mainly featured the same color as the shirt you were wearing, he saw the way you gave him a little once over before going back to packing your things into a bag. “You look cute.”

Mission accomplished. Mentally, he put a little sunglasses emoji guy right next to the thought. 

After a quick breakfast out, the two of you ended up wandering around the mall for the day. He held your hand the entire time, always pointing out something cool or something he thought you’d look good in. Today was your day, which meant he couldn’t play. You wanted something? He was already getting his card out. He’d been saving specifically so that he could spoil you on your birthday, and he was intent on carrying that out.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he said with this cute smile, “I got you.” 

It always earned some sort of playful eye roll or snort as you thanked him, always drawing out the words to tease him. He was obvious, but that was fine with him. What was the point of days like birthdays and holidays if he couldn’t spoil you a little? He carried your bags for you, too, ever the gentleman. Yet he was the one who slowed down, hand holding yours tight enough to tug you back, when the two of you were outside of a toy store. He pointed out two little lion plushies right next to one another.

“Babe. Baby.” He didn’t take his eyes off of them. “It’s us.” 

You’d giggled a little over it. “Pretty sure those are two male lions, Mark.” 

He turned back to you. “What?” Then he looked at them again, fully registering the bright orange manes that both of them wore. “Right. Still… We could still find a lioness. C’mon.” He tugged you toward the entrance, only to stop. “Unless you don’t wanna—”

“We can go places you wanna go, Mark,” you said, already making your way into the store. “Let’s go find a lioness.” 

You’d been insistent on paying for and carrying that bag, and Mark let the issue drop. Gentlemanly as he was, his hand was getting a little tired carrying all your bags… and it’d be rude to turn it into an issue when it wasn’t. You did end up taking the bags from him when you stopped to get lunch, saying you would go get the table while he grabbed the food. When he asked you to pick a place, you’d just shrugged it off.

“You know what I’ll eat,” you said. “Just pick somewhere.” 

Again, he’d almost pushed back on that. Today was your day, even though you weren’t treating it like anything special. But he knew how you felt, and he bit back any disagreement. He looked around the food court, picked two places, and asked you to pick from those under the guise of him being indecisive. You hummed to yourself, genuinely considering the two options before picking, and then left him standing there as you went to snag a table for the two of you. He went off to order your food, and soon enough he was sitting across from you, listening as you rambled on about something that happened at work the other day. Eventually, you pushed the conversation onto him as you nodded along to his own stories… all while sneaking little pictures of him. He smiled for them, and eventually got you to squeeze into frame so he could snap a picture of the two of you together.

The rest of the day was scaled toward him. You would push for him to pick places to go, things to do. The bookstore the two of you frequented became one of your stops, and he saw the quiet way you bought a book he put back alongside with another bookmark for him (sometimes he lost them, but he’d always take extra care when someone gave him one) without saying a word. A few other stores, too: you’d ended up buying him a few things, insistent on carrying his bags for him with this knowing smile that told him you knew exactly what he’d been doing all day. 

Then when you were leaving, Mark saw it. The way you’d been walking a step ahead of him for a minute, talking about finding a place to sit for a few minutes before you actually went back to the car. You’d slowed to a stop outside this chocolate place the two of you had sampled forever ago, watching in the window as a tall, handsome man was making them in view of anyone passing by. The guy looked up, flashed you a smile, and then went back to his work. Mark slowly made his way over to you, watching the magic happen for himself.

“We should get a box,” he said after a moment. He looked at you, practically glowing with excitement. “We can split it, if you want?”

For a few seconds longer, you just watched the man on the other side of the glass continue to work. Then you met Mark’s gaze, genuinely smiling that same smile he fell in love with years ago, and nodded. “I’d love that.” 

The two of you went into the shop, picking out flavors for your big box of chocolates. When Mark paid this time, you didn’t push back or question or tease him. You just leaned against him, still smiling that pretty smile, and thanked him in a soft voice that felt so genuine this time around. He tucked the box into one of the bags he was carrying, pressed a kiss against your cheek, and took your hand again as you left.

By the time the two of you got home and started sorting through everything you’d bought, it was late. When Mark looked up, asking if you felt like going back out for dinner, you’d shaken your head. You had sprawled out along the couch at that point, visibly sleepy from the long day as you abandoned the work of sorting out new clothes to be washed. He just crawled over to you, pressing his lips against yours.

“You wanna go take a bath? I’ll order dinner when we get out.” He pressed another kiss against your lips. “We can watch movies,” another kiss, “and then bust into those chocolates,” and another, “and it’ll be fuckin’ great, baby.” 

You agreed to it all too easily. The two of you ended up snuggling in the hot water for a while, talking about whatever came to mind. By the time the two of you were cuddled up on the couch again, dressed in matching pajamas (“Because we’re cheesy like that, you know?” was what Mark said to you when he bought them forever ago), he’d decided to apparently kill you with a thousand more soft kisses. The jerk was giggling the entire time, too, squeezing you in his arms and he peppered said kisses alongside the side of your neck—right where you were tickling, he’d learned back when the two of you were first dating.

“Mark!” You’d squealed at one point, nose crinkling as he mumbled something about how cute he found you. “You can stop. I know what you were doing today.” 

“What?” He played dumb. “Appreciated you? I’m always appreciating you, baby,” he giggled, kissing the spot where your neck met your jaw. “I’m lucky to have you, y’know?”

With a sigh, you pulled away from him. Ah. Shit. You’d been planning for a serious talk, then. “I mean it,” you said, taking one of his hands within your own. “I know what you were doing. And… I think it was really sweet.”

Wait, what? His voice grew softer now, heart racing in his chest. “So you aren’t mad?”

“I…”  You trailed off, turning away. “I thought I would have been. But… I dunno. I think when you walked up to me and said something about buying that box of chocolates, it just kinda hit me that you weren’t just spoiling me today because it’s my birthday. You were doing it because you love me.” For a moment, you tried to blink back tears. “I mean… I know you love me. And I knew that on the birthdays before—but I always kinda pushed people away because I felt like I wasn’t worth it.”

“You are, though.” The words fell from his lips before he could even think twice. Maybe if he did, he would have apologized for interrupting you, but some things were just too vital to hold back. “You’ll always be worth it, y’know?”

The tears you’d been fighting finally ran down your cheeks, and you nodded. “You made me feel special,” you said. “And not just because it’s my birthday, but because you actually care.” 

Something ached deep within his chest at that. Did that mean you had people who didn’t…? Yet he left the question unsaid. How long had he been dating you, and he still didn’t know everything he thought he should? Not because you were supposed to bare your soul to him—never that. But because he was your boyfriend, he felt that he should have noticed sooner. You told him that your birthday hadn’t been a happy day for you in a long time, and he’d accepted it at face value without pushing. If you wanted to tell him, you would, and he would listen the same way you always cared and listened to his problems. The same way you did today when you pushed him to open up, to talk, to share the day with you so it wasn’t just him doting on you endlessly. 

“Hey…” He reached up, wiping your tears away. “I’m sorry I went behind your back to try and spoil you today.”

You stared at him. “Mark, it’s okay—”

He shook his head. “I should have asked you first,” he said. “But I like celebrating you. You know I was kind of a mess when we first met, but I wanted to be better for you. Chenle can tell you how bad this place used to be,” he chuckled, hoping that you would laugh or giggle or something too. “So I like getting the chance to celebrate how much I love you. You still make me wanna be a better guy, y’know?”

Sniffling, you dove forward to hide your face in his shoulder. He just laughed softly, rubbing circles onto your back as you cried. He loved you, and he knew how easily you could get emotional in vulnerable moments like this. Always diving forward and hiding your face because no matter how many times he told you it was okay, you’d be embarrassed that you were crying on him when you were supposed to be happy. 

“We can have more days out like this, if you want,” he said, hand cradling the back of your head. He drew you back, just so he could see your face, watery eyes and all. “Today just needed to be perfect because I think you’re perfect, even with all the imperfections we both know we have, we’re kinda perfect together.” He paused, wondering if he’d talked himself in a circle again before settling on something simpler: “I just think you’re really cool.”

That had finally earned a laugh out of you, so endeared to him and the way he spoke. “Yeah?”

He nodded eagerly. “Yeah!” He smiled at you. “You’re pretty sick. I love being your boyfriend, y’know?”

You just drew him in for a quick kiss after wiping your face with your sleeve. When you pulled back, you just smiled at him. “You’re pretty cool, too, y’know.” With a clumsy kiss against the side of his mouth, you finally drew back and out of his lap. “Thank you for a really fun day, by the way.” Snuggling a little closer to him, you rested your head against his shoulder. “I had fun. I always do when I’m with you, but you know what I mean.”

He just chuckled, turning his head so that he could kiss the top of yours. “Yeah, of course. Happy birthday, baby.” He snuggled in for a cozy night with you, head resting against your own. “I love you a lot. Let’s do something cool next year, alright?”

You just let out a soft chuckle, too. “Alright.” You shut your eyes. “If it’s with you… I’ll always be happy.”

taglist: @twancingyunhao

[itsmepage]

When an Artist Loves Someone

Ekko x Artist! Reader || A lazy fic for Ekko because he deserves all the love like it’s criminal he doesn’t more fics. Anyways this not really proof read so I hope you enjoy! 

Summary: Ekko finds what you draw in you sketchbook while you were sleeping

Fluff

Warnings: Kissing w/o proper permission & mention of protesting

_✍︎︎

Your crush on Ekko was kept to yourself in the privacy of your sketchbook: which was an activity you were doing, actively avoiding your chores for the day.

You sat in your bed with your sketchbook in your lap, sketching down moments that your brain analyzed with Ekko. You captivated his smile when he laughed too hard at Scar’s jokes, his brown eyes when the sun hit them, and how cool he looked when flew with the junior firelights when they challenged him to a race. You highlighted his cocky attitude: sketching out the eyebrows and smiling at a certain angle. You played with the different locks that flowed freely in the wind, taking notice of the hair strings that crept out. You sketched out the sceneries best with memory; adding bits and pieces of your point of view.

Ekko was such a canvas and you illustrated every single thing you loved about, which was.. just him. You felt your heart pound very softly while at the same time feeling full as butterflies fluttered in your stomach. You pick up a colorpencil that sits next to you in the bed, first beginning to shade in the color of his skin. You put detail to his lips your mind wandering off on how they would see against your own, your skin. The blush grew as you thought, believing they would feel warm and soft like his hugs. You’ve moved on to his hands that are hidden inside the gloves he always wears. You’ve imagined they were rough and warm like a carpet you could fall asleep on. You disconnected from reality as you continued to color, your mind making up scenarios of your crush as you drew him. You lean in your pillow as you do, not realizing your cheeks are hurting from smiling until you yawn. After that, you’ve decided it was enough for now. You lazily set your pencils and colored pencils on your work-in-progress pages, using them as a bookmark. You carefully sat the book on the floor near your bed, before covering yourself with the cover and falling asleep, dreaming of Ekko being there next to you.

“Hey-“ Ekko knocked on your door hours later, calling for your name before opening it slowly with a plate of food in his hand. He looked around his surroundings. Ekko stopped in his tracks when he saw you already in bed, cuddling with an extra pillow you had. Ekko smiled and shook his head deciding to let you sleep and have the food later; just when he was about to turn, he noticed your sketchbook open in the corner of his eye, he looked down to see pictures of a character that looked exactly like him. Ekko gently places the food on your bedside table for now and picks up the book, being careful to not any pencils fall on the floor. A closer inspection made him realize it was him from his hair to his shoes. Ekko couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter at the doodles, almost completely flabbergasted that someone would take the time to draw, not just one page but several, and it wasn’t just from any artist it was you.

Of course, Ekko had many valid reasons to like you but one of them was your artwork. Ekko loved your pieces, very much actually. He believed you had a talent for bringing things to life: everything you ever painted always spoke to him, when you didn’t outside the firelights base, you painted. You spray-painted graffiti around the lanes including Piltover when you had the chance. Ekko could envision what thousands of words you were trying to say whenever he saw your works: you could say he was a bit of a fan, and right now he was silently fanboying.

Ekko's eyes glisten when he looks at the detail you put into him, already telling him how you see him, how you view him. It welded up tears in his eyes and serotonin in his heart he looked at your sleeping figure having a similar perspective on how you saw him. Ekko closed the book and slowly crouched down to your level, placing a small gentle kiss on your forehead without thinking. He wanted to do so much at that moment, tell how you mean to him, how much he loves you but instead, he took the sketchbook with the pencil inside and dropped it on your drawing desk that was found and fixed by him, it was covered with paint, people names and small doodles in pen and or pencil ink. Ekko borrowed a small sticky note and wrote a letter for you to read when you woke up, Taking the plate of food to store it for later glancing at you one last time before shutting off your lump light and leaving.

In the night, it seems that your body needs the fluid you didn’t give before clocking out. So you woke up: rubbing the sleepiness off your eyes. You’ve begun to sit up, reaching over to your sketchbook, only to feel your heart sink to your stomach when you see it’s not there. You looked around your room sighing in relief when you saw on the desk not even thinking how he got there until you got up to read Ekko’s note: “Hey, since you fell asleep during dinner again, it’s in the fridge waiting for you. Sincerely, Ekko.” You smiled at his note too busy gushing over his care for you than rather how your sketchbook got here.

You eventually got up to head over to the kitchen dragging your feet the way there before you stopped by the sound of music that was coming from Ekko’s room. You knocked but cracked the door open to see the Boy Savior himself. “Ekko?” You said in a concerned, manner. “Oh, Hey.” He said, turning his head to your direction, and taking off the goggles he used to keep his eyes safe. “Morning, sleep good?” He asked with humor in his voice. “Morning?” You asked, surprisingly. “Did you even sleep?” You asked sternly, crossing your arms at him. “Couldn’t.” He said. “I had to get this project done and..” he paused for a moment before continuing seeming, like he was trying to find words. “I was thinking… about you.” Ekko faced you when he said that, you gulped. “I’m okay-“ you tried to say. “I know you’re okay.” He chuckled, quickly reassuring you before getting up in your direction for better face-to-face conversation, your breath shortened at his action.

“I, uh..” he began to say. “I’d never meant to peek into your privacy, but I found out what you draw in that sketchbook.” Oh. So that explains it. Embarrassment crept up to your face as you tried to hide it and apologize profusely. “Oh my god- I am SO sorry-“ you apologized. “Don’t be sorry..” Ekko said with a smile, gently grabbing your wrists to see your flushed face. “I..” Ekko stuttered on his words. “I love your artwork,” your ears shut out the music when he said your name, taking in your hands as he spoke: “You know I do, and I loved that I got to see myself in it.” Ekko was trying to make a lovey-dovey speech, spoken straight from the heart and he was so sweet with his words; you’ve begun to tear up, squeezing his hands in the process, trying not to bail. “What I’m trying to say is.. I love you too.” Just with that, he placed another kiss on the forehead, the same place as you felt before in your sleep: and seeing his eyes light up and smile brightly made you slap your lips onto his, finally getting to feel their warmth and softness. You wrapped your arms over his head as he pulled you in his embrace, moving you in closer, feeling the butterflies in your stomach.

“I’m sorry..” You sighed in short breath when you pulled away. “I’ve just.. always wanted to kiss you..” You admitted shyly “I could tell.” He laughed in response, teasing you. “You did put a lot of detail into them.” Ekko teased again and all you could do was hug him to hide your flustered face, he laughed at your reaction. The two stood there in comfortable silence, soaking in each other’s warmth as Ekko gently moved the tips of his fingertips across your back like he was painting something: you hummed, forgetting the reason you came out of your room in the first place.

[cakerybakery]

He wouldn’t stop crying. Adam could do nothing but wrap Cain into a strip of long cloth Eve would use to carry him without needing her hands and went out to the fields. She had been up with him all night and he took over so she could at least rest while he tried to work.

He ate, but kept biting Eve. He burped and his stomach didn’t feel hard like it did when had stuck gas. He slept fitfully. Everything was going on his mouth but he was always angry about it. He felt warm but he always felt warm and they couldn’t tell if he felt warmer than normal warm or just normal warm. He wasn’t sweaty at least but his cheeks were always red.

God and the angels were no help. They hadn’t gotten back to him at all.

Adam had slept in the barn the night before. It was an itchy, sore, night and he was so tired, but he got more sleep than Eve who couldn’t put him down without him crying all over again. There was only one thing Adam could think to do to rid themselves of this problem. Eve would be upset but she would see reason after it was done. Adam was sure of it.

He debated in his tired state between the knife or the axe. The knife was less unwieldy and Adam wanted it done a quick and painless as he could make it.

He travelled past the fields of grains and pastures of his animals. To a cave in the shallows of the Earth.

Cain’s cries ring in his ears and he nearly prayed to be deaf but he didn’t need God’s eyes on him now. Not with the unholy act he was going to commit.

The cave was small and cramped. Adam had built a makeshift alter and hidden it in the darkest corner. He placed wailing Cain upon it and drew his knife.

It just took a tiny flick of the sharp rock blade but the blood spilled easily.

As it always did when he summoned Lucifer to him.

His palm stung but Lucifer took it in his hand and kissed it better. It burned as the heat of hell cauterized the wound and itched as the scar disappeared.

“Who is this now Adam? Has Eve given birth already?”

“Half a year since.”

“What have you summoned me for this time? If you require more tips on how to please your wife I fail to see why you have bought your son. As impressive as his lung capacity is. I work better without a crying babe.”

“The crying is why I summoned you. We don’t know why he’s crying like this. Heaven can’t seem to help, or won’t. I’m begging you help him.”

“Are you willing to pay the price?”

“Anything you ask.”

Lucifer ran his fingers along Adam’s jaw. “Your price for such a small request is a kiss. Now let me see him.”

Adam gathered Cain up and passed him to Lucifer. He did not quiet down, he only screamed louder and flailed more at being held by a stranger.

With a snap of Lucifer’s finger the cave lit up with hellfire. It would not burn a mortal, as Adam learn on previous occasions, but it provided light and made it even harder for heaven to notice them. Adam had thought they would see the light but the angels hated sin so much they naturally averted their eyes to the existence of hell. They didn’t even notice they were doing it. And if god knew about these, dalliances he wasn’t talking.

Lucifer pressed a finger to Cain’s gum and rubbed. The crying turned to whimpering. “Poor thing. Will your tooth not just come in?” Lucifer spoke softly to the baby. “Let uncle Lucifer help.” He pushed gently and even the whimpering stopped. Cain fussed, reached for Adam. A bright and shiny white tip of a tooth rested in his mouth.

“See about giving him something cool to chew on if you can. He’s started teething. And there will be many more to come.”

Adam held Cain close. Just thankful for the quiet. He slipped Cain back into the wrap and felt Cain begin to yawn. He would fall asleep on the trek back.

“Do not forget my payment, Adam.”

How could he? Life outside of the garden vexed Adam so. In particular desperate for answers he sought the only person he knew who at least tried to give them. Even if his answer was in the form of an apple that got them all kicked out of Eden.

Adam had cut himself by accident while trying to figure out how to speak with Lucifer. But Lucifer could only come to Earth now with a knowing sacrifice and desire to see and speak to him and so was easily summoned by the incident. He could only deal in trades. Equal value. The more knowledge Adam wished to have to more he had to give.

He had given a lot in the last couple years. Many kisses. And good deal of his dignity upon learning Eve didn’t like sex with him as he was too rough. So he had begged Lucifer for help and ended up on his back in that small cave.

Adam leaned in, he didn’t pucker his lips but left them open slightly for Lucifer’s unholy tongue to ravish him.

Lucifer never settled for a simple kisses, he drew it out, pressing their lips together, moving them, making Adam moan before releasing Adam.

“Thank you. For helping.”

The smile on Lucifer’s face was small and sad. He always looked sad to see Adam leave. He drew Adam back to him and left another kiss on Adam’s cheek.

“What was that for?” Lucifer had never done that before.

“So the rest do not hurt as much for him. Good bye, Adam.”

Darkness returned and Adam crawled out of the cave. He always expected angels to come swooping down from the heavens like birds when Adam got to near their nests. But they never did.

Eve awoke when Adam laid the sleeping Cain with her. “He stopped crying.” She yawned out.

“It was just a tooth coming in. He should feel better now.”

“Thank the lord. I hope the others aren’t as bad.”

“They’ll probably be better. You rest now. I’ll go back to work.”

Eve didn’t have time to agree, she was already asleep and likely wouldn’t even remember this conversation. Which he was thankful for. He didn’t know how much she suspected of his dealings with Lucifer and he hoped she never asked.

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

Rayllum Month 2024! (3/13)

he's got hands that make hell seem cold

July 5th - Hands/Touch-starved

~

Callum had grown up affectionate. Hugs traded around like coins, so much love made plain and clear and simple just in the way he ruffled Ezran’s hair, how he tickled his sides, how Ezran would sometimes wordlessly plop into his brother’s lap with a dramatic sigh.

So, Rayla figured–hoped–it would continue. Hoped he wouldn’t mind her… clinginess.

She’d never been one to half-ass things; go big or go home. So she stretched out on the couch in Callum’s room as he sketched, picking up a book and kicking her legs up in his lap as nonchalantly as she could manage.

“Hey,” he said pleasantly, tossing her a gentle smile, and Rayla couldn’t decide whether she liked it or not.

“Hi.”

“How was your day?” As he spoke, Callum took her ankles and settled his arm over them to get more comfortable with his sketchbook, the simple motion sending tingles through Rayla’s legs and all the way up to her spine.

She shrugged, studying the book written in some old flowery tongue. Blech. “Boring.”

He smiled with amusement, lacing fingers through hers. “I would’ve thought your crazy-cool slish-slashing could never be boring.” He drew her closer, looping an arm around her shoulders and letting her head rest on his.

Yeah, it definitely continued. He’d definitely cuddle her, hug her, whatever she asked. Color rose to her cheeks, and Rayla hoped her voice didn’t wobble as she said, “It can get monotonous.”

He grinned. “Hey! You used my big word!”

Suddenly Rayla wasn’t sitting on his couch, but standing back on the Cursed Caldera two years ago with terror snapping her spine straight, cracking jokes and being dumb with him, Ezran, and Ellis and Ava. She smiled, too, carding a hand through his hair. “I figured you could use a win.”

Sketchbook abandoned, Callum turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow and huge, dorky smile. “I’m pretty sure I’m winning right now. A beautiful elf in my lap…”

“Oh, I disagree,” Rayla teased, heart beginning to pound in her chest, her throat, her wrists. “This isn’t in your lap. This”–she shifted so she sat on his lap, not straddling him but sitting sideways and praying she hadn’t gone too far–“is in your lap.”

He put an arm around her waist, head going to her shoulder. “My mistake, then. What are you up to now?”

She turned on the baby-adoraburr eyes, ones she remembered Callum never once being able to refuse in that too-brief time they’d had to be senseless idiots. “Cuddling you?”

Callum kissed her nose, his fingertips skirting under her shirt to hold her waist, so close to her hips that Rayla’s breath hitched. “You certainly are.”

“I missed you,” she decided to comment, hoping against hope it wouldn’t lead to Big Feelings Time. Gods knew they needed it, but she just wanted to sit here and be held by her prince–if he was even hers anymore–until long after she fell asleep– preferably for eternity.

He nodded somberly, twiddling a braid between his thumb and forefinger. “I missed you, too.” A hand found just above her knee, technically her thigh but not quite, not the way she would’ve welcomed. “What’s this about?”

“I just…” Rayla glanced down and shrugged. “Want to catch up on cuddles.”

Body flush against hers, Callum finagled her so her head rested against his chest, hugging and rubbing circles into her back. “Always. I’m always up for cuddles.”

Rayla sighed, settling and letting her weight fall on him. Letting him support her in more ways than one.

Read more on AO3!

[flamingo-writes]

Can you imagine that by being exposed to Hobie's "radioactivity" for so long, the reader begins to have powers? for example of nature,like Poison Ivy. That would definitely be fun to read.

I had to break my head with this idea, but I think it has potential for future fics!

Daffodil — Hobie x Reader

Warnings: cursing, and ai believe that’s all.

Word count: 580 words.

I might do more of these actually.

In the beginning, while figuring out Hobie’s spider abilities was a wild ride. Although, being the two peas of a pod that you were, you helped him figure everything out. Being the only who knew his secret drew you even closer if that was even possible.

What you didn’t consider was the radioactivity. You had theorised what had happened with the spider and the abilities, and while you had brought up radioactivity, you forgot about the tiny detail that radioactivity tended to affect everyone who was close to it.

The amount of time you spent with Hobie and the amount of time you spent tending to your plants, you started noticing weird things.

At first it was as easy and as wonderful as magically bringing your plants back to health. And then you started noticing plants coming out of your fingers.

After you freaked out, it was now Hobie’s turn to help you calm down, just like you’d done it for him back when he was bitten.

The discussion opened again, now trying to theorise now why this was happening to you.

When you finally arrived to the conclusion that it was perhaps because of Hobie’s radioactivity and your plants, Hobie asked you if you wanted to join him, raising the city, helping people who needed it.

“You know how fucking cool would that be?” Hobie said pulling you by the hips, bringing you closer to him. “My spider abilities, your plant abilities…”

“What could I do? Give people skin rashes with poison ivy?” You chuckled.

“You laugh about it, but it’s actually a good idea. My webs, your poison ivy plants…Not only we immobilise them, but you torture them with an awful itch and skin rash…” He said with a cheeky smirk.

“And how exactly would I be called? Plant-Girl sounds lame. Makes me sound like a hippie motherfucker,” You giggled softly.

“We have time to think about that…” He sighed. “How about Daffodil?”

“Are you serious?”

“They’re beautiful flowers, but they are very poisonous if you ingest them…” Hobie said proudly as he caressed your cheek.

“Who’s gonna eat a daffodil?”

“You’d be surprised with how stupid can people really be…” He chuckled.

For the next few weeks, while you learned how to use your newfound abilities, Hobie helped you out. Sadly, the plant-based abilities didn’t give you the enhanced physical abilities Hobie’s spider abilities. So you had a slight disadvantage there. However, you learned that your abilities could be incredibly powerful. Making plants grow everywhere, any sort of plant. You could mimic Hobie’s web.

However you used your abilities for the most part for protests and even art shows.

Hobie loved how you managed to create art out of plants, he thought it was beautiful. The same plants that got out of control when someone tried to cut the down.

“Capitalism is destroying nature, now we have nature taking over,” Hobie said proudly, as he watched a couple of cops tangled in the branches of a tree. “How does it feel to be completely useless against a tree?” Hobie said, poking fun at the cops, his Spider-Man suit concealing his identity.

Eventually people started hearing of Daffodil. Always wrecking havoc along with Spider-Man, although Daffodil remained more hidden, and wasn’t swinging around like Spider-Man. However, Daffodil usually left flowers behind, as a signature. Some bad guy or some abusive cop, tangled and immobilised in plants, usually poison ivy’s.

Hobie was insanely proud of you. And patrolling the city became the times more fun.

[kaeddehara]

I WISH YOU WERE MINE — NSFW

even though rin itoshi knows you’re not his, he can’t help but act like you are anyway <3

♱ warnings — smut but more fluffy + kinda ooc rin (i tried) + friends to lovers <3 + rin becomes very possessive of you

♱ a/n notes — hey sooo another rin fic…i promise i’m working on much larger works but school and work are killing me. please forgive me i’ll give you what you guys deserve but for now, take this. also, apologies for ignoring my inbox. i am still taking requests but please be patient with my slow responses !!

“hey, you feeling alright?”

rin stops to look you in your eyes, his almost same deadpan look he usually wears still on his face. you give a soft “yeah” before leaning back in to continue the make out session you were induced in before rin took his lips off yours to speak. rin backed away more though, making you surprised then disappointed? did he not want this?

“rin i…”

“do you really want this that’s what i’m asking”

“yes- of course i do!”

your eagerness did not catch rin off guard in the slightest. in fact, he expected you to be practicing begging for him by the time he’d removed his lips from yours. leaning back in fully, he caught your lips right back where he had them. kissing you with such deep motions and passion you could barley handle how quickly he moved. carding your fingers through his soft, dark hair as a means to keep him close to you.

he thinks you look so beautiful when you’re desperate for him.

he wishes he could see you like this more, but relationships aren’t so easy for rin. the kissing and the touching was all a distraction from what truly lied beneath both of your skin. knowing that neither of you were even close to being committed in a relationship like one should be when taking part in this. rin gave you no reason to believe it wasn’t because he didn’t want to kiss you, but because you guys were just friends. nothing more, up until now of course.

though, you preferred not to think about that. not when you felt his large, calloused hands begin to wrap around your waist, fitting to snugly in a way no one else could capture you in. even through his actions, he always found ways to claim you without even saying a word. it was something that always drew people in rin in general—you thought. in the moment though, nothing mattered more than that blissful feeling you’d be starved of.

watching rin carefully take his shirt off in a quick yet alluring manner. he never failed to surprise you with how toned and shaped rins body was and knew what an effect he had on you. your eyes never once leaving his bare torso as he leaned down yet again over you, letting his hot breath hit your chest and neck as he slipped a hand underneath your top. his cool touch soothing your nervous body as he cupped a hand around your pretty tits. a soft moan leaving your lips as rin continued to fondle your chest with a gently touch you’d never seen him give to anyone else.

the both of your gradually became more bare in front of each other and couldn’t wait a second longer. rin already had every inch of your body stuck in his head before he even slipped inside you. with just how dripping wet you were, preparation was easy and took no time at all. before you knew it, your legs were wrapped around rins torso and nails digging into his back as he pounded into you. using practically all his weight to make each thrust feel deeper and deeper inside you—making sure you were full. you could barley even think with the size rin was but on top of that, his powerful movements hindered you weak underneath him. it was then again he admired how beautiful you were—he’d admired you all night but this version of you was something he wanted no one else to see. only him. you were his.

“you’re mine you got that?”

rin mumbled, breathing staggered and heart pounding in his chest. a few shaky moans and a few more slow thrusts were all it took to get the answer out of you.

“y-yes i’m all yours rin”

as if on cue, so many feelings rippled inside of him non-stop and he had no choice but to prove his words true to you. that sweet and gently look in your eyes was soon lost as rin picked the pace back up. the sound of your skin meeting each other and the sounds you both made were almost too sinful for rin to handle. he couldn’t hide his shame anymore because he too was lost in the pleasure. more whines and whimpers came from his lips as he soon finished by pulling out and letting all his remains coat your pretty skin. your frantic breathing only made the scene even more sensual as all his hot cum dropped down your torso down to his sheets. both of you in awe at the remnants of the aftermath you both were experiencing in that moment. putting a hand up to rins cheeks, you admired his gorgeous features even more in the afterglow.

“god you’re so pretty”

you mumbled, barley noticing you actually said your thoughts aloud and rin couldn’t help but let a pleased smile make its way to his lips. even though he felt wrong before, he knew it was right. he belonged here with you and nothing was going to change that.

“you as well, sorry i got you all messy.”

the weary and slightly embarrassed tone in his voice gave away everything as his gaze turned away.

“nothing to apologize about, i like that way it looks on me anyway.”

you taunted at him in rasped tone. his gaze turned back to yours not before leaning back in for one final kiss of that evening. it was so deep and beautiful you felt as if another round with rin maybe wasn’t such a bad idea. it was only until you tried to move your body that you soon realized a second round would have to be put on hold so you could recover.

“got me sore already rin”

“it’s not my fault”

“it completely is you dummy”

“you better be grateful i gave you something, i could tell you’d been needing that huh?”

that deep, husky tone in his voice drove you insane but also how confident he sounded in himself. and judging from the huge mess rin made all over your pretty skin, it seemed like both of you had needed that <3.

[ninainthetardis]

Given that it's completely beyond me how a character like Jason Grace can be hated by so many people within the fandom, I've decided to try and figure this absurd bullshit out. It turns out it's not just an unnecessary desire to boost Percy by diminishing Jason's character. A thing that I hate, because I think that diminishing/bashing some characters to appreciate others is quite the opposite of validation, as I believe a character can only be truly defined by their own actions/words/personality and hence, should be appreciated for those aspects, not by unnecessary/non sensical comparisons with other characters.

So I'm currently rereading HoH, and I've just noticed that, basically, all the Jason haters simply use Piper's words about him and take them for granted. Which speaks volumes and is also one of the reasons why I've never liked them together.

And no, it's not that "she knows him better than anyone else" because that is bullshit. She never even bothered to really get to know him. All she wanted was to make that Mist induced fairytale their reality, mainly because she thought he was hot, and strong and cool, and liked the Mist version of Jason. A version that was not even real. She knew that, yet she was constantly making comparisons between that and reality, and whining about it. And this in particular would be even fair if she wasn't the one out of the two of them who was completely obsessed with getting together for real in the first place, despite knowing he might have someone waiting for him at Camp Jupiter. A thing Jason constantly thought about in TLH.

We don't get to see how they really start their relationship. All we are shown is Piper threatening Drew - and by association anyone else in cabin 10 - and saying that "Jason was hers even if he didn't know it yet" (seriously, what would you think if their roles were reversed?).

But somehow, they got together later on. We don't know what made Jason change his mind about them. Piper gave a tantrum every time he mentioned Reyna (even when he was just talking about information that was useful for their quest and hence, you know, saving the world). And then we even get the "boys are so stupid" line when it's actually Piper who is being unreasonable here, letting her own insecurities put their mission to save the world at risk. Insecurities that are legit and prove she is aware that she pushed things between her and Jason when she should have just realised the damn memories she had were fake and let go. And that's on her, not on Jason. She was pushing from the very beginning. He was holding back because he wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, considering he didn't remember anything.

Again, think about all this as if their roles were reversed. Doesn't look good, uh?

Piper also knew she was potentially putting an end to something that could be meaningful for Jason, yet she kept pushing anyway despite being pretty clear that she was just obsessed with the idea of him/having him as a boyfriend.

And then she just went and blamed Hera, saying she forced them together because of the Mist thing. Bfr.

She wanted that from the very beginning and during all the time they have been together. Her povs were almost all about that, for most of the time.

She never truly took into account Jason's feelings, or the difficulties he was going through due to his memory loss, completely disregarded his trauma and his insecurities, and she even influenced his thoughts and emotions with her powers because she was scared of his past life. As if him being in a vulnerable position when she did all she could to get together with him wasn't bad enough without her use of her charmspeaking abilities. And she admitted multiple times of using it on him and the other demigods on the Argo II, deliberately and unintentionally. Even Jason, in his own pov, suspected she used her powers on him, making her the only thing he could think of whenever he mentioned Reyna. This isn't normal. This isn't romantic. "He supposed it was not the worst sort of revenge". Boy, you shouldn't even be blamed for having a pre Piper life at all!!!

So yeah, she didn't know him. How could she, when he didn't even know himself?

It's also the way she describes him: boring, distant, rules centred, closed off, always serious. She even compares him to Percy, and their relationship to Percy and Annabeth's. A weird way to describe the guy you claim to love. A weird way to prove your love to someone, complaining about him "being distant" when you know damn well he's trying so hard to retrieve his memories. A way bigger, existential deal to cope with than romantic drama, don't you think? Hadn't she pushed so hard, I'm not sure he would have started their relationship at all.

Anyway, we then move back to Jason's pov and he claims that he doesn't like rules, that they actually annoy him, that he's always tried to change things a Camp Jupiter but had to take it slow due to the Romans' attachment to tradition, that he always does the opposite of what he is told/suggested (except, clearly, when it come to be summoned for a quest). And he claims all that on the basis of the few memories he got back. And he makes jokes, too. He has sarcastic comebacks, too. THIS IS THE REAL JASON, these are the elements that need to be taken into account when trying to figure out who he truly is, not Piper's biased perception of him. And people would know those things, if they had actually read his povs.

Also, I don't think that reading the rest of the books (ToA) will change my mind about any of this. Honestly, it is too much to get past to. And I don't even want to do that. I think it can only get worse, from the few things I know about ToA.

[gunpowdercarousel]

I feel like BG3 has some really interesting themes of emasculation

Throughout the game it's rare to find a major male character that's depicted as traditionally strong or even 'strong' in any way without having some crippling weakness or insecurity. Even just beyond the simple fact that all three male origin characters have EIGHT STRENGTH, there's deeper stuff.

Wyll: The legendary Blade of Frontiers, a folkloric hero and champion of the people, who is powerless before his master - a woman. She literally treats him like a dog - a puppy even - and is always there to drag him back down the instant he gets too confident in himself. His questline is mostly defined by his sense of powerlessness, especially in the face of the seemingly untouchable woman he serves.

Gale: Used to make love to a literal goddess, only for her to dump his ass. He nearly killed himself trying to figure out a way to win her back, only to be left with a curse that's basically ruined his life. And the first interaction between them we see in the game is her telling him via messenger to kill himself for her sake. And he is totally willing to do so.

Astarion: On the surface, he seems like a suave and confident flirt; a rake. He's full of himself, has a zest for life, loose morals, and overall just seems like a debaucherous playboy, when in reality he's deeply traumatized from two centuries of being tortured, abused, and used. He feels broken and powerless, and is so thoroughly desperate for some degree of power that he'll try reading the Necronomicon without a second thought just in hopes it'll help him.

Ketheric Thorm: A man defined by his relationship to the women in his life. He lost his mind when his wife died and somehow lost it AGAIN when his daughter died. He gave up everything he had - his own identity - to try and bring her back, only for her to hate and scorn him. And in the end, his skull is crushed to pulp by his daughter's girlfriend. The same woman who he drew his immortality from. His awesome power - his indestructability - was something he siphoned away from a woman.

Raphael: The scheming, suave, smooth-talking devil who seems untouchably powerful and impossibly smug throughout the entire game. And yet, when you finally infiltrate his House of Hope, you find out he's really completely terrible in bed, has low self-esteem, and is desperate to prove himself. In many ways he's pathetic. Impressive in the beginning, certainly, when you're utterly powerless before him, but by the time you actual visit his manor you see him for what he truly is: an angry, little man full of hot air.

Cazador: A victim of his own master, who's just desperate for power. Despite being a terrifyingly powerful vampire lord and one of the most powerful and influential people in the city, he just comes across as pathetic and whiny when you finally meet him in person.

Meanwhile, if you look at many of the women in the game - Vlaakith, Mystra, Zariel, Mizora, Shar - they're god-like in power, if not the most morally righteous people in the world, to say the least. Hell, the main villain of the game - the Absolute - is depicted with a feminine voice.

It's just kind of interesting to me how the game depicts so many men in the game as being weak, ineffectual, or pathetic. And yet for the Origin boys it doesn't do it in a scornful or negative way. It just depicts them as flawed people and victims, either of themselves or of circumstance. It doesn't try to show the male heroes being especially strong or cool, it's more than happy to depict them as soft and weak and vulnerable.

It's the seemingly impressive male villains that the game likes to tear down and expose for being pathetic weaklings, which - of course - I'm fine with xD

I'm sure I've missed some other characters, like Gortash or whatever, but these are the main ones that came to mind.

Anyway, just a random thought.

[youandmedead]

𝕽𝖊𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖜𝖊 𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙 - 𝕬𝖉𝖆𝖒 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖍𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖝 𝕲𝕹 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

Warnings: Swearing, heavy angst with no comfort, gory descriptions (it is saw, after all)

Notes: So this is chapter one of the Apprentice Adam fic. I decided to post it on here so I have a better chance at gaining feedback from people so I hope everyone enjoys it (this will also be posted on my A03 account @/Iliketomakeyousuffer as many people also wanted me to post this there, but I'm still trying to work out it's layout/set up)

Taglist: @ghustface737

Darkness shrouded the bloodied and germ ridden bathroom. The stench of bodies beginning to enter their decomposition stages and release their bowels, now that there was no use for them, lingered and entwined with the already nauseating stench that the trap had to offer. So many thoughts and emotions ran through Adam's already haywired brain. Was Lawrence going to survive? He was, right? He had to, he just had to! If he was going to make it, would he send help for him? Would he stick to his promise…after all Lawrence would never lie to Adam.

He said so himself.

With what little strength that Adam had possessed, he adjusted the position he currently resided in. He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them, whilst trying to avoid further agitating the bullet wound around his right shoulder.

He sobbed helplessly - pain, sorrow, fear and anger all melded into one. The only thing stopping him from completely losing it and smashing an object then cutting his lifeout of existence, was the very thought of Lawrence's return or even the presence of another human being showing up, apart from that sick twisted psychopath that threw him in that god forsaken room and forced a man to completely saw his own foot off in order to prove his worthiness of life. As his mind flashed and flickered to the very moment when Lawrence sawed through the flesh, tissue and bone of his ankle in a mad fit of hysteria and rage, Adam's sons became more violent. His eyes hesitantly lingered over to the severed limb where Lawrence was once trapped - he gagged and his gaze hastily rushed back to his dirt covered knees.

-

The decreasing temperatures began to weave its way into the bathrooms foundations. Goosebumps prickled and littered Adam’s skin, his body began to shake and eventually began to feel a biting numb sensation in his feet, hands and the tips of his ear. He assessed the current conditions and assumed that it was night - he decided to try and keep track of the temperatures within the room to help assess what time of day it is, then from this he could potentially estimate how long he has spent in the desolate deathtrap.

The cuff and chain that restrained him to the massive network of pipes began to feel even more uncomfortable than before. The metal was digging into his skin and due to the cold, it burned his skin and thus irritated his ankle more. He attempted to slot his denim trousers in between the cool metal to ease off the sensation, however the material was wrapped around his ankle too tight to do so. He groaned in dissatisfaction and once again laid his forehead on his knees and hugged himself, hoping that someone would eventually come and save him.

-

Time passed at an agonising rate. On top of all of the traumatic events that Adam had been exposed to, the boredom played another factor in his torture. He found himself beginning to turn to hunger and thirst the longer the hours dragged on. Constant growls of starvation echoed throughout the desolate walls, no food was provided to him...except the rotting corpses laid out before him and the tiny bugs scavenging the floor. Would he grow so desperate for food to the point where he'd devour another's life? Well their time was up...

His body ached all over now and not just at the wound site. After crying, screaming and begging for hours on end, his voice grew hoarse and his throat now burned and he slowly began to feel his emotions drifting away from him. There was nothing left for him now. Despite his humanity and sanity still being intact, Adam wondered how long it would be before even those were stolen away from him. He knew that he wasn’t an angel and he knew that he didn’t have the most perfect track record when it came to people, but did he truly deserve this punishment? Was he not aware of how strenuous his sins and the paths he took in life were? The chains he forged in life were now being weighed down by all of his wrong doings and just like the key that was in that rusty, mucus filled bathtub it went down the drain and the possibility of it being retrieved were zero.

He reflected on himself, as a passenger of life and as a person in the lives of others who he cared for. Memories began showcasing in his mind like a presentation at a massive criminal court case - the bad were specifically provided to him in order to prove his guilt and define why he was in the position that he was stuck in now. He had done so many things that he regretted, things he wished he could travel back in time to prevent himself from saying…he should have really thought before he spoke when faced with a conundrum or a situation where someone’s tone seemed off. He always created enemies because of this and it eventually led to a solitary life. As a child, he was too, very much in the same state that he was in terms of a social life now - he only had one or two friends that he stuck to like glue, but he eventually screwed up and pushed them away, he would always misread a situation or go into defend mode when someone provided him with an act of kindness and drove them away through his stupidity and hot headed resolve. Many arguments that he had had with his parents, friends, past lovers and present lover invaded his fragile mind. With a deep sigh, Adam tried to think of some of the positive experiences he had in life. For example all of the memories he had shared with his partner y/n…they’ll be alone now that he’s gone. Will they believe he just randomly disappeared out of cowardice and despise him or will they search for him?

The night that Adam had been drugged and kidnapped, was the night that the two of them had a huge altercation…an argument that wouldn’t have occurred if Adam had just taken a moment to re-evaluate the situation and shut his mouth instead of adding more gasoline to the already blazing fire. A few tears collected and pooled in his eyes, he was such an asshole for leaving them there…and the fact that he was never able to apologise to them before he was led blindly to death's door will forever haunt him, even beyond the land of the living. They certainly were one of the best things that had ever happened in his life but he was such a fool for believing that his happy ending would be closer than he once believed. The two of them will never be able to sit down together and watch a cheesy B listed horror movie whilst taking a drink from a beer every time someone made a stupid decision or broke the rules that almost every horror movie abides by, they’ll never be able to sit on the local park’s bench during the autumn season drinking coffee, admiring and photographing the beautiful scenery filled with crimson, auburn and medallion hues, they’ll never be able to go see their favourite bands together and get absolutely wrecked in the mosh pits.

They’ll never be able to see each other again.

-

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he weakly muttered, “I'm going to get out of here…Lawrence will come, h-he’ll get me out of here. He’s alive, he’s alive and not dead. I’m going to get out. I have to get out.” The man began to rock backwards and forwards as he spoke to himself in a poor attempt to warm and soothe himself.

“Think of good stuff, don’t be dragged down by all of the bullshit, just think of the good.”

He squeezed his eyes closed, the pitch black that he saw was exactly the same as the bathroom’s brightness level - there was no difference whatsoever.

He searched long and hard in his memories until he stumbled upon a time where he was at his lowest as a child. He sat in the backyard of his family home with his beloved pet dog crying to him about how much he hated his life. He was absolutely devastated when he died. The first and only best friend he had was now gone forever. In a strange way, it helped him know what he wanted to do in his life. He wanted to help families and children have a longer time with their beloved pets:he wanted to repay animals for what they had done for him.

Suddenly Adam recalled telling Lawrence about it:

“Yep, I think I can safely say that it’s too late to become a vet”

“It’s never too late”

Adam then pointed to the bloodied corpse lying face down on the uninviting floor of the bathroom, with his brains splattered everywhere.

“Well he’s got fuck all chance of becoming a vet.”

Silence reigned through the room for a bit before Adam let out a chuckle and in turn Lawrence did the same till it died down and the two stared at each other.

Adam nodded and looked back at the photos of Lawrence's family, what was so wrong that he had done to end up in the same situation as a no good, pathetic waste of space?

-

Throughout his childhood, Adam was incredibly resilient. It felt as if everyone (including the world) were trying to knock him down to his lowest. As he sat there, he couldn’t help but think about how glad he was that he stayed in a weird sort of way. Yes he was still sick of all the assholes the world had to offer and yes he was still dealt with horrible cards, yet as pathetic as it may seem to some, he was glad he was able to find himself a person like Y/n. However he probably fucked up with them just like how he fucked up with his parents and everyone else.

-

His parents…

His mother left him a voicemail an hour or so before he was knocked out by a stranger in a pig mask and scarlett red cloak in his own home. “Adam, are you there? Please pick up if you are there. Your fathers not angry anymore. We just want to know if you’re alright. Please call honey…..goodbye.”

Adam’s breath hitched and exhaustion wracked through his body.

Perhaps some day he’ll be able to get out.

[sinning-23]

My Latest crush is an alien car from space Pt.2

Okay so iwasnt expecting so many Mirage smps to like up my post but HEYYY welcome home yall lmao. Heres part two and let me know is yall want like a tag list for the next couple parts. ANywhoo there's some tension that forms this chapter so start getting ready for more flirty and spicyyyy interactions with old boy.

Heres the link to pt.1

Heres the link to pt.3 shawty

ANywho ENJOY!

Pt.2

Touch me softly 

Mirage had allowed you to explore his anatomy, and he was more willing than you thought. You had managed to make a nice little sketch of his body and made 4 separate copies to try and get a placement in where everything was. Then you had 5 more separate sheets just in case there were some more internal systems you wanted to note. He watched as your eye brown pinched and formed a line on your forehead and your fingers guided the pencil to the paper. 

“Wow, you drew me kinda sexy.” He jokes making you draw a breath trying to hold back a laugh. 

It really wasn’t sexy, it was about the equivalent of the Vitruvian man drawing and basic anatomical positioning for a robot. He watches you stand, hair pulled back, yet a couple of braids still fall in front of your face. He’s quiet, looking at the way you focused so intensely on exploring him.

When you gestured for him to move his leg, he did so without complaint, the feeling of your soft, warm hands under his exteriors heating him up from the inside. Of course, you’d never know that unless you kept poking and prodding. 

“Ok so compared to me, and well, other humans I’m sure your overall body parts are called different things. So let’s start from top to bottom, yeah?” You suggest, eager to learn. 

Mirage kneels in front of you, giving you an opportunity to see better. You’re much smaller than him, but he could tell when you stood next to Noah you were definitely average human height. Small to him but normal to everyone else. 

“Alright I hope you’re ready cause there’s a LOT.” He explains, clearing his throat as you move closer to his face just to see better, he blinks a bit, getting used to the feeling.

You smile slyly, placing your hand under his chin to  guide his face, 

“Let’s start with your face. Stick out your…tongue?” 

He opens his mouth and lets the ‘flesh’ inside lol out before speaking 

“Gloth-ah” he announces and you tilt your head in confusion, only for him to repeat.

“Glossa” 

You nod prodding at what you soon learned was his helm and face plates. You brush over his vocalizer for a moment and he hums, high-pitched enough to be a moan but not loud enough for either of you to acknowledge it. You know what you heard though.

“Whoa- lets not touch that alright ma?” He asks. 

Soon enough your trailing downward and when you do he announces each part for you to make a note of. This is the quietest he’s been since earlier today. He lets you work, touch, poke, pull, and press whatever you'd wanted. It’s not like it hurt really, but he’s never had something smaller than him want to examine at such close range and actually touch places he’d never been able to. In fact, it was kind of nice-

He yelps when you slide your hand down his chest plate and even farther under his chassis. You pull away, startled at the noise with wide eyes. 

“OK, that’s enough exploring don’t you think?” The statement is rushed and you side-eye him when what sounded like cooling fans whirred from inside.

Had you gotten him worked up? Maybe those were sensitive spots that had never really been touched like that before? You nod, not wanting to pry and ruin this newfound friendship by being a perv. You collect the papers and paperclip them together as he begins to wind down. It's about 6am now, and the sun peeks in through the garage windows. Your dad should be awake about now and- 

You gasp pushing Mirage back into the space he was originally parked in last night(even though he didn’t budge). Your dad couldn’t know about this! AT ALL! Knowing him he'd stress out and then his pressure would get too high and he’d have a heart attack and-

“Whoa hey, what the rush, mamas? Got something to hide?” Mirage questions, figuring out why you were trying to get him back into a corner. 

Was he being clueless on purpose?!

“YES, YOU! Now go back to being a car! My dad can't know about you, it might just be the death of him.” You huff out, gripping your scalp and pacing back and forth. He gets the idea, chuckling a bit before right back to that beat-up Porsche.

You sneak out the garage, tiptoeing up the stairs and into your room. And the moment your head hit the pillow, not even a tornado could wake you. 

__________

You'd be lying if you said you didn't sleep the rest of the day away. By the time you woke up it was already 3-4pm and sounded like your father was cleaning up the kitchen. You sigh, running yourself a shower considering you didn't get one the night before. Mirage was still in the garage as far as you knew and you were hellbent on getting the rest of those notes.

You step in, the water feeling soothing against your skin, steam filling up the bathroom as you sigh in relief. Thoughts of your apartment fill your head. 

‘Maybe Mirage could help with the unpacking? Or maybe not. He could be spotted and then that’s more problems for us. Mirage…..Miraaaaageee….’

Your turn to face the water, soaping up your towel as suds slide down the drain. 

‘I wonder if a car wash is the equivalent of a shower for him….does he stay a car or like…fully transformed….does he have a-‘ 

Shutting the water off you opt to pull your hair back today since youd being doing more exploring. The steam from the bathroom escapes when youleave and pad downstairs, catching a glimpse at the note you father let you on the kitchen counter

~Working late, leftovers in the fridge~

You smile to yourself, grabbing a bottle of water to try and beat the obvious heat outside and head to the garage. Sure enough, the Porsche is right where you left it. Mirage is right where you'd left him, and when you tap on the window, the doors unlock almost instantly. You flatten the back of your blue jean skirt and adjust the seat. Awfully quiet today?

“Well good afternoon to you too sunshine? You realize it’s almost 5 right?.” You joke, hearing him rev his engine and the radio humming to life with the sound of his voice. 

“You had me up all night! Looking this good doesn’t happen on its own! But how tired can I be when a pretty girl in a miniskirt‘s got her thighs on my seat?” He shoots back, making you gasp. 

“Drive you flirt, I got more notes to take. Wanna go to that garage you took me to yesterday?” You ask, using the garage clicker to leave. 

It was hot, the sun beating down on you as Mirage insisted you keep the windows down instead of running the ac. The streets were somewhat empty on this fine Sunday morning and Mirage’s only response was to drive in what you assumed was the direction to the garage. You fidget with the radio nobs and glance at the aux cord below the cd player. Maybe he did have CDs in here? You open the armrest to find nothing but-

It was easy to be nosy and explore when Mirage could drive himself, youd put that together on your own last night. There was so little you knew about him but his demeanor overall made you feel comfortable enough to ask. He was…charming. You pull the blank CD case out the armrest, and dust it off. 

“MIrage’s Mix (from-)”

The name was scratched off, well more smudged than anything. You crack the case open and slide the CD into the player, the wait for the music to start making you a bit nervous. Had he realized you'd put it in? Was it personal? You begin to regret your decision but before you could press the eject button, it began. N.W.A. blasted from the speakers, startling you for a moment but you're soon amused.  What did he know about N.W.A?

________

It doesn't take much longer for you to arrive at the garage, most of the lot being empty while the two of you enter to complete more of your research. You set your purse down, taking the papers from yesterday out and trying to organize them as he peers over your shoulder.

“Still think you drew me sexy-”

You scoff playfully and push him a bit, not moving him in the slightest but still, but he still finds it amusing. 

“Stop it, I need you to sit so I can finish. You got all squeamish on my last night.” You tease, sliding your hand down the back of his ‘leg’ and he freezes.

He kneels back down, watching your every move. Your fingers hover over his vocalizer, the warning from yesterday replaying in your mind. Right, don't touch. You skip his chest plate and chassis, watching his expression slightly change to disappointment for what seemed like only a second. Again, he announces each part of himself, the air slightly awkward and VERY quiet. Maybe now was the time to try and strike up some more conversation.

“Soooo, where are you really from?” You ask, writing down each part you trace over when he speaks. 

“Cybertron actually. Not in your solar system lil mama.” He flirts, turning his palms slightly open when you tap them. 

Servos 

"Never been?" He jokes again, admiring how small your hand looked compare to his.

'Careful Mirage your size kink is showing' he thinks to himself, avoiding your gaze.

You shake your head in response, looking at the details of his hands, moving back to his torso, purposefully skipping over the plated area between his thighs. Boundaries were definitely not something you wanted to cross, trying not to make him uncomfortable. I mean, he was willingly letting you poke around, and he clears his throat when you skip that spot.

“You, you can look if you want. And touch…ask questions. It's all good babygirl.” He offers, almost melting when you look up from under your lashes at him.

 He could practically feel his pump about to explode. Why did Earth girls look so damn pretty? Mirage couldn't wrap his head around it honestly, the feeling he got when he passes a pretty girl when Noah would take him for drives. How they would gasp if he revved loud enough to embarrass Noah a bit but also score him a couple numbers.

Talk about a damn good wingman. You were different though.

You were a softer kind of pretty…He'd seen you come into the garage so many times before you really met. The day your dad parked him in that spot, he watched you skip in with your little low-rise jeans, the piercing you sported shining in the sunlight. 

You hugged your dad, eyes lighitn up at the new car with a gasp. 

“A Porsche! Dad oh my gosh really?” You ask, seeing him nod. You squealed more, inspecting his paint job, it was just as beat up then as it was before you officially met. 

You chatted on and on about how ‘cute’ he’d look when you finally got to paint him a nice shade of hot pink and added your glitter seat covers. Not so exciting for him considering pink wasn't particularly his favorite but god did you look adorable when you were excited. 

And there was that same look. Pure, unbridled excitement, yet your eyes shone almost darker this time. That look is almost salacious. It makes him swallow hard, legs opening a bit more and you brush your hand over his thighs, sparing one more glance as if to ask, ‘Are you sure?’ He only nods. 

“Mirage, you gonna keep telling me what everything is, or am I to assume on my own?” You question, tracing the skirt plate.

Ita hard to speak, his fans feelijg as if they were working overtime to keep him from overheating. Primus you looked so pretty between him and now he was wondering how would you look riding his-

You stop touching, whistling to get his attention. Damn, he kinda liked that.

“ ‘Rag, we good?” You questions and he swallows hard at his new nickname.

Where did all that slick talk go now? 

“Yeah, y-yeah we’re good ma.” He responds finally, optics low when your light chuckle reaches his ears. 

You slide your hands up and down his midsection plating, teasing at this point. How was he supposed to focus on helping you learn when you touch under his plates like that? When your fingers slide over his thighs and over the skirt plate over and over, the pace only makes him want to thrust into your touch.

He felt perverted sort of, getting off on you exploring him in the name of science. That was such bullshit. He looks down at you, watching you pinch your lip between your teeth. Oh….you liked this. Your thighs pressed together as your tongue darts out to lick your lips. 

You look up at him again, smile mischievous. And before he could ask any questions you slid you hand right back to his chassis and vocalizer. Oh that was a moan without a doubt. You hum in satisfaction, you’re practically playing with him, his body. It wasn’t helping that he hadn’t been touched like this in so long either p.

“Wanna tell me what happens if I keep touching you like this?” You purr, seeing Mirage avoid eye contact. 

“C’mon ma, don’t mess with me like this.” He breathes out, hollow.

You stop your ministries after hearing tires and revving come to a halt. With footsteps approaching you stand quickly, Mirage doing the same. He crosses his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall as if he’d been caught while you shove the papers into your bag and swallow hard. You’d never moved so fast in your life.

Noah enters, feeling as if he’s just interrupted something but panicking once he realizes the predicament you were about ot be in. Why were you two here? Did Mirage even think this through? Probably not.  He glances back at the other 3 bots behind him, trying to find a quick solution to hide you. But, before he could get any sort of plan out, three other robots similar to Mirage walked in, and one of them, was not at all pleased. 

“Primeee, i had no idea youd be back so soon!”

_______________________________________

Lemme know waht yall think in the comments lmao and let me know if you wanna be added to the taglist as well!

Mini Taglist: @gniteruirui @veggiepizzababy panty-h03

[randonauticrap]

A Moment Under the Stars (Chevalier x F!Reader)

Pairing ~ Chevalier Michel x Female Reader

Word Count ~ 820

Author's Note ~ This fic is for @aquagirl1978 's Route Release Campaign event for the lovely Chevalier! 🩵

He sighed deeply, his platinum locks tickling his cheek as the air from the balcony whistled by. Becoming king had been like second nature to Chevalier; the decision-making, the paperwork, the politics. He had eased into the position with all the grace of the born leader he was - a genius in almost every right.

However, even the great Chevalier Michel had his struggles; namely that which stood before him now in the form of finely dressed nobles shaking in their specially tailored boots. Chevalier’s reputation preceded him, and though the severity of such talk had drastically waned since his marriage, many nobles still feared being pinned by his frigid blue gaze.

“A-As you know, Your Majesty, my territory s-suffers from very harsh winters, and last year, a-although we did our very be-”

“You wish for me to send a surplus of grain this year in advance of the colder months.” Chevalier remarked flatly and sighed when the man's eyes grew bulbous and exceedingly more fearful. The king's brows knitted together in frustration, but before the situation could get much worse, his savior came in the form of a woman in a billowing light blue gown with an elegant crown that matched his perched upon her head.

You.

It was as though you'd sensed his irritation from across the room. He smiled. His preternatural senses were rubbing off on you. “I'm sure we can come to an amicable agreement on how much extra is needed. Please schedule a formal audience with us this week via Sariel.” You interjected smoothly and with all the grace of the position you now held as queen by his side. A smile tugged at Chevalier’s lips, daring to match your own, and the nobles visibly relaxed.

“Thank you, Your Majesty's.” The man hastily bowed to you, then to Chevalier in turn. “You are ever gracious and kind.” He scurried away, leaving several others to talk amongst themselves as Chevalier drew his attention to you.

“You noticed.” He smirked, and you smiled.

“I did.”

“You're learning.”

“I have an excellent teacher.”

“Mm.”

You paused for a moment, letting out a breath and allowing yourself to relax momentarily. “Shall we-” but Chevalier had already begun to move, slipping your arm into his and leading you towards the open balcony. He plucked a glass of sparkling water from a tray on the way past and handed it to you once you both reached the cool night air.

“Drink.” He commanded. “You have exhausted yourself this evening. And remove those shoes.” Chevalier reached for the balcony door and closed it behind you, leaving the two of you at peace, alone.

“Yes, Your Highness.” You chuckled playfully and did as your husband said, knowing he was right. A relieved groan rumbled in your throat when you peeled your heels from your reddening feet and set them aside. “Oh, the cold stone feels incredible.” You said, the lines of tension on the bridge of your nose releasing at last. Chevalier smiled, a soft, warm thing only ever meant for you, and you answered it with a kiss, surging up to your tiptoes to press your lips to his.

His arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you close, and you giggled softly into his mouth, never quite losing that thrill of being held to him. Your husband, your world. He'd learned so much and taught you so much, but it was as though fate had threaded your hearts together from the very beginning: the weaving of a blanket of love that carried you through all the hardships that had passed, and would continue to carry you through those that were to come.

All at once, the music from the ballroom inside shifted to a slow waltz, and you smiled. You would recognize this music anywhere. It was your song; yours and Chevalier’s. It was the first song you'd ever danced to all those many nights ago when you thought he could never be yours, hummed softly into your ear by the prince once made of ice. Wordlessly, he slid the fingers of his right hand down your arm to find yours and link them together, and he pulled you gently into the steps.

You nestled your head onto his shoulder and smiled into the warm skin of his neck as he led you around the balcony to the pulse of the music that had brought you together for the first time. You giggled aloud, unbidden by the need to seem queenly, and let him twirl you around, your bare feet carrying you back to him as soon as they could.

When the waltz was over, the two of you stilled, his hands on your waist and yours linked behind his neck, and simply appreciated one another. You bumped your nose against his gently and he chuckled lowly.

“I love you, Chevalier.”

“And I, you.”

He kissed you sweetly under the stars, and you were reminded that sometimes, fairytales do come true.

~

Tags for the Lovelies: N/A (no tags since I've been gone for so long. No clue who would want to be tagged in my stuff now or not. 😂)

[authorofdragons]

MINOR TOTK SPOILERS FOR THE BEGINNING + ZORA MSQ

in a rare turn of events i actually drew fanart for something- anyway this is my reimagining of Sidon and Link's reunion in the game (I see them as queerplatonic partners but romantic/platonic is good too! i just like them). My thought process is that Link is not only so done with world ending shit happening again and again, but BOTW told us he keeps silent to not be a burden to others/be strong for them. And now, with the world needing him all over again, trying to find Zelda to no avail, losing his arm, his sword, he finally breaks. Being the hero is too much.

And then this works well with Sidon's lil character arc of being afraid of losing people close to him again like with Mipha and even though the game didn't really say it, Im POSITIVE that Sidon finding out Link was missing/possibly dead made it worse. (side note, no Yona hate here!! she's cool!! I think she, link, and sidon would make a cute polycule and i have no issue with her she's sweet as hell BUT ANYWAY enjoy the comfort angst)

im still in the middle of the zora quest and have like 3 dragon tears so no spoilers beyond those please!! i know nothing and its gonna stay that way!! LSKDJFKJKJDF

also if you follow me for more sidlink content im so sorry but i rarely draw fanart for anything HOWEVER the main thing I do draw is my two aroace queerplatonic husbands being soft and goofy and they got a comic and everything so I mean. if you like this cuddly mlm shit you still might like my other stuff LMAO

[theflashdriver]

Sandopolis Square (Chapter 3)

In mere seconds, things had gone from bad to worse. What started as mere splashes of sand had now built into colossal waves that were consistent to the point of being unobservable through the thick blue tint of his psychic barrier. The lashing were so consistent, so heavy, that Blaze couldn't begin to guess the scale of the storm that was swallowing them.

Silver was already looking haggard, his feet planted firm and flat on a thin psychic floor he had affixed to the sand itself for fear it might slip out from under them. He hadn't moved from his pose, his fingers spread and arms thrust wide as telekinetic force worked to maintain a truly impenetrable bubble. Blaze could feel his sweat on her back; as she stood frozen, heat was flagging from him. Her back was still pressed to his as she scanned for options, trying to find a way to help or solve this trap.

The space he'd secured wasn't small, but it wasn't big enough. The drone was outside of their influence, for better or for worse, but only one of their bags had ended up within the space. It was his, the one he'd hopefully used to store their equipment, but Blaze knew she couldn't dwell on that. Her eyes flickered in the opposite direction, catching sight of the canteen he'd dropped in rushing to her side.

Feeling the pressure to act, the princess finally pushed herself away from the time traveler. She swiped up the canteen, finding that he had managed to part fill it; a wet mark on the sand from where it had clearly dropped caused the cat to grimace. She rushed over to his backpack, incidently confirming the artefacts they'd plundered as she rummaged for the medical kit. Finding it, she drew out a washcloth before rushing back to his side; now no longer standing back to back with him, but leaning over his shoulder.

The cat gently wetted the compress, careful not to use all their water, before dabbing it to his forehead. She could feel him shaking; his power always took a tole on his body, but this was more serious than his usual response. While on the outside the effort looked to be simple, Blaze knew the reality. Not a single grain of sand had breached the space, his manifested floor was preserving their footing without fail.

Despite those thoughts, Blaze knew what to do. She brought the cloth down to wipe his muzzle, trying to both cool the psychic as she kept him comfortable. Using his power in short bursts was easy, she'd learned that truth years ago, but prolonged use, regardless of how intensive that use was, always took a tole on him. He was already running a temperature, already sweating. She recalled a time once when their home had caved in, how she had treated and fed him while he held up the ceiling for hours- slowly heaving to reposition things and allow their escape. There was food in his bag, but this strain seemed to sudden and intense.

She had to ask, "Ever dealt with something like this before?"

"No," He was panting, but vigour returned to his voice as he elaborated, "Closest I can remember was back when we were first together, surrounded by fire. Flames aren't heavy like this..."

"How much time do we have?" Blaze asked, keeping herself blunt.

"I could hold back the storm for an hour or so yet, but what I could do isn't the issue," He insisted, still wincing, "I'm having to keep this space as tightly sealed as I can. Air isn't getting in here," With that harsh truth spoken, he tried to be positive, "I might be able to briefly undo release and reactivate the shield, but it's so dense out there," But that positivity didn't last long, "I-It's getting heavier, I can feel it."

Blaze bit her lip, again trying to stare through the psychokinetic veil her companion was maintaining. She truly couldn't see anything at this point, moments ago she was certain she'd been able to make out shifting lines and alternate points of contact. Now though, his shield simply a darker shade of cyan than it had once been. It was as if-

Realisation struck the cat, no wonder she couldn't see through the storm, "It's piling up on us..."

"Burying us like it did the buildings, it feels that way," He agreed, "It wasn't this thick on the tower block we found. I can't tell the exact weight of the sandstorm but it's way more than it'd take to smother us if I couldn't keep this barrier up," Silver was beginning to pant, "It feels like its still gathering out there, still shifting. Every so often it gets lighter before suddenly getting heavier... like a weight being pressed down, then removed, then returned with extra."

"You can feel that though, can't you? The shift in the sand?" Blaze asked to confirm, making sure his understanding was more than visual.

"Yeah, over and over again," Silver half nodded, "But I'm holding on so tight, keeping things so sealed. If I let go then I'm not sure I'll manage to get hold again, not before it's back atop us at least."

"Could you walk us?" She offered as suggestion, "Push us in a direction and maintain the shield?"

"I could try to, but only for a moment. When the sand comes back down I think we'd be stuck in the new spot, at least until it shifts again" He relayed, half hypothesising, "Even if I did push us somewhere, the storm might follow and I'd need to maintain the seal... that, a-and I wouldn't be able to hold out for as long if I did move this. We might have less time than there is air to breathe here."

His eyes were now closed, his head bowed in focus. She didn't risk worrying him by mentioning the reality she'd discerned, that the other bag was either buried in the sands or lost to the gale outside. Regardless of how out of reach their things were however, the reality was that they needed to act. Considering their positioning, where they'd been stood on the ground, Blaze tried to plot a path. None of the directions pointed toward salvation however, they were just too exposed.

"C-Could you use the Sol Emerald? Just warp us out of here?" He stammered.

"No, the space is too cramped," The feline immediately responded, "The air would burn up before we could leave. All the sand weighing down on us would smother the flames if you undid the barrier."

She'd lied to him, though Blaze knew it was for the best. It would require him to maintain the shield and act as a sacrifice. The pyrokinetic could survive among the flames as they lit, generating the gateway, but it would mean leaving this world on her own once again. Blaze had others relying on her, a whole other world to defend, but she wouldn't dare think of them again until every other solution had been sought. She would not leave him behind again.

The thoughts that took the place of her kingdom were those of action. Immediately the cat rewetted the towel and wiped his brow once more, before spreading the cool compress across his neck and shoulder blades. She quickly stepped back from him, throwing her eyes around their tiny glowing space. Inevitably, they fell back upon their bag. Her toes curled and fists clenched.

She marched over to the rucksack and slung it over her shoulders, making sure it was stable, "We have to try moving, there's no other option."

The moment Blaze had returned to his side, her arms found their way around his body. Gently, but swiftly, the cat slipped one arm around his shoulders and another beneath his knee. The hedgehog's head was brought to the crook of his neck, his feet lifted from the ground, as Blaze began to carry him. Their eyes locked for a moment as the towel flopped from his back to draping across her arm; the once electric yellow orbs were fully lit by cyan energy. He was so lost in it, she couldn't see the hedgehog behind that might.

"Let's push forward, see what we can find," She instructed to him, just loud enough to be heard over the battering of winds and the thrumming of psychic power.

Silver nodded, Blaze felt the floor beneath them vibrate before sinking to mingle with the sands. As she stepped forward, still hearing the crackle of that power beneath her feet, the dome like walls surrounding them drew no closer. They made it three steps before she felt him shudder and tense in her grasp, burying his head into her shoulder. She could scarcely hear any change in their surroundings; his psychic buzzing was just too loud and there was no visual to match the change. She had to rely on him, just as he was relying on her.

Once he'd stopped shuddering and given a nod, the princess took another three steps forward. The ground beneath them wasn't flat, moving uphill wasn't helping either of them. The incline wasn't steep, but then that was probably because so much sand was being swept up with every passing wind. She felt him shudder and froze again, biding her time as the shakes rocked through him.

Blaze forced herself to think again, this wasn't working. They were moving at a fraction of a pace, even if the sandstorm wasn't moving it could take them hours to exit. If the sandstorm could move, their efforts would account for nothing. They'd still be stuck at the heart, the strain on him wouldn't have been-

"It's okay," His quiet words cut through his vibrations, "You can run, I can handle it."

The moment he calmed Blaze started to run. She didn't dare move as fast as she could, fretting over whether he could match her pace, but the feline did move faster than any wind she'd ever encountered. This effort though, despite how minor it was, now made Blaze's head feel light; it was undeniable, the air was growing thin!

Around a minute into running Blaze considered slowing, realising his vibrations hadn't returned. She was about to recommend that he tear down the barrier, only to come to a screeching halt as the wind roared over his psychic buzz. She braced herself around him, as if to protect him from some blast of flame, but the effort did no good. The sandstorm had chased them; not only that, it had caught up!

His was burning up, soaked from head to toe. Though his muscles weren't directly involved in the act of manipulating psychokinesis, it took such a mental tole that it was reflected physically. His muscles were seizing as if performing all manner of impossible actions, bearing the weight of the world or manually dragging continents. She could feel every ache wracking his bones and flesh alike, it was undeniable.

Her brow steeled as she glanced about the psychic dome, again finding herself entirely unable to see through the veil he was maintaining. Even when the sand was absent she could scarcely identify the difference, and now her head was starting to spin. If pushing forward meant he'd suffer more, that she'd pant and their oxygen supply would dwindle, then it was entirely pointless. There had to be a way out of this, one that didn't mean she'd leave him behind!

Her eyes flickered to the ground, the cyan mixed with sand. Could they burrow? If they were underground, would the sandstorm cease to follow them? Even if they could push themselves beneath the sands, what then? Silver clearly didn't have the strength to burrow them a tunnel- give them space to run unseen. Even if he did, the deep earth would offer no air. Searching for a cave or some building, especially now that they were outwith the city limits, was foolish.

If movement by land wasn't an option, and they could not escape into the earth itself, then only one other option remained. Blaze looked to the ceiling of their protective bubble, the point in the barrier which was preserving them best. He'd worked so hard to keep it up, maintaining it without faltering, but the plan Blaze had just formed would see him rend it down. It may also end with them tumbling to the ground or torn to pieces, if even a single misstep was made.

Simply igniting the sandstorm around them had never been an option, it would have encased them in glass had the flames not died out before that. If she could get above the cloud of rock though, high enough that the gale would have to chase them, an explosion could render the dust too heavy to fly or even freeze it in place as glass. Getting up there would require both a barrier and flight, the likes of which she knew he could safely conjure if he was at the peak of his power.

But he was not at the peak of his power and she was set to face an unknown foe; just how much sand could these horrifying winds command? The whole desert? She didn't even know the source of the conjuring, she could only guess that it was the drone.

It'd only take the sands around them to prove too much, to reach up and tear them down. They'd run for hours in chase of the drone, now they'd toiled in here for some unknown length of time and lack of oxygen was whiting away at their strength. Even if she had the strength to conjure enough flames, how long could he hope to hold them above the ground? How high would he have to-

Something burned at her side. Blaze touched her long coat pocket only to feel the Sol Emerald she'd brought, resonating with a fiery heat. At first she thought it was warning her to flee, to abandon him again, but she quickly identified the truth. It was agreeing with her, pushing her forward, willing to lend its own strength to make up for that which thin air was depriving her of.

"Silver," She looked down at him, finding the aura still thick and unreachable around his face, "How high could you fly us?"

The hedgehog raised a hand toward her face, "I'm not sure, it would be difficult, but..." Breathlessness seemed to take him, "As long as we're together, we can manage anything," He swallowed, eyes finally visible again but only for a moment, "I'll give you all I have left, I promise. Will that be enough?"

"I think it'll have to be," Blaze professed, allowing herself to lapse and smile as she gave her orders, "I want you to take us straight up, as directly out of this cloud as possible. You'll have to shield us until you feel that we're free from the sands, then drop the shield and fly as quickly upward as you can. I'm going to try and put an end to this," Another realisation struck, heavy seriousness returned to her face, "You'll have to use the last of your strength to hold onto me, I need my hands free. Don't expend so much power that you'll fall."

"I'll do whatever it takes to get us out of there," He simply responded, half ignoring her insistence while still trying to spread hope. His arms came to wrap around her neck, fingers latching onto the bag at her back, "You're with me again, so I can't fail."

"You're still so naive," Blaze snorted, bettering her footing and feeling her head spin.

"Not this time," He disagreed, speaking louder than before, "I know what I'm saying. It cones from experience. As long as we're together, we won't lose."

"Then I think your memories are getting cloudy, we've eaten up to much of the oxygen in here," Blaze tutted, again feeling a wiry smile crease her lips, "Whenever you're ready, go ahead and prove me wrong."

Things grew quieter in the dome again, though the sounds of psychic static mixed with scraping wind still raged on. Blaze swore that, beneath the vernier of cyan, a smile had formed on his lips. She felt him move within her hold, his whole body tensing as if threatening to collapse in on itself. The moment that effort began, Blaze began to hear a great tumbling above the hum of his energy.

The space containing them shrank, the walls crumpled in until there was scarcely enough room for them to stand. Only then did a fresh psychic glow mount to shine around them, drifting from his cuffs to hang as phantasmal armour around their combined frames. Blaze immediately understood, he had formed two layers; an outer to protect them and maintain their oxygen, the inner to safely fly them upwards.

"We'll make it out," He insisted, an almost entirely exhausted smile upon his scarcely visible lips, "I can always tell when you've got a good plan; you look just a little bit unsure of yourself, like you're still searching for flaws or a better solution."

"That doesn't sound like a good sign," Blaze would have rolled her eyes, but she was indeed much too focused on evaluating their options.

"Yeah, well," His voice was cheery despite the strain being clear, "I know you."

With that, the coarseness of ground left Blaze's feet only to be replaced by smooth and psychokinesis. Though she was stood stationary and couldn't feel the brush of wind nor tear of sand, the cat knew that she was rocketing upward by Silver's shaking. She held on tight to him, knowing she could only grasp his body for a few moments longer, and began to steel her mind.

The small floor beneath them was growing lighter, more like the psychokinetic barriers she was used to seeing! She glanced to the ceiling only to find that the glow was entirely clear! The hedgehog in her grasp was still shaking, twitching and panting, but she feel tell that his discomfort was shrinking. Then again, it was possible that was more of a sign that the psychic was running out of energy.

Blaze bit her lip, beginning to allow her temperature to spike. She held on tighter to him with her left arm, lowering her right toward the floor of their psychic bubble. The interior of their cramped space was made to swelter, the sweat that had dug so deep into the hedgehog's fur began to drift as steam through the air, making her already limited vision even harder to harness. This was a necessity though; without preparation, her flames would either rage out of control or be cast much too light!

"We're out," He managed to gasp, his quaking calmed, "Any second now I'll have to drop the shield!"

The princess shut her eyes tight, taking a deep breath. Heat continued to swell, curling around her forearm before starting to roil at the centre of her palm. She couldn't ignite, not until the time was right- robbing him of oxygen would doom them both in an instant.

"I'm ready," She calmly insisted, before issuing another order, "Hold onto me."

He shifted in her hold, now both hands were tightly grasping across her shoulder blades. The psychic energy from his body hadn't faded, he was still holding them both aloft through his mental prowess, but that could slip at any moment. Her eyes reopened, she stared down at the featureless psychic barrier. They had one shot at this, he wouldn't be able to push them away or produce a new shield if this endeavour proved to be folly.

"I'll count you down," He gasped into her ear, "Three... two... one-

The blockade fell, the world beneath her was dark, night had fully fallen. Cold wind cut through her fur, immediately rending away the sweltering pressure and almost forcing her to blink. Feline eyes darted across a night lit by speckles of starlight and the small radius of his psychic glow- never finding their quarry. She didn't have time to simply light the night, she had to take a chance. She grasped her right wrist with her free hand, scarcely registering that Silver was holding on tight!

A burst of fire exploded from the centre of Blaze's right palm, so wide and bright that it immediately blinded her. The updraft was battling her, attempting to redirect her flames back toward them with its blustering force, but the guardian of the Sol Emeralds kept her might rushing toward the ground as a wide and explosive twister. Faith was burning red and golden, her belief that their coalition would succeed would keep them off the ground and their destroyer at bay! She just knew it would!

Her eyes finally adjusted to the dark and light, able now to see the brunt of her output and their own exact positioning. She'd fired straight down, between her legs as they hovered aloft at a distance she stood no chance of gauging. Similarly, she still couldn't see the soaring sands. With her flames taking up so much view, and the world around them dark, Blaze couldn't tell if she was on target or the dust had repositioned in order to swat them-

Something burst through the flames, fast enough that Blaze couldn't react. It caught the edge of her right ear, narrowly missing a direct strike with her head. Before she could process it another flew through, the parting of flames granted the cat just enough time to lean back and fully dodge the object. She watched it crest in the air, reflecting and refracting the starlight before it sunk back down to the flames below.

Glass, it was glass!

A smile broke onto the cat's face as she moved her left hand from the right's forearm to the back of her blasting hand. The flames became wilder as she pushed harder, certain of her target's position. Splinters continued to shoot through her blast, cutting like knives through the air or shadows through light! She couldn't dodge them all, they were essentially hanging stationary in the air, but those which did make contact either shattered or crumbled against their frames rather than slashing or piercing. As long as her temperature was maintained, they'd brittle before they could reach them.

The source of these winds was still unknown, be it tied to this location or the robot that'd brought them here, but it would surely burn beneath her. Spreading her fire so wide was draining, sending it to the earth like some great reaching spear, but it offered some certainty. Scorching all, even the earth, meant that nothing beneath them would go-

Blaze felt herself wobble in the air, her thoughts scattered, "S-Silver?"

No response sounded but she caught his eye, the once strong light was now flickering around his body. She could still feel his arms around her shoulders, he was still holding on tight, but his capacity to act as a harness holding her above the sands was fading. If she relied on that lift for any longer, his grasp would surely start to fail.

"It's okay," Blaze looked away from him, back to the fires beneath, "Just hold on tight," The cat brought her heels together allowing her eyes to shut again as she focused on the heat building across her body, "I can handle things from here."

Two more flares, both smaller than that she'd already conjured, now burned from the balls of her heels. She was the one shaking now, vibrated by the thrust she was outputting both to burn the sandstorm below and keep them aloft. Sweat was spiralling from her hands as ghastly ribbons that were vanishing into the sky above.

Flight wasn't her forte though. Her footing was solid, she could keep this up, but she couldn't maintain their elevation. By the shift of the stars alone, Blaze could tell that they were already slowly descending towards the ground and the potentially still active storm! Winching, Blaze quickly made another decision.

Rather than try harder to maintain their elevation, potentially weakening her greater flaming output, Blaze shifted her left hand from atop the right and set it shoot down flames of its own. This was the only way- to ensure the destruction of the danger beneath rather than prolong this blind battle against errant nature. If they were going to succeed then it had to be fast; it had to be now!

Faith reignited with righteous fury, generating fresh waves of heat that spiralled not simply down but fanned around them. If there were clouds about then they would have further evaporated, if there was anyone on the ground watching they'd see another sun shining in the depths of night- loosing a terrifying beam of light to scorch the earth. It was fortunate that, ignoring those poor cacti, there had been no signs of life among the sands.

Lower and lower she was drifting, muscles aching as the endless blast was expelled. Her focus held strong for minutes, the bombardment unending, but a sudden crunching noise did cause Blaze to flinch. Solid ground, she'd somehow found solid ground more than a hundred metres higher than it should surely be located. The cat tapped her foot, still spewing flames- though now the fire was bouncing and shifting, as if flitting around and over some unseen object. Realisation again struck, the shards had stopped flying toward her minutes ago.

Raising her hands from held at her waist, the cat set the fires to swirl around and roil over the shape rather than freely blast from her hands. Her senses refocused, the uncanny stillness of the air contrasted the gale she had experienced before. The fires she cast were now streaking their way down an object of frankly indescribable shape, so twisted and reaching and yet smooth in some many places. Eventually she began to sight the object's edges- flames tumbling both down far sides and slipping through what she could only guess were cracks in the shape.

Her ears were still pricked high, eyes scanning and body sensing for any brush of wind or drifting sand, but her attention did flicker to the glowing hedgehog clasping her shoulders. She dimmed her left hand, grasping to aid him. His eyes were shut, but not as tight as before. He almost looked to be asleep.

Gingerly, using the lingering embers to act as a path-setter and indicate the best route across this structure. Every step brought with it a crunch or cracking noise, not loud enough to be worrying but indicative of the rough structure beneath her feet. If that sound grew too great then her jets were ready, but that need never did arise.

She managed to find a slope and awkwardly slip her way down, kept from tripping by the rough grip offered by the structure. Eventually her feet met with a flatter mass; with starlight and her spread flames to aid, she couldn't see any other obscuring structures around... save for a series of long black stalks that she could only presume were once cacti. The feeling under-feet was still crunchy and hard, but certainly flatter than the structure she'd been standing on.

With a wave of her free hand, the flames gliding along the structure she'd landed upon all flowed toward the cracks and breaches that their ilk had found. Gradually a small bonfire manifested within the space, illuminating it and, in doing so, revealing the shape of this glass form. It almost looked like a flower made of glass with folded leaves surrounding them, some of its petals reaching far skyward while others were cracked and had tumbled. Shaped by the streaking winds of the sandstorm, a great work of glass had been solidified by her flames.

Near the top of the formation was a darker shape than that of the glass, sticking out at an odd shape. It took a moment and quite some staring, but soon she recognised its pill-shaped form as that of the drone; burned and caught in the glass. Assumedly, it had been the source of the storm all along. Well, what was most obvious was usually correct.

Blaze glanced down at her companion, just in time for the light to fully fade from his body. He slumped down like a tumbling branch high on a tree, fingers still scarcely attached to the rucksack straps around her shoulders. She only just managed to keep his knees from meeting with the brittle ground.

"Tired?" She asked, lethargy sweeping over her, just as it had him a while earlier.

A grunt sounded, no further response came but he tried to pull himself onto his feet.

"Well," She hummed as he ended up stumbling, glancing back to the glassy structure, "I think I've found us shelter for the night."

"Desert is cold at night," Blaze heard him mumble, as she tugged him back up and into her arms, "You're warm..."

"And you're naive," The cat tutted, beginning to carry him around the structure.

Eventually, the fire somewhat dying down within, she did manage to find an opening in the crystalline structure. Gently pushing inside, she found the ground to be thoroughly uncomfortable to walk on, made cramped by some of the glassy masses, but certainly safer than sleeping in an exposed position. Eventually he was pulled to the emptier heart of the space.

"You'll probably want to stand for a moment, I don't know how safe the ground is for lying," Blaze informed him, trying to position the hedgehog to stand.

With flickering cyan energy around his palms he managed to stand on shaky legs, "You okay?" He managed to mumble.

"Yes," The cat answered, shrugging the bag from her shoulders only to feel an ache at her shoulder, "Just need to get some rest."

As she swung down the bag between them the hedgehog went to open it, but her hand topped his before he could. They locked eyes for a moment, his sleepy gaze meeting her hopefully less tired look. He seemed to read her intent perfectly, her want made tension between them. Quickly he acquiesced, stumbling back to prop himself against the nearest of the interior's glass walls.

She quickly opened the bag, rummaging through the bag's contents; only just remembering the other that had surely been immolated. At least it wasn't the one containing the evidence. The phones and the newspaper had both thankfully survived the ordeal.

A thick bedroll was pulled from the front of the rucksack, a bundled sleeping bag was tugged from its depths. She unrolled the former before setting the latter upon it, then searching deeper. There was a large blanket within but nothing more, the ground was indeed as rough as she'd anticipated. They'd be sharing cramped quarters tonight. She gestured to the fire, still flickering near the heart of the space, and it rolled just a little closer.

The guardian took a seat near the foot of the mat, waving the hedgehog closer, "Come on."

Wobbling more than a little, he managed to cross the small gap between them. Rather than lie down, as she'd half suggested, the hedgehog sat right next to her and allowed his head to rest on her shoulder. As his arm came to wrap around her, Blaze felt her tail curl around his backside.

"It's been a weird day," Silver commented.

"It has," Blaze quietly agreed.

"We've made it through worse before though," He groaned, arcing his back in a stretch, "I wasn't worried."

"No?" A tired smirk twinged at her lips.

"It's exactly like I said," He lectured, "As long as we're together, we can't lose."

"Are your memories still that clouded? I think you need to lie down," Blaze tutted.

"You admitted you need rest, I don't think I have yet," The psychic quickly countered, stretching again.

"You haven't verbally, no, but physically?" She leaned into him and, like a domino, he tumbled onto his side,"The truth is rather obvious."

Blaze tossed the blanket over him, he struggled to pull it from atop his head, "Perhaps, but if I'd done that to you, you'd have ended up on the glassy ground," He grumbled, repositioning himself before throwing another look his way, "Are you going to join me?"

"In a moment, you just make yourself comfortable," She insisted, turning from him and back to the fire.

Thoughts were slipping through her mind, undoubtedly constructed from the adrenaline of what had past and her tiredness catching up to her. Though she didn't dare glance back down to him, not wanting to stoke any further embarrassment, the hedgehog lingered in her mind's eye. There was still a place for her by his side, she had been blind not to see it. No matter how much wiser he grew, no matter how much stronger, she would always be there to look after him. Come sandstorm or eruption or endless hail, she'd be there to help guide his path.

Things weren't as they had been, the state of this world was proof enough of that, but that didn't mean it they were bad. He wasn't the same floundering fluff-ball she'd once knew, but that drive at his heart was standing out more than ever. She wouldn't always be the one to lead, not anymore, but that didn't mean she never would. They were just rebalanced, matching each other in different ways.

Whenever she fell he'd pick him up and the same could be said of her for him. His skills had flourished in her absence, he'd learned so much that had once been her domain and exceeded her in a handful of those. That same was true for her though; the instinct that had once been key to his survival now burned hot within Blaze. She'd been the one to first notice and leap after the drone, she'd got them out of that last trap. Of course, atop that, both of them had picked up brand new skills along the way.

A yawn broke beyond her lips and Blaze took it as a sign, shifting to his side and slipping beneath the cover. With only the sleeping bag and mat to act as their mattress, only a small slither of place was protecting them from the coarseness of the sands and glass. She tugged his arm around her back; moving her own hands to rest on his should blades. Seemingly in his sleep, the hedgehog tugged her close.

Now close, she felt some rough protuberances in the depths of his fur. After plying through for a handful of seconds she managed to untangle a series of dark shards from his fluff, none of them having pierced him but one likely causing a bruise. Blaze heaved a sigh as she tossed those masses away, dispelling the bonfire by their side with a secondary wave of her throwing hand. With their frames so closely locked, there was no way he'd freeze.

More than anything, this was her place; beside his side, holding him as he held her. Despite the ways he'd grown, physically and mentally, he still needed someone to watch over him. There was still far too much weight on those shoulders of his; though, it was probably ironic that she of all people had come to that conclusion.

The feline swore to herself that she'd sleep soon, tomorrow they'd have even more to do, but she wanted to lie with him for just a little longer. She kept finding another thing to consider, another thing worth mending. Her thoughts turned and attention to his quills, so wildly tossed, before gently working down to detangle his chest fur. Undoubtedly, assuming he woke up first, he'd do the same to her; the cat couldn't begin to imagine the soot and glass spread throughout her fur. Yawns would break through every so often, interrupting her quiet musings, but they could never break the one truth she held so close to her heart.

He needed her, just as she needed him. All along, she'd had nothing to worry about. Neither of them could ever leave the other behind.

[devnmon]

Long, Long Time.

'Cause I've done everything I know To try and make you mine And I think I'm gonna love you For a long, long time

Summary: Irrevocably in love with the woman you can’t have, a wine drunk night over classical reading and a fireplace aids in decision making.

Ao3 version | tess masterlist

prequel fic

Warnings: smut [a tiny bit], reader hopelessly in love with Tess, use of y/n (a couple times); based on ep 3 of TLOU

wc: 13k

A/n: Okay ummm first of all don’t blame me for writing this much on one character that i’ve never written before, but this fic is literally my baby. It’s my favorite thing i’ve written. I thought it was my turn to take a spin with writing for Tess. Since tlou came out i’ve been obsessed with her and… well you can tell by how much I wrote. Here it is, my perfect Tess fic. Enjoy <3

Today was the day.

A warm morning in September, 20 years after the Cordyceps infection sunk into the deepest depths of society, crumbling down its once high, strong walls, to a brittle, cracked dictatorship of community. The Boston Quarantine Zone was one of your least favorite places in the world, but from what you heard about other cities' QZ's, it was a walk in the park.

As a smuggler, you handled runs for more than 75% of the place, with the help of a few desperate FEDRA officers that offered to look the other way for a price.

If risking your life for bottles of pills and useful supplies was the most dangerous thing to do, then so be it; you were the unlucky one.

Most runs, you were accompanied by one of your two partners, Tess Servopolous or Joel Miller. They were older, skilled, smart, and resourceful, and they knew how to kill. Especially Tess. She could handle her own like it was nobody's business. Hard headed and courageous, Tess became a good partner and soon enough, a close friend.

Although, there was another part of you that found her alluring, captivating and so, so gorgeous. She was confident in herself no matter what, which only drew you towards her more.

Ever since the early days of the outbreak, you three had each other's backs, and nothing could come between you. To you, they were the only thing you'd known after being found by the older woman and taken in. The day she found you, beat up and bloody with several injuries, was the day she had quite genuinely saved your life.

Now a part of Joel and Tess's smuggling business, you were off to a town called Lincoln, a five hour hike from the walls of the QZ.

The hot sun glared down on your skin, a chill September breeze flowing in gusts that kept you cooled off enough throughout your journey.

A majority of the trip was spent in silence, lost in your enamor for Tess, eyes trailing over the back of her figure. She had glanced back once or twice at you, like she could feel your eyes burning into her body.

Some nights you lay awake wondering what it would be like to drag your fingers up and down the expanses of her skin, trailing over her back and caressing the soft skin of her figure till you fell asleep.

Time passed as you traveled behind Tess and Joel, and the image of a metal fence coming into view.

"This is it," Joel stated before approaching the gate. You begin to follow the two older individuals before you pause, stopping a minute to remember something that Frank had mentioned about their gate.

"Wait, I thought you said this thing was booby-trapped or something.. How do we know it won't get triggered?" The concern of your safety was imminent, the unknown patiently waiting behind the metal gates.

"Well we don't, but Frank said if we came from the road instead of the forest that it wouldn't get triggered. They'd see us coming that way, too. Trust me, I know Frank. He wouldn't lie, not when he knows we can work together."

Tess was the expert on the two men that lived behind the gates of the completely deserted town; she was the one who arranged their meeting, after all.

"Alright.." You sighed, walking right up to the gate with them.

There was a box attached to the entry gate with a few buttons on it. You watched Joel walk up to the gate and press a button labeled 'Call'.

A loud buzzing sounded out after he'd pushed the red button in, and a moment later, a male voice responded from the intercom.

"Password."

The voice sounded deeper than Frank's, only assuming the speaker was Bill, the other half of the couple that resided in Lincoln.

"Uh- Ahem," Joel cleared his throat, before stating the code word Frank had given you three before coming.

The feedback rang out as Joel spoke, another buzzing sound coming from the gate as you hear it unlock.

"Alright, let's go. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, since we really don't know what we're walkin' into here."

Tess scoffed at her male partner's words, a smirk on her face saying otherwise from your tense anxiety of meeting new people.

"Tess, hey," you grabbed her arm ever so softly as you trailed behind her, and she looked toward you, "Are you sure we can trust these guys?"

A tiny smile formed on her face as she recognized your nervousness. She thought it was adorable and sweet how you went to her for comfort at any point in time. It warmed her heart and made her feel important to somebody again.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Frank wouldn't hurt a fly. Bill on the other hand.. he might be a bit standoffish at first. From what Frank said, I'm sure he'll warm up to us with time. Don't worry."

Tess rubbed your arm up and down a couple times, hoping it would soothe your worries. As she did, your face broke out into a small smile, nodding before you dropped your grip and continued walking. You could get lost in the hazel of her eyes like it was hypnosis, or something close to that. The way Tess made your world stop by even being in your presence was something entirely familiar to you, and it kept you up at night, pondering about the simplest things.

It seemed the little town of Lincoln, Massachusetts was surrounded by this perfect bubble of safety and security. Like a dream, the familiarity of a place as different from the QZ.. felt a bit unreal. You never thought you'd have the chance to make friends in a world with infected, much less one with access to such a large range of supplies in a deserted town, highly protected by its sole residents.

The feeling surrounding you was oddly similar to how you felt around Tess, her warmth and beauty heart-warming, much like a hug.

Your focus is brought back to reality as you almost bump into Tess's back, her and Joel had abruptly stopped walking.

"Oof- sorry Tess-"

"Y/n.." Joel says abruptly, not realizing they're both holding their hands out to the side, the cocking of what sounded like a gun putting the realization into place.

"Shit.." You whispered, stepping out from behind Tess, arms out in the same fashion as your partners, and you realize there's a man holding a gun out at the three of you.

Then, from the house the man stood in front of, another man came running out. He calls the name of the man who's holding his pistol at you, Bill.

Which means.. that's Frank. You thought to yourself, as the sweater-wearing man approached and tried to beckon the other man to lower his weapon.

"Bill, these are the people I met over the radio. We can trust them.. they aren't going to hurt us. Put the gun down, please? I don't want to scare off people we could potentially be working with.." The man named Frank said with a chuckle, almost having to force the gun down himself. After another moment of brooding stares being passed between Bill and Joel, he lowers the gun and places it in his holster at his thigh.

Your hands drop to your sides after freezing with them out in the air due to fear. It wasn't the first time someone's pointed a gun at you, but it sure as hell was one of the times you thought someone would actually shoot. Relief washed over you as Bill's arms lowered.

"Perfect, thank you," Frank says to Bill, before wrapping his arm around the man's shoulder, "Welcome to our home, I'm Frank, and this is Bill. I'm so glad to finally meet you guys. We have a lot to talk about! Come on, follow me."

Frank had a home-like smile that was warm and welcoming. It was the first time in a long time you'd seen anyone smile like that. So carefree. You guessed it was the effect of not being behind the walls of a QZ for too long. That, or Frank knew how to stay true to himself in such a rugged, rough around the edges world.

The uncomfortable gaze Bill shot your way made you realize that it probably took a lot for him to even agree to let the three of you come into their town, much less want to work with complete strangers.

While being led back to Bill and Frank's home, you can't help but marvel at everything around you. Lincoln was much different than the QZ and open city; a town quite literally frozen in time from when it had been evacuated. A place like this was one you dreamed of settling down in, with a partner before the outbreak; it seemed like the perfect place to do so. Quiet, quaint, and bare of any infected or dangerous militia and resistance groups.

As their home came into view, it was exactly as you thought it'd be: another one of the huge houses a place like suburbia always had. It was one of the biggest you'd ever seen, almost out of a storybook. Except for the leaves blowing through the streets, it was as if the house hadn't aged a day. Everything about their home and its surrounding yard looked as if it had been tended to regularly; a mowed lawn, bushes with budding flowers, and not a single area of chipped paint to be seen.

"This is our place, I do my best to keep it looking its best and Bill... well he's just one hell of a cook. Aren't you, dear?" Frank turned to Bill with a smile, only to look away from his lover and back at you three.

"It's true, one of the many things I'm good at. Including defending my home." Bill's hand went to the gun strapped on his thigh.

"Yes, of course you are. Now, could you whip us up some lunch while I get to know our lovely guests here?" Frank turns his head towards Bill again.

"But-" Bill begins to speak, wanting to name all the reasons he doesn't want to leave his lover alone with strangers. Though, you notice Frank is quick to reassure Bill that everything will be alright.

"I'll be fine, I promise. They aren't going to hurt me, I've been extra careful with who I talk to, you know that. These people aren't dangerous. At least not to us." Frank's smile breaks Bill's resolve, trusting his lover enough to retreat into the house with haste.

Now alone with Frank, he guides the three of you over to the table on their lawn. You sit down next to Tess on your right side and Frank on the left.

"So.. Tess, I assume the lovely man you arrived with is the famous Joel Miller?" Frank turned to Joel with his hand out, receiving a firm handshake and nod from the Texan man.

"And you must be..." He turns to you.

"I'm y/n, the secret.. not-so-secret third partner." You laughed awkwardly, feeling somewhat out of place with the man and woman.

"That's right, I've only heard your name a handful of times, but it is so nice to finally meet you in person." Frank read your nervous state like a book, giving you peace of mind with a warm smile. Your nervous state diminishes when Frank's words set in, easing a smile onto your face and raising your eyebrows in slight surprise.

He's heard of me? I wonder what Tess's told him...

"It's nice to meet you too, Frank."

The four of you conversed with small talk, only butting in here and there to add something in, mostly keeping to yourself and not wanting to make the wrong impression on Frank. Tess and Joel discuss the details of a trading business between you all.

Soon enough, Bill began to come out with plates and silverware, to which Frank jumped up to help with setting the table.

"I can help if-" You started to speak, feeling a little guilty at not doing anything to help out as a guest.

"No, no. Sit, relax. You're our guests here, and I'm sure your trip has been long and tiring. Besides, it's been a while since I've set the table for more people than just me and Bill, and it's something I've always loved doing." Frank's kind smile once again eases your worries. But you swore to yourself you'd find a way to repay them for this.

You nodded as the two men made several trips to set the table, appreciating every little thing they added to it one after another. Spices, napkins, fine china plates and silverware with no scratches or rust on them. It was all a marvelous sight, one that reminded you of the old world and missing little things like this in times like these.

The amount of objects they'd placed on the table made you forget just how many of those material things you realized living without was doable. Even if you wished there were more aspects of the old world in the present one.

Fiddling with your thumbs again, you listened in to Joel and Tess's muttering about whether or not they could convince the two males on agreeing to work together, until you heard an exclamation from Tess.

"Oh my god.."

Your head jolted up towards the woman, about to ask her the reason for her outburst, until you picked up what had caught her attention.

The smell of fresh, hot food surrounded the three of you, hunger scraping at the edges of your stomach, making it even more evident that your last meal hadn't been as much of a hearty one as you'd wished. Dishes with meat and vegetables were all neatly placed in the same portion sizes as Frank and Bill put each plate down.

Before you dug in, you heard a familiar pop of cork from what you could only assume was a wine bottle. Sure enough, as you looked at Frank, the bottle he'd brought out resembled one you'd buy for a nice meal like this.

It wasn't until you heard the same cocking of Bill's pistol that you froze in your place. You watched as he placed it on the table for you all to see, a statement of protection and untrustworthiness he clearly still saw in the three of you.

Maybe not you or Tess specifically, but Joel, most definitely.

You decide to ignore the firearm's presence on the table, and begin eating the food that's so delicately placed on each of your plates. Instead of scarfing it all down like some rabid animal, you savored each bite of the flavorful, nutritious food and sip of wine like it was your last.

It might as well have been, since you had no idea whether or not you would be working together.

You wondered how people even ate on china plates that were as delicate and prettily detailed in the most extravagant ways. The silverware and wine glasses were also detailed and etched in such a beautiful way. It made you appreciate the smallest things before you had to go without them again.

A while passes, and everyone's finishing their food up. Light gusts of wind flow through Tess's hair as you look over to her, holding the glass of wine in her hand.

"Well, this really is just-- it's amazing." A slight smile on her face brings warmth to your chest, heating your body despite the cool air.

"Right?" Frank looks from Tess to Bill, who still has his pistol on the table, "Can you not please?"

He reaches over Tess's glass to fill it with the dark red alcohol, then reaches over to yours to do the same as you smile at him.

"I'm the same way," Joel states, understanding where Bill's actions are coming from. You realized in that moment that Bill and Joel are more alike than you thought.

"Oh, you're a paranoid schizophrenic too?" There's a slight chuckle that sounds out from you and Tess as Frank speaks.

"I'm not schizophrenic." Bill suddenly retorts, knowing the validity behind the methods to his madness.

Tess clears her throat, attempting to break the awkward tension that's so clearly grown between Bill and Joel.

"Well can I just say, gun aside, which I get, by the way, how nice this is to have a civilized meal in such a beautiful place? It's been so long. I mean it, I just- I wanna thank you. Even if we don't end up working together. I really needed this."

Her words seemed genuine, a slight twinge of silent and repressed pain in what she said. You only knew an extent of Tess's emotional wounds, ones she pushed down to do her job better.

As Frank lifts his wine glass to Tess with a small smile, he states, "We are working together."

The two clink their glasses together, making you raise yours to do the same.

"Cheers." Tess and Frank clink their glasses, and then Tess turns to you in the same fashion, quickly lifting your glass to clink together.

You all finish up your meals, occasionally glancing over to Tess with appreciation that you got to share something this special with your best friend.

And then the realization hit you, she was only your best friend, and you'd wanted to be more with her since she'd revealed a different side of her to you throughout the years. It was a kind, warm, caring side of Tess that made her feel like the familiarity of those strawberry candies that were hard on the outside, but soft, sweet and gooey on the inside. Tess was rough around the edges, but when she was alone with you were the times she revealed a softer side of herself.

Frank hadn't glanced anywhere other than Tess and Joel, picking up the way they discussed with one another, as if they were good business partners and friends. He'd been blinded by the fact that you sat furthest from Joel, barely even glancing his way for a split second.

The moment Frank gets a good look at you at the table is when he picks up on the way you look at Tess; it's different than the way you look at Bill and Joel, and by god does it open his eyes a mile wide. He only hides it behind his all-knowing warm persona and recognizes a light in your eyes that he saw similarly in Bill's the minute before he'd kissed him, that one day in 2007. Three years later, he saw that same spark of light in you, whenever your eyes glazed over to the only other woman at the table.

The warm younger man looks to his partner, who's anything but, to reassure you all again.

"We are." A moment passes as he sips from the wine glass and speaks again, "You know what? Let's go inside. Tess and y/n, I wanna show you something."

Frank begins to stand, lifting his wine glass from the table, Tess following next before you stand as well.

"Oh yes, it sounds amazing, I'd love to see inside." Now more sociable with the two glasses of wine in your system, you catch your balance before pushing your chair out from the table.

"Actually, I have been wanting to see inside, thank you."

Your words and Tess's overlap at the same time, chuckling a little at the synchronized movements and words between you and the older woman.

"Bring your wine. There's more inside."

"No, not inside. Frank.. Frank!" Bill's voice echoes from the table, as Frank holds the front door open for you two.

You're looking down at your feet as you walk up the porch and into the house, unaware that Tess was glancing back every few seconds to see if you followed. As you step inside, you wipe your boots off on the mat and Frank shuts the door behind him.

Your eyes finally pull away from the mat you've wiped your boots off on, to the inside of Bill and Frank's home. A deep breath of air fills your lungs to the brim as the sight of it all is a bit overwhelming.

"Wow..." you sigh, Frank stood behind you, Tess a few feet ahead, "I haven't seen anything like this in so.. long..."

You trail off as the sight of it all renders you speechless. There's candelabras with fresh wax from candles and picture frames with black and white photos. The image of inside makes it feel like a home, something you haven't felt in a very long time.

"Come on, it's right over here." Frank speaks out loud to the both of you, only you're still standing a few feet in front of the door, as the two walk into the open room just right of the stairway.

"Oh wow, look at these photo albums! I haven't seen one of these in forever.. Are they all Bill's?" Tess's voice carries to you from the other room, noticing her slight chuckle as you gaze over to where she's flipping through one of the albums.

"Yeah, yeah they are. Just don't tell him I showed you.." The two continue to giggle to themselves over the old pictures.

"Oh my gosh, I didn't even notice the extensive vinyl collection.. You know, I used to have a turntable back in college. I'd play the same old records every day, annoyed the hell out of my roommates.." Tess chuckles as she talks about her past life, something you always enjoyed hearing about when she brought it up.

With you, she could bring up anything from her old life, and you'd listen to every word.

You still had the suspicion that she and Joel had a thing going on, and your not-so-little crush on her was doing more harm for you than good in that aspect.

Tess and Frank are looking through the collections of vinyl and photos while you nonchalantly watch from afar, eyes glazing over to the massive shelves of books. Most of the ones on lower shelves were Bill's books on survival and guns, but the ones resting on the higher shelves were classics.

Before the outbreak, you'd been a sucker for those. There was something about the art of classic literature, the subtext and deeper meanings under every word. The beauty of those stories was unmatched.

I'd love to read one of those over some wine.. Matter of fact-

"Hey Frank? Where's that other bottle of wine?" You call out to him from the doorway, with your glass still in hand. Frank glances over to you from a few feet away.

"It's in the fridge, wine opener is uh- somewhere in there. You'll find it."

"Okay, thanks."

You finally break off from the two, eyes glazing over every single picture Bill and Frank have of themselves in their home, as well as the paintings Frank's done of Bill and himself.

Striding into the other room, the kitchen was in a state of what looked freshly used; pots and pans were everywhere, the scent of once heated oil lingering.

Your curious eyes peel over all the older pictures, then notice one in color that's stuck to the fridge with a rainbow magnet.

A twinge in your chest comes as well as joy for the two men that happened to find each other among a world of infected and dictatorships.

You just wish it would have happened to you already.

Bill must have had some vintage cameras lying around, ones Frank knew how to use, or learned to use for things like this. You crouched closer to look at the picture of the two men, bodies pressed together and hands clasped in each other's like they never wanted to let go.

And in such a world, why would they want to?

You pull the refrigerator door open, spotting the unopened bottle of red wine in the door. Reaching for it, you read the label, Beaujolais.

Huh, fancy name for a wine. It'll get me drunk all the same though.. Now where is that damn cork opener?

You're rummaging around in the kitchen drawers until you finally find it, oblivious to the fact that Tess has walked up behind you in your haste to find the damn thing. Her grey shirt is unbuttoned, with a white tee underneath. She always had the simplest style, but it didn't stop her from looking fucking stunning in anything she wore. Tess makes her presence known to you, arms folded across her chest as she leans against the doorway. Picturesque light chestnut strands of hair frame the soft features of her face.

"Whatcha got there?" your body whips around, wine bottle and opener in each of your hands (and almost slipping from them), to which Tess smirks a little at the sight.

You were surprised to not have heard the sound of her boots on the wooden floor, but Tess always had a way of surprising you like that.

You smile sheepishly, raising the bottle and wine opener in both your hands. Truth was, Tess popped in at the perfect time; you could never get the hang of opening things like this.

Opening bottles of liquor for you was always Tess's thing, since you didn't have the skill or strength for it. Your hands were just naturally smaller than hers as well, which meant it was only a job for a person with bigger hands.

How you wished you could hold them.

"Just in time. Could you open this for me? It's more your thing than mine.. Please? Before I drop it or something.."

Tess strides towards you and grabs both objects from your hands. She inserts the opener into the cork and twists until the similar pop from earlier indicates she'd removed it, the wine's aroma filling the area between you two.

Her strength was so attractive, the way she could make the simplest things such as opening a wine bottle look hot. The veins in her hands protruded when her grip strained, making you wonder what her hands would look like doing different things.

Tess lifts the cork to her nose, smelling the wine more intensely now, looking angelic as she breaths it in. Then, she lifts it to your nose, the gesture so familiar to you, but yet you've never seen Tess in a moment like this before.

The scent of the liquor paired with how Tess looks in the sunlight peering through the window is intoxicating in itself, as she places the bottle on the counter. Glancing outside, the golden light began to fade fast, darkness approaching quicker than you'd like it to.

With a smile, you walk over to the countertop and pour yourself another glass of wine.

"Thanks... you'll have to teach me that sometime." You couldn't tell if the flush on your cheeks was from the wine, or the gesture Tess just did for you.

"Yeah, but then what would you need me for?" Tess cocks her head to the side, a slight smirk on her face again. That damn smirk.

Rolling your eyes, you scoffed.

As if I could ever go without you, Theresa.

"Oh, please. I'll always need you, Tess."

"Right.. So, Frank said we could stay the night, since it's more dangerous to travel when it isn't daytime. Our visit was longer than expected.." Tess's eyes move from you to outside, where Bill and Joel were still sat, discussing in what looked like a more civilized way than earlier.

"They have enough room for us?" You asked, sipping at the red wine.

"Yeah, they've got two extra bedrooms. So, I figure you and I could share one and give Joel the other room for himself. Plus they said we could use their shower," Tess shuffled closer to you and lowered her voice, "I hear they have hot water.."

Your eyes widened at the thought of a hot shower, something you hadn't realized was accessible anymore. Though, before speaking, you cleared your throat to minimize any indication of nervousness in the fact that you and Tess would be sharing a bed tonight.

"You sure you wouldn't rather room with Joel? I.. move around a lot in my sleep."

A confused look displays itself across Tess's face.

"I mean- I wouldn't want you to wake up with me on top of you or.. anything.." A nervous chuckle erupts from your chest as you laugh your awkwardness off.

"I think that second bottle of wine is what I should be worried about, not your restlessness." She smirks again, "But have fun with that. I'm gonna go wash up. Talk later?"

You only nodded, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of your best friend any more.

As Tess left the room, the strain of your journey finally set in. Soles of your feet began to twinge with pain, carrying you to the next room with the wine bottle and glass in hand.

You saunter into the living room, the amount of wine you've consumed making your cheeks, not to mention your whole body, flush with heat. The weight of your figure flopped down in a corner of the room as you placed the wine bottle down.

You gulped at the rest of the liquid in your glass, putting it on the side table. Gazing around the room at all the vintage items in perfect condition, your eyes meet the tall shelf of classic literature once again.

Pulling yourself from the chair, you pick up the bottle of wine by its neck, instead of pouring yourself another glass.

They're not gonna miss one little bottle... they've got a whole vineyard to themselves.

It's then you hear the front door open finally, Bill and Joel coming in, their discussion a little lighter than the one they were having earlier. You hear a chuckle fall from Joel in his Texan accent and your eyebrows raise.

Wow, they're finally getting along. Maybe we will have new business partners after all..

You stumble over to the bookshelf, about three glasses of wine making your bodily strength diminish with every sip you took. You were in a more tipsy state than usual; not having drank alcohol for years had more of an effect on you than it usually would.

The higher bookshelves are littered with dust, not having been touched since who knows when; you're just tall enough to drag your fingers across the top shelf on your tippy toes, the one below it littered with the many classic stories.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, Emma by Jane Austen.

You read the titles off in your head, fingers trickling over the necks of each hardcover novel, stopping at Little Women and pulling it from the bookshelf. You also grabbed Pride and Prejudice, planning to ask Frank or Bill in the morning to borrow them till your next visit.

Slumping over in the chair again, you open Little Women, pages crinkling as the smell of the vintage book hits your face. It almost makes you sneeze, but you stifle it and begin reading.

You're mumbling to yourself in the little cozy corner of Frank and Bill's house, perched in a red armchair, and it's the most domestic you've ever seen yourself be in a long time. Granted, you were becoming more intoxicated with each gulp of the bitter alcohol you ingested. It floods your insides with warmth, your train of thought sidetracking from the story in your hand to the thought of the gorgeous woman that was Tess Servopolous.

She felt like home, the sweet smile she revealed to you your favorite thing about her. Her hardened exterior cracked and withered away bit by bit with every day you lay in her apartment healing from your injuries.

You're pulled out of the daydream when footsteps descend down the stairway, until the figure turns the corner. Frank's face comes into the warm lamp light, silently walking into the room and fiddling around with a few things before making his way over nearby where you sat.

Over the edges of the book, you watch him grab a few logs of firewood, placing one in the brick fire pit, before lowering your eyes back to the book. A few more minutes pass of his fidgeting before you realize the fireplace has come alive with flames of light.

Waves of heat flood the room, completely bringing your attention away from the book in your hands.

"No way..." Your voice draws Frank's eyes to you.

"Way. You know, my favorite thing to do in the fall is make fires.. Bonfires, campfires, any kind of natural warmth feels so home-like and safe. Don't you think so?"

"Yeah.. my childhood home had such a nice fireplace like this. It's really nice to see and feel again after so long." The two of you share a smile and look at the fire. Flames crackle and burn high, popping at times, the same way it used to before. Silence is adamant throughout the room, clutching the novel in your arms as the flames continue to burn.

"So.. you gonna tell me what's got you slumped over in a corner reading classic literature? I can't imagine it's that riveting.." Frank's tone tells you that he's joking, but you can't help from being at least a little offended in your drunken state.

"Classic literature is actually my favorite genre of novel, for your information. And you wouldn't get it…" The irony of your words slaps you in the face the minute they manifest themselves because.. Frank does know what it's like to feel the way you do. He’s just still in the dark about it.

"Hey, hey. You can tell me what's going on. I may or... may not have any experience on what you're going through."

Then the realization sets in that he's probably felt the way you do his whole life.

It's at that moment you decide to trust him. You close the book over, and look Frank in the eye.

"Okay, but this stays between us. Promise?"

"Of course."

A sigh leaves your chest and you begin to tell him how you feel about a certain one of your smuggling partners.

"Tess saved me... however many years ago it was... I can't remember how long it's been now. I've just always been around her since then. She's done things for me and- and I've done things for her... But I never knew why I always wanted to be around her.. until one night when I had a really, really rough day and she comforted me. I never wanted to leave her arms, and that's when I realized.. I liked her. She's my best friend, Frank.. What would I do if she doesn't feel the same? I don't think I could live with myself if I ruin our friendship because of some stupid fucking crush."

You finished speaking, letting out another sigh like you'd just thrown up all the thoughts reverberating in your head the second you made it out of the QZ walls.

Frank's silent until he speaks, analyzing and connecting dots in his head about this afternoon and the way you'd been acting.

"All that... doesn't sound just like a little crush to me, hon. You love her.. and you want what's best for her. Protecting yourself from the hypothetical hurt of her not feeling the same is valid.. but you're not gonna know how she feels about you if you don't tell her. Take the night, and think on it. Or... go ahead and keep on reading your classic literature while the love of your life goes to sleep upstairs. I'm just saying, if you don't try, then what's the point?"

The next time you look Frank in the eyes, they're filled with kindness, and you can tell he sees you for who you really are. There's no hiding your true self around him, he reads you the same way he read Bill the day he fell in that hole in the ground.

"You know what, you're right. I'm gonna take the night to think about it, thanks, Frank. I don't know what I'd do if I was alone in this."

Frank places his hand over yours in a compassionate and friendly way. He understood where you'd been coming from, especially with the way you both were.

The rest of your night is spent cuddling up under a blanket Frank had placed over your legs before he headed up to bed for the night. The wine drunk put you in an exhausted state, eyelids as heavy as weights until you ended up falling asleep curled up in the chair, fire dwindling away to nothing but embers.

A nudge to your arm slightly pulls you from your slumber, wine bottle abandoned on the floor from earlier. The next thing you feel is a strong grip lifting your body from the chair. With a groan, your arms flail weightlessly to the side, as you're picked up bridal style, the creaking under the wood indicating you were being carried up the stairs.

It's probably Joel who's lifted you like this with no effort at all, no chance it was Frank or Bill. Tess was already asleep too, and once she rested her head, there was no waking her. She slept like a rock.

You figure you're finally up the stairs as the steps steady, pushing the door open silently to the dark bedroom. Finally, you're placed down onto the soft bed, boots being tugged from your feet and placed on the floor. Rolling over a bit, you groan at the comfortable state of the bed.

Already comforted by the blankets, the heat of your body diminishes in the cool, dark room, as you doze off to sleep for the night.

As morning peeks through the shades of the cool bedroom, a pounding headache rammed behind your skull as your eyes inch open. Fluttering profusely, your pupils adjust to the rays of sunlight slowly, head still spinning.

Groaning at the pain, your eyes shift from the window to the side table, where there'd been a glass of water and two pills of Tylenol placed next to a small piece of paper. You sit upright in the bed, truly unable to recall the events of the previous night. The only thing you remembered vaguely was that second bottle of wine, one you regretted even picking up.

You reached for the note, headache only pounding harder as you attempted to read it.

For your head, since you really thought that second bottle of wine was a good idea. We've got breakfast made when you feel well enough. - Frank

It's at that moment you realize your mouth is bone dry, concluding on the fact that you hadn't drank one drop of water last night. As if a desperate plea for the quenching of your thirst, you drop the note in your lap abruptly, gravitating towards the very full glass of water sitting just a foot away.

The liquid slides down your throat as you desperately gulp it down, only stopping for a moment to pop both Tylenol into your mouth. After finishing the glass of water, you look down at the note again.

Signed Frank, but I've seen this handwriting before. Somewhere.. My hungover brain cannot remember right now for the life of me.

A yawn breaks through your chest, your hand instinctively going up to cover your mouth. When the smell of your breath hit your nose, it became apparent to you that you should probably take advantage of the hot and running water in the home.

Quickly, you threw the covers to the side, glancing down at your legs, body covered in the same clothes as yesterday. You didn't even dare attempt to sniff those articles of clothing, knowing how sweat stained they had become on the hike yesterday.

Yeah, you really needed to shower.

Standing from the bed now, you reach over to grab your bag, when you realize you've left it downstairs. Only when you look around the room is when you see a plain grey t-shirt sitting on the arm of a chair.

Tess's shirt, no doubt.

You pick it up and hold it in your hands, the scent of her sure enough surrounding your head.

As tempting as it would be to head back to sleep, you walk over to the bedroom door, opening it to the hallway. It seemed there was nobody remaining upstairs, evident due to the light conversation coming from downstairs. Your socked feet patter across the hall, peeping around a corner before b-lining straight for the bathroom.

Placing the clothing on the countertop, you reach into the shower and start the running water. As it slowly heats the small room, you stride over to a closet, pulling it open to find an abundance of everything you could've ever needed to bathe in the world before. Shampoos, conditioners, body wash, shaving cream and razors.

Wow, these guys really know how to keep inventory. They won't mind if I make use of some of this stuff, I definitely need it more than they do right now.

Steam fills the bathroom as you pull each article of sweat-stained clothing from your body, landing all together in a pile. As you pull the curtain back and step in, the warm water washes over your work-weathered body, goosebumps rising at the comfortably warm liquid.

It was euphoric, the temperature of clean, filtered water paired with the privacy of the shower.

You can only stand still as the dirt and other liquids patter to the tub floor, bringing you lighter in mood and vibrance as well.

As you scrub your scalp with the shampoo, the events of last night finally return to you.

Reading Little Women, admitting how you felt about Tess to Frank- the decision you told him you'd take the night on and think about.

You caught your head in your hands as embarrassment for yourself washed over you, much like the warm water of the shower.

"Ughh, I can't believe I told Frank that stuff.." Although you didn't regret it, not completely. The chat you had actually made you feel better, getting it off your chest after so long of holding it in.

You just wished it would be that easy to tell the person of your affection.

The spray of water from the shower ceased as you turned it off, stepping out onto the bath mat and wrapping a towel around you.

Regrettably, you had no other clothes to change into, so you pull on everything you'd worn the day before, except for your shirt. You put on the grey one for now.

Yep, it definitely smelled like Tess.

Pulling your cargo pants on, you stride out of the steam-filled bathroom, and your feet lead you into Bill and Frank's room.

Though you feel it's trespassing on an already stepped-over line, you head towards their closet, quickly opening the door and taking in the massive amount of flannel shirts hanging there.

Frank had impeccable taste in clothes, deciding to yank one or two of the darkly colored button ups from their hangers. You took a pair of socks as well, since yours had holes in them from their constant use.

You thought about not telling Frank about your thievery, but it's going to become imminent when you walk down the stairs with his shirts in your arms. So you shove them in your bag once you find it resting next to the bed.

Heading back into the guest bedroom, you pull the fresh pair of socks onto your feet, beginning to reach for your black boots sitting on the floor. Reaching down for one, you hear a knock at the door before you can grab it.

Quickly, you stride over to the door, expecting to see Frank or Bill on the other side with a message from your partners about hurrying to leave or something along those lines.

To your surprise, the face on the other side of the door is Tess.

Shit, Tess. The person you promised Frank you'd confess to last night over a drunken conversation.

She looks well rested, wearing a different shirt than the one from yesterday. It's a dark green, that compliments her eye color and the wisps of her caramel hair framing her face. Her hair is in that half up-half down bun, the rest of it resting behind her shoulders.

She looks fucking perfect, and you look like a wet dog, hair still damp from your shower.

"Hey, morning. How'd you sleep? I uh-" Tess is pulling at her collar awkwardly, standing in the same fashion as your eyes finally trail down to what she'd holding in her hands.

She had a plate in her grip, covered in freshly made, very appetizing breakfast foods. Some so freshly made, there was still steam coming off of it.

You're thankful in this moment to have taken those Tylenol earlier, or else the smell of any food whatsoever would've sent you hurling over the toilet like a hungover sorority girl.

"Oh my god, Tess. What is all this?" Your eyes widened in surprise, the smell catching your attention even before you had seen the plate of food in her hands.

"Well, you need a big breakfast for the journey back to Boston today, and I figured you could use it after last night.." A chuckle breaks through her chest, head dipping downwards before looking at your freshened state.

"Come- come in." You move aside for Tess to enter the bedroom, assuming you'd slept alone in here for the night. As she places the tray down on the bed, you sit down, Tess standing a few feet away.

"Tess, did you make this? What the hell- This looks amazing.. Eggs, sausage, hash browns? These are all my favorites.. Seriously, thank you. Wh-what can I do to make it up to you?"

"Well, first of all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And second of all, don't thank me, thank Bill and Frank, it's their food I cooked. Consider it a hangover cure. Once I get so drunk that I fall asleep in an armchair with a classic book in my lap, then you can pay me back. It better be a damn good breakfast." She chuckles again, in that low voice that keeps you up at night when you think about it.

The way it says your name, her low tone when she curses under her breath, the way she sounds in the early mornings when the sun still hasn't risen and she's drowsy enough to not make any sense in her muttering.

Tess went through all the trouble of making everything she knew you favored, the mere thought of her thinking about you as she cooked it all only made your enamor for her grow stronger, a fire of love burning behind your chest for the woman in front of you.

It's then she takes a seat on the bed with you, watching as you poke into the eggs and begin devouring the food on your plate. She wasn't leaving, by the looks of it.

In the middle of chewing your food, you speak again.

"Did Frank tell you I passed out down there?"

Her grin becomes larger now as her eyes move from the plate of food to your face as you consume your breakfast.

I wonder what else he told her. Hopefully nothing I haven't yet...

"No, I'm the one that found you, silly. Carried you up the stairs and put you to bed myself."

You continue chewing as your eyes widen, another realization from last night coming back to mind.

It wasn't Joel carrying you, it was Tess.

"You carried me up the stairs? Wow, I'm gonna have to start lifting weights if I have to do the same for you."

While you speak, you're enjoying every morsel of this delicious food Tess has made you, and you're grateful for her in so many more ways than you could express presently.

"You better," Tess says with a scoff. A couple more minutes pass by as you're finishing up the food on your plate. You notice that she's still sitting in the room with you, taking your silence as a sign of comfortability around her.

"So, what's up, Tess?" You say, shoving another fork full of hash browns into your mouth.

"Well, I came to check on you, since last night Frank told me you were drinking a whole 'nother bottle of wine by yourself.. and reading classic literature? For fun?" She laughs.. "I figured you might be hungover this morning and wanted to bring you something to fill your stomach. I can't have you fainting on me when we hike back to the QZ, now can I? Gotta keep your strength up, hun."

The name melts your heart a little and you smile. It was such a simple thing, one that indicated she cared about your wellbeing and didn't want to see you unwell.

"Yeah, always gotta be nourished and shit. Just human things, I guess. Though, a meal like this never gets old." You said with a smile.

It became more difficult to hold back the thoughts of holding and kissing the woman before you, her green button down shirt just aching to be pulled in order to kiss her. Those perfect hazel eyes of hers that resembled gems when they hit the sun just right, getting effortlessly lost in them every time they locked with yours. Her hands that completed her daily tasks so beautifully, with such care and concern in everything she did making you think she'd hold you the same way, love you the same beautiful way she did everything in her life with.

"I'm guessing you're feeling alright, then? Tylenol helped?" It was cute that Tess was still worrying about how you were feeling from the night before. Putting the fork down finally, you looked up at her.

"Yeah I- Wait, how'd you know I took Tylenol?" You hadn't mentioned anything to her about taking medicine.. so how did she know?

"Well I uh- I just.." She scoffed lightly before continuing, "I asked Frank to leave some by your bedside earlier and I was really worried about you, since yesterday. You don't drink like that unless something's bothering you."

Her eyes focused on you, hair lightly spilling over her shoulder, and she's in the moment with you now more than she had ever been. It's almost like she's reading you when you glance up again, pulling at the collar of your shirt.

"I know, Tess. It's just-" you sigh, thumbs fiddling with each other, palms beginning to prick ever so lightly with sweat.

"You can tell me anything, you know that right?" Her voice was sweet and soft, lowering a bit to hopefully ease your worries. One of her hands grabs yours, and the sensation is enough to make the breath in your lungs hitch.

If there was any perfect moment to confess, this was it.

"Tess, there's something I need to tell you." A slight quiver of your voice tells her that this thing that had been bothering you clearly meant a lot. You keeping things from her wasn't a common occurrence, which only happens when something was beyond frustrating for you to talk about.

"Okay, what is it?"

You're infuriatingly beautiful and I want to kiss you right now.

"It's the fact that I'm over here pining like an idiot for you and you can't even see it.." You mutter, not wanting to look Tess's way for fear of judgment or rejection. She notices, and in that very moment she longs to see the fire in your eyes burn its brightest. "It's the fact that- that I love you, and you probably love someone else.."

"Someone else?" Tess scoffed, "And who do you think that is, huh?"

"I don't know.. Joel, maybe.." Head still hung, your hands shake slightly, chest filled to the brim with uneasiness and anxiety.

Was it just you, or did the temperature in here get hotter?

"Y/n, look at me." You hesitate for a moment, then slowly your eyes move from their locked position on your hands.

Tess's hands are fidgeting in her lap too, you notice.

The second you lift your head, the glossy state of your eyes catches her attention, and her face eases once you're looking directly at her. Tess's bottom lip catches between her teeth for a moment, and she glances down swiftly, then back up at you.

"Joel and I are nothing but friends, you understand? I don't want him, never have." The words hit your ears and it's as if a weight lights off your shoulders.

It's the most clarifying moment that makes you giddy to spill everything onto her lap.

"Tess.." you breathe, closing your eyes for a moment and making a decision, "Please don't shoot me for this..."

You begin to lean in towards her, eyelids hooded as you glance down to her lips, watching intently as she does the same. It feels like an eternity before you're close enough to pick up on her natural scent, consuming your brain and going fuzzy upon the close proximity.

A warm tingling fills your hands as they brush over Tess's thighs and hover just over the dark denim covering them.

Once, twice, three times you glanced down at her lips, pausing to drag your eyes across her flawless face.

"Are you gonna kiss me, or what?" Her snarky tone pulls your eyes back to gaze into her hazel ones, almost getting lost in them before getting the courage to do something you couldn't come back from.

"Shut up," You say, before your hands grab onto her collar, and pull her lips to yours. Her kiss takes your breath away, crawling into her lap, collar of Tess's shirt still in your grip. Sparks flicker in your chest, and they're coming off of Tess's as well, deepening the kiss with another push of your lips against hers.

The weight of you in her lap pulls a groan from the woman opposite you, separating your lips from hers. You almost couldn't pull away, but the thought of hurting her made your worry jump a mile high.

"Shit.. Are-are you okay?" Tess gives you another peck on your lips, before trailing her eyes down your face and neck. The smirk on her face makes the heat from your cheeks travel down your torso.

"Oh, I'm better than ever... you wanna know why?"

Nodding your head fervently, her hands trail up your shirt to your collar, watching as her pupils dilate around the hazel in her eyes. The grasp on your shirt is tight, even tighter when she beckons you impossibly closer to her. The next moment, she's pulling your lips to hers in another passionate kiss. Your lips are pressed together for so long, it feels like you're out of breath by the time she pulls away.

"It's because I love you." The three words fall from her lips like a siren beckoning you with its song. Her voice has never sounded more perfect, and when she says those words to you, it's an indescribable amount of joy that fills your chest.

Her panting is an indication of not being able to breathe, but she doesn't fucking care if she got to kiss you like that.

"You love me, too?" Out of curiosity, you ask again, just to make sure it registers in your brain. Disbelief makes your heart jump, even though you've just kissed her, and you never wanted to stop.

Even though she told you she felt the same way, it was still a dream.

"Of fucking course I do. Ever since I took care of you, those few months you were living in my apartment. How could I not?" One of her hands trails up your face, brushing some stray hairs obstructing her view, so she could look at you fully.

The woman you've pined after for years has loved you all the same, and the realization feels a lot like you've wasted so much time behind a closed door. Sleepless nights went by with you writing about her in your journal, detailing all the ways you would love her if she only loved you back.

Tess adored you, she just hadn't let herself show it or feel any other way than a friend, and she'd been terrified to lose you if she fucked any of that up. The years and years of pining built to this very moment, tension in the room thick as you gazed at her lovingly.

"Tess.. kiss me again..."

It was a desperate plea for that fucking woman to press your lips to hers so you could taste her even stronger than you thought you could handle.

"I don't think I'll be able to stop if I do." Her low voice made your legs tremble, a new kind of desire growing due to her.

"Then don't." Your lips clashed together with hers, tongues exploring each other's mouths in a feverish attempt to taste even more of you than she already had.

The truth was, she had all of you for a long time, and now she couldn't imagine needing anything more.

A soft moan is pulled from your chest as Tess's teeth nip at your bottom lip. The both of you seem breathless as you pull away again, but every time you glance down at her swollen lips is when you want to just press them to yours over and over again.

"God, you're so beautiful, it's hard to look directly at you sometimes." Her words catch you off guard, feeling your eager hands travel up her neck, one resting on her shoulder while the other sneaks your fingers between her soft strands of hair. Twirling a lock of it, the blush on your face makes her smirk.

"Stop it, I mean just look at yourself. You're so hot and intimidating and perfect and-"

"You saying you're not those things?" Her brows furrow in distaste, because how dare you suggest otherwise.

"I'm saying you are. Pretty girl." A giggle erupts from your chest, raking your fingers through her hair with appreciation.

"If you don't say you're all of those things right this second, love, I'm just gonna have to prove it to you. And you know I will."

Your eyebrows raise, wanting to pull a little sneaky trick on her.

"Say that I'm what?" The smirk on your face makes Tess blush a little, chuckling to herself because she knows exactly what you're doing.

"Say that you're..." One of her hands goes to the top button of your shirt and unbuttons it as she places a quick peck on your cheek, "Perfect, intimidating, hot, everything I want.. God, fuck. Look at what you do to me.."

Her nimble fingers trail down your shirt, undoing each button carefully, letting the shirt fall open to your sides. Hands rest on the skin of your sides, just under the shirt you're wearing. Her shirt you're wearing.

"Tess.." You sigh breathlessly, still trying to gain back whatever air was pulled out of your lungs just a moment earlier.

"Hmm? Tell me what you want, baby." She tilts her head ever so slightly, the smirk on her face only enlarging when she sees the desire in your lust-blown eyes. Her pet name all but pulls a squeal from your chest, scrunching your nose upon hearing her low words.

"I want you, Tess. God, I want all of you.. But we can't-" Your hands run up and down her sides, shaking ever so slightly at her intimidating smirk.

"We can do anything we want, sweetheart. I've got you, now. No one's gonna take you away from me, ever. And no one's taking me from you. Got it?"

It's so warm, so Tess, such a loving and nurturing side of her that spills those words into your chest like a goddamn golden light, and it brings tears to your eyes. Sniffling, you try to blink them away every second they threaten to fall from your eyes.

The close proximity of her immediately pulls you into a safe hug, tears dropping on the cloth of her shirt, dampening the fabric bit by bit. Her hand rubs up and down your back, comfort surrounding you in the moment like nothing else in the world.

"So-sorry, Tess, I didn't mean to get your shirt all wet," You say, pulling back from her embrace, "I'm just.. so fucking happy because I love you and- and you're finally mine."

The words come out like the easiest thing in the world, like you could tell her your deepest darkest secrets and she'd still love you completely as you are.

"Aw, you look so pretty when you're in love. 'Bout the most perfect thing in the whole world to me, pretty girl."

"Well, yeah. It's all your fault that I'm crying like a sap, dummy." You playfully punch her shoulder and wipe your face, tears finally ceasing their descent from your eyes.

"You love me that much, huh?" This time, Tess's smile is sweet, intimate and all but this time your eyes lock with hers in a deep gaze.

"Love you even more than that, Tess." A giggle erupts from your chest as her lips press ever so lightly to your neck, ghosting feather light kisses across your skin. Before she pulls back, she attaches her lips to your skin and sucks obsessively, in the same spot. A particularly sensitive spot she gets to pulls a whimper from your chest, the sound making her pull away from kissing you, eyebrows raised with curiosity.

"What was that, baby?" You whimper again, embarrassment washing over you while your cheeks are being painted with a blush.

"Need you, Tess. Need you so bad.." The last word comes out rather quickly, hips rolling against hers ever so slightly.

"I'm right here, honey. Tell me what you need from me, and I'll give it to you." Her words come out like a plead, work-worn hands and fingers trailing over the waistband of your pants. "Come on, we don't have much time. Joel wants to get on the road soon.."

Oh God. Joel. Bill. Frank.

Your thoughts freeze and think to the three other men in the house, or probably somewhere nearby, if not lingering just a few feet away down the stairs.

"Shit, should we-"

"Yes, my love, we should. After all this time, we should."

"But the door-"

The bedroom door; it was swung almost completely open.

"Guess you better be quiet then." She mutters, voice low with lust and the need for you to fall apart for her just once before their travels.

"Tess-" You whimper breathlessly, and before you can speak another word, her lips attach to yours again. Her hair smells like lavender, and her lips taste like strawberries.

"Do you trust me?" She asks, wanting to know you're okay with her going further.

"You know I do. I trust you with my life." You reply, almost immediately. Her soft eyes gaze into yours and she nods.

It's the most perfect vision of Tess you've had your entire life, and nothing in this world could tear you away from that.

Once you feel her hands unbuckling your pants successfully, one of her hands slips down under the fabric, bypassing your underwear right down to where she knows you need her.

Her middle and ring finger slide through the arousal between your legs, and the second she feels you throbbing against her, is when her kisses trail from your mouth to your neck.

"Tess, fuck-" You whimper out, as her fingertips swirl around the most sensitive part of you.

"Needy girl, aren't you? So gorgeous..." The smirk on her face turns devious when her eyes meet yours again, catching how your face contorts with pleasure under her doing.

Another mewl leaves your chest, nodding fervently once again.

"Shit, all wet for me? You really know how to make a woman happy.." The slight laughter from her chest makes you clench around nothing. Nothing, until her fingers pursue lower than your sensitive bundle of nerves. Deep breaths of air make your chest heave, and Tess is only relishing in the way you're falling apart completely for her.

Before you feel her fingers prodding at your entrance, your hand grabs her forearm and she halts her movements.

"What about you?" Your eyes seem to beg for her without saying another word more, and she hesitates for a moment, until she speaks.

"You don't have to, love. You feeling good makes me feel good and-"

She pauses her words, because your doe eyes make whatever was left of her resolve break, the instant she looks into them.

"Alright, baby. Go ahead, touch me.. I need you, too." A smile breaks out onto your face, hands gravitating towards her belt, undoing it as fast as she can complete her sentence to satisfy you.

One of your hands slips down between her legs, watching as her eyes close in bliss at the first light drag of your fingers down her heat.

"Fuck.." Her head gets thrown back while her eyes shut at the amount of pleasure and love you have for her in that very moment. Tess curses under her breath as you begin slow circles on her most sensitive part of her body, goosebumps trailing all over her skin.

"Now who's the needy one?" She glances back up to your eyes, and just like that, her intimidating demeanor returns.

You almost yelp aloud when she pushes a finger inside of you, but her lips press against yours before you could do so. The fervent exchange of moans between each swirl of your fingers, and each thrust of Tess's fingers inside of you makes the moment feel infinite.

Everything you've ever wanted, you finally had.

She was yours to touch, to hold, to please. Tess gave you all of her, completely and irrevocably.

"Tess.. fuck, I love you.. I- never wanna be with anyone else but you.." Your tone of voice is pitched higher, submerged in the pleasure she brought. She could tell you were inching closer to release with every swirl of her fingers.

"I love you, baby. With everything inside of me. It's you. Only you.. Now be a good girl and come with me."

"Are you gonna-"

"Yeah, I am. Fuck- keep going, just like that. Cmon, baby." The hand that wasn't inside your pants snuck up to your hair, grabbing a handful and pulling in silent demand.

Sighing dreamily, Tess pulled her fingers out of you and rubbed incessantly at your precious bundle of nerves, triggering your hips to rock against hers.

"Tess.." You moan out loud, almost too loud for the people downstairs to hear, but at the same time, you don't care. Not when Tess is giving you the most pleasure you think you've ever experienced in your life.

"I love it when you moan my name.. Say it again." Her fingers swirl to no end, feeling a jolt of pleasure wash through you as your high began to rush towards you.

"Tess, fuck. Oh my god Tess- baby I'm gonna come.." Your sounds are uncontrollable now as your release is beckoning you further.

"Yeah, hun? Gonna come for me?" Your hand speeds up your movements on her sensitive bud of nerves, another low moan leaving her chest, dripping with desire.

"Oh, baby, I'm-I'm.."

"Me too baby, yeah..." Tess calls out, her movements on your clit pushing you over the edge, her high washing over her intensely.

A few more filthy moans leave your chest, release crashing over you like a wave, running throughout your body with relief, your partner helping you ride it out before you finally look back up at her.

Sweat adorns her skin, chest heaving as she pulls her fingers from your pants. You do the same, only watching as she licks her fingers seductively. Another wave of pleasure threatens to overtake you, just by watching her do that.

"Holy shit... that was amazing. I knew your hands were good for more than just holding a gun and punching people." Your head tilts back the slightest bit as you try to catch your breath after the immense pleasure washed over you only moments ago.

"For our first time, that's nothing compared to what I've been thinking about doing to you for months now.." The smirk on her face threatens the rise of arousal again, though you're too exhausted now to even think about doing that, with what a long journey you've got ahead of you.

"You-" Tess raises an eyebrow at your speechlessness, "are the most beautiful woman in the whole world, and you chose to love me. Isn't that something."

Your words make her blush again, leaving a few small pecks on your cheeks, before pressing one to your lips again. Then, Tess's hands reach to your pants once more, doing the zipper up and buttoning them so she could do the same to hers.

"Well, I don't think we choose who we love. But if it was.. it's because you're the most perfect person in the world. Isn't that something.."

You look to Tess with a soft smile, one that makes both of you appreciate the domesticity of your conversation at hand.

"Yeah, it is," You say, taking her hands in yours and interlocking your fingers together, "So, what does all this make us?"

You catch Tess staring into your eyes again, and it takes a second for her to respond.

"Well, I'm already in love with you, so whatever you want, I want it too. I'm all in, for you. That sound good?"

God, you've waited forever to hear those words.

Attaching your lips with hers, it's a slow, soft kiss, almost stopping time with how you craved more every second that went by. As you pull away, Tess looks radiant in the sunlight that's pouring through the window even more now.

Her words turn you speechless, already knowing you called her 'mine' but hearing it from the velvet voice of your lover made your heart swell ten times bigger.

"It sounds wonderful, Tess." You lean in for another kiss, soft and sweet, until you pull back again, "You'll have to teach me how to open wine bottles, though."

"Nah, I think I'd rather just keep doing it for you." Your lips locked in another kiss, one you wished would last forever.

"Oh, one more thing," Tess goes digging in her back pocket, pulling out a blue tube, "Deodorant. You stink like sex."

"And whose fault is that?" You quip, grabbing the tube from her and rubbing it under your armpits.

Tess shrugged, almost pulling you in for another kiss, until the sound of a male voice from downstairs snapped both of you out of the daydream.

"Shit, Joel. He's gonna be mad that I took so long up here.. that-that we took so long-" You begin to speak, pulling yourself from the bed, reaching down to slip your boots on.

"Joel Miller is not gonna say anything when he sees that hickey." Tess mumbles, standing from the bed as well, adjusting her shirt from where you'd grasped it before.

"What mark? Oh, Tess.. you didn't.." You rush over to the mirror hanging on the wall, and pull your collar to the side abruptly to see the darkening purple bruise on your neck. You scoff, only buttoning up your shirt with haste to get out the door.

"I did. Couldn't help myself, you know. You're all mine now, had to make sure everyone in Boston knows you're spoken for."

She walks up behind you, placing her hands on your hips as you continue buttoning the flannel up. You scoff, flipping your head around to kiss her on the lips again.

"Yeah, well did you have to make it so dark?" You questioned, knowing she could've gone lighter but didn't.

"You already know the answer to that. Now c'mon, let's not keep the man waiting." Tess pulls you by your hand to the door, looking back once more as you exit the room and walk down the stairs with her hand in yours.

Just as you thought he'd be, Joel was pacing downstairs with his pack already on his back.

"There y'all are.. was starting to get worried about- Oh." The tall, Texan man clears his throat when his eyes spot the mark on your neck, eyes immediately avoiding yours.

"Yeah.. I'll grab our packs and meet you outside. Cool?" Tess says, before sharing a look with Joel, not saying anything more as he turns to walk out to the front yard. Her hand slips from yours every so slightly, and you already miss the warmth and love in her contact the second it drops from you.

"Hey, wait- where's Frank?" You call out to Joel, but he's already to the gate of their yard before he can hear you.

"In here!" Frank's voice comes from the living room, and you saunter over to him.

"Hey, morning. Listen, I wanted to thank you for everything. What you said to me last night, and just your hospitality and all you're gonna help us with when we start working together. I mean it- I'm really grateful."

Frank looks up from the vinyl he's sifting through, and meets your eyes with a compassionate smile.

"I take it this morning went... well?" He gestures to the mark on your neck, one of your hands going up to sheepishly cover it, a bit embarrassed that you let her go that far.

"Oh, um. Yeah, very well. I did that thing we talked about." As soon as the words hit his ears, he's grinning from ear to ear and throws his arms around you with a tight embrace, one that caught you off guard, but you hugged back, nonetheless. The smile is still beaming on his face as he pulls away.

"I knew it would go well. You two.." He shakes his head, hands on his hips, "Sparks were basically flying over lunch yesterday, every time one of you looked at each other.. Wait- Is that my shirt? Nevermind, keep it. Looks better on you anyway."

Frank laughs at the realization that you didn't have fresh clothes after showering, so he understood.

"Seriously, thank you. For everything, again."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm such a matchmaker. Now go, run to your lover, and never let her go, okay? She's one special woman."

"Yeah, that she is.." Your gaze shifts from Frank to Tess appearing in the doorway with your pack in her hand.

"Oh, one more thing." Frank hands you the books you'd taken down from their shelves last night, Little Women and Pride and Prejudice. "Don't worry, Bill said it's alright. He doesn't read classics, anyways. You'll come back, and we'll trade."

That's the last thing Frank says before Tess beckons you back to her.

"You ready to go? Joel's gonna lose his marbles if we make him wait any longer, so.." Tess asks you, standing a few feet away, but it felt like miles before you could get back to her.

"Oh, God forbid a man wait on two fine ladies, such as yourselves." Frank says, turning Tess's way as you walk towards her, grabbing your pack from her hand and putting the two books into it, before slinging it onto your back.

"You make a good point, but he's gonna be grouchy the whole hike. He'll be done with our lovesick asses once we get back to the QZ." You say with a giggle, pressing a quick kiss to Tess's lips.

"Well, it's been lovely having you here, I'm not sure where Bill's run off to, but I'm sure he says goodbye as well. I'll walk you to the gate, since there's an idea I have as to how we can communicate back and forth on the radio.. I'll tell you on the way."

Frank follows you both out the door, spotting Bill already at the gate, the same holster with his pistol sticking out from his otherwise plain outfit.

As Joel finally spots the three of you coming from the house, he darts right out of their front yard, b-lining for the gate.

"Guess he's got a new friend..." You mutter to Tess, Joel's steps bringing him towards the gate faster than you three were walking.

"Maybe he just doesn't wanna look at the huge hickey on your neck." She retorts, her reasoning better than anything else you came up with.

Chuckling, you nudge her side, hands falling beside each other's before locking your fingers together again.

Frank catches up, walking alongside Tess as he begins to explain his idea for communication back and forth.

"So, I had this idea that we should use codes for the radio, in case anyone's listening."

"That's a good idea. Like, with what?" Tess tilts her head over to the man in curiosity.

"I was thinking, like, the decades. Like- 80's, trouble, of course." Frank states, as if he's put immense thought into something as simple as this.

"Yeah..?"

"70's- for when we get new stuff to trade with.. and 60's for not having anything new. Sound good?"

"Yeah, Frank. That's actually really clever. I mean, I wouldn't have thought of that. Right, babe?" It's the first use of any pet name around people, and you can tell it puts Tess in a lighter mood just by hearing you say it.

"Right. Well, radio back to me when you guys are ready to start our business together." He reaches out to shake Tess's hand, "Otherwise, it has been lovely having you three here, and I'm so ecstatic to have you back whenever." Frank stood still, watching you all walk ahead.

The sound of Joel's boots on the pavement approaching you all force you to turn your heads towards the third partner in your group.

"What are y'all lookin' at? Let's head out, already. Whenever you lovebirds are done.."

Grumpy exterior, but an ally, all the same.

"What are we gonna do with him..."

"Yeah, he's not nearly as much fun as you." Nudging her shoulder again, your bottom lip catches between your teeth for a slight moment. Tess's hair is blowing in the wind slightly, and you can't help but smile at the beauty of the woman you called the love of your life.

You share a look between Tess's eyes and your own, before tugging her along as you walk ahead, attached by a soul tie at your hands, linked together for a lifetime.